NOVEL NEXT Chapter 21.5 - Optimizing Your Isekai
Instead of the usual of someone annoyingly knocking on my door, I awoke to slobber and hair flopping then sticking onto my face and an indignant noise.
Opening my eyes, Steve had clearly just tried to eat some of my terrible hair and decided it wasn't the delicacy he expected. He sent feelings of hungry and upset that I had the temerity to have hair that wasn't a delicious snack.
Rolling my eyes at his pleading ones, I picked him up, raised the blinds to open the window, and enjoyed the wafting smell of baking bread, the chirps of the birds, and the beautiful early morning scene.
"Good morning Velez!" I shouted, smiling broadly at the people walking below.
"Is that guy drunk? Seems like a pervert, needs to put on some clothes and stop yelling gibberish out the window," I heard an old woman mutter to an old man next to her that looked up and waved.
"Yeah, he's yelling gibberish but seems nice enough," the man said shrugging and giving me a second wave.
Oh yeah, no one can understand me. Gotta switch to Verdantese.
"Of the morning, I am hoping is some good," I called out according to my AAI translation.
"Oh, he's just touched in the head. Poor dear," the woman said, shaking her head sadly.
Fair play. Never trying to be a morning person again…
I shut the window and quickly got dressed, sticking Steve on his customary shoulder and feeling him try my hair once more for good measure. Laughing, I headed downstairs to chat with Vana and eat.
Once I'd had my fill and Steve had eaten about twice his body weight, we set off for an early morning training session with Risto. The kids had the day off school so he and Gabor put me through my paces for over an hour.
"My arms are just feeling like dead weight. Why did you have to crank up the weight so much?" I asked, hefting the large training mace we were using.
"I got the specs for the new weapon you commissioned. We're getting you prepared for that. Longer shaft and heavier head means you have a lot more physical leverage but you need to get used to the reach difference and the weight. Especially swinging it repeatedly. What would be a critical strike with your current weapon would probably be a scratch with your new one as you'd mostly hit them with the shaft." Risto reset the simulation and had Gabor come at me again with a blunted shortsword and kite shield.
While it would normally be a slightly awkward combination, Gabor was so much quicker than me, he probably could dual-wield swords and dual-wield shields all at the same time, switching them out constantly, and I'd struggle to find an opening or block a single hit.
"Remember your footwork!" Risto called and I unconsciously looked down, earning a rather severe bonk dead center of my head which Gabor included a falling tree sound effect as it crashed towards me. Steve shrieked at the attack, leaping from Risto's shoulder to try to retaliate against Gabor.
The man caught him and tickled his belly and all thoughts of retribution were immediately banished. Risto used my inattention to smack me on the back of the knee.
"Never let your attention wander or wane!" he called and helped me back up unnecessarily.
After weapons practice, we moved on to weight and endurance training. I was expecting some kind of movie montage-style but it was extreme bouts of intensity for short intervals with a few minutes of rest in between.
"This seems like great training but shouldn't I be doing more long-run endurance so I can last better in a rift?" I asked.
"Don't be a wuss. And trust us!" Risto said, striking a pose.
At my clearly exasperated – and exhausted – look, he continued. "Most fights, at least in a rift, last maybe two minutes max. Some are more protracted if you have a weird delve. Or against a rift boss, some fights are far more drawn-out but they aren't usually nearly as physically intensive. I know there is one near here where it's just not allowed to solo delve because the final fight has too many enemies – some flying and some that are just really hearty and fast."
"Risto, we do have all day but still, get to the point," Gabor said, laughing. He was throwing Steve into the air and trying to catch him as he floated downward.
"Whatever 'Gabs'," he said rolling his eyes. "Anyway, yes, we will do more endurance training but with essence, you naturally recover your stamina pretty quickly. It's more you need to survive the short brutal fights until you can get to a spot to rest. We'll do more actual endurance training when we get to your person-on-person training. Ooh, that's a good idea. Gabs, the pits are open today, we should show him!"
"Yeah, only Tiesa should be calling me Gabs. Sorry Risto but you're just not pretty enough to get away with it." Gabor laughed at Risto's offended look. "I speak the truth my friend. And as long as we are back home in time for dinner and we get this one at least slightly trained up today, I don't mind. Terry, what do you say to watching some people beat the ever-living sodus out of each other for our entertainment?"
"I've got some gold to bet on that. I assume we can place bets? What are the best betting strategies? I always love a good parlay." I was getting excited which got Steve extra riled up and he was jumping from person to person, shoulder to shoulder, boxing our ears each time. It actually stung a bit as he was only one sub-Tier below me though I was on the cusp of reaching Tier 1.2 to his bottom of Tier 1.0.
I was expecting to go to the amphitheater which Risto had shown me around a week prior – he had explained that was where the fighting tournaments took place after all. Instead, we headed towards the northeastern edge of town and a squat building just off a park filled with kids playing on their day off from school.
"I thought you said fighting was over that way," I said casually as we paid the one silver entry fee and entered a long hallway to dim lighting ahead. I could hear a rising crescendo of noise but couldn't see anything.
"Oh, that's for the fancy fights. This place is a bit more… bloody…" Risto said with a feral grin.
"No, not today," Gabor said.
"Oh, come on! Please! I promise I'll be good. I won't knock them out too early or anything." Risto was bouncing from foot to foot, which Steve imitated on my shoulder, falling off the unstable 'platform' quickly to float into Gabor's palms.
"Maybe. This is about Terry, not you engaging in your bloodlust. Here's Latif, let's say hi and go find some seats." A gigantic man had emerged from a door off the hallway and his enormous size blocked the entire throughway.
"Did I hear my seventeenth favorite fighter and forty second favorite person! And Gabor too! We don't have a suitable opponent today but let's talk scheduling!" Latif's voice was higher and softer than I expected. He was wearing a dark purple suit with three quarter sleeves that served to highlight the scars running across his upper chest and forearms.
He pretended not to notice Risto and extended a hand right past the man's face. "Hi, new face, pleasure to meet you, I'm Latif. Are you here to watch or fight?"
"I'm here to bet," I said, forgetting myself in the moment.
"My kind of person. Let's walk and talk." He somehow pulled me through to just ahead of him with no force or tension and we started to head down the tunnel.
"So, seems like you know Gabor. Does he fight here often?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"Both those chuckleheads do. Or at least used to. Tiesa is far more of a crowd favorite though. Especially when she puts on a skimpy outfit and plays up the damsel-in-distress schtick. She can act. Gabor is a good fighter that puts on a great show – endurance types always do. Lots more blood and time for the bloodlust of the crowd. But Risto. Dear Risto. Cute as a button but horrible for my bottom line." He sighed.
We exited the tunnel into a smallish arena and the smell of blood and sweat nearly overpowered me, though it almost felt manufactured as it wasn't a truly bad odor.
At my look Latif chuckled. "We produce the smell to make it more realistic. It hits you big at the tunnel entrance but the mist spreaders are far more sparse elsewhere." He pointed to a few small cylinders above the tunnel entrance. I nodded and turned around again, taking in the place.
There were about fifteen rows of padded bench seating around a fighting area with a stone circular floor. There was maybe five feet (1.5m) between the edge of the floor and the heavily damaged stone walls. I could see a shimmering barrier cast in a dome above, presumably protecting the spectators from any stray fire from within.
I guessed it could seat well into the hundreds, probably close to a thousand people, but I never really excelled at the management consulting questions of how many ping pong balls fit into an airplane.
A man and a woman were battling in the arena, both dressed head-to-toe in black robes and holding on to a length of coiled rope that was about five feet (1.5m) long. Just as I took in the scene, the whip in the woman's other hand lashed out, striking her opponent's face. I was worried she'd hit an eye and was only half right.
A spray of blood cascaded from his face and I saw a glowing black patch over his eye.
"What's going on there?" I asked Latif, looking behind for Risto and Gabor who I spotted at a food cart parked to the opposite side of the entrance. I realized Gabor still had Steve but figured he'd be happier near the food for the time being.
"You don't think we'd actually let the combatants hurt each other do you? What kind of barbaric place do you come from?" He held a massive hand to his chest as if I had said something offensive.
Then with a laugh, he gestured towards the faintly shimmering red-yellow barrier. "That's not just to protect the spectators. This place is heavily enchanted – even more so than the amphitheater when they host tournaments – to protect them," he said gesturing to the man and woman, just as the man slashed at her torso and cut a gash to her abdomen, which also started glowing faintly.
I had always wondered how fighting pits might work in a fantasy world so, as we were escorted to a private box, I started grilling Latif further. "I have a lot of questions about how this all works but what is the fight going on here?" I asked.
"This is a dislodge, dismember, or disrobe fight. Simulated of course. Can't have just naked bloody people in the arena, at least at this time of day." He let out a tittering laugh.
"The goal is to either score enough hits that your opponent is scored as bleeding out or cut enough of their clothing that they would be deemed to be fineable for walking through the city. That's what the glowing black patches are. We do adjust for whatever body type someone has to make it fair," he said, pointing at the woman. "Or, if you can force your opponent to let go of the rope, you also win."
"That's new to me. Seems a little strangely personal and intimate though. Is this a unique creation?"
Latif gave a dark chuckle. "Yes, those two were courting each other. Or are again. They are so on again, off again I can never remember. And yes, I came up with the idea after a particularly brutal fight when I was still young. Slashed the clothes off then the arm off the man who tried to assault me in the street. Decided to take something traumatic and make it something… less so?"
"Yeah, still feels like it might be traumatic to the competitors," I noted. "Still, I want to know everything about this. I used to bet on fights all the time so how do you do matchups? How do you set odds? How do you attract competitors? What are the running costs for the arena? What—" I stopped suddenly at the deep belly laugh from Gabor as he entered with Risto in tow and Steve trotting around behind them picking up the food Gabor dropped for him.
Gabor had three enormous trays of food that I couldn't quite grasp how he was carrying.
"He's not going to try to open up a competing pits but he will talk your ear off. I heard from Tiesa how deep he went talking about insurance of all things with someone just yesterday." Gabor sat down with an old-man grunt and slid the trays into a holding apparatus on the wall.
Risto plucked Steve out of the air after he climbed his pant leg and tried to launch himself at the food.
"Come, let's sit and talk about your interest. Those are good questions but do you want to learn more about the fighting side, the arena management side, or the overall business side first?" Latif asked me, also sitting down and taking what looked a bit like a small burrito off a tray and biting into it. "Ugh, you went for the cheap stuff? Why not meat-filled?"
Through a mouthful of food Risto replied petulantly. "The school doesn't pay me enough and for some reason, I can't get paid to fight anymore. Some big jerk won't let me into the pits!"
"That's because your fights are over so darn soon. I wonder how long you could last. I've heard stories Risto." Latif laughed again at his own joke.
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"Har har, you know I'm just that good. In all areas." He crossed his arms across his chest for a half second before bringing them back to the food.
"Now, back to the questions before we were so rudely interrupted. Fight matching is actually pretty easy relative to most competitors, at least through Tier 2. If they are new to us, we match them against someone of their sub-Tier plus or minus a sub-Tier and call it an exhibition match. That's to put them through their paces."
"Wait, so someone basically has to prove they are worth it? Aren't those kind of boring to watch?" I asked.
"Maybe if I were bad at my job. Our house fighters are good at both fights and entertainment and a fighter has to win – or at least impress me enough – to be allowed a real fight. If I think the fights will be a bore, we just do them outside open hours."
"So once you've seen them fight once or twice, you can match them evenly?"
Latif scratched his chin for a second. "In general, I match mostly based on capability or what will make for an entertaining fight but we also need variety for underdog bets. If everything is a coin flip, it doesn't actually bring in that many bets or butts in seats. You need big payouts to happen to entice people to come back."
We dug into betting odds and Latif was intrigued by the idea of a parlay – essentially betting you will get more than one outcome right, thus increasing your payout but also significantly increasing the chance of losing – and how to maximize profits by generating the most evenly spread bets.
I was quite surprised they didn't own the food cart internally as food at sporting events – and airports – on Earth generally had pretty good margins. But the cart was run by the daughter of a friend so Latif was fine not hoarding in on the business.
The spell formations on the arena were fascinating. It was all powered by one giant mana battery and combatants had to dump their remaining mana into the batteries after a loss. It didn't fully account for the needed mana budget but Latif and a few others generally made up for it. I was surprised they could use mana instead of qi but Latif explained it was highly inefficient but far easier to charge and maintain. The battery itself was massive too.
I was very happy with how Latif managed the safety of the arena too, bringing in someone to inspect the formations weekly and repair them – broken or not – monthly.
"So, how did you get into all this?" I asked. I got the idea he had done more fighting than managing over the years.
Gabor and Risto both chuckled under their breaths.
"Short story: the previous owner jebbie'd around and found out. Got killed and I inherited it in a way."
"What's the long story?" I asked, taking some more of a dish that was close enough to nachos it was giving me nostalgia.
"The previous owner skimped on the safety here. He basically never did maintenance on the formations and one failed. What should have been a painful strike was a deadly one. And it was to the wrong person. I was a guard of house Vitola and it was the first son. His mother wanted him to toughen up a bit so signed him up to get beaten down and humbled."
Latif gave a heavy, sad sigh and I was slightly ashamed I asked the question. "You don't have to go on."
Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #16: When there is a heavy emotional toll to an answer, don't press for more information if it's merely to sate your curiosity. There's no reason to put people through that.
Latif nodded. "It's okay. Instead of a few bruises and some motivation, some poor random woman beheaded Dionis as the formation failed. Within minutes, his mother was down here ready to kill the entire arena. I blocked her strike from killing the woman – that's how I got this scar." He pulled the collar of his shirt down a bit and there was a gash running from the collarbone to sternum.
"I explained as best I could while guarding the woman and Rima went and killed the owner. Rather slowly and in the center of the arena while not allowing anyone to leave. Even though he deserved death, he didn't quite deserve that."
Latif, Risto, and Gabor all raised their drinks solemnly. Steve mimed the movement with an olive in his hands.
"Anyway, they knew I had fought in the pits a lot and the entire family was grateful to me for preventing Rima executing a perfectly innocent woman. The recompense for Dionis' death was they inherited this place and they sold it cheap to me on loan. Finally bought them out completely two months back. I owe them a lot but they still say it was lopsided in their favor." Latif gave a crooked smile.
After further digging into business, Latif offered me a spot in the arena for an exhibition.
"As his trainer, I'd absolutely love to see that but he's been fighting for less than a month. Not going to allow that one unfortunately." Risto was holding up a hand in a stop motion and in his other hand Steve was doing the same.
Suddenly an idea struck me. "Hey Latif, how do you get along with the bank here? You probably have a lot of coin flowing through on a big night, right?"
"Ugh, I used to work extremely well but these Platinum-grade <redacted> are killing my profit margins. It's been an utter nightmare. Hard for customers to deal with currency too. We had to hire extra security rather than deposit all the money and lose 10% immediately. I tried to explain volume discounting to those Purveyor sickna-hats but they aren't budging. We're looking at banking with a firm in another city, probably Zalano. But imagine a regular cash shipment of at least a few gold – and usually into the tens of gold if not more – in and out of town most days. Pretty juicy target."
I started to hash out a few ideas about a money changing station inside the arena and the ability to deposit and withdraw then and there. Latif's eyes lit up with interest and then with a tinge of malevolence. "Those <redacted> won't know what hit them. I'm in. When you get it going, I'll gladly be a part of it. I'll go chat with Nikolaj tomorrow. I heard he had a lead on some nice wine anyway."
After a few more fights, we said our goodbyes and headed out, back into the midday sunlight and mirthful screams of children.
"Okay, that done, time to get you some new threads. If you are supposed to be someone important, you can't keep going around looking like the most non-descript giant in town." Risto had backed up and was looking at my clothes and giving me the stink eye.
"I'll have you know Vana picked these out for me," I said slightly defensively. While I wasn't attached to them, it still stung a bit. "Besides, this haircut is far worse, I need to get it fixed if we are talking about my look."
Risto nodded and went to say something but Gabor held up a hand. "No Risto, your barber is terrible. Half your dates complain about your hair. We're going to mine. Hope he's got an opening today." And with that we set off.
I asked why my hair wasn't growing – it hadn't changed from the day I inhabited my new body – and Gabor examined my scalp for a bit, finally finding an enchantment enhancement tattooed under my hair that prevented it from growing. He assured me any barber worth their salt could remove the tattoo and my hair would start to grow normally.
Unfortunately, Gabor's 'stylist extraordinaire' didn't have an opening that day but did the next so we booked the slot and I somewhat begrudgingly went clothes shopping.
"What about Deva?" I asked as the two debated which places to go.
"You do not have the funds for anything more than a shirt or maybe some shorts from them," Gabor said. "You got a pretty good discount on your suit but if we need to fix the whole wardrobe, you don't have the money."
"What he really means is he doesn't have the patience. I love Deva, best tailor in town, but they are just so meticulous. And they also are expensive as hell. Anyway, let's check out these three." Risto sent over a few stores through AAI and we headed off, me using my AAI for guided directions as Gabor and Risto seemed totally lost.
[Incoming Message from Tiesa Gogol: Oh god, so glad you checked. Those stores are terrible. Risto and Gabor have no fashion sense. I already sent a message ahead, you actually need to go to Sofia. I know that little sodus Zora didn't appreciate her dress but she's the best in town.]
As I slowly led the guys in a circle, which they didn't seem to notice as they were chattering away about nothing, we came upon a shop that looked straight out of a German fairytale, though I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. At least it was pretty.
"Wait, this is Sofia's shop. Did you talk with Tiesa?" Gabor looked horrified and offended.
"Yup," I said with no shame or regrets. "I agree with her that neither of you should be dressing yourself. I get that my fashion is off but I'm not taking advice from you two." I stuck out my tongue petulantly to laughter from both men. "Jasna also confirmed that she liked the outfits from here."
"And why do we care about Jasna's opinion?" Risto asked in a teasing tone.
"Look, I have two people whose judgement I trust without any shadow of a doubt on almost any topic. I can't on every topic but I still really like them and believe in what they say and do. Even when I don't go to them on a topic, it doesn't mean I trust them any less." I put my arm around their shoulders. "And they are both at Gabor's house right now."
A woman with light pink hair in a pixie cut stuck her head out the door at the eruption of laughter from Gabor and the yelled "Well I never!" from Risto.
"Normally, I'd tell you to scram. Making a racket and scaring off my customers. But you, the one with the funny haircut, Tiesa said you'd be coming so I'll forgive you if you spend enough money." Her gruff speech somehow matched her diminutive frame.
"Not me, him!" Risto yelled pointing at me and then quickly taking out a mirror. "Is it really that bad?" he asked Gabor.
"Got 'em," was all the woman said, pointing at me and waving into the shop.
Laughing, I left the two bickering friends outside.
"Yo, I'm Sofia. Yes, my mother and my grandmother are also called Sofia. Don't make a big deal about it. I specialize in everyday wear and men's clothes. Tiesa already sent me what she thinks you need but what about you? What are you trying to say with your clothes? If it's 'I'm boring as jebbie but trying hard and still failing', you're nailing it."
I couldn't help but laugh at the small woman speaking like that to someone almost two heads taller than her. "Honestly, I haven't really thought about that much outside of professional situations. My job was to fly under the radar and look 'good enough' without making my clothes notable. If I was presenting to really important people, I wore a pretty nice suit. If it was the engineering team, it was a button down with short sleeves. I'm rambling aren't I?"
"Yup. You said what you did, not what you want and plan to do. I don't give a donkey kurac what you did. Where was this, outer space or something?" She laughed and then froze when I simply nodded. "Oh sodus, you're that guy. Got it. So you're kind of important but need to also look like an adventurer. Luckily, I have to deal with the 'aristocrat delver look' a lot as people like to copy it."
I went to respond but she just held up her hand.
Rude but in a fun way.
After three minutes, the door opened and Risto and Gabor walked in with a thoroughly dirty Steve. They both tried to explain what happened like children trying to not get in trouble but I just tuned them out. Steve seemed happy and nothing else was worse for wear.
Sofia sent me a few designs through my AAI. While the cuts were a bit more angular like what we'd seen in Zalano and a bit Pitola, it was still a good look. She must have had a software that fit clothes to a picture of someone because it was proportioned to my body perfectly. There was also a very poorly drawn smile over my mouth.
Cheeky sodus.
"Okay, if you two children sit over there in the corner, are reasonably quiet, and don't touch anything for <five minutes>, I will give you a piece of candy. And will do the same for every additional <five minutes> you do that." She pointed to some chairs in the corner that looked well-worn but comfortable.
Risto went to protest but Gabor whispered something in his ear that my AAI caught as "the good candy" and the two men conferred some more.
Gabor looked at her and shook his head. "Only if we start with one piece each on presumed good behavior."
She scoffed, thought for a few seconds, and nodded, three candies appearing in her hand.
"Don't spoil Steve's dinner," I said and the two men looked scandalized.
After another twenty minutes of back and forth with Sofia, including a few messages to Tiesa and Jasna, we had my outfits designed.
***
Dinner was a fun and raucous affair. Tiesa really was an excellent cook. I had picked up a decent barrel of mead with my winnings from the fighting pits – 75 silver on my initial bet of ten silver with a three way parlay of close to 50/50 odds – and Risto bought a cake for dessert from his favorite bakery, which I noted down for further patronage.
"Tiesa, I really am not usually one for lamb but this is amazing," I said as I enjoyed the braised dish.
"Yeah, it's actually a Tier 2 rift monster so it should give you a bit of extra energy. Some people can even prepare it so you can get a small amount of essence from it. But I really only focus on the flavor," she said as she downed her third cup of mead.
"There are lambs as rift monsters?" I asked, slightly incredulous. "What do they do, try to lure you in with their cuteness and snuggle you to death?"
"Yes, they do use a mind control-like skill to make them seem harmless but it's pretty weak if you have any mental defenses. They have hooves that can penetrate most Tier 1 armor, an effective sonic attack, and very sharp teeth for ripping if they get close enough to you. Overall, pretty easy run but it still kills a few teams a year who underestimate it." Jasna shrugged and picked up a large bone with meat on it, ripping into it with abandon.
"Yeah, I lost a team that had just Tiered up to Tier 2 there. Were my students while they were getting ready for Tier 1 delving and I still coached them on the side through most of the Tier. I just know it was Kiril's fault; always was a cocky git." Risto gave a grumpy look at his plate and stabbed a chunk of grilled potato.
"To those who have passed in search of a better life and to protect what we have," Tiesa said, raising her cup solemnly. The rest all followed so I mimed them. Even Steve lifted his thimble of water Tiesa gave him to the sky but he was still clumsy and spilled it on himself.
We chatted about nothing too serious for over an hour and just enjoyed each other's company. There were questions to answer, problems to address, enemies to root out, but for that time, all was nice and fun and calm. Just good friends, good booze, good food, good conversation.
Afterwards, Tiesa asked me to go on a walk together. She placed the food coma-ed Steve on her head in an impromptu nest of her hair that she held up with a bit of product and a magical barrette.
We walked in silence, just enjoying the night for a bit.
Tiesa turned to me. "One, good work with Sofia. She loved you. And she gave me some great ideas for getting the boys to behave." She gave a hearty chuckle and bent over slightly to hold her stomach. "Wow, ate too much. And drank too much honestly. Gotta stop that if we are honestly gonna try for kids."
"Yeah, I know I've thrown a bit of a wrench into plans but what's up with that?"
"Honey, you've been here less than a month. You are a blip so far. Not saying we don't like you and you have been a great source of entertainment but don't worry, you aren't blocking anything." She smiled at me while I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding.
"I'm happy for you. I feel like you'll be great parents. Well, at least you'll be great. Gabor will be merely great entertainment."
She gave me a small smile. "He's more responsible than he lets anyone believe. We're a good team. I think we're ready to seriously start trying now that things should be settling down. If we can prevent rift breaks from the null issues, then it should be safe."
"Yeah, what do you think about Melandra and turning more people into null affinity?" I asked as we settled into a bench and Tiesa reached up to gently stroke the squirming ball of fluff making her look like a vagabond at best.
"I know it reduces your leverage but I think it's best for the city and the region. I don't much care about the Kingdom as a whole – I served but they made us do some unconscionable things. It would be good for people and I think you want that."
"Agreed. I think I want them to make Steve null affinity too. Right now, he's just a hungry and sleepy goofball but with his Cap and a null affinity, I think he could become an asset they see as worth protecting. I do think we can negotiate a deal that maintains some of my leverage while making everyone happy." I ran my hand over my face, thinking.
"I think that's fair. Katarina won't be thrilled but let's have a discussion with her tomorrow?"
I agreed and we continued to discuss as we started moving again back towards Tiesa and Gabor's house.
"Tiesa, I really honestly want to thank you. I don't know if I could have survived without your and Gabor's help. And Jasna of course. Risto is a maybe," I said laughing.
Tiesa lightly hit my arm and we chatted idly about nothing. She sent me four recommendations for shows to watch and a few book series.
Then the messages started coming.
[Incoming Message from Katarina Illeva: Have you seen the carriage's lead-lined box? I won't be mad if you broke it. I just need to know.]
[Incoming Message from Katarina Illeva: Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I'll be mad but I need to know. That was hand-crafted and the artisan is dead. She was a friend of my father. Seriously, just tell me.]
[Incoming Message from Katarina Illeva: Are you really not even replying? Really?]
Wow, Katarina does not like being left on read, it's been less than ten minutes since the first message.
Suddenly, I was jerked to the side by my arm into an alley. I could barely make out Tiesa summoning her gear and getting into a battle stance. She leapt at my assailant, only to stop her fist strike while flying majestically through the air. "Really?" was all she said in a dull tone, more exasperated than anything else as she alighted softly and lightly kicked the person on the shin.
"Sorry Tee-Tee, need to borrow this one for some alone time. We'll be back in a few hours. Don't wait up!" Jasna said as she scooped me into a princess carry and took off towards the gate of the city. Looking back, I saw a nonplussed Tiesa giving me the stink-eye, only slightly diminished in scariness by the small animal sleeping on the top of her head.