Twisted Destiny

Sergeant Nightheart stops when we reach the front door. “Feel free to stay as long as you like, although I suspect you will be heading off early tomorrow morning? In that case I’ll make sure the map gets back here before you leave.” 

“Yeah, we still have a lot of work to do.” Sam nods. “But the hospitality is much appreciated.”

“You should thank Miss Blackrose for that, I don’t have nearly the power and influence to get this arranged.” She taps her chest twice. “Good luck on your quest, may luck and providence be on your side.” 

“Same goes for you.” I reply. 

“It’s already a lucky day to be blessed by the presence of a Goddess herself, let alone to gain her actual blessing.” She smiles and taps her chest one more. “Have a nice evening.” 

We wave her off as she starts walking back to the bailiff’s office. The guards in front of the door step out of their posture and put their hands on the door handles. They really don’t seem very talkative but they do seem grateful after we thank them and enter the mansion together with our wolves, their size allows easy entrance compared to a horse. While our mansion back in Hofudstadr is nothing to sniff at, the outright wealth portrayed just in the entrance hall is incredibly impressive. No wonder that this mansion is under guard constantly. If you could sneak a thief inside, they would run off with a veritable treasure. Gold decorations and fancy looking wall tapestry everywhere you look. Not to mention the large paintings hanging on the wall in front of us. The most impressive one is a huge portrait of the royal family, hanging in the center of the wall. The age betrays that these people are probably already long gone though. 

“What do you think of the technique, Ami?” Carol asks. 

“It’s not too bad. It does need a bit of restoration though if you ask me.” 

“That’s what I was thinking too.” 

Max and Sam chuckle in between each other. “Art students, am I right, Sam?” 

“Pretty much.” Sam chuckles back. “Is it really that bad, Ami?” 

“There’s a lot of dust caked on top of it, making it a lot darker than the image used to be. I think I could pretty easily fix it with my magic if I’m careful enough.” 

“If that’s the case, why didn’t they have it restored earlier?” 

“Maybe because they don’t have a mage that is artistically schooled enough to know what they are doing. Even for us art restoration is quite a niche thing to know.” 

“I just know of it because I’m interested in it. We only get the possibility to choose a specific course about it next year.” I continue. 

“Looks like we already know what to do when our quest is done. Find the person responsible for these paintings and ask if Ami can restore them for a price of course.” Max smirks. 

“I’d probably do it for free, but extra funds can’t hurt. The difference would be night and day.” 

While we continue discussing the painting a bit more, a butler-like looking man walks into the room towards us. He does slow his pace a bit when he sees our wolves sitting besides us though. 

“Good evening, miladies.” 

“I hope the wolves are allowed to stay by our sides?” I ask. 

“Do they… hurt people?” 

“Only when we tell them too or when someone hurts us.” Sam explains. 

“Ah, then let us make sure that doesn’t happen.” The butler nods slowly. “But I’m afraid we do not have enough meat to sustain them. 

“We have brought their feed with us.” I continue with a smile. “So don’t worry about that one thing.” 

The man smiles in return. “In that case, could you please follow me, your dinner will be served immediately.” 

We all look at each other, nod and then follow the butler along. It’s not like we were doing anything important by staring at the painting anyway. 

 

The butler guides us to the main dining hall, when we enter it is quite obvious that they sometimes hold very big meals here. The dining table could easily host up to thirty people, with only one end of the table being dressed up for our small party. 

“Does the Empress sometimes come for dinner here?” Max asks. 

The butler looks back at Max. Gauging her for a second after which he gives her an affirmative nod. “It has happened a couple of times during my time here. But that still doesn’t mean that happens often.” 

“The room definitely seems fit for royalty, just like the rest of the mansion.” Sam says as she looks around this room. Apart from the impressively massive table, the room is just as well decorated as the hall we had just come from. There’s one massive painting stretching over the entire wall, depicting some kind of triumphant battle scene. The banners of the Empire very clearly represented on the winning side. As for the condition it’s almost just as bad off as the other painting though. Maybe even a bit worse due to this room being used more. 

“You should really have someone look at those paintings though… It’s a bit of a shame to see them like this.” I can’t hold back my criticism. It’s just such a shame to have all those colors muted like this. 

The butler’s eyes go wide, looking rather offended. 

“It was really not an insult or anything like that.” Carol ads. “But we’ve noticed that the paintings here are in need of quite the restoration. 

The butler quickly turns around and looks at the painting himself. “Isn’t it supposed to look like that?” 

“No.” I shake my head and walk past the butler, not really that close to the painting but close enough so I can point at a certain part of it. “Do you see how this part looks really yellow?” 

“Yes.” The butler nods. 

“That’s the varnish that has yellowed over time. And apart from that there’s just grime and dust all over that needs to be removed. It’ll be like looking at a completely now painting once it’s properly restored.” 

“I had no idea.” The butler says. “It’s been looking like this ever since I started working here.” 

“I guess you don’t really have a reference point.” I reply. 

The butler looks at me. “May I ask where did you get that knowledge, I thought you were mere adventurers in service of our royal highness?” 

“Ami and I have been taught by artists when we were young.” Carol makes up a lie on the spot. “Like an apprenticeship.” 

“Oh.” The butler nods. “And would you know any artists that could perform such a task?” 

“Two of them are standing right before you.” Carol smiles and puts her hands on my shoulder. “However, as you will understand, we are very busy people.” 

“I’ll have a conversation about this with her Royal Highness.” The butler nods once more. “And the difference would be big you said?” 

“Night and day difference.” I nod. 

“It will dramatically increase the diplomatic standing of this room.” Now Carol is starting to exaggerate a little bit, but a painting can definitely do a lot when it comes to the air of a room that is definitely true. Especially a painting as big as this. 

“Okay. If her Royal Highness would like to commission you, how do we contact you?” 

“There’s a guild in the city center led by a woman named Crystal, you can leave a message there and we will receive it.” Sam speaks up. 

 

After that little conversation we get sat down at the dinner table while the butler goes to the nearby kitchen to see what the status of our food is. 

“I had not expected a commission to come this soon.” I chuckle. “It was just a funny little idea we were chatting about.” 

“Might help your image if you not only do stuff related to combat, dear.” 

“Goddess of Art. Sounds rather nice.” Max smiles. 

“Speaking of which, I don’t think the butler realized who you are, don’t you think so?” Carol asks. 

“Yeah, it really depends from person to person, but I’m not too unhappy about that.” 

“With fame comes responsibility.” 

“More like, with fame comes very awkward stares and people praying. You saw some of the guards didn’t you?” 

“I guess that it hits very differently if you are the person they are praying to….”

Our conversation was then interrupted by a couple of people walking into the room, carrying silver platters. The food finally arrives. Our direwolves who were sitting behind each of our chairs also got enthusiastic, but sadly for them, this food is purely meant for us. 

The chefs place a plate in front of each of us, while the cloche is still on top of the dish, the distinctive smell already tells me what is underneath. Some tasty roasted chicken. 

As we remove the cloches I only get proven right. Almost an entire roasted chicken for each one of us, with a couple of greens on the side. But we all know that the chicken is the main star of this dish and that the salad might as well not be present. 

-Maybe being famous isn’t half bad if the person who knows you arranges tasty food. Just need to watch out I don’t get called Amicia, Goddess of Gluttony or something like that.-