Ixion looked over his shoulder at the wide-eyed Dave.
He muttered to Dia:
"So, uh… Still think only thugs visit taverns?"
Dia looked over at the stalkers.
"They may not be thugs, but..."
Dia motioned her head toward the group.
'Fair point.'
Dia smiled, then added:
"I'd assud you'd visited this tavern before. Yet, you apparently haven't."
Ixion took a sip of Joe's Water, gulping down the cold refreshnt.
"I only found this place on one of my wanderings."
"What are you doing traveling down random back alleys?"
Ixion chuckled and said:
"Looking for a lost hope."
Dia's eyes narrowed.
"Hope? From what I've heard from father, he's long gone."
Ixion laughed.
"There's a movent in the slums where people are praying to Hope as if it will bring him back to do 'sothing'. You can infer what I an. But, the point is, his na is now being used as a word."
Dia's eyes narrowed as she sipped Joe's Tea.
"So… you were looking for a word? What does it even an?"
Ixion smiled and took a spoonful of Joe's Pottage.
"Pretty much everything Hope stands for. It's what people say when things are terrible, and they still want to believe things will turn out all right. It can also an a general good wish. For example, I hope we survive. Or, I hope you like your food."
Dia bit into the mutton and then swallowed.
"What a beautiful word. Are they going to make his brother a word?"
Ixion swiveled his head and took another sip of water.
"Despair? He left so long ago that people have half forgotten about him, with how much Hope overshadowed him and all. Besides, I don't think it's a particularly good thing if that man were to be worshiped any more than he already is."
Dia leaned back in the wooden chair.
"Oh? That's odd. You have the sa view as my father… Yet he has his reasons. But you dislike Despair? Why? From what I know, everyone loves the guy."
'Huh?'
A general who disliked Despair?
Few even knew of his true nature, and only two of them that he knew of were generals. Neither even had a daughter.
'Perhaps soone ca to their own conclusion, even if ignorant of what he did.'
"I wouldn't say I dislike him, but my brother told sothing was off about him. And, it was after eting Despair that my brother went crazy. It's more like suspicion. Suspicion if he's truly as good-natured as they claim."
The woman's face paled for a mont, and she nearly choked on her mutton.
Joe almost scread at the sight, perhaps fearful it was too dry and she'd never return.
Dia waved at him, signaling she was okay, and smiled.
"Strangely, my father noted a similar phenonon. That people associated with him slowly beca cultists, blindly worshipping him. While such action isn't too far out of the ordinary in this day and age, my father detailed a loyalty that went beyond re reveration — it was sheer unconditional devotion."
Ixion's eyes narrowed, then he took a sip of water.
"This seems like a topic way above our standing. Should probably shelve it before soone overhears and reports us to a patrol."
Dia's head twisted slightly.
"Are you not concerned for your brother, given the implications?"
Ixion took another scoop of pottage.
"Well, I would have been at one point, but I've co to realize it doesn't matter much in the grand sche of everything. In fact, I pray he lost his mind — that makes accepting the impending end easier."
Dia's expression grew quite curious.
"Oh? Would you care to expand on that?"
Ixion paused for a few monts, then slowly said:
"King Ixion. I heard in his youth he fought the Scourge day in and day out. I know he's a bit crazy at the mont, but the truth is his word, when it cos to the matter of survival, isn't baseless."
Ixion took another sip of water and scarfed so pottage.
Dia's eyes slightly widened, then she laughed and said:
"Soone who shares the sa views on the King as I? How rare."
Ixion's eyes widened, and it was his turn to nearly choke on the chicken in his pottage. After two coughs, he said:
"Sa views? What do you an?"
Dia sipped her tea and set it down. She drew her eyes at the onlookers, then whispered:
"Everyone seems to think he's so nonsensical idiot driven crazy by the Scourge. But, from what I've heard, he's simply living his best life knowing he won't have the leisure to do so much longer. 'Five years left at best'? That's his motto or sothing, isn't it? It's a big reason why I defied my father and went on this outing. I want to see the world before it crumbles."
Ixion remained silent for a mont, studying the beautiful woman's slender face.
"What a pessimistic thing to slip from such a beautiful lady's mouth."
Ixion felt an odd, warm feeling in his heart. One he hadn't felt in a long, long ti.
Maybe the world's hatred was finally wearing him down. Maybe he was truly happy to find soone who genuinely didn't want his guts to be on the outside.
Soone who understood even a fraction of him.
Yet…
That wasn't allowed to happen.
Such solace would never be allowed to the King of Treachery.
"I know I was a bit nihilistic myself, but I didn't an we're absolutely done for. I believe King Ixion is a true idiot for counting humans out. We're a lot more resilient than we seem. All I ant was that his words about how bad the situation is matter much more than people think. I'm not saying the people aren't taking the threat seriously, but that nobody is taking the right asures. Not that I know what we should do. But whatever it is, we're not doing it." Ixion sipped water, then added, "But, it is absolutely undeniable that he is simply making the situation worse."
Dia laughed.
"Baha! Of course! Did you think I actually thought there was a shred of sanity left in that man's skull? A thod contained within his madness? He may be living his best life, but how do you think a man like that sleeps at night? Knowing his actions and inactions kill tens, sotis hundreds or thousands, daily."
Ixion felt a slight pain in his chest.
'I've heard those words a hundred tis.'
So why did it hurt coming from this stranger he'd just t?
Her laughter died down as she leaned forward over the table.
"Though I am quite jealous of his freedom."
Ixion laughed.
"Who wouldn't be?"
A slight gloomy look appeared on the 'puppet's' face.
'Freedom…'
It was quite a word that left an awful aftertaste in his mouth.
'If only you knew.'
'If only you all knew.'
Ixion chugged the rest of his water, then called Jojo over and ordered Joe's Super Ale.
Ixion wasn't even close to free
He was a slave to fate.
Just like the rest of the world.
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