Jas sat carefully on the couch, nervous tension keeping him from relaxing in its softness. Across from him was his beloved Isabella, refusing to et his eye as she sharpened a knife in her lap, flanked by her parents.
Carn, her mother, had a practiced neutral expression. Bernardo, her father, looked… gravely concerned.
Jas licked his lips nervously, and spoke.
"I know it's impudent to ask, at this point, but please, keep what I'm about to share between only us four."
Isabella's lips pressed together thinly.
The Baronet stood once again. "One mont." Carn narrowed her eyes and pierced Jas with her gaze.
Sohow, her gaze felt even more threatening than the literal swords at his throat had been at the trial back in Corto.
Bernardo returned and placed a small tal contraption on the table between them, and activated it with his own mana.
[Enchantnt Analysis]: Privacy Ward—Advanced (15)
Jas swallowed thickly.
"Shortly before my own Choosing Day, I was advised to choose between Smith and Enchanter, and told to pick a combat Class…" He looked at Isabella, but she refused to et his eye. "I didn't. I Chose Smith and Enchanter." Isabella glared at him now. "That is the secret I've been keeping. My second Class is Enchanter. I don't have a combat Class."
He bowed in a seated position, towards Isabella's father. "Sir, I want more than anything in the world to marry your daughter and beco family. I deeply apologize for my deception. May I have your permission to explain myself, why I did this, and what brought to this Kingdom?"
The Smith and Enchanter kept his head bowed, facing his knees, while over his head Bernardo and Carn exchanged looks. Understanding flashed between the married couple, and then they looked down at Isabella, who still looked mad but also conflicted. In the end, curiosity won out.
The Baronet answered, "I will allow it. Explain yourself, Jas."
Jas raised his head. "When my Choosing ended, my mother asked which Classes I had Chosen, and she didn't take it well…"
He explained about the oath his parents had pushed him to take, and his own feelings about that oath.
He spoke of how, for a short ti, things were fine. And then he was kidnapped. Enslaved, and taken to a mining camp deep in the wilderness he knew not where, and where he would have died had it not been for a freak monster attack.
"Though I can't be sure, I suspect one of the other slaves had an Avenger Class, and summoned the monsters to the campsite. The wards there should have been strong enough to prevent even a wyvern from entering…"
He told of his entry into the Dungeon with the Bag of Holding, and his fight to the bottom of the Dungeon and then back to the top.
"I don't rember it clearly, but I must have found the exit in my delirium, where Sir Cortez found and used his precious Elixir to save my life."
"Hmm…" the Baronet humd, thinking. Jas waited for him to say sothing, but after a mont he gestured for Jas to continue.
"I was then put on trial for assault, and keeping to my oath, I refused to state my second Class, and the Magistrate did not take that well…"
The results of the trial. The arrival in Cordova. The attack on the street on his first stroll unescorted. Falling in love with Isabella at first sight. His terror that she might make the sa mistake he did. The attack on the night of the solstice.
"And today, Isabella caught out in my deception. It was utterly foolish of to even think of deceiving the woman I want to make my wife." Isabella blushed, though Jas didn't notice, focused as he was on the Baronet who wore a stony expression. "Fool that I am, I hope that you can forgive , and allow to continue courting your daughter." He bowed once more, awaiting the verdict.
Silence filled the room as the last lights of dusk faded.
The Baronet sighed deeply, then leaned forward and turned off the warding device. He clapped his hands, and a team of maids entered the room to light candles.
"Prepare a tea service, if you would. Yes, for four."
With professional speed and precision, tea was prepared and before Jas knew it, the maids were gone, the lights were lit, and the Baronet reactivated the warding device.
Another sigh. "Raise your head, Jas."
Carn was hugging her daughter, whose face was hidden behind the curtain of her hair. Bernardo leaned forward, elbows on his knees, fingers interlaced in front of his face. "Tell , Smith and Enchanter, what possessed you to carry my daughter and my niece over your shoulder through the streets, covered in blood, all the way to my doorstep?"
Jas mouth fell open, jaw slack. "Uh, she was in danger, er, they both, or, I guess all three of us were in danger. There was an assassin. We had to get out of there as fast as possible."
"Even though they were screaming for you to stop?"
"Huh?"
Bernardo tapped the side of his head. "You didn't hear them?"
Jas shook his head, slowly. "Er… no, I didn't. I didn't hear anything after the flashbang."
"'Flashbang,' huh? Is that what you call it?"
"It was the loudest thing I've ever heard in my life, father. I even got the [Sound Resistance] Skill from it." Isabella spoke for the first ti since Jas had sat down.
The Baronet leaned back. "Tell of this assassin."
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Jas did so, and all three were shocked when he spoke of the Marquess' death. "Marquess Sanchez is dead?!" the Baronet exclaid, incredibly glad he had the privacy ward on already.
Jas nodded. "Yes, and I suspect he tried to kill in the sa way, but my enchantnts must have blocked whatever magic he attempted. Then I caught him and killed him. Or, at least, I think I did. Not having a combat Class…"
Carn's eyes narrowed. "How sure are you that you killed him?"
Jas' eyes flicked to Isabella, who was making a stony expression. It tore his heart to see his beloved look at him like that. "I, er…"
"Speak plainly," Carn demanded. "I need to know if I must clean up after you or not."
The aura of a sharp blade filled the room.
Jas gulped. "Well, I hit him with [Heavy Blow] at least two dozen tis, maybe more, and I'm pretty sure I managed to pulverize the head entirely, and every other bone in his body."
The aura receded.
"Hmph, that will do. For now." Carn made a face reminiscent of one of her daughter's common reactions.
The Baronet leaned back in the couch and gazed at the ceiling.
"I should have insisted on you coming here sooner. There's too much to discuss for just one eting…" He thrust himself forward into proper posture again, and looked at his daughter next to him.
"Isabella, I'll leave it up to you."
Isabella nodded to her father, looked at Jas, frowned, and stood up. All he could do was watch, nervous, as she sheathed her knife and approached him.
He gulped, awaiting her decision.
She reared back her hand, and—
SLAP!
The sound reverberated through the room, and then she threw her arms around her beloved and held him tight.
"Don't ever keep secrets from again, foolish Smith. Insane Enchanter."
And then, whispered into his ear, "You don't have to worry any more. I'll protect you, my love."
Isabella's mother cleared her throat pointedly, and Isabella let go of Jas and sat primly next to him, though so close that their hips were touching on the couch's seat.
"Father, mother, I intend to continue with the courtship."
Bernardo sighed again, and Carn scooted closer to take his hand, stroking it soothingly. Then she turned and looked at Jas directly, with a kind expression.
"We will, of course, keep your secret, Enchanter." And then her expression hardened. "In truth, it was right of your parents to make you swear that oath. If you had any way to contact them, I would have scolded you for not consulting with them first, but given the circumstances, I will make an exception." Her expression shifted to a smile, but there was steel underneath it. "In the future, you will consult with us in your parents' stead, until such ti as you can contact them. Understood?"
Jas nodded. "Yes. Thank you."
Isabella reached over to take his hand, but her mother stopped her short.
"Isabella!"
"Tch," Isabella clicked her tongue.
The Baronet clapped his hands, cutting off any further back and forth. "Enough, it's well past dinner ti." He turned off the warding device. "I daresay the two of you missed lunch, as well. That won't do at all. Jas, you are a guest of the Izguardia Family until such ti as your lord arrives. Join us for dinner. We still have much to discuss."
The Baronet's thoughts whirled as he retreated to his dressing room to prepare for dinner. He almost started an actual ledger just for his daughter's suitor, just to keep everything in order.
Helping Isabella in her studies. Raising the alarm about her Choosing. Getting attacked in his own territory—thank the gods he survived—especially with no combat Class! And now this, saving his daughter's life in the middle of what sounded like the beginning of a massacre.
As a rchant, he recognized that the foreign boy was potentially a gold mine in human form. A Smith and Enchanter!
As a noble, he recognized the imnse power the boy could produce. His crafts had enabled him to fight despite lacking a combat Class. If soone with a combat Class used his products…
Bernardo gulped. Or even, an army of such people, outfitted by an incredibly productive Smith and Enchanter…
The value there would have inspired him to such greed even as to try to snatch him from the Aspirant Knight.
But, before all that, Bernardo was a father.
He could see the love in his daughter's eyes when she looked at the boy, and the sa love the boy had for his daughter.
He wouldn't get in the way of her happiness.
He wouldn't let anyone else get in the way of her happiness, either.
The Knight's plan was obvious, once Bernardo knew Jas' Classes.
He would surely want to procure the strongest armor and weapons for himself, and redeem his past poor performance in the Tournant of Duels.
All well and good.
But after that, once Jas was ready, Baronet Izguardia would ensure that the terms of Jas' contract were fulfilled, and that Jas would have his freedom.
Dinner was awkward. Maya was there, fuming at the way she had been carried shouting through the streets away from the fight. Carn was continually trying to get Isabella to keep a proper distance from Jas, and Isabella was doing her best to practically climb on top of Jas whenever she thought she could get away with it. The small blessing was that Grim wasn't there, and hopefully wouldn't arrive until after Jas left. Bernardo did his best to offer his thanks and apologies to Jas, such that they were due, and the boy was gracious and polite, and proposed to let it all go, since Isabella was worth all that and more.
If Isabella had been a rchant she would have flushed scarlet to hear that.
As it was, she rely pridefully raised her chin, accepting the praise.
The Aspirant Knight arrived with half a squadron of junior Knights towards the end of their after-dinner tea, and apologized that he couldn't stay longer to discuss the courtship between Jas and Isabella.
"Worry not, I heard what happened at the restaurant. I'm sure you must be terribly busy. We will et later, once things calm down."
"I thank you for your understanding," the Knight said, saluting, and then he took Jas, now once again ard and armored, and they were off.
The days turned to weeks. The weeks turned to months. Sumr passed, then Autumn. The fields surrounding Cordova were harvested, and everyone prepared for Winter. It rarely snowed in Cordova, but monster activity in the surrounding area swelled as the nights grew longer.
The Smith now moved under ard guard at all tis. Mainly he only traveled to the Smithing Guild, Enchanter's Guild, and the Izguardia Family Manor. Otherwise, he was holed up in his workshop at the Knight's Order Headquarters, training.
His letters to the Enchantress during this period, incredibly voluminous, are the main source for information about his childhood and his ti in the Dungeon. The more he wrote, the more he rembered.
The Enchantress, herself, pursued not only her studies of Enchanting, but also trained intensely in Knifewielding. She beca known, for a short ti, as the third great power of the Izguardia Family, behind her cousins Grim and Maya.
The Aspirant Knight was busy with work. Several more Irregulars had dropped contact. Most ominous was the Immortal Swordsman, who abruptly declared that he was going on a long journey and essentially abandoned his school in Valencian.
Even the Tower Wizard was surprised by this.
One week after the winter solstice, when the aftermath of the longest night was cleaned up, the Smith, the Steward, and the Knight sat down in a room warded for privacy, and finalized the order for the Knight's armor and arms.
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