Chapter 99 - Discussions With Jeremiah

For a few moments Jeremiah only looked at us with pure skepticism plastered all over his face, which I found completely understandable.

The man had suffered quite a bit under his father after all, and it’s not like our little act from earlier made us seem all that trustworthy.

"How about we go to a place where you would feel comfortable," I suggested, trying to get him to feel like he doesn’t need to be so... on guard.

Although now that I think about it, I don’t think I would have felt comfortable at all if another guy made that suggestion to me. But apparently that wasn’t something guys suggested to girls in this world, because in the next moment Jeremiah gave a short nod, and walked past us.

We walked in silence through the quickly darkening streets of the city for a few minutes. Eventually we reached an inn that was still located in the outer part of the city, the run down part of the city.

We stepped into the dining room of the inn that was a lot more bustling, and lively than the one Erick and I booked our rooms in. We moved to a table in the corner of the room, and Jeremiah took a seat with his back against the wall, making sure to keep a visible line to the door.

Erick sat with his back to the side-wall, also keeping the door in his sights, I couldn’t help but smile at the both of them, as I moved to sit with my back toward the door. I was a businessman after all, not some kind of military man that always had to have a line of sight toward the only entrance to a room.

"So, what do you want to talk to me about?" Jeremiah asked as soon as we sat down.

I had to give it to the man, he had a way of getting to the point, I could respect that.

"The takedown of that bastard you call a father," I answered simply, taking a sip of the ale the waiter had just set down in front of me.

Erick continued to calmly sip at his ale, not bothered by me speaking so loudly about treason at all, Jeremiah on the other hand sat up straight, looking around at our surroundings with wide eyes, checking to see if someone heard me.

"Are you crazy?!" He whisper-yelled. "If anyone that actually likes that man hears you they’ll have our heads, and my moth..."

Jeremiah drifted off, still looking around with frightened eyes. I could tell that his fear wasn’t for himself though.

"Your mother," I nodded. "Don’t worry about us being heard, I’ve cast a sound bubble around us, no one outside this table can hear anything we talk about."

"A sound bubble?" Jeremiah asked, looking at me with confusion.

Confusion I completely understood, it wasn’t like any of the standard elements could do something like that.

"It’s null-magic," Erick said from th side, still calmly sipping his drink.

"You have null-magic?" Jeremiah asked, the confusion now replaced by shock.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"And every other element as well," Erick again said from the side.

"Seriously man," I glared at him. "I thought we were supposed to keep that a secret? Everyone yells at me every time I use null-magic in public, but you just go and tell everyone we meet about all of my affinities with no consequences."

"Because your wives trust my intuition about who to trust with that secret a lot more than they trust you using all of your affinities all over the place." Erick answered with a smile.

"That’s absolute bullshit and you know it!" I exclaimed.

"I don’t think it is," Erick said calmly.

"Yeah well, no one cares what you think," I mumbled.

"Apparently your wives do," Erick smiled.

I swear the man was testing me. I could almost feel my blood boil. I had to find a way to get back at him, any way, so I might have made the cup of ale he was sipping on, explode into his face.

Was that petty?

Maybe it was.

But he had been asking for it.

I couldn’t help but laugh as he wiped the ale from his face with his hands, giving me a scowl that would probably have made weaker men tremble in their boots.

"Was that necessary?" He growled.

"Yes, yes it was," I laughed.

"I have no idea what’s going on here," Jeremiah mumbled from across the table, looking between me and Erick with confusion.

"Ah, sorry about that," I smiled at him. "Just some internal... politics."

"Can we get back to our discussions now?" Erick asked, still trying to dry his beard.

"Sure, sure," I smiled. "Now then, back to taking down the duke, are you in, or are you in?"

For a few moments Jeremiah once again just sat there looking at us in silence. I could see that he was tempted by the idea, but obviously, like we knew, he wouldn’t agree since Duke Charles still held his mother hostage.

"I can’t," Jeremiah finally said, shaking his head. "Even though I want to help you, he has my mother, and anything I do to piss him off would just cause her to suffer."

"That’s where Daniel comes in," Erick said, pointing a thumb toward me. "If you know where your mother is being held, it would be simple for him to get her out."

Immediately Jeremiah’s gaze snapped toward me.

"Really?" He asked.

"Really," I nodded with a smile.

"But how would you get her out?" Jeremiah asked. "She’s under constant guard."

I didn’t answer him with words, I simply cast my concealment again, completely disappearing from his sight.

"He can conceal more than one person like that easily," Erick said to the shocked Jeremiah with a smile.

"It’ll be easy for me to sneak into the place they’re holding your mother, and sneak out again with her," I said as I dropped my concealment again.

"And well, if he can’t sneak out again he could always just teleport away," Erick shrugged.

"Come on man!" I exclaimed. "Why don’t you just tell everyone all of my secrets while you’re at it?"

"You can use teleportation?!" Jeremiah exclaimed.

"Yes I can," I sighed.

"Then why don’t you just sneak into the palace, kill Charles, and then teleport away?" Jeremiah asked the question I knew he was going to ask, the question I had even asked myself a couple of times.

"Because death would be far too light a punishment for the man," I answered honestly. "And killing him would cause far more chaos than having him self-implode, and be replaced."

"What do you mean by that?" Jeremiah asked.

"Where I’m from, coups and forced regime changes through military actions and assassinations, have a way of becoming violent and chaotic," I said. "And in the end the civilians are the people who suffer the most."

"That... makes sense," Jeremiah finally nodded. "So what’s your plan?"

Once again my charming and completely innocent smile appeared.

"You’re smiling like that again," Erick mumbled.