Born From A Divine Gamble

"Good day and welcome in Tiberius"s shop!" She said excitedly when they entered. "Galana? It"s been a while since I last saw you. What can I do for you both."

"Hi Palonia, that guy is the young master Muracier, he came to buy a weapon I think. He doesn"t speak the common tongue so I"m here to translate."

"Muracier? I haven"t heard that in a long time. And you said he doesn"t speak our language? That"s a bit odd."

"I think so as well but I made sure of it already, he really doesn"t understand a thing."

"All right, I"ll rely on you then. Still, good thing you are here, or I might have took him for an ordinary guy because of how he is dressed."

Galana knew exactly what she meant since she had made that very mistake herself. She answered with a forced smile and Palonia got to the main subject.

"How are your parents doing?"

That wasn"t supposed to be the main subject! She didn"t expect that at all. She didn"t really want to talk about it so she just showed her bracelet to Palonia to answer the question.

"Oh... I"m sorry, do you think you can manage on your own? Do you need my help?"

"I"m taking care of the book store, that should be enough with a little bit of luck."

"You sure?"

Galana nodded, more to convince herself than Palonia.

"Alright, if you say so. Back to business, I would like to see his hunting card first to make sure I can actually sell anything to him."

She transmitted the message to Emp who showed them his hunting card. Galana had not seen it yet and her eyes were quickly attracted to the small section above the hunting list itself. There, she could see it, in the t.i.tles section, "s.p.a.ce"s blessing" was written on his card! It meant that at least one part of his story was true. But why lie on the number of G.o.ds he had met?

Normally, if someone failed one of those tests, they would keep it secret until their death, too ashamed to reveal to anyone how they had let such an opportunity slip between their fingers. Emp, him, was pretending to have seen five, saying out loud he had missed four of those seemed insane to her.

She came back out of her own wondering when she heard Palonia"s voice, nodding while looking at the card.

"I can barely believe it, you are right, he really is a Muracier, that is surprising. And I confirm that he has at least one victory under his belt, I am willing to trade with him. What does he want exactly and how much is he willing to pay? Usually, the n.o.bles just want a fancy or flamboyant sword to impress their peers. I"m willing to bet he wants a sword too but since I knew some Muraciers long ago, I"m sure it"s going to be a little more special."

Galana was surprised to hear that she knew some of them but since she was working, it wasn"t the time to ask her about it. As for what he wanted, she was pretty sure he would just ask for a pretty and expensive sword like the rest but still asked him just to be sure. The answer surprised the both of them.

"I would like a war hammer, a one handed sword, a spear, a bow, a s.h.i.+eld and an armor light enough to travel. I am willing to pay as much as I need to."

"Idiot, what are you even going to do with all that!"

She couldn"t believe what she had just heard.

"The hammer is the most important but the sword can be practical as well, the spear is just there for a very specific kind of situation and the bow is just for training, I don"t need a fancy one."

Who walks around with that many weapons on himself?

"What did he say? All I understood was hammer." Asked Palonia, leaning over her shoulder.

"He said he wants a hammer, that"s the main thing, aside from that, he also wants a sword because he says it"s practical, a spear I don"t really know why, a bow for training, a s.h.i.+eld and an armor to travel. He is ready to put down whatever it will take to buy all that and trust me, he has the money, he sold big last night at the guild."

"Hahaha! I knew this would be interesting! As expected of one of those weapon loving Muraciers! Follow me, the hammers are at the back over there. I have small ones and heavy ones, maces, clubs and picks stored with them. I even have some here made out of metals and alloys so rare there may only be less then ten in the whole empire. The best would be for him to try to wield them one by one until he finds one that suits him."

Galana relayed the message to him and the young Muracier started lifting hammers one by one. Sometimes, they were to heavy which didn"t surprise either Galana nor Palonia and sometimes, he barely lifted them from the ground before putting them back down with a disappointed look. While he was experimenting, Galana asked him why he wanted a hammer. After all, that was very unlike the n.o.bles she knew.

"Why a hammer instead of a sword? Do the Muracier have a secret hammer technique?"

"No, at least, I do not think so. It is more because of what I learned on my way here."

"What is it?"

Galana was curious to know what he could possibly have learned that would have convinced him to go for a hammer instead of the much more commonly used sword. After all, it had to be the most used on the continent for a reason.

"When I fought against the woodland horror, I would have died if I had used a sword. It"s skull was it"s only weak point but you have seen it in the auction yesterday right? A foot thick stone at least, impossible to break with a blade or a spear. If I did not have the right tool, I would have died. This is why I need both a hammer and a sword, only having one of them could lead me to my death."

"Wouldn"t a sword sharp enough to cut even stone do the job?"

"That would be a great blade if it was able to cut into stone as thick a wall without getting stuck or chipped. I am sure it does exist but I am also sure it would cost a fortune. Why bother with it since I can get the same result with a good hammer. Speaking of a good hammer, this one has a great weight."

In the end, he was just a cheapskate who wanted to pay less. He should have said that from the start. She was pretty sure the rest was just random nonsense. While Emp tested out a hammer made out of a big tooth, Palonia described it to her. She had seen his interest in the way he held it.

"I almost can"t believe he likes that one. It"s a hammer made out of the tooth of a thunder-chew. We call them that because when they close their giant jaws, you can hear them from miles away, as if lightning had fell just besides you. They are very uncommon and very scary, I have seen some men p.i.s.s themselves when hearing one. Their teeth are worth a small fortune and so, this hammer does as well. There are no enchantments on it but it doesn"t need any, just the tooth alone is almost unbreakable. It"s why it"s so valuable, you can use the hammer on anything you want without ever being scared of cracking it. I"m surprised though that a guy of his height can lift it up, he is stronger than I thought."

Galana translated the gist of it and the n.o.ble confirmed he would buy it. Since his list was so long, she decided to regain some of the points she had lost at the inn by asking to carry the hammer for him while he was shopping for the rest. She had made so many mistakes already, she needed to be of some use if she wanted to be paid.

"You want me to hold it for you while you check the swords?"

"I thought you said you weren"t a servant?"

"The one time I try to be nice!"

Now he was using her own rules against her. May he be cursed thirteen times over!

"Fine, but are you really sure you can hold it?"

He was looking at her as if he was strongly doubting her ability to hold it for him which frustrated her a lot. When her parents were still alive, when they were still death-seekers, she had often helped them to take care of their equipment.

Back then, she had known a lot of death-seekers, that was how she had met Palonia. She had often played around with their things, weapons and all. She had seen a lot of super heavy things and some dangerous things as well. This one didn"t seem heavy at all, more so if himself was able to lift it.

"If you are able to hold it, there"s no reason I wouldn"t be able to as well."

And so he placed the hammer in her hands like she had asked but when he came to remove them, she was unable to keep it up. How could this thing be so heavy! She felt like she was trying to lift Palonia up! Emp made it go up and down just to mock her as she desperately tried to keep it in the air. She couldn"t understand what was happening. Palonia just started laughing beside her.

"What the f.u.c.k!" yelled Galana out of frustration.

Her friend told her why.

"It isn"t for nothing that I found it surprising that he could lift it. That thing is weighting seventy kilograms! There isn"t a lot of people who can just use that in combat."

But he wasn"t tall nor muscled! He just looked like a normal boy a little younger than her. How was this possible?

"How can you be so strong?"

"I am not that strong though."

He took back the hammer and gave it to Palonia who accepted it with one hand and placed it on her shoulder without difficulty.

"See? I"m far from strong, she is much more powerful than me."

But she is renowned for her strength! Screamed Galana in her head. She almost said it out loud but managed to keep it to herself. It wasn"t worth it with this idiot and she would just get herself further down. They went over to the swords instead and Galana was left without any true answer for his abnormal strength.

With how he talked, it did not take her a long time to understand that he wanted a sword mainly because the school expected him to have one.

That school disgusted her. They took people with too much money, only n.o.bles sons and daughters then, and they crammed them all into a huge and luxurious building where they led an extravagant life and learned obscure things that were hard to find elsewhere. In her opinion, the only real use of that thing was to prove the n.o.bles superiority over ordinary people, the money requested to enter was only there as an excuse to stop the really talented people of entering there to shame the oh so poor n.o.bles.

In short, she understood he only needed a sword for that sick place.

"If you only want a sword to look good in that school of yours, why take all this time to choose? Just pick a pretty one and be done with it."

"No, I am pretty sure I will use the one I bought a lot. Choosing it for its appearance alone would be dumb."

"What are we looking for then?"

"I want something light and fast to cover all the hammer cannot do. I want a well balanced long sword that will leave my left hand empty to use anything else. Aside from that, I want it to be sharp, durable and of good quality of course."

"Didn"t you just describe all swords? What else could you possibly want from a sword?"

Wasn"t a sword just a piece of sharp metal? Once, her father had tried to explain to her that his weapon was very important for him like all warriors. To be able to do his work correctly, he needed to know every details of his weapon perfectly and choose it very carefully.

Emp seemed to follow this principle and explained to her in details how each sword variation present here worked and why he didn"t want them. Not only that but Palonia often told her some more details from the side. She felt like she was back with all the death-seekers with her parents beside her teaching her all they knew about their job and telling her all about their adventures. She felt it was so long ago even though it had only been a little more than a year ago.

All that knowledge on different sword types wouldn"t be of any use to her anymore because of her circ.u.mstances but, she couldn"t help but be interested. The only annoying part was that all those interesting tidbits came from one of the n.o.bles she hated so much.

Time went by quicker than she noticed and when he finally chose the sword he wanted, they had already been in the shop for a very long time. He had taken a pair of savage looking swords.

"I can"t believe it! That"s crazy!" Said Palonia.

"What is it?"

"Those too were made by my sister in law."

"Is it that crazy?"

Galana knew that her sister was a very talented smith so it did not seem that extraordinary to her that someone who had some knowledge about weapons would choose something she had made.

"It is!" Insisted Palonia. "You just don"t know the full story. I never told you before because it"s an old story but she was betrothed to a Muracier once."

"What!" Galana was flabbergasted.

"Yes, she had given the guy an offering of Holia in the form of a pair of swords named night and day for him and the great general to use. He accepted it but disappeared before they could be wed."

"What do you mean disappeared?"

Had he ran away with the gift? Wondered Galana. She expected that much from an untrustworthy n.o.ble.

"He was called for a battle but never came back." Explained Palonia, still a bit saddened by the story. "Marcy tried everything to find him because she was so sure he wouldn"t betray her like that but never found out in the end. She asked around all the way to the soldiers who also went there, sent letters to the great general himself and other officers she knew because of Chijou but no one ever gave her a clear answer. I just a.s.sumed he was dead after a while."

Galana was very surprised to hear such a story, it was just like what the small guy told her the day before. She was also surprised by the fact no one told them he was dead. She was about to say it but decided against it at the last second in a sudden stroke of panic. Why did no one know the great general was gone? They had not said anything to anyone and even hid the death of his brother. The empire really did not want anyone to notice. Was it a state secret? If this was the case, it meant that this guy went around revealing state secrets to however asked for them! She would get in so much more trouble if the truth escaped her mouth.

"Can you believe that if everything went like Marcy hoped, I would actually be the aunt of this guy along with her. He comes here in my shop of all places and buys three weapons made by my sister. What are the odds? I"m still happy those will end up in the hands of a Muracier though. Other n.o.bles would never buy something looking like that anyway." She said to regain her spirit.

Meanwhile, Galana was thinking about how a person she knew so well almost became both sister and aunt of a bunch of n.o.bles. Was this not scary? She did not know how to feel between the hate she felt for n.o.bles and the fact that the person in front of her, who she trusted more than most, was once almost part of them.

"The price of the pair his forty-four gold crowns."

The price brought Galana back from her thoughts. Forty-four! That was way too pricey for just a secondary weapon. Both of the swords were each worth more than the hammer he chose as a main weapon! The guy didn"t seem to mind at all but this was nonsensical to her. Shouldn"t the main weapon be more valuable than the spares? Palonia didn"t waste as much time as Galana on the price and was already on the case of the armor.

"Since he already chose the thunder-chew tooth and the Fire and Light pair, I have the perfect armor for him. That armor was made by my sister in law too."

"It looks like the clothes of a barbarian."

No n.o.bles in their right mind would accept to wear that, at least none from the Steelwood empire. It gave the impression the one wearing it was leading a horde of savage beasts. When big battles of old were told on the public square or in plays, cursed-bloods chieftains were almost always depicted wearing that kind of things.

"If you really wear that, you will look even more of an idiot than you already look."

She had no choice but to warn him, everyone would think he was a death-seeker, at best.

"I don"t really want to look like an idiot in town but outside, monsters don"t care about what I"m wearing. I would rather stay alive than be well dressed. Still, I would like to ask her, is it effective as an armor?"

Still crazy, he was still crazy. Palonia then proceeded to tell them all the details of the armor and even made a demonstration. Galana had to admit it seemed to be pretty good. He couldn"t possibly get hurt with that on his back. What a shame.

He bought that and a bunch of other smaller things including a spear, a huge s.h.i.+eld and a dagger he added at the last second. After he had paid Palonia, he put it all in his bag before he presented the dagger to her.

"Here, I give it to you."

"Why are you giving it to me?"

"I noticed you did not have any weapon on you."

"So? What does it matter? Who is it in any way related to you?"

"What will you do if you ever get attacked and you do not even have a weapon?"

"Why would I be attacked! We are in Red-water here not in your mountains!"

That was just silly, was he obsessed by the possibility of people getting attacked in town? He had probably been robbed once or twice before.

"That does not mean anything. That it never happened to you before doesn"t mean it is never going to happen in the future. Even if you have been very lucky until now and never got soaked by the rain in your entire life, there is nothing to guarantee you that the sun will s.h.i.+ne upon you until your death."

"Argh, you are so annoying, you even sound like my father now! Why does it even matter to you if I get killed or not! What is it you expect to get in exchange for that d.a.m.n dagger?"

She hated when other people tried to meddle in her business, she hated being indebted, she hated stupidity and she hated n.o.bles. He was the combination of the four right now. By the love of all G.o.ds! Thought Galana. How could someone ever be so annoying and bull headed! Not only that but meddling too! Could he not just leave her in peace?

"I would be really displeased if one of the only people I can talk to just died because they were too much of an idiot to just take a cheap dagger with them." He said, seemingly as displeased as herself. "Can"t you see it didn"t even cost me anything? Asking for something in exchange would be nonsense. I find it really annoying to see you walk around unarmed. No one should ever let his own security in the hands of others. If misfortune ever strikes you and you do nothing just because you think the guards or whoever else will be there for you, you won"t even have the time to regret it. If you do not even try to protect yourself, you lose the right to complain no one is trying to help you because even yourself didn"t lift a finger, why should the others do? So just take it and stop arguing against me for nothing."

Galana was enraged but had no idea how to answer. He shoved the dagger into her hands and left the shop without leaving her any time to answer. While Galana was sending out a stream of curses after him, Palonia talked to her in high spirits.

"He really is a strange lad, he has a blessing and he"s got a magic bag too, I like him. He"s like the other Muraciers, less of an idiot than the usual n.o.bles that come here." Galana thought otherwise, he was much more of an idiot than the rest of the n.o.bles. Despite the fact that she hated n.o.bles, she had to admit that they, at least, usually made sense.

"I think it"s rea.s.suring that he is the one who has your debt."

"It"s not him." Denied Galana.

"No? Who then?"

"Balpoisson." She said, simply. There was no need to precise which one.

Palonia made a disgusted face.

"Pay that debt quickly before that mound of fat gets his greasy hands on you."

"I know that! What do you think I"m doing?"

"You said that this guy here has a lot of money no? I"m pretty sure he is the kind of guy who would help you out if you asked. If he his like his uncle Chijou, he must have a big heart. Or at least, you could have him buy back the debt from Balpoisson."

Galana answered with an annoyed pout and pa.s.sed the door to escape that displeasing conversation. As if she would ask another n.o.ble for help. She would only be moving the problem around without actually fixing it.

"You"re running after trouble Galana! You have to ask if you need help!"

Galana ignored her and joined back up with Emp.