Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 82 Can I See?

Isaac took the extended letter and turned it over. It was sealed with a red wax seal with the initials ‘S.A.’ in the middle of a crown of flowers. Isaac’s face went from worried to curious. He broke the seal and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. “Okay I need help.” Isaac eventually said to Lenna. “When is this?” He asked and pointed at a part of the letter specifying when Sera Arbencroft was expecting them for tea.

“Eight days from now at ten bells.” Lenna replied after reading it. The letter was a formal invitation to tea hosted by the esteemed Duchess Serentia Von Arbencroft.

Isaac handed Lenna the letter and turned to Celeste. “You know Sera right?” He asked.

“Yes. I wouldn’t say we are very close though. She’s an old friend’s wife so it’s usually best to stay on her good side.” Celeste answered with a smile.

“Do we just show up? Do we bring something? I’m going to be honest, I didn’t think she would actually invite us for tea after she found out about the guards.” Isaac confessed. He had completely put the tea party out of his mind even after they had picked up the clothes.

Celeste laughed warmly. “No, no dear. Just bring yourself but make a good show of it. What you do on your way there will reflect on her so be nice but try to exude as much wealth and power as you can.” She explained and then thought for a moment. “Maybe be careful with the power on second thought.”

Isaac nodded. “Alright. How?” He was at a complete loss. He basically was improvising everything or coming up with plans based on what he understood of mortal psychology. Matters of court were completely different from his usual antics and he was completely out of his depth. He usually defaulted to over the top, friendly, with a heavy dose of barely concealed violence but he wasn’t sure if that was the way to go in this case.

Celeste laughed again. “I thought you were a noble?”

Isaac leaned in and whispered after looking around and making sure no one was within ear shot. “I’m going to level with you Celeste, I’m missing a lot of memories.” He whispered seriously.

Celeste started. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to process what he had just said and all the stories she had heard since he had arrived. “I think… that makes sense.” She eventually settled on.

“So… court help?” Isaac asked again.

“Ah yes.” Celeste said and shook her head to get focused back on the task at hand. “Usually you would wear your most expensive jewelry and be escorted by your most handsome guards. Basically try to show off as much as you can without making a fool of yourself.”

“What about magically?” Isaac asked. That he had plenty of but he wasn’t sure how well that would go over with everyone else involved, especially the guard.

“Sometimes.” Celeste replied. “One time a noble wizard cast flight on him and two of his guards. They walked a foot off the ground until they reached the host’s front door.”

Isaac looked around. There were still a few people in Celeste’s tavern area. “Me showing off might put some people on edge.” Isaac replied quietly.

“Maybe tone it down a bit then hun.” Celeste advised. “Show off a little magic that you can comfortably sustain the entire walk there. It should be about a fifteen minute walk.”

Isaac closed his eyes and focused his mana. He released some shadow mana out of his body almost everywhere that couldn’t normally be seen. After he had steadied the mana leakage he opened his eyes and stepped back. Black fog was left in his wake that soon fully dispersed back into the ambient mana. “Like this?” Isaac asked.

Celeste’s eyes were wide. She usually had a hard time feeling Isaac’s mana at all but now she realized it was because the ambient mana poured through him so fast that he barely interfered with it. “Arcane secrets, be laid bare before me.” Celeste spoke and made a ‘V’ shape with her index and middle finger. She put the ‘V’ up to her eye and looked through it. A red semi transparent screen appeared between her fingers.

She looked at Isaac and her eyes just kept getting wider. She was seeing the mana instead of only sensing it like normal. The spell also told her how much mana was being used, which was great for understanding enchantment and hostile spell casting, and it was low but the constant draw would empty her own mana pool in a few minutes. What really shocked her wasn’t the amount of mana but the fact that it was raw. There was no spell array, just Isaac’s pure mana manipulation.

“Celeste?” Isaac asked with a raised eyebrow. “How’s this?”

“Perfect if you can keep that up for the whole walk there.” She said and finally blinked a few times.

“That won’t be a problem. This is hardly a drain but if I turn it up anymore it’ll hide the fancy clothes and give children nightmares.” He answered casually with a wave.

Celeste dropped her hand. “Can I see?”

Isaac chuckled. He looked around and nodded towards the other patrons. “Not here.” He replied.

Celeste nodded. “Some other time then?”

Isaac smirked. “Sure.” He looked toward the kitchen. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Oh yes.” Celeste said again, getting herself back to business. “We just got some eggs from a neighboring village. We have ham and eggs today.”

“That sounds lovely.” Isaac told her with a smile.

“Oh, before I forget again.” Celeste said and reached under the bar a second time. She pulled up a wooden box a few inches tall, half a foot deep, and a foot wide. She set it on the bar. “This came with the letter.”

Isaac opened the box curiously. Inside was a small note that read. ‘For Lenna so she can get rid of that awful vest.’ Isaac smirked upon reading it. Set in violet silk padding was a pair of earrings, a pendant, and two bracelets. All of it was adorned with the Altia crest of a bird of prey flying over and in front of a mountain.

Lenna looked at them for a long moment. The one bracelet was large enough to go on her wrist over her armor and was made of steel. The rest of the jewelry was made of silver. She could feel a faint amount of magic coming from the steel bracelet. She reached out and turned it over. Sure enough on the back was an enchantment rune.

Celeste eyed it. “Durability I think.” She said.

Lenna nodded in agreement. “I think so as well.” She grabbed it and put it on. At least she tried to. Her armored hands were not dexterous enough to do the tiny clasp.

“Here.” Isaac said after a moment of her struggling. He reached over and clasped it for her. “Give me the vest and I’ll stash it for now.”

Lenna took the vest off and handed it to him. Isaac folded it a few times until it was small enough that only Celeste could see what he was about to do with it. He covered it in shadows and it disappeared into his Inventory that he had moved to accept its new occupant. The shadows served to hide what exactly had happened from Celeste’s mana senses. He had started to catch on that those with mana senses would react a lot more animatedly to his Inventory than those without them.

“My ears aren’t pierced.” Lenna said with a frown while looking at the set of earrings.

Celeste tore her eyes off of Isaac and looked at Lenna with a smile. “Don’t worry dear. You aren’t supposed to wear them all at once. There are multiple so you can pick which one you want to wear. Options are almost always good.” She said and winked at her then flicked her eyes towards Isaac quickly enough that Isaac didn’t see.

“That’s good.” Lenna replied and ignored Celeste’s prod.

“We have coin now.” Isaac said like it was a revelation. “Let’s go.” He told Lenna. He took one step away from the bar then turned around at the sound of his own stomach grumbling. “After breakfast.”