Chapter 15: The Connection

Chapter 15: Chapter 15: The Connection

Allan wanted to doubt Amelia Arclight.

He sat in the carriage for several minutes replaying the conversation with Amelia Arclight over and over in his head. He scrutinized every word, every pause, and every smile she had given him.

Amelia was clever. The politically ambitious Arclight was always trying to find out more about me. Always trying to stay ahead of the game.

And Allan could easily believe that she would want to test him out in order to find out more about him. And he had believed her when she said that she wanted to use him in her plans.

But there was a problem.

Allan knew Amelia.

Not this version of her. If he closed his eyes, he would be transported back to a time in the game where Amelia Arclight had been nothing but a young woman with big plans.

The Amelia Arclight that Allan knew had sat across from him in the guild office outlining her ambitious plans for a future yet to be determined.

Allan was unable to equate the Amelia he knew in the game, a young and ambitious noblewoman, with the ruthless and cunning person in the present.

As he recalled their encounter in the guild, he was unable to shake off the knowledge that in the game, Amelia was never evil from the start but rather was driven to her eventual fall by the betrayal of those she trusted and the systemic breakdown of the world around her.

That was it. Amelia had never been evil from the start. I will leave her out of it then. But them...

"Emberwind."

The name of House Emberwind left his mouth as he stared out the window at the city.

Lanterns cast flickering shadows on the walls of houses. Late workers were hurrying home with their heads down. The steady creak of the wheels on uneven stones was familiar.

House Emberwind was a barony in its own right, but it was never as wealthy or powerful as the past Oakwood. Allan had a fair idea of how they’d built their fortune.

Oakwood had, after a certain amount of expansion, abandoned the trade in slaves, but not Emberwind. They were still active in the business of selling other humans and were becoming richer by the day.

The thought darkened his expression.

"If the knife belongs to Emberwind, and the bodies in the Hollow Root were killed by humans, then what the hell were they doing down there?" he muttered to himself.

There could be no reason for him to go charging around accusing nobles of crimes for which there was no evidence. Yet he handed over everything he knew to the Guild.

Maybe the girls will help me with more info. I just need to find the connection between Arclight and Emberwind, he thought as he finally reached his home.

When Allan stepped into the mansion, he noticed the change at once. He could smell it and feel it.

He stopped in the entrance hall and looked at the two women standing there.

Lira and Seris were both wearing maid outfits.

For a moment, Allan just blinked at the two women. He blinked once more and then looked up at the ceiling of the Manor as if to check if he had somehow been transported to a different house.

"Why?"

Seris folded her arms. "Hmm? Because we finally have enough money to afford proper clothes, Master." The black-and-white fabric of the uniform sat neatly on her frame, practical and clean.

"I understand that part. But why maid outfits? You both are my partners, not servants."

"Partners?" Lira repeated.

Lira’s eyes flashed with energy as she raised her hand. "I’m a servant. I always was, and always will be, Master Allan’s servant."

"You are not."

"I am!"

"You’re an adventurer. A powe..."

"I’m Master’s servant." She interjected again.

"Lira."

She smiled with clear pride. "Only Master’s servant."

Seris sighed. "Don’t encourage her."

"Do you two actually want to wear these?" he asked again, skeptical that either of them genuinely wanted to don the livery of a servant.

Seris shook his head while Lira nodded furiously. "Yes!"

Allan stared at them for a few more seconds. Freedom. They had been given freedom. But what did that actually mean? They weren’t slaves anymore.

As long as they were within the terms of their contracts, Allan wouldn’t stop them from doing whatever they wanted.

If they wanted to become adventurers, merchants, or even guards, that was fine by him. He wouldn’t stop them from leaving Oakwood altogether.

And if he was honest with himself, they looked good in them, really. The cute ribbon and the way it stitched tight on their chest, to their curves.

He shrugged. "Fine."

Seris raised an eyebrow. "That’s it? You won’t haggle like you always do?"

"What else am I supposed to say?"

"I thought you’d surely object."

"Fine. But I gave you freedom, and this is what you want to wear. Then you can wear it."

Lira’s smile brightened. "Master understands!"

"Unfortunately."

Seris rolled her eyes but a faint trace of a smile showed on the corner of her mouth.

"Now can we get back to the actual problem?"

"That being?"

Allan showed them the knife.

They entered the study and the scent of old paper and polished wood filled their lungs. Seris headed for a nearby shelf and pulled down a thick, old manual. Allan recognized the cover immediately and his expression must have changed because Seris followed his gaze.

"Oh."

Seris glanced at him. "You know what this is?"

"I have a pretty good idea."

It was an old business ledger, part of the trade that the Oakwood family used to be involved in: the trade of people.

Meanwhile, Lira walked across the room and went to the other side, tucking her fingers into the edge of her apron and beginning to smooth out the wrinkles in a gentle, almost absent-minded manner.

Allan took note of it but didn’t say much.

Seris carefully opened the thick, old manual and as she did, dust rose from the pages in a soft cloud. It would be a tedious task to find the information that they required, so Seris started to read through the old manual, page by page.

"Here."

Allan moved closer to the study. In front of him, Seris had opened the cover of the old business ledger. On the first page were the old transaction records. For each entry, there were names, numbers, locations, prices, and contracts of families of people.

His jaw tightened.

Seris pointed to several entries. "House Emberwind."

Allan leaned in. The name appeared again and again. Dates. Quantities. Routes. "They traded with Oakwood?"

"Several times."

She turned another page. The ink grew thinner. The entries fewer. "And then they stopped."

"Why?"

Seris shook her head. "There’s no reason written down."

Seris continued flipping through the pages until she had reached the later sections of the records. Here the old Oakwood Enterprise continued to grow and develop.

"This shows that after this time, Oakwood expanded rapidly. Our profits grew, the amount of contracts that we had grew, and our influence grew as well."

"And Emberwind stopped dealing with us?"

"Yes."

"Jealousy?"

"Maybe."

"Anger?"

"Maybe."

"Competition?"

"Possibly."

Seris closed the book with a soft thud. "But there’s no way to know."

This whole time, Lira had been silent. Allan could see her shoulders drawn inward and her eyes fixed on the floor.

"Lira?"

She did not answer.

"Lira."

Her fingers had wrapped tightly around the edge of her maid dress and had been creasing the fabric. "Master..."

Her voice was quieter than usual.

"What?"

"Master...the servants in the Arclight household..." Lira stuttered out the rest of the sentence. "Most of them came from Emberwind. I know that’s the connection you are looking for."

Allan’s expression had changed, and he was staring at Lira. The room seemed to have shrunk and he could feel the air grow thick. "The servants in the Arclight household...came from Emberwind, didn’t they?" he asked.

Lira stared at the floor. For a moment, Allan thought that she would not speak, but then, in a whisper, she said, "Because I remember."

The room went quiet.

Allan looked into Lira’s face, searching for an answer to a question he hadn’t thought to ask. But something about the way she looked up at him, about the name Emberwind, brought back something ancient and long buried in her. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

It was a memory, one that Lira wished she could forget. It was a fear that had long been buried, one that she didn’t want to dredge up again.

Whatever was going on in Lira’s mind, she didn’t want to share with him right now. Allowing her to disclose her secret would only do more damage in the long run.

He simply nodded. "Okay."

Lira looked up. Her eyes searched his face. "You don’t want to know?"

"Even though I am involved in your affairs, I don’t want to hear about it. I won’t force you to tell me anyway."

Her eyes softened. The tension in her shoulders eased a little.

Allan stretched his shoulders, his eyes closing in relief as the weight of the day’s occurrences sank into his muscles. "The guild can deal with the rest. I will relate everything that occurred here tonight and they can investigate Emberwind as necessary."

Seris nodded. "Probably wiser."

"Exactly." Allan forced a smile to his face and continued. "I don’t want to deal with noble schmucks stabbing each other in the back."

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

All three froze.

It was late.

While Allan made his way to a seat, Seris headed off toward the front of the Manor and Lira instinctively reached for the sword at her side.

Even though she was supposed to be a maid and was in fact wearing a maid’s outfit to work, the motion of reaching for the sword was one of smooth practice.

Another knock sounded, a little sharper this time.

Who the hell comes here this late?

Allan waved his hand, and a servant went and opened the door.

She appeared.

The woman outside Lord Oakwood’s house had dark hair pulled back in a bun and a small smile on her lips. Behind her, a tall man armed to the teeth looked down at her and did not seem to be interested in what she was doing.

The servant’s eyes widened. "Lady Arclight?"

"Good evening," Amelia said, smiling politely and letting the night air stir the edges of her cloak.

Lira just bowed before her, off-balance as she was standing in the doorway of the Manor.

Allan appeared a moment later. The instant he saw her, his eyebrows rose.

"Lady Arclight?"

She smiled. "Lord Oakwood."

"It’s...midnight."

"I know."

"And you’re standing outside my house. You know what could happen, right?"

"I know that too."

As she spoke, Allan glanced nervously at the guard who had followed her and then back at Amelia.

His presence was formal, almost ceremonial, and he didn’t look as if he were ready to pounce on her at a moment’s notice.

In other words, he was protecting her, but not as if he were worried that she was in danger of being assaulted. "This is really going to create rumors," he said, looking concerned.

Amelia’s smile widened just a fraction.

"Probably."

"...A young, unmarried woman visiting a man’s mansion at this hour?"

"Precisely."

"The entire city will be talking."

"Indeed..."

Allan stared at her, unsure of what to make of this new development.

Behind him, Seris appeared. Her narrowed eyes made her look mean. Lira stood beside her, her face equally disapproving, her maid uniform making her look even more official in her dislike of the situation.

Allan sighed. "Come in, then."

Amelia followed him into the house. The servants disappeared quickly and Allan and his guest were left standing in the middle of the main hall of the mansion.

It seemed quieter than usual and Allan could feel the weight of the late hour.

Amelia looked around with wide eyes, apparently taking in the newly renovated halls, all of the fresh wood and just-cleaned surfaces. "So this is Oakwood Manor."

"Don’t judge it too harshly, please. We are still rebuilding."

Amelia nodded. The polite expression remained on her face for a few moments and then it fell. "Probably we should talk privately," she said.

Allan looked at Seris and Lira. Seris understood at once.

"Come on, Lira."

"But..."

"Come."

Reluctantly, Lira followed Seris out of the room as she cast one last look over her shoulder at Allan. He stood alone in the hall.

Allan and Amelia entered one of the side rooms and the door closed behind them. It was a thick and sudden silence.

Amelia sat down on the couch. She looked different. She wasn’t a perfectly composed noblewoman anymore. She looked tired and her confident stance was gone. Instead, she slumped back into the sofa with her shoulders down.

The chair creaked beneath Allan’s weight as he sat down in front of her. "What happened?" he asked her.

Amelia stared at him with fear in her eyes. "Can I trust you?" she asked in a quieter than usual voice.

"Obviously not."

She blinked, and then suddenly a soft laugh was issued. It was a short laugh and seemed to be emitted almost by surprise. "You’re going to make a gentle woman cry with that kind of rudeness," she said, smiling, but still not quite fully.

"You’re not gentle. I know that, you know that..."

"That’s debatable. I can be a cute simple girl, time to time..."

"Tell me what’s wrong." He cut her off.

Amelia’s smile began to fade and she looked down at her hands.

"I’m being engaged."

Silence filled the room.

Allan’s expression froze. "What?"

"Engaged."

He leaned back in his chair. This was far too early. In the original game, Amelia Arclight had been engaged in the first scene of her downward spiral to another noblewoman for a marriage alliance to secure a portion of political power.

Unwilling to be married to some old codger of a noble and forced to live at Emberwind.

Did i cause this? Did saving Oakwood from a certain doom cause the rest of the timeline to shift? Was partnering with Amelia such a drastic change that the rest of the noble houses of the realm would act before i could?

Amelia suddenly slammed her fist against the table.

Bang!

Allan’s thoughts stopped.

"Gah!" Amelia suddenly slammed her fist against the table and Allan’s thoughts stopped in surprise. "It’s their fault!" Her face had grown red with furious color.

"The new Baron of Emberwind."

Allan’s eyes narrowed. "Emberwind?"

"Yes, those slaving cunts!" Her anger began to rise once again as she remembered her father’s newest business deals and who had been conducting most of the negotiations with him.

Allan stayed silent, letting her words settle.

Amelia looked at him, her eyes shiny with both anger and fear. "They are the ones who whispered in my father’s ear." She swallowed hard. "To marry me with another viscount family. The worst of the worst nobles, the one with the connections to the underworld."