Chapter 29: The Seventh God

Chapter 29: Chapter 29: The Seventh God

As Allan strolled up to the manor of Oakwood, the sun had already dipped below the line of hills in the west.

"Where’s Lady Elena?" Allan asked, not looking at anyone in particular.

"I don’t know," Seris answered, as Amelia too looked around.

She slowly removed her left hand from her glove, one finger at a time. Amelia’s personal butler rushed to her side, taking her gloves from her. "It won’t matter," she said quietly.

"What won’t matter?"

"From her reaction before, she sensed something in me, and from Lira. So of course she will try to use that. So House Emberwind will be dealt with; they have bothered us enough," Amelia said, gazing at the road to Emberwind state as if Lady Elena were standing there.

Allan rubbed the back of his neck. "When you say dealt with..."

"Politically." A hint of a smile, a small amount of relief seemed to settle on Amelia’s face as she turned to him.

The room finally relaxed; her tone suggested otherwise.

"Right," he said with a weak attempt at a smile. "Politics. No hands and lives lost. Just lots of money lost by lots of people."

False accusations of forbidden magic had been how House Emberwind tried to bring them down, but Allan accused them with it instead, so they would come for revenge. He looked at her, and he believed her. And that was worse than if she had been shaking with anger.

"Understood."

Seris closed the ledger. A bit relieved, she didn’t want Lira to be hanged or anything.

"Lira," Seris called, low, already turning toward her.

But her eyes had been on Allan ever since he walked into the room. There were tears on her face, but she made no move to wipe them away and Seris knew why, watching Allan and Amelia so close.

Did I do the right thing? she asked herself.

"Lira," Seris said again, her voice gentle.

"I am fine, Seris. No need to worry about it at all."

Seris held out his hand, and to everyone’s surprise, Lira took it. "Let’s go up for now," she said gently, leading her up the stairs, Allan following. "Hey girls, where are you going? Come sit somewhere here..."

Amelia spoke before he could dwell on it.

"Come with me for a minute, Allan," she said, pulling at his hand and taking him into another room. The sitting room door clicked shut behind them. It was several long moments before either of them spoke.

Amelia stood at the window, her back half-turned to him.

"Your brother," he said. "How is he?"

"Better. He stood this morning. With help. The physicians think he’ll recover fully." She didn’t turn around.

"That’s good news."

"Yes, but it changes everything."

He hadn’t seen her smile since she had arrived.

"What do you mean?"

Her posture had shifted, her shoulders relaxing in a way he hadn’t noticed had been tense before.

"Your father passed away, and you carried the burden, right?" Amelia began, and Allan nodded, but then she continued, "and with my brother not being able to run the house for a long time, I had to carry on the house for now."

"You’re stepping back from the house?"

"Not entirely," Amelia said. "I’ll still advise my brother. I’ll still be there to protect the house and all that pertains to it when it is threatened. However, I won’t have to give my life over entirely to the house now."

There was something in the way she said this that made him immediately alert to potential problems. He didn’t yet know what they were, but he sensed them.

"So what do you want to do instead?"

She looked up at him and didn’t answer right away.

"You," she said finally. She seemed to realize how that sounded and continued, "I mean, I’d like to stay here at Oakwood. If it doesn’t bother you or anything."

His mind went to work straight away, unable to see her visible red cheeks. Treaties and trade routes. Shipping contacts that Arclight had laid over the growing warehouse network of Oakwood. The sort of partnership that would have all the major merchant houses on the continent re-jigging their plans for the year. That was how he was wired.

Then she kept talking, and the reflex died on its own.

"Properly," she said.

"Properly?"

"We, we can make children," she added, quieter, as though the word cost her something to say aloud.

"Oh. OH." Allan finally figured it out.

He remained silent for a very long time. Throughout it all, he never broke eye contact with her and for another long time, nothing more was said.

"Children," Allan finally replied.

"Yes, Allan. Children."

He rubbed his face with both hands. Kids, he figured. What she was trying to say was marriage, kids, family, responsibilities.

He was surprised. Where he came from, it wouldn’t go straight like this. There were dates, then living together, being compatible, asking for her hand in marriage, and then family.

But here she was, already at the final stage. He was happy that Amelia thought of him like that, but again, setting that thought aside.

"I’m sorry..."

Her expression changed incrementally.

"Why?"

"Because it’s not the life I want." He looked at her, his eyes searching hers. "I don’t want to be a great noble. I don’t want to be the strongest adventurer on the continent either." There was a pause as he collected himself before continuing. "I want to become a god, Amelia."

She didn’t react to this. She looked at him for what felt like an interminable stretch of time, uncomprehending.

"God? Allan, you know what you just said is blasphemy, right? And even if you can, why?"

He hadn’t anticipated this response from her, and so he was unprepared for it as her gaze told him she believed him in some way.

"Because I know what’s coming," he explained slowly. "And if I do nothing with that knowledge, then that in itself will be a decision too."

He held her shoulder and made her sit with him, up close, both feeling each other’s warmth. Looking at those eyes, which seemed to adore him for some reason, he couldn’t help but tell it all.

"There’s a swarm of millions of people that will march through the eastern passes of the continent in three years’ time. They will cross two entire provinces on the maps of the world and wipe them clean of inhabitants. A little girl was born in a small fishing village. She’ll become something the game refers to as the Hollow Queen. I know exactly which choices will lead to her becoming that. I know things I have no business knowing. And I’m not going to do nothing with that knowledge."

It was worse than if she had argued with him.

"Because I don’t want to waste the rest of my life reacting to what the world can do to the people I care about. I want the power to change whatever it is the world is going to do to them."

"Enough to become a god?"

"Enough to become the Seventh. But let’s see if I can become the first."

The silence stretched until he assumed she would just run away and shut the door, but instead she slowly placed her hand around his own.

"Then I’ll help you."

"What?" Allan asked, his eyes wide open.

"I said then I’ll help you," she said with a small, tired smile. "You’re probably insane."

"Probably."

"But I don’t care."

Her hand felt cold in his. But he wasn’t going to let cold hands dissuade him. He held them firmly.

"I’ll climb with you."

The blood binding answered before he could even consider the implications. A warmth spread from his palm up through his chest. It wasn’t his. The feelings that slammed into him were hers, sharp as knives.

[Shared Blood Binding: Emotional Resonance Activated.]

And this, it turned out, is what the blood binding does: it turns up to maximum whatever emotions are already present in the people whose blood flows through each other’s veins.

"Allan?"

He couldn’t help but chuckle at that. For the first time since waking up in this world, the System had thrown something at him that actually scared him.

He had long since calculated how much gold was worth, and he could even put a price on risk, but until now he had never attempted to put a figure to the number of people he would have to sacrifice for his decisions to be worth anything.

He had no idea how to put a number on this.

"Come with me," he warned her, "and it won’t be a peaceful life."

"I know."

"You might regret it."

"I won’t."

Her other hand came up to his cheek. The careful mask slipped for a moment, and he saw a glimmer of what was really underneath.

"Promise me this, Allan. I don’t need you to promise me peace. Just promise me you won’t leave me behind. That’s it."

He leaned in until their foreheads touched.

"I won’t."

The binding pulsed again.

[Emotional Bond Deepened.]

[Investment Network Stability Increased.]

[Investment return rate: 500%]

[Fate Route Reconstruction Detected.]

[Amelia von Arclight: Fate Deviation 100%.]

[New Route Detected.]

[Dark blood saint > Crimson empress]

Huh?

[Would you like to cash in your investments?]

[Yes] or [No]

***

Across the manor, Seris sat in a small room with Lira, who was clutching a cup in her hands. Her eyes were red from crying, but she had stopped sobbing somewhere on the stairs as the low burn of a single lamp cast deep shadows in the space between them.

"You don’t have to pretend with me," Seris said.

Lira looked down at her reflection staring back up at her from the water. "I know," she said, answering Seris’s question.

"Then don’t."

Her fingers gripped the cup tightly, her knuckles turning white. "She loves him and maybe he loves her too..."

"Yes."

"But so do I."