Chapter 81 Eating Snow

  “Sir Solomon’s return message is as follows:” Alexander began. “‘A squad of marines will be dispatched to the Civil Servant Company’s local branch building for investigative purposes with the hopes of acquiring prisoners. We have just made contact with the Guild Master but unfortunately he is out of commission indefinitely due to complete mana exhaustion and mild blood loss. Unfortunately, there is no way to track down everyone who may or may not be corrupt. At this time the absolute maximum number of marines that I have total trust in is twelve with two of them in the infirmary. The rest were killed in action earlier today. We are working with a few adventurers to try and coordinate our limited movements with the vigilante group. If you would be able to travel to the Guard Captain’s last known location and apprehend him it would be greatly appreciated. We are and will continue to do our best at handling the larger situation but at present I do not have anyone that I can send to deal with a level fourteen warrior and an unknown.’” Alexander looked like he was running out of air by the time he was finished and had even taken to using a railing as support.

  In order to help the poor Court Mage, Isaac decided to make his reply as short as possible: “Situation is understood. Where is the target location?”

  Alexander sighed in relief at Isaac’s short reply and mentally relayed it to the Magistrate. “One hundred nineteen, Iron Boulevard. That is his home address.” Alexander then relayed back to Isaac and Lenna.

  Isaac nodded. “We’ll get right on it. It might take us a while to get there though.” Isaac told him.

  Alexander relayed the message again and then gave Isaac a nod. “He is happy with whatever help you can give him.” Alexander informed him and then let his spell fade. “I am going to need a little while,” Alexander had to take another moment to breathe. “before I can contact my Lord. I was not as recovered as I had hoped.”

  “Take your time.” Lenna told him. “It is not like the tower is going to teleport away in the meantime.”

  Alexander just blinked at her.

  “What?” Lenna wondered and then looked at Isaac. She immediately noticed him trying to suppress a grin. “Isaac? What’d I say?”

  “You might’ve just jinxed him.” He chuckled.

  Lenna’s eyes widened and she turned back to look at Alexander. “If that does come to pass… blame it on Isaac.” She told him with a point at her husband.

  “What?!” Isaac demanded. “How is it my fault?”

  “If I end up jinxing something, it is because of how much time I spend with you.” She replied with a nod of finality.

  Alexander cleared his throat before the two could continue going back and forth like an old married couple any longer. Both of them turned to look at him. “If I may, did you not just say that you would go somewhere, to apprehend someone?” He reminded them before they could distract each other further.

  “Two someones, if possible.” Shamesh added.

  Isaac almost scowled at Shamesh but immediately thought better of it. He could trust that most of his friends would be able to take a scowl of annoyance as a joke, in such a situation, but he was afraid that Shamesh would think it was real. Instead, Isaac just sighed. “Yeah, yeah.” He agreed and turned to go. “Let’s get a move on before anyone else decides to try and brave the snow.” He grumbled and led the way for Lenna and Shamesh.

  —

  Lenna’s first step into snow was odd. It compacted like soft ground but at a dozen times the scale. Under it was a hard layer of ice that made every step precarious if her aura’s flames were not burning brightly along the bottoms of her feet. The snow melted easily enough but at the same time it looked like it would stay there for another thousand years. The snow had fallen so perfectly and so uniformly across the tops of every building that it looked as though the city was always supposed to be buried in snow. The streets were pure sheets of white just as pure as Lua’s divine silver light.

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  Movement caught Lenna’s eye and she turned to see Isaac stuff a small handful of snow into his mouth. He froze as soon as he noticed her gaze. “Wham?” He asked her around a mouthful of the fluffy expression of winter. “Cold.” He immediately followed it up with, more to himself than to her.

  “Why are you eating it?” Lenna questioned him. “Does it taste any differently than normal water or ice?

  “A little.” Isaac replied as he shifted the ever shrinking bit of compact snow in his mouth from cheek to cheek to stave off the freezing cold. “I don’t know. Something about eating snow just feels different than drinking water or eating ice. It feels… it feels more nostalgic.”

  “Like it was something you used to do before you came here?” Lenna wondered.

  Isaac nodded. “I don’t know why but it feels like it’s been nostalgic for a long time, and I am just experiencing it for the first time in this life.” He tried to explain.

  Lenna opened her face plate and put a small amount of snow in her mouth. “It just tastes like plain water. Not quite as plain as Ocean in a Bottle water but more plain than clear fresh water.” She told him.

  “This is your first time seeing snow though, isn’t it?” Isaac asked her.

  “In this life.” She replied with a smirk. Elvish souls were wiped ‘clean’ and then reused after all.

  Isaac rolled his eyes. “I feel like only someone who ate snow as a kid can understand this feeling. Is there anything like that for you?” He wondered.

  Lenna hummed in thought for a moment. “I’m not sure. I’ll let you know if it ever happens.” She assured him and then began stomping through the snow once more. A moment later, she stopped and stared at Isaac again. He was standing on top of the snow next to her with a very self-satisfied grin on his face. “Can you do that for me?” She questioned him with a raised eyebrow.

  Isaac’s theatrics broke a moment later from an overpowering shiver. With a shaky gesture shadows formed around her boots. “Yes. I am freezing my fingers off right now. We need winter clothes.” He told her and rose her up to his height so she could walk on the snow. Even with his shadows, if Isaac stayed in place for too long, then he would leave fifty tiny impressions where his cleats still tried to dig into the snow.

  “Agreed.” Lenna replied. “Do we know where to get winter clothes?”

  “There is a fine clothing store three blocks down.” Isaac reminded her.

  “The one with the gaudy dresses?” Lenna asked incredulously.

  Isaac shook his head. “No, the one that specializes in military dress uniforms for the garrison and guards.” He countered. “If anyone has warm winter gear, it should be that one. Or maybe the normal high end tailor next to it.”

  “How did I not notice either of those?” Lenna wondered.

  “Those dresses were really gaudy.” Isaac offered. “It was kind of hard not to notice a dress that was at least thirty percent glass.”

  —

  Isaac and Lenna broke into both stores, starting with the military dress one and then the more normal one. The military tailor had wool socks that were so thick that Isaac could barely get his feet back into his boots after he put them on. It also had wool dress coats but none of them were black so Isaac moved on. The cloaks that the Altian military used were apparently more for keeping rain out than for warmth. It was just assumed that a soldier would have plenty of wool clothing that worked best when dry. The cloaks were made of the skin of some kind of water creature. It was thin and waterproof but Isaac could tell that it would offer almost no insulation against the cold. The duo left a gold coin on the counter for the socks and then moved on.

  The second shop had a lot more general ware for merchants and traveling nobles, Vespera was the largest port city in Altia after all. Isaac found a cloak that was black in a back corner of the store. It was made from a material that he had seen quite often. He grinned as he pulled the shadow-wolf fur cloak off of the display rack and put it on. He twirled the cloak around himself as he pulled it onto his shoulders and marveled at the black hide interior as he felt the incredibly soft shadow-wolf fur between his fingers.

  “It looks good on you.” Lenna told him and then looked past him at the price. “It costs a bit much for an unenchanted cloak though.”

  “It won’t be quite as warm as a regular wolf fur cloak, because our version never has to deal with snow, but it will do. Maybe I can get one with a warming enchantment in it at some point.” Isaac went on.

  “Should I put in a request for one such cloak with Madam Silverstrand?” Shamesh asked expectantly.

  “Oh yes, definitely.” Isaac replied. “Make sure it has all of the ways to fasten it.”

  “All of the ways?” Shamesh wondered.

  Isaac pointed out each of them that his new cloak had: “Buttonholes for pre-existing buttons on your gear, buttons on the inside just incase your gear only had slits for them and doesn’t have its own buttons, wool tabs where a brooch can be used to fasten it together, and tie strings.” Isaac went on. “This is like the equivalent of a dress with pockets.”

  “Some of my dresses have pockets.” Lenna reminded him with slight confusion on her face and in her voice.

  Isaac started to think about why it would be incredibly rare or unexpectedly pleasant for dresses to come with pockets but all he got for it was a headache. “Old world.” He groaned. “Anyway, did you find one for yourself?”

  “My wool one is plenty.” She told him.

  “Not if we stop to rest on the side of the road in the mountains on our way to the Fatebraker.” Isaac countered.

  Lenna shook her head. “I’ll wait until we are further north to look for one.” She replied. “Now, let’s get moving, after you pay the forty two gold for your non-magical cloak.”