Death Frost | Deathsworn #2

Chapter 66 ❆ Greed

I went to Kaiser's bar slash restaurant carrying the harp with me. Having confirmed some things, I was more confident in this agreement I made. I did not doubt whether I would be cheated—especially since the mistresses had directly vouched for the characters of both father and son.

However, I felt that I still needed to go, at the very least. It would help to actually meet the person I was supposed to fight against in six years. Also, I needed to give some form of guarantee towards the family. Just in case the product was defective. Who'd have such good service from anyone but me?

Of course, I knew the Angel's strings were the legit stuff and it was almost impossible to go wrong. One could never spot anything fake from the House of Oblivion either. However, I felt the need to be present—mostly to look after the harp Mistress Marian has entrusted to me. It didn't feel right to just leave it in a stranger's hands, whether they had the recommendation of the mistresses or not.

The rest were just my excuses.

"Evyionne, finally here!" Kaiser seemed to have been anxiously waiting. He came over as soon as I opened the door.

From my impression, this restaurant was never the busy type. And for all the times I came by, it was always only moderately full. I noticed a bit more people this hour though, probably because it was lunch time.

"Have you eaten yet? I'll have the meal ready at once."

"No. It's okay," I said, nodding over to Maun. "We just ate over at our family's house. We're really not hungry at the moment, quite the opposite."

"Then how about something to drink to help with your digestion?" he offered.

"Depends if it's to my taste. Not usually the type to drink, although I get pushed on a lot of teas," I said. "Although Maun might like it."

Maun shook his head.

"Looks like doesn't either," I said.

I was not a tea-drinker, although my mistresses hd instilled that habit in me while growing up. Teas tasted great and were refreshing if done right. Otherwise, the teabags in my last life ruined much of it for me. Maybe it was just that I didn't know how to make it, since it seemed particularly demanding on precision—which I could care less about in such things.

We made our way into Kaiser's office where a taller, older man sat waiting.

Kaiser seemed surprised to see him. "Uncle? How come you're here? You didn't tell me you were coming today!"

"I just dropped by," the man replied, standing up as he strode over. "I heard from Kaiser that you were going to lend us your instrument to help cure my sister." He held out his hand towards me. "The name's Herrin."

"Oh...yes...Nice to meet you," I said, shaking his hand. "I'm Evyionne."

He resembled Kaiser, with the breezy curls and everything. In fact, he was a literal grown-up version. He maintained a polite distance and tone, but his eyes were sharp and piercing.

"How did you secure so many of these strings? There can barely be one strand successfully cultivated every five to ten years and you actually have a harp full," he said. "We did not have much hope that we'd find what we needed and you come out so miraculously."

"I didn't know I was a miracle, but I would suppose it's fate, and we've been brought together for a purpose," I said, ignoring his first question.

"I hope that is the case."

Although the man hid it quite well, his mild distrust did not escape my eyes.

"Kaiser is not in the appropriate age to negotiate with you for matters concerning things like this, especially when we heard your request in exchange for your help," he told me as he led us further into the room. "And I didn't expect...to find you so young."