"Right away Father" She turned back to glance at Aegean, her eyes softening before she turned and left the room.
"You" The dukes voice cut through the silence; he got up from the desk and walked towards the window his hands standing at parade rest.
Even through winter environment, the twin suns cast a shadow of him in the dimly lit room.
"What are your plans?" His voice gruff, lacking anything that resembled emotion, perhaps a trait from a family blessed by winter.
That was a good question, one that Aegeon wasn't so sure of himself. The only reason he was here, was a sense of duty to see things through with the people he rescued. Something called him in that forest, like a moth to a flame.
Talking about things calling him.
He awkwardly looked at the rock, the incessant buzzing stopping.
He silently prayed thanking his god.
Aegeon couldn't help but to think about the war, and as naive as it sounded he wanted to make sure it never happened, while he was currently leaning towards the Moon faction, at the end of the day they were all humans.
He wanted all of them united for the invasion that was coming.
"Your daughter guaranteed me rights to build a church"
The Duke continued to stare out of the window.
"A cathedral and a church then"
Duke Boreas turned back to look at Aegeon, "Thank you, I really mean it." His gaze visibly grew warmer, his lips were pressed into a thin line that curved upwards, his eyes slightly squished.
"Those golden pricks should thank you too," His eyes narrowed, his white teeth on display. It was the quickest display of a mood switch Aegeon had ever seen.
Duke Boreas scratched his cheek "You saved their lives..." He turned back to look outside, his hands neatly folded behind him once again.
Aegeon could tell he meant it, maybe the war wasn't so one sided as he heard, after all if the Sun god faction won so overwhelmingly, couldn't they have put up a better fight against the Demons? Was it a lie told by the Church of the Sun? Aegeon couldn't help but flinch as he remembered how devastated humanity was in Deminos Six, it was not an exaggeration to say that they were on the verge of extinction.
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How could the gods let this happen?
Not you
"These refuges you rescued, I spoke with my spymaster, they agreed to stay at your church, congratulations Saint you are the first foreign religion in the north. "He turned and offered him a handshake.
Aegeon stepped up and shook his hand "Saint?" He asked with raised eyebrows.
"The elf insisted you were the Saint of your church" The Dukes handshake was firm, one expected from an aristocrat.
Aegeon absentmindedly nodded "I guess I am" The Duke let go of his hand, going back to sit at his desk, grabbing a folder filled with paper and opening it.
"The shard" He looked at the piece of Moon before getting a quill and started filling out some documents. "You heard its voice, didn't you?"
Aegeon scratched his neck, his eyes widening.
The Duke didn't even bother to look at him, "It makes sense if you are a Saint, apologies" Yet his tone didn't really imply that he was apologetic. "If I knew, I would have moved the shard somewhere else" Duke Boreas, flipped the page and started filling out the next document.
He was slightly impressed by the work ethic of the Duke.
"The damned fool still thinks it has a shot of reviving." One wouldn't think he was talking about a dead god.
He stopped for a second and tapped his desk in a rhythm. "These damned fools asking for more gold." He muttered under his breath before angrily writing on the page.
He looked up and glanced at Aegeon "Mages? Am I right?" Aegeon looked at him his head slightly tilted.
Isn't your daughter a mage?
The duke shook his head and got back to work. Of course, Aegeon was starting to understand that the Boreas family was a knight family. To cut the moon with just a sword, one would have to be a Sword Saint.
"Anyways, with that out of the way, my daughter obviously likes you, in what way I'm not quite sure yet, but she intends to keep you here, now when I was your age I was ripping the wings off of dragons, slaying cultists and adventuring across the world" He turned the page.
He clicked his tongue "Greedy scum" He crossed out some things, before turning to the next page.
"Why am I telling you this?" He looked up at Aegeon as he asked the rhetorical question, his cold blue eyes that reminded him of winter pierced through him.
"The Church and the Cathedral is not your reward, I'll take you through our family vault choose something you want and be on your way out of this duchy."
Ouch, it sounded like the duke was kicking him out
"Don't look at me like that" He backed off, rubbing his cheek.
"I can tell in your eyes you have unfinished business in that forest, and you don't look like the type of person to be tied down" His eyes wandered to his chest" I mean for Selene's sake, you aren't even wearing a shirt to meet a Grand Duke" He started to laugh, his nose scrunching up.
Aegeon awkwardly rubbed his head, a blush forming on his face.
"But you seem like a good kid" He stopped laughing, "So finish your business, come back to my domain and we will talk about your situation with my daughter then."
"In normal circumstances I would tell you to go and talk with my daughter before you leave, but she would want to go with you, and while I know she can protect herself" His focus went back to the documents ,"I can't afford to be distracted in this war against the Cult, not with my vassals breathing down my neck asking for war against those Golden Pricks" He grabbed the bridge of his nose.
"So go talk with your people, and discreetly come back here for your reward, and I'll have some knights escort you back to that cursed forest."
Isabellas safety was not an issue, but it wasn't like he can argue that with her father, after all once he died, he'd be forced to see her again and explain why he ditched her. How would he even explain?
Hey grand duke every time I die the world resets to when I first came back.
Aegeon would be grateful if that didn't result in him being dissected by his mages or priests.
He shivered imagining it.
"Okay" Aegeon, turned to leave.