The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 297: Interlude - The Golden Man

Chapter 297: Interlude - The Golden Man

Tohn Goldman was a man on edge.

For coming home alive after encountering the deadly Ghostheart, he had the approval of his father.

For coming home without half the gold paid to the Syndicate by Norneau, he had been made the scapegoat of the five families that handled the slave trade for world tree Amrita... and that was before he’d delivered Ghostheart’s message. Afterward... Well, he felt lucky his dealings were groundside instead of amongst the mighty branches of the world tree.

His artisans had built many of the bridges that spanned between branches, but he wouldn’t trust a single foot of those bridges should he set foot in the crown city now...

Anyone of wealth would have safeguards against falling. Be they artifice wings purchased from Heaven’s embassy, or floatstones crafted from lesser mana stones... And for everyone else, there were the mana nets that would deploy so long as they were charged, and they were always charged.

Which was why, when he heard that Desrig Nebima and her entire retinue had fallen from the heights - identified only by the matron’s signet ring - his only reaction was to close his eyes for a long , long time, regretting that he’d allowed his father to talk him out of sending his family away. The only ways Desrig and her retainers could have truly fallen were if they had gone to the very edges of a branch and leaped, far from any of the magic safety nets, or if they were already dead on the way down.

"We are the Goldman family. If the King knows what’s good for his kingdom, he’ll protect us." His father replied when he suggested that it might have been Ghostheart, before departing for the palace.

Tohn half expected his father to disappear, but the nearly century-old mage had his tricks, and he’d gone and come back from the palace quickly, with a small retinue of soldiers, who were now billeting all over the manor and patrolling the orchards.

The night after the soldiers arrived, Tohn’s lovemaking with his wife was fierce enough that he was sure he had another child on the way, but even afterward the specter of the demon’s promise would not release its hold on him...

"Acatha, I need you to take Bosra and Harvest to your mother’s place. You’ll pack tomorrow." It was about an hour after he’d returned to bed from a quick bath with his wife, and he’d stayed up smoking right next to her.

"Mmm... why?" The sable-haired beauty asked, half asleep.

"Just do it, woman. I’ll give you some gold for the trip and hire some adventurers." With the countryside in Heavenswar conditions, there would be demons and bandits about. A small group would travel faster, and perhaps a single wagon would go unnoticed, especially if he could find someone with a decently sized dimensional storage capacity...

Stepping out of bed, he donned some pants and went to the corner to sit at his desk, writing out orders, promissory notes, and everything his wife and children would need to travel, before stamping all of them with his family’s Syndicate crest in golden wax. Acatha was already asleep by the time he finished.

Then Tohn did something he never did.

He got up and went to his father’s office.

Even though it was past midnight, Reginald Goldman was not a man who slept until it was on his terms. And this was a night when Tohn’s father had a lot of arrangements to make...

"I thought you’d have rutted yourself into a coma by now, given you ignored the servant I sent for you," Tohn’s father said.

The way the glass behind his father shimmered slightly, Tohn knew his father had multiple layers of shields etched into them and the walls at his back. The fact the house mage, Genfry, was also up and alert in the corner of the room told Tohn that perhaps his father was finally allowing some sense to reign.

"I did not even hear a knock," Tohn confessed.

"Whatever the case, we have preparations to make for Desrig’s funeral tomorrow."

"Father, I don’t think we should go-"

"We are going. If the other families see us running for the hills at the first sign of trouble, there will be no way to keep the knives out of our backs. They’ll take our share of the city and we don’t have the inventory to contest them at the moment. Besides, I have reason to suspect that demon was working with agents of Norneau. We will need the other families to back us in punishing that city for double-crossing us. My friend at their bank all but confirmed they received a sudden rush of liquidity shortly after we left..."

Tohn knew how much his father had chafed at being run out of Norneau, but if he was entertaining conspiracy theories and contemplating revenge on an entire city... He had to resist the urge to shake his head at the man.

"That’s not what I came to talk to you about, Father. I’m sending Acatha and the children away. I would like your blessing to make arrangements. If the demon really is here-"

"Quiet," Reginald said, his voice barely rising. It was still more than enough for the patriarch to silence his son. "You would have everyone laughing at us?" Reginald grabbed his fountain pen and started to write. "It’s bad enough the King wants a cut for protecting our enterprises. Once the other families catch wind of the Army staying on our grounds, we will need Acatha to gather information and spread the appropriate interpretations at the coming socials."

"I am just trying to be prudent."

Reginald kept his eyes on the document he was penning. "Do you know why I am a master mage and you are not?"

Tohn’s hands tightened, but he knew better than to answer.

"Magic, like any practice, demands willpower. I gave you everything, and yet with no obstacles in the way you barely showed enough willpower to learn a few basics, and now you think you know what’s best for this family? This chair is not yours, son, because you cannot take it. You will never take it, and when you have died, perhaps my grandson or his grandson will finally show the will to acquire the power I worked for. Know your place."

Though the last three words were said with little emotion, they rankled Tohn more than anything else the man had said. Tohn had to dig deep to reassert himself.

"You didn’t see the demon. I saw up close as he dispatched warriors and mages like you as if they were... as if they were fruit to be cast at for target practice."

"He gave you mercy, and perhaps in that way this Ghostheart is a fool. I have done the prudent thing and called in the Army. If the demon is truly here, then the moment he strikes, it will be a matter for the King to settle."

"I’m still sending Acatha to her mother’s. The children are too young for-"

"You will make no such moves without my permission. Her place will be next to you at that funeral. Tomorrow. And if I hear one more word about you about running, then I will have you cleaning the waste pits with the slaves. Is that clear?" Reginald signed his document with a hard scratch and stared into Tohn’s eyes. "We are the Goldmans. This city is our fortress. Without us, Amrita would starve as their orchards rot under ash. Without us, that inbred stab-ear who calls himself King is one bad week away from ruin. Even with what we’ve lost, we will have power as long as we have the will to claim it! And if the demon has his way with the other houses, then for us it is an opportunity, provided we are prepared when they are not. I will not squander any chance to advance our name on your fears. Not while I sit at the head of this house. This branch of the Syndicate is mine."

The look in his eyes was hard as iron. There was no talking to him when he was like this.

But he had to try.

It was as if he could still feel the gaze of the demon upon him.

"What if... I can get proof that Ghostheart really is here."

Reginald scoffed and sat back. "You, hunt the demon?"

He’d said no such thing, but if that’s how his father wanted to interpret things...

"If I can act discreetly, perhaps figure out his patterns or eliminate him early, would that be enough to convince you to let me send Acatha away?"

Reginald’s eyes narrowed as he regarded his son. His lazy son, ever letting others take care of any real problems.

"If you really have the mettle, I could be persuaded... But whatever arrangements you make will be after the funeral tomorrow. Have Acatha and the kids in black by mid-morning, she can use one of your mother’s old dresses if she doesn’t have anything else. The burial will be at Sundown Roots and our carriage will leave precisely at noon. You will socialize. You will behave. And we will have soldiers and carriages on standby if anything goes wrong."

A dismissive wave was all the notice Tohn received to leave, and he took the small victory back to his room before letting out a long, tired, but ultimately relieved sigh.

*

Fifty meters away from the mansion, in the shrubbery across and below the office window, Kir lay with his stomach on the ground, having just witnessed the entire scene in the office. He’d come with hopes of locating the rest of Norneau’s gold, which meant finding out which of the city’s banks the Syndicate trusted most in Amrita. Sadly, Desrig Nebima had proven fatally stubborn and convinced of her own survival right up until the point Kir had put a bullet through her guard mage’s forehead and hers...

I really should adjust the powder weight behind those bullets... Kir had gone for what he considered a decent penetration to stopping power ratio, but the unintentional double-kill had cost him information.

He’d spent the night darting between shadows and low-crawling past soldiers trying to get in range for a killing shot, but then he saw that the mansion’s every window and wall were warded thickly against both physical and magical attacks. He could tell the newest ones were meant to stop anything moving faster than a gentle toss, which meant clearing the room to capture and interrogate Reginald had been non-viable so long as the house mage was there, and the soldiers on the rooftops and throughout the orchards had already made things difficult enough...

Now, he counted himself lucky to have stayed. His mind was already percolating with ideas to set the next stage for the Saga of Ghostheart.

All it would take was a little chemistry, a long night, and one hell of a tombstone.

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