Omake - Karin's magical adventures in parenting number four
She would never admit it, but one of the reasons she had picked the magical Academy of Tristain was that it was just a few hours away from her home. If she wanted, she could hop on her manticore and head over there in a jiffy, just to check what was going on. She wasn't a square mage for nothing, thus with a quick chant, an invisibility spell could easily hide her from the sight of others.
On Void days, she used the excuse of an extra patrol, hopped on her manticore, and then spent the next few hours following silently from afar her far away children. She had done so with Eleonore, and had been suitably impressed about her poise and refined acts. She had expected the same of Henry, of course, and as was common with him, she had shattered all of her expectations.
However, going within the capital during Void days was a normal enough pastime, and she was not going to recriminate him for it -or for not asking her permission, or for going at it alone rather than in the company of Wardes. What if someone attempted at his life? What if someone tried to steal from her precious baby? What if a young, nasty, gold digger tried to put her filthy hands on her only son? She had to tell Marianne to somehow increase the security around the whole city, even the sewers needed guard posts! It just wasn't possible for her cute little Henry to go all alone into the big bad city without even a single attendant!
But then, as the next year came to be, she began to fret. With Wardes keeping an eye on him during his Void days, she knew he would be safe. The Viscount was a good kid, not as good as her little Henry, but good enough and with a strong moral fiber. However-however something was off. Differently from the first few weeks, her Henry was now happier during Void Days. Perhaps he had seen the wisdom of the actions undertaken and had decided against rebelling, but she knew him. She knew him because he was just like her. She knew that she wouldn't have taken anything like an arranged marriage with even a minimum of decency, and the sheer thought of how he had opposed her-well, it brought back memories.
It really was like looking into a mirror sometimes. On one side, it made her motherly heart skip a few beats in sheer pride. She wanted to grab her baby and show him off to everyone saying See? This is my Henry! He's so brave and courageous he'll fight even the Heavy Wind! He's my little hubbly wubbly cutely kid! On the other, she dreaded what would happen to him due to his bleeding heart. He was considerate and kind to anyone, be they Counts, Barons, or Earls-or anything in-between, really.
Also, he had a Gramont as a friend, and she knew what it meant. She had written a letter to that particular Gramont's father stating that if anything untoward happened, or if her Henry turned perverted, then she would come right some wrongs, and set all of the guilty parties straight.
She knew her son. She knew that sometimes, he'd gaze at her whenever she spoke and then smile slightly, as if knowing an inside joke of sorts at her expenses, and yet holding himself back from remarking on it. She knew that, deep down, her son understood and acknowledged her points...but did things all the same. Why did she have to pass on to him her headstrong determination? Did it come together with her Wind affinity?
So he was happy after a short few weeks, and as she glanced at him, she saw a blur of black feathers move back and forth -his familiar. Wardes had explained to her in a letter that they had gone to the capital to buy a pouch to store more things than it would normally hold, but at first, she hadn't made the connection.
It was once she did that she understood just what he was doing.
However, even then, she could tolerate it. As long as it was once in a while, using a familiar to buy reagents -or wine, really- was acceptable. Just in order to find out how much he consumed in a week's worth, she spend the next week waiting.
And she realized that her information had been woefully incomplete. Wardes hadn't probably been told of the free afternoons, or perhaps he had thought her Henry wouldn't use them. He was a fool. Her Henry would use a granted finger to drag down a whole army if the need arose. He was just like her, and giving even an inch would result in him earning a whole mile.
Now there she was, feigning being a random everyday adventurer with her hair dark blue, her hat firmly covering most of her features, and a mask to close the deal. To add to it, she was silently pursuing her eldest son through the roads of Tristain, deadly set on seeing just where he was keen on going. She would be remiss to say she couldn't understand an occasional indulgence, and while she sincerely would have preferred Henry to have shared Eleonore's dutiful nature too, she understood that it wasn't possible.
Still, it was no reason for entering an inn of ill repute!
And why did he stop by a blacksmith's shop? Was he looking for a new swordwand? Did he break the old one? He should have written home about it! She'd have bought him a hundred!
The Charming Fairy Inn was a place that made her stop for a brief instant by the doorstep. The young ladies that worked there were wearing scandalously so little that she had to wonder just what was wrong with them. Had they no shame? To wear so little-well, in her youth perhaps...no, no, it was all part of her fantastic decoy to appear as a male.
"Hello mister adventurer!" a young girl said with a charming smile. Perhaps it was this sort of smile that had caught her Henry's attention? He was always prone to foolishly believing in other people-curse his good heart, he got that from Pierre! "Would you like a table?" as she asked that, she gestured to a nearby empty table in a corner, but her eyes were set on the figure by the counter. His hair was a puzzling green color, but it was her son without a doubt.
Her son was drinking wine while talking to the inn keeper.
Her son was drinking what amounted to the third cup of pure, unadulterated wine while in the company of an inn keeper dressed like a lady with a black corset that still revealed his hairy chest.
"Counter," Karin said ruffly, stepping past the young lady without a second glance at her, much to her consternation. As she took a seat only a few stools away, she waited patiently to be served. She didn't want to give Henry the chance to recognize her, so she ordered a wine she normally wouldn't drink, and waited.
The joyous vicarious laughter she heard coming from just a few seats away from her couldn't be her little Henry. It just couldn't belong to him, such vivacious laughter-
"And that's when I told Anthoine, if that's how you plan on cheating on her, then you need a crash course on two-timing, but not from me. Because the only crash I'll ever give you is going to be that of a hammer against the head..." he giggled and shook his head. "Though he did offer to teach me the Gramont's Tunnel Digging magic to enter towers with beautiful maidens, so perhaps a fair exchange-"
Karin, take note: murder the Gramont.
"Oh my," the man said, "Why! I remember in my youth I had a lot of pretty ladies flirting with me," Karin couldn't believe her ears, "But in the end, there was only one I fell for," he sighed.
"Oh? I don't see the missus now that I think about it," Henry remarked. "Everything all right?"
"Mah, mah, the troubles of an inn keeper aren't-"
"Now, now, Scarron. Just tell me, for the man who gives me wine, I always find the time-" as he smiled, Karin began to have the lingering doubt that perhaps all that it would take to get her little Henry away from the righteous path was just a cup of wine. No, this couldn't-she'd have no choice but to cut him off wine.
It was only fair.
"She's gotten tired of working long hours, my wife no longer has the strength she had in herself when she was young, ah..." he sighed, "and my little baby! She wants to come work in her place even if she's so young-" his eyes were tearing up, "Such good daughter I have!"
Henry smiled, "I'm sure you'll be proud of her."
"As a parent, I'm always proud of my child!" Scarron said, "Oh my~ Albrecht you-" Albrecht? Did he just give the name of the Emperor of Germania as his name? This was- This was... "Always listening to my woes, now now! We are here to listen to yours! How are things going with your friends? Did anyone realize?"
"No, thankfully not," Henry sighed, taking a deep gulp of his wine. "If they had-I guess you'll know if I'm no longer here once a week."
"That's good," Scarron said. "As much as it would hurt me to see my favorite customer go, it would hurt me more to see my friend go."
"Oh Mi Mademoiselle! That was so, so cheesy!" Henry said with a giggle. "It's nice to have a friend like you."
Karin wasn't sure she was hearing properly. Certainly, Henry was smarter than this. He must have realized that the man was simply sweet-talking to him. It was his job to do that. He clearly was doing it out of self-interest, for the money in his purse! No, really, if this was how Henry was with other people-she had to teach him everything again, there was no-no way her Henry could be such a fool!
"I'd better go," Henry said after he downed the fourth goblet. "Need to be on the road and all that."
He paid the wine handsomely -what had he bought that it cost so much? Some rare vintage? And then he gave a nod of his head as goodbye and left sure of his legs.
"That kid-" Karin said ruffly, "Sure can hold his wine down."
"Ah, Lord Albrecht? That he can," Scarron said, "Oh my~ Mi Mademoiselle did not see you, mister adventurer! Can I serve you with some of the finest wines we have?"
"I'm fine with this," Karin replied curtly. "Also, why are you wearing that? It's scandalous."
"Ah...this? I just want to be free to express myself!" Scarron said with a hand on his hairy chest. "It's so liberating! I am a little fairy, dancing in the wind-" he made a pirouette behind the counter without damaging a single bottle. On one side, it was impressive. On the other, Karin couldn't care less about him.
"That kid's a regular?" she asked next.
"Why would you want to know about that, Mister adventurer?" Scarron asked, the pleasantness still there, but this time his face was quite guarded.
"Can't believe his parents would let him drink so much every day," Karin replied, keeping up her steel-like tone. She was annoyed. She was greatly annoyed. She was terrifyingly annoyed that if she didn't keep herself in check, she would destroy this inn with a hurricane the moment her fingers touched the handle of her swordwand. They had brought her little Henry astray, and the only price for that sin was death. It was death by skewering, slicing, cutting, smashing-it was death by Heavy Wind, no doubts about it.
"Ah, Lord Albrecht's personal problems are his own, Mister Adventurer," Scarron said. "But enough about him-would you like a taste of Albion's finest White?"
"No," Karin said, her left fist clenched, paying for her drink by curtly placing money on the counter. "Goodbye," she said in the end, standing up and turning to leave.
She saw with the corner of her eye the man give a quick signal to a few girls, and just like that, she was surrounded.
"Mister adventurer, please wait a moment! Wouldn't you like to try some of our best brews?"
Was the man trying to hold her there? Was he? He must have seen her wand, but to hold her off like that-she was going to lose track of Henry if this kept up.
"Out of the way," she said crisply, and deftly avoided the incoming girls, rushing out only to be met with a lack of Henry.
She had lost sight of him. Damn the inn keeper. Damn him! Her Henry was drunk, alone and in the middle of the city! She was sure he was up to no good, dragging the Valliere name in the mud-
Finding him proved easy. Wardes had mentioned the exotic shop, but he hadn't been there. No, her Henry was nearby, in a quaint bookshop mulling over some choice literature that...
The Maid That Was Promised?
The Secret Desires of Nobility?
The unsatiable Lord Diccus Biggus?
This...this drivel, this disgusting perverted...her Henry was being corrupted by the perverted powers of the Gramont! It was the only explanation! She would have him cut his ties-
"Buying books for the headmaster once again?" the shop keeper said with enough confidence to make Karin understand this wasn't a one time thing-wait, did he say headmaster?
The headmaster of the school was sending her Henry to buy perverted books for him!? Gods bless her heart, this was...this was obscene! It had to be a lie! It couldn't be-
Could it?
Her Henry! In a den of perversion and Gramonts! No, never! Mommy is going to save you, wubbly cutely grumpy Henry! These Brimir-may-take-them perverts will not corrupt you!
Thus, Karin made a solemn oath.
Thus, Henry cursed a spy he would never find out the identity of.