Chapter 41: Marvello

Reinhard stared at the damaged file for several seconds. The meeting was two weeks away. He read the page one more time, checking the names and the location before closing it.

There was no reason to rush.

Whoever had arranged the meeting clearly expected him to come.

A faint smile crossed his face. "Seems like I don’t have to go looking for you." He looked at the date again. Two weeks. "Good." He slipped the file into his Inventory. "Let’s see who you are behind all the curtains."

Then he turned toward home.

...

It was nearly two in the morning when Reinhard finally let himself into the house. Everything was quiet, and before he had even closed the door, his enhanced senses told him everyone was asleep, soft breathing drifting down the hallway from several rooms.

Normally, he would have gone straight to bed. Tonight, he didn’t. He walked quietly down the hallway, checking on each of them before he let himself rest.

Lily’s room came first.

She was sprawled across her bed as though someone had dropped her there from a great height, her blanket halfway on the floor, one leg hanging off the mattress, and her pillow somehow wedged beneath her shoulder. And tucked firmly against her chest was Crimson Fang.

Reinhard stared. She was sleeping with the sword. Of course she was.

"How do you even sleep like that?"

Lily snored, and Reinhard shook his head and quietly closed the door.

Maki’s room was next.

Compared to Lily’s, it was perfectly organized, except for the stack of books beside her bed. Reinhard glanced at the titles.

Awakener Theory. Treatment of Supernatural Injury. Principles of Gnosis Research.

His expression softened.

Maki didn’t want to stand on the sidelines while other people helped Emily. She wanted to understand enough to help herself. He gently closed the door.

Yuna’s room was messy in a completely different way.

An Awakener training manual lay open on the floor, surrounded by handwritten notes, with her phone sitting on top of the pile, an alarm set for five in the morning. She was sleeping peacefully in the middle of the chaos, and Reinhard smiled.

At least he wasn’t the only messy one in the family.

There was only one room left, and when he opened Emily’s door. Some of the tension that had been sitting in his chest all night finally began to ease.

Emily was sleeping peacefully, moonlight falling across her silver hair. Her bottle of Gold Brand pills sat on the nightstand beside a glass of water, and the little cactus named Reinhard rested on the windowsill next to the photograph from her arena days.

Reinhard stood in the doorway.

She was safe, and nothing was wrong. After everything that had happened tonight, that alone was enough to make him let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

Still he couldn’t pretend things were fine. People were already willing to send assassins after her, and it would happen again.

Reinhard crossed the room and gently brushed a strand of silver hair away from Emily’s face, his fingers resting lightly against her cheek. Emily stirred, her brow tightening for a moment before it relaxed. A faint smile appeared on her lips, as though some part of her recognized his touch even in her sleep.

Reinhard smiled. "Sleep well."

...

Back in his room, Reinhard peeled off the torn remains of his clothes. There was no saving them, so he stored everything in his Inventory. He would burn them tomorrow with Ember, somewhere far from the house where nobody would ask why his shirt looked like it had survived a war.

He changed into a plain shirt and shorts, fell face-first onto his bed, and was asleep almost instantly.

...

The next morning, Reinhard woke much later than usual, and by the time he shuffled into the kitchen, Maki, Lily, Yuna, and Emily were already eating breakfast.

Lily looked up first, then Maki, then Yuna, and all three of them stared. Reinhard was always the first one awake, and apparently, seeing him show up this late was enough to stop breakfast entirely.

Lily narrowed her eyes. "You’re late."

Reinhard didn’t bother defending himself. He dropped into the nearest chair. "I’m tired."

Nobody said anything, and Lily stared. "...You’re tired?"

Emily immediately looked concerned. "What happened?"

"Nothing."

Yuna studied his face. "You look exhausted."

"I didn’t sleep well."

Lily leaned across the table. "The great Reinhard, out of energy. What did you do, die or something?"

"Only a little."

The whole table burst out laughing, and Reinhard smiled and didn’t correct them. Beneath his shirt, his brand-new heart kept beating steadily.

"You should rest today," Maki said.

"No training," Yuna added.

Reinhard slowly turned to her. "That’s cruel."

Emily smiled. "I agree with them."

He slowly turned to her instead. "Betrayal."

Lily laughed. "You deserve it."

Reinhard looked around the table and sighed dramatically. "This family has no sympathy for an exhausted man."

"You’re the one who said you were tired," Maki reminded him.

"That doesn’t mean you all get to use it against me."

...

By lunchtime, Reinhard had recovered enough to cook. He was still tired, but not tired enough to give up the kitchen. He made Emily’s mushroom soup first, new dishes, then Morning Dawn Smoothies, and cut fresh watermelon with pineapple.

Soon the table was covered with food.

Lily did most of the talking while Maki reminded her several times to breathe between bites, Yuna mostly listened and joined in now and then, and Emily found herself laughing more than she expected.

Eventually, Lily set down her spoon with an unusually serious expression. "I’ve figured out the perfect strategy."

Maki raised an eyebrow. "You haven’t even started training."

"That’s why it’s called strategy."

"That’s not how strategy works."

Lily turned to Yuna. "Tell her."

Yuna calmly took another bite. "I think Emily will win."

Lily stared at her. "You’re supposed to be on my side."

"I am."

"Then why would you say that?"

"Because I think Emily will win."

Emily laughed, and Lily crossed her arms. "This family is impossible."

Reinhard had mostly been listening, and eventually Emily noticed. "You’re quiet."

"I’m listening."

"To what?"

He looked around the table. "Everyone."

Emily smiled. "You usually have something to say."

Reinhard leaned back. "I’m just enjoying myself."

Emily looked around at her sisters, then back at him. "Me too."

That simple answer made Reinhard smile. For a while, nobody mentioned the hospital, and nobody needed to.

Eventually, the conversation turned to what Emily wanted to do once she could walk again, and the question caught her off guard. She looked down at her hands. "I don’t know."

Reinhard didn’t interrupt.

"For two years, I stopped thinking very far ahead," she said. "There wasn’t much point. Every plan I had depended on something I couldn’t do anymore." She paused. "So eventually, I stopped making plans."

Lily was still smiling, Maki listened quietly, and Yuna had set down her spoon, while Reinhard sat beside her.

"But now..." Emily hesitated, and a small smile appeared. "I think I’d like to go somewhere."

Reinhard smiled. "Where?"

She thought about it. "Somewhere I’ve never been."

It wasn’t a grand dream, or a declaration that she would suddenly become the person she had been before. It was simply a place she had never seen, and somehow, that was enough.

Later, while everyone else was busy fighting over the last pieces of pineapple, Emily spoke quietly to Reinhard. "Thank you."

"You don’t have to thank me."

"I know," she said with a smile. "I still want to."

Reinhard smiled back. "Then you’re welcome."

...

Eventually, the conversation turned to his plans for the next day. "I’m going to Marvello tomorrow."

Lily’s head shot up. "Marvello?"

"Yep."

Her whole face brightened. "It’s been so long since I’ve been there."

Reinhard paused. "You’ve been?"

"Once." Her eyes lit up. "It’s huge. I got lost twice."

Maki raised an eyebrow. "You got lost in a shopping district?"

"It’s not a shopping district!" Lily looked offended. "It’s basically an entire city made of shopping."

"A lot of professional Awakeners go there," Yuna added calmly. "Specialized equipment, treatment supplies, rare materials. If an Awakener needs something unusual, Marvello is usually the first place they look."

Emily had gone quiet as something surfaced in her memory. "We went there first."

Reinhard turned to her. "To Marvello?"

She nodded. "Before the medical centers here." Her expression slowly changed as she remembered. "We spent almost an entire day going from one clinic to another, and every one of them told us the same thing, that there was nothing they could do." She lowered her eyes. "By the time we left, I remember thinking that maybe this was just how my life was going to be."

Reinhard gave her a quiet smile. "But it isn’t."

Emily smiled back. "I know." She tilted her head. "Do you think Marvello will have all five?"

"Hopefully two or three," Reinhard said, counting them silently.

Bone Remaker Paste, Life Gold Water, Oath Keeper Water, Lightning Emperor Key, and Lightkeeper Dew.

"Cassian said Oath Keeper Water almost never gets sold publicly, and the Lightning Emperor Key is even rarer. It’s only appeared in private auctions a handful of times."

Yuna nodded. "And Lightkeeper Dew is harder still. Cassian has never even seen one himself."

Emily thought about it. "I’ve seen Bone Remaker Paste and Life Gold Water before. The top companies usually held them. They weren’t really auction items unless someone decided to sell them privately."

"That’s fine," Reinhard said, leaning back. "This first trip is just scouting. I’m not expecting Marvello to solve everything. I only need a starting point, and if it’s really the biggest market for Awakeners, someone there knows where these things are."

Lily immediately leaned across the table. "Can I come?"

Reinhard hesitated. He remembered the assassins from the night before, the room full of enemies, the shadow portal, and people willing to kill Emily for the sake of powerful families. He wasn’t taking his family into the busiest Awakener district in Aurileus until he understood who might be watching.

"Next time."

Lily slumped. "Tsk fine, but you better mean it."

"Of course. You can even come in style with me."

"Hahaha!"

Before he left the following morning, Reinhard quietly placed a fresh Spatial Anchor in the hallway outside Emily’s room and checked every Barrier Ring. If anything came near the house while he was gone, he would know.

...

Marvello felt different the moment Reinhard entered it.

The city was enormous.

Buildings towered over both sides of the streets, private guards stood outside half the entrances, and magical barriers shimmered across the doors of the most valuable shops. While seasoned Awakeners moved through the crowds with assistants trailing behind them, carrying equipment that probably cost more than most people’s homes.

Reinhard slowly looked around before he paused at a shop with a mirror. He stood there for several seconds. "No." He shook his head. "Focus."

A familiar blue window appeared in the corner of his vision.

[Investment Opportunity Available.]

[Target: Emily Ashcroft.]

[Objective: Raise over $23,000,000 credits to compete for Emily Ashcroft’s treatment materials before the auction begins.]

[Difficulty Grade: B.]

[Success Probability: 44%.]

"Well, now. A challenge, one that will turn this handsome millionaire into a multi-millionaire." Reinhard said as he adjusted his sunglasses.

Then he checked his reflection in the window one more time just to make sure he still looked good, and kept walking. As he disappeared into the crowd, a satisfied smile spread across his face.

"They really undersold this place."