"I think we have a good agreement. I hope we both play it to the end. I think we celebrate it with a feast for you." Mercy freed his hand and patted Arya on the shoulder.
"My Lord, have the most delicious beef and deer meat in any tavern in Uro. Even the chief chef of Lord Mathers doesn't cook this well, and a jug of beer for both of you to digest everything."
Claus, the dwarf waiter, came rushing in with a tray of food items, which appeared fresh and well-cooked.
"Arya, be the Judge. Have a bite and decide, the feast is for you." Mercy offered the meal to Arya.
"Giving me a feast with my own money. I have to pay for all this." Arya complained to himself.
Arya took the knife and fork from the table and looked at the tray. The deer meat was hot and steamy, making Arya's mouth watered.
He did not understand how he was feeling hungry after drinking so much beer and eating so much meat, but Arya went ahead and took a bite.
"So, how does it taste?" Mercy asked Arya.
Arya could see the eyes on him, chefs in the kitchen, Claus, maybe the assassins from outside.
"It tastes good," Arya replied.
Although there was no open celebration, happiness was present on the faces of the people inside the tavern.
Claus was the happiest. Arya thought him fortunate for many reasons.
"I think that settles it. Claus, there is a chest of gold right beside the entrance door. Bring it, would you?" Mercy signalled the wall near the entrance.
"Wha-" Arya tried to say something, but Mercy placed a knife on his lips.
"You should avoid talking while eating, Arya. The feast is ahead of you, so focus on eating. Claus bring the chest, please?" Mercy dropped the knife on the plate.
Mercy was more aggressive and angry as time passed. Mercy acted like a summer boy to fool Arya into an agreement.
Mercy's true colours were coming out. He was sending Claus to his death outside the tavern, and the assassins would kill him in a second.
"As you order." Claus cheerfully agreed to the order.
Arya turned his face down, he didn't get the happy dwarf killed. Although, he had tortured and enslaved multiple himself. He was feeling sympathy for the dwarf.
"!" Arya saw Mercy curling his fists and spelling something. From the vibe of it, he knew Mercy was casting a spell.
"It's gonna be a bit foggy soon." Then it was foggy.
「Spell: Snow's tears.」
"What the hell?!" Noise can be from the outside or inside, and it is the same for everybody.
A dense fog surrounded the tavern, and it was impossible to see anything, but it wasn't cold.
"What the hell is this?!" Arya shouted. The fog came as soon as it vanished. The vision became better, and Arya's mind exploded.
"Where is the damn tavern?! What the hell is going on here? Where is my food? Bloody hell, the assassins are all frozen in ice. What the hell did you do?" Arya screamed like a madman when the fog disappeared.
There were only trees on every side, not no sign of the tavern Arya saw earlier. His drunkenness vanished, and hunger came back.
The present he just lived was a lie, a big lie. Neither was Claus nor were the old guys laughing real. Arya's gold coins lay on the snow.
"Calm down, and sit on the chair of ice you were sitting on earlier. I have my part of the explanation to give." Mercy ordered Arya to keep up the seat he was at earlier, but it was ice this time instead of wood.
Arya sat on it, still waving his hands for his delicious stew and meat, which had disappeared alongside the inns.
"I was born in the north, but not near the mountains of the snow lords, but connected to the forest of the forsaken, where dwarfs and men are equal. I have learned illusion and cold affinity magic from my elders."
"Forest of the forsaken?!" Arya surprise was responded by a cold smile from Mercy.
"Do people still live there? I thought the plague of blacks finished them 5 centuries ago."
Arya heard the stories of the twin tragedies when he was young. The tribes of the forest of the forsaken, who hide the mysteries of the world below the realm, vanished as the plague of black consumed them and turned them into monsters.
While on the mountains, the snow lords and their people were wiped clean by the evil serpent mother, Alsana.
Two great magic hubs, busing with research for new spells and affinities. Destroyed to nothing in less than a week, and the world watched.
"I don't plan on explaining what our people survived, but all you know is that we live there peacefully. Separated from the world before Lord Mathers started burning the forest." Mercy's sword appeared from thin ice.
"My village people suffer because the magical beasts attack us to defend their territory. He and my companions came to the capital to protest about this, but the seal broke while we travelled, and none survived in the event soon after."
Arya looked at Mercy with wishful eyes, a boy less than 18 by his looks. Yet, so strong and skilled in illusion and snow techniques, he was to be taken seriously. There was a method to Mercy's madness.
"You did not explain the reason for approaching me?" Arya asked mildly.
"I want to kill Lord Mathers... or at least make him kneel to me."
"Why?" Arya asked.
"See yourself, and you have an answer. Lord Mathers has ruled worse than any warlord we had in the past centuries. Under his rule dwarfs are playthings of humans instead of companions, and the vampires are expanding and gaining blood powers, warlords grow hunger for more powers. It shouldn't get any worse."
Mercy's sword lit green flames, the flame of the forsaken forest Arya assumed.
"I want to change this world and, the people who live in for the better. That is why Lord Mathers must fall, the people need a better ruler than him." Mercy claimed.
"And who would that be? You?" Arya questioned.
Mercy smiled in response, and his eyes met Arya.
"I think after marriage, you have the right to the throne. If you can still afford to marry Princess Ina."
"Kill me right now if you think I'll even talk to that bitch who betrayed in front of the entire court and threw me out for being assassinated!"
Arya looked at ice crystals, men all dressed in different colours.
'In fact-"
"Someone is coming! A council warlord! Get on my horse." Mercy got from his seat, and his sword vanished in thin air.
"Where is the horse?!" Arya got from his seat, but there were no horses nearby.
"Here." Mercy jumped into the sky, and a colossal, most muscular horse wearing gold armour and green eyes appeared under him.
"Sit up."
Arya didn't question what was happening and sat on the saddle with Mercy.
"Go!" Mercy grabbed the reins of the horse and pushed them up.
The horse cried and ran its fast legs, moving through the snowed trees like it was an open field.
"Where are we going?"
"To meet our other partner, into the forest of forsaken."
Arya looked back at the grey city walls of the capital once again. It was hatred in the heart for the first time; he drank his anger and looked at the snow ahead.
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