Criminaly good dentist

On the border between the blue and green zone Antonio ran as fast as he could as a giant water wave threatened to mush him.

The wave disappeared the moment he stepped inside the blue zone, the human territory.

He caught his breath before walking to a decent size storage hut on the duke's property. He opens the door with his key, pours himself some water before settling down on the study desk.

With the duke's children healthy and recovered this hut and the one they lived in became empty, giving him the chance to have a secluded place.

He looked at the notes Cherry left him, adding today's events to it. A clear font next to an unreadable one.

The mourning period was a much needed time if he got to be honest.

'Yup, I don't have any physical strength to go into the wild alone.' He looked through the notes again and again like that would make the needed information pop into existence.

'She didn't write how one can stay long in the wild without becoming crazy.' He let out a sigh. Half of him is frustrated because he can't achieve what he took for granted once.

The other half was frustrated at himself for not achieving much alone.

'There's no denying it. I can't do much alone. Can't get all the ace cards the wild offers. Can't get ahead...'

He stood up to shake off the thoughts, but his tired legs had other plans, he sat on the floor holding his cramped leg.

After the initial pain subdued he glanced at the abandoned box of hair dyes under a table. He read the labels written in Sadi.

'The land of the unwanted's brand was always her favorite, maybe it was fate after all.'

'Or maybe that's where she wanted to go all along.'

After recovering he walked in the property until the lavish flower shrubbery covered the well kept grass. Fresh air unclogged the thoughts in his brain.

'It is funny how one might delude oneself, thinking we know people more than we actually do. I thought I, of all people, wouldn't fall for that.'

He greeted some maids and workers, one was cutting wood with an axe before bowing to him.

'Can Cherry cut wood?' He genuinely wondered, truly unsure of the answer.

'That double axe of hers was always obviously dull. Does it cut when she's not using her sound powers?'

'I don't know, she was away fetching elixirs for the kids for months at a time. Between that and noble duties we spend less time together than I'd like to admit.'

'We actually know each other way less than I thought.'

'Maybe it was just the soft spot for someone who stood by me from the beginning.'

He recalled one of their last conversations.

'Now I look at it...She was so fucking distraught in the last year and a half of working here, even though the kids were doing better than ever...'

----

"Say, why didn't you tell the duke I wasn't his nephew when you caught me?" His cigar burned abandoned between his fingers, smoke rising to the sky.

It was one of those conversations after mission reports. The exhaustion and the quiet of the night eased the slipping of words.

Her pupils moved, the distance in her gaze was worrying. Like she was being asked about someone else's memories and actions and she had to spit out the perfect answer.

"I actually don't remember much."

He was glad she said what's in her mind, an attempt at a convoluted answer to satisfy him would've doubled the already growing distance between them.

"But maybe I liked that you had something to chase. Maybe seeing you get what you want would make me feel like I achieved something myself. I tend to think like that."

With the last sentence she shrugged her shoulders with a complicated smile.

He's glad her eyes didn't have that void look in them the last time he saw her. That was enough for now.

-----

His stroll continued, passing by Henry training knights and mercenaries. Henry nodded to a knight and went to talk to him.

They stood side by side discussing the defense affairs, whoever looks at them assumes solid teamwork and trust between them, even a level of friendship.

That was Antonio's thing: manipulating body language, gracefully planting subconscious assumptions in people's minds and using it when he needed to. Maybe high society was all about playing games, and maybe that's what made him excel in it.

"It would be beneficial to upgrade our gears as more threats have appeared recently." Henry asked.

"I will inform the duke, I can issue a partial upgrade while waiting for his grace's approval."

"I believe there is not anything hindering his grace's approval."

"The logistics must be thoroughly discussed, but don't worry, I will handle it."

With the causal closure and the friendly pat on the shoulder he walked away.

'Spoiled noble kids who can't fight without full body armor- Ouch!' His strained muscles remind him he's no different.

Giving Henry his current duties to distract him from the actually important affairs had its drawbacks. It was concerning at times, not having a strong enough leader to protect human boarders from the wild.

If he doesn't buy the upgrades, they will accuse him of splurging on the wedding and neglecting defense affairs, which will give enemies a chance to doubt the dukedom's worthiness of protecting the border. A chance to decrease the dukedom's influence in the world, the human world.

'Cherry would've swept the threats without a stain on her dress...' He rubbed his stiff neck, realizing what he just thought.

'I was way too dependent on her.'

'Speaking of her again, why did Henry of all people become the muse of her heart?'

As far as he knew, she was a simple girl who loved pretty dresses and doing things properly. A girl who became a woman who loved classic tobacco and hot men.

'Hot men, huh? What constitutes hotness, though? That's the mystery.'

It was a true mystery in his eyes, his eyebrows curl upward.

'Before Henry Cherry would get two new crushes every month.'

He ran through the list of muscular mercenaries, yuppies with unbearable personalities and that one stoner she insisted he was 'truly hot'. None of them had the personality of a plank of wood, like the guy she ended up loving.

And perhaps that is what led to her decline. Her infatuation with him made her open her eyes to the utterly damaged social hierarchy she never bothered with thinking about.

She always had that perspective of an outsider on those things, an outsider who's just doing their job, getting paid, and putting their head on the pillow while thinking about things they deem actually important.

'She lived most of her life in the wild before meeting the duke if I'm not mistaken.'

He entered the mansion, got a glimpse of the training knights from the window, and opened some budgeting and accounting records.

'Henry, Henry, Henry. From the day you came you became a bane, like a wisdom tooth I can't get rid of. Pushing the pain onto the nerves of other teeth, deep and crooked to the point where no dentist can uproot you.'

He rubbed his head, not sure where all those thoughts came from.

At the field of a dinner table with other family members he realized the answer. The only person he had an actual bond with was already gone, for long months now.

"Are you alright, son?" The duke asked, confused by his sudden quiet demeanor.

He got snapped out of his thought by the older man's low but firm voice.

"Yes...Pardon me, I think I need a dentist. A criminally good one."