Vol.5 Ch.101 - I sent a sudden letter

And so, the wedding came to a close, everyone had fun, and I had to endurethe hangover of the century in the morning after. Thankfully, it seems mynegotiating skills are still as sharp as ever though, as last night I managed toconvince Adam to give Marina a week or so off so we can get wellaccustomed to our new joint life together. It’s nothing too fancy, but I at leastwant to give her a moment of reprieve as a way to atone for my antics lastnight.“That being the case, just leave the housework duties to me and rest!” I said,“It’s imperative that you take proper care of yourself and our little guy,y’hear?”Marina was still a bit sleepy from last night, despite spending the past halfhour berating me about living it up with Adam during the final dance. Lookslike she was mostly jealous the two of us stole the show, which is actuallyreally funny in and of itself, but don’t tell her I said that. She was still in hernightwear, but it was nearing winter, so she was huddled up in the blankets.“Hold on,” she asked me, “What makes you think our child will be a boy?”“Hm?”“You said our little guy, but we have no way of knowing what gender it’ll beuntil it’s born.”Huh, I didn’t think of that. Honestly, since Nelly’s a girl, I kind of justassumed that the next on the lineup would have a member. Thinking back,yeah, that really makes zero sense, huh? I even came up with a cool name forif it’s a boy, but if it turns out to be a girl, I don’t know what I’ll do!“That being said,” Marina added, ”I like Velma the best.”…Eh?“Velma?”“Yeah! If it’s a girl, I’d like her name to be Velma! It’s really cute and fits herlast name – Velma Pandora. By the way, if it’s a guy, my vote is on Gunther.”She sounded all too proud of herself, like she had the whole thing figured outeasy-peasy… even though there were countless flaws in her statement.“Velma is… Eh!? Gunther!? Wait, that’s not the issue here! To start off, ourlast name isn’t Pandora, it’s Grimheart! Remember, we got married last night,which means both you and our child inherited my last name.”“Well, we got married as Pandora’s, no? Legally, its name will show up asPandora no matter how you look at it.”Wait, that’s not how it… Huh? D-Did I just make a mistake? No wait, thatcan’t be, that’s illogical!“But Pandora isn’t either one of our legal last names! It’s a pseudonym,which means it doesn’t hold up law-wise.”“It doesn’t?”“Yeah! You can’t just up and change your name all willy-nilly, there’s awhole process to getting your legal name registered! I’m speaking fromexperience here, but when the kid gets born we’ll have to take it to the townhall otherwise it’ll be as if it was never born in the eyes of the law!”I tried explaining to her the whole process Cecily and I had to go throughwhen we adopted Nelly, but it seems Marina was a real blockhead when itcame to paperwork and law. Kind of reminds me of Ed in a way…“N-Never mind! We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it!” Marina stoppedthe argument in one fell swoop, “Back to the original topic – what would youname the child then?”“Right, that! Hmm… If it’s a boy, then I really like the name Licht.”“Licht… alright.” She kept an open mind, ”And if it’s a girl?”“I… don’t really know. I never thought too much about it. Let’s see…Something with ‘mil’ in it, probably.”“Mil?”“Yeah, it means ‘Dear’ in Cardinic, right? Since she was conceived here, I’dat least like a part of her birthplace to always accompany her. Wherever shedecides to go.”Marina joked about how deeply I was looking into this, and was also equallyas surprised by how good I was at naming things. Even still, it’s not like Ieven came up with a name yet. Even though it’s a common word here, I stillcouldn’t think of any names that started with ‘Mil’. It was either boy namesthat came to mind, or some really old timey girl names, and I wantedsomething modern.“That being said, we’ll leave it at that for now. I have something moreimportant I need to figure out.” I said as I got up from the couch.“And that is?”“I need to send a letter to the guys back home. Last night’s party was reallyfun, but without Ed and the gang it just isn’t the same. I need to tell themabout us sooner or later, but it’s really difficult to try and put so manyexcuses in one letter.”Marina busied herself with pondering how to go about this, and eventuallyshe came up with a pretty good idea.“Why not just call Ed over and have him relay the situation for you?”“Oh?”“From what I’ve gathered, he’s a really kind soul. Wouldn’t hurt a fly, muchless harm either one of us, so there’s nothing to be scared of. He’s also yourbest friend, and he’s well-acquainted with the both of us, so I’m sure he’llunderstand. After a nice little chat where the two of you catch up, we’ll sendhim back and have him explain the situation to the others. And then, when thedust settles, we’ll just go back home without having to face any of thescrutiny!”That’s…“Isn’t that kind of abusing my friendship with him?” I asked.“The way I see it, could you really call him a friend if he wouldn’t do at leastthis much for you?”Hmm, fair point. But that opens up another can of worms. Where would wemeet? Our inn is kind of on the periphery of the Grys Estate, so it’d bedifficult for him to find us. This means I can’t call him to the bar that Ifrequent, which is a huge shame, cause that place is where I feel the mostcomfortable.Then maybe the Grys Royal Castle? I’m sure Adam will allow it. But oh, if Ido that, then I’ll have to tell Adam that I’m Lune, and that’ll just cause evenmore problems because he knows that I’m together with Cecily. Then where?Where could I call Ed over for a serious chat? A place that can be easilyidentified on the map, yet also someplace with privacy…“That’s it!” I got a bright idea.“What’s the matter?” Marina jolted from my sudden raise in volume, “What’shappening?”“Nothing! I’m going out for a bit!”Not even taking the time to get properly dressed, I dash out of the house andrun to town. There I go to buy a pencil and a piece of paper, hastily write outthe letter addressed to Ed (all the while making many mistakes which I had tocross out because of said hastiness), and then I sent it over via the postoffice. But that’s not all, because before I went back home for the day, Istopped by a local law advisor who I’ve heard good stories of and gentlyknocked on the door, trying so desperately to hold in my excitement. The verymoment I heard a voice from the other side of the door go Come in Iimmediately busted in and with a loud shout I went:“WHAT DO I NEED TO BUY THE ISLAND OF EXUUL?!”“…” The law advisor fixed up his glasses, which had completely droopeddown from the shock of hearing such a stupid question, “Nice to meet youtoo. I’m Edmund Lynn.”“A-Ah! Right! My apologies, Mr. Lynn! I’m Lune Grimheart, no wait! SolPandora! Oh, but I’ll need to give you my legal name for this, I guess, so justcall me Lune! I-In any case, I’ve heard of you through a work partner of minenamed Horc, do you happen to know him?”Mr. Lynn just waited for me to finish with a tired expression before he hadme sit down and poured me a cup of tea. He had probably seen countlesspeople just like me burst open his door with their crazy ideas, so I’m surethat’s the reason he was so prepared to face me in the moment. That beingsaid, I’m sure he’s never seen someone with such an absurd idea like buyingthe Island of Exuul before.“Just calm down and explain the situation to me clearly. I can’t give you anyadvice without some basic info. Oh, and of course…” He gestured with hishands that his services require monetary pay.“Money isn’t the issue here!” I said as I threw a fat stack of shils on the table.Now, his glasses hadn’t drooped down. They had fallen completely from hishead as his jaw dropped. Certainly, after seeing a guy come in so rudelywearing nothing more than a tank top under his coat and a baggy pair ofpants, the last thing he had expected was to be dealing with a rich man. Justgoes to show how you should never judge a book by its cover!“I-I see, Mr. Grimheart! Then it seems we have everything set up for yourfuture plans!” He said as he picked up his glasses, “But still, please do giveme the run down. I’m sure you’re we’ll aware, but the Island is owned byCardina itself, meaning you’d have to seek an audience with the King, not tomention have a good enough reason for him to sell it to you.”“The reason? Simple, I just got married yesterday!” I said as I proudlydisplayed the ring on my right ring finger, “That being the case, I want aplace to celebrate our Honeymoon!”The tired law advisor could do nothing but sigh after hearing this love-struckidiot go on and on about his new wife. I did catch him sneak a peek at my leftring finger, the one that beheld Cecily’s ring on it, but he had the decency notto pry too much, which I can respect. Even still, if all I need is to talk to theKing about getting my hands on the place, then I can already check that off thelist.“Oh, and Adam and I are buds. He was there at the wedding. Just ask anyonethat was there and they can confirm that we were amazing on the dancefloor.”Once again, Mr. Lynn could do nothing but open his tired looking eyes wideafter hearing someone who looked like they made every wrong move in lifesuddenly boast about having such an incredible and unbelievable weddingreception. He immediately went to run a background check on me, and afterleaving me in his office for a little while, he came back, flabbergasted, andshouted:“You’re the legendary inventor, Sol Pandora?!”“The one and only.” I exclaimed, “Oh, but please be sure to keep my realname a secret.”“O-Of course! But at least now we can get down to business! You’ve come tothe right place, Mr. Grimheart! Your new Honeymoon location will becompletely owned by none other than you in just a couple weeks with myhelp!”Heh, looks like I’m famous. All those days of being cooped up in my roomand making up sporks and shit finally paid off. And to think Marina alwaystold me to calm down with the inventing. If I slacked off for even a secondback then, then I wouldn’t have the money nor the respect to be able to buy usa place on the map, so ha!Finally, everyone can be happy now! With this, Ed and I can meet up in peaceto talk things out. After that, Marina and I can go back home and I can onceagain be with the others. And most importantly, in buying the Island of Exuul,I will have set aside a page in the history books dedicated solely to me! Thisis it, my happy ending, I finally made it!