He could make out shapes moving around him and then the feeling of a grassy liquid on his tongue. After several moments, his vision cleared and he saw Serafina holding a potion bottle to his lips. Her previous anger was blotted out with concern and Res could admire her beautiful face.

“Are you alright? I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to …“, asked the beautiful angel in front of Res.

“Bro, you have to guilt-trip her now. Always works.”

After what he had experienced because of Jason’s advice, he was hesitant to comply, but did so anyway. “You could repay me with an afternoon.” By the firm look in her eyes, he realized that she was going to deny his request.

Next to Serafina’s face appeared Xenia who gave him a mischievous wink and interjected. “Oh, we would love to come. Am I right, Serafina?” She nodded with visible reluctance and took her place in the armchair.

”Bro, you are a fucking chad. A fucking twin-pack. I never thought you would come this far, son.”

With a sigh, Res propped himself up and tried to find his balance. The flat of a hand appeared out of nowhere and impacted his cheek like a wrecking ball. He went down like a sack of potatoes. Luckily, he landed on his back this time and could see his assailant – A now crying Antoinette.

Through the ringing of his ears, he could only hear: “… pervert … Am I not good enough? … For years I tried … Leave me for that whore … Disgusting … Pig … Dog” Then, she ran out of the room and slammed the door shut. From his view on the ground, he could see the shocked faces of Xenia and Serafina.

“Bro, if half of what she said is true, you deserved it though.”

With a defeated sigh, Res combed through his memories and realized that Jason was right as always. Serafina produced another healing potion from her robes and he emptied it. Res made a note to carry some healing potions around himself. “Sorry Res. This won’t heal the entire swelling, but it will stop the dizziness.” Res felt the potion doing its job and, after several minutes, he was able to climb into his armchair. So, Res decided to make the best of it.

“I should change my career path to punching bag.”

The tension in the room had been so high that everyone began to giggle. When they had calmed down, Res tried his luck again. “Serious question: What do you like to do?” Xenia started off by telling about her love for horse riding and the bow and arrow. To his surprise, Serafina didn’t actually like fighting, but viewed it as a necessity. Instead, she loved to talk about books and the art of writing. His days in the academy had prepared him well for such occasions and they talked for over twenty minutes. It felt like Res had finally found real friends for the first time, apart from Vincent.

“Bro, it might be because it is the first time you are actually open for conversation?”

Res filed up the comment back for later and gave Jason a mental ‘maybe’. After all the swords and spears on display, the fact that the next item wasn’t a weapon piqued his interest. “My Lords and Ladies, the next object on display will be 400 basic speed potions. They are of potions of the low practitioner stage and have a duration of over ten minutes. They can only be used by non-aether-users and will increase their speed by more than 180%. You won’t be able to get such quantities anywhere else. It is perfect for a small squad of guards in a tight situation. The starting bid is eighty gold.”

In comparison to the previous bids, there were only few and poor nobles interested. Most established nobles had aether users in their service. His small revolution had good defenses now, but no way to attack. To the surprise of Serafina and Xenia, Res pushed one of his flags out of a hole in the wall. After some back and forth with a minor lord, Res managed to get the potions for 132 Gold.

“Why would you need speed potions?”, Xenia asked him with her brows raised.

“I know I can’t deny that request, but I wouldn’t want you to know, yet. Do you want to still ask?”

Xenia stared at him with her deep green eyes. “This is the most elegant way to say no that I have ever heard. I won’t insult you, so you can keep your secrets.”

After the potions, various necklaces and even a desert tiger were put up for sale. The princess managed to buy a dress that was arrow proof and several minor artifacts. Somehow, their discussion deranged to Serafina and Xenia discussing whether swords or bows were more deadly. Res was content to listen to the two bickering while keeping an eye on the products on auction.

The conversation shifted to him and Serafina said. “Res, I have fought with you and you are an experienced swordsman. Please explain to the princess that a sword is way superior to a bow.”

Xenia pointed at Res’s smooth hands. “Are those the celeste hands of a swordsman? You are a good judge of character, Serafina. He uses one of the new southerner crossbows.”

Before Res knew what was going on, both of them were fondling his hands. All the while, they were pointing out evidence that supported their thesis. He disentangled himself and answered in a neutral tone: “I am not a cow at the bazar. Actually, both of you are wrong. I am a martial artist.”

Both of the girl’s jaws dropped at his statement. A kind and comforting look settled on their faces. “Oh Res, we didn’t know. I am so sorry. You should have told us that you can’t spend any money on a weapon. Look, that sword is made by a smith on the practitioner level. Let it be a favor from a friend.” Before Xenia could indicate that she wanted to bet, Res grabbed her hand to stop her.

“It is not like I don’t have any money. I like martial arts and they are powerful, too.” The princess stared at him incredulous while Serafina began to chuckle in amusement. What shut her up, was when Res shot her a mischievous grin and remarked: “I disarmed Serafina without any weapon.”

The girls still weren’t convinced, but Res left it at that and Jason shouted in his head: “Quick, you have to bet. Increase the price by twenty platinum now! Get that ring!” He had come to trust Jason, so he jammed a flag indicating twenty platinum through a hole. “thirty platinum! Thirty-four platinum!” From his vantage point, he could only see a delicate ring with a small red ruby embedded in it. Jason once again urged him to buy and Res did follow.

“Jason, why should I get this? Is that ring worth forty platinum?”

“Shit Bro, that ring could be worth even more than that. The announcer said that it was found in a ruin within the southerner city of Paloa. In earlier times, that city was a veritable hub for smiths. Today, there is no smith alive on the level of ‘King’. Yet, that ring could be a fucking ‘King-Level’ ring. Shit, do you know what that means?”

Res increased the bid to forty-two gold coins. “No, I wouldn’t be asking otherwise.”

“That means that the fucking ring is a fucking nuclear reactor. It doesn’t use the aether from the user, but instead pulls in aether itself.” Immediately, Res knew he had to get the ring no matter what. Besides him, there were two other members of the royal family that bid on the ring. Xenia was looking at him with new eyes. Res realized too late that he had interrupted their talk and started bidding.

“How did you … Never mind. Why do you want that ring at all? You know that it only has an ornamental value. It is not a true master craft artifact and it can’t be restored.”

Res cast his mind inward: “Jason, is that true?”

“Res, increase the bid! Ok, nice one. I hope that it doesn’t work. If the ring is empty, ergo the ghost has left for the creator, I can hijack the ring. A guarded secret of the smiths is that self-sustaining artifacts, are powered by a ghost. That pretty necklace from the princess that she uses to bind people has a ghost in it too. I have already spoken to her. I’ll tell you, she is a hot one, but I will crack her one day. You will stay by the princess’s side, right?”

Res sank into the dark abyss of his mind and thought through all the implications. He pushed the flag through the hole again and the price increased to forty-eight platinum. Res surfaced from his short deep dive and snapped out: “Jason, you imply that you can talk with artifacts. Why didn’t you tell me? Is it only a one-way communication channel? Are there any other artifact that you have talked to?”

The casual tone with which Jason answered was a dead giveaway: “Ohhhh, nothing to worry bro. No one else can do the same as you as far as I know.”

Res’s tone turned to ice. “The other questions.”

“Bro, don’t be that stony. I only have a tiny, tiny crush on Serafina’s sword.”

By now, Res’s tone had dropped to temperatures that were lower than the coldest winter in the northern lands. “What did you do?”

“Ohhh, I used some tiny, tiny magic to you know, activate your hidden man. A small enzyme activation.”

Res was fuming by now. There was one thing that Res treasured: his mind and Jason had told him how he had manipulated him. He couldn’t hold himself back anymore and he sprang out of his chair and punched the wall. With a sharp tug, he pulled out his hand that had sunk into the wall. He realized that this wasn’t his normal behavior, so he sat down on the ground and began to meditate. Jason pierced this calmness with a hesitant whisper.

“Res, you should buy the ring.”

With calm he didn’t feel, he opened his eyes and saw Serafina standing in front of Res with her sword drawn. Xenia was staring at him in horror and her candy lay forgotten on the ground. With his clam mask, he asked:

“Would my majesty be able to buy the ring? I don’t intend to harm anyone. I would be forever in your debt.”

Res had said his peace and he once again was enveloped by the dark abyss. With a fine-toothed come, he went through all the events and compared it to his usual behavior. After several minutes, he realized that it was useless. How would he be able to decide whether he had been influenced? When you have no proof for something, act in a way that benefits the defendant.

What Res knew for sure, was the fact that Jason had manipulated him in matters of Serafina and Xenia. When he had first seen Serafina, he had felt a rush of emotions that he had interpreted as affection. In hindsight, Res wondered how he hadn’t thought of it as strange. Why Serafina was the first woman to awake those kinds of feelings in him? In his lifetime at court, he had seen hundreds of women that were more beautiful than Serafina. When he looked at Serafina again, he supposed neither Serafina nor Xenia were particularly pretty. If he were to measure them on a crude scale from 0-10, he would rank them at 7 with Antoinette being a 10 on the scale.

Yet, he realized he couldn’t avoid the inevitable confrontation with Jason any longer. As soon as he returned to his body, Jason began to list off excuses. Then, he switched to advantages of being together with Serafina. Finally, he cursed at him for being ungrateful. Like he had been taught by the old man that had brought him to the lifestyle of thinking, he listened. Jason ranted about his feelings and about how Res couldn’t stop him from meeting the love of his life. Jason threatened to play around with his emotions if Res didn’t agree. Finally, Jason began to tell him about how he felt lonely as a ghost and killing himself was a daily option. Then, Jason stopped talking and wept in self-pity.

When he was sure Jason wouldn’t interrupt him, Res began: “Despite what you have done to me, I don’t think you are a bad person. What you have done though, was a giant breach of trust and I have to admit that I am beyond furious with you. If we want to live together, we have to set rules. 1) We have to communicate. You already know much of me, but you also need to tell me about yourself. I didn’t know that you were depressed, but I would have done my best to help you. 2) You don’t mess with my mind. My mind is holy to me. You are an intruder, no matter whether we now like each other. I understand you had a rough couple of days, but you have to tell me your fears.”

In a subdued voice, Jason told him about how he was able to build some kind of virtual paradise in his mind. Yet, that would turn boring and then depressing. When Res’s aether sight touched an artifact, he could recognize them. If Res was touching the person, he was able to communicate and share parts of his mind paradise. The most efficient way to touch Serafina often was to turn both of them to lovers.

To that end, Jason had activated some kind of mating signal in Res. What followed were intense negotiations between Res and Jason. Res realized that Jason should have the ability to meet some of his kind and they quarreled over how long. Finally, they agreed that Res would have to first talk to the ghosts in the artifacts. Who knew whether the artifacts even wanted Jason’s company. If they agreed, the ghost in the princess’s necklace could form a binding agreement between them. Despite Jason’s assurances that the girl in Serafina’s sword was eager to see him again, Res didn’t trust him.

With that out of the way, Res opened his eyes and was greeted by the sight of a steel blade against his neck.