Edward was noticeably surprised when Isaac and Lenna walked into his office. Isaac and Lenna had already taken care of Aria and Claus's belongings so unless they were there to give him another problem to add to his growing list, he wasn't sure why they would go the whole way to his office. Regardless as to why they were there, Edward rose to his feet and greeted the duo as they arrived. "Isaac, Lenna, first, I must offer my condolences. Half of the city has heard the piano in the orchestra hall echo how you must be feeling right now, and there are more in this city than you know who are feeling it as well, whether for Aria and Claus, or for the rest of the fallen."

Isaac and Lenna nodded in greeting. "Thank you for saying so." Isaac replied. "I hadn't thought about it, but I hope that the families of the fallen have felt some level of kinship, or an ease to the pain in their hearts, from listening to me play. It has helped me a lot, and if it helps someone else in the process, the last thing I will do is complain."

Edward gave Isaac a slight bow which caught the younger man off guard. "On behalf of those families, friends, and lovers, thank you." He told Isaac before straightening again. Edward then gestured towards the seats across from him. "Please, sit."

As Isaac and Lenna moved to take the offered seats, Isaac noticed quite a few more gray hairs threading through Edward's golden mane. His eyes had bags under them and his shoulders looked like they were struggling to maintain their trained squared position. "We would like to make an offer." Isaac told Edward as soon as they were seated. "It might help you out for the next little while." He continued and gestured towards his side. The familiar black void that heralded Shamesh opened up and the rather dapper bone golem familiar rose from it with a dignified bow. "Shamesh is willing to help defend caravans going to and from Ben's End, but no further. Once Lenna and I are back in full operating condition, then we can talk about all three of us protecting caravans, maybe multiple at a time, going to and from Outpost Charles, but for now, Ben's End will be his limit." Isaac explained.

Edward's mind instantly saw all of the potential problems and why Isaac had referred to it as an 'offer' and not a 'solution' to his problems. "Familiars are actually able to be adventurers according to the rules, that is more or less what a Warlock is anyway. The issue will be getting people to want someone who looks like they want to grant the world eternal unlife, no offence Shamesh, to protect them for weeks at a time. Even with an official statement from me, I cannot guarantee that anyone will want him. I can put it out there but I cannot make anyone accept him as their guard. Even if they do not mind how he looks, or how the death flames in his eyes make most people feel, there is still the issue that he is entirely unknown." Edward went on. "I see no harm in trying though. It would be very helpful if he could take care of some of these caravans that have been held up."

"I had an idea about that, actually." Isaac told Edward and leaned in slightly. "I need to stretch. I think I am almost fully healed, but I won't know for certain unless I am pushing my limits to the absolute end. We could host an exhibition match in the arena between me and Shamesh."

Edward looked over at Shamesh who had been entirely silent so far. "No flying above five feet and no Disintegrate." Edward told him. "Will that be alright? Both of those rules are to prevent the crowd from becoming collateral damage."

Shamesh bowed. "That will be fine. It is less restrictive than our usual sparring." He replied.

Edward shrugged. "Then I don't see why not. If you can do all of the leg work on this, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm kind of drowning in my work already."

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"It depends on what all that entails." Isaac replied honestly.

"Check in with the arena master and ensure that it will be empty whenever you want to do it, and also that there will be an announcer and healer on standby, even if you don't need it. After that, check in with the duke and duchess for their final sign off on a public event in their arena. Finally, have Alice and a few local businesses put up either a sign or just word of mouth to broadcast it." Edward explained. "It isn't a lot but it has to be done in that order which makes for a decent amount of backtracking or waiting for messengers."

Isaac nodded in understanding. "We can do that." He agreed. "How many days heads up?"

"Three full days is usually enough for something like this." Edward told him. "If it was for something that would garner less attention, I would tell you to give it a week, but people will flock to watch double platinum level adventurers fight. On your way out, send Alice up with the paperwork for registering Shamesh. Is it alright if I just make up his information? It will probably be better than just leaving a bunch of fields blank like what I did with the two of you."

Isaac nodded in agreement. "Shamesh Wexler, Age twenty, from the wilds in the Innerworld, Warlock of the Lord of Darkness, level twenty. Is that good enough?" Isaac wondered.

Edward raised an eyebrow. "Yes, actually. That should be fine. It might still raise some questions if anyone tries to look into it, but it should be good enough not to arouse suspicion from anyone just glancing over the paperwork. It should also be good enough to let him receive a double platinum tag without getting another inspector called." He agreed.

"Then let's do it. Three days from tomorrow." Isaac told him.

"Right after that, I'll announce that he is available to receive requests for protection detail to Ben's End." Edward added. "That will prove his competence but people will have to get over the rest of him by themselves."

—

Isaac and Lenna stopped by the receptionist desk on their way out and filled all of the necessary paperwork out for Shamesh and informed her of what was going on. They told her to wait to tell anyone about it until they had confirmed whether or not the arena would be available.

The duo then stopped by the arena on their way home and talked with the middle aged man who ran it and was also the announcer. He confirmed that it was only reserved for a sparring session between some of the gold rank adventurers in the late morning for two hours but from an hour after noon and on it was entirely free. They informed him of their plan and he agreed to keep the time open until he received confirmation that the event was going to happen.

Isaac and Lenna's next stop was home so Isaac could write a letter to Izen mentioning the plan that he had come up with. They would have also stopped by the Celestial Dawn and Adventurous Tastes but Lenna needed to be able to release her aura in order to charge the crystal that Johny had left with them. Instead, Isaac wrote a letter to both Clayton and Celeste asking for their help in advertising the exhibition match. He also wrote one to the Tanners, Stan, and Jessica Silverstrand. Lastly, he wrote a letter to Alice informing them that there would indeed be a match in four days. Hopefully between the five shops, and the girls at the Guild Hall, the event would get out among the population enough that it would just spread via word of mouth to everyone.

Before the end of the day, Isaac had received confirmation from everyone he had sent a letter to, either a verbal message or a written one, that they would advertise whenever possible. He had also received approval from Izen for the event, which he had assumed he would get from the beginning. With that, everything was in order by the time the sun had set on the surface. It did cost Isaac a few gold to keep the street kids running back and forth for so long but that was his only option unless he was going to leave Lenna home without a healer, just in case something happened.

With all of the letters sent, and all confirmations given, they were nearly ready for the exhibition match. The last thing that needed to be done was for Shamesh to get a bit more martial training under Lenna's supervision. That was what led to the sounds of clashing steel leaking through the floorboards into the rest of the house until an hour past Martha's normal bedtime, not that the girl would have been able to sleep with Lenna's aura blanketing half of the house.

Martha was resistant to Lenna's old aura, but her new aura was a bit much for the young girl. Martha wasn't afraid of Lenna and her aura, not really anyway, but it still made her heart race and that was more than enough to keep her from being able to fall asleep. Madeline had worked very hard not to let her near constant cold sweat show from how much Lenna's aura affected her. Margaret, however, still seemed nearly completely unbothered by the aura. She had been through worse than what she, secretly and only to Madeline, referred to as a 'worse than normal panic attack'. Margaret's unwavering professionalism also overpowered whatever feelings her past experiences hadn't made her immune to. Those who had been through the hells, could stare into death itself without blinking, and Lenna's aura was hardly death itself, at least not in its current state.

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