71 Chapter XII: Rising Reputation

When Durrak finally calmed down from his embarrassment fueled berserk rage, we got to the most important part of any dungeon delve: Looting anything not nailed down.

We found the usual valuables and some enchanted weapons. Unfortunately, said weapons were of the user-fueled variety making them far less valuable than a properly done enchantment.

As we were walking down the massive platform at the entrance Durrak asked hesitantly "You think you could maybe enchant my spear?"

I am a bit confused by his tone but still answer "Sure I can, what do you want it to do?"

He thinks for a bit before answering "Something that can make me last longer in battle?"

I start getting flashbacks of people asking for enchantments to make them last longer but quickly manage to shake the memories off.

Shaking my head in an attempt to get rid of the discomfort I say "I can either make it steal life force or stamina."

"Lifeforce" He grunts out immediately. His little brush with death seems to have rattled him a fair bit.

I nod "That won't be an issue, ill get it done when we get to Whiterun."

We continue walking down the mountain at a leisurely pace and chatting about the fights we had, much to Durrak's chagrin.

We had to carry the loot we got from the dungeon and liberated from the raiders in a couple of rather massive bags, but a bit of telekinesis and that problem was solved. Pretty good practice as well.

Suddenly, I sense someone at the edge of my vision and raise my hand abruptly.

My companions stop and prepare their weapons.

I focus my gaze on the place I felt something from but whoever was spying on us was already gone.

After waiting for a bit just in case I shake my head "I was certain I saw something over there, but the moment we stopped they were already gone."

"Think it was that innkeeper?" Davos asks.

"Could be..." I say, suspicion lacing my voice.

We take the time to check out the spot I sensed but there was nothing, not even the snow was disturbed. Since we couldn't really do anything about it, the only choice left was to just go on without any answers.

We spent the rest of our trip to Riverwood with me being incredibly jumpy and the other two mocking me for it.

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We returned to Riverwood in the evening, and once again I made a beeline for the trader while my followers went for the inn.

I entered the shop, making the tiny bells above the door jingle and alert the very stressed looking Lucan who was manning the stall.

I approach without a word and place the claw on the counter, he looks at it surprised and then turns to me me with a conflicted expression.

"As I promised, the claw is returned." I drawl out.

He nods hesitantly "Yes, I can see that... " he scratches his cheek awkwardly "Umm... are you still interested in buying it?"

"No." I respond with zero hesitation. It might have been an interesting thing to have, but it was no longer of any use to me.

He nods and pulls out the diamond I gave him as collateral with suspiciously little protest for a trader.

I raise an eyebrow behind my mask and take it, using identify on it I am both furious and insulted.

[Glass counterfeit diamond]

I lock my eyes with Lucan and slowly, deliberately, crush the glass gem in my hand, turning into fine sand with my magic imbued strength.

He shivers in fear, but I say nothing and merely continue staring at him.

He gulps and pulls out the real thing, placing it on the counter with a shaky hand.

I look it over and nod with satisfaction, then grab both the gem and the claw and turn to leave.

I hear some protests from Lucan and turn back to him "You are lucky we aren't in Morrowind. I would have taken your head alongside your claw for this insult." He flinches and I go on "Be happy you get to keep your life."

I leave the devastated shopkeeper and head to the inn. Seriously, at least don't look suspicious if you want to cheat me you dumbass. The only reason I didn't kill him is that it would bring far too much trouble for a bit of satisfaction.

I join my two companions and we order some drinks.

Unsurprisingly, once again Delphine inserts herself into the conversation after a bit. What does surprise me however, is that the feeling she is giving me is very different from whatever I felt watching me on the mountain... was it really someone else?

I am forced to leave my thoughts for later when she asks "So, how did your bandit hunt go?"

"Oh, it went swimmingly! We managed to slay the raiders and reclaim the stolen loot from Rorikstead." I answer with a shit eating grin.

Delphine seems genuinely surprised at the fact that we actually went after bandits and is actually stunned for a moment, but after a bit she shakes her head "Well, I am glad they got what was coming to them" and leaves us to our drinks.

The local bard, Sven if my memory serves, comes in a couple of minutes later and starts singing that one song about Ragnarr the red getting his head lopped off, and we enjoy the rest of the evening in merriment.

Durrak even starts retelling how we slew the raiders, much to the patrons satisfaction, and the bards disatissfaction if his childish pouting is anything to go by.

Later in the evening, I am not feeling all that sleepy so I am left mostly alone in the common room, reading a very specific book about a certain prophecized hero.

Much to no one's surprise Delphine once more makes her way toward me with two bottles of mead, she slumps down on the bench next to me with a tired sigh and offers me one.

I take it with a raised eyebrow and say "Still fishing for what I did with the claw eh?"

She huffs and takes a swig of her drink "No, I can mostly guess what you were doing."

"Then what do you want?" I ask, surprising even myself with the patience I am showing.

She drops all pretense at this point, seeing as no one is listening to us and says "I am wondering what the son of Legate Vyren is doing in Skyrim and what he plans to do with his growing power."

While stealthily preparing to summon my gear at a moments notice, I roll my eyes and take a sip of my drink "Ah, there is the spy I was expecting."

She doesn't react visibly to what I say, but I sense a bit of tension in her aura "So, you father did inform you of his other job then?"

Is she really implying what I think she is? "No, I deduced it."

She turns to me with surprise in her eyes, and then asks me curiously "Not going to ask what his job was?"

Yup, apparently ole' Vyren really went out of his way to spite his father.... Pretending to have already known I snort "No, I deduced it."

She seems both irritated and impressed. We are silent for a minute until she asks "So, seeing as you have 'deduced it' as you say, do you plan on continuing your fathers work?"

So that is your angle eh? Well at least she isn't as passive as I expected.

I shake my head "I will avenge him if that is what you are asking. But serving a dying empire? Why would I do that?" I ask with genuine confusion.

Hearing my answer she is once again deep in thought. After a bit she tries again "Judging by how perceptive you are, you should already know that Ulfric will not be happy with merely oppressing the Dunmer he rules, you could help them by serving the empire."

Ohohoho, very manipulative Delphine. Probably would have worked on an impressionable seventeen year old as well.

Luckily for me, I am neither impressionable nor am I seventeen.

"Help them by serving the blades and by extension you, you mean?" I snark.

She flinches slightly at getting caught, and before she can try and bullshit me again I say in a grave tone while staring her down "Know this, blade. Ulfric will die. The Thalmor will die. And if you decide to get in my way, you too will die."

I stand up and place the bottle down on the table "The next time you want to drug someone, add just a tiny bit of deathbell, it numbs the senses." I say and without waiting for her response leave to my bed.

(Delphine's pov)

*Sigh* he is already too strong to easily control.

Too bad I didn't recruit him when he first passed through here.

No matter, he is an enemy of the Thalmor and I can use that if I ever need him for something.

He seems to have forgotten the book he was reading on the table...well, I might as well see what it is about. I approach the book and open the cover, the title that greets me is: The Song of the Dragonborn... An odd choice for an evening read.

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(Reyvin's pov)

We leave Riverwood early in the morning, and during the entire march I am stuck pondering if giving Delphine a hint about dragons was the right choice.

On the one hand I am predisposed to hate her instinctually due to my experiences in the game. On the other all I sensed from her was the wish to go against the Thalmor and a bit of arrogance, nothing that would make me hate her truly as an actual living person.

The drugged mead was a bit of an annoyance, but at this point I consider such things a greeting and it was just something to loosen my tongue so I decided to ignore it as an act of good will.

Then there is the whole 'leading the dragonborn on' deal, but if I am honest with myself that is exactly what I will probably end up doing for my own ends...

No matter, I will see how things develop and react accordingly.

We make it to Whiterun in good time, and while still carrying the large bags of stolen loot head straight to Dragonsreach.

As we approach the palace one of the very well armored guardsmen, probably a housecarl now that I think about it, stops us "What is your business bringing all of that to the palace?" and then adds in a grave tone "The Jarl is under a lot of pressure due to the raid on Rorikstead and any wasting of his time will not be welcome."

I raise my hands placatingly "Worry not, if I am not wrong we are about to make his whole day." I can practically feel the raised eyebrow through his helmet and simply wave for him to follow us "Do come with if you want to witness it."

He shrugs, seeing as I am well known, and signals a couple of the lesser guardsmen to take over. After he makes sure that they are in position he opens the door for us and leads us inside.

We enter into the scene of the Jarl's council all talking about the recent events, with Balgruuf looking like someone pissed in his beer, for three months straight.

As we approach he seems to notice us and everyone follows his gaze to me, he lets out a tired sigh and says "It is always a pleasure to have you here Flame-tongue, but as you can see we aren't quite in the mood for receiving visitors right now."

I smirk at this "Oh I assure you, you will be in the mood when I am done."

Everyone gives me a blank stare, but the smirk doesn't leave my face as I summon the charred armor of the raider's leader and toss it in front of the throne.

I hear gasps all around me as everyone seems to recognize just what I just tossed in front of them. Balgruuf stares at it for a long time, before slowly breaking out into laughter.

"Two hundred years..." He lets out another tearful laugh "Two hundred gods damned years they have been raiding our villages, and suddenly you walk in and whip out the burned remains of their most powerful weapons like it is nothing and offer no explanation." He once again goes into a hysterical fit of laughter.

Two whole centuries? Sheesh, there are nations on earth that didn't last that long.

Even Balgruuf's brother Hrongar seems to be in a state of disbelief, going between laughter and just looking empty.

Proventus Avenici, the ever diligent steward of Whiterun approaches us and points us to a side room of the palace while saying in a professional voice "If you would kindly follow me for a meal while the Jarl's household gathers themselves I would be most indebted."

Seeing the sense behind his words I quickly agree and we follow him.

We take our time to rest from the long walk while Balgruuf calms his shit and are soon invited back and offered seats close to the Jarl's own.

He looks us over and says with much more composure than before "You have helped us more than you can know, honestly Reyvin if you weren't already living in Winterhold I would offer you employment here for this."

I shrug "I don't really need a reward for this, just make sure it is known who put an end to whoever those raiders were and I will be satisfied." The reputation is worth far more than gold to me at this point.

"You don't even know of them?" He gapes and goes to inform me.

I raise a hand and interrupt him with a cruel smile "Why should I remember a group of ants I stepped on?"

Balgruuf snorts, while his brother seems to just about to let out a 'whoop!'

He turns to Davos, who notably chose to hide his face for this and says "And you, Davos of Windhelm do you have a request for this deed?"

He just shakes his head "Unneeded, I am here merely as a tool for my current employer. Nothing more."

Balgruuf looks confused but nods, while Irileth, his personal guard, seems alarmed all of a sudden and slowly reaches for her blade.

I stare at her and say diplomatically "There is no need for that housecarl, I assure you that the mer under my employ is not here for antagonistic reasons."

She stares at Davos for a bit longer but then slowly nods and leaves her sword in its sheath.

The non-Dunmer present seem kind off miffed by being excluded from what just happened but Irileth promises an explanation later and they leave it at that.

Finally, it is Durrak's turn but before the Jarl can even speak he also shakes his head "Don't even think about it. I did practically nothing."

"Oh?" The Jarl raises an eyebrow.

Durrak snorts "I did practically nothing" and points at me "He just blew them all to pieces by himself, honestly it was kind of sad."

Every head snaps toward me, but I merely shrug "When I called them ants I really wasn't being arrogant."

"He says as he remembers being stabbed." Durrak narrates between chuckles.

I turn to him with a chilling smile "Oh, we also had a bit of an adventure in the burial ground the raiders were camping out on. I would love to tell you all about it."

The court members seem very curious, Durrak on the other hand pales and I start the tale.

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