Chapter 5: The Norn Family

Raul waited anxiously in his cell. Sometimes he would pace, sometimes he’d listen through the door, and sometimes he’d just sit on the bed tapping his feet. At all times he held one of the amulets that Tai had given him in hand, just in case.

Seven hours later, he finally heard the front door of the house open. He tensed up and perked his ears up for the secret knock, but it never came. The door started openings and he gripped the amulet tighter, prepared to smash it at a moments notice.

He almost collapsed in relief when Tai walked in. His fear ratcheted back up due to Tai’s grave face though.

Tao looked him up and down and started muttering things like “not good,” or “It’ll be hard,” while contemplating.

Raul finally couldn’t take it anymore and said, “Look man, if the family needs to sacrifice me to survive then just do it. You all have taken care of me for years, and I don’t mind giving back if need be.” A feeling of relief washed over him as he got the words out. He’d regretted not saying them last night and leaving the negotiations up to Tai.

“What? No, you’re good, great even, I’m the one with the problem.” Tai looked him up and down and sighed again. “I have no idea what I should wear as your best man. I mean, I know I shouldn’t outshine you, but I have no idea how to make that possible.”

Raul’s mind completely blanked at that. He was starting to wonder if the long night and tension had driven him insane. “What in the nine hells are you talking about!?”

“Oh right, I forgot to send someone to inform you.” Tai coughed into his hand, then cleared his throat a few times, and then, just as Raul was getting ready to smack him, said “Good news, your execution got changed into a marriage.”

Tai made sure to get a picture of Raul’s dumbfounded face on a gemstone. “Priceless, I can’t wait to show this to my niece or nephew.” Tai chuckled.

It was at this point Raul snapped and started squeezing Tai’s face into a ball.

“If you’re trying to give me a face massage, you’ll have to squeeze harder.” Tai said fluently, the movement of his lips easily overpowering Raul’s hands.

“Seriously man, just tell me what’s going on!” Raul begged.

“Jeez, chill. I thought I’d lighten the mood first before going into the detail since you’ve been tense all night, but if you want it that much then…” Tai narrated the events of the negotiations. 

“So that crazy woman wants to marry me, and you all just agreed to it!?” Raul looked incredulous. “Why would you accept!?” Honestly he was already scared of Marina after the events of last night, but now hearing how far she’d go had him terrified.

“Eh? You mean you don’t want to?” Tai was genuinely taken aback.

“Of course not! You know what kind of lifestyle I lead. I don’t want to marry any woman, much less a scary one like that! Why’d you all accept?”

“I mean, it was by far the best option.” Tai scratched the back of his head.

“In what way? From what you’ve said there leverage pretty much evaporated after she confessed, and she’s alienated herself from her house too so they wouldn’t help her. We could’ve just said no.” Raul stressed.

Tai sighed. “It’s not that simple. That old demon specifically stated that she would only lose the rights to the Norn name after she was married, and even arranged someone to oversee it. They already lost quite a bit of face from this event, if we reject them now, it’ll basically be adding salt to the wound.”

“But she was the one who did everything!”

“Correct. In the end the main issue is that we’re too weak.” Tai sighed. “Though rejecting wouldn’t result in a slaughter, they can easily make a lot of problems for us. Going along with the marriage is by far the cheapest and least complicated option.”

“Guh!” Raul took a step back. He worked his tired mind to try and process all of this and not reject it off hand. Honestly, compared to his previous worries, marriage was a small issue. He’d just declared he was willing to die for the family, he should be relieved that he only had to marry her.

Still, marriage… though he’d never wanted to do it, he’d always respected the vow. To pledge yourself to one person was certainly a beautiful thing, but being forced into it was unpleasant, particularly considering the other party. 

“I got it, I’ll do it.” He said reluctantly, despite his feelings on the matter.

“Don’t be such a sourpuss, in a lot of ways you’re actually getting a great deal.” Tai comforted. He laughed when Raul gave him a look that clearly asked if he was insane.

“Alright look, clearly you need some education on the Norn family. Simply put, the Norn family are THE best support style cultivators on the entire West Continent. That’s right, not the southern region, but the whole continent. It’s possible they’re the best in the world.”

Raul’s eyes widening at that. Best in the world? What kind of concept was that? It meant everyone else was beneath you!

“They’ve leveraged this extremely well too.” Tai continued. “A lot of their cultivators marry into other families, giving them extremely good personal connections. Getting a wife or husband from the Norn family is a huge accomplishment for a household. It gives access to that big chain of connections, likewise it’s also extremely difficult to actually do. They’re pretty picky about who they allow their members to marry. Frankly speaking, I wouldn’t be able to seek a marriage from the Norn family unless I made some personal achievement, they don’t put our Vault Family in their eye at all. Usually you'd need to be from an Earl Household at least to have a shot.”

Tai actually got a bit depressed when he thought of that. It’s not that he particularly wanted a marriage from the Norn family, but he was frustrated at being treated as beneath their notice.

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“Woah, they’re that amazing?” Raul listened in fascination. “Wait, this means I did something that you can’t do and benefitted the family, huh.” Raul couldn’t resist smirking and feeling some level of pride at that.

Tai’s face twitched and he coughed into his hand. “Well, don’t get too excited. Your wife isn’t allowed to use the Norn name, much less us, so we won’t actually be privy to those connections.”

Raul clicked his tongue. “Right. What am I supposed to do about her anyway? She’s clearly suspicious as hell.”

Tai shook his head. “No clue. It depends on what she wants, until we know that it’ll be difficult to handle her. Well, for right now just play along with her and see if you can learn anything.” He shrugged. 

Raul groaned at the idea of having to spend more time with Marina. Raul looked up in the air blankly. Why’d he ask to go to that party? Just one night and his life was over, he was full of regrets.

“I’ll do what I can, but can you take me home for now?” Raul really needed to catch some sleep to process all this. Unfortunately, the day wasn’t over for him yet.

“I can’t yet, we still need to drop by somewhere.” Tai said apologetically. “She asked to talk to you.”

“Seriously? Can’t it wait?” Raul felt a chill when he thought of meeting Marina again. Though he knew it was pretty much inevitable at this point, he still wanted more time to mentally prepare himself.

“No can do.  Remember, we need to figure out what she wants. The faster we can do that, the better off we’ll be. Just think of it as information gathering.”

“I’ve never done that though.”

“Sure you do. When you’re chatting up a girl, that’s basically information gathering.”

“… When you say it like that it suddenly makes sense. Alright, I’ll wow some info out for you.” Raul started fixing his hair and covering up his exhaustion.

Tai rolled his eyes but let him take his time.

They took their time and walked to the safe house Marina was at so that they could discuss what topics he should try to learn about, and what he should avoid.

“I’m not too sure about this.” Raul’s nerves kicked back in when they were before the house.

Marina was currently staying at a different guest house than the rest of the Norn family, so they didn’t need to worry about them, but he found the woman plenty scary herself. 

“Relax man, she abandoned her cultivation already. she’s just a normal girl now, she can’t hurt you.” Tai lied through his teeth. The difference between a mortal and a fallen immortal was still huge, but there was no need for Raul to know that.

“… Why do I feel like you’re tricking me?” Raul’s eyes narrowed.

‘He’s only sharp at times like this’ Tai clicked his tongue. “Look man, you’re going to have to spend time with her in the future anyway, so you might as well get it over with. At the very least it’s certain she’s not trying to harm you.”

“Point. Damn. All in then.” Raul gulped and opened the door. Tai naturally waited outside, hoping that she might say more if it was just Raul.

“It’s rude to walk into a woman’s house without warning.” An emotionless voice sounded. He looked over and saw her sitting on a chair with a book in hand. She looked noticeably paler than the last time he saw her, and her cheeks had sunken in a bit, giving her a sickly appearance. Even then, he had to admit, she was gorgeous.

The sight of her made his entire body tingle as the memories of last night rekindled in his mind.

“Well, since you’re my husband to be I’ll forgive it this time.” She closed her book and looked him up and down with cold eyes.

He instinctively stood up straighter while cold sweat broke out. Damn it, he knew this woman was terrifying! “Cough, right, sorry. Um, you wanted to see me, right?” He tried to speak in a calm tone.

‘Calm down, gather intel, and walk out of here alive.’ He told himself the key points. He glanced at the book she was reading and was surprised to find it was on Twin Peak City’s dangerous wildlife. His tired brain filed that away while going over the key points he needed to bring up.

She stared at him for a moment before nodding. “I did. I’m sure you have many questions, but you’re clearly tired so I’ll keep today brief.”

He flinched slightly as he resisted the urge to check his eyes. ‘How did she know?’ He wondered. Then she asked the question that made his brain halt.

“What price would you pay if I could make you a cultivator?”

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