Chapter 33: Chapter 33: The Coin Dealer

Chapter 33: The Coin Dealer

The frail friendship between Jack and Balon strains after the visit to the shop. Balon wants for the easy banter to be back, and so, he does something drastic.

Now, I might be a god, but that doesn't mean that I have eyes on the back of my head, ok? Before Jack, I didn't even know that the mortals strapped people to that slab of stone in my name. I swear, if I had known, I would have rung the neck of the priest.

It is not like I ever wanted to be worshiped. The truth is, that I started off as a Hero of Ultimate Fate.

Those were the days. Chasing after skirts, and a demon lady. She had a knack to wear barbarian bikini armor. Oh, more than a little droll has been swallowed when I gazed at the beauty.

Caramel skin, deer ears, and small goat horns. And her body. Mm. Anyway, I found that the vampire curse and having sex with a demon meant death.

Not for me, but for the demon lady. I took her immortality from her, through her blood. And now, well, people bloody strap other people for the wild beasts to find. In. My. Name. Ugh!

How was I to know that Jacky had a sister, that died because of the priests? And, to a part, because of me? I know only of one way to right the wrong. So, I go to the Coin Dealer.

I have asked more than once, but nobody wants to tell me just how old the Coin Dealer is. Not even Thas, the elf from the shop which nearly ruined my and Jacky's friendship, knows.

And I could swear that he must know quite a bit more about the Heavenly Realm, than I. Seeing as he is a gossip and a half.

"Hey, Jacky, I am going out," I tell him, as he scrubs the stone. "Do you need anything?"

"No, my lord," I hate it when Jacky calls me his lord. I mean, why can't he call me buddy instead? Sure, I could probably snap him in half, but that doesn't mean that we are not friends, ok?

"Well, see you," I wave at him, but he doesn't rise his head. With a bowed head, I go back to the Heavenly Realm. Most gods would have had their human servants wait outside the establishment, where they were not allowed. But I am not a snob, and so, escorted Jack back home.

"Hey, Balon, where is your shadow?" Hess asks, as I make it through the pearly gates.

"Left him back home. Hey, Hess, do you know a shortcut to the Coin Dealer?" I ask him. His eyes widen, and he walks away without another word. Hm, is he… afraid? I mean, he has a decent following back on the human realm. What does he have to be afraid of?

I feel a raindrop on my nose, and pull my hood over my head. With sure steps, I make it to the Coin Dealer's palace. I know for a fact that he has just about any coin in existence. I just hope he is willing to part with the one I need.  

I knock on the gates, and see an old granny walking towards them, leaning on a stick.

"Lord Balon, why have you come here?" She asks, and I smile at her.

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"To see your master, of course. Is he home?" She nods, and opens the gates. Her eyes shift from left to right, and she motions for me to lean in. I do so, and she whispers to me.

"If you are asked for that which you hold dear, don't give it to him," with that, she pats me on the shoulder, and then begins to tap away with her stick. I wonder, just how cheap the Coin Dealer is, to not have gotten her a cane. Some people…

I do my best to smile, and then follow her. She leads me inside a manor, and tells me to wait in the entryway. I do so, happy to be out of the rain. I look around, wanting to take the measure of the Coin Dealer, from the manor itself.

Everything is clean, unlike my dusty castle. There are mosaics on the walls, showing off different people having sex. So, the Coin Dealer is a major pervert. Big deal.

An old man comes down the ivory staircase, leaning on a cane.

"You wish to speak to me, Hero of Ultimate Fate?" Hm, I haven't been referred as such in quite a while. I wonder, from where does he know?

"Hey, yeah. Do you have a soul exchange coin? How much do you want for it?" I don't beat around the bush. His eyebrow quirks at me, which makes it look like a caterpillar in flight.

"I do have it. But what are you willing to offer for it?" He asks, and I sigh.

"Look here, old timer, I really need it. Let us cut off the haggling, and go straight to business, ok? Someone I hold dear needs their sister back in their lives. I will do just about anything, ok?" I don't like the smirk on the man's lips. The quest, he sends me on, is something I like even less. Yet, I have to atone for the crimes which were done in my name.

A small part of me whispers that I won't atone, until all the robbed lives are restored. I snap at that part, and force it back to the old place. The place where all of my former self-righteousness from the good old days is stored.

One can be a hero, but once they kill, are they still a hero?

No one double crosses the Coin Dealer. That is a lesson, which a nine-headed dragon learns the hard way, when Balon, the Forest Terror, comes knocking to collect its debt.

The word spreads, and the deity is given a single coin. A coin, which he gives up to the boatman of the underworld, who allows him to go back to the Heavenly Realm, with a small strawberry-blonde girl, with haunted eyes.

Part 3 of the Unlikely Partners.

 

 

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