Half-step Purgatory

Durin stroked the black cat on the armrest of his chair, sitting on the black leather sofa. Through the glasses perched on his nose, his gaze passed over the long table in front of him and settled on the man kneeling on the carpet:
"I understand, you've made money in Naples, your business has been very successful, and you've led a happy life. You've had those secret police, friends in both the law and the underground, and even the Royal Family speaking on your behalf."
"You don't need a friend like me, I know that. You're afraid of owing me a favor, and you don't want to get involved in troubles."
"But now you come to me and say, 'I beg you, Mr. Durin of the Corleon family, please help me seek justice, so that my life and my family will not suffer and sink into despair.'
Yet, in your eyes, I was nothing more than a second-rate artist involved in movies and music. Even at the brink of death, you still show me such disrespect, not even willing to call me by my title... Keeper of Secrets."

Durin's Diary

Moreover, Mr. Durin could craft equipment for him personally. What did that denote...? Of course, it signified a mysterious old assassin was at the service of a thirteen-year-old future godsmith.


No matter what aim or motivation this service stemmed from, it indicated that Durin, even without his own grandfather, had ways enough to win people over.


He was only thirteen, his future achievements surely boundless.


At this thought, the elderly lady approached her younger relative, "My little Alice, you were too reckless today. The family allowed you to get close to Durin, not for you to court death."


"Everyone says the young sir from Lublin has his own way with people. After observing for some time, indeed, it's just as the rumors say. Today, seeing the old sir related to him, couldn't I try to cozy up a bit?" The deer girl fiddled with the silver coin, rolling and flipping it between her fingers. "He said he's one hundred and one years old. What do you think, Granny?"


Chapter 28: This Man Comes from High Tower_3