Lewd King's Bucket List

Dave laughed the moment Joe disappeared, then muttered to Ixion.

"We're all quite dumb. It's rare Joe gets to have a conversation like that. I don't remember the last time he spoke so, uh... smartly!"

Olave sighed and said:

"Don't lump us in with you. You're a special kind of idiot."

Dave launched from his seat once again.

"Hey!"

Ixion took another bite of the cod, then asked:

"Who is Joe?"

The four looked at him.

Ixion's gaze shifted to the swinging kitchen door.

"He doesn't seem like a typical tavern keeper."

Dave smiled as he slowly lowered himself back into his seat, an odd seriousness settling over his gaze.

"Joe? He was once a knight... but it's best not to ask him about his past directly."

After gulping down a sip of water, Ixion said:

"I understand."

'So, you have seen it too?'

The absolute carnage of war. War against the Scourge.

'And yet still claim witness of love and preach community...'

What greater defiance existed in the world?

***

Later, after finishing his cod, Ixion stepped out into the cobbled alley. As he set foot on the uneven stone, he turned and gave a small wave to Dave before the door swung shut, hiding the effervescent man from view.

Left alone, with not even a patrol in sight, Ixion sighed softly.

"Ah..."

He hadn't come to the tavern looking to learn love.

He hadn't broached the topic with any forethought.

His questioning of love came from a desire buried deep within his soul.

Yet he had not found an answer. Perhaps he had taken a step in the right direction. Perhaps not. It wasn't as though Joe was some master of love. He was a simple tavern keeper. A mysterious one, sure.

Still, Ixion had found something he hadn't even been searching for.

At least, he thought he had. Even if he couldn't name it, he knew something in him had shifted.

All he knew was that he wanted to go back to the tavern tomorrow.

Sadly, the possibility of that was low.

'I have quite an unpredictable and volatile schedule...'

He stepped back into the street, then paused, drawing in a slow breath. Ixion glanced back at the swinging sign of Joe's Tavern.

'It sure is windy.'

Ixion sighed, then kicked a loose rock.

Turning on his heel, he made the trek back toward Gwen's humble abode. Inside, he locked the doors, swaddled Pirithous in the sheets, and then returned his focus to Veritas.

Slipping into the sleeping body, he stirred it awake with practiced ease.

On one side, he heard coughing and death. On the other, raging wind battered the aged walls of the storehouse.

Which side did mercy lie on?

In the end, Veritas' fist found the wall facing the outside, smashing a gaping hole through the brick and sending debris flying into the street. Before anyone could see him as the source, he shot into the air at full speed, landing atop the roof of a building across the street.

From that vantage point, he looked down on the stupefied slum dwellers below, people covering their heads and curling in on themselves.

Those with enough strength to scream did.

"Somebody help! My baby!"

"Good heavens!"

"Did a boiler explode?!"

"Call a patrol!"

"Like they'd do anything?!"

"Somebody help!"

Ixion focused on the injured, then, one by one, shattered their souls.

A mother fell upon her infant son. A boy fell upon his mother. They wept as they watched life slip away.

"Curse this world!"

That was the last thing Ixion heard a Catatran citizen screech before he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, heading toward the southbound convoy.

'If only...'

His fist clenched tightly.

'If only they knew.'

The wind ripped through his hair, throwing the black mop out of his eyes.

All whom he shattered had their souls drawn into the Chest, denied any chance of reincarnation in the cursed world of Kaldora. They'd never have to suffer again.

After several minutes of running across the grand city, Ixion landed atop the walls and peered down at the convoy.

"Hey?! Who the hell are you?!"

Ixion, sitting in a crenelation, looked over at the sentry, staring into the man.

'You have a nasty soul.'

Speaking through [Noble], he ordered:

"Strip for me. To your undergarments."

"Uh..."

The man was confused until he looked down at his limbs, which moved on their own. He frantically began trying to control them. When he realized his body was not his own, he looked at Ixion with unadulterated fear in his eyes. Then he shot his head to the side and began to open his mouth.

Before he could scream, Ixion added:

"And keep quiet."

Thankfully, the other sentries were spaced far enough apart that the wind swallowed the noise of the confrontation, keeping their attention fixed on the wilderness and the convoy. And, even if one did look over, all it looked like was a sentry had brought his friend up the wall and the two were now… perhaps miming a situation of being more than friends.

It surely wouldn't be a first.

One by one, the sentry took off his gear and lay it on the ground, then stepped away.

"Good. Now, rest in peace."

Ixion crushed his soul, then hopped off the crenelation and slipped on the armor the sentry had dropped. Finally, he descended the outer side of the wall as silently and quickly as he could.

Maybe a few wandering eyes caught glimpses of him, but he moved so fast that he was probably mistaken for a bug.

From there, all he had to do was slip into the middle of the convoy, where the supply carts were. Which was an oddly effortless task. It's not like any soldier suspected another of sabotage. He simply walked among them and avoided talking.

And while the soldiers were talking among themselves, distracted, Ixion slipped into one of the wagons filled with weapons and hid himself behind the boxes.