Chương 1320: [1236] - Y06.136 - Arisa IV

"Oh my, by the Divine," Adam whispered, inhaling the warm scents of the various spices within the meal, his mouth already drooling.

"I haven't had goat curry in… a lifetime, two."

"It has been that long?" Dunes joked, only for his smile to falter, since Adam might have meant his words literally.

"Naan, goat curry, I'm partial to the minced meat curry, or anything with chicken, personally, but boneless goat curry, gosht, goshth?" Adam paused, trying to recall how his friend had said it.

"Anyway, boneless goat curry is among the best, especially with peas. Oh, look at this naan too, so light, so fluffy, just like how I remember it."

"You are familiar with our cuisine?" Dunes replied, surprised, for the last time Adam had passed by, the half elf had been too busy worrying about his wife, and his youngest daughter had almost caused trouble whilst still in the womb. Of course, of all the children to worry the half elf, it would be the child who was closest to Jirot.

"I may make a joke that we can't tolerate spices, but, I mean…" Adam leaned in to whisper in the dwarven tongue, only to realise that was probably a mistake, so quickly switched to Aldish.

"Listen, man, you don't go conquering a quarter of the entire world and not pick up some spices. Also, after the Second World War, we needed a lot of labour, so we invited a bunch of people from across the Commonwealth to come and help us, and when anything went bad, we could just blame them, well, the ones that are as handsome as you, if you know what I mean."

"I do not," Dunes said, for it was extremely rare for Adam to speak of his first life like this, and it was the first time he was hearing about this.

"Don't worry about it," Adam said, flashing a small smile.

"Anyway, it's not like our business discriminates like that. As long as you aren't too weird, or hateful, and can put in effort, the United Kindom is the place for you." Dunes kept an eye upon the half elf, for as Adam spoke, he could see all the memories flash within Adam's eyes, the pride, the shame, the relief, the worry, every word brought upon a new emotion, followed closely by a memory of something which contrasted the previous word.

Adam tore apart the naan, watching the fibres within tear apart slowly, his eyes bright with delight as the steam rose as the fibres of bread broke, before he tore a thumbful of the soft bread, and he scooped the curry with the bread.

'He has eaten a lot of curry,' Dunes thought, noting how deftly the half elf scooped the food.

"Mm! Mm mm mmm mm mmm!" Adam shook his head lightly, smiling slightly as he chewed, the bread, the goat, the peas all melting away with each bite, the bursts of flavour tempered by how the goat gave way, the meat stringy as he chewed, before the strands of meat fell underneath his molars. Adam wagged his finger at Dunes, as though admonishing the Priest.

"Oh, Dunes, Dunes, Dunes."

"Mo Dunes," the Aswadian corrected.

"Mo, Mo, Mo," Adam continued to wag his finger.

"You sly dog, you. I talked about curry all this time and you didn't tell me your land was full of it?"

"Such meals were developed in Aswabayad and beyond, even before the Shen of Shens, even beyond the Confederacy," Dunes said, doing his best not to smirk at the half elf.

"That's messed up, Dunes, but all you need to tell me is that cheesy naan exists in this world, and I'll forgive you without a thought."

"The goats in Black Mountain make the best milk," Dunes replied, sipping the milk, taking a moment to appreciate the milk in Arisa.

"You know, you got to give it to magic. Sometimes, I just want to call my phone, maybe video in to see my kids, but also, I can do an entire pile of laundry in seconds, with barely more than a snap of my fingers. There's large cities with millions of people, there are ships that can travel two hundred miles a day, some more, apparently, and we can teleport a thousand miles in an instant, no checking in my luggage or anything, and I can conjure up a proper bath as long as I'm not tapped out."

Adam sighed, his smile sadder than he realised.

"Do you think of home often?"

"Every day."

"Every day?"

"Every day," Adam confirmed.

"Would you go back?"

"No, never."

"Why?"

"I wouldn't be able to take my kids," Adam admitted.

"If you could?" Adam shook his head.

"It's not about taking them home, but hypothetically, say they take the appearance of the only race back home? No. Here? I'm, I'm somebody. I don't mean that in a power tripping kind of way, I mean that as in, I'm rich, Dunes. I might even be wealthy. I'm strong, I'm handsome, I've got a beautiful wife and kids, the most wonderful family. If I was back home, if I had a problem, I wasn't rich enough to deal with it. I couldn't ring someone as high as a Grand Commander, I mean, what would the equivalent be?

A high ranking-, no, that doesn't make any sense. I don't know, like the CEO of Apple, or another really big company. It's not even about my ego or anything like that, but… you know…" Stolen story; please report. Dunes did his best to follow along, understanding the vague points using the half elf's tone.

"If Jirot wants to be a powerful mage, she can be a powerful mage," Adam whispered.

"Little Jarot, if he wants to be a great warrior, I can do that for him. If Konarot wants to become one of the best dragonchess players in the world, I can at least give her that opportunity. Kirot, if she wants…" Dunes also thought about Kirot, who was pretty much like Konarot, save for the fact that Konarot also babied her too.

"Whatever Kirot wants, I can probably do that. Karot, if he wants to… I don't know, paint, he can paint. If Larot wants to Larot, that's fine too. In this world, I have a life, a proper future, for myself and my children. I can afford a proper home, a mansion, without a mortgage. None of my children need to work to live, they can pursue whatever they want, and I'll be able to afford it. If someone tries to mess with my children, I can take on all but the strongest of people.

I'm probably not top ten in Aldland, but top hundred? I've got to be, right? In this world, in this life, I've got everything, and I appreciate that every single day." Dunes blinked, taking a moment to realise what Adam had said.

'I'm probably not top ten in Aldland, but top hundred?'

"I think of home, because I can't forget. If I forget, Mo, you have no idea the monster I could be. The only reason why I don't go around killing anyone that pisses me off when I have all this power, it's because I was born in the country I was born in. In the neighbourhood I was born in. When I see someone, it doesn't matter what race they are, I went to school with so many different people, all pretty poor, but you know, that's just how it is." Adam shrugged his shoulders, taking a sip of his milk.

"I learnt a little bit of history. Not a lot, I'm no expert, but I remember reading something about a man in the, whatever century, saying that no woman could ever be a doctor because their brains are too small, or whatever. In my generation, women were completely leaving men in the dust when it came to academic success.

I heard it was because women test better for one reason, and another guy say that actually they're better at coursework for a completely different reason, but no one wanted to talk about how usually, the girls of a family help with chores, while the boys spend all night gaming and not getting enough sleep." Adam realised the can of worms he had opened, but thankfully, he was in Aswadasad.

"Ah, right… I forgot Aswadasad is still… a little, you know, religious, we'll say." Dunes furrowed his brows.

"Yes?"

"Well, you know, because in my…" Adam shook his head, chuckling nervously.

"Anyway, I remember reading something about someone saying that black people seemed to have an avoidance for life. The guy writing it was saying that because all these black people kept trying to kill themselves."

"Why?" Dunes replied, recalling how many times Adam had made comments about his skin, uncertain what it meant exactly.

"They kept jumping off the side of the ship because they didn't want to be enslaved. He couldn't fathom they didn't want to be slaves. There were so many things a certain type of person, with a certain type of skin colour, tried to justify their behaviour against other types of people, if they even considered them people, and other skin colours, and I mean, this happens with every colour of person. It all goes back to one type of person though. Wars, slavery, all kinds of discrimination."

Adam inhaled deeply, glancing down at his cooling food.

"I know my country's history, some of it, and I know the true monsters aren't what creeps in the shadows. It's us, man. Man, as in mankind, humans, or rather, people. I can't forget that. The moment I forget that, that's it. The moment I become like them. The nobles, the elites, the people who formulate all this nonsense in order to distract us, then that's it, I'm done.

I need to be put down like a dog, because I don't want to be that kind of evil, I can't be, Dunes, but I know, I know I'm meant to call you Mo, but that's the point."

'The point?' Dunes wondered, though he didn't dare to think, for Adam's eyes remained fixated upon his own, no longer with the look of the fool he played, but someone sharper.

"I can become that evil. Anyone can. Even the sweetest soul can become evil, depending on the situation. The pain, the chaos I could cause, in order to bring my business to the forefront, to capture so much influence all across the lands. How much nonsense I could manufacture, not nonsense, that isn't as serious as I want it to sound, but the evil, Dunes, Mo. The evil I could manufacture, the symptoms, the disease I could manufacture, and then, I can sell the cure. It would be so easy.

I could do it with a snap of my fingers. You've already seen it, the way I threatened the King with the Reavers. I could do so, so much worse. I watched this movie. It was about slavery, but it was cool, the main character, Django, you know what he said? He said there's nothing worse than a black slaver, they're worse than the house… slave, but he didn't use the word slave, and that the house slave was pretty fucking low."

Dunes narrowed his eyes, suddenly alert by Adam's words, for perhaps in his world, the context meant something else, but as Dunes thought back to his own history, and to the history of all the various different tribesfolk in Aswadasad, and even across the Confederacy, he understood.

"Do you understand why I love the Iyr? Even with all it's death, it's weirdly democratic authoritarianism? In fact, I'm probably going against my principles in many ways because of the Iyr, but, from what I've seen of this… place, of these lands, it's the least evil place around."

"Perhaps we disagree on the meaning of evil."

"Everyone's got their own opinion, and I understand that you love Black Mountain, and I'm sure Jonn, if he hadn't been kicked out, would have loved the Thousand Hunts, and in another life, he may have tried to come for my head, and in another life, perhaps you would have stood beside your Priest Commander after he killed my kids, because you would have-," Adam stopped, quickly catching himself, the half elf pulling back lightly.

"I understand," Dunes replied, barely able to force away the guilt.

"All I'm saying is, when a communist death cult is the least evil place around, that's saying something," Adam said, smiling slightly, only to realise Dunes probably understood half of what he said.

"Okay."

"Hey, Mo," Adam reached over to gently punch him against the arm lightly, only to realise he still had oil all over his fingers, so he gently rubbed his forearm against the Aswadian Priest.

"Don't you forget, you're the best ahm in the world."

"Jurot is the best ahm in the world."

"No, he's the best uncle, you're the best ahm."

"Then… am I not the only ahm?" Adam shrugged his shoulders, smirking slightly at the Priest, winking playfully. Dunes smiled slightly, returning back to his meal. As much as Adam's rambled, the core of Adam's words were as he had expected, but it was only then Dunes had realised just how much of an issue Adam had with the nobles, the elites, of the world, especially since this was the first time Adam had explicitly mentioned he was poor.

Poor, and yet the half elf seemed to hold as much intelligence as though who had studied at an academy.

'What kind of world did you come from, Adam?'