‘The two kings of the Worchester Kingdom – A comparison of achievements’ was certainly a very telling newspaper article. Laying on my belly in a certain tavern, I giggled about the absurdity of it all. Naturally, the newspaper was in the king´s hand, but come on. He could have written down that the real king was more handsome and it would be better than this. The day after Tom was crowned, the smear campaign started, but we weren’t bothered by it at all.

We weren’t fighting for the nobility after all, we were fighting for those who couldn’t afford a newspaper anyway. We were fighting for the citizens and the peasants. And the last two days certainly showed who had the upper hand in these areas.

We stopped illegal slavery for example. Well, it was our own business, but as far as the general knowledge went, the Tarasov clan and the D’Antonio crime family were the perpetrators. There were so many happy reunions, especially after we gave out the complete list of any buyer there ever was. I could not even count how many noble heads rolled on the floor in an attempt to appease the masses.

“Mary is back.” Tom said, sitting on a nearby chair and reading a few letters.

“Finally. Sent that letter.” I said and began to read the next, even more absurd article.

“Already done.” He said and I gave him the thumbs up. There wasn’t really much for us to do at that time, especially because Tom finally started to build up middle management. It would be impossible to organise everything after all and we kind of need to focus on the really important matters … which started with ‘a’ and ended with ‘lcohol’.

I even allowed the whore to join in but couldn’t stop myself from bawling with her from time to time. We still didn´t get along at all, even when we were wasted. And thus, only as we really needed to, around four days after we stole the crown, did Mary visit us in the tavern.

“Mary!” I exclaimed and threw my arms into the air. I was so happy to see her again, especially after my beloved pillow went into the elven forests. I naturally tried Tom as my pillow as well during that time, but … I don’t know. I could feel his ribs which wasn’t that bad … but he was still below Hannah and Mary in regards to being my pillow.

“Lucinda! It is so great to see you again.” I threw myself at her and hugged her tightly. Her warmth was spreading nicely through my tin clothing, especially after I got rid of her outer garments.

“Likewise.” I said and gave her a genuine smile. “How have you been?”

“Oh, you know. Checking if everything is alright at home is seriously hard, especially during winter. But hey, we need to have a good foundation if we want to stop the war in time, right.”

“… you still haven’t told her?” No I did not. In the end, I couldn’t send that letter away, knowing what pain it would bring her,

“… so … about that mum.” I muttered.

“What is it?” She asked, already reaching out for my hands as I started fumbling with my dress.

“Do you have the sword of magnetism with you?” I asked, trying to guide her to the topic gently.

“Yeah, it´s in the carriage. What do you need it for anyway, and why are you here? The king told me you were going on some kind of spiritual journey?” Spiritual journey? Well, the spirits certainly talked to me.

“… yeah, so you know that unicorn stuff?” I muttered quietly.

“I am so sorry that happened to you.” She said, and looked at me concerned as I had yet to react to it.

“Oh … don’t be. It was my fault. Everything … but I am not here to tell you about that. Before I let myself be captured, I had a rather lengthy conversation with the goddess of life.” I admitted and closed my eyes. I couldn’t look at her. I felt incredibly guilty for hiding everything from her so long.

“You did?” She said, squatting down and caressing my cheek.

“Yeah … and she told me I am going to fall in a coma in about two to three months.” I admitted and closed my eyes even tighter.

“… uhm.” Mary said, clearly a bit overstrained by my revelation.

“So, you know, that’s not a problem though. I whipped Tom a little bit and we progressed considerably, even though we kind of had to make a few shitty decisions.” I admitted and slowly went on my knees.

“I heard about the unrest.” So she probably heard quite a few civilians died in them already, beaten to death either by a stampede or by guards.

“Hmm … hmm … and so we are basically done.” I said and looked towards the ground as I noticed how a few tears left my eyes.

“Eh? What?” She asked, still stunned by everything.

“Mum, you just stole the Crown of Thorns.” I said and looked up at her. Confusion was written all over her face.

“I … I did?” She muttered but started to understand somewhat.

“Yes, you see, it is in that box. It is hiding the magical signatures, so you can just carry it out like this.” The best thief in the history of thievery was Mary … and she didn´t even know what she did.

“B-But … the crown was still in its original place?” She said, stumbling over her words as she tried to fit the pieces together.

“That’s a copy.” I said and looked down again.

“So you want to tell me that you stole the crown of thorns in the one and a half month I was away?” She asked, strangely amazed.

“… that’s the gist of it?” I said slowly.

“… the king will find out.” She said, a bit aghast. Surely, he would find out. But it would be too late.

“Eventually. Before we reveal that we traded it for the staff of creation though... probably not.” I admitted.

“But …” She said, already worrying about the time afterwards.

“Mum, I´ll take care of it. Don’t worry. Unfortunately, it has come to this, but I already have a solution at hand.” I said and smiled, even though the tears on my cheeks weren’t even remotely dried yet.

“Okay … and what about this coma thing?” She asked in disbelief and made the tears come back immediately.

“A-Apparently, I need to save the world or something along these lines and fall into a coma for about two hundred years, plus minus a few days.” I said and tried to smile bitterly.

“You are leaving us?” She asked, a shocked expression on her face.

“… that is the sad reality of things, yes.” I admitted and looked to the ground.

“Honey …” She said, kneeling down in front of me and lifting up my chin. She was sad. So sad … and I didn´t want to see it.

“Mum … two weeks. We can spend the majority of two weeks together, that’s all there is.” I said and closed my eyes once more in an attempt to fight back my tears.

“Two weeks?” She said, slowly going up in tears as well.

“Hmm … mum, you need to let me go, at least for this life. I have no other choice …” Life meant letting go, right? But it was still so goddamn hard.

“H-Honey … I swear these will be the best weeks you ever had.” She said, making me smile somewhat.

“I have no doubts about that. But for now, I need to get going.” I said and stood up, wiping the tears out of my face with my sleeve.

“Where?” She said even more bitterly than before.

“The elven forest. I´ll be back in half a month.” I said and walked towards the door, nearly stumbling over a few things in the process.

“Honey?” Mary said as I already had the handle in my hands.

“Mum?” I asked, looking back at her for one last time.

“Please take care of yourself.” She said and warmed my heart a little bit. Enough to turn around and stop these tears.

“Tom … you know what to do. Mum … I love you.” I said, opened the door and dashed out of the room.