325 Testing the shield

Sitting down next to the Elea came with both perks and troubles. 

Sitting barely half a meter away from her, all it took was a single side-glance to confirm or negate all of the doubts I could ever have about how any part of her body looked like, but with how closely the Overlord was inspecting my behaviour, there was no way for me to get any freebies without endangering the relationship with the local powerhouse.

During the meal, I managed to get enough time to calmly analyze the Overlord's bodily constitution, but in the end, I failed to learn anything new. The way to utilize the energy-rich fat was kept as just a guess, with no other way to confirm it than duelling the lord. 

Since I was playing the part of being a traveller, I continued to tell the stories that I heard back on earth, making sure to power up most of the legendary monsters so that I wouldn't be scoffed at as a coward, for coming up with witty ways to overcome the odds instead of just slaying the monsters right away.

After all, what was the problem of killing a single minotaur chimaera? 

Isn't that just a big guy with the head of a bull that only knows how to swing an axe? Since it's a monster, it's power level can't be that high, making the whole trouble of asking Ariadne for her thread… pointless. Why not smash the walls down instead?

With all the stories remade on the spot to fit the reality of this world, the minotaur turned into a powerful hybrid of an ancient warrior and holy beast, the faun turned into an army of frenzied goat-like monsters… Only the ultimate beasts that applied to the absolutes like Uroboros or Titans managed to stay intact in my own version of the various stories.

As I continued to dish out one tale after the other, Elea continued to shift her balance a bit, getting closer and closer to me with literally every word that I said, to the point where I didn't have any trouble in feeling the enmity of the Overlord!

"Speaking of fighting… After all, you said and after hearing the stories my soldiers told about you, I'm quite curious about your real strength. I heard that you are capable of creating an impenetrable wall around you, that an eye is unable to find, while the fist is unable to break. Would you mind showing it to me?"

With that, the fun part of the feast, at last, came to an end. I couldn't be bothered to judge whether this guy realised that I could read his intention like from an open book, but it was obvious that he wanted to put me back in what he imagined to be my place.

Since an occasion to move to the real, business talk presented itself without my prior intervention, I would be dumb to refuse it!

That was the minimum I could do, to prevent any serious trouble later on. Back in the cultivation area of the world, I learned that if someone from your family gave a blessing to someone else, hurting that person would be as good as denouncing your own bloodline! If this guy dared to go serious against me, all I had to do to get any terms I wanted was to lower my guard and control the damage while allowing him to beat me up a bit! 

And if he would not lose his cool… Then I could just keep up my shield for as long as he would need to understand that he is unable to break it, before getting down to negotiations in which I could trade a small portion of my knowledge for all the people I could squeeze out of the Overlord's hand.

"You want my blessing to fight with Papa? Sure!"

Not waiting for the reaction of the father, Elea raised from her chair, before suddenly grabbing my head with her hands.

Before I realised what was going on, I found my entire face wrapped against something insanely soft, with Elea hands pressing on the back of my head! 

"May the luck and God's will be with you in your fight!"

Just as suddenly as it appeared, the heavenly sensation around my entire head disappeared, finally allowing me to realise that I was actually smashed headfirst into her bosom!

"Let's get going…"

Almost smashing his own chair into bits, the overlord stood up while sending me a deadly look. 

But I was just as dumbstruck as he was angry!

The blessing could take literally any form in the world, from chanting good words, carving the rune on a tool or even directly on the body, offering a gift to the gods in the name of the prayer… Why the heck did she hug my head to her ample chest while blessing me?! Did she want to spark a conflict between me and her father?

As I followed the example of the overlord with a deep sigh, I couldn't help but notice how tense the guests from the PLACEHOLDER tribe turned out. 

I guess they really have the arranged marriage or this guy just had hots for her, otherwise, I don't see why he would flare so much! 

"So, do you expect me to attack as well, or just want to see how strong my shield is? Let me add, that this protective measure is a must for any traveller, who dares to challenge such a long-distance like me, not some kind of hidden technique accessible only to the chosen ones!"

There is nothing as good as the old but gold bullshit. Seeing the look of disappointment slowly surfacing on the lord's face, I could only guess whether he wanted to extort the technique from me, or hoped it was something far greater so that he could brag about this situation until the rest of his days!

"I don't know how capable you are of attacking, and frankly speaking, I don't really care. It's just that my soldiers claimed that your shield was indestructible, so I need to verify it myself as to ascertain they weren't just slacking off! Here I go!"