Chapter 92: Where We Stand – Part 1

Chapter 92: Where We Stand – Part 1

While Lina meets with the Chimera enchanters, Osaria receives noblewoman Silvina at the entrance of the town, and Lady Ereia gets a [Gate] directly to the main hall of the castle, where Yunia and I receive her.

My first impression of Ereia is that she's an elven version of Klein, though quite a bit thirstier. The way she leaps into Yunia's bosom triggers my jealousy. She needs to pay her respects to my cock before she can play with Yunia's breasts.

My second impression of her is that she's cute as fuck. She's a thin, smol, and bespectacled young girl with a body made for fucking and worshiping. Her hair is straight, though some of it is braided, giving her an innocent and book-smart look, though Yunia thinks her real personality is that of a cheeky goblin.

Yunia pries her off, and Ereia giggles girlishly. "You never change, Yu," Ereia teases her.

"Neither do you," Yunia responds with a hint of annoyance but also warmth.

The giggling dies down when her blue eyes meet with mine. She adjusts her round glasses and blinks rapidly as she looks over my whole body.

"Impressive..." She mutters in wonder, then she clears her throat awkwardly and bows. "It's an honor to meet you, Lord Ryder," she politely greets without a hint of a goblin in her tone.

I merely nod respectfully and take a seat. "I take it that you're very familiar with Yulania, my fiance?" I interrogate her sternly.

She takes a second to swallow heavily, and Yunia answers in her stead, "We've been friends since we were children, and she used to live in the outer layer of the castle grounds." Her words are full of meaning, and she opens her [Bind] connection to let her memories flood through.

I smile kindly at Ereia and stop messing with her. "I see. Then your return should be a happy event for all of us." -A few of the memories almost trigger the sadist within me again- "Though I believe that you're a little closer than just friends. Perhaps... 'friends with benefits'?"

The duo stays silent for a moment as they take their seats and process my words, but they only show confusion about the phrasing I used.

"'Benefits'?" She questions, focusing on the word that her mind got hung up on.

I nod and answer sagely, "Well, yes. Your relationship isn't close enough to say that you're lovers, but the average pair of friends don't tend to have sex with each other, so we can say that you two share something more, something extra: the 'benefit' of having sex."

"I thought it was more like prostitution," Ereia confesses, and Yunia and I both stare at her oddly, making her blush almost instantly. "I'd give information to Yunia, and she'd allow me to 'play' with her in return," -she suddenly frowns- "though now that I think about it, you'd never let me play until I was satisfied, so it was hardly a fair trade."

"You had the honor of tasting my virgin nectar. That should be more than enough," Yunia states and turns her nose away snobbishly, then she also blushes in embarrassment at her own words.

Ereia starts giggling, and it takes us a few moments before everyone has recomposed themselves.

It's curious that this world doesn't have the concept of "friends with benefits." I guess they're more focused on the aspect of the "trade" while "free choice to do what I want" is secondary. I guess it also explains why voluntary slavery and prostitution is so normalized here.

"I'd love to catch up, but I didn't come here just for that," Ereia starts to steer the conversation back into more serious territory. "During my time in Goloria, I also took the opportunity to 'spread my ears around,' and I heard some juicy rumors."

"Oh...?" I hum in curiosity.

Ereia adjusts her glasses again and fixes her posture into something more lady-like. "The first rumor is about you, my Lord, the new draconic Crown Lord, and his dashing appearance during the selection of the Lordsguard. The populace is intrigued by you, but I can't say whether they see you positively or negatively."

"Within expectations. I might even say that this couldn't be better," Yunia comments, and I agree. A non-elven Lord not being seen negatively in the High Forest is an achievement for us, but I'd say that Yunia's presence has contributed the most for this to be so.

"Also, you don't have to call me 'Lord' in private," I tell Ereia, and she gives me a kind smile.

She waits a moment for any further comments, then continues, "However, the merchant class is wary due to your treatment of Signeur Caruso. The news of what you did will take time to spread far, but those who've heard it have cold feelings towards you."

Yunia snorts dismissively and comments again, "Unless we show favoritism, merchants will always be self-serving, even elven ones. They wouldn't have achieved their great wealth if they were charitable or honorable."

I've seen the same in the sociopath CEOs of Earth. Greed manifests itself the same way, no matter the world.

Ereia nods respectfully, and continues with a neutral tone, "Among the nobility, the prevailing theory is that Lord Wolf Ryder's title of True Noble, specifically, has been 'bought' or at least that he has been 'carried' by his harem. Many of them point out that Yu is a fierce warrior who knows [Precognition], so they say that it's only because of you that Wolf has acquired the title."

Now that is offensive. The priests consider the title of True Noble to be sacred, so someone paying to be "carried" to the core of a dungeon without fighting their way up, or down, depending on the dungeon, is explicit sacrilege. It's difficult to think of anything more offensive to a Lord than that, which means that my standing among the nobility is abysmal.

Yunia's eyes narrow in cold anger. "This is why the Lordship Ceremony is so important. With all the Crown and our subordinate Lords gathered together, we'll be able to show them all how wrong they are," she seethes.

"Didn't Silvano say that the other nobles think I'm Gifted? Why would these ones think the exact opposite?" I question calmly as I work to appease Yunia. It's not that I'm not angry; I just learned how to keep the dragon in check.

"Silvano...? Could it be the Silvano? The 'Silver Lightning'? I heard that he came to Escanso!" Ereia suddenly shouts in excitement, and her fingers twitch rapidly in her lap.

I nod at her. "Yes, that one..." -She suddenly squeaks like a chewing toy- "He's now serving us as a High Court Mage."

The elven goblin starts wiggling her upper body with her barely-contained excitement until Yunia's tongue whips her back into shape, "Ereia! Not now..."

Ereia suddenly freezes, then she adjusts her glasses again and lurches forward tiredly, "Yes, yes..."

"Well...?" Yunia presses her.

Ereia instantly straightens her back and shouts, "Ah, yes! The question!" Then she clears her throat. "I think it's a matter of perspective. Only the 'juicier' rumors spread far from the Rabanara and the High Forest, so the faraway nobles are wary of you while the closer ones were drowned in the half-truths, of which, many aren't that 'savory.' Even I, an elf uninterested in the town, know that you 'suddenly appeared' in Rabanara not that long ago, making your swift progress a bit unbelievable."

I raise my eyebrows in surprise and look at Yunia, but she's as calm as ever. She expected something like this. I turn back to Ereia and ask, a bit astonished, "So you did a background check on me?"

"The very moment that you were hired by Este Escort Company, owned by the Nephew of Lord Mavel Este and his not-blood-sister," she answers matter-of-factly.

Wow.

I lean back against the sofa and go silent. It's a bit scary to witness how deep the information network can go.

"Do you have any more information for us?" Yunia presses her sternly.

Ereia returns to her lady-like posture and clears her throat. "Just one last rumor. It's something that a maid overheard from a private conversation among a group of lower Lords 'oppositely aligned' to Lord Wolf Ryder. It has a 'questionable' accuracy, so some details may have been warped or lost along the way..." Ereia awkwardly gesticulates, implying that she's unsure if she should even be telling us this.

Yunia knows how dangerous wrong information can be, but this time, the risk isn't as high as it could be since we already have an idea about the personalities of the disgruntled Lords. "I understand how our perspective is biased and how this may lead us to wrong conclusions, but I still want to hear it."

Ereia nods in understanding and cautiously recites what she heard, "A maid heard this: 'we ought to shame the insolent little man of clay.'"

Lina's Trivia: in the extended Tale of Creation, humans were made of clay and lightning, referring to our adaptability, the "Spark of Life," which is a specific religious concept, and how the Thunderplains was their place of birth. Then the other races came after humans by mixing them with something else. The wereanimals, dragonkin, merfolk, and beastfolk are obviously mixed with animals or monsters, the demon race with mythological beings, the dwarves with stones, the gnomes with mushrooms, and the pixies with flowers. The birth of the elves is fuzzy, and they themselves love to embellish their Tale with their own flair, but most prefer to point to the highly mana-reactive metals of gold and silver.

To call a human a "man of clay" isn't wrong, but it's also used as a subtle racial slur by the other races, depending on the context, and we know of a certain Heart Lord who might be prejudiced against humans: Ira Saponaria, the one who told Silvane that I was raping Yunia.

Yunia crosses her legs and grabs her chin. "It's believable that they'd say such a thing," she mutters thoughtfully.

Ciel goes to help Lina, then they take the Chimera enchanters to meet up with Hihiriwa and discuss their plan for the expedition. We want to build an industry of gems and airships here, but before we really commit to it, we need buyers, and the biggest fish in the pond is the empire itself. Before we can get the empire's attention, though, we need a sample to showcase what we can do.

This will be the purpose of this expedition: to learn how much it'll cost to produce enchantable gems and Chimeric airships. We aren't expecting to immediately turn a profit, but the empire has a shortage of gems now that the mines in Aremut have been lost, and even if the empire doesn't want the airships, we can downscale and build them for Lords or wealthy merchants, so there are profits on the horizon.

Even before the talks have ended, the airships start mobilizing. They're itching for work, and we have enough Spirit mages to keep the crew solid now that the priests will be taking care of the commoners. They'll be ready to depart tomorrow morning, and I'll have Enomosa supervise them. Oritiki will also send her own supervisor, but she herself wants to continue the [Soul Manipulation] training for as long as is physically, or spiritually, in her case, possible.

Then the day ends, and Dokkanchee returns to Goldport. She'll come back tomorrow morning with tools and start her work immediately.

We don't have a lot of time since the Lordship Ceremony will be held in five days on the 11th.

Announcement

Hall of Fame of Patrons

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