Chapter 106: Gentle Persuasion – Part 3

Chapter 106: Gentle Persuasion – Part 3

The group this time will be Hana, Klein, Mimi, a small squad of veteran Lordsguard, and I. Since Hukarere wants to get involved in my adventures, we bring her with us too. She's experienced enough as a guard for nobility that she can already be considered a veteran.

I stare at my watch, and when it hits exactly 12:30 PM, we cross through the [Eternal Gate] to Mac Gantus. There's a timezone difference between the capital and Escanso, so we have to leave a bit late to get there right at lunchtime.

When we cross through the heavy metal gate, we notice Confiel coming out of the gate right next to ours, the one labeled "Goloria."

"Greetings, Ryders," he politely starts and gives a nod to the others. His jovial smile is instantly recognizable.

His own knight and Lordsguard also salute us, and we return the pleasantries.

"Have you ever been to Mac Gantus?" Confiel asks as we write down our names in the logbook.

"I haven't," I casually admit.

"But we have, and I'm kind of happy to be going back after such a long time," Hana answers for the rest.

"Not a lot should've changed since we last visited, but it's still a beautiful place," Mimi comments and Klein nods in agreement, the former is very serene, but the latter is a bit stiff from talking with high nobility.

The monkey-girl's quick movements catch Confiel's attention, who then appraises her Camalo armor.

"Your armor was enchanted by God-Ruler Arreira himself, correct?" He casually questions, and Klein turns into a statue from her tension, her long tail shooting straight up like a pike.

"It was. Only a few sets like it exist because of his lack of fondness for mass-production," I proudly answer and grin at Klein's anxiety.

"Fascinating," he mutters as he looks her up and down, then he smiles kindly at her. "I'm sorry for staring so intensely."

"N-no problem..." She strains herself to reply.

The Throne of Ascension is the tallest humanoid-made structure, a very wide spiral tower that rises so high above the clouds that it was possible to even see the Sky Lands of the Chimeras before they were gifted a cloaking device by a previous emperor.

As high nobility, we're allowed to leave the Network at the mid-level of the Throne of Ascension, which is actually higher up than even our own castle can reach.

We exit into a rather kaleidoscopic hall. Wide and tall as if it was made for giants; covered in colorful, patterned tiles that makes even the elven Lordsguard a bit dizzy; and illuminated by huge, stained glass windows that seem like dwarven murals of epic events.

The hall itself is populated by dozens of small, but extremely fancy stalls that exude exotic scents. These are shops here that cater exclusively to high nobility, so they offer only the finest (and perhaps most pretentious and overpriced) goods that someone of our class could buy.

The people walking around here are mostly imperials, easily discernible by their colorful clothes and the abundant use of velvet, and among them, humans make up half, while werecats and weredogs make up one quarter each.

We, in our delicate elven clothing, easily stand out along with the other non-imperials due to our lack of vibrancy, but we don't lose out in fanciness.

Though everything is fancy, neither anything nor anyone uses gold or silver as decoration.

Lina's Trivia: Before the first emperor conquered Mac Gantus, it was a decaying city where the nobles gilded nearly everything in gold and silver to boast about their wealth, which the first emperor melted all down the moment he rose to power, so it has become a faux pas to use gilding as a decoration in the capital. Though the first emperor had his artisans create beautiful things, he despised using expensive materials just because they were valuable.

We quickly pass by the stalls since we're not here to buy any ostentatious trinkets, then we leave the hall and exit onto the outer spiral of the Throne, which gives us a great view towards the southern area of the capital.

Mac Gantus is a sea of yellow brick houses with orange clay roof tiles, all carefully measured since there's a height limit for housing. The only thing that can rise above them is the Hyper Loop, the metal rails with proto-trains powered by [Ritualism] that serve as the main means of mass-transport here.

Beyond the sea of houses, we can see the Three Kings Bay, and it's absolutely swarming with all sorts of ships. I even notice an Ironclad, though it lacks the chimney, so it obviously isn't coal-powered.

"A rare dwarven ship. They usually use hidden dwarven-powered waterwheels to move," Lina explains through [Bind].

Another thing that catches my attention is a huge fish, which must be a merfolk submarine made from the remains of a monster.

We enter a large birdcage, and Confiel tells the weredog attendant that we're going down. The fancily-clothed attendant then feeds mana into a gem, and the cage starts sliding down the huge ramp around the pure white Throne of Ascension.

The entire capital is basically in a flat plain with a slight depression towards the Bay, so all we can see in all directions is just the same orange sea of clay roof tiles. Though in the north, there's a lake that's reserved for nobility, so there are only a few fancy ships sailing on it.

We stop near the base of the Throne, and we exit into another hall with more stalls, though these ones are less fancy since they cater to the lower nobility and the rich merchants.

We take a side corridor that circles around the outer edge of the Throne, and we pass by a few restaurants, shops, and inns before we stop in front of a particular establishment, the Bronze Confidential.

It's a fancy place that's worthy of someone of our station while at the same time being affordable enough for the other party, who is a lower noble. The bronze that decorates the interior may have a golden-like luster, but it's used sparsely enough that Ciel finds it "tasteful."

The best feature of this restaurant, though, is the privacy. Each room is enchanted with all sorts of anti-espionage spells that we can control from the inside. And when we enter the room that's been reserved for us, it's clear that it can easily house every Lordsguard we have with room to spare.

"Hermann!" Hana shouts excitedly and runs to her brother, with Mimi following her at a normal walking pace.

The tall, dark-skinned, black-haired young man rises from his seat, and I notice that he's wearing a set of shining knight-grade armor. He looks a little older than me, but the truth is that he might be one or two years younger, possibly due to my higher level slowing down my aging.

Soul InfoNameHermann GrosshilRaceHumanLevel20HP100MP20Magic Power10Strength16Endurance14

He's not a Tranfkoever anymore...?

Hermann raises his arms and smiles, which annoys me since his manly face is eerily similar to Hana's. His square jaw is kind of enviable, though. Then he receives her in his arms, and his armor clangs loudly, making me appreciate how silent elven armor is.

Hermann may be tall, but he's still shorter than Hana, so she easily gains the upper hand in the bear hug, or orc hug in Rupegia-speak, though his armor still protects him from suffocation.

Maybe I should [Equip] my armor whenever I get hugged by Hana.

"Don't you dare!" She immediately shouts through [Bind].

Geez. Do you girls ever not hear my thoughts?

"No...?" Alissa quietly replies, a bit embarrassed herself, for once.

Mimi joins in the hug, and the three siblings touch their heads together. Hermann is shorter than Mimi too, so I kind of relate to him a bit.

I turn my eyes to the other occupants of the room and smile diplomatically.

The one that's sitting next to Hermann is a mature, gray-mustached, black-skinned man with the build of a mage but the confident demeanor of a noble. His clothes are short and mostly open, tailored to a humid and hot tropical climate, but he's also wearing a semi-transparent, bright blue robe that looks as delicate as elven clothes.

Soul InfoNameStefan GrosshilRaceHumanLevel67HP100MP8,050Magic Power4,210Strength12Endurance13

On his other side is a boy with the same build and height, but with a much younger face and slightly curly hair. His face is strikingly similar to mine, though with a darker skin tone and without my draconic features.

Soul InfoNameAhren GrosshilRaceHumanLevel16HP100MP2,320Magic Power1,050Strength10Endurance11

So... why does Hermann have the same last name as these nobles...?

I don't even show their info to Hana to avoid making her suspicious, but now it's pretty obvious why they didn't want to let Hermann go.

The happy reunion only lasts for a short while because when Hermann and Klein see each other, it's like they both become petrified, their expressions frozen as they just stare at each other in silence.

"I'm sorry..." Are the first words Hermann has to say to Klein, and her dumbfounded expression would be funny if I wasn't starting to feel a bit bitter about their reunion.

I was getting used to not being able to have Klein for myself, but my jealousy is now replaced with anger since Hermann didn't have the resolve to not marry someone else. At least Klein declined to join my harem, but Hermann didn't even do that!

"Hermann..." Stefan sternly warns him, and Hermann's expression becomes stoic as he straightens his posture again, then the old man turns his eyes towards us and smiles diplomatically. "Crown Lords Confiel Rincipio, Wolf Ryder, and Hanafuria Ryder, Dame Klein Foerster, and Miss Mizushina Tranfkoever. I'm honored that such an illustrious party has come to attend this meeting."

Confiel's knight looks a bit miffed that he wasn't named, but nobody here has any reason to know his name.

"Dezen Stefan Grosshil," Confiel softly replies with a simple nod, then extends his hands for the elven greeting.

Stefan has the "Dezen" imperial rank, which awards him a small squad of imperial soldiers, so while he isn't a Lord nor rules over any land, he has the military power of about half of a Root Lord.

Stefan gets up and walks around the table, his son following close behind.

After he gently touches Confiel's hand with his forehead, he gently pulls his son forward. "This is my son, Ahren," he introduces his shy boy, who blushes as he touches Confiel's hand, then the duo comes towards us for handshakes.

Stefan doesn't hesitate to shake my clawed hand, but his boy does, and he also visibly cowers under Hana's glare. They don't shake Mimi's nor Klein's hands, but they at least share respectful nods.

With the annoyingly complex pleasantries out of the way, we all take our seats, with the knights standing behind us and the Lordsguard taking positions at the walls.

I'm quite happy that these seats have been adapted to provide enough room for my tail to hang down. The large number of wereanimals that live here must be what drives this chair design to be the standard.

Klein and Hermann remain standing since they're knights, and it's kind of adorable to see them both making stern expressions when their faces are so young and cute.

She glances at me and hesitates, then simply shrugs instead of answering.

"Congratulations on becoming a noble," Hana slowly gives her blessing to Hermann, her brain refusing to process the sudden development.

"I guess it'd be fair to let him sit with us," I suggest with a teasing grin, then I look over at Klein and soothingly order her, "Same goes for you. Sit down and have a drink."

Klein and Hermann are mostly quiet, so I think they'll need some time alone together to talk after this meeting is over.

Since we're taking the Grosshils in, we get them to talk about themselves. They're a typical family of Water and Fire mages, and though they have someone born with [Alchemicism], their younger daughter, she's more like a witch doctor, so she's not immediately useful to us.

Roxanne is quite prejudiced against [Alchemicism], so she grumbles to herself as she eats her meal back at the castle.

Stefan discreetly watches me for my reaction when he mentions his daughter, so I think he knows about my reputation, but unless his daughter herself shows some interest, I don't plan on giving her the D.

Then I realize that it's most likely because of me that his wife and daughter didn't attend this meeting.

Oh, well... I can't fault him, we are quite predatory.

Hermann is actually quite the talented warrior himself, which is likely due to his strong dragonkin blood, even though he's fully human.

He'd make a good knight, but now that he's married to a noble, the best we can do is to allow them into the clan.

The mood isn't right for a feast, so we quickly finish our meal and leave with the three Grosshils in tow.

As we take the lift up, Confiel approaches Hana and me. "With this, there's only Lord Hanafuria's father and mother to find, but it shouldn't be long now, not after I give them your revered name," he gracefully explains as he subtly smirks, and I smile wryly at the jab.

"Thank you," Hana breathes, honestly very grateful to him for his efforts.

"Just our part of the deal."

"Still."

He flashes her a gentle smile, then his expression becomes serious again. "Also, rumors have been spreading for some time that Vanea Anara is interested in your family. She's still ostracized by a good part of the imperial nobility, so be careful about how public you want your relationship with her to be," he somberly advises us.

I assume that's the real reason why she wanted a private meeting yesterday.

"I understand, thank you for the advice," I cordially reply and nod.

He nods back, then hesitates for a second before adding, "And... don't cross her. She's vicious."

I soberly nod again. I know very well how she is.

When we reach the middle layer again, we find Stefan's knight flanked by two women, Hana's new not-blood mother and not-blood sister.

The milf has curly, full hair and a curvaceous body, while her daughter has such a youthful face and kissable, full lips that I'll give her the D the very instant she asks me for it.

However, from the way that they both avoid looking me in the eye, it seems that she probably won't ask for that if I actively pursue her.

Announcement

Hall of Fame of Patrons

The patrons who support Rupegia shall have their names sung by the bards for they deserve the glory and honor. Their names are:

Prince PreownedFIN.

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Lord Andrew Meyers.

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