Chapter 145: Royalty – Part 3

Chapter 145: Royalty – Part 3 AnnouncementAnnouncement: it's time for the scheduled break. We'll be back with normal chapter upload in the next 18th.

Second impressions: Omari is still a cool dude and a very level-headed man; Mako is unsociable; Urmeie is Hana on steroids and without a filter; and I don't like Sa'Haa.

I like snobbish women like Yunia, who know when to admit the superiority of the Cock, but Sa'Haa is a straight-up bitchy snob. The former can drop the act and be compassionate when the time for it comes as they still have a loving heart within themselves, but the latter are unrepentant bitches who value their status more than their relationships.

It's a shame when beautiful women have such unfuckable personalities... Well, not entirely unfuckable since these days I'm even thinking about sticking my dick in the crazy that is Vanea, but I'd only hatefuck Sa'Haa like I did with Roxanne's mother.

"I'd understand it if you were mingling with the daughters of nobility, but adventurers? Really?" Sa'Haa questions me disapprovingly.

"I was born a commoner," I flatly reply, very much not pleased.

And she launches into a lecture, "Yes, but now you have access to something much better. With all of the elven products that the nobles of the High Forest have at their disposal, an elven noblewoman would certainly have a more attractive body than an unkempt adventurer."

Roxanne was a humble adventurer for most of her life, and the last thing I'd ever call her is "unkempt." Sa'Haa isn't bantering or making a mean joke, but I can't really call out a royal in front of everyone, so this is kind of getting on my nerves.

"I'm attracted to anything that's at least mildly feminine," I absentmindedly reply.

"Even male elves dressed like women? I've been to Goldcross, and sometimes I couldn't tell the men from the women," Omari suddenly chimes in curiously.

The cute Prince Tommen slowly turns his head towards me, suddenly interested, and Vanea simply smiles and remains silent, waiting for him to return to their conversation. Her presence has been surprisingly pleasant so far, especially because she keeps her piercing gaze low and rarely looks anyone in the eye.

I smile embarrassedly as I explain, "Now that is a delicate matter. Yes, they are attractive, but no, I'd never have sex with another man. I'm simply a... 'single-edge.'"

Jarn sees the Prince let out a subtle breath of relief, and he goes back to his casual conversation with Vanea.

"With a massive lesbian fetish," Alissa casually adds.

And I calmly nod. "Yes. That, too."

But Sa'Haa can't keep her tongue tied and ruins the casual mood again, "No matter if you're a man or a woman, it's degrading to your reputation to let just about any commoner have a taste of your seed."

I almost snort as her words make me imagine my royal draconic cum being sold as an exotic luxury that few could ever get their hands on, but my dislike of her prevents me from laughing.

"Why?" I promptly ask back, holding back my flippancy.

The Princess then stares at me for a moment and blinks blankly, perhaps too stunned at my ignorance, or perhaps she's simply caught off-guard as even she doesn't know why, exactly, it's "degrading" to have sex with commoners.

I'd bet on the latter.

She quickly recollects herself and answers, "Your body, your blood, your semen, your future children, they all have an inherently higher value than that of the populace. To freely give it to anyone who asks devalues yourself and undermines the political potential you could leverage if you kept it scarce." Then she snorts snobbishly. "Just to give you an idea, I know of many noblewomen who would gladly trade their bodies for the chance of having a child with someone such as you."

I really feel like butting heads with her over the "value" of my body, but Yunia advises against it, so I take a more subtle angle and retort, "We're simply not concerned with extracting the most value out of our bodies."

But even that is enough to annoy her, so she almost flippantly replies, "Are you sure you have that luxury when you're in such a delicate position in the High Forest?"

Now Yunia gets aggravated by the arrogance of the Princess. This foreign royal is acting as if she knows the subtleties of High Elven politics better than the prime example of a High Elf herself!

So now it's our Queen's turn to lecture the haughty Princess, "We must use the correct weapons against each type of opponent. The Elder Council won't be swayed by mere popularity or political influence. They require convincing based on principles. The Subordinate Lords and Nobles also require results to be swayed to our side as they're prejudiced and fearful of change, but they won't be convinced just by us keeping our bodies 'scarce.'"

"'A good warrior keeps a knife in his boot, a smart warrior keeps many,'" Sa'Haa calmly quotes the God of War, which now makes Ciel annoyed.

Yunia really doesn't want to launch into a comprehensive explanation about why Sa'Haa's opinion is dumb, so my dear elf subtly kills the conversation, "The time for us to focus on High Elven politics is still to come. For now, I wish to focus my mental energy on the conflict at hand."

"You all talk too much while eating," Urmeie complains, then immediately goes for another steak.

These animal-headed humanoids may have big, scary teeth, but they also have a set of human teeth further inside their mouths so that they can eat like humans without making a mess. Aoi doesn't have teeth like that, but she can still eat most dishes in her dragon form.

Then not-Cruella turns her snobbish nose towards her sister and begins the sibling banter, "You eat so much that if you talked during our meals, you'd take an hour just to finish the first course."

"Yeah, that's why I don't talk," Urmeie deftly deflects.

"Sister, don't make fun of her dietary needs," Tommen politely chimes in.

But the white wereowl is too proud to admit any fault. "Then she shouldn't act as if her needs are superior."

"Eating more meat would do you some good, though," Urmeie casually shoots back with a smirk.

Now that the royals are distracted, we can focus on our actual friends, the Verners, and Omari because he's cool.

When dessert comes, and the coffee is served, we watch as even Urmeie discovers the wonders of chocolate plus coffee, and they're left speechless as their minds are overloaded with the flood of ideas and the potential uses of this combination for new businesses.

"What is this black beverage?" Sa'Haa tactfully inquires and taps her glass cup with a long black nail.

"Gnomic coffee. We acquired the exclusive export rights to it after we aided them in the recent monster army crisis under Gnomeria," Yunia answers with well-hidden glee. We really need to get them to understand that we have a number of secret projects being developed and that we aren't fresh and untested youths just bumbling around while playing at being royalty.

Mako stares at the coffee with an unsteady gaze, trying his best to look away from the black gold but failing. He barely touched the dessert, but it seems obvious that now that he's had a taste of the ultimate combo, he wants more, and his odd behavior becomes so noticeable that everyone eventually starts staring at him.

"Why don't you just drink it already?" Urmeie promptly asks out loud.

"Denial increases the pleasure you'll get after giving in; it's just that sometimes, the right moment for that isn't very clear," he stoically answers with his [Godly Language]-infused voice without taking his eyes off his cup of coffee.

"If denial is going to keep you distracted, then maybe you should just give in," Léonne suggests, and Mako chuckles softly, the first time I've seen him smile.

Surprisingly, he uses his normal voice to whisper warmly, "Perhaps you're right." Then he goes for the cup.

After we finish eating, we move to some sofas near the balcony so that we can rest and allow our stomachs to comfortably digest our food. There's more tea and cookies, but aside from Sa'Haa and the werefoxes, we're all too full to eat anything more.

"Shall we begin talking about the coming battle?" Yunia diplomatically suggests.

"Let's first list our men so that we know in detail what we have to work with," Jacques wisely replies.

But before we can do that, we apparently need a bit of drama.

"What men do you actually have? You're not even the Chosen Descendant," Sa'Haa accusingly asks Vanea.

The not-princess smiles and meets her eyes with Sa'Haa's, who shows no reaction from the former's piercing gaze. "I have a very loyal ally that will join us on the day of battle: Centum Apeiltik, who has joined Katasko as a spy for me," Vanea sweetly answers.

But the white wereowl ignores the provocation and turns her stern gaze to us. "This is the sort of woman that Dame Vanea is, Ryders. Are you sure you want her as an ally?"

"Do you think we have the luxury of giving up on allies when our situation is so delicate?" Yunia immediately replies, hiding very well her glee at the riposte.

The room falls silent, and Hana, Urmeie, and Allura can't keep their eyebrows from creeping upwards in amusement.

Sa'Haa's white feather hair gradually rises up along with her anger, and the air starts to become chilly as she begins to release her aura, but we only get a taste of it as her royal composure quickly comes back, and she returns to normal again as she finally replies, "As long as you know who Dame Vanea Anara really is. Some people have been swayed by her sweet words and tragic story, but one shouldn't forget that those experiences forged the kind of woman she is today."

Dayum.

Sa'Haa nervously runs her hand along her white feather hair. "You're likely to get yourself killed."

"I think it'd be fun to try," Urmeie casually replies and grins unashamedly.

Hana gets a bit annoyed at the stubbornness of this bear, so she steps forward and glares as she rapidly casts and dispels [Spirit Light] as an example. "We can also cast [Ghost Lights] just as fast as I can cast this. Do you really think you can fight while blind?" She flippantly asks.

Urmeie frowns as she stares at the flickering ball of light, but the stubborn woman is still unconvinced. "Hm... I do have [Sense Presence]."

Alissa and Yunia promptly activate their [Hide Presence].

"Oh..." The bear grunts in surprise, then she starts chuckling. "Well, this is kind of silly, you know?"

"It's very silly," Omari dryly agrees, still too stunned to laugh.

"Yes, exactly. The Gifted are simply born to surpass us," Vanea calmly declares, but Urmeie suddenly stops laughing and becomes serious.

"They've been chosen by the Gods to deal with threats beyond even our reach," Léonne piously states, a hint of pride in her tone.

"Who could even defeat them in single combat?" Mako finally speaks, and though his daze is gone and he's back to being stoic, he doesn't use his Godly voice.

"Dad," Tommen quietly replies.

"Dad," Urmeie grunts in agreement, still stern and pensive.

"Yes, Father could," Sa'Haa hums absentmindedly, then she uncharacteristically sighs tiredly and closes her eyes as she relaxes on her sofa.

"That's why we believe that Katasko has a Gifted of their own," Jacques smoothly returns us to the crux of the matter.

"They could just be dumb or suicidal," Urmeie soberly replies, also behaving uncharacteristically.

"I'd rather prepare for the worst-case scenario," I state, and everyone hums in agreement.

"Then we shall," Sa'Haa finishes.

Now that the royals have been convinced, we can finally start talking tactics.

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.

Prince Owldente.

Lord Andrew Meyers.

Lord Novgarod.

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