CH.233 Confirming the arrival times of the Guests

CH.233 Confirming the arrival times of the Guests

After eating breakfast, I got into Gradius with a single person. ... Okay, that made no sense. Gradius can only fit two people, so I can only have myself, +1. As for who was riding with me, well...

“This ... this really is a carriage of the Goddess...” The older male sitting behind me said.

Yes, I was, in fact, in Gradius with the Earl. He had asked me to confirm where the coming guests were, as most of them should be moving by now. He was especially interested in the group coming from the capital, as that was going to be the largest, and by extension, has the most people. Including his son and at least two of his daughters. I say at least, as both the second and fifth daughter should be there, but the fourth might also be there.

... this man has too many daughters ... And the only one not confirmed to come is the fourth one.

“Is that them?” I asked the Earl. Not that I knew what else the massive line of carriages, flanked on both sides by a small army of guards could be.Alll latest novels at novelhall.com

There were, no joke, at least 50 carriages in the convoy. Probably more like 70. Is that normal? How many people are coming again?

“Yes. You can see the Marsh family emblem on that carriage.” The Earl said. The Marsh family was an Earl family. Their territory was basically at the other end of the country, and it was the family where the second daughter, Sylvia, had been married to. “But I didn’t think there would be a representative of the Royal Family coming. And there are even golem carriages from the Sage’s tower.” The Earl added, after he zoomed in on some of the other carriages.

We were quite high up. Unlike Big Core, Gradius doesn’t have a cloaking device, so we had to stay high up, to not get spotted. But luckily, Gradius does have advanced targeting systems, so we could zoom in quite a bit. Don’t worry, I made sure the master switch for the weapons is off, so there is no chance of them accidentally firing.

And as the earl said, there were at least five carriages which were not like the others. They had no horses at all. They still looked more or less like the others, not like my Overdrive, but they still had some sort of engine inside to make them move, instead of the more usual horse power. I wonder, how do they stack up against Overdrive? I know Overdrive should be sturdier, as it is a metal construction, whereas those seem to be a wooden cab on a metal frame. And Overdrive is armed with a literal gatling gun. But I meant more so on speed. Which one is faster? Overdrive can reach speeds up to 100 km/h60 mph, not that you’d ever want to drive it that fast. Anything above 60 km/h40 mph is too fast for the local roads.

“The Royal family? Really?” I confirmed.

“Yes. You can see the emblem on those carriages.” The Earl confirmed.

“I’m assuming that is not normal, right?”

“It is customary to send an invite to the Royal family, however it is extremely rare for one of them to come.”

“... what if that is just their carriage, without any member of the family in the carriage?”

“That could be.” The Earl admitted. “But some of the guards also have the Royal Knights insignia, so there is still an unexpected VIP present.”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess so.” I responded, even though admittedly, I didn’t know what the Royal Knight insignia was. At least I knew the Royal family’s emblem, as that had been shown to me on one of the etiquette lessons the maids gave me.

We observed the group for a bit longer, just so we could get an estimated speed. From that, Laura could quickly calculate their ETAestimated time of arrival.

But during that time, I spotted a small group of monsters closing in on the convoy. There were only five of them and they were wolf monsters. Four were D-rank custer wolves, but one was a larger species, a C-rank lion wolf. It was a perfectly ‘normal’ large wolf, but it had a mane like that of a lion, thus the name. The hide was also quite tough, protecting the wolf’s most vital areas, making it more difficult to beat. I honestly was expecting the wolves to turn back, but they just kept running towards the massive convoy. Maybe they thought they could scare the convoy and catch a straggler or something?

“My Lord, should I deal with the wolves?” I asked the backseat.

“You don’t need to be that formal, when it is just the two of us.” He said. “And don’t. They can take care of a few monsters. Honestly, stepping in might be worse than just letting them do it.”

Our group for the visit was myself, Lua, Alice and Angelina. Ria was still on her crash course to being a maid, so she couldn’t come. And Paulina had a to-do list too long, so she had to sit this one out as well. She has just spent too much time practicing lately, but if she does plan to challenge her sister, the golemancer, she will need all the practice time she can get.

During the tea, we discussed a lot of things. Well, mainly things about their final travel plan, as well as the dungeon.

The good part about TinaWood was its size. It is on the smaller side, for a dungeon, so you don’t have to look over it constantly. Only times a dungeon master, or founder, would have to really do something, is if there are problems with the drops, or if the dungeon begins to gather huge amounts of miasma, or monsters. And in those problem cases, the dungeon master would have to contact either the adventurer’s guild, or the town’s guard/knight order. Well, that was if the monster situation happened. For the drops, they would just have to do things like adjust the prices at which things can be picked up, so certain things become more tempting for adventurers to take. Or they could do things like request adventurers to get certain items from the dungeon, but that was more expensive. But we didn’t really have to worry about any of that just yet. The dungeon basically just opened, and the new cloths already have a place on the market. Especially the denim. People had quickly figured out that it was great for light, but durable pants, so that was something adventurers were having the local tailors make.

Cardboard hasn't found its use yet, but I hope it can get there as well.

“... so, what you are saying is that we can just bring a carriage on your ship?” Christina confirmed.

“Effectively, yes. Technically the carriage will be in my storage, but whatever. Then we can just get a few horses into Big Core and fly over. Then I’ll drop you off like an hour away from the city gates or something, and you can make the rest of the way in the carriage.” I recapped.

That was the idea, anyway. There were some problems with it, like the fact that they would have to travel exceptionally light for nobles, but that ain’t my issue. In total, they would bring three carriages, all with two horses, as well as three guards on horseback. And other than Christina and Brandon, there would be said guards, three coachmen and four maids, for a total of 12 people and nine horses. Nothing too bad, so Big Core can easily handle all of that. I had a similar amount when I brought the knights back to Sawyer city from the dhampir village.

I should get a few seats for the back area of Big Core. I think I can use the dungeon to make a few. I’m planning on visiting it tomorrow anyway.

... but I might need more points. I guess I’ll head to the other dungeon, hunt some more insects there, then come back to TinaWood and absorb them all for a bunch of points. I could do all of the fusion summonings while at it. I’ve been pushing it back, as I really didn’t have a good place for it, but I think that area should work. Yeah. Let’s do that.

After the teatime, we returned back to the big city. It was getting a bit late, but I still had things I wanted to do. Mainly, get my practice in. I do still need to keep up my daily swordsmanship training, or my warrior monsters will make it more difficult for me. I also want to earn their approval for the level ups.

After that came magic practice. Still no space magic skill. I’m waiting. You can come any time.

And at the end of the evening, our (skills only) level ups. I was still leveling up Summoner’s Unity. I really didn’t have that much time for telekinesis, so Unity is the safe option, as it really shouldn’t have that ‘disconnect’ the same. Sure the boost I get when I have a monster summoned gets stronger with each level, but Laura can to an extent limit my power, so that shouldn’t be a big problem.

Lua leveled up her quick cast, and I gave Ria a level in unarmed combat technique, as it might help her get that brawler skill.

SpoilerName: Brian WoodRace: Human !Level: 88HP: 3180Mana: 4210Strength: 1025Defense: 1145Magic: 1155 Skills: Pack Opener LV.4 (unique)Different Dimension Factory LV.3 (unique)Storage LV.10 (unique)

Telekinesis LV.5 (extra)Summoner’s Unity LV.8 (extra)Dungeon Founder (extra)Summon Water Spirit (extra)Health Conscious (extra) Sword Technique LV.2

Mana Control LV.10 Water Spirit’s Blessing (Greater)Language Comprehension (humanoid)Slave MasterSlaves: Rhianna[collapse]

SpoilerName: LuciaRace: Dhampir Monarch !Level: 88HP: 2370Mana: 4375Strength: 839Defense: 1106Magic: 2934 Skills:Dhampir Princess LV.2 (Unique) True Blood Magic LV.8 (Racial) Card Summoner LV.2 (extra)Summon Water Spirit (extra) Water Magic LV.8Light Magic LV.2Mana Control LV.10Magic Boost LV.6Quick Cast LV.7Fast Mana Recovery LV.10Knife Technique LV.2Staff Technique LV.6 Water Spirits Blessing (Greater)

Blood Sucker (Racial)Lifesaver[collapse]

SpoilerName: RhiannaRace: Dhampir BrawlerLevel: 80HP: 2675Mana: 2370Strength: 1705Defense: 1272Magic: 1105 Skills:True Blood Magic LV.5 (Racial)Vampiric Body Modification LV.3 (Racial)

Card Summoner LV.2 (extra)

Fire Magic LV.4Mana Control LV.5Fast Mana Recovery LV.4Internal Magic Technique LV.6Unarmed Combat Technique LV.7Flickering Step LV.4Power Boost LV.5Defense Boost LV.5 Blood Sucker (Racial)Slave. Master: Brian Wood[collapse]

SpoilerName: Alice WatchmanRace: HumanLevel: 58HP: 710Mana: 2570Strength: 305Defense: 395Magic: 1815 Skills:Card Summoner LV.2 (extra)Magician’s Power LV.5 (extra) Multicasting LV.3 (extra)Mana Flight LV.3 (extra)

Dark Magic LV.8Mana Control LV.8Magic Boost LV.6

Quick Cast LV.6

Fast Mana Recovery LV.7[collapse]

Tomorrow, well, it might be my last visit to the dhampir village. ... okay, not it won’t, but I’ll have to sit the next one out, as it would be on the day of the party, so I can’t go then. But I’ll go at least one more time before I leave the city, so it won’t be my final visit yet.

Other than that, I’ll of course make the stuff I wanted with TinaWood dungeon, and yeah, the fusion summoning festival, as well as hunting bugs for generation points.

But that must wait for tomorrow. I have more important things to do, like falling asleep with my hand against Lua’s cheek.

Good night.