Jaygak sipped the fruit wine slowly, feeling the warmth of the alcohol flow through her. The sweetness of the fruit wine danced against her tongue, washing away the taste of the salted potato she had fi the end of her meal. She pced down her cup, slowly turning it within her hand.

  ‘Siool is there, there should be no trouble…’

  Lucy silently ate her st bite of grilled meat. The demons always danced on the edge, almost falling into danger every few weeks. Yet, somehow, the shield that was Adam had protected them. It was awkward to find that Adam, a half elf who could have been local to the nds, caused more trouble than demons, who were responsible for some of the greatest devastation across the nds.

  Her eyes fell to Jurot, who was in charge of babysitting them that day. With the Iyrmen, the demons had very little to worry about, since a pair of, what looked to be devilkin, walking around with Iyrmen didn’t seem out of the ordinary.

  Then her eyes fell to Mara, her closest panion, and the one who had watched over her for so long. A life like this, trapped by the as of others in the past, was almost unbearable. Lucy was gd Mara was here beside her, otherwise there would have been no reason to live this life, a bird trapped in a steel cage.

  ‘What do they talk about?’ Fred thought. The young Florian couldn’t help but wonder how various trades and deals were formed outside the ears of the onfolk. ‘It’s a good idea to get on the Duchess’ side…’ Even though Fred thought about the beneficial retionship between Adam and the Duchess, there was the thought that the deal included someone who was far too chaotic to really uand.

  ‘If he dies, will I still have a job?’ Brittany thought, frowning slightly.

  Adam sat within the carriage, overlooking the o to one side, and the several forts across it, dotted like beads on the waves. A hundred ships docked along the port, and many more made their way about. There were easily hundreds of small ships w on catg fish, many far in the distance, barely able to be spotted by even Iyrmen eyes.

  The carriage began to move again once more, escorted by the mounted knights. Adam recalled how long they had to go before they were finally at the Duchess’ pce. ‘Are they going to move the meeting pce a little closer?’

  “You will refer to the Duchess as Yrace, and you will speak only when spoken to,” Sir Maria stated firmly as she guided them along the pathway towards one of the many gardens of the Duchess’ estate.

  Adam let out a sigh, the sense of dejavu filling him. The nd around was green, bs of grass as far as the eyes could see. Dozens of buildings y across the nd, each of various different styles, each with their owion of greenery, each different to any other, from the flowers to the trees, there were no duplicates. Guards could be spotted every so often, but most of the figure who roamed the he help, servants adorned in a dark blue, almost navy, except darker, closer to bbsp;

  After far too long marg through the area, they approached the archway made of all manner of flowers and greenery, and were weled inte square garden. The pathways were t, as the pathways for the eate were, with bushes of all manner of flrowing around the garden.

  A siable y in the tre, a semicircur table which had no further tables between it and the exit, was guarded by at least a half dozen guards, surrounding a figure. She sat at an angle, one gloved hand ying on the edge of the table, her loved hand over it. She was beautiful as one might have expected, with tan skin that was trasted by the silver jewellery she wore. Her hair was darker thaypical Aldish, her eyes a beautiful hazel.

  She wore dress of a pale blue, like the sky across the o’s surface, and a neckce made of pearls, each catg the light in a way to make it seem like there was a rainbow sea stantly rippling among them. She wore a silver spaulder over one shoulder, with s of silver eg between each segment, matg the rest of her jewellery. Resting at her side phicule dagger settled in white leather.

  The guards around all wore pte mail. All carried bdes at their side, with most also holding shields. Those at the exits wielded long spears, while those he woman carried bdes at their side, each made of what looked to be silver. The two warriors fnking the beautiful woman were both female, and were almost identical to Sir Maria, with identical equipment and near identical stature.

  Servants also stood all along the side of the walls like statues, seen, but unheard.

  “Good afternoon, Executives, and Sir Vonda Littlesea,” the Duchess greeted, motioning with her hand to allow them to sit. There were two seats o edge, and a third which was at her side, though he edge of the table. Adam sat between Vonda and Kitool, fnked by wisdom.

  “Good afternoon, yrace,” Adam replied, dropping opposite her, not putting the correct emphasis on the honorifics. ‘It would have still been m if your pce wasn’t so damn far away.’ Adam smiled politely towards the Duchess.

  “I hope the suddeing does not displease you, for we only had a few days to prepare,” the Duchess said.

  Adam smiled a little further, but felt Kitool’s boot tap against his. He cleared his throat. “This is more than enough for we humble Executives.”

  A servant brought over a cy tea pot with detailed, intricate patterns, no doubt from Persevia, p iea for the Duchess first, before doing the same for the rest of the members of the United Kindom, from Vonda, to Adam, to Kitool.

  The Duchess’ eyes fell to Kitool, surprised to see her in pce of the young half elf’s brother. As far was she was aware, the Ool family had very little influen the Iyr, and had earned little favour across the nd. Save for the fact the young ced sed iour against Jurot, the Ool family had almost nothing to their he Duchess caught the glint of steel around the woman’s neoting her rank within the Adventurer’s Guild.

  Adam sipped the tea quietly, the fruitiness of the tea gentle, like a warm b on a nightval evening. “I want to thank you for meeting with us on such short notice. We should have sent word previously, for nned with meet with you for some time, but we came across other matters which took our thoughts away.”

  “What matters were those?” Duchess Dalia asked.

  “Though I am seemingly the leader of Fate’s Golden, and perhaps am the most active Executive in the United Kindom, I’m not very good at keeping my mouth shut to keep us out of trouble. That’s why Kitool and Sir Vonda are here, to make sure I don’t offend the good Lady.” Adam smiled ily, bowing his head lightly.

  The Duchess smiled. “What brings you to my estate?”

  Adam spotted the cakes being brought over, but his eyes quickly snapped back to the Duchess. “We wao thank you for your patronage, Duchess. I suppose patronage isn’t quite the right word, but, what I mean to say it, your pque has been very useful iimising our business, even though we have very little in the way of business within this nd as of yet. We have e to say our thanks, and to personally receive any business orders which the Duchess may have for the Enter.”

  Duchess Dalia Eastsea blinked. She hadn’t expected Adam to be so forward, or blunt, with his words. Though he was trying to py coy, he was giving up everything immediately. However, she couldn’t quite help but feel this stage, which had bee by the young half elf, was also a game to be pyed coyly.

  The young man hadn’t offered the items or the prices for the item, so it meant he was doing that again. He had replied to the orders of the various nobles, many of whom had beeed, but a handful had been firmed. She knew of some of the orders, for he had accepted the order of a minor noble family, who had simply ordered a single Basic bde for slightly over the typical price of a Basic on.

  Should she make a rge order, and pay an egregious amount for it, or, due to the building of the business, should she pce a smaller order and pay a det amount for it? She had already ied quite some into the group, having gifted two full sets of pte to the Gaks, as well as several thousand gold, and a silver pque. It, alone, was more than enough favour.

  They hadn’t even brought them any gifts for their meeting.

  ‘Perhaps…’

  Wow. Adam is being... mostly polite!