Chapter 138: Let the Politicking Begin!

The Grand Hall of the Order of Flame’s Head Quarters is lavishly decorated with lit braziers and tapestries with the Order’s emblem embroidered into them. Tall pillars sculpted into the shape of wizards and knights hold up the ceiling and red fire crystals decorate the statue pillars.

A red and gold carpet plays out to the reception, where trophies of slain powerful monsters and displayed above for all to see. The Drake from the Ashland that Ruluna’s party slew has its head-mounted as the most recent trophy, it was a hard-won battle, and its eggs retrieved in hopes of gaining battle beasts.

Alysara does not seem impressed, but she may be blind; the illusion may look like someone else for all Ruluna knows. Regardless, it looks real enough that Ruluna has to use her [Sense Mana] to remind herself that the person standing next to her is, in fact, not real. She doesn’t know how Alysara is speaking through it, but it’s not the first time she’s witnessed some strange skill; powerful monsters often had those, like the Drake.

Ruluna walks up to the receptionist, a new girl who recently joined the Order. Upon seeing Ruluna and her entourage, she turns a little pale and makes her red hair stand out even more. She is clearly nervous and not ready to deal with high-ranking members.

“Inform Headmaster Vulpun that we have a VIP that he’d be very much interested in,” Ruluna says, leaning on the counter.

“Y-Yes, mam!” The young girl says stiffly and almost runs into the back. After two minutes, the girl ran back. “H-He’s ready for you!”

“Relax,” Ruluna tells the newbie, trying to calm her down. “No one here is going to the bit your tail off. Thank you for your work.”

The young girl bows and almost hit her head on the counter. Ruluna just sighs at the nervous wreck and leads Alysara into the back, Flame Paladin Julaly taking the rear. The Blackflames have gone back to their regular positions since they aren’t needed anymore. Ruluna leads Alysara through the equally lavash parts of the building. And into the guest meeting room. Ruluna knocks on the door to the room and waits for a reply.

“Enter.” To Vulpun’s command, Ruluna opens the door and, to Ruluna’s surprise, reveals all three Headmasters; Vulpun, Kolona, and Shalar. Ruluna hates not being able to use her [Sense Mana] in the Headquarters, but there are strict retaliations, something that Alysara is still bypassing, considering that Ruluna still feels being watched.

On the left is Kolona, his black hair is pulled back into a tail, and he wears the same uniform like the other two, to let all who see them immediately know he is a Headmaster. Kolona is the Head Master of the mages and oversees all the mage training, rank tests, and disciplinations.

In the middle is Vulpun, who keeps his reddish-brown hair short, his yellow eyes keeping a stern stare. He manages the Order overall, managing missions, meeting representatives of the Houses, and much more; he’s the face of the Order.

On the right is Shalar, she has long blond hair kept in a bun, she manages the warriors, as evident by her well-toned arms. Her expression shows her ‘no non-sense’ personality, keeping a frown with attentive blue eyes.

Ruluna, Alysara, and lastly, Julaly trails in. There are chairs sitting across the headmasters who look surprised by Alysara’s appearance and her perfectly matching clothes. She changed her illusion’s appearance to something the high society would wear, somehow making it so immaculate and beautiful as to put any House lady to shame.

Her navy blue dress flutters, and she takes a step closer and curtsies in the traditional way.

“Greetings, I am Alysara” Alysara seems to have adopted a new persona, a more diplomatic one, yet her voice retains its beautiful musicality. “I apologize for causing alarm in your Order; we only recently learned of your existence and need to study your society as to not accidentally offend you; allow me to show my goodwill by bringing you two gifts.”

Alysara holds out a hand, and two items materialize, an orb that hovers in place and a sword with an icy sheath; Alysara half pulls out the sword to show it off. It glows with the fury of an inferno, threatening to ignite the air. The orb has unknown runes and shapes in a golden color along its surface, matching well with its deep red color. The sword is equally beautiful, with golden runes running down its length and a watery blue handle with a firey blade guard stylized in the shape of flames. Ruluna [Analyzes] the items.

Fire Focusing Orb (Enchanted):
This orb, made by a master of mana crafts, enhances all fire spells by 200% and can hover according to the will of its linked master.

Blade of Flame (Enchanted):
This sword, made by a master of mana crafts, retains its edge even against the toughest of materials and enhances all cutting damage by 200%. This sword will burn and inject fire into all wounds it causes. Stores up to 10000 fire mana and passively draw in mana in from its surrounding.

Ruluna can’t help but gape at the powerfully enchanted items in front of her, and Alysara is just giving them away! They are more powerful than many magic items! They are equal to at least major tier items, and they are only enchanted!

Since they are enchanted, they will draw mana from their users to power the enchantments, but even then, it’s worth the increased mana costs. Even the sword is drawing in mana from the air, so the user doesn’t have to rely on storing their own mana!

The room is locked in stunned silence as everyone tries to recover from this surprise. Thinking about it, Ruluna never [Alanyzed] the dress she showed, but she wouldn’t put it past her if it was enchanted.

This is another clever move; it’s saying that this is commonplace for them and that war is not advisable. Ruluna wonders whether Alysara is merely the diplomatic mouthpiece; whoever is leading their diplomacy is a political genius.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I stand there, trying not to look awkward. Did I perhaps not make them good enough? Tusile wants to establish trade relations, so I thought showing off my Enchanted work will entice them. I did put the effort in making these items since this is also a way of saying ‘sorry’ for spying on them and smoothing over everything, but maybe I didn’t try hard enough?

“Err, thank you for these gifts; I am Vulpun,” the man in the middle introduced himself. He tries to school his face and quickly gets under control, as do the others.

“I am Kolona,” The man on the left introduces.

“I am Shalar” The woman of the right nods.

Shalar picks up the sword and inspects it. “It’s well made, but I don’t know what metal it’s made from.”

“Same with the Orb, Kolona says”

“It’s made entirely from mana,” I inform them, the instincts from [Acting] telling me that it’s good to explain these sorts of details.

Ruluna makes a noise of surprise by trying to suppress it. I ignore it, as do the Headmasters.

“It’s enchanted in a way so that the enchantments won’t ever degrade,” I add.

“Not ever? I know enchantments typically last a hundred or two years, but how can you guarantee that?” Vulpun asks.

[Acting] warns me not to give too much away, the Political persona giving the right instincts to recognize attempts to get me to reveal information that I should keep secret.

“We have a method of enchanting that prevents decay; besides, metallic mana is inherently resistant to decay anyway,” I answer.

The Headmasters look at each other.

“You know a lot about mana,” Kolona compliments.

[Acting] prevents me from disclosing any information.

“I do” Is all I say. One thing I quickly learned is that diplomacy and politics aren’t exactly the same. The diplomacy role had me reveal more information as making friends and establishing relations is best for its role, but right now, I need a political role which works well for only disclosing what is needed.

Considering how these people are always trying to lead me into disclosing information, I figured the political role is best for this situation. They don’t pursue any attempts but instead shift focus to other things or broaden their questions. It’s possible that their society is heavily focused on trade secrets that rivals want to get.

I would love to just say, ‘Hey, wanna open up trade between our people?’ but my role instincts say it’s best to let them suggest it first. Blech, politics is leaving a sour taste in my mouth; thankfully, another mind is teaching Lotis and her friend to add some sweetness.

“You came at a very opportune time,” Vulpun says, his watchful gaze studying my reaction. “But I suppose you know all about that.”

I actually don’t, but I guess something must have happened.

“Perhaps, to what might you be referring to? There are many things in which I might be an opportunity in.” I reply with a poker face.

Vulpun glances at the others before answering

“War is likely on the horizon with the kingdom over the eastern mountains.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

She’s good. Vulpun praises in his mind.

This young girl, if that’s even her real appearance, has a good political mind but clearly lacks years of experience. The delivery of the gifts was a stroke of genius, but now he can confidently say this girl isn’t the source of that but was rather coached. Politicians often make good spies, which seems to fit this girl.

She is not proposing any agreements, a good move as that says her people doesn’t need or even want it, but she wouldn’t be here if that was the case. Instead, she wants us to propose trade which gives her an upper hand.

What Vulpun needs is not just trade but their craftsmen that can make such good enchanted items to work on their leviathan materials. It’s the key facto; if they can turn their materials into top-grade items, maybe even heroic and legendary items, then they might win the war.

There are enough Leviathan materials for an entire legion, and they need them before the enemy can equip their army. It pains Vulpun, but he has to be the one to propose a trade, but not now. He needs to speak with the lady Vanu Runa Lysha and Governer Vanu Runa Orlan. Lysha, being the head of the offensive army, needs this, and the more she pays for the trade, the less the Order of Flames needs to.

By getting the Governor to propose a trade, Vulpun can hitch onto it and maybe secure a better deal for the both of them.

“But that is a discussion for another day. For now, enjoy our hospitality; we’ll try to arrange a meeting with the Governor.” Vulpun says, standing up gesturing farewell. “Thank you again for your gifts.”

Alysara curtsies with perfect grace and elegance before walking out, Ruluna and Julaly saluting and escorting the guest; her long tails catch Vulpun’s eyes with their graceful dancing as she walks through the door.

“Thoughts?” Vulpun asks.

Shalar stands up and gives the sword a twirl. The edge makes the air around it waver from its heat.

“Pure fire, mana. I don’t know how they did it, but with a society that can do this, it’s no wonder she mastered [Sense Mana].”

“Agreed” Kolona nods. “In Ruluna’s report, she says Alysara admitted they are craftsmen; I can see why now. Such work of perfection shows the best they have to offer and does not disappoint.”

“However, it’s the items she herself is wearing that interests me the most, but I could not [Analyze] them; it’s as if they weren’t even there,” Shalar says, testing different poses with the sword. “How the hell did they get opposing mana to merge like this?” Shalar mutters thoughtfully, looking at the handle.

“Onto the political side of things,” Kolona says. “She’s careful, inexperienced but careful. You’re more of the expert in the field, Vulpun; what do you think?”

“We are at her mercy. She can pretty much name her price, and we’d have to agree. It’s no coincidence she chose now of all time to come, well, mostly. If we never contacted her first, she wouldn’t even be here. But showing herself so soon shows that she has been paying attention and chose our side first.”

“Meaning if we don’t agree to her terms and secure an exclusive deal, she can just go to the other side.” Shalar chimes in. “Moving onto the girl herself, she’s obviously well trained in her Bond, I know House Ora Ara, it’s no mistaking that she also has a beauty Bond, the most frightful thing is that she is far more proficient in it. Considering the meeting, I conclude she met us with an illusion, but I didn’t risk retaliation to confirm.”

“An illusion?” Kolona asks. “But the storage ring is real; these items are real!”

“Yes, she managed to make solid illusions but does that surprise you when she introduced these items?” Shalar retorts. “I am sure her Bond is in the five hundreds; at least we don’t feel her presence simple because she was not actually here, and that means she has some strange skills to pilot the illusion.”

Vulpun sighs. Shalar’s intuition is almost never wrong, but that just makes Alysara even more dangerous and mysterious.

“And then there’s her knowledge into [Sense Mana]; any chances we can trade for that?” Kolona asks.

“We have to try,” Vulpun answers.