Dragon Goddess’s chosen

The night was uneventful, for once my heat didn't flare up in the middle of the night and require me to tend to it. I was, however, woken up with everything aching again to trade with Kat for a very early morning watch. Max protested in his sleep when I moved but he calmed back down when he was able to bury his face into Kat's chest like he just was with mine.

Facing Nicolas again later was… awkward at best for both of us even though all he possibly could have seen were my tits but still embarrassing nonetheless. It was even more so when I had to ask for his help repairing my backpack's straps along with my shoulder armor. The armor for my stomach unfortunately was a lost cause, and I was glad that I wasn't wearing boots or those would have been gone as well and I needed them for the several hour hike back.

“Do you all want to go get lunch somewhere?” Eris asked cheerfully as we passed through the northern gate of the city. 

“Um sure… where were you thinking…?” Nicolas answered first.

“Something from my homeland, I heard there's a good bistro down by the docks.”

“You guys can go on ahead, I'm just going to go turn in the quest, I'm already tired again and I don't want to deal with the next beastfolk that hits on me when I'm trying to eat…” I sighed.

“Probably because you used all your mana yesterday… and who knows what raging does to you…” my boyfriend pointed out, gently grabbing my hand. “You want me to go with you…?”

“I'm not going to tell you no,” I shrugged and kissed his cheek “but I planned on just grabbing food at the inn and taking it up to our room.”

“I'm fine with that…”

“Same here~” Kat chimed in as she hugged both of us from behind. “Unless you guys want to make it just you two~”

“No, you're fine… um,” I looked over at our fighter and cleric, “Sorry, I guess you two are on your own, I'll get your shares to you the next time we meet up…”

“It's fine, I get it,” Eris replied, smirking at me a bit before playfully grabbing Nicolas's arm and starting to lead him away. “I should've figured you three would stick together.”

“H-hey, you don't have to grab me!” The cleric protested but she didn't listen.

“... wouldn't that be a date for them…?” Max asked as they disappeared into the crowd on the sidewalks.

“Shh, if Eris realizes she'll change her mind,” Kat giggled.

“... You want them to get together?” I sighed and looked back at her. She shrugged with a slight smile. “You're Ivra's, not Nyarae’s, remember?”

“Doesn't mean I can't have fun watching it happen. Besides I can bring up this date later if she teases me for what you told her last night, Maxie,” she playfully kissed his cheek as if for emphasis.

“S-sorry… I couldn't think of anything else at the moment…” he mumbled.

“I thought it was funny,” I laughed before starting to pull him away from our girlfriend. “Now come on, the sooner we get this done the sooner we can eat and I can nap.”

“You're really that tired?” She asked, easily catching up and grabbing my free hand.

“Yep, and sore. I guess Cure Wounds only does so much for being tossed through a boat…” 

“Hope they don't mind dragon damage…” Max mumbled.

“They don't need to know a dragon caused it,” I laughed softly as we continued on our way to the guild hall we originally got the quest from.

 

---

 

“Hello! How can I help you?” The friendly human woman working behind the guild counter greeted us as we approached. The big city guild halls resembled what I expected, like in isekei anime, decently large with multiple lines to talk to the clerks, but this time it seemed like the woman who greeted us was the only one working instead of the usual three.

“Hi, we came to turn in a quest?” I replied, accepting the job page from Kat to put on the counter. 

“Any issues with it?” She asked as she read over the sheet. The woman then turned to the wall of lockboxes behind her, looking them over for a particular one.

“There was a kaiju living in it if that counts,” Kat joked a little.

“A kaiju? This close to the city? Were you able to slay it?” She pulled down a box and brought it over, opening it in front of us.

“We hurt it… but it's gone…” Max answered.

“That's a shame… hmm, well if it comes back it'll probably get a hunt bounty on it. Oh, there's something else in here with the posted award…” She pulled a note out and scanned over it before also retrieving a letter and a coin purse. “There's been an update to the quest.”

“What? Wait, does that mean it's not done yet?” I interrupted.

“No, no, it's just… this is out of the ordinary but a letter has been included as of… 8 this morning,” she offered the letter from the box and I hesitantly accepted it, noting that it had a wax seal depicting a coat of arms that had a crow-like bird in the center of it.

“... that's the local lord's seal” Kat whispered as I unraveled the page.

 

Leaders of Tempest and Cœur de Lion,

I applaud you for your prompt completion of my lord's quest. Your team put on an impressive display of your capabilities that the recovery team and I witnessed while on standby on my lord's sloop. Upon my report to Lord Hargreave, he requested to meet with the leaders of the combined party of Tempest at their earliest convenience to discuss a few sensitive matters, including further employment of your party. 

Please present this letter to the guards stationed at the gates as an invitation to be granted entry.

Respectfully,

Head of Staff of Hargreave Manor,

 Claus Smythe 

 

‘Shit… is that the boat I hit…?’  I thought as I handed the letter off to Kat to let her read it.

“Also, I would like to congratulate you all for increasing your party rank with the completion of this quest.” The clerk added and my attention went back to her.

“Wait, what? We haven't really done much as D rank, is it really that easy to promote?” I asked and she shook her head.

“Normally no, but high profile quest givers hold a lot of weight when it comes to recommending a promotion by a single step.”

“Lord Hargreave's name wasn't on the posting,” Kat said, letting Max take the page next.

“It's common for him to use a pseudonym when he posts a quest, I didn't even know this was his until I was getting the award for you. Oh and speaking of,” She passed the coin purse over, “may I take your guild card so that I can update it?”

“Looks like we're going up to the keep later…” I sighed and handed over the card as I looked over at my girlfriend.

“... Not exactly… It's going to be you and Eris…” She replied.

“What?” Max asked, basically reading my mind.

“Eris started our half of the party, she's technically the leader, not me, and it says he wants to meet with the leaders.”

“... so we aren't going to spend the afternoon together…?” Max gave a soft indignant huff.

“Guess not… sorry, pup…”  

“We'll have some of it together,” Kat corrected.

“It said at our earliest convenience though, doesn't that mean ASAP?”

“Alex. Babe. You might not smell like it but you just hiked for hours and you have sand and salt on your scales and in your hair. You wouldn't go to an interview right after going to a gym, would you?”

“I wouldn't have gone to a gym in the first place…” I grumbled and she rolled her eyes.

“You're eating with us, then bathing and putting on that dress and not going in this,” she motioned to my outfit. “He's a lord. You have to look presentable.”

“He's asking to meet with adventurers, he should expect-” I tried to counter. 

“Kat's right though…” Max shyly interrupted.

“See? This is the first city he's been to and even he knows this,” our girlfriend added. “No offense, Maxie.”

“N-no, I understand… I only know about this from stories from Mom having this kind of talk with Dad…”

“So it's settled, Alex is coming back with us to eat and get ready.” Max gave a curt nod in agreement.

“Ok, ok, fine… we still need to find and tell Eris though” I sighed. Kat rolled her eyes.

“You aren't interrupting their date.” She paused as she spaced out for a moment. “Ow… ok, we'll run into them soon after we get done braiding your hair.”

“Really? We're even going to do that?”

“It looks good on you.” Max said. Kat suddenly got a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Ooh, the two of us are still going to be free…” she mused aloud, smiling at our boyfriend “Why don't we go do something fun while she's gone”

“... um…” he glanced at me shyly.

“You two might as well go on a date too if you're already teaming up against me here.” I laughed softly and stuck my tongue out at him. “I'm not going to stop you from having fun with our girlfriend.”

“So, Maxie? Is it a date?” Kat teased and he answered with a slight nod as the guild clerk finally returned with our card and let us be on our way.

 

---

 

 

Hours later.

 

‘There's the nervousness… I was wondering where that was…’ I thought to myself as I stared up at the approaching gatehouse to the lord's keep. ‘I can hand to hand bandits, draugr, and a fucking dino killer whale but no... when I have to do social shit without Kat, I get nervous…’

“Jealous of your harem right now?” Eris quietly teased as she elbowed me and made me glance over at her. It was weird seeing her in not one of her duelist outfits. She had also changed into an admittedly cute, blue knee-length dress. The double rows of buttons and small yellow bow at the collar made the whole outfit seem Victorian steampunk, just without any gears or the sort.

‘Kat might look good in something like that… maybe I could convince her to wear a skirt…’ “No. Well… kind of. Just Some of my old social anxiety is coming back… I thought it was gone after the first week like this…”

“Well, you were threatened by a noble,” she shrugged.

“Wait. What?”

“That letter was a polite threat. At least that's how I read it. ‘I know what one of you are and I would like to talk to you about it’ Deux visages, you know? Act friendly even though you both know one of you keeps a dagger behind your back.”

“You seem pretty relaxed about this.”

“I'm used to seeing it back home,” she shrugged and flashed a confident grin “Besides he didn't send guards, he got us promoted, and from the sounds of it, he wants our help~”

“If you say so” I murmured, looking back ahead and deciding against pressing for more of her thoughts as we got closer to our destination. Just outside the open gate, a squad of guards in red and black gambesons stood in the middle of a discussion.

“Halt there, ladies. Who are you and what business do you have here?” One, a surprisingly burly elf, barked, obviously annoyed, when he noticed us.

“I'm Lady Eris Nores Castellane of Metreau,” the fighter immediately announced. I was left partially stunned as she put on more of an accent and spoke more like I expected of a noblewoman. “And this is Alexandra Steele, we were invited here by Lord Hargreave as the leaders of Tempest.”

“Apologies, Lady Castellane, but I am required to ask for the invitation,” the guard's tone changed immediately to a much more polite one as he walked briskly up to us. I handed the letter to him and he seemed to make a point to check the wax seal first before unraveling it. “Everything seems to be in order here… one moment please…” He retrieved a stone from a pouch on his side that radiated a magic aura. “Smythe, we have a Lady Castellane and…” his eyes darted to my hands. “Ms. Steele from Tempest to see the Lord.”

“Splendid, we have been awaiting their arrival” a posh man's voice rang out from the stone. “Would you kindly escort them to the front door?”

‘A sending stone? Or whatever they are called here?’

“Of course, Smythe,” the guard replied before returning the stone to the pouch and starting to walk back towards the gatehouse. “Please follow me, ladies.”

“Come on, Alex,” Eris prodded cheerfully as she walked on ahead of me. I sighed and followed both of them into a landscaped courtyard beyond the gate.

‘Well this is pretty, it would be a pain to take care of though …’  I observed silently as we were led past hedges, stone flower urns, and a large fountain to the large castle-mansion on the other side. I scanned over the rest of the area, taking note of the people around in case Eris wasn't joking about the letter being a threat. ‘A dozen scattered guards? Maybe? That groundskeeper over there is a minotaur… could be a threat too…’

“Lady Castellane, Ms. Steele,” the same voice from the sending stone called out as we got close to the door, making me look back ahead of us. There, at the now-open double doors to the manor, stood a man in the full black suit of a butler but what stood out was the salt-and-pepper hair and matching triangular dog ears and full, well-groomed white mustache and goatee. “An honor to meet you two, please come inside.”

‘A schnauzer half-inugami? Inugami are more than just akitas and shiba-inus?’ “Oh are you Mr. Smythe?”

“Please, Ms. Steele, I do not need any honorifics from guests.”

“But-”

“Don't argue, it's just how things are.” Eris whispered then smiled at Smythe as she walked up to the door. “Thank you for the invitation, where is Lord Hargreave?”

“He is currently helping his eldest with her academy work. I am to take you to the library and he will be with you shortly.” 

‘Should have figured there was a school somewhere but there's kids outside all the time… I guess it's mostly the rich that send their kids to a school?’  I followed close behind my friend into a large marble-floored foyer decorated with more flower vases at the corners of the grand staircase leading up to the next floor. Movement at the top caught my attention and I quickly spotted another partial beastfolk, this one was a catgirl about my age in a knee-length maid uniform with a pair of blue-grey tails extending from under the skirt. ‘... that's the third beastfolk I've seen as service staff… there's definitely a pattern here.’

“Natasha, have you provided Young Master Thomas his afternoon tea yet?” Smythe addressed her, interrupting her from casting a spell over a vase and causing the rune to sputter out in the air.

“Yes, Mr. Smythe, I also saw Caitlyn on her way to bring Miss Nora hers.”

“Good, keep up with the schedule, our lord and I will be indisposed for a time in the library. Do not interrupt unless it is an emergency.”

“Yes, Mr. Smythe, I'll tell the others while I'm making my rounds.”

“Thank you,” the butler turned to us, his mustache shifting slightly with presumably a smile underneath based on his eyes. “Now, shall we be on our way?”

“Yes, please,” Eris answered politely.

“This way then, we'll be taking the main hall back to my lord's library in the back.” He turned on his heel and started walking to a set of doors between the sets of stairs of the grand staircase. Before Eris could prod me again, I followed along behind him.

“Definitely is a really impressive home,” I thought aloud, scanning over the suits of plate armor lining the new hall he led us into.

“Thank you, Ms. Steele, I and the rest of the staff here do our utmost to care for it and our charges.”

“Is it a lot of work? This place looks fairly big…”

“Alex.” Eris chastised quietly.

“What? It's just small talk.”

“It is well worth the effort is all I will say,” Smythe chuckled. “I take it that this is the first noble household you have been invited into?”

“It is, please forgive her, she doesn't know that there's some things that would put you in a hard spot to answer.” 

“Who are you and what did you do with the fighter I know?” I huffed softly as we passed yet more beastfolk in maid uniforms, one a full Inugami that looked like a blue mottled Australian cattle dog with a blue right eye and brown left one. The other was the first reptilian beastfolk I've seen, a saurian with a smooth-scaled face and really long tail she held up in a s-shape behind her. ‘Definitely a pattern, I'm going to ask this “lord” what this is all about, manners be damned.’  

“It is no issue, I understand that, as adventurers, you may not have the same etiquette as those who were raised around nobility.” The butler responded as he brought us to a door at the very end of the hallway and opened it for us. “Please take a seat, Lord Hargreave will be here shortly.”

 

“Oh, um, ok,” I said as I led the way inside, glancing around. It was closer to a large office than what I considered a library: about fifty feet long and thirty feet across with a desk in the back that faced the door  and a pair of plush couches facing each other with a coffee table in the middle about fifteen feet in front of that. Slight panic set in as the door shut behind us when I noticed that, on the coffee table and on a stand like a trophy, sat a six inch length of a horn with a broken base.