"And the pleasantries begin," Alissa says with a sigh. Her fox ears droop and twitch sadly.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Well, nobility loves to have parties and gatherings. It's all about socializing and making 'connections.' Even when people knew I was going to become a slave, some wanted to get closer to me in case I was sold to someone powerful, like you."

Right. Medieval networking.

"Well, for us this is a good opportunity." I shrug.

"Hopefully he doesn't introduce us to more nobility and just keeps it small. Otherwise, we will get a string of invitations from other nobles trying to poach us to their side."

"Oh, I see how that could be bad."

Alissa smiles wryly.

-

Aoi is lovingly held in Hana's arms, nearly passed out. Roxanne and Klein talk about random things, completely used to our depraved ways.

After Lina and Alissa clean up -, we finally soak in the bath and Alissa retells my duel. I tell them for the first time that Bastico is the Lord's son and they have mixed reactions.

"Well… he's an odd one, this Bastico," Klein says.

"If you want strong people on your side, what better way to confirm that than by fighting them yourself?" Hana asks.

"Well, I get what you're saying, but…"

"Yeah, Bastico is odd," Lina says with a nod.

"I'm a little surprised that he didn't turn sour when you beat him," Alissa says.

"Can't have everyone be a walking cliche, right?" I ask with a laugh.

"You really are seeing things as if we are in a hero's story?" Klein asks, her brows knit in disapproval and raised in surprise.

More like a VR video game.

"Eh, it's worked so far," I say with a shrug.

I run my hand along Aoi's sleek scales and she rests her head on my shoulder. She's currently the size of a dog and the rest of her body lays on my lap.

"Well, Bastico was surprisingly happy after being beaten. He just apologized and acted as if everything was well again," Lina says.

"All's well that ends well," I say with a wry smile.

"What a weird saying." Lina frowns.

"Eh, at least we have our ticket to meet with Lord Confiel," Roxanne says.

"Hm… everything is going so smoothly that I feel… odd," Hana says and scratches her emerald scales on her cheek.

"You're just learning how normal people become friends," Klein says and smirks at Hana.

"I think you weren't exactly born to interact with nobility. Though I can see how Wolfy's influence has made you start to get better at it," Roxanne says and also smirks.

Hana merely stares at them like they are bugs. "Right, another set of punishments will have to be dealt to both of you in bed."

"Hmhmm! I'll be waiting!" Roxanne exclaims and flutters her eyelids exaggeratedly at Hana.

"Gih."

"More like her addiction to his - made her change," Alissa adds.

"I won't deny either of you," Hana says with a proud smile.

We prepare ourselves and fly to the address specified in the message. Thankfully, the rain has stopped so the girls won't risk getting their expensive dresses wet.

We enter the Nobles' Quarters and get a few directions from the guards. Having this large a number of perfectly dressed women in our dinghy makes the guards tense and wary of offending the "young master" that I seem to be.

We land at our destination and I put some points in [Acting]. Better safe than sorry.

Our traditional elven clothing isn't formal enough for the occasion, so everyone is wearing their best dress. Klein doesn't have one that's up to standard, so Alissa lent her one of her yellow dresses, which perfectly fits the lean monkey-girl.

The two walk hand-in-hand, like two sisters from different mothers.

We march on and the clacking of their high heeled shoes and boots is a bit loud. If Aoi starts walking on her own, then things might get even louder.

We stop in front of a very tall building formed out of the purest white tree around. A large hedge blocks our view of the lower floor, but we can see the top of many multi-colored plants peeking out above it, some of them even glowing.

The guards receive us cordially, as they were already expecting us, and escort us towards the mansion.

The soft, mossy floor massages our feet as we walk, though it is a little awkward to walk on it.

The plants all seem to bear some sort of fruit that feels familiar to me. I hardly remember all of their names, I just know that they are all very tasty.

We enter the large white tree-mansion and are greeted by a lavish interior. It seems that the elves are quite fond of intricate details and patterns. Makes sense, since they practice a house-sized version of those patterns with the tree-pillars that support this town.

Right after the grand and circular reception room, we cross a doorway and enter the dining room which has a foldable wall that's currently folded, giving us a view of the backyard.

At the table are Rande, his family, Ento, Silvina, and Ricardo. They are snacking on the same croutons and not-wine as we had at the restaurant we went to with Osaria.

Silvina rises from her seat and announces, "Helios, welcome to my home!" She opens her arms wide and smiles proudly. She looks refreshingly beautiful in a very loose elven dress that barely covers her small breasts or her sex. I pray for a breeze that exposes them to us.

But of the elves present, Osaria still remains the undisputed champion of sexiness. Oura looks adorable, but conservative. Nito isn't wearing his female clothes, so he doesn't even count.

Ento is the one wearing the most ostentatious clothing of all of us, but he lacks style. His clothes are simply made of gold and silver with a few gems embedded. They don't seem to be made to show anything else besides wealth, which is quite boring. Although, Ento is chubby, so I prefer that he shows the least amount of skin possible.

Ricardo barely seems any different from his usual clothes, though he shows off a little more muscle this time.

"It's a pleasure to be here. Your home is absolutely beautiful," Alissa says for me since I am too distracted by Silvina to respond in time. I can only smile and blush a little.

We sit in front of Rande's group and the nobles. Silvina is in the middle, Ricardo is beside her and right in front of me, and Ento is beside him.

The flowery-beard man looks quite pleased at our presence and smiles softly when we sit. "Since your assistance was so crucial during our fight, I thought that a dinner was the least we could do to repay you," he cordially says to me.

"It was not our intention to involve your fellowship or Este's company in this matter," Silvina says.

"Dawn of Fire's actions were extremely bold. You can expect retaliation once Lord Mavel is deposed," Ricardo continues.

"Do you think they will look for revenge against us?" I ask.

He looks slightly uncomfortable for a second, then returns to his stoicism. "You have two blessed people in your fellowship. If they try anything out of malice, they will certainly all be hunted to extinction by the Templars and all of the elven Lords."

That would be after we are already dead, so it's not the most reassuring thing to hear, but I can understand his intention.

"Their representative nearly licked my feet. If anything, they themselves would have imprisoned anyone with a desire for vengeance," Silvina adds.

"They tried to escalate the conflict and gambled with their Fates, but they only ended up with both sides hunting for them. Nobody there will have time for revenge," Ricardo finishes.

Now that is reassuring.

Rande chimes in, "I've never heard anything but bad rumors about Dawn of Fire. Why would Lord Mavel ever try to ally with them? They even attacked me. I know that Mavel disowned us, but still… Well, I just hope he didn't fall that far."

"I think you would be included with the people they would spare. But also, hardly anyone knows you're his nephew, so they might have simply not known," Ricardo says with a slight frown.

Or someone might not have given them all the information.

"Our decision to leave was purposefully sudden in order to lower the chances of someone plotting against us, yet they attacked us merely two days after we left. This was far too reckless; there's still more information to uncover," Ento says, slightly displeased at the current conversation.

Ricardo sighs and says, "There's always more information to uncover, but we might never know the truth."

"There's also the matter of the Warped Reality that appeared." Ento seems more interested in talking about that.

The what?

"Right, the men say that someone hit the mage with an arrow and he botched the spell," Rande says.

Gih.

Oh, that. I didn't know it had an actual name. Actually, I didn't talk to the girls about it, did they assume it was me?

"A trained mage botching a spell due to a mere arrow? Ridiculous!" Ento exclaims.

Gih.

Well, thanks for telling them.

"Well, it was a really big spell." Rande shrugs and smiles wryly.

"That… well, that's not a lie, but it's still ridiculous!"

"We were too far to interrupt or interfere with the spell, so it's the only logical explanation," Ricardo says.

Thank the Gods that nobody knows exactly how I use [Redirect Mana].

"Well!" Silvina puts her glass down on the table, making a loud noise. "We aren't here to discuss what has already happened. We are here to celebrate!"

Silvina immediately changes the topic to how the fellowship formed and we manage to avoid talking about my birthplace.

Rande's side and the girls start talking among themselves while my side of the table has a little more difficulty finding common ground.

We end up hearing about Ricardo's background. He rules a small city to the north of Goloria, near the border of the High Forest with Glorampina.

Ricardo is serving under Lord Confiel, but that doesn't mean that he has to obey his orders unconditionally. His choice to be a "spy in the open" comes with a very generous reward of a lot of equipment for his men.

Silvina and Ento are trusted allies of Confiel, who were sent as support for Ricardo. Their mistake was bringing too few men with them, but they didn't have many to spare from the beginning, and hiring mercenaries against someone who has loads more money than you is a dumb idea.

I'm surprised that they are being so open about their espionage, but what they were doing was always "in the open." It's just that normally nobody explicitly mentions it.

It's quite obvious now that they are trying to get on our good side. Even Ento seems less cold and a bit more agreeable as he tries to make a little conversation.

Suddenly, the doors swing open and I understand why the meal hasn't been served yet. Bastico and a younger, cuter version of himself come walking in and stop to scan the table.

"Oh! Bastico!" Rande exclaims.

"Rande!" Bastico smiles fearsomely and marches towards him, his younger brother shyly following behind. "You got yourself into a big mess, or so I've heard."

"Someone's been naughty," he says with a voice hinting of anger.

"It's not over yet."

"Indeed."

They share a strong handshake and Rande kisses his hand. Then he moves on to greet the rest of his family. He receives an enviable hug from Osaria and kisses her hand with a smack, playfully showing respect and familiarity, but with Oura and Nito he's much more restrained. His younger brother greets Nito warmly and the two of them immediately sit down and start talking.

Bastico turns to me and sends a wave. "We meet again, Wolf."

I smile a little awkwardly and respond, "we do."

"You two know each other?" Rande asks, incredulous.

"I thought he was a cowardly son of a wealthy house and challenged him to a duel. Then he beat me with his weird style."

The other nobles seem to already know that as only Rande's family reacts.

"I didn't expect any less from you, Bastico," Osaria says with a chuckle.

"Men…" Oura whispers and shakes her head.

Bastico smirks and turns to his brother. "Anyway. Helios, this is my brother, Ernando." He extends his hand to the boy, who blushes immediately.

"P-pleasure to meet you," Ernando says with a soft boyish voice.

"Ignore his shyness, he's still a virgin who blushes when Osaria hugs him."

"Not just blushes," Osaria comments and winks at him.

Ernando goes quiet and stares at the basket of croutons as if it murdered his family while his delicate face turns redder and redder.

Bastico sits beside Ento and smirks at us, then the conversation shifts back to us, more specifically, me, while the food is being served.

We were served several choices of bread, including a garlic bread that doesn't leave that horrible aftertaste on your tongue; sauces to put on the bread, including one made with not-tomato; a slab of minotaur meat, which seems quite popular around here; a vegetable casserole that reminds me of an eggplant casserole my Mom used to make; a variety of alcoholic drinks; and interestingly, they serve baskets of Buffalo wings and I get some amused looks from Ciel.

"So, where did you learn your style?" Bastico asks me, dead serious.

"I created it myself, it's called [Ekrano Style] and its basis is using [Telekinesis] to hover along the ground and move freely," I respond as my mouth drools from the smell of the Buffalo wings.

Thankfully, Bastico allows us to eat a little before continuing the interrogation. "And where did you learn how to cast [Telekinesis] instantly?"

"Personal talent. I'm quite good with [Space Magic]."

Ento becomes curious and bold enough to ask, "And where are you from, exactly? It's hard to believe that you are a mere commoner."

I merely smile faintly. "I'm from a faraway land."

The nobles go silent, both surprised and confused at my reservedness.

Bastico grins and his eyes scan over all my women, then snaps back to me. "Father would love to meet you."

Let's hope he really does.

"So, how was that duel?" Silvina asks.

"You are a summoner, a blesser, and an accomplished magic swordsman?" She asks, her thin eyebrows shoot high up her forehead.

"So they really are your wives…" Bastico comments softly.

Ricardo turns a little more serious as he asks. "The men commented that you summoned something that was very similar to that Masked Aberrant that had a huge bounty on it. What was it, really?"

"An earth elemental. I'm pretty good with [Mana Control] so I can make them in any shape I want. We are the ones who hunted the Aberrant, so I have a very vivid memory of it in my head," I answer, using [Acting] to keep as calm as I can.

"Oh? Could you demonstrate it for us?" Ento asks, becoming bold again.

"Please, Ento. Leave your incessant curiosity with magic for another time," Bastico says casually and flicks his hand dismissively.

The chubby man grits his teeth and forces his expression to remain neutral. "Then perhaps we should not talk about the gruesome details of duels as we eat our meal," he responds.

Bastico merely glances at Ento and doesn't respond.

With the conversation shifting to our accomplishments, Alissa tries to pimp me to Silvina with mixed results. The slender golden elf is clearly an amiable person who enjoys talking to other people earnestly, but we can't discern how far her interest in us goes.

"Thinking about you doing a noblewoman feels even more depraved," Alissa says through [Bind].

"I know. Even I am getting interested in her."

The dinner starts to end and people start to get up to observe the light show of Silvina's backyard.

Hana slings her arm over me and I rest my head against her chest while hugging her waist. Through Alissa's eyes, I see how we are a prime example of a role reversal. Even my ass looks nice in these tight pants.

I also notice how Ento sends glances at Aoi like a boy sends glances to his crush. With our connection to Lord Confiel becoming stronger, his chances of getting Aoi drop from "astronomically unlikely" to "not even in a fantasy story."

Osaria stands beside us and her delicious, sensual scent invades my nostrils. "Are you going to get involved?" She asks, softly.

"Perhaps," I answer.

"Not only are you going to go conquer a dungeon, but you will also shove yourself into a conflict between Lords? Why?" I feel a hint of restrained anger in her voice.

"I have my reasons."

"This is why I don't want to continue this. I don't want to outlive people younger than me."

"I'm sorry, but it's something we have to do," Hana says.

I look at her and see an anguished expression. She seems sad and tired, of what, I can make a pretty good guess.

"We'll do all we can to come back and see you again," I say.

"Hmph." She turns around and walks away, back towards Rande's side.

We resume watching the light show and I nearly chuckle. For a while, it dispels the sadness of disappointing Osaria. Silvina basically made Christmas lights by controlling the flow of the water, which in turn controls the blinking of the plants' luminescence.

The desserts roll in and the women moan with delight; I almost do, too. Nutty cakes and not-fig sweets that I have no idea what they are called.

I actually recognize hazelnut. I have to buy some and save them to mix with chocolate.

We have a few more casual conversations and the time to leave finally comes.

After we walk out, I exhale in relief as the tension in my shoulders subsides. Then I moan as Hana's strong hands massage me.

"Not used to talking to nobility?" Rande asks me with a wry smile.

"Yes. I dislike all the formality."

"Better invest in some [Acting]. It'll certainly pay off."

"I'll keep it in mind."

"Well then, until the next An."

"Until then."

We say our goodbyes and depart in different directions.

We enter our inn and I hug Lina to recharge -.

We comfortably watch on as Hana deals out her punishment to both Roxanne and Klein. For the good of the other guests, I hope this room is soundproof.