“No, of course I’m not going to run,” I said to the fifth minor noble that asked. “His Majesty was just amusing himself at my expense. I’m not going to abandon my fellow townsfolk just because of that.”

This was the reception after the ceremony, a marginal step up in my opinion. Instead of gawking at the foreigners, the nobility now had a chance to mingle with them. Thanks to the King’s little interventions, every one of them had the same conversation starter.

“How very brave of you,” she prattled. [Memorise] could have recalled her name for me with a thought, but I was actively suppressing it. There were actually people I wanted to talk to at this party, but getting to them was no easy matter. There were rules for who could talk to whom, and as always they were rigged against me.

Every time I tried to make my way towards one of the Dukes, some lady or lordling would intercept me and babble mindlessly until I found a polite way to get rid of them. Clearly, the rank disparity between us was not supposed to be simply traversed.

This latest obstacle did seem a cut above the previous ones, though. Perhaps I was making progress. She seemed to be getting a little irritated at my lukewarm responses. No doubt she was used to people paying attention to her, especially commoners. She was quite pretty.

Actually, that was unfair. There wasn’t a woman here that wasn’t staggeringly beautiful, by my world’s standards. Charisma was in high demand among the nobility, and of course, there was no such thing as an ill-groomed noble. They cleaned up real nice.

Despite that, she stood out in even this crowd. Given that I wasn’t getting a high level from her, she must have really leaned into her [Charisma] stat. She was beautiful and dressed to impress. Her pale skin, framed by her elaborately styled brown hair, practically glowed.

But I did look at myself in the mirror every morning. Not that I was vain or anything, but I knew how I looked, and it was better than her. So I gave her a faint smile and started talking about her hair.

“Do you like it?” she asked, holding her hand up so that it almost, but not quite, touched the fragile arrangement. “I’m not sure why I bother, it takes so long to get ready before an event.”

“It’s very nice,” I agreed, “But it was the burgundy tips that caught my eye. Is that the latest fashion?”

I hadn’t actually taken an interest in fashion. Not that I wasn’t interested in fashion in general, but Latorran fashion had a few hundred years to catch up before it did something interesting. No, this was [Conversation] gently nudging our discourse to get to where I wanted to go.

I wasn’t sure if the endless parade of minor nobility was a deliberate attempt to stop me from talking to anyone important, or if they were just enamoured by the idea of being seen talking to the King’s latest victim. Whatever the reason, I needed help. Either to run interference or to provide some sort of passage.

Unfortunately, my companions couldn’t help me here. They counted as servants and weren’t allowed in the noble's area. It had been made clear that I barely qualified for the honour of mingling, and wasn’t in the position to bring any retainers. That was probably for the best, at least as far as Janie was concerned. I could only imagine the calamity that might result from her running interference for me. She was back at our apartment with the kids, while Kyle and Felicia watched over me from the sidelines. I imagined they were both bored and anxious at the same time.

So this lady would have to be her substitute. She was currently going on about how she was on the leading edge of the dyed tips thing, while I made appreciative noises. Who knows, perhaps it was true.

“Didn’t I notice that one of the Dukes had his hair styled that way?” I asked offhandedly.

“Duke Victor? Oh yes, he’s always had a keen eye for style.” She continued on, but I wasn’t really listening. I would have grimaced if I was letting anything show on my face aside from polite admiration. Duke Victor would be Victor de Bargougne, Aubert’s boss, and someone who wanted me dead. He wasn’t my first choice for someone to talk to, but I’d have to take what I could get.

I let whatshername ramble on for a bit, talking about how close she was to the Duke, and how much he valued her advice. She was setting herself up, really.

“Oh, so you would be able to get me an introduction to His Grace?” I asked mildly. [Charm] threw in the title, I would never have guessed to call him that. But it was [Persuasion] that was doing the real work here. Her composure didn’t slip, but it didn’t feel great to be outdone socially when you had a [Charisma] based build. As I could attest due to recent experience.

She fought it, but I beat her in [Charisma] and [Level] so the outcome was already determined. The only question was…

You have defeated Marianne Rankin in a Tier 3 Social Contest! You have earned 20 XP

Did I know that name from somewhere? Probably from when she introduced herself and I wasn’t paying attention. I dismissed the feeling of familiarity and focussed on the notification. Tier Three. So she hadn’t wanted to introduce me. Not as close to the Duke as she claimed, or had she been actually trying to impede me? Well, it didn’t matter now, I supposed. I gave her a warm smile and let her lead me to the Duke.

“Lady Rankin,” Duke Victor de Bargougne said sourly. “Just what have you brought me?” Up close, I could feel that his Level was definitely higher than mine. Not as much as the Kings though, so Level Seven? It was hard to be sure. I needed, even if I did not want, more experience facing higher levelled people. I thought I had a higher [Charisma] at least, but I didn’t fancy my chances of trying any social skills.

We both curtseyed. “My Lord,” Lady Rankin said, “May I present Councillor Hammond, from the Talnier Town Council.”

“A free commoner from what was once my Duchy,” he replied. “How disgraceful.”

“It was the King’s will,” I said carefully. “Blame your vassal for provoking such a response with his flagrant criminality.”

He frowned. “Easy enough to blame the dead.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Did the King not share with you the reports from his Inquisitor?” I asked. “His wife fled, rather than face an accounting. Monies from his criminal endeavours were found in the treasury. If you ask me, his disappearance was due to him feeling that the Inquisitor was closing in and absconding.”

I was treading on pretty thin ice here, but while this was an obvious lie, I didn’t think he would call me on it. We both knew that Reece was never going to actually charge Marseau for anything, but it would be interesting for the Duke to admit that the nobles were immune to prosecution.

He chose… not to do that. “Perhaps,” he allowed. “Was there anything else you wanted?”

“Just to pass on the well wishes of the town, and express our hope for good relations in the future,” I said.

He snorted. “It’s Anchorbury that’s your neighbour,” he scoffed. “Why don’t you go see Lord Aubert and establish some relations there.”

“As you say, my Lord,” I said, feeling the dismissal. I curtseyed again and backed off. Contrary to my orders though, I didn’t seek out Aubert. Not that I would have been able to — once I left the Duke's orbit, the crowd started flocking me again. Still, I might have accomplished what I needed to…

As if by magic, the crowd suddenly melted away, leaving only one man behind. The second Duke, the man with the really weathered face.

“Duke Finley, I presume?” I said and curtseyed again. I was doing a lot of that. There was a chance that this was the third duke… of Saarwald. But given that Finley had sent his men after me last night, it seemed likely that he’d be here.

“Hammond,” he said, not giving me the courtesy of a title. Since he didn’t correct me, I must have been right. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, I mused. As true in society as it is in physics. Duke Victor deigning to talk to me had provoked his opposite number to come and seek me out.

“I sent for you to attend me last night,” he said without preamble. A single crease formed across his forehead as he frowned. “You didn’t arrive.”

That’s how you’re going to play this? I let my surprise show. “Really, my Lord? I didn’t receive any such message.” I gave it a moment, and then added, “Perhaps your messengers were untrustworthy.”

He frowned some more. “Perhaps,” he said. “I will have to investigate.”

Good luck with that. Say what you like about a Dungeon’s murderous appetites, they were at least good at cleaning up the evidence. I curtseyed again.

“Since your Grace has expressed an interest, when would be a good time for me to call on you?”

As far as I knew, the dukes did not reside in the palace but had their own mansions in the city. That meant that if I called on the Duke I would have my own escort of palace guards. They might not be able to stop his own troops, but he would have to have second thoughts before assaulting the King’s men. That might have been the reason he narrowed his eyes and glared at me.

“I don’t discuss my appointments in public,” he said. “I will send another message.”

I curtseyed again. “I look forward to it.”

With that, he turned and left. Well, that was something. It seemed, though, that I was playing this game correctly. He hadn’t called me out for murdering his agents and he hadn’t tried to blackmail me for it either. He hadn’t seemed pleased so I was going to call it a win.

Now I just had to— I was given a brief warning by the way that the lordlings who had started to close in, suddenly backed off. It wasn’t enough time to look around though, so I was blindsided by someone grabbing my arm and moving in close.

“Well, for a newbie, you certainly have the ear of important people,” said the woman who had grabbed onto me. I looked over to see a cute face framed with brown hair, and grey eyes that seemed to know all my secrets.

“Envoy Fisher,” I replied coldly, trying to express my disapproval of being grabbed. As I had expected though, she was unfazed.

“Tch, and here I thought I was going to get to introduce myself. Tom spoils all my fun.”

“I’m sure that was his primary motivation,” I told her, trying to extricate myself from her grasp. I managed it, but only because she let me go. She was definitely stronger than me, which wasn’t a surprise. She was around the same level, and I hadn’t invested heavily in [Strength].

“Definitely!” she agreed. “I bet he told you to come to find me if you needed anything, our Master is a good guy and just wants to help, blah blah blah.”

“That was the gist of it,” I confirmed. “But I haven’t really needed —”

“Yes, yes, Master is scary and you don’t want to get involved. Tom did say that you were keeping your distance.”

“Well, some,” I admitted.

“Boring! I despise the hands-off approach!” She gave me a wide grin and a wink. “Though I have to admire you managing to keep your hands off Tom.” She clapped her hand against my shoulder. “Or maybe not! Aren’t you supposed to be an adventurer?”

I rolled my eyes. “Sorry for trying to keep things a little professional.”

“Pfft,” she scoffed. “I’ll show Tom how to convince you of our good intentions, and that’s by not taking no for an answer!” She grabbed me by my arm again. “Now, let’s get you introduced to all the people that you need to meet!”