Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 47 - Limited Dinsional Authority - Part One
The boy, Percy, didn’t know anything. Or, more specifically, he didn’t realise that he knew sothing until Gregory was called upon to question him more thoroughly. The second round of questioning uncovered a single word that had been omitted for the first round of questioning because Percy wasn’t sure he had even heard it correctly. However, that one word made all the difference depending on the context.
That word was ‘others’, and the fact that Percy had overheard it from a group of confird spies or saboteurs ant there was a distinct possibility of more spies lying low amongst the Laine population of civilians. It also may have been a reference to spies elsewhere, but paranoia at this stage seed warranted.
Percy, his mother and his great uncle were given quarters within the inner wall as an additional reward for Percy’s assistance. Additionally, Clarice imdiately began haggling with Percy for the Elixirs he had earned from the Quest.
The high tier Elixirs didn’t technically exist yet, but Clarice was hellbent on getting her hands on them.
Despite his young age, Percy quickly proved that he wasn’t an idiot. He had sothing Clarice wanted, or he soon would, and he seed more than willing to push his luck and see what he could get for it.
“I want to ride Beast monsters, just like you!” Percy insisted adamantly, ignoring the enormous pile of redeed equipnt and supplies Clarice had already promised in exchange.
Clarice fidgeted uncomfortably and appeared to be straining herself to remain civil, “Look, kid, Percy. I can’t just teach you the Class for Taming your own Beast, it's incredibly dangerous. There is no way Tim would allow it...” She paused and took a mont to look at for confirmation, a glimr of hope in her eyes.
I shook my head, “Not unless we find sothing like a toothless Vrabbit,” I warned.
Clarice fidgetted again while working her jaw, “See? If it was up to , I would have just shown you how to do it. But Tim has rules about this sort of thing.”
Percy frowned, scrunching up his small face in frustration, “Then promise to teach when I’m old enough!” He insisted.
Clarice winced. Although Percy had said promise, it was clear that he was expecting an oath.
Percy’s mother and great uncle both shifted uneasily. They had not been comfortable with Percy's hardline bargaining tactics to begin with, and it was obvious that attempting to extract an oath from Clarice was pushing them to breaking point.
“Fine,” Clarice hissed, “I swear to assist you in unlocking a suitable Class in exchange for the rewards of your participation in the spy hunting quest,” she took a breath, “In such a ti as Tim deems appropriate.”
Percy frowned, gnawed at his lip for a mont then nodded, “Deal.”
Clarice grinned maliciously, “Ahahaha!”
It took a mont to realise why Clarice was so pleased, “Percy, can you read?” I asked calmly.
Thoroughly confused and a little suspicious, Percy looked away from Clarice and up at instead, “No?”
“I tried to teach him letters,” his mother apologised quietly.
“The boy’s got too much vinegar in him,” his great uncle added, “Erm, your Majesty,” he added hastily, bobbing his head and wringing his leather cap between his knobbly fingers.
“What’s so funny?!” Percy demanded.
“If you learn to read, then you will be able to interact with a quest that teaches you one of the approved Classes. You can also earn Exp without putting yourself in danger by accepting the Reservist quest and fulfilling the daily objectives,” I explained carefully, “The quest is sort of like a teacher that explains different ways of unlocking the Class you want. It’s possible that you might have been able to unlock the Class you wanted without requiring Clarice’s help at all. You just need to learn how to read so you can follow the instructions.”
Clarice’s grin widened.
There was a very real possibility that she had just managed to con Percy out of the Elixirs in exchange for the Asrusian governnt's property and a largely redundant oath.
“I’m sure Clarice won’t mind giving you personal riding lessons,” I added flatly while narrowing my eyes at Clarice, “A good faith paynt on her oath.”
Still grinning, Clarice shrugged, “Sure, why not? But I'll need to feed Dhizi first so she doesn’t mistake him for a snack.”
Percy’s expression brightened, “I get to ride one of the giant Beasts?!” He asked excitedly, earning fresh looks of concern from his mother and great uncle.
“It would be hard to teach you to ride if you didn’t,” Clarice scoffed, acting as if she herself hadn’t beco accustod to riding relatively recently.
Leaving them to it, I returned to my temporary lodgings and found Lash playing with Pete and Suzy on the floor. The cauldrons had been knocked over, or fallen over, leaving the floor three inches under water. Not that the twins seed to mind in the least, crawling and splashing around the large room while Lash made a show of snarling and chasing after them.
Giggling and squealing in delight, the twins scrambled into one of the overturned cauldrons in order to hide.
Lash gave a broad smile before making an exaggerated show of looking for Pete and Suzy beneath a pile of soaked blankets.
“I wonder where they could be?” I chuckled, walking past their hiding place and looking inside of the other cauldron, earning a fit of not at all stealthy giggling laughter from the twins hiding place.
By the ti Lash ‘found’ them, Pete was thoroughly worn out by the excitent and seed ready to take a nap. Suzy was on her second wind, but she seed content with rolling around on the floor and attempting to drag her left foot into her mouth.
Both twins were now beginning to grow dark greenish and brown hair, which was sothing of a relief. The last thing I would have wanted was for them to inherit my Alopecia.
“So lively,” Lash cooed proudly while settling Pete into a wet blanket on her lap.
“I don’t know where Suzy gets all her energy from,” I chuckled in agreent.
“Bwa!” Suzy exclaid, wiggling her tongue in an attempt to close the remaining distance to her toes.
Lash smiled, but her expression quickly turned contemplative instead, “Tim?”
“Mmm?” I could tell sothing was on her mind, so I made a point of showing she had my mostly undivided attention.
“You love Suzy and Pete...” Lash stated slowly, “If I change, you will love ?” She asked sowhat awkwardly, a hint of embarrassnt and anxiety in her voice.
“You’re talking about Evolution,” I realised, following her line of sight to Suzy, “A specific Evolution.”
Lash nodded.
“Well, you already answered your own question,” I smiled reassuringly, “I love our kids, so I think it would be impossible for to stop loving you for becoming more like them. Even if your appearance changed to be more like sothing else, I can answer that with a question of my own.”
Lash stared back at expectantly, and I was relieved to see that most of the anxiety from earlier had left her features.
“Do you love any less for changing?” I asked sincerely, nearly choking up as I felt a sudden rush of anxiety over having forced an issue that would have otherwise remained dormant.
Lash shook her head and smiled, “No. I like you bigger,” she admitted, blushing slightly as her smile montarily turned into a lascivious grin.
“And the webbed fingers and toes?” I pressed, grinning back at her.
Lash shrugged, “Don’t notice mostly,” she admitted. Lash’s eyes widened as she realised she had her answer.
“Having gills will probably take so getting used to though, and you would need to change the design of your armour,” I pointed out supportively.
Lash nodded, “I have plans,” she stated confidently, “Was for Suzy and Pete,” Lash admitted a little sheepishly, “Will work for also.”
“A little young for armour aren’t they?” I asked in a half-joking tone.
Lash shrugged, “Maybe, for now,” she replied noncommittally.
“You’re thinking of training armour?” I guessed, recalling how the children in Sanctuary wore crude approximations of armour made from peeled bark.
Lash shrugged again, but her nonchalance was more exaggerated this ti, “Maybe.”
I honestly couldn’t bla her. If I was more familiar with armour crafting I might have been obsessing over plating our children in steel as well.
“So a Swamp Orc then?” I asked curiously, “Or are there others? Like a More Orc, or River Orc? Maybe a Lake Orc?”
“Swamp is our ho,” Lash declared decisively, “Would choose Swamp Orc.”
“Or whatever its higher evolution is,” I added supportively, “I an, you are already an environntal Evolution. So it would make sense that when you reach your next Major Evolution, it would be a progression plus the environntal Evolution tacked on top. Or at least that’s how I understand it.”
Lash was listening with keen interest, so it was sowhat unfortunate that my knowledge on the subject was very nearly tapped out.
“Nadine probably knows more about it,” I admitted, “However, I am fairly certain that so long as we spend enough ti in our swamp, it is more a matter of ti than anything else whether you will have the chance to achieve the more advanced form of Swamp Orc Evolution. Does that make sense?”
Lash nodded thoughtfully, “Maybe not this ti, or next ti, but eventually,” she summarised succinctly, demonstrating the results of her widening vocabulary.
“The chances seem quite high,” I comnted thoughtfully, “Close to half the children born in Sanctuary have the Swamp environntal Evolution. About a quarter of the adults that have Evolved are Swamp Subspecies as well, and that doesn’t account for those who had the choice but chose sothing else.”
Lash seed pleased by that particular tidbit of information. While she had managed to achieve literacy through her own hard work and dedication, Lash probably wasn’t nearly proficient enough to indulge in casual reading like I was prone to doing.
Of course, directed Evolution was an interesting subject that I hadn’t actually given that much thought to before now. Depending on how the Demi-Plane plan worked out, it might beco a very important issue.
Was the environntal evolution of an unborn child decided by the environnt of their conception? Or by their hatching? With only a single Grove to guarantee egg hatching in a tily fashion, the entire population would begin skewing towards swamp adaptations regardless of their parent's ho environnt. This would be bad for a number of obvious reasons.
However, requiring a monster be present in the environnt in question in order to select that environntal Evolution also presented a number of potential issues. Just because soone was in one place when they beca able to Evolve, doesn’t an that it was their intended destination.
Unfortunately, Wisp’s behaviour seed to suggest that this was indeed the case and that if an alternate Evolution was desired, then steps had to be made to force the issue. Only ti would tell if it was the sa situation with the egg hatchings, but I suspected that it was the sa situation.
Steps would need to be undertaken to create hatcheries in other locations so parents would at least have so degree of choice and autonomy. After all, a Swamp Orc being raised in the desert, or his parents having to live in a swamp, seed like a lousy compromise for everyone involved.
With Rikit and Garn both racing to seize control over their respective floors of the Labyrinth, and the Imperial’s camp remaining silent, I didn’t have much else to do besides engage in basic exercise and spend ti with my family.
Judging by the noise coming from the house next door, Ril had recovered from her mana exhaustion and Toofy was making an event of it.
Even though there were questions I wanted Ril to answer, I decided to give her so space as a sign of respect for her quick thinking in removing my family from danger.
Without soldiers in need of treatnt, Nadine had begun treating civilians in the upper quarters of the city. The Surgeon’s Guild had begun lodging complaints with the army, claiming that Nadine wasn’t certified and was a risk to public health. However, the army had rejected and dismissed all their complaints, demonstrating that they were keenly aware of who was contributing to the greater war effort, and who was not.
A full day passed before the first of the new Elixirs were completed. Unfortunately, Clarice snatched them up first as the reward for her quest. While I could have claid them anyway and reimbursed Clarice later, I didn’t realise the exchange had been made until it was too late.
“Sorry!” Clarice apologised sincerely, “I didn’t know you wanted one for Lash...I just got excited. I’ll hold off and let you know when the next batch is ready!” She promised.
“Fine,” I agreed with a sigh, “I don’t think Lash is in a hurry, since we will need to know how this Demi-Plane thing will pan out before returning to Sanctuary. But she still has a number of interdiary Evolutions to complete before then as well.”
“Right...” Clarice agreed apologetically, “But there is so good news too!” She insisted, pointing to Dhizi who was soundly asleep. “Those manastones the Elixirs are made from must be really high level! Dhizi breezed through all those interdiary Evolutions and is on the brink of her next major one!”
“Really?” I was more than a little surprised to hear that.
Dhizi was already a high-tier monster, so to make any large degree of progress was a shock to say the least.
“Do you know what floor the Adventurers Guild reached in Hurst?” I asked sowhat apprehensively, only now realising that the large volus of Exp I had been receiving from Wisp had likely been at the minimum Takesation level.
Clarice was thoughtful for a few monts, “Thirty or forty-sothing, I think?” She replied with so degree of uncertainty, “Nadine would probably know, or you could ask Gregory. He’s probably gone through all their secret books and all that. Why?...Oh...” Clarice’s eyes widened in surprise, “Blood hell! Is that why you have been levelling like crazy?!” She demanded excitedly.
“I think so...” I admitted, “I told Wisp to go hunting to level up, but I didn’t expect him to go to such extre lengths to do it.”
“Well, he’s basically untouchable. So it’s not like he was in any real danger...Damn! I should have gone with him!” Clarice cursed again.
“It probably wouldn't have been pleasant,” I reminded her, “Wisp’s a Necromancer, rember?”
“Ah...Right...” Clarice conceded, deflating sowhat, “But I guess it’s still just a matter of ti before we can go there on our own anyway, right?”
I shrugged, “I guess,” I conceded and then rembered sothing else, “Hana needs at least a few of the Elixirs as well. The Grove, and the water inside of its boundaries can provide passive progress for Evolution-”
“WHAT?!” Clarice exclaid, staggering slightly as she struggled to scan my face for signs of deception.
“It’s how Ril had been progressing without consuming any mana stones. By living inside of the mana-saturated water, absorbing it through her skin, and breathing it in through her gills, Ril has been steadily progressing her own Evolution at a comparatively competitive pace,” I explained with unrestrained interest, “I was hoping to do the sa with Pete and Suzy, and I think Lash would benefit as well, especially if she remains behind to take care of the twins. It would an Lash would continue growing stronger without needing to rely on Elixirs or mana stones.”
“Ugh.....” Clarice ran her hands through her short red hair in frustration, “Why couldn’t I have been born a monster?!” She lanted, “That sounds so amazing!...Wait...” Clarice turned to look at Dhizi who was still sleeping in a drunken stupor, “So if Dhizi had gills so she could breathe water, she would be able to benefit from the Grove water too, right?”
“Should do,” I agreed, “She might even progress faster than a smaller monster due to surface area,” I could tell Clarice didn’t quite understand, so I adjusted my thinking slightly, “Because Dhizi is bigger, she would be exposed to more water, which ans more mana. Although, there is a possibility that there might be limits on mana absorption rates...” I scratched my head for a few monts while trying to think of any precedents but ca up dry.
“That’s good enough for !” Clarice grinned happily, “What do you plan to do with Ushu?”
I actually hadn’t given it much thought beyond helping him Evolve out of the Blighted environntal Evolution. “I suppose, depending on how substantial Hana’s improvents to the Grove turn out to be, and depending on his own preference, a swamp environntal Evolution wouldn’t be the worst in the world.”
“You an, like a Swamp Dragon?” Clarice asked excitedly, once more defaulting to her unrestrained obsession with dragons.
“I guess?” I shrugged, “But bear in mind that depending on how radical the transformations from the Evolution might be, riding Ushu or Dhizi might beco impractical.”
“What do you an?” Clarice asked, visibly confused.
“Well, what if they looked more like Ril and had fins in places you would otherwise want to set the saddle?” Ril wasn’t necessarily the best example of what might happen, but her physiology fit the point I was trying to make.
“Oh...” Clarice nodded and beca contemplative for a short while before shrugging it off, “We will just have to see, I guess.”
When the next Elixir beca available, Lash mistakenly downed it in one go, confusing the relatively small size of the Elixir’s vessel with a lesser degree of potency. She collapsed into a drunken stupor almost imdiately. As concerning as this was, Lash’s status only displayed the Inebriated and Unconscious Conditions, so it seed like there wasn’t anything else to worry about for the ti being.
Just in case, I made a point of checking Lash’s eyes and skin for signs of jaundice. Unfortunately, the twins demanded most of my attention at any given mont, and I wasn’t sure what jaundice would look like given Lash’s odd eye and skin pigntations.
Ultimately, I had to be content with no news being good news. A lack of visible change would strongly suggest that Lash was still healthy and in no imdiate danger. On the contrary, Lash had successfully brute-forced her way through to the threshold of her next major Evolution. Considering how relatively low tier she had been before, I supposed it was inevitable.
Initially concerned over the cumulative effects of alcohol consumption causing cirrhosis of the liver, I was worried that the Grove might beco the only viable long-term source of Evolution. Then I had sothing of an epiphany that radically changed my perspective. The liver regenerates. So long as the liver wasn’t too badly damaged, its own regenerative properties would be accelerated by my iron Gut Ability, functionally eliminating cirrhosis of the liver as a dical concern.
This still required the lethal doses of alcohol to be tabolised and excreted before they could do lasting damage to other organs. Technically, with the liver kept in peak fighting form, and Iron Gut treating alcohol as a poison, that wouldn’t be as big an issue as I initially feared.
As if to prove my point, Lash regained consciousness roughly fourteen hours after downing the Elixir.
I had been keeping her as hydrated as the twins had allowed, but I was still genuinely impressed that Lash showed no signs of being hungover.
Lash grinned and gingerly flexed her muscles as she adjusted to her more reinforced fra. Lash had grown four inches taller since drinking the Elixir. While it was not a particularly drastic change in proportions, it would still feel like she had months worth of growth spurts overnight.
Sure enough, Lash’s first attempt at standing unassisted brought her crashing to the ground and splashing water everywhere, much to the twins' delight.
“So clumsy,” Lash chuckled, giving Suzy a deliberate splash while settling on her haunches.
Even though they were only a handful of days old, both Suzy and Pete were becoming increasingly mobile, half crawling and half flinging themselves forward through the shallow water.
Lash swept them up into her arms and settled back down into a sitting position to avoid losing her balance again, “Missed you too!” She gave each of them a fierce kiss that earned more burbling cries of happy excitent in return.
“Maybe we should have a small feast to celebrate?” I suggested, “I’m sure you have got to be hungry, right?”
“Grrr!” Suzy growled and bared the teeth beginning to poke through her gums.
“Mmmbuh,” Pete burbled, clumsily slapping his belly.
“They say yes,” Lash chuckled.
With the dubious cleanliness of the waterlogged floor, I opted for conjuring the food rations onto the raised surface of the bed instead. With a relatively wide selection of food to choose from, it really was like our own private feast.
Lash set the twins onto the bed next to the food and then began helping herself to a small slatted crate of what looked like crab apples.
I began setting out so of the food so I could feed the twins, but they began helping themselves the mont things ca into reach.
Suzy gleefully set to tearing her way through a pale sausage and Pete seed content with pulverising smoked fish in his aty fists before stuffing it into his mouth with stoic satisfaction. Of course, they only succeeded in delivering half of what they snatched to their mouths. The rest was scattered down the front of their bellies or across the bed. Not that either of the twins seed to mind.
Sitting down beside Lash, I wrapped one arm around her waist and held her close while reaching for one of the small apples she seed to have taken a liking to.
Crisp, slightly sour and sickeningly sweet, the apples tasted more like candied cherries than any apple I had ever tasted. It was no wonder Lash liked them so much, they were packed full of natural sugars.
“Maybe don’t feed any to Suzy,” I warned quietly, unsure that I wanted to find out what Suzy was like on a sugar rush.
Lash shrugged happily, “More for ,” she chuckled quietly, biting another apple in half, core and all.
Eventually, Suzy and Pete managed to eat their fill and settled down to sleep amidst the carnage generated by their feasting. I fell asleep with Lash resting in my arms and felt a profound sense of contentnt.
I woke up early, but the twins were both already awake and tearing their way through the food leftover from the night before. This would have been fine, but Suzy had found the apples and was shoving them into her mouth as fast as she could manage.
While I attempted to wrangle Suzy, Pete looked on with mild interest and chewed on his fingers.
I had just managed to get a hold of Suzy when my vision was abruptly obstructed by a block of white text against a black background. This was promptly followed by a second, then a third and then finally a fourth.
[Conditions for {Lesser Dinsional Authority} have been t. Candidate {Tim} is now bestowed with {Lesser Dinsional Authority} and qualified to {Converge} {Dinsional Assets and Territories}.]
[Lesser Dinsional Convergence: {Dinsional Assets and Territories} may be integrated into a singular {Lesser Dinsional Plane}. {Dinsional Assets and Territories} must be under your control and must remain uncontested in order to qualify for integration.]
[Lesser Dinsional Plane: Integrated {Dinsional Assets and Territories} must be positioned and anchored to other {Dinsional Assets and Territories} in order to prevent {Dinsional Entropy} and {Dinsional Instability}. {Dinsional Assets and Territories} may be positioned in correlation to the {Lesser Dinsional Plane Integration Interface}.]
[Minimum number of {Dinsional Assets and Territories} qualified for {Lesser Dinsional Convergence} has been t. Proceed: Y/N ]
Reading through the mass of information, I realised that Rikit and Garn must have only just finished achieving their respective objectives.
“Sothing is wrong?” Lash asked warily, having woken up while I was distracted.
“No, I don’t think so,” I replied, trying to sound more confident than I felt, “But Rikit and Garn just finished with their assignnts. I can now create the Demi-Plane Gregory was talking about a few days ago.”
Lash shifted to make herself more comfortable, “This is the safe place?” She asked for confirmation.
I nodded while biting my tongue. A part of had wanted to make an offhanded sarcastic remark, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. “I need to let Gregory know about this developnt so we can plan for what cos next. Will you be alright looking after Suzy and Pete on your own for a few hours?”
“We will be fine,” Lash insisted supportively while taking Suzy.
“Alright,” I carefully got to my feet and stretched the stiffness from my legs and back. Sleeping on the wet floor hadn’t been nearly as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. “I’ll be back soon,” I promised, planting a kiss on Lash’s forehead before heading out through the thick curtain covering the doorway.
Looking over the heads of the armoured Orc guards on watch, I scanned the imdiate area for potential threats before passing through their ranks and heading for the portal to the city of Laine. I could have sent one of the enlisted Slaves, but they were already working a demanding schedule as it was.
Crossing through the portal, I tasked one of the soldiers on the other side to let Gregory know I wanted to speak with him about sothing urgent.
Unsure if Gregory was present in the forr guild building or one of the fortified mansions nearby, I walked out onto the mostly empty street outside. The dark clouds above gave an ominous tone to the largely abandoned district. If the Regent followed through on what Gregory had suggested, it was entirely possible that the city might fall entirely into ruin.
Again, this raised the question of what would happen to the Labyrinth once I cannibalised its territory to create the Demi-Plane. Would the portals on the planes I removed cease to function? Or would they remain linked to the Labyrinth they were taken from?
I was still musing over the possibilities when Gregory ca jogging down the street from the direction of the heavily fortified estate of the forr Baron. “Majesty, you sent for ?” Gregory asked while giving the nearby soldiers a paranoid glance.
I nodded, “We need to talk. There are decisions that need to be made.”
Gregory gave a nearly imperceptible nod to confirm that he knew or had guessed what I was talking about. “We should relocate to a more secure location,” Gregory suggested, motioning back to the forr guild building.
It wasn’t much of a surprise when Gregory led the way back to the portal into the Labyrinth, and it was even less so when he pulled out his communication device and began rapidly signalling a ssage to whoever was on the other end.
“Do you have a location in mind?” I asked while not particularly expecting an answer.
“Apologies, I am awaiting the Lord Regent’s reply,” Gregory apologised while keeping his attention focused on the communication device.
A number of minutes passed in relative silence before Gregory began receiving his reply.
Gregory’s expression quickly turned from apprehension to outright concern.
“What is it?” I demanded warily.
“The Lord Regent would like to discuss matters in person,” Gregory replied sowhat stiffly with a grimace, “And he would like to do it here.”
Now I could understand Gregory’s cause for concern, “There is only one building, excluding the hospital, that I can fit inside of,” I pointed out as a warning.
Gregory nodded, “I know...But the Lord Regent is being...Insistent...” The way he said it made it seem like there were a few other less than pleasant words he would have preferred to use instead. “The Lord Regent will be arriving presently...” Gregory couldn’t have sounded less enthusiastic if he had tried.
We made our way over to the gateway to await the Regent’s arrival.
After a few minutes of waiting, A tall man with a wiry build and immaculately grood goatee appeared before the Gateway in the midst of a huddle of heavily armoured bodies. For his part, the Regent was dressed in a manner I subconsciously associated with a conquistador. Wearing fine courtly clothes beneath a ceremonial breastplate and with a sword at his hip.
There was a middle-aged woman with him as well. With the sa dark hair that seed commonplace in the people of the Asrus kingdom, it was streaked with lines of grey around her temples. However, her delicately featured face was more youthful than her hair had led to expect. Similarly, her porcelain skin was immaculate and unblemished. Despite having never t her before, there was sothing about the playfulness in her hazel eyes that made the woman seem familiar.
“Your Majesty,” the regent bowed and his guards parted to either side.
The woman at his side pinched her dress and curtsied, smiling in amusent all the while.
“I know this is an imposition, Majesty, but is there sowhere we may speak in private?” The regent asked politely but also in a tone of urgency that made it clear he wasn’t going to accept a refusal without a fight.
“There is,” I replied, fighting down an amused smirk of my own, “But you might not enjoy the ambience.”
“I am sure I will walk away the better for the experience,” the regent insisted in an upbeat tone.
“Your guards won’t be allowed inside, and you can’t bring that sword either,” I added prudently. It wasn’t that I thought the regent might go on a genocidal rampage against my family, but I wasn’t willing to risk letting a weapon like that within arms reach of Suzy.
“But of course,” the regent agreed amiably, promptly unbuckling his sword belt and handing it to one of the guards, “It is largely ceremonial anyway,” he chuckled in good humour.
The guards didn’t seem particularly thrilled at the condition of being left behind, but I didn’t really care what they thought about the arrangent. In such a confined space, it wasn’t like they would be able to do anything if things turned bad anyway.
“I should probably surrender the knives hidden on my person as well,” the woman volunteered in a breathy voice, removing two knives from the sleeves of her dress, another from each shin, and a fifth from the concealnt of her cleavage.
I felt that sa sense of familiarity hearing her voice that I had felt about looking into her eyes, but I was profoundly confident I had never t this woman before in my life.
‘Wouldn’t want Suzy getting her hands on them,” the woman said quietly, her eyes flashing with amusent.
I had ford the thought without truly aning to, but it now seed obvious.
The woman’s delicate lips drew back into an amused grin, Jacque replied in the sa breathy voice.
I asked curiously,
Jacque comnted, she added with another smirk,
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