I felt bruised all over as I walked into the meeting room. I had healed myself from last night, but Florine was much stronger than I expected. I had also learned a lot about maneuverability from her. I still wasn't sure how she channeled her mana, but one thing was for certain. She didn't use that much when she moved through the air. It wasn't based on what I would use to move through the air slowing myself. No, hers was something focused inside of herself, allowing for rapid movement in the air. It was something I never expected from the woman, and I felt shame even thinking that.
Florine last night kicked my ass all over the training area and bruised my ego a little as she demolished me. Her speed was so random, and I noticed that the bright color of her fur and hair actually helped obscure the way she moved. It turned into a colorful blur that was hard to follow because of the bright color. It was something that I didn't expect to work in her favor so much. I also wasn't expecting her to be a rouge-style fighter, but I realized that that thought was an incorrect assumption throughout the fight. She fought head-on and had nothing to do with stealth.
No, While I fought her, it was a head-on, evasive fighting style that I was not used to. It reminded me of the point fighters of boxers; Keeping their distance and coming in for short bursts of damage before escaping. It was a unique style of fighting that I hadn't seen since my previous fight and went to remind me again and again that I had underestimated this world.
Florine showed me that my rifts were countable, and it just was just something someone slower like Francis couldn't do. On the other hand, Florine used her speed and maneuverability to do what Francis couldn't do. Francis was about tanking spells of a Wizard. He simply took the hit like a juggernaut and shrugged off the pain. That was something that Florine couldn't do with her battle ability. Instead, she focused so much on evasion that you had to predict where she was going to go so you could hit her.
At the end of the night, though, I started to use mass covering spells to affect her like I had tried on Francis and realized this worked way better with Florine than it did on him. Florine used the environment more to do things, whereas Francis ignored everything in front of him and barged right through it. The difference in battle abilities was in the philosophy each took.
In the end, both achieved the same thing through different methods. It was just Florine was better at attacking someone like me who was highly mobile in the fight. On the other hand, Francis ran forwards, and if you took time to cast spells, you were simply fucked. Wizards that didn't like to move during combat which was not a small number, would be completely countered by him and Florine both. Florine would simply dodge the attack, whereas Francis would just pile straight down the center, not caring about your attempts to stop him.
I leaned back, still feeling phantom sore spots from what I was painfully trying to keep away from calling an ass whopping in my mind. I looked across to the woman that was looking amused but slightly annoyed at me, carefully sitting down. "Still sore from what Francis is calling a pretty big hit against you?" Rose said with a smirk.
I looked across the table at her and smiled Wryly. "He did damage but isn't the reason that I am sore," I replied, leaning back.
"Well, That is good," Rose replied, "Still, I know you are busy and have other things to be going over today. So I am here to talk about our little business venture," Rose said, and I nodded. "Good, Your recipe is in the initial stages and isn't quite ready for release for selling. Honestly, I plan on using some funds to make some of this available both here and in the elven lands. I will give you a percentage, but I have high hope for your brewing recipe," Rose told me.
I smiled as that skill taught me a lot without knowing it. It even helped me remember slightly some of the styles of microbrewing that we used in my previous life. I remembered having to deal with a bunch of students a few years before the army came in had started to brew spirits and beer in school. It was technically allowed on school premises since there were no rules against it. The problem was that the oldest person drinking it was sixteen.
"Well, Since we are leaving the Demon lands soon. I am in a bit of a bind here," Rose continued taking me out of my thoughts.
"Oh, please tell me," I replied.
"No, problem," Rose said with a smile, "Well, I have no one I trust to manage this for us. We have no one to deal with these problems on the ground who we can trust not to leak the secrets of the recipe or the style of brewing you are insisting on." Rose told me seriously, and I nodded.
That was a serious problem for the business, unlike in my previous life where there were protections for patents. That didn't exist in this world. None of the nations cared about your ideas and paid those who created those ideas. Let alone create a database or library filled with all those ideas. It would encounter the same problem that banks had in this world.
A-rankers would simply raid it.
They would simply become strategic targets for the enemy nations and be relentlessly attacked until they could steal that information. So without sufficiently powerful A-rankers defending it all the time, it would simply be destroyed, and the cycle would continue.
Wizard towers and various places could protect that knowledge simply because that was where those A-rankers were all the time. They did their research there and many other things. But that was mainly Wizards!
The problem was worse than that, though, since there were many types of A-rankers than Wizards. Wizards were simply the easiest to keep in one place. What about the Buccaneers? Brawlers? Warriors? Barbarians? All these forms of A-rankers probably existed and were more on the move.
I sighed as I had distracted myself from the main cause, and I looked at Rose. "Well, Rose," I replied, knowing there were very few solutions to this particular problem. "Since I have not set up a large pool of talent to select from and you do not have access to much yourself," I sighed, "There is more of a selection of one choice or a hope for the best choice," I told her honestly.
"A selection of one choice?" Rose asked, then her face blanked. "Do you mean asking a representative to help us out?" Rose asked.
"Smart," I told her honestly, "I wouldn't ask the races; I would ask a wizard's tower or a representative. These are not the best choices, but we can give up part of the profits to enjoy the protection of a Wizards tower using their talent to run our business. I think the Illusion Wizards tower is the smartest choice, though, for our problems." I told Rose honestly, "Although I hate to put all my eggs into a single basket here in the Demon lands. The Illusionist Wizards tower already will be putting a lot of resources into me in particular." I told Rose.
"And with you giving something back that not only makes us gold but them too. It will make you look like you are being more sincere in the deal." Rose cut in, and I nodded.
"Exactly. The only other choice we would have is to pick up someone random and hopes that we guess correctly." I replied, shrugging my shoulders. "I don't want to make our business together a bargaining chip to help me out, But the third and final choice I can think of on short notice is to pack it all up and ship everything back with us when we leave. I was hoping for at least another four or five months here to solidify our investment and give you time to find the management talent needed." I stopped and shrugged, and Rose nodded.
"I was hoping for the same." Rose admitted, "Still, I didn't have anyone that exemplified themselves, and that is still a short time frame. But, This is your investment too. If we hand it over to the Succubi and let them handle the day-to-day measures, we will still need someone to handle watching them, at least in the shadows." Rose told me, and I nodded.
"I know; the problem is I can only think of one person who can fulfill that idea and have someone here to watch for me." I sighed, and I leaned my head back.
"You have someone?" Rose asked, "Why can't they be the manager then?" Rose followed up.
"Because I don't even know if they can spy for me," I replied, tilting my head back to look at her. I sighed again, "I will talk about it later. I will see if I can do better than getting the Succubi to handle this for us and see if we can keep it in-house. I will let you know, okay?" I asked her.
Rose nodded and got up and kissed me on the lips, "Is there any time to have some fun?" Rose asked, smirking, and I brought her in for a deeper kiss.
"No," I replied with a sigh a couple of seconds later, "But I can kiss you for a little before my next appointment," I told her.
I brought her back in for another kiss, and we soon lost ourselves on each other's lips. I felt Rose playing with my breasts, and I started to grope her ass in return when the door was knocked on, breaking the exchange.
Rose got up and smiled at me, "I will see you in the apartment tonight. Don't work too hard." Rose finished before leaving the room.
Anthoney came in after he looked at me with a small smug smile. I stifled a sigh, and I realized that Anthoney probably heard something I would rather him not hear. I decided that I would not snap at him for something this small.
"Ambassador Chelsea, You called for me?" Anthoney asked.
I instantly regretted not having some fun with Rose and making my brother wait outside while I had some fun. Still, I needed this to be done and out of the way. "Sit," I said, pointing to the couch Rose vacated not long ago.
I watched as Anthoney sat down and leaned back. Although I could feel the arrogance Anthoney had, I knew it was still more subdued. "It seems you have learned that I will be leaving the Demon Lands soon," I told him, and the smile came through again as I confirmed his sources. "Well, I will need an up-to-date current Experiment report from you. One written by tomorrow and one when I get the orders with the most up-to-date findings when I leave." I told him, making it no question that it was an order. "Now, Verbally report," I ordered this time explicitly.
Anthony's smile disappeared at the order, but he spoke up, "Yes, Ambassador," He replied, and he took a breath. It seemed to calm him, and he focused. "So, The initial findings are explicit that it has the ability to mess with Battle Slaves. The potion with Illusions is able to make slaves ignore if not outright misinterpret orders in limited capacity towards only one goal; Sex. I still haven't discovered the reason for this, although I think it might have to do with the fact that it is Succubus Wizard doing the Illusion." I nodded as he continued, "There is nothing much more to report on that as we tried various forms of Combat instructions and power on the Battle slaves, and we only discovered Two ways to counter the effects of the Potion."
Good, He thought of looking for the solution too. It was best to learn how they may counteract them so it is less likely that they can surprise us in the war. "The first way we discovered is another Illusionist with stronger ability turning them around and sending them at us with Illusions. It is something simple and easy to understand. Still, If the Succubit Illusionist tower is on our side, there are very few to our knowledge that practice this wizardry outside of them." I nodded again, acknowledging this point. "Now, With that out of the way, I did find a potion that can counter the effects," Anthoney told me, and I raised an eyebrow. "The effects are one that you should be familiar with." Anthoney sighed, "Ash Detoxication potion."
I frowned; this was both good news and bad news. Ash Detoxification potion was a relatively cheap antidote that was rarely used, In the Beast-kin Nation. The potion was something that only Bunny-kin alchemists make along with some Drangonic. It was something that was still infrequently used due to its lack of things it could detox.
Still, it wasn't particularly hard to make, and I frowned at him. "The good news, though, is that the potion cannot be taken before our potion takes effect. Only after so they cannot load the slaves up with the potion before sending them at us. They can use it afterward, but it does give them a baseline if they figure out the potion and try to find preventative measures for it." Anthoney told me.
"Good, Is there anything else to report?" I asked.
"Yes, I have worked with a succubi Enchantress, and we came up with three solutions to the potion dispersal," Anthoney explained, sounding professional. "Together with the Succubi, we have made three forms of potions, all built around maximal dispersal for three different situations." Anthoney told me, "First, we have the normal one. It is a slight progression on the one that you showed in the early stages of testing. It will disperse for a maximum of one kilometer effectively. Any more than that, it will work less than advertised." I nodded that it was a good improvement, and marginal was giving them little credit, in my opinion.
"The second is a much smaller potion used for urban combat. Instead of dispersing in large quantities, it is meant to fill a street with a temporary enchantment to push wind out to fill a smaller street quicker." Anthoney told me, and I frowned. I would much rather just use a maximum dispersal, in my opinion. I think he had a right point that we might need it. I will probably need it, but I would want it for indoor usage if I want it contained.
"The last form of dispersal is something one of the Huntress Succubi came up with," Anthoney said with a slight grin. "She came up with a simple trap dispersal for our scouts to set up in forests. The dispersion can be used in woods since the trap does need camouflage to be used properly." Anthoney told me with a large grin, and I nodded again, thinking.
Each of these would have good uses. I was particularly glad that they came up with a version for camouflage that could be set up as traps. But I also didn't want to leave potions around for the enemy to make use of against us. I came to a conclusion pretty quickly, and I turned to Anthoney.
"I want you to bring in the exact prototypes along with a detailed report in four days," I ordered. "Other than that, I have not received any complaints about you from Queen Mira, and that means not only are you doing a good job, you are keeping our allies happy. As long as things stay this way, all is good." I told him.
Anthoney sneered, and I pointed towards the door. "I will talk to you soon, brother. I am looking forward to your progress reports in the future."
Anthoney left the room without another word to me, and I sighed. His attitude came back as he thought I was about to leave, allowing him to put his neck into the Ambassadors position with the Succubi. I wondered what he would think when he learns; Queen Mira is my Patron of some sort.
I grinned with malicious intent, and I called out to Yuri, who promptly stepped in. "Ambassador Chelsea?" Yuri asked.
"I need a meeting with Christina tomorrow to go over some things," I told her.
Yuri shook her head. "I will book the appointment, but I will not move the other appointments. This means the meeting will run into dinner time. Emily will not be happy." Yuri informed me.
I nodded, "Thanks, I will tell Em' tonight. I need this meeting though." I leaned back as Yuri looked towards the door.
"Your next meeting is here, should I show them in?" Yuri asked.
"Bring them in," I sighed and sat upright looking professional again.