Chapter 68 - One's Diplomacy and Sharpness

"Greetings, Lord Kingfisher, I am Niloufer Santuria, the pope of this country. I have heard about your exploits as the head of the [Crystallized Sentinels]. You're quite an extraordinary person to have visited our country. May I inquire as to what kind of business brought such a wonderful person like you here?" Despite being a middle-aged pope, Niloufer had a graceful atmosphere while keeping a calming feeling. "Before I answer that question, yes, I am Draxus Heimdal Kingfisher Preeliance, head of the Kingfisher house, disciple of Serkyrio Kaiser Preeliance, and leader of the Crystallized Sentinels Order. I have come here today with multiple recruits of my order for culture training. I don't wish for any of my members to come with problems as the group that I'm leader are members that are capable of doing mostly everything, from mercantile, diplomacy, culture understanding, teaching, combat, and many more. We're here so that they can begin learning about diplomacy from me and my vice-chief, Audrey Fairchild. My fiance, Olivia Yuriel Questerion will be participating in here as well. For now, I had two members to experience the cultures of this country but apparently, they had voiced out their complaints to me. I apologize if the two had caused you some sort of discomfort as they are quite exuberant as scouts." Draxus placed his right hand on his chest and made a light bow while holding up the headset with his left hand. "It's understandable. In fact, it's us who should apologize for the rude behavior to them who are acting as tourists. As an apology, would you like to discuss some things here in the headquarters? I'll listen as one of the high emperor's disciples personally visited for it." With a smile, Niloufer offered the group to enter the premises of the headquarters. "Of course, I would like to discuss something regarding the future of our countries." Niloufer then nodded her head and lead the group inside the headquarters. Two guards followed the group from behind as they look around the clean place. "This building, and the cathedral was made up of ancient materials. It was surprising that even through ten thousand years of existence, with proper maintenance to it, it maintained itself quite well." While bringing them to her reception office, Niloufer explained the creation of the structures. Each one of them were showing different kinds of expressions like surprise, amazement, awe, etc.. After arriving to the reception room, they were served some tea after they sat down on two separate couches. Draxus sat alone on one sofa facing the pope, while Olivia, Pauleen, and Juniper were facing Jay, Audrey, and Maria on the long sofas. "Before we begin with our discussion, I would like to wait for a bit until my daughter, the Deaconess comes in this room. She laid out a personal request to meet the leader of the Crystallized Sentinels after all." Draxus nodded before giving a positive response. "Very well, I might as well give my greetings to her but while she's coming here." Draxus turned his gazes over to the six members. "Livi, you may have already experienced diplomacy, but this may still be applicable to you so everyone, please listen and make sure that you understand how important diplomacy is. Without that, any kind of progress will not be made. Eventually, you'll experience the same thing and have to handle it yourself." Niloufer smiled at Draxus who was like a good teacher to his students. "You're quite a kind person." Draxus shrugged his shoulders and simply laughed a little to her statement. "It's nothing big, but us Sentinels, we are meant to protect the people regardless of their importance or not. And we also perform the most important duties given to us by the emperor. I won't let them get into trouble by simply being ignorant to their lessons. Audrey herself is already capable but she's too emotional. While one of my vice-chiefs pretty much is the epitome of vulgar trashtalk when he doesn't like a person. It's pretty comedic though. However, I won't force them to diplomacy if it's not their strong suit, they'll be accompanied by one person who will be capable of such." Niloufer let out a voice of interest while Draxus changed the topic smoothly. "By the way, I heard that the Deaconess is reaching her sixteenth birthday? I heard from my frisky scouts that there's some sort of ritual that will be undergoing with her as an important piece. I'd like to hear about the details of that." With a smile, Draxus cut to the chase, which got Niloufer to twitch before covering her mouth with a cough and calmly answering. "I apologize, but that is top secret information." Draxus smiled and turned his gaze to another person. "Audrey." Audrey nodded before speaking up. "I apologize You Holiness, but that statement is a little sus." Draxus facepalmed due to the last word Audrey used. "Sus?" Niloufer tilted her head while asking in a confused tone. Draxus simply gave a one word explanation which was the answer to her confusion. "Suspicious." He then turned a sharp gaze and smile, and rested his left cheek on his left hand which is hanging over the armrest. "Saying [Top Secret] on culture which is already known by the public of this country... Or maybe I should spell it out with what those smirking faces of all the male people in the country here? Isn't it wr-" Draxus was interrupted with a knock on the door. Draxus's smile returned to normal and nodded lightly once as if the topic earlier didn't exist. "Let's talk about that later." Niloufer nodded slowly before saying something in a loud voice. "Come in." Two people entered the meeting room. One person was wearing templar formal outfit that was made nicely. Draxus made a short retort in his mind upon seeing the young man. "Deus Volt?!!?! Serkyrio, Andreus, and Richard would want to see this!!!" But those words never left his mouth. The guy had blonde hair and golden eyes, with a handsome face fulfilling the classic template of cool guy appearances. Draxus's eye twitched a little due to the annoying kind of appearance that somewhat tries to copy Arlesk. One person appeared from behind him. She had a one piece, long, white dress that reaches below her knees. It's nicely decorated as it displayed cuteness with proper accent colors. The girl had long brown hair tied into twin-tails and amber-colored eyes. Making Draxus retort internally once more: "Felt like I saw her somewhere before... Oh wait, she's like three characters in [Genshin] combined into one." But those retorts never left his mouth. Instead, he let out a short mutter which was heard by Olivia. "Cute..." Olivia poked Draxus's cheek due to his muttering, surprising him a little. He then simply pat her head to appease her for the moment. The two then began introducing themselves. "I am Axel Batal, the [Hero of Ascension] in this country." All of the members in the party excluding Draxus had shocked faces as they had never expected to see a hero that young becoming involved to the higher ranks. "I am quite moved to meeting a person who is capable of fighting, and winning against a hero and his party alone. I am in awe of your exploits and contributions to this world, Lord Draxus." Axel moved his gaze to Draxus who immediately knew something was up as he was sensing a gaze of wariness from Axel. While shrugging off the feeling temporarily, the Deaconess introduced herself. "I-I am Gwen Trinity Santuria! I-I was looking forward to meeting Lord Kingfisher who has done many great things!" With a stiff introduction, Draxus couldn't help but laugh lightly as Gwen was completely nervous to meeting someone aspiring to her. Draxus then transitioned to a smile and introduced himself once again. "Good day to you, Deaconess Gwen, I am Draxus Heimdal Kingfisher Preeliance. Leader of the Crystallized Sentinels Order. Is there anything I can do for you?" Olivia simply laughed lightly as she remembered something pleasant. "Ah! I-It's nothing! I just wanted to meet you because of various rumors about your skills. I'm just very curious about you since you're a person who is an [Otherworlder]." While Gwen's nervous tone was slightly improving, Draxus smiled and turned his gaze to Olivia. Olivia nodded as if giving permission to do so. He directed a smile at her before giving a response to Gwen. "Then, after lunch, would you like to have a private conversation? That way, I can personally tell you about some things." With a calming smile, Gwen widened her eyes happily and thanked Draxus. "Of course! Thank you very much for the time!" The pope sighed a little before giving Draxus a short explanation. "I apologize that you have to accompany her. She's been having quite a gloomy personality for a few years already, I'd appreciate it if you could somehow get her to smile much more, specially for her sixteenth birthday." Draxus simply nodded while responding. "Very well. Anyways, regarding the discussion for the future, shall we proceed to that?" Draxus smiled once more as he made himself sit up straight.