The building has quite a lot of people in it. Much less than were at the show, but still enough to make it really feel crowded. There's a stage right in the middle of the room leading to a raised entrance in the back of the room. It's kind of like a fashion show.
A beautiful woman walks onto the stage from the raised entrance and everyone goes into an absolute fanfare. The woman's a bit on the shorter side and wearing a shining gold and silver dress. Her rose red hair's done up in a crown braid with the rest of it hanging down over her shoulders.
Seeing her from this up close now, I realize that each of her eyes are a slightly different shade of blue. She has a form of heterochromia, something I find incredibly attractive. Damn it, I have a boyfriend, yet I'm finding Charity even more attractive than when I first saw her.
After a bit of research, I managed to figure out that Charity wasn't actually a member of that show April, Sierra, and I had watched. Charity actually is a solo performer native to Rose Harbor who occasionally does performances with other shows that come to Rose Harbor to reach a bigger audience and get more money.
She's actually quite popular here in Rose Harbor, but since April and Sierra weren't from here and only actually got here the night before the show, they had no way of knowing that information.
Since I was so blown away by her moves and her- her other assets I decided to spend a bit of my 2nd place reward money on getting into here. Watching her now, I don't really regret my decision at all.
She's wearing quite a lot of makeup that makes her face so incredibly pretty. I also notice she's wearing high heels. She's an acrobat, isn't she? Just what is she going to do with those on?
"Alright! Now that I'm out here… shall we get started right away?!" She yells, throwing her arms into the air and looking like she's having a blast.
The entire room bursts into roars telling her to start. I actually have to cover my ears. I am not used to such noise. I could get used to it, but right now it is quite distressing.
"Well! You heard the people! Come on!" She yells.
Suddenly, two long metal poles with several rods poking out of them at various locations rise out of the crowd. I have no idea how they managed to get there without anyone noticing, unless it's earth magic.
Charity grabs onto one of the rods, and as the pole moves through the crowd, she's moved along over it, holding onto the rod with just one hand. I realize that everyone she travels under would be getting a good view of her panties. Come on! Whoever's carrying the pole she's on, get over here!
She swings herself further up the pole after only gaining momentum for a few swings. She does at least three front flips before grabbing onto another of the rods with her legs. She's spreading her legs wide enough so that her thighs keep her dress in place and it doesn't fall down. Damn it, this isn't supposed to be sexual, this really shouldn't be getting me so excited.
She swings up again, does another flip, and grabs ahold of the pole. She uses her strength to swing her way up to the top and stands on top of the pole. She holds her hands out trying to keep her balance. I realize that she's only standing with one foot and she has high heels on. She's balancing on one heel.
I use Mana Detection on her, just to see if there's any trick to it. I notice some very faint wind manipulation making micro adjustments to her arms so she stays in place. It's so little magic that it hardly even takes away from how impressive it is. Then she stops using magic.
She was only using it to gain her balance. Now that she has it she doesn't need it. How impressive.
"Is this entertaining to all of you? Do you think you're getting your money's worth?" She yells down to the crowd.
The crowd again bursts into cheers for Charity.
"Alright! Alright! You all don't have to flatter me! So… I say for my next stunt… I do this!"
She jumps off of the pole and lands on it again with her other high heel. She regains her balance again in no time. Then she does it again, and again, and again, until it resembles something like a tap dance. The entire audience, myself included, are eating it up.
Then she falls off. One slip and she goes falling off of the pole. The crowd goes dead silent for a moment as she falls, but then she catches herself. She grabbed one of the rods, and started doing a handstand with one hand. The other hand was being used to hold her dress up. She starts laughing.
"Sorry, sorry! You were just having so much fun it was hard to resist giving you a fright like that! I hope you'll forgive me!"
Phew… I honestly can't tell if that was intentional or if she actually fell. I'm sure she's an at least half decent actor, to be in this line of work. What was the phrase? "All part of the show?" "The show must go on?" Eh, it's one of those I'm thinking of.
She swings herself down and over to the next pole, which she grabs onto easily, and keeps her body supported with one of her heels. Just how monstrous is your grip strength, woman?
><><><><
Well, that was fun, but it was still way too noisy, so I needed to get somewhere to relax for a bit. This is a pretty crowded beach though, so finding some place quiet is actually a whole lot easier said than done.
Luckily with flight and Mana Location was able to find a nice and secluded cove that it doesn't look like anybody's been able to find yet. Probably a spot only a few locals know and refuse to tell anyone about. Unfortunately for you, I see everything.
Taking a nap on the beach is actually kind of underrated. I brought a towel to lay on, and using Ctothis' connection to keep a really small spell of Beira's going, I'm being kept relatively cool in the summer sun.
Ahhh, the only thing that could make this better is if I had some soda with me… Not out of the fridge, but soda that's been left out for a bit so it gets warm, and then dumped into a cup full of ice. It always tastes different that way, and that was my preferred way to drink it. So much so that I'd actually leave a lot of my soda sitting out of the fridge for a couple of minutes before I drank it so I could have it with ice.
Well, I can make ice, but actual soda… ahh, now I'm getting a bit homesick. When Kiaran and I are on a stable income I'll have to start experimenting with some recipes. I know it won't be quite the same, but I'll try and make something anyway.
"Hey! Hello there!" I hear a man's voice yell at me.
What? I picked this spot for a reason. Why is somebody bothering me? Ugh, this isn't good. Are they going to try and kick me out of this spot? Or are they going to lay down here with me? I can't help but get angry at anyone interrupting my alone time like this.
Opening my eyes and sitting up, I see one man and one woman walking towards me. The man is wearing purple swimming shorts, with a belt that a rapier seathes into. He's wearing no other clothing. He has long, curly, purple hair that came down to his middle back. His eyes were a slightly lighter shade of purple than mine. The rapier at his hip kind of concerned me, but the woman that was with him demands my attention much more.
She's wearing a business suit and jeans completely out of place in this world. Other than that, there's a super huge ax strapped to her back that looks far too heavy for any human to carry around. She has short, blonde hair that comes down to just above her shoulders, and piercing yellow eyes. Both the man and the woman have an insane look in their eyes that honestly kind of scare me.
"Hey, you wouldn't happen to go by Azariah, would you?" The man asks me.
That's kind of a yes or no question, isn't it? I nod so I don't have to say anything. Luckily, the man seems to get the picture.
"And if I'm not mistaken, you are the one who defeated a follower of Vincent Boreas, and has been flying all over the country, taking quest upon quest as they went?"
This conversation is giving me a really bad feeling. Not only do I have to interact with a stranger, it's a stranger who's actively been looking for me. I nod again to answer the question.
"Alright, nice to meet you, Azariah. I'm Royal Selection Candidate, Amiel Leon. Please call me Amiel. This woman next to me is my loyal knight, Esobel Mulliner. Please call her Esobel."
A Royal Selection Candidate is approaching me? A Royal Selection… one of the people trying to be the next king… someone that important? That's… that's… aahhhhhh! The stress feels like millions of tiny knives stabbing out of every inch of my body!
"Huh, she froze." Amiel Leon's knight says.
"Right, sorry, someone as important as me approaching you must be difficult to deal with. Don't worry, I just have a single deal I'd like to work out with you."
Huh? Deal? What could you possibly want from me? No, no, no, this is bad. I'm not made for this kind of conversation. What does A- A- Amiel Leon even want from me?! Ask him to clarify! Ask him to clarify!
"Deal?"
"Yes, I would like to start buying teleportation scrolls from you in the future."
What? Teleportation scrolls? Ahhhh! What are those?! This is the first time I'm hearing of them! Amiel Leon tilts his head at me… what was that for?!
"Teleportation scrolls. They're used for transportation of non living objects. Have you not heard of them? Or can you not make them?"
"I… haven't heard of them." I say. I feel like I'm about to break.
"Well, that's a relief." Amiel says, "Allow me to give you a bit of a crash course then. Teleportation scroll is a bit of a catch all term for any kind of piece of paper that can manipulate mana to teleport. There's a whole bunch of different ways to make them, but the most popular is just by making a magic circle on a piece of paper.
I had assumed you were using them to transport your things across the country with you. If this is your first time hearing of them, you must have been living like quite a nomad for a while now."
Those… those actually sound really useful! Why is this my first time hearing of them?! If I had known about them I would have been abusing the hell out of them!
"There are of course some limitations in their manufacture, which causes all sorts of different levels of qualities in different scrolls. The main factors that drive their price up are the amount of stuff that they can teleport, and the amount of times you can actually use them before they stop working.
As for how much I'd be willing to pay you… well at least 1 silver coin each unless you were to make a truly cheap scroll. Of course, if you were to make one of outstanding quality, that price could be negotiated. A gold coin per scroll, even."
Alright, I think I'm understanding what Amiel's telling me… The more you can use a scroll, the more expensive it is, the more things you can teleport with it, the more expensive it is. The price range Amiel's talking about is a silver coin to a gold coin per scroll. Still though, I have a question about them.
"Um… are you… able to teleport living things?"
"Well, I'm sure you could, but… well those are so rare there isn't a man alive who's selling them. Those things are pretty much reserved for kings, emperors, and above. Try to teleport anything living with a normal scroll, and all the living matter just dies instantly."
OK, that makes sense, that would be far too overpowered. Still though, according to my understanding wouldn't using one of these on somebody be pretty much an instant kill weapon? I'm sure I'm missing something here.
"So, anyway, based on what I had heard about you I had assumed you were already capable of making them. Turns out I was wrong, though. Still, this isn't all bad, I'm sure you could learn, and you'd have to have a rather large mana capacity to do some of the things you've done."
Amiel looks over to Esobel. "What do you think?" He asks.
Esobel just looks at me really intently. With that look in her eyes, it honestly feels like she's about to kill me. I put Mana Detection on her just to make sure, and- she's definitely doing something with mana, but I haven't seen anything even remotely like what she's doing. I have no idea what spell she's making then… I don't even have a frame of reference to start thinking about what spell she's using.
"Yeah, she's definitely capable of making high quality teleportation scrolls. She's a fast learner too. We could probably just give her a book about it and she'd figure it out in a day or two."
How did you figure that out by staring at me? Is it like when Lucidna looks into my soul? No, Lucidna focuses mana around her eyes for that, and Esobel didn't do anything like that. Just what spell were you using?
"Alright then, give it to her." Amiel tells Esobel.
Esobel pulls something out of her suit and hands it to me. It's a piece of paper- no, an invitation. A really fancy looking one at that.
"I'm holding a little party of various nobles in this area as well as many merchants tomorrow night. We can discuss the terms of our little deal then. If you don't want to come, then that's fine but just know that I get the things I want one way or another."
Amiel just smiles at me. Why would you say something so terrifying and then smile?!
"Well, you appear to be relaxing, so I'll try not to bother you any longer. See you at my party, Azariah." Amiel says.
Amiel walks away and Esobel follows. Esobel waves goodbye back at me without turning around from Amiel.
><><><><
I knock on the hotel door rapidly, but quiet. I don't want to cause too much noise, but it is really urgent. The door opens, and the one that greets me is Sierra.
"Huh? Azariah?"
"I need to talk. Now. Is April here?" I ask.
Sierra must notice the urgency in my voice because she looks worried now.
"Yeah, I'm in here!" I hear April yell.
I force myself into the room, and notice that there isn't anyone else inside. Another single person room. I'm assuming that April's visiting Sierra then, since I'm pretty sure that this is her room.
"Guys… I need advice." I say. They both seem to get the message based on how worried I am.
"What is it, Azariah?" April says
"I guess I'll help, if you're this bothered…" Sierra says.
"Well…" I pull out the invitation. "I got approached by Amiel Leon…"
They both clearly recognize the name instantly, their faces lighting up with surprise.
"Amiel Leon?! The… the Royal Selection Candidate?" April says, the most nervous I've ever heard her.
"Of course it's the Royal Selection Candidate! Who else could it be?! Why the hell did he meet with you?!" Sierra yells.
I explain that I was just relaxing in a private spot I had found, and he and his knight randomly approached me. I tell them that he was after teleportation scrolls, Esobel was able to tell that I could make them for some reason, and that he had invited me to that party to discuss the terms. I make sure to mention what he said to me before leaving.
This makes them both clearly nervous.
"I see why you're so tense now…" April says.
"If I were you, I probably would have ran." Sierra says.
"Alright… what do I do, though?"
They both look confused, clearly having no idea how to proceed.
"This isn't going to be easy," Sierra starts, "You're not dealing with just some random man off the street. You're dealing with someone who may very well become the next king. No matter what you do, you have to think a lot about what your next move is going to be.
Luckily, back in Heafdes I worked as a political correspondent, which gave me a lot of information on all the Royal Selection Candidates and their knights. So, I'll give you both the basic rundown of everything I know about Amiel Leon. That way, we can make an informed decision, alright?"
"Of course." April says.
I just nod.
"Alright, so Amiel's the only noble actually in the running to be the next king. He was born to the Leon family, and from a young age he was obsessed with the outside world and often ran away to pretend to be a commoner.
Now, the Leon family practices something known as Formal Servitude. Basically, there are several families that train their children to be servants of various Leon children from the age of 10. Esobel, his knight, came from one of these families.
Not wanting to get picked as a maid for her entire life, Esobel became very violent and chaotic. For some reason, Amiel took one look at the maid tearing the Leon mansion down and said "I pick her."
For some reason, they eventually started to get along incredibly well, and when Amiel was 15 he ran away from home and never came back. Then Amiel and Esobel went under various different aliases becoming famous adventurers and merchants. There are huge swaths of time where neither of them are accounted for at all, even.
Now, are either of you familiar with how the Great Phoenix picked the Royal Selection Candidates?"
"He gave the knights 12 different crystals of 12 different colors that would glow when they came into contact with the ones he chose." April says. This is the first time I've heard of this. Cherilyn only gave me the stupid simplified version apparantly.
"Now, do you know the rumor about how they found Amiel and Esobel?" Sierra asks.
"Yes, as soon as the knights got this order from the Great Phoenix, Amiel and Esobel came busting through the castle doors after sneaking past all the guards. Amiel yelled that he was a candidate and that Esobel was his knight.
The knights weren't happy with that, but then Amiel and Esobel touched their stones and they glowed. The knights weren't very happy about Esobel, who was technically a maid, joining their ranks, so Esobel started to fight the knights, and defeated over a hundred of them before they finally gave up."
Esobel's that strong?! Just how terrifying is she?! Note to self, never fight Esobel, that isn't going to go very well.
"Well, I got to look a bit into that, and it turns out that's basically the truth. The only wrong thing about that rumor is that Esobel only managed to take down 74 knights before they gave up. I also haven't found a single source that so much as claims that Esobel got cut or scratched once during the whole thing."
Ahh, that's still absolutely terrifying…
"Moving on, Amiel's pretty much obsessed about a concept he calls "Globalization." Basically he wants to make everywhere easy to get to and information to travel around the world insanely easily. He wants a normal person to be able to buy things that were made all over the world just by walking. That's what he's been trying to do in his domain.
As soon as he was confirmed chosen by the Great Phoenix, he was put in charge of the domain his family used to be in charge of. He disbanded the Leon royal family, repurposed all their assets, and even banished the head of the family to Monster Country.
After that he put a whole bunch of laws in place that made going to and from the domain much easier, he made Formal Servitude illegal, he made it much easier for other nations to do business in his domain, and made gaining citizenship here much easier than in the rest of Uclait.
He also founded a trading company that he's also the head of. In reality, it's a method for him to make a whole bunch of more money on top of taxes for a whole bunch of different projects. Like improving roads, building ports, funding studies into magic, that sort of thing. That's probably where the money he's planning on giving you is coming from.
Well, that's the basic rundown of his backstory and philosophy. Do either of you have any questions?"
Wow… first there was that suit Esobel was wearing and now globalization? Is it possible that one of them is actually an otherworlder? Or at least had interacted with one at some point. Given how much time they would have had to have spent just exploring then it's entirely possible…
"Is there any reason he would have to ask Azariah about this specifically?" April asks. Good question.
"I'm not sure. Teleportation scrolls definitely sound like something he would want, but I have no idea why'd he come to Azariah about it, or how he'd even know to do that. Well… Azariah? You said that Esobel was doing some weird spell on you, right?"
"Yes. I don't know what it was." I say.
"Is it possible that Esobel knew that beforehand with that spell?"
You know that is actually a good question. I'm not sure. Think back to how I saw her manipulating that mana. She was only manipulating it on a small scale, so I don't think she could use it if I was an entire Uclait away.
What if she used a larger version of the spell while I was here in Rose Harbor though? Amiel could have told Esobel to find someone capable of creating high level teleportation spells and she came up with me?
No, that doesn't make sense. Amiel mentioned he knew me because I had killed a follower of Vincent Boreas and that I was flying all over the country. I think he also implied that he thought I was using those scrolls already since I was flying through the country.
I do my best to convey all of that to April and Sierra.
"Hm… that doesn't make sense. You only got here a few days ago, didn't you? How did his information network travel that quickly?" Sierra says.
Yeah, that's concerning… I didn't stay all that long in any of the places I visited and after Alibas' domain I came straight here as fast as I could. How did he know all that?
"I'm sure he could have done something with magic. A chain of people that know long range telepathy, for instance." April brings up a good point.
"Yeah, yeah, it's possible but that isn't what's concerning. This shows just how good his network is. How much does he already know about Azariah that he hasn't mentioned already? Does he know where she is right now? How do we know this conversation isn't going to come back to him somehow?"
That's terrifying! That thing he said about always getting what he wants too…
"My suggestion is this then. Don't go to the party, and leave Rose Harbor in the morning. Do your best to not leave information that could come back to him. Read up on negotiation and how teleportation scrolls. He might come for you again, and if he does, you need to be prepared."
"She's looking for a place to move in with her boyfriend though. You can't just tell her to go off the grid…" April says.
"What's your plan then?"
"I think it would be better for Azariah if she went to the party and made the deal with Leon."
"What?! No! She is not prepared for that! There's no way any deal she makes with him right now could end well for her!"
"I disagree. You said that Leon wanted to make the world more connected. Azariah's a wind mage that can get all over the country in days. There's no reason for him to scam her."
Wait, that's a good point. Amiel wants people to be more free to travel, right? That's an aspect of globalization. Maybe I could get him to get this stupid slave crest off me? Not now obviously, but later. If I already have a connection with him and asked for that favor, there's no way he could refuse, right?
"I don't think he's going to scam her. Just put her in a much worse position than she can be. He's a merchant after all, and Azariah does not have the skills to keep up with him."
"That's what scaming is, though… Look, I think this is a wonderful opportunity for both Azariah and her boyfriend. This is a deal with someone who's seen the world, after all. Azariah could wind up with a whole bunch of other things that he wants."
"That's even worse though. What if he outplays Azariah and she winds up only being allowed to sell for him at a certain price, even when their value rises? She isn't ready for that kind of situation."
Sierra and April both make good points. Neither of them are really wrong, I don't think. In the end though, I'm going to have to make my own decision about this. I have the information, I just need to act on it now.