There were multiple nobles who came to the city lord's manor expecting to meet Arnold von Berkley. Lunaria decided it would be best to postpone their meeting compared to the previous date(which was the day Arnold left for the capital). This was due to dissatisfaction expressed by Victoria because of the way things were handled.
All of them probably didn't take being chased away very well.
Their unhappy expressions were clearly visible for all to see. But it faded as quickly as they entered the office of the city lord.
Much to their disappointment and amazement, there was a goddess who greeted them at the door.
Most of the nobles from around the region were men so they found the situation pleasant. They never knew that Arnold had such a gorgeous maid.
There was another beauty waiting for them in the lord's office. She had short pink hair and a cute face. Her eyes and face were blank even as she curtsied to welcome the nobles.
As the Mistress of the City Lord, Victoria had the right to look through any contracts or paperwork that her Master accepted. Lunaria mentioned after the two of them met that Arnold didn't seem to find a problem with the contract since he signed it.
Victoria was skeptical so she told Lunaria to show her the contract. She spent days trying to analyze the things written in the contract. Because of this the meeting with the nobles was postponed.
Lunaria didn't object to this and sent letters to the nobles telling them that the meeting would be rescheduled. Nothing that could harm the city was written anywhere in the contract. In fact, the Vampire Queen seemed to not need much.
She only asked for financial assistance, after all. But the fact that they would offer any support to Arnold(even military power) made Victoria suspicious.
If they ever screwed Arnold or any other small city lord over then the surrounding nations would regard her as an enemy who takes advantage of others.
Considering the amount of wealth this city would possess in the future, Victoria was certain that the Undead Nation would try to forcibly take over their own resources. But that suspicion wasn't as prominent as before.
"—Welcome gentlemen," Lunaria began speaking when everyone sat down, "To be honest, I expected there to be fewer of you because of the land's decline. I'm glad my expectations were wrong."
There were twelve nobles in total, each not higher ranked than a baron. Most of them were barons and the minority came from knighthood families where their grandfathers or great-grandfathers fought in war and was awarded a title.
Among them was a familiar man that Victoria knew unfortunately.
Henry Fralk.
"Allow me to get straight to the point instead of stating the obvious by insulting the awful work you've done over the years," many of their faces scrunched at this, "With the amount of crops left—if we can call those things at the storage warehouses crops—this region's people would most likely die in about a year or less. And I'm talking about all of them unless they decide to move or build their own farms."
"But most of the families have been living here for generations," one of the nobles spoke, "Their parents before them built those homes and the villages they work in."
"Fair point. So we'll just say that all of them will definitely die." Lunaria said simply.
"Forgive my asking but who are you to say such a thing?" Henry raised his hand.
"I am bound to lord Arnold von Berkley through a five-year contract."
"I meant what's your name and where are you from…"
"I, too would like to know!"
Another noble spoke up and the others nodded their heads.
Victoria heard Lunaria mutter, "Humans are so annoying…"
"Very well. I'll tell you. However, you'll regret it. Before you stands a subordinate of the great Brynhildr Selia Bloodforth. My name is Lunaria Lupusil Azeli and I am the city lord's advisor."
"…."
"….."
"…."
Their reactions were bizarre. Shocked silence. None of them were running away screaming. Anyone would if they heard that an absolute monster was standing in front of them. No, maybe not all the subordinates of that vampire were monsters?
"You may continue, Lunaria," Victoria spoke calmly.
"I was previously employed to work for my queen but had to come here because of various circumstances."
"W-What kind of circumstances?"
"None of you need to know that. All you have to do is follow orders or leave this region."
"Hngh…"
"Oh, and…" Lunaria's eyes narrowed, "If any of you reveal that we are allies of Arnold von Berkley then you won't be leaving this city without receiving some form of punishment. Death is definitely on the list if we can't erase the memories of those who know."
"Huh? Why can't we say anything?" one of them asked.
"Because lord Arnold doesn't want the empire or the other nations to know yet. As it stands the surrounding nations would try to initiate an attack. The Undead Nation is hated by many as you all know," Lunaria changed the subject, "We have a lot to do today. First and foremost, do any of you know what this is?" Lunaria's ring glowed and a red crystal popped out.
"Red? That's quite an unusual color for a magic crystal."
None of them seemed to know what kind of crystal it was. They were even curious about why it was red. Magic crystals were almost always either sky blue, white or green. This was always the case for pure and uncontaminated crystals.
Black crystals represented miasma eating away at the crystals. It was one of the unusual colors that could be associated with crystals.
"This isn't just a magic crystal. These are known as blood crystals and they are the purest catalyst mineral in the entire world."
The crystal was about a fist big. Victoria wondered how much power one this big could contain. She already heard from Lunaria what the crystals were capable of after all.
"All we know for the time being is that it can be used as a vessel to summon monsters or seal something away. Lord Arnold has given me permission to show this to you because we need to reach an understanding before we begin working together. First of all, I don't want to be here. If it weren't for the value of these crystals then this city wouldn't have caught our eyes at all. Secondly, any and all assistance will be provided by my nation. We will help in any way we can except financial aide. We're the ones being supported financially by this city after all."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Henry spoke up.
"These crystals will make Arnold von Berkley one of the most powerful men on this continent. He will be richer than even a kingdom."
"W-What?"
"That's impossible, right…?"
"Y-Yeah, this city richer than an entire nation?"
The nobles were skeptical. Victoria was as well but she couldn't really give her opinion. Getting involved in their discussions will only complicate things. They might think she's condescending to interfere in their meeting just because she was sleeping with the city lord.
She also couldn't force her position on them like she did with Henry since she was the Head Maid of the manor. A Head Maid took care of their lord's residence and acts as their proxy until their masters get back.
"I've done my calculations after hearing that there is a mountain worth of these crystals somewhere in this land," Lunaria pointed at the map with a long stick, "See this area that only has brown? I think that is where the most crystals are forming."
"Why do you think so, uh, lady Lunaria?" a noble timidly spoke up. It seemed that they didn't know how to address her at all.
"Crystals, especially magic crystals, form in rocky areas or just deep underground in vegetation areas. The way the latter is possible is when there is an overabundance of mana in forests. That means that the trees' roots are sapping away at the energy of naturally-formed magic crystals. I won't be able to tell if the forests also has enough mana in the atmosphere to naturally form the crystals since I'd need to personally go there with my equipment so we'll assume the rocky area has more crystals since that is the most likely."
"How could we not have known that these crystals exist…"
"The first sample was discovered back at an auction in Lockinge city. You might not have noticed these crystals laying between the more precious minerals. People thought these crystals were junk so they would throw these away. Under the right conditions the color would turn a bright red which means that it's purer. Whenever it turns darker red then it means that the crystals are slowly losing their mana. As you can see, the crystal that I brought is more on the purer side so it's bound to be worth more. I tested it and found it to be more than 67% pure."
"Will we begin excavating them immediately?" one of the nobles asked as he rubbed his hands together.
"No."
Lunaria denied flatly.
"B-But why?"
"Simply because lord Arnold didn't give us permission to do that."
"But you have one right there!"
Lunaria took out a transmitter and showed it to them, "He gave me one of these to call him regularly. He told me that it would be fine to use this crystal as a demonstration. Allow me to warn you that if you're caught excavating these crystals without the city lord's permission then you will be dealt with accordingly."
"…."
"…."
Victoria noticed that two of the twelve nobles were awkwardly looking at each other.
'These traitors. They wanted to do exactly that after the meeting concluded.'
"Now that we've come to an understanding, I'd like to play a game with all of you. It's simply really. All of you have to do is gather people to mine for us." Lunaria said as she tossed the crystal in her hand, "Whoever gets the most people will be awarded with this crystal."
The room was silent.
"A-And how much will that thing sell for, if I-I may ask?"
"This crystal can go for anything between 1500 to 3000 gold. As I said, the purity is what's most important after the size."
Victoria looked at Lunaria in disbelief.
"This is to encourage them to work with us instead of working against us in secret. If they ever disobey orders then I am legally allowed to punish them however I wish since they would be biting the hand that feeds them." Lunaria probably knew that Victoria wanted to berate her so she whispered this to Victoria who was standing next to her.
'Against us…' Victoria looked at the snobbishly-dressed nobles.
One could tell from their gazes alone that they wanted the crystal.
"Henry Fralk, Gertav Hyuk and Bob Pertas. I'm told the three of you have the biggest domains in this region. Many villages are under your rule. I suggest all three of you work together and gather workers for this project."
"What? I thought all of us were participating!" another complained.
"I never said that the city's people were under their rule, just the villages surrounding the city. And none of you rule a single village besides these three. You're just living here because you don't have to be taxed by the Imperial Revenue Service. If you want to participate and make it easier to complete the project then you can use any method at your disposal to win over the people."
'Any method… Wouldn't that mean that they can threaten people too?'
The nobles could force the people to work for them by threatening to kill their families. Lunaria didn't seem to speak about this so Victoria was certain that this method was allowed as well.
'I shouldn't bother saying anything.'
She would only take action if the people really were hurt by these nobles. They were Arnold's people, after all.
"Let's speak about something else," Lunaria rolled up the map and put the crystal away. The nobles sighed in disappointment, "The crimes in this city and the farms around it have become too much of a problem. My scouts reported this morning of the most recent crime. A woman was raped and then beaten to death. The people who did this ate most of her body afterwards. Tell me, is this the kind of city a distinguished and highborn lord ought to have?"
"…."
"…."
"Judging by your expressions, it seems that none of you did anything about this matter."
"B-But—"
"Silence," Lunaria glared at the man who tried to protest, "Believe me, I would gladly remove all of you from your positions if you can't even look after the people. The only reason our lord left all of you to your devices was because you stayed even after the city became… like this. That shows a how loyal you are. Or just desperate. Desperation can be good sometimes, I think."
"Then what should we do?" only Henry Fralk was calmly listening to Lunaria. He asked on behalf of everyone.
"After we manage to bring some income into this city then I will buy soldiers to patrol the streets. Of course, this depends if they will even come here even if the price is above average for each person. Either that or I use undead summons. Which do you prefer?"
"T-The first one." Henry gulped. He was probably shaken up after hearing that Lunaria would bring undead monsters to this city.
"Then our first priority would be to stabilize the city. First would be rebuilding, paving roads that we can use to allow merchants to come through, and expanding this city. I'm not too familiar with handling a city's economy or the influx of money so I called for help. My profession is trading and negotiating with merchants."
Lunaria looked towards one of the corners. Victoria and the nobles looked as well.
"—Are you finally done explaining to them?" a man's soft voice came from that corner as a figure appeared.
'What!? I couldn't even sense him!?'
Victoria had been training in martial arts ever since she was a child. Her training naturally included improving her senses and stimuli to the environments. She had lightning-fast reflexes so she could respond to any threat that might be near.
But how couldn't she sense that person?
Were those years of torture(training) useless?
"Please everyone, do not act surprised," Lunaria spoke before any of them could question who this man was, "He is a friend and also a subordinate of Lady Selia."
"W-Wait, a human?" One of the nobles sighed in relief that he wasn't some monster.
The man looked like a person in his early thirties. He was also fancily dressed.
"I could show all of you my true form but that would cause your heads to explode after you feel even a little bit of my power," the man simply said as he strolled towards Lunaria's side, "My name is Vetis and I am the prime minister of the Undead Nation. I do not have a contract with this Arnold von Berkley but he allowed me to help Lunaria."
"We will ensure that this city flourishes again."
"U-Um, if I may ask…."
"Please go ahead, baron Fralk."
"How will we go about making this city flourish? As it stands we can barely survive the next winter. The land suddenly became barren and even the most fertile grounds cannot grow any food. We left the land for too long without using it. We can't let our people farm further than the city's walls since monsters are often running rampant."
"Things became worse after that dragon was killed," another said, "The monsters have gotten cocky lately. Some of our healers and doctors went to collect herbs yesterday but they never returned."
Lunaria frowned, "Did you look for them?"
"Well… w-we were going to—"
"Shut up." Lunaria cut the noble off, "All of you are disgraces. I thought I made myself clear that you should look after the people. Does this city have no forces to combat the monsters?"
All of them shook their heads.
Lunaria looked at Vetis, "May I use one of your summons to clear the outer forest?"
"You may. I brought along level 60 Fire Elemental Lords to guard the cargo we brought."
"Excellent. I'll tell one of them to go into the forest later. For now…" Lunaria looked at Victoria, "Can you escort these men out? We have urgent business to discuss."
"As you command," Victoria bowed.
"We'll handle the most glaring problems later. For now you may leave. We'll hold a meeting tomorrow morning."
◇
◇
"Thank you for coming on such short notice, Vetis." Lunaria closed the door and addressed Vetis.
"Don't worry about it," Vetis grinned, "Did you really have to make such a little lie that I came here to help this city's economy and its currency issues? I might be the Prime Minster of a kingdom but that doesn't mean my skills in making money and making it grow exceeds yours. A merchant such as yourself is more suited for that."
"…I had to say something to divert their attention and avoid being suspected. Your true goal is to help me destroy a portion of Nuaria city."
"A portion? I thought he meant we had to destroy the entire city."
"They may be humans but they are still innocent living beings."
"If that's the case then why does he want to kill people?"
"…."
'Now that I think about it, I never heard the whole truth from him…'
"Our jobs aren't to ask questions but to help our benefactor in any way we can. Understand?"
"Hmm… Still, even if he has a reason for killing the citizens of that city, shouldn't he have another plan at least? What will happen if people find out what he did?"
"That won't happen, Vetis. We'll make sure it doesn't."
Lunaria walked towards the window behind Arnold's desk and opened it up.
"Let's discuss that matter later. So… where do you think Lady Selia went?"
Lunaria asked as she looked over the city. The sun was at its highest so the city was bathed in light. Despite the fact that it was spring, the wind was as cold as in winter.
"If this person is really a player then I think she went to wherever this person is. The fact that she never told us anything means that that person is wary."
"Wary of us?"
"We are all level 100 so we are considered the strongest nation if we go by manpower alone. The person who contacted her must've been watching us. The question is how long they've been watching and why they chose to contact her now all of a sudden."
"It is rather strange…"
'But why is she not back yet? She's been gone for a month by now and hadn't contacted me or Lilith yet…'
Lunaria thought in concern. 'What if something happened to her…?'
Of course, it was hard to imagine someone could kill their Master so easily. Not only did she have two Star-Class Items, but she also had her full gear in case she was attacked by multiple players of the same level.
Lunaria had only seen her Master use the Valyrian Armor once. That was to kill the previous reigning monster lord that was ruling over the humans of the nation they were currently ruling.
The previous vampire lord was powerful that even Selia had trouble without her full equipment but she was able to win. Just goes to show that power and experience weren't a match for overpowered gear.
"Should we go look for her?"
"No. Using the interface to track her whereabouts would go against the promise we made with her."
Vetis was referring to that day when Selia left. She told them to not contact her or look for her.
'So if we looked for her then that person might get frightened and go into hiding.'
If they used the system interface to track Selia then they could also track down this mysterious player as well. Her Master would then lose contact with them for who knows how long.
Lunaria knew what Selia had been going through all these years of being alone in this world. Of course, Selia had her loyal subordinates but they could never fill the gap left behind by her guildmates. They were her family, after all.
Lunaria probably knew Selia the best besides Lilith. Only the two of them knew what struggles she had to endure.
I'm not as great as you all thought I was. I'm just a former high school student who was obsessed with playing this game.
Everything I know about this world is just the knowledge I gained during my time being mentored by Him.
Lunaria and Lilith were the first NPCs Selia ever summoned.
Lunaria could still remember those tear-filled eyes as Selia embraced the two of them and muttered, "I'm not alone anymore…"
'I wonder who she was referring to… This person who mentored her…'
A small smile appeared on Lunaria's face. This caught Vetis' attention.
"Is there something you're not telling me?"
"No."
'I can't let him find out about what kind of person she really is.'
Unlike Lunaria and Lilith who were loyal to Selia for different reasons, Vetis and the others might lose their loyalty when they hear the kind of weak person their almighty Master was beneath that character that hid her true identity.
A recluse high school student. Whatever that may be.
Lunaria and Lilith had to keep up this act of playing along until Selia decided to tell everyone the truth.
With that said, she would only follow orders and get her work done. Just like she always had.
"Here." Lunaria took out another storage ring and gave it to Vetis, "Am I allowed to ask how you're going to advertise the crystals to the world?"
"Hmmm~" Vetis only hummed as he took out the crystal, "Ah, such perfection. Where in this world can one find such a pure crystal? Certainly not in any dungeon or jewel store. The mages from all seven Magic Towers will come running like flies. Such perfection, indeed!"
Lunaria heaved a sigh.
"Apologies, Lunaria. I was only appreciating the power of nature. If there are even more of this hidden somewhere in those mountains then this city will definitely become the richest region on this entire continent."
"That's a bit of a stretch… Will you answer my question now?"
"If I tell you then it will ruin the surprise," Vetis had a wide smirk on his face like it was tearing it in half, "The entire world will watch in awe once these creations of mother nature become known."
"I see. Then I won't pry."
She didn't care what method Vetis used as long as the existence of these crystals became known throughout the entire continent, nay, the world.
"Keeping your methods within acceptable range is all I'm asking, Vetis. If you make a mistake like last time then I will have no choice but to inform Lilith so that appropriate punishments will follow. I'm sure you'll accept your punishments?"
Vetis bowed exaggeratedly, "I swear upon the name of Creste that I won't make any mistakes now or ever again," he stood upright again and adjusted his tie, "I shall be going then."
"Okay."
Vetis disappeared in a blink of an eye with the teleportation ring on one of his other fingers.
"I should get started, I guess," Lunaria went over to Arnold's desk and sat down. She was the advisor and manager so she had at least the right to be in charge when he wasn't around.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the items she brought for him as gifts.
"He could've taken the S-class items at least… I can just let Vetis take it to him." She opened up the box of documents and began reading them. Once she had a clear understanding of it all then she would stamp them with the Berkley seal.
"What was going through that human's mind when he ordered the destruction of a city?"
Lunaria would never know but she was certain that her Master might've done the same if circumstances were this dire. As mentioned before, she would only follow orders and listen to reason later.
That was the job of a subordinate, after all.