The Golden Manor was arguably a terrible name, but it fit nonetheless. This was probably the largest building in this city, or at least in this area. The facility's shingles were sleek and golden in color, giving off a regal yet militaristic feel. The thick, metal gates were also indicative of the level of security that was on display.
"This place is well fortified. I assume that the important people convene here.", Bonner says almost immediately.
Whenever Bonner decided to make the effort to pay attention to our surroundings, then he was pretty privy to state the obvious. From my understanding, the Angea were big shots in this region, and with the existence of magic, assassination attempts must be quite a worry.
"A lot of the affluent members of Astana meet here with my mother to discuss policies regarding the city.", Claire comments. "Working alongside me, You will find that a lot of them are rather intolerable people."
"That is commonplace when you think of pompous, rich people. There are few genuinely kind, wealthy individuals in existence. I am willing to bet that there are even fewer in this domain. With the man that we met at the gate as an example, I doubt the higher echelon of Astana would approve of me.", I add.
The distance between our party and the gate became shorter, to the point that I could vividly see the guards standing there. They were wearing armor similar to the guards at the gates, but in this case, a dark blue tint was bleeding into the leather undergarments under the bronze armaments. We approached, and instantly, their attention shifted to us, but mostly to Claire at the front and center of the group.
One appeared to be a young elven woman with blonde hair, and the other was an older human male with pitch-black hair. His face was wrinkled, and stray hairs rested loosely against his lip. His hands rested across his chest as he remained on alert. I acknowledged they, too, had swords mounted in their sheaths on their waists.
"Back already, Clarice?", the man says, "These men. What is their business here?"
"Lady Ana has requested that I pick up more muscle, so I brought these men. Could you inform her of our arrival? " Claire answers, gesturing towards the three of us.
The older male analyzed us much like the others before us, and his eyebrow raised upon seeing us. Though he did not appear to be resentful in any manner. He would raise his arm up slightly, which was an indication that the younger woman would scurry off. There was a nearby guardhouse slightly ajar from the nearby wall that she managed to disappear into. Surprisingly, I noticed that there was a little sound coming from the area as well. My ears flickered softly, attempting to detect any conversations transpiring from the area.
However, I did note that the guard before us had referred to Claire as Clarice. It was a rather unoriginal way to hide her identity, but seeing that she managed to go this long indicated her ability to deceive others. Not only was she capable of luring us into the scheme that she had cooking, but she crafted a whole persona to bypass the many guards within this city. Claire Von Angea is the name that she associated herself with. She appears to be a pretty troublesome individual.
"So where did you find these men? They are quite the collection of individuals.", the guard says.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you.", Claire muses. "I merely found them on my return to the gate. As you can tell, the three of them appear to be quite strong in their own right. Even the demi-human commands a powerful presence. I believe that they will be an asset for the safety of Astana."
"Ah. So they are adventurers? No. Can't be with that type of armor.-"
"Lower ranking members of the Conscripted Forces.", Claire corrects the older man.
Just mentioning that to the male caused him to change his expression immediately. His eyes bounced back to us as he analyzed us once more. It was obvious that his confidence in her words had been shaken at that revelation. With how previous people had reacted to that information, I could only imagine that the Conscripted Forces isn't something that one should openly brag about. Perhaps they didn't garner much respect, so we would likely have to purchase better equipment in the future and craft a better cover story.
After a few minutes of conversing, my ears pick up the return of the female guard sent away earlier. She would whisper into the older male's ear, and his recently acquired doubt was soon replaced with confusion. He would nod before turning his head to face the large gate behind him. His shift was quite strange, but to me, it appears that aligning ourselves with Claire had placed us into unknown territory. So much so that even the guards appeared to lack as much information on what was happening as we did. I began to wonder if getting involved with this was actually a good idea or not.
"OPEN THE GATE!', the older guard yelled once he reached a small section of the large metal door.
"Lower section…opening!" and "Opening the lower section!" were the next few things that I heard before the grinding and cracking of metal filled my ears.
The gate had two sections that I had missed on my initial appraisal of the formations. Crafted into the metal was a doorway shaped through the gate's door, which opened up for us. It was about seven feet in height and wide enough to allow only a small number of people in and out, but not carriages.
"Ah, I see. That allows them to allow individuals to pass without opening the entirety of the gate. Easily defensible from the turrets on the wall and from the streets. It must have cost a fortune for the city. Hell, this whole setup must have cost a lot.", I say to Q, gaining his attention.
We purposely remained quiet in the back until that point to allow Claire to talk. I made sure not to talk out of turn to the guards in this city. It isn't too difficult to hold my tongue at times. After all, for the success of our part, I will have to endure any unnecessary bullshit that will inevitably be thrown my way. That is if we were to meet anyone of importance in this city. Once that little pathway was opened up, I could briefly see the inside of the walls. However, there did not appear to be much other than another stone wall within the structure. So, this place is once again heavily fortified.
"This place is heavily fortified, Mark. These are the rich folks, so make sure that you limit any unnecessary input. They might not take too kindly to anything that you would say. If any of the guards are prejudiced, then I am sure that you can imagine how the upper echelon will view you. Let's keep your talents in our back pocket for now.", Bonner says.
"Sure, but you will have to do the work, Bonner. I will hide my fangs for the time being, but naturally, you two will have to navigate, and I will follow your leads."
"Alright. We will take care of things then. Just do what you can to look unthreatening," Q adds.
Though we spoke in a small circle, it was evident that Claire had sunk into her habit of listening in on our conversation again. I could tell by the faint movements of her ears, but nonetheless, she had occupied herself in conversing with the guards. After they finished, we shifted our attention back to the object of importance and moved to join Claire's side.I knew that I would appear more docile and subservient if I stood in the back of the pack, especially since I was the tallest of the group, including the two guards escorting us past the first and following second gate.
What surprised me was upon bypassing the second fortified gate of the manor, a collection of four elves was waiting for us. While two of them were guards, one stood out in particular. He was actually around my height and rather slender in frame. The clothes of the male were sleek and well-tailored to his frame and were based on a dark blue color.
His hair was a sleek blonde and shaped in a long ponytail that reached past his shoulder blades. It was apparent to me that this guy was a bonafide pretty boy just on his aura alone. The bright green eyes, smooth skin, and clean teeth shebang.
"Hey-Hey! What is this collective of commoners doing here?.", he chirped sharply.
Much like Claire's favorite expression, the male would have his face stretched to a damn Cheshire-like grin. Unfortunately for him, when he did it, the appeal to punch him in the face gained merit in my mind. I opted to hold my tongue; my friends also practiced that same discipline.
"Master Percival, it's good to see you as well. These individuals are here to see Lady Ana," the older guard says, bowing his head to the male.
Despite being significantly younger than the elven male, it was obvious that the commonality of the longer life span of certain races carried over from Infinity Unleashed. The guard that allowed us into the gate could be well into his early forties, but he significantly looked older than the pompous asshole with blonde hair standing with his entourage. Speaking of which, besides the guards, there appeared to be one more person alongside Percival. Standing beside him was another elven male, but his ears were a bit shorter than Percival's ears were. His hair was sleek, pitch black to match his dark eyes.
"Lady Ana? Giving commoners a personal audience here? Highly unlikely.", Percival boldly claimed, dismissing the idea altogether.
Wow. This guy not only looks the part, but he is an asshole. An entitled asshole as well. Just looking at him, smothering in his smugness, is insufferable. Frankly, I wouldn't mind giving him a superpowered lovetap to the side of his head and knocking the wind out of his sail. However, doing so in this environment would only lead to unnecessary strife. He must've detected my latent aggression as he soon focused solely on me.
For his sake, I was hoping that he wouldn't address me specifically. Percival wouldn't be given the chance to speak before the hair individual would speak,
"Lady Ana is currently out at the moment, but word has reached Master Blois. He has granted your request to enter, Miss Clarice. He will meet with the four of you at the southeast garden in her stead."
"Oh? Brother wishes to meet with them as well. Even the demi-human?", Percival muses, turning his eyes to gaze toward the male.
There it was. I knew the bastard had something against demi-humans. I could smell it on his breath. Go ahead and say something that I don't like, bastard. I will add your name to the list with that asshole Arch-Captain and pintsized Aywen of elves that I need to smack once I learn magic.
"It is what he requested. Three individuals, and Miss Clarice. The ones that were supposed to meet with Lady Ana. The details of the meeting are unknown to me, but I was requested to inform them. That is the reason that you were informed to be here. Demi-human or not."
"Heh- Playing escort to commoners? Really?- Very well. Guard. We will take over for now. Return to your posts with haste.", Percival declares, gesturing towards the older guard to dismiss him.
The guard would initially hesitate, but he would offer no complaint or refusal as I assumed Percival here outranked him in some fashion. If I could, then I would groan at this development. Utterly ridiculous that I would have to spend even a fraction of my time with this bastard longer than necessary. At the very least he would be useful to us.
This Lady Ana seemed to be quite inconsiderate if she just up and left if she was the one that summoned us to this place, and she would not arrive. This Blois individual seemed to be just as shady as Ana was, but I wondered now; What is it that all of these people want with us? I suppose I will have to bite the bullet and follow the insufferable Percival to go find out from his brother. I hope I can continue to sheath my fangs when tested with such a trial.