~ Chapter 114: The meeting with the el’doraw City Lord ~

[Seryanna’s point of view]

The following day, at noon, an el’doraw with a few years weighing down on his shoulders made his presence known on the pier where we docked the Scorpion Dream Galleon. At first glance, his clothes made him look like a noble, but his mannerism and etiquette was a subservient one rather than arrogant and superior. He greeted our draconian sailors with a polite smile and then requested for his presence to be announced to the leading individuals on board of our vessel.

He went by the name of Johan’Der and was the family butler of the esteemed City Lord Talmarund Offspray. Rather than coming up on board, he preferred to give the message he was tasked with delivering from all the way down on the pier, claiming that this was the right way of doing things. In other words, it was a declaration that the City Lord had no desire to hide this meeting from his people.

Whether the butler Johan’Der was a noble or not did not matter at this point, even the words of a loyal commoner could cause damage or on the contrary rise the impression a foreign noble left on the local people. In front of the el’doraw, we wanted to appear as a civilized people, who cared not for either smoking, drinking, or cursing… at least in public.

Therefore, in order to avoid any possible unfortunate misunderstandings because of cultural or social differences, yesterday, after Tanarotte calmed down, we made sure to share among all of our sailors the information we learned about the el’doraw manners in general. Because of this, the draconians were now struggling to keep their mouths shut, so as to not let loose a curse word, they were keeping their drinks out of sight and as for smoking, well… none of them even owned a tabaco cutter, so it was good.

To be honest, I personally never understood why some dragons and dragonesses chose to smoke. They claimed it was a relaxing activity for them, and in some cases, when combined with medicine, it could have wonders on the body and mind. Alkelios was not interested in this hobby either, although, he did claim once that some of the Human Heroes who arrived with him from Earth might have an addiction to a substance known as nicotine, which was found in the leaves of the cigars they smoked. While he personally did not know if that substance could be found in the leaves the dragons smoked, he was at the very least certain that unless the manufacturing cost was reduced by a lot, we would not have to be worried about stumbling into smokers at shops and restaurants.

On the Dragon Continent, smoking was the privilege of the rich, but the scent that was left on the clothes and furniture was unpleasant for a lot of us. The last thing any draconian wanted was to end up coughing up a fireball by mistake at the face of the dragon or dragoness they were trying to seduce or be seduced by. Although, Alkelios did mention that it also depended heavily on the leaves and the production method use. The more advanced and refined ones could even pass the smoke as pleasant rather than nauseous. This, I could not even begin to imagine how it was possible.

After we gathered on the deck as per the request of this butler, her Highness told him “You may proceed.”

“Very well! Her esteemed Highness Princess Elleyzabelle Seyendraugher is invited in the most ceremoniously way to the residence of the esteemed City Lord Talmarund Offspray, where they may discuss proceeding negotiations accompanied by good tea and snacks as well as the delightful violin songs played by Resmera Offspray, the esteemed daughter of Talmarund Offspray!” so he declared loud enough for everyone on the ship and around it to hear him.

Following this, Johan’Der rolled up the parchment and then made a half-bow towards us. A heavy silence followed afterwards as everyone was waiting for her Highness’ reply.

The one to speak first was neither a rude sailor who let out a curse word, Kataryna who felt like tossing Tanarotte at the butler for making it sound grander than it really was, nor were the half-drunk fellows who were hiding their ale, it was our good captain Matthew.

“Ah! Blasted sheep skinned by a wolf! I dropped my cigar in my ale again!” he shouted from within his quarters.

Since he had his windows opened, and there was an almost grave-like silence following the grand invitation of the butler, his words came out like a very… embarrassing thunder.

“Ahem... We will accept the City Lord’s invitation. You may accompany us on our way there.” said Princess Elleyzabelle after she coughed once to disperse the awkwardness that had set in.

“This butler shall do just that, your esteemed Highness!” the man bowed once more before us and then waited there like a pole in the middle of the field.

Taking a step back from the edge, Princess Elleyzabelle whispered to us “Kataryna, Seryanna, you two will be my personal guards. Tanarotte, you will watch us from a distance without being caught. I will tell Captain Matthew to make sure the ship is ready to sail at any given moment.” she then turned to enter the ship.

“Are we expecting trouble?” Kataryna asked furrowing her brow.

“No, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.” she replied to her with a smile.

After she left, I asked the silver-scaled dragoness “Did you notice something strange?”

“No, and that might be just the thing, especially when thinking back at everything that happened so far.” she told me.

What she was referring to was the fact that the el’doraw appeared to be too natural… too normal when thinking about what happened on the other continents, including ours.

Indeed, there were a few major incidents, such as the eruption of the volcano in the dwarf capital, the kidnapping of the fluffy relliar princess and then there were the Human Heroes, who either willingly or unwillingly managed to change the way entire countries functioned as well as morph traditions of the old. Our presence also seemed to have had some sort of benefit for the places we visited, but when thinking about it in detail, we would have never even thought about sailing off into the unknown unless I met Alkelios in the Seculiar Forest. His gifts were what managed to sway both the dwarfs and the relliars into accepting an alliance with us. Without him, I dare not think what may have come to pass both in Albeyater and out here, far away from the Dragon Continent.

When we escorted the Princess down to the docks, the butler told us that he had already prepared a carriage for us. It was one pulled by Uskarans, which looked like rabbits, but they were almost three meters tall and had a venomous spike growing at the tip of their ears. These things could kill an adult el’doraw with a single poke, but for the most part, they were docile herbivores.

We departed quickly, with no traffic delaying us. The City Lord’s knights were keeping the people off the main streets we were using. Taking a peek outside, I noticed that our carriage was not only bigger than the other ones in the city but also the only one with Uskarans that pulled it. All the other carriages here had horses, mules, and a creature with thick black fur all over its body, a silver back, big strong arms but small feet, and a human-like face.

“What’s that creature called?” I asked.

“Hm?” Kataryna took a peek as well and then replied “It’s a silverback capzan. They are extraordinarily strong and very territorial. I wonder how they managed to tame them to pull the carriages. They can’t run for too long and mostly rely on their arms for both movement and attack.”

“You know quite a lot about them.” pointed out Princess Elleyzabelle.

“There was once a merchant who brought a few of them on the Dragon Continent, but they were far too weak when compared to a Khosinni, and those that managed to raise their strength stood no chance against sheep because they confused them with those on the Human Continent.” she replied as she leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms at her chest.

“There are so many strange creatures in this world...” I said as I looked out the window one last time before letting go of the drapes.

Upon arriving at the mansion of the City Lord, we were greeted by the servants who worked here. They were lined up in two rows with the maids standing on the left and the butlers on the right, both bowing with their eyes closed. It was a strange way of greeting us, but I did not ask why they were acting like this, my attention was on the guards of this place. The el’doraw knights who worked for the City Lord were resting their palms on the hilt of their swords, but there were no signs of aggression from them.

If they try to ambush us, I think we can make a quick escape through that window... The servant’s door should also be less guarded than the other exits, but humans can’t fly, so taking the rooftop is better. I doubt they have any proper anti-air defenses like ballistae or hwachas, not to mention anti-dragon weapons. Something like that would be far specialized... Even so, I shouldn’t lower my guard. I thought as I followed the servants inside.

The mansion itself was presented to us as an elegant construction with many paintings, sculptures, and other artistic objects decorating the place. There were no rare items or monster materials, which could have shown off a powerful military force present in this port city. As for whether these things had any economic power, I had no idea. None of us seemed impressed by them, and it wasn’t as if we had never seen an impressive artwork before. Unlike the human artists, the draconian ones lived longer and had a lot more time to refine and perfect their art. So much was the difference, that I once heard from my grandfather that for some of our paintings, it would take the humans at least three generations to complete, while a master painter from our land could finish it in less than a year.

Considering how long el’doraw lived, it was natural of us to assume that they would take their sweet time to refine their artistic sense and practical skills. A painting that took ten years in the making was not an impossibility but a normality.

As a Royal Knight in the service of her Highness Princess Elleyzabelle Seyendraugher, I had to be aware of how powerful the guards of other nobles were just in case anything happened. With a single glance, I could tell that even if they worked perfectly together, they still would not rise up to my ankle in strength.

Both our armors and weapons were enough to trample on these el’doraw like they were the weakest of foes, yet we did not know who among them was a master hiding his true strength for just the opportune moment to strike.

As the saying went: ‘Even the mightiest of dragons can be taken by surprise by the weakest of wolves if they lower their guard because there’s no sheep around.’

Johan’Der took us to a big room with two elegant sofas facing each other and a simple coffee table between them. From here, he went to the other side of the room, where we presumed he would return with Talmarund Offspray. Seeing this, Princess Elleyzabelle sat down on the sofa reserved for us while both me and Kataryna remained standing behind her.

Not even a minute passed before the el’doraw noble made his appearance. He was a big man with a pudgy belly, a long white mustache, and long hair tied back in a ponytail. Since el’doraws as a species had an ashen towards dark skin which changed color depending on their emotions, this made choosing a tasteful outfit rather bothersome, but from what I had seen so far, candy rainbow wasn’t part of their selection. Was this City Lord maybe an exception to the others?

“Ah! Greetings! Greetings, esteemed guests from across the seas! I hope you had a good journey here and were most marveled by our beautiful city!” the el’doraw said with a big smile on his face before he quickly took a seat on the sofa.

“It was a pleasant journey, thank you, City Lord Offspray.” her Highness replied.

“That’s good! That’s good! But may I ask, why have your journeyed so far?” he asked furrowing his brow as he looked at each of us.

“Our arrival from the other side of the continent was perhaps a bit surprising, be we are travelling here all the way from the Dwarf Continent.” she told him with a small polite smile that left no room for interpretation.

“Dwarf Continent? My, that’s very far away!” he said in surprise.

“Yes, but while the distance is nothing to laugh at, the various pesky ships who tried to get into our way were.”

“Pesky ships?” he asked raising an eyebrow at her.

“Pirate... human navy fleets, weaklings like that.” she showed him a smile.

“I see... I see... weaklings like that…” the City Lord nodded and then took out a small pink handkerchief to wipe off his sweat.

“We have some business with the Elf Empire, and we thought it might be good to drop by the El’doraw Kingdom as well. We have heard so much about your wonders, and we, the dragon nations would be interested in establishing some basic trade relationships between us. If this could be done, with whom should we speak?” her Highness asked.

“Hm... I’m afraid with no one in our humble kingdom.” Talmarund showed an expression of regret and then shook his head.

“Why is that?”

“That is because the Ledmerra Kingdom is a proud vassal nation of the Anui’Yahna Empire! If you wish to start a trade with us, then you would first have to obtain the permission to do so from them. After all, we would not feel comfortable to trade with a nation which had yet to gain their favor. One may even say that this could be seen even as treason, and while it is allowed to make small deals for one small ship, a trading fleet is something else entirely.” Talmarund explained as he continued to wipe off his sweat.

What the City Lord was saying sounded logical, but we didn’t expect for the relationship between these two nations to be like this. Even the books that her Highness read didn’t mention this important detail. Maybe because no one in the past attempted something like this before? There were other vassal nations on the Dragon Continent as well, but none of them had such strict political and economic regulations. They just had to pay some tribute once every year and join their battles whenever they were summoned, that was it.

I doubt there are even human nations who take it so far... I thought.

“Hm, would it be rude of me to ask why the regulations are like this?” her Highness asked.

“That’s quite an easy and reasonable question to answer, esteemed guest.” the City Lord showed us his bright smile and then continued “You see, back when the el’doraw were released from the corrupted darkness of the Mad God, we were given the choice by the mighty Anui’Yahna to form our own independent nations, however rather than choosing a complete independence and risk the possibility that we might bite back our benefactors in the future, we decided upon some strict and unbreakable rules which all el’doraw of young and old must follow to the letter. Among them, ‘All political, military, and economical deals with foreign nations must be approved first by the Anui’Yahna Empire.’ So, as you can see... it would be rather difficult for us to do so least we wished to break a tradition that spans millennia.”

“I understand, and I assure you that this was not my intention. I suppose it would be best for us to embark on a journey to the Elf Empire.” she said with a nod.

“Indeed, that would be for the best. Will you be traveling by boat or by carriage?” he asked at the end.

“Hm, what do you think, Sir Seryanna?” she asked without turning around.

“I believe traveling by boat is by far the best choice as we would not be forced to take on unexpected challenges within a foreign land with many unknown elements.” I replied in a firm tone of voice as I straightened my back.

“Sir Kataryna?”

“I’m sick and tired of the sea, I’d rather get carriage butt cramps than fish another shark with Tanarotte...” she let out a heavy sigh “Live bait gets boring fast.” she added at the end.

“I see, then by carriage it shall be.” she declared.

“Your Highness, are you certain?” I asked with wide eyes when I heard her decision.

“Yes, Kataryna is right, we’ve been traveling by boat for far too long now. A small hike on land won’t do us bad.” Princess Elleyzabelle turned towards me and showed me a small smile.

Feeling defeat, I nodded in agreement.

“Wonderful! Then, if you allow me, how about I ask my daughter’s friend, Callipso Emerdel to escort you to the border? I can testify for her strength! She is a well-respected Royal Knight in the service of her Highness Princess Issera The Third?” he offered.

“I wouldn’t wish to disturb a Royal Knight, City Lord Talmarund, a simple messenger will do. My two knights are quite strong themselves.” her Highness said with a smile.

“I dare not think this, but she would be better than any messenger, a representative of royalty even!” he declared with a nod.

“Pardon me, but why is a Royal Knight here and not with their master?” I asked furrowing my brow.

“Miss Callipso is on vacation and is supposed to return to active duty in about four days from now. Although she will leave for the capital a bit early, I do not believe escorting a foreign dignitary to be a loss but rather an achievement, an opportunity even to put her name out there!” he declared with a smile.

“Well, in that case, if Miss Callipso is willing, we will accept the offer. My own two knights and a few other guards will also be traveling with us. We will need a carriage for at least six people and baggage.” she told him.

“Oh! I happen to have one for eight people which I barely use! I wouldn’t mind selling it to your Highness!”

“Selling it... to me?” Princess Elleyzabelle raised an eyebrow.

“Of course. You might not need the carriage after your visit to the Anui’Yahna Empire, and who knows when I might get it back! Selling it at a low price will help me get a brand new one and you’ll be able to do whatever you wish with this one!” he declared happily.

“I understand... Seryanna, will you pay this man?”

“Of course, your Highness!” I nodded and then looked at the pudgy el’doraw “How much is it?”

“The value of the carriage is estimated at 600 gold drahmas or anything of similar value.” he said.

“Drahmas... Hm, I don’t have that currency on me...” it was actually the first time I heard of it.

“I’m gonna have to punish Tanarotte when we get back for omitting this rather important piece of information...” Kataryna spoke in a low voice, no different than a soft whisper.

“How about... this and this?” I asked as I pulled out from my [Purse] ring a Rotiqus Potion and an Average Steel Sword made by Alkelios.

“Hm, what sort of potion is this?” he asked as he pointed at the bottle.

“A Rotiqus Potion, and as for the sword, I can assure you that it’s a good one.” I told him with a smile.

“Oh! A Rotiqus Potion! I have never heard of it!” he said with a smile. “And I’m not interested in cutlery. Do you have anything else of worth?” he asked as he waved off the items.

Cutlery? This sword is by far better than any other sword I have seen on your own guards. What do you mean cutlery? How dare you insult my husband’s work like that!  I roared in my mind, but I smiled on the outside.

“How about this?” Kataryna said as she pulled out a strange carving from her own [Purse] ring.

“OH! What amazing craftsmanship! This is exquisite! I’ll take it!” he declared in a breath.

“Huh?” I blinked surprised and then looked between the City Lord who was already looking at the strange thing from top to bottom and Kataryna who was smiling mischievously.

“If you are satisfied with this trade, then I do believe we should head off and prepare for our long journey.” Princess Elleyzabelle said with a smile as she got up from the sofa.

“Yes, indeed! Thank you, your Highness and esteemed guests for visiting this humble City Lord! It was a pleasure!”

Then, the two of them exchanged the traditional el’doraw noble greeting.

“May you have a prosperous day and a long life.” said Princess Elleyzabelle.

“And may your days be peaceful on such a long life.” replied City Lord Talmarund.

This greeting had a nice ring to it and the message was pleasant. When thinking of the tumultuous past of the el’doraw, such a traditional greeting was like a spark of hope in an otherwise dark and depressing time.

It was only after we left the mansion of the City Lord that I looked at Kataryna and then asked her “Where did you get that sculpture?”

“Oh, that thing? It was something that Tanarotte was grabbing on for dear life when I fished her out of a monster shark’s belly when we went out fishing a week ago. I found it weird and funny, so I kept it.” she said.

“You just gave a foreign noble... junk that was fished out of a monster’s gut?” I asked raising an eyebrow at her.

“Pretty much.” she giggled.