Althea

"Are you sure about this?" Althea asked.

"Yes, Countess." Tenebre replied. "Elder Bel and I only examined a part of the cavern, but we feel that construction plans can start without much delay. The rest of the cavern will be examined by the end of the week."

Putting construction teams in place and sourcing materials in the port would probably take longer than that. So they could start building the port soon after the examination was completed. Tenebre must be confident about this part. That was good. That meant he and the Elves were getting along. And that meant one less thing to worry about while meeting this Lady Aer.

Althea had left Deadre this morning, and had just arrived at the borderlands. And that was while taking a bloody flying carriage powered by an Adept. How normal people managed it, she did not know. But the Diery county was bigger than she’d imagined.

The county's breadth was about fifty times its length. The length being the distance between Marile and Sentinel. That meant the carriage had travelled a hundred times faster than her normal carriage that would take two days to get from Marile to Sentinal.

No wait, just twenty fifty times. Deadre was its centre. The borderland she was visiting was at its northern end, Sentinal being its eastern end. The Northern fortress thing still confused her, but at least she was getting better at geography. Why the heck did it have to be so confusing?

But she’d had just crossed half of her territory. The uninhabited, overrun-by-the-forest part of her territory. The second she saw the old cities through her carriage window, she wanted to open them up again. The green monoliths of mediaeval architecture stood out to her like beacons of possibility, ways to settle more people.

But that might not be a good idea at this stage. The cities were old, thousands of years old, and abandoned for centuries. At least since the burning. That meant that the city would have a ton of structural issues that the immigrants might not be able to solve.

The county also had a lack of people to do it. A huge part of the county had only one or two children, making for a low birth rate over time. The recent trend of emigrating to more prosperous parts of the Empire had the population reducing over centuries. In the end, farming was the only industry that made money in Diery, and only so many people wanted to farm.

So the cities would have to wait. And the monsters that lay within would have to wait too. Althea was sure there were a few.

The scenery changed as they approached the borderlands, the forest turning tamer and more organized. The type of trees changed, and mana underwent a significant shift. Althea had almost forgotten that her trait had boosted growth. But there was a difference between the borderlands and the county. The borderland's trees grew in neat rows, as if planted by humans. Althea could make out the silhouettes of people walking through the trees, confirming her suspicion. An orchard. How nice. The entire fief seemed to be one big orchard. A puzzling and fascinating discovery.

Why was it that she hadn't heard of this? This kind of production would allow the territory to be famous, but it was not. And the orchard would not be easy to maintain, beasts were likely to come into land not claimed by another beast.

That meant that one must fight them off, and that required power, power that a borderland lord should not have. How fascinating. Did the Aer have anything to do with this? This seemed like the kind of thing they would trade, and show off.

The carriage landed in the middle of the settlement, a neat square shaped one with houses that seemed to have been divided equally. The cold breeze blew against her arms as she stepped out of her carriage, threatening to make her shiver. Althea called on fire to heat her surroundings. The Countess Guarding Diery could not be seen shivering.

“I greet her grace, the Countess Guarding Diery." a man greeted her, dressed in the same garb as the people around him, differentiated only by the small crown on his head. The local lord? That seemed likely. A humbler lord than most, it seemed.

"Please, there is no need for greetings, lord…" Althea asked, drawing on her etiquette lessons to appear nonchalant.

"I am Lord Galvane, Countess." the man rose from his bowing position. "Pleased to welcome you to my humble territory."

A little accent seeped through the lord's speech, eating about his m’s and o’s. Althea was surprised. The nobility of the Empire tended to have the Solerian accent, known among the common people as noble speak. The accent was easy enough to catch, and few of the nobility would dare speak in any accent other than it.

"I am pleased to be here, Lord Galvane." Althea replied, a smile stretching across her face as she acted like she did not notice the lord's accent. "If you'll forgive me for my impertinence, where may I find the Lady Aer?"

Althea continued giving her a smile as she stood there, letting her dress wave in the wind. The dresses were irritating to put on, but she had decided that she liked cocktail dresses significantly more than ball gowns. The latter just didn't suit her.

The light green dress did little to make her warm, but it complemented her eyes well. And she could just use mana instead.

"Lady Aer awaits you within the orchard, Countess." Lord Galvane said, the crowd parting as he began walking in a particular direction.

Stolen novel; please report.

The Steward took the carriage into his spacial storage as she followed the lord.

"This orchard of yours is quite fascinating." Althea complimented.

"Oh, it is not ours, Countess. The Aer own it. A coastal Elven lord has a fascination for mountainous apples, and pays a handsome price for it every year. The Aer pay us to grow the apples and take care of them while they protect the orchard. " Lord Galvane replied.

Althea nodded along as if the information did not interest her. In truth, she was very interested. The information was just that interesting. The Aer were international merchants, she knew that, but she had thought that involved magical artifacts and international secrets. Not apples. But this did make sense, artifacts were rare, there were only so many the Aer could trade. The apples, though, they could trade some every year.

"Lady Aer is waiting for you just across the orchard boundary." the lord said as she nodded, stepping towards the forest. The Steward followed, giving Lord Galvane a suspicious glance. The apple trade probably irritated him or something.

An intercontinental trade like this was bound to be quite profitable, and she doubted the Aer were paying their taxes. A noble waiver was far more likely. A noble could waive one organization's taxes to the Empire every year. The number increased as the noble's rank increased.

The three Diery merchant companies hadn't paid taxes in a long while. The late Countess had waived the taxes since the Zerolian Duke had the law passed. Althea had been reading up on history and the Empire’s laws.

The orchard changed as she stepped through it, transforming into some kind of temperate wood. Glowing flowers adorned the trees, courtesy of vines that curled around them. The birds chirped in the trees. A white table stood between them, looking like something out of a fairy tale. A veritable feast was placed on it, looking quite delicious.

But the scenery faded before the person leaning on the table. Flowing white hair, enhanced by light blue specks of light that followed the folds of the hair. A pair of antlers emerged from some sort of portal-like thing just above the woman's ears. Blue specks adorned her forehead and cheeks, along with golden ornaments under her eyes and in the upper middle of her forehead. The entire look came together to make her look quite majestic.

"I greet her grace, the Countess Guarding Diery." Lady Aer said, lowering her head a bit.

"I am pleased to meet you as well, Lady Aer." Althea said, taking a seat in front of the Aer, trying her best to maintain a graceful disposition throughout. There was something about this place that made her want to be her best self. As if she was being judged, and would be found lacking before this strange creature.

"I must say, I found your invitation unexpected." Althea said, as the kettles lifted into the air and poured tea into the cup.

"Not unwelcome, of course, but I must confess to wondering what the Aer want of me." she said, picking up the teacup as if it were air and sipping from it. The Aer lady followed suit, sitting unnaturally straight as she sipped from her cup.

Althea knew that the Aer would not reveal the name even if asked, and had elected not to ask it, but now she wondered if she should. The Aer in front of her was in communication with her colleagues back in their mysterious home even now, and she wanted to leave a good impression.

But she could not say anything now, it would seem overly eager. The ball was in the Aer's court, she would have to weave it into conversation later.

"If the Countess would permit me, I would like to ask what it is that she wants." Lady Aer put down her cup onto the saucer, not even making a sound as she looked at Althea with a slight smile on her face. "This meeting is about what the Aer can offer you, Countess."

The smile on the lady's face remained the same as Althea considered a reply. This was a simple marketing tactic. The Aer's capabilities were quite public, and attractive. The elusive species could help her contact and establish trade with nations across the continent, solve her information collection issues, and so much more.

But it would have a cost. The Steward's warning was still fresh in her memory. The Aer would not make a deal where they lost out.

"I admit, the Aer's capabilities are impressive." Althea held the lady's grace, giving a slight smile of her own. "But the price concerns me. The county is still in a formative stage of growth, overextending ourselves would be terrible."

The lady gave a slight laugh, shaking her head as if she found something funny. "Please, Countess. The county may be poor, but you are not. Isn't there a floor in the Diery palace dedicated to storing jewels?"

So they knew about that. Even Althea hadn't visited it yet. The three highest floors in the Diery palace, hidden by spells, were filled with jewels. This was the so-called foundation of the family. Just a consequence of ten thousand years of hoarding. If one thought that was impressive, they should see the Zerolian horde. The lake of gold was not to be scoffed. Perhaps it was why there wasn’t much gold left in the Empire.

"There is much that you can afford to buy." the lady said. "The names of forces that would be willing to move to Diery county.” Lady Aer smile, tempting Althea with her offers.

“Even a thorough analysis of every force in the world, information that even the Solerian Empress would kill to get her hands on."

That was tempting. So very tempting. But they would probably ask for the entire floor of jewels for that. And Althea wasn't willing to pay that price.

"Perhaps you would be interested in knowing why your dear Steward is bottle necked." the lady asked, lifting a cup to sip at it again.

The Steward bristled as Althea considered. The Steward had been stuck at the third stage of Adept for a while now. The rest of his friend group had moved on long ago. The Marshal and the Emperor were peak Adepts, the Empress, and the Fae Princess were already half-step Grandmasters.

If she could secure this, then perhaps the Steward could catch up. That would be a huge boost to the county, even if the Empress called the Steward back. Althea would like to think that she had left a good impression on the Steward. And it would empower the Empire, at this critical time, that was quite important. Perhaps she should ask the price.

"There is no need to buy that." the Steward interrupted, his voice calm. "I am already aware of the answer."

Lady Aer did not show any surprise or disappointment.

"Perhaps I can offer you a list of ways to solve the issue, then."

Althea looked towards the Steward, who merely shook his head. Well, it looked like the Steward didn't want it.

"I would prefer that we just talked about what you want, Lady Aer." Althea asked.

"If that is what you wish." the Aer replied, her voice level.

"I wish to buy the seed of a SilverBirch tree off you, Countess."