The rest of the wagon journey was rather uneventful. They didn't bother stopping anywhere else as they had plenty of rations, and Felix wasn't about to pay for a bunch of thieving slaves to stay in an inn. It took them another week and a half for their rather roundabout journey to the Belrose domain, during which time Felix left the camping and cooking and whatnot to the slaves, while he focused on spell construction. He was able to finish Rock Skin quite easily, and so Felix activated it immediately.
His skin turned slightly more dusty, but otherwise looked the same as before. However, when he tried to scratch his own skin with a knife they had laying around, he was simply unable to. Eventually, this testing evolved into Felix literally stabbing himself with the knife, but even when he put all of his strength into it, it only ended up in a minor scratch which didn't even break the skin. Felix then tried using Harden, and it was impossibly tough, he could do nothing with the knife.
"Don't get too cocky. Rock Skin really only improves your physical defenses, it's improvements for your magical defense are miniscule." Arboro said from his spell space.
"Well, at least I can't get stabbed to death by a peasant now, right?" Felix said with a grin.
"Congratulations, oh arch-mage, on graduating from being on par with the peasantry." Arboro said sarcastically, and then went back to sleep.
Thus, they continued their journey, with Felix deciding to continue working on the next level of the mineral skin spell line, Talc Skin, which was simply a modular addition to the Rock Skin spell's framework. It was in the shape of a human body, surrounded by pebbles, and now, Felix had to surround the pebbles with what looked to him like soapstones. He only made slight headway on this task though before they reached the city of Belfast, which was the seat of Lord Belrose's power.
Honestly, the architecture from a distance was much the same as Gurnkey, only that it was bigger and looked more well-maintained and fortified. Also, spreading out a considerable distance from the city were rice paddies in all directions, being worked by what Felix presumed was likely all slaves. Felix had heard in idle chatter from the slaves that Belfast was actually the biggest crop producing city in the entire kingdom.
So, they arrived at the gates, at about noon, and Tom showed the guards their manifest, as well as their temporary enslavement order for Castor. The guards looked everything over briefly and let them in to the city without much fuss. The wagons made it to a warehouse and stable area, where slaves unloaded all of their cargo for them and took the horses.
"Thanks for the ride, Tom." Felix said.
"No problem, it's what I get paid to do." Tom said simply. They then parted ways, Felix taking all the paperwork, slaves, and his gifts with him, and they went to find Belrose Manor. After a quick talk with a guard about their business with the Earl, they were directed to a spot rather close to the city center, wherein a luxuriously decorated mansion was present. If Baron Wiseman's abode was a rather more humble manor, this was a (in Felix's opinion) gaudy and wasteful flaunting of wealth.
Besides being very large, there was a posh fountain in front, expertly manicured hedges, statues of great mages, large gothic looking pillars, and the entire property was fenced in marble. And this was only what he could see from the outside. The entire outer area was of course, crawling with slaves who were cleaning or otherwise maintaining everything. Felix walked up to the gate, and knocked on the knocker. A nearby slave came over to greet them.
"Yes?" the slave asked. She was a female slave who wore a rather cute maid outfit, and had been trimming the nearby hedges.
"Lord Belrose should be expecting me. I was sent here on a trade mission from Gurnkey he personally approved." Felix said, and stood there patiently.
The slave nodded, and ran off to talk to another slave (who Felix presumed was her supervisor), who similarly ran off, while the original slave went back to trimming the hedges.
After a couple of minutes, the front doors opened, and a young man perhaps a couple of years older than Felix walked out, and walked to the gate. He was slightly taller than Felix, with blonde hair, green eyes, and a rather proud gait.
"You must be cousin Felix?" the man asked.
"That's me." Felix said.
"Just to be sure, do you mind if I see your paperwork? We run a tight ship here and we always double check everything." the man said.
Felix thought it a bit of a cold reception, but understandable. He handed over his manifest and other papers through the gate without any fuss. The man looked over them all carefully.
"I presume the other goods are in the warehouse by the gate?" the man asked.
"That's correct." Felix said, handing him an additional paper the warehouse workers gave him. The man looked over that as well.
"Everything seems good." he said with a nod, and he opened the gate.
"Name's Leo, by the way." the man said. Felix stuck out his hand, but the man laughed and pulled him in to a hug instead.
"Come on, we're cousins! Not just businessmen doing business!" Leo said. Felix awkwardly returned the hug. Leo stepped back a bit and looked him up and down and nodded.
"Come on, the old man will want to see you. Oh, and you can meet your other cousin, Scarlet, too! She's my sister." Leo said, while leading him to the mansion.
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"Oh right, while the old man did mention you were my cousin, he didn't say your exact relation. Mind telling me?" Leo asked Felix, continuing to talk.
"I'm the grandson of Lord Belrose's youngest brother." Felix said.
"Ahhh, okay, I got it. So we're like second cousins or something. Well, I'm the current head of the main line, if the old man ever kicks the bucket, I'll be inheriting the Earldom." Leo said.
Felix was surprised it wasn't his father who would be inheriting instead, but he was sure he would learn about that eventually, and decided it was better not to ask now.
They reached the mansion proper, and the inside was just as luxurious as the outside. Marble, gold trims, plush carpets, paintings, and of course, slaves running around everywhere. Felix could not spot a speckle of dust anywhere.
Leo kept jabbering away, while he led him to a dining area. "Oh right." Leo said, looking at the three slaves Felix had brought with him. "You three, go wait in the foyer, we'll deal with you in a bit." Leo said to them. The slaves looked at Felix, since he was their master for now, and he nodded to them, and they left to sit in the foyer.
"Can't have them ruining lunch. You must be starving! The old man's a cheapskate, I doubt he gave you any amazing accommodations for the ride." Leo said, finally leading him in to the dining room. Lunch was already served, but only two others were present at the table, Lord Belrose, who Felix recognized from seeing him twice already, and an unfamiliar girl who looked to be more or less the same age as Felix. She was quite pretty with pale skin, long blonde hair, and green eyes much like Leo's, and in a slender red dress, but something about her made Felix feel uneasy.
"Ah, there he is! It's my nephew Felix!" Earl Belrose said. He stood up and walked over to Felix and gave him a bear hug.
"The pleasure is mine, Lord Belrose." Felix managed to squeeze out while his innards were compressed by the Earl.
"Bah, so formal! Come, come, call me uncle!" Earl Belrose said, continuing to squeeze Felix. It seemed apparent Felix wouldn't be released until he did so, so he relented.
"U-uncle Belrose." Felix managed to squeeze out.
"There we go! Much better. Though, you can drop the Belrose and just call me uncle! You're family too, remember?" He said, finally releasing Felix.
"Yes Uncle." Felix said, while doubled over and panting, enjoying his reunion with oxygen.
"Ah come over here and meet your cousin, Scarlet!" Earl Belrose said, dragging Felix over by his hand to the cute girl. Felix thought that she looked at him strangely, like, perhaps with disdain, for a moment, but her expression changed to a more neutral one, and she stood and gave a slight curtsy, and then sat back down and went back to her meal.
"She takes a bit of time to warm up, but don't you worry! You two will get along great!" Earl Belrose said. Felix glanced at Leo. Leo shrugged in response.
"Ah, right, nephew, there is one thing. Do you mind if I verify those details that Baron told me?" Earl Belrose asked, looking at Felix meaningfully.
"Of course not, Uncle." Felix understood, and handed out his hand. The Earl wanted to verify his mana affinity.
The Earl nodded and held Felix's hand, and an odd situation were Felix felt like he was being probed occurred for a moment. Then, Earl Belrose's face lit up.
"Excellent, excellent, your mana affinity is even higher than I thought it would be! Why, it's only a hair's breadth weaker than Leo's!" Earl Belrose exclaimed. Leo looked at Felix with surprise, as did Scarlet, who suddenly seemed much warmer to Felix.
"Thank you, Uncle." Felix said simply.
"Come come, less thanking, more eating! Have a seat, have a seat!" Earl Belrose said, his mood somehow even more positive after he measured Felix's mana affinity. Felix sat down and ate as requested, making small talk about his life in Gurnkey. Finally, after they finished, Felix stood up and handed them all the gifts he brought. Earl Belrose looked rather solemn as he received the bottle of cider after Felix explained it was from his orchard, which meant his brother would have grown the trees, and he thanked Felix and left the room, leaving the three of them alone.
"Did I do something wrong?" Felix asked Leo. Leo shook his head.
"The old man was happy, but, I think he mentioned to me before he hasn't seen hide nor hair from my grand-uncles for many years." Leo explained. Felix nodded in response.
"So, shall we get the business out of the way so we can stop worrying about it? Your slaves in the foyer, I mean." Leo suggested.
"Ah, yes, let's." Felix agreed readily. He didn't just want to leave them sitting around bored. Leo and Felix stood up and began walking to the foyer, and Scarlet followed, although Felix wasn't quite sure why. They entered the foyer where the slaves were sitting on a couch, looking bored. Leo looked at them coldly, but didn't say anything. Scarlet looked at them with disgust, and gave Felix an expectant look, although he wasn't quite sure why.
"Right, so, those two slaves on the left were the original ones I was to bring from Gurnkey, they were found-" Felix started, but Leo interrupted him.
"One moment, cousin. There's a problem." Leo said, glaring at the slaves. Felix was bewildered. "What is it?" Felix asked, confused.
"Ah, right, you're new to this. Scarlet, please tell our cousin what mistake he's made. Be patient with him, he needs to learn the trade from the ground up." Leo said, deferring to Scarlet.
"Slaves should stand when their betters enter the room." Scarlet said, looking at the slaves with disdain, and crossing her arms. The three slaves looked to Felix.
Felix was a bit perturbed, since he felt a bit of camaraderie with the three after their journey, but he reminded himself that he needed to try and fit in. He looked at the three slaves and nodded, and they stood, although they gave Felix a look of disappointment.
"Is that sufficient, Leo?" Felix asked him. "It's passable for the moment, but I can see there is work to be done. It's pretty clear to me you're too soft right now, cousin." Leo said. "But please continue your explanation of their circumstances." he added.
"All right. So the two on the left were the ones I was originally supposed to bring, on behalf of Baron Wiseman, they were found by the Baron himself trying to rob his manor." Felix explained, pointing to Jack and Matthias. Scarlet and Leo looked at them coldly.
"They dared to try to steal from a noble?" Leo asked grimly. Felix was a bit taken aback by how aggressive they appeared about the matter. "That's right." he confirmed.
"Ah, cousin. Since you're part of our family now, you're a kind of lesser nobleman yourself. You really can't take such a matter so lightly. I'll forgive you since you just got here, but really, you should be much more peeved about this slight." Leo explained arrogantly.
"I-I see. I understand Leo. Well, I'll take your lesson to heart." Felix said.
"Good. Now, what about the last one? I saw he had a temporary enslavement order from a place called Fias? Did you pick him up on the way?" Leo asked.
"Ah, right. That last one, his name's Castor. While we were camped on our way here, he broke in to my wagon and tried to steal some jewelry. We got into a bit of a magical fight, but I subdued him and put a slave collar on him, and took him to Fias, and they trialed him and sold the rights for him to me, so I brought him to sell to you as well." Felix explained.
Leo looked at Felix calmly. "A fight, you say? So he used some offensive spells on you?" he asked.
"Ah, yeah, he flung a few fireballs, one of which hit me, but, luckily, since I'm an earth ma-" Felix began explaining.
And then Scarlet walked up to Castor and punched him in the face.