Leo took a moment to comfort Scarlet. Then, he turned back to Earl Belrose and Felix. "Well, this information was.... probably stuff I needed to know. But it doesn't really change much, to be honest. I still can't accept him being with Scarlet." he said.

"And since when do I need your permission to be with someone?!?" Scarlet finally got angry and shoved him.

"It's my job to look out for you! And besides, how can you trust him? He knew he didn't have the Belrose family bloodline ever since he tried to open the book on Enslavement and he tried to hide it!" Leo said.

"Can you blame him, considering how you're acting about the matter? You act as if bloodline is everything." Earl Belrose interjected.

"It IS everything! Whether I like it or not, how is succession determined? How is grade determined? How are inheritances and peerage determined? Bloodline! It's all bloodline!" Leo exclaimed.

"Bloodline isn't what's important, Leo. I won't say it's nothing, but family is what's important." Earl Belrose said.

"I know that! And that's exactly why I have to stand up for Scarlet and do what's best for her, even if she doesn't want me to!" Leo declared.

Scarlet opened her mouth like she wanted to say something for a moment, but she chose to bite her tongue after a moment, with a wistful expression.

"I'm saying you should accept Felix because I don't want you to repeat the worst mistake of my life, Leo." Earl Belrose said heavily.

"...And what mistake is that, Uncle? Does it have to do with my grandfather, Luke?" Felix asked him.

Earl Belrose nodded pensively. "Since it's come to this, I'll tell you three. I... since Tyras and I both knew that Luke wasn't from the same patrilineal line as us, and was only our half-brother... since we were competing to be the one to succeed the position of Earl, we first made an alliance to kick Luke out. We teamed up and forced him to leave Belfast, just because of this bloodline issue, even though he never did anything wrong to either of us, and he wasn't a serious contender, since we were both years older than him. I never saw him again, and it was the greatest regret of my life until... very recently, when the heavens gave me an opportunity to set things right. And... I don't want you to have that same regret, Leo." Earl Belrose addressed Leo.

Leo looked down. "I feel like this family spends more time fighting itself than it does fighting our supposed rivals and enemies." he said sadly.

"It does. The same thing happened with my sons, your father and uncle." Earl Belrose said, before taking another sip of his wine. His cheeks were getting a bit flushed at this point.

Leo looked down at the ground. And he thought for a few minutes. No one said a word as he did so. Finally, he spoke up.

"I'll admit Felix judged me correctly in regards to the bloodline thing. I can forgive him for that on account of the gift he gave to Scarlet. As for being with her though... it's not just a matter of my personal acceptance. It's for her sake that I still can't accept that. Whatever my feelings are about Felix, he still doesn't have standing or peerage. Unless he wanted to claim his bloodline ancestry via house Duvain, who are our sworn enemies, which obviously wouldn't be a good thing for this scenario. So... on account of the fact that he just kicked Richard's teeth in.... I can give him a chance. If Felix can make some big contribution to house Belrose, I can accept him." Leo said.

Scarlet's eyes lit up. "Yes!" she exclaimed, and hugged Leo, who pat her head gently.

"That being said, I don't know what exactly he could do for that..." Leo muttered thoughtfully.

"Actually, I know just the thing." Earl Belrose piped up.

"What's that?" Leo and Felix asked.

"Well, I was away recently for a while, as you two will recall. It wasn't for no reason. I had received a summons from His Majesty to help him resolve a particular issue. As you all well know, we are firm allies with the dwarves, and fight at each other's backs against the demons. However, they of course have their own issues... namely, they're very dependent on us humans for foodstuffs, since it's quite difficult to grow enough food to feed their entire population while underground. In addition, the much larger Godshammer tribe of the western mountains, being strict religious fundamentalists who revere the dragon who supposedly gave birth to their mountain home as a god, have quite the large prison population, as everything from blasphemy to adultery to wasting food are all illegal there, both issues putting quite the strain on their finances." Earl Belrose began.

"The dwarves?" Leo asked. "What could they possibly want with us? I thought slavery was illegal amongst their kind." he remarked.

"It is, but His Majesty recommended they re-legalize it, or at least allow us to send them a delegation to showcase what it could do for them so that way they can seriously consider it, as an alternative to prison, and to help alleviate their food issues using slave labor." Earl Belrose said, and he took out a scroll from his pocket, which he unfurled and showed them to be a diplomatic seal, marked with the crest of the Royal Family and house Belrose both.

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"Err... are you saying you want us to send Felix to handle high level diplomatic relations with the dwarves on the issue of slavery, when he's only been here a couple months and hasn't even particularly learned the industry?" Leo asked, obviously a bit apprehensive about the idea.

"I know that sounds crazy, but there's actually quite a few good reasons." Earl Belrose began. "For starters, his freshness and naivety in regards to the industry is actually a huge plus for him in this instance, and he would perform far better in this task than you because of it." he remarked.

"What? Why?" Leo asked, bewildered.

"Well, because the dwarves are dependent on humanity for a large part of their food, that means they have to deal with... food merchants, like house Tinnit." Earl Belrose said.

"Well, that makes sense. But what of it?" Leo asked.

"Well, you know how greedy merchants can be. Over time they slowly raise their prices. Oh they'll cite things like inflation, or increased costs back home, or their back hurts... whatever rubbish they can to raise the price a little bit. And the dwarves can only grit their teeth and bear it, when the alternative is starving to death. And so, after many, many years of slowly raising prices, they have come to view human businessmen with disdain, if not hatred. You, as someone who knows our business inside and out, and has lived your entire life as a noble, would be seen as just another greedy businessman. Felix, however, is a down-to-earth farmboy who still has a lot of optimism in him, and probably some naivety about the industry he's nominally a part of and advocating for. This will therefore endear him a lot more to the dwarves who have come to know humanity's deep greed very well." Earl Belrose explained.

"I kind of doubt such a minor matter will be such a big deal. I don't doubt there are greedy dwarven merchants as well." Leo remarked.

"Ah, but you see, that is because you do not understand the dwarves very well. It's true that they have greedy merchants as well, however, this matter touches on the single most important issue there is for dwarves. Food." Earl Belrose said with a smile.

"Food? I mean, of course food is important, everyone needs it to survive, but-" Leo began.

"No, no, let me explain. To dwarves, food is everything. "Humans die for wealth, and birds die for food.". I'm sure everyone here has heard this saying before. Well, let me tell you, you could just as easily replace "birds" with "dwarves". Food is everything to them. Their biggest celebrities are not whoever is richest or most powerful, no, it is whoever either cooks the best food, or has access to the best food!" Earl Belrose explained.

"It's that big of a deal to them?" Felix asked curiously.

"Absolutely. Part of the reason they are having this issue with large prison populations is that stealing food is a grave offense to the dwarves - it's a felony, even! And there isn't a single dwarf who thinks it should be any different, not even the ones locked up over it!" Earl Belrose exclaimed.

"I see..." Leo said.

"In addition, the fact that he grew up on an orchard, growing food, makes him a good person in their eyes. It's a profession and upbringing every dwarf will respect." Earl Belrose said.

"So... what EXACTLY will be the goal of this trip?" Felix asked.

"Your goal will be not only to get slavery re-legalized... but to make house Belrose the center of the dwarven slave trade, just as it is the human slave trade. We're the foremost slavery experts amongst humanity after all. This would bring us a lot of wealth and power, and be a major contribution to house Belrose. Don't you agree, Leo?" Earl Belrose asked, turning to Leo.

Leo nodded after a moment. "If he can really pull such a thing off, then yes! I would accept that full well." he said.

Felix frowned. "Can I be honest with you, Uncle?" he said.

"Of course. Is there an issue?" Earl Belrose asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Well... it's just... I don't really think slavery is a good thing. To be honest, part of the reason I came here is that I was hoping to make the slave trade better and improve conditions of it from within. So instead turning around and expanding the institution of slavery feels...wrong to me." Felix explained nervously.

"Of course slavery isn't a good thing, Felix. Not even I, the patriarch of the only slaving household in the only human kingdom we know of in this world think it's a good thing. But you have to keep in mind the total, overall context. By keeping it controlled and regulated by our house, and vetting whoever buys what slaves, we can prevent abuse... on the slaves that shouldn't get abused." Earl Belrose said.

"Err, what? But no slave should get abused!" Felix said, startled.

Earl Belrose snorted. "You see what I said about naivety, Leo?" he asked. Leo nodded thoughtfully. "Tell me Felix, if there's some disgusting murder rapist out there, and his only punishment is to casually trim some laid back noble's hedges for a few years, is that truly a just punishment for him?" Earl Belrose asked Felix.

"Well... no, but he could just be imprisoned, or maybe even a person like that should just get put to death..." Felix said.

"Death? So you think that death is preferable to slavery then? How do you think all of the slaves we keep would feel if you told them that?" Earl Belrose asked.

"That's...err..." Felix stuttered in response.

"I'll tell you one of the ugly truths of our industry so you can understand it then. Of course abuse of slaves happens... because we ensure it happens. On purpose. We have long, detailed records, and knowing the personalities of other nobles is the most basic requirements for being an Earl. I know exactly who will beat a slave silly just because they feel like it, and who will basically just let their slaves do some casual housework." Earl Belrose said, and he leaned in to Felix. "And I ensure that every slave goes where they belong. I have the power to decide if their punishment is actually an opportunity for them to get in with a nice noble, and I decide if the rest of their life will be a living hell. I decide which slaves to showcase for that lusty Baron who just wants a fucktoy, and I decide when and where to show mercy." he said leaning closer. "And... in the future, this power will belong to you, too." he said, clapping his hand on Felix's shoulder.

Felix was shaken. "I.... I understand Uncle." he said meekly.

"Good." Earl Belrose said, pulling back. "So, do you think you have what it takes to get this deal signed?" he asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I can pull this off." Felix said. Then, he calmly clutched the small bag of wheat seeds he had been carrying on his neck this whole time.