Caeldaemos didn’t look happy in his suit.

“My, you look strapping.” Listamati blushed a bit while admiring him.

“A haircut and a clean shave, you look quite good,” Rana commented, acting bashfully.

“Good enough to eat.” Liara joked while her cheeks reddened.

“Down, girl.” Caeldaemos joked.

“Mom, do I really need to go?” Lily looked uncomfortable in her dress.

“Yes. You promised Geon, did you not?” Rana reminded her.

“I’m sorry, Lily….” Geon pouted.

“AH! No! It’s okay! Let’s go!” Lily placated the core.

“Oh, Caeldaemos.” Geon approached him. “Could you hold onto my core? I would feel safer being with you.”

He chuckled. “Sure.” He gently hung her around his neck.

Liara was in a form-fitting red dress, her six tails swishing happily.

Listamati’s dress was fancy while being a bit outside the standard demon attire. It covered most of her body while lightly accentuating her curves.

Rana was in a traditional demi-human dress that looked like a long-sleeved kimono.

Both Lily and Geon were wearing matching kimonos that matched their individual hair colors.

“Well, shall we get going? We do not want to be late to the party.” Liara said.

“So long as it is not like that ceremony, I think I will be okay.” Caeldaemos huffed.

The commissioning ceremony made his head spin. Several of the ministers of the palace placed so many limitations on what he could and could not do that it was stifling. Other than actions, there were even words he wasn’t allowed to use. At one point in the ceremony, he slipped up on accident and caused a minister to collapse in despair. When Caeldaemos saw the beaming smile on the queen’s face, he found and thoroughly apologized to the minister. By the time he got back home, he had to lie down from how exhausted he felt.

Simon, a resident of Hallibrush who volunteered, drove Caeldaemos’ carriage to the palace and stopped before it. Listamati clearly stated that a noble NEVER drove themselves to a party, and to do so would lead them to be mocked. Driving and riding as a hobby were fine, but never when attending events.

“Let me know when you are done, my lord,” Simon called from the carriage.

“Thanks, Simon.” Caeldaemos waved the demi-wolf off.

Caeldaemos took a deep breath.

“Are you feeling alright, Cael?” Listamati asked from her position next to him. The day was her turn to be with him.

“A bit nervous.” He replied as they climbed the stairs to the palace.

“You don’t have to worry. As I said before, do not show weakness. If they befuddle you with something, take your time to think of an answer. I will be with you today, so I will be able to help.” She comforted her big oaf.

He smiled down at her. “Thanks, Lista.”

They arrived at the door to the event hall.

“Your invitation, sir?” A demi-human at the door asked.

Caeldaemos showed it to the man.

“Thank you, sir.” The man turned to a microphone. “Now arriving, Baron Caeldaemos Delormond and family.”

Delormond. A name Caeldaemos was forced to come up with on the spot. Usually, the queen would designate a family name to a new noble, but she put him on the spot to mess with him. The only thing that came to mind was ‘Demon-Lord,’ but he couldn’t outright use that, so a bit of rearranging and he got what he has now.

Entering the hall, there were a little over a hundred nobles in total, many consisting of similar families. The nobles eyed Caeldaemos’ group with predatory-like stares.

“Cael,” Listamati whispered to him.

Caeldaemos then pulsed his Captivate and Lord of War abilities. It was a tactic Listamati came up with that would not only draw the nobles’ favor but also make them feel he was someone to avoid trifling with. It took several attempts and fine-tuning the mana level before the demoness gave her approval.

The atmosphere quickly changed back to that of a party of them chatting amongst themselves.

“Looks like it worked,” Listamati whispered.

“Now what?” He asked as they headed further in.

“We find someone of influence to attract. Once that is done, it should open several doors for us once we make a good impression.” She replied.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Hah! I know they said you were big, but gods, you are big.” A boisterous voice called out.

They turned to be met by a demi-tiger man in a military uniform.

“General Valen, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Listamati greeted the man.

“Oh? You know of me?” The man’s demeanor changed to one of assessing them.

“I make it a point to know of important individuals. Especially potential allies or foes.” Listamati’s expression did not change from a simple smile.

The general let out a laugh. “Impressive. You have quite the talented wife, Lord Delormond.”

“All three of my wives are quite talented, General.” Caeldaemos shook the general’s hand.

“Oh? Wives?” The general looked over at Rana and Liara.

“You are a man of broad tastes.” The general joked.

“In trying times as these, is it not best to have broad tastes,” Listamati responded with a cool look.

The general smiled at her and bowed his head. “Indeed, these are trying times. With the Demon-Lord still hiding, unity is important, as you say, my lady.”

“Lord Delormond.” A familiar voice approached.

“Sir Lucas.” Caeldaemos greeted his friend.

“Do you know him, Sir Lucas?” The general asked.

“Yes, sir. This is the man who saved Hallibrush from an invasion singlehandedly.” Lucas answered.

“I see. So, this is the one you spoke so highly of. Hmph, I wish I had found you sooner to recruit you.” The general commented. “But I best not keep you. I am sure others here will wish to speak with you.”

The general said his farewell and headed off.

“You owe me a drink and meal for that,” Lucas commented.

“Thank you, Sir Lucas. We will repay this favor later.” Listamati said.

Sir Lucas headed off.

“I have no idea…” Caeldaemos said.

“Sir Lucas set up the meeting with the general for you to make things easier. So, in a sense, we also owe the general.” Listamati replied.

“Nobles are confusing….” Caeldaemos commented.

“We will mingle around. Come on, let’s leave these two to it.” Liara commented.

Liara, Rana, Lily, and Geon headed off in pairs to make themselves available to approach.

A stern-looking woman and her husband approached.

“That’s the new viscountess, our neighbor. Lady Lidia Altraeus.” Listamati whispered.

“Good evening, Lord Delormond.” Lady Lidia greeted him.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Altraeus.” Caeldaemos bowed his head.

The viscountess eyed him coldly.

This was something Listamati predicted. The following noble to take over the viscount domain would likely be irritated that a part of their awarded domain got ripped off and handed over to someone no one heard of.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Lady Atraeus.” Listamati greeted the woman.

“Indeed.” The viscountess did not look happy.

“Cael, we prepared a gift for our neighbor, did we not? We were going to send it to your home, but I hope you would not mind receiving it here.” Listamati said.

Caeldaemos pretended to pull a box out of his storage ring and present it to the viscountess.

The woman opened the box to find a mana stone and map. “What is this?”

“Before we were raised to our current station, we were a Rank 7 mercenary party and had done some work in this domain. My husband here had the luck of coming across the location of a few mines in your domain that we felt you should know of.” Listamati answered.

The viscountess’ eyes widened, and she looked over the map again, seeing four notable locations.

The viscountess cleared her throat. “I see. This is a fine gift. I look forward to working further with you, Baron Delormond, Baroness.”

The viscountess hurried off to make some calls.

“You are awesome.” Caeldaemos complimented his wife.

“This is thanks to Rana’s mapping of the area. We didn’t know how much land we would receive, so she also scouted some mines in her area. I merely used what we already had.” Listamati said with a proud smile.

After encountering the viscountess, multiple nobles began to approach Caeldaemos to form a connection with him.

This was also something Listamati predicted if they successfully placated the viscountess. She understood that many nobles would be curious to know of other things he may have found during his travels, primarily in their domains.

Caeldaemos was thankful Listamati was with him as he felt he would have embarrassed himself over a dozen times with each noble party that approached.

“I have to say, that necklace you have is lovely. Where did you find such a thing?” A noblewoman asked.

Caeldaemos gently held Geon’s core. “This is a one-of-a-kind. We found this gem in a dungeon we conquered a while ago.”

“Goodness! A dungeon! Such terrible places.” The noblewoman shivered.

“Things have changed, my lady. Dungeons no longer kill people who enter them. Now they only kick them out, taking their equipment as recourse.” Caeldaemos commented.

“Truly? I’ve only heard rumors of such a thing.” The noblewoman’s husband commented.

“We assure you it is true. It has been posted at the mercenary guilds that all dungeons have been confirmed to operate in such a way.” Listamati added.

“Well, that is good news for our heroes, then. We won’t have to worry about losing them as much.” The nobleman commented.

“Oh, was it not rumored that they were coming here?” The noblewoman asked.

Both Listamati and Caeldaemos froze at the news.

“Excuse us for a moment.” Listamati pulled Caeldaemos away. “We need to tell Lia!” She whispered to him once they were far enough.

“Where is she? That bastard would recognize her.” Caeldaemos replied while trying to spot her.

“I will tell her! I am close by!” Geon whispered to just the two of them.

Caeldaemos sighed in relief that Geon’s core was with him because a few minutes later, their arrival was announced.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Would everyone like to see an interesting trick?” Liara asked the noblewomen around them.

“A trick?” A noblewoman asked.

“I am actually an illusionist. Observe.” Liara changed the colors of the ladies’ dresses.

“My! That is interesting.” One of the women exclaimed.

“What is the extent you can do?” Another asked.

“Ah, I can….”

Geon quickly approached and whispered into Liara’s ear.

Liara smiled. “I see. Thank you, Geon.”

“Is that your daughter?” A noblewoman asked.

Liara giggled. “Our husband is a truly benevolent man. We found her locked deep within a dangerous location. Cael decided to bring her with us and took care of her to the best of his abilities. Gradually the two grew close, and he decided to adopt her.”

“My, what a gentleman.” A noblewoman exclaimed.

“You ladies have no idea.” Liara blushed while cupping her cheek while twisting lovingly.

Some of the ladies looked over to where the large man was.

“Yes. Being with such a large man must be… rough.” A noblewoman commented.

“Oh, he is quite sweet and gentle. He does things correctly.” Liara replied to the comment, causing a few noblewomen to blush.

“Now! You asked about the extent of my ability, correct? Allow me to show you.”

A mist rose from her feet, spiraling about her body, eventually shrouding her within. A few moments later, the fog dissipated, and Liara’s ears were a bit longer. Her hair, fur, and eyes were red, and her skin was olive. She also had two fewer tails than her original six.

Liara now had complete control over Misty Veil. When Caeldaemos broke the curse of the Eye of Entrapment, he also broke the Spirit Curse on her skill. She was still getting used to the full extent of the ability, but it significantly improved her self-alteration to where a person could touch the fake parts and feel them as if they were real.

The noble ladies were in awe over her change.

“Is that a Spirit ability!?” A noble gasped.

Liara giggled. “From my mother’s side.”

It was then that the arrival of the heroes was made. Gathering Rana and the girls, Liara led them over to Caeldaemos. They would feel safer being with him.