Noah pressed his index and middle fingers of his right hand to either temple on his head, trying and failing to relieve the headache currently plaguing him. For the past few days, he had dealt with over a dozen merchants to sell off his leviathan goods, and that wasn't even the start of his troubles.
As the newly appointed baron, he had to grapple with the work a baron would have to deal with, as well as those that came with selling products never seen before on the continent. For example, the Haldor throne had finally taken notice of the influx of leviathan meat, and he then revealed his subjugation of the beast to them. This came with its own load of work, such as proving that he did it, and then he had to attend gatherings after gatherings with the pretentious noble folk who congratulated him with fake smiles, behind which they were either wondering how they could bandwagon on his momentum or stop it.
Thankfully, his wife would step in to help him out every once in a while, greatly lightening his workload. It was unfortunate that she could only help out in a few general matters, as her training obsession had prevented her from learning much of that stuff. He had made arrangements for a secretary, but finding one that could be trusted to not be undercover and part of an external noble faction was its own bag of pickles.
On top of all of that, he also felt phantom pain shooting into his heart every time he slacked off from training for too long. What was it called, psychosomatic symptoms? Something about a type of pain not too dissimilar to reverse trauma, where soldiers that stayed off the battlefield for too long would begin to find physical symptoms plaguing them. They wouldn't necessarily love the battlefield and maybe despise it, but they'd be unable to live away from it.
Noah withdrew his hand from his temples, laying down the document he was holding with an extended sigh. He leaned back on his darbean chair, closing his eyes, then slowly opening them after a moment to look out the window, where Ariel trained.
He had set up an outdoor training arena outside the estate and had built a detached study beside it. This way, he could watch as she trained day and night. Honestly, he thought it was kind of creepy at first and was going to avoid doing it. But when Ariel heard him mention it in passing, she had walked to him, grasped his forearm, and said:
"Yes. Do that."
Pleasantly surprised and slightly confused, he proceeded to build the study out of the extravagant darbean wood that he could now afford thanks to his newfound wealth courtesy of the leviathan.
He would learn why she had been so fond of his idea during a certain night, though, where both of them had decided to engage in nightly activities for the first time. The woman had an exhibitionist kink. The stoic, proud warrior who would grow all excited and cute at an intense battle was an exhibitionist. He was no kink shamer, though. He could understand the thrill, so he wasn't really against it, but it was a tad surprising.
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Her preferences aside, the view from his window was always relaxing, considering that Ariel was in training at the arena and in his view if she wasn't with him.
Right now, the soft orange light of the sunset illuminated the fiery red hair she currently had down, which, coupled with her looks, made her look like a goddess of war as she swung her spear about. With his head turned to his left and his eyes still on her, he gently laid his head on the table before letting sleep take him. He had been awake for thirty hours at this point, and he was more or less done with work anyway.
Unfortunately, the day wasn't done with him. The door slammed open inward right when he let sleep take him.
"Fuck! I'll beat the shit out of you, fuc-uh. Good evening."
When Noah angrily got up, he held his tongue the moment he noticed the red and gold robes the person before him was wearing. Behind the man was Cedric, his hand in the same position on his temples that Noah's was in just moments prior. A maid was also there, accompanying the two of them.
The slight lack of breath of Cedric and his current state told Noah everything he needed to know. The person in red and gold flashy clothes was likely someone from Haldor royalty and had barged into the estate in search of Noah, and Cedric had tried to accompany the man since he knew how Noah would react if the man barged in to his study.
"Kuhum. How can I help you on this fine evening?"
Noah pretended he hadn't said anything and tried to clear his name. This man, whoever he was, was clearly connected to royalty, and he did not want to leave a bad first impression on them. It was unfortunate, then, that he was too late.
The man continued to stand there with a dumbfounded expression, and when Ariel walked in while speaking a few moments later,
"Noah? I heard you yelling, Who should I beat up? I'm in the mood to get a good bout—oh, who's this? You look real stupid; I think you'll make a perfect dummy."
Ariel, the training and battle junkie, did not know to recognise royalty. Well, now, no one could recognise him, considering how his face was now utterly disfigured. Ariel had killed him with one punch. With an expression of panic, Noah hurriedly transformed.
'Mimicry - Unicorn x 8!'
A short while later, four people—one wearing her trademark stoic expression, two that looked like they had lost the light in their eyes, and a very, very furious man—sat around a table of darbean wood in Noah's study