Ryuji was a little crestfallen. There weren’t any of the really big wind spells that he was used to from manga. He couldn’t afford to buy any manga himself but his friends had money to and he could read them at the library. In a lot of those kinds of fantasy stories, there were wind-blades and tornado spells or even hurricane spells. A lot of them would have a sub-class of lightning as an offshoot of wind.
It didn’t look like there was any of that here and he began to wonder why. What would it take to make a reagent for lightning he wondered? How would you find a stronger reagent with a higher affinity to air for something like a tornado? Then again, how many people here had ever seen a tornado? He had to wonder, with such a limited understanding of the world around them, how many bits of magic could he be the first to invent? It might just be a lot. After all, Dorn was most likely unaware of the potential to make a fire spell from thin air so it served to reason that other opportunities were being missed. Maybe he…
Crap, now wasn’t the time for this! He needed to get things wrapped up and get out of town. He needed a way to put her off for a bit first. “I see what you mean! *He got a smirk so he could play along and then ditch her* I might just do that if it’s that useful. Heh, I guess you really do need me. Well fine, I’ll think about it but you’re going to have to wait five days. I’ve got something I need to do before then. I’ll meet you at the advent… uh… Mercenary’s guild in five days.”
Miyako was elated! She had managed to goad him into joining her party so easily. She just had to wait… five days? Why did she need to wait that specific amount of time? Also, was it really that easy? Had she really gotten him to do what she wanted? Something felt off and she decided to follow after him and see where he was going. She just had a feeling like…
Ryuji was walking away when he realized that she was following him. she wasn’t even being stealthy about it, just walking about ten meters behind him. Well, if she was stalking him, he didn’t want to go directly to the inn and have her watching all of his goings-on. He considered going to Dorn’s shop but there wasn’t any other way out of there. Maybe he could lose her in a crowd or down an alleyway.
Approximately the same time at the duke’s mansion
The young woman sat relatively at ease despite the rather elaborate dress she wore. It wasn’t the kind with the overabundance of frills and hanging ribbons that were in fashion in the capital. She really detested those even if they were the height of fashion, in no small part because they required a small army of attendants to fit you into and check that everything was draped the right way. She was instead wearing something a bit more practical, in red and golds, that she could get herself into and out of. She turned to regard her host before she went on.
Across the low sitting table from her on the other plush, yellow, rounded couch sat the Duke himself. He was the picture of elegance as he sat there sipping his tea in contemplation. His style of dress was derived from a military uniform but was certainly none the less elegant or extravagant for the cut. His broad shoulders filled out the golden-tan and purple surcoat with the heavy gold pauldron belt sitting on top of it with their pauldron capes in purple hanging a few hands down his arms. His crossed legs filled out the purple military-style trousers. He then uncrossed his legs and sat forward to set the teacup back down on the saucer in front of him. and noticed the young woman’s gaze locked on him.
Duke Lyrill let out an exhausted sigh. Today was an interesting day and not in the best of ways. First, he had received a report from his trust in the tax office that the strange elven nobleman that had been plaguing his thoughts had done another absurd thing in his city. Aleen was a very loyal woman and he was once again glad for it. She had sent him a report that this Ryuji, which was almost certainly an alias, had gone and bought the rights to a huge number of properties throughout the city!
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Previously, he had escaped the notice of some of the lesser nobles simply because his focuses and exploits had been almost entirely within the commoner portions of the city. Many nobles didn’t bother to look at anything that wasn’t directly within the noble’s district. His city wasn’t the largest or the best, certainly not when compared to Tzo’aan, the capital, or Ihnor, but it wasn’t some little town on the coast either. The nobles that were sent to him from the capital all acted as though the rest of the city didn’t exist. That had kept this elven noble from parts unknown from drawing too much ire but not now, not since he had purchased land within the noble’s district.
The sheer volume of land he purchased was absurd. How had he afforded to simply spend so much money without regard? Duke Lyrill had determined that he must have come to the city with a few larger coins that he then broke to get the funding for his goals, whatever they were. After checking, he had been spotted in the money changers on numerous occasions but not breaking huge coins but exchanging up from armloads of coppers and other small change. It was starting to give the duke a headache just trying to parse this all out.
Then this morning, the watch captain reported to him with news on the elf lord. After everything that had happened, he was sure that the man would either come to him out of respect or be targeted by other nobles and come to him for help. It was expected that the watch captain would show up but not carrying the news that he did. The enigmatic elf lord had been confronted by a pair of the guards on duty in the noble’s district and instead of pulling out his badge of nobility, he had baited the guards into saying something stupid.
The duke had just groaned when he heard that part of the conversation. Great, he thought, I have another one of those kinds of nobles in the city. Then the report continued and it seemed the man had told them of their mistake, only then revealing his identity, and warned them that they shouldn’t make assumptions without confirming facts. In almost complete contradiction to the duke’s expectations, his parting words to them had been to watch out for nobles baiting them into bad situations. The guard captain had then accompanied the guy to his new building and he said he genuinely seemed to only be interested in what kind of business he would be opening in the place.
After all, that mess was finally over he was about to head to his office to start working on the appropriation requests sent to him by the army. That’s when he was informed by his aide that his guest had asked to speak with him. He had assumed when she arrived that she would rather order his people around than speak to him. he had been informed on occasion that she would ask about something the attendants were unaware of but otherwise she kept to herself. She hadn’t been as pompous and self-absorbed as he was expecting and was out often. Now she wanted to speak to him.
Her words had left him with many things to think about. There were things going on in the capital that weren’t going to be good for the country. Now the question was what his guest intended to do. He looked at her and cleared his throat. “Very well, you have left me in something of a spot but I do have to thank you. If not for your arrival, I would be caught unawares when I was forced to make some choice about the succession. I doubt that many know it’s in contention and rest assured that I won’t be spreading that information.”
“As for your request that I not inform your family of your whereabouts. *He sighed heavily* I shall also not inform them you are here. I trust your resolve in that regard.” The duke could feel a headache creeping between his eyes just saying those words.
The young woman rose and drained her tea in one go. It was, by most regards, poor manners to do so but she was determined to be done with this tedious business as soon as possible. The duke hadn’t summoned her since her arrival so she had to take the initiative and she didn’t enjoy all this formality. “Thank you! I know that this would be disastrous if the word of it got out. I really can’t thank you enough for helping me protect the royal family. This is just the sort of scandal the nobility are looking for to undermine the crown and I refuse to let them have their way!”