In a large room located elsewhere in the Palace, apparently a leisure room that also serves as a meeting place for the mansion's residents, a group of six beautiful and exotic women are having a small and quiet meeting, seemingly without concern.
Boommmm Boommmm Boommmm
Perhaps it’s due to the room's atmosphere, specifically designed to make the occupants feel comfortable, or maybe due to the women’s lack of common sense, but they show no panic or worry despite the severe impacts causing strong tremors throughout the Palace.
The room contains several sofas and armchairs, a few small tables, a gigantic bookshelf, and various other furniture providing entertainment and comfort. The variety of entertainment options could easily distract more than 20 people.
However, what catches the eye the most is the enormous bookshelf covering two of the room’s four large walls. The books are of all types and sizes, incredibly clean and well-preserved.
“…Sooo… shouldn’t we be a little more worried about what’s happening downstairs??”
Sitting in one of the many armchairs scattered around the room, holding a book in her hand, is a woman with medium-length vibrant orange hair tied in an attractive bun. Her eyes are yellow, almost orange, her skin pale green, and slightly long ears are perhaps her most striking features.
Being a Hobgoblin, the woman is tall for her race, but even so, she barely reaches 140 centimeters. However, this adds a unique charm to her, as it gives the impression of delicacy and cuteness, which complements her gentle appearance and exotic beauty.
Looking at the walls and bookshelves that trembled slightly with the booms, she voiced the concern that some of the other women had but that none of them wanted to be the first to bring up.
Soon, some inquisitive glances were directed at her, questioning the merit of her concern and her intention for bringing it up. Feeling quite uncomfortable, she quickly tried to nervously explain her reasoning.
“I mean… Lady Inessa isn’t well and needs help, we all agree on that. But… But isn’t Great Lord Toyosaki making things worse by acting this way? Lady Inessa is fragile… and she…”
“Hahaha, Lady Inessa fragile?? Lady Inessa is far from fragile, Sonia… Out of shape and maybe depressed, sure, but fragile? Never. Hahaha.”
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Even embarrassed and a bit hesitant to bring up the subject, the Hobgoblin woman continued talking, but she was quickly interrupted by another woman lying on a different couch with a book covering her face and her feet in inappropriate places.
With long, slightly messy white hair and clear brown skin, the woman removed the book from her face, revealing her blue eyes as she looked with an ironic smile at the woman called Sonia.
For an Amazon, her generous height is noticeable even when she’s lying down, and because of her race, her muscular body could not be hidden, subtly intimidating Sonia. The two exchanged slightly hostile glances for a few seconds.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about… ‘Lettuce hands,’” said the Hobgoblin, provoking the Amazon with a small insult, which proved more effective than anyone might have expected…
“Say that again…” The Amazon, getting up from the couch, said in an irritated voice as she glared at the Hobgoblin with hatred.
“Hehe… Didn’t like that, Lettuce Hands??” Even receiving the hateful glare from the Amazon, the Hobgoblin didn’t hesitate to insult her again.
Stolen novel; please report.
This further enraged the Amazon, who was about to move toward the Hobgoblin. But before she could take a step…
“Behave yourselves… Sonia, we don’t need any fights right now. And Mahara, stop being so sensitive about this; you should meditate much more if something like this drives you crazy easily,” a serious and authoritative voice silenced any intentions of conflict between the two.
The woman who spoke is very large in almost every visible physical aspect, which only enhances the authority she exudes. Her presence gives the impression of strength and security, making the two women stop their hostilities quickly without questioning her.
The woman has reddish-brown skin, thick and strong thighs, large breasts that match her well-built frame, and a well-defined waist. In addition, one of her most attractive features is her bold, voluminous light orange hair, which perfectly matches her eyes of the same color.
However, instead of slightly elongated or regular ears like the other two women, this woman has a pair of ears on top of her head, similar to leopard ears, though much more robust and dark.
The woman’s physique is vastly different from the others, as she has well-defined and much bulkier, visible muscles, and her arms are somewhat peculiar. Her forearms are beastly, almost deformed, with hands featuring very prominent and intimidating claws instead of regular fingers.
Being from the Hell Panther race, this part of her is a racial trait that indicates an individual’s strength, as the more robust and resilient one’s hands are, the stronger the individual. Her arms have very thick, red skin with larger bones, and they are much more resistant than a “normal” arm.
Boommmm Boommmm Boommmm
“However, Mahara is right—Lady Inessa is not someone fragile. In any sense of the word. The mere fact that Lady Inessa is a Dragon gives her a natural advantage over all other existing races as large as comparing a gorilla to an elf. The mental, physical, and psychological strength between any of us and her is light-years apart.”
The woman continued the conversation normally while looking almost hypnotically at the baby lying in a small improvised bed on a table right in front of her. It was the same baby that Akachi had brought with him, still sleeping as he had been since his arrival.
Sitting in the chair, her expression seemed to gaze at something surprisingly mysterious. The baby was an enigma to all of them, as none of them really knew why Akachi treasured and cared so much for this baby…
“Not to mention that she ascended to Dragon Lady early enough to earn the qualification of Ingenious. But the point of the conversation isn't worth discussing.” After that, the woman said no more.
“I fully agree. Let’s drop this useless discussion and get to the elephant in the room. Marien, what’s your guess as to why Great Lord Akachi treasures this human baby so much?”
Yet another voice was heard, from another woman sitting beside the Hell Panther woman, the one who had been called Marien. She, too, was looking at the baby, but unlike Marien, there was a tone of joy and curiosity mixed in her voice.
This woman had a very exotic appearance, perhaps even more so than Marien the Hell Fox.
Being from the Tiefling race, her humanoid structure bore some unique features, such as her oddly elongated and irregular ears, her long, rigid black keratin horns, or her reddish skin tone.
Platinum hair, golden eyes with slit pupils, and a long, relatively thick tail. Her height slightly exceeded that of Marien, making her the tallest among the six women in the room.
“The Great Lord’s plans are his own business. But depending on the outcome of the fight between him and Lady Inessa, we might know soon. Whatever the outcome, we’ll support Lady Inessa, as our duty guides us,” Marien didn’t answer the question, but instead, Mahara, the Amazon, seriously responded to the Tiefling maid’s inquiry.
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“Oh, come on, Mahara, don’t state the obvious; I’m not looking for answers I already know. Besides, I know that all of you here are curious as well. What harm is there in us trying to formulate hypotheses? Just one guess from each of us, and maybe we can get close to the truth. So, Anya, what do you think?”
Anya is the woman sitting in a chair on the other side of the table where Marien and the Tiefling maid are seated. She, too, like the other two, was looking at the baby sleeping in the improvised bed on the table.
She, very similar to a human with braided red hair and black eyes, is only slightly taller than Sonia, the Hobgoblin maid. But she cannot be mistaken for a human, not even by a young child, because of the large, long, fluffy, and prominent rabbit ears on her head.
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“Judging by the rumors about Great Lord Toyosaki, this baby caught his attention for some reason. And since curiosity is a basic instinct of dragons, he wants to study the baby's development in some specific area… Maybe the baby has some sort of super special condition, like high Aura adaptation, high Aura capacity, or innate Aura manipulation ability. Without the right tests, we can’t know for sure.”