Yunia pays Ereia a quick visit, her dousnadeia tied tight to her body because she's not in the mood to be harassed by the little imp.

She takes a [Gate] to the entrance of the odd, raised mansion. There's a hedge garden underneath it, which the mansion provides cover and shade for, keeping the air cool and fresh.

A slave servant is waiting for Yunia, and she recognizes the man, a handsome, young elf who is excellent at his job and loved by the women of the house, so much so that Ereia might one day give him a child.

"Your Highness, Yulania. We're honored by your presence," he greets politely and bows.

"The pleasure is mine. Lead me to Ereia, I have little free time for idle chatter today," she commands coolly.

"As you wish."

Yunia takes a familiar path through the hedges since she has visited Ereia many times before, and she finds the little imp having tea while soaking in a warm, fragrant bath, completely bare.

Yunia catches a whiff of the smell of love-making in the air, though she doesn't sense anyone else nearby, so whoever it was is long gone, unless it was the slave servant himself.

"Yu! Come soak with me!" Ereia exclaims happily then turns to the slave. "Marcoro, give us privacy, please."

"Yes, Grand Ereia," he politely replies, though he does sound a little disappointed, and Yunia notices the considerable tent in his tight pants deflate.

He activates [Silent Room] and closes the intricately decorated door behind himself as he leaves, sealing all sounds from coming into or leaking out of the room.

Ereia's happy demeanor immediately changes, and her face becomes impassive as she puts on her round glasses. "You're here because of Pedoro?" She stoically adds.

"I am," Yunia answers with a nod.

Ereia sighs and gets up, revealing her lithe, alluring body, and I finish inside Lina while imagining I'm doing Ereia again, then I focus back on my little dwarf to make up for this distraction.

"I'm sorry that I didn't warn you," Ereia gloomily apologizes as she walks over to the table near the bath, then she pours herself a cup of Eia. "I heard that the elven nobles were saying that something 'interesting' was going to happen, which was extremely suspicious since… they don't like Wolf, but I had no idea what it was, exactly, until I saw Pedoro's face, then it all made sense." Ereia takes a big gulp of her glass.

Yunia thinks for a couple of seconds, then shakes her head and gently explains, "At most, your warning would've softened the impact of Pedoro's attack a bit since we also had no idea about what was going to happen. There's nothing to apologize for." She also feels guilty for doubting Ereia, but she won't open a can of worms by confessing what was merely her thoughts at the time.

Ereia smiles faintly and sits down on a vine chair, which starts to wiggle and covers her wet skin, drinking up the beads of water and drying her. "I didn't know that Wolf was the one of the few who survived the Innocent Nymph…" She bitterly states as she looks at the rainbow-colored liquid in her glass, then takes a sip.

Yunia takes a chair in front of her. "Does it change anything for you?" She softly asks.

"I lost a few friends there. The Nymph was the best non-elf brothel in all of the elven lands, so it was quite popular with our types." Ereia suddenly raises her eyes, and they show a mix of confusion and fear, emotions that don't belong there for someone as bright as her. "I was there just a few days before the attack."

Yunia nods slowly. "That was the first time that our family was attacked, and we weren't prepared for it at the time."

Ereia frowns. "'First'?"

"The second time ended in an Intervention."

"Ah, the one where Lord Ciel acquired her Title?" Ereia softly asks, and Yunia nods. "I didn't know that that was also part of a heretical attack."

Yunia's tone becomes grim as she states, "They're organized, and they have a foothold inside the empire. We'll encounter them again, that's for certain."

Ereia's eyes narrow as she enters deep thought. "Heretic's Rest? That's why you're taking on the old royals?"

Yunia softly shakes her head, making her glorious drills bounce. "No, not exactly. We don't know if they're related."

Ereia's mood seems to darken further, and she looks down at her glass again. "I'm scared for you. What happened at the Nymph was just… 'Wickedness' seems too simple to describe the extent of their evil."

Yunia's mood mirrors hers, but she shows a burning fury within her as she declares, "When we find them, if we discover that their souls are set to shatter on death, we'll give them a Living Hell."

"Retribution," Ereia whispers approvingly, and an evil smile graces her pretty face.

After filling Lina up repeatedly, and hearing Aoi whine about how she isn't there to drink it all up, we calm down and return to cuddling.

Neither of us are big talkers, so we remain silent as we enjoy our time together.

She isn't too happy with the current color of her nails, so I start working on them. I remove the color with a piece of cotton doused in a special chemical, then I trim her nails and apply nail polish in a dark-red color with a hint of purple. She's a bit of a goth girl with a preference for darker colors, so the nail polish will go well with most of her clothes.

After I'm done, I apply a good amount of lotion to her whole body. Starting with her cute feet, I run my tentacles along their soft soles, then I slither them between her toes, stimulating the sensitive skin and making her sight.

The deliciousness of her bare body is too much for me, so I suck on each of her cute toes as I massage her soles. She smiles wryly, then makes a smug face as I lick her, triggering my "ojou-sama" thirst.

She's not the best at roleplaying, so she doesn't say anything, but her expression and dignified giggles are all I need to get it going. I just love haughty women for some reason, and it's not just the dragon who enjoys it, the human also has a thing for these sorts of "spicy" women.

Once I've had my fill of tasting her little toes, I put some long, black stockings on her legs, and she gives me a slow, lazy foot work while giving me that smug look that I love so much.

I feel like I'm just doing what I want instead of focusing on making sure that our "date" is pleasant for her, so I hold myself back after I paint her stockings white.

"Do you want to read something together?" She offers and asks for a small book of stories from my "Items."

"Yeah, sure. What do you have in mind?" I softly reply.

"This one." And she points to an interestingly named story: "Rock and Roll and Stone."

It's a (totally factual) comedy about the construction of the dwarven embassy in the capital after Mountainhome joined the empire. It's written by an imperial, so there are stereotypes about dwarves everywhere, but Lina finds them quite funny, and who am I to go and think otherwise? The differences between the races make the stereotypes ring true more often than not.

The first few words of the book paint quite an ominous imagery of what's to come…

A famous quote in dwarven history:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH…!"

Banba, the Taskmaster.

"You have no idea how loud dwarves can be," Lina wryly remarks, but then I remember that her family was quite loud, alright. "They aren't really that loud, not in comparison to the average dwarf…" She adds embarrassedly.

"Don't you miss talking with other dwarves?" I curiously ask her.

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And she shakes her head softly. "Not really. They're loud, and I'm not, so I do just fine not talking with other dwarves. I just miss the food sometimes."

"I can relate," I hum with a nod.

The story is actually quite fun to read, so we both lose track of time as we get immersed in it.

It's a nice break from all of the serious work we have to do as Lords, and the incessant intrigue coming from the nobles, and our endless training and research as we aim to acquire more power.

Lina and I don't even have to prepare for the summit because the other wives are working together and doing that for us by interrogating Nero. Also, with [Bind], they can just feed us info whenever it's relevant instead of having us memorize it all ourselves.

But eventually, dusk nears, and Poosh comes to call us back.

Originally, summits like these were also called "Reniandisabis," but in elven culture, the meeting between Lords at the end of the Lordship Ceremony became a lot more popular in novels and plays than the regular meetings between Crown Lords, so calling this summit "Reniandisabis" isn't wrong, it's just archaic.

And since we're the ones who called for the summit, it'll be hosted in our castle, which is rather disappointing since I wanted to see the homes of the other Crown Lords.

We wait in our meeting room for the Lords to arrive, and Confiel and his wives are the first to join us.

"Greetings, Ryders. I see you've all been busy since taking over the Lordship," Confiel begins with a jovial smile.

"An advantage of having a large harem with an eclectic selection of backgrounds," Yunia calmly states, making me feel quite proud from her choice of words.

Confiel and Luz smile subtly at each other while Lua simply raises her eyebrows in mild surprise.

"A harem comparable to the emperor's," the cool, silver-haired beauty tersely remarks as she takes her seat.

Luz nods slowly and kindly adds, "Indeed. There's usually no need for such 'specializations' in elven families of lords, but it's good that you're all adapting well to the Lordship."

And Confiel smoothly finishes, "The Ryders may be the youngest Crown Lords in history, so it was expected that there would be some 'difficulties' until you were comfortable in your new seats, but we're glad that we were proven otherwise."

"Well, our dealings with the Elder Council didn't go as well as we'd hoped, so not everything is sunshine and rainbows," I calmly lay out the bait.

"Oh? Do tell. We know they're hard to please," Confiel innocently walks towards it.

"We wish to impress them, to show them that we deserve to be called royalty," Yunia boldly states.

"That is… certainly ambitious," Luz hesitantly remarks, slightly surprised.

And Yunia activates our trap card, "We'll do what they refuse to get involved with. We'll solve the problem of Heretic's Rest and show them that we're worthy of having the twelfth seat in the Council created for us."

The three of them subtly widen their eyes and lean forward, now very interested in what we're talking about.

"So you've become another hopeful for the Council…" Confiel amusedly states.

"Though not in direct competition with you," I coolly affirm.

And he shows his youthful grin as he replies, "Then it seems that our interests align."

And I smoothly suggest, "Perhaps we should work together to ensure that we both succeed in our goals."

It's not an official alliance forged with iron, but it'll do for now. Having Confiel favorably inclined towards us is more valuable in the long run than anything more immediate.

Our talks of an alliance are cut short once Crown Lord Fram Varze joins us. He's a rather thin and short silver elf with the usual lightly tanned skin from Glorampina. His neat, pointy beard and his rigid posture give him a bit of a tough look, which fits Yunia's image of him as a disciplined Ronti rider with a good sense of camaraderie.

His wife has a larger build and the musculature of an archer, sporting gentler looks than his and unusually short hair. Her face looks rather similar to his, but it's within range of the "Elven Curse of Beauty" that makes them all look similar since there are no "ugly" elves.

Fram was the one who housed the twins when Mavel was deposed, and he favors the Ronti, the imperial mount, so he's likely to be favorable to us.

"Ryders, we didn't have the opportunity to be properly introduced during the Lordship Ceremony," Fram stoically greets.

"It's a pleasure to have you here," Yunia amiably replies, and he nods in response.

"I'm happy to see that you've restored your family's honor, though it was in a way that none could've predicted," he affirms approvingly.

Since we're of relatively equal social status, we don't go through the long elven custom of kissing hands, and once Fram takes his seat, he starts asking us about the twins, so there's no serious talk between us as we wait for the next member to arrive.

Crown Lord Infa Lacaza comes in next. He's from Antano, so his skin is as fair as Yunia's, though his sense of style has a tribal flair to it. His white beard is short and thin as he's a fairly old man at the end of his rule, so his Chosen Descendant might soon take over the Lordship. The elves of Antano are a bit lankier than the usual elf due to them favoring spearmen and archers more than the other regions, and Infa is a prime example of that body type, even at his advanced age.

"Ryders," he unemotionally greets us and immediately takes his seat. Antano is also known to breed rough elves, so his demeanor isn't unexpected.

We continue on with our casual talk, and Herbaco Aureo comes in soon after with his four wives, of which only one is an elf like him.

He's a well-tanned golden elf with a taste for the seas and women. His choice of clothing is considerably more colorful than all of ours, and it has a kind of Rabanarian air to it since it features fish scales, fins, and feathers.

He has a very gentle look, the kind that'd fit perfectly in a boy band, though he's old enough that he's starting to gain "dad-like" characteristics.

"Ryders," he greets softly, too neutral for us to discern whether he's cross with us or not after we invaded his territory to finish off Dawn of Fire.

Fram pointedly ignores Herbaco. The two are like oil and water, so there's little lost love between them.

The last one to arrive, who purposely came late, is Crown Lord Lotus, the mother of Yunia's former fiance. She's a rather young-looking woman with a dignified but cute air. Her build is that of an Antano archer, but she walks with a rigidity that's as hard as Fram's. Yunia's impression of her is that she's a woman who bites back, hard.

When my eyes meet with her green jewels, I clearly hear the resounding ring of a glass being struck, and I know exactly what that means. She's using [Mask], and the reason why makes us quite nervous.

"Ryders," she greets us neutrally like the other Crown Lords, and her husbands follow, though I can sense that they aren't using [Mask].

"You said that Lotus wouldn't be a problem…" I call Yunia out through our connection.

"I did, and she hasn't been a 'problem'… yet," she hesitantly responds.

The maids bring in refreshments and snacks to stave off the hunger as it'll still take a while before dinner is served.

I clear my throat to call everyone's attention to me, then I begin, "As the first topic, I'd like to apologize for the brief invasion of Lord Herbaco's territory. The Wicked Circle of Magi Dawn of Fire was leaving the High Forest, but we didn't want to allow a single one of them to escape the purge, so we attacked without first asking for permission, and for that, we apologize."

Herbaco raises an eyebrow and hums softly, "Hmm… it's fine. The Templars never ask for permission to purge the Wicked, anyway." Then he shrugs, and Fram narrows his eyes in subtle displeasure at his nonchalance.

"One of your Heart Lords certainly didn't think it was 'fine,'" I calmly point out.

"The lower Lords all have egos larger than their positions," Herbaco's elven wife dryly replies.

"I think he just didn't like you because you weren't an elf," a human wife adds with a wry smile.

"Both are true," Herbaco flatly states.

And Alissa explains, "We've held on to a part of the valuables we took from Dawn of Fire in case you wanted to claim some since they were in your territory."

Herbaco gives her a curious look, seeming quite interested now that money has been mentioned. "Ten percent tax seems quite fair to me."

She nods in agreement. "We'll send our diplomat to talk about it with you."

Then Herbaco clicks his tongue in displeasure and chuckles. "Should've asked for more," he wryly remarks, and his wives chuckle with him.

"Don't act like a merchant in our presence," Fram interjects disapprovingly, but Herbaco just shrugs.

I don't want to give them room to start an argument, so I immediately announce, "With this matter out of the way, we'll broach the main topic if nobody has anything else to add."

"When are you going to visit Brás, Yulania?" Lotus flatly interjects.

Well, shit…

"We've been very busy with business related to the Lordship, so I haven't had the time to arrange for a meeting with him," Yunia calmly replies with a partial lie. She could've spared the time, but she had neither the motivation nor the emotional energy to do it.

"Yulania, he's your former fiance…" Lotus continues, and I see her [Mask] crack as her tone gains an edge to it.

Yunia's face darkens as she bitterly replies, "I'm not the same person I was before. There's little good that could come from us meeting again."

Lotus' [Mask] shatters like glass, and her neutral expression instantly shifts into a ferocious scowl that makes her look like an angry lioness. Both of her husbands frown as they look at her, and I'm not sure who they're actually displeased with.

It seems that Yulania miscalculated as she didn't think that Lotus would have such a strong emotional response about this.

"You've certainly changed because the Yulania I knew would never be so cowardly!" Lotus angrily exclaims and slams her fist on the table.

It does impress me a bit that I don't see a single speck of dust getting stirred up by her strike.

But I don't let Yunia use [Mask] to escape this, so she becomes incensed and blurts out, "I ended things with him because I was set to die! The fact that I'm alive was a mercy given to me, but it doesn't change the fact that everything in my life changed after that!"

But Lotus turns her ferocious gaze towards me, accusingly. "Then at least you should've encouraged her to meet with Brás since you stole someone's fiancée!"

Yunia bolts up from her seat, enraged at me being falsely called out. "Don't you dare blame him!"

"I'm not here to witness a bickering," Infa dryly states.

"Same," Fram agrees with a sigh, and Herbaco also hums in agreement.

"Angilas, control your wife," Confiel dryly commands Lotus' husbands.

"Lord Yulania's callousness is quite offensive to us," one of them replies.

"Yes, but don't let this turn into a shouting match," Luz sternly piles on.

The other husband grabs Lotus' arm and squeezes it tight, grabbing her attention, and the growing storm halts instantly.

"Marsh elves…" Fram quietly hisses.

It's kind of funny to me that elves have prejudices even among themselves, but as I remember how Arreira hated that side of them, things don't seem so funny anymore.

Why is there always drama whenever we meet with powerful people? Maybe because they don't fear us?

I stand up and raise my right claws, gesturing for silence. It's time to be diplomatic.

"I understand that this topic is quite sensitive as it invokes such strong feelings in all of us," I politely state, then I turn my eyes towards Lotus and stare intensely at her. "But I don't think it's appropriate to discuss it right now, in front of unrelated parties. The encroachment of Katasko in elven territory is of a higher priority, especially for you, Lord Lotus, as they seem to be using Goldcross as their base of operations in the elven lands."

She grits her teeth, but the fire in her eyes starts to die down. "Very well, let's talk about how we'll 'purify' our lands."

"You can't seriously be suggesting that we join the Purification," Infa dryly states.

"If Katasko survives the Purification, then they'll only come out even stronger than before," Yunia sternly replies.

I don't like the way they say purification with a capital P…