Mt. Loc
The Ovis Estate a magnificent and rich sight to behold made up by towering pearly white mansions and villas, where the lords and ladies of House Ovis lived out there days. The theaters and auction houses where the Ovis would throw their coin away for entertainment. The 'help' were kept where they belonged inside condominiums and the many never stopping mines where rare gemstones were ripped from the earth.
All of which was encircling Mt. Loc until it all went up to Castle Ovis. It sat atop the mountain to watch over its realm just as large as the Castle Penfenics and even more luxurious. High walls and towers tipped by blue flags and banners with white ram heads, finally each gate to the castle was plated in gold and silver with a group of heavy armored guards keeping all out.
"Hmm?" At the moment one of the guards was looking up at the sky out of sheer boredom since nothing had all month. "What th-!?" While they were doing that out of nowhere on a clear sky came a bolt of lightning that struck the earth in front of them. "To arms!" They yelled to their comrades, brandishing their weapons as they moved in on the cloud of smoke caused by the thunder strike.
"Ugh!" Rolling out of the smoke cloud was Blake's clutching his stomach as if he was about to throw up on the spot.
"YOU! HOW DID YOU GET HERE!? AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" One of the guards came up to Blake and roughly grabbed him by his collar.
"Please...let...go..." Blake pledged, feeling something come up as his neck got pulled on.
"I'll let go of you when you start talking!" The guard brought Blake up on his feet then looked back at the smoke, cleaning up at the moment. "Master Magnus!" And gasped once they saw Mangus standing there surrounded by a group of people and a Greater Wolf of all things.
"Oh dear, I didn't think he'd be the one most affected by that spell?" Magnus was thinking out loud with a hand going to his chin as he glanced at the others to see how they were doing.
"Hmm, hmm, hmm! What's wrong smith? Never had all your body pants turned in to mana then shot off at the speed of lightning?" Nathan mockingly asked Blake, barely feeling a thing for Mangus' spell.
"That was quite the experience, Master Magnus, thank you." Risabeel seemed to have taken it just fine, however, a rustling from under her hood got her attention. "Ah! Vas are you well?" She tried to look up at the frog only for him to roll out from her hood and into her hands with his tongue sticking out. "Oh, I am sorry, I should have warned you first to prepare yourself."
"B-ha-bwha! th-th-th-that wa- no-nothing!" Rena was either shocked to her core or she ate twice her weight in sugar since she was stuttering and shaking on Lu's head with her wings flipping out on her.
"..." Lu, on the other, was fine except for the slightly annoyed look he had on his face once he realized where they were.
"Again! Again! Again!" Mari's hands and voice were thrown skyward with some of her hair frizzed up.
"No." While Gram was turned into a giant fluff ball with sparks zapping off him.
"*Heck!*" And finally we had Mordecai currently flushing out his insides on the armored boots of a guard, dying them an odd shade of the rainbow.
"~Ooo~" Which was quickly slurped up by Os sliding over the guard's feet.
"AH! What the hell is that thing!?" They tried kicking Os away, and it stuck to their foot. "Get it off! Get it off!"
"My pet Slime," Mari playfully answered the guard then held out Os' jar. "Os get back." She ordered, and the small Slime stretched itself back in without getting on Gram.
"Hmm? Two of them got sick? Did I mess up the mana transformation? Or the spell circle? Or maybe it was the output?" Magnus was mumbling to himself about the minor problem 'in his eyes' that befell Blake and Mordecai, creating a small magic circle of lightning in his hand. "Hmm?" And was shifting random parts of it around. "Yes?" Without looking up, he spoke to a guard who had been trying to think of a way to get the spellcaster's attention.
"Uhm? Yes, sir? You gave us quite the shock, hah, literally but, uh this is the Ovis Estate? So, it's best you state your reason for coming here today along with 'these.'" The guard waved a hand at Blake's group with Blake and Mordecai coming out of their sickness.
"I am not here for anything. I was just giving them a lift. The one that was about to throw up wishes to speak with a member of House Ovis," Mangus explained still shifting around his magic circle, pausing now and again to look at Blake and Mordecai. "I get the smith but why the thief?"
"'These' people want to speak with an Ovis?" The guard asked with a not too sure look on his face, but seeing as Magnus brought them here might as well ask them who. "Alright, boy, where is your letter of audience?" They held out their hand to Blake.
"Letter of what now?" Blake looked at the guard's hand and went up to their stern face glaring at him. "Uh"
"By the light of the Goddess! A letter of audience happens to be a signed note written personally by one in authority to one of lower status to speak with them, you idiotic dolt!" Nathan came up to explain/insult Blake. "As much of a surprise, it is for me to find out that you know of an Ovis, you can't just walk up to their front door asking for sugar!"
"Letter of audience, huh?" Hey! Lu! Do you still have that thing Stefan or whatever his name was, gave you?" Blake ignored both the insults from Nathan and the glaring of the guard.
Lu patted around his person a bit and asked Rena to check his quiver with her popping out with that sliver ram head badge Stefon gave to him. "Here and his name's Stefon, not Stefan." He lazily handed the badge to Blake, giving him a look that told the smith not to make a joke with his words.
"Fine..." Blake nodded, fighting back the urge to do the deed then showed the badge to the guard. "...is this enough for the letter of audience, it's from Stefon Ovis."
"!" The moment the guard laid eyes on the badge their face frozen in place then without saying a word to Blake they backed off and went to speak with one of their co-workers, shooting glances at Blake's group while counting on their fingers. "Master Magnus, will you coming along with them as well?" They finally asked after the other one went off somewhere.
"No, I have done my part," Magnus dispelled his magic circle then sent a volt of lightning into the air. "S-" Before he could even get a word out Magnus was gone in a flash of lightning with only a small burn mark where he stood.
"I can see where you get your manners from," Blake muttered, eyeing Nathan as he remembered the time Nathan just up and left them at the bottom of a dungeon.
"I have already said my apologies to you on that! No need to keep it to heart!" Nathan shot back with his hand held in the air as a deep blue carriage rolled up to them styled with gold designs on its sides pulled by 5 whites horses with blue coolers on their backs. "Eh?"
"These are the guest of the young master Stefon?" The classy dressed coachman asked the guard keeping an eye on Blake's group for a moment, and once he got a good look at Blake, his eyes lit up a little. "Oh? Aren't you that one smith that saved the young master at Fyrilk Forest?"
"Uhm? Yea? But what's with the carriage doesn't he live in here?" Blake shot a thumb at the giant castle in front of them that was easily the most prominent building on Mt. Loc hell maybe the whole city as far as he knows.
"What? Oh, no, no, no! That's Grandlord Albert's home. His children have their own homes somewhere around Mt. Loc." The coachman answered, stepping off the driver's seat to open one of the doors of the carriage. "Now, please get in, so that I may take you to your audience with Master Stefon at his mansion."
"Got so much money that the kid's rooms are mansions..." Blake muttered under his breath, getting into the carriage and the held out a hand to help the others get in until it came to Mari and Gram. "You coming in or are you having too much fun with him."
"Gram's super soft and fluffy now!" Mari cheered, wrapping her arms around Gram's head and press her face into his puffed up fur.
"Don't worry I'll play nice while we're here," Gram promised not to get too rowdy while licking his fur to get it back to its usual slick look.
"Good." Blake sent Gram a nodded then waved over at the coachman to get a going.
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Somewhere on Mt. Loc
"You wanted to leave him for dead at first!" Nathan screamed at Blake after listening to how he met Stefon.
"I mean yea? He was a dick, and I didn't owe him anything." Blake muttered after Nathan's outburst currently sitting next to Lu and Risabeel while Nathan and Mordecai were on the other side. "But, I'll admit got a bit of gold out with him and thanks to this thing right here we a get a straight ride to see him without going through any dumb official stuff." He was flipping the ram badge in the air a few times. "Hey!"
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Until it got snatched by Mordecai, who waved his hand around to make it disappeared. "Careful with that thing! People kill one of these!" The thief warned, making the badge appear in his other hand. "This happens to be one of the few ways those stuck up, selfish and self-centered Ovis can show that they actually trust someone or at least someone they don't want to buy with money. Anyone wearing these pretty much gets to say 'fuck off my important!' to the world." After that Mordecai flicked that badge at Lu.
"Of course, the thief would know about the richest people in the kingdom..." Blake watched Mordecai grin from ear to ear then he turned to Nathan. "...speaking of accessories that make you look important? What's up with those pins that Lich and Magnus wore?"
"Master Magnus and Master Valdre are members of the Sigil Sect by the most powerful spellcasters in all of Laudonia. One of the greatest accomplishments in Le Fay is to be called a member of the Sigil Sect. Which I am destined to achieve, hmm, hmm, hmm!" Nathan explained, bringing a hand to his chin and smirked looking all too pleased with himself. "AH!" Until the carriage came to a stop and he flicked, getting a chuckle out of the others. "Shut up!"
"We have arrived at the home of Master Stefon!" Called the coachman as he got off from the driver's seat to open the carriage for the others, welcoming them to a three-story white mansion with the same blue flags and banners found anywhere on Mt. Loc.
"All that for one guy..." Rena was amazed to see the scale of Stefon's home and flew above a stone wall topped with statues of rams to see a vast garden as the front yard where servants were attending to plants some of which were cut into detail likenesses of Stefon. "Ugh! Talk about pride much!" Rena wanted to gag at the sight of them and quickly flew back to Lu.
"You're in luck, friends! It seems the master is in today!" Coachman informed the group after talking with a guard at a steel gate that had a sign above it that read S.O then went back to the carriage and moved out as the gates began to open with a maid standing behind it in wait.
"Greetings, all to the home of Stefon Ovis." She bowed to the group, and once she came up, she turned around. "Now, please follow me and mind not touching anything on your way in."
"Theif." Blake glanced at Mordecai once they started walking.
"Why did I get a double warning!" Mordecai punched Blake in the arm for that. "You really think I'd want to pocket anything from a bunch of plants we need to get inside first, heh!" He whispered, rubbing his fingers together at the idea.
"Do that, and I break these." Blake grabbed his fingers and bent them painfully in a way they shouldn't go.
"OW! OW! OW! I was joking!" Mordecai pulled his hand free from Blake and held his finger tight to get them back facing the right way. "Geez! You are a jerk, sometimes! How the hell did you get that Ovis to give you that badge!"
"The power of a cute face, ~right~ lady Lu?" Blake moved around to Lu putting an arm around the Elf, rocking him a little while they walked together.
"Ugh, don't get too happy he might've forgotten about me? Or found someone else? And this a waste of time." Lu hoped that he was right, yes, he was Blake's only chance of getting a guild put together but having to take advantage of Stefon's though slightly mistaken affection for him and admittedly the noble was an idiot for not figuring that out, it just did not sit well with him.
But the sound of the mansion's large twin doors being slammed open stopped whatever conversation that was going on as standing proudly behind them and accompanied by a group of servants with his crossbow over his shoulder was Stefon Ovis.
"Oh? Sorry, I did not know guests were coming today...I was...just about to go for a bit of target practice, but it is most wonderful to see you again, my dear lady Lu..." Stefon oozed just as much uncaring confidence as when he first met the group, spotting Lu with one look and went up to the Elf while throwing his crossbow into a servant's waiting arms. "...and I must say you are as ravishing as ever, my dear." (Someone tell him)
"..." Silence fell over the group at noble's words with both Nathan and Mordecai taking a glance at Lu then back at Stefon both of them thinking that either Lu lied about his gender or that Stefon was an idiot.
"He never told him, just let him have it." Blake leaned back to whisper to them before they got confused, but that only made them more confused them they were already. "So, Ovis I need your help with something..." Blake tried getting the noble's attention, but he was currently spending his time lovely looking at Lu despite Rena glaring at him with a fire in her eyes. "Yo! Lord Bluenette! I want to speak to you!" The smith reached out to put a hand to Stefon's shoulder. "Huh?"
Right then and there a pair of guards appeared slapping down armed gauntlets on Blake's shoulders. "What are you planning on doing to Master Stefon?" One of them asked as they lifted Blake off his feet.
"Oh, you guys? Right..." Blake turned to them each of their faces hidden behind faceplates. "...the 'help' doing their thing again, Stefon."
"Well, since you are out of place I'll allow it..." Stefon finally pulled away from idolizing Lu for the moment and spoke with Blake. "...but, I don't like the fact that he's higher than me put him down would you." He ordered, and his guards did so on the spot. "As much I would love to show off my humble abode to my lovely lady Lu, you must have your reasons for piggybacker off of my affection for her. Once that's done I'd like you to take your ramble with you and leave the two of us to ~ourself~" He sent a wink Lu's way making the Elf shiver under it and move behind Blake. "Why must the best one's cling to men like you?"
"Maybe because I'm not a creep?" Blake answered, scratching at his chin with Stefon unamused by it. "Remember when you gave us that badge and said that it'd help with any effort, we had in Gorz? Well, we came to cash it in." As he said that Lu held the badge out from behind Blake.
"Oh, this?" Stefon reached out to the badge and held on to Lu's hand. "If I do remember I gave this to Lu not you smith, and that offer is for her and no one else. I want nothing to do with you, understand? Or did I use too many words for that small head of ours?"
"Welp, I didn't think it was going to be that easy." Blake thought to himself with Stefon trying to pull Lu from out behind him. "Guess it's time to use, Lu!" He stepped to the side and let Stefon and Lu meet face to face. "Well? You see Master Stefon, the reason why I'm asking you is that Lu here is far too shy to address you personally, in fact, 'she' was so deathly afraid of seeing you on her own that she came to all of us for support."
"Hmm? Is that true, my dear?" Stefon looked to Lu for an answer as the Elf starting playing with his fingers and nodded. "I know that I have such a powerful presence that it affects others greatly but fear not! I shall hear out whatever it is that you have to say and remember that I am willing to grant any want you have."
So now it was all left to Lu. "Well, uhm, you see Lord Ovis, Blake recently decided to form a guild and asked me and some others to join it but in the endeavor, we found out that there was a quite large sum needed to be paid for the resignation which was when Blake had the idea of us asking you for your support."
"Hmm? A guild, you say? Weren't you coming here to be a blacksmith, bashing his head on a bit of iron? Not some hero trying to find glory on the battlefield? Hmph, how weak dreams break down so easily," Stefon mockingly scoffed at Blake and looked at him for an explanation.
"It's more of a way of getting extra coin than a career change, but that only happens if you have some money to throw around." Blake corrected Stefon while egging him on to make sure that everything went his way on this.
"Money to throw around? Ohohoho! Do you even know who you are speaking with? I am Stefon Ovis! One of the richest men in all of Laudonia! Throwing money is like a sport to me!" Stefon declared with as much pride as he could bring out of himself. "However, those with wealth cannot be so by only giving and can they?" He added, looking like the most obnoxious bastard ever.
"Dammit." Blake cussed under his breath, he thought he could get out of this without owing Stefoin anything thank's to Lu's 'charm,' but of course, there was something else. "Alright, what the hell do you want to do? Fight a Giant? Find a gold vein in an owned mountain? Or anything else you wouldn't do yourself."
"Nothing..." Was Stefon's answer as he smirked at Blake.
"Nothing?" Blake, along with the others, was confused and he rolled a hand at Stefon to go on.
"Nothing...at this very moment that is. I shall one day come to you with a task. Be it in the middle the day or the dead of night, and you will drop whatever it is that you are doing and bend to my every whim until I am satisfied with the result," Stefon explained, already imagining a time where he drops in on Blake and make him a slave of a while. "Ohohoho! It will be such fun!"
"..." And Blake just had to take it as is, the time he used gathering everyone up was used, and it'd be waste to turn back now. "Alright, your lordship, I and my guild shall be graciously awaiting the day that we are able to repay you for your 'kindness'" He bowed for Stefon along with the others except for Gram and Mari who were going around the garden bored out of their minds at the moment.
"Excellent..." Stefon brought his hands together, eating it all up, although, as dense as he was about Lu's gender, he was able to tell that Blake was putting up an act. "...you there, prepare two carriages for me. I'm taking a trip to the Common District today." He ordered a servant in waiting.
"Right away, my lord." The servant bow then quickly disappeared to have the task done.
"Now then, while we wait, shall you and I have a short stroll through the garden? I would very much like to have your input on the upkeep of my plants." Stefon came to Lu, looking like a schoolboy asking out his crush on their first date.
"Uh, no! I'm sure that's fine you must have some great gardeners here working for you! Besides, Rena knows more about plants than me you should ask her Lord Ovis, haha..." Lu tried, dodging Stefon's advances, but an arm somehow making its way around him made him turn blue. "...Uh!"
"Nonsense! You are an Elf! Your knowledge of the plant world should be unbeatable! Now come, come, we have so much to catch up on." Stefon shot down any chances Lu had of getting away as he dragged the poor Elf around his garden. (Someone tell him!)
"Grrr! If that jerk tries anything on Lu, then it's Super Rena Kicking time!" Rena flew after the two wanting to keep an eye on the little ram before he got any funny ideas with Lu.
"Welp, the hardest bit is done, I guess we'll have ourselves a guild in a few hours." Blake held his arms behind his head finally done with this hassle. "*sigh* This only gets harder."
"Yep, it does but its worth it." Mordecai came up to pat Blake on the back, knowing what was on his mind. "But, I have you to give it to you on being resourceful when you said you had a way of getting that gold! I thought you had some hidden stash somewhere, never thought I'd see the day when an Ovis would help someone."
"Like I said the power of a cute face." Blake threw a hand at Stefon, showing off a bed of rose where Stefon with Lu looking over the others of help. "Better go save his ass."
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A villa near Castle Ovis
"Ah? My dear little brother has guests for once...interesting?" Came from a middle-aged man somewhere in his late thirties. He was wearing a blue bathrobe with his shoulder-length blue hair soaked as he was looking through a telescope out in an open balcony. "Who would have thought that boy could get anywhere socially..." He pulled back from his spying and looked over Gorz with a pair of grey appearing as an older version Stefon to anyone who would look at him. "...but it matters not."
Chapter End