Ray

Ray headed towards the bar only to find the Rebel Queen missing. Well, he would just relay the message later. Not like the Baroness had asked politely. Hmm, the bar was a good place to just sit alone, right? Ray smiled as he sat down in a bar stool, happy to be there.

Now if only that collection of pink mana wasn't heading right towards him. Why did he agree to come to this party?

"Ray Rosenmund, I have heard a lot about you." The boy said. Ray saw pink, literally, the overwhelmingly bright, fluorescent, pink occupied far too much of his vision. So much of the idiot's face was pink that it was practically a tactical choice. The enemy would be blinded by his pinkness.

"I fear I haven't heard of you. " Ray said, trying to be polite.

"I am surprised, you've really never heard of me? " The boy said, the lack of expressions unnerving Ray. "And here I thought I was the talk of the town. The Elven continent does lack etiquette, doesn’t it?"

Ray still couldn't get a read on the boy in front of him, though he supposed he wouldn't be able to even if the link wasn't visible. The illusion would show him only what his opponent wanted him to see. Ray could see why Faret had risen as far as he had.

"I may have been a bit busy the last few days." Ray said, "Perhaps you can introduce yourself and jog my memory." Ray said.

“What a surprise, you truly don't recognize me. I must admit, I thought you had a deep relationship with your sister. And here she hasn't even mentioned the man she is to marry. "

Oh, it was that ferret guy. Anita did mention him, but Ray would rather die than tell him that.

"Anita has a lot of suitors, all of whom think they are going to marry her. I can't be bothered to remember them all." Ray said, quite happy with the comeback.

A short silence followed, broken only by the angry, labored breathing of the boy in front of him. And of course the noise of the party, Ray had learned to ignore it by now.

"So, she really hasn't mentioned me. '' Faret said. "How disappointing, I will have to correct her on this. "

Ray snorted, almost wishing he was drinking something to heighten the snorts effect.

" I hope you like Void shaped genitals then" Ray said. Anita corrected you, you did not correct Anita.

"Why would I have any interest in Void genitals? What weird things have you been teaching your sister? " Faret said. Ray broke into laughter.

"Oh, I am sorry-'' the laughter took over him again. —'' I can't”- and yet again -" I think you might have some misconceptions about your crush. I suggest getting some information on her while you're out shopping for common sense. "

A wave of pink mana rolled out, the room changing into a collection of erupting volcanoes. Ray acted like he didn't notice them, but kept in mind Anita's warning that Faret’s illusion were able to hurt their victims. Ray could see why this guy, despite his lack of common sense, was the Emperor's inner disciple.

The power was quite powerful, and common sense clearly wasn't high up the Emperor's list of requirements.

"I will do that, but what about you? " Faret said.

"What about me? " Ray asked.

“What are you going to do now that taxes have been raised on baked goods? The income tax committee found that your commoners have become too spoiled, the tax has been increased to 97% of net sales. "

"I see, and who exactly is this committee? " Ray asked, pretty sure he was staring at it.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

" I am. " Faret said, forcing Ray to stifle his laughter. At least bother to call yourself an agent, why the heck would you call it a committee when it was literally one person?

"I see. Well, I suppose that the commoners will just have to make do without bread. I am sure it won't cause a problem at all. "

"And we're imposing a sanction on the non-approved sale of Alchemical materials. " Faret said.

Oh, this was ridiculous to the point of hilarity. Did this guy actually think the ban would work? No, it would just remove one of the Empire's pillars, Alchemy. Though Ray was pretty sure the policies wouldn't get implemented, this guy was stupid. The same sadly couldn't be said for his boss.

But Ray felt like doing a bit of sabotage after the day he'd just had.

"A ban? Are you trying to kill the Alchemic profession? The Xnarthan go too far! " Ray shouted, acting like a wounded widow.

The announcement drew quite a bit of attention, as expected.

"A ban? What is going on? Why is my noble profession being unfairly targeted? " The Dean said, teleporting right next to him. How long had this guy been listening? And was that popcorn dust on his face?

"The Emperor has entrusted me with the responsibility to curb this rebel infestation. I will take whatever steps needed to complete my duty. " Faret said, still acting proud.

" Are you calling me a rebel?" The Dean demanded, overreacting way too much.

"Not at all, Dean." Faret said, acting calmer than Ray would have expected. "After an in depth investigation, we have concluded that the main source of rebel income stems from Alchemists.

Not to mention the fact that you didn't act against the shield cast a few weeks ago. The Xnarthan lost over three thousand operatives that day, I fear that even you must be held accountable."

"Oh." the Dean said. "I see how it is then. I hope you don't regret this, son of Neremour, I am not some random person that you can just walk over. The shield was cast by a Tier 27 Satyr Elder, someone who has been casting spells of such magnitude since before the Emperor was born, if you expect me to break such a craft then you have another thing coming."

Ray wasn't sure if Faret felt the threat in the Dean's voice, but Ray did. The space around the Dean had begun pulsing, a slight, barely noticeable wave of purple mana emerging. Ray could just see the weapons in the Treasury teleporting in and wreaking havoc in the room.

"I don't see why you're so angry, Dean, the only thing we're doing is asking the Alchemists to work with a little more transparency. As long as they have nothing to hide, they can operate as before." Faret said.

"And we're supposed to just believe that you won't arbitrarily stop anyone that troubles you from trading?" the Dean said.

"Well, you could just not trouble the Xnarthan. A surprisingly easy task, I assure you." Faret said, shaking his head as if he was simply stating a fact.

"I suppose we will see what happens." the Dean said, turning towards the crowd. "The College will sadly be stopping all supply of herbs after this decision to comply with the new regulations. I just hope that the Xnarthan will be quick with their approvals."

Ray paused as he heard the words. The words were technically just the Dean surrendering, but once you knew certain things…they were scary.

"The Empire thanks you for your cooperation. I have already cleared a dozen filers to investigate the source of the herbs and track their route. I am sure we could be approving hundreds of herbs a day very soon." Faret said, smiling widely as if he had won something. The nobility looked at him like he was stupid. Ray could barely hold back his laughter.

The College was the main source of herbs for its graduates, which were most of the Alchemists on the Elven continent. Hundreds of herbs? The College dealt with tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of herbs every day. Faret had no idea what he was dealing with.

"The Salazar group will of course comply also, every herb of ours will be submitted to the Xnarthan for approval." Aunty Ariana said, sweeping in wearing a burning dress. The flames were more of a statement of power, but they did their job well.

"I fear that we will already be overwhelmed with the College's applications, but I am sure we can get about a dozen approvals a week." Faret said, smiling slyly. Ray's eyes bulged as he tried to stop from laughing out loud. Aunty Ariana was the College's source! Faret just made his fake ban a real one.

"How about you, Mr. Rosenmund, are you not going to ask for approvals? I think we can manage a herb a month." Faret asked, looking at him like he was the weird one. Well, Ray did have a weird expression on his face at the moment.

"Thank you for your worry, Mr. Ferret, but we source our herbs from the Salazar group." Ray said, deliberately mispronouncing his name.

"I see." Faret said, "I think we may need to reconsider how many applications we can approve for the Salazar group, some herbs need to go through an extended approval process due to…factors."

"The Salazar group will be quite happy to cooperate with the-" Aunty Ariana began, only to be stopped by the Academy Dean.

"I think I have seen enough," he said, "The policy is ill-advised, the herbs traded daily by the Salazar group alone are in the hundreds of thousands, it will kill any chance of the Alchemy profession recovering."

Faret's smile froze, before widening again, as if he had figured something out. "I am aware of that, but the policy is sadly necessary. The council will reassess once the danger has passed. The sooner it passes, the sooner things can go back to normal." he said, looking at Ray.