Okay, I think I got what I need to about Tirin. Now let’s check out Talia.

Oh, I forgot about my adventurer’s license. Let’s hope Guild is still open. After leaving Tirin’s castle I run to the Guild. And luckily it is still open. I enter the Guild and approach the dark-haired elven beauty. Luckily, she is unoccupied.

“Hello, beautiful?”

She looks up to me.

“Hello, Mr. Alder.”

“Is my license ready?”

“Yes, it is. Here you go.”

She brings out a silvery metallic card from beneath her desk and gives it toe me. I think it is made of aluminum. On it is, I don’t know how they got it but my picture, my name and branch I registered at.

“Your rank is lowest at Aluminum-5. After completing 10 aluminum ranked quests your rank will be increased to Aluminum-4. Like that you can raise your rank by completing certain number of quests to increase your rank. As your rank increase by whole class your license will be changed. When you become Steel ranked adventurer, your license will be made of Steel.”

“Thanks for the info, Lucile.”

“You’re very welcome, Mr. Alder.”

Ooh, that was nice. And she smells too good. Hehe. Now that I got my license, I suppose I need to complete a few quests.

But first let’s check out Talia and make my choice. After that I can concentrate on the quests.

I start to follow my mana signature after coming out of the Guild. After following it for about thirty minutes I come before another mansion. There is a lot of person in this one. At least this one doesn’t have that annoying alarm system.

And since it’s dark already sneaking in is easy. Right after coming in I smell fragrance. I think this place is full of women. Just taking a deep breath sends me to the edge of reason. Damn it. Smells good.

Once again following my mana signature I come before the main lobby again. There is two women in tight fitting armor standing guard. Mmm. There is something about women in tight armor.

And those ones aren’t those irrational unnecessarily revealing armor. It covers every part of their body.

This place is bad for my psyche. Now, how do I sneak inside the room. I’m pretty sure they will notice when door opens without someone actually entering.

So, I suppose only way to observe the princess is to from outside, huh.

I come outside and head to where the main lobby is and peek into the windows. Talia is siting on the main seat and surrounding her is other gorgeous women in body fitting armors.

Tell me, is this paradise?

Come on dude. Chill. Take a deep breath. Shit, their fragrance is invading my nostrils. This is maddening.

So, how do I relax. Let’s try visualization.

Close my eyes. Don’t take a too deep breath. Think about place that calms me most. I hate to admit it, but it is little space beneath the tree.

“Still no info about my brother?”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“No, your highness.”

Shit, as soon as I hear their voice, I start seeing them in my little space. Okay, visualization is obviously not going to work.

Next, let’s try mantra meditation.

First, let’s sit cross-legged on the ground. And let’s go with the classic.

Take a deep breath and “Ommmmmmm”

Shit, it’s not working. So, I got only one choice. Use brute force. I’m getting excited because of my overflowing hormones. Then all I need to do is to suppress that overflowing hormones.

Once again close my eyes and feel that hot feeling in my center and crush it. Pour over a freezing cold water over it. Crush this irrationality with reason.

I don’t like any of those women.

As I try my best to convince my body I start to feel myself calming down. Finally.

I stand up and peek into the window again and concentrate on my hearing.

“What is Tirin doing lately?”

“Today his camp gathered for the first time. And Moren who was in his camp was killed last night and was confirmed to be a possessed by a shade.”

“Is he still using his succubi to manipulate the nobles?”

“We have no reason to say otherwise.”

She converses with blue haired I want to say cat-girl. I can’t see her ears, but I can see her tail. Damn. From the armors they are wearing, I think they are some kind of knight’s order. And I’m pretty sure that it is consisted only of females.

Ohh, my suppressed hormones I already starting to rampage again. This time blonde haired elf stands up and approaches the princess.

“Your highness, if I may. Why are you so against allying with a noble?”

“Most of the nobles in our dukedom is already corrupted or on my brother’s side. I don’t want untrustworthy or corrupt noble on my camp. Instead I would like to meet with the Guild’s master. I already got the Under-guild’s master in my camp. If I manage to pull in the Guild’s master into my camp that would be tremendous help. Don’t bring that matter again. Understood?”

“Yes, your highness.”

Her way of thinking is just but not quite mature. No matter what in dukedom nobles hold the most political power. Even if she manages to pull in Guild’s master, I don’t think it would make a much of a change in political situation.

If their competition was some kind of challenge that would be different, but archduke still hasn’t announced his requirement.

I wonder what part of the city did the archduke delegate to princess.

This time brunette with glasses stands up and…

“Your highness, you father delegated control of the slums to you. I think if you manage to solve the problems that is propping up in the slums that will put you ahead in the race.”

“Your words are reasonable. Then I hope you can survey the slums and bring up the potential problems to me and we will proceed to solve them as best as we can.”

“Yes, your highness.”

“If I may, your highness.”

This time blonde with drill hair stands up.

“If we go along Elize’s reasoning, your father will judge you by what you did in your delegated part of the city. That means your brother has the commercial district. So, no matter what we did in the slums, your brother’s results will be better, don’t you think?”

Princess ponders for a while and looks at the drill hair.

“I know my father. If what Elize proposed is right he will be watching what we are doing in our delegated part of the city. So, when time comes, he won’t just look at the result but the process too. That means as long as we do something along the right direction my father will see that.”

“I understand.”

Drill hair sits down. So, in the end both of them came at a same conclusion. But compared to her brother princess is more, well frankly just. Considering the lot she is involved with. None of them proposed assassination.

But there is still something behind that woman. I’m afraid if she snaps everything will go to hell.

If the brother wins this dukedom will be engulfed in chaos. If sister wins this dukedom will be, can’t say orderly. But it will definitely be better for everyone.

So, whoever I decide to support can change the fate of this dukedom. Now, the real question is still who I support.

I can’t care any less about what happens to this dukedom. On one hand setting this dukedom’s fate to destruction might be interesting to. On the other hand, letting the sister win will be good for my karma.

I believe in karma. So, this time I will let the sister win. Next time something like this happens I will choose more interesting course of action.

Now that I chose who to support. How to let her win this race. According to their guesses everything will be decided by what they manage to do in their delegated part of the city.

But this is too roundabout. If any of them wants to win decisively they need something to show.

Their father might know what they did in their delegated part of the city. But others won’t. No matter who wins, there will be push back from somewhere. So, their race needs to be decided by something clear and straight forward.

And since princess has the advantage in the military side, something like a monster subjugation or defending the border, things along those lines will give her the absolute advantage.

That means I need to do some research around this dukedom. But first let’s inform about my choice to guild master.