92 First Impressions (1/2)

”Then shall we leave?”

Ele nodded and wrapped her arm around Rainer's own, pressing herself into him.

Rainer laughed inwardly, knowing once more she found a situation where her flirting wasn't necessarily flirting. After all, it made perfect sense to want to be as close and tightly together as possible prior to a 'teleport'. It wasn't like she knew this was [Void-walking], not teleporting and that they didn't even need to be touching.

He used a low level of [Arcane Awakening] and readied his mind towards his [Arcanum Shield]s. It never hurt to be prepared.

”Well, for the start, it is not too far from the Blood Moon Ma-” Ele managed to get out before she found herself standing right in front of said Mansion.

”Next?” Rainer said, ignoring the stunned looks of various Moon Elves around him. Ele stared at him for several long moments, like a puzzle she had no hopes of figuring out.

Rainer chuckled a bit, remembering how smooth of a trip [Void-walking] was, especially at such short distances. It was nothing like teleportation. Briefly, his thoughts drifted towards just how she had experienced teleportation in the past before just assuming her Magic-Swordsman based family may very well have a teleportation skillset. Good to know. Rainer firsthand knew the dangers of teleporting swordsmen.

”It is a large, round, single-floored building just north of here.”

”Single floor?” Rainer asked, having learned just how high land prices were here. With a direct connection to the Southern Countries, it truly was a valuable trade hub. It was the Earth equivalent of having the only city with access to the Silk Road.

”Yes, I know, wasteful. Is how you do things in the North different?” she said slipping in questions about his homeland whenever she could. Something of a habit for her. It was good that Ele was back to mostly normal, Rainer thought.

”We are Mages first, researchers second, and warriors third,” Rainer said, quickly coming up with an excuse for his own existence and lack of political decorum. That, and the phrase summed up his own beliefs quite nicely. Nothing wrong with setting up the eventual Guild, or Order, that would be based on his ideas.

”I will explain the basics of the meeting to you then after we've arrived. We should have a bit of time as we take our seats. In terms of etiquette, we often host many visitors from many places, and the clans themselves vary greatly, so there are few official things you need worry about. And the structure of the meeting should be quite clear after the first few ambassadors have been presented. We should be one of the last in that regard.”

The pair vanished several times, though it seemed like a single teleport for Ele. They both appeared in the center of an open room, swords drawn and bow strings taut at their arrival. Only Ele's confident presence, one that had changed from bewilderment at his 'teleportation' to self-assurance in but a moment, stopped any escalation.

Rainer's eyes took in the room. But at the end of the day, he couldn't deny his first interest in coming here no matter how much he wanted to. His first interest being the only one still on guard and just several feet away from him with her bow drawn:

[Lamia, Female, Storm of Arrows(2nd) lvl 24, Siegebreaker(2nd) lvl 19]

[Title: Rain of Death]

It was worth the wait.

Her lower torso extended as a long, green-scaled snake, coiling at the very end as her whole body seemed like a spring waiting to be unleashed. A light skirt of black covered the end of her human half and a black camisole lined with a greenish metal on the bottom was the only other piece of clothing she wore.

A quiver of enchanted arrows lay on her back. Her ears were slightly pointed and had scales leading up the back of them. Two serpentine eyes of green glared at him from a head of crimson hair. Rainer didn't even truly take note that someone of considerable power was still aiming to kill him until he snapped out of it a few seconds later.

”Saya, he is a guest of my clan,” Ele spoke to the woman, who while tensed on half of her tail, stood two feet over Rainer. Three, over the much shorter Elf.

Rainer glanced at the Elf, who seemed to be oddly brave given the circumstances.

The Lamia stared at him for a long time before putting her bow back around her shoulders. She left and passed through a stone archway into what Rainer assumed was the main hall.

”I apologize. She is not fond of Mages. Such a nice girl she was prior to joining the Dragon Isles with their War against the North and their Mages. I suppose seeing the causal destruction Magic was capable of soured her. I mean no offence of course, but civilian casualties were beyond high.

”The North avoided open battle when they could, and wrought damage elsewhere to lure and spread the forces of the Dragon Isles. Few would ever admit it, but the war only truly ended when the Wolf King and Saya, separately, started hunting down Mages of note. Being ancient men faced with their own mortality, it didn't take long for them to retreat to safety. Prior to that, it was going to all hell for most countries and their populaces,” Ele spoke while removing herself from Rainer's arm and putting a bit of distance between them. They were after all, making sure not to seem too close.

Even with this, Rainer could see her tension around him drop and was happy to see Ele relax like she did back when they traveled together. Having a friend be anxious and afraid of him was disappointing.

He glanced around the open hallway, seemingly only one floor in name given the 30-foot ceiling, noticing many of it's inhabitants were still staring at them. That ended when moments later Kellaria sent a few of the gawkers a glare and walked over to the pair.

”Lord Magus,” he said with a bow.

”Kellaria of the Blood Moon,” Rainer returned, noticing how seemingly unbothered the man was. If one ignored the bags under his eyes. He supposed finding assassins or spies easily hiding in your room for an untold length of time would be disconcerting.

”Shall we head to our seats? We are starting earlier than planned it seems,” Kellaria said with some obvious distaste. Rainer easily imagined that for someone who cared about etiquette starting early was quite bothersome.

”We'll meet you there,” Rainer said before vanishing, appearing among the Moon Elves in the room. Powering through the block again proved easy enough. No one seemed to notice him right away, before several hands found their way to their swords. Yet seeing Elelaria by his side, no one made any further moves. The Elf herself hid her surprise at being brought along in a teleport with no contact between them.

In the circular room with a round stage in the center were several different levels of chairs. Rainer found himself led to the top, seated right next to the highest chair. Rainer's presence at this meeting was already planned, so while expected his entrance still drew eyes from around the room.

”It is a chair for a guest of honor, right beside the Founding Head.”

Everyone's eyes in the room now regarded him with a variety of emotions. Whispers now started of where he came from and why the Blood Moon clan were so insistent in him being present here entered his ears. One spoke about how Ele failed her mission and grabbed the first person of note she could find. He was quickly shut up not only because they noticed they could have been overheard, but casually finding a mage who could teleport in such a manner was of course beyond simple chance.

Except it was chance.

Rainer thought with a bit of glee.

The more powerful in the room looked at him with an undisguised caution. He had, after all, ignored their centuries-old reinforced protections against teleportation. The same type that surrounded many of their personal chambers. It was of little doubt where their thoughts went.

Saya was one of few whose glares were more aggressive in nature. But with her having met him after his previous Void-walk, there was less surprise.

Rainer glanced out at the different seating arrangements in the room. While all around there was tiered seating, the actual seating varied greatly. Elegant chairs of stones for the Blood Moon Elves, fur rugs for Lamia as they appeared to be more lounging than sitting, and backless chairs of the utmost simplicity for the Dwarves. Said Dwarves looked a bit out of sorts among the other homogeneous races. They were a mix of pale, tan and dark skin all seeming from various ethnicities similar from Rainer's earth. He remembered some came from arid regions and others from places more mountainous before they joined together as a clan.

All magical, Rainer confirmed with a secretive [Arcane Sight]. After all, doing a Body Enchantment was only possible on those that were of the magical races. He briefly went over his thoughts on just what he would be aiming for, though he'd start with simply a favorable relationship. But, at the end of it, he needed support for a base of any sort in the Dragon Isles.

Being in a place where other mages struggled to teleport was too huge an advantage to pass up.

The room seemed to quiet soon after and no one seemed willing to break it. Rainer sat in thought as he noticed the powerful of the room were still giving him speculative glances, a few with quite tense faces and posture. Perhaps his entrance and disregard for their means of blocking teleportation had been a bit much?

Slowly, Rainer realized just what he had implied. Thinking back to his encounter with Yazir, it was clear the Skyborne had means of finding him beyond tracking magic. And he had little doubt they knew of his current location, or would eventually know. He had made no efforts in hiding his departure with the Blood Moon Elf Ambassador.

Yet there has been no retaliation. And Rainer didn't expect any. Not only was he resistant against tracking magic, he was a master teleporter as far as they knew. If he was a more scrupulous person, he could wipe out every single Mage Guild in the north single-handedly. He needed only to wait until the Guildmaster or other supporting Mages weren't there and he could Void-walk in, past any defenses. With [Arcane Blade] they'd be no different than any normal men and women.

Perhaps no one from the Skyborne came precisely because they not only feared his background but himself, even with their limited knowledge of his magic. Though they did know he cut through and killed a 2nd Tier Aura user in melee range. Normal mages of his power had their own bases of strength, so unless they wished for mutual destruction they could never do such a thing. But his was an unknown.

And he had just made an identical, but far more clear, declaration to everyone in the room. That no matter where they hid, no matter what defenses they had, he could reach them. Silently at that. Even master teleporters made noise and distorted magic to the point where even normal people could feel it. An ancient [Arch-Lich] who had lived beyond any imaginable time period like the kind he met in Nalmar was an exception. Even then, Rainer could still get a general sense of his teleports and the [Archon] had been far weaker back then.

[Void-walking] was all but unnoticeable except to the powerful already with their senses up. Only time would tell if this was a smart move or not.

”It seems we are all accounted for,” a dark-skinned Dwarf, sitting in an equivalent position to where Kellaria would be, spoke.

Uthor then, Rainer guessed.

Kellaria entered moments after that declaration, but nothing about the man indicated he was bothered by the meeting almost starting without him.

”Let us have all the Ambassadors come and speak,” a dark-brown haired Lamia spoke. Mala he guessed, given the similar position once more.

A small female Dwarf took center stage. Roughly four and half feet tall, apart from her far sharper facial features as a whole, she was a moderately beautiful woman. A trend Rainer noticed amongst the Ambassadors, if he was right in assuming they had similar seats in relation to Elelaria.

This would be the first round of meetings, where nothing was particularly private. The second round would be exclusive to the leadership of Neutral City, and the final round dealt with private meetings which could extended for weeks or months according to Ele. Sometimes even more official meetings like this would be held.

Mentally, he had already prepared to lower the strength of any enchants he'd be giving as well as the number and, of course, Void-step would never be included as a gift. While he wanted to build a relationship, he wasn't going to overarm people who may not end up as future allies. Possibilities of how to stifle or slow down the gifting of them went through his head as well, along with testing the easy removal of them with Arcane Magic, like any enchant, in [Sleep Learning].

Rainer determined to do his best to learn all he could from this, despite his attention already waning the moment the Dwarf started to speak. He briefly recalled using his [Arcane Presence] to soothe Lilia's nightmares and wondered if he could subtly use it to help him in political situations. Undoubtedly, something to explore.

Mala tuned out the Dwarf who had gone to visit the Serpent King, already knowing the important part. She, of course, knew the gist of all the news the Ambassadors brought back, with the exception of a single Moon Elf, but to them she'd still give her full attention at least.

The Neutral City's lack of any support for slavery had always soured their relationship with the ruler of that kingdom. They would not be receiving help from him despite some racial ties. Hence they didn't even bother sending a Lamia ambassador knowing he may just keep her forcefully rather than being convinced of anything. Instead, she curiously glanced at her granddaughter Saya who was still staring daggers at their newest guest.

The silly girl and her bleeding heart needed to get over what she saw in the war. Who cares if a bunch of half-breeds, and random Lizardkins were horribly magically plagued. It wasn't as if those short-lived races had much more time in them. More pressingly, what did it have to do with them or this Mage right here?

The man himself sent an enduring smile both to her and Saya. Mala barely kept from laughing at how her crimson-haired descendent seemed to visibly fume at that. She licked her lips, lamenting a mage's low fertility rate. This man would certainly make a fine and enjoyable donor for her clan. No matter, it wasn't as if she needed any excuses to approach him. And she still needed to see exactly what he was here for. Such pleasantries could wait until the true business was finished.

She looked down at one of her ambassadors next, the one that had been supposedly traveling alongside this mage and yet never met him. It wasn't hard for Mala to guess that the Moon Elf was responsible for that. Melony was quite the apt seducer and Mala would have had little doubt that she could have taken the mage for them.

At least, those would be her thoughts prior to having seen the powerful spatial caster. The way he looked and the sheer power coming off him, it'd be more likely he'd have taken her rather than the other way around.

It was a strange thing. His mana denoted him as nothing special amongst tier 2 mages. But some other sort of power, two very different ones in fact, in him raised her animalistic instincts. And with the way he teleported in here, as if taking a casual stroll rather than casting a spell of great power, had only furthered that.

The next Dwarf who had visited Tiger King came up next. Beside him was one of the sons of said King. After an introduction, the Tigerkin spoke.

”I am pleased to be here. Your city is as magnificent as ever. In dealing with the trade of the border city...”

The Tigerkin went on to discuss certain trade matters. In private, she had learned of support given. That the pirate crews of the Leaping Tigers, Endless Prowling, and the Shattered Claws changed the focus of their raiding to be around the Taranien Empire. About as subtle as a siege-breaking enchanted arrow. But, the news was pleasing even if the support wasn't direct. After some discussion from officials and economic advisors, Uthor made a final note on the matter of the trade, it being his Ambassador sent.

”We thank you for journey here, Davar Morath, son of the Tiger King. Along with accommodations for as long as you wish we have settled upon a suitable gift for you to take back home.”

Uthor went on to offer some particularly valuable herbs for the progression of one's Aura. No one in his procession even said a word, the Dwarves being wholly disinterested in politics and mincing of words in any way. It made them both easy and impossible to manipulate depending on what the situation was.

Next came her own Ambassadors, Yola, who visited the Rat King and Melony who visited the Flame King. Neither had been willing to give direct support, but all made a bit more subtle promises. The Rat King's man relating to some Dark Mages who 'fled' his territory following his own plea for 'help' in tracking them down. And the Flame King's man who had given a similar but more long-winded way of saying they sent in their privateers to help when she first met with him a few days ago.

She had given them both similar concessions as Uthor gave the Tiger King's son. More discussion would be had after their general meeting, of course, as this was just a starting formality. She had little doubt this small gift would be all that these messengers asked for.

The three elven Ambassadors went next. With Elelaria going last, Mala found it hard to focus on anything these two or their guests said. They spoke of various trade agreements and general subjects relating to that.

In private, the Sea King had become the first to give open support along with an all but forced concession to be a part of the Neutral City's planned Dungeon Party, and the Bear King gave none as expected. They had already planned ahead a spot for the Sea King, they merely wanted something out of it first.

And now came the part she was waiting for. Elelaria took the stage alone and as effortlessly as before, the Magus appeared by her side shortly after she introduced her guest as 'Lord Magus Nvos of the Far North'.

Mala heard the grunt given by Uthor and she herself found the same level of surprise, even if she would never show it like the brash Dwarf. His mana was almost untouched. The space around him not even showing the slightest bit of disturbance. Effortless indeed, she thought, upping his possible threat level to far beyond before. Teleportation wasn't supposed to work like that.

Rainer stood on the stage, waiting for Ele to begin her part. He briefly considered singing, to gather all the Charisma Bonuses from his [Bard] titles, but opted against it. Even if those bonuses would offset the fact that he was singing instead of talking, Rainer had little interest in doing so. He couldn't even imagine the effect it would have on his sanity to become a character in a musical.

He planned on his own speaking to be concise and short. There would be little point in talking for long as he'd only accentuate his lack of political acumen. He hoped the [Magus of Tongues] Charisma bonus when speaking would carry him through.

This seemed more like a general gathering that would prelude the meetings afterwards rather than the 'final battle'. Best to get his general point across and avoid any information that was more sensitive in nature. He glanced at the two main focuses of his thoughts.

While the dark-skinned white-bearded Founding Head of the Hammerfell Dwarves looked as ancient as he should be, given his advanced age, the Lamia did not. Given her absolutely massive pool of Mana, he guessed Magicite was the reason for that, while as an Aura-user the Dwarf likely had only his own race's longevity. Which seemed to be quite long.

”I bring news from the Wolf King, while circumstances prevented him sending his own emissary to guard my way, a friend of his led me instead.”

That drew surprised whispers given that publicly the Wolf King hated mages. Which couldn't be farther from the truth. The man likely didn't care one way or the other, Rainer guessed. And according to Kara, he had a few mages on retainer, secretly of course.

Ele turned the stage over to Rainer, letting him take the focus.

Rainer took her pause as a queue to step forward, having already decided to introduce himself again after Ele's own version, given that he planned a simple amendment...

”Greetings, members and leaders of the Neutral City. I am [Archon] Rainer Nvos, from beyond the Forbidden North.”

The reaction was as expected.

In the Wolf King's Capital, a silent figure stalked his prey. Hiding in the shadows, a Human of ordinary measure watched his target. As always, she was beyond his grasp. Demon Prince Fang barely kept up his disguise without wanting to rush in and attack the Half-Demon. But he knew full well the talent of the Wolf King's sensors, and the moment he'd attack this child the man himself would be here in moments.

He had been watching the Half-Demon every single day for the past week. The routine differed only in the route she took, but it was to the same dungeon every day. The guards with her on some sort of rotation. Judging by her changing Aura, she leveled beyond measure after each Dungeon, likely having switched classes recently.

Glancing down at the cracked amulet around his neck, Fang knew he only had one shot at taking her Soul...

All of it.

The first use of his amulet had been on Demon Prince Shadow, a pure-blooded Vampyr of incredible racial Talent in teleportation. And the first ever to be named Demon Prince in his first tier based on that very Talent.

That had been a hard treat to ignore.

The second was an all-but ordinary Human but with a minor Talent in foresight. Oh how many dark mages would kill for his skill in [Appraisal] from a Fairy Soul.

This Human's full Soul served as both a powerful disguise and a safety net. It was in precisely this way that Fang knew every attempt at grabbing the Half-Wolfkin would fail and that his amulet had only one more use in it.

No enchanter he had ever taken it too had ever been able to fix it. And with good reason. Defying the sight of the Divine certainly wasn't an easy task.