119 – Royal Banquet (8)

I stayed with Lapia for a while, chatting and drinking my glass of alcohol.

Hanna stood next to us with a small smile.

“I'll go back in,” Lapia said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. “You should, too.”

I nodded. “I'll be around,” I told her and caressed her face.

The Elf nodded back. “Thank you, sunshine,” she chuckled and walked inside.

I watched her enter the building and sighed. A few unpleasant thought sneaked in my mind but they vanished immediately. “Hanna,” I called out to the Ork next to me.

“Yes, Your Excellency?” She immediately answered.

“What do you think of this?” I inquired, then drank the last sip of my glass.

The woman slowly nodded. “I believe Lapia will go see Alyssa, Your Excellency.”

I turned to her and tilted my head in confusion. I was asking about the Urgun thing, but she gave me a completely unrelated answer. I wanted to know her opinion since I'm not as involved in this world's sociopolitical scene.

Then, things clicked.

True, Alyssa has that mending aura about her. I certainly feel revitalized when I'm with her, I mulled in my mind. “Hmm... There are better alternatives than me, after all.”

Hanna's eyes widened and her eyebrows almost fused with her hairline. She looked me in the eye and blurted out, “Are you stupid?”

I was taken aback and couldn't even form words. The woman that constantly knelt down and bowed to me called me stupid to my face. The change was too sudden and sharp for me to keep up with. “Haaah?” Was all I could muster.

Hanna's eyes widened even more and she looked down, then went to one knee in front of me. “Y-Your Excellency! A-a-apologies! I didn't mean that!”

I clicked my tongue. “If you're going to call me stupid,” I began, grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her up to her feet. “At least stand and look me in the eye.”

Hanna, turns out, is taller than me. By at least 10 cm.

Her brown eyes swam around in panic, avoiding mine. Her mouth opened and closed several times. “I-I...”

“I-I-I...” I chuckled. “What?”

She wrung her hands. “I'm sorry, Your Excellency! I spoke before properly thinking...” she shot the words like a machine gun.

“Well, that's a good thing,” I laughed. “Now, why am I stupid?”

She strongly shook her head. “N-nono, no. Your Excellency isn't stupid!” She nervously corrected.

I nodded. “Alright,” I sighed. “Then why did you say that?”

“I... didn't...” she squeaked out, looking down at her feet.

Is this bitch trying to gaslight me? I chuckled.

“No... I did... but...” she stuttered. “I didn't mean it like that!”

“Are you going to explain yourself, or are we going to continue this moronic back and forth?” I demanded in Russian, or Orkish in this world.

She nodded. “It's just... Your Excellency said there are better alternatives, and I think that's not true. I'm not entirely used to speaking with a person such as you, so I reacted instinctively,” she explained in Orkish.

Her voice was quite nice to listen to, and hearing a native speak my language was oddly relaxing.

“Aha...” I nodded. “But you see, I was referring to Alyssa's class. She's a healer, so she's the objective better alternative if Lapia wants help with her mental state. Don't you agree?”

Hanna blinked and started laughing.

What is wrong with this woman? I wondered. “What? You think Alyssa can't help her?”

The Ork shook her head. “No, it's as Your Excellency says. It's just that, since you asked what I thought and then said there were better alternatives, I thought you were doubting your capabilities as a partner.”

My eyebrows climbed my forehead. I scoffed. “Please, I know my worth and my limits,” I chuckled. “Besides... how, and why would you even know if I'm a good lover or not?”

“True,” Hanna nodded in agreement. “I don't.”

“See?” I shrugged. “Not your place to speak for me.”

“I would like to, though,” she added with an oddly serious face.

I arched an eyebrow. “You want to.. what? Know how good of a lover I am? Bold, huh? I like that.”

Her eyes widened again and her cheeks turned a deeper shade of blue. “Wha-ye ju-ah fo-huh?” She stammered a string of unintelligible words.

I hummed. She did call me stupid, I guess I can tease her a little. I stored the glass, put my hands in my pockets, and walked up to her, then pressed my chest on hers. “So? Wanna know?” I challenged, looking up into her eyes while smirking.

“No...” she whispered, looking away. “Your Excellency misunderstood what I meant.”

I took a step back and nodded. “A pity,” I sighed. “So, you meant you'd like to speak for me?”

She sighed, probably noticing I was just teasing her due to the poor choice of words. “Your Excellency is greedy,” she accused me, fanning her face.

Yeah, probably went too far. It'd be quite the thing to have the entity she puts on a pedestal suddenly tease her like that. I smiled. Serves you right for calling me stupid. “Maybe...” I chuckled. “Let's go back in,” I said and walked into the Palace.

Hanna followed me while fixing her hair.

I reached out to a server walking around and asked him if he could inform Alastor I was done.

He nodded and walked away.

The ministers returned shortly and wasted no time in telling me about their countries.

I sighed internally and listened to their words.

–

“Thus, we passed laws to increase the amount of males that sought government office,” Trilly Puna, the Nymphs' Facilitator of Higher Relations, explained.

She had been telling me the contemporary laws regarding her country, which meant the last one hundred thousand years, for the past thirty minutes.

Naturally, I was nodding along with a smile.

Turns out, Nymphs are a single-sex species, and they need other species to have offspring with. They offer great deals to foreigners in order to 'lure' them in and increase their population. Oddly enough, no matter who they have children with, the baby would be a Nymph instead of a Demi. Naturally, as is with this world, they are very hardworking when it comes to secure the luxury that is a man.

Perhaps going there would be the ideal harem dream for a man. I know my brother would be delighted.

I was about to ask her a bunch of question when a familiar voice interjected.

“Your Excellency.” Rinald, Gordon's youngest son, walked to me with a polite smile. “My Royal Father would like to have a moment with you, if that's not a problem. Every Ruler is there, and they'd be honored if Your Excellency is present.”

I nodded. “Sure,” I replied and turned to the Nymph. “Thank you for the chat, it was very interesting to learn about your country.”

Her eyes widened and she smiled. “It was my pleasure, Your Excellency.”

“His Majesty would like to meet Her Excellency, Your Highness?” Alastor asked Rinald with a slightly confused expression.

“That would be correct, Duke Lafin,” the Prince replied with a smile.

Alastor slowly nodded. “I see,” he said back with a similar smile.

I tilted my head. Duke? I wondered, focusing on their odd, short exchange. Which one was that?

Both turned to me.

I nodded. “Guide the way.”

“Forgive the interruption,” Alastor told the other representatives.

They smiled and offered polite words of acceptance.

“Please follow me, Your Excellency,” Rinald spoke, then walked away.

I followed, and Hanna followed behind me.

We left the venue through a door that led to a hallway.

Royal Guards were stationed at every corner, heavily armored and with their weapons at the ready.

They gave me nods as I walked by, and the ones who had Warrior classes saluted me.

We reached an unassuming door and Rinald knocked. “Her Excellency, Royal Father,” he announced and opened the door.

The Rulers were inside, sitting on chairs in a circle. They had protective gear on them and serious expressions.

One member of the Royal Guard stood in front of each of them.

In the middle of the circle, a blue-ish person was tied to a chair and gagged.

This some form of high aristocracy depravity? What was I invited into? I wondered, a little nervous about the world I was about to go into.

Gordon, who was sitting opposite the entrance, spoke. “Thank you for coming, Your Excellency,” he greeted me and stood up.

I walked into the room, followed by Hanna.

Rinald closed the door behind me, choosing to stay outside.

“Now, everyone,” Gordon continued in a light tone. “I know what we said, Odnir would lead the meetings, but circumstances are circumstances,” he excused with an apologetic smile.

“True,” the Goliath agreed with a nod. “So, what happened? Who is this person?” He inquired, pointing at the blue-ish individual in the middle of the room.

“Is this the one who tried to kill Her Excellency?” Claudia, the Dwarf Queen, asked with a annoyance.

My eyebrows went up.

“No,” Gordon denied with a shake of his head. “This is the one that conspired to kill me,” he announced with a frown. “One of many, at least.”