Prey Assessment

Galdon Oie was married to a most gorgeous woman. Edrick had heard a little bit about the supposed beauty of Lady Oie, but had not quite believed them immediately. After all, who in their right state of mind, living in Oie, would dare say otherwise about the wife of the most powerful man around? Especially since everybody seemed to love the lord, they would not go around disparaging his woman--Even if she was, in fact, not all that attractive.

But Anoteros should not have doubted that a noble lady would be anything other than beautiful- Milerva Oie was a redhead with long hair that cascaded over both shoulders and wore an exquisite dress that emphasised her attributes--Two of them in fact, as they stood rather prominently. Still, it was nothing as impressive as what Fanqia had, but it was not natural to compare people to the extraordinary.

Considering her build and height, the noble woman was very well endowed, and the faintly visible freckles on her face added a touch of charm to her figure.

She welcomed the guest of importance with a warm smile as soon as he entered the room.

The Elt scion did not let it show in the least that he was actually seizing up the people present. He greeted everyone back politely and made use of just the right amount of etiquette, thus leaving a good impression on everyone present.

Galdon and Milerva Oie had three children.

The eldest was Jania Oie, a blonde girl who looked a lot like her father. Her demeanour stood out to Edrick, as he could immediately tell that she was not exactly thrilled to be here, or too content in general for that matter. But upon taking a good look at him, it was clear that her curiosity was piqued.

She should have known who was coming, so it seemed that it was something about the way he looked that aroused her interest…

The second-born, Tylia Oie, was not much younger than her sister. She shared her mother’s red hair, but had a whole lot more freckles. In what was perhaps an attempt to imitate her mother, she also tried to smile at him, but instead of a refined expression, it was far less noble, but nonetheless endearing.

Although the two sisters were not that far apart in age and were both of marriageable age, the youngest appeared far less mature in behaviour. Due to being a whole head shorter, she also ended up appearing younger than she truly was.

That impression did not last too long, hoewer, as she was silently told to act more appropriately for her status.

It must be a rather common occurrence for them to be able to communicate so neatly without using a single word.

And finally, there was the last child, who could barely even be considered a teenager. He looked like a miniature version of his father.

He was called Galdoni Oie, although most people seemed to just refer to him as Galdon Junior.

“Go ahead and take your seat, Sir Anoteros- I can guarantee you that the goose is to die for!” the lord spoke before he himself headed for his own seat. Apart from the Oie family and Edrick, there were a couple of maids and butlers standing a distance away from the table, ready to attend to anyone who might need it.

“I must say, Sir Anoteros, when I placed a bounty on that savage beast, I was not expecting that the brave hunter who would slay it would turn out to be someone of your status! We don’t usually have guests of such importance” the lord certainly was no stranger at dishing out praise.

“Sir Anoteros, if I may ask, how did you defeat the beast?” the moment there was a small moment of silence, Jania spoke up with a neutral expression.

“Jania…” her mother said something with a small sigh. Edrick was starting to understand a little bit about the dynamic here. But still uncertain, he acted none the wiser and simply smiled.

“Since we are having dinner, I’ll spare some details, but it went something like this…” Anoteros recounted a story that was basically a slightly reimagined version of his fight with the sasquatch lord. He made it sound like a far more intense and drawn-out battle than it had been, really playing it out to be a desperate struggle against an overwhelming foe that had been driven to rage and madness from their repeated encounters and small skirmishes over days and weeks…

His audience was positively captivated.

Galdon and Milerva probably understood that he was embellishing the story to make it more appealing, but they were still very invested in it. The noble scion was simply a very good storyteller.

“Whoa, did you eat the beast like they do in the stories?” this time, it was Tylia who spoke up, looking oddly pumped up about the idea.

Anoteros cleared his throat, as though the subject could not be spoken about in too much detail.

“Indeed, as might have spread throughout the city, that is how I acquired a bloodline that perfectly suited my body cultivation technique” he explained. He watched as the second-born daughter made the mouth movements to say ‘awesome’ but did not actually say anything aloud.

“Mister, do you have more stories?” Galdoni was also enthralled by the epic tale.

“I have only recently begun my journey, but I do have one or two more stories to tell…” he then proceeded with a similarly altered tale about his confrontation with the six-armed octopus and his duel with Xiao…

As he told those tales, a few things became clear to him about the Oie family...

Firstly, Tylia, despite being born and raised in nobility, is quite the rowdy girl and was quite easily impressed by the strong cultivator before her. He guessed that it would not be too complicated to convince her to lie in bed with him. She was the sort to go along with the flow.

Secondly, Jania was not very interested in the city or the traditions of the family. It became rather obvious as he told more stories that she would prefer to be a more traditional cultivator. The noble girl would rather wield a sword and go on adventures than use techniques that solely enhanced the mind, and spend the rest of her days doing nothing but manage a city.

Anoteros also considered that this made her a rather easy lady to convince into moving to a more serious relationship. Considering her admiration for his strength, she certainly wished that she could emulate him.

However, his third target here was far less easy to read. Milerva Oie was far more mature of mind than her daughters.

The two young women had big dreams and a bright candour that could be exploited to swiftly and efficiently get closer to them…

Milerva, on the other hand, did not let much through, leaving Edrick with little idea of how she truly perceived him... Or of what sort of woman the lady of Oie truly was beneath the mask of nobility.

‘She’ll be difficult to deal with’

He felt like licking his teeth. The challenge was tantalising.

He did not yet know how, but he was definitely going to have a taste of this mature mother of three…