Chapter 55. Deals with the Drow

Snapping herself out of her surprise Alovama returned her attention to me. "Yes, right. As I mentioned whatever family is allied with you is foreseen to become the most powerful family in the Underdark."

"How?" I asked in return. It wasn't like I had a lot of spells or anything I could do. Even Tarakona would have her limits against a whole army in a confined space. Not that I would be letting her fight anyway.

"We are unsure." Yeneff answered. "My foresight did not offer any details only that if we didn't take this seriously we would become subservient to the family that did."

That's incredibly unhelpful.

While this was being said Zeldi cut up a few things and offered them to me on her plate.

"Thank you." I said giving her a kiss before turning back to the Drow. "That's going to be a little difficult then as apart from Tarakona herself all I can really offer is Zeldi's milk. Though if that's what you want then I'm sure I'd be happy to sell it to you. This alliance talk is really unneeded."

"Her milk?" Alovama asked.

"It has the ability to give stamina regeneration for three hours." Ventress answered for her, still with her head down. "It's what has given us the ability to train as hard as we have done."

So the duration does get better with quality. Zeldi's milk now lasts four hours. That's good to know

"Ah your miraculous milk supply." Alovama nodded. "So you are the answer to that question." She directed it at Zeldi.

"Yes." She beamed. "Your daughter was incredibly helpful to me, it's a shame she stopped returning."

Alovama gave a hum towards her daughter who pointedly ignored her.

"Anyway. There really is no reason for this whole ordeal. We will gladly sell her milk to you." I returned the conversation back to the matter at hand.

[Don't forget about my Eggs.]

"Oh and add mana regeneration to that as well." I added after Tarakona reminded me only for the room to go silent with all eyes on me. "What?"

"Mana regeneration?" Yeneff asked as if making sure she heard it correctly.

"Yes. Did I stutter?"

The eyes of the room all began switching from looking at me to looking at Zeldi. Apparently they thought she could provide that buff.

"Trying to take her away from me would be a mistake." I threatened subtly.

"Quite." Zeldi herself reinforced. "It wouldn't be possible anyway but I wouldn't produce anything if you did."

"No. That wasn't on our minds." Alovama spoke though a little unbelievably. "We were just surprised about Mana regeneration."

"What she means to say is that any type of mana potions, be it regeneration or even just a small mana supplement are incredibly expensive." Yeneff carried on. "So you saying it like it's no big deal is astonishing."

I held what I hoped was a neutral face at that but internally I was jumping for joy. Tarakona's eggs were a bit lacking in the points department for my store ability but if they could be used as a bargaining tool then this would be great.

"Well to me it isn't." I gave a shrug. "But that doesn't mean it's cheap."

[Hmmmm while I've never let other creatures apart from you two consume my eggs I guess I can make an acception for these creatures. They do make such wonderful clothes.]

"We would expect nothing less." Alovama replied with. "But unless you will be living in the Underdark I cannot see you having much use for our currency."

"That would be correct." I said with a sigh and leaned back in my chair.

This was turning out to be a huge boon but the actual logistics would be a pain. My girls couldn't leave the farm for long enough to actually get here so that only left me to make the trip. A task I could do but I didn't know how long it would take or where the Underdark was in correlation to my farm. The only solution I could come up with for that was if I got a quest reward that gave me a more permanent way of coming to and from the Underdark and that was too random to trust.

I looked across the table and found Ventress. She had been to the farm and back a few times now so she could potentially make the trip. A smile tugged at the corners of my lips.

"Ventress. How many Drow know the way to my farm?" I asked.

Ventress straitened her back apon being addressed. "Only those that follow me. It was kept a secret so no others would be able to benefit from Zeldi's milk."

I gave a nod. "Then I don't care too much about an alliance or anything as I am a farmer that needs to make a living, but if Ventress here was to make the trip to my farm and trade items from the Underdark I couldn't get on the surface then I would be more than inclined to give her both Zeldi's milk and a few eggs."

I specifically didn't mention they were Dragon eggs just yet. Not that I thought they could take on Tarakona.

Ventress brightened. Something about what I said striking a thought in her mind. "Mother! If that's all it takes then I can make the trip silently. None of the other families will ever know how to locate the farm. It would give us a tremendous advantage."

"And you would cement yourself as my most valuable daughter by being the only one that knows where it is." Alovama smirked. "That's mighty cunning of you. Daughter."

Ventress didn't back down. "I have no magical prowess like my sister's. It is only through the opportunity of meeting Zeldi that I have been given the opportunity to be seen in your eyes. If that opportunity is what will elevate me further I see no reason to waste it."

That gave the impression Ventress was the runt of her family.

"We will only be selling to Ventress. No other Drow will receive our items." Zeldi butted in giving a wink to Ventress before looking at me apologetically.

I had no qualms with that so I stayed silent waiting for Alovama's response.

The Drow Matriarch simply smiled at her daughter before letting out a slow laugh. "Ventress. Daughter of mine. With not a single speck of magical power to your name and yet here you stand. The one who decides if this family will stay where it is or rise to be the greatest the Underdark has ever seen. I'm proud of you."

Ventress didn't seem to know if she should be happy or keep acting tough. She eventually settled for somewhere in the middle.

"Yeneff." Alovama continued. "Please give Ventress access to the first level of the family vault. Should she succeed in bartering for this Centaurs milk and provide this family with both the stamina and mana regeneration items she will be given deeper access."

"Of course Matriarch." Yeneff responded a smile on her face.

"As for you, my valued guests. Please enjoy your stay here. We look forward to this agreement. And whatever the future will give."

"Then I propose a toast." I got one of the bottles of milk from my inventory and began pouring it into the empty cups. I also brought out another full one and placed it in the middle of the table. "As proof of what we offer and as a thank you for the wonderful dresses."

I raised my glass and gave it a small sip to prove it wasn't poisonous before I indicated for everyone to do the same. The Drow and Tarakona all joined in with Zeldi ignoring her own milk glass and instead picking up one of the water ones.

"To a beneficial partnership." I said with my cup held high.

"To becoming the strongest Drow family in the Underdark." Alovama echoed.

The rest all joined in with a cheer as the cups all clinked together. I didn't really expect my first customers to be a Monarch but this certainly wasn't a bad thing.

With the talks now over Alovama excused herself and left in a puff of smoke taking Yeneff with her. Ventress now that her mother wasn't around threw herself in a hug against Zeldi.

"Gods below thank you! This is a dream." She cried out.

"If you'd have come back sooner we'd be selling it you my milk already." My mare scolded her but couldn't help her own smile.

"I was busy." Ventress replied with as an excuse.

I just laughed as I stood up. The outfit was really restrictive when I sat down and I needed to get a bit of my blood moving before my legs went numb.

[Master. We are not alone.]

"Well yeah." I replied to Tarakona. "We're in the middle of a Castle."

She didn't respond to me however and when I looked her way I found her staring at a corner of the room that didn't look any different from the rest.

"Tarakona?" I prompted.

This time my Dragon took a breath in then let it out in the direction of the corner. The frost inched closer and closer to the wall before it stopped completely against threads of silk that had been invisible before. But I didn't spend much time admiring any of it as a Arachnid woman lay in the middle only visible by the layer of frost.

"Jumping rainbow!" Ventress called out pulling her spear out and standing in front of Zeldi.

Her group all reacted as quickly as they could but it didn't matter. The jumping rainbow as they called it barely moved its legs before it was besides me. It's fangs sinking into my arm and pumping something that made everything feel like jelly.

A crossbow bolt shot in its direction but seemed to bounce off its abdomen uselessly as the invisibility dropped completely. I had just enough time to appreciate the miriad of colours before I collapsed. My last sight being that of the spider woman's spinneret wrapping me up in silk.