78. Celebrations

After all the talking and speeches, was naturally a lot of booze. Edmund Natar, the shrewd count naturally sponsored some of his fine Natarian Whiskeys for the celebration. The men were drunk, and strangely, so was the hero.

He would've thought the hero would be immune to alcohol, which were a type of poison.

"He has not received most of his stronger blessings."

"That makes sense." Edmund thought, as the nobles partied. Peter Errama, his enthralled subject, was in full entertaining mode, and it was his natural environment. Peter Errama loved parties and the company of fine women. Particularly the gawdy, voluptuous type that he chose as his companion for the event. The women clearly threw themselves at the hero as well, after all, these women have nothing much to lose.

While the hero was busy with nobles trying to make friends with him, the heroines were free to mingle.

Naturally, Edmund, who spoke quite a bit with Kiara, drew the attention of the other girls.

"So- this is-?" Wynn, Nysta, Raven, Hannah, Sofia and Bianca all approached the knight. Kiara gulped.

Edmund flashed his brightest smile, his demonic presence as hidden as it could be. "I'm Count Edmund Natar, of the Natarian province. Kiara's mother is temporarily based out of my estate while their province's reconstruction takes place. It's a pleasure to meet the beauties that aided the hero."

Edmund didn't expect to see Sofia or Bianca. In fact, a part of himself wanted to kick himself for forgetting to capture Bianca. Bianca was a brewer-alchemist, and her brews could prove useful.

Hannah looked at Kiara. "Is he-"

Kiara blushed as she realized she told Hannah about him before. "Ah yes. He's the Count that's helping me with our financial situation. We were speaking quite a bit about our financial matters back home, and- and- I'll have some additional work to do once we're in Northengard."

Hannah's eyebrows arched. This was a different story from what Kiara said earlier. "-eh?"

"I'll tell you about it later." Kiara said. She needed to buy time to craft a believable story.

"Alright." Hannah decided to let it slide.

Wynn looked at Edmund, curious. At first, she didn't notice it, because of how subtle it was. The dragonling's senses were different from humans, and so, up close, she could sense a hidden aura of power radiating from Edmund. One that he tried to hide. It was easily clear to the dragonling that this man was stronger than all of them here, except the hero. Her fingers trembled slightly. Strangely, there was also Edmund's faint scent on Kiara.

"-greetings, Count Edmund." Wynn said. Dragonlings favored powerful mates, and briefly, she contemplated the thought of having the Count as a mate. They shook hands, and Wynn felt tremendous power hidden in that body. Dragons are hierarchical, power-hungry creatures, and Wynn immediately had a better impression of the Count.

"Greetings to you too. It seems the party has two mages, now." Edmund said. "And you are?"

"Sofia. I'm the Command- sorry, Former Commander of the regional patrol from Northengard."

"Oh! You're a Northengard local." Edmund nodded. This factoid was known to him, but some of the characters in the game didn't receive much lore or story. Sofia was one such character. She was a standard soldier-commander template that the game created to fill the party memberships, and her 'win-over' quests in the late game all involved defeating monsters. Bianca, on the other hand, was a lot more interesting. She had an entire subplot around stolen alchemy goods-

Edmund paused. Isn't this blackmail material? He immediately filed that in, and made a note to get folks to investigate the matter. Once he had enough evidence, he could use it on her.

Then, his attention turned to Hannah, Raven and Nysta. "You're childhood friends of the hero?" Edmund tried to figure out whether there was blackmail material. For Hannah, she was pretty much the secondary 'hero', and of all the heroines, she had the strongest set of future upgrades. There were goddess relics that could be acquired-in-game to grant Hannah even more power-ups.

"Yes. We've known each other since we were born." Hannah answered. She didn't know why, but she felt the body language between Kiara and the Count was unusual, and so she was immediately on the defensive.

Edmund nodded, giving space for Hannah to elaborate, but Hannah didn't want to say more than necessary. He sensed it, and so directed it to the last person, the nun. "It must be rough for one from the temples and churches to wade through dungeons."

Nysta shook her head. "Not at all. I love doing it. It's all part of the goddesses plan."

Edmund smiled, and noticed some of the girls shifted uncomfortably. Raven, especially. He knew, of all the members, Raven was probably one of those that already had second thoughts about the whole thing.

"So, Miss Raven, I heard you went with the hero to the swamps and helped fix the bridges! How was it?"

Raven paused. There was something about the Count that felt familiar. Her ranger instincts was trying to tell her something, that she met the man before. She just couldn't pinpoint where-

"Miss Raven?"

She froze, as it suddenly linked. Her eyes immediately darted to the hand. The palm. The fingers. It's the same big, burly fingers. This man was the Trader! What- what sort of deal was Kiara doing with him? But- but- does Kiara know? Raven wondered right there and then.

"Miss Raven?" Edmund repeated.

The way he called her. It was the same! Raven felt her nether regions twitch, as her own bodily fluids were released down below. Why- why was she feeling a sense of craving already?! She shook her head. "-I'm sorry. I- I had a lot to think about."

Edmund nodded. "I see. That is normal. It's been a long day. Fighting the demon lord and all that. How was it?"

"Ah- tough." But Raven's mind was dirty. Her body remembered that voice. Remembered the pleasure in that tower. Her 'training'.

"I see." Edmund said. "Anyway, I must go. It's a pleasure meeting all of you. Perhaps we will meet again in Northengard."

Raven twitched. Could- could she meet him again? Secretly? As the Trader? She looked at Kiara. Kiara was a knight, she was a proper noble woman. She wouldn't do something like that!

She needed to tell her!