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The Envoy’s Party

  The smell of aromatic of southern Ersia pastries leaks through the creak of the mirrored door. The chill of the night is absent, thanks to the soft glow of the lines of elegant candles that solemnly sits on the mirrored wall of the dining room. The servants, dressed impeccably, made sure the honored guests are at ease as they led them to their seat, which was perfectly set with crisp white linens, polished gssware, and small ceramic vases of fresh evening primroses.

  The refined ambiance is now deepened by the arrival of the queen of Rosmayne and four of her adherents. Nichos, Minerva, and Fritz stand up, while Nio reluctantly followed. As for Ron, he had to have his ear pulled by Nio thanks to his slow sense of etiquette.

  "At ease, dies and gentlemen. I do not wish to have a dinner too formal for today," said queen Catalina.

  After the queen sits at the head of the table, the chef de cuisine makes his announcement.

  "Good evening, Your Majesty and honorable guests. Tonight's dinner will be a five-course meal started with-"

  "Emmanuel, tonight we have something more interesting for our ears to savor. Let your arts do with our mouths only, yes?"

  "Certainly, Your Majesty."

  The chef grabs the iron triangle hanging on his waist and strikes it gracefully with its metal beater. A few seconds after the shimmering high-pitched, ringing sound waft through the air, the servers who had been standing right outside of the door, come in. As they pte the hors d'oeuvres, queen Catalina noticed the starving looks of her guests, even in Nichos who always put on his best front to shadow his thought.

  "It must have been a long journey, Lord Nichos."

  "I must confess that we found ourselves bewitched by the beauty of Rosmayne and strayed from the main road quite often."

  "I suppose a gratitude is on due to the lord of Karad. After all, the fertilizer they provided us is of a . . . commendable quality."

  Karad is one of Aramia Empire's vassals that borders the east of Rosmayne. The allegiance of their lord, Abram Kamenko, to Ether Aramid has been questionable for a while. Many political and economic activities that undermines its suzerain state has been conducted by the lord of Karad for the st two years with Rosmayne being the main power to relish the benefit.

  The ongoing internal instability of Karad as vassal state of Aramia is nothing new to the throne of Aramain. In fact, it's more often for Aramians to fight each other than fighting foreign enemy. As a result, sometimes the officials of the capital city met certain difficulties when introducing themselves in these troubled regions. This is the very thing that happened to Nichos and his party when crossed Karad.

  "I see, you hold Karad with high regard. Should you wish to, I can give you some advice to pick a present for Lord Abram," said Nichos with a smile, watching the server serves the first course of the meal.

  "Oh? Then, let us hear what you have in mind."

  Seeing how Nichos is so calm and collected despite her provocation, Queen Catalina gets even more interested him. After all, the man before her is one of the emperor's closest aides, some even said the second most powerful person in Aramia. Hence, she had to see how Nichos would fare against her to determine his worth.

  "Eight pony horses and a ten-year old white mare. Also, perhaps, a spear made of those cantava woods? I reckon the Lucraveli has quite a bountiful harvest this year, and coincidentally, Young Lord Bogdan is an ardent admirer of those luxury goods."

  Catalina tries to decipher Nichos words, but as, she is far from his level. Her puzzlement surfaced in her face albeit only noticeable by the trained eyes such as Minerva's.

  "What an intriguing suggestion! Is there any significant story behind this oddly specific suggestion of yours?"

  "Oh, please, Your Majesty. It was nothing too grand. It was simply a spontaneous thought. Nothing excessively meticulous but engaging, just like these magnificent mushroom canapes and feuilletés," Nichos chuckles and adjusts his monocle.

  Admitting her defeat, Queen Catalina smiles and gently rubs her hands.

  "How very charming and knowledgeable! It looks like we will be having most entertaining guests for the night! Please forgive me for denying you this repast for too long. Now, let us dine!"

  The queen and her guests enjoy the dinner. Until they finished the third course, the main course of pan-roasted pheasant dijon and sole meuniere, light talks take pce between the host members and the guests. Only after the look of famish faded from the face of her guests and the eating intensity slowed down, did the queen started the main intention of the meeting.

  "It seems that you have quite the followers, Lord Nichos. Although I have to say that I expected a bigger party, regarding the nature of your mission."

  Queen Catalina smiles upon seeing Ron who keeps on eating even though the queen herself has stopped. This time, her smile bears no other intention except enjoyment, and Nichos knows she has grown curious with her guests from afar.

  "Yes, Your Majesty. Though there may be only a few of us, but please allow me to introduce my companions."

  "This is Minerva, the first daughter of House Trussia."

  Queen Catalina have met Minerva once before. She attended her coronation as one of the delegations from Aramia, representing the fabled House of Trussia. Her family has nothing but splendid lineage, every heir is able to maintain the family standing in the political map of Seraina for more than 350 years. They used to possess the rgest domain in Eastern Seraina before the emergence of Ether Aramid.

  "I hope you don't get bored visiting my country, Lady Minerva."

  "In this time of great tense, your domain remains a dreamnd. Thank you for having us, Your Majesty."

  After the queen finished her pleasantries with Minerva, Nichos continues.

  "Next to Minerva is Sir Fritz, the former guild master of Dudley Merchant Guild. Now that he is retired and his first son, Dudley, has been ennobled by the Duke of London, taking the name Dudley Walsingham and splendidly took over the guild. Now, Sir Fritz has decided to quench of his thirst of his long-lost adventurous youth by joining us."

  "How admirable. So, The Walsingham is your patron now."

  Nichos nodded and continues once more.

  "The youngest one is Nio. She is both a schor and a librarian. I met her five years ago in the Great Archive of Iskandariyah."

  "N-Nice to meet you, Queen of Rosmayne!" Nio flustered.

  Sensing the purity of her personality, unlike most people in the room, the queen smiles again.

  "Pleasure to meet you, Nio. I hope you enjoy your stay."

  Nio nodded repeatedly.

  "Ahahah. Please go easy on her, Your Majesty. Nio just turned nineteen yesterday,"

  Nichos ughs and throw a few jokes to the table afterward to make the atmosphere lose its tense even more. He did this to bring down the air of formality as low as possible since at the end, he still needs to introduce Ron. Luckily, the queen responded heartily, even promising to have a suitable birthday present for Nio sent to her room by the morning.

  "Nio is intelligent and extraordinarily sensitive to magic flux."

  "I see. I'm certain that she is indispensable for your mission."

  Nio smiles and pys with her fingers. Despite Fritz telling her that she doesn't need to be too uptight earlier, but of course it doesn't work at all. Especially for someone who never had an audience with such exalted individuals on the same table before.

  "The st one is Ron. As much as I hate to admit, he complements Nio perfectly. While Nio is effective to find a trace of magic, Ron is exceptional in finding physical tracks. As you might have noticed already, he is not too accustomed for the conduct of the higher society. Please forgive him."

  "Hey, hey you're being too harsh, Boss. I saved your skin from being mauled by a bear three summers ago, don't you forget that little hunting trip!"

  "Ahem! Anyway, that concludes our brief introduction, Your Majesty."

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