The Dreamer's POV

The envoy was welcomed in the mansion, however the guards that accompanied her had to stay elsewhere, Theo was kind and thought to give them coins to stay at an inn.

Keeping the envoy comfortable and safe until the arrival of the master was a message of good faith. Had an envoy not return nor communicated through the use of a communication artifact, it would only mean that they were dead, and that incited very terrible things, and thus, it was an unspoken rule to have envoys be treated properly.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Lord Markus Gloria mentioned in his letter that he would arrive in three days, and though he didn't explicitly mention if he was going to bring a significant number of men, it was implied. A man as powerful as Gloria would bring men to accompany him, he was much too important to be scantily escorted as the envoy was, and that in itself was something to be wary about.

Though it's been ages ago, nobles had used the messages of visits and familiarity to drive their swords into the hearts of their host, and though Luke had made the law that no foreign individual may wield a weapon upon entering, he wondered how he would react if the Lord was obstinate about having the guards wield their weapons for his protection, that would be a tough one, and it made Luke rack his head.

From what Luke had read about the southern kingdom and the little settlements around it, he had come to understand that there were very few places where weapons weren't allowed. There was obviously the royal palace, and a few other hamlets and villages. The Lyma capital hadn't been this way–telling foreigners to keep their weapons away, and then there were the native people who still carried their weapons about, what about them?

'Perhaps I should reevaluate this law of mine, nevertheless, if Lord Markus insists his guards should keep their weapons, then there's no choice but to bend to his will. Theo didn't need every nobles' acknowledgement, but he needed some to have his region be reintegrated to the kingdom once again, to continue trade, to be politically involved once more.

And speaking of the kingdom, a letter came from the palace the other day, sharing their condolences of the deaths of the duke, his daughter, and the lives of citizens who lost their lives.

They had somehow known Theo was alive and the successor of the Duke's position, the letter spoke of a grant for repairs and an invite to a ball, just what we needed.

"A ball, that is the perfect place to show yourself. The nobles will all be there, and a few princes and the king if we are lucky." Said Drius when he read the letters' content.

Things were moving quite fast for little Theo, and it seems like I would have to move with it.

The sun slowly revealed itself, shining its radiance on the houses, plants and the people. It was another great day, and the third day since the envoy's arrival–the day at which Lord Markus Gloria would arrive.

Black was already at the gates, hiding somewhere within the bushes as I assumed he loved to do. I sensed surprise from him even from the distance, unfortunately nothing more complex could be shared. Luckily, Black had his own way of teleportating and I soon met him as I ran my inquisitive eyes across the contents of <Shop>

He bowed lightly,

"Lord Gloria and his entourage have arrived." he declared, and I simply nodded to him. My minion disappeared soon after.

I got up from where I sat outside of the mansion and stretched a little, things were a little slow lately, and I had begun feeling lax like a native. It was disgusting, and there was so much work to be done.

I spoke to Drius who was by Theo, and informed them both of the Lord's arrival, and that he had appeared with a teleportation spell of some sort.

Drius nodded and went aboard one of my wyverns towards the gates of the city, to properly receive the Duke.

"How do you feel Theo?"

"Like I am about to make father proud." He said with a confident smirk.

"Oh you." I bursted to a laughter.

'I have bent him so much to be almost as good as your typical adult noble. No, he's better, he doesn't hold their distaste for peasants, he doesn't sleep around and he has people around who genuinely care for him. He's in a much better position.'

We waited, close to the gates of the mansion, alongside the envoy and the guards that had accompanied her.

And soon enough, the Lord of the Gloria domain, the richest Duke in the kingdom, came, and with him came a legion of men clad in red armour.

As his horse stride over, he didn't shy from running his eyes all over the place, looking very surprised.

'I wonder why, Sarah must have told him about how fast we've recovered, it's nothing short of miraculous, but we did it.'

The gates to the mansion part for them, and the Duke's horse and another came in, the soldiers were told to wait out.

And then I noticed, Markus and his guards had discarded their arms. I was expecting them to argue and not settle for such, I never expected him to be this amicable.

That was one less headache to worry about.

"My lord." The envoy and the guards crept forward and bowed to the duke and the scarred ugly man with him.

Then I and Theo came forth and received them both.

"Welcome to my humble abode Lord Markus."

The duke simply looked down at the boy, there was something about the way he looked at him. Yes, he thought less of Theo.

Theo ignored the questioning look and continued,

"Your journey must have been strenuous, let's go in to refresh ourselves." He announced, and I moved to the side directing my hands to the door.

"Our journey was far from strenuous, we had used <great teleportation>, but refreshments sound nice."

It did indeed