When they reached the door of the reception villa, Albella stopped for a moment and took a deep breath, she needed to have a calm mind. These people would not be here being it not for the absence of her parents. One was investigating what had happened to Darthañan and Frigglene while the other was dealing with creatures in Morgrum.
“Calm down” Frigglene said placing a hand on her shoulder.
“Darthañan is very skilled when it comes to this kind of thing”
Albella nodded and prepared herself to open the door adorned with beautiful floral patterns.
"Let's hope they behave" said Albella and opened the door.
When the door opened, a villa without a cabin entered their vision, this place, unlike the others, was furnished with tables, chairs and sofas of all kind of sizes, to receive all those who sought an audience in the castle. But unlike other days the reception villa was empty. There were only the other three groups that had been waiting for Albella all morning.
“Good morning Miss Albella” greeted a woman, the leader of the first group of guests.
This elderly woman was a Quinoid. A species of humanoids with features of different types of animals, as numerous and diverse in the empire as the humans. This Quinoid who just greeted Albella had the features of a turtle. Her skin was teal, her arms, legs, and neck were long and thin, with a face that carried the wrinkles of many years. Her clothes were of cloth and she carried little jewelry. The weight of her body and shell was supported by a beautiful magic staff, which occasionally emitted blue particles around it.
"Good morning, Madame Dembe" replied Albella, bowing her head.
“Hahaha as polite as ever, Miss Albella, nice to meet you” greeted the leader of the second group of guests.
This particular overweight man was a Multrow. Gelatinous and slimy humanoid mollusks with a height of two and a half meters, their bodies retained their shape thanks to their exoskeletons made of shells. This particular Multrow had a huge mouth, two eyes just as big, and a body twice as long as any of his other companions. He wore a leather shirt with shoulder pads of purple and aquamarine fabrics. He was wearing small dark blue leather shorts that met the long purple stockings he wore. His luxurious high heeled black shoes adorned his tiny feet that contrasted strangely with the rest of his body.
On his head he had a baggy hat exactly the same color of his shoulder pads, generating such an appearance that Darthañan and Frigglene had to look away to avoid laughing. The robes of the entire second group were just as ridiculous as the ones of this Multrow.
“The pleasure is all mine. Your fame precedes you Mister Enok” Albella bowed her head again.
"We hope we are not inopportune" said Madame Dembe.
"Not at all" replied Albella.
"Jinshu mercenaries greet you" said the leader of the third group.
This man and his companions were Voidmaws. Two-meter metal creatures, with large thoraxes and heads that made their distinction difficult. Huge protrusions came out from their backs and necks. And in extreme contrast, its four limbs were slender. Their hand fingers were as long as their forearms, and their feet fingers were as long as their calves. In general, the fingers, both of the hands and feet remained together giving the appearance of having sharp spears as limbs. These metallic black beings walked on the tip of their feet. They had no clothes, but their bodies were adorned with gold patterns.
“We receive you with humility Zihan” Albella answered with the same smile she had been wearing since she entered.
The intimidating being flashed his big smile and nodded.
“These are my companions” Albella said pointing to the human and the vampire who were two steps behind her.
“Nice to meet you” Darthañan smiled.
Frigglene only greeted with a smile like the three leaders also did. In Almawarth not speaking in greetings wasn’t considered rude, to simply greet with a small nod was enough.
Next, Madame Dembe, Enok and Zihan introduced their respective companions. After which Albella invited them to sit down. Once everyone was comfortable on the sofas, the friendliness in the environment disappeared. The reception villa seemed to enclose four hungry animals about to fight over a piece of meat.
“To what do we owe the pleasure of receiving together the representatives of Barons Jinshu, Musset and Beura?” asked Albella, crossing her legs.
“Hahaha you know that we came for the...” Enok, the huge multrow went silent in the middle of the sentence.
One of the doors of the reception villa was opened by several ubax maids who in groups of six carried trays with cups of tea and fruit to accompany.
“For business” finished Enok sipping a bit of slime that his mouth had released while talking.
“And what businesses are we talking about?” Albella asked again pretending not to know the real reason why these people were visiting.
“We want to extract a resource from Lhimkio” Enok replied taking some of the fruits and stuffing them in his mouth.
“What resource do you want to extract from my family's land?” Albella asked emphasizing that the island of Lhimkio belonged to her family.
“Stop playing! Neither my men nor I came to waste time” Zihan interrupted furiously.
He and his followers as good voidmaws lacked patience and subtlety. Madame Dembe who until now had remained with her eyes closed since she sat down, moved to receive the cup of tea offered to her and sighed deeply.
“Zihan watch your manners” Madame Dembe said opening her eyes, guiding Zihan's vision towards the ubax servants.
Zihan understood the message, and letting out a puff of smoke from his mouth towards the ceiling he calmed down.
“Our presence here is the courtesy that we must show on the part of our masters” explained gently the quinoid turtle.
At that moment the ubax servants excused themselves and left the reception villa, closing the door behind them.
“But the reality is that the three barons have taken notice of the energy waves coming from Lhimkio” the old woman's gaze became sharp.
“We are not asking for permission; we are going to extract what is emitting that energy in the coming days.
“I thought your masters were afraid of my father. I think it's been a long time since they got into trouble with him. If you think that when he comes back he will not retaliate, you are wrong.”
The Quinoid smiled.
“The three baronies are allied. And I hope I can clarify that our masters are willing to do anything to claim what they consider theirs and are not afraid to start a war with Vorpiax.”
<They know my father is outside, if I don't handle the situation well, they will rob us in our own house. Once they take what is producing that energy, even if my dad comes back it will be almost impossible to get it back > Albella thought, worried not expecting the three groups to be allied.
“¡Ahem!” Darthañan cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention.
" I thought these guys were your business partners, Mrs. Albella. Not your robbers" said Darthañan in an annoyed tone.
Albella tried to keep the smile on her face <What are you doing?> She thought turning her head and at an angle where only Darthañan could see her eyes and then expressing that same question with her face.
Frigglene just smiled and enjoyed the show.
“Who do you think you are?” asked Enok furious.
Zihan broke the cup of tea he had and stood up enraged just like Enok. A simple companion had interrupted the conversation and with a condescending attitude to make matters worse.
“Who do you think you are commoner?” Darthañan returned the question to Enok where it hurt him the most.
Madame Dembe's eyes flashed for a moment. For a time, she wondered why Albella had not introduced these people, now she understood, the bold young lady had set a trap for them. Waiting all this time for one of the three to infuriate this noble out of ignorance.
Darthañan's counter question hurt Enok so much that his face lost all color, if the money couldn't win against something it was the power of the nobles. Enok had had an inferiority complex since he was a child and for that reason he had managed to break through the ranks of the Musset merchant group.
“Zihan, be more educated please” said Madame Dembe motioning with her hand for him to sit.
The powerful voidmaw remembered his master's words, getting what was producing all that energy was the priority, everything else was secondary.
“With who do we have the pleasure to talk? Apparently little Albella did not introduce us correctly” asked Madame Dembe trying to liven up the situation.
"None of you deserve to know my name, not even my bodyguard's name" said Darthañan, looking directly at Madame Dembe.
The quinoid turtle felt chills with that look, that was the typical look of the cocky nobles, this man was not playing. The elderly woman turned to look at Frigglene whom she took as the human's bodyguard, and at that moment, the smile that vampire had had all this time made sense. It amused that woman to see how commoners got into trouble with their master.
"I am sure that any of those barons would present gladly your heads to me as a welcome gift if I choose to visit them" Darthañan interrupted the Quinoid thoughts.
Actually, both Darthañan and Frigglene were high ranking nobles, belonging to the high islands. Places with which these people hardly dreamed of at least ever seeing in their lives. For this reason, Madame Dembe saw that Darthañan was not pretending, since this quinoid of more than 250 years was very difficult to be deceived.
What they did not know, was that all this power and prestige that Darthañan emanated was pure air. Since neither he nor Frigglene were sure that their families continued to exist.
Presenting himself as a noble was a risk, but It was unlikely for 3 barons from the lower islands to identify them, unlike Helvella they were all small figures in the grand order of things. That is why the couple had accepted the request of Albella, but just to be sure they did not mention their names nor families.
