I glanced around the bedroom and released a sigh.

It’s my third day here, but I still couldn’t get used to it. The bedroom provided by the draconians was really over the top.

Gem chandeliers projecting various colors around the room, soft silky bed, and decor on the walls that seem to be... tiny dragons?

While the room itself was... well, let’s go with cozy. The bed and decorations still gave it an elegant fancy feeling.

Not sure how to actually leave this palace, though. This place is beyond maze-like.

The maids are friendly enough, though… even above and beyond what I expected. Although considering I half-expected them to try and kill me, needless to say, my expectations were set low.

I cannot understand what they’re saying most of the time, as my understanding of the language is about as accurate as a toddler attempting to draw blind. Effectively any translation is done mainly from inferences based on tone, gestures, and limited past experience.

Still, that’s served me well enough… with Stanley’s serving as an intermediary for any specifics.

Hearing a knock at the door, I walked over and answered the door.

A draconian was standing outside. He was holding some kind of package and began talking. “Savorus kei tevius tu carm. Kavos con tafro tovas.” (Rough translation: Sorry to keep you waiting. Have this random package…)

I thought Stanley would be outside, otherwise I wouldn’t have opened the bloody door…

Smiling toward him with slight nervousness, I just nodded.

Just smile and wave, boys. Fixes any awkward situation. With enough confidence, he’ll automatically assume I know whatever he’s talking about. The likelihood of him actually talking about something important is low enough that I don’t particularly care about it.

The draconian held out a wooden box nonverbally indicating for me to take it.

Open and closing my mouth in surprise… I glanced toward the package. My translation was relatively accurate? The box is for me? That was a pure nonsense guess.

Slowly reaching out, I took the package from him.

The draconian showed no indication of stopping me, so it seemed the package was actually meant for me.

“Yotovon ku tes, tevius kom ou conus?” Spoke the draconian in the normal gibberish that was the common language of this place.

Uh… the only thing I understood in that sentence was ‘you’ and ‘converse’. Don’t tell me he wants to chat with me further? Absolutely not.

I slowly shook my head.

Uhhh… what the word for sorry? He said it earlier, it was… “Savorus.” right? I really hope that was right.

The draconian seemed to understand and nodded before walking away. I stood by the door and watched him walk away.

Huh, that went strangely well… I think? Bringing the wooden box inside, I removed the packaging and looked inside.

The only thing contained within the package was a fruit.

Wait, this fruit looks familiar…

Blinking repeated, I searched through my memory trying to remember where I’d seen it before. It was only after several seconds that I finally remember where I’d seen it before.

It looks like… a world tree’s fruit?

Scratching my head, I wondered if I was misremembering something.

Far as I’m aware, the purified mana inside the fruit of a world tree is extremely valuable to both monsters and the intelligent races.

Of course, they’re valuable for different reasons to each race.

The world tree’s fruit can decrease the time needed for monsters to purify mana, increasing their growth rate.

For the intelligent races, I vaguely remember stating it decreasing the amount of mana needed to cast spells.

Either way, it’s not something you give to a random guest. Maybe I’ve overestimated the value of these fruits. After all, there are countless worlds in the universe. If each one has a world tree, the fruits cannot actually be that valuable.

Slicing off a tiny piece of the fruit, I tasted it. Tastes like… a strange combination of orange and watermelon.

Definitely a fruit of a world tree.

I’d completely forgotten about the strangely delicious taste.

Better to eat it quickly. The mana inside will dissipate over time.

Removing the seed, I ate the fruit before checking my mana pool. Confirming that my mana pool had increased by a decent margin.

Holding the seed mid-hand, I twirled it around in my fingers.

Think I’ll keep this one.

Rin might need a world tree seed soon.

The idea popped into my head of giving it to Stanley… however that idea was quickly squashed. Stanley really didn’t need my help to survive. If he truly needed a world tree seed, he would find one around somewhere randomly. No reason to waste mine on him.

Wonder if the draconians have any more of these… fruit from world trees is actually quite delicious.

Actually, on the topic of world tree seeds…

Lifting up my shirt and checking my chest, I discovered that the plant-like tattoo on the left-side of my chest had finally bloomed a single flower.

Touching it, there was the slightest feeling of soft petals on the skin.

Huh… neat.

Although, the tattoo is getting kinda large now. It covers almost the entirety of the left side of my chest. Slightly worrying...

Exactly how big is this tattoo going to get? Eating the fruit seemed to have accelerated the seed’s growth. It’s about to crawl up to my collar bone.

Uh… I don’t remember there being any limit on its height. Well, umm... I’m- uh, I’m sure it’s fine. The world tree is symbiotic plant, any growth should feed back to myself in some way.

Hmmm… I wonder if Stanley has gotten the map of the surrounding area.

Heading out of the room, I moved over to Stanley’s room. Calling out as I knocked on the door. “Hey, Stanley. You there?”

“Yeah, give me a second.” Stanley responded, taking considerably longer than a second before finally opening the door. “Do you need something?”

Upon opening the door, Stanley was in a fancy formal suit.

“What’s with the outfit?” I said, completely distracted from my initial purpose.

Stanley explained, “We’re having dinner with the princess tonight.”

“Eh, okay…” I looked over him.

The formal suit looked like it was built to be worn by Stanley. The change in has appearance was amazing to observe. Stanley looked quite good in a formal suit.

“Well, have fun with that.” I shrugged, not particularly caring about it.

Stanley gestured in my direction, “You need to get dressed up too. We are the only ones going.”

I blinked and mentally reconfirmed that he meant I was going to the dinner, “Formal dinners aren’t really my thing. Nor do I have any formal clothes.”

“It’s just the two of us and the princess. Nothing too formal. You can borrow some of my clothes.” Explained Stanley as he walked back into his room, gesturing for me to follow, “I already said I’d introduce you.”

Rolling my eyes, I reluctantly agreed to go. “Fine. When is this dinner?”

“Twenty minutes.” Stanley handed me a pile of formal clothing.

I didn’t like dealing with politics. If it wasn’t particularly formal, that was better for me. Stanley really shouldn’t have said he’d introduce me without consulting me, but what’s done is done. I’m not going to forcefully embarrass him for no reason.

I hate navigating though political situations, it’s a complete waste of time and brain power. Accomplishing, usually nothing after absurd amounts of effort.

My brain caught up with the words Stanley said moments ago.

Wait… the dinner is in twenty minutes?

“…and you’re telling me now?!” I found myself shouting at him, my normal calmness had disappeared. I was not prepared to go to a dinner at this point.

“As I said, it isn’t a formal occasion. I only found out myself not long ago.” Stanley made a random pathetic excuse.

Looking down at the pile of clothing he’d handed me, I grumbled. “Why do I need formal clothes then?”

“Better overdressed than underdressed.” Replied Stanley with sagely life advice.

Taking the clothing to my room with a roll of the eyes. I set the formal clothes down on the bed.

Not really knowing what to expect from this upcoming dinner, I got dressed up in the more formal clothing. The suit was slightly too large, but nothing particularly noticeable.

Temporarily moving over all my important belongings into the new suit, I put the rest my bag and hung it over my shoulder.

Tossing the world tree seed up and down, I twirled it in my hand before tossing it in the bag.

While I probably looked weird taking my bag to a formal dinner, I didn’t particularly care. I’ll put it under the table when I get there. I’m not letting my stuff out of my sight. That’s how things get stolen.

Reconvening with Stanley, I followed him as he walked to what seemed to be the depths of the palace. We must’ve already gone down fifteen flights of stairs.

“How far down is this place?” I inquired as we continued to walk down flights of stairs.

Stanley replied as he gestured down the stairs, “Not far now.”

Diverting toward a hallway on a specific level, we approaching a door.

Opened the door revealing a decently sized dinning area. It seems we avoiding the embarrassment of being late, as the princess wasn’t here yet. There were only a few maids inside.

After talking with the maids, Stanley indicated where I should sit down. A maid left the room after showing us to our seats.

Placing my bag underneath the table, I psyched myself up for meeting this ‘princess’.

To be honest, in my opinion, sticking far away from any nobles and royalty is the best idea. Meeting with nobility of any kind… well, I’ll just say I’m biased against them.

The whole idea of a cute princess in desperate needing of saving from a hero and getting married to the rescuer is simply naïve. They're more likely to brush you off, or give you a sum of money to display their appreciation. If you come across a situation where they want to marry their princess to you in real life, there’s a strong possibility you are been cheated or they are getting far more to benefit from the marriage than they are letting on.

The other two possibilities are that it is a new noble family without much experience or a noble family declining to the point of collapse. If a noble family is marrying their daughters out for little benefit to the family, their current situation is not far from utter collapse.

Marrying them to some random savior is simply unthinkable. The benefit of such a transaction would have to far larger than normal to even consider having their daughter marry outside of nobility.

There’s a reason why millionaires don’t donate large portions of their money to random charities and don’t randomly give millions to their friends. Anyone with money, who doesn’t spend their time attempting to make more money, won’t stay wealthy for very long… and everyone always wants a piece of pie and nobody is trustworthy.

Nobility, especially, long lasting lines of nobility are forced to consider the family’s interests before their personal desires and preferences.

The consequence is the noble families survive for a long time and while prosperous, that prosperity comes with a cost. Usually specific individuals in the family or personal happiness.

Regardless of whether they have bad intentions or not, around nobles you had to consider every action because that’s what they would be doing.

While you might not be considering everything in terms of interests and the benefit, nobles almost certainly are... and they’re usually skilled enough at manipulation to get those benefits.