I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn’t realised what position I was in when I’d first followed Olentri upstairs. My already precarious existence in this world was now even closer to coming to an end than before. For now, at least it looked like I had made it through this turn of events. There wasn’t anything I could do about it. My fate was in her hands. If she decided to let on what she knew I would be wiped from existence.

“Did Altria tell you?” I asked.

I didn’t want to think that she had. I trusted Altria and while I could see Lillia slipping something out by mistake. This wasn't something I could see Altria doing. But I had to ask.

“No, but you didn’t think so, did you? That’s why you looked so surprised.”

“No, I didn’t. Then how did you find out?”

“Altria made enquiries on your behalf. One of her contacts saw sense and contacted me in secret. Seeing as you were all coming to the capital and the plan hadn’t yet been put in place, I decided to sit on the information until I’d spoken with you in person.”

“Well thank you for deciding not to turn me in…”

“You should thank Altria and I should warn you. It is just for now. If hiding the information means endangering her, or my people. I’ll have to revisit my decision.”

“I understand.”

“Not that I would want you to be killed.”

“Thanks… What’s going to happen with the re…”

“Shh! That’s something we shouldn’t discuss even in here. Follow me.” Olentri instructed as she got up and headed to the other door at the far end of the room.

She stopped just in front of the door and after a moment rummaging around inside her dress, she produced a small looking key. She unlocked the door, pushed it open and then stepped inside.

“We can talk in here regarding that without worry.” She said beckoning me inside.

I followed her inside, then she closed and locked the door behind us. This wasn’t a meeting room like we had just left. There were a couple of chairs inside, the only other pieces of furniture were a bed and a wardrobe. There was no window. Hanging on the wall, were a couple of costumes one was a maid outfit. I had to wonder what this room was for.

“Is it okay for me to be in here with you?” I asked.

“Yes of course, I asked you in here, didn’t I?”

“Is this the quarters of one of your staff?”

“Oh no, no.” She laughed. “This is one of my private recreation rooms. Don’t worry it’s completely soundproof and the walls are imbedded with a special material. It prevents the use of any skills or magic being used to spy.”

“Oh, okay that’s reassuring.”

I had a pretty good idea of what she used the room for. She was definitely Altria’s mother and I supposed as the queen you didn’t really want anyone knowing what you were getting up to when you did stuff like that.

Olentri sat on the foot of the bed while I took a seat on one of the nearby chairs.

“You wanted to know if I would still allow the relic to be taken. Didn’t you?” She asked.

“That was my next question.”

“Yes, I will. The plan Altria had put to together was quite clever and with my help I don’t think there is any chance of you being caught. I’m not unsympathetic to your plight and you’ve already gone to some lengths to help this world, despite your position.”

“Really? But won’t someone notice it's gone missing?”

“Not as long as you are still alive, and I assume you don’t plan on dying any time soon?”

“I don’t but it isn’t as if I can guarantee it.”

“The nature of trying to defeat the demon lord… But if they are defeated, then it won’t matter.”

“Can you really risk doing this?”

“I’ll only doing this because I think we can do it without getting caught and of course, I’ll be making arrangements so that if something is found out, it will look like your doing.”

“I can accept that.”

At least if I had my relic someone would need to come and kill me in person rather than being able to do it remotely.

“But obviously, I can’t rule out any of the risk falling on to my people. I’ll have to make plans to fall back on, just in case everything does go wrong…”

“It’s still quite a big risk for you. Are you really only doing this, because of Altria and a small sense of pity for my plight?”

She hadn’t said anything, but I had a suspicion there was more behind her actions than she was letting on.

“Let’s just say, I have my reasons not to agree with the whole thing. Perhaps if in time if you earn my trust like you have my daughter’s, we can talk more about it.”

I knew about her sister, Altria’s aunt and obviously the fact that her own daughter had to summon. Even if it wasn’t her, one of her family would have to do the job. I still felt like there was more to it, perhaps she knew something that would be helpful to my research, but I could tell I wasn’t going to get any more from her today.

“So where do we go from here?”

“You carry on as normal. I’m going to let Altria carry on with her plan and just make the arrangements in the background, so everything goes smoothly. Oh, and another thing, I’d prefer it if you kept this to yourself. I don’t want Altria to know I’ve meddled here.”

“But wouldn’t she be happy that you’ve helped her like this?”

“Perhaps. Still, I’d appreciate it if you could keep this between us. Can you do that for me?”

“I can.”

“Good. Well that just about finishes up that part of what I wanted to speak with you about… Would you mind coming and sitting here next to me? I’d like to get a closer look at the man that has my daughter so taken.” She said patting the side of the bed next to her.

“Sure…”

Olentri had said that as much a few times whilst we’d been talking. I knew that Altria was fond of me and for my part I thought we had become good friends since I had come here. Was she taken with me like she said? I hadn’t noticed, but perhaps I was missing something. She did always look out for me. I did as Olentri asked and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her.

“Hmm, well I can’t deny that you are attractive. You seem to be in good health, you have all of your teeth, but none of this is anything exceptional for one that was summoned from the other world…”

I was starting to wonder what this situation was. Olentri was getting close, her face just inches away from mine. I could feel the warmth of her breath and smell her sweet perfume. She was every bit as beautiful as her daughter up close.

“I don’t know. I’m definitely nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Modest… Perhaps it is your personality, that has attracted her. Then again I have heard things.”

“From Altria?”

“No, but I have many informants. Did you realise that Dunshelm is at the edge of the ancient catkin realm?”

“I didn’t.”

“Well, there are lots of humans and other beastkin there, so it isn’t apparent, but it is. I’m an acquaintance with the guild master, Lisa. You might have met her?”

“I've met her once.”

“I heard about the latest summons that my daughter had partied up with and that they were in possession of a, shall we say unique custom skill tree?”

Oh, so she had heard that much.

“I see… Yeah I am.”

“It sounds quite interesting.”