It was about 3 hours that, for anyone else, could be considered torture.

The two women (girls) spent all that time wrapping me in different types of fabrics. They placed one ornament after another, jewelry and anything else they could find, while they discussed in a heated way which color would look better on me, which fabric would make me prettier, or which gems would go better with my hair.

It was 3 hours in which they moved me from one side to the other, treating me almost like a rag doll.

But you know what? It was a lot of fun. While being treated that way, with no way to refuse or escape, made me feel a little anxious, seeing myself in the mirror with dresses of different types and colors, made me feel pretty. And well, the smile on my mother's face was a bonus that made it all worth it.

I can smoothly accept my current situation, even though it is difficult to understand that this is my new physical appearance. After all, I've only been able to see it twice, and the first time I didn't get to internalize things completely. But now that I've spent so much time looking at myself, with different styles, I can work on this better.

I know I said I didn't mind at first, and I'm not lying, I don't mind, but "accepting" and "adapting" are two completely different things. I know it will take some time getting used to, but I'm confident it won't be difficult. After all, I'm happy enough to see myself this way.

Once everything was over, the maids who arrived with Karla left my family's grounds. According to what I heard they left with the order to remember every word of what was discussed during my "fashion show". So, there were only four of us left; Mom, Karla, the ninja secretary, and me.

Almost as if she had planned it from the beginning, Mom invited both women over for tea and conversation, and without the slightest intention of refusing the request, Karla readily accepted.

I was quite tired from all the activity I'd had so far, but realizing that there might be some interesting topics, I couldn't just let myself give in to sleep.

 

---

 

Irlana POV

I don't know how long Karla and I were trying different styles on my baby, but I feel it was worth it. No matter what we put on her, everything looked perfect. Just as expected for mine and Hal's daughter, she certainly is the cutest little girl ever.

Of course, my other daughters are too, but now that Sarka has grown up, her childish cuteness has been replaced by adult beauty, and with Zenya, her baby look has been slowly disappearing, and she doesn't usually let herself get dressed. Sometimes I wish my girls would stay babies forever, but that really can't happen. After all, I want to have grandchildren too.

But, let's put that aside. I had already ordered Tina to prepare the private room so I could talk to Karla about the thing I requested from her.

We walked through the corridors to the west wing, where I had my office and guest room. In a short time, we arrived at a rather ornate door, made of conitia wood, a type of wood with a soft reddish hue and which has great compatibility with mana.

On the sides, two guards in uniform, one of whom opened the door upon noticing our presence. We entered, and as I expected, the place was devoid of decorations or furniture. The only thing inside was a small white wooden table with a beautiful sky-blue floral design. It was positioned in the center of the empty room, with 3 matching chairs placed around it.

This room was intended to be used when I needed to have private conversations. Things I did not wish to be overheard. Various anti-sound, anti-spying, and protection spells were put in place, and guards were always at the only entrance, making sure no one entered without permission.

I sat with Tya on my lap and Karla right in front of me. Lady Crofeld seemed to hesitate a bit, but in the end took the remaining chair to Karla's right, leaving her facing the window. Another of my maids, Sera, appeared shortly after with a dessert and tea cart, served us each, and gave a bottle to Tya, who drank happily.

The atmosphere was somehow starting to get tense, and little Orinthya seemed to notice, so I stroked her head to reassure her, then turned to Karla.

"So. What happened to the favor I asked of you?"

"..."

Karla was silent for a short while. She took a small sip of her tea, enjoying its aroma, then let out a small sigh and looked at me with a serious expression.

"Lana, when you asked me to contact her and told me about your plan, I honestly expected her to reject it, or even question me about it. But as soon as I finished telling her everything, she agreed without hesitation."

Karla took another sip of tea, giving me time to take things in. I was a little... no, actually I was completely speechless. I knew she was the type of person who would lend us her help if we ever asked, but that she agreed to it was... shocking.

"That was two weeks ago. Two days ago, I got a letter, telling me that..." Karla paused, hesitating for a moment before continuing. My heart felt heavy. I didn't have to say it. I was sure it had all failed-

"The letter said that she managed to make contact with the Axios and that they had come to an agreement."

"..."

...what?

"You can't be serious," I asked incredulously. Has she really done it? Contacting the Axios and striking a deal with them...was it that easy?

"I'm completely serious" Karla responded immediately, her gaze fixed on me keeping her expression unperturbed.

"This is... I can't believe it."

"Nor do I. It's beyond just amazing. In just a couple of days, she managed to negotiate with the Axios and come back with a positive response. The empire has been trying to initiate talks with them for at least 200 years. How did she pull it off so easily?"

I nodded in agreement. Karla put her hands to her face. She looked completely exhausted as if she bet on a winning racing Doral and it came in last place.

I was hoping that Karla would arrive with good news. Although realistically, the normal thing would have been for her to tell me that everything failed, which would have forced me to start everything from scratch.

"I can't believe Katarina succeeded, even more unbelievable that she did it in such a short time. When I asked you to talk to her and pass on my message, I expected the response you would bring would be something along the lines of 'How dare you ask this of me after all these years?' I never imagined that she would agree and... that she would make so much progress."

"I couldn't agree more. But that's just the way she is, isn't she? Sweet, hardworking Katarina, it's impossible for her to say no when we ask her for a favor, let alone when it's something with good intentions behind it." commented Karla as she took another sip of her tea. She kept a nostalgic expression before speaking again "When I told her what you were planning, do you know what she did?"

"What did she do?"

"She hugged me and started jumping up and down with me all over the room." Karla started laughing, remembering the moment. I shared her laughter. I could imagine Katarina screaming with joy as she carried Karla all over the room. "As she kept me trapped in that strange embrace she laughed as hard as she used to, just like in the old days."

"The old days..." I repeated sadly. I remember the years when we were friends and spent our youth together, having fun, and talking about our future. I remembered the last time I was able to talk to her before...

"After that... "Karla continued. "She told me 'If it's for my little sisters, I'll get it.' I almost started crying, you know? It had been so many years since we had seen each other, and yet she..."

"She still considers us her little sisters."

Katarina comes from one of the secondary branches of the Nazzik family. One that, at the time, possessed almost no power at all, and were in one of the lowest positions in their family. Thanks to that, when Karla and I arrived at the academy we were able to connect easily, which made us inseparable friends. Katarina being the older and wiser, immediately took on the role of our older sister. Something Karla and I were more than happy to accept.

During those years, Katarina took it upon herself to scold us every time we did any of our pranks. However, she only did it because it bothered her that we didn't include her in some of those. They were some of the best years of my life.

"What's wrong, Dilia?"

The young girl jumped a little when Karla brought the attention to her.

"I-I..."

"Do you want to know?" I asked with a smile. I knew this girl was curious about my friendship with Karla by how she watched us talk so comfortably. "I wouldn't mind telling you."

Dilia, who now wore a rather shy expression, with her cheeks and even part of her ears completely flushed, nodded slightly in response. I shifted my gaze to Karla, who gave me a knowing smile in response. This girl is so cute. I didn't expect that Ficslians could be so adorable.

"Do you want the honors?"

"*sigh* Yes, I think it would be good to tell her, she is my daughter-in-law after all."

"Right?"

"You see Dilia, Katarina, Irlana, and I have been friends since we were young. The three of us attended Virials Academy in the city of Alhaab when we came of age. We were put in the same class, and thanks to the fact that we were... well, quite naughty, we hit it off very well. Of course, Katarina was the oldest of us, but she was also the most innocent."

"I remember perfectly how she would blush and lose her speech when we talked about who we wanted to marry," I added, laughing as I remembered that girl screaming at me with a bright crimson face. "Katarina used to call me an ‘indecent child’ in those days. And look at her now, with six children."

Karla shared my amusement at the irony, laughing out loud. It was a short laugh as we both felt the sad nostalgia of those times.

"We were together for 3 of the 6 years of the academy, until, in our second year, they announced that Katarina would be getting engaged to the Nazzik heir, the current Duke Leviant, and at the end of that year, she had to drop out to prepare to learn the duties of her future position."

"At that time, I was just the daughter of a baron, a lackey of the Baelian family, and Karla was the heiress to the current Riviera tailor shop. We never expected either of us to be lucky enough to enter a Ducal family or even the secondary branch. At least, not so abruptly."

That moment was so devastating for me that I thought I would never smile again. My best friend was being taken away from me. I never thought I would feel so heartbroken. Fortunately, my Makila was by my side, she was the one who helped me the most to overcome the loneliness that threatened to sink me.

"Actually." Karla took back the floor, giving me a reproachful look. "In our sixth year, you ended up engaged to Halfred, too, and you didn't tell me anything until almost graduation day. Do you know how bad I felt at the time?"

Th-that's... true. Well, Karla has always been a very important part of my life too. It's just... there was something special about Katarina that... No, I shouldn't dig up things I've already left behind.

What happened at that time is that, while I was feeling lonely for Katarina, I met Halfred and, well, we fell in love. Fia, in part, was the cause of things moving that way. And... I could never say anything to Karla because she always had bad luck with her relationships. I didn't see fit to tell her that I had gotten engaged the year after Katarina had done the same. Then it got harder the longer it went on...

"C-come on, I've already apologized to you many times...it's not like I can announce it either...my family forbade me to talk about it and you know how scary and hard to deal with my mother is."

"Jum. Only with you. She always treated me normally."

Karla may say that, but even she knows how scary my mother can be.

I remember when we were about 10 years old, Karla and I were in the garden, playing, and accidentally; accidentally, we destroyed part of her flower bed. Her favorite. As soon as it happened, Karla told me that we should tell her right away, but I was so scared that I tried to repair it, I tried many ways, but we couldn't do anything. When I gave up and turned around, on my way to tell her, she was standing right behind me. Both Karla and I were spanked that day and then punished for a full month. I never set foot near my mother's yard again.

Dilia seemed more confused than before, and also a bit worried about our interaction, so we both looked at each other and laughed at the poor girl.

"By the way, how did Katarina manage to convince them?"

Karla put a hand to her face and sighed heavily.

"Katarina can be very innocent and honest, but she's also very smart. You'd be surprised what she can do." As Karla finished that sentence, she changed her posture and expression to a more serious one. It was her business face.

"Since Dilia doesn't know anything about this, and we need her with us in the future, I think it's best if we start from the beginning."

I decided to just nod and let her take the lead in explaining things.

"As you well know, the Baelian and Nazzik houses have a long history of conflict." Dilia nodded, in response, allowing Karla to talk about the history between the Baelians and the Nazzik.

About 600 years ago, there was a situation in a village north of the capital. This village no longer exists today, but it was part of the territory administered by House Nazzik. Lady Remina Nazzik, the second daughter of Aberiol Nazzik; Duke during that period, had married and settled in that territory to manage it. Public history has it that she was attacked on her way to the capital by soldiers who appeared to be from House Baelian.

Although some bodies were found wearing such armor, none of them belonged to the Baelian troops. Of course, the Nazzik accused them of being conspirators, murderers, and much more.

Despite the uproar it caused, the then Emperor August IV carried out an investigation under his name.

There was silence about it for several months, until it was concluded that the assassination was orchestrated by an unknown group, disguised as Baelian soldiers. It was never determined who the culprits were or if it was a ploy by an enemy country. It was a time when there were many conflicts with neighboring countries, so the origin of all this could not be determined.

Although the Nazzik had to accept the emperor's verdict, internally they were furious because they did not believe it was anyone but the Baelians. This is because, on that day, Remina Nazzik was to deliver a report about a new medicine that could revolutionize current alchemy. And it was all too suspicious that shortly after her murder, the Baelians had in their possession a recipe strangely very similar to the one Remina was trying to deliver.

"Though all this had been nothing more than a great coincidence, given that at the time the alchemists' guild was conducting such research, funded entirely by the Baelians, who had hundreds of years of sponsoring them." After completing the story, I took the last sip of tea and ordered Sera to bring us more. Tya had finished her bottle and now sleep seemed to be claiming her, so I shifted her position to try to put her to sleep.

"Unfortunately, the Nazzik remained stubborn and no matter what the Baelians did, they never believed a word of it."

This war between the two houses, generated a lot of friction and changes in the political structure, placing the opposing factions in real chaos and constantly facing each other in a war of power much more intense than in previous times. Sometimes when the Nazzik would take advantage by putting the prince or princess they supported on the throne, they would conspire to diminish the influence of our family as much as they could, even trying to overthrow us. Fortunately, they never succeeded.

Thus continued this cold war, until about 200 years ago Valeriana Nazzik decided that she had enough and declared in her family a cessation of hostilities, as this conflict was destroying the empire internally.

She had seen the history in a more unbiased and logical way, resulting in officially accepting that the Baelian house had been set up and therefore they were innocent. With that said, one would expect things to move in pursuit of peace, but in her family, voices were raised in opposition.

For Valeriana, it was a very difficult leadership to lead, and she was only able to stop things superficially. However, thanks to her efforts, the direct conflicts stopped completely.

At this point, Sera had returned with more tea and had poured us each a fresh cup. Tya, as hard as I tried to put her to sleep, I couldn't get it, so I decided to settle her back on my lap to make her more comfortable. Karla looked straight at her with a smile, which made my baby giggle. Her laughter was the medicine that gave me the strength to keep going every day.

Ever since I found out I was pregnant, and that it might be a difficult pregnancy, I knew it would be my last child, but also the greatest joy of my life. I don't know why I had that thought, but I was sure of it. Maybe it was the work of the goddess, of the Great Pillars, or maybe it was my maternal instinct. I couldn't say for sure. But when she was born, I knew she would be my greatest happiness.

Dilia took advantage of this short break to assimilate all the information we had told her. From her expression, she seemed to be struggling with it. It had all been quite revealing. To learn that, in principle, the enmity originated from a trap set by someone unknown, had been a lot for her. Perhaps knowing about it had made her doubt whether it would be wise to stick by our side.

I decided to take the opportunity to clear up some of her doubts by getting right to the most important part of the conversation.

"That was all part of what I found out after I married Halfred. Even he was pretty fed up with all this conflict. He even considered Leviant his greatest rival during our youth, and he had great respect for him."

"Katarina told me something similar" Karla added with a smile. "Leviant would never admit it publicly, but he respected Halfred, especially that goofy honesty of his. She said Leviant always wanted to be friends with Halfred, but because of their positions in their families it was very difficult for him, even with the relative peace between the two houses."

"Wow, I'm surprised Leviant admitted that to Katarina. He always had that aloof, cold attitude towards her."

Karla shrugged, implying that she did not know what Katarina had done to make Duke Leviant open up like that. All I could think was that Duke Leviant was the type of person who acted serious and unchanging on the outside because he didn't know how to express his feelings well. It was either that, or Katarina managed to dissuade him. Something that would be just as surprising as what Karla had already confirmed to me that she had done.

"Um... I still don't understand what all this has to do with us. Is it okay for me to know all these secrets about your family, Duchess?"

"Oh, it's something you need to know, little Dili."

"M-Mrs. Karla, please don't call me that!"

"Forget it. You never call me mother no matter how many times I've asked you to, so get over it."

"Ugh."

"Stop bothering her, Karla. To answer your question Dilia. The reason we are telling you all this is because we will need you in the future, as the first stage of our plan has succeeded."

"What plan?" Dilia asked in confusion, but looked sideways at Karla, with an accusatory expression. She almost looked like she was wondering what kind of silly prank her mother-in-law had been planning.

"You don't have to look at her like that." I laughed, trying to calm this adorable Ficslian. "This is all my idea, so don't get mad at her. You see, for a few years now I've been thinking about how to get the two families to be able to reconcile little by little. After talking with Karla, we concluded that we needed to find a type of business that would allow both houses to cooperate, but there was a problem with that."

"Out of all the businesses that both families had, there are very few that are related to each other," added Karla exhaling a sigh. "And those few that are related, wouldn't work the way we need them to."

"That had been the case until I received a certain object. We mentioned them a moment ago, but have you heard of the Axios?"

"Never heard of them before."

"I see. They are said to be an isolated tribe living in the forest of Jisk, about a week east of here. For a long time now, the empire has tried to annex them in many ways, but they never made it past the forest border. The location of their home is a bit confusing. Once you enter the Jisk forest, you start to feel disoriented and before you know it you are several miles away from the place. It is believed to be a small town, perhaps 1000 inhabitants, considering the size of the forest. We only know this because a few have managed to engage in conversation with them, and even fewer were able to trade.

The important thing here is this. A few months ago, one of my acquaintances at the Garland trading company, provided me with some information about the Axios. According to what they said, one of their employees had managed to communicate with the Axios thanks to helping them with an incident outside the Jisk forest. In thanks for that..." I motioned for Tina to bring a small chest we had prepared. She placed it on the table in front of Dilia, who upon opening it showed very little reaction beyond appreciating the beauty of the object.

Carefully, Dilia took out the contents of the box. A small pearl no bigger than the nail of my little finger, extremely beautiful and shiny. It looked as if a star had fallen from the sky and she was holding it between her fingers. Its white color with a rainbow luster was marvelous.

"That little gem is, believe it or not, pure condensed mana."

"What?! That's...!"

"Impossible, I know. But we have researched it arduously, and everyone who has subjected it to studies has come to the same conclusion. This is one of the 10 pure mana stones we have. Well, now there are 8 of them, we use 2 of them to test their efficiency."

"And how much of a...?"

"They're amazing," Karla interjected in a tone that sounded tired. "A single one of these can keep a magic furnace going for 2 days straight. No monster core is capable of doing that, they can barely keep it going for a few hours before they have to replenish them.

Dilia kept looking at the small pearl with a somewhat frightened look on her face, possibly imagining the implications it would have in the future.

"H-how?"

"We don't know either. Whether the Axios can manufacture them, harvest them somehow, or are mined from the earth somehow, we have no idea. This could revolutionize the industry. Artifact manufacturing, magical research, weapons, alchemy, all of that would advance leaps and bounds."

For hundreds of years, thousands of magicians, alchemists, and scholars have tried to create something similar to these pearls, but they never succeeded. After many failures, they concluded that it was impossible to create them, and all those who tried to investigate it abandoned it in a short time. But out of nowhere, this little pearl appears, which has now become my hope to achieve my dream.

"This... Duchess, what are you planning to do with this?" I took a sip of my tea and then smiled at her reassuringly.

"We planned to send Katarina to strike up some sort of friendship with the Axios. With that, we would seek to either annex them into the empire or create some trade deal, either temporary or permanent. We would offer anything they needed, from medicines, fabrics, furs, food. Once we had secured a steady supply of raw materials, we would then introduce them to the market little by little, spreading the word. Finally, we would announce who discovered them, and from there Katarina would be in charge of contacting the Baelian to propose a cooperation to launch it to the market in an official way."

"Initially, all we needed was to create a gap, an openness to talks with the Axios, and over time, gain their trust and be able to trade with them. Being positive about it, we figured it would take us at least 10 years." Karla let out a tired sigh. I could see that, like me, she too felt as if all our plans had been shot down by that incredibly pure and honest big sister of ours.

"But I seem to have underestimated our big sister too much, exceeding our expectations. On the bright side, our plan is now several years ahead of schedule."

"Dili, the reason we need you is because of your family."

"My family...? Wait! You're not thinking of..."

"Oh yes, that's just what we're thinking."

"M-Mrs. Karla, please don't be unreasonable!"

I could understand why Dilia reacted that way. Her family, the Barlonds, were merchants who had dominated the jewelry and accessories market. Also, and this was the important thing, they were in charge of buying, refining, distributing, and selling the raw materials for magical items, from monster cores, magical ink, skins, bones, and other monster materials.

The Barlond, while technically subordinates of the Baelian, had connections to the Nazzik, something we needed to take advantage of and turn into the link that would lead to cooperation.

"Dili, we are not going to force you to do anything, but to reconcile both families, we need your help. We know this can carry a tremendous amount of danger, so we want to take our time to make sure every step is done safely."

"D-duchess, I… I don’t know…"

"Relax, you can take your time and think about it calmly. Since we have just completed the first phase of the plan, we can take some time to prepare for the next step. Once you've made up your mind you can talk to Karla, okay?"

Dilia closed her eyes and thought for a moment, then nodded and said she would give it some serious thought. With me and Karla smiling, we decided to end this very serious conversation and move on to more mundane matters.