Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 945: The Seat Of The Faerie

Joselia was neck-deep in paperwork when the news of the hero’s arrival came to her. And yet she could not leave her seat in her office for the mountain of work was due by that very night. The people of her city depended on her for making the smallest of decisions, and as a fae and a dark elf, her extensive experience gave her the authority to make these decisions without being questioned on her integrity. At least, except from one man–the very same who had just walked into her office uninvited.

”What is it now, Haurum?” She asked, her eyes still tracking the words on the documents.

Arms folded and with a look of barely masked contempt, the only human on the consulate burst into a tirade.

”I’m giving you another chance to reconsider this, Joselia!” His coarse voice thundered throughout the room. ”Jeanne and Valeria were promised to me as wives! I’ve already consummated our future marriage, but now you want to hand them off to some stranger?! And that too an enemy! Lord Hamleth may not have been as attentive as of late, but that is no excuse for you to drag every one of us out of his faith!”

”Are you done?” Lifting her head, Joselia stared at Haurum–not a flash of emotion apparent on her face. ”You agreed to the departure from faith before, but now that it suits you better, you wish to drag us all back in the arms of that blind god. What can I expect from someone negligent of his duties? Remind me, Haurum, how did hundreds of farmers suddenly find they couldn’t get water and manure to their fields and had to lease their land to you instead?”

Haurum’s brow twitched just a flicker, but the man, instead of backing down, stomped forward and complained some more.

”Their inability is not my fault! And what if I offered to lease their land? The city needs the produce, and my servants will make sure that we get it when the time comes!”

”At a reasonable price too, I’m sure,” setting her pen down, Joselia narrowed her eyebrows and lifted from her chair. ”Lord Haurum Oswall, I’m sure you will sell the produce at your own detriment, won’t you? And this neglect had nothing to do with the fact that the trade route’s repair has been pending for weeks and the appropriate documentation was only approved once you’ve already leased the land.”

”How dare you even insinuate something so foul!”

”It is indeed foul; foul for you to have done what would’ve been cause for execution a hundred years ago or so.” Grabbing her folder, she hugged it all close to her chest and began to walk towards the door. ”Be glad that there are few men of your talents when it comes to accounting, Lord Haurum.”

”What is that supposed to mean?” He asked as Joselia walked right past him.

”Ut mortuus esses,” stopping just behind him, Joselia gave him one last look and a warning. ”The hero’s here, so try and behave. If you do something stupid to him or any of his associates, I will stop him from whipping out punishment. Do you hear me, Lord Haurum?”

”Brien’s right about a dark elf ruling over us,” he answered, hissing poison.

”The boy is wiser than you, Haurum, maybe you should listen to him more than only when it suits your cause.” Slipping away with the last word, Joselia decided to delegate her work to a lesser servant for the time being. Her seal would have to wait for later tonight, but a thorough overview of the documents according to her penned standards had to be done before then.

In the meantime, she returned to her room and sent word to Kledia and the offered wives to meet her at the council’s main hall. Getting dressed in her formal wear with fabric as dark as her skin that was lined with silver threads and embroidery, the fae groomed herself to meet the hero wherever he was in their city.

The few spies sent to keep an eye on him had already lost their group. Allegedly the magus had noticed them and the dark elf using her cloning ability created decoys that the spies had been following for hours before the decoys disappeared into nothing. Alas, the group the hero had brought with him was quite big and consisted of both civilians, soldiers, and his closest associates including a handful of monster girls–making it much harder to find their leader in the ruckus of the busy city streets.

”Find them quickly, and keep an eye on Haurum–that man may try something.” Staring into the vanity mirror, Joselia dropped her shoulders just a little. ”And will you stop flooding that idiot’s mind with poison? He’s going to do something stupid if you continue to fuel his ignorance.”

”A man like him only uses his ears to listen to agreement, Joselia...” Walking up on her from behind, Brien leaned down and slipped his arms around her shoulders. Resting his chin on top of her head, he looked at her face through the mirror. ”I’ve also told him not to push this topic, with you or the hero–but I bet he’s gonna try to at least injure the man’s pride and fail.”

”What if he succeeds?” Grabbing one of his hands, Joselia squeezed it lightly. ”We can’t afford to make an enemy of both Hamleth and the chosen of Athenia. With no god to protect us we’d be defenseless.”

”Speaking of gods, my spies had to kill a few protestors in front of the new church we’re building for Athenia. They tried to set the material on fire last night, but didn’t notice my men until it was already too late.”

”Tsk...again. Why can’t they see what the god of law has become?”

With a light kiss on the top of her head, Brien pulled himself back.

”If they did, the only dark elf in the city won’t be ruling us,” he said, chuckling.

Barely holding her smile, Joselia turned in her seat and whispered back.

”Whatever you say, now go find me the hero’s location before someone finds you in my bedroom.” With a pretentious bow, the elf left the room–leaving in his stead a momentary warmth in Joselia’s heart–though with the stress of everything, not even the flame of a secret lover could last.

’By the gods, I hope that idiot doesn’t do something stupid.’ She prayed, but unfortunately for her, right now, no god was listening to her prayer.