I actually blinked a few times in rapid succession after the abrupt change in tone. While I didn't think that Martin or his wife would begrudge me after telling them about what I had done to the Baron, I didn't expect them to actually be pleased by it, let alone Seraphina's smile and conspiratorial gaze.
"What... are you talking about?" Clarissa asked, quite literally taking the words out of my mouth.
Martin looked between everyone, before meeting his wife's eyes and nodding.
"My wife has always been the best judge kf character, and the fact that she thinks so highly of you, Elias, says a great deal." Martin said, causing Seraphina to nod her agreement.
"My class is Soul Sage, an class only attainable by the elven race, and I am S rank." She said, causing everyone else to gasp. Well, besides Cici. She knew because I knew, and she was always around me. S class apparently doesn't seem like much to her. She continued after a moment.
"One of my skills allows me to see a person's soul, to see the inner workings. The better the person, the brighter and more beautiful the soul. People like Delvin, or Karovac for example... they are blackened, rotten... disgusting." She said, wrinkling her nose, before looking over at me and smiling, "You are the only person I've ever met that I can't see. Everything is hidden from me. Status...your soul... imagine how that feels for someone using an S ranked skill... or how it looks..." She said.
"I... well..." I said, unsure of how to respond.
"My friend, I want to just add something of note." Martin said, gesturing around us, "This room is sound warded, with powerful enchantments. No one can hear anything, or see anything, being said in this room. Not saying you have to, but the option is there. What we are about to tell you, however... it is something that cannot leave this room."
Cici, Clarissa, and myself all shared a look. I looked over at Valerie to make sure she was doing okay, and yeah, she was fine. She was just looking between everyone looking confused, and I couldn't help but once again marvel at how beautiful the woman was. I got a mental imagine of a the most attractive catgirl in the world grinning at me, and I had to hold back a snort.
"My lips are sealed." I said, with Cici and Clarissa echoing my words. Martin and Seraphina looked at Valerie.
"Um... me too?" She said like it was a question.
Seraphina let out a small giggle, and Martin just nodded, took a breath, and then spoke once again.
"I've never gotten along with most of the other nobility. We have very different values, very different beliefs, and very... very different senses of morality." He said, before reaching over and taking Seraphina's hand. The bubbly and confident elf blushed a deep red, but her eyes twinkled, "Then, I met my love, and all of those aforementioned differences became even more apparent. Not just because of her abilities to see beneath the surface of a person's outward appearance... but because of her herself."
As he said, his face twisted with a scowl, and a deep rage hidden deep within himself came to the surface.
"The Elves are an old, wise, fascinating, and respectable race. Not to mention, they gave birth to the most wonderous woman to walk this world," He said, which caused Seraphina's cheeks to turn even more red, and made her eyes mist, "And yet... the treatment she's received, the words I've heard for marrying a "lesser," and the things people have attempted... all because she isn't a human... it's despicable. The more I learned about the others, the more I saw... it all made me sick. The power and the influence they hold is all that matters to them... and what it can get them."
He wasn't wrong, and it make me furious as well, and sick to my stomach. I knew that all too well. Look at what the fucking Baron had done, and what he tried to do... and he was only B rank. I can only imagine what a sick fucker like him at S rank would be like...
"You see the issue." Serephina said, squeezing Martin's hand, "While not all of the nobility, those with a conscious a very few and far between. Just like my Martin, and those that we have chosen to work under him. The vast majority of the other nobles are sick and twisted individuals, and most of them have to power and influence to get away with it. It... needs to stop." She said, growling the last words so intensely it actually made my spine tingle a bit.
"My first impression of the nobility was... not pleasant." Cici admitted quietly, and Seraphina's gaze softened as she looked at my wife.
"I'm so sorry that happened to you... but you found quite the caring man... and one with such power." Serephina said, causing Cici to smile.
"His power has never meant that much to me. It's wonderful yes, and I always feel safe... but it's who he is that stole my heart. He showed me a kindness and compassion I never thought I'd find outside of my village. He... means everything to me." Cici said, suddenly overcome with emotion.
I pulled her tightly against me, and I felt her tail coil around my waist as she rubbed her cheek against my shoulder.
"I would tear this entire world apart for you if I had to. You mean just as much to me. I would not be here without you. You... are everything to me and more." I said, my voice low, and surprisingly soft even to my ears.
Going years without much love, care, and compassion does things to person. I still felt my emotions, very strongly at times, but it was expressing them, and showing them to others that had become so hard for me for so. Until I met Cici. She broke down any and all walls that had formed around my heart, and showed me that I could be happy again. She showed me that I could live again... that I could love, and be loved.
She pressed even tighter against me as she rubbed her face against my arm even harder, and she fought to hold back tears. The happiness I felt from her could topple a mountain. She was still a little horny, but she actually had started to calm down later into the morning. She said that it should only be a few more days. Not that I minded her begging me to ravish her every couple of hours, but it bothered her.
"This is part of why I have decided to trust you." Seraphina said with a smile, "You have shown great strength of body and mind... but also of character. The way I've seen you treat your wife... it reminds me of my husband. No judgement, no bias, no prejudice... just love. I don't think I have to explain how uncommon that truly is when it comes to humans."
I just decided to nod for right now. I wasn't human, but neither of them knew that yet. Although, if I'm being honest, they really seemed to be placed a lot of trust in me already. I had a few ideas as to where this conversation was heading, and I didn't necessarily find myself hating it. Seraphina was right. I had seen first hand how awful people could be not only at home on Earth, but from the moment I arrived on this world. I saw what evils could be perpetrated by those merely in C and B rank, let alone the A+ rank that Delvin had been. To have a bastard of a person like that in S rank... possibly higher?
"I've never understood it. Cici is my love. You are a good person. The people in the Misfits are good people." I said, then locked eyes with Valerie, "And you are an innocent woman, and very kind. I do not understand how, or why, people treat others so terribly just because of their race, or who their families are. I despise it."
Valerie's eyes opened wide from my words, before she gave me a soft little smile with misty eyes that just looked so damn cute. Martin nodded with approval at me, and I nodded right back. Martin truly was a good man, and one that could obviously hold his own against most people that would try to cross him. Powerful, yet not morally bankrupt like many of those on this world.
Then, there was Seraphina, who looked like she had been searching for an angel for her entire life, and finally had one in her sights. Not that I would go that far, but the look made me feel... good. Her smile seemed to brighten the room to blinding levels.
"Martin, dear, would you please do the honors?" She asked her husband, and he smiled with an eager nod.
"Elias Crosse, you are a man of immense power, and the will to act, and to do what needs to be done. I am in a precarious position, as is my wife, that prevent us from doing certain things that we feel must be done for the better of this territory... perhaps even the world itself. I can not just go and remove those that are problematic... but this world is ruled by the strong, and power is everything. If you have the power needed to do something, well... no one can very well stop you." He said, and my earlier assumption that I had briefly thought about was coming to fruition right before my eyes.
"Martin... Seraphina... are you suggesting that you want me to help you 'dispose' of some of these problematic individuals?" I asked questioningly.
They both just smiled at me, and the smile that Seraphina wore was both predatory, and beautiful at the same time.
"I wouldn't say that... but if you just happened to hear about some of their wrongdoings, and someone relayed to you their whereabouts... well, no one could exactly stop you." Martin said with a shrug, "Not to mention, Framework issued duels are fair game for every one to participate in, regardless of your station. Just throwing that out there."
I thought about all of the assholes I had met thus far, and about what I had been told in this very meeting. The thought of ripping some of their spines out of their bodies filled me with excitement. I grinned a fucking vicious smile.
"Wouldn't that suck for them?"