The walk back to Martin's manor was thankfully uneventful. I was half expecting a dragon or something to fly down from the sky and start torching everything, but thankfully it seemed like the day was calming down, which I did not mind. I had something great to look forward to tonight, and I didn't want anything else to come up that might ruin it. We all walked through the front gates, various guards that I both did and didn't recognize greeting us, and we all just nodded and greeted them back in turn.
"Welcome back, Mr. Crosse. And ladies." One of the guards at the door said, and gave us a slightly bow of the head, "Duke Seruud has been expecting you. I was told to take you to him once you arrived."
I nodded to him, as did the women around me, as he opened the front door, gestured for us to follow him, and stepped inside. There were various maids and manservents bustling about, and many of them gave us small bows as we passed them. They all actually seemed truly happy and content working here for Martin, and given what I knew of the man, it made sense. Martin was a good dude, and proved to me that some of these nobles can truly be as their name implied. Actually noble in their values.
The guard led us up one floor, before walking us towards the room where we had that first meeting. It made sense that he would be in there, as I'm sure he didn't want anyone else listening in. Once we reached the door, the guard turned and looked at Sheila.
"I'm sorry miss, but it was requested that only Mister and Misses Crosse, as well as Lady Osark, are to be permitted inside." He said.
Sheila just nodded, and all of us gave her an apologetic smile. She just waved it off.
"It's fine. I kinda wasn't looking to sit down and listen to stuff I already heard anyways. Besides, I should go check on Serena and Benji." She said, and then turned to me with a smile, "It was nice getting to spend some time with you, Eli. Heck, it was nice spending time with all of you. I had a good day."
"We enjoyed having you around. You're a lot of fun." Cici said, and Sheila turned to her and gave her a little wink.
I reached out, and placed my hand on Sheila's head, rubbing softly and gently. She let out a small groan as she closed her eyes, which made the guard look between everyone a little awkwardly, but it made the other woman laugh.
"I would love to spend more time with you, Sheila. Perhaps you and I can get together and go out one of these nights too." I said, my words making her eyes snap open and her cheeks to darken quite a bit.
"You... you mean it?" She asked, and I nodded as I softly rubbed the outside of her right ear.
"I do. I enjoy being around you, Sheila. Is that something you are interested in?" I asked, and the way she rapidly nodded, making her ears flap back and forth, was so adorable it made me chuckle.
"I would really like that!" She said quickly, before she flushed again, and said in a softer voice, "When?"
I shrugged.
"Whenever we're both free. Stuff keeps happening and coming up, so I don't wanna make plans just for them to fall through." I said, and Sheila nodded, but her smile never left her.
"We'll definitely figure it out, because now you got me excited." She said, making me laugh again as I removed my hand from her head.
"Sounds good to me." I said, sighing as I caught the impatient look on the guards face, "But, duty calls for now. Tell Serena and Benji I said hi."
Sheila smiled at me.
"I will. Don't have too much fun in there." She said, before she turned, and began strutting down the hall towards their rooms. It was quite impossible for me not to stare are her well toned and well rounded ass as she did so. Cici giggled from my side.
"Well, it doesn't look like you need my help anymore. Very smooth, darling." She said, and I turned to her and smile.
"I do like her too... she's very sweet." Clarissa said, and I nodded my agreement. She really was.
"I agree. She's very nice." Valerie said.
A cleared throat got all of our attention, and we all turned to the flustered and nervous looking guard.
"Are you... all ready yet?" He asked.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that." I said, and the man breathed out a sigh of relief as he turned towards the large doors, and gave it two solid knocks.
"Enter." I heard Martin say from the other side, and his voice sounded rather tired.
The guard opened the door, and gestured for us to go inside. Upon entering, I found that there were only 3 people waiting for us inside. Martin obviously, his wife Seraphina, and Frederick, the guard captain I had met earlier. The girls and I all just gave them a friendly wave as we all the open seats. Cici sat to my right, with Clarissa sitting to my left,while Valerie a took seat to near Cici on the right side of the large table.
"Hey, Martin." I said, and he looked at me with narrowed eyes, before he just sighed.
"Sure took your sweet time, didn't you?" He asked, and I just shrugged.
"Clarissa still had to go clothes shopping. We aren't letting some group of assholes ruin our day." I said, my words making Seraphina giggle like a little girl.
"See, Marty? That's a man who knows what's important." She said, and Martin looked betrayed for a moment, before he sighed again.
"Good to see you again, Mr. Crosse." Frederick said, and I nodded at him.
"Elias is fine, Frederick. And yeah, long time no see." I said, and he looked at me like I was stupid.
"It has only been a couple of hours. Are you feeling well?" He asked, and that made me chuckle, as did Cici, who understood my joke.
"Yeah. I'm good." I said, before turning bacm to Martin, "Look, I think I know what you are going to say, but let me say something first. It is my second day here, and people keep stirring up shit with us. If someone threatens my wife, or my friends, I will end that threat. Plain and simple."
Martin actually gulped, but he did nod, and I was glad that we were still on the same page.
"I would never tell you not to do that. Trust me, Elias, I am not happy about this either. I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't start anything for no reason. In fact, you've only ended things when they needed ending. And I do not appreciate a group of slave trading scum stepping foot into my city... yet I cannot stop them from doing so, as long as they follow the rules." Martin said, before he actually cracked a grin that made him look rather menacing, "Thankfully, they overstepped, and they paid the price. Thank you, Elias, but more so," He said, locking eyes with Cici, "Well done, Cecilia. It seems your husband is not the only one watching out for my citizens."
Cici blushed a bit, but she smiled at the praise.
"As strong as you are beautiful." Seraphina said with a bright smile, which only made Cici blush more, and Sera giggled as she continued, "More than that though, thank you for helping Quesha. She is a truly wonderful soul, and I would have been devastated if anything happened to her."
"I quite liked her. She was kind, and she stood up for us." Cici said, with the other women nodding in agreement.
"She has always been so kind to me." Valerie added with a soft smile, to which Seraphina and Martin smiled back.
However, it was then that Seraphina's eyes trailed over Valerie, before they locked on to Valerie's neck, and they widened considerably. Martin's gaze tracked hers, and when he saw what she did, his eyes bugged out as well. They quickly schooled their features, and I assume it was to not let anything slip with Frederick in the room with us. I wasn't trying to hide that from them... I just didn't think about it. I should probably get better at that. A being as powerful as myself shouldn't be so forgetful, or at least, that's what I told myself. Honestly, I probably wouldn't get much better on that front.
"Y-yes... well... thank you for helping her." Serephina said, stammering as she tried tk stay on topic, "I heard you compensated her for the damages, and we would also like to inform you that we have given her compensation as well, and are sending our very best to help her rebuild her shop."
"Thank you, Lady Seraphina. Quesha is very kind." Valerie replied with a small bow, with the other women voicing their thanks as well.
"I appreciate it too. A nice lady like that doesn't deserve to have a wrecked shop." I said, and Sera and Martin smiled back at us, although their gazes always fell back to Valerie.
"I have news on that front." Frederick said, causing me to fix my sights on him, "There was one survivor, although lucky is better description. I'm honestly surprised he's not dead, although, given what his team did, he will probably wish he was. He has been patched up, but is not yet awake. We are going to try and see if we can get any information out of him when he does awaken."
Lucky indeed, it would seem. I honestly figured that dude would have died. Still, probably for the best at least one survived. Kinda curious why those guys were here in the first place. I doubt it was simply for a quest or whatever Cici told me they said.
"Cecila, I must say, you are quite the little powerhouse, aren't you?" Sera asked my wife with a smile, causing Cici to blush.
"I... just... did what I had to." Cici replied softly, making Sera giggle.
"Well, you did well, my dear. It seems it's not just your husband that is powerful." Sera said, and that made Cici smile.
"I may not be as powerful, but I can hold my own these days." Cici replied.
"You should have seen it. She was so awesome!" Clarissa said, and then began explaining the fight excitedly. It was really cute. She seemed to get really into talking about certain things.
After a moment, when Clarissa was done, Martin turned to Frederick.
"Fred, I think that's about all we required from you, yes? Do you have anything else to share?" He asked the man.
Frederick shook his head.
"At this time, no sir." He said, and Martin nodded.
"Then, you are excused. And please, take the day. I'm sure your wife will be happy with that." Martin said, making Frederick grin.
"I believe I can do that. Thank you, sir." Frederick said, and got up, bowed to all of us, and began heading for the door.
"Tell Nina I said hi." Sera said, and Frederick turned, and smiled.
"Will do, ma'am." He said, bowed once more, and then made his way out of the room.
There was a small moment of silence where Sera and Martin just stared between Valerie and myself, but it was broken as Sera got up, walked over to Valerie, and knelt in front of her. Valerie just stared, looking nervously at the elven woman, but then Sera just smiled.
"I shouldn't be surprised." She said, and then turned and looked at me, a gentle smile on her lips, "It is the kind of person you are, after all... but the fact that you were able to destroy a highly condensed mana crystal..." She said, and then she laughed a hearty sound, "It seems I have to reevaluate your strength every day. Valerie dear, tell me, how do you feel?"
Valerie didn't even make anyone wait more than a second before she replied.
"I am... happy. No one has ever helped me... ever treated me with the kindness that... that Eli has given me. I owe him everything, yet he asks for nothing. He has even offered to let me stay with him... and I now do so willingly. I feel safe when he is around." She said, her eyes becoming misty as she turned to me and smiled, "Thank you, Eli."
I just smiled back at her, struggling not to tear up. She looked so good with that genuinely happy smile on her face... it had only been a little over a day, yet it floored me just how much she was already changing. Sometimes, all it takes is one kind gesture, one person that believes in them, one person to help them, for them to find some kind of meaning. Just like Cici had done for me.
"Anything you need, Val. Say the word, and I'm there." I replied, and her smile brightened as she wiped at her eyes.
"I'm glad to see you proving our decision the correct one more and more as time goes on." Martin said, a small smile on his lips as he looked at Valerie, before he turned to me, and his face became more serious, "But Sera brought up a good point. Mana crystals are used for various different things. Slave binding collars, information storage and transmission, like the ones at the Adventurer's Guild, mana generators... you name it. We are unsure if it is their natural state, or due to the Framework, but they are very, very resilient, and not easily broken. Only those at the peak of power have ever been able to break them." Martin said, and I nodded as I mulled that over in my head.
I had heard they were strong, and it took someone of S+ rank, their assumed peak of power, to break them. I wasn't sure if I should tell him that breaking it was like breaking a cheap glass that you could buy at the dollar store. After another moment, he continued before I could reply.
"You know, I got an interesting correspondence from Phillander Dewitt while I was waiting for you to return. He was shocked, and a little miffed, that he has to place an order for a new Analysis Orb. You know, the one you broke?" He said, and I just slowly nodded, and he continued a moment later, "As you probably heard, they are only capable of reading a power level up to A+. Well, that's both true and not true. You see, any Class reading above that, they simply cut themselves off, and spit out an error message. They are unable to process that much power. I've heard stories of a few S+ ranked individuals who used the Analysis Orbs. Do you know what happened?" He asked.
"I... do not." I said slowly.
He looked at me, not with any anger or mistrust, but an intense curiosity. That look was present on his wife's face as well. Then, he spoke.
"They cracked down the middle most of the time. Some big, and some small, at least from what I've heard. That being said, none of them shattered into pieces like the one at the Guild. Those mana orbs are very dense, and are made with the intent of feeling extreme levels of mana and power. However... even the strongest existences could not fully break them like you did."
His gaze bore into me as he tried to figure out exactly how I did that, but I was sure he already knew. Well, he didn't exactly know, but there was one take away here that anyone with a brain would be able to figure out. I simply had to be stronger than their perceived peak.
"Elias... we are not asking you to tell us. That would be rude given how much you have done for us already. We just want you to know that, despite knowing this, we still wish for you to help us. We still are grateful to have met you. We just hope that you trust us, as we do you. Remember, I can see these things, and even if I can't read you, I can read those around you." Sera said, giving me a genuine smile that eased any odd feelings I might have had, "No one would have so much faith, or so much affection for a man with ill intentions. They wouldn't think so highly of you, nor would they hold youn in such high regard.
As I looked at her, and then back over at Martin, I felt something solidify inside of me. Their eyes, their smiles, their belief in who I was... it moved me. I hadn't told them, or showed them what or who I was, not truly, even though I knew I could trust them. My instincts, my ability to read people's intentions in their souls told me that much. It was honestly just cheating, and yet, something held me back.
The more I pondered that, the more my eyes opened up to the reason. It was simply because they were nobility, and even if they were trustworthy, and incredibly kind, that single thing gave me pause. My very first interaction with a noble in this world had soured my feelings towards them immensely, and it was almost like an unconscious response at this point.
However, as I met their eyes again, I did not see nobles, or anyone that would ever think of doing my family, my friends, or even myself any hard. I saw a kind and loving wife. I saw a strong and supportive husband. I saw... my friends.
"I agree with what you are feeling, darling." Cici said into my mind, and I couldn't help but smile as I put an arm around her.
I took a deep breath, and then called on my status screen.
"Martin, Sera, you two have shown me that despite your titles, you are good people. More than that, I see you as my friends. And, just like Sera, I can see the inner workings of people's souls, so I can tell exactly what kind of people they are." I said, making Sera and Martin's eyes widen, but I continued before they could speak, "I do trust you both. Not just because of that, but because I've gotten to know you, and you've treated us well." I then chuckled, "Plus, you've already figured out some of it, so... why not just show you the rest? If we are going to be staying here for a bit, and working together, I should probably show you what I am about."
With that, I shared my status screens with the both of them with certainty. Hiding wasn't really my style anyways, so why hide it from my friends?
You could have heard a pin drop.