'Why not a wolf yourself?' Voice suggested. Though it probably found Lucian to be more like a little fox, sly and a bit of a prankster.
Lucian snorted, a small cloud of mist forming in front of his face. 'The more hungry she gets, the more she'll want to eat me, and the better I'll taste, right? I can't do that by being a wolf.'
'...'
'What...?'
'Nothing.'
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It didn't take Lucian long to reach Stonetomb City, where he had left Jax.
Its name was accurate. The buildings, walls and streets were all the same grey stone, giving it the dreary and oppressive look of a tomb, especially during the night.
The tannery's name had been changed to 'Glory in Bloom' with a flower motif painted on the wooden sign.
A faint sweet perfume replaced the previous smell while the glass display windows showed various baskets of dried herbs and flowers. Some hung in strings from the ceiling and others were arranged in colourful displays.
Lucian unlocked the door with a key he took from his pocket and went inside.
Most of the building was remodeled to accommodate his staff, as well as a small lab and front store.
He found Jax in the meeting room, playing a game of dice with around thirty people, who had been working in the local gardens.
Most had light hair like Lucian, a sign of being physically weaker. They could easily catch a flu from staying outside in the rain. Gardening outdoors and constant traveling wasn't an ideal life, but they didn't have many other options.
Winter was approaching, so they had been preparing the plants for the cold season. Once the snow fell, some would stay in the three greenhouses, some would return to Goblin's greenhouse, and some would stay here as general help.
Trading was out of the option for them during winter, but Lucian didn't mind. They had plenty of work to deal with. Out of season fruit would still be available in smaller quantities from Goblin's greenhouse.
Its position was close to the center of the kingdom so he had been investing in its expansion and defence.
Lucian would spend the winter in the Southern Alliance most of the time, but he wanted to spend it with Celine this year.
"What took you so long, Boss?" Jax asked, not taking his eyes off the dice. "I was about to send a search party for you."
"I had a meeting with a potential client," Lucian said, sitting down beside him. "And I have good news. We've secured a new contract with the Rochefort family."
They all stopped playing and looked at him, their mouths hanging open.
A loud cheer erupted from the table.
The name Rochefort carried a lot of weight, and being associated with them was a huge achievement.
If they knew how little Lucian was charging for his services, they would probably faint.
"Looks like we're going to be busy for a while, boys," Lucian said, slapping Jax on the back. "Let's celebrate."
The celebration was short-lived, as they had an early start the next day. There was no alcohol, just a hearty meal and a good night's sleep.
'What went through their heads when they decided to give you the most common name in the world,' Voice spoke up when someone in the group called out to Lucian.
There were three of them just inside this room alone. It often heard it on the streets too. Arclight was also the most common surname. His parents didn't even bother to think of something more creative.
'They probably wanted to add as much light to my life as possible, you know, to chase the darkness away,' Lucian returned to his office on the second floor, sorting through the pile of documents left on his desk.
'What if the real reason is something more sinister?'
'Like what?' Lucian asked, not really paying attention. He was too busy going over the numbers.
'An offering to the gods maybe. Certain humans wanted to give them the most average childred as a sacrifice to appease their wrath.'
'Where did you get that idea from?' Lucian asked, genuinely curious.
'Nowhere, just came to me,' Voice replied. 'The church encourages the children of your kind to be named after saints for good luck, and even protects them from being suppressed too much by the society.'
'Well, whatever it is, I'm leveraging it for all its worth,' Lucian shrugged, and decided to check the next letter. It was a request for a new greenhouse to be built, and a list of plants required to be grown there.
'...You! How can you accept your weak and pathetic state so easily?! Are you even trying?!' Voice was outraged in Lucian's stead and it made him pause for a second.
'You care about me, I'm touched,' Lucian said, and turned the page to the next document. 'But I'm not going to purge the world of injustice and usher in an era of equality, so calm down.'
'At least get some muscles then! You look like a scarecrow!'
'I'm exercising,' Lucian said, and pointed at the weight in the corner of the room. 'And I'm eating well. You can't force a flower to bloom before its time. You can only provide the right conditions.'
Lucian wiggled his eyebrow at the air, suggesting that Voice could provide the right conditions for him.
'A flower doesn't have a will of its own. It just grows. You have a will, and you're choosing to be a weakling.'
'Why do you even want me to be a strong fighter? So I can punch you?' Lucian asked. 'Go find yourself a Diamond Knight or something. They are all about strength and muscles.'
He wiggled his eyebrow in a suggestive manner again.
'That would be a downgrade,' Voice huffed, but seemed to calm down.
It hated humans, but when it came to Knights, the hatred was a special kind of disgust.
People were either born more or less gifted. What was wrong with Lucian wanting to become a bit more gifted for free? The idea of having to work ten times as hard to reach an iron knight's powers was frankly, a waste of time and energy.
Even if he trained from morning till night, he would never be able to defeat anyone without Voice's help.