NOVEL FROG Chapter 8: Meeting
While I was having dinner at the inn a well dressed courier showed up.
“Lady Amaya, the duke invites you to a meeting tomorrow at 10 in the morning.“
I wondered what the duke wanted. Were those bandits that big of a deal? Maybe he wanted to reward me for saving his men?
“I would be delighted to attend”, I responded.
“Very good, we will provide a carriage.” The man bowed and left.
The carriage was good news. I still had no way of tracking time. I should really look into buying a watch.
After dinner I relaxed in the bath with a bottle of wine. Tomorrow would be interesting.
Thanks to my shopping I could dress in fresh clothes. I still wore my armour and weapons. Would that be appropriate? No idea, but it made me look more regal. I did not have any formal wear yet. But I should come up with a family name. Eventually people would press me on it.
What name should I choose? Something mythological? Astrological? Something connected to my main element? Or maybe a flower? Might be fitting for an elf. Maybe Delphinium? The name of a beautiful and toxic flower. It existed in the same shade of purple as my eyes. Amaya Delphinium. I like it.
I was waiting in the common room of my Inn with a coffee until the carriage arrived. The driver did not comment on my weapon or armour. So far so good. I was pleasantly surprised to see that someone had already invented suspension. I watched the city roll by while we made our way to the duke's palace. I should probably visit the magic academy at some point. I wonder if they offered tours?
The palace was surrounded by an ornate metal fence. There were 2 guards at the gate. It looked like the duke's residence was not meant to be defensible though. There was a wide driveway through a beautiful garden. In front of the entrance was a large square that could hold multiple carriages. I noticed that there was a coach with the imperial coat of arms, a golden shield with a black dragon in the centre, already parked there. Curious.
When I exited the coach a butler was waiting for me. He gave me a short bow.
“Lady Amaya, please follow me.”
The entrance hall had a marble floor, 6 pillars and a grand staircase. We stayed at the bottom floor though. We followed a short corridor on the left and arrived at a cosy looking room. The walls were filled with bookshelves. There was a lovely stone fireplace and 4 big chairs surrounding a small coffee table. Two men were seated. One was large and muscular with short red hair and a moustache, the other one had a slight belly, short black hair and was clean shaven.
When I entered the room the butler bowed once more and left. There were 2 guards in the room and a stunning woman. She was wearing a black suit. The remarkable thing though were her ears. White fluffy fox ears. She also had a fox tail. Her eyes were blue, she had a moderate chest and was slightly smaller than me. She had beautiful long hair and looked like she was in her 20s. Not that I had any idea about the lifespan of her people. The age of my character was 127 in the game. But elves would stay in their prime for a very long time.
I realised I was staring at her. I might have blushed had I not spotted the metal collar. My embarrassment was overwritten by annoyance. I had a bad feeling about this.
Meanwhile the man with the glorious moustache was approaching me.
“Greetings Lady Amaya, I am duke William Shields. It’s my pleasure to welcome you to Iron Rock. May I introduce the imperial ambassador sir Frederick Meisler. He is here to discuss the bandits you apprehended. They seem to be imperial deserters.”
“It’s my pleasure.” I replied while shaking the duke's hand.
“Who is the stunning young lady, if I may ask?” I just could not help myself.
Frederick looked smug while he answered. “That is my slave Lucy.”
Now I was seething. A slave? Slavery was illegal in Iron Rock and there was a slave inside the mansion of the ruler. This was most likely just politics. A reminder from the Empire how much power they had. They were daring the duke to make a scene. Maybe they wanted to distract from the captured soldiers. Of course the duke was responsible for his people. Maybe he genuinely feared a war. Maybe he did not care. But I did.
I was not a politician. I was a powerful being staring at injustice. Something I could fix.
A city state like Iron Rock did not really have the power to defeat me, thanks to my cheating. I could not take on the whole Empire but they would not have a major force nearby. It was also debatable how much they would do against an individual. Freeing this slave would have consequences. It might be rash, but what good was my power, if I refused to use it?
I approached the woman and took a closer look at her collar. One of my video game classes was a rogue, which meant I was a master at lockpicking. I also had a magic lockpick, a high level item from the game. The woman was startled as I grabbed her collar and quickly opened it.
Frederick was shocked. He fumbled with a stone in his hand and suddenly the collar electrified.
But he was too slow to hurt the woman. I already had the collar in my hand and I was immune to lightning. I smiled and put the collar in my amulet.
“As you are certainly aware slavery is illegal in Iron Rock. So this woman is free. I just helped her to remove a necklace that seemed stuck. Now, I do not know your name but I would like to offer you employment.” I said to the former slave.
The face of the duke had gone pretty pale by now. The guards were nervously touching their swords. Frederick was livid.
“THAT IS AN OUTRAGE. I DEMAND AN APOLOGY. RETURN MY PROPERTY!”
“Your property? Since the only object here is the collar you can have that back.” I removed the collar from my necklace and threw it at him. Unfortunately it was still electrified. He started to scream as it touched him.
I am unsure if it was by accident, or conscious, but he did manage to turn the collar off. He was still convulsing on the floor though. I ignored him and looked at the woman again.
—----------------------------------------------------
Lucy
Frederick was in a bad mood yesterday. Something did not go the way he wanted. He shouted a lot. He said he was going to remind the duke of his place by bringing her to a meeting.
The meeting started out normal enough. There was some small talk while they were waiting for someone. And then she entered. A night elf. The Dominion was supposed to be a nice place. They had no slavery there. I wondered if they actually enforced that. It was always easier to look the other way.
The elf stared at me. I wondered if Frederick would shock me just to annoy the Dominion. He liked to play games like that.
The elf was now right next to me. She grabbed the collar and somehow removed it. How was that possible? Those locks might not be magical but they were rather complex.
I was in a daze. I did not hear what she was saying. Only the screams of Frederick broke my trance. The elf gently put a hand on my shoulder.
“I am Amaya, what is your name?”
“I… I am Lucy, my lady.” I said with a trembling voice. What was happening. Could this be real?
“Would you like to work for me? The pay is quite generous.”
Please let this be real. “Yes…”