"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight"s entertainment is about to be ready. Please come to the viewing area."All of a sudden conversation died down in the banquet hall, liberating Lux and Terra that briefly exchanged questioning looks before following the crowd out of the grand hall into what appeared some sort of spectators seating overlooking a simple square arena below.
"Ladies please come sit over here, you two are guests of honor after all."
Not having a reason to outright decline Lux and Terra both went to sit with count and barron at a pair of seats that truly did allow a great overview of the arena.
"I don"t think I"m familiar with this kind of entertainment, what his happening?"
"It"s just a bit of fun."
Having a really bad promotion about the current situation Lux"s diplomatic smiling facade started cracking slightly as she exchanged glances with Terra that gave a similar expression, although she somehow managed to hide it a tiny bit better.
"I see, I will be looking forward to the surprise then."
Showing a cordial smile Lux managed to hide her worries that she hoped would be unfounded and managed to keep some small talk with going with the surrounding n.o.ble"s by occasionally having Terra a.s.sist her in times of need.
"I overheard that you two ladies are traveling south south, please be careful of the new griffon breeding grounds. They"ve expanded out from their regular territory quite a bit due to the long summer."
"Griffons? We"ll be sure to keep that in mind and avoid the areas…"
With the idle conversation coming to an abrupt end as those words left her lips Lux panicked slightly as she looked towards Terra that broke into a slight chuckle at her confusion.
"Griffons are smart creatures that don"t seek out a fight they can"t win, at most they might steal a bit of our supplies if we"re careful but we can avoid that all together by presenting a small offering when we enter their territory."
Offering a perfect explanation to the outsider Terra displayed her vast knowledge of the world of monsters to the surrounding crowd, quickly earning praise all around.
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"You sure a knowledgeable about griffons miss Terra."
"Truely a subject expert!"
"That sure is fascinating news. My domain is under quite the strain from monsters at the moment, I would very much appreciate any advice you have."
"If we"re talking about monsters you only suffer because you kept trying to tax monster hunters to an absurd degree! My domain on the other hand suffers from an infestation of arachnids that the local hunters can"t deal with, please accept my selfish request for any knowledge and a.s.sistance."
"What!? I do no such thing! You"re the one that-"
But praise soon turned to requests for knowledge, and that in turn turned to pleads for a.s.sistance with promise of great reward and infighting. Lux and Terra both knew this would happen, as they had both had some experience dealing with n.o.ble"s or top executives, but in Lux"s case she was slightly overwhelmed at how greedy and ill mannered the so called "elite" of Deltas were behaving towards them. Even as she was introduced as a military official Lux had been swarmed by n.o.blewomen that tried to pander to her by forcing their own sense of values and aesthetics on her, Lux had no idea how many times she had politely declined poor matchmaking attempts, flirting and outright s.e.xual hara.s.sment, not to mention that they completely looked at her like she was some kind of apology in the from of a comfort woman send by Dax and it was even worse for Terra that was judged as someone below her.
"Miss Terra I have to confess that I"m truly captivated by your eyes."
While she was occupied dealing with the n.o.ble"s around her someone had breached her defenses unnoticed. He was a tall man with blond hair and bright green eyes that carried himself quite elegantly in his fancy dress suit that covered what both Terra and Lux a.s.sessed to be a somewhat well trained body. The issue what that he had approved unnoticed, then snuck up on Terra when she was preoccupied and wrapped his arms around her wrist and looked her in place as he inspected her face at point blank. Terra looked back with wide eyes in surprise as her mind turned from confusion to rage. Who does he think he is? To casually try and touch her like that, Terra felt like shattering his arm like a twig, but in time (about a second) more calm parts of her mind prevailed as she noticed the strange atmosphere around her. Some of the n.o.bles were panicking, while others heartbeats slightly increased as they had suddenly become more excited. At that moment she remembered Lux"s advice from earlier.
"This is work too, look alive."
And she realized.
(This is a trap.)
"Why thank you sir, is it customary to casually touch a foreign diplomat like this? If so I would like to have been informed beforehand, as my guards might act rudely to such behavior."
Displaying a cordial smile that had no trace of her earlier hesitation or rage she briefly stunned the n.o.ble that had grabbed her with her beauty and used that gap to the fullest to pry his arm off. Understandably quite upset at such an instant rejection that he was undoubtedly not used to, the n.o.bles face flared red as his perfect expresion cracked.
"You-"
"Please look behind you before you finish that sentence young man."
Before he did something too stupid Lux stepped in, offering kind sounding advice and tone that on the surface sounded friendly, but was skillfully laced with bloodl.u.s.t. As a somewhat experienced martial artist the pretty blond haired n.o.ble recognized the danger instinctually and turned around before he froze in place. Just behind him stood what he quickly realized was some sort of golem wearing the same kind of suit as the less interesting mark he had been told about, its face was made out of some kind of tinted black gla.s.s that the somewhat experienced martial artist felt multiple "eyes" that were looking directly at him behind it. That was not the surprising part that forced him to tense up, no it was the fact that it had somehow snuck up on him compealty unnoticed like a skilled a.s.sa.s.sin and now took a stance like a skilled and ruthless killer while a long blade extended out form its arm.
"I-I apologize for startling you and your guard miss Terra, please excuse me."
Like a propper loser he realized he had been beaten and hurriedly retreated back to his own seating as the person who summoned them to this room appeared in the arena below.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the delay. Tonight"s contestants are ready, please inspect them and make bets accordingly."
While speaking 8 figures were herded into the arena, what caratized them all was that all held different weapons of crude quality in their hands, and they had the same metal collar around their necks.
"In honor of tonight"s special guests we"re having a special no holding back tournament, it"s a fight to the death."
As the commentator displayed a cruel smile and the crowd of n.o.ble"s around them erupted with glee Lux"s diplomatic smile completely disappeared.