ARC 2-Summoner’s Revenge-Part 22
The four of us move away and I hear Marquis Guiness engaging the rest of my family in conversation. I grab a drink for myself and Geo. Kierra is even more used to elven brew than I am and never bothers drinking. Unless it’s to play a trick on an unsuspecting rchant eager for information. “I hope you don’t mind using you as an excuse. I needed to be alone.”
“I don’t mind. And congratulations on your contract. How did you manage to pull that off anyway?”
“I taste good.”
Maxine, who had just taken a drink, sprays the wine back into the glass. Her face is flushed pink as she looks at with wide eyes. My smile stretches wider. “Succubi feed off their summoner’s mana. She likes the taste.” Geneva drives the point ho by licking her lips seductively. “Besides that, I’m a good conversationalist. Right, love?”
“You’re amusing at least,” Kierra says.
We laugh together. Maxine cos out of her confusion, putting her glass on the tray of a passing server and grabbing a new one. “So, did you bring over her for normal small talk?”
“You sound a bit hostile. Thought I was doing you a favor, Max. Isn’t it good if your father thinks you have a good working relationship with us?”
Her eyes narrow. “That depends. Do we have a good working relationship?”
“We might. But no, that’s not why I called you over here. I just needed to give him an opportunity.”
“Him?”
I don’t bother answering her question as I spot my target walking across the room. Junior is scowling deeply. By his side, his thrall Fen looks very nervous. Most likely, she can tell Geneva is stronger than her. The young noble by his side is an unknown. Judging from his close proximity and the company he keeps, he’s probably from another powerful house that dwarfs mine, but the lustful way he eyes Geneva grants him instant dislike.
We turn to face them as they reach us. “Junior!” I call with genuine excitent. Seeing his grit teeth, I am filled with happiness. Ah, yes. This is what I was waiting for. “I bet you’re just dying with curiosity so I won’t wait to introduce you. This is Geo—”
“How?” he barks out. “You have a fire affinity and a coefficient of 50 at best, so how could you—”
“How disappointing. As a mber of the Grimoire family, you should know very well that the coefficients of thralls are between 250 and 500, well within my ability to form a contract with. More so, your family were the ones who ford the theory about the third affinity of thralls—”
“Research you shouldn’t have had access to.”
“I wouldn’t if Grimoires didn’t talk so loud.”
“You—” He stops himself from probably cursing out, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “Whatever. So, you managed to contract a circle 3 thrall. Big deal. I suppose if you can’t beat , copy .”
“Circle 3?” I scoff. “Don’t compare to you. Geo, why don’t you make friends with Fen there?”
Geneva raises her arms toward the thrall. She gives a beatific smile but her voice has no room for compromise as she brightly says, “Co here.”
Junior’s jaw drops as Fen moves away from his side and grabs Geneva’s outstretched hands. “Get back here!” he snaps.
“Geo.”
“Obey Lourianne To.”
Fen nods her head and looks at with anxious eyes. I laugh. “No need to look like that.” I hold out a hand and she grabs it. “I know everything that happened the other day had nothing to do with you. An elental follows the commands of their summoner. Such petty actions could only co from Junior there.”
“Release her,” he growls, eyes practically blazing with anger.
“Hmm.” I tap my chin as if I’m thinking. “How about…no. At least, not yet. I want to ask her so questions so I’ll be borrowing her for the night.” I purposely raise my voice as I notice we’ve gathered a fast-growing crowd. “Really, a woman like this is wasted on you.” I give her a once over. “It’s like putting jewels on a pig.”
“You damn pervert.”
“Pervert? What exactly do you think I’m going to get up to? I was planning on having a nice cup of tea and comparing their experiences on Burning Earth for my summoning record but I guess the Grimoires think of sothing different when they take a thrall with them for the night.”
He snorts. “Yeah. You summoned a thrall to talk to her. There’s no point in lying when you flaunt your deviancy.” He spits that out with a dramatic jerk of his head in Kierra’s direction who playfully puts a hand over her heart. “Keep your hands off my thrall.”
“I am disappointed you have so little faith in . It’s possible for soone to contract a succubus without sleeping with them. Geo, tell the man what he wants to know. Speak the truth.”
Geo looks to the ground, feigning embarrassnt. “Lou and I have not been together.”
Yet, I add internally. It’s hilarious because that’s the truth. “Should I ask Fen the sa question? Sohow, I don’t think she’s going to give the sa answer. Then again, I could be wrong.”
“Oi!”
“Fen—”
“Shut your mouth, Lou!”
“—what kind of things does Junior like to do at night? Don’t be shy with the details.”
“I do very little talking,” Fen answers imdiately. As the higher ranked Geneva gave her an order to obey , she doesn’t hesitate to do so. And dare I say I see a little enjoynt in her eyes? “Gordon mainly grunts. He’s rather preoccupied thrusting—”
With an angry roar, Junior loses all composure and rushes . Reacting almost instinctively, I grab the hand reaching out to and move behind him, twisting it behind his back as my opposite arm goes around his throat. He yelps in pain as I pull the arm.
“Hey now. What do you think you’re doing? A gentleman doesn’t use violence against won.” I toss him away from , sending him stumbling toward the crowd comprised of the rest of the room who take a collective step back to avoid colliding into him.
He’s bigger than but he has no muscle tone. As expected of a spoiled noble. Without his thrall, he’s nothing. “Then again, you’re clearly not a gentleman from what little Fen’s said. And you had the audacity to call a deviant.”
“You bitch! I’ll—”
“Ahem.”
I grit my teeth as a sudden pressure pushes down on . Turning my head to the source, I see a neutrally smiling Marquis Guiness watching us. I’ve heard about this. It’s a high-level technique where soone can exude their mana into the air. The sudden concentration translates as weight to people who don’t have large capacities, as their bodies aren’t used to the saturation.
Thing is, it doesn’t an anything unless the source has a coefficient over 100 of their target. At the mont, I’ve got 65. Junior may be an ass but last I checked, he had an impressive 130.
That ans the marquis would need at least 230 to affect him. And from the way Junior’s knees are buckling, he has much more than that.
So, the richest man in the kingdom is also an accomplished caster. So people just have all the fortune in life. I would know. The pressure should have buckling but all I feel is a mild discomfort. Another boon of my new body? I fall to a knee anyway to keep up appearances.
“I would appreciate it if you ceased this disturbance.” He’s looking at Junior. Phew. I an, I don’t particularly care about having a good relationship with them right now but I also don’t want him angry with . That is a complication no one needs in their lives.
The pressure disappears as Marquis Guiness retracts his aura. With soone to douse his anger, Junior evaluates his situation and realizes the ss he’s in. The nobles surrounding him whisper to each other. Oh yeah, daddy Grimoire is going to hear all about this. I know he’s co to the sa realization when his face pales. Even the guy who walked over with him won’t et his eyes, doing his best to forget Junior exists.
Junior spares one look to and Fen. I glare at him, not attempting to hide a bit of my derision. He makes the first smart decision of the night and walks away, shoving aside mbers of the crowd in silent anger.
“Everyone,” the marquis announces. “The al for the evening is finished. If you’ll all follow to the banquet room.” He herds them into the next room, the tension leaking away with them.
Once the room empties, I laugh. “Saints witness, did any of you see his face? Whew. I haven’t had that much fun in forever.”
“I’m glad to see my efforts haven’t been in vain.” Kierra leans onto my back. “In the future though, anyone who attacks you should at least have three broken bones before you allow them to retreat.”
As expected of my bride. “That’s a bit too much with all those witnesses around.”
Maxine gives a strange look. Yes, I know what I said. I ant it. If we weren’t at a party surrounded by several influential people, Junior might not have been able to walk away. That look she’s giving says she’s reevaluating .
Good. You have no idea who, or what, you’re dealing with.
“Shall we go eat?” Maxine finally says. “Our chef has prepared several fish from the Dragon Fire Sea. We are pioneering a new kind of preservation magic that makes them as fresh as the day they were caught.”
Her plan is to simply go with it, huh? Taking a cue from her father, she seems to want to stay out of these events. At least until they know which side is going to win. Fine by . Wonder what the marquis will do once I co out on top? Guarantee no one will brush off again.
“Lead the way.”
We follow her into the dining room. In the hall, I lock eyes with Father who waited for . Our eyes et and he gives a vicious grin. No words are said but I know he enjoyed that every bit as much as I did.
Along with soone else. Fen is walking behind Geneva silently. She hasn’t said a word but I caught her smiling to herself earlier and she’s watching as we move down the halls. I never factored her into my plans, which is stupid. Despite being contracted to Junior, she has her own motivations. Motivations that don’t seem to align with Junior’s best interest.
It’s going to be an interesting conversation tonight.
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