Chapter 115: Chapter 186 – A Short Intercontinental Shopping Trip

Miria switched into her panther form and picked up Asterios and his mother. Tina invited her parents onto Esil’s back and they reluctantly agreed. After everyone was properly seated, the two magnificent beasts led the carriages into the town. Many people admired the unusual procession and waved at their new governors.

“Are you abandoning your old appearance now?” Kindra asked as they rode together.

Asterios was going to ask what she meant but realized that he had usually appeared with black hair and blue eyes in front of his mother unless the circumstances required otherwise.

“Not exactly.” He shook his head while hugging her dearly from behind. “A lot has happened in the Demon Continent and this is partially the result of that.”

“How so?” She tilted her head to the side to take a peek at her son's face.

“I’ve been told that I shouldn’t hide and limit my true self or it will be detrimental to my growth. And this seems to be the actual me, with white hair and red eyes. I don’t want to drag the girls down by having an existential crisis about my identity anymore. I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“Changing. Pushing aside the son you’ve raised for so many years. Looking like someone else and not the boy from your memories.”

“Oh, Asti…”

Asterios carefully assisted his mother as she began shifting herself and soon ended up sitting with her front towards him. She placed her slender hands on his cheeks and looked deep into his draconic eyes.

“It does not matter what color your hair or eyes are. You are and always will be the same boy that I picked up almost twenty years ago. You are not changing but growing up, developing further, finding out who you really are. Regardless of the answer to that question, the fact that you are my son will never change. So, don’t apologize. You have no idea how happy it makes me to see you moving ahead through life.”

They gazed at each other in silence for a good while before Asterios pulled Kindra into a loving embrace. She smiled warmly while reciprocating it and gently rubbing his back. Nothing she had said was a lie. It was pure bliss seeing him grow alongside the kind girls accompanying him. She should have realized earlier that Asterios was worried about becoming a different person in her eyes and told him this much, much earlier.

After sharing a moment, they withdrew themselves from the melancholic hug and Kindra shuffled again, this time seating herself sideways. Asterios supported her while she rode the rest of the way like a noble princess with her proud knight escort. 

His enhanced hearing picked up some conversations wondering if she was one of his women too and he chuckled softly. It was inevitable due to her age. Kindra did look very youthful and energetic for someone in her mid-thirties. They both were aware of how they appeared in this scene and shared a knowing glance. Asterios only hoped that she wouldn’t start teasing the residents by making use of their assumptions.

They reached the selected mansion and Kindra didn’t even cross the premises before rushing to the Nobelle family about staying in that one. She quickly noticed how close it was to the castle, as Asterios had expected. Tina’s parents agreed quite quickly too. They weren’t especially picky either.

Everyone walked inside to tour their new home and there were no signs of any disapproval. Danny and Keenu guided them while explaining everything about the residence. In the end, they didn’t really need to sell it to the newcomers so they focused on presenting things as they were.

Both families brought only a few small wagons of belongings from their home mansions so they started to move their things in already. The rest of the convoy belonged to the Hestizo Household as a merchant troupe and carried goods or other commodities necessary for trade as they would be establishing their shops and base of operations in the town.

But, it was slowly getting late so they left such matters for the next day and focused on moving into their new home. Asterios and his crew of course helped as much as they could. His girls stayed behind while he and the parents visited the Town Hall to finalize everything properly.

Asterios thought that his mom would already try to get into the castle but she didn’t pursue the idea yet and notified him about spending the rest of the evening and the night at their new house with her father and the Nobelles. She didn’t require any more assistance from them so Ast’s group decided to let them be.

But, he still sent Umbra to spy on them a little and quickly learned that Kindra already started bringing Tina’s family into the idea he had hinted at earlier. It didn’t seem that it would take long before the Committee Members learned about the proactive side of his mother and her lineage. They didn’t have to worry about the walls anymore with the joint funding of the two quite sizable families.

With the dark sky spanning over their heads, Ast’s group arrived back on the fortified island in the middle of town. He turned to Silvia as they stopped in front of the castle.

“Would you like me to drop you back home now?” he asked.

“Can’t Silvia stay with us, Master? Wouldn’t that be simpler?” Miria joined in while tilting her head.

“I mean, yeah, naturally, but she can easily stay in a more luxurious castle where all of her servants and family are without an issue too. Umbra is getting faster and faster at moving with a living load. That said, it all really depends on what she would like to do.”

The adorable panthergirl glanced at the princes with a happy smile. “What do you think, Silvia?”

“If you really don’t mind my presence then I would like to take you up on that offer. It will certainly be less inconvenient for Asterios to constantly transport me around. And your home isn’t any worse than mine. I wouldn’t really care even if we stayed in an inn or such. As a party member and a friend, I enjoy spending time around all of you.”

“Then you should stay!” Miria beamed at her and hugged Asterios from the side. “Party members have to stick together, right, Master?”

He chuckled and ruffled through her hair. “Yeah. Should we first jump back to let your father know about the change?”

Silvia gently shook her head. “No need, thank you. I’ll let him know with our long-range communication sigils.”

“Alright. Let’s go, then. We need to let Yumi know about our new guest and she is surely going to go all out after hearing who is going to stay in the room they will be preparing.”

The girls chuckled together and they resumed their walk while the princess talked privately with the king. She surrounded herself with the Hall of Serenity so she had to walk much slower to not break the spell but Asterios could still notice the various expressions Silvia made, like the faint roll of her eyes or the little curve of her pretty lips.

Yumi acted just as they had predicted and dashed away to properly tend to the next most luxurious chamber after the lord’s. Everyone shared a late dinner and moved together to check on Silvia’s new room.

It happened to be located right next to the master bedroom so they didn’t have to traverse multiple corridors just to exchange a word or two. It didn’t look any less grand than their chamber so Asterios was happy to give it to the princess. He also requested that she be assigned a personal maid and a few priority servants. Silvia argued that it wasn’t necessary but she relented and accepted their goodwill.

They took a quick bath with everyone present, without any mischief from the beastfolk girls, and headed to their respective bedrooms. Tina didn’t like the thought that Silvia would be alone while they were all together so she offered a sleepover if the princess didn’t mind her presence. Silvia agreed that it was a fun idea and not something she had really done a lot in the past so the two girls bid a temporary farewell to the others.

The next day, after breakfast, Asterios and Tina were called to the Town Hall and they hastily made their way there alongside the other women. Hestizos and Nobelles had been waiting for their arrival and got straight to the point. 

All the Committee Members listened to Kindra’s father first regarding the establishment of their family’s presence in the town. Esotvi and Ulyssen partook in the conversation the most since it touched on their personal subjects. A few spots were quickly chosen for the various stores and the contracts were signed.

Besides the shoe, clothing, and jewelry shops, they chose one more general location for an open office. It was a major and quite important operation since only a few big, selected cities had an established base of operations, and it meant that Glimmervale was clearly valued by their family. Such a move would certainly attract lots of attention and hopefully benefit everyone living there.

Then, a bunch of the Committee Members almost fainted when Kindra and Lady Luna offered to fund the construction of defensive walls around the town. Esotvi and Keenu took the news the worst. One knew well how much that would cost, and the other was aware of how grand such a project was in terms of construction.

Naturally, money wasn’t really an issue for the two families, and they would gain something much, much more valuable for their initiative. Not just plenty of privileges and tax exemptions but also getting the king and the kingdom into a little debt just like the heads of the Hestizo Household had with Tyrienheim in the past. No one could deny the importance of developing both commerce and security.

Since the lords were present during the talks—meaning Asterios and Tina—the projects received a quick initial approval. It wasn’t something that could be fully closed in a day but they expressed explicit will to move forward with those suggestions, at a fair rate, of course. Neither of the two wanted to abuse their position to benefit their own families through shady practices.

Thus, everything was left in the hands of the two families and the Committee Members, and Asterios moved out with his crew to take care of their matters while the other side discussed and calculated everything properly. They met up with Grea and everyone was briefed on what they needed for their big ritual. While the girls collected and prepared things in the town, Asterios started jumping through shadows from place to place to buy a bunch of materials they didn’t have on hand.

Thanks to Umbra’s ability, he could relatively quickly check for prices in different regions and pick up the orders where they would be the cheapest. It honestly felt like cheating. If he started a transportation company as his mother had mentioned, or even a merchant group, he could get rich just from this one ability. Thankfully, with everything considered, money wasn’t really a big problem for him. It was a weird feeling for sure.

On the second day of gathering ingredients, Asterios arrived in the small village next to the nature dungeon they had visited long, long ago with Miria and Selene. This was also the place where they had first stumbled on the traces of the sinister organization working on some scary poison. It really brought back memories, and not just for him as the two beastfolk ladies joined in through their gates to reminisce about the past together.

After getting what they needed and having a little chat with Ven, their advisor from that time, they jumped to Tyrienheim to gather the last bits of the necessary ingredients and materials. Only the priciest items remained on their list.

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First, they decided to check on Cynthia and her father since they had already started visiting their acquaintances and it introduced them to that specific mood of wanting to meet up with old friends. 

Unfortunately, the forge was locked and Umbra confirmed that no one was inside. Learning from the neighbors that it was a recent change, they assumed that the father and daughter duo must have taken some bigger commission that required them to close for a moment or perhaps had gone on vacation.

So, they headed to the Adventurer’s Guild and were met with another disappointment. It turned out that their favorite dwarf advisor wasn’t there. Approaching another receptionist, they found out that Truvi had been laid off after not meeting the quotas too often.

They instantly felt saddened by the news and partially responsible for it even though it wasn’t their obligation as adventurers to regularly show up or take quests. Yet, they were most likely the only ones under Truvi and it didn’t look like the situation had changed after they left.

Miria asked if any of her colleagues knew anything about her current whereabouts and one of the girls suggested that she might have returned to her father’s forge on the edge of the city. They hastily followed the directions and found the place without an issue.

Entering the small workshop, they immediately noticed their friend in the far corner, hammering a freshly forged shovel into a proper shape, with her back to them. The emerald braids were hard to mistake.

A male dwarf with voluminous, waist-long, wavy brass hair approached them and glanced up at the trio.

“What ya want? Order? Shopping? Ques—” The man’s eyes widened as he noticed the cerulean plates marking S-rank adventurers and he swallowed his saliva loudly. “Uhhh… Errrr… How may I help ya, respected friends?”

Miria barely withheld a giggle from seeing his reaction. “Could we please speak to Truvi for a moment if she isn’t super busy?”

“But of course, mah lady. Just ah moment.” He bowed his head and strutted quickly toward his daughter, most likely. “Truvi! I swear on mah beard if you offended someone bigshots imma rip half of yer hair out! Ya have visitors!”

The young dwarf groaned over her work and set the shovel aside, jumping off a small raised platform. She trotted unhurriedly towards them with her face mostly directed to the ground and only raising it up after reaching the trio.

Her eyes instantly turned into saucers after she noticed who those visitors were and she stumbled backward when they moved to the S-rank plates.

“What da frick?!”

“Hi! Long time no see!” Miria beamed at her cheerfully.

“How did ya find me? Na, how da frick are ya S-ranks?! You were D-ranks buncha months ago!” Truvi shouted back.

Asterios chuckled while crossing his arms over his chest. “A lot of things have happened since then. But, it looks like you’ve had it a bit tougher than us.”

She rolled her eyes and waved her hand. “Ah, don’t get me started, wouldya? I knew that it was too perfect to be true, and that I’m not cut for it. Shit be like that. Past is in da past.”

“But, wasn’t your dream to work as a receptionist?” Miria asked with a gloomy expression.

“Dreams won’t feed ya, kitty girl. I can’t leech off mah Pappy forevah. It was time to grow up.”

“If they did, would you like to continue?” Asterios raised a brow at the dwarf woman.

“Pfffft. I wouldn’t be here if so.” Truvi sighed. “What ya getting at, pretty boy? No chance they take me back even if ya pressure the guild with yer rank. Nice hair by da way. This new look suits ya.”

“They might not but I know about a place that desperately needs you.”

“What? No fricking way. As much as I like ya guys, don’t do that. Don’t tease me. Not you.”

Asterios sighed too and stood a bit taller. “I’ll be frank with you, then. As the current lord and governor of Glimmervale, I request you to travel back with me and employ yourself in the newly established Adventurer’s Guild under the leadership of Guildmaster Suanori. I promise you fair compensation and respectful treatment within a secure job not based on pitiful commission systems. Do you accept this offer?”

Truvi stared at him in shock and confusion while repeatedly opening and closing her mouth. Meanwhile, Asterios summoned the royal decree from his spatial ring and unrolled it in front of her, causing their dwarf friend to fall onto her butt and pale a little. They heard the clang of metal and saw the dwarf man fainting next to one of the stone counters.

She gave her father a glance and ignored him completely. “Ya… are not joking, are ya?”

“I think I would have chosen something safer to joke about rather than impersonating a kingdom official for which you can end up losing your head, at the very least,” Asterios replied with a chuckle.

“Sweet momma… Can I… really?”

“We’ll give you a few hours to think or prepare, and tend to your unconscious father. After finishing our shopping trip, we are going to come back here to either pick you up or hear your reason for refusal. Naturally, don’t feel pressured into either. See you in a moment.”

Miria and Selene waved at her happily and they left with Asterios after he stored the scroll back in his ring. This was the easier way to convince Truvi that they were serious rather than arguing with her for who knew how long. And they still had to get the necessary resources.

Just as promised, they showed up in the forge shortly after picking up everything. The emerald-haired dwarf had been already waiting for them, sitting on top of a few suitcases filled with her belongings. The girls took them to their realm to let Umbra focus on transporting the two people and they jumped back to Glimmervale.

Truvi took the ride quite well. Arriving right in front of the guild, she was still skeptical about it, but after meeting the fabled Guildmaster Suanori in person, she set all her doubts aside. Asterios explained the situation to their elf friend and she gladly welcomed a new employee recommended by him and the girls. Truvi sounded like a very resourceful person from their words.

Leaving the guild’s matters in the guild’s hands, they regrouped with the rest of their squad in the main square. The preparations for the summoning were in full swing. The plaza was empty and multiple people worked together on drawing a huge summoning circle spanning the entire diameter of the market. Grea was obviously there, overseeing everything.

They talked with the demon woman and her father and learned that things should be ready the next day. Asterios decided to join them in their efforts now that they had everything they needed and things moved quicker with everyone’s help. Still, it got late before they noticed so the ritual would still take place the next day.

After a calm night and filling breakfast, everyone moved to the plaza. Ast's eyes widened to the brim when he saw how many people filled the streets, leaking into the main square at the edges all around it. They obediently kept off the prepared stage but pretty much the entire town was watching everything with excitement. Countless people hung from the balconies or even sat on the rooftops.

Asterios and the girls approached the gathered Committee Members, Grea, and Radir. Meanwhile, Tina’s parents, Ast’s mom and grandfather, Yumi, Suanori, Ellie, and Truvi set themselves down in front of the crowd to not disturb them. Everyone was there.

“Quite a gathering, isn’t it?” Grea elbowed the awe-struck Asterios.

“I did expect some audience but nothing like this,” he replied with a wry smile.

“We might have had a little bit to do with it,” Ted said and chuckled. “This is a great way for the people to get some grasp on your strength, on the power of their new lords. I’ve seen what you can do with my own eyes but there’s only so much that people are going to believe from mere words and testimonies. This can reassure them greatly. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

Asterios shook his head. “No, it’s a good idea. Not like it bothers me. We’ve held many rituals in front of other people in the academy.”

“Well said!” Grea smacked his back. “Now, let’s not leave them hanging! Time to make some history!”

 

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