Rosen Flame B1 — 8. An Understanding
Added 2024-11-03 23:10:03 +0000 UTCPoV:
1. Malik (Our MC and Humanity's Hero!)
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Relaxing more as the hours went on, Malik went over the basics of human courting etiquette in this region of the world. He guessed a lot of it from what little he’d observed while going through Tenebrin.
He was far from the only reincarnator in the world, and Tenebrin had a more stationary Lawful-Good reincarnate group, but they were in their early thirties in Level the last time he’d seen them. He wasn’t particularly close to them.
Lord Stephen Delmore and his band of friends handled most of the mid-tier surface stuff in Tenebrin anyway or contacted him if they needed more specialized work done. He would have to send his friend a letter telling him he was staying in his kingdom for a while; he’d probably get a kick out of him using the silly baron’s title he’d given him.
Gradually feeling far better around the demigod with the hours sliding by, Malik noticed Rose was in a surprisingly brighter mood throughout their exchanges around town than he would have thought. Although, she got a little annoyed when he said he’d given away all his money—purchasing power, as she called it—so they’d need to wait until 2 p.m. to get more pastries and milk from Ena, ‘the sugar mommy’ that stole all their money.
His explanation of what a sugar mama was got a few laughs out of Rose, much to Malik’s awkwardness. However, to their pleasant surprise, when they went back to the shop, the owner seemed happy to give them another one since he’d overpaid before; good-ol’ Lawful-Good Kingdoms. Then again, having to explain to the curious baker why Rose called him a ‘sugar daddy’ was a tad embarrassing.
Sitting at the same table that they’d used before, Malik chuckled as they got off the topic of sugar daddies. Rose proudly ate her dessert and downed her milk with the confidence of a five-year-old who managed not to spill on herself; it really was quite the look.
“Mr. Sugar Daddy, can I get a wet rag?” she proclaimed, tail wagging and eyes sparkling as he handed it to her.
Malik forced a laugh at the comments from the other customers. “Rose…”
“Ooh! Yes, I should call you Mr. Baker,” she ‘corrected’ with a grin. “And now, I offer it to you, Honey,” she said after cleaning her hands. “The use of honey is to indicate the other person is sweet!”
“Haha. That works. Thanks, Rose. The pastry was fantastic, Mr. Dennis,” he complimented. “Sorry for the commotion earlier.”
“No trouble at all,” he laughed, taking their empty glasses to clean. “You’re making strides in understanding Common, Lady Rose. What would the Lord and you say about a 25% discount if you swing by tomorrow morning?”
Rose’s eyes sparkled at the offer. “That is giving us more power in the bartering process. Correct?” she chimed, looking at Malik for confirmation and approval.
He gave her a thumbs up.
“Excellent. We accept your offer, good baker! You will have the things known as hot cakes?”
“Yes, I will,” he grinned, putting away the glasses and bringing their attention to his nearly empty stock. “First time I got so much business by noon; everyone wanted to gather and catch a peek at the stunning dragonborn and handsome human couple.”
Rose held up her fingers to examine her perfectly groomed pink nails with dissatisfaction. “I suppose my form does evoke a stunning effect on people. I wouldn’t call Malik handsome, though. Foolhardy and brave, perhaps, but not of superior looks.”
“Pfft!” Malik roared with laughter at the wincing stares everyone gave him; if only they knew what the dragon found attractive and what she meant by stunning. “Dragon culture certainly is different. As for the sales,” he noted, moving on from the topic as more cycled in to get the stale stock and catch a peek at them. “It helps that you have prime real estate near the bank and Main Street.”
His sharp eyes caught a mostly human-appearing Beastkin boy slip through the door, mostly unnoticed by the occupants. He restocked a basket of bread and retreated into the back to collect more. Malik judged the boy probably came from the same community he’d seen earlier by his scrawny build. The baker went on as if he hadn’t even noticed him; the kid had a good stealth Feats for his age.
“It does,” the baker agreed with him, turning to grab a piece of bread and hand it to a woman that came up to the counter. “I know you better than yourself, Ms. Julia!”
“You do! Thank you, dearie.”
Turning back to him, Dennis glanced back at his dwindling supplies, the boy reappearing with more in his arms. “Best day I’ve had for months… There you are, Draven. What would help a lot more is if I had proper supplies,” he complained, shaking his head. “Thanks to the change in Merchant Guild Masters and the new Merchant Prince War, ingredient prices are bleeding through the roof… and tax.”
Rose’s eyebrows pulled together as she glanced between them. “Malik, you told me that taxes were very low in this port town when you were explaining the reasons so many ships were in the harbor?”
“Kingdom tax,” Malik responded, crossing his legs and noticing this town didn’t have a toothpick supplier, which was unfortunate. “Is the sales tax and cost of imported goods going up?”
“Sky high, but that’s what you get when someone has a monopoly on the trade routes, and no one does anything about it,” he sighed, glaring out at the street as a few sailors in red and black coats strolled by, half-drunk and laughing as they blocked traffic to some extent. “Bah. Anyway, I’d love to see you two tomorrow; I need to close early to prepare for the dinner rush now that I can’t rely on the morning or old goods.”
“Good luck!”
“Hah. Thanks. You pay well, and, more importantly, bring the gossip,” he said with an unabashed grin. “May the Holy Emperor guide your way.”
Malik stood, Rose swiftly following while making sure there weren’t any crumbs or custard on her dress as he’d warned her. He was beginning to see the entertainment value the dragon brought.
“I liked the food,” he commented. “Thanks for the hard work in running a business that makes it so I don’t have to bake. See you tomorrow, Mr. Dennis.”
“Tomorrow, Lady Rose, Lord Malik!”
Well, news of me being a lord has spread quickly. It would spread on Main, though, after the bank incident, and Ena probably needed to give some details to make people satisfied.
Rose waved on their way out, finding his hand again with a spring in her tail. “I am so surprised how different humans can be when not terrified,” she commented. “Food, discussing human customs, and overcoming the challenges of social standing. I had a wonderful first date, which was not something I expected. Next, we return to Ena for more coins to obtain our lodgings, food, and land?”
“Haha! Still hungry?”
“Quite,” she frowned, holding her stomach.
“That might be trouble when you’re feeding two,” he whispered. “Hmm. But that’s right,” Malik sighed, still quite hungry himself due to the calories he tended to burn contacting Titania, but he had dinner to look forward to, and there was no rush. “I’m actually kind of enjoying myself, too. You did great back there with Mr. Dennis.”
The dragon’s eyes furrowed, giving him a dubious look. “I feel like I might not have done splendidly due to not calling him by name as you did. It is respectful to speak to someone with the proper title and identifier to prompt a healthy interaction, providing a positive view of one’s courtship and standing. Correct?”
Malik’s chest shook as he looked down at her questioning gaze. “In that social setting, I think you were just fine calling him Mr. Baker—maybe not so much sugar daddy. He takes pride in his work, and you’re complimenting him by recognizing his craft. It’s all about the context.”
“The context…” She nodded, looking down at the floor and seemingly committing it to memory; the woman was really taking this LARPing business seriously. “Okay! Oh, they’re holding hands, too!” she hissed, pointing at a couple ahead of them on the sidewalk. “They’re going through the courting ritual, as well?”
“Maybe. It’s possible they’re siblings, too—context, remember.”
“I see… So much to learn,” she whispered, excited by her bright smile.
Taking his time to reach the bank, Malik couldn’t believe he didn’t have anything to do right now but hold Rose’s hand and enjoy the seaside town bustle. In all honesty, this wasn’t a terrible place to slow down and spend a bit of time LARPing with a dragon.
Ena was the head of the bank here, which definitely wasn’t a coincidence; Titania must have pulled some strings in some way through his fellow reincarnates who followed the high goddess. He just had to get through this trial period with Rose to break his bad habits about relationships, or something like that.
When they neared the bank, he slowed to a stop, noticing a fancy carriage waiting outside; the crest of the Whitecollar Family, the barons over this town, was on the back.
“What’s that?” Rose swiftly asked, the wag in her tail gaining vigor while practically bouncing on her toes at something unexpected. “The noble of this land, according to his bio,” she hummed, looking up at Ena’s office and seemingly looking right through the walls to read his System data. “Is this why she wanted us to meet her at this specific time?”
Malik felt a cramp coming on, telling him something ominous was in the air; taking all his hefty fortune hadn’t just been to set up a new disconnect account he could use. “Ena might have plans for us…”
Rose wore a half-smile. “She isn’t a fan of me, as a dragon going through, as she calls it, a midlife crisis. I believe I understand the context. She cares for you in that mortal kind of way and labeled me as a ‘crib robber’ as we left.”
“Hsss… Your hearing is pretty good, huh?”
“Quite excellent,” she chimed, not showing a hint of anger. “I am destroying the stereotype, as some women have complimented in our passing.”
“Uh-huh…”
Not quite sure what that was in context to, Malik prepared for the worst; his most terrible enemies were those in politics or in the mental arena. Sure, his high stats and feats provided him with a good base, but he hadn’t had to practice those skills in his heroic adventures; Stephen usually handled all the mental strategies of the political scene.
Pulling Rose forward, they drew notice as they entered, the dragon far too cavalier for his tastes. Again, he noticed everyone whispering the second they showed up, many women blushing and smiling as if holding some juicy piece of gossip as their friends closed in to get details.
One of the tenants swiftly jumped forward to guide them to another office, instructing them that Ena would be with them shortly. The lady inside grinning ear to ear and skipping out with the tenant, chatting quietly to each other with backward glances as they shut the door.
Beginning to feel like the butt of some joke, he had enough. “Okay, what are they talking about, Rose?”
“Hmm? Oh. Everyone has been speaking about our courtship and what stage we are at or what they have heard from others about our origins. It is wildly inaccurate, and many details I still do not understand as of yet, but it appears I am being ‘very aggressive’ and ‘a real dragon princess’ that marks her territory. Hah. I do not mark things like wild beasts. Such ignorance.”
She beamed, leaning left and right in the chair she took, tail swaying. “The giggly female talkers keep wondering if you are a hidden half-dragonborn and have silver wings. Heh. Some believe we are runaways, whatever that means.”
Horrifying dots connected in Malik’s mind, but Ena soon appeared to set everything right, her brunette hair bounding with excitement as she rushed in.
Malik didn’t ease into the topic, unable to sit due to his jittery stomach. “Ena, what rumors are you starting?”
The woman’s grin faltered as she glanced at Rose before her gaze returned to him. “Nothing that wasn’t already starting to circulate. I’ll get straight to the point. Rose, you want a challenge as a female human in courtship, right?”
“I do like challenges.”
Malik scratched his forehead and crossed his arms. “Hold up, Ena. You do know my noble title holds no land and is directly linked to Stephen and his march. This town may be in Tenebrin, but it isn’t Aurelian, so it isn’t going to carry a lot of political weight.”
A devilish gleam lit the wood elf’s eyes. “You’re right, but hear me out, Malik. Rose is here to be entertained and challenged. Right?”
“Mhm?”
“She is learning the intricacies of courtship, but let’s face it, you have no clue about the male side of courtship, much less the female side! No offense.”
“Ouch. None taken…”
“So, instead of fumbling around in the dark, why not get a professional? A serving staff that can support you! This is just a quest, of sorts anyway,” she laughed, mirroring what he’d told himself not that long ago. “Plus, this town is dying and needs a hero. It’s perfect!”
“Let’s slow down a little bit!” His focus was on the ‘professional’ part as Rose just looked between them with her innocent sky-blue stare. “What is perfect—are you saying we should get help from the Whitecollar Family?”
Ena rolled her eyes. “Not at all; all they care about is jumping up to Viscount on their way to Earl, and he’s been trying to amass as much legal wealth as possible to make the jump. He hates this distant pocket of Tenebrin anyway. I say, you buy the barony outright; purchase his manor and claim.”
Things went from picking daisies with Rose by the shore to running a barony in the course of a few sentences, making him choke.
“How?! There is no way the Earl over this land approves it as the true owner; you know a baron is just a steward. If I purchased it, then it would be seen as a hostile push to expand Stephen’s march, would it not? I’d need the Earl’s signature, not just the barons.”
Ena waved her hand dismissively, striding forward to look up at him with a chuckle. “The Whitecollars have been setting things up behind the scenes to try and make this their own land as an Earl; it is a long shot, but the paperwork is already drafted… There are some problems.”
“Like?” he asked, seeing Rose just amiably taking in the back and forth.
“The tax exemption is about to run out,” she sighed, moving to cross her arms under her bust and lean her back against the wooden desk.
“Well, that’s great,” he snorted. “What else? Why are you pushing for this so hard?”
“It’s this town,” she stated. Worry now settled in her eyes that he wouldn’t go along with her plot. “This town is in real trouble:
“More Beastkin slaves showing up by the week, looking to be taken in; trade princes scuffling; pirates; sea monster sightings getting closer; no formal military; no police, except for the three competing guilds; cutting costs; renters squeezed from the bottom and top; bandits; goods shortages; and the war north against the demons and devils demanding more resources… This pretty little town is in a real mess,” she pleaded.
“And people may not look stressed on the streets right now, but they’re terrified, and things are cracking—they are at a critical tipping point—which is why my former boss cut rope and left me to handle the fallout. If it fails… I have everything invested here, trying to keep it afloat; I’ll have to go back home, and—and the Whitecollars and local Earl don’t want to be attached to a failed town.”
Hope lifted her face. “Then you show up like Titania set you herself.”
Rose snorted. “I was the one to teleport us here.”
“After Malik suggested it,” Ena shot back with an even smile and actually made the dragon tilt her head in recognition. “Right, and Marquee Stephen Delmore is your good friend… His influence is on par with the Tenebrin king himself—he is a noble hero who fought alongside you—just think about it! People learning they’re now a distant piece of the northeastern Aurelian march would be huge for them!”
“I don’t know,” Malik muttered, uncomfortable at the prospect of actually taking on the responsibility of a whole town of over five thousand people with the trouble of managing such an important area in Tenebrin; a merchant port town was a big deal. “Stephen would want to help the town if it is failing, but that’s his department; I’m just the sword guy that goes around and slashes things—I do the grunt work, not the dream work.”
Rose piped up from her seat with a totally ignorant smile as to what they were talking about. “I think it sounds interesting and challenging. Dream work… Do the standards of courtship increase by this route of barony?”
“It does!” Ena chirped, Malik seeing the fiend now in her eyes as she next appealed to his ball and chain.
Who’s side are you on?
“Excellent!” Rose cheered. “And I thought you hated me, wood elf.”
“Mmghmm. We have our… differences. You said you wanted a challenge. Well, you’ll have to keep a certain standard of attitude and appearance, attend events, and a host of other challenges, but there will be serving staff to help you come into the role. Oh, and I can handle a lot of the books, Malik!”
She turned to look up at him, her excitement tempered as her ears drooped in that puppy-dog way elves had at manipulating people. “I know this is a lot to drop on you. I really think you would do great, though, and I can be here to help you this way… I want to help you.”
“Eh, haha. The roles have reversed, huh? I dropped this quest on you, and now I’m the one fumbling.”
“Malik…”
“No, I know you’re doing your best to help.”
Malik groaned, not missing a lot of admissions Ena made in her rant, despite her probably hoping he’d miss them. Ena had confided in him on the last day of their round trip around Tenebrin two years ago that she was terrified of going home; she worked hard to make her own money to live here, but elves, free spirits as they were, hated being chained down.
It was a complicated dichotomy with their culture and fears of the short-lived races, which was valid. Elves lived on average 750 years, and didn’t start losing their strength and aging until around 725. Elf slaves were valued around the world, and she feared going back home so much that she would risk that.
Ena didn’t have a lot after willingly leaving her forest to make a name for herself, from how she told the tale, as what her community saw as an immature teenager lashing out; it had been a rough first six years for the woman before joining his quest and him helping her increase her newly obtained Level 5 Bard class.
Very few people focused on going any higher than Level 20 due to how dangerous it was to enter dungeons; most wood elves never reached their middle age since their military was mandatory at ages 200–300. Reincarnators had some perks to help jumpstart them, but at least three dozen he’d known of had died in the last decade. Replacements would have been sent down during the Veil of Chaos this last week.
The more people he trained, the lighter his burden would be, so he tried to help people learn the ins and outs of how to survive, which was how he’d gotten closer with Ena, who wanted to get stronger to increase her skill set and not return home.
He rubbed the back of his neck with both women now staring at him; there was no way he could say no after that performance, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t tease the wood elf. He was totally outnumbered now, and all Ena had to do was tempt Rose to get him to do something. Still, he knew she was sincere in wanting to help him; it just so happened to help her, too. It was nice seeing this more forward side of her.
“Remind me real quick, what class did you unlock again when I took you through all those E-tier dungeons when we were on the road?”
Ena’s face colored as she glanced away. “Bard… I’m not trying to manipulate you in this direction only for my own sake. I know it can be hard to trust a Bard, but you know me, I’m only Level 12. I haven’t set foot in a dungeon since the last one you took me through… It’s easier when you one-shot all the dangerous ones and guide me through tackling the weaker ones.”
Malik thought back, resting his head against the wall with a small smile as his heart lifted. “I recall having to haul that cello through all those floors, dungeon after dungeon. Yeah, I can’t see many Dungeoneers being okay with a Bard that can only play such a bulky and inconvenient instrument. I saw that guitar in your office. So it looks like you took my advice; I’d like to hear you play.”
“Yeah…” Ena glanced away and Rose chuckled about something, but the wood elf jumped past it. “Please, Malik, I know this can work!”
He slowly nodded with her big hazel eyes returning to him; she always had been the first one to ask if there was anything she could do to help when they were traveling in the bank caravan, and that was something he had enjoyed. He wasn’t going to let her get away with throwing all this on him that easily; she wouldn’t accept it due to her wood elf culture, but he had to tease her a bit more.
“Hmm. Alright, I’ll trust you, but only if you come to live at the manor so I can hear you play in the mornings and evenings.”
Ena’s frame tensed up before glancing at Rose, now examining her tail.
“Haha! I’m just—”
“I’ll do it.”
Malik choked. “W-What—you will?
Ena teared up and did something he never thought she’d do; stepping forward, the wood elf hugged him, making him feel like he’d done something right and wrong at the same time. “Thank you for trusting me! That… means a lot.”
“Oh, uh,” Malik sighed, keeping his hands open in hopes of not scaring her away; she was like a frightened kitten when it came to physical contact the last time they saw each other, well, outside of dances for some wood elf cultural reason. “I, umm, figured if things failed here, hah, you’d probably need to head back home, and I know how awkward… that would be for you, so…”
“Heh. Ever the hero,” she chuckled, quickly pulling away, face bright pink and wiping at her eyes. “Gah. Alright, I can do all the talking, Lord Malik Silverwing, but, um, there is this tiny rumor spreading.”
“What rumor?” Rose asked, gaze locked on them the moment they hugged.
Ena forced a smile. “That you are a dragonborn princess, and Malik is a distant noble that, ahem, fell in love and you ran from the Dragon Isles to be together. Now you’re teaching Rose all about human courtship, and she is quite dense at catching human customs.”
Malik’s smile strained. “Not… that far-fetched, I guess—Rose?”
Rose’s head tilted to the side. “I am learning these context clues then:
“So, I am to be a fiery princess that is forward and strips off your clothes with this longing heart that aches for the tender touch of my chivalrous knight. Yet, it is you who becomes the dragon behind closed doors to offer me hot fire and a challenging battle?”
“Rose, what are you saying? W-What debased things are those gossiping women talking about?!” Malik stammered as she got up to mirror Ena’s hug, only this one was far more forceful. “Rose?!”
Ena’s face went pink as she glared at the dragon, still latched onto him. He tried to get free from her death grip, but it was fruitless.
Well… these next thirty years will be…interesting. If I don’t die of stress first…
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