FB: Chapter 102 – Dance With Death

“All rise. It is good to see my subjects in such good spirits and a duel as well. I suppose we will have to find someone to fill that seat of nobility sometime soon. Hopefully they will have better manners than the last person,” the Human Emperor said. I kept my head bowed. While I had been forced to fight since I had been called out, I wish I hadn’t fought. Since the Human Emperor would pay attention to such things. It was a lose-lose situation once again, a common situation when dealing with nobility in game and especially the Human Emperor.

“We have many new faces. What do you think about the new arrivals to my Empire, Viscountess Foxy Blight? Or should I say God Slayer?” Everyone shuffled away from me and created a clear line of sight to the Human Emperor while giving them the opportunity to stare at me.

“Your Divine Majesty, I would say that the new arrivals are a mixed bag of stones that have not been sorted yet unlike the nobles already present in the Human Emperor. Where you have gathered precious gemstones, the new arrivals range from such talents to useless rocks,” I replied. I made sure to compliment the nobles and give an inoffensive answer as possible while also giving a direct response. It was quite stressful having to figure this out quickly enough so there was no noticeable pause.

“Start the music. I will dance with the gemstone of the new arrivals. Viscountess Blight,” the Human Emperor stated. It wasn’t a request. I quickly curtsied and then quickly hurried over to take his offered hand. A light classical song began to play in the background. Thankfully I recognized it as the Imperial theme and knew the proper dance.

I looked at the Human Emperor’s face and was hit with a debuff. It made me wonder if his face wasn’t actually a mask of some kind and beneath the human looking visage there was a horrible monster lurking underneath. He firmly took my hand and put his other hand around my waist while I lightly put my off hand lightly on his shoulder.

He began to lead me around the ballroom floor as the music for the Imperial theme played. I made sure to not make a single mistake while his piercing green eyes stared directly into my soul, and I stared back. They seemed to almost contain a fire within them. I felt like he could see through me and my every thought.

“You have done well escaping the net I cast little fox,” the Human Emperor said softly as we danced about the ballroom. My heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest from sheer panic. This NPC could crush my character with a thought and I couldn’t offend him while I had to offer an interesting conversation while also not messing up the dance. The stress was immense despite this being a game. The Human Emperor could ruin all my hard work very easily.

Give me another Unmentionable Horror and I would fight it just fine, but the Human Emperor made my skin crawl. The fact I was in his hands directly meant he could use any number of skills and I was completely vulnerable.

“One catches more with treats rather than punishments,” I replied trying to come up with an inoffensive reply as possible that couldn’t be taken advantage of.

“How goes your quest for the Anvil of the Hellforge?” he asked with a soft smile that was completely fake. A more ignorant woman might have been swooning in his arms, but I knew the trash personality that was behind the mask he wore.

“I have collected information and am considering my options as well as looking for avenues to gather more intelligence. While I am skilled in combat, I need to get a bit better before I venture into the Hell dimension,” I replied while the music continued in the background.

“Tread lightly little fox. The longer you run, the more enjoyable the hunt becomes,” he replied. I didn’t want to reply, but I had to, in order to keep the conversation going and not be rude.

“I just need to keep escaping the traps laid out before me until the next hunt.” I wanted to say something about the hunter tiring or suffering an accident, but that would have been too direct a metaphor he would take offense to. He squeezed my hand and waist a bit tightly and I felt pain. He had probably guessed my thoughts and was punishing me anyway he could. I didn’t react as we continued to dance, and I kept my pleasant smile on my face.

“You are amusing little fox. But everything is under my control. Everything. You won’t get a third chance,” he said and my brain almost flatlined from that last comment. I wasn’t sure what he meant by third chance. He probably meant my action of requesting a Travel Pass after winning the tournament of Champions and his quest, but my mind drifted to my time traveling for some reason even if it was completely insane.

“Perhaps my pride will be my downfall, but I believe I can stay one step ahead,” I replied carefully.

“We shall see little fox, we shall see. Time is like grands of sand, always slipping from your hands,” the Human Emperor said as the song came to a close. I didn’t know what to think now, but I wasn’t going to say anything about my time travel because QAI was listening in. It probably was my brain making connections out of fear and nothing more.

I performed several more dances with other nobles politely engaging in conversation during the dance. None of them were as stressful as the conversation with the Human Emperor. Thankfully I didn’t mess up any of the dances. I had hired a very expensive NPC tutor and band so I could learn the dances before this Capital Ball.

After doing five dances, which was the socially acceptable amount, I made my way to the buffet table and got a plate of exquisite finger food. I then made my way to one of the balconies of the floating palace that looked out over Capital City. Henry followed me with his own plate of food as we both sat at a table on the balcony enjoying the cool air, quietly eating.

“Viscountess Blight, I hope I am not intruding,” a man came out onto our balcony.

“Baron Hayfield, a newly appointed Baron who is part of the Great Bear Guild,” Henry told me quietly.

“Please be welcome Baron Hayfield. Henry, would you go get me some of that fruit juice. The sparkling one, I appear to have finished off my last glass,” I said and handed over my mostly empty glass to him. He nodded and took my glass and his plate. Baron Hayfield took his seat after he left.

“You seem to understand how things are handled in the Imperial Court. I must say that I am quite impressed,” he said with a smile.

“One does not become a Viscountess of the Human Empire without some self-awareness. Now, what can I do for you Baron?” I asked.

“Our guild has been mobilized. Unfortunately, I made a misstep in the Imperial Court and the Human Emperor has volunteered my guild for a mobilization. The position we have been assigned is untenable in the short term with the level of monsters we have to face. Failing the mobilization would be a disaster. That is why we wish to hire you and your guild to help stabilize things,” Baron Hayfield stated. I considered his request while I stabbed my tiny fork into some rainbow colored piece of finger food.

QAI really did know how to make things taste amazing. The food even gave temporary stat bonuses, which was a way to show how high quality it was. Being a professional chef in Exponential was incredibly difficult, since a high level of skill and knowledge was required. While a valuable position, it was more of a flex than a useful role in a party. Normally, highly elite teams had a member who also doubled up as a chef when exploring distant zones to get a few extra buffs, but for most groups and guilds it wasn’t worth the hassle to have a chef unless to show off as a flex since the boosts from food were short lived and quite small, even with high end ingredients.

I considered the request. “What black zone?” I asked.

“The Rampant Growth,” he replied, and I winced. While it might not have been the worst answer it was definitely in the top five. The plant monsters were vulnerable to fire, but it was raining constantly in the zone. The only reason the black zone wasn’t a swamp was the deep canyons funneling water out of the zone which made transversal across the zone incredibly difficult. It was not an exaggeration to say that half the plants there were hostile monsters. Plant monsters were resistant to poison and melee combat. They also had insanely high HP and regeneration. Mass magical attacks were the best way to go. But all that rain made fire magic less potent.

“That is a high level hell zone. How many war merits do you need and how much are you paying per war merit?” I asked. The worst part was that most of the monsters in the zones wouldn’t give any war merits.

“One platinum per ten merits and we need a minimum of 10,000 war merits,” he said. I shook my head at that number.

“A thousand platinum for such a hassle is not worthwhile. I know exactly what kind of disaster that hell zone is. I could swing my mega sword for days on end and barely make a dent in all those plant monsters.”

“If we offer more then, we would just purchase consumables to help us kill enough monsters,” Baron Hayfield countered.

“Failing a mobilization will lead to a guild penalty, which would be a disaster for your entire guild, its members, and your backers,” I countered.

“We understand that. We can increase our compensation to a platinum every eight war merits,” he countered. That meant a payout of 1,250 platinum.

“And if I earn more than 10,000 war merits?” I asked.

“We would pay out but then end the contract. With the current exchange rate that is almost 9 billion US Dollars. Far more than we would pay for mercenaries normally,” he replied.

“But that is in the real world. And I know you have probably looked at the Adventurers Union and other options. What is your timeframe?” I asked.

“A month. But sooner would be better of course.” I really didn’t want to fight in the Rampant Growth. It was one of those zones I had heard horror stories about, like the Murk Swamp. To get that many war merits would be a major hassle, since I would have to go deep into the zone and take out at least one enemy stronghold, probably two. One stronghold would net me six to seven thousand war merits.

The number of consumables I would need would be annoying as well and my build was a poor match up against plants. Give me actual creatures, not undead, but physical creatures or NPCs and I would easily defeat them.

“Six war merits per platinum,” I countered. I had a way to complete this request and bringing in more money would be useful.

“Seven, that is our absolute bottom line,” Baron Hayfield countered. That was around 1,428 platinum.

“Very well. Consider my verbal agreement given. Send the paperwork to my secretary Henry. I will show up at your base in three days,” I said, and the man let out a sigh of relief while smiling.

“I will handle the details personally. If there is any problem or concern, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.”

“This isn’t like a guild battle. Don’t leak this information. You might consider releasing it for morale, but there is a high chance enemy forces will make a move against me, which would put your guild in a worse position. I will not be responsible if that happens,” I clearly stated, and Baron Hayfield nodded.

“I will pass that along and we will keep the information to with the upper members only,” he replied. It was going to leak without a doubt, the only question was how long it would take.