Nero Walker, Book 4 Ch.86 (317)

Fidgeting with the robes she was being forced by circumstance to wear over her well used armor, Natalie Keening lamented the fact that her ever growing position in House Walker required such alterations to her loadout. Although, she did understand the reason why. After all, in order to project a more professional appearance, she needed to dress herself up a bit.

But that didn’t mean she had to like it.

She’d spent years happily doing nothing more than guarding city caravans to and from Dorchester’s surrounding villages under the banner of Precision Shipping, and never once had she considered that she might one day act as a representative for a noble house, nevermind a noble house led by a unique like Lord Walker. Yet, here she was, on her way to meet a delegation of dwarves of all people… dwarves… whatever.

‘This is what you wanted. A new challenge. A changed life. And Lord Walker delivered. You’ve participated in a real honest to gods war, survived incredible odds, gained insane amounts of experiences the likes of which you’ve never dreamed of. Dear gods woman, you’re personally serving a unique! This is only the beginning, you better get used to it,’ she reminded herself while clenching her fist in stubbornness.

“Hey, Chief, do you think Lord Walker will agree with Lady Verena’s proposal?” one of her more outspoken aides, Nora Falkner, asked in a not-so-subtle whisper.

Glancing over her shoulder at the woman, Natalie noted the worried look on Nora’s face. She knew the woman was as equally unprepared for what they were doing as she was. Yet, rather than concerning herself with Nora’s question or its implications, she instead found herself once again appreciating the slight changes to her skin tone along with her now disturbingly lustrous hair.

‘Referring to her change in appearance as ‘slight’ is like saying our walls are pretty tall,’ she remarked to herself.

She hadn’t known Nora for long. In fact, before joining House Walker, Natalie and Nora had never met. But that didn’t mean Natalie didn’t ‘know’ all about her. After all, she’d been given access to the woman’s file. And as team lead, she’d needed to thoroughly research her people in order to understand who she was going to be working with.

When it came down to it, Nora Falkner’s story was nothing special. She was barely into her 70’s but over the last 30 years she’d barely gained a single level. Already having raised several kids, been married and separated twice, and earned herself enough money through office work to retire, she could be considered nothing out of the ordinary. Basically, one could say she was the type of woman who, having lived a good life, was already in her twilight.

Truth be told, when Natalie had first met her, she hadn’t understood how or why the woman had even been been allowed to join the house. Sure, Nora had a background in her younger years of hunting, but aside from a sincere desire to change her circumstances, she had nothing else going for her. A woman who hadn’t fought in decades, someone who looked to be peacefully nearing the end of her life, why would House Walker choose to accept her?

But, looking at her now, she could understand that Lord Walker must have seen something in her. His wisdom truly was remarkable.

Nora Falkner had leveled twice during their recent ‘adventures’, practically halting her age creep in its tracks. More than that, she actually looked younger now than she did when she’d first applied. Honestly, if Natalie hadn’t seen the difference for herself, she wouldn’t have believed it. It was the stuff of stories and children’s tales, not reality.

But that was how everything about Lord Walker seemed when she looked at it objectively. He himself was the stuff of legends. Coming from another plane, rising to nobility, fighting well above his level, achieving glory and earning the personal attention of the most legendary archmage in the kingdom. That’s not even mentioning the damn near miraculous feats of magic and divinity she’d personally seen him perform. He was the god of adventure, personally coming to teach the masses of how to live a life of excitement and wonder.

‘But these people aren’t ready to know that yet,’ she reminded herself.

Shaking off her random thoughts, Natalie replied, “I’ve no idea. Lord Walker’s mind is not something we can understand. We merely need to ensure that we do our part to support his goals while fulfilling the purpose he’s assigned us. And for now, that means doing our best to see to it that these ‘guests’ get to the estate without issue.”

Natalie could feel the rest of their little reception party nodding along with what she was saying. Each of them had been handpicked by her to join in spreading House Walker’s greatness through public service announcements and through what Lord Walker called the ‘media’. And although their backgrounds varied, they all were extremely dedicated to House Walker and its rapid rise. One could even go so far as to say they were all fanatics, just like her.

Joining House Walker had changed all of their lives, herself included.

Seeing as the guards surrounding the dwarven delegation were finally approaching, she straighted up while saying loudly to her associates, “Alright, everyone quiet down and tighten up. They’re here.”

At the front of the procession, she could see it the moment when Head Guard Dalton noticed her group. Natalie knew that their blatant display of House Walker’s colors would make them easy to see. That’s was the whole point after all. Their chosen robes and cloaks practically ensured it.

“You’re presence is unnecessary, we’ll be escorting our guests to where they wish to go,” he declared loudly, not even slowing down as he passed by her and her associates.

As planned, she’d chosen to perfect spot to intercept them just inside the outer gate, arranging her group to stand in dual a rows off to the side. Impossible to miss, yet easy to ignore. From the beginning, she knew it would require careful balance to be noticed without actively being in the way. After all, it wouldn’t look good for House Walker to publicly look as if they were trying to interfere in city business.

When Head Guard Dalton was a few steps past her, she called out, “That’s fine, we were just dispatched to aid the dwarven delegation in any way we can. We understand that their business is with our lord and have no intention of delaying them.”

The dwarves who were amassed in the center of the crowd paused in unison, directly in the middle of the street. Their immediate stop nearly caused the city’s guards all around them to run into each other.

“Oi, lass, you and yours are from Clan… er… House Walker then?” a gravely voice called out from somewhere.

Though she couldn’t see exactly who it was that was asking, Natalie replied just as loudly, “That’s correct. We’ve been sent to lead you to Lord Walker’s estate. The city’s archmage told us that you were coming here to meet with our lord, and House Walker didn’t want to make you deal with the city’s politics before you got to where you wanted to go.”

Arguably, she knew she could have worded that a bit better, but she’d always been a rather ‘direct’ person. Even having practiced her greeting multiple times on the way here, it still came off a little more abrasive than she’d intended it to. Luckily, Lady Verena had made it clear that her combative and blunt personality was one of the primary reasons she’d been chosen to represent House Walker for this meeting in the first place.

Hearing multiple guffaws of appreciation from the dwarves, she watched as an impressively, but arguably too-well-armored dwarf pushed his way through his fellow dwarves along with several of the guard until he was finally standing directly in front of her.

Not intimidated in the least, she waited patiently as he ran his eyes over her and her group in evaluation before nodding to himself with a smirk.

“Ye have the right of it, I won’t be denying it. We’re here to speak with the lad called Walker. If ye can take us to him, we’d be appreciative,” he declared loudly enough for everyone within shouting distance to hear him.

Walking back from the front of the guards, Head Guard Dalton called out, “Excuse me Lord Crusher, we -”

Rudely interrupting the man with a “Bah!”, the dwarf nearly shouted, “I’ve told ye three times already that I ain’t no lord. And I swear to the stone’s below that if ye call me one again, just one more time, well then we’re gonna have ourselves quite a tussle. Ye hear me boy!?!”

Gritting his teeth, Head Guard Dalton replied, “Yes, of course… Crusher. That said, before you head to House Walker, you need to meet with the City Lord and the Council of Leadership in the keep. All visitors of status are, in fact, required by law to do so.”

Planting his armored gauntlets on his hip, he replied sharply, “Oh? And why’s that? We didn’t come here for city business. Are ye sayin’ we ain’t welcome here just to visit?”

Natalie saw one of the dwarves holding an intricately carved stone staff step forward. The lack of a beard indicated that despite her gruff face, she was more than likely a woman.

“The treaty yer people signed with our king allows for targeted access to your nobles and representatives for the express purposes of trade,” she stated loudly and clearly, her voice a contrast in both gruffness and melody.

Pointing animatedly at his fellow dwarf, Crusher shouted happily, “That’s right! And that’s exactly what we’re here for. Trade. We wanna have words with the lad about a trade. So it ain’t got anything to do with you or your council.” He finished his words with a firm and resolute nod, as if he weren’t merely making a statement but also an accusation.

Natalie could practically feel how utterly done Guard Dalton was with this particular duty he’d been assigned. Imagining herself in his place, she could only guess at how much misery this little monster in front of her had put him through. As an afterthought, she wondered exactly how long he’d been escorting this Crusher and his comrades. Even if it was less than an hour, it was still likely much longer than he’d probably wanted to.

“Very well,” the head guard replied with a sigh.

Turning to Natalie, he added, “As representatives of not just House Walker but all of Dorchester, I expect you to ensure that our guests don’t meet any trouble on their way to your lord. And keep in mind, if you have need of us, this contingent will remain on call for you.”

Without another word, he offered Crusher a slight bow before turning around to begin addressing the rest of his guards. No doubt, he was giving them strict orders to watch over them until they left their jurisdiction.

Natalie couldn’t help but smile, as all of this theatre had gone almost exactly as Lady Vera and the archmage had expected it to. They’d told her explicitly what to do, and what to expect, and everything so far has happened exactly as they’d told her it would. She’d heard tell of fate magic and the powerful games practiced by the nobility, but this was the first time she’d ever seen them in practice.

“Lass, if ye don’t mind me sayin, ye don’t look like a typical human noble,” Crusher said at a much more reasonable volume, this time sounding almost friendly.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she turned to look down over at him. “Huh? What?” she replied awkwardly before looking down at her new robes to see where she’d screwed up.

Hearing several of the dwarves stifling their laughter behind him, she looked up to see Crusher staring at her with a smirk.

“I didn’t mean nothing by that, ye can rest assured. I just meant that ye stand like a warrior, and those robes of yers seem like they’re botherin’ ya. A bit like over polishing a butter knife, ye know what I’m sayin’?” he asked with a chuckle.

Ignoring the insult and getting herself back under control, she straightened up before replying, “My name is Natalie Keening, serving as a representative of House Walker. On behalf of both my lord and my house, I welcome… I mean… I would welcome you and your delegation to our great city of Dorchester. If that is what you wish… Or, that is, if you wish it, my lord would graciously be offering you lodgings at our… or his estate. There you can discuss whatever you’ve come here for with him in person. You can be at ease, your safety and security will be ensured by the whole might of House Walker. And if there is anything else you need, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

She finished with a huff, happy to finally have gotten through the little speech Lady Verena made her memorize.

By now, many of the other dwarves had moved forward to crowd around their apparent leader, and were now listening in on what she’d been saying. Natalie could actually feel the weight of the moment pressing down on her, and she reminded herself that she needed to be sure to project a measure of professionalism. She’d done it before, all she had to do was think of it as if she were meeting with a town mayor or a business owner of some standing.

Looking at her like she was an idiot, Crusher replied with what almost sounded like his version of a giggle, “Lass, ye look as if ye spent half the mornin’ trying to remember your lines. Ye should just stop, ye’re embarrassing yourself.”

The dwarves all began to laugh, and she could even feel a few of her comrades unable to stop themselves from joining in along with them. Even Nora, who was usually so supportive muttered a little too loudly, “He’s got you there, chief.”

Turning red, she took a few steps forward in order to physically loom over the abrasive dwarf. Abusing her height advantage to be as intimidating as possible, she hissed in a whisper right into Crusher’s face, “Listen here you miniturized bearded pain in the ass, I’m just trying to do my job here. So stop making it so difficult and just publicly agree to be escorted so we can all get out of here!”

Meeting her eyes directly, Crusher said nothing, but she could see the trouble he was having attempting to hold back his laughter. From how close she was, she could even see that he was beginning to teer-up under the pressure of the ‘guffaw’ he was quite obviously forcing himself to hold back.

Unwilling to shame herself further, she stepped back into her place among her group, while muttering quietly to herself, “Gods above, the archmage said he’d be brash, not an asshole.”

Crusher, now ignoring her, was busy looking up into the sky as if he were begging the gods for their help. To make his amusement even more obvious, everyone could see that he was visibly pulling on his beard in order to stop himself from laughing. Since he was so obviously occupied making a fool of himself, another of those dwarves holding a stone staff chose to step forward.

“Yer offer is welcome, and we’d be happy to take ye up on it,” he stated loudly, forcing himself to be heard over everyone’s continued chuckling.

Meanwhile, the lady dwarf who’d spoken up before was now repeatedly kicking the shin of Crusher hard enough to make a few dwarves nearby wince in sympathetic agony.

And yet, Crusher, seemingly more amused than hurt, merely hopped away, shaking his leg as if he were only trying to remove a stubborn stone stuck to the bottom of his boot. Once again, both the dwarves and her companions enjoyed a moment of shared laughter at one of their leader’s expenses.

“Alright ye troublemakers, that’s enough of that,” he shouted with a bit of seriousness returning to his tone.

Offering Natalie a smile, he said, “We formally thank ye for yer welcome, and accept yer lord’s generous offer. So, lead on, lass. Do yer duty as ye’ve been charged. We of Clan Mithrilstrike are in yer care.”

Grumbling to herself about uppity dwarves making things more difficult than they needed to be, Natalie turned around and began leading the way back toward the closest astra teleportation platform. Behind her, she could feel the dwarves and the rest of her group already beginning to intermingle. And even further behind them all followed the guards, their presence looming over both groups like disapproving chaperones on a class field trip.

Looking at from the outside, all of them together must have made quite the spectacle for the citizenry considering that they took up most of the street with their passing.

*Chapter 317 - The face of House Walker in action.

*Spoiler - There is a fine line between looking like a trustworthy person and being one.  Most successful internet personalities and people of note in general have a general aura of honesty.  Or at least they used to.  Keening has been behind the scenes, preaching the gospel of House Walker and her lord for all to hear.  Her blunt honesty resonates with the common people, and seeing her having to adapt to a more politically minded atmosphere is funny to me.  I have to wonder if she'll eventually start spewing bullshit over House Walker's Thought-Hub channel, or if she'll remain as trustworthy as she's always been.  Success does tend to corrupt people like her.