“O Grand Magister Danna Ryl the One-Horned, illustrious chief of the Exinov and pinnacle of wizardry, we thank you most humbly for your kindness,” began Har Bell. “Yet I must inform you that in the Forbidden Land there are no beastservants, and I fear this lizard has received none of the requisite training to be worthy of your daughter.”
Her words slipped smoothly into the suddenly icy atmosphere of the room.
Gazing regally down at the delegation from her throne, Danna Ryl blinked, and an even gentler smile spread across her face. When she tilted her head to the side, her long silver hair─which fell almost to the floor─danced in the air, and the light from the chandelier was refracted through the long, transparent horn protruding from her forehead. The horn was beautiful, entrancing, like a work of art. The young girl clinging to Danna Ryl’s side had a single transparent horn just like her mother’s.
“It matters not… We shall handle all of the necessary arrangements. An unspoiled beastservant is rare indeed. So much the better that it has not been contaminated by any of the quirks of another Exinov! I will furnish a personal trainer, and it should be capable of the usual things within the month.”
“Your ears plugged up with wax or somethin’? She just told you we ain’t got any damn ‘beastservants’ where we come from. I’m here as a doctor.”
“K-Kudo! You can’t talk to them like that!” cried Hort. “We need to properly explain our cultural differences to help these people understand us!”
“An’ why’s it feel like they’re grantin’ us an audience, anyway? They’re the ones dyin’a mana thirst. All it means for us if this trade deal goes south is a little wasted effort.”
“Explaining things carefully and politely so the other party will understand is what trade’s all about, Kudo!”
“Man, this is bullshit. Call me when all this slow, boring etiquette crap is out of the way and we can actually get down to business.” Thumping his tail angrily against the floor, Kudo left the audience chamber.
“Lily,” the priest whispered, and the mouse beastfallen silently slipped out after him.
Hort groaned and put a hand to her head, then turned back to Danna Ryl.
“Erm… Sorry about that, Grand Magister. Given the situation, I’m afraid we’ll have to refuse your kind offer to accept Kudo into your daughter’s service.” Hort forced a nervous laugh, but she was a little worried that her expression wasn’t as apologetic as it was intended to be.
It was all for show, of course. Kudo wasn’t actually foolish enough to venture all the way to a foreign land─one far enough from home that it might as well be on a different planet─and suddenly start insulting their leaders.
There were times when a deliberate display of anger could be useful, however─and given the value of what they had to trade, the delegation had the upper hand, as Kudo had just taken pains to spell out. If they were to pull out of negotiations, the New World would be left with few choices: death, or an invasion to take what they needed by force─
“So it would appear. What a shame… But as he said, my etiquette has been all wrong from the start.” Even when Danna Ryl stood, her long hair trailed across the floor like a veil hanging over her magnificent dress. Rising from her throne, she seemed to glide down from the dais without the slightest movement of her feet, and came to stand before Hort. No─she didn’t simply seem to be gliding, nor were her feet simply hidden by the long folds of her dress.
Behind her, Hort heard Los whisper, “’Twould appear she floats above the ground to move…? Such affectatious airs.”
“Hort the Exinov,” began Danna Ryl. “Please forgive my innocence of your ways, and the disrespect with which I addressed your companion.”
“Ah, no, really…! Just so long as you understand, we’re good. I know Kudo didn’t put it so well, but we’re also really, really interested in your New World technology!”
“New World…?”
“Oh, here, I mean! You call our continent the Forbidden Land, and we call this place the New World.”
“Well, now. That…makes me feel quite strange.” Danna Ryl covered her mouth to suppress a giggle. Hort smiled at this, and lightly poked Har Bell, who had turned pale and broken out in a cold sweat.
“Har Bell, I want to apologize to you, too. I should have been the one to refuse right off the bat. Sorry for putting you in an awkward position.”
“N-Not at all…! I failed to explain the situation properly and brought shame upon the Grand Magister…”
“What is this talk of shame…? Come now, raise your head. You believed when nobody else did, and while everyone spoke ill behind your back, you went out and found our salvation. You have saved us, Har Bell. Let me embrace you now as a friend.”
Danna Ryl took Har Bell into her arms.
At length she sighed and released the Ignas from her bosom. “I should like to apologize to him directly… Utsuwa, perhaps you would like to join─oh?”
Danna Ryl looked around, perplexed.
Her daughter was gone.
Los cleared her throat, and a jet-black finger slid from the Staff of Ludens, pointing toward the imposing double doors through which Kudo and Lily had gone. “Whilst you were deepening your bonds of friendship, the lass slipped out. ’Twould appear she has gone in pursuit of young Kudo.”
“Huh?! Why?!”
“Why indeed. Her eyes sparkled so bright as she passed that while I wished to intervene I was helpless to halt her departure.”
“Wh-Whaa…?! I-Is she gonna be okay…?! Kudo might say something really awful to the poor kid…”
To the daughter of one of the leaders of a country they were trying to build friendly trade relations with, no less.
Har Bell had already explained to them the position Danna Ryl held in their society. There were a few dozen Grand Magisters who controlled the New World, but the one among them known as the Keybinder held supreme authority. She was their noble ruler, a magnificent wizard with a single horn that glimmered like crystal, and she had reigned in the New World for over five hundred years.
Har Bell said she reveres her, thought Hort, and we really need to do our best to forge a friendly relationship here.
Danna Ryl smiled warmly when she saw how flustered the mage was. “Do not fear. My daughter has been spoiled throughout her upbringing, so a little pain and a few tears may be just what she needs. Her days have been filled with constraints, and she cannot choose the hour of her own end. I’m sure your mana potions will give us more time, but…I still wish to give her such freedom as is possible while I can.”
+++
“Lady Utsuwa has always had a liking for lizards and snakes, so when she lays eyes on you, I suspect she’ll want you for her beastservant. To refuse might well upset Lady Danna Ryl, so I think it wise for you to remain on the ship and avoid the audience chamber altogether.”
Har Bell had sought out Kudo just before they landed in the New World and offered this advice. It was the first time she had ever spoken to any of them other than Hort of her own volition─a fact which lent extra weight to her proposal.
“Why not rather induce them to offer this supreme insult as a means to gain the advantage in our negotiations?” suggested the priest upon hearing Har Bell’s words. Such chicanery was his specialty.
Har Bell balked at the idea, worrying that it would cause the New Worlders to withdraw from the negotiations─a result she was committed to preventing, no matter what. In the end, though, she agreed that Danna Ryl would not be told ahead of time that “beastservants” were treated as people in the Forbidden Land. She predicted that even if Utsuwa didn’t want Kudo, the chances were extremely high that Danna Ryl would desire one of the three beastfallen among their party.
And indeed, Danna Ryl did try to give a member of the delegation to her daughter, like a slave or a head of cattle. It was only Kudo’s show of anger that brought the Grand Magister down from her throne to negotiate with them on an even footing.