CHAPTER 1436: CHAPTER 1435: MOVING QUICK

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and waiting for Belian to write up whatever masterpiece of a contract that he wanted us to sign, so we just lounged around in the gardens or walked around the very large Palace searching for things to occupy the time.

Those things tended to just be playing some sort of game in the newfound area of interest or talking with whomever happened to be nearby when we were feeling particularly bored; perhaps it was due to the prolonged absence of us or maybe they were just rather talkative today but the Empress’ wives were providing excellent conversation.

Lady Igna was the one we talked to the longest about what it meant to control territory, and although her goals and our own were vastly different from one another she still had a deep amount of knowledge that we could tap into, even if most of it came from wanting to just control land to make herself rich.

Dragons were apparently just as I had thought they were - immensely powerful and very easily swayed by greed since it kept them from becoming too bored with life - while also being rather nuanced at the same time, but it was this sort of conversation that helped me learn.

The other fun chat came from Lady D’Arcon, who also wished to discuss what we would be doing with the new land we were going to potentially acquire; where Lady Igna was firm in her belief that we should anoint ourselves as the leaders of that land through a display of power, Lady D’Arcon was by far more magnanimous with her own views.

She suggested starting small for our eventual city but making sure that whomever we managed to bring on in were treated lavishly to help spread the word; not like Kings or dignitaries, but shown that things were changing and we wanted to bring abundance to their lives.

Shower them in gifts and safety, make them feel indebted to us emotionally - something that sounded rather odd coming from the kind Saintess who was meant to be so pure and holy - and leverage that against them in the long term.

Spur them to grow alongside us and foster a relationship that showed them how we could provide so much more to them while making it clear we valued their contributions quite a lot; very different philosophies and one that would need a far more gentle touch then the one Lady Igna suggested, but...

I personally found it more appealing and immediately tested my own skills in this field by ’challenging’ Jahi to try something she was more uncomfortable with; handling my Demoness was something I knew well enough so getting her to agree with me was easy, but making sure she continued this way was going to be another matter entirely.

She even knew I was pushing her into what I wanted yet there was no way for her to back out without acknowledging that she was uncomfortable to do it this way, which would be a blow to that pride of hers that never seemed to want to fade away.

Besides these chats with the various people inhabiting the Palace we also enjoyed some tasty treats that the kitchens were churning out at the Empress’ orders; all sorts of pastries, cakes, breads and other small finger foods were readily available, alongside a plethora of wines suitable for all these different foods.

Perhaps I needed to watch what I was eating, but for the time being I was happy to just pick up whatever was available and wash it down with a nice wine as I relaxed completely, immediately causing me to inform Jahi that this was what I wanted for myself.

I was joking to an extent about that since I would definitely overindulge and become one of those overly fat and greasy Nobles that were utterly incompetent and too lazy to do anything of use, but I was also very serious about wanting to just have a peaceful, serene space like this.

One where I could have someone bring me sweets and uncork a bottle of wine for me to sip throughout the day as I did whatever needed to be done... that was the kind of life that seemed appealing to me right about now...

Especially since it would be one where I could be free to spend any and all time taking care of an ever growing household that would - without a shadow of a doubt - be filled with overly energetic troublemakers of all kinds.

It didn’t matter who was responsible for pushing them out, any and all children born from the four of us mixing would undoubtedly end up being a troublemaker of some kind, be it in the library studying magic, out in the yard training their martial prowess, or running between just pestering everyone they came across.

I would need a completely malleable schedule to accommodate for that, and the headaches that would arise would be best soothed with a sweet cake and a savory wine consumed swiftly in the silence of a closet or something as I took a moment for myself.

Those sorts of fantasies were wonderful to think about but were definitely going to be the source of severe headaches if they came about, so for now I counted my blessings that we could do all of this with just the four of us.

Hours passed us by in the blink of an eye, yet at the same time everything felt so slow and wonderful as we just went about the day as we pleased, not at all rushed nor worried about what was to come.

We were just... existing and living our lives, and it was such a pleasant contrast to what we had been going through just a short while ago; even when we returned to the throne room to look over the contract with the Empress we were rather happy and languid, though a little bit of energy returned when we saw some of the ’demands’ in the contract.

Demands that were immediately smoothed out and clamped down on since none of us would agree to shipping off ten percent of everything we made every single month to Nogart, or allowing them to draft all capable citizens without any input from us; things that were definitely there to draw our eyes and shroud some other shady things, I’m sure...