Chapter 647 News of Rivalry
The lunch meeting that day was somewhat less formal than the one the day before. Instead of a wide variety of the nobles from the kingdom, there were a lot of city business people that had been invited to dine with the Royals.
That was a great honour for most of them, as the Royal Palace wasn't an easy place to get an invitation to, and the day's crowd included all the largest bankers, financiers, and international importers in the nation.
Most of them were not from the Palace region, and they had travelled quite a distance to come celebrate the return of the Queen. These ones should be somewhat more loyal to the crown than the nobles who had been forced to be here, and who had often been visibly upset about her return on the first day, before they managed to regain their composure.
They hadn't been summoned, they were the ones who had requested an audience and had either won a lottery seat or had been recommended by one of the more powerful members of the business groups.
The Royals also seemed to be much more relaxed today. These people would never have the status to attempt a coup or to challenge them for their positions, so they had no reason to be as on edge against anything but an outright assassination attempt.
The Royals were always cautious about that, though, it just came with the territory.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtKing David of Nephrite appeared to be on a mission today, and he struck up a conversation as soon as Wolfe was seated at the table.
"I have news from our people that went to Forest Grove. The presence of the powerful Demons has had an unexpected effect on the political structure of your hometown. It appears that the Fae were not particularly fond of our plan to prevent the mana of the world from going Feral, and they have sent their own delegation to the town to match ours.
It isn't causing too severe of an issue at the moment, but I can assume that it might be getting uncomfortable with that many powerful people in one place. The ambience would be a bit like the Palace during the parties, when every minister and assistant is present." He began.
Wolfe chuckled. "I'm sure that the Witches with Fae Familiars are loving that right now. We only have a few with Demonic Familiars in the city, but there are plenty of Pixies and other lesser Fae in town as Familiars to the witches."
The King smirked at the notion of the snooty Fae bound to a puny teenage witch. "Well, they've sent an entire Noble Court, Over a hundred Fae at Rank six and seven, using the logic that they still take up less space than our Demons do. It's making the Fae Forest grow at, as my assistant put it, 'an Absolutely ridiculous rate'. The Forest's borders have expanded by forty kilometres since they arrived yesterday morning.
I can't say for sure when it will balance out, but my people have been losing track of the Fae, and it is possible that they're wandering your world at will, exploring and doing whatever it is that the Fae do when you let them out of their jars."
It was clear that there was no love lost between the King and the Fae courts, the way that he casually referred to keeping them in jars, but if they weren't breaking things, then it might be alright.
"Can you keep me updated on the Forest's boundaries? There are some essential political and geographic boundaries nearby, and if the Fae Forest extends too far it could become an issue for the watershed as well as the natural wildlife, which is adapted to open grassland. Too much forest might push the monsters into the newly settled towns, which don't have a lot of powerful magic users in them at the moment." Wolfe requested.
The King nodded. "I will pass on the message, and they can inform the Fae to stop causing trouble for you."
Wolfe was certain that would not be the way that things went when the message was passed on, but as he wasn't there at the moment to take care of it, and the Fae likely wouldn't listen to him even if he was there, he was going to have to trust the Witches to take care of it on their own.
"Is there any other news from the group sent to my world?" Wolfe asked.
"Nothing relevant. The rest all seems to be about food and magical beds." The King shrugged.
Minister William chuckled at that. "They never had a chance to stay here in the Palace for a night, did they? They didn't know the joy of a good bed before they arrived in the other world. That would be something to write home about if they didn't know that you had already experienced it."
"Oh, good point. I wonder how many of us can use the right elements to create them?" One of the businessmen sitting nearby pondered.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHe had gotten a room in the Palace last night, shared with a friend who worked in the Palace, and he had gotten to experience the beds firsthand.
"It's gravity and air magic, with the option of fire magic. A lot of you can use fire elements, as well as unholy, but gravity is much more uncommon. It can be done with just air, but it's not quite as luxurious." Wolfe replied.
The merchant sighed. He knew some who could use air and fire, but trying to get them on board with the creation of a whole line of new beds would be difficult.
Queen Elizabeth smiled at them from the head of the table. "I do hope that you won't forget about the unfortunate souls that might want to redecorate after their bed has been made."
Wolfe nodded. "I have thought of that. Just like I did at home, I can make you a creation array. It's an inscribed version of the spell that you can use to cast it on other objects."
The other Royals and the merchant just stared at Wolfe as he explained.
"So you're saying that you can just give someone a magical token to make more of the beds? And it doesn't have to be someone who can use all the elements involved?" King Memo asked.
"That's right. You can't expect a palace to have the same interior decorator for generations, after all."