The sixth floor, the highest in the city hall, was where Lys's official office was. Though nowadays, the lord didn't show up much, preferring to work from the comfort of his home. Li figured it was because of the duchess's presence and the ongoing celebration. The lord had to make a show of how official and hardworking he was.

The office spanned the length of almost the entire floor. Double doors of varnished and rune-enchanted wood stood tall and strong, glimmering with a faint white energy that warded away any peeping magic.

Two knights stood at either end of the doors, halberds crossed across the door.

When Li came up to them, they withdrew the halberds, their shoulder pauldrons clanking as they drew the halberds to their chests with swift, mechanical motions drilled over thousands of times.

These were the cream of the crop among the knights of Lys – grizzled veterans who were chosen not only for their combat prowess, but their fierce sense of duty to the crown.

Even amid celebration, they kept their helmet visors down and their postures as stiff as boards.

Li gave them a nod before opening the double doors.

The inside was more a meeting room than an office. At the center of the room was a round table. It wasn't overbearingly large, seating five people. Each seat, however, had its own unique design, and Li realized that these were meant for each of the rulers of the four cardinal cities and the duchess.

There was a chair encrusted with jewels for Montagne, one etched with vine patterns for Duvin, another with waves carved into its armrests for Trieste, a plain old chair with am embroidery of a dove stitched to its back cushion for Lys, and then a veritable throne plated in gold and topped with a gleaming sun for the royal capitol.

But that was not where Li was to sit today. Behind the table, at the back of the office, was a desk. Where the chair for Lys at the round table was humble, the desk oozed with luxury to a tacky extent, layered over with shining silver and gold with its corners capped with diadems.

Behind, reclining on a massive chair, was Lord Lys, his round and rather expansive figure filling up the whole breadth of the chair. When he saw Li, he huffed as he stood up.

Li analyzed him. A short but wide man whose width decidedly did not come from muscle. Big bones, perhaps, with plenty of fat drooping from them. Worthy of his title as a lord, he dressed to impress with a platinum white doublet lined with golden buttons and velvety red breeches that strained to keep his belly in check.

Surprisingly, though, the man's jaw still managed to maintain some sharpness despite his weight. His eyes were blue but dull, not at all like the frosty and striking shades of the duchess. His hair was a mop of thinning white strands that would probably have looked better shaven off completely, but balding men like Lys tended to keep a hold on their waning hair in desperate denial for quite a while.

Overall, by the way he smiled, dressed, and how he tried to maintain a dignified trot against his sizable mass, Li got the impression that Lys was a fairly approachable man that was nice because his wealth and dignity as a noble did not give him any reason to be particularly bitter at the world.

"Gracious greetings to you, easterner!" said Lys as he came up to Li. He motioned to his desk. "Come, please sit."

The two sat, and Li dove into business. "Your receptionist told you what I came here for, right?"

Lys nodded. "Of course." He flicked his chubby hand like he was swatting away a fly. "Bah, pay no heed to all that bureaucratic drivel. You are free to do as you wish with your harvests."

Li raised a brow. "That's it? No paperwork? No arguing?"

"Call it a sign of diplomatic friendship. Which reminds me, how are you enjoying this wondrous land?"

"Fine enough." Li could tell Lys was nervous. Despite his happy face, his fists had never once unclenched, and the knuckles were starting to get white from exertion. "But tell me what's going on. You can't possibly think I would think all of this normal. You're a noble. You're used to privilege and ruling masses. That makes it very difficult for someone like you to make exceptions for individuals."

"Whatever do you mean?" Lys said. His voice caught in his throat and he coughed into his fist. "Forgive me, I seem to have caught an ill draft yesterday."

Li nodded to himself a few times. He was starting to understand. This was the same excessively conciliatory tone that the duchess used with him, except Lys was far, far worse at concealing his intentions. He got an idea. He would never get anything out of the duchess, but he could maybe pressure something out of Lys.

"Stop lying and just tell me what's going on." Li could see Lys withdraw in fear. "I'm not out to start anything. I'm just a farmer, but because I'm just a farmer, I want to know why I'm getting so much special treatment."

Lys sighed. "I'm afraid I do not know, and that is the honest truth."

"Did the duchess tell you to treat me like this?"

Lys nodded.

"Any reason why?"

Lys shook his head, and when Li scrutinized the man, looking for anything, some semblance of a twitch or look that would give away a lie, he found nothing. Lys was transparent. Simple. He truly did not know anything, and someone as sharp as the duchess would know that too and never tell him anything of note.

In summary, Lys was useless, but while he was beholden to do what Li wanted, he could be useful in other matters.

"That's fine. I guess I can't complain about getting to do what I want." Li raised a finger. "I'd like you to file for my harvest. If you talked with the duchess, then I assume you know the residence, but incase you don't know, it's Old Thane's farm. We'll give you your yearly due from one harvest, but nothing more.

Also, while you're telling your paper pushers to do all of this, would you mind getting them to draft some documents for me? Riviera never really checks them, but incase I ever wander out of here, I want papers that'll get me through to any city, even the capitol, without a second's notice."

Lys took a moment, his brows furrowing as he contemplated the logistics of Li's request. "I suppose that is easily done. A foreign emissary document should amply let you travel freely."

Li nodded. "One more thing. I understand that high profile donors get some help to move their donations around. Usually that's coin, so it's understandable that a security detail gets patched for that. I was wondering whether you could spare a few knights to do that for me? I'll be donating quite a bit of wheat to the orphanages, so I don't need anything too grand – certainly nothing that will draw excessive attention to my farm."

Lys shook his head with surprising resolution. "I am deeply sorry, but I cannot have my men questioning the work they do. I can understand your noble cause, foreigner, I truly do, but I fear my men will not be as understanding in acting as glorified mules to ferry wheat." He opened a drawer in his desk and took out a sheet of parchment and an inkwell with a quill embedded within. "However, I can refer you to the head of a private company that specializes in moving goods and donations. I am quite close with him as well, so I am certain he will do good by me. He tends to stay home, so I am sure you will catch him there now."

He scribbled an address on the paper and gave it to Li.

Li shrugged. "Sure, that works."

Where Lys's pride lay, it seemed, was with his knights. He cared for their honor enough to refuse Li's request even when it was likely the duchess had told him otherwise. In a way, Li was scoping out the extent of the duchess's commands to Lys, seeing how far the lord would go to satisfy him.

Reasonably far.

Li was certain that if he asked for something outlandish as a noble estate, for example, Lys would still refuse. However, Li wasn't here to take advantage of a man under orders, and besides, he had everything he needed to be happy on the farm. The last thing he wanted was to get the crown involved with it.