Ira, Leonard, and Irving had returned to the diplomatic quarter of the Free City after navigating the through crowds of panicked civilians on the streets. As soon as they arrived in the Prince’s quarter, Irving let out a sigh of relief.

“The Tel’vian Empire is quite amazing, isn’t it?” Leonard asked. “They call it an Airship, and that thing attached to the front of it is a mana cannon. Others may disagree but I find the mana cannon to be the real threat.”

“How do you know about that?” Ira asked curiously.

“I have some people who extremely skilled in acquiring information. Not to boast, but I am willing to bet that I am the only person who knew what the Tel’vians built.” Leonard said before continuing to speak. “As it is now, each human country has their measures of defense. We have the mana arrays, mainly teleportation which, like the others, is still experimental. The Tel’vians have their Airships and Mana Cannons. The Parvian Houses have the so-called, Spirit of the Desert. An ancient artifact capable of generating and controlling massive sandstorms that can’t be breached by normal means. Before the Tel’vians developed that airship, there was a balance.”

Ira’s attention shifted toward the “Spirit of the Desert,” if he could get his hands on it, he would immediately eat it. Though the chances of that happening were quite low. Only a few of the older Houses were allowed to know where the artifact was and they all used soul contracts to guarantee it would remain hidden. Only in times of emergencies would the artifact be used since it was quite destructive.

“Ira...I have many things I want to tell you in order to convince you to join me, but I’ve used up enough of your time.” Leonard waved toward Irving who went over to a nearby drawer and pulled out a red card with a gold border around it. Irving walked over and handed it to Ira.

“What’s this?” Ira looked at the card cluelessly.

“It’s a type of reservation for the best restaurant in the entire city. I’ve heard you have a companion with you and if you wanted to take them somewhere nice, that’s the best the Free City can offer, but you can’t buy your way in. Only those who have that card can enter, its a type of elitist marketing, but the food is incredible.” Leonard assured.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Ira tucked the card into his jacket pocket. “Well, I have to go Prince. I’ll be back before the banquet though.”

Ira left the room leaving Irving and Leonard alone.

“Not even a thank you.” Irving huffed.

“There’s no need for him to give thanks since it was a gift. One that he didn’t ask for I might add.” Leonard said.

“Your Highness, that’s true, but still…” Irving trailed off as he noticed Leonard giving him a telling look.

“Enough of that, there is still business we have to attend to.” Leonard said with a few hand gestures signaling for Irving to continue.

“Yes, Your Highness. I understand.” Irving said in the best tone of unwillingness he could muster.

Leonard waited a few more moments before he pulled out a silencing stone and placed it on the table. After it flickered, indicating it was doing its job, Leonard sighed.

“I suspect Ira has incredible senses. Earlier he seemed to spot the Airship before it was even visible to us.” Leonard said.

“That doesn’t mean that his hearing would be just as good.” Irving thought for a second that the Prince was just being paranoid.

“It’s a chance I’m not willing to take. Especially for what I’m going to ask you to do next.” Leonard said seriously.

“Whatever you need, Your Highness.” Irving solemnly bowed.

“I don’t think Ira will participate in the Colosseum event. So we’ll have to move a few things into play before the banquet. Find someone from the Parvian Houses without an escort to the banquet. Make sure they’re gullible, arrogant, greedy, or a combination of the three. Get him a reservation for the same restaurant Ira’s going to. After that, spread a rumor around that there are beautiful women willing to accompany the highest bidder to the banquet tonight, the easiest way to find them is by their grey cloaks. Then, tell Vivian to send a few of her agents around the city in grey cloaks and have a few lead our Parvian friend toward the restaurant for good measure. Finally, put a few of our people in that restaurant as soon as possible. If things get out of hand we’ll use them as witnesses to shift the story in Ira’s favor.” Leonard finished speaking and looked at Irving who looked to be memorizing everything. He didn’t ask how Leonard knew Ira would be going to the restaurant since the answer was pretty obvious. Everyone in the convoy had heard of his voracious appetite, there would be no reason for him not to eat before the banquet.

“It will be done, Your Majesty.” Irving bowed before leaving in a hurry.

Leonard put away the silencing stone and showed a distant expression. Even if he were put into hypnosis and interrogated he arranged everything in a way where it couldn’t be connected to him. Especially when Leonard made sure that any lies he told eventually became truth. There was one thing that worried him though and that was Ira’s bottom line. If he were to be discovered he suspected that Ira refusing to be his ally would be the best possible outcome.

Leonard had no way of knowing that one of Ira’s biggest bottom lines was his “companion” and wife, Avery Thynne, who often concealed her features with a grey cloak. He also had no way of knowing that a military installation that functioned as a city was destroyed because of the harm that came to Avery Thynne. Still, as long as Leonard continued to be thorough with his actions Ira would be unable to find out anything without special means. There was also luck that played a part, if the Summit date was moved further back, Harper would’ve been with Ira. If that occurred then the Prince would be unable to hide anything without adequate mental protection.

…

The mood around the city had quickly settled as the announcement of it being a new invention made by the Tel’vian empire spread. There were already hundreds of merchants looking to find some way into procuring an airship. Especially when they heard it took 3 days to the Tel’vian Empire to reach the Free City, while on horseback it usually took a month or so. Many people wanted to take a first-hand look at the Airship, but the Merchant's Circle forced the Tel’vian Empire to move it as to not cause disruption of the city’s day to day activities. The airship currently was sat a few hundred feet above the city.

A few hours after the commotion died down, Ira had decided to take Avery to the restaurant Leonard recommended instead of his original plan to hunt for pastries.

“You’re saying the Fourth Prince gave you this reservation.” Avery asked as they walked.

“Yeah, he kept telling me he wants me as an ally.” Ira said nonchalantly.

“If you were to become his ally, then my family would also be considered an ally of his. Have you decided yet?” Avery said.

“I can’t tell what he’s up to and I don’t care who runs the Kingdom. If he can convince me, then I’ll probably help him out.” Ira shrugged before changing topics, “What about you? Worried about those Airships?” he asked.

Avery gave a contemptuous smile from under her hood, “The Valkyries are far faster than that floating metal ship. How much effort would it take to find a way in and kill everyone inside.”

“Well...When you put it like that, it’s hard to disagree.” Ira nodded.

As they continued to walk, Ira drew a huge amount of attention. Even if the Free City had the most diverse population, it still never had someone with Ira’s appearance within its ranks. Women who appeared to be courtesans did their best to catch his eye, but he didn’t even seem to notice them. Some who were more resourceful had caught wind of a rumor relating to a strong mercenary with black hair and yellow eyes. They saw Ira as a chance for a greater life if they could seduce him and were extra zealous in their attempts. One woman rushed out and pushed herself against Ira with a look that would even tempt a stoic priest, but a saber was pressed against her throat in that same moment.

“Move.” Avery said coldly as she pressed the blade against the woman's neck.

The woman let go of Ira and slowly backed away. Those women who witnessed the display were discouraged from trying their own techniques and could only watch Ira depart with a hooded woman close to his side.

Ira had a smile on his face as he turned to Avery, “Jealous?” he asked with a smug expression.

“Annoyed.” Avery retorted in an apathetic tone.

Ira just laughed in response as they continued walking. Not too long after, Avery and Ira arrived at the restaurant. Its design truly fit the description of elitist, a gold sign hung above the entrance. There were no letters or symbols, just a rose pattern engraved around the edges. There were two intimidating looking men guarding the doorway. Both of the men would easily qualify as A- ranked mercenaries, but it appeared as the restaurant paid them enough to keep working there.

Ira pulled out the reservation card and handed to one of the two men before they examined it and nodded.

“Weapons please.” The man held his hand out politely and waited.

Ira and Avery undid their scabbards and handed them over to the man who then took them inside the restaurant. A few moments later, a young waitress came out and guided Ira and Avery to their table.

“Would you like me to take your cloak, ma’am.” The waitress asked.

“No.” Avery responded removed her hood.

The waitress was speechless at Avery’s beautiful face. Being a female herself, one might’ve thought she would be envious, but all she felt when looking at Avery’s face was pure admiration. Her gaze then switched to Ira, when she brought them to the table she hadn’t had a good look at him. In all her life she had never seen a perfect couple. To the young waitress, they looked like a Prince and Princess out of the books she often read.

“So uh…” Ira looked at the red-faced waitress, “...Do we tell you what we want or…”

“S-Sorry!” The waitress bowed. “I’ll go find a menu.”

“Ok.” Ira chuckled.

After the waitress left, Ira began to talk. “So I’ve been thinking about something.”

“About what?” Avery asked.

“You fly up really high and then drop me on someone as an attack.” Ira said with starry eyes.

“Ira, in the time it would take me to do that, the two of us could probably kill whoever you wanted to attack ten times over.” Avery said.

“Hey, you said it could work back at the Manor. Just imagine dropping me on that Airship, I could probably bore straight through.” Ira’s eyes lit up, “You wanna go try it right now?” he asked.

“There are quite a few people in the Free City who could give us trouble, you know. I’m sure they’ve prepared countermeasures for each Mercenary that came with the Kingdom. After all, the Mercenaries Union Headquarters is here and there is no doubt they are aware of some of your abilities.” Avery cautioned. “As soon as you kill someone you’ll be restrained and when that happens the other countries will use it as a chance to gain some ground in the first exchange of words.”

“A boy can dream.” Ira said as he sighed.

Although he exhibited some arrogant behavior from time to time, Ira knew that there were others just as strong, if not stronger, than him all over the continent. Especially the three Valkyries who had visited Lauren and Avery in order to contact him. They were hundreds of years older than Lauren, so it was hard to tell how strong they were.

Ira put the mischievous thoughts to the back of his head when he saw the waitress appear with a menu. Ira being Ira ordered an unimaginable amount of food while Avery helped herself to something light. The two talked away as they ate and soon finished before paying for the meal. Right when they were preparing to leave, a man with sand colored skin, dark curly hair, and thick eyebrows approached their table. His features were common to Parv and made it very clear that he was one of the dignitaries that came to the summit.

...