It's the morning of the nobles' meeting, and Alara and Zara decided to take the first train to Avalon – Alara wanted to spend a bit of extra time with her mother. Zara will be Alara's only official bodyguard at the meeting, which we cleared with Ilina before I teleported her to the palace this morning. However, Ilina cautioned that, as a non-citizen, Zara can't continue to be Alara's attaché to meetings this high-profile. This will be the last time it's tolerated.
Alto, Nina, and I decided to wait in Eden for Cara to arrive by the new northern train. We're currently sitting in the family room together. In theory, if Cara's group left around sunrise like I suggested, then they should arrive here before the second eastern train departs for Avalon. If they don't, we'll just delay the eastern train's departure a bit.
We haven't hired a third conductor for the northern train yet, but after news of how nice the job is spread from our first two conductors, we've got over a dozen pending applications from qualified individuals. Nina and I just need to do final interviews and approve one or two of them.
In the meantime, I've told Cara that I'll let her keep the control plates and manage the train, on the express condition that only her or Alyse operate it. Once Eden hires another conductor, the train will move back under Alara's control permanently.
Speaking of Eden's employees, Percivil has been in less demand since the major construction in Eden slowed, so he's been pouring most of his time into the Earth games we drew up plans for. He's currently on the third floor of the mansion, in the big open room that's become his kind of private workshop for those items.
He's working on the foosball tables right now, which don't require any special magic from me, and on the chess and checkers boards. When he finishes them, the only thing he'll have left from our original designs is the Rubik's cubes. All-in-all, he's probably not far from finishing everything. Soon, we'll have sufficient numbers of all the game tables I requested, and he'll have trained elves to make all the smaller games.
Given that fact, I'd asked him about when he wanted to return to his shop in Elmesia, since he's probably losing business and reputation there as more time passes. However, he laughed and said he was in no rush. For one, he claimed that between his up front commission pay for his services here, and his future royalties off the smaller games, he'll never need to work another day in his life unless he wants to. I haven't been playing close attention to the amount of income from all my Earth games and the rec center, but apparently it's substantial.
The other reason he isn't in a hurry to return is because I told him about the Empire situation after we returned from Elmesia last time. Apparently, he's 'past his fighting days' and has no interest in being anywhere near a potential invasion, even though I assured him that I wouldn't let something like that be successful.
So, he's staying put in our mansion's guest room for the time being. Elira never told me exactly when Percivil's and the wolf-kin's unofficial work visas expire, so I think it's okay short-term. Alara is also fine with him staying. Actually, she's interested in commissioning a number of quality enchanted items from him when he finishes his current projects. Now that I know about the lack of enchanting affinities among the elves, that makes sense. That reminds me....
"Alto, when we first traveled here together, a guard at the kingdom's eastern border gate said something about demi-humans and special permits. Can demi-humans like Zara get permits that let them work and/or sell things in your country?" (Mizuki)
Alto looks over at me in surprise, from her spot on the couch opposite me. We were sitting in silence, but my inner thoughts leaked out.
"Well, yes, but normally it's just temporary permits to let them travel in our borders and sell things like pelts, monster parts, or herbs produced by their tribe. Still, it's uncommon, and they never stay long. Her current royal travel crest is the most access I've ever seen granted to a demi-human. If you're wondering if there are permits that would let Zara continue as Alara's personal guard in nobles' meetings, there are not." (Alto)
I'd already figured that arrangement wasn't long for this world. Honestly, I'm surprised that Ilina allowed it for us this time. I was fully expecting Zara to have to hang back...that's why I prioritized giving Alara those spell rings. All that's to say, what I'm actually curious about is...
"I wasn't, I am actually curious about dwarves. Are they allowed to get permits like that? With the elves' shortage of enchantment experts, I assume that your people would be more than happy to buy their enchanted items when the opportunity presents itself. Honestly, if you guys only have a single enchanting blacksmith in the whole country, why haven't your people set up an official trade agreement? Or even given some of them citizenship?" (Mizuki)
Alto makes a confused face.
"I don't know about citizenship, but Queen Elira would love to set up a trade agreement with them. At the very least, she'd expedite work permits. Unfortunately, the dwarves aren't interested. Percivil seems to be a 'weirdo', as you say, so maybe he's given you the wrong impression. As a race, the dwarves are quite ornery craftsmen, and prefer to live in isolation in the mountains. On occasion, elves desperate for enchanted items will spend months or more in Gelrod's Pass visiting their semi-nomadic villages, but they almost always return empty-handed." (Alto)
Seriously? They're that different from Percivil? I mean, the dude has some eccentricities about what gets his crafting engine revving, but he's made just about anything that I asked of him. In retrospect, I guess there was bound to be some selection bias for a dwarf willingly living in a human city. Plus, he may be partial to my requests due to his history with that otherworlder. Still, it's surprising that his whole race is routinely swerving the elves' crafting requests.
"Wow...I, uhm...did not know that most dwarves were so different from him. In that case, I don't know if Percivil and Alara would be interested or not, but do you think Elira would sanction him having an official blacksmithing shop here in Eden? That'd be crazy beneficial to the elves, right?" (Mizuki)
"I don't know how much independence Queen Elira would be able to give him, but I'm sure she'd do everything in her power to keep him here if he was willing to stay and work. At the very least, I'd expect that we could get him a kind of permanent work permit, so that he can sell things here and profit from them. If we build a shop and another house in my name, then we can just let him use those. Practically speaking, he'd be almost like a citizen. However..." (Alto)
Alto smirks and shakes her head in exasperation.
"...if you think that the other nobles hate you now, just wait and see how they react if Eden acquires its own dwarven blacksmith and enchanted item shop. Eden will become like a second royal capital." (Alto)
Is...is it bad that I find that kind of hate somewhat appealing? That's petty of me, right? I smirk back at Alto.
"Oh no...I'll need to find some way to sleep at night if that happens." (Mizuki)
Alto snorts.
"What, are your two beautiful lovers not enough? Considering a third, perhaps?" (Alto)
Nina, who'd been silently listening in amusement until now, suddenly chuckles.
"Fufufu...oh, I don't think Ilina would like that at all. Perhaps she'd make an exception for Alara, though?" (Nina)
I roll my eyes at both of them. I'm going to ignore Nina's insanity.
"Actually, Alto, I figured I'd just start taking nightly joy flights....alone. Your thoughts?" (Mizuki)
Alto's eyes narrow murderously.
"Sounds dangerous...I hope you don't get yourself hurt." (Alto)
You know...I'm, like, 88% sure she's joking, but that elf is really fucking scary sometimes. I quickly clear my throat and change the subject.
"Ehem...well, it's probably getting close to time for the second eastern train to arrive. Shall we make our way down to the station to wait?" (Mizuki)
Alto and Nina nod their agreement, and we rise from the couches to depart. As we do, I remember our discussion about Percivil. I search for him upstairs with magic sense.
[Hey, Percivil! We're about to head down to the train station, and I'll be busy for quite a few days after we depart. So, do you mind chatting with me on the walk over there? I had some things I wanted to run by you.] (Mizuki)
After I send my thought message, we make our way out into the main reception hall of the mansion. As we do, I see Percivil come walking down the stairs toward us, a curious smile on his face.
"Aye, Mizuki! It's been a while since we had a good chat, so I'm happy to humor yah. I know yah've been busy, but I appreciate yah checking in! What did yah want to talk about?" (Percivil)
I smile back at him warmly as he falls in line beside the three of us. We exit the mansion and begin making our way down the mountainside stairs on foot.
"It's good to see you, too, Percivil. I actually wanted to talk about your stay here. I had no idea until recently about the dwarves' reputation as a race for refusing most enchantment crafting requests. Between that and the elves' natural lack of affinity for enchanting, your skills are apparently in exceedingly high demand here." (Mizuki)
Percivil gives a wry smile.
"Aye, so yah finally figured out that this ol' man's an oddball, eh? Sure, it's as yah say. The other dwarves are picky about their jobs to begin with, but they especially avoid enchanting jobs. Think it ain't pure smithing, or some other nonsense. Personally, I think yer crafting is all about clarity of purpose, yah know? Some jobs are basic, like making plain swords for adventurers, but I still take pride in making those tools absolutely perfect for the minor destinies they have." (Percivil)
I give an amused smile.
"I've never looked at it that way...funny to think of items and weapons as having destinies." (Mizuki)
"Fufufu...I think yah look at it that way more than yah think. That first day in my shop, yah didn't come in and ask for a really specific item. Yah wanted a purpose fulfilled and asked me to give yah the right tool for it. Yah focused on the item's destiny first! Yah didn't care about some flashy work of art for the sake of having it. That's part of why I liked yah, yah know?" (Percivil)
I raise my eyebrows in surprise. I guess he may have a point...I am more of a function-first kind of guy. Still, I think most of what he was picking up on was my inexperience. It would have been stupid of me to not leave most of the decisions up to him, the expert. If that endeared me to him, though, I'm not going to argue.
"Huh...I suppose you may be on to something there. In any case, I'm becoming more aware that you're even more rare of a man than I already thought, so I wanted to thank you again for using your considerable skills to aid Eden's construction. I know it wasn't all flashy like the games from my home planet, but I do like to think everything had a clear purpose in mind." (Mizuki)
Percivil smiles in amusement.
"Aye, it did." (Percivil)