Olivia was a pretty lady, her face that of a warm light.
She had brown hair and a pair of beautifully green eyes that reminded Blanc of emeralds. He did not know how she usually dressed, but at this moment she wore clothes a normal village woman would wear.
But even that was obvious to be a facade, for no normal village woman would have their clothes of such high quality. The stitches were impeccable, barely visible even to Blanc's eyes. So, her attire and manner of speaking matched a person higher up in society.
"I am not important," Blanc replied to Zoe, before turning to face Olivia, "And I would have to request that none of you say anything about me."
Olivia shook her head lightly, "I would have to report to my father what had happened, but I will make sure to request his secrecy as well."
"That means you are returning to wherever you live?" Blanc asked as he started to put food in wooden bowls.
"We cannot walk like this, and especially not after what happened," Olivia replied, "So yes, I have to return to Lupa and tell my family all that occurred."
"Lupa? That's only a few hours away," Blanc said, surprised, giving the bowl of food to Lendros, who was sitting next to him.
It took a bit of insistent pushing before he accepted it, but with a sigh and a word from Velakia, he had no choice but to take it.
"It is," Olivia nodded, "Our main residence is there, as far away as possible from Noble Blood Elna."
"What happened between your family and Blood Elna?" Blanc wondered, curious as he offered another bowl of food to one of the women present.
"The Patriarch has many concubines from important commoner families from his territory, and using them and the children he has with them as leverage to get what he wants and keep a tight control over the Domain," Olivia began explaining, "And it was a matter of time until his vipers took notice of my family and me as well. After my father refused a few times to accept such a proposal, Blood Elna escalated, beginning investigations into our legality, trying to ruin us by forging lies about fraud and the likes of crimes that would send one to the gallows."
"He wanted to get rid of your father," Blanc muttered, thinking of Blood Elna's intentions, "But why would he try to concentrate so much power around him?"
"That I do not know," Olivia shrugged, "All I know is that I had to go into hiding for a while until something happened, or until my father made sure he had stronger connections."
Blanc's interest rose by miles at her words, "What does your Merchant Company handle?"
"All that needs to be handled," Olivia replied the next moment, confidently.
"Is that so? *giggle* The Vita truly is gracious," Blanc said, looking at her, "Let's make a deal then."
"A deal?" Olivia asked, straightening her back, "What manner of deal?"
"As you know, we've rescued you, so for that, I want to claim the reward you offered us," Blanc began. "I wish for four things, and since rescuing you is not enough, I promise that if you accept the deal, we will personally take you back home."
"I have to listen to what you wish for before agreeing," Olivia nodded, suspicious of Blanc's interest.
"First, I want to meet your father and introduce myself," Blanc said.
"Consider it done," Olivia agreed.
After a nod, he continued, "Secondly, I want you, your servants, and your father to swear on the Vita you will keep meeting me a secret."
"If needed, we would do it gladly," Olivia replied.
"Third, I wish for your Company to handle an important letter that would put you in contact with the strong connections you are looking for," Blanc listed.
Olivia frowned, not able to guess how such a request was of benefit to the handsome man in front of her, "Excuse me, but why would that be a reward for you?"
"Your family is not the only one that needs connections, friends, and allies in places they are not, so consider it a wish for a reciprocal alliance between us, who would be more than willing to help us with… how was it? Ah, yes, 'All that needs to be handled'. Is that a satisfying answer?" Blanc explained while grinning, giving off another bowl of food.
Olivia accepted the bowl of food gratefully as she thought of an answer.
For her, it was indeed fate, truly, a gift from the Vita for such a good thing to happen during their misfortune. So she would agree with that without as much as a second thought, but she was not the one who made such decisions yet.
"I cannot agree with that in the name of the Company, that is for my father to decide, but we can send the letter you requested as the third wish regardless of this friendship going anywhere or not," Olivia replied.
"A fair point," Blanc agreed.
"And what is the fourth?" Olivia asked, curious.
"To grant my companions and guards here whatever it is they might wish for, as long as it is within reason, of course," Blanc said, turning towards Velakia, who looked surprised by being forcefully introduced into the conversation.
"What would your companions wish for?" Olivia wondered, turning to face Velakia.
"Excuse me for a moment while I talk with my companion," Velakia said to Olivia.
With a nod from her and a signal to Tahreni and Lendros, she got to her feet before dragging Blanc away from the food and the fire.
"Are you certain, Blanc?" she began the moment they had put enough distance between them and the others, "We have nothing to do with this, neither with getting them back to whatever city she lives in, nor with their feud."
"It's perfect, Velakia. We had to pass that city by tomorrow anyway," Blanc whispered, reassuring her, "Since we stopped and helped, we can also stop tomorrow for a few hours while we talk with that father of hers and give ourselves more advantages."
"You gave yourself advantages; we have nothing to do with these games the Empire is so in love with," Velakia sighed.
"I know," Blanc replied, "And that is why I requested something for you three, for something you lacked but needed, whatever it is, as long as it's not coffers of gold, or a straight way home, I think they can help you with it."
"Why would you do that?" Velakia asked, curious, suspicious, and confused all at the same time.
"Do what?" Blanc frowned, "You seemed sad that the men we killed did not have anything valuable on them, so I assumed you wanted something."
Velakia closed her eyes, shaking her head lightly, "That's it?"
"Should there be more to that?" Blanc asked.
"The Senvia Empire really is weird," Velakia muttered, turning on her heel and returning to the campfire.
"So?" Olivia spoke, "Have you thought about it?"
"Yes," Velakia nodded, "We want new clothes, tents, a fair bit of gold, and a large supply of dried fish. But I know it is unreasonable for all of that, so in exchange, I will also give your family all the details I have about the people who attacked you."
"How do you have such knowledge?" Olivia's eyes widened.
"We all have our ways," Velakia replied, "Best not to pray into each other's."
Olivia nodded before thinking for a while, perhaps leveraging all of Velakia's requests masked as one.
While she thought of an answer, Blanc tried holding back from bursting out laughing, finding Velakia's request most amusing.
Clothes because they looked like vagabonds. Tents, because they slept like vagabonds as well. Gold because they had no money. And dried fish, because they had no supplies either.
All because she was a princess, too inflated in her ego to request these things from Lucien before they left. A broke, prideful foreign princess, lost in a foreign land, acting like a guard for a random guy she met more than a week ago.
If that was not the Vita playing a joke, he did not know what it was.
But he had to calm down, as the situation required seriousness. And for that, he silently thanked his wife, Celine, and her father, Lucien. Because of them, he was able to negotiate with calm and clarity, securing an advantage for those he had to leave behind.
He then offered a quiet prayer to the Vita, thanking Her for the opportunity She presented him with.
And until Olivia came back with an answer, he closed his eyes lightly, seeing the faces of all those he loved. All those in the Domain of Blood Maroux, and all those held in captivity. All those alive, yet to be born, or those who have already passed. Only to remember that the food was yet to be given to all the people.
So he opened his eyes quickly, grabbed another bowl, and started filling it up with food, giving it to the next woman who awaited a warm meal.
And then, after a minute, Olivia spoke.
"A fair deal," she nodded, "One that my father has to agree with, but one I don't see being denied by him."
"Then, Olivia, daughter of Alfred of the Rotunda Merchant Company, we will be traveling together for the time being," Blanc smiled warmly.