SWNOVELXO Chapter 449: Shrewd greetings
"Come here for a second," Fay called out, right as she turned away from the one small mirror we had onboard.
Dressed up in the best, standard-issue outfits that we found within the hovercraft's storage, we were now fixing the last bits of our appearance while the onboard AI slowly brought us down to the designated landing spot.
Taking a step closer, I offered myself into Fay's hands as her long, gentle fingers fixed up the collar of my shirt.
"There," she smiled brightly once my presentation fulfilled her requirements before taking a step back to get a better look. "Yeah," she happily nodded while dropping her fists down on her hips and puffing her chest out a bit, "it's perfect!"
"Aren't you a little bit too excited, guys?" Claudy asked, giving us a slightly bewildered glance. "Calm down or you will make an immature impression. It's not just your group but also my empire that relies heavily on the outcome of this meeting!"
Claudy's was hard to refute because I couldn't actually agree more with him. There was no word of lie or dishonesty in what he said, just facts that I conveniently forgot due to my excitement to finally leave the suffocating insides of the maglev.
It was one thing to enjoy the trip in the comfortable and cooled-down insides, free from all the usual burdens of a long and perilous journey… But after all the time we spent abroad, with most of our experiences on the plain limited to the interior of the maglev, I was quickly growing weary of this vehicle.
Then, there was the point of our constant use of it, which prevented the onboard AI from running whatever repairs the engineers behind this wonder vehicle managed to automate. I didn't really have high hopes for this kind of process, struggling to believe a mechanical device could somehow figure out the problems and fix them on its own…
But up to this point, we didn't really have the time or means to rest the ship somewhere safe and quiet for its operating mode to switch over to maintenance.
And all of those were just the lesser reasons why I was excited to go outside.
As naive as it might be, after all the time we spent in this world dealing with nothing but the empire to the south, opening up new avenues in a different direction came with obvious opportunities… and excitement.
'It's hard not to get excited when we are finally going to take a first step towards this goal…'
I shook my head right as the hovercraft gently touched down, roughly in the middle of the open space within the fortress' main basin.
"Guys, please, just stay calm," Claudy muttered as the slight humming of the electromagnets came to a stop.
He took a step towards the ramp and then turned his head over the shoulder, looking right back at us.
"And try not to speak much," he requested, before squinting his eyes as if troubled by something. By the time he raised his eyes, Claudy's expression dropped even further, "No, try not to speak at all."
The strange supreme turned back and fixed his clothes with a quick pull on its bottom's edge.
"Actually," Claudy glanced over his shoulder again, "just leave all the talking to me."
Fay only bothered to raise her eyebrow in response before rolling her eyes and pulling the lever to open the ramp.
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'Here we go,' I thought, opting not to even bother reacting to his mumbling.
The long, metal bottom of the ship suddenly swung open, revealing three long lines of natural light that quickly merged and uncovered how the world looked on the other side of the barrier in person… Along with the face of the commander, we've seen Isera talk with.
The girl, quite obviously, stood near the man.
The welcoming party consisted of only one more person, an old and withered cripple of a man. A person of clear importance, a familiar person, and a safe person.
'Whoever picked this rooster, clearly knew what they were doing.'
"Welcome to the Lunagar fortress," the middle-aged man spoke as he took a step forward. "In the name of my patriarch, allow me to welcome you."
"By the glory of my Emperor, I humbly accept the invitation and offer imperial best wishes upon you and your lord," Claudy was quick to respond, proving his courtly etiquette despite having nothing or very little to do with the imperial royal family or nobility as a guild master of the mercenary guild.
Still, I could understand omitting that kind of detail for the sake of simplifying the encounter.
No one was going to waste their day analyzing every last bit of the exact semantics of mere greetings, would they?
With this thought in mind, I took a step forward and smiled lightly, fully keen on ignoring Claudy's request.
"I'm a member of my group, not its representative," I started out in a much different tone than the two before me. "Whatever I say or imply shall not be a reflection of my group's intention nor will my words bear any weight for them."
My words instantly brought confusion to what was supposed to be the opening of the proper negotiation.
"It is entirely up to your and your lord's noble wisdom to make out any meaning from my words or actions, which my group bears no responsibility for."
Thankfully, neither Claudy nor the man Isera brought appeared to take a long time to process my words. And while the old man's face twisted in surprise, the leader of the native group openly smiled.
"So you are here to merely pass your group's intentions and to build a foundation for a proper delegate to come, is that correct?"
This time, I was the one failing to conceal my grin.
"It always feels gratifying to find someone who can understand my meanings and intentions so clearly," I replied, while deeply bowing my head in an exaggerated gesture. "But obviously, if there's a good deal to be made…"