New Fantasy World: Galeia-Chapter 48

"Have a pleasant night, Your Excellency." Yon lowered his head, his face showing a smile.

"Same to you." I smiled back at him.

They turned around and left. I closed the door and let out a very long sigh.

Never again. I chuckled. Can’t even imagine what a party full of people like her is like. Lord Punten was much more relaxed... I think.

I walked back to the apartment and sat on a sofa, a loud sigh escaping me.

"You did great." Lapia said from the kitchen. She was washing the cups and plates.

"Why did you leave me alone to deal with that woman?" I whined. "Where is Alyssa?"

The Luzo was nowhere to be seen.

"Bathroom." she finished and walked over to me, then sat on my right. "Natasha, you’re your own person. You’ll meet more people like her in the future. I though it would be a good learning experience, so I asked Alyssa to keep quiet as well."

"Meanie." I hugged her. "That was stressing."

"She held back." she chuckled. "I told you she wasn’t unreasonable."

I ran my hands on her back, the feeling of her warm body calmed me.

"That was her holding back?" I felt terror at the thought of the woman going all out. "Damn."

"Nobles are an annoying bunch, but they understand limits." she put her arms around my neck. "They are raised to be respectful. Can’t be successful if they offend the wrong people."

"I felt so odd." I smelled her hair, the scent of lavender tickling my nose. "Your Excellency this and that."

"I did tell you to get used to it." she pulled back and kissed me. "Was it that bad?"

"Not really." I caressed her face. "She left pretty quickly, after all."

"Should’ve seen your face. You were glaring at the woman." she laughed. Her canines and sharp teeth showing. "She must’ve taken it as a sign to leave."

"Seriously?" I reeled back a bit. "I thought I was pretty chill."

"Well, you have that permanent stare, so I understand." she looked me in the eye.

What a nice way to say ’resting bitch face’. I chuckled.

I heard the bathroom door open, then close. Alyssa’s footsteps followed.

"Finally, the hag left." the Luzo’s loud voice reached us as she came into view.

She walked over to us and sat to my left, the sofa shifting at the action.

"Hag?" Lapia turned to her. "She’s barely two hundred and thirty seven years old."

"What?!" I gaped at the Elf. "That’s a hag alright!"

"See? Her Excellency agrees with me." Alyssa gave me a cheeky smile.

"Please don’t. Those words lost their meaning in my mind." I chuckled while relaxing on the sofa.

She giggled and leaned her head on my shoulder.

I looked at the clock on the wall and struggled for a few seconds to read the time. Nine thirty?

A sigh escaped me. The booklet about Ratnaks materialized in my hands.

Lapia summoned a thin book with some symbols on the cover. I assumed it was probably related to E’er, having recognized some of the simpler shapes.

Alyssa took out the romance novel I gave her.

I continued reading about the beasts until a line caught my attention.

’A Ratnak’s scales can become as hard as the metal they consume.’

"Alyssa?" I turned to her.

"Yes?" she looked up at me from the book. Her deep red eyes locked on mine.

"Here it says something about a Ratnak’s scales becoming as hard as what they eat. Is that true?" I tilted my head.

It sounded too fantastic, even for me.

"Yes. You shouldn’t feed Sonya metals above a certain density, however. Her scales need to be flexible enough to allow movement. The feed they gave you is an alloy mostly consisting of soft and malleable metals. It’s perfect for a Ratnak; they can easily digest it, keeps their scales hard enough to endure impacts, and resistant enough to withstand high temperatures. Their digestive organs are pretty strong, as you might’ve guessed already." she smiled.

"That’s pretty cool. So if I want Sonya to be at her hardest, should I feed her my armor?" my smile widened with excitement.

"That would leave you with no armor." she giggled.

I tilted my head. "I have more than one set, though?"

Her eyes widened to their limits.

"What?!" Lapia asked next to me. "Then why did you give us those flimsy-looking robes?"

"Well, Alyssa has a tail. And your ass is huge, Lapia." I giggled. "You won’t fit in the pants."

"Hahahahaha!!" the Luzo burst out laughing.

"My ass is not that big!" she blushed. "What are you laughing at, Alyssa? Your huge tits wouldn’t fit either!"

The healer gasped, covering her chest. "You did nooot!"

"Hahahahaha!" I laughed.

"Why are you laughing, Natasha?" Alyssa blushed. "If not for your panties, you massive penis would get in the way!"

"""HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"""

The three of us burst into laughter. I covered my stomach and enjoyed the silliness of the situation. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

I clapped for a while and choked on my own saliva, making us laugh even more. The picture of a dummy thick armor too funny.

I noticed Alyssa’s tail slapping the sofa as she laughed. Lapia’s ears twitched a little.

"Ahhh..." Lapia let out a long breath after we managed to calm down. "Such a good chain punch."

"True." a few giggles escaped me. "Anyway, the robes are pretty good."

"Can I see a piece of armor?" Alyssa extended a hand.

I summoned a helmet and gave it to her. Her eyes squinted at the item.

"SSS+? Yeah, too tough. Sonya would need to be insanely high level to move with scales that hard." she weighted it from one hand to the other. "Pretty heavy, too. Good thing it has ’Weightless Wear’."

She handed me the thing and I stored it.

"So, where are we going?" I asked. "We leave tomorrow, right?"

"Yes." Lapia answered. "I resigned earlier today."

"I’m still a little surprised at how easily you decided to leave." I confessed.

"Well... I was attacked on the road, I realized I was stagnating." she shrugged. "I’ll have some trouble once we leave. I don’t think it’ll last long, however." she sighed.

"We’re here for you, Lapia." Alyssa commented and smiled at her. I nodded.

"Thank you, Alyssa." she blushed a little.

"I was thinking northwest." the Luzo fiddled with her tail, making it wrap around her wrist. "There are a good amount of dungeons there. Also, Mountroad is in that direction."

The Elf nodded. "Sounds pretty good. We could recruit a Scout or an Archer there."

"How long is the trip?" I rubbed my eyes.

"The longest in your life." the Luzo gave me a cheeky smile.

I tilted my head in confusion. Longest? Where are we even going?

"Three days." the Elf leaned to the side. "That’s half your life."

"Ah, yeah. That would be the longest trip." I chuckled. Then, I smirked at them. "I could make it in a few minutes, though." I pointed out.

Alyssa smiled and wrapped her tail on my thigh.

"Hey. Since we’re leaving tomorrow, should we go over the laws tonight?" she asked, looking me in the eye with her scarlet ones.

"Sounds good." I sighed. "Make it simple, please."

"Okay." she smiled. "The judicial system is split in two; courts and bounties. If someone commits a crime within a city, the Watchers would apprehend them and take them to court where they would receive judgment. This court is made up of regular citizens and change every two months, with one cleric supervising the process, since we study the law. Simple so far?"

"Yes." I put a hand on her thigh and caressed her scales.

"If someone commits a crime outside a city, that is, in the wild, someone would have to report them. Then, the Watchers investigate and put a bounty on the criminal. If there’s little information, the bounty would be to bring them alive for interrogation. If the evidence is concrete enough, they may issue an order of ’Kill on Sight’ if the crimes justify it. They offer a reward for whoever brings them in, usually in silver. There is no reward for killing them, however."

"Okay. Pretty simple." I stretched and sighed. "What do they do with criminals if they’re found guilty?"

"Prison. There is one in Lumin Kingdom. The Endless Pit, next to Paarjo, the capital. A literal hole in the ground. A sentence can range from fifty to a thousand years. Prisoners are tied with Numbing Rope and hanged. They are given enough food and water so they don’t starve to death." she sighed. "It might sound too brutal, but abiding the law is the basis of contemporary society. If I were to disagree with a Human, for example, all I have to do is wait four hundred years and they’d die of old age. The moment you commit a crime, you surrender your rights."

Four hundred years? That’s a lot...

"What about theft, or small crimes like that?" I was incredibly confused.

"Ah, well. You get a fine and forced labor. The more despicable the crime, the worst the punishment, of course." she explained. "The Watchers always investigate."

"Hmm... I see." I nodded.

It sounded pretty weird. I remembered the Watcher said they’d investigate Lapia’s case.

Wonder how that’ll end.

"Then, we have to address Society versus Rule." her voice increased in volume. "Let’s say Lady Dabrak is found guilty of embezzlement. She would forfeit all rights to a trial. The populace would become her executioner. A corrupt Noble is of no use. Same with Royals and the Military. A country has no need for them, really. You can replace a King, a Queen, a General, or a Noble. You can’t replace the populace. We are what truly matters in a country. There’s more of us and we have more raw power. All it takes is an assembly for a city to fall in a single day. That keeps them clean and proper. If all else fails and a dictator rises to power, we have Halves." she gave me a smile.