The dignitaries began to return to their spots now that the Overlord from the Inquisition was in sight, while Colonel Valerie glared at Karl, and the ladies did their best not to laugh along with Cara, who was slowly regaining her composure.
“If you’ve finished having your fun…” Valerie began.
“Of course, of course. Group photos. How are we arranging this? Meet and greet style, or with a large group pose?” Karl agreed.
Overlord Niall chuckled. “Can you ask your friends to stay near their current position, and we can set up a photo shoot? There are mobile bleachers to lift your team up for the photo.”
Rae dipped her head, while Cara wandered through the crowd to examine the Rogue.
He stopped to look down at the Void Badger, who flapped her wings to help balance on her hind legs, which put her closer to his height, though still less than shoulder-high.
“Well hello there.” Niall greeted her.
Cara licked him.
Niall laughed as he wiped drool off his face. “Now I am wondering if you simply wanted to taste test Overlord Rank human, or if that was some sort of greeting among Winged Void Badgers.”
Cara balanced on her hind legs and made a noncommittal gesture.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. A bit of both. But we should get into position for the photos.”
Cara dropped back to all four feet and rushed over to stand on top of Thor, so she could see over the gathering. The dignitaries were standing in two rows, short then tall, while a long folding bench had been placed for Karl’s team, with the beasts standing behind them.
It would be a brilliant photo, and Cara wanted a copy as soon as possible.
The photographers got to work, focusing on various people, then Karl’s team was cycled through the back rank so that they could get close up shots with all the dignitaries.
Karl was actually surprised how restrained Rae and Cara were being. He thought that the pair would prank someone, but they were behaving fairly well.
Except that point when Cara stole someone’s hairpiece and had to be bribed to give it back.
It did look good on her, though.
“Monarch, might we have just a few minutes of your time? We are with the DuBois banking conglomerate.” A short man in his fifties began.
“I’m very sorry, Sir. I am not currently booking any collaborative efforts or accepting employment offers. But if your offer is not about that, please, continue.”
The banker bowed politely. “I understand, Sir. You have been on an extended assignment and require time to decompress. I will check with you again in the future.”
There were a few others who had the same idea, but as Karl was less approachable as a Monarch, they were much more interested in going after the two new Royals who might be much more amenable to their ideas. freёweɓnovel.com
Monarchs normally already had solid plans, and while Karl was young, it was generally assumed that it would be the same for him. There were rumours that he was working with the Roth Savings and Loan company on a major property deal, but such a project normally took a year or two before the details were finalized.
Plus, it was likely to involve an exclusivity clause so that the Elite didn’t end up as the face of a competing company or project in the meantime.
The only ones who were moving away from him were the ones who were only here as business representatives. Most of them were here to make friends with powerful Elites, or as Government or Military representatives.
Karl found a familiar face in the crowd and went over to say hello.
“Director Jones, of Military Finance, wasn’t it?” He asked.
“You have an impeccable memory, Your Majesty.” The bureaucrat replied.
“The whole Your Majesty thing is a bit excessive.” Karl laughed.
“Certainly, Lord Karl. I heard that you were on quite the adventure and missed most of the chaos of recent days.”
“Indeed. But not all of it, I got to see some in person while I was out of the country. But I’m more interested in your job. How is the finance and supply situation with all of the additional anomalies and monster spawns.” Karl asked.
“How did you know that the spawn rate was up? We hadn’t made that public yet.”
“I know a little about how it started and why. So it’s only natural that it would increase here as well. At least we haven’t been inundated with new Dungeons.
If that had been the case, we would have been in much more trouble than even Newbon with their Commander Rank Dungeons and newfound influx of monster spawns.
I won’t bore you with all the details, but it was quite the shock to them.”
Bored wouldn’t be the word that the Director would choose, but he was an accountant, not an Elite or any sort of soldier.
Karl caught a blur of motion in his peripheral vision just before he felt something bounce off his armour. It hadn’t made it past [Eternal Lightning] but it was clearly an attack, and Karl turned to see who would be so brave.
The situation almost looked calm and normal, but Soul Sight revealed Overlord Niall dragging someone out of the crowd while invisible.
On the ground, Karl found a small metal needle that radiated magic. That must have been the projectile weapon, so he picked it up and put it in Remi’s space, wrapped in a large leaf, so she didn’t get poked accidentally.
As soon as he stopped focusing on it, the needle disappeared, marking it as the creation of a skill, not an enchanted object. [Oh, someone is brave. Do you think that there are more of them?] Rae asked in his mind as she realized what had happened.
[Where there is one, there are three. Well, that is about Earth Mice in the house, but I think it works for other sorts of vermin as well.]
[How do we know which ones are which? Can I just kill them all for safety?]
[No, some of them are important and useful. The Inquisitor should take care of the situation, but don’t let any sketchy people near the ladies.]
It took all of three seconds for Cara to take that literally.
A rather sleazy looking businessman was getting too handsy with Ophelia for her liking, and the Void Badger grabbed him by the legs, spun him in a full circle, then body slammed him.
The whoosh of air leaving the man’s body, then the pained wheeze, had a few people laughing discretely behind their hands, but the ones who hadn’t seen the start were concerned that Cara had gone feral.
But the way that she was rubbing his face in the dirt made it clear after a few seconds that this was personal.
“Cara, you can let him up. I think he will promise to keep his hands to himself.”
Cara got off him, then wandered over and took something from a nearby woman’s purse.
The wealthy executive was shocked at the fact she had just been so casually mugged by a Royal Rank beast, but Cara gave back the purse and only kept one small item in her mouth.
“What have you got there?” Ophelia asked.
“It’s … a barbecue sauce package? No, you can’t barbecue him. I don’t think that he would even taste good.” Ophelia laughed.
That was the last straw for the humiliated pervert. He bolted out of the meeting and began running for the questionable safety of the nearby buildings.