Chapter 173: Remu speaks up
The Duke looked at what had happened to his courtyard with the particular calm of someone who had decided a long time ago that visible reactions were a resource not to be wasted.
He scanned the area slowly. The cracked floor. The remains of the golems. The liches dissolving back into the ground. Remu and Louis standing apart from each other with their swords still drawn.
His eyes found Ren.
Ren looked back at him with his hands loose at his sides, the expression of someone who had nowhere else to be and was not especially concerned about where he currently was.
The butler rushed forward and bowed deep.
"My lord, I am so sorry. I tried to stop them. I informed them that they would need to wait before seeing you, but they were uncooperative, and this happened."
Ren glanced at the butler.
"You really seem determined to die on your lies," he said. "You genuinely think your duke would punish me for killing you if I wanted?"
The butler went rigid.
Ren smiled. "Relax. I’m joking. I wouldn’t kill you here." He let the emphasis on here do its own work.
The butler did not relax.
The Duke stepped forward.
"I apologize for any difficulty my staff caused you," he said. "They were following instructions I gave them."
"Interesting instructions," Ren replied, scratching his ear. He walked forward. "You knew I was coming and still set up all these conditions to see you. I came here to do you a favor. I have no real reason to be here. I have my own territory to run, and being away from it puts things at risk. Yet here I am."
The Duke’s expression tightened briefly before smoothing out into something softer.
"You’ll have to forgive me, Sir Ren," he said. "I keep a schedule because I’m a busy man, and it helps me manage things."
"I don’t care about your schedule," Ren said. "I’m not here to get something from you. I’m here to do you a favor."
"And you will be compensated for it," the Duke replied.
"I could survive without your payment," Ren said. "I’m only taking it because I don’t like doing things for free. I’ve managed fine without anything from you up to now, and I’ll keep managing."
The Duke looked at him for a long moment.
Then he laughed. A genuine one, not the polished version.
"You really are something, Siren," he said. "Come in. Let’s talk."
Ren tilted his head, reading him. The laugh did not feel performed. That actually surprised him.
He shrugged and walked in.
Everyone followed. The Duke led them through the manor while the butler stood to one side looking like a man reassessing several life choices. Tera and Louis fell in behind without a word.
The dining room was large and set, food already laid out across the table, servants standing along the walls.
Ren stopped at the doorway.
"You stopped us from seeing you and already had food prepared," he said. "Were you trying to control the pace of this from the beginning?"
The Duke smiled slowly. "Why would I do that?"
"Because you’re a noble," Ren said, walking in. "People trained from birth to manage rooms and conversations." He stopped beside his chair and looked at the Duke directly, his expression still easy, still carrying that same loose friendliness. "I don’t have time for games. Don’t play them with me."
Ezra and Remu both looked at the Duke with eyes that made their feelings clear without requiring words.
Everyone took their seats. The Duke at the head. Ren at the opposite end. His people along either side. Louis and Tera closer to the Duke.
"It’s genuinely good to have you here," the Duke said, pouring himself wine. He swirled it, sipped it. "You’ll be a great help with the spider situation."
Ren looked at him for a moment.
"Why do I feel like spiders aren’t the main thing you want to talk about?" he said.
The Duke smiled.
"Well," he said, "there is one other matter. You took a divine armament from our headmaster. The kingdom cannot simply let something like that remain in the hands of a monster, no offense intended."
"None taken," Ren said. "And you can forget the armament. It’s gone. Your people walked into my territory uninvited and got what they deserved. That’s the end of that conversation."
The Duke sipped his wine.
"Refreshing," he said quietly, setting the glass down. "I understand your position, Siren. But if we are going to move forward with any kind of working relationship, the armament has to be addressed. The kingdom takes those seriously. We cannot simply set it aside."
"I already told you," Ren said. "You’re not getting it back."
The Duke frowned when he heard that, not the same frown that he had been keeping all this time but somehow heavier.
"And why is that, if I may ask?"
Ren was already busy digging into the large meat that was at his front while everyone else looked at him and wondered what he would say. He stopped after his mouth was full and then looked up.
"Uhm, before I say anything else, who are those two that attacked me, and why are they in our meeting?" he asked while looking at Tera and Louis.
The Duke sighed because he could tell that Ren was simply playing around with him, but he could not do a lot at this moment and could only simply take it.
"They are from a Vermilion elite organization, known as the Enforcers, and now they are currently here to watch my talks with you for the sake of the kingdom and to ensure nothing goes wrong," Duke William explained.
"Oh? So they are meant to watch our talks, and they somehow ended up attacking us? That’s really shitty work there," Ren said as he ate.
"I do not think my master is willing to continue talks on this issue again, seeing how you have treated him," Remu suddenly spoke up after having enough.
Ren looked up suddenly, shock in his eyes because Remu, or anyone, had never spoken for him in this sort of situation.