Chapter 632: Company for the Road

That wasn’t the only positive development from this trip, either.

Spotting a familiar face standing below one of the nearby ships, Christina smiled and called out, "Livia!"

Hearing her name, Olivia Roth turned, spotted the princess, and returned the gesture, though her expression was far more subdued, in line with her demure personality.

Over the past 3 months, although Christina had only seen duke once, and for barely more than a few minutes at that as Gregory Roth constantly seemed to be busy with matters of state, she had actually gotten to spend quite a bit of time together with Olivia, as well as the latter’s mother, Ava.

Ostensibly, Christina was meeting them to consult about Alchemy, Spirit Cooking, and the fledgling maple sugar industry which was under development in the Roth Dukedom.

In reality, Tina was just spending her off-duty time trying to re-connect with her childhood friend, and from how the two of them were acting currently, it seemed quite a bit of progress had been made.

Christina had also met with the duchess, Sienna Kardesh, on several occasions, though those meetings were much more formal and dealt almost entirely with business.

Gregory Roth’s First Wife was a shrewd and competent merchant with close ties to the Zilon Kingdom’s Royal Family and upper nobility, so whether it was regarding her own bakery business, her Senior Sister’s guild, or the numerous random projects of her Senior Brother, Christina had many good reasons to remain on good terms with the sharp-eyed duchess.

In any case, after exchanging greetings, Christina asked the obvious question, "Why are you here?"

As she asked this, Tina peeked over her friend’s shoulder and saw that quite a few Roth Family servants were loading a substantial number of chests and crates onto the military ship and formed a faint idea.

"It is probably as you are thinking, Christina," Olivia replied.

"The duke actually gave you permission?" Christina asked, slightly incredulously.

There had been some discussion about Olivia heading south to Misty City to officially serve as a representative of the Roth Family and to consult on several projects related to alchemy, but as recently as a few days ago, when Christina left on her most recent mission, all of that had been little more than a casual idea.

As such, she couldn’t believe the stubborn and calculating Duke Roth had agreed so quickly.

Maybe, despite all the rumours I’ve heard to the contrary, the duke actually favours Olivia? Christina couldn’t help wondering, though she doubted it.

Gregory Roth was famously indifferent, so the idea of him secretly doting on his youngest daughter seemed incompatible with his image.

Sure enough, even Olivia seemed to be confused and shook her head lightly, "I only brought the suggestion up with father in passing a few days ago. I do not know why he gave his blessing so easily, or why he granted me so much authority to make decisions while I am in Misty City."

The two young women fell silent for a moment, both of them trying to come up with a plausible explanation, but neither of them having much success.

"It’s probably because Elder Brother senses something is changing in the Balfour March, or more specifically, in Misty City, and he doesn’t want to remain ignorant of the ongoing developments," Charlotte, who had overheard Christina and her niece’s discussion suggested.

"Ah, that makes sense," Christina mused while Olivia offered her aunt a proper greeting.

Waving off her niece’s usual polite behaviour, Charlotte continued, "Gregory has never been one to just sit back and watch when something is stirring in the kingdom. His philosophy has always been ’information is power’."

"That does sound like something Father would do," Olivia nodded.

Charlotte was also thinking that her brother was probably sending Olivia specifically because she was friends with Christina, hoping to take advantage of that relationship to benefit their family.

Gregory had always been like that, after all.

Some might call such thinking ’astute political and business acumen’, but most normal people, include Charlotte, simply called it scheming.

He may have been her brother, and Charlotte may respect him, but there was no emotional connection between them, which was hardly surprising given the huge age gap and the fact that Gregory had basically never offered his youngest sister a kind word or note of praise in her life.

Charlotte might have taken offence to such a frigid attitude coming from her own flesh-and-blood, had she not known the cold-hearted, ruthless Duke Roth offered no one such pleasantries, not even his own wives and children.

Shaking off such distracting thoughts, Charlotte continued, "Whatever the case, it doesn’t really matter, Olivia. The duke may have granted you some extra authority, but in the end, he and the family’s Elder Council will be responsible for making final decisions. Your only job is to provide accurate analysis of the situation in the Balfour March."

Olivia was well aware of how things worked in her family, so this came as no surprise to her, not that she wanted to be making such decisions anyways.

As long as she was able to focus on improving her alchemy, and perhaps have a bit of leisure time in between, Olivia was content.

"Well, whatever the case, I’m just happy we get to spend some more time together, Livia," Christina concluded on a more positive note.

"En, me too," Olivia replied in a hushed voice, her cheeks blushing slightly with embarrassment.

Looking at the two young girls chatting happily with one another, Charlotte felt it would be uncouth of her to break them up, so she cleared her throat audibly and declared, "I’ll leave you in charge of monitoring the disembarkation procedures here, Captain. Once the ship is secured and the soldiers all dismissed, you may take the rest of the day off to prepare for tomorrow’s departure."

"Ah, ahem," Christina, swiftly switching back to a professional demeanor, straightened up and nodded, "Understood. Thank you, Commander."

Charlotte nodded, "I’ll be going on ahead then to make my report to the General."

Once her aunt had left, Olivia asked quietly, "Will you be much longer, Christina?"

Glancing back towards the ship, where all the soldiers from the Piercing Sword and Raging River Legion were moving in a slightly lazy but still orderly fashion, Christina shrugged, "I’ll probably need another half-hour to finish up here."

"In that case," Olivia continued, "Shall we get some lunch once you’re done?

"Sound good to me," Christina’s eyes brightened, "There is a restaurant in town I’ve been meaning to try, but never got the chance to. It would be a shame not to do so before leaving tomorrow."