Limitations 3/Finale – A Visit Decided

The matriarch was living proof that Yuki-Onnas did age.

By all accounts, she had done so gracefully, but her beauty had wilted all the same. Loose skin dangled from spotted cheeks. White hair was thin and tied into a bun. Her figure was hunched and pudgy. In her youth, she would have stood a whole head taller. Now, she was pushed around in a wheelchair.

Despite the weakness of her body, the matriarch’s eyes had the depth and colour of a frozen lake. When she was rolled into the room, she took command of it with a few gazes alone. Apexus wouldn’t be intimidated by her. The four elite dark elven soldiers in full regalia were a different story. They had been trained in Dungeons and moved with supernatural fluidity.

Apexus wondered if he could defeat them. How good were the bodyguards of someone so important to the Sleeping Empire? How strong was he truly, in the grand scheme of things?

Questions he would not have answered here.

Wordlessly, the matriarch was moved to the middle of the audience chamber, where a table separated her and the five visitors. Only Yuzuki was seated on the couch. The other four would not have found it comfortable, enchanted as it was to stay at an almost freezing temperature. Their breaths cast little clouds into the air of the heavily ornate chamber. From the ornamentation on the walls to the carvings on the tabletop, it was made clear that the woman in the wheelchair was in control.

The assistant, a Yuki-Onna not quite old enough to be counted as a woman yet, stepped aside. Despite her rebellious years, she did not dare make a single sound. Even her footfalls were silent.

“Granddaughter,” the matriarch croaked, sounding every bit the elderly woman that she was, “You have a lot of nerve calling for me directly. This better be worth my time.”

“I pray that it is.” Yuzuki bowed her head in deep respect, keeping her eyes lowered even as she pushed two ornate documents across the table. One was contained in an envelope of sturdy, expensive paper, the other in a scroll casing made of light wood that almost appeared like marble. “A letter of recommendation from the overseer of the City of the Wastes and a writ of favour from the Church.”

The matriarch’s hands trembled with age as she opened up the scroll and checked the contents. “Services on an Infested Leaf… cleansing of Black Roots…” she muttered to herself, then rolled the gold-tinted parchment back up. She placed the scroll next to the untouched envelope. “Accomplishments, yes… why do you show them to me?”

“These brave adventurers wish to host a ball in Tenour, to make an announcement to the entire political class that they will not again be involved in matters of conflict between factions of our empire.”

“Oh?” The matriarch looked to Apexus, then immediately to Aclysia. “You speak for the party?”

The Summer Angel sorted her words for a moment before answering. “I am the voice of the group, provided of my darling’s absence of decisions, affirmative.”

“What do you make of his decision?”

“I support it.”

“What do you think of the current political situation?”

Aclysia stayed her answer again, her erudite mind trying to find the perfect response.

“Disregard that. Do you think of yourself as eloquent?”

“I believe I am an elegant speaker, yes?”

The matriarch had heard enough, her attention locked back onto Yuzuki, who still kept her eyes lowered. “So, your scheme is to appease me by making one last effort at marriage in the capital before integrating yourself into this party?”

“I would prefer it said less bluntly,” Yuzuki answered, “but broadly yes.”

“Suppose I agree with this, you might as well skip on the attempt to find a partner in the capital.” The matriarch leaned back, inspecting her granddaughter with a critical glare. “I know you will just sabotage that. You have your eyes set on your own goal. Usually, I would be displeased with that, but you seem to have put an adequate amount of thought into this.”

“Were we to have the support of both you and the viceroy, calling a grand ball should be no issue.”

“Perhaps… though you lack a family whose facilities may host the event.”

Yuzuki’s head remained calmly lowered still. “I have connections that I would use to this end.”

“Expending your connections for a deal not yet made, I cannot support.” The matriarch looked to Aclysia. “Are there any families in the Sleeping Empire that are in your debt?”

The angel scanned through her memories. “I… do not believe so…”

“I hear hesitance.”

“What about the, uhm…” Korith scratched the base of her ponytail as she tried to recall the name. “Nightsong? Was that it?”

“What relation do you have to the Nightsongs?” Yuzuki asked, breaking her posture for the first time. “You did not inform me of this!” ‘Again!’ she added in her mind.

“We encountered a noblewoman in charge of a village during our stay of Alarshus who was of this lineage,” Aclysia explained. “The encounter was, however, not one that went well. She promised a payment she couldn’t deliver… we…”

“We robbed her in front of her eyes to teach her a lesson,” Reysha put it bluntly. “We were being taken advantage of. She confessed to as much.”

“How long ago was this?” Yuzuki asked.

“An estimated half year.”

“Certainly, long enough for word to travel…” Yuzuki bowed her head again, still not looking directly at the matriarch. “We may be able to leverage this. Depending on their feelings on the event, we could spin it as the Inevitable party offering to share their good reputation as an apology or as them apologising by lending us their facilities.”

“Are the Nightsongs important?” Apexus asked. He had been under the impression that the noble they met had been a minor one.

“They are a known house in the largest empire on this Branch of the Omniverse. To that end, they are very important,” the matriarch answered. “Within that frame, they are just one of many… but that would suffice. Any other connections you have withheld from my granddaughter? Anything else useful that you failed to mention?”

“I confess to our political inexperience, we are not quite aware of what is useful and what is not,” Aclysia remarked. “We were also on good terms with one Lady Frashina on Alarshus. I believe she was of the Lulling Grey house?”

“New money, certainly another ally that could be useful.” The matriarch nodded. “Yuzuki, lift your head.” The ice lady did, finding the stare of the matriarch surrounded by the wrinkles of a smile. “You have my permission to leave.”

Cheering on the inside, Yuzuki rose to her feet and bowed her head gracefully. “I thank you deeply, grandmother.”