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Looking at the two women who had just entered the room, I said, "Hello. I am Riser Phenex. May I inquire as to your names?"
The woman bowed, awkwardly balancing the tray before her as she did. "My name is Saeko, my lord.
This is my daughter Yubelluna." The girl bowed as she was named, shaking slightly. Whether she was nervous or scared I couldn't tell.
The man hastily bowed as well. "And I am Akira, my lord. Forgive me for not introducing myself."
"Do not worry about it, and please do not bow. It will be hard to maintain a conversation with people who will not look at me."
The three all went ramrod straight almost immediately, causing me to hold in a sigh. This conversation was shaping up to be tedious.
"Your letter said you wished for me to take your daughter as my pawn." I said, cutting to the chase. "Forgive me for being blunt, but why should I?"
The atmosphere turned tense the moment the words left my mouth. The family had appeared nervous before, but now they looked as if they were scared to breathe for fear of inviting my wrath down upon them.
Akira swallowed heavily and said, "She is young my lord, but even so she has proven quite capable with magic. Ever since she was young she has been able to create magical explosions with her power."
Something clicked in my head, and I turned to the girl. "That was caused by you then?" I asked, pointing at the hole in the wall I'd noticed earlier.
The girl opened her mouth to speak, but her father beat her to the punch. "Yes, my lord. She–"
"With respect," I cut him off. "I wasn't talking to you." I turned away from the deathly pale man back to his daughter. "Did you cause that?" I repeated my question.
She swallowed nervously, her hands shaking as she said, "Y-yes, my lord. I did that accidentally when I was four. I…I also burned the table at the same time." she added shyly.
"She has much better control now!" her mother hurriedly added. "She can even–"
"Once more, respectfully, I'm not talking to you. Could you please give me and your daughter a moment alone, please?" I broke in, looking pointedly at both of her parents.
If they were going to chime in every five seconds, this conversation wasn't going to get anywhere.
There were things I needed to ask and things I needed to say before I even considered adding this girl – her name was Yubelluna if I heard her mother correctly – to my peerage.
The girl's parents fled the room as if a dragon had suddenly appeared within it, leaving their daughter to look frantically at their backs, before turning back to me with wide eyes.
"Yubelluna, right?" I asked.
She nodded, then her eyes shot wider and she said, "Yes, my lord." She bowed, then quickly straightened her back again, a look of panic on her face.
I sighed and started rubbing my head. "Please just sit down. I'm not going to lash out at you for not saying or doing the right thing. Forget that my last name is Phenex, and just talk to me."
Yubelluna looked uncertainly between Clarissa and I, but when Clarissa offered no reaction whatsoever, she slowly sat down in the wooden chair across from us.
"Now, I would guess your parents are the ones who wrote the letter I received?" I said.
"Yes, my lord."
"Then I guess my biggest question is: Do you even want to join my peerage?"
Yubelluna's head tilted to the side in confusion. "I don't understand, my lord."
I took a deep breath. She is a twelve year old. An actual twelve year old. I pointedly reminded myself internally. It isn't her fault that she needs everything spelled out to her. Be patient, Riser.
"Joining my peerage would mean you would become subservient to me. You would serve me. I would do everything in my power to treat you fairly, but you have no guarantees of that.
And despite the fact that we don't publicize it, there are several lords who exploit the members of their peerage in various ways."
"My lord, I do not believe that is the correct direction to take this conversation if you wish to recruit her." Clarissa said chidingly.
"Am I wrong?"
"You are not, my lord."
"Then I'm going to make sure she knows what she's getting into." I said, and Clarissa seemed to accept my words.
Turning back to Yubelluna, who had watched our exchange in silence, I said, "Your parents seem to want you to be in my peerage. Do you want to be in my peerage?"
Yubelluna swallowed again. A blind man could see she was nervous.
"Yes, my lord. I want to be in your peerage."
"Why?"
Yubelluna's face went blank at my question. "I…I don't understand, my lord."
"Why do you want to be in my peerage?"
"I…I want to serve you."
I couldn't help it, I audibly sighed. "Please don't lie to me again. You have no idea who I am. You hadn't met me before today. There is no way you want to serve me. Now why do you want to join my peerage?"
Once more, Yubelluna looked at Clarissa, but the witch didn't so much as twitch. The girl turned back to me, and took a deep breath, seeming to gather her courage.
"I want to be strong." she said hurriedly. When I didn't say anything, she kept going. "I…I don't like being weak.
The strong devils are trying to force us out of our home. We can't stand up to them, so mom says we have a few months before they take everything.
The strong devils will do whatever they want with us. I don't like that. Dad said if a peerage took me I could be important – that I could be strong. I want to be able to stop people from taking things from me."
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