Reincarnated as the Only Human
Chapter 1033: ’Icebreakers’

Chapter 1033: ’Icebreakers’

"Thank you dear~! This is the wine you’re selling off to the common folk, correct? Well, I suppose the correct group is ’everyone’, hm?"

Swirling around the red liquid in her glass, Fenkar took a quick sniff of the strong wine before giving it a taste, nodding appreciatively as the potent alcohol slid down her gullet rather smoothly; that heavy burn afterwards made her ears twitch while her eyes shone with intrigue. _{f|ree(w)ebn\o.vel.com}

"That is one of them, yes, though it is a more... perfected batch meant for us. The plan is to create the wine in bulk and sell off whatever doesn’t meet our own standards... for whatever reason that might be. Everything is handmade as well by someone here at the table. Traditional too."

Fenkar smirked a little at that as she looked down at my legs, the older Wolfkin nodding for a moment before saying "That is a selling point right there. You would be rather surprised- actually, never mind, I think you understand that people would be more intrigued knowing someone attractive personally made the wine. Definitely try and market that if at all possible."

For her part Luna just kept quiet, sipping her wine and looking around at everyone as she gauged their reactions and tried to understand their personalities, be it the more ’standoffish’ Rhefia and Sari or the stoic Shelur.

Some of them were known to her already - apparently Sari, Shelur, and of course Kalia as well as Camara to a bit of a degree - but she was going in rather ’blind’ to this, and she knew that she was going to have to fight an ’uphill battle’ because of her baby inside of my womb.

Just the reminder of how full I was and how each of them came around was enough to make me feel tired, and knowing that one of those Dama’s was going to likely be a bit of a troublemaker while another was completely absent due to her divine status, well...

That left me in a ’fun’ little spot as I just lounged in the chair and rubbed my belly, though Aka was doing her best to distract me as she wormed her way out of her Dama’s arms finally and scurried over to me.

Hugging the Kit tight and listening to her purring I couldn’t deny her what she wanted, so without any hesitation I shrugged my new dress to the side and bared my tit for her, giving her the only thing she seemed to crave in this world.

"Alright, I feel like I should just lead with this. I heard about Leonisa’s little problem and how she’s planning on pushing it off on you, so I might as well go ahead and tell you about it. The bandits aren’t your typical crowd; well armed, organized and acting with a purpose spells out something darker than just banditry to me.

Did a little digging, pulled some strings with some of my silent pups and learned a couple things. It’s not bandits, it’s a mercenary company acting as bandits under the orders of someone outside the Queendom. Just because I am curious, do you want to take a crack at who that might be, Rhefia~?"

That conspiratorial smirk and the way she was so laid back about what was happening was rather on point for the Wolfkin, and although I was getting more and more irritated about the mission that Leonisa had foisted upon us I was also curious about where this was going.

Because if it was against something far more serious and insidious than a bandit group the rewards we would receive would go up drastically... both from the Queen and from the smooth talking Lionkin.

"Likely one of the more bloodthirsty Begums of the Susahan Sultanate, right? The Sultana was still alive the last time I bothered to check, and her daughters have likely only gotten drunker on the power their family has amassed. With the peace stretching for as long as it has, I wouldn’t be surprised if they wanted to shake things up a bit..."

"Still smart~! Good, means the Academy is still worth all the tax money it absorbs every single year. Yes, one of the Begum’s is hoping and praying for a war to break out so that they can push for the throne, as stupid as it would be.

Considering the last time that happened we stole away some of their territory I cannot begin to fathom their decision, but anger does tend to make someone irrational. So that is what I have learned, and its a bit of free information for my new... hmm..."

Stroking her chin and looking between Rhefia, Luna and I, Fenkar was stumped for a moment before shrugging and saying "In law, I suppose. Luna is going to be a more permanent sight around here eventually, whereas I will be somewhat frequent..."

Her gaze ended up on my belly when she said that, only to then slide up my body and onto my bare breast as she smirked, sipping on her wine to slake her thirst while clearly enjoying the warmth it spread throughout all of her.

"If that’s true then that means Rhefia cannot do this alone. It would be hard even for her if it was just bandits, but if they’re a mercenary company then who knows what tricks they have up their sleeve! Is Leonisa-"

"Ah ah, don’t. I don’t particularly love the golden favorite of our Queen either, but she isn’t stupid. We’ve all done our research on you, on Sari, on Renna and on Astra. Estranging you from ’us’ - the Queendom - would be idiocy at its finest. She likely has some other plans, something to refine this ’story’ some more in order to make things as smooth as possible."

Sari just sneered at the Wolfkin, though the gleam in Fenkar’s eyes was no longer as teasing as before; it was just as sharp - if not sharper - than the Catkin’s was, and after a few seconds of having a staring contest the younger warrior looked away.

"But yes, Leonisa is playing a rather ’dangerous’ hand here. Likely undervaluing how close you are to me, how much support the Augustia’s might throw your way, and now how invested the Young Miss Hertanc is in Astra. Quite a network you’ve built for yourself, darling~! Some might be a little... concerned about that."

Another sip of wine and another smirk, but she left it at that as she opened everything back up to some less pressing conversation, though it was hard to just brush past the news she brought to us.