Three young men stood before the Marquis Marley.
The first one had dirty blond hair, a sloppy goatee, and a well-behaved look.
The second of the men had a confident look, highlighting his handsome white hair, but his robes were extremely bad.
The last one was a half-beast with a pretty face and skin, but the two ears on top of his head caused the marquis enormous discomfort.
One of his faithful servants had previously warned Mr. Marley who each of those boys were, being Leonan, Walley and Luke, respectively. The first and the last were invited by the Marquis, but Walley was only there as an intruder. Luckily for Walley, the marquis wanted to look confident and talk to the guests, so, and for that alone, he didn't immediately kick him out when Walley stepped into his house with his dirty shoes.
"Good morning, men. It is very good that they listened carefully to my invitation and accepted." said the Marquis, raising his arms.
Mr. Marley was like most of Melki's nobles. He had a huge paunch that nearly popped the buttons on his shirt, a bald head, and a porridge as big as Phiaro's muscles. Also, this marquis had disgusting, oily skin.
"Good morning, Your Excellency." Walley gave a typically noble bow, positioning his right foot back, then bending his knees until he was fully bent over with his head bowed.
"Very good to see you again, Lasthor." Leonan responded intimately.
"Hey, Marquis." Luke decided to follow Leonan's type of presentation rather than Walley's, because it was more his style.
Walley immediately whispered to Luke, "What are you doing? He's a marquis! We have to treat him formally!" He looked more scared than when he'd accompanied Luke into the corrupted zones.
On Walley's left, Leonan laughed a little. "Walley, there's no need for such a fuss. Lasthor is not a noble like the others."
The Marquis laughed a little too and got up from the chair he was sitting on, picking up the cane that was beside him to keep himself upright.
This cane had a great look. Usually, canes are straight and black, with just a sphere to fit the hand or a hook shape, but this one was all white, it was a little curved to one side and the tip that touched the ground was very pointed. Luke realized right away that this cane was actually a giant tooth reformed to be used as a cane.
When Walley finally noticed that the cane was a tooth, he didn't even have time to say swim, because Leonan completed what he was saying earlier.
"Lasthor is a man with a passion for monster collectibles and a scholar, as well as a noble recognized throughout the city." said the blond man.
The Marquis opened his hands once more, raising his cane as well. "Yes, this one is. Now that the introductions are over, let's get down to business."
Luke and Walley frowned and braced their ears. Any proposal coming from a noble from a fully demon-controlled Empire could be false.
"Mr. Luke, that's your name, right? I'd like to ask you about the Lich Skull you exposed yesterday in the guild tavern. Is this for sale?" Lasthor asked with a smile on his face. His fingers were partially black and there were some gold teeth.
The half-wolf thought before giving an answer, after all if a Marquis was really only three positions away from the Emperor, he was certainly powerful. When Luke made up his mind, he took a step forward.
"No, he's not for sale… to normal people. Something as rare as a Lich Skull is not something that can be displayed at a fair. However, as you are certainly not a normal person, I am sure we can negotiate." Luke replied.
The smile on the Marquis' face widened from ear to ear. Dealing with a half-beast was a nuisance for Lasthor, even more so if the half-beast was as powerful as the rumors were, so Lasthor understood that it was best to have a healthy relationship with Luke at first.
"What is your price?" asked the Marquis, sitting down again.
"How much are you willing to pay?"
"Hmm~ I like this stance, it tells me that they have experience in trading, but that they don't usually study much about monster items. What do you think of 15 gold coins for the head?"
"With all due respect, Marquis, that amount is ridiculous. I received 30 gold coins for killing him, selling the trophy for this achievement a day later for half would be stupid." Luke said eloquently.
With a bitter and unconvincing smile, Lasthor proposed, "I understand… So how about combining the reward value with my first proposal? 45 gold coins for an empty skull is a good deal."
Luke Lange had understood in this one that the Marquis was someone who used words to his advantage, trying to manipulate the other side of the negotiation into giving way. However, a loophole like this was exactly what Luke had been hoping for once he learned of the noble's interest in the drop.
"Want to know something? That head is not that important to me. You can keep it for yourself, as a gift for my having the honor of meeting you." Luke said, opening his arms just like Lasthor had done before.
All three other men in the room were startled by the half-wolf's conclusion. 45 gold coins was like a small fortune that no one turned down so easily, but for Luke it seemed like a natural thing to do.
The Marquis couldn't help himself and burst out laughing. "You rock! I liked you, you have fucking guts!"
Of course, Lasthor Marley, unlike Walley and Leonan, understood that the half-wolf's 'gift' was not free, but rather a debt the Marquis would have to repay someday by performing a favor for Luke. Of all the conclusions this situation could have, Luke decided the one that would benefit him the most in the long run.
If Marquis Marley really had the power he was said to have, Luke wanted the opportunity to use it for himself when he got the chance. Not to mention that to Luke the Lich's skull was worthless, and that the 'trophy' was lying under the hotel bed all night.
In the end, Luke gave the Lich's skull to the Marquis and was even invited to lunch. In Lesthor's thoughts, this was a great deal as at the next Marquise's tea he could brag about the skull to others.
It was also a good thing for the half-wolf to form a relationship with a local noble so much quicker than he'd expected, the only downside was that it was certain to attract attention even faster than he'd measured it.
*
For the next two days, Luke and Wayllan accompanied Leonan and the rest of the 'Forest Scythe' group on some monster hunts, none were especially difficult, just small groups of Goblins, Kobolds and Prum's. During this time, Luke met many different people and places in Stahurt, not forgetting to constantly complain about how bad Stahurt was compared to Palatine Hill.
Thanks to Luke's constant complaints, people joked about how he looked like a grumpy old man, but he always replied the same thing:
"It's not that I want to be boring, it's just that it's frustrating to see such a rich and prosperous nation with an as talented to crumble as is happening to Melki."
People couldn't answer him properly, and they always replied with the same futile argument.
"If we don't fight the Broteforge Empire now, in the future they will turn into demons and plunge the world into chaos."
"We? I didn't know you're in the war. As far as I know, we are sending monsters to wage this war for us." Luke responded with discontent.
For Luke the argument about Monster Cores being like curses for coming from monsters was so easy to refute precisely because it was a hypocritical argument. It was a fact that the use of Dungeon Breaks as a weapon by the Melki Empire was what was infesting the entire surface of the southern side of the Skoll continent with monsters. Furthermore, the human power to control these monsters as weapons was rotten, corrupt, and was spoiling Melki's fertile lands.
Luke's indignation was not pretense. Somehow, he empathized with the people of Melki during the nearly seven months he traversed half of the Empire. However, Luke knew he could not save Melki alone, he needed the very people of this great nation to open their eyes to the truth. The first step towards that goal was Sakan's death, which didn't mean his religion was dead, but it would surely lose strength with time until he found a leader.
Anyway, the last three days had been productive for Luke, but what he was really interested in was the ritual with the Cursed Items.
When Luke stepped onto the wooden floor of Hazor's dojo on the night of the third day, he smiled as he sniffed the sweet scent of Meredith, who when she saw him ran to hug him.
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