"Correct me if I didn't hear you correctly, what did you just say!?"
"I'm saying I was invited to a private dinner party in the Korver family's estate, please don't be too loud I'm already exhausted."
Laying on the long sofa in the corner of the dimly lit office room still fully clothed was Armin, who had immediately collapsed after returning from the Emerald Palace only a few minutes ago.
While seated across from him was an old man that was basically all skin and bones, with a long white beard and holding a wooden cane. To his left was a middle-aged demon noble with short black hair and a well-kept beard.
Wearing a well-tailored black suit with both hands in his pocket he stared at Armin with a confused expression on his face.
Many noble households with territories close to the western border of the Floato Region had suffered terrible losses in the war and a few of them had even lost their lords as well as their families' heirs. However, amongst all these families that had suffered such tragic fates, it wasn't presumptuous to say, the Heartrail family had it the worst.
Not only was their heir, the first-born son of the Heartrail family a lowly Tier 2 existence, but they had also lost their Lord and the promising youngest son of the Heartrail family. Leaving Armin as the only viable option to take over the family.
However, it was impossible to govern a territory when the Demon Lord was weaker than their subordinates. Once word of this gets around, the family would be unable to protect much less control the demons living in their territories.
The moment that happens, the Jaxith family would be forced to step in and they would be lucky if their household was only demoted back to Baron title and not stripped of their noble rank entirely.
Hence, Armin's uncle and grandfather had decided it was best for their family to ally with a more powerful family either by marriage or other means, and the best place to make connections with those powerful families were of course, during the various dinner party invites they had used their limited connections to obtain.
Yet, for some reason, after pressuring Armin to attend three such parties in quick succession, the only noble he had managed to form a connection with was actually from the Korver family.
While the Korver family was true of a higher rank than the Heartrail family, they were also facing a similar situation given as they had lost both their family head as well as three of their family's purebloods next in line in the war.
Making their fourth son, the only viable heir the same as Armin. Although Saleo Korver was a more qualified head due to his relatively reasonable magic potential. His lackadaisical personality and low work ethic make him ill-suited for the responsibilities that came with such a title.
"Of all the families to get acquainted with, why did you choose the Korver family? Their new head is bound to run their estate to the ground, we can't afford to be so closely associated with them else they drag us down with them."
Armin's uncle seemed annoyed by his lack of interest in what he was saying. Their family may not have been better off than the Korver but that was exactly why they needed to build a relationship with a more capable family that would be willing to help them in the future. freewebn(o)vel.com
"That doesn't matter."
With a single sentence, Armin dismissed his uncle's words as though they were of no relevance to him. A vein clearly buldged on his uncle's head and his aura immediately began to skyrocket, suffocating the air in the room.
"What!"
Armin was keenly aware that if his uncle had been a direct descendant, he would've long killed him off and take over the family and he could see the idea surfacing in his eyes so he has to immediately explain himself.
"It's not like I'm interested in Saleo or anything like that, I said it was a private dinner but that doesn't mean I was the only one invited. There should be a lot of young promising nobles there, after all, the envoy from the Darknar region should be present as well."
Saying that as he sat up from the sofa, Armin rubbed his aching temples as he stood up and explained most of what had happened in last night's dinner party to his uncle and grandfather. It was best he omitted his reasoning from the story as his family was unaware of his secret hobbies or what was in the underground cells.
To be frank, the reason he was so exhausted was not simply because he had been forced to deal with so many social interactions at the party last night. Although that had played some part in it.
Rather, the main reason for that was that he had to immediately lay the foundations of his plan to obtain the dark elf emissary for himself.
He had noticed just how Saleo's eyes had been glued to the Emissary the moment she entered the hall and how much colder his attitude towards the Demoness that accompanied him had grown over the night.
Safe to say, there wasn't a demon in that hall that wasn't totally entranced by the dark elf as he was. Although his reasoning may have been more twisted than theirs as they were all too cowardly to accept their true desires.
Hence, Armin would use that to his advantage as he provided Saleo the opportunity of inviting the Emissary to his estate for a party, creating the perfect stage for Armin to enact his genius plan while playing the spectator.
As Armin believed it was only natural for a pure-blooded demon noble to be true to their desires, he did not think lusting after the legate from another noble family was wrong.
There were no faults in his reasoning as it was the fault of the Demon Lord of the new Darknar family for using such a beautiful Dark elf as a common envoy.
However, Armin was not stupid, he knew the world would not support his beliefs and he was far too weak to protect his ideas and satisfy his desires. Yet, thanks to the weakness of the Demon in this era, even someone like him could survive as long as they were intelligent.
Armin surely didn't think highly of his strength but he knew how truly intelligent he was. One could call him a genius and not be wrong.
Hence why Armin knew he could not allow himself to be caught trying to turn the emissary into his slave, and needed an adequate plan if he wanted to achieve his goal.
As such, when the party was over last night, he had left for somewhere other than his Mansion, and that was, the base of the underground organization known as Numbers.
Although Armin didn't have the funds to purchase anything from the organization as his family's finances had been stretched thin thanks to the loss of the 500 soldiers his father had led to battle. Their weapons and equipment were expensive and needed to be replaced for the safety of their territory from both monsters and bandits. freew(e)bnovel.com
However, Armin had paid an exuberant sum of money to Numbers in order to buy a new dark elf slave for his collection but the organization had failed to deliver on their side of the deal.
As one of the organization's biggest investors in the east, Armin was owed adequate compensation as he decided to finally collect.
Despite his weakness, Armin had grown to be keenly aware of how strong someone was which was why he had taken the risk of approaching the emissary in the first place.
He could tell that she was at a level far beyond his comprehension and on a different plane of existence than him. Still, that just made him want to possess her more.
As someone that grew up with an inferiority complex towards his younger brother, the only thing that made him feel like a demon noble was dominating the strong dark elves' slaves he owned. Being such a special race, coveted by even the Great Five with limited numbers, nothing could bring him more satisfaction than when he successfully breaks a new one.
The stronger they were originally, the more intense the ecstasy he feels from breaking them using the slave contract and various other methods. At first, he had only been entranced by the race because of their uncanny beauty and dangerous eyes.
However, when he started buying ones with higher magic potentials than him, he slowly started enjoying the feeling of having them submit to him and it didn't matter how strong they were.
The compensation he had gotten from Numbers was an absurd amount of their specialty drug, Blue Powder.
As far as he knew, it was an incredibly addictive drug made from solidified mana shards and a secret ingredient only known to their higher ups and the drug was even effective on demigods.
After all, even gods use and absorb mana into their bodies and the stronger they were, the more mana essence they absorb to survive, making the drug impossible for anyone detect and prevent it as the body would not recognize it as poisonous or dangerous.
Taken in small doses, the drug would interact with the body the same way as the mana essence in the air until it accumulates in the body and completely disrupts the body's functions. By then, it would already be too late and the target would completely fall victim to the drug.
This was the basis of Armin's plans. He would secretly lace the emissary's drinks with Blue and with the help of numbers, he would move her unconscious body to his underground cell without anyone noticing, leaving the Korver family to be blamed for the disappearance of the envoy.
Armin was aware the Jaxith family would face the consequence from the new Darknar family but that should not affect them as their territory was at the border of the Floato Region and would easily be absorbed into the neighboring region.
Besides, he didn't think the Jaxith family held any hope of surviving this war and was already using his connection with Numbers to open negotiations with the neighborimg families for the safety of his region.
Therefore, there was no longer any need to remain loyal to the Jaxith family or make friends with any other ranked nobles in this doomed region.
Naturally, Armin did not relate this plan to his already worried uncle and grandfather as he proceeded to assure them that he would be sure to make connections in the upcoming dinner party in the Korver family estate.
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