Chapter 876: Arrival of the Envoys
Eisen closed the last button on his shirt, adjusting the collar as he stood in front of the mirror. He slightly pulled on the chain of Kirisho's amulet to slightly pull the chain links apart. They tended to get stuck in each other sometimes. Maybe he should try and fix that soon. With that thought, Eisen placed the amulet under his shirt.
The cold metal pressed against his skin, and he could feele Kirisho's mist moving under his clothes, as if hugging him.
The old man smiled as he grabbed his tie, placing it around his neck. He thought for a moment, and then tied it into a specific knot that he figured would look good with the material, giving the almost fully black suit a better appearance. The red threads that he used to sew the suit together popped and gave the whole thing a nice underlying detail. Experience new stories with m v|l-e'm,pyr
The suit that he was wearing now was one that he had only recently made, and the fabric had a custom pattern placed onto it, where parts of it had a slight shine and other parts were matt fabric.
These patterns also had a purpose, being an enchantment to increase the efficiency of Eisen's charisma and charisma-related abilities, allowing him to be more specific with the intentions he wanted to bring across.
Eisen put on the suit's jacket, closing one of the lower buttons. He placed a folded handkerchief into his chest pocket and readjusted the clasp of the watch on his wirst.
"Alright, time to go," Eisen said with a slight smile on his face, glancing at the rings braided into his beard one last time, before Kirisho's mist flowed out of his sleeves. Her body formed as she wore a black dress with similar patterns to those on Eisen's suit. She was copying an item that Eisen had prepared for her, but this one was made of her own mist.
Eisen held out his arm as she wrapped her own around it, and the two stepped out of the room together. The first train had just arrived a few minutes earlier, and the envoys of the central continent were on their way straight to the meeting hall. When they got here, Eisen wanted to be the one receiving them all. He didn't want to give them the slightest opportunity at causing a mess.
The old man and spirit by his side stood in the entranceway of the meeting hall's building. The one that was approaching first, instead of the envoys, was Komer. He was looking around excitedly, and quickly approached the pair.
"Eisen!" he exclaimed, and the old man stretched out his arms, giving the young man a quick hug.
"Komer, glad to see you've made it! How did you find the train?"
"The train was amazing! The view out of the window was just... I can't even describe it!"
The old man looked at the merchant with a smile. He had gone blind a long time ago, so Eisen didn't know if he had ever had that kind of experience before. He was glad he could give that to him here in this world. "So, how did the trip go otherwise? Did the envoys behave?" The old man asked with a laugh, and Komer's smile immediately dropped.
"I... don't even joke like that. It was… horrible," Komer replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose to get rid of his headache, "Don't get me wrong, most of them were wrong... but the few that were bad, were... bad. That one guy, Van Horgh?
The Archpriest? He was accompanied by some others under the guise of apologizing, but they've been acting absolutely horrendously the whole time, insulting the monsters of Asgard. At least Aaron was there to help out a bit. Because of course, a 'mere merchant wouldn't know anything about honor and truth'.. but when the prince of Litgern spoke up in support, they couldn't use that argument anymore.
But seriously... they're so annoying."
"Don't worry, we'll shut them up," Eisen laughed with a quick wink. In the distance, he saw the large group of envoys approach, led by the half-dragon knights. However, at some point, they stopped. Eisen wasn't sure what was going on, but they were all looking at the meeting hall in shock. Sure, it was beautiful, but it wasn't to the point of-
Just as Eisen was thinking that, the ground shook. And that was when he realised what his brother had been up to. The old man let out a long sigh as he watched the envoys' guards take up their weapons. Even the half-dragon knights were startled, because of course they were. Silber had just increased to a massive size beyond what any other giant was capable of.
They were seeing a monstrosity beyond what any of them could have ever expected. Even the giants that were arriving soon would be dwarfed in comparison. Eisen wanted to get up there and complain to Silber, but obviously he couldn't do that while the envoys were literally in sight. He just had to sit here and watch it all unfold with a smile on his face.
Though, that being the case, it wasn't a bad idea. It certainly showed off Asgard's might.
Realizing what was going on, the half-dragon knights calmed the envoys and their guards down, continuing to guide them to the meeting hall. They soon arrived, and the envoys bowed to Eisen, one after another greeting him. Once they were done, the old man slowly nodded and smiled.
"Welcome, I hope you had a wonderful journey here," Eisen said, taking a step to the side, "Please come in, we have people that can lead you to the bedchambers we prepared for each of you."
Some of the envoys quickly did so, but not without trying to exchange a few more brief words with Eisen. They knew that they weren't here to meet with him directly, but at the same time, they couldn't let up the opportunity to build up some level of goodwill with him. Some offered gifts, others were speaking of trade or were trying to flatter him.
But it was all just empty words that Eisen frankly didn't care for. He would gladly accept the gifts, and trade was never a bad thing as long as both sides gained something, but that was Komer's expertise, so all that would go through the merchant group Starlight that was directly affiliated with Asgard anyway.
But then, there were just two groups left. For one, the envoys of Litgern, led by Aaron, and the envoys of the Holy Empire, consisting of three Archpriests. One of which was Van Horgh, the one that was directly trying to convince Eisen to let the Holy Empire 'manage' the islands, just because they were somewhat connected to the gods. Those of the Holy Empire approached Eisen first.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, your majesty," one of them said with a quick bow, "I heard that my compatriot in faith was rather insulting to you the last time he was here. For that I would like to apologise, and present some gifts to you to make up for it."
The Archpriest waved his hand toward the people accompanying them. They were carrying statues and other religious effigies. They were fine. Their quality was... subpar when considering what Eisen was used to, but that wasn't necessarily their point, anyway.
The old man smiled, "I see. Thank you, I will make sure to present these to the churches across our country that will be able to truly appreciate them. I'm not a particularly faithful person, you see," Eisen laughed slightly. Though he could tell the priests were a bit bothered by what he was saying, the old man really didn't care.
He turned toward Van Horgh, his smile quickly disappearing, "Van Horgh, it is very nice to see you again. But really, there is no need for an apology like this. None of your words would be able to bother me to that extent."
"I-" Van Horgh opened his mouth, but Eisen simply ignored him, stepping past them toward Aaron, someone he was actually genuinely happy to see. The prince of Litgern, the country closest to Asgard, was a good, upstanding young man that had a close relationship with Asgard from the very beginning.
"It is wonderful to see you again, your majesty," Aaron said with a smile as he bowed forward, but Eisen just laughed and shook his head.
"Likewise, Aaron, my boy. I hope you enjoyed the trip in our 'train'."
"The train! Yes, Komer had mentioned it to me before, but I truly did not know what to expect before I saw and experienced it myself. Would you mind explaining it to me a bit more?" Aaron asked excitedly, and Eisen immediately nodded his head.
"Of course! It would be my pleasure," Eisen replied, as he personally led Aaron along the halls, while the envoys from the Holy Empire were left on their own.