Chapter 36: End of the meeting/ A peasant?

"Come on, Vienna~ It's not like he'll be working for me. I'll just be lending him a room, and if you're still uncomfortable with the idea, I can have Sephra come over and report on his status every day just so that you know what's going on with little old Arthur~" Luna purred her twin tails dancing in apparent glee. "Besides, where else are you going to find that'll accept the boy on such short notice, this city lacks hotels, and the ones we have are always packed~ Vienna, it's only sensible for you to entrust him to me~."

Luna continued, much to Vienna's chagrin. Every word she spoke, every sentence she uttered, despite bringing out untold fury from within the mother's broken mind, held truth, she wouldn't be able to find anyone or anywhere else that would accept the boy on such short notice, nor did she trust anyone enough with the child's secret. Sephra may have been an option if not for the fact that her house…didn't really exist. The only residence the half-elf occupied was the lucky cat casino which only possessed a singular bedroom out the back of the current space the party resided in, so she was an impossibility. The hotels were all fully booked, and even with Vienna's almighty authority, she doubted whether they'd make space for her servant of all people, which really only left Luna and her brothel. The scarlet woman didn't lack rooms. In fact, the property possessed an abundance of such structures due to its nature as a brothel, many of which were unoccupied or reserved for the nobles from neighbouring territories and thus remained available for Arthur's use. However, Vienna doubted Luna would need to lend Arthur such a space. In fact, Luna likely had one or two spare rooms that she kept simply for the hell of it.

"Fine…I'll take you up on the offer," Vienna darkly muttered. She still didn't like the idea. In fact, she abhorred it, yet it was the only thing she could do.

"Great!" Luna excitedly yelled, her hands breaking into a sporadic clap of undisguised happiness. "Just tell me when you plan to leave, and I'll come to collect the boy,"

At Luna's words, Vienna's face broke into an expression of absolute misery. "Today…" Vienna reluctantly muttered.

"HUH," Both Luna and Arthur blurted out their surprise. 'Today!!!' Arthur inwardly screamed. He had anticipated Vienna's attempt to bring him to the fifth prince's coming-of-age ceremony, but this fact he remained utterly oblivious to. After all, the ceremony was not to occur for another two weeks. Vienna still had plenty of time until she'd be forced to move, to take her carriage through the many lands of the Abraham empire. 'Why is she leaving so soon?' Arthur rhetorically asked, yet no answer landed his way, just the sensual purr of Luna, who eyed the child's body with a gaze of undisguised lust.

"And how long will it be until your return?"

"One month," Vienna growled. One month, she'd have to go an entire month without her beloved Arthur. It'd be an understatement to say that Vienna was now dreading the journey that she had previously held great expectations for. This statement, however, didn't come as a surprise to the bewildered boy. In fact, it arrived as a somewhat plausible answer. In fact, given that amount of time, Arthur was at a loss as to what to do with it. Sure he was going to continue his pursuit of Sephra and Luna, but he doubted he'd need an entire month to accomplish what he expected to be able to attain within a week. Perhaps Arthur would hasten some of his newly made goals and set his sights upon some easily reached items. After all, he'd need something to pass the time he'd otherwise spend sleeping or training his scan skill to little to no avail.

'Sephra definitely has connections to the black market. Maybe I can use her to get what I need for…that,' Arthur inwardly speculated.

"I see…Well then…Shall we be going~" Luna yelped, her voice going from a distant mutter to a loud cheer as her figure blurred and reappeared, her arms interlinked with the paralysed child.

"I mean, we can't continue with the meeting after what happened with that drunken knight, now can we?" Sephra exasperatedly stated the two suitcases she wore under her eyes, increasing in weight until they became almost impossible to resist. "Sorry, Vienna, but we'll have to hold that meeting until you arrive back from the capital,"

"That's fine. It was nothing urgent anyway," Vienna responded, her half-hearted answer unknowingly catching the interest of the slothful half-elf.

"Ok~ Arthur and I will head down to the entrance then, meet you there!" Luna waved goodbye to the stationary Vienna and Sephra before exiting the room with one very stunned Arthur in tow.

Silence reclaimed its place in the previously boisterous room. It was awkward, it was endless, and the aura was unsettling between the pair of beauties that remained to dwell in its eerie creepiness. Neither dared speak, yet they also did not move in an attempt to escape from the crushing silence. They remained placid, waiting for the other to disrupt the heavy atmosphere, an event neither promised to perform.

"I know you said it was nothing urgent, and we rescheduled the meeting to next month, but I want to know, what were you planning to talk to us about?" Sephra finally stated, her voice dripping with a thirst brought about by her overwhelming curiosity.

"Is that it…That's what you wanted to know," Vienna bashfully responded, her head pulled away from the dangerous thoughts revolving around her perfect boy and the nature of their relationship and to the reality that Sephra had thrust upon her. "Like I said, it was nothing urgent. I just wanted to gather some ideas about how we can fix the peasant crisis my city seems to have," The mother continued, her answer earning a sceptically raised brow from her conversation partner.

"Peasant crisis, is that how we're addressing the lower class now?" Sephra joked, earning the ire of Vienna.

"No…I would never call the lower class peasants. What I truly mean is the real peasants, those without jobs who simply wander the streets, without house and home, food nor water, the real peasants," Vienna chided to no avail. Her words only caused more confusion to blossom upon the young woman's otherworldly features.

"Vienna…There are no peasants. This city only has the lower class. There's no one out on the streets cold and frostbitten in the chilly winters. Your increase to the red light district prevented that. Everyone has the opportunity to work. Even children can be hired as bar hands and other such things."

"B-But," Vienna stuttered, this was a lie. It had to be, after all, Arthur still existed, a child that she well and truly knew to have grown up on the street. She had researched the boy, posted fliers requesting information about his life prior to his time at the Zepar household, and everyone she spoke to had said the same thing. They repeated that same phrase, 'That boy, he's just some street rat,' she knew it to be true. Arthur was a peasant, not out of choice but out of necessity. He couldn't get a job, he would starve, he would end up frostbitten in those chilly winters, and yet, Sephra was telling her that there weren't more children like Arthur, that he was the sole originator behind this illusive plague, that couldn't be true, Vienna refused to accept it as fact, there had to be other's, they just didn't know about them. However, such an excuse failed to work. It was impossible for the combination of women gathered today to not know about any issues present in the city. They covered all the bases, Luna had her extensive knowledge of the red light district, Sephra had her connections with nobility and the common man, while Vienna covered the commerce side of the equation.

"But Arthur," Vienna continued, a lone tear dropping from her beautiful emerald eyes, just what type of life had the boy experienced, alone, isolated? She couldn't imagine the torment he must have experienced, being ostracised from the society she had created.

"What about Arthur? You're not going to tell me that he was a peasant, now are you?" Sephra joked, only to have her jubilant facade crumble upon witnessing Vienna's dreary nod.

"Eh, really? How? Did he just choose not to have a job? What about his parents, where are they? Surely they could have provided him with something," With every syllable that spilt forth from the half-elf's pretty pink lips, Vienna's dreary mood only proved to further sour.

"He couldn't get a job. Every place he'd turn to would shun and push him away. As for his parents, apparently, they don't exist. No one knows anyone who'd fit the criteria, and the boy certainly doesn't recall them," Vienna sighed, dropping a bomb upon the half-elf tyrant whose eyes couldn't have glimmered more with interest towards the young child.

"Interesting. Arthur really is super interesting, isn't he?" Sephra sweetly hummed her body, resuming its movements towards the flat plateau of space that resided on the other side of the now streamlined room. The more she learnt about the boy, the more she couldn't help but be engrossed by his seemingly strange life, raised without parents, left to his own devices on the streets, yet he somehow managed to gain a heroic disposition. It all just felt so weird, so unnatural, yet so enthralling. Sephra wanted to know more. Perhaps there was still some vital information Vienna was withholding from her. Yes, that must be it. That must explain the overwhelming urge to be with the boy that plagued the maiden's heart.

"Come now. We don't want to keep them waiting, do we?" Sephra chimed her heart, skipping yet another beat with the mere thought of meeting the child.