>>5978472“I am Lorina de Lindan, I am here to meet with the nobles of this estate. Have them summoned at once,” You declare causing the young guard to go wide-eyed. Why be subtle when things are so much easier waving your status around?
“R-right away your- Your Highness!” The guard yells out to a few others to have the gate opened and a gardening servant is sent running inside the manor, most likely to alert the noble family. “S-so sorry for the inconvenience, we didn’t- I had no idea-”
“It is fine, see to it we are escorted to adequate seating.”
“R-right! Follow me,” The guard stammers out before walking, rather slowly, to the palace.
The three of you are led past the courtyard and inside the sunlit keep of the castle. Well, you say it’s a keep but it looks much more like a château. The old stone keep of this fortress must have been renovated in the last couple of decades to keep up with style trends, it seems like something the Hyland family would do to keep up their appearances. The carved stone and fancy windows do indeed look rather impressive if a little gaudy. The castle also seems to employ a multitude of people, more than even the royal castle. This might just be because it looks like the city's main barracks are located on the same ground, it might be possible that Ivern only has a single castle due to it being “smaller” in an economic sense than cities in the heartland. With how the de Hyland family is said to rise from merchants and adventurers you wonder if that will change in the future.
Eventually, you’re brought to a sunroom and the guard leaves the three of you be. It’s not uncommon for diplomatics to be made to wait as a tactic in negotiations but you’re more sure the reason you’re being left alone is simply to give the Hyland’s time to prepare. It’s not every day a frontier city must entertain royalty on such short notice.
“Marie, I have a question for you,” You state trying to articulate what's in your head.
“What is it Lorina?”
“You do realize a mob requires more than one person right?” It’s a strange thing to comment on but you just couldn’t fight the urge to understand her inane ramblings.
“Oh wait you mean mob like-” She rapidly makes a few hand motions, “and not like-” She makes a few more, “You see I was meaning it more like-” She continues on for a bit and nothing of value is learned.
“Repeat yourself, clearly this time.”
“But I just-”
“Now.”
She whines, “Fine, he was like a background character not like a part of a riot or something.”
“A background character?”
“Yeah! Like a character in a manga who’ll only show up once and never again, with no real relation to the plot!”
“Someone who is in a what? And what plot?”
