An Interesting Question

Sect Leader Jolie was a cute, freckled redhead with beautiful blue eyes. Yet, her disposition was undeniably that of an experienced, old cultivator whose traces of whimsical wonder had disappeared decades, if not centuries, ago.

That dichotomy between her looks and presence was something that did not fail to catch the interest of both of Edrick’s thinking centers. The lower one was made to calm down for now, though… 

She was actually two centimeters shorter than Elder Millia, making her exactly half of Edrick’s height. Since cranking her neck up to look him in the eyes had to be annoying, the scion knelt down to greet her.

“Sect Leader Jolie, it is my pleasure to finally make your acquaintance”

“The pleasure is shared, Young Master Anoteros. Do take a seat. This room is fully soundproofed via several arrays that I have created with my own two hands, and the material of the walls is naturally conducive to the purpose of preventing any noises from escaping as well… We can speak freely, is what I mean”

She climbed onto an elevated chair.

Edrick thought that it had to be rather annoying to be so short throughout daily life. It was probably alleviated since she was a powerful cultivator with access to a plethora of skills unlocked for those who reached her level, but for the other cultivators who turned themselves into Rococolis of small height… Things were certainly not easy every day.

Physically speaking, Jolie would have to climb on top of her desk to grab some of the things on it…

“I understand, and it is quite fortunate as some of my ideas would do better without anyone listening in on our conversation…”

The young noble smiled.

“Unfortunately, Xiaode Mountain Sect carries a bad reputation amongst those with more access to information than the typical commoner, and even then, some unsavoury rumours run around… This naturally makes it difficult for you to implant houses for the Valless, and thus makes it more difficult for you to gather more disciples, yes?”

“That is true. We have tried to expand into neighbouring countries in the past, but we were always denied, and even domestically, some nobles are very reticent to the idea of allowing houses for the Valless directed by us. They know that some of our recruits are doomed to not only be trained to satisfy special clients, but that they might be put to work almost immediately, even if they are far, far from being Bloomins”

“Pardon my foul mouth, Young Master, but I find this to be utter bullshit. They are all acting as if they care for the Valless Immunubils and Bloomins, when it is clear that the only value they can find in them is to put them to work, but in Leynlornd, even that is complicated”

Jolie leaned forward. She was deadly serious, but it was hard not to find her action adorable.

Edrick maintained his usual expression, not letting it show that he was strongly tempted to pat her head or pinch her cheek before getting familiar with her cervix–Probably all three at the same time, actually…

“Young Master, I presume that you have an idea?”

“Naturally, you see, I was already thinking about opening my own houses for the Valless. As you might have heard, I have two Foppoof wives, and my second wife in particular has some feelings of inadequacy due to being unable to bear any offspring for me… I know well that no amount of words will be enough to erase that feeling”

“So you will build houses for the Valless from which your Foppoof wives could pick Allins to adopt, as a way for them to contribute to your legacy despite their biological limit on procreation?”

“Exactly, you certainly see where I am going with this, yes?”

Jolie smiled slightly for a few moments.

“You want us to secretly be a part of them, and allow us to pick some of the Valless Allins. We act in the shadows while you act as our front… And you intend to eventually expand past the borders of Leynlornd as well? That is a simple concept that I and many others here have thought of, but never did we find anyone willing to take such a risk for our sake”

“Are you sure about this, Young Master?”

“Of course, it isn’t something that can happen immediately or even in the near future, but it is indeed something I am planning on doing… Even if we remove your presence or my desire to give my Foppoof wives the option to take Allins in, wouldn’t it be a great idea? Those Valless Allins could be made into soldiers for the Elt clan, or even soldiers for the crown!”

“Leynlornd is growing and getting richer, but the commoners remain susceptible to many diseases and natural disasters, not to mention that many are farmers who put a strain on their health to perform their labour. The amount of Valless will not be decreasing much, if at all. They’ll always be there, and they are a resource that must be exploited”

Jolie nodded along.

“I can definitely agree with you on this point, Young Master. But let me ask you something…”

“Go ahead, Sect Leader Jolie”

“...Once you reach the height of your reputation and nothing will be capable of shaking you, would you be willing to publicly take an Immunubil bride?”

Anoteros scratched his nose.

“I must say, this is quite the question… And as for my answer, I frankly have to restrain myself with all of the pretty Immunubils and Bloomins around your sect. If I didn’t need a reputation without blemish, I would have definitely arrived later to this meeting”

“So, of course I would be willing to take an Immunubil as a wife. Hell, I would take multiple, as long as they pick my interest enough… I will definitely have a bunch of Immunubil maids eventually, though. They would be easy to train”

Jolie tilted her head slightly. She hadn’t received such a direct answer in a long time, and she loved asking that question out of the blue. She found that the answer to that question revealed a lot about the person.

Whether they lied one way or another, whether they avoided answering entirely, or how they went about lying or telling the truth.

Edrick had just gone ahead and answered the question without dressing it up, and he had even gone further… 

“Young Master, the last time someone was so confident when answering positively like you, it was Sir Niediao. It has been a long time since then”

‘Of course it was Niediao…’ 

This was the secondary ‘interest’ the Monstrosia enjoyer possessed. He had quietly mentioned it to Edrick a while back. It seemed like the masked Elideue was quite sharp, to have realised that Anoteros would enjoy such things before even he himself had.

Niediao’s favourite pastime in this regard was documenting just how far from Bloomin could an Immunubil be when getting pregnant for the first time… Edrick had not yet seen the documentation, but he had heard that the results were actually quite surprising.

After discussing some more about other possible ways they could collaborate, the scion and sect leader shook hands–Well, Jolie shook his index finger.

“Be safe on your journey back, Young Master”

“I will be”

Now, he had to check out the chambers of Elder Millia…