The client's people arrived.
Then the client's people left again.
And only after all of them had gone...
Did Albert, the "outsider," return to the reception room on the manor's ground floor.
"How did it go?"
"Nothing much happened."
"What do you mean, nothing much happened?"
"Exactly what I said."
"..."
Lan Qingyou's answers nearly made Albert see red.
"I mean, what did they come here for?"
"What else? The Summoning Magic Array."
"Wait! The magic array? Then I'm not an outsider either!"
Having worked alongside Lan Qingyou throughout her research...
Albert considered himself very familiar with the magic array.
Yet these people had discussed it without even inviting him?
All of a sudden...
Albert felt as though all his devotion had been wasted.
"If it were just about the magic array, of course you'd be involved. But besides that, they mainly came to talk about my territory."
Lan Qingyou added that explanation.
"Your territory?"
"Yes. They said a territory couldn't be without subjects, so they wanted to send some over."
Lan Qingyou reached into the fruit platter on the coffee table, picking through the expensive fruit the nobles had sent.
"They also planned to help me build some Lakeside Town beside the lake nearby."
"What a joke. It's just a village or town. Would I need their help?"
Picking up something resembling an apple from the platter, Lan Qingyou finished her dismissive remark and took a fierce bite.
Juice spilled from the corner of her mouth.
There was nothing elegant about her appearance.
If those nobles from earlier had witnessed this...
They would have said nothing to her face, but inwardly, they would surely have looked down on Lan Qingyou as an "upstart."
Of course, "upstart" here did not mean one in the traditional sense.
Seriously.
A holder of