Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 886: Meeting of Rose General and Ice Empress I

CH886 Meeting of Rose General and Ice Empress I

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Meanwhile, at the same time Alex had met his father, another meeting was taking place elsewhere within the City of Ashes.

After the meeting dispersed and Alex dismissed his entourage, rather than heading to his personal Back Mountain Lodge—his private residence in the lodge at the back mountain behind the Ashen Castle—Zora and Udara instead went ahead to have a meeting with someone else.

They would have brought along Eleanore as well, but one of the three of them was needed to convince the guards to stand down and enable the group of his retainers to gain access to Alex’s private residence.

Plus, having all three of them meet the person together could initially be mistaken for a challenge from the three of them due to the nature of what they planned to discuss.

Zora and Udara approached the carriage of Countess Megan Fury.

They were stopped by Countess Megan’s guards.

Megan was about to embark on her carriage when she noticed Udara and the graceful blue-haired lady beside her.

“Udara?” Her usually dispassionate face flashed with surprise. “Let them through,” she instructed her guard.

“Coun— Sister Megan,” Udara greeted.

She planned to greet her by her title due to their public setting, but a sharp glance from Megan had her change her words mid-statement.

Megan opened her arms invitingly, and Udara moved into them. As the two women hugged, the stoic expression on Megan’s face faded away, much to the surprise of her guards.

“Is Alex treating you well?” she asked with a smile as they separated, but still held hands.

“Master is treating me very well,” Udara said with a loving smile.

Megan was caught off-guard by the purity of the smile, and she too couldn’t help smiling.

“That’s good,” she said.

Megan finally turned to Zora.

Her countenance dropped a little, going back towards her usual stoic expression.

“You must be Lady Zora Pendragon,” she said.

“I am. Happy to make your acquaintance, Countess Fury,” Zora greeted.

“Likewise.” Megan replied with a nod. “So what do I owe this—albeit pleasant—surprise?” she asked with a serious gaze.

“We would like to have a discussion with you, if you are willing and free, Countess,” Zora replied.

Both Zora and Megan stared at each other for a moment. Unlike the oblivious Udara between them, Megan’s guards who were present could have sworn they saw a spark between the two women.

After the short staring contest, Megan nodded. “Alright. I happen to have some time to spare right now. I am curious about what you’d like to discuss with me.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Countess. Where would it be comfortable for you to discuss?” Zora inquired.

“There is a restaurant in the city. I happen to be heading there to get something to eat. We can talk freely there,” Megan proposed.

“That’s acceptable to me,” Zora nodded.

She smiled at Udara, akin to a special signal, before turning back to Megan.

“I will leave you two to catch up and follow behind your entourage,” she said.

“Is that okay?” Udara asked, surprised.

“Don’t worry. I will follow behind on Dread,” Zora replied.

Megan gazed at the blue-haired woman some more. She could tell her intentions, but she decided to go along with it anyway. She indeed wanted to catch up with Udara.

She nodded to Zora, then pulled Udara to join her in her carriage.

“Phew…”

Just as the two women got into the carriage, and one of Megan’s guards was about to close the door, Zora put her fingers in her mouth and whistled.

Almost immediately, Dread’s glistening, obsidian, muscular equine form dashed towards the group like a four-legged juggernaut, stopping smoothly before Zora, who hugged his head before mounting onto the Nightmare horse’s back.

Megan unknowingly stopped the door as she stared a little jealously at the Nightmare horse.

“Is that Lady Zora’s mount?” she couldn’t help asking.

“No, that’s Master’s Nightmare horse, Dread,” Udara replied. “It only allows Master and us, his wives, to ride on his back.”

“I see…” Megan nodded.

She took a seat in the carriage with Udara, and the carriage set off. Zora followed, riding beside the carriage.

Udara and Megan chatted freely, signifying how close the two women were.

Contrary to the stoic IronRose Countess persona Megan was known for, she seemed more like the caring older sister next door as she chatted with Udara in the carriage.

Zora came to understand how she had been able to breach Udara’s walls and become so close with her.

‘Seems like the type to exude a disarming ease around the people she cares about,’ Zora evaluated.

Zora was certain their conversation in one way or the other involved Alex and his maiden interplanar expedition. After all, that was one of the reasons she brought Udara along—to embellish Alex’s records.

As for the risk of Udara unknowingly letting core sensitive information slip, Zora wasn’t worried.

After all, Udara was the person in charge of intelligence and propaganda under Alex’s banner.

No matter how close she was with the individual, she was amongst the last people under Alex’s banner who would ever reveal truly sensitive information.

Heck, in order to provide Alex with plausible deniability in Military Intelligence’s operations, Udara even kept information from Alex himself. No amount of cuddling and teasing would make her give up the information.

Considering Alex’s status in her psyche, if she could prevent herself from giving out information to him during their conversations, Zora wasn’t worried about her making the same mistake with Megan.

The group arrived at the restaurant after another quarter-hour journey.

Surprisingly, the restaurant wasn’t some fancy, high-class restaurant. It was just a small local restaurant.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Megan is self-made, so she probably grew up around local restaurants like this rather than the fancier ones,’ Zora thought.

In fact, Megan wasn’t the type to eat at a restaurant growing up. Her life was too frugal for such an expense.

There was only one reason she came to this restaurant often.

The moment Megan and Udara disembarked from the carriage, Megan’s guards disappeared.

They didn’t leave; rather, they expertly blended into the crowd, somehow not drawing attention to Megan despite wearing uniformed armour. The speed and ease of their movements indicated this was far from the first time they were doing something like this.

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