An Extra’s POV

"Greetings, esteemed Otherworlders!"

Conrad stood to his feet and moved towards the edge of the barricaded platform, all so he could get as close to the four who stood before him.

He had a bright smile on his face, and as his blonde hair swayed, his neatly trimmed beard seemed to twitch slightly. His eyes reflected joy—no, relief—at the presence of the Otherworlders, especially the one who was the center of attention.

"We welcome you to our summit." He continued, ensuring his tone was both audacious and respectful.

Going as far as bowing his head before them, he concluded his opening greeting. "Thank you for coming."

Vida was also standing in front of her seat, and she followed his cue and bowed the moment he did so. Once the other nobles saw this, they knew they had to follow suit.

'Arrogant fools. They have no idea who they're dealing with…' Conrad sighed, nearly shaking his head as he spotted many among the nobles who displayed reluctance when lowering their heads.

'Still, incompetent ones like them have their uses.'

Sadly, the Alliance still had much use for the contributions of nobles, hence the reason why the entire system hadn't yet been abolished. It was a way to incentivize rich and powerful people to contribute to the Alliance's cause.

That way, even merchants could become nobles if they paid the appropriate price.

'We expended a lot of resources on the rebuilding and compensation efforts, so their influence is needed now more than ever.' Conrad took in a deep breath, letting his thoughts sink in.

Thanks to their growing importance, they even had the gall to refuse coming to the Capital despite the Council inviting them. They gave several excuses, but Conrad knew the primary reason was due to their safety.

'The Capital has been attacked by Dragons twice now. They didn't want to take the risk, so they were going to remain in the South.'

Normally, Conrad would have threatened to strip them of their Noble Status for refusing a direct invitation, acting treasonously against the Alliance, but the current circumstances couldn't allow such a brash action.

'For one, their fears aren't particularly unfounded. The safety of the Capital is indeed questionable. Plus, with their resources being relevant to us now more than ever, it's not really a decision I'm willing to make so hastily.'

The invitation was merely to commemorate the nearly complete reconstruction of the Capital, after all. It was a monumental occasion, after all, considering how quickly they were able to move.

suppose it's not important enough for

least ninety percent of them were present, and the remaining ten percent had sent messages prior to this summit that they were simply delayed,

looked, the Capital Recovery Gala would have full attendance of all

sudden change of heart, but this is

the same also applied vice versa. There were a lot of things that could happen as a

best of results.' Conrad thought to himself,

with an audacious voice. "I thought we were already

'H-huh? Rey, you…!'

response from the most important figure among the Otherworlders at the

Vida and I were too swamped dealing with all of these nobles and time passed before we both

long now, and the only reason he looked so fresh was due to Magic. He had to look his best in such a gathering, and it was the

very useless when it came to actually protecting the Capital—or the entire

the South. While Calamity befell the Capital, we were tucked away into

use was the administrative affairs and decisions regarding the

their

room in his heart to be angry at Rey for hiding his power, considering how much help he had rendered to the Alliance on a

of his as well… attitude aside, he's beyond phenomenal in

make so much progress in

the humans and simply saving their own skin, they all decided to double down and work harder for the sake of

still have no idea what got into the Hero, or where he went, but I believe he is also doing what he

them losing members of their group,

are more than deserving of all

him by surprise when Rey suddenly acted so familiar with him

said, Conrad was not oblivious to his intentions. As such, he

I need to thank you for your services, do I not?" He responded, trying his hardest to sound as casual as

It seems you're doing well, though. You too, Vida. You both look great despite the amount of stress

chuckled, staring at each other while exchanging

Rey was trying