17 The Meeting

It didn't take long to reach their destination. It was a large building, and the actions of the people inside made it seem reminiscent of a pawn shop. Various odds and ends were on display around the shop, with some people buying and others selling.

While all the staring and mumbles happened, they made their way over to the counter, handing over the goods.

Once the shop clerk was able to pick his jaw up off the floor having seen a snake girl for the first time in his life, he proceeded with his job.

One inspection later and exchange of pica, Octavia slithered away with several silver pica. The plates and cutlery were several coppers in total, with the minor damage they had accrued and them being basic items. The finery and rusted weapons gave her the bulk of the pica. The rust on the weapons and odd nicks and tears in the finery, dropped the total a bit, but considering none of it was hers originally, she had a good haul.

…

Back on the mean streets, Octavia giggled to herself at the stupid joke, Sylvia led them down winding paths, continuing the tour. They soon left what she would call the market and residential areas and were now strolling by the moat around the lord's castle.

It was a magnificent building. While it had some wear and tear from time, such as the destroyed corner tower, which was in the process of being rebuilt, along with chips and other damage on the stone brickwork, as well as cracks across the walls, showed it had weathered through some heavy battles and a long amount of time.

Massive blue banners, with an emblem of three horns in a triangle shape, emblazoned the centres, flowing down the front of the castle on either side of the massive wooden gate. Guards manned the walls and towers, all at the ready in case of trouble.

The moat they were walking by was equally large. It was wide enough that it would take men with armour a good amount of time to cross. From the looks of it, it was also quite deep. All necessary to deal with siege equipment and attackers.

As people continued to stare at her, Octavia wondered where they were headed next. Surely the next place would be an inn or something.

"Sylvia, where's this inn you mention before."

"I never said it was an Inn", she quickly retorted, "I said I would find a place for you to stay so you wouldn't be stared a-, I mean distract the townspeople. Staying at a place inn within the town would defeat the purpose."

That made sense. All the traffic in and around an inn would just bring more problems if she resided in one for the foreseeable future.

"So where are we goi-."

It was then that it finally dawned on her. Where else would they be going having left the residential area and were walking by the castle?

"I can't stay there." She cried out, worry showing on her face. Octavia was a student on Earth. While she had seen many novels involving royalty and nobles, she had no training on how to interact with one.

It also didn't help that from the novels she had read, being impolite to a noble, never normally turned out well.

"Why not. Are you too good to stay in the castle?"

"Wha-, no that's. You know that's not what I meant."

While trying to keep a straight face, Sylvia quickly fails at doing so and bursts out laughing. Octavia just stares at her, a stern look aimed right at the girl.

While she was still shocked at the situation and had no idea how she would make it through this, something had just occurred to her.

"How is staying in the castle an option? I figured you were rich or a noble of some sort, but do you live here? Are you a princess?" She whispers the final part, as if true, she may not want the strangers nearby to know.

"Pffft, no. What sort of princess would get herself captured in the woods? The princess travels with a dozen armed guards at all times. While we do have guards following us, they are for you, not me."

"So, how?"

"I'm what you would call an honoured guest. I'm not royalty, but I am a noble. Just not from this town."

Unsure what to say now that she knew the girl was a noble for sure, all she could do was stand there mouth agape as she was practically pulled towards the front of the castle. From all that, something else didn't make sense to her though.

"Being a noble, shouldn't you have guards as well."

"I can do, but I prefer not to. It gets very annoying having a group of people you hardly know following you everywhere." She said pointing at the group of guards behind them, "As I am sure you have realised."

As they reached the entrance to the Castle, the guards bowed to Sylvia but tensed up at seeing Octavia. Being the professionals they were, and that the strange new snake girl was with Sylvia, they opened the doors and let them in.

The inside of the castle shone with opulence. The same colour scheme as the banners was reflected in the castle, with tapestries, curtains and rugs all having a similar blue colour in the mix. The emblem was also seen all around in various places. Like a classic castle scene, many beautiful paintings hung on the walls including oil paintings of family members that lived here, from ancestors to the current living relatives. There were also a few landscapes that Octavia could only imagine were from various places in this world.

While she was stunned into silence at never having been in such a fancy place, this life or the last, she didn't even realise they made it to two large doors which lead to the grand hall. They were told to wait as one of the guards went off to inform someone of their arrival.

When they were allowed inside, a massive blue and purple carpet flowed from the door to the elevated seats at the end of the hall. Upon one of the seats was quite a handsome man. While he had seen many years based on his salt and pepper hair, it only added to his good looks. He was dressed in finery, all with the same blueish tones as the rest of the castle, along with a gold and silver crown atop his head.

As they moved down the room, attendants stood on the sides of the hall and several guards were also nearby, equally positioned around the room. Upon closer inspection, Octavia could see that these were no ordinary guards. Unlike the ones along the walls, these guard's regalia, while opulent and beautiful, looked increasingly durable and strong, yet still allowing a good range of movement. Their hands never left the hilt of their swords, always at the ready for danger. No helmets either, likely because it could affect visibility, which showed the scars on a few of the guard's faces. Scratches also marked the armour they wore showing it had thoroughly seen action, with the guard coming out on top. Should Octavia need to face one of these guard-knight people, she would not get out alive.

A gulp quickly followed, having realised all this, which broke the silence in the room. The lord quickly looked her way, but then turned back to Sylvia, likely looking for an explanation.

"Lord Desmon, I humbly present my saviour and new friend, Octavia. She, with no regard for her own safety, fought off several bandits in order to save my life and many others. New to the town, as part of a thank you for all she has done, I would request that you provide her with a place to stay within the castle for the foreseeable future."

As she said this, Sylvia had moved into a curtsy. Still stunned at all that was happening, Octavia noticed her movements late into the conversation. Worried she had offended the lord, she hastily tried to follow what she did but came to a problem. How do you curtsey with a snake tail?

With no time to think on this, she moved into a bow instead, bending at the point her human and snake halves met.

It though brought its own problems, as she remembered she only had a piece of tattered fabric covering herself up, and not very well given all that had happened so far. She quickly moved her hands up to hide away the goods, ending up with a very odd bow.

Octavia remained in that position, embarrassment written on her face, as Lord Desmon and Sylvia conversed.

"Lady Sylvia, it is good to see you again and I am glad to see that you are well. If she is your friend and saviour as you say, I am sure we can dispense with the formalities. Would you agree?"

Looking over at Sylvia, a look of contemplation could be seen on her face. She bunched up her nose as she appears to be figuring out how to answer. As she watched her, she also noticed the guards and attendants turning away from the scene. None of it made sense to her.

*Sigh* "Sorry." Sylvia quickly whispered her way. This just added further to the confusion.

"Lord Desmon, I believe it should be fine to drop the formalities."

The remaining guards and attendants who hadn't been looking away quickly followed suit.

"Good" he replied.

No sooner had he said this, he rose from his throne and dashed down the raised platform towards Sylvia. The action stunned Octavia but still made no move to pull out of her bow.

Reaching Sylvia he wrapped his arms around her and spun her into a hug. Sylvia, having experienced this many times before, just went limp and she was treated like a rag so.

"Are you ok? Did they hurt you? If they did anything to you, I will punish them to the full capabilities as a Lord."

More and more questions of concern we flung at Sylvia, who while still in the lord's grip, let it all roll off her back and had no way to jump in and answer.

"Tell me what has happened to you. Last I heard you were leaving one of the rural villages nearby. I was expecting to see you two days ago. I've been so worried. I had the whole army ready to move if the scouts I sent out couldn't find anything." He said rapidly. It was at this point, that his age caught up with the Lord, as he ended up slowing down his spinning, and had to come to a halt, releasing the poor girl.

While she tried to adjust to the wobbling world, the Lord made his way back to the throne, having got that all out of his system. He straightened himself out and went back to his previous demeanour.

Once everyone was back where they started, Sylvia told him what happened, all the while Octavia remained silent. The conversation sounded more like a father listening to their child tell tales of their travels, than a Lord listening to some noble. The crazy spinning fiasco helped to reinforce this as well.

As she followed the conversation, she couldn't help but wonder if news of the Lord's sudden bout of excitement would get out and spread through the castle. It may already be that this was the case, but another thought came to mind. It was possible that all the people in this room, given that they already knew what was going to happen, had been sworn to secrecy on the Lord's behaviour.

"So, all of the bandits have been dealt with, and that was done by this lady here. Octavia, was it? If I may, not to be rude, but what are you? I have never seen another of your kind before."

Mouth suddenly dry, she jumped up from the bow she had maintained and began to speak.

"I-I'm what's called a Lamia your majes-, I mean highne- no wait, my lord." Bright red in the face again, dying from embarrassment, all she could hear was Sylvia trying and failing to hold back her giggles.

"Please, a friend of Sylvia's is a friend of mine. Call me Desmon when it is just us." He replied, finding Octavia's response in good humour. It was clear to see that she did not have experience with nobility and so should not be faulted for her actions. Also, saving Sylvia went a long way in her favour as well. "A Lamia? The name sounds familiar. Wait, didn't you bring up that name before Sylvia. You mentioned having found some information on an extinct ra…ce…"

The lord grew silent as he looked back over to Octavia, realising what he just said. "You're extinct? No, I mean, obviously you are not, given that you're here. Where did you come from, if you don't mind me asking?"

Unsure what to say about her situation, she decided to keep it simple. Best not to bring up goddesses and transmigration, so she kept to the same narrative that she told the former prisoners and Sylvia. "I woke up in a cabin in the woods three days ago. From an egg."

Floored by the response, the lord could only gape at Octavia. "Three days old? Egg?"

"Technically three days old. I also don't know why I came out of an egg." Which was the truth. Why didn't she just wake up as a Lamia on the ground in the village? Why was she 'born' from an egg. Another question on Lamia's physiology and culture that she wanted to figure out. "B-but, I am definitely not three days old, I am very much an adult. As you can see."

"I see." It was clear to the lord that any further questions on the subject would likely cause him more confusion, so he moved on.

"Anyway. I am eternally grateful that you were able to save Sylvia. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. While not related, Sylvia is like a daughter to me, and her loss would have cut me deep. So, thank you again." He bowed as he said this, a gesture not normally performed by a noble to a commoner.

Panicking, as her knowledge from novels told her how much of a big deal this was, she tried to calm the situation. "My lord, there is no need to bow. I did what anyone would do if they saw that situation."

"Such modesty. Most would flee seeing prisoners and bandits, either to tell someone else or to just save themselves. Others would have been captured should they try taking on several bandits. Also, as I said, just Desmon is fine."

"Thank you for saying so my l- I mean Desmon. But I truly was just lucky when dealing with them." Octavia replied embarrassingly.

Desmon gave a small smile after hearing her answer, happy Sylvia had met such a good and humble person. While he was used to it and understood, his pseudo daughter at times had a very blunt personality. She was quick to anger, stating things how she saw them before truly thinking about it. This had given her trouble when making friends, leading her to focus on her work. This was the first time she had truly called someone her friend. He couldn't be happier.

It was at this point that the chimes of a bell were heard. Not from within the castle, but from in the town.

"I believe that is the bell for dinner. Octavia, would you join me and my family in the dining room for dinner. I'm sure they would love to meet you."

"Err, I… sure. T-that would be lovely."

Lord Desmon looked over to one of his guards, who then proceeded to head to the door, opening it for him and his guests. Lord Desmon then proceeded to walk out of the grand hall, a few guards following behind him, with Sylvia and Octavia following. While the lord was ahead of them, given his station and needing to keep appearances within the rest of the castle, he was silent as he walked.

Octavia on the other hand was not able to do the same.

"Some warning about who we would be meeting or help would have been nice."

"What, and miss the look on your face. Why would I do that." Sylvia giggled as she sped up, leaving Octavia to hurry her pace as she grumbled at what her new friend had done. She hoped this would be the only time she would do something like this, but Octavia knew that would not be the case.