Alyssa was always nervous when the head of her noble house summoned her. Councilor Elissar's red piercing eyes were more than enough to fill the weakest adult magic-user of their bloodline with fear. And the fact she shared the same eyes with the elder did not help her at all.
"Now pay attention, I'm only going to explain your mission once," Elissar voiced from behind his massive oak desk. His white and gold councilor robes were in heavy contrast with the black and red decorations of his office that matched his house's prominent hair and eye color.
There was hesitation in Alyssa's movements just to give a nod. In most rooms of the noble elven republic, she would be the one among the most feared, but in this room, she was just a weak pawn that had limited uses.
"It has come to my attention that one of the gangs has once again acquired an interesting artifact," Elissar instructed while he gave an examining glance at Alyssa's purple dress robe. She did not dare to think anything about it as just the idea that the strongest magic user in the bloodline would desire her was absurd.
Alyssa swallowed hard and stopped her hand from reaching to stroke her ponytail. Her pale alabaster skin was not a rarity among any of her relatives, and it gave her kin an almost vampiric look despite the cause being their bloodline magic that had been refined for countless generations. Like most High Elf houses that cultivated secrets that lifted them above other elves.
"The artifact is from the Yunon Dynasty, so I should not need to explain how potentially powerful it might be in the right hands," Elissar kept explaining. "So you must be careful to get it intact from those slum savages."
There was only one chair in the room so Alyssa just kept standing there while nodding to instructions that she knew were written on a letter that would be given to her afterward. It was one of the few advantages she got from being thought so little. Like the house patriarch directly contributed mental ability to having strong magic.
"Now go be useful for once, you have spent most of your life in your lab and you still haven't managed to boost your abilities," Elissar voiced at the end of his speech with a hand wave. His ageless looks were visibly more frustrated than before Alyssa entered the room even as he was the one who was insisting to say the things that were on the letter on his desk.
"I have, I can already float..." Alyssa tried to protest out of some reflex that had over-driven her terrified mind but she was instantly frozen by a pulse of red magic. An oppressive aura of red radiating energy filled the room and physically pushed against the noble lady's skin. The sudden telekinetic pressure was enough to even stop her from gasping as her own defenses cracked in less than a second.
"Still weak, I can hardly tell the difference, but it hardly matters," Elissar mused. "You have your mission, ensure the transaction by any means."
After that Alyssa did not waste time rushing out of the room with the instructions letter.
** * **
By the time Alyssa reached her rooms in the basement of her house's manor complex, she had read the letter multiple times. As usual, she was expected to acquire the artifact with a minimal cost even as it was likely other parties were trying to get it. But just the fear of Elissar's disappointment and following consequences were enough to make the noble lady do her best.
"Boss, some mission you need us?" Groke grunted. He was one of the two House Guards who were appointed to Alyssa. Both of them were large hulking red orcs that were enhanced with purple rune marks that covered most of their bodies. The only part Alyssa was not sure how covered it was, was their crotch as they only wore bulged black leather pants.
"Just an escort to bargain with a gang... nothing new," Alyssa muttered while going past the orcs who had been playing some game on their guard post table. There was some time before she needed to leave, so she wanted to spend that in her personal lab.
"Boss, we been thinking, our pay is way worse than the other House Guards," Groke added.
"Just go and complain to the elders, I'm sure they can just rotate a new pair to watch their house property," Alyssa voiced. She was not even provided maids at the expense of the house, and even as the salary of the two guards was deducted from the money allotted to her, she had no actual power to choose them.
"We would not want to leave you, it's just that after what happened last time, we been thinking," Groke said. Alyssa did not need any more clarification about what he meant from the big red brute. The last seller had only agreed to the low prize after she had sucked his cock. So the noble lady had agreed in some weird attempt to stick it up to Elissar for sending her to such a mission. Though afterward, she had thought that he was already treating her like he assumed she had been getting the good deals by whoring herself.
"Ooh, you just want me to suck your cocks for loyalty? I'm not sure which one of us that demeans more," Alyssa flared and stormed off to leave the two orcs to their card game. Murk grinned like he had just won a round of bets even as he had not said a word the whole time.
** * **
The base of the Sliver Lightning gang was a rowdy place that resembled more of a giant club than the image of the main base of one of the most effective crime organizations in the slums. Their half-orc leader sat on a large couch on a central platform of the party hall.
Alyssa drew attention even with her purple dress robe that gave her more coverage than any other woman in the area. Though none approached her as she had the black hair and red eyes of one of the most feared noble houses of the city. They all knew she had come to talk to the boss and he did not like his guests being disturbed before he met them.
"Boss, the Moonswan bitch is here," a half-troll with blue skin announced Alyssa's arrival. He had escorted the noble from outside were her own guards waited. It was an odd sign of respect the big gangs and the houses showed to each other in mutual dealings.
"Welcome, you may call me Murlok, and this is my humble gathering of friends," the boss said with a nod of his green well-boned head that was decorated by long braided red hair. He was not as muscular as full orcs but he had a height that matched most of them. Though what he lacked in bulk was more than compensated by his agility. It was evident just with the ease he stood up and put on a black leather jacket that had a cut white lightning in the back.
"I'm Lady Alyssa, and I trust you are familiar with my house. I'm here to bargain for the jade flute," she voiced. Even with her sharp red eyes, the way she looked away from the boss came out as coy. He was not wearing anything under the jacket so his muscular torso was in her full view, along with the bulge in his black leather pants.
"You nobles sure love your instruments, you are a second one who came today," Murlok said. He clearly enjoyed addressing the noble from his elevated couch platform.
"I'm sure we can come to an agreement, but before that, may I inspect the artifact?" Alyssa voiced.
"You may, in fact, I prefer it," Murlok grinned in a way that would have made Alyssa shiver if she was not used to worse horrors. Just one glance at Elissar made her feel more fear than stepping into this nest of lowlifes.
