New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Alex looked at Kary, stunned, his jaw hanging loose.

"Excuse me, what? Nobility? How have I never heard of this?"

Kary giggled.

"If you had taken time to learn of all your men, you would know many of them don't come from the Elven kingdoms. Every non-elf comes from human settlements or other cities across the continent.

"Our no-discrimination policy brought people from all over the two continents. Although we have almost no Demonoids or Undead, the rest of the races are aplenty all over the city. This also means a lot of our soldiers come from a bit of everywhere. This includes Rodney."

Alexander took a moment to process what she was saying.

'This is why he wanted to discuss things. He probably knows how the matriarchs will react. Was making him wait a bad idea?' Alex wondered, gulping.

"I might have told Rodney to wait until we log back in to take any action concerning this matter…"

Kary looked at him before sighing loudly.

"Of course you did… Sometimes, you make me think you are the smartest one in the room. Other times, I feel like I'm taking care of a teen."

She said those words with no malice, but the dig still hurt Alex a bit. It wasn't like he was doing this on purpose.

"Hey. I'm not to blame if no one tells me anything. I react according to what know."

Kary shook her head with a smile.

"I know. It's too late to change what you said. We are already out here. Let's take care of our day, and we can log back in right after dinner. This way, we won't make him wait too much."

Alex nodded his head, agreeing to this course of action, before shoving the remaining pancake on his plate into his mouth.

He would rather shovel food in his mouth than think about the events to come.

***

Inside New Eden, close to the center of the light continent, in a city of magic and glowing blue stone, a meeting was being held.

Twelve women of varying ages occupied a table shaped like a ring, with at its center a floating magical orb. Behind each woman, a man in flourished armour and colourful robes.

These were the matriarchs and their husbands or partners.

Marriage was not an obligatory status, in Themiscus, and a lot of the matriarchs were actually polygamous, holding a harem of husbands or sexual partners.

However, only one male per matriarch was allowed to attend the meetings. This always formed jealousy and contention in the polygamous matriarchs' circles.

But they couldn't care less. The power was in their hands, and they could choose to banish, castrate, or even kill whatever man was kicking up waves.

The men were only ever there to offer council, from a more direct approach to the matriarchs of Themiscus. Since men and women never thought the same way, it was a welcome addition to the table.

But, right now, they were not inclined to even listen to the opinions of their lesser counterparts. For what they were seeing on the large crystalized orb in the center of the room was angering them greatly.

In the middle of the night, a meeting had been called by the matriarch who managed their diplomats, Selena Lorhen. Behind her, her first husband, Ulrick Lorhen, was the one who had awakened her in the middle of the night with bad news.

"Ulrick. Please repeat the report you made to me," Selena said, her voice stern.

Her husband bowed low before stepping to her side.

"Tonight, about an hour ago, one of our diplomat's guards was killed in action, and the diplomat in question was thrown into a jail cell.

"The actions leading to this are still a mystery to us, since we require the surveillance branch's say-so to view the footage before the deaths and capture.

"The diplomat in question was Gerald Stinson, sent to Stellar Woodlands to explain their new role before the Inter-Alliance Military Exercises."

After saying his piece, the man took two steps back, letting the woman speak to each other.

Selena turned her head to her right, and two seats down from her, a sleepy-looking young woman yawned toward her.

"Korah. Do we have your permission?"

The younger woman, Korah, waved her hand dismissively. She had been playing with her boy toys for hours before the meeting was called.

And now that her action stopped so abruptly, she was hit with a wave of drowsiness. She couldn't care less if the diplomacy branch wanted to view the recordings.

Selena didn't react to her rudeness, and instead waved her hand at the orb, making the images on it wind back until before the altercation. On them, they saw the guards rushing to the room, and they heard the man in front of them tell them of the broken laws, and to surrender.

But they did not train Mana Knights to surrender their quarries without fighting. They could only expect a combat to take place.

However, there was no such thing. The next moment, a petite girl with milky white hair appeared from the man's back, and shot two thin beams through their heads, killing them instantly.

"Whomever that girl is, she must be powerful. Those were not our most powerful Mana Knights, but it would still take considerable power to kill them in a single attack. Please switch to the diplomat, and wind back until before the altercation," Selena commanded the orb.

As if it had a mind of its own, the orb suddenly changed from two perspectives to one and started rewinding.

After a moment, they saw images that made all of them gasp in horror and anger.

On it, they saw Gerald attack a manservant, which wasn't much of a problem, given the difference in ranks. But then, they saw the young girl, who jumped in to help the boy.

When they saw the hands of Gerald latching onto her wrists and dragging her like a slave about to be punished, they all felt anger rise in them.

The moment he slapped her, Selena wanted to stop the video. But an older woman raised her hand.

"Let it play. I want to know the full events," she said, with a husky voice.

Selena respectfully nodded her head and resumed the playback.

When the scene went from the slap to outright rape, almost all the matriarchs were gritting their teeth in anger.

"Alright, we've seen enough!" one of them shouted, forcefully stopping the recording.

"I don't know how you train your diplomats, Selena, but this is unacceptable. Assaulting a girl? Forcing himself into her? This man deserves to get castrated and burned at the stake!"

The elder woman raised her hand again, bringing quiet to the table.

"Let us not devolve into savagery amongst ourselves. I am sure Lady Lorhen has an explanation for this. Let us discuss, as we always do."

"Yes, Head Matriarch!" the eleven other women said, bowing their heads.