As tears started rolling down Anastasia's face she tried hurriedly wiping them away and suppress her emotions, but just hearing Mac's casual explanation of the hell he had endured was enough to destabilise her again.
"Wha? I-I'm sorry, please excuse me."
Seeing Anastasia run off with tears staining her face made uncomfortable emotions stir in Mac's mind, but as an alert sounded through his neural uplink he hurriedly suppressed those unnecessary emotions.
(What is it?)
(PROXIMITY ALERT. CURRENT GRID, RELATIVE OFFSET 5 KILOMITRES EAST, CLOSING FAST.)
Feeling his vision shift, Mac steadied himself as his eyes lost focus and he took over a high surveillance asset, a so-called reconnaissance skimmer, coasting at the edge of space with powerful sensors. Through mechanical eyes Mac spotted a trio of carriages escorted by 21 knights in full plate amour, their weapons already drawn and prepared.
(That's quite a convoy, either an arrest force or an important noble… Question is what they're doing all the way out here, visiting the Victoria vacation manor.)
While there could be many reasons for this sudden visit, Mac didn't care about any of them.
"Time to leave."
(YELLOW-2 GENERAL CAUTION ISSUED, ROTATING OUT ASSETS, STANDBY.)
At Mac's words he was handed a SOD-09 short rifle by a drone, in the same instance a pair of dropships broke through cloud cover as the human type drones within the manor started packing up the last of the medical equipment and trade samples Mac still held on hand.
"Hanna, get Tia on the first shuttle out of here, you have a minute."
[Got it, boss.]
Having handled VIP evac by delegation, Mac headed for Veronica and found her still lecturing her child.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I must be leaving. Immediately."
"... What is happening?"
Sensing the severity of Mac's words, Veronica shifted her attention away from Will for the moment.
"A group of people are coming to visit, weapon's drawn."
"What kind of people?"
Glancing quickly to a maid who set off running to get her sword, Veronica started inquiring about the details of the threat.
"3 carriages and 21 armed knights with weapons drawn, they are 3 kilometres out now and will be here in a few minutes."
"Then they're either daft or mean no harm."
Assuming the approaching knights knew who they were attacking and only brought 21 knights for it they had to be stupid, so Veronica quickly downgraded the threat in her head.
"If they want to fight it'll only be for a moment, let's welcome them at the gate, shall we?"
"You want me here?"
Thinking Veronica was still concerned with getting caught talking with Mac he wasn't prepared for her next words.
"Sure I do, if they're enemies they won't live to talk about anything, and if they're not there is no risk."
And so Mac's retreat was postponed.
"Any clue why they're riding weapons drawn if they're not here for blood?"
Standing as part of the welcoming committee without a rifle, Mac realised he would rather be anywhere else but nevertheless went along with his allies' whims.
"Riding with weapons drawn signifies skill and discipline of trained knights, but vagrant thugs sometimes try to imitate it as a scare tactic, I can't wait to see what kind of people we're dealing with."
Speaking with a warm smile on her face as she tossed her sword into the air, watching it spin countless times before catching it Veronica appeared like she was looking forward to something unbecoming of her station.
(I guess this counts as a cultural exchange, if nothing else.)
Watching how easily Veronica handled a sword and tossed it around like a fidget toy, Mac made the solemn promise to not ever piss her off when he was within range of her sword.
(PROXIMITY ALERT. CURRENT GRID, RELATIVE OFFSET 1.2 KILOMITRES EAST, CLOSING FAST.)
(Move gunships to threshold 2, and just patch that into my feed instead of piping up every 10 seconds.)
While Mac was doing the respectful thing of letting his host gracefully handle the issue which had popped up, he wasn't going to entrust them with all the clean up. In case any rats tried to run away, Mac would be more than happy to chase them down with gunships.
Within a minute the approaching carriages became visible from the front gate, and as she saw them approach, Veronica put away her sword.
"I know that crest, it seems like they're just overly cautious… What a shame."
Sheathing her sword with a hint of disappointment and handing it over to a nearby maid who promptly hid it, Veronica put on a thin smile as the carriages pulled up.
(So she was looking forward to scrap?... I should ask for a spar sometime.)
Seeing the matriarch of the Victoria house flip on a switch roused some interest from Mac, but as there were more pressing things to worry about for the moment he tabled that thought.
"Where is he?~"
With a voice that was so elegantly sweet it might smother someone, an elegant lady wearing a dress worth more than some homes stepped out of the carriage, her dazzling red hair paired well with the sword she was brandishing.
"Oh my~ It is so nice of you to visit us, my dear daughter."
(Are swords in season or something? Gunships back to threshold 3, stand down. Redeploy 9-9 and 9-8; master caution, move from yellow-2 back down to green-0.)
Seeing just how much Veronica fawned over the visitor, Mac guessed that this was Will's wife and had his clean up crew stand down.
"Dear mother, it is lovely to see you, but where is that fu- bumbling moron?"
Still holding a sword, Will's wife managed to also procure a brightly coloured fan to hide her mouth as she spoke of someone in deep shit.
"Will is out back, thinking about when and where to share his opinions… What did he do this time?"
Feeling a headache mounting, Veronica nevertheless needed to ask.
If nothing else, she wanted her idiot of a son to get out of this with injuries that could be healed.
"What did he do wrong? Absolutely nothing~"
"Nothing?"
"Yes, nothing~ Instead of the plan for our anniversary he promised something even more special, then he ran off~ without~ even~ leaving~ a~ note~"
Speaking with sweet words like she wanted to smother someone, Will's wife revealed the reason for her visit, and the reason she was carrying a sword.
"Yeah that seems like a pain, should I locate the scum?"
Stepping brazenly into the family routine taking place in front of him, Mac didn't miss the knights taking steps to protect their lady.
"My, what a nice word 'scum' I need to use that more often~"
Hiding her face behind her fan, Will's wife scrutinised Mac for a moment before she finally introduced herself.
"I am Edda Lawson Victoria, it is lovely to meet another servant of the family~"
(Oh that's amusing.)
While Mac could admit to himself that his current set of clothes didn't really look anything out of the ordinary, he also assumed Edda was taking her anger out on anyone she didn't particularly respect at the moment.
"Not quite, try again."
Not that he was going to just stand and take it.
"What an energetic ser-"
"Nope, try again."
"Serv-"
"I'm going to get angry now."
Dropping any polite pretences, Mac saw immediate reactions from Edda's guards.
(BLACK-5 GENERAL CAUTION ISSUED.)
(Cool it… I'm pissed, but not THAT pissed… Just move things to threshold 1 please.)
Forgetting he was still patched into the computer, Mac's emotions sobered a bit as Edda's knights started surrounding him.
"Mac is an honored guest, remove yourselves before I remove you."
With a single sentence Veronica seemed to plunge the warm late summer day into the depths of winter, stepping forward she had already decided which guard to rob of their weapon, and who to kill first.
"I apologize mother, I lashed out."
Feeling useless for herself, Edda apologized as she started feeling the frustration of being left on her anniversary.
It was right at that moment Mari arrived, still unsure on her legs she had come to see who was visiting, with the aid of her older brother.
"There you are~ What kind of fucking pe-... Mari, my precious you're walking again."
Right as Edda was about to go off on her husband she noticed Mari was standing and promptly forgot about that anger.
"You're welcome. No need to thank me, it's fine."
Of course Mac wasn't going to let a moment untainted by his glory, so he immediately drew the attention and ire of Edda and her guards.
"You're saying you're the one responsible?"
"Ask anyone else if you're not convinced, and remove those guards before I remove them."
While Mac didn't really like Edda, he nevertheless tolerated her. The same couldn't be said about her guards.
"Enough arguing, come on in."
Seeing Mac bicker with her beloved daughter in law as the tension seemed to disappear, Veronica decided to move her guest inside. Explaining what had happened the last few days took quite a while, but once Edda was caught up on everything she let out a chuckle. Partly from disbelief, but also amazement.
"So now you're just running around, healing people?"
"No, this one was a special request, as I am still waiting for an official diplomatic response."
While Mac had left plenty of options for the Rose kingdom to contact him, Mac was still waiting for a response, but that was partly expected as his introduction had been far from gentle.
"I guess I am technically conducting trade too, but the volume is small for now."
"Trade? That's more my area of expertise."
Born into a dynasty of very successful merchants, Edda knew more than just a bit about haggling, trade and backroom dealings. Given her experience, she was interested in what exactly a person from the stars would be pedaling.
"I've just shipped out my sales team, but the most I deal in at the moment is coal, or enhanced coal anyway."
Figuring he was going to get slapped by trade restrictions at the point (as long as he didn't mention that visit to the Hendrick's import) Mac explained his mishaps and problems with trade he had had so far.
"... You're really not that much of a merchant, are you Mac?"
"Not really no. But I am a great fleet commander, magical entry specialist and a phenomenal pillar, not that matters… Look, the world I come from is one of abundance, a society without scarcity. The need to barter is something I had to study up on to remember."
Deciding to be honest for a change, Mac laid it out flat. He had never been a good salesman or negotiator, that wasn't the skills that got him into his current situation.
"Without scarcity?"
Running into a term she assumed she didn't understand, Edda spoke for everyone present and hoped Mac didn't mean what he said.
"Yeah, without scarcity. Every single raw resource can be extracted readily and without burden, every single person is free and encouraged to pursue their passions and healthcare is universal and far more advanced than the stuff I brought with me on this expedition to the surface."
Really taking in what Mac was saying Edda quickly realised where his disconnect was, the question is what kind of price she could get for that information.
(What could I ask for the person who knows no scarcity?...)
Glancing around as she thought, Edda's glance managed to settle on her dear sister in law.
(I guess he has already paid more than I could ever ask for.)
"I see where the disconnect has occurred. From your world of abundance this might sound like a foreign concept, but as a merchant the most important thing I deal in is trust. To trade I put trust in my suppliers that I trust to deliver my agreed goods. It takes years, sometimes decades to secure a great supplier, so even if you offer me new goods for next to nothing I will find it hard to betray that trust."
Seeing things from a different angle, Mac could see some kind of sense in Edda's words, foreign concepts though they were.
"... Then what do you recommend?"
"If you can produce everything better, cheaper and more reliably then why not cooperate and build up trust instead of invading?"
(Right, no invading… I need to remember that.)