Up and Coming 11 – The Maid and the Opportunities

Eldred walked with the crowd.

Without Otto’s vile presence distracting him, the CEO of Neverrain actually had a moment to once again appreciate how surreal this was. He, a no-name just three months ago, was walking along a crowd of well-dressed Cultivators. Every last person around him was in a suit of some description. Every man and woman walked with a degree of determination that would have been rare to find in any place Eldred had gone before.

That wasn’t to say they were all of the same type. There were the shy, the boisterous, the embarrassed, the introverted, the chatting, the stoics and many more. Still, they were set apart from the common Iridescian by the airs that surrounded them.

Eldred soon got disinterested in looking at them. They were his rivals, at least some of them. They were his allies, at least some of them. Who was what or anything at all to him was a matter for the next seven days. For the moment, he was more interested in the beauties to his right.

Like every hot-blooded male, he kept to the maid side of the street. He was scanning the goods, so to say. A man liked a gorgeous woman. These women were there to appeal. As Avari had put it, training an orphan in appealing to the upperclass of Iridescia was the quickest way out of poverty. Not that these women, inhabitants of the City of the Interstice that they were, would ever know hunger.

They were, each of them, attractive. Eldred could only assume that they had taken those of lesser genetic luck and stuck them in programs that were going to work better for them. Many of the maids present perhaps should have gone for the same path. They were hot, sure, but most of them lacked that special something. It was like one could instinctively notice the difference between a blacksmith and a guy with a hammer in a workshop.

Eldred took another step.

Then he saw the face of an angel.

She didn’t face his direction initially, letting him marvel at her features in profile. The cute swing of her nose was the first detail he noticed. The pale colour of her face soon followed, just one lack of pulse removed from Nyx. Her ears were pointy, marking her as one of elven descent. Her green eyes had a hint of the Porcelain Realm’s almond shape to them. Dark, finely swung brows sat above them, contrasting the white of her skin and the silver-white of her hair. It was long, straight, and naturally pulled back in a manner that made the top of her head shimmer like a sheet of silk.

The moment she began to turn towards him, his superhuman senses rushed to let him study every detail of her turning form. Soft winds made her skirt flutter, emphasising the width of her hips. It was entirely unnecessary. The way the long, black fabric draped down the sides made the prestigious size of her derriere made it clear anyhow. The corset sat comfortably tight around her nicely swung midriff, rising and falling without constricting her breath. A pair of petite breasts filled out the top of her blouse, between small and moderate in size.

The maid outfit didn’t just fit her, it seemed like the concept was created just for her.

She caught his stare. The emerald of her irises met the plain brown of his. Her hands halfway folded in front of her waist as she straightened back up. Gorgeously pink lips curled in a light smile.

[The Maid: https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/3adf4b461a5f.png ]

“Can I help you, young master?” she asked.

Eldred only now realized he had stopped in place. For the first time in a long time, he was actually speechless. He had been so focused on marvelling at her that he forgot how to words. Worked. Words worked. How words worked!

“No one can help him,” Avari drawled.

“My name is Eldred. Eldred Noiris.” His brain had finished the reboot and ran the most basic introductory sequence there was. “May I ask yours?”

“Aclysia. Just Aclysia.” The gorgeous elven maid bowed her head. When she raised it again, she was face to face with Nyx. The banshee had hovered close and inspected the servant from multiple angles. “Can I be of assistance?”

“That will be determined…”Nyx responded quietly.

“Sir, ladies.” Bertrand stepped up to them. “Your interest is understandable, but I must ask that you restrain yourself for the time being. You are being left behind.”

The rest of the crowd had already moved on – most of the rest of the crowd. A couple other men and women were stuck on members of the servants. They, too, were being ushered along by senior members of the staff. “We don’t want to miss the opening event,” Avari said and tugged on Eldred’s sleeve. “Come on, you can drool all over the elf later.”

Eldred rolled his eyes at his gremlin’s tactless comment. “I hope to see more of you,” he simply spoke his mind.

“We are the Neverrain Dominion, Sir’s harem corporation.” Nyx added. “I hope you will come find us. I assure you, he knows to make it worth your while.”

“I will endeavour to do so.”

It could have been a promise or a way to get them out of her hair quickly. Two other men had stopped behind Eldred and would have approached Aclysia next had it not been for Bertrand. She was by far the most attractive one there. Elves had a tendency to be.

“You really like your pointy ears, don’t you?” Avari asked, long before they were out of earshot.

“A coincidence. I find them charming.” He pinched Avari’s grey ear, only to have his hand smacked. “But they are far from a requirement.” He put an arm around Nyx’s waist and pulled her close, putting a quick kiss near the unnatural end of her ears. The gesture succeeded in making his banshee coo, her sad expression disrupted by a loving smile. “Thanks for the assist.”

“It is always my pleasure, Eldred.” Nyx’s smile took on an erotic character. Truly, they were soulmates, a fact that was only deepening as their relationship continued. The more capable and ambitious Eldred became, the more supportive and eager Nyx was to see his harem expand. Whatever jealousy held females back regularly seemed to have inverted entirely in his banshee.

Truly, a more perfect start to a harem no one could have ever asked for.

“I do wonder about this,” Eldred started a new conversation as they caught up with the bulk of the people. “Is it upping or lowering my chances if I mention I have a harem so early?”

“It’s upping your chances with the right crowd,” Avari stated. “You immediately lose the monogamists. Sure, you may be able to covert one or two of them if you chipped away at them before springing the truth on them, but this is Iridescia, not some light god’s world. Plenty of fish in the sea. The only disadvantage is that you mentioning you have a harem is attractive to the status sluts.”

“The what now?”

“The gold diggers. The whores.” Avari made a dismissive gesture. “The type of woman that gets super into a man because other women want him. Most of us have a little bit of that in us, but there’s taking it too far.”

“Like all things,” Eldred grunted.

They fell silent after that, just admiring the scenery. Beyond the gorgeous green grass of the outer perimeter of the property lay the segmented gardens. Symmetrical patterns were sown and cut using a multitude of flowers and various bushes that Eldred didn’t even pretend to be able to identify. Tall hedges enveloped large fountains, statues depicting men and women in poses of tasteful nudity atop. Butterflies and songbirds flitted between the trees that gave them shade and shade was somewhat welcome.

Despite it being the first week of Herald, the month typically associated with early winter, the Green-Grass district was of a nice and warm climate year-round. Just another reason why it was the home of the rich and powerful.

The estate at the centre was a complex of several buildings. At the very heart of it all was a three-storey palace, its sidearms three-quarters enveloping a large duck pond. Around this place sprung up a multitude of differently sized structures. They only had in common a general mimicry of the architectural style of a world with advanced agriculture but lacking industrial capacity.

Their destination lay by the pond. Basic catering was provided, just a couple of snacks on long tables. Repeat visitors of this event immediately headed for the tables. Eldred wouldn’t have needed that tacit permission to similarly partake in the snacks. Avari immediately grabbed three. They were free, after all.

“Welcome everyone!” The speaker stood on a white veranda, high enough that everyone could see it but not so high they had to crane their necks. She was a dazzlingly dressed woman. In fact, Eldred could barely look at her, so dazzling was she. A multitude of glittering stones covered white cloth and some enchantments were in place to illuminate her, making her a living disco ball. “Welcome to the 367th Green-Grass Up and Coming Conference!”

The woman waved her arms around and Eldred really hoped she would stop doing that soon. Every time he thought he had found a way to escape the reflection beams, he was blinded yet again.

“As per usual, I hope this is the last time I see all of you!” The joke caused all around chuckles. “Let me explain the program to all of you who are here for the first time.”

‘Alright, that’s it,’ Eldred thought and squatted down, deciding to split his attention between Avari’s tits and Nyx’s ass for the duration of this speech. At least this way, seeing the reflections on the skirt and cleavage was interesting.

“There will be shared breakfast and dinner areas at which all of you are expected to and will be given the time to socialise with each other. That is your time to build networks with your fellow upstarts. Build connections, recruit or be recruited, make a proper corporation out of three individual upstarts or agree on becoming supportive links in a supply chain.”

Suggestions that Eldred mostly ignored, though that last one didn’t sound so bad. He still wasn’t certain what the Neverrain Dominion was to be about. That was part of the reason why they were here in the first place, to learn what economic niches there were for them to occupy.

“Between morning and evening, you will find various programs available to you, sponsored by several of our partners! Check out what they do for a living, echo their efforts and, if they find you impressive enough, they might just hire you!”

“So there is some skimming involved in this,” Avari mumbled.

“Ever doubted that?” Eldred asked.

“Not really, but I like verification. Hand me another cream cheese cracker?” One could only do as one’s shortstack desired.

“This year we even have one of the Great Ones paying us some attention – the… research division… of Imperialis has sent us some people!”

The woman tried her best to make it sound enthusiastic. Despite the career prospects that this should have enabled, the only one who clapped was Otto and even he stopped quickly. “Why is everyone quiet?” Nyx asked.

“Because everyone knows that the research division of Imperialis is led by Akameas,” Eldred whispered back, respectful of the general silence. “They call him the Rape God – and it’s not a title he has because he is an actual god.”

“To be the slightest bit fair, nothing he is accused of is proven. He is still on the board of Imperialis and that’s a generally well-liked Great One.” Avari chimed in. “But it’s a fucking mountain of shit and he’d have the resources to cover it up just enough to get away with it. If even a tenth of it is true, he’s one of the biggest scumfucks in all of Iridescia’s history.”

“The Rape God…” Nyx muttered the title with appropriate disgust.

“I am sure there will be something for everyone!” The announcer salvaged the atmosphere with her jovial tone. “Fights against monsters, seminars on otherworld development, supply lessons on extraction missions, mining operations, logging concerns, software development, it’s all for you to find in the week you are here. The two rules of this event are simple: do not break the peace and try to set yourself up for success! That is all!”

Eldred joined in with the casual applause. The woman waved, hurting his eyes one last time, then stepped off the stage. Just when he started to look away, the woman suddenly hurried back to the veranda.

“Oh right, you can get the keys to your room in the foyer. If you want to get rid of your luggage, that’s your path to relief!”

If it was a planned bit, it was delivered well enough that Eldred chuckled at it all the same. The people that had been to this event before had already started to form a queue. Eldred stared at the length of it.

“A lot of repeat visitors aren’t there?” he wondered.

“Of course there are. It takes a couple years to get a company off the ground. That’s why so few people decide to lead that effort and even fewer stick with it, instead agreeing to getting absorbed by some bigger player.” Avari shrugged. “That’s just the game.”

“Pay them no mind, my Eldred.” Nyx’s voice in his ear was the only encouragement he ever needed. “You are above them. Time will show it. Months or years, whatever it takes, ultimately you will rise above.”

“For me, for you, for our children,” Eldred agreed. Of course he already included them in his future fatherhood plans.

“Line’s not getting any shorter. Want to wait until the end or…?”

“There’s free food here.” Eldred said and reached for a small skewer with cheese, sausage and grapes on it. “I am in no hurry.”