Chapter 9
"Those who play with the devil's toys will be brought by degrees to wield his sword."
– R. Buckminster Fuller
Part II
Lyann smiled as she played the violin at the inn's stage. Her Wild Riders friends had grown fond of her music, and she was quite happy to be able to share with them an ability that was truly hers, rather than Golden_Ballade's.
Indeed, her love for the violin was something she was more than happy to share with her friends, and even if her [Perform (String Instruments)] 'said' that it was meant to be amazing and soul stirring, the best Golden_Ballade could do was to just replay songs like a music player.
Perfect, yes. Note by note, flawless. But it lacked true emotion and warmth. During battle, her songs could heal, harm, support and hinder, but their sounds were still limited to those the programmers had set for each skill, and that typically meant little more than a few notes whenever she activated her [Bard Music] skills.
Right now, on the other hand, she was really playing a song. It was her skill, her love of music, being shared with her friends. And she loved it.
She was on the fence about the 'auto tunner' effect that Golden_Ballade had on her voice, though. She had studied singing to an extent. Not as deeply as violin, but well enough to be somewhat proud of her skill. Now, however, her voice was always and automatically on tune, no matter what, and she couldn't be sure how much of her singing voice was hers, and how much was her character's.
"What was that one called again?" - asked Kallista as she helped Lyann down from the tavern's stage.
"A spanish lady. ~la"
"It was very lively." - says Grumnir as he welcomes her back to the table
"Come think about it, do you hear it translated as well? ~la"
"No, it doesn't seem to work with music."
"Wait, are you sure about that!? ~sol" - the redhead seemed extremely serious all of a sudden
"Yes, quite. It only works with conversation. You had to learn to read the language, right? It doesn't works with anything but conversation."
Lyann's mind was ablaze with the possibilities.
"Lyann, what is it? You went quiet all of a sudden." - asked Albion after a moment
"Ah, I'm sorry. I just thought of something. Hey, is it alright if I withdraw early tonight. I want to show you around the city tomorrow before we have to go back to Daurgotheth. ~la"
"Of course."
"Good night. ~la"
She got up, and went upstairs into her room. Perhaps because she was in the middle of Tengoku Junzi, perhaps because she was distracted with the implications of what she just learnt, or perhaps because she had too much to drink, she wasn't paying attention, and missed the quiet shadow following after her.
As she approached the gates of the golden citadel, she returned to her 'normal' self. Her wings came into existence, the same bright red as her normal hair, which seemed to burst into flame as its bright red gave way to the illusion of a raging fire.
"Wh-!?" - Cathya couldn't help herself, and let her voice out
Lyann turned around, and noticed her on the alley.
"Cathy, wait! Please, cathya! ~sol" – she ran off behind her friend. Well, flew after her, really.
If one asked 'what is faster, someone on foot, or a bird on flight?' there is probably noone who would say "someone on foot." And it proved right once again, as Lyann took over Cathya and landed before her.
"Please wait! ~sol"
Cathya drew her blades out.
"Those are really unneccesary, you know? I just want to talk. ~sol"
"You are not human!"
"So? You seemed fine with the ambassador, and the guards here aren't human, either. The owner of the tavern we are staying at isn't human either! You are fine with Kallista, right? ~sol" – the redhead said as she lifted her hands
"But they didn't pretend to be, either."
"...I'm sorry. Look, can we sit down to talk about it? ~sol" – Lyann looked around, and took a small hop to sit on top of a nearby barrel.
"Ah... you really want to talk. Not going to try and silence me or something?"
"Sure, by asking you not to tell the others yet. ~la"
"That's it?" – the rogue asked as she lowered her daggers
"Yes, that's it. ~la"
They looked at each other, and Cathya finally shated back her weapons.
"Start talking."
"Well, I'd like to point out first that, if I went out looking like this, I wouldn't be able to go into any towns without a fight or some other incident, right? ~la"
"...alright, that's... true, I guess."
"I didn't lie, I... just didn't told you the whole story. The way I look with you guys, is the way I used to look before I turned into this. That is what I think of as my true appearance. ~la"
"Then why did you turn back?"
"Because even if I think of it that way, this is me now. ~sol" – the redhead sighed.- "I enjoy being a normal person with you guys. Ah, since it's come to this, would you like to go back to the others and let me tell them about it, at least? ~sol"
"But you would prefer not to, right?"
"I would prefer if they didn't see me as some weird mythical being. That is correct. ~la"
"I think you should tell them."
"I know! ~sol" – Lyann held her head with both hands in frustration. – "I only hoped it would be in, like, a couple of years. ~la"
It was such a natural gesture, Cathya couldn't help but to sigh. Despite of how she looked, Lyann really was the same person, after all.
"You know, if Albion knew you look like this, he wouldn't dare make any more moves on you." – said Cathya as she smirked
"Ah... I guess that's true, uh? He's not a bad guy, though. I kind of like him... ~la"
"You do!?"
"Yeah, but I know you are right, the moment he seems me like this, he'll think something stupid like me being out of his league or something. ~la"
Cathya stared at the angel of flame before her, and thought 'Honey, you ARE, though.'
"So, you are just egging him on? You know, whatever you look like or are or whatever, as his friend, I have to say you are being a bit of a bitch to him, then."
"I know... I just didn't think I would get a chance at dating a normal guy after turning into this thing. It felt nice. It felt normal, you know? ~la"
"Ah. I guess you have your own problems."
"Yeah... ~la" – they were quiet for a while
Lyann looked at Cathya. The rogue had piled a couple of crates and had sat down across from her.
"So, this is what you look like, now?"
"Yeah. ~la"
"But you are human?"
"I was up until a few weeks ago."
"Ah... so you actually are about as old as you told us you were?"
"Yes. ~la"
"Who did this to you?"
"I don't know. It's a story you wouldn't believe. No, seriously, don't make me tell you. It's not a secret or anything, it's just unbelievable, and this comes from the person it happened to. I wouldn't believe it. ~la"
"Is it bad?"
"Well... I'm way faster, healthier and stronger than I used to be, so in that sense it's not bad, but I'm not me... I'm not human anymore. ~la"
"You are also prettier. Kind of pisses me off, too. You were already prettier than me."
"Ah, I'm not into girls, though? ~la"
"Asshole. I was giving you an honest compliment."
"Sorry, bad attempt at humor. ~la"
"Oh, you are still human, alright. There's no way a graceful mythical creature would put her foot in her mouth like that."
"Thank you. I think. ~la"
They smiled and relaxed.
"Uhm, I have to go to a important meeting now. Can you go back and wait for me? I'll tell them the truth when I come back. Oh, I guess you can come with me if you want, but it's going to be way more boring than you can possibly suspect, you know? ~la"
"Why?"
"We are going to discuss budget, taxes, health policies... it's going to be 100% work stuff. ~la"
"How come?"
"I... ah... I am actually one of the rulers here... ~do" – she said so as softly as possible
"Oh. Oh! Just you wait until Grumnir and Tazar hear that, you'll be Lady Lyann forever more after that!"
"Y-you think I will be able to stay with you guys after this?! ~sol" – she said with hope shining all over her.
"Sure."
"Really?! ~sol"
"Yes, but you will have to explain a lot of stuff, starting with why are you going around on disguise to begin with."
"ah, can I explain it to everyone together? I don't want to have to go through a long story twice. ~la"
"Sure."
"Alright, so, want to come to my meeting, or want to go back and wait? ~la"
"I'll go. It'll be nice to get to see the palace from inside, your highness."
"Fuu... You're a jerk. Meanie! ~sol"
~O~
Juno and Alissa were standing next to a group of guardinal officers, all of which were standing as still as if they were carved of stone.
The sun was already low on the sky when the gems around the recently finished waypoint platform came to life, and with a discreet flash of light, a single figure suddenly stood between them.
With soft, glossy pink skin and bright red hair, the new arrival looked like a strawberry milkshake with cherries on top. She was wearing a simple but elegant long red dress, with a small golden chest plate and matching pauldrons. A similar set of armor plates covered her hips, and a form fitting red corset tightly hugged her wasp's waist.
While she would normally carry her whip wrapped around her waist, this time it was kept in her inventory, and rather than her normal white dress, she was wearing a red one which would be more resilient to the dust and dirt she expected to find in what was presumably still a construction site.
Her wings fluttered for a moment, she the soft hair between the tall horns at the top of her head danced in the wind.
"D-demon? no... angel?" - Juno didn't know what to feel. It was as if all the beauty in the world had gathered into one being.
Despite her seductive, infernally effective charm, the person before him carried herself in a very polite and demure manner, smiling with a truly warm and gentle expression that he felt like staring at forever.
"Good evening. Thank you very much for coming to welcome me, despite your doubtlessly busy schedule." - she spoke with kindness and warmth.
"A-are you the lady Virupaksa?" - asked Juno after a moment
"Yes! Please take care of me!"
"With pleasu- I mean, yes, of course!"
"Juno, don't stare so hard, you'll burn a hole through the lady's dress." - said Alissa as a joke
Her brother felt like he would die of shame, but at least she hadn't said 'through her breasts' which, if his eyes could indeed burn things, would have been in much direr trouble than Virupaksa's dress.
The ursinal, cervidal, avoral and equinal captains greeted their superior while standing at attention, and then the ursinal captain did the formal introductions.
"Lady Virupaksa Ariel, Heavenly King of the West. This is sir Juno Whiteglade, leader of the Wolf Greenhead adventurer group, fulfilling the position of mayor for the city of Sorventh at the request of general Subutai himself."
"King? Shouldn't it be queen?" - asked Alissa, somewhat confused
"It is a traditional title." -answered Juno, Virupaksa and the ursinal captain- "It can't be changed for the convenience of its bearer."
"I-i see."
~O~
Ren hammered away at the forge. It was a very natural action that she had done thousands of times as Celi_Malefactor, and she felt quite comfortable letting her character's 'muscle reflexes' take over at times like this. She simply placed the materials together and began hammering away, then after a while a progress bar would fill up and she would be left with a new item.
That's how it was back in Yggdrassil, anyway.
Now, the materials began fading away and she found herself doing much, much more than she had in the past. Her Celi_Malefactor avatar had indeed taken over as usual, but it was doing much more than just hitting the anvil.
The metals were poured into one of the furnaces in the south wall, bones and gems were carved and cut by her incredibly dextrous hands. The molten ores were hammered, folded, purified, molted again, hammered, purified, folded together, melted, poured, purified and poured into molds, then hammered again.
The blades were shaped, refined, polished, folded, hammered again, shaped once more... it was a much, much longer process, but it was also infinitely more interesting. She felt she was really crafting something now, and the spectacle, from her point of view, was fascinating.
Seeing the blades born one by one, the way her character poured magic into them, how the metal was handled and shaped, how it was cooled and polished, it was a tremendously time consuming, yet amazing sight.
She was a little curious. If she didn't had all the epic traits she had to reduce crafting times to 1/100th of what it should rightfully be, just how long would it take her to craft a single blade? Was this long hours long process for each of them the bare minimum necessary? She began to keep track of the time it took to craft each item, and confirmed that each of them took exactly the same time, down to the last second.
In that case, this was probably the minimum, and it was impossible to go faster. Sitting back inside herself, she let her avatar do the work, and enjoyed the show.
It took most of the day and part of the night, but when everything was done, five simple-looking, but beautiful and deceivingly powerful [Legacy Weapons] were born. Based on what Lyann told her of her new friends, she had crafted three gladius, a pair of matched kukri knives, and a staff. They were all incredibly high quality items despite their plain appearance, with power that would grow up as their owners spent more time with them, and dedicated effort to their mastery.
As a huge crafting fan, and being best friends with a history freak, Ren was well aware of the gladius' history. Originally, 'gladius' was simply the ancient roman word for 'sword.' In this case, she had crafted three roman swords of the type that was adopted later into the empire, which were called 'Gladius Hispaniensis,' or simply spanish swords.
A gladius is a robust, solid sword which had helped the romans to literally conquer the world. Just because it was classified as a short sword, it should not be underestimated. Ren was aware, also thanks (or because of) to Lyann's endless chatting about history, that in the time it took a real warrior to wield about a greatsword, a claymore or a longsword, a gladius would have already stabbed stabbed slashed and stabbed again.
Sure, huge flashy swords have a big 'cool' factor and are thus often the protagonist's weapons in videogames and media, but in truth, all those tribes using them were easily ran over and conquered by the roman legions using these shoft swords.
Since she was making weapons for real people, with real muscles and tendons rather than avatar-powered limbs which shamelessly ignored the rules of anatomy and common sense, she wanted to make the best possible weapons within the limits of Lyann's request.
As for the swords themselves, even though they looked quite similar, they would grow in different ways depending on their future owners. Would they shoot fire and lightning? Dance with uncanny speed? She could hardly wait to find out.
As a secret, she had added one of her own feathers to the first blade's core, one of her sister's to the second, and one of Lyann's to the third. What would an angel's feather do for the blade? She certainly didn't had a big enough head to think of herself as an angelic being, but she understood that by the rules of magic crafting, it should have some effect.
'Am I coming down with an 8-years-old-syndrome relapse?' - she wondered
The kukri daggers were meant to be used as a set, and their blades reflected light with a slightly green tint, despite being made of the same material as the gladius swords...
'No, isn't it redundant to think of them as gladius swords? It would translate to sword sword, right?' - she smiled, and kept examining her work.
Both the swords and the daggers were perfectly balanced. That meant that the weight of the handle matched the weight of the blade, and thus it felt natural to wield them and wouldn't tax the user's limbs. Since she added aururum to the blades, they would be self-sharpening and, even if by some miracle they were broken into pieces, they would immediately pull themselves together again.
'It would really take a miracle to break them, though, my babies.'
Finally, the staff. Kallista was a dark elf sorceress, and while her race's lore back in Yggdrassil painted them off as a race of bad guys, Ren was grown up enough to understand that it was just that, a game's fluff. From what she had heard, dark elves on this world were simply reclusive and timid folk who lived hardly every left their wooden homes.
It was a little disappointing, as she would have really liked to see a mystical city of inverted spires underground, but she was happy that they weren't a 'inherently evil' race.
She had made the staff's body with Serren wood and Blended quartz. This meant that it was able to hit ethereal creatures, and reduced the chances of arcane spell failure by 20%.
Ren was honestly curious about that. As a divine-type caster, she had no problem wearing armor and casting spells, but of course she knew that arcane casters were extremely limited in that sense. There was no better way to capture a mage or sorcerer and keep him from casting spells, than to have him wear a heavy plate.
The penalty was so severe, that over 50% of an arcane caster spells would fail while wearing such a thing. Still, mithril, specifically and only, was so light and carried magic so well as to lower the chance of 'arcane spell failure' by 20% for any armor made with it ...back on Yggdrassil.
This meant that a light armor, which would normally grant a 15% chance of Arcane Spell Failure, was safe for wizards to use if they had the right skill to equip it, making it the gold standard for multiclassed warrior/wizards and battlemages.
There were other factors which could raise Arcane Spell Failure as well. Deafness was a popular curse when fighting mages because it gave them +20% Arcana Spell Failure, as did Blindness.
Well, the Blended Quartz reduced Arcane Spell Failure by 20%, so it would doubtlessly be a high quality item in the dark elf sorceress' hands.
Ren looked at the weapons again. Right now, they were all +1 weapons, which made them each rank as just barely a [Low Magic Item] in Yggdrassil. Their growth was up to their users, now.
'Was using aururum and dykhast a bit too much? But if I'm using dykhast, I just had to add in some aururum, or it would be a waste.' -she was worried about them being too tempting a target to steal, but in fact the chances anyone knew what dykhast was were somewhere between slim and none in this world, after all.
But whenever she looked at the lore of the dykhast ingots, she just felt like using them.
Ancient dwaven legends tell of a time when the noblest of metals was not dwarven steel, adamantite, meteoric iron, soulsteel nor mithril, but dykhast – an alloy so strong that a blade's edge would never dull with toil or battle, and with a surface so perfect and gleaming that its shimmering surface could be seen a dragon's flight away. The oldest dwarven kings speak of dykhast blades with tears of fond remembrance in their eyes, and callously spit at the mention of the "sundry weak and piddling" metals that today's weapons and armors are fashioned from.
Any dwarven king would gladly give up his daughter for an ingot such as this, and his realm for two. The allure of dykhast is just that strong. But the truest connoisseurs will all agree, there is no matching the glory, the perfection, the utter joy... of Dykhast.
"Yeah, these are pretty good." -she actually said that out loud!
"Yeah, these are pretty good." -she said it again, for emphasis!
A godly gift!
Three dykhast blades were not merely on the scope of "yeah, these are pretty good" anymore!
Not even if you said it twice!
Not even if you said it twice! [1]
It couldn't even be placed in the same category as a mithril shirt or a soulsteel sword! These weren't things you were meant to give away in the first place!
She stored them away in her inventory, and, since she had been working for several hours now, took a shower before going to that night's meeting. Not that she needed it, as Mako, Lyann and herself had long found out that, apparently, angels don't sweat.
Or use the restroom.
It was quite the surprise when, going into the meeting room, she found Lyann had invited one of her friends.
~O~
"T-that's heresy!" - cried out the bishop of Earth, yet even to his ears, it sounded weak and unmotivated
"Is Iit? We follow the Six Gods, and moreover, defend their legacy in the shape of the godblooded."
"Yes, but, we still don't know if they are godblooded...!"
"Finish the phrase, come on."
"...there's even a chance they may be gods we were unaware of."
"There you go. Either way, I see no heresy there."
The bishops of the Dragonic Kingdom looked at each other, in silence. Their deliberation of weeks had given way to almost daily talk in the evenings.
It was surprisingly civil, all things considered.
"Not sure if they're gods? Did you not hear what I said?" - the bishop of Wind asked, more than a little tired.
Again, he told of what he saw, just that morning as he was scrying on Tengoku Junzi once more. This time, he even recorded it using the assistance of a memory crystal, so that his fellow bishops could see it by themselves.
~O~
A few hours earlier (just that morning, really)
Mako was standing still in mid air, a great sphere of raw magic floating all around her. Divine sigils and strange symbols dancing on its surface, shedding light like a gentler sun.
[Kubera-chan, are you ready?] – she asked the bunny hengeyokai through telepathy
[Yes, Mako-sama!]
When she used the [Origin of Species] spell before, it had been to create crops and cattle in the forms of corn, golden rice, chickens, rabbits, pigs and cows. Since she had to cast [Origin of Species] for each different creature, she had used a [Hourglass] cash shop item to reduce the Over Magic cast times.
This time, however, her aim was much higher in her eyes, and she did not dare take any shortcuts.
Wearing her End Game gear, she had as many different bonuses to [Spellcraft] as she could muster with the resources of the entire guild, and they were strong and numerous indeed.
Her aim was to use [Origin of Species] to create a large enough population of rabbit hengeyokai for them to become a true, breeding population.
The Difficulty Class of [Origin of Species] was already epic just for something as simple as corn, but with all the new requirements added to the spell this time... if asked, she would have admitted that she was nervous. Not even her knew if this would work.
Hengeyokai (Rabbit)
Creature Type: [Fae]
Creature Subtype: [Shapeshifter]
Basic Level: 1
Basic Strength: Human
Basic Dexterity: Slightly above human
Basic Constitution: Human
Basic Intelligence: Human
Basic Wisdom: Slightly below human
Basic Charisma: Human
Special abilities: Alternate Form – Rabbit, Hybrid, Human. Speak to Animals (rodents).
Well, even if they would have two attributes varying from the human standard, it was only by as little as 5% to 10%, and it was only relevant at low levels. As they leveled up, their stats would certainly increase.
Even upon creation, there was room for individuals to vary from each other by as much as 60% in any given stats, for better or for worse, although that too, was only relevant at level 1.
She kept chanting the spell's long aria, using a mix of celestial and [Words of Creation] to empower the spell. Uninterruptedly, for almost two hours, she hovered in place, revised the spell in her mind, and kept chanting.
Then, at the exact time as the rays of the sun began spreading past the mountain's peaks and gently caressed the crystal platform in the ground, the spell ended. The world seemed to stand still, the wind paused, the clouds hovered in place high above the sky. Crickets went silent, tree leaves ceased to move, and every living creature within a mile turned instinctively towards the Exalted One as her [Over Magic] [Origina of Species – Hengeyokai] spell went off!
A pillar of white and golden light descended on the valley. Or perhaps it raised from it? It was hard to tell. The effect for an observer was similar to the finger of god reaching into the world, and when it vanished, a little over four dozen pairs of males and females were there.
'Oh, I expected them to appear as rabbits, but to think they would start in human shape... is this because of my subconscious as a human being?' – Mako looked upon them kindly as she descended.
"My children" - she said to them - "I am happy to finally meet you."
Kubera moved in, and helped them towards the feast or nectar and ambrosia that had been prepared for them.
This was the biggest reason as to why Mako kept Kubera around. If [Origin of Species] was successful, the individuals thus created would naturally emulate the culture and alignment of their own kin, if present. Therefore, having Kubera welcome them ensured that they would have her morals and values implanted into their hearts.
As soon as she reached the ground, the newly arrived hengeyokai knelt before their mother. It was the natural thing to do.
'I should have prepared clothes' – Mako karate chopp'd herself mentally, then used [Greater Creation] to create simple kamisks for them, and helped guide them towards the feast.
It was important that her children grew up healthy, strong, and high-leveled soon. She herself had gone down from level 100 to level 98 after casting the [Over Magic] spell, and joined them on their leveling-up feast.
~O~
The guards at the south watch tower were the first to spot them. Two human-sized figures just barely visible as they approached through the fog.
With the calm and discipline of veterans, they immediately followed protocol and hit the bells in the right pattern to inform the rest of the fort about incoming unknowns. The watchmen on the western tower replied with their own bells, confirming that they had spotted the approaching targets, and the soldiers on duty ran up the stairs to the top of the crenelated walls, readying and aiming their crossbows, spells, and all three grapeshot catapults at the unknown figures.
"If you are living beings, stop where you are!" – called forth the officer on duty.
To everyone's relief, both figures stopped.
And as if on a cue, the fog began pulling back from them, or more exactly, from the silver-colored figure on the right. All this time, she had left a widening trail on the fog as it did its best to avoid her, and now that she had stopped, it was actively pulling away from her.
This allowed the soldiers to take a look at them.
Two peerless beauties stood patiently before the fort. One was dressed like a colorful flower, her navy blue hair so dark it looked black, carefully arranged into a bun high behind her head, from which it cascaded behind her like a veil of dark silk.
Next to her, her companion was dressed in the simplest possible manner, with a -just-almost-large-enough robe doing a heroic attempt at covering her curvy form. The way the shoulders and neckline were shaped, suggested health and strength that refused to abandon feminity in any way.
Neither one seemed to have a weapon, which just puzzled the captain. One of them seemed to barely own anything at all, so he thought they may be extremely lucky survivors from a doomed caravan that somehow managed to reach the fort.
Well, the silver-haired beauty dressed in white had a stick, but it was literally just thatm, a stick.
Seeing as they didn't rush the fort, the captain decided they were not running from a horde of undead, and signaled the men to lower their weapons, but remain ready, just in case.
"You can approach now, slowly."
Once they approached further, he along with the men (and women) on the wall could feel their hearts climb up to the back of their throat when they could take a better look at the strange travellers.
"Ah, your business?" – The captain could see that they were in no rush. The first thing he thought of were adventurers, but he could see no plates hanging from their necks, despite checking more than often.
"Just passing through." – answered the one that looked like a flower
"What?"
"Just passing through." – she repeated
"Are you adventurers?"
"No? I wonder... I guess that would certainly describe our current status?" – Vorulhaka looked to her companion for confirmation.
"This would count as an adventure. Yes."
With Dhrutarashta's confirmation, Virulhaka nodded and answered again.
"Indeed, that would be the most accurate descroiption of our current state. And we wish to pass through."
"What...? why?" – the captain was trying to make sense of the situation
"I wish to see the empire. She wanted to accompany me to its edge."
"Your base is nice. That one soldier over there, I would like to drink with him." – Dhrutarashta pointed her bamboo walking stick towards a young imperial soldier with pale gold hair and green eyes, much ike Kuubera's own.
This caused his fellow soldiers to instantly stare daggers at the lucky youth.
'Adventurers are always weird.' – the captain reminded himself. Well, they clearly were not spies, as they were all too flashy and stood way too much for it. He wasn't there to stop the flow of travelers, either, he was there to stop the Katze plains undead from spilling into the empire.
"You'll find very little work for adventurers in the empire itself." – he said as he signaled to open the doors. He doubted such a thing would discourage anyone who had already crossed the Katze plains to get there, but felt compelled to say it, all the same.
"Thank you." – said both Virulhaka Azriel and Dhrutarashta Michaella as they headed towards the doors.
Once they found themselves inside the fort, they saw that it was actually larger than they expected. It was more like a small town than just a base, and there were multiple buildings on the eastern side, rather than the dry military barracks they had expected to see.
The captain ordered their men to keep watch, and went down the wall to speak to the new arrivals.
"How did you made it through the plains?"
"We walked." – answered the silver-haired beauty in white.
"Please excuse my sister. Is there a inn here? This place seems bigger than expected."
"Yes, since we are at the edge of the Katze plains, many adventurers and workers come here to offer themselves off as mercenaries to fight the undead." – said the captain
"Oh. You can do that here?" – that seemed to interest Dhrutarashta.
"Yes, miss...?"
"Dhrutarashta Michaella. And my sister is Virulhaka Azriel."
Despite their obvious differences in wardrobe, looks and what he assumed to be family names, the captain could somehow accept it. They were both easily the most beautiful women he had ever seen, their surnames (he assumed that's what they were) sounded vaguely similar in the way names from a specific region tend to do, and he could easily believe that women this beautiful would come from the same family tree, rather than randomly sprouting all over wherever they came from.
Perhaps half sisters? It sounded feasible. One was the main house's daughter, while the other came from a concubine? That would explain the disparity of their wardrobe. Still, he was surprised that the silver haired beauty lacked even for sandals on her feet.
"Yes, you can take jobs to fight the undead on behalf of the garrison here, but you don't carry a plate?"
"A plate? Ah, Golden Ballade-sama mentioned such. It is a way to rank adventurers, correct? Can we apply for one here?"
"...yes, like I said, we get quite a number of adventurers and workers."
"Thank you. Could you point us towards the place, please?"
Barely 20 minutes later, Virulhaka Azriel left the fort with a shiny copper plate in display over her chest, while Dhrutarashta Michaella, her own chain and plate wrapped around the tip of her bamboo staff, headed towards the wall, looking for that handsome young man she had spotted before.
~O~
"And so, I invited my friend ~la"
"She said 'And so, I invited my friend ~la,' as if she had explained anything! Sis, karate chop her dummy head, karate chop her!" – cried out Ren
Mako sighs, and karate chops Ren, gently.
"Calm down."
"W-why me!?" – Ren covered her head with both hands, as if it had actually hurt, despite everyone seeing it was literally just a little tap.
"Lyann invited a friend, so behave."
"Uhhh... I'm gonna invite Draudillon, then!"
She got karate-chopped again.
"As if she had that kind of time! She has to rebuild after a terrible war, remember!?"
Cathya had been in awe, at the floors, the walls, the paintings, the furniture, the guards, the roofs, and of course, general Li, general Subutai, Mako, and now, Ren. Burlaug looked like a slightly taller, if very dignified dwarf, so she didn't felt so anxious around him, for which she was grateful.
She was still getting used to Lyann's true appearance, after all.
Seeing the stunning 'Exalted Ones' before her behaving like normal sisters put her at ease and made her relax.
Which was Ren and Mako's intention, of course.
"Thank you for taking care of my best friend." – said Mako as she bowed slightly. – "Please continue to do so in the future."
"No, actually, she's the one that's always helping us."
"See? I'm super useful! ~la"
"Yes, yes."
"I really am! ~sol"
Lyann cried out softly, making a slightly exagerated gesture out of it.
"Ah, please let me do a proper introduction! Cathya, these are Ren, and Mako. Mako is our leader. Ren is the court jester. ~la"
"I am not!"
"She's not...? alright. Ren is a goofer. ~la"
"Bullying? Is this bullying?" – Ren asked with a tear in each eye – "Nee-chan, refute her! Please refute what that redheaded meanie just said!"
"Lyann, please don't bully Ren. She is our..." – Mako started to talk with her left hand on her face, her right hand holding her left elbow.
"Why did you stop!?"
"What do you do? Burlaug-kun is in charge of finances and most administrative work. What he doesn't do, I do. Subutai-kun is in charge of the expedition forces, and Li-kun is in charge of the defenses..."
"I'm in research! I'm in charge of research! Someone please acknowledge my work!"
"Uh... even if you call it work, to cover the main square in sewage and call it work is a little..."
"Uhhh... I'm seriously going to cry, you know?"
"Ah, sorry, sorry."
Both Lyann and Mako apologized to Ren, and the actual meeting got started.
As Lyann had warned Cathya, it really was just work. It was also a chance for Cathya to see why Lyann had joined her and her friend's group, as the 'Exalted Ones' apparently were completely lacking in the common sense and common knowledge of the world.
After a while, she began being consulted about the lands and countries nearby, on things going from famous places to regional livestock and education levels. How could they know so little about the world baffled her, but once she felt more comfortable at the table, she felt that they were all good people, despite how intimidating and otherworldly some of them may look.
After the meeting, they had some snack and socializing time before going back to their rooms, or in Cathya and Lyann's case, to the inn. The pastry and drinks were delicious, and Cathya was more than happy to be gifted with two bottles of liquor.
"Ah, I made you guys some gifts, should I send them with you, or hand them myself tomorrow evening?" – said Ren while thinking of the weapons she had forged a few hours before.
"I think a gift should be given in person." – said Mako, and Lyann agreed.
After leaving the meeting room with Lyann, Cathya had an idea.
"Hey, you have your own room in the palace, right?"
"Yes, it's on the central tower, near the top. ~la"
"Can I see it?"
"I think we would start talking there and lose track of time. Tomorrow with everyone? ~la"
"You are planning on having everyone over?"
"If they don't kick me from the party, I'd like to give you guys a grand tour of the palace and the city, yes. ~la"
"You'll be fine."
"I... I really hope so ~la"
~O~
Virupaksa headed towards the recently finished southern wall with Juno and Clarissa. Once they got over the initial shock of her appearance, they seemed quite hospitable and polite, which as far as she knew, should have been somewhat surprising, giving their profession.
"Ah, the walls are not that different from the ones at home." – she said when she saw the crenelated double walls and the moat. – "Where are you planning on drawing the water from for the moat?"
"The engineering corps have plans to create several fountains and well in the city itself. The water will also flow into the moat!" – Juno answered tensely. He couldn't help but to feel nervous next to the pink and red succubus.
"And to prevent it from overflowing?"
"There will be two cannals leading the water towards farmland, but if it overflows, it will do so outwards from the city, so that a invading army would only turn the terrain into a swamp for themselves."
"I see, I see. Have you had any rakshasa spring out of hiding?"
"No, the troops were quite thorough, and there were no tigerme- ah, rakshasa left anywhere in the city."
Virupaksa nodded, and turned around slightly to look at the rest of the wall.
With the evening sun behind her and the breeze atop the wall playing with her hair, the sight of her profile was enough to pull Juno's heart out of his mouth.
"Can we look at the other walls now? Oh, have you enough troops for the rebuilding efforts? Enough supplies?"
"Yes, of course."
"To which one?"
"To all, thankfully."
"Oh, that's splendid. Celi Malefactor-sama already made plans to modernize public street lights. These are the first blueprints..." – Virupaksa pulled a long rolled up scroll out of seemingly thin air, and handed it to Juno
"Uhmm... I don't have a way to keep it without it getting wrinkled, could you hand it to me again when we return to the office, lady Virupaksa?"
"Yes, I'm sorry."
"Don't be..."
She looked at him with a smile, and a slightly puzzled expression since she was waiting for him to say something more, but instead he just stared at her eyes.
Clarissa cleared her throat, and patted his brother on the back to get him to restart moving and talking.
"Ah, yes! Let's go to the next wall!"
~O~
Ren took her clothes off and laid down on top of her ample bed. Her new body didn't need to sleep, but she was still able to do so if she wanted to, and she felt like it was just the thing she needed right now.
She enjoyed bending a knee and pushing her feet down against the sheets, wrinkling her otherwise flawless sheets. She had found that sleeping on her back was slightly annoying now that she had wings, so she had to force herself to change her sleeping habits so she could sleep on her side or her tummy.
[Lyann, how is the explaining going?] – she asked her friend using [Message] to talk through telepathy with her.
[Fuu...]
[That well? Are you kicked off their party?]
[No, but I'm getting lectured on trust and honesty by Tazar, our dwarvf priest]
[You sort of deserve it.]
[I know.]
[Alright, don't let me distract you, then. Talk to you tomorrow]
[Wait, don't make me pay attention t- ]
Ren ended the [Message] and then reopened it right away.
[Virupaksa, how are things on your end?]
[Celi Malefactor-sama! Everything looks ready for your visit tomorrow!]
[Alright. How is everyone doing over there?]
[The people seem hopeful and excited about your visit. Lord Juno, the mayor, is looking at me funny, though...]
[Is he looking at your horns, wings, tail, chest or taking turns between them?]
[Mostly my face and chest, why?]
[I'd say he's a normal, healthy man of good taste, then. Sounds quite normal to me.]
[Is that so?]
[Yes, I will see you tomorrow]
[Yes, Celi Malefactor-sama!]
Then, it was time for a final check with someone else.
[Dhrutarashta Michaella, how are things coming?] – she contacted the silver-colored beauty in white
[Yes! Yes!]
[Pardon me?]
[Celi Malefactor-sama!?]
Somehow, Ren had the strange impression she had heard a light curse and felt Dhrutarashta fall off from somewhere.
[Are you alright?]
[Yes! I'm sorry, you caught me by surprise, that's all! Things are great! Great!]
[Is that so? Did you make it to the empire's border already?]
[Yes! I am in frontier base Cassia. I already started getting acquainted with the troops! I can start investigating the Katze plains from this position. They have lots of requests for mercenaries to do so, in fact.]
[Good. Then, please contact me if you learn anything you feel is too important for our nightly report.]
[Yes, Celi Malefactor-sama!]
[I'll let you go back to... whatever you were doing. Have a good night]
[Yes! You tooooh..!]
The [Message] got cut off all of a sudden, and Ren couldn't help but to sigh. It had seemed like such a funny idea back when it was just a character's background story...
She karate-chopped herself, and poked her tongue out as she made a ;9 face.
~O~
Gagaran sighed. Following the massacre of Katze plains, the city of E-Rantel had become the stronghold of the Sorcerer King, Ainz Ooal Gown, an elder lich of untold power, and so she fully expected it to be a dark and gloomy place where the sun didn't dare show its face from behind the clouds, children cried at all hours, and wolves howled between the ruins.
However, as Blue Rose entered the city, what they found was a vibrating population, beautifully paved streets, a massive, new round building nearing completion in the southern side of the city, clean and healthy people, and a burgeoning economy that could be felt all around as the merchants loudly announced their goods both in the streets and in the brand new central market.
"Not quite the den of iniquity and villainy I was expecting." – she said to noone in particular.
"The guards. Those in the back are powerful undead." – Evileye, the wizard of their group, replied, also to noone in particular.
"Oho? How strong?" – asked Tia
"I hate undead, they have no vital points to stab." – said Tina
Evileye looked at the Dead Knights again for a couple of moments.
"We can take them with ease if its just one or two at the time, but any more and we're likely to take quite a bit of damage. If we had even numbers, we would probably lose someone. Almost certainly the mass of muscle." – she replied in her usual calm and dettached manner
"That strong? I see." – their leader, Lakyus, looked at the seven Dead Knights with new found respect.
In a even fight, they would probably lose someone? And yet they were already outnumbered. The extent of the Sorcerer King's power frightened her.
Their group was infiltrating E-Rantel to speak to Momon, the leader of Darkness. They hoped he would be able to shed some insight on the motives of the Sorcerer King, and perhaps assist them in their newest objective, obtaining the Nameless Book of Spells, hoping that it would help them find a way to oppose the immense power of Ainz Ooal Gown.
For some reason, as a dark elf girl riding a wagon passed next to them, Gagaran felt as if cold kitty feet were walking down her back. [2]
~O~
Author Notes:
Ugh, this chapter is turning out to be way way longer than I thought it would be, for some reason. Maybe its just because I feel like I have so much stuff to do with the Tengoku Junzi stuff. Maybe its character inflation? Perhaps I should emulate the author and keep it down to a few characters 'per volume' at a time. Well, I feel we are 2/3 of the way there, anyway.
Someone wrote asking for more action scenes, but honestly I'm worried people will say "OCs too OP" if I have them fight stuff. Well, theere will at some point be a huge ass fight with the people from Nazarick, maybe? but I just dont really see much point in giving Lyann or the NPCs enemies to fight since we all know how super OP the Yggdrassil people is vs the monsters and people on this world.
Though I do think it would be funny to have the wolf girl hengeyokai tenderly rape Gagaran, since Gagaran is actually a very kind person inside, yet also willing to rape virgin boys if given the chance. I envision something like Dhrutarashta showering her with her undiscriminating love (since Dhrutarashta is bisexual), and I think it would be hilarious to have the extra large and muscular Gagaran later call Dhrutarashta "Onee-sama" with lovey-dovey eyes.
Well, she who kills by the sword, dies by the sword, they say.
[1] I typed that in twice, for emphasis!
[2] I really wanted to type that 'she could feel her antennae standing up' but I'm not sure people would have gotten the reference.