Chapter 34: Double checking and triple checking and quadruple checking and—

Upper Fire Month, 20th Day, 600 AGG

"Empyreans?"

"Check," Yuriko looked up from the small stack of parchments she was holding and at the veritable horde of angels that filled the courtyard from ground to sky. "Uhhh, yup! Definitely a check."

"Gatekeepers?"

"Right next to you," Yuriko pointed at Draudillon with an accusatory pout. "Stop messing with me."

"Sorry," Draudillon paused. The mild teasing hadn't eased the angel's nerves at all. "It's just… are you sure you're ready? Like I've said before, you've already done plenty for the Draconic Kingdom. If you don't want to commit to an offensive maneuver, then please tell me."

"I'm sure," Yuriko forcibly replied, eyes filled with an unsteady determination. "They've been attacking the kingdom for like ages, right? It'll be—I dunno—wrong if I didn't try to do anything to stop it."

"..." At this point, it would be hypocritical to say anything more save for outright rejecting Yuriko's involvement in the invasion; and well, that wasn't really a feasible option when the whole expedition was being carried on the angel's back.

'Torment yourself over it later,' Draudillon swallowed her guilt. 'There'll be time to talk it through with her after this war is concluded.'

"So we cross-referenced the information from the aarakocra and Clan Vadh, correct?" She turned her gaze towards the papers she was holding.

"Mhm," Yuriko peeked at the notes Draudillon was holding, the angel's hair brushing against the side of the dragon queen's face. "Hit all the places where their 'Viziers' live, find the bird-people and make sure they leave safely, then occupy all major population centers?"

"We're not in a rush to complete the third objective," Draudillon clarified, suddenly feeling a cozy warmth despite the breezy winds. "Leaving enough to keep the peace until a suitable temporary ruling group is set up will be sufficient."

"Makes sense," Yuriko backed away and bit her thumb as she considered the horde of angels. "Think we should bring the bird-guy? We have a map, but it's not super good… plus, finding all the people without anyone to point them out will be tough."

"Beastmen lords tend to stand out," Draudillon dryly replied. "But that's a good point. Do you think you can keep him in line?"

"I hope?" Yuriko sheepishly smiled in response to Draudillon's unimpressed look. "Bad joke, sorry. Um, yeah, I think so as long as we don't remove the restraint items."

'Nails of Restraint,' an image of the holy nails flashed through the dragon queen's mind. 'Did she ever mention whether they were reusable or not?'

"So!" The angel put her hands on her hips. "We're doing it."

"Not yet. We need to wait for the first batch of administrators to complete their training. In the meanwhile, we'll continue to maintain the borders and drive away would-be raiders."

Administrators, Draudillon mused. People selected from noble lineages who weren't immediately set to inherit their family's lands—spares in other words. Draudillon was well aware that spares were rarely, if ever, trained to manage territory and people, but she needed to give some measure of legitimacy to a station meant to dispense duties similar to those of the aristocracy.

"—"

'Maybe I should have recruited from merchant families too instead of sticking to descendants of landed nobility. But then there wouldn't be that same sense of obligation towards the kingdom.'

They were meant to be flexible managers to temporarily serve or assist in the capacity of nobles if said nobles were ever unable to fulfill their responsibilities for some reason or the other. The program had started small; it would have been unreasonable to expect an experimental policy to produce acceptable results on their first try.

"—lon."

However, with Yuriko's more in-depth explanation of levels along with that of the Bafolk Clan's, she was feeling much more confident in the potential of the nascent initiative.

"—dillon!"

'Untrained spares they might be, but with a noble lineage they ought to be inclined to acquire 'noble' or 'managerial' related classes in the proper environment. But what determines the nature of a 'class' in the first place? What needs to happen in order for a position or role to be recognized as one—?'

"Draudillon!"

Yuriko slapped a hand over Draudillon's forehead and sent a cozy surge of holy energy through her body. The angel worriedly fretted over the blinking dragon queen. "You like, blanked out! Are you feeling okay? Are you sleeping and stuff?"

"I, I'm fine," Draudillon quickly brushed a strand of hair out of her reddening face. "Just thinking about something. I assume you had a question?"

"Hmm… If you're sure," a sense of loss permeated Draudillon as Yuriko pulled her hand away. "I was wondering if just taking out their leaders is enough to end the raids. I mean, I don't think we'll catch all of them, and wouldn't new leaders pop up anyways? It's not like we can keep an eye on every single of them, y'know?"

'You could though. Eventually,' Draudillon kept that thought to herself; if Yuriko didn't want to push the line to that extent, then she would respect that. It was the least she could do after getting the angel involved as much as they had. "Demihuman lords don't spawn all that quickly or often. From what we know, a beastmen has to be born with the aptitude to become a lord. It's not a 'position' they can simply learn or pick up somehow."

"Does taking out a lord really matter that much?"

"Okay," Draudillon put a hand over her chest. "This isn't the best example since beastmen are more, well, tribalistic compared to a human nation if the Bafolk are to be believed, but say I was killed—"

"Nobody's gonna kill you," Yuriko scowled as her fists laid clenched at her sides. At that moment, she looked terrifying— "I won't let them."

—Terrifying, but safe.

"I-It was just an example," Draudillon's heart fluttered, skipping a beat in the face of the angel's solemnity. "Hypothetically, if such an event came to pass, the Draconic Kingdom would fall into disorder until someone else—a human lord, I suppose you could say—picks up the reins. A similar outcome would occur, though maybe less widespread, with the removal of a beastman lord. Does that make sense?"

"... yeah."

"Yuriko," Draudillon pushed past her self-consciousness and held the angel's hand. "I was only making a point. I doubt I'm going to die anytime soon."

"I don't like it," Yuriko kicked the ground with furrowed brows. "Can we talk about something else?"

"We can. It's just…" Draudillon struggled to find a gentle way to phrase what she wanted to convey. "I'm not going to live forever, you know? Even if I somehow avoid dying from poison, disease, an assassination, or whatever fatal situation you can think of, I won't live forever. That's unavoidable."

The words left an empty pit in her heart. No matter what, the angel would outlive and eventually forget her. Certainly, her lineage afforded her a degree of longevity, but what was another century to an eternity? Draudillon bit her bottom lip; now she wanted to talk about something else as well.

"What if you could?" Yuriko muttered under her breath, too low for the dragon queen to hear.

"I'm sorry—could you repeat that?" Draudillon chastised herself. Why was it so difficult to pay attention today? "I didn't quite hear you."

"N-Nothing," the angel stammered and turned her face away as she quickly changed the topic. "All the stuff you brought up sounds about right. I'll just, uh," a powerful gust of wind blew outwards from the center of the courtyard; countless angels soaring up and away into the sky—becoming little more than specks hovering among the clouds. "Um, gimme a call if you need anything!"

"Wait!" Draudillon tightened her hold on Yuriko's hand, yanking the angel back towards her. "If it's about… what I brought up, then please don't take it to heart. I didn't say it with the intention to cause you any distress."

"I know," Yuriko shot a shaky smile at her. "I just wanna think about some stuff by myself for a bit. Promise it won't take long."

"But—alright," she reluctantly released her grip on Yuriko. "Take your time. We're in no rush, so think for as long as you need."

"Mm," the angel nodded, unfurling her wings and taking to the air. "I'll be back soon!"

Draudillon helplessly watched the angel vanish into the distance, beyond the bounds of the castle.

'Why can't I find the right words when it comes to you?' She pulled out the enchanted stick Yuriko had given her a few weeks ago and contemplated using it right then and there. 'Ha… What I would give to know how to bring you even the smallest iota of comfort.'

"Heeeeey!" Draudillon nearly rolled her eyes out the back of her head at the sound of the familiar voice. "Whatcha looking all down for, Your Majesty?"

"That tongue of yours will really get you in trouble someday," she turned around and warned Mira. "I'm not in the mood for this. Go back to your station."

"Uh, the angels have sorta replaced us? Like, there's not really a point?" The impudent guardmage clasped her hands around her back with an innocent expression. "I've mostly been studying and following up on some old correspondences nowadays."

"And the Guard Captain let you slack off? It appears I need to have words with him."

"A-Ah!" Mira knelt before Draudillon, eyes widening in panic. "No, Your Majesty, please don't tell him! I beg you to find mercy in your cold, cold heart—"

"Mira," Draudillon's voice turned harsher than the blizzards of the Azerlisias. "You've already admitted to dereliction of duty. Do not also make the mistake of showing continued disrespect to your sovereign."

"Y-Yes, Your Majesty," Mira's regretful tone was at odds with the infuriating pout on her face. "But what else are we supposed to think when you guys still haven't got together—"

"That. Is none of your concern. Leave."

"We're worried about you," Mira quietly stood up and brushed off her knees as she brazenly ignored the dragon queen's command. "Like, it's obvious you like like her. Why not, I dunno, just ask? Worst thing that happens is that she says no—and I don't think she'll abandon the kingdom because of that."

"You don't know that for sure," the guardmage's question brought the turmoil Draudillon had kept repressed bubbling back up to the surface. "It would be selfish of me to put the kingdom's security at risk for the sake of my own personal desires."

"So you're okay with waiting until she finds someone else?" Mira was genuinely frustrated now. Draudillon idly thought that this might have been the most worked up she'd ever seen the guardmage. "Just…you're just finding excuses now."

"If she finds someone she wants to be with, then I could accept that," the very thought of Yuriko being with someone else filled her chest with a painful jealousy. "I'll admit that I don't want to let go of her, but I don't have the right to ask anything more. Besides, I'm plenty satisfied with what she's already given."

She felt like she was trying to persuade herself more than she was her guardmage.

"That's," Mira's face twitched in annoyance. "That's stupid. No, it's selfish. You want her to make the first move all the time? If you feel this way, then just ask. She definitely feels—"

"You're not her," Draudillon irritatedly snapped at her guardmage. "However close you may be to Yuriko, you do not speak for her."

"Oh gods…" Mira slapped both hands over her face with a groan. "I'm gonna lose my bets sooo badly…"

"What?" Draudillon's frown deepened.

"Don't worry about it," Mira quickly moved on. "So! Planning a counter-invasion, I'm guessing?"

"This doesn't concern you," Draudillon pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "What does concern you however, is returning to your post—and no, I don't care if the angels are doing a good enough job. I've given you enough grace as is; you can be sure that Guard Captain Agustin will be made aware of your misconduct by day's end."

"I'll give you these if you don't tell the old grump," Mira plucked a pouch from her belt and offered it to the dragon queen. "Wafers."

"You're really trying to bribe me with wafers?" Draudillon asked in bafflement, anger temporarily forgotten. "Are you f—are you serious?"

"Ohoho~" Mira dangled the pouch in front of her face. "But these aren't just any old wafers! These were made by your precious Yuriko~"

"That's nice," Draudillon ignored the pang of hurt in her heart and glared at the guardmage. "I'm glad the two of you get along so well."

'It's just—pastries. It doesn't mean anything. Yuriko was only being friendly as she's oft to do.'

"You know," Mira pushed the pouch into Draudillon's hand. "The reason she gave them to us first was to make sure they were 'good enough' before she made some for you. Uh, don't tell her I gave you any!"

"..." Draudillon took out one of the square pastries and inspected it. There was fruit jelly spilling out—Yuriko hadn't properly stuffed the wafers it seemed. She put it in her mouth anyways.

And immediately regretted it.

'Oh gods,' the dragon queen's face scrunched up. 'This is so fucking sour. How do you even get jam to be this sour?'

"How is it?" Draudillon wanted to slap the shit-eating grin off Mira's face. "Pretty good, right?"

"It's great," she resisted the urge to spit the remaining bits of pastry onto the ground. "I'll tell Yuriko that all of you loved it and wanted more."

"W-Wait!" Mira chased after Draudillon. "You can't do that! Th-That's—!"

Draudillon tuned out the guardmage's pleads and clutched the pouch of overly-sour pastries close to her chest.

'They taste ridiculously bitter, but…' it took every ounce of willpower she had to keep herself from smiling like an idiot.

'I don't hate it.'

"Hm?" A small canary dropped a scroll on Tsaindorcus's head. "You didn't have to come all this way, Rathiel."

The canary looked at the platinum-haired man in annoyance and tapped the scroll with its foot before it vanished in a wisp of teal-green, leaving behind nothing but empty space.

"This is from…" Tsaindorcus unrolled the scroll, studying its contents with a careful eye. "That girl in the Draconic Kingdom."

'That explains why Rathiel came all the way here,' Tsaindorcus dropped the parchment into a Bag of Holding. A small whisper of shame crept into the edges of his consciousness before he shoved it away. It pained him to take advantage of the young spellcaster in this way, but turning her into an unwitting informant didn't harm her nor was it a large price to pay when the World hung in the balance. The best spies were those who didn't know they were spies after all. 'So the Player has been picking up swordsmanship and… cooking.'

The Player of this Aftershock was surprisingly conscientious. Tsaindorcus wasn't complaining, but it never hurt to keep an eye on her and her kind.

'What will they do next now that all traces of the Vahasi Republic's presence have been removed from the domain of young Oriculus?' The Dragon Lord grimly considered the paths that lay in the future. An obvious conclusion would be a retaliatory action, one that would almost certainly result in the demihuman nation being wiped from the maps. 'But the Player has been extraordinarily moderate in their actions—it's likely that the worst won't come to pass.'

He cast his gaze back towards the Devagathapur Jungle. For the past few days, the select elite of the Slane Theocracy chose to mingle with a Nacatl tribe in the name of searching for something or someone. Tsaindorcus had a strong suspicion it was related to the tragic undead incident that occurred in E-Rantel not so long ago.

'Rhell,' he mournfully thought about his once-friend. 'Your goal… I can't say I don't understand, but was it necessary for you to cause all of this chaos?'

Indeed, Brightness Dragon Lord's schemes were why Tsaindorcus was now seriously considering whether he should intervene in the upcoming conflict brewing in the depths of the verdant ocean. Rhell's actions had led to a number of Night Liches scattering all over the center of the continent, causing mayhem wherever they went.

And there was still their unknown master as well…

'In the best case scenario, the two groups end up wiping each other out,' the Theocracy's growth was worrying him—that in conjunction with their pro-human doctrine and Player legacies was a combination with the potential to spiral out of control. 'Playerkin and Night Liches both have the possibility of developing into difficult problems.'

But if he interfered in the jungle's ongoing situation, there was a chance of awakening that being. Therefore, it was better for him to stay away from this particular conflict.

"Then I should head back to the Council States," Tsaindorcus muttered to himself. The Player's next actions were of greater importance than whatever campaign of vengeance the Theocracy was attempting to pursue in the Devagathapur. "If we apply diplomatic pressure on the Draconic Kingdom… Ah, what am I even thinking about?"

To deny young Oriculus the option to ensure the safety of her domain—even if she was relying on a Player—after all she had been through would be far too cruel. But did that really make it okay for him to let her and the Player run wild?

'You're too pessimistic,' he shook his head. 'They haven't given any reason to warrant that kind of response.'

After all, many Players had stood on the side of the World just like how some of his own kind had stood against it. A wearisome heaviness filled Tsaindorcus as he recalled the times he was forced to put an end to a number of his wayward brethren.

Was this such a case? Rhell's sudden surge of unexplainable activities, the Player and young Oriculus's vision for the future, the Theocracy and Night Liches clashing near the slumbering grounds of a living Cataclysm…

"The reward for work well done," Tsaindorcus mumbled in dry amusement as he drew up a portion of his vast pool of essence. "Is more work. 『World Teleportation』."

The Dragon Lord vanished, leaving only the whistling wind in his wake.