Chapter 4: We Do a Little Cooking. (she liked it! :D)

Lower Wind Month, 10th Day, 600 AGG

"—understood, High Vizier."

"Then leave," Varush Aanyaj huffed. Wartime logistics was a complete nightmare at the best of times, and a veritable hell when countless factions jockeyed for more resources, more chances to earn glory, more—

The door shut behind the feline orthrous with a loud thud, shaking the Buffalo Minotaur Lord out of his thoughts.

"Troublesome!" Indeed, he should have never accepted such a troublesome position! A younger, more naive version of him had taken it up with starry eyes, hoping to extend peace to outsiders and expand the culture of the Republic. Unfortunately for him, many on the Council had disagreed.

They agreed with him in the fact that expanding and absorbing outside cultures could give rise to new abilities and talents. They disagreed on whether said talents would be more useful compared to those brought out through conquest and blood.

In the end, even Varush couldn't confidently say they were being unreasonable. Strength of arms and magic were what ruled the world, and to divert resources to an alternative method with nebulous results at best—and outright useless at worst—was the height of foolishness.

The truth didn't make reality any easier to swallow though.

"What is Faa'zh thinking?!" he roared to the empty room. The mad tiger had yet again rallied his forces without permission from the Council. The plan had been to solidify their positions in the already occupied cities, but the blasted fool had sent a 『Message』just this morning informing Varush that he was pushing forwards.

"Hmph, it's not as if the warmongers on the Council care anyways," Varush calmed down and grumbled to himself. With Faa'zh Ro Kroh'or advancing their frontline, they would just have to scrap their initial decision to flank the troublesome Human Lord of the southeast.

Again, it seemed that the war would continue to stretch on and inflict bloody casualties on humans and demihumans alike despite his best efforts. The influence of a High Vizier only went so far after all.

The most he could do was try to ensure that the humans were conquered quickly and treated with dignity before being bred and slaughtered as livestock. Unfortunately, even that was proving to be an arduous task.

A tone ringed in his head.

"A『Message』, huh?" Varush leaned back in his chair and accepted the link.

『Varush Aanyaj, authorization sequence Dyau-Saath-Nu-Shrya-Dol. Identification and authorization?』

『Ithit Veejanu, authorization sequence $*%^!)$(!-*($ )-#$-%^-{:(#!.』the sender quickly replied. Seeing as no alert had been sent, Varush assumed the Vizier well-known for his reservedness was actually contacting him rather than it being a poor prank.

Not that any on the Council or local jurisdictions would dare play such a juvenile joke in the first place, not with the blood curses in place. However, it was rather surprising that Ithit had chosen now of all times to contact him.

Varush felt a pain in his stomach. This did not bode well.

『It is rare that you ever choose to talk to fellow Council members. What has changed your mind, Vizier Veejanu?』

『Pallavi.』A chill ran through the High Vizier's spine. 『I assume you have not heard, but our colleagues somehow persuaded her to go to the frontlines.』

'So they feel bold enough to sneak even this past me. A lack of a 'we' at least shows that Veejanu is not complicit.'

『Unsettling news, but I'm curious why you have decided to inform me.』Inside, Varush was cursing the Viziers for their foolishness. Had they so easily forgotten the diplomatic disaster that had occurred when she was sent to aid the City-State Alliance against the Centaur tribes? Her "leadership" had led to a catastrophic number of casualties for all parties involved.

The Republic had not received a similar request for military aid since.

Her strength and achievements were unquestionable. However, the only thing in her mind was the idea of strength. In a way, she was perhaps the paragon of everything their society stood for.

『Promising members of my clan have been placed under her command.』The Direwolf Orthrous bluntly said. Varush found himself nodding; an obvious ploy by elder Viziers to subdue a newcomer they felt was threatening their authority. 『I would like for you to—ah, how to say this—have me be put in the same division, so I may keep an eye on them.』

『Would it not be better to simply have them reassigned?』

『And have shame brought upon their bloodlines? I am a Rajan before I am a Vizier.』Ithit sharply responded. 『Even bringing it up would open myself up to questions regarding my clan's strength. No, it is far better for me to be assigned there; after all, I'm sure no one would object.』

'No, they would not. Because you would likely die,' Varush silently agreed. 『Very well. Try to keep a leash on her recklessness if you can.』

『I make no promises, High Vizier. But thank you.』With that closing statement, the 『Message』ended, casting a dark cloud over Varush's spirits.

Acquiescing to Pallavi's demands meant that the other Viziers wanted to bring the war to a quick end. More likely though was the possibility that they believed the humans to be too weak to inflict significant casualties despite allowing her to lead Republic forces.

It was true that the large majority of the humans were weak; however, they still had powerful champions like "Fierce Flash", "Azure Gale", among a few others. Serious losses could be avoided if they stuck to whittling down the humans, but now that they were apparently devoting a not-small chunk of their forces to what was looking to be a fierce offensive…

Varush had a bad feeling about this.

"I'll need to convene a session it seems," he sighed and pulled out a smooth crystalline orb from his Bag of Holding. It was well within his authority to demand an immediate session, but using it always led to complaints one way or another. "Call all available Council Viziers to meet at the Raswaran Dham."

Thankfully, no authorization sequences were needed to operate the orb. It had been attuned to him shortly after he had ascended to his current position.

The orb hummed as it lit up, a sign that it had successfully connected to the Vayul Archives. A few seconds later it made the sound of tinkling crystals before dimming, a sign that the 『Message』he wished to convey had properly been sent through the Archives and to their intended recipients.

Varush rumbled as he rose and prepared to leave for the nearest teleportation circle. It was certainly going to be a long and unpleasant day.

'Isholranth be with me.'

"Ugh," a cold chill washed over Draudillon as she downed another glass of wine. "Can't believe I'm feeling—hic!—colder."

"Erm, is it really okay if you drink that much?" Seph asked as she worriedly looked at the rapidly depleting wine bottle.

"Ahaha, it's okay, it's okay!" Draudillon slapped Seph's back. "I know—I know my uh, limits, mhm. I know them."

"No way! Getting drunk this early is definitely bad," Seph gently but firmly pulled the bottle out of Draudillon's grasp. "And you said you're going to be busy today too!"

"Nooo!" Draudillon immediately began weeping and grasped for the bottle. "Give it…give it back now. Right now!"

"She's so cute like this, maybe I should… No!" Seph shook her head as she stood up and held the bottle out of reach.

"You, I thought um… I thought you were nice, but you won't give—you won't give it back!" At this point, Draudillon was too drunk to notice Seph's squeaks of embarrassment as her body pressed against the angel's in an attempt to retrieve the last few drops of liquor.

"O-Okay, that's enough!" Seph slapped a hand over Draudillon's forehead, and a warm golden light enveloped the alcoholic.

"Just hurry up and give it—huh?" Draudillon blinked as she was brought out of her alcohol-induced stupor—

—And noticed just how close she was to Seph.

"Oh gods. I'm so sorry," she quickly pulled away. "I, I shouldn't have shown you such a shameful sight. I need to get rea—"

"It's no problem," Draudillon felt her stomach sink when Seph avoided her eyes. Of course she would be disgusted by some hag shoving their body against her. "Um, are you sure you're feeling better though? That was my first time using that ability on someone drunk sooo…"

"I'm fine, thank you," Draudillon mumbled. "I really shouldn't have been drinking so early."

"Great!" her heart nearly jumped out of her chest as Seph suddenly grabbed one of her hands. "If you ever need any help, well, I'm here!"

"It's unwise to offer your aid so easily," despite Draudillon's rebuke, she couldn't help but smile. "But I am grateful for the sentiment."

'Why am I so relieved to know that she doesn't find me disgusting?'

"—being unwise if it's you," Seph murmured to herself.

"Hm?"

"N-Nothing!"

"I see. If that's all, I need to prepare for the day," Draudillon shifted through the Bag of Holding she used in place of a wardrobe. "Could I ask you to turn around?"

"'Kay," Seph covered her eyes and turned around as she seemed to rifle through… something. "By the way."

"Yes?" the dragon queen pulled out one of the detestable high-low hem dresses she had gotten so accustomed to wearing. Revealing her legs for the sake of appealing to people's 'protective' instincts was the least she could do for her kingdom, she supposed.

"Today uh," Seph hesitated for a moment. "Could I go hangout with those guards that came with us on that trip? Since I promised that I would teach them how to play Go-Fish and all, y'know?"

Draudillon considered the request as she shrunk herself down and put on the dress. "I'm glad that you're making friends, but do remember that they're working right now. They're also spread out over the castle grounds, so you might have difficulty in getting them all together."

"Then I'll just play a round with all of them one-by-one!" Seph smugly declared.

"..." Draudillon could only sigh in response. "Please don't cause any trouble."

"I won't," Seph turned around and gave her a reassuring smile. At least, that's what Draudillon thought she was doing. "Promise!"

"I'll take your word for it then," Draudillon shrugged and brushed her hair back. "Speaking of which, I'm surprised my Royal Guardmages didn't ask you for an audience after you brought us all back with 『Gate』this morning."

"Oh!" Seph slapped her forehead. "That's what I was forgetting."

'They did seem rather excited when we got back,' Draudillon snorted in amusement. "Try to remember your promises. Anyways, I have to go meet with some of my advisors."

"See ya!" Seph waved to her as she left her chambers and closed the door behind her.

"Agustin," Draudillon addressed the captain of the Royal Guards standing outside the room. "Gather all of the guards that were assigned with me during our visit to the Duke. The Priestess wants to continue whatever it was you all were doing yesterday."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Guard Captain Agustin nodded and turned around to the junior guard next to him. "Lad, you go with Her Majesty."

"Y-Yes!" the young man straightened his back and stiffly bowed towards her. "At your service, Your Majesty!"

Agustin sighed before turning back to look at Draudillon. "I'll also send some other guards your way, Your Majesty."

"Excellent," Draudillon smiled in response and set off to her first meeting of the day.

Discussing finances with the Treasurer. Fantastic.

'That went on for the entire day,' Draudillon bit back a groan of relief as she finally left the Treasurer's room.

As always, the state of the Treasury was terrible, hearing about how terrible it was put her in a terrible mood, and all in all, her day was terrible.

'Of course, the tribute to the Empire and Theocracy are by no means small, but a good number of our problems are coming from our supply line, Your Majesty,' Draudillon frowned as she mulled over the main issue the Treasurer had brought up.

It was infuriating—and more than a little disheartening—to hear about how bandits were the biggest problem with the kingdom's logistics. They were in the middle of a war where losing meant being relegated to livestock, yet some people took advantage of this chance to enrich themselves at the cost of everyone else.

"I wonder if that Jircniv would send more knights over if I assigned them low-risk positions like guarding the supply lines?" Draudillon wondered to herself before her stomach rumbled. 'Chefs should still be in the kitchen, hopefully.'

Eating stored meals felt unpleasant even if they were stored in enchanted preservation containers. It was a small blessing that the kitchen was near the Treasurer's temporary office.

She felt a small twinge of pity for the Treasurer. Certainly, he had assistants aplenty, but wartime logistics was a complex problem that required communication with multiple other ministers and noble houses.

"—Draudillon?" Draudillon jolted as a familiar voice came from behind her. "You didn't get anything to eat yet?"

Seph looked at her curiously, awaiting an answer to her question.

"I haven't, no," she admitted. "Today's been a rather long day."

"Yeah, you were in that office all day," Seph commiserated, tilting her head. "Did you eat lunch?"

"... no," Draudillon admitted, coughing into a fist to cover her blush. "Again, long day."

Did the angel think her incapable of taking care of herself? How mortifying.

"Hm, um, well if you haven't eaten anything," Seph hurriedly pulled out a container and spoon from seemingly nowhere and held it out to her. "I made some food earlier. Uh, if you want any, that is!"

Oh.

'Oh.'

"I—thank you," Draudillon carefully kept the emotion from her voice as she gingerly received the container and utensil. "When did you…?"

"Just a few hours ago," Seph bashfully grinned. "You can only play card games for so long, y'know? I was going back to help with cleaning up and stuff. Your kitchen staff are really nice!"

"That's good," Draudillon didn't know what to say. It was just food, but her chest felt… tight. In an odd, comfortable way.

"Did you have a good day?" Draudillon settled on something safe. Besides, she was rather curious as to what the angel got up to.

"Yeah!" Seph startled. "It was great. Made some new friends, ate some nice food, and tested out a few things. How about you? How was work?"

"While I would enjoy complaining about it, I would enjoy it more while sitting down," Draudillon wryly smiled.

"A-Ah!" Seph wringed her hands in apology. "Sorry! I didn't mean to hold you up!"

"It's no problem," Draudillon waved it off. "I appreciate the consideration."

"『Gate』," Seph unceremoniously opened a portal with a wave of her hand before staring at her.

"What?" Draudillon stared back, causing Seph to fidget.

"We're um, going back to your room, right? Oh my God, if I just assumed and got the location wrong—"

"No, I was planning on returning to my room," Draudillon cut her off. "But you used a Ninth-Tier spell when we could've walked there in a few minutes?"

"Wellll," Seph sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "It's really convenient?"

'Unbelievable,' Draudillon shook her head and walked through the rift, greeted by the welcome sight of her room on the other side. 'The Court Mages would weep if they heard this.'

Yuriko plopped onto her bed and watched expectantly while Draudillon set the container on a table and opened it.

The dragon queen froze as the scent trickled into her nose.

'Meat and bean soup,' Draudillon took a sip. The seasoning was a bit off but…

"Thank you," she said sincerely, doing her best to ignore the dampness from her eyes. "You undersalted it though."

"G-Guh?!" Seph dramatically put a hand over her heart and fell back-first onto the bed. "At least it wasn't oversalted…"

Draudillon exhaled, her lips twitching in amusement as she took another bite. "So, 'new friends'?"

"Oooh, right!" Seph excitedly pushed herself back up from the bed. "So first, Agustin. He like, helped me find all of the people, um, I think they were Clara, Roque, Mira, Fernan—"

"It's alright, Seph," Draudillon rolled her eyes. "I know the names of my guards."

"Right, so I showed off some of my less erm, flashy spells," Seph paused and cautiously looked at her. Draudillon arched an eyebrow.

"Is it something I should be worried about?"

"N-No!" Seph rapidly shook her head.

Draudillon slowly took another bite, keeping her gaze on Seph.

"Okay, there was a little bit of damage, but we fixed everything!" Seph relented with a pout. "But yeah, Roque and Mira—the two mages—were reeeally excited.

"It was kinda overwhelming," she shivered. "But don't tell them I said that!"

"Your secrets are safe with me," Draudillon smirked. "And the card game you mentioned?"

"Eh," Seph made a so-so gesture. "It was fun, but like I said, card games sorta get boring after a while, y'know? That's when we started showing each other stuff like spells and Martial Arts. Never seen anything like it before."

"Martial Arts didn't exist in your homeland?" Draudillon was baffled. Great-grandfather had explained how the Draconic Kingdom was located in the backwater of backwaters, yet knowledge of Martial Arts was widespread even in this region.

Just what kind of bizarre place could birth a being like Sephyrelia yet have no exposure to Martial Arts?

"Uhhh," Seph seemed stumped. "No?"

"I see," Draudillon made to take another spoonful before realizing that the container was empty. Disappointed, she laid the container and spoon off to the side. "I'm glad you got along with them."

"Mhm," Seph agreed. "Sooo, work?"

"Not the best," Draudillon grimaced. "Aside from the usual problems, recently our supply lines have been plagued by a sudden influx of bandits."

"Usual problems?"

"Tributes to the Baharuth Empire and Slane Theocracy," Draudillon looked off into the distance. "Requisitioning more food and resources from the populace. Previously safe roads becoming hazards since Adventurers aren't there to clear out monsters anymore."

Draudillon smiled bitterly. "You chose a poor time to visit, unfortunately."

"I can help."

"You might be better off leav—what?"

"If it's just people messing with your supply lines, I can have some summons accompany them," Seph clarified. "That's if, if you're okay with that."

"Summons?" Draudillon straightened her back. "I mean no insult, but do you even have the mana for that? To protect—"

"My summons don't expire," Seph cut in, head lowered and face covered by a curtain of hair. "I-I'm sorry for not telling you earlier."

"It's…"

Okay? Draudillon felt a surge of anger run through her. She had the ability to help all along and did nothing. Seph spent a whole week in the east and did absolutely nothing about the Beastmen threat.

How could she possibly say it was 'okay'? No harm done? Don't feel bad about it?

'She doesn't owe you anything,' Draudillon took a deep breath in and calmed herself.

That was right. They hadn't even known each other for that long, yet Seph was still offering to help with a situation she barely understood.

'What the hell is wrong with you, Draudillon?' she chastised herself. 'It would be so easy for her to just leave and ignore this entire mess, but she's choosing to help.'

"... It's fine. But you should really consider what you're getting into."

'I can't even imagine how powerful she truly is, yet I don't want her dragged into this mess.'

"You're probably angry at me, right?" Seph emptily chuckled. "I knew what was going on, but I was stupid and didn't want to kill—"

"Seph," Draudillon sat next to her on the bed. "Breathe."

"But I don't need to," a small smile appeared on Seph's face. "I—"

"It's not stupid to not want to kill," Draudillon firmly stated. "To tell you the truth, I was angry at first."

'At you, myself, this world… but mostly myself for even considering taking advantage of you. Someone who has no stake in this conflict yet showed me kindness nonetheless.'

"Sorr—" Seph was looking down again, not meeting her eyes. Draudillon's heart ached at the sight.

"But you have nothing to be sorry for. You're not the one attacking this kingdom. You're certainly not the one committing countless atrocities against civilians," Seph startled as Draudillon laid a tender hand over one of hers.

"Your homeland must have been peaceful in comparison," she tried to cheer Seph up. "Perhaps you can take me to see it one day."

"It wasn't as good as you think it is," Seph dryly replied. "I hope you never have to see it."

"We'll see," Draudillon hummed and sat in silence for a moment before speaking up again. "Take some time to think about what you're offering. Don't let me or my words guilt you into doing something you think you'll regret."

"You're an—idiot," Seph sniffed and surreptitiously wiped her eyes. "You're the one in real danger, and you're worried about me."

'Gods, I really have grown too soft, huh?' Draudillon sadly smiled. "It's not your duty to clean up after my own incompetence."

"You're not incompetent," Seph heatedly responded. "You work so hard all the time, and—"

A panicked knocking on the door interrupted Seph. The angel gave her a quick look before hiding on the floor behind the bed.

Since she hadn't changed or transformed yet, Draudillon decided to deal with this now rather than later.

In retrospect, she should have just left it for tomorrow.

"Hi! Does mister have a letter for me?" she opened the door and saw a courier sweating bullets. Her heart sank as she took in the man's grim expression.

'Please, no.'

"Your Majesty!" he thrust a worn and beaten-up envelope towards her. "News from Duke Carthalo!"

'Please don't be what I think it is.'

Draudillon could barely keep her hands from shaking as she received the missive from the courier. Cold dread settled into her chest as she hoped—prayed—that it wasn't what she feared it was.

'Please.'

"Thank you," she nodded at the courier before addressing one of the guards by her door, dropping her childish act. "Vicente, please escort him."

She waited for the guard and courier to leave before closing the door behind her with a heavy thud and a heavier heart.

Draudillon opened the envelope, the pounding of her heart drowning out every other sound.

"—" Seph was saying something she couldn't hear.

The words on the letter burned, a condemnation of all her failures.

Reports of forces moving to attack Mohajar. Riding out immediately.

- Viebaile Rilfim Del Carthalo

'Fuck.'