Chapter 13: Didn't know gamers would be such a big deal, geez.

Lower Wind Month, 21st Day, 600 AGG

"They didn't even notify us beforehand."

"Um, Draudillon?"

"Just because they've sent a little bit of help, they think they're entitled to have me at their beck and call," Draudillon ranted as she rummaged through her Bag of Holding for an outfit that would suit an impromptu diplomatic meeting. "Yes, Yuriko?"

"Sooo," the angel anxiously wrung her hands. "I've never been to something like this before—or at least not with what I'm guessing is someone super important—so uh, what should I do?"

"Don't mention your origins," Draudillon immediately replied. "I have no idea how the Theocracy would respond to something like that. Also, try to avoid insulting them or make any commitments outright."

"Okay," Yuriko nodded with a determined gleam in her eyes. "I can do that."

Draudillon immediately felt worried.

'No, it'll be fine,' she tried to convince herself as Yuriko turned away to let her change clothes. 'I have faith in her.'

"Cardinal Santini," Draudillon greeted the Cardinal in a respectful tone. "It's an honor to have you grace these lands."

"Queen Oriculus," the Cardinal gently smiled in a grandmotherly way. Draudillon didn't trust that smile at all. "I trust you've been in good health?"

"Of course. I apologize for our lacking accommodations."

"Please don't concern yourself over it," the Cardinal graciously dismissed. "It's our fault for coming on such short notice. I told my colleagues that there wasn't anything to worry about, but with everything going on in the world recently, they simply insisted."

'No surprise there. They probably heard about Yuriko and felt threatened,' it was a ridiculous fear to hold, but then again, they didn't know the angel like she did. "An understandable sentiment. I would imagine that you have questions about the relationship between our nations going forward then."

"If that is acceptable to you, Queen Oriculus," Berenice took a sip of water. "Although if you require more time to come to a conclusive decision, then please feel free to take as long as you need. This is an important question for all of us after all."

'Damn bitch insulting my intelligence,' Draudillon narrowed her eyes by just the slightest amount. "Then you may inform your fellow Cardinals and leaders that the Draconic Kingdom has no plans to change the status quo with regards to the Slane Theocracy in the foreseeable future."

"They'll be glad to hear that," Berenice's smile looked a little more unaffected. "I'm sure we also don't need to provide a reminder that our involvement with the affairs of the Draconic Kingdom should be kept from becoming too well-known, yes?"

"Of course," Draudillon smiled even while she tightly clenched her fists under the table. "We both stand to gain from such an arrangement."

'Or rather, your people would riot in the streets if they knew their leadership was sending aid to a 'mongrel' like me,' the dragon queen sardonically thought to herself.

"Excellent," Berenice relaxed her posture by a nearly imperceptible amount, something that Draudillon wouldn't have caught were it not for her experience in rulership. "It's so very refreshing to deal with someone competent. I'm sure you've heard, but the recent events up north have been extraordinarily vexing."

Draudillon caught a peek of Yuriko from the side of her eye. The poor angel looked completely and utterly lost as she attempted to parse what was going on. The dragon queen resolved to clarify the meeting for her later. "I've heard. It's saddening to see that people cannot stand together even while humanity is besieged by their neighbors."

"Indeed," Berenice sighed, looking much older and tired. "May the gods guide us in these trying times."

'Gods, huh…' she felt like she was on the verge of understanding something important.

"But I presume you came here for another reason as well, Cardinal," Draudillon's question was more of a statement. "Surely just not to confirm what we both already know."

"Of course, of course," the Cardinal of Fire gave a warm but wary look at the inattentive Yuriko, whose eyes were beginning to glaze over. Draudillon kicked her from under the table.

"Bwuh?!" the angel who had begun to doze off jolted in her chair. "Wh-What's happening?"

"It's an honor to meet you face to face, O Lady of Wings," Berenice lowered her head in respect, not seeing how Yuriko's face cringed at the epithet. "Words of your deeds precede you."

'She's showing quite a bit of respect to Yuriko,' Draudillon kept her face impassive as she watched the two interact. She had to confess, she was curious how this exchange would pan out.

"Er-Erm, you can just call me Yuriko," she awkwardly scratched her neck with a nervous chuckle. "And I, um, just did what anyone else would've done in my position."

"If only that were true, Lady Yuriko," Berenice muttered sadly and gave the angel an appraising look. "Anyhow, we would be privileged to have you come visit us whenever you're free."

'And there it is. Their attempt to bring her over,' Draudillon found herself growing annoyed. Even more than her annoyance, she was worried. Worried that Yuriko would take the Cardinal up on her offer. After all, why should she limit herself to just one piddling kingdom that couldn't give anything to her?

"U-Um," Draudillon's heart jumped into her throat as Yuriko lowered her eyes to the table.

"I'm really grateful for the offer, but," she directed an unsure but sincere smile at the dragon queen. "Maybe… Maybe Draudillon and I could come visit after we sort out all the stuff here. It's just that things are kinda busy right now, y'know? Thanks, uh, for the offer though!"

'I'll prove that your trust in me isn't misplaced,' Draudillon swore to herself. It was almost frightening how such a simple answer could make her feel so relieved.

"I see," the slightest undercurrent of disappointment ran through the Cardinal's voice. "We'll pray for the quick defeat of the beastmen forces then. When the time comes, you and Queen Oriculus will be more than welcomed in our nation."

'If she stopped pushing so easily then their main goal was to probe Yuriko,' Draudillon nodded. "Then we shall look forward to that time as well. If there's anything else you wish to ask about, Cardinal, we will strive to answer to the best of our abilities."

"Is that so…" Berenice's eyes sharpened as she beheld Draudillon. "Then at the risk of sounding impolite, are you aware of who Lady Yuriko is?"

"I don't understand," Draudillon smoothly lied even while her blood ran cold. "She's just herself, is she not?"

'They know. They know about Players and Yggdrasil and who knows what else about the things Yuriko told me.'

"Of course, of course," Berenice smiled in satisfaction—and was that relief? "It was a worthless question; I apologize."

"Uhhh, I'm right here—" Yuriko spoke up but promptly stopped when Draudillon kicked her leg again. "Err, nevermind."

"With all that said, we shall take our leave then," Berenice stood up from her seat, Draudillon and Yuriko rising alongside her. "Again, I apologize for suddenly imposing upon you two like this, Queen Oriculus. Lady Yuriko. I pray that the light of the gods shine upon your paths."

"And you as well, Cardinal," Draudillon reciprocated with a well-practiced smile.

"Yeah, thanks for coming!" Yuriko waved. Berenice smiled in amusement before leaving with her paladin escorts.

"Wow, she was pretty nice—" Draudillon dragged Yuriko towards her and muttered into her ear. "Wait until we get back into my room."

The angel's eyes widened before narrowing again with a serious shine in them. The pair quickly made their way to Draudillon's bedroom, the raven-haired queen letting out a relieved exhale as she closed the door behind them.

"I was worried about divination magic," she immediately answered Yuriko's unspoken question. "This room is warded against most conventional methods, so it should be safer to speak here."

"Oh. Hm," Yuriko gravely nodded. "You still have the mantle I gave you right?"

"Yes?" Draudillon questioningly looked at Yuriko as she pulled the Mantle of the Star Realms out of her Bag of Holding.

"Okay, so put it on," Yuriko motioned for her to continue.

"Are you going to tell me what this is about now?" Draudillon asked impatiently after clasping the mantle around her shoulders.

"The mantle gives some divination resistance," Yuriko casually said something ridiculous again. "So between that and your room's wards, it should be pretty safe to talk."

"I…" Draudillon took a moment to find her voice. She was suddenly very aware of just how much money was wrapped around her at the moment. "You didn't mention the divination resistance part before."

"I forgot," Yuriko sheepishly scratched her nose. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize," Draudillon lightly scolded her. "You don't need to apologize when you haven't done anything wrong. I want you to remember that."

"Right, sorr—I mean, right. I'll remember that," the angel awkwardly coughed into her fist. "So, erm, what did you want to talk about?"

"The Theocracy," Yuriko straightened her back at the heavy tone in Draudillon's voice. "They knew about your origins."

"Huh," Yuriko thought about it for a few seconds before shaking her head. "So like, they have a player in their country or something?"

"It's not impossible," Draudillon admitted. "I doubt it though. If they harbored a person of your caliber, this entire region would know of them. No, I think they've had experiences with Players in the past."

"That's pretty neat," Yuriko frowned. "But that would mean that they came to this world before I did even though the game ended at the same time for all of us."

"Do you know anything about the history of this part of the continent?" Draudillon asked, fully expecting a 'no'.

"Nope," Okay, close enough. "So players arrived a reeeally long time ago?"

"I can't say for sure, but with what you told me, I believe it's likely," she grabbed a stray piece of parchment and a quill that had been strewn over her desk. "So around five-hundred years ago, eight beings that we now call the Greed Kings appeared and brought great calamity to this part of the world. More recently—if you could call two-hundred years recent—the Demon Gods did the same."

Draudillon drew eight stick figures with evil smiley faces. "Non-human races were slaughtered by the Greed Kings, and the old masters of the world—the True Dragon Lords—became nearly extinct. Nations built themselves in the wake of that destruction only to be decimated by the rise of the Demon Gods."

'Though the tale of how the Demon Gods were defeated feels too artificial,' Draudillon wondered. 'Were they really Players if they lost so easily to a cobbled together coalition?' She couldn't imagine anything aside from another Player or a True Dragon Lord beating Yuriko even through underhanded means.

"Um!" Yuriko raised her hand. "Who were the True Dragon Lords?"

"Dragon Lords who could use Wild Magic," Draudillon carefully avoided Yuriko's eyes. "Magic powered by soul essence, in other words."

'Like me.'

"Oh, okay," Yuriko sagely nodded as if she instantly understood everything there was to know about Wild Magic. "That's cool."

Draudillon couldn't help but to crack a smile in secret relief. "Anyways, the Eight Greed Kings once poised to conquer the world suddenly fell victim to infighting and all perished." the dragon queen drew an 'X' over the eyes of the eight stick figures. "You might be wondering how this relates to the Theocracy."

"How does this relate to the Theocracy?" Yuriko leaned closer to her. Draudillon immediately felt fuzzy and cozy on the inside. "Did one of the Greed Kings help create it?"

"No, they killed the last surviving god of the Theocracy," Draudillong bluntly corrected her. "Surshana, their god of death."

"The Greed Kings seem kinda…" Yuriko struggled to find the right words. "Crazy. And I'm guessing you're trying to say that they're like me?"

"Along with the Six Great Gods of the Theocracy," Draudillon inclined her head before quickly correcting herself. "I'm only saying they're like you in the most superficial ways. I don't mean to call you—"

"I get it, Draudillon," the angel reassuringly squeezed her shoulder. "People are all different, and I guess some of them just—become like the Greed Kings and Demon dudes when they get a ton of power."

"Yes," the dragon queen's shoulders relaxed. "That's what I meant. You are nothing like them, in the best possible sense."

"Th-Thanks," Yuriko released her grip to Draudillon's dismay. "So, the Six Great Gods and Demon dudes were probably players like me and the Greed Kings. What happened to the rest of them? Why was Surshana the only one who got killed?"

"It's unknown," the dragon queen shrugged. "Perhaps they wandered elsewhere. Perhaps they died. Either way, they no longer play a hand in the day-to-day running of the Slane Theocracy aside from any legacies they may have left. And the 'Demon dudes' may not have been Players at all seeing how they were defeated so… conveniently."

"I think they died," Yuriko grew somber. "Of old age. 'Cause humanoids were really popular since they were pretty balanced and you could get more job classes because racial levels weren't eating up your level limit."

Her hand gripped the table ever-so-slightly harder. "I wonder how that Surshana guy felt. To still be around even when all your friends died must have been awful."

"This may be the first time I've ever thought of the gods as mere humans," Draudillon laid her hand over the angel's and attempted to comfort her. "Whatever life they may have led in this world, it surely must have been better than what they'd gone through in theirs."

"Yeah," Yuriko bobbed her head up and down, good cheer restored. "No point worrying about old dead guys! Though it's pretty weird that they made a whole religion around themselves."

"It may not have been intentional. People admire the strong," Draudillon put the parchment with her poor drawings—at least her people maybe liked the childish doodles?—away. "That's about all I wanted to bring up for now. Just be careful."

"Because there's some people who might've been screwed over by players like me?"

"Precisely," Draudillon looked away from Yuriko. "Surviving True Dragon Lords, for one."

'I wouldn't ever hurt you. But I already have, haven't I? Forced you to kill. Forced you to stain your hands in a conflict that you had no stakes in. Could I ever really prove that you were right to put your trust in me? Even as I still keep secrets of my own from you?'

"Hm," the angel hummed in response. "Since no one's come after me yet, it should probably be fine as long as I don't go on some crazy-psycho-killer rampage, right?"

"Right," she confirmed. "And don't flaunt it around. I'm glad you told me, but it might be safer to keep it hidden given the strength of your potential enemies."

"Alright! That's easy then!" Yuriko placed a hand on her slender bicep. "I'm super good at keeping secrets!"

"Are you?" Draudillon dryly replied. "With all that said, I believe you wanted to ask me something before we were interrupted by the Theocracy's visit?"

"O-Oh," Yuriko fumbled for words. "It's just—Could I maybe ask you about it after the war with the beastmen is over?"

"Okay," Draudillon felt a pang of disappointment. "That's fine."

"Mm! More reason to finish the war faster, right?" Yuriko tried to joke. "Nevermind, that was a pretty bad joke—"

"When the war's over," Draudillon interrupted her, filled with a sudden surge of determination. "I have something I need to tell you too."

"Really?!" Yuriko almost leapt with excitement. "Wow, um—I didn't expect that we'd maybe do it at the same time—"

'I'll tell you exactly what it means to be a True Dragon Lord.'

"Okay, sheesh, I'm getting way too excited, sor—right, need to stop apologizing for dumb stuff. I'm probably just misunderstanding—"

'And that I'm one of them.'

『So what were your thoughts?』Raymond Zarg Lauransan asked in a commendably calm voice. Anyone with less discipline would not have been able to respond in such a fashion.

『Queen Oriculus seems to be unaware of Lady Yuriko's true nature. If she did, the woman was truly foolish to have shown such disrespect to the being during our meeting. Besides, was it necessary to use a Fourth-Tier scroll on a mere 『Message』?』Berenice bemusedly smiled in the empty carriage.

『It's not a waste if the topic is important. That aside, it's good that the queen is unaware, but what of the Lady of Wings herself?』

『She hates being called that apparently.』the unassuming carriage ran smoothly even while it hit a bump in the forest road. 『Beyond her inherent strength, I doubt she poses a risk to humanity.』

『What's your reasoning for that? Does she truly have no weaknesses that may cause her to snap?』

『She rescued an entire city and was seemingly satisfied with just a public commendation of her actions. Either Queen Oriculus is running a very dangerous scam, or Lady Yuriko was satisfied with that little.』

The possibility of being charmed wasn't even worth bringing up. Powerful beings were innately resistant against such effects, and Berenice highly doubted the Dark Scale Dragon Lord possessed enough proficiency to accomplish a similar feat via Wild Magic.

How could Draudillon Oriculus ever enthrall a divine being when the most she ever did with her abilities was to take on the appearance of a child?

『Or there's nothing the Draconic Kingdom has to offer that she would think to be a worthwhile reward.』Raymond pointed out. 『Although it's also a possibility that she received knowledge of Wild Magic as compensation.』

The two fell into a brief moment of silence. Wild Magic, the birthright of the Dragon Lords of old, which allowed them to wield the essence of the soul to devastating effect.

Dark Scale Dragon Lord, or Draudillon Oriculus, was one such user of the primeval magic and had likely been personally tutored by Brightness Dragon Lord.

『So what?』Berenice scoffed. 『Having knowledge of it doesn't she'd be able to wield it herself. Even our Six Great Gods were never said to have been able to use such an ability. Besides, she even stayed a few days afterwards to resurrect as many of the fallen as possible for practically nothing.』

『Maybe.』Raymond relented. 『There were surprisingly few casualties on the demihumans' side.』

『Mercy is the domain of the strong.』Berenice would have shrugged if Raymond was physically there. 『What matters is that she stood on the side of humanity. After all, didn't we decide to let that Aindra girl go even after she protected a demihuman settlement from the Sunlight Scripture?』

『This is several orders of magnitude more severe.』Raymond wryly responded. 『And we have a much better understanding of Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra than we do this Lady Yuriko.』

『I don't disagree with that. I simply believe it's better to leave her and her affairs alone.』

『Should we pull out our people from the Draconic Kingdom then?』Raymond sounded supremely tired. 『Canceling the defense deal we have with them will make logistics for our war against the elves a little more difficult, but I believe it should be manageable if everyone ends up agreeing with you.』

『No. Queen Oriculus saw fit to maintain the deal. Lady Yuriko didn't even find it worth her attention.』

『I see… In this case, we should strive to establish positive relations with them.』Despite his exhaustion, he seemed to be in high spirits. 『There's no need to take unnecessary actions that might end up creating a powerful enemy.』

『Indeed.』Berenice thought about the abominable Elf King. She whole-heartedly supported the war of retribution against the disgusting trash, but even she knew that the Theocracy's decision to acquiesce to Certain Death's request had launched them into an unnecessary war.『At the very least, she's reasonable. That much can't be said for most powerful beings. Perhaps we might even receive the chance to petition for aid against the Elf Country.』

The detestable Greed Kings who had slain Lord Surshana were a prime example of the mighty doing whatever they wished.

『Whatever we choose to do, we should conclude our war with the Elf Country first.』Raymond decided.『Juggling two critical issues at once wouldn't lead to anything good.』

『I suppose.』The Cardinal of Fire reluctantly agreed. What if the aid they received could turn the tides in the Theocracy's favor? That way, fewer good men and women would have to die in the cursed forest of the elves. 『On another note, how about that traitor? Did you manage to catch her?』

『We have not.』Berenice could see Raymond's grimace even from many leagues away. 『We followed her trail all the way to E-Rantel before it suddenly went cold. Even the best resources of the Clearwater and Windflower Scriptures were unable to produce any hints.』

『Zurrernorn…』She muttered with a hateful undertone. 『I wonder just how many of the Theocracy's secrets she's already spilled so far.』

『There's no point in stressing over it now. We'll wait until the Black Scripture has subdued Catastrophe Dragon Lord and then assign them to hunt down Clementine.』

『As long as you don't send her brother. Actually, didn't the two have a rather contentious relationship? His presence might lure her out.』

『It's cruel to consider, but we may have to in this case. I'll bring it up again the next time we meet with all our colleagues. Safe travels, Santini.』Raymond wrapped things up and closed the 『Message』.

"And so the world shakes with the presence of the divine once more," Berenice muttered to herself as she looked out into the distance.

She could only pray this tremor would not bring ruination to mankind.