Chapter 32: We talked about stuff! (levels, resurrections, and uh… um, yeah! Stuff!)

Upper Fire Month, 18th Day, 600 AGG

"Hell yeah, knock that shit back!" Romas slapped Freire on his back as he slammed down another empty wooden mug. "Let's fuckin' go!"

"Give me a moment," Freire gasped for breath even while Romas shoved another mug into his hand. "Fuck, how do you do this all the time?"

"By doin' it all the damn time!" Romas chuckled and tossed back his own drink. "C'mon, night's still young! Gotta pour some more in there while we got the time!

"You sure?" Freire glanced at all the mugs they had already emptied. "Ale and grain prices have been going up… I really don't mind paying—"

"Freire," he startled at Romas's glare. "I invited ya out here, and I'm damn well gonna make sure ya have a good time. Don't worry 'bout the fuckin' money."

"Right, right," Freire sighed as he took a more moderate gulp of his drink. "Duke's son."

Romas shrugged, not pausing in his unending consumption of alcohol.

Honestly, Freire was surprised that the taverns and other establishments of Mohajar were running so smoothly just a month after the beastmen invasion. Things weren't back to normal, and he doubted they ever would, but the speed at which the city returned to relative normalcy was unnerving.

He shook his head and tried to drink away the unease. It was probably just discomfort associated with a sudden shift in the status quo.

"Hey," Romas lightly punched his bicep. "What're ya lookin' all worked up for?"

"Nothing," Freire put his mug down. "Nevermind, it's not nothing. I get that the angels are keeping everything in line—" a many-armed angel with an intricately designed mask glided past the tavern's window. "But how's everyone just… acting like nothing's changed?"

"It's Her Majesty," Romas's good cheer faded away. "Least that's what Father thinks."

"Her Majesty?" Freire raised an eyebrow. It was true that experienced people in authoritative military positions had skills that assisted in enhancing the operation of a unit, but for a similar effect to be able to expand over the entire kingdom…

The prospect was a little frightening. He supposed he should just be glad that Queen Oriculus was a benevolent ruler.

"It's just a guess," Romas scowled and drained the last drops of his ale. "Not like there's any way for him to know for sure."

"Yeah, I guess…" Freire decided to lay the topic to rest. Like Romas said, testing a monarch-exclusive ability that subtly influenced the whole of a kingdom's population was dangerous. It would be too difficult to control an experiment conducted on such a massive scale and that was all assuming Queen Oriculus would assent to the proposal. "Your dad's duchy is still on bad terms with the Crown, isn't it?"

"Hard to say," it felt strange to see his partner so serious. Freire bitterly chuckled inside his head; despite how annoying he used to find Romas, the way they were before was infinitely preferable to their current somberness. "Bastard's done like, a complete fuckin' 'bout-face. Old bastard used to hate talkin' 'bout Her Majesty, and now all he does is go on and on 'bout how we need to support her and shit."

"Did he tell you why? Er," Freire suddenly remembered that a rank-and-file soldier like him probably shouldn't be privy to information that sensitive. "Forget I asked about that."

"Na, it's fine," Romas scoffed, leaning back against his chair. "I dunno. Just started actin' all different after the demis got whipped by the angel. Who the hell knows what goes through that bastard's head…"

'Fear? Respect?' Freire fell into deep contemplation as Romas called over another wench and began flirting with them. 'It is thanks to Her Majesty that the angel came to our aid…'

"Fuck it," he mumbled and nodded in thanks to the woman who set more drinks down on their table before finally pulling herself away from his partner. "Someone like me can't really do anything about those kinds of big problems anyways."

"What was that?" Romas distractedly asked; his eyes too busy roaming around for another poor girl to pick up. "Sorry, was a little busy."

"Don't worry about it," Freire dryly smiled and set to finishing the newly laid out drinks. "Nothing we have to worry about."

Their table was too quiet even with the energetic ambience that surrounded them. Freire felt lost, set adrift like a boat being tossed around by the currents of Dragon-Throat Reach.

What was laying ahead in the future of the Draconic Kingdom? The weary soldier didn't know.

Hopefully, Queen Oriculus could figure something out. After all, she had kept them from falling apart even during the height of the beastmen incursions.

"Freire," Romas turned back to face him, putting an end to his perturbed thoughts. "I've got a little question for ya."

"What's up?" What was it now? He had the feeling that it was going to be something big and troublesome. "And before you annoy me about it, I'm not trying to hook up with any women here."

"Not that," Romas raised their mug and swirled it around at Freire. "I was just wonderin'; if you're so damn strong, why'd you go and decide to join the army?"

"What makes you think I'm strong?" Freire bit back a wince. This subject was one he had been hoping wouldn't be brought up.

"That Bafolk swordsman wasn't some chump anyone could fight against," Romas stared him in the eye. "Hell, we held out against that asshole. Fucker could've wiped an entire squad by himself, easy."

"Your point?" The words came out harsher than he intended. "Doesn't matter now, not with the angels around."

"Why didn't ya just become an adventurer?" Romas quietly asked. "Ya didn't have to put your neck out for the kingdom and join the army. Would've been easy too—you're like what, Platinum? Mithril?"

"I don't really want to talk about it," Freire snapped and stood up from his chair. He was thankful that the ale was light; being drunk would only get in the way of leaving as quickly as possible. "I've got my own reasons for doing things."

"Shit. Look man, I'm sorry," Romas got up alongside him, albeit a little unsteadier than Freire, and followed him out the tavern—though not before leaving a pile of coins on their table. "I was just curious, yanno? Not tryin' to get ya in trouble or nothin'."

"Cool. Now you know I don't want people bringing it up," Freire answered in a clipped voice. "There wasn't a need to show off until the damn demis attacked, and there won't ever be a reason to show off again. It doesn't matter anymore, so just drop it."

"Fine, fine," Romas raised their hands in an attempt to calm him down. "Just askin' man—Oi, watch it!"

"M-Move out of my way!" A drunk man who couldn't have been older than twenty-two tried to push his way past Romas. Judging by his sharp—though admittedly disheveled—attire, he had to belong to a noble house or merchant family. "Gods-damn it, can't—can't even fucking walk straight a-around here! Fuck."

"Videl?" Romas muttered in surprise. "Videl Salindar?"

Romas knew him? No, it shouldn't be a surprise; as the heir to the Carthalo dukedom, it was to be expected for him to be well-acquainted with the nobility of the Draconic Kingdom—and especially those hailing from the east.

'I'm pretty sure a good number of the noble families got eaten though,' Freire grimly thought. The complete decimation of the noble families administering the lands surrounding Caldevera and Almersia was a problem that dwarfed even the Draconic Kingdom's impending food crisis. Just like how the angels could not conjure food out of thin air, they were also incapable of leading the peasantry. 'But the Lady of Wings is resurrecting them, isn't she?'

"Huh?" The nobleman squinted and wiped at his eyes. "The, the hell are you? Fucking—shit, spares mucking around our land…"

"He's drunk off his ass," Romas had a pitying look in his eyes as he wrapped Videl's arm around his shoulder. "Let's take him back to the barracks. Not a good idea to leave him out here by himself."

"Gotcha," Freire took Videl's other arm, and the trio hobbled down the street towards where their unit was stationed. "So, who the hell is this guy? Seems like you two know each other and all."

"First son of Viscount Salindar," Romas spoke in a grave tone. "Their place is 'bout a couple kilometers away from Caldevera."

The rest went unsaid.

"Damn," Freire grimaced. If he was all the way in Mohajar… "How about the rest of his family?"

"Who knows?" Romas shrugged. "Whole eastern region is one helluva damn mess. That's why Father's barely left his place since the invasion. Way too much shit that needs to be moved around."

"Shouldn't you be back home helping out then?"

"Tch. Ya got things ya keep to yourself, and I got mine, alright?"

"Fair," figured family would be a touchy subject with Romas. There had to be a reason for him to run from the duchy and join the army as a mere foot soldier. "But things are getting better, right?"

"Yeah," Romas quietly replied and looked up at the clear night sky speckled with stars and angels. "I guess they are."

"Okay, so I think I got most of the nobles done," Yuriko dumped a stack of forms on the table between her and Draudillon. "Erm, like we talked about yesterday, they're probably not gonna be super good at their nobley stuff 'cause of level loss. I know you told me to try to gauge what exactly they lost, but I didn't really know what to look for, a-and none of them were really in a testing mood."

"No, you did a good job. This just shows that we need to start compiling information on various classes and their associated abilities. In any case, we'll go with the specifics of your resurrection spells for now," Draudillon tapped her fingers against her thigh. Five levels from『Raise Dead』, Three-and-a-half from『Resurrection』, and Two from『True Resurrection』. Unfortunately, even with access to Ninth-Tier resurrection magic, most of the noble families were still in a state of crisis.

Children, after all, were typically not experienced enough to have accumulated enough life-force—levels now, Draudillon reminded herself—to qualify for resurrection. That wasn't even mentioning the mental state of all the resurrected nobles—their lands occupied, their people eaten, and now they had to return to a scene of chaos and try to put everything back together.

It would be a daunting endeavor for anybody.

"Do you think maybe you're pushing them into training the new administrators too quickly?" Yuriko worriedly asked. "Like, they already have to jump right back into managing their stuff, so maybe they should get a short break first."

"It'll keep them busy," Draudillon shook her head. "Distract them from their grief. Better that they think of work now and mourn later when the kingdom is in a more stable state."

"I guess…" Yuriko didn't look completely convinced. "But you'll give them a break if they need it, right?"

"... I will," Draudillon grudgingly agreed. Yuriko had a point, she supposed; the recently-revived may very well end up overworking themselves in an effort to distract themselves. "I'll have people or your summons keep a close eye on them."

"Great!" Yuriko rapidly nodded her head, hair flying up and down as she did so. "I'll summon some more later then. Also, about the food problem you mentioned earlier."

"What about it?"

"I could conjure enough food for one city each day if you really need it, but it'll take all my mana. Plus, the food would only last for a day before it starts to go bad."

"Stick with resurrecting and summoning then," Draudillon decided. "Those will be better for us in the long term; however, if a crisis truly arises, I may have to ask you to begin conjuring food. I apologize."

'Resurrecting this many people in such a short time span might worsen our problems too. But we need to recover our population.'

"Mmm, it's fine," Yuriko endearingly tapped her quill against the side of her cheek. "That's all I wanted to ask about for now. Thanks!"

The angel ceased her line of questioning and the room went quiet with her, save for the scratching of quills against parchment.

'Gods, I wish I could just get up and move closer,' Draudillon watched as Yuriko scrutinized the proposals laid out before them, the angel's brows cutely scrunched together in concentration. 'No, Draudillon. You need to focus on the topic at hand.'

The dragon queen glanced down at the unfinished policy draft. A few seconds later, she glanced back up, the temptation impossible to resist.

'Why is it so difficult to keep my eyes off her?' Draudillon forced herself to shift her eyes elsewhere. 'I know I… love her, but it wasn't ever this unbearable before.'

Something had changed after they came back from visiting the graves of Yuriko's parents. While they had never been distant from each other, there was now a sort of unspoken closeness between them.

A closeness that made Draudillon all too aware of her own feelings. Feelings that she already promised she wouldn't bring out into the light.

"Draudillon?" Yuriko got up from the sofa opposing hers, walked around the table, and plopped themselves down next to the dragon queen. Draudillon immediately became aware of just how little space was separating them—their shoulders nearly touching. "Um, sorry for bothering you again, but do y'know what this says?"

"…" Why couldn't she get a hold of herself now? They'd been discussing things just fine a few minutes ago, so why did she have to get so hung up on Yuriko being physically nearby of all things?

"Hi?" Yuriko waved a hand in front of Draudillon, shaking her out of her—contemplations! Yes, her contemplations and not something unsuitable for polite company. "Hellooo?"

"Y-Yes?" Draudillon inwardly cursed as she stumbled over her words. "Do you need me to clarify something?"

"Yeah," Yuriko leaned into her—their shoulders bumping together—and brought the folio closer to Draudillon's face. "So, I don't really get what this here means." The angel pointed at a line, blissfully unaware of how Draudillon's blush was reddening by the second. "Is it saying that the Bafolk guys need to cycle through multiple garrisons every few months, or that you're sending soldiers to these, um… these forests! Or you're sending them to forests for training. Okay, did I get that right?"

'She's so warm,' the dragon queen could barely focus on the words coming out of Yuriko's mouth. 'Gods. She's so warm and soft and—'

"Sorry," Yuriko ducked her head to hide her embarrassment, mistaking Draudillon's silence for disappointment. "It should be pretty obvious, huh? I'll figure it out by myself, so don't worry about it—"

"No, no," Draudillon hurriedly reassured the angel. It was like all her social acumen refused to properly apply itself before the winged woman. "I'm glad you asked. I did say to come to me if you had any questions, didn't I?"

"Right," Yuriko bashfully brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear, sending another surge of heat racing through Draudillon's chest. "I guess the wording was just a little confusing."

"You're close. It's both," Draudillon skimmed over the draft. "Assuming the Bafolk don't try to sabotage us—and I doubt they will—their guidance could open up some paths to new classes or abilities."

"And the forest stuff?" Yuriko bit the tip of her tongue as she scribbled in her personal notes. "Moving the Bafolk around should be easy, but whole squads of soldiers plus their equipment is gonna be really complicated."

"We're only starting off with a few small groups," Draudillon gently corrected Yuriko and pointed at the section in question. "You can leave the logistics to me and my assistants."

"Cool, cool," Yuriko paused. "So why are we sending them to the forests again?"

"I want to cultivate some more rangers. It'll make future expansions into our frontiers less harrowing, and…"

'They'll be good at preemptively dealing with demihuman raiders,' the angels were powerful, that much was undeniable, but Draudillon doubted they could root out intruders in tangled terrain without resorting to decimating everything in their vicinity.

"And?"

"After the Beastman Country is dealt with—and we need to talk about that; I've been putting it off for long enough—there'll be other demihuman nations to the east that may be hostile," she held up a hand, preventing Yuriko from interrupting. "Let me finish. Yes, your angels are powerful. Yes, you have an unbelievable number of them. But the kingdom is a big place even for tens of thousands of summons to cover, and people can slip through the cracks. Rangers will go a long way in rooting out potential infiltrators hiding in the wilderness."

'It would be nice to have some more spellcasters too, but it'll take a while to attract suitable teachers back to the Draconic Kingdom. One thing at a time.' There were many things that would be 'nice' to have—clerics, craftsmen, alchemists, sages—but only so many they could pursue at any given moment. Therefore, it was currently better to devote their resources to that which would directly strengthen their ability to protect the national security of the kingdom.

'Furthermore, everyone seems to have a different limit they can reach when it comes to levels. Something else I'll have to consider,' Draudillon was sure the Theocracy's emphasis on tracking the lineages of their citizens was closely tied to the concept of levels.

"Oooh," Yuriko's eyes sparkled in admiration. Self-consciousness welled up within Draudillon. Was it really that impressive? It should be common sense, shouldn't it? "That's super smart! I didn't think of that."

"W-Well, anyways. I wanted to do something similar in the past, but there wasn't ever a good opportunity to shift forces away from defense," she turned away and cleared her throat. "With all that said, what are your thoughts on it?"

"Hmm," Yuriko hummed and looked up at the ceiling. "It's fine if you use new people since they probably shouldn't have too many soldier, knight, or whatever levels. Wait, maybe a ranger and fighter multiclass could be good…"

Draudillon softly smiled, heart filled to the brim with a tender emotion, as she watched the angel mumble to themselves.

Everything would be okay in the end. Of that, she was certain.

AN: Hello everyone! If you've read all the way down here, I just wanna give a big thank you for sticking around for so long! Anyways, without further ado, there are some shoutouts I want to give.

"The Golden Princess" by TheNumberOfTheBeast. I've recommended this one in the past before, and it has only gotten better. Plus, it's getting close to the point where Renner meets with Nazarick which you can be sure will be pretty damn awesome.

"Runners" by EdgytheWriter. A really fun Ghostrunner x Edgerunners fanfic! I'm not sure if this out for the public yet, but be sure to check it out when it is!

"A Crown of Ash and Gold" by CritKhagan. This is an original work with Volume 1 finished. The worldbuilding is pretty neat and you get to see some interesting characters as well, yup. This one also isn't public yet either (I'm not sure if it well, to be honest), but you can find it in Crit's channel (#fanfiction-by-crit) on the Grand Library of Ashurbanipal discord server.

Have a great day!