Chapter Nine: Alliance Sealed and the Welcoming Party
The three women laughed together. "While I am happy you made it out okay, I am disappointed that those three… pigs… needed your assistance to get them out of the chasm," spoke Mira as she stroked Tettia's hair.
"Same here! How come those fucking idiots had to have you come to their rescue?" questioned Tora as she inserted herself into Mira and Tettia's hug.
Shrugging, Tettia replied in a happy sigh (due to Mira stroking her hair), "I don't much care~ I got to tease Sinbad, and help those idiots~! Win-win for me~"
Mira smiled at the two like they were her children. "I know we had a deal, but I do wish I could have mercilessly fought that filthy pig, Sinbad. Just to prove he has what it takes to be allies with my country," she said, glaring at the purple-haired man in question.
"Buuuuut~ you can't do that, Miri~ wasn't part of our deal~" hummed Tettia.
"You seem to forget that I am the queen, whatever I says goes," the queen of Artemyra reminded the half-Fanalis.
Pulling away from the hug, Tettia looked into Mira's wine-red eyes, saying, "I have not forgotten, Mira, but I know that as a powerful woman, you cannot go back on your word. And you promised that you would grant the Sindria Trading Company trade with the Kingdom of Artemyra only after Sinbad, Ja'far and Mystras return from the chasm… alive. It does not matter if I had to go help them, I did that on my own volition, not solely because I wanted this agreement between us."
The queen knew that the half-Fanalis was correct and nodded. "Very well, you are correct. Tettia, go return the pigs their clothes and Tora, go return their weapons. We will continue with the finalization of our agreement tomorrow," Mira said, releasing the two younger women from her embrace. Tora and Tettia nodded and did their jobs, Sinbad being dragged out of Mira's chambers by Tettia.
Mira and Sinbad ended up fighting during the night anyways — much to Tettia's dismay. The fight was an intense battle between the two Metal Vessel users. Sinbad had used his second Djinn, Valefor's Equipment in order to beat Mira. The proud queen was, honestly, less-than-pleased that she was beaten by a man for the first time in her life. Tora was actually impressed that Sinbad had beaten Mira, with ice none-the-less; meanwhile, Tettia was stunned by Mira defeat and not to mention quite angry that the two had even fought to begin with.
The next day following Mira's defeat, Sinbad, Ja'far, Mystras, Tora and Tettia were following one of Mira's guards. The scarlet-haired knight was freaking out, exclaiming, "Ja'far… what's going to happen to us? We've offended the queen twice now… are we being executed? Even though we've managed to make it back alive?! I really can't take it!"
"Mystri! Calm down," replied Tettia, "It's going to be alright, okay?"
Mystras looked at Tettia and stuttered, "B-but…!"
Tora patted his back hard as she said, "Listen to Tet, boy, it's gonna be o-fucking-kay!"
"Your majesty. They're here," the guard said. Inside the room, Mira was having something rubbed all over her naked body. Mira sighed out, "You guys sure were slow. I'm exhausted from all the waiting. Tettia, Tora, how are you two today?"
Sinbad bowed at the queen as he said, "We're honored to have another audience with you, your majesty." Mystras was blushing and his jaw was dropped at Mira's lack of clothing; Ja'far just looked at the queen in slight confusion.
Tora and Tettia laughed. "I'm doing pretty fucking good today, thanks for asking, Mira," said Tora. Tettia snickered at her best friend's comment and answered, "I'm also doing pretty good today, Miri!"
Before addressing the two females, Mira addressed the male in an irritated tone, "Ha… such empty words, Sinbad… like I could ignore you. Thanks to our battle last night, my skin is covered in blemishes, and my beautiful body is ruined. You're the first man to ever pin me down in defeat, Sinbad. I'll never forget the events of last night either… however… it's been a long time since I've felt that excited… he he." The women that were rubbing what could only be ointment onto Mira's body asked their queen if it was about time for her to get dressed. Now beginning to get dressed, Mira addressed the two women, "I'm sorry for not addressing you two first, but it is good to hear that you two are doing well today."
In regard to the blonde queen's statement about the blemishes, Tettia answered, "That's why I told you not to fight him, Miri! You doubted me!"
"At least it was a good fucking fight to watch, right," snickered Tora. "Plus, you and I both know that she would have done it anyways."
Mira nodded at Tora's words. "Thank you, Tora. I would have done it anyways, Tettia," she said.
Crossing her arms, Tettia looked at Mira in a reprimanding way, "Yeah, sure. But at what cost? You, yourself, just claimed that the fight marred your beautiful body, Miri. I knew he was going to beat you, that is why I advised against it."
"I wanted to see if he was worth my cooperation," retorted Mira.
Throwing her hands into the air, Tettia exclaimed, "That's why we agreed that if Sin, Jaffy and Mystri made it out of the chasm alive, you would give us your cooperation!"
Huffing, Mira retorted, "Well, I wanted to make extra sure."
Tora touched the semi-wavy haired redhead's shoulder and sighed, "Tet. Just stop. Mira is entitled to putting Captain Moron, Killjoy and Mystras up to whatever she sees fit in order to secure our trade. This is her kingdom and she was to make sure we are strong enough to be allies with."
Sighing and looking at her purplenette friend, Tettia nodded, "Okay. You're right, Tor. I apologize for questioning your actions, Miri."
"It's alright, Tettia," Mira said, finishing putting on her clothes. She walked to her throne and sat down in it before she continued, "I apologize for our first audience. I'm sorry. And even if this is the royal palace, I've given further consideration to the outcome of diplomatic issues. I did give Tettia and Tora my word, even before you proved your worth in our fight — therefore, Artemyra will officially form an agreement with the Sindria Trading Company. We've had merchants enter on several occasions, but this is the first time the royal palace has ever agreed to do business with one. According to the trade plans set out in your correspondence, there were some preliminary business calculations that your proposed. They weren't bad. You really put a lot of thought into them. I'll dispatch one of my diplomats to your company. Please work out the details with her. This is a secluded land. We will also put all of our efforts into cooperating. If national interest increases, and products increase, it will benefit the lives of my people."
Nodding, Sinbad answered her majesty, "Thank you, your majesty."
"…At least, that's the official stance. My real motivation is to ensure that you don't become my enemy, Sinbad. Having that much power, yet disguising yourself as an ordinary merchants… what were you thinking… coming to this country no one visits, what were your intentions… what an ominous man. What are you really after? Tell me," spoke Mira as she looked down at Sinbad.
Sinbad had explained to Mira what his intentions were. The queen hummed to herself before she said, "A world without conflict… I see what you mean. Sinbad, just as you said, these Metal Vessels could be the spark that ignites the new flames of war, and sooner or later they will upset the balance of the world. In order to prevent that, and prepare for when it might happen, you want to bring people with power together to share their ideas and form an alliance… that's what you mean by bringing about world cooperation."
"Yes," spoke the young Sinbad, "I've already formed alliances with Rametoto of Imuchakk, and Knight King Darius of Sasan."
Tettia placed a hand on Mystras' shoulder and spoke, "This is Mystras Leoxses, as the son of the Knight King, he is accompanying us as a symbol of our alliance with Sasan."
Mira narrowed her eyes at the young purple-haired Captain and spoke, "You made an alliance with that strict country of knights? Even though it is a small country, to get the king of any country to buy such a wild tale… and isn't Sasan also a fairly wealthy country? I heard the Knight King invaded one of two of Sasan's neighboring countries and tried to expand their territory. Metal Vessels made that a possibility. That alone is tremendous. However, creating an alliance would act as a sort of binding force to restrict the use of such power. That applies to my country, too. Do you really think I'll agree to that?" The end of her spear was pointed in Sinbad's face. Staring at Sinbad a few moments, Mira continued, "But… I can still understand the Knight King's motives. He lost, didn't he? In a match against you, like the one we had."
Tora laughed, "Damn right he did! But he had to coming to him! Bastard was cheating in a quote-unquote sacred match against his son by using his Metal Vessel's power," the purplenette put air-quotes around sacred.
Shaking her head, Mira continued, "He lost in a battle of Metal Vessels to someone who seemed to be merely a merchant. If that had been a real battle, his country would have been invaded after his defeat… even a king's power is not absolute. The Knight King understood that, so he resigned and accepted your alliance. Moreover, Sasan has strong ties to Reim, doesn't it? If the Legendary Priestess of Reim found out about the Metal Vessels, it would probably cause trouble."
Ja'far's interest was peaked. He looked at Mira and asked, "Legendary Priestess of Reim?"
Crossing her arms, Mira spoke, "What the hell, you guys? You don't know about her even though you are merchants from Reim?"
Tora and Tettia looked at each other, despite not knowing who Mira was talking about specifically, they did know just what the blond queen meant by Legendary Priestess. Mira had meant a Magi. The young white-haired killjoy answered the queen, "We don't really know much about Reim's territories besides Napolia."
"Hmm… Tora. Tettia. You two seem to know what I am talking about," the queen addressed them, "so how about you two clue them in."
Tettia bowed her head, telling Tora she got it. "The Legendary Priestess is someone who has devoted her life to Reim, continuing to support the prosperity of the Empire. She is a magician that has lived there for the past two-hundred years… and is perhaps one of the Legendary Magi," she explained.
"TWO-HUNDRED YEARS?!" exclaimed Ja'far and Mystras. "A legendary… Magi?" they also asked. The young Ja'far went on to ask, "Excuse me, but… what is a Magi?"
Mira looked at Tora this time, "Well? Go ahead and tell them, Tora. I have a feeling you know what a Magi is. Plus, it would seem that both you and Tettia are quite knowledgeable with this."
Nodding, Tora reluctantly agreed to tell, "A fucking Magi… even now, we know jack-shit about them, but they are figures found in legends around the world. They appear during crucial junctures in history and direct the flow of the world, as well as countless lives. They are a damn special existence, and have been called the fucking 'Creators of the world' and 'Choosers of kings' due to their gotdamn amazing abilities. That is a Magi."
Sinbad looked at his two female companions, who had since stepped forward and stopped beside the queen, with eyes widened in amazement. Mira touched their shoulders, smiling at them, "Thank you, my dears." Then, she continued, "Artemyra's people have a special ability. Since long ago, we have searched for an explanation for that power, and we happened to learn about Magi along the way. But, we still don't know all the details. Magi have power beyond that of human comprehension. For example, it seems that with a single wave of their wand, they can raise a tower that contains the power to create a king, and then lead their chosen king there. Doesn't that sound like all the dungeons that have been appearing around the world? But, I don't think the dungeon I conquered was raised by Reim's Magi… we still have no proof the Reim's Priestess actually is a Magi."
'Magi'… 'Dungeon'… no way… Yunan? thought Sinbad to himself as he listened. He couldn't be a 'Magi', could he? I just thought he was some mysterious guy, but all this make him come to mind. But, 'Magi' are a legendary existence. Does that mean that I've already met one…? Clearing his throat, eyes still widened, Sinbad spoke, "… your majesty… what kind of people or Magi?"
"Like I told you, we do not know any more details. Maybe ask Tora or Tettia," came her answer.
Turning his attention over to Tettia, Sinbad once again asked, "Tet… what kind of people of Magi?"
Tettia crossed her arms and tapped her chin, humming in thought. "Well, if I had to describe them… Magi are those who are loved by the Rukh. Rukh flow through the world, are the origin of life and are present in all living things in nature; they, the Rukh, are a pure existence. So, the Magi who receive the Rukh's divine protection… could be the personification of the world's will," she said and looked into Sinbad's widened golden eyes.
"The fact that dungeons have appeared worldwide, and the fact that we conquered those dungeons, even by accident… we may have been lead to this point… by the will of something other than ourselves," said Mira as she held out a hand, "…that was a long preface, was it not? Thank you for contributing your knowledge, Tora and Tettia. Anyway, you are the only man I can approve of. Let us form an alliance."
Tora and Tettia smiled brightly, replying, "You're welcome, Mira!"
Sinbad looked at her hand, taking in all of this new information. After a few moments of recollection, he answered the queen with a grateful, "Thank you, your highness…"
The five of them exited the throne-room, and the young Ja'far sighed out, "I'm glad we somehow managed to settle that amicably. When you started that Djinn Equip battle with the queen, Sin, I really wondered what would happen to us."
"But somehow, it turned out fine," retorted Sinbad.
Tettia glared at Sinbad as she hissed, "Yeahhhh… I'm glad we settled that well, also. Sin, what were you thinking?! You weren't supposed to start a fucking battle with Miri!"
Tora and Ja'far proceeded to throttle their captain, exclaiming, "You just abused your (fucking) power and manipulated people the same way you did in Sasan! Quit being so (gotdamn) irresponsible and be more (fucking) diligent with your (damn) studies!"
"Umm…" began Mystras, "We're leaving tomorrow, right? … So, until then… do we have free time?"
Having stopped throttling Sinbad, the young killjoy and vulgar purplenette looked over at their knight friend. "Yes. That was the plan…" answered Ja'far. "What has ya asking anyways, dip-shit?" asked Tora. Mystras was searching around, looking for something. "Mystri, what's wrong?" Tettia asked her scarlet-haired friend.
"Huh? Huh? N-n-nothing?! I definitely couldn't do something with that girl just because I made it back from that valley alive?" the young knight lied, terribly.
Face-palming, Tettia groaned out, "You're such a terrible fucking liar!"
"…What are you talking about?! Tell me, Mystras!" demanded Sinbad. "I said I couldn't do anything, didn't I?!" answered Mystras. Taking him by the shirt, Sinbad hissed, "Tell me!" Shaking his head violently, Mystras answered, "I won't!"
"Well, if it isn't the boy from before. You really did come back from the Valley of the Dead, huh?" spoke the blonde girl from before as she, and another blonde, walked up. "Her majesty the Queen praised you. She said you really had guts," she spoke.
Mystras bolted towards the young lady, exclaiming, "Is that true?! I'm so happy! I'm glad that I could do my best thanks to you!"
"Did you really want your reward of doing something with me that badly? Teehehe… how cute," she said. Mystras quickly replied with a loud yes.
Sinbad gritted his teeth, "He couldn't have… was this the reason he wanted to hurry up and get out of that valley?!"
"But, we've done something bad. Using one of our important guests so cruelly… it's a little late, but there is the other member of your party we had restrained. Teehehe… although we're a bit reluctant to let him go…" she said with a chipper grin.
"Oh fuck! We forgot about freeing him," both the redhead and purplenette groaned as the face-palmed, covering their faces with one hand. As the last member of their party stepped forward, blondes draped all over him, the best friends peaked through their fingers: Sinbad and Ja'far's faces had contorted in an unreadable emotion while Mystras' expression was one of irritation. Hinahoho's face held a drained look, like he had been used to his breaking point. Sucking in a breath through her teeth, Tettia whispered, "I knew we were forgetting something…" Tora nodded, sucking in a breath through her teeth as well, but was too overcome with regret that came with not having helped the blue-haired giant not be used for experiments.
Sinbad said flatly, "Hinahoho?"
"Come see us again sometime!" called one of the blondes. "You were really good!" another one said about Hinahoho. "We had him fully cooperate with our research. It felt grea— I mean, it really helped us. Thanks, Hinahoho," they thanked.
Tettia, Tora, Sinbad and Ja'far turned their heads to look at the giant only to have him turn his head away from the four of them. "Hina…" muttered Tettia as she reached out to touch his arm. "Fuck man, we're sorry…" muttered Tora as she touched his other arm. "Hinahoho… you… Rurumu…" Sinbad spoke, almost disappointed in his friend.
"I. DIDN'T. DO. ANYTHING. BAD! I never… crossed that last line," screamed Hinahoho in protest.
Ja'far sighed, "Hinahoho…"
The blue-haired giant threw his hands into the air as he yelled, "It's not my fault!"
Mystras exploded in irritation, "UWAAAAAH! Hinahoho! While we were stuck living in that valley, you were up here doing such nice things! How cruel! It's too cruel! I really wanted to do that kind of thing, good kinds of things, with a pretty girl! Uwaaaah! Soooo cruel!"
"You do realize he was forced to do those things against his will, aye? And he is married, so technically, he committed adultery," commented Tettia as she placed a hand on her hip, looking at the whining knight — who completely ignored her statement. Placing a hand on Hinahoho's arm, Tettia said, "Don't worry, Hina… this will stay between us. Rurumu doesn't need to know about you being forced into doing those acts."
Grabbing the young knight, Sinbad said, "Mystras… don't cry anymore… Hinahoho doing those things is not what I expected, but we still have the future to look forward to, right?"
"Sinbad…" sniffled the young knight.
Sinbad continued, "That's right… we had a path open to us from the beginning, didn't we? This country's heaven that stimulated our intellectual desire. That's right… our paradise… the red-light district!"
Tora jutted her hip out, placing one of her hands on it as she sighed, rolling her eyes. "It's like Captain Moron completely forgot that he has you, Tet. You just gonna sit there and take that shit," she whispered to her best friend.
"Aye… seems like he completely forgot about me, Tor. Oh, but don't worry… they're in for a rude awakening. And I'm not gonna save them like I saved Alibaba, nope, this time they — specifically Sinbad — will get what they deserve," Tettia whispered back, crossing her arms as she watched the two perverts before her.
"If it's the red-light district, there are lots of pretty girls, right," yell-asked Mystras. "Yes, there are!" answered Sinbad. Mystras continued, "If it's the red-light district, we can do nice things with girls, right?!" Sinbad nodded and answered, "We can!" Mystras yelled, "SINBAD!" Sinbad yelled back, "WHAT!" The two perverts ran off, Mystras saying, "I'll follow you forever!" Sinbad laughed and said, "Yeah! Follow me!"
Tora fell over in shock at Sinbad's utter stupidity. She called as she fell over, "That young fucking moron is gonna cock-block himself forever, ain't he, Tet?!"
Watching the two run off, Tettia sighed, "Aye. He will."
Ja'far watched them with a blank expression as he said, "… They are going after all, huh? To the red-light district?"
Hinahoho stood there, muttering, "It's not my fault. It's not…"
That was when one of the blonde spoke up, "Huh? The red-light district? Oh my. They don't realize, do they?"
"What?" asked Ja'far as he looked at the blonde.
The best friends sighed and Tettia began to explain, "Sigh… here in Artemyra, women work outside the house, aye? The red-light district is there to soothe and entertain busy women. So, everyone in the shops is… a man."
Tora was laughing and started to roll around on the ground, "Men! They're gonna fuck a new man today!"
Smirking, Tettia replied to her best friend, "Oh yes, they will. That'll teach Sinbad to forget about me. He coulda done things with me, but nooooooo, he and Mystri had to be an idiot and think the red-light district would be full of women."
"That's a cruel thing to do, Tettia," said Ja'far.
Waving her hand in the air dismissively, Tettia answered back, "Nah, it's really not. It's just a means to teach that idiot to not dismiss the young women in front of him. Who obviously would do anything to please him."
"Well, you're not wrong. You would do anything for Ki— err, I mean, Captain Moron, Tet. It's gonna be fun to see him get out of being cock-blocked this time," said Tora, picking herself off of the ground.
Casting her crimson eyes downwards, Tettia grunted as she crossed her arms, "Yeah. It will be. Bastard uses your oh-so kind advice, makes me happy, then fucking forgets about me and leaves me hanging like a vine offa cliff."
Tora, for the first time in ages, transformed herself into her snake form and sat on Tettia's shoulder. "Don't worry, Tet. It'll be fine~ you'll sssssssssssee," she said, tongue flicking out past her lips.
Ja'far jumped back, away from Tettia a few feet at the sight of the purplenette turning into a snake. "What the hell?!" exclaimed the young white-haired killjoy hysterically.
Tettia peered over her shoulder, the shoulder of which Tora was resting on, and looked at the young Ja'far. "What? Is something wrong, Jaffy?"
"S-she changed! Tora changed," stuttered out the young boy as he pointed at the snake on the older half-Fanalis' shoulder.
Tora turned her cute little snake head to look at Tettia, silently asking her why Ja'far was so surprised. Then it hit her, they did not yet know that she was a magician. "Riiiiight! Ssssorry, Killjoy. I forgot to ssssay that I am a magic usssser," the purplenette-turned-snaked said.
"Oh yeah, right. We never did tell you guys that. This," Tettia said, signaling to her snake-formed best friend, "is Tor's favorite magic. It's very complex, actually speaking. I haven't seen her in this form in a while. Now how about you stop showing off and turn back?"
Tora hissed angrily at the suggestion. "No! Fuck you, Tet! Put me of Killjoy'ssss sssshoulder, now," spoke the sassy snake.
Turning to face Ja'far, Tettia shrugged, taking the snake-formed Tora into her hand. "You okay with Tor sitting on your shoulder, Jaffy?" she asked, walking towards the young boy.
"I guess not. I mean, it's not like she is a poisonous snake," answered the young killjoy.
Placing Tora on his shoulder, Tettia smiled as she said, "Good answer, because I'm sure Tor woulda done it anyways. Wouldn't ya, Tor?" As soon as she was placed on Ja'far's shoulder, Tora dove into the collar of his shirt, for warmth; she also hissed out a yes to Tettia's question. Tettia stepped back and laughed at her friend.
"Good morning. I'll be traveling with you from today on. I am Artemyra's diplomat, Parsine Pratemia. As a representative of our alliance, and as an intermediary to help process and manage trade, I'll be joining you…" spoke the beautiful Parsine, holding her hands over her chest. She noticed Mystras and Sinbad's mood — which was very much the same as Hinahoho's. "Umm… did something happen to the two of them?"
Popping her little snake head out of Ja'far's collar, Tora answered her, "No! It'ssss nothing, Parssssine!"
"You're still in your snake form, Tor? Aren't you exhausting your Magoi doing that?" asked Tettia as she looked at the little snake's head.
"I can sssstill keep up thissss form, Tet! Sssshut up," retorted Tora before her head disappeared beneath Ja'far's clothes once again. She was snuggly wrapped around Ja'far's neck, not too tight as to cause him discomfort, but just enough for her to be secure.
Tettia laughed at Tora, "Fine, fine. Whatever you say, Tora. Whatever you say!"
Mystras groaned and whimpered, "Macho festival…"
"Hey, stop it, Mystras! … it just brings back memories…" groaned Sinbad in disgust upon the memories.
Parsine looked at the two ragged men and said, "Umm… if you're not feeling well, we could wait until tomorrow to leave…"
"No, let's leave today," came the two perverts prompt reply.
Parsine nodded and went to retrieve the birds that would be used to take them back to the ship. The two huge birds were magnificent and Sinbad gushed in awe. "These birds will take you back to your ship. Please get on their backs," she said.
"…Looks like this is farewell to Artemyra," spoke Ja'far as he smiled. "A lot has happened since we arrived here. We climbed the side of a huge ravine… Tettia and Tora struck up a deal, which had us thrown into the Valley of Death… and we lived there for a while…"
"I had to come save you dumbasses," Tettia snuck in her two cents.
Mystras smiled as he said, "Even though we haven't been here all that long, it feels like we've spent a lot of time in this country, doesn't it?"
"It's finally time for you to leave… huh?" asked Mira. "Looks like my days of boredom will return. I'm a little reluctant to let you go," she spoke, noticing the purplenette was missing, she broke character and looked around aimlessly, "Hey? Where'd Tora go?"
"I'm right here, Mira," came Tora's voice, as she finally left Ja'far's clothes. Jumping off of his shoulder, Tora transformed back into her human form.
Mira looked just as surprised as Sinbad and Mystras looked. "What?!" she exclaimed.
Tora cracked her neck as she explained to the three, "I'm a magic user. Though I do tend to like physical fighting over magic, I am capable of using complex magic like transforming myself into a snake. In fact, it's one of my favorite things to do with my magic."
"Good for you, my child," replied Mira, nodding her head, even more impressed by the purplenette.
Ja'far looked worried as he said to the queen, "Your majesty…! You didn't need to come here just to see us off… you always get angry…"
Shaking her head, Mira replied, "Don't worry. I've really come to like you guys, more than anyone from other countries I've developed friendly relations with. That's the only reason I'm here. Oh, and to say goodbye to my precious new friends — Tettia and Tora. Besides… in the future, I may entrust my beloved daughters to your care. I thought you should at least meet them. If we don't understand the condition of the world around us, we may no longer be able to protect our country. I want to create a place for them with you, so that they can broaden their experiences. …Well, that will all be far into the future, though." Two adorable little blonde girls poked their heads out from behind their mother.
"Haha, what cute little ladies," said Sinbad.
Tettia and Tora watched, containing their squeals, as four more girls appear from behind Mira. "They're cute, right? These are all my daughters," said Mira.
Sinbad stared blankly, with his mouth wide open; Mystras looked as shocked as could be. "You have really been blessed with children, haven't ya, Miri?!" asked Tettia as she went to pick one of Mira's six daughters up.
Mira laughed at Tettia's statement before replying, "Having so many children is natural in this country. Oh… there's still one more." There was a young girl that grabbed onto Sinbad with her right hand, and holding a feather in her left hand. Mira looked at her seventh daughter and said, "That's Pisti, my youngest daughter. Despite her small size, she already possesses enough power to control our large birds. I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds for her." Sinbad knelt down to Pisti and asked if the feather in her hand was for him. "Hehe… it seems she's taken a liking to you," said Mira.
Tora laughed as Tettia was swarmed by the other remaining six daughters, being knocked to the ground. "Miri! Help me!" exclaimed the half-Fanalis. Mira laughed and told her six other daughters to stop swarming the semi-wavy haired girl.
Sinbad picked Pisti up and put the feather the young girl had given him into his hair. "That feather she gave you… it's said in out country, that it's a copt of the feathers of the Rukh. It's a lucky feather. Sinbad, may the Rukh guide you on your journey…" said the blonde queen.
Looking down at the young Pisti in his arms, Sinbad said with a huge grin, "Thank you!" He, then, handed the young girl back to her mother as he got onto a bird.
"It's been fun, Miri," spoke Tettia, hugging the blonde queen suddenly. Tora smiled brightly and hugged Mira as well, saying, "Yeah! It's been a friggin blast, Mira!" Mira laughed at the two and hugged them back the bets she could, with her child still in her arm. The duo pulled away from the hug and got onto a bird. Sinbad pulled Tettia onto the bird he was situated on, which caused her to shriek, "NO! I don't want to sit on your bird!"
Sinbad petted her head, in an attempt to calm her down. "Oh, calm down, Tet. You thought I forgot about you, didn't you?"
Crossing her arms, Tettia huffed, "Considering how you went to the fucking red-light district… hmm, lemme think… YES!"
"Yeah, I can't really come up with an excuse to skirt around that mistake," answered the purple-haired captain.
Parsine looked at them before she spoke, "You can always punish him for what he did. Show him who's boss."
Tettia looked at her and smiled deviously. An evil idea was starting to brew in her head. "Ya know, Parsine… I might just do that. Look, Sin, I forgive you — you're a pervert and I can't really get mad at you when you forget that I am here for you~" she said, smiling at the purple-haired man.
"R-really?" he asked.
The redhead nodded, "Really. I'm just going to give it to ya later~!"
Sinbad smiled almost nervously as he said, "Should I be nervous?"
"No, not really. It'll be really pleasureful for the both of us. I have to repay you for making me happy back when we first arrived in Artemyra," spoke the feisty half-Fanalis with a shrug. Just the mere hint at that had Sinbad smiling wishfully.
At the Sindria Trading Company building in Napolia, located in the Reim Empire, the group finally arrived. "Seems like the Sindria Trading Company is flourishing again today, everyone," exclaimed Sinbad as he entered the building.
"President Sinbad!" exclaimed a man. "You've returned!" called a female as she clapped her hands together.
Sinbad walked in, with Ja'far and the rest following in after him. "Sorry for leaving things to you for such a long time. I'd like to check on the company's state of affairs. Is Rurumu here?"
"Rurumu is currently back in her village for the final month of her pregnancy…" someone informed their president.
"Ah… so it's that time," he said. "So, the person that took her place would be… him, right?" Walking to a room, Sinbad walked up to a man with pinkish-purple hair sitting at a desk and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Yo! Vittel!" he exclaimed. Vittel did nothing. "Huh? Vittel? Heeey…"
Vittel came to and exclaimed, "Sinbad?! We-welcome home! I'm sorry! I'm a little tired and…"
Smiling, Sinbad replied, "What are you saying? Don't apologize. You worked that hard, huh? It's my fault for leaving the company to you. It was tough, huh? Thanks, Vittel."
Vittel's dark red eyes widened and he sniffled, "…Sinbad."
Puffing out his cheeks, Sinbad handed a scroll to the young pinkish-purple haired man, saying, "By the way, please take care of this bill for me."
"What is this?" exclaimed Vittel.
Sinbad scoffed a bit, masking it with a chuckle, "What is it? I just returned, didn't I? Plus, it's my duty to properly introduce our new allies from Sasan and Artemyra, and two other allies that we met on the way to Sasan! …And make sure you come!"
"A PARTY!" everyone exclaimed as they partied.
Sinbad pointed to Mystras as he said, "Mystras of Sasan, as the son of the Knight King, he's a very skilled knight," then pointing to Parsine, he introduced, "Parsine of Artemyra, she's here as a diplomat from her home country. These two are here as representatives of their countries and as symbols of our friendship with them. They're our trading company's valued guests. Please welcome them as friends!" Sinbad then wrapped an arm around Tettia's waist, pulling her close to him and introduced her, "This is Tettia. I don't know where she is from, but we met her and her best friend, Tora, on our way to Sasan — and they are two new, strong allies with no affiliation to a country. Oh, Tora is the purplenette who is leaning on Ja'far. By the way, Mystras is looking for a great girlfriend. Parsine is… well, she can be scary if you make her angry, so please, be careful, everyone."
"Sinbad…!" the two representatives exclaimed.
With a cup in one hand, and Tettia's waist in the other, Sinbad said, "From now on… the Sindria Trading Company will continue to grow! Sasan, Artemyra, and Imuchakk… these three countries will give us our future… they are our precious and trustworthy allies. Our work and our numbers will continue to grow. But if we stick together, there's nothing we can't do. Let's make the Sindria Trading Company the best in Napolia… no, the best in all of Reim! And… let's create our own world. A world for the sake of our ideal future!"
"Yeah!" exclaimed everyone, raising their glasses up in cheers.
Tora was still leaning on Ja'far and said in a drawn out way, "Teeeeeeet~ Captain Moron is getting touchy~!"
"I-I know, Tor! Sin, let me go," said Tettia.
Sinbad kissed her forehead, refusing to let her go. "No, I refuse to let go of you, my lovely Tet," he spoke sweetly.
"I'm not yours, Sinbad," exclaimed a furiously blushing Tettia.
Smirking devilishly to himself, Sinbad whispered into her ear, "Oh yeah? I figure twice in thirty minutes is grounds enough for you to be considered my lovely Tet, right?"
The very mentioning of that had Tettia blushing even more furiously than she already was, it was like she was a tomato with legs. "S-sin…" she muttered, "F-fine… b-but I'm still gonna get you back for ignoring me in Artemyra!"
"And I look forward to it," he whispered to her.
Tora looked at her tomato-faced best friend and her purple-haired lover. She rolled her pinkish-red eyes and shook her head. Yeah, I knew that bitch couldn't stay mad at King Moron. He can seduce her faster than even Babwa could, she thought to herself. Then she nuzzled her face against Ja'far's hair. "Your hair's so fucking soft, Killjoy~" she said.
Vittel looked at the purplenette and the young white-haired boy's interactions. Ja'far sighed, not even going to try to get the purplenette off of him. "Hey, Ja'far, why is she hanging on you like that? She's acting like your her doll or something," he said, pointing to Tora.
"Shove off, pinkie! Killjoy is fucking mine," Tora exclaimed, glaring harshly at the pinkish-purple haired, dark red-eyed man. Looking at him more carefully, Tora spoke, "Whoa, wait… might have spoken too soon! You're kinda cute."
Ja'far looked up at Tora and said, "Tora, this is Vittel. Vittel, this is Tora."
Tora held out her hand to Vittel. "Nice to fucking meet you, Vittel," she exclaimed with a huge, happy grin. Vittel shook her hand and smiled nervously at her. "Don't be afraid of me, fuck-face," she laughed and punched his shoulder as they stopped shaking hands.
Outside, a group of people approached the building. "…So this is… the Sindria Trading Company," said someone, presumably the group's leader.