"That should take care of that." Momonga said and brusquely dusted his hands off against one another just as he touched the ground. "Now, take me to your commander. Or… no, bring your commander to me." He said at once, and within minutes, a slender short haired young woman was presented to him. She bent at the knee and lowered her eyes.
"I am General Oma. Thank you for rendering aid to me… you have no idea how many lives you saved. If there is anything I can do, you have but to ask, and I will do it even if it costs me my life." She had a strong, clear voice, and the urge that overtook him, Momonga could not resist.
"You may start by raising your head, let me see the brave one who fought against such overwhelming odds!" His voice came out far more dramatic than he intended, as if to match her intensity, and he touched her shoulder with one hand, urging her to obey him.
She raised her head, she was a fairly pretty young woman, though with the tiny 'tip' instead of rounding to her ears he thought there might be some elven ancestry there, meaning she could be older than she seemed.
"I dare not speak the name of our savior without his august permission, but if I, General Oma of the Draconic Kingdom, may be so bold as to request the tiniest of favors, allow me to take you to my Queen, to introduce you at court and ask that she reward you in a way befitting a hero." It struck Momonga as a fairly dramatic speech…
But with the screams fading into the distance, perhaps it was fitting that she treat the moment with gravity. "Are there no more armies of beastmen to contend with, is there nowhere else that my strength is needed?" He asked and made a sweeping gesture toward the beastmen border. "How many yet walk to hunt your people out there… collecting a reward before the work is completed seems… unbecoming of the master of Nazarick." He held his chin up high and proud and lowered his arm with slow deliberation.
'He's so noble!' She thought with awe swelling up in her guts, she wanted to jump to attention and beg for orders, his supreme charisma alone was enough to fill her with confidence that obeying his every will was absolutely the right thing to do, and that, she was sure, was so even if he had not just annihilated the beastmen.
"I would agree, of course, mighty Lord of Nazarick. But that was the tip of the beastmen spear, with their collapse, the rest will fall. General Musan's positions are fortified and have yet to fall, there will be no further worry unless the beastmen are holding some hidden strength at the border."
"Then let us away! See me to the Queen, that I may know who inspires such uncommon courage in common man!" Momonga proclaimed the order, and then held out his open hand with palm up to assist Oma in rising to her feet.
"Flying will be faster, and disturb them less, if you don't object, General Oma?" He asked, though he had to ask himself also, 'Am I being just a little bit over the top with this?'
"I will hold onto you, Lord of Lords." She said as she rose, and allowed him to wrap one arm around her waist before he rose into the air again.
"The rest of you, rest, eat, keep watch, and when I return, I will lead you home!" Oma commanded, and her army cheered before she and Momonga became dots in the great blue sky.
Queen Draudillon sat on the throne in her little girl form, this was her least favorite of course. It was tiresome for the middle aged woman to pretend she was anything other than herself, and it had been a very long time since she'd been a small girl.
But between the mix of lolicons and patronizing parental figures that somehow became more protective of her, it was the most effective way to do business. 'Even if I have to get drunk and write letters in colored wax to encourage the soldiers. I swear, I rule a nation full of perverts and there's no escape!' She sighed deeply to herself and rested her cheek against the palm of her hand, leaning against the armrest of the throne.
"Yes, of course we'll be putting more into the military budget this year. We do that every year. Why do I even have to keep saying it? With the beastmen always crossing over, and now with their invasion, half my Kingdom has ended up on somebody's dinner plate somewhere! We've got to save the half we can and that's that! I don't care who protests the taxes, if anyone objects, tell them they're going to go to the front next!"
That sent a chill over the nobles arrayed within the throne room. It was as good as a death sentence, and it was unthinkable a few years before.
But it said something about the growing desperation of the Draconic Queen that this was what it came to.
"My Queen, I realize the situation, but… without allies outside the Kingdom, we're in dire straits. The Theocracy is only sending retired Black Scripture members, the Baharuth Empire is too far away, Re-Estize has nothing of significance, and common adventurers are useless… and we don't have the budget to hire adamantite rankers." Her advisor, a bookish little functionary with a mind more powerful than the muscles of the strongest of adventurers, replied insistently.
He was one of the few who could say things like that to her, largely because she trusted him to be saying it without any motive but to ensure she had the information to make a decision.
"If we cut some of the budget to the temples, we can hire the manpower that we need." She suggested.
"My Queen, if we do that, they will protest." He cautioned, and Draudillon nodded. "Then they can come protest to me personally, otherwise they will comply, and to protest to me personally, they will have to venture close to the front lines, because that is where they will find me." She answered as her resolve crystalized and her court gasped in shock.
It might have been an argument then, but any such intent was stopped by a guard bursting through the door, racing toward the Queen, and falling to one knee in one practiced motion. "Majesty! It's General Oma!" He shouted, and the court sucked in its collective breath. As the shield intended to blunt the spear of the beastmen army, the mention of the woman was enough to kill the courage of the bravest in the court.
'What disaster has befallen us now?' Was the terrible thought that went through every mind.
"What about her? Has she fallen?" Queen Draudillon wondered, already running through the list of candidates in her head that might replace her.
"She has triumphed! Victory! We have victory! The beastman army is destroyed! General Oma has come back! She bears word of the victory and the hero responsible for giving it to us! We will live! We are saved! We! Are! Saved!" He shouted the relief of generations of his family line as the longed for hope of salvation from the beastmen was delivered up in one impossible unlooked for moment during their darkest hour.
Queen Draudillon shot to her feet, "Bring them both to me! I want to meet this hero!" She proclaimed, 'If it's Cerebrate… well, all I can do is hope it doesn't get too unpleasant tonight.'
But even that, if it saved her country, was not too much to bear in her mind as she waited for the General and the unnamed hero to arrive.