Chapter 99: … dont be too mad when you wake up, okay?
Upper Earth Month, 1st-2nd Day, 600 AGG
Draudillon flopped onto her bed, too tired to have bothered donning a nightgown first. The only other person present was somebody who she had willingly shown this and more, after all.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she watched Yuriko murmur reassuring nothings to Tarou as they locked the Bunnia in the cage that came with it. On the floor of the cage was a portion of the hay they purchased alongside some grass a summon must have picked from the castle grounds. Draudillon didn't have any firsthand experience raising a Bunnia, though that did seem rather in line with what she had heard and read about.
'We didn't eat dinner,' she mused. Now, that wasn't strange for her, but it was odd for Yuriko. 'Oh well.'
"You're gonna catch a cold, Drau," her beloved was standing over the bed now with a small, concerned frown. Their disguise had been dispelled, but those piercing eyes of gold were the furthest things from intimidating. "At least cover yourself with a blanket…"
"Or you could join me and personally ensure I remain warm," she waggled her eyebrows. Even now, after everything they've done together, provoking a flustered reaction from Yuriko remained far too easy.
Draudillon liked that.
"Well?"
"F-Fine, but you're still covering up," the angel wrapped her up in the comforter before diving onto the bed themselves, a slight sigh of relief forcing its way out their chest. "Oomph."
"This much is a little excessive, don't you think?" Draudillon unwrapped herself, pulled Yuriko in, and then pulled the covers back over so that the two of them were trapped in the same makeshift pocket. She could already feel herself beginning to sweat. "We have a temperature control item installed for a reason."
"I still got sick sometimes, even when it was warm," Yuriko retorted. The dragon queen hadn't the heart to tell them probable causes could've included any number of issues that blighted the world her beloved once lived in. "Plus, we walked around a lot today, so I bet your body is extra-tired or something…
'You could heal me if I fell ill,' Draudillon decided to not poke the angel, not when they were visibly fraught with some inexplicable distress. "It wasn't tiring, but I'll continue to do my best to take care of myself if it gives you peace of mind."
"Hmm, okay," Ryx fiddled with the temperature control, cooling the room to the degree where her current state was snuggly warm instead of mildly sweltering. "Is this more comfortable? You're kinda sweaty."
"… There were better ways to phrase that."
"It's not a lot? Just a tiny lil bit?" Yuriko giggled and a fraction of the tension lining the angel's frame bled out. "I don't mind honestly, so you don't have to be super grumpy about it."
"Are you attempting to incite something?" Draudillon affected a husky whisper. "I can't say I'm a good judge of this subject, but your appetite is rather rapacious."
"Bleh," the angel stuck out their tongue. "You wouldn't be waking up on time tomorrow if we did."
"I never took you to be a braggart. Well, I suppose I don't mind putting your claims to the test…"
Yuriko's face burned with heat. "Th-That's not what I meant."
"I know, I know," she chuffed. "I'll try to sleep. Love you, dear."
Draudillon didn't ask if they'd be there when she awoke. The dragon queen hadn't for a while, because she knew they would whether she asked or not. 'My nightmares haven't resurfaced for a while.'
"I love you too. Sleep tight."
As the lights dimmed, she closed her eyes and allowed her mind to drift even while the angel wriggled into a more comfortable position. 'I wonder what she said to Cerabrate.' To be honest, it wasn't hard to guess. 'At least their talk didn't end the way I feared.'
It was good that she handled the issue herself, instead of trying to escape a direct confrontation like she had when giving Amrel a portion of the party's back-pay in Almersia.
Tying up a personal loose end and bringing this last chapter of her life's worst years to a close was an indescribable relief. Some words simply needed to be said out loud.
'Should I leave him to his devices then?' The thought sat ill with her. Given his preferences, wouldn't that be making him someone else's problem instead of hers? 'I could confer a title upon him during the award ceremony… there should be a few baronies with vacant seats.'
Draudillon resisted the urge to nod. Cerabrate would receive a suitable reward, and the Draconic Kingdom would acquire access to a powerful bloodline. Furthermore, they'd be able to prevent any unacceptable excesses he might choose to indulge in.
Rejection was improbable too; the dragon queen suppressed a shudder, remembering the stricken look on the man's face after she had vehemently rejected his lust for her.
'It's unsettling—and I don't want to see him.'
There were a number of mighty magical items they had taken from the Beastman Country, one or two of which should serve as acceptable replacements.
Draudillon understood it was selfish to deny the potential that introducing a hero's blood throughout the noble houses could produce, but it wasn't as if the kingdom was starving for the power to protect itself anymore. Yuriko wouldn't want to suffer his presence either.
'I'll see if there's a barony that requires minimal oversight from the Crown,' she came to a resolution. 'If there isn't one, I'll bestow him with magical relics and ask the Adventurer's Guild to keep an eye on his proclivities.'
Yuriko rolled over, propping themselves up by the elbows and perusing a scroll they withdrew from the Item Box. It was terrible lighting for reading, though low-light and dark vision would make that a non-factor, she guessed.
'With that figured out, I need to raise funds for the Cult of Wings—or the Dawnwing Cult, officially speaking,' leaving Yuriko's nascent religion alone would be wasteful. Being able to exert complete control over it opened a lot of options in terms of flexible management and classes to be molded as the kingdom required. 'There'll be a throng of nobles chomping at the opportunity to boast one of her first temples in their desmenses.'
For good reason too: the amount of income they could generate from pilgrims, the prestige, the additional angels to patrol their lands, and the other utilities a temple provided were nothing to laugh at. With those benefits to consider, most nobles shouldn't balk at donating to earn a greater profit in the long-term.
If that wasn't enough, she could use Cerabrate as an additional bargaining chip—ah, no. The Draconic Kingdom didn't have to cross those kinds of lines anymore. Fierce Flash, for all his flaws, deserved more than being treated as breeding stock after services rendered.
The angel incomprehensibly grumbled and put away the scroll they'd been reading for all of a few minutes. Were they still bothered by the holy knight? Or possibly something else, like the unwelcoming reaction of the bard's audience?
Most people of the Draconic Kingdom didn't have much stake in the topic, and it certainly helped that their queen and savior were openly entangled in what was clearly developing into a conjugal relationship, but it remained a trait that strayed from the norm. She hoped time would see her subjects grow in understanding; although, Draudillon admitted publicly addressing the issue and implementing strictly enforced policy was the best way to go.
'After the kingdom stabilizes some more,' she added yet another item to her list of tasks. 'Guessing is a waste of time; I'll just ask her.'
"Is something on your mind?" Yuriko startled at her voice breaking through the quiet. "You've been antsy since we've returned and during the outing too."
"I thought you were asleep," she stared, unimpressed, until the angel relented. "It's… nothing much. Just about everything, I guess?"
"Tell me," Draudillon reached out and touched their face. "Problems are better borne in pairs, yes? Talking about your burdens can also make them feel more manageable."
Yuriko didn't immediately answer. They chewed on the inside of their cheeks, on the tumultuous thoughts tumbling inside the mind, and chewed as she waited.
The angel had grown, their adaptation admirably quick even, yet Draudillon understood all too well that the complexity of circumstances oftentimes grew faster.
'You're wonderful the way you are, you know?'
"I think it's amazing," her beloved quietly said after a short lull. "I never know what I'm doing, not really, but Drau, you figure things out so, so fast, and then… and then you just do it. I'll make a decision and end up worrying about it until it's time—doing all sorts of stuff to distract myself—but then I'll worry about it afterwards too. Worrying if I'm doing the right thing, if what I chose is the best option for the people around me.
"You can handle anything that's tossed at you," Yuriko's words came out muffled, face buried in her bosom. "Even when everything was awful and confusing and painful, you could handle it. If I had to do everything you did, I couldn't. Drau… You're amazing, Drau, and I'm just lucky. I'm… I have to fake so much."
Draudillon stroked the back of their head, thinking of how she was the lucky one, and how they were amazing for going so far to aid people who had nothing to do with them.
"It's because the kingdom couldn't afford indecision on my part," gentle words joined her hands in caressing the angel. "And if you're faking, isn't that fake of greater value? In a deliberate attempt to be real, it's more real than the real thing, in a sense."
She tweaked Yuriko's nose. "I understand it's not the sort of feeling that goes away, no matter how many times I or others reassure you, but it is okay. You're not inferior to others because you feel this way, and the ones who do aren't superior to you because they don't."
"I still wish I didn't worry so much though," her beloved tried to pout but ended up with a half-smile.
The dragon queen hummed, then carried on. "You already know this since I told you, but there was a time where I feared that you might resent me. I was willing to do anything, give anything if it meant you'd save my people, but in the end, you were the one making the sacrifices."
"Because," Yuriko's words were soft. "You've already made too many."
"Have I? It's always hard determining something vague like that from one's own perspective… but maybe. To some people it would've been too much, and some could withstand more; although, does it matter when there isn't an alternative?" Her answer lacked brevity as she rambled on, yet it was honest, and she felt that was important here. "I can't complain much either—there was plenty more I could've given up and didn't. Ultimately, the whole beastman affair concluded with less blood than anybody thought it would've taken, thanks to you."
It would've ended with her death and the deaths of everybody who trusted her to lead the kingdom through the disaster, and even without saying it, Draudillon knew the angel knew that.
"So you see, it wasn't a situation the kingdom could have overcome with what it had. Who wouldn't worry then? With the same hand of cards, how much better could anybody else have done? Perhaps the Theocracy would've eventually stepped in. Perhaps the beastman Council would've fallen to infighting. Perhaps any number of unexpected developments might have occurred. There's a lot of 'maybe's' and very few certainties."
Dumb, astronomical, miraculous luck.
"I—we," she corrected herself. "We were lucky. And that's fine. But both of us also worked as hard as we thought we could at the time, and that's the most we can ask of ourselves even if everything goes to hell."
"People always like saying that before they turn around to say the opposite," Yuriko mirrored the quirk of her mouth. "You're valuable only if you succeed. You're worth something only if you can provide value."
"Then in that case, since the first day we met, have you ever regretted meeting me in spite of my errors and flaws? Knowing that all the misery you've experienced in this world was because of my choices? Do you perhaps ever feel that I'm dragging you down, keeping you from doing more—being more?"
"Never," the angel answered without missing a beat. " 'Cause even if it's hard and I don't always understand what I need to do, I'm happy," they were close enough to kiss. "As long as I know you're there, I think I'll be alright wherever I am."
"Then that's that," Draudillon's lips briefly brushed against Yuriko's. "So whatever it is you've been working up the nerve to do, do it. I'll be lying if I said I didn't want to know, but I trust you to tell me when you're ready."
"Heh, my old world would be in trouble if they had Drau there," the angel giggled, not quite relaxed per se, though she could tell the talk lifted a weight from their shoulders. "Even the big-shots on television have to prepare before talking the way you do."
"If I was in your old world," she playfully tousled their hair. "These big-shots would be in big trouble for running everything into the ground."
"You'd find me, right? If none of this happened, and you got dropped there somehow," Yuriko mumbled. "I get what you meant about luck, but I want to think there's more to life than only luck, y'know? That we're not just a bunch of coincidences packed into a person. Like, points in our lives where we get to make a decision that matters, and it'll always matter."
"I'd run into you on the streets, at some store—the location isn't important," Draudillon sleepily played along. "At first I'd be confused, but… you'd help me to my feet and acquaint me with your world. I would find you… strange, funny maybe, and at some point, I wouldn't want to be… without you at all. Eventually, I'd learn enough to return what you gave me, and then… we can return home to fix the problems here."
"I wouldn't be a burden, would I?"
"Certainly not. You'd still be… helping me the most…" Keeping her already half-lidded eyes open was a struggle. "Dear… you didn't think this through… did you?"
"I guess I didn't," this levity suited Yuriko far more. "But it makes me happy to know you wouldn't think that way."
"Mm…"
"Sorry for keeping you up so long, Drau," Idiot. She would've stayed up longer if they needed it. "Good night, for real this time."
As with the preceding nights, the dragon queen fell into a peaceful slumber, knowing the dawn was bound to be at her side when morning came.
Ryx watched the Harbinger extricate herself from the human's arms. Of course, this did not mean its attention was diverted from the frail, white creature called a 'Bunnia.' It would never dare neglect the orders it had been given.
" 'For as long as you'll have me,' " she said to nobody in particular. "Is what you said."
The calm words belied an inner turmoil. Not a conflict between a desired outcome and the sacrifice required, but a struggle of what should be done clashing against what one wanted.
As it was, the Exaltation lacked the insight to realize such thoughts; thus, it waited instead. It watched, and it waited. The pottery did not question the potter.
"Y'know, it's weird. I was worried and always thinking about what could go wrong, but now that I'm about to do it, I feel kinda calm," she half-heartedly giggled. "Even after everything I said… it is the sorta feeling that goes away if you're reassured enough, Drau."
The Harbinger fondly interlaced her fingers with the human's. "Maybe we met 'cause of luck, but all the stuff after that was us. So, I should probably stop putting it off and making myself sick thinking 'what if?' What if it doesn't work like with Leinas? I… I thought I could do anything with that spell, but I couldn't."
If Ryx had the capacity to speak without restraint, to freely think, then it would've deemed the Harbinger a pitiful existence.
Somebody who was scared of being alone—and more than that, scared of being separated from the slumbering human.
"Besides, that's just it, isn't it? Lots of maybe's and not enough definitely's."
A pause that stretched on, a tense respite that would have seen lesser creations fidget from the gravity of the situation.
Spell-circles surrounded her, complex miracles engraved upon the dimensions of the world—reweaving, bending, breaking it as an aetheric intensity saturated the air in a beacon that illuminated the fabric of night and declared a memorial unto heaven: 'Listen to me, for my words are the precepts the dust and immortals abide by, the truth and standard all things must hold fast to.'
Of the manifold authorities that ruled within the confines of the World, here was an absolute decree falling short only to the administration of souls, and it was coming to a head as reality buckled underneath the pressure.
"But this time, it'll definitely work," the Harbinger, like Ryx, was unaware of these verities as she covered the human's eyes right before the purest expression of tier magic erupted with a flash of brilliant light. "『W-Wish Upon a Star』!"
Ryx impassively watched while the Harbinger remained stock-still from where they knelt beside the bed. "… was ten percent not enough…?"
She tightened her fists before taking a deep breath and releasing the divine exhalation. "Okay. Okay. It's okay. I still got another shot. Experience bar is… almost empty.
"Hard to tell for sure," the Harbinger continued muttering to herself. "How much more do I need…? Is it even… no, I can't think like that. If it's going to be this way, I need to go all the way. Doesn't let me dip below ninety-five, and I don't know how long it'll take to get even ten percent again…"
The friction of nails against skin in the otherwise noiseless room was nearly deafening to Ryx's heightened senses.
"I killed all those beastmen, and it barely gave me any… I could wait and try to grind out some more through different ways, but will there be time left?" She stared at her hand, clenching and unclenching. "I don't care about the levels, I just—I can't mess this up. I won't."
Another ten minutes passed in this way, carefully and silently kept by the Exaltation.
Another tower of intricate, indecipherable sigils enveloped the Harbinger.
For the second time that night, the World's mana screamed.
"I'm sorry, Drau," the Harbinger leaned in and planted her lips upon the human's before drawing back. "If I told you what I wanted to do, you'd definitely get mad at me and say no."
Once again, this time without hesitation:
A prayer to surpass an everlasting dream.
"『Wish Upon a Star』."
AN: So... This is the first out of three chapters relating to a pretty important event! I'm sure many of you can already guess what's happening, umu.
I'll be uploading Chapters 100-101 in fairly quick succession as well, Chapter 100 being the end of this Arc so to speak.
To run through Yuriko's logic here, I'll explain a mechanic I'm borrowing from DnD where you can only use/have Wish drain you to a certain point before you have to start reaccumulating EXP. Here, that point happens to be Lv 95. What Yuriko is worried about is that she CAN'T test in steadily growing increments (which would have worked, but would've been risky since she didn't know how much EXP the author required for her specific wish), because then she'll be locking herself out of using the 500% EXP option.
She notes her experience gain has been glacially slow thus far, and so is rightfully worried that it'll be too late (rip Drau) by the time she gets enough back to try the 500% option again. In the end, it's still a bit foolish, but well, there's many things much more important than pure power to her, y'know?
Thank you all for reading!
