Eostia: Harem Quest

by EostianScribe

The Gods have given mortals the power of The Gamer as a pass time. A hobby. A means to compete and relax. One goddess, however, sees it as a means of salvation; starting with one world. As such, she rolls the dice... (Harem, Citrus and Eventual Dark Content Warning)

94. Act III-Ch Epilouge I: Happy Nova Aurora

[ - Author's Address - ]

Before we go any further I first need to say what I've said in every Epilogue I've made so far.

Thank you.

Thank you to the good people at the kuroinu_fanfiction subreddit which has provided a nice place to hang and talk Kuroinu.

Thank you to the people of FanFictionDotNet and Archive Of Our Own for providing such a good place to share stories; more so FFDotNet for the sheer length of time they've been doing it.

Thank you to all of you have given kind comments, constructive criticism and pointed out my worst grammar errors.

Thank you to those who put up with Act Two to make it this far.

As always, thank you to everyone who has read this story of one guy taking a dark hentai fic and trying to make a heroic epic of it.

As usual I will offer a suggestion for another Kuroinu story; this one being Eostia's Gaming Protector by Eternal4Ever; it's only two chapters and hasn't been updated since December (As of this writing) so go read it and give him some encouragement. As usual the character sheet will be at the bottom of this half of the Epilogue. As for what's going on...

[ - Author's Note - ]

Well, here we are; Part One of Act Three's Epilogue. And yes, Part One. There was enough I wanted to add before starting Act Four that I opted to divide this chapter in two; it's the Eostian version of Christmas; so there's going to be some relaxation, reflection and lovin'!

So rather then drag on, let's start!

[ - Act III - Epilogue - Part I: Happy Nova Aurora - ]

The printing press is an amazing thing; the first edition of the Eostia Historia was made before it started to take off and now it's a device in full swing. Books that could only be made for nobility and the rich have become more accessible to the middle classes. History, a pass time once only for the most wealthy is now more open to the common folk then ever before. We are living in an age of great growth and one recent event had strengthened that potential.

The Eostia Historia makes many, many references to the Eostia/Garan War as it took seven centuries to come to a conclusion; a conclusion that has only just arrived. It is an amazing thing; all of my life the war was a constant; a looming pressure from the north that drove and limited many choices Eostia wanted to do. That pressure is now gone and a peace accord in the form of the Treaty of Mungale has been signed and agreed upon. That two sides, once so opposed could finally lay down arms without one or the other being leveled in full is something to be grateful for. And in the center of this all is House Noxdecus and it's current heir and now most notable member, James Noxdecus, the Dragonborne Champion of Eostia.

To say he has had an impact on Eostia in both the lead up to the final incursion and it's end would be an understatement to a gross degree. The voxlux is, perhaps, one of the most important inventions of our era; the military applications of sharing information in a rapid manner cannot be understated. Knowing where to send forces, being able to quickly report in discovered enemies or shortfalls in supplies is invaluable. There's an old saying used by every Eostian commander I've met; 'Soldiers win battles, logistics wins wars' and as a weapon of logistics the voxlux is second only to the Cloud Rider, another of his creations.

The ability to transport troops and supplies quickly and by the air is something so useful I cannot stress it. If the Siege of Mooncast City, when seven of nine Cloud Riders went down, wasn't the last battle between Eostia and Garan then the loss of the Cloud Riders would have been more devastating then the loss of troops. Yes, the Cloud Riders are easier to replace then a single life but in the cold calculus of war the loss of air transport was more painful.

And then there is what many call his magnum opus; the discovery on what the Dread Field had done to cause it's effects and a means to defeat it allowing for, the first time, the invasion and defeat of Garan. This discovery was able to allow Eostia to bring the fight to Garan and finally gain the initiative in the war for the first time in it's history. This is on top of the major successes he had as a combatant; defeating Belyy Klyk the Blood Bear was a powerful start, then he brought low Olga Discordia and, after showing her mercy, befriended her and brought her to the negotiating table. Then there was the Abomination which is a showcase of both the dark elves capacity for genius, inhumanity and hubris and has caused the average citizen of Garan to be horrified at what was done in their name. Garan is shaken to it's core; both by their defeat and their leaders' failures and by all accounts major changes will come to our northern neighbors and much of this was directly or indirectly done by his work.

I was able to find him after the victory party where his territory of Mungale was raised to that of a County and was able to speak with him for a time. One thing I've noticed over time is the various houses have a 'mold' of sorts; that members or at least leaders of those houses will likely bear certain traits. House Hawkeye promotes a martial culture and honorable conduct, House Silversail bears a focus on shrewd leadership with a knack for diplomacy, House Bludhorn is known for cruelty and are protective of their power and so on. House Noxdecus, by contrast, is known for wisdom, quiet confidence and magical abilities. Of course the mold has odd ones out; Saxon Noxdecus doesn't neatly fit the mold but her husband, an orphan who married in, oddly does.

James does fit that mold as well; wiser then most his age, a preference for staying out of the limelight and an excellent magical talent turned to the craft of Enchanting who, in little time, has become an innovator in the field second to none to the point I've heard rumors that he has ties to the Scorned Circle; rumors he denies. Regardless, while I sense honesty in our conversation he bears a sense of humility about him that's unexpected; stating he only wished to better Eostia in what capacity he could. I have a feeling he will become a victim of his own success in a way; any hopes he had at a quieter life is now gone and the life of a hero has arrived.

I find his interactions with Olga Discordia to be of great interest; going from respectful adversaries to enemies to reluctant acquaintances to new friends. This is the first time we've recorded the Queen of the Jagged Crown interact with humans on an equal (And for part of it, lesser) standing and it's curious. The description of Olga from him is of a reasonable leader who adores her people but also one who was isolated from those same people and who's views on humans was informed by the last time dark elves and humans had contact thousands of years ago. She is, in short, an able and capable leader but with her own flaws. Indeed, it seems seeing her own flaws made her more respectful of those in her human counterparts.

With his permission I will sprinkling parts of our talk inside of this edition in addition to other interviews and information on the current state of an Eostia at peace. There is, of course, other challenges as there always are but the risk of war in the north is no longer one of them. We have a new future to look forwards to and I, for one, am looking forwards to it. And so, dear reader, let us begin.

~Dominic James Pencraft, Foreword to the Eostia Historia: 5th Edition

[-]

"I'm surprised you set a tree indoors as a tradition." Mokria let off as Miika let off a cheer as Aeris, using a Levitate spell, flew around a small (By 'small' I mean some eight feet tall) pine tree that had been brought into dinning room in one corner. Indeed, the Nova Aurora was just around the corner... and there was so many parallels to Christmas it was shocking. Small glass decorations (Mostly painted or frosted glass balls and stars in white, gold and cyan) hung on the pine's branches as it stood on a steel stand with four legs. A cotton length of cloth with cuts to make it look like a decorative ribbon that was cyan in color.

"It's an old Larentian tradition." I explained with a shrug; we were helping by using cookie cutters to cut gingerbread men. Yes, that was a thing here too. "Well, kinda. After the Sage and the Knight aspects of Latentia helped humans fight off the dark elves way, way back the third aspect of the goddess, the Wanderer, arrived. Where the Sage brought knowledge of magic and the Knight brought knowledge of iron the Wanderer brought knowledge of the land. How to grow crops in a way that let farmers reap more harvests and tame animals to help them work the land. While she would, as her wont is to do, wander off she stayed during a winter and would use pine wood as kindling to feed her hearth but would use the branches to decorate her sitting room. She claimed to enjoy the scent of it."

"She sounds like she likes nature and it's smells."

"No one's really sure but that's the best guess." I replied to him with a shrug. My mother would move the treats to the oven; preparing them for a future gingerbread man genocide. "So people started to put pine branches into their home during the winter... and eventually, as it's wont to happen, someone has to one up everyone else and a noble brought a whole tree into his home, then someone brought in a bigger tree, then someone dressed up that tree..." Mokria sighed as I chuckled softly. "Yeah. After the First Age of Conflict and then later after the the fall of the Brazen the tradition carried on with those who could afford to bring a tree into their home to do so. Pine needles are spread in some homes, but usually you just set some in bowls and set them about the home."

"Hmmm... We don't have such celebrations on the Savannah but in winter we do our best to speak of our ancestors and feast on a great catch of meat." He said as I nodded to him. We rolled up the dough and flattened it back out to get out a few more gingerbread men as I took a moment to look outside. It was in full snowfall now.

I'd only gotten home a week ago and I'd be going back to Skyguard tomorrow regardless... because Celestine was hosting a Nova Aurora party and I was extended an invite. Technically speaking I could refuse but there was a few things about it to note; one was that it was a private party and not political. Celestine would invite her Shields, her adopted sons, friends and a few others but she was not obligated to invite nobility, ambassadors or any other political figures; it was just a party for the holiday, not a political thing. On that note the Shields were invited and, as such, three of my brides-to-be would be there; for no other reason I had to go for that but doubly so for Kaguya.

Prim wasn't that far off from Mungale and Alicia not much farther (Doubly so with a Cloud Rider) but Kaguya was on the other side of Eostia and deserved to have some attention. I was... I'll be honest, my feelings for the girls was something I was still unsure of... I think this was always an issue with me...

In my old world while I had the confidence to date and put myself out there I had a bad habit of asking myself 'why would she be more interested in me then someone else'; one I was trying to break out of. Back then I wasn't anyone special; I wasn't poor or rich, that handsome or ugly, that talented or untalented I was kinda average. Really, that was... sorta it. No tragic backstory or upper class privilege. Just... normal.

Here I couldn't say I was average. I was the Champion of Eostia! Hard to be 'average' with a title like that! It was... weird to go from a normal guy to the heir of a middling barony to... whatever I am now... I mean, fuck, I now have a sack full of mail from admirers with marriage offers, love poems, offers for a booty call and, more preferred, thanks for helping end the war. And when I say sack I mean a sack that five feet tall and three wide. Sora dropped it into the dining room a day ago.

Miika immediately jumped into like it was a pile of leaves. It was cute.

(In case your wondering I have been reading them and responding to a lot of the thank you letters. Responses to the rest were on a case-by-case basis but needless to say the bulk could be summed up as 'marry my floozy, please'. My favorite came from House Hitoshi, a minor house in Blackcut. 'We have a daughter. We are expected to offer her hand to you. You likely won't accept, but we have offered it'. Points for honesty.)

A ping sounded nearby as my father answered his voxlux as he answered a guard's call. "M'lord, your guests are about to arrive."

"Excellent! Please, see them inside and to the kitchen in good order." Merlin replied as I gave Mokria a nod and moved to wash my hands.

"Of course!"

"Your brides are here!" Miria let off in a song like tone as I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, I know that." I let off as I shook my head. I let off as toweled off my hands and sighed before starting to walk to the door.

Most of my party would be in the Manor for the holidays bar two exceptions; Tiffany went to the west to join her adoptive mother (Still eyeing the river in case something happened with Dominious) while Akanji, the Sunkissed storyteller, stayed in Garan both to assist with healing people harmed in the war and to do what she wanted in the first place; get stories to tell. And naturally, of course, now that Garan was at peace there was a lot of stories to get; past and present alike. I wished her the best of luck and handed over a few gold to help her pay her way as a thank you.

Honestly; it was sad I hadn't worked with her more but we were on different parts of the battlefield at any given time. With luck I'd see her once more.

"James." My father let off, making me pause my walk as I looked to him. "Remember; it might be a relaxed party but don't drop your guard too much; some of her guests might still opt to test your political acumen in an impromptu manner." He warned as I nodded.

"Yeah, that's life ain't it?" I said with a sigh. "But I'm not going to be too stiff; I pulled five guys weight in a war, I can relax a little, I think." I said with a teasing grin; making it clear the arrogant words were more a joke then a serious thing. He chuckled in reply with a nod.

"Good. Be sure you do." He said as I smiled, nodded and walked to the door, opening it-

-annnnnnd found tits smashing into my face. I yelped hard as I stumbled back, arms spinning before holding onto the hips of my tackler before managing to look up. "Dammit Prim!" I let off as, yes, Princess Prim grinned at me with a wide grin... and much as I tried not to I did grin back.

"Couldn't you let the thing land before rushing off!?" I heard as Alicia jogged into the room and, after a moment, Bride Number Three helped pry Bride Number One off my face.

"No! It's been too long!" Prim let off as she was set on her feet.

"It's been a week!" I pointed out with a sigh.

"It's still too long!" She replied as I hugged her with one hand and moved to hug Alicia with the other.

"I missed you both too..." I said with all honesty.

"Alright, take the cute one and stinky one out to spend time with them." Miria let off as Aeris flew Miika up to the top of the tree and setting the sun to it. Yes, Christmas Trees have stars, Aurora Trees have suns. That's a thing.

(Presents under the tree wasn't a thing here, mind you. The custom is you give it directly to them or their place at the dinner table.)

"I'm sure by the time we're done you'll be finished with the litter box." Alicia let off taking my arm and dragging me out and pulling Prim along by proxy.

"What's a litter box?"

"Uhhhhh..." Miika's question gave Miria pause as myself and my brides-to-be stepped outside of the manor. The snow was falling freely now, coating the ground in white.

"I sorta wished I had the chance to test the Cloud Rider out before it was sent out to you guys." You could see the wheel tracks leading to the back of the manor. I made sure to adapt the Riders to keep a light shield up when it wasn't in use; it wouldn't protect it from an angry woodpecker but it would keep the water and snow off it so you never had to shovel snow off of them. Handy.

"Why? Didn't you have things keeping you here?" Prim asked as she looked up at me; and yes, we did. Another tradition of the Nova Aurora was for the lord to marry off a young couple; one foisted off to me. Not that I minded; the couple was a brewer's son and an escaped slave girl turned waitress and were respected in Argon City; more over it was a nice reception. I shook my head at her.

"No, it's not that; I hadn't tested them in bad weather and I was planning on modifying it a bit to help with visibility issues." I told them both as we slowly moved to walk around the manor to the back.

(For the curious; Prim's outfit were her usual Arcane Robes and Alicia had her Mana Armor on; both bore spells to protect them from the cold as did my armor. I was wearing a great coat outfit but bore a spell stone on a necklace with a warming enchantment I made myself. Naturally Miria had one and I made ones for Miika and Mokria as well. Given they rarely dealt with snow on the Savannah they were happy with it.)

We would pass a snowman (Well, snow Catalan; it had an extra stick in the back as a tail and molded cat ears made of snow) that Miria and Miika made as Alicia looked to me. "I suppose that would be a wise idea... It wasn't too bad of a ride but it was very... white so I wasn't always sure how far we were from the ground... it was a bit worrying. Prim was able to use some magic to make more light to make it easier to land." I sighed at that and felt my shoulders slumped a bit.

"I should have been on top of that..." I let off as Prim patted my hand.

"It's fine... It's a useful thing you made and you can always improve it." She told me as I sighed.

"I'd feel a lot worse if you guys crashed, you know that, right?" Honestly, it wasn't until the snow picked up a day ago that I thought about it and jumped onto working on it. Sadly it left before I could make adjustments despite my requests.

"If you want to feel guilty about it then fine." Alicia huffed as she looked to me. "But if we didn't trust your work we wouldn't be here. And besides; you already seem ready to fix it."

"True but still..."

"Stop fretting."

"I fret because I care, okay?" I let off with a... snappier tone then I intended as Prim flinched at the noise; I normally didn't take that sort of tone with her so she must have been caught off guard. "...Sorry, I just mean it'd kill me if you guys got hurt over my oversight." I added in a softer tone.

"I know..." Prim said, reaching out to pat my bicep with the hand not at my arm. "And it is sweet but you're not responsible for our choices. We can do dumb things too!"

"I'm sure he's aware." Alicia said ruefully as she shook her head. She would move her hand to my chest, patting it twice. "But Prim's right; we're responsible for our own well beings at the end of the day. And while we do trust your work we are aware it's not infallible. So, no more fretting. Everything is fine and by the time you are done it will stay that way." I must have visibly relaxed at that given both girls smiled at me with Prim letting go to clap her hands together.

"Okay, let's go to another topic, okay?" She said as I nodded; it seemed like a good way to defuse the tension. "So... you can marry four more girls now; have an eye on anyone?" She said way too cheerfully as I half stumbled and looked to her in shock while Alicia gave her a deadpan stare of her own.

"Excuse me!?" I let off as she smiled up to me far too sweetly. "What!?" She only giggled at my response with a smile.

"Welllll, you have an allowance of seven brides now and you have three..." She began sweetly as I felt my eye twitch. "It is your right."

"Yes... it is my right." I replied with a near deadpan tone. "I also have a right to say highly offensive things all the time; that doesn't make it a good idea."

"While she might be a bit blunt, it is something you should consider..." Alicia let off as I looked to her in surprise now. "Like it or not you are the Champion of Eostia and, as such you're going to get a lot of attention... and some of that is going to be people wanting the title and not the man behind the title... So..."

"Expect to be propositioned more." I said with a sigh as Prim patted my shoulder.

"It's more then just to keep people off of you; there's never been a living Champion of Eostia before so who knows what people will expect." She added.

"And while I've been assured you two and Kaguya are fine sharing me-" I began, looking to her face. "-I can't imagine sharing me with six other girls sounds exciting; unless you plan on seducing Alicia and bedding her yourself."

"She wouldn't do that." Alicia huffed... only to find that Prim would dart behind me to her other side and take her arm, pressing her larger bust (Not that Alicia was lacking, mind you) to her arm firmly.

"Why wouldn't I? It can be fun." She said with a very sultry look to her face and while she was acting playful anyone who knew her well enough knew it wasn't an empty statement. Alicia turned red in a second and stumbled for two steps as she all but gawked at her cousin (They were mistaken as sisters for how close they were, mind) as she fumbled for words.

"PRIM!?" Alicia let off loudly.

"Oh, come on, it's a way to get closer."

"C-C-Closer!? Prim! We're cousins!"

"That's not that unusual!"

"Oh my goddess! I-I-I mean we're still both women!"

"So? I've had fun with Carmen and Troya, as well as Kaguya."

"Kaguya!?"

"So... this is what's like to be on the outside looking in..." I mused as I watched a cute, flustered Alicia deal with Prim's primal proposition.

[-]

Dinner would be uneventful as I left my presents with Riri; she would set them out to the table (Even her own) come the holiday and I took some time to modify the Cloud Rider. Thankfully if my tests were right I'd solved that little whiteout issue.

Yes, I was upset at myself for not considering whiteouts limiting visibility for the Cloud Riders; it wasn't a problem at the time and only recently did I think of it.

Either way, come the morning I loaded up the presents I was bringing to the party along with an army of about two hundred gingerbread men, marching off to their assured demise with a frosted smile, held on trays in a box with a small enchantment to keep the inside slightly warm.

Aside from a handful of bodyguards (Makoto and Kelly Conners for myself, Carmen and Troya for Prim, Agni Pralay and a knight I hadn't met before for Alicia) it would just be me and my brides to be on route to Ken. Once everyone was loaded on and after I had double checked we had everything we were bringing I took the pilot's seat with Prim on my right and Alicia on my left (And I gave both a kiss on the lips once they were seated) and guided us out of manor's grounds and into the air. It was another snowy day but as we took off I looked down to a new, white, marble sized spell stone I set to the front of it; held in place by a brass setting. "Activate Enhanced View; Echo View." The girls looked to me in confusion before the spell stone projected a screen upwards; in front of and to the side of my view where I could easily glance at it.

"What is..." Prim let off as she looked at what was there. The screen was showing everything before us but in a wire frame view; the ground could be seen as green cross hatch with darker green filling it in. Water was the same but blue. Trees and building were outlined in green as well but you could see the shape of them. "How did you do this?"

"A heavily modified Ring of Alarm spell." I replied with a smile. "Took a bit of work; it just notices everything instead of just what's moving and gives it a visual representation. It picks up anything as small as a mouse but nothing smaller like snow." I said smiling a bit. "Enhanced View; Full View." I spoke as the screen flicked off... and then the whole wagon was surrounded in a dome of the Echo View.

"Whoa..." Alicia let off, looking around.

"Enhanced View; Side View." I said as the dome vanished and the screen returned. "It can be hard on the eyes if you do it too much for too long. But when you suspect someone's flying nearby or you need to land it'll let you see what you're doing, in a manner, even at night. I brought enough to upgrade all the current Riders as well."

(In case your wondering I did call ahead to warn about the risk of whiteouts for the Riders; Kaguya assured me she had a means of handling such with her own magic. I still stressed for her to stay safe and fly slower if she had to.)

"This all makes me wonder what you'll come up with next..." Alicia said as she shook her head and crossed her arms as I reached to set my arm around her shoulder as I set our course.

"Ahhhh, don't make me ruin the surprise, okay?" I said with a chuckle as she leaned into me softly. "Hmmm..." I let off as Prim shifted on the bench and laid on her back on it; her head on my lap as I gave her a smile.

"So, you do have an idea." The pinkette let off as I shrugged down to her.

"Oh I have a few ideas; I'm not sure how I can do all of them, but that's life." I said as we fell into a comfortable silence from there, my hand on the yoke to steer us. This was... nice...

...

I have to wonder am I really confused about my feelings for these girl or am I just... reluctant to accept them, for some reason...?

That was something to consider... For now, I'd just enjoy the moment...

[-]

Unknown Location
Barony of Longroad
Hidden Cave Base of the Freebirds

Carols were sung inside of the base as those calling themselves 'Freebirds' took time to celebrate the holidays. Slave convoys had dropped in number because of the cold weather so their efforts had changed to training and stocking up for when the snow melted the convoys would resume and, as such, the work of the Freebirds. For Lolek it was a time of remembrance; hiding in a church from slave hunters in a cellar with only a half gone candle for light but a slice of turkey and a mug of hot chocolate. Having never had either one before it brought him to tears at the flavor; even if he didn't have enough of either. Every Nova Aurora he made it a point to ensure food on plates and hot chocolate in mugs for everyone.

Leading him to this moment; walking towards a lone figure sitting on a crate off to the side; a new member to their band of merry men and women, and open book on her lap with a mug of warmed milk and cocoa within. "Not planning on joining the merriment?"

"No." She said curtly as she turned her head and saw a mug held out to her. "... You are quick to take me in as an ally."

"Come now, Avdotya." Lolek said with a wider grin to her. "We've all the same task before us, yes?" He said as the dark elf regarded him for a long, long moment before she took one of the mugs as he moved to sit next to her.

"... You know the task I had before I was collared, yes?"

"I've heard the rumors, indeed." Lolek said, some of his earlier cheer gone in his voice as she sipped her drink. "But I also accept that it was tit-for-tat on that end. That you seek to end what you were once a part of just because you suffered it's sting is a mark against you but that you would give up so much for it is a mark for you. Surely a more comfortable life was awaiting you there in Garan."

"... Somewhat. There is... Things are in upheaval, truth be told." Avdoyta said with a rueful smile. "My house is under questioning and while I imagine we'll survive the Queen's scrutiny a lot of branches will be cut... Still; I'm sure I could find a place to work with my skills... But I want to pay that asshole back and I want to ensure no one else suffers what I did, short as it was."

"As someone who suffered it far worse; that's enough for me." Lolek said sipping his own drink as both merely enjoyed the warm drink for a long moment. It was a few moments Avdotya spoke once more.

"Chocolate is forbidden in Garan..." She mused, looking into her mug. "After this I must ask why?"

"Who knows... My old masters would have us do seemingly random tasks; I think it was a flex, to show they could make us do as they pleased." He said as she snorted. "... Look, I imagine the whole 'trusting humans and halflings' thing might be an adjustment... but trust me, we're all allied to the same goal." He got a snort and a nod in response. "Eostia's a good place... Mostly... Everywhere has it's dark corners but it always feels like Eostia's a bit brighter... outside of the slave states, mind."

"And your response to those dark corners?" The dark elf said as Lolek grinned.

"Drag the light over, kicking and screaming if needs be!" Avdoyta snickered softly, a smile forcing it's way to her lips despite her lack of consent.

It was a cold winter day... and yet it felt a bit warmer in that cave at that moment.

[-]

Thanks to the Echo View I was able to land us in Skyguard City with ease. It was late in the day when we arrived and the moon was rising in the distance so I drove directly to the palace and to the front door. Supposedly Kaguya had already arrived and off to the side I could see an unpainted, parked Cloud Rider. We disembarked and coming out of the palace was someone to greet us; Auryon Reid.

"Lord Noxdecus, welcome back to Skyguard Palace." She said with a smile as I lifted a hand to cut off anything else she choose to say.

"Just James will do, Auryon. The holidays are here and I'd rather shrug off the burdens of formalities. Just for now." I told her with a smile as she nodded.

"As you wish, James." She said gesturing to the door. "Dinner is about to be served; we'll have the maids handle your things so why don't you all hurry over."

"Honestly; sounds good to me." Alicia said as she smiled and walk ahead, heading in. I started to follow as Prim took hold of my arm as we walked into the palace. Honestly I expected we'd arrive for a late dinner, that we were on time was part in thanks to the confidence Echo View gave us. It wasn't too long before we arrived, Celestine turning her head at the end of the table and everyone else around it doing the same... And when I say everyone I mean the other Shields (Including Kaguya, of course), Klaus, General DuLouvenoir, Iryna Syniy and Akane Lee were present... and someone else.

"Oh, Ambassador Bronx!" Prim let off at someone seated near the foot of the table who looked to us and smiled.

"James, Prim, Alicia, welcome! Come, join us!" Celestine beckoned as Prim half dragged me along; I would end up seated between her and Kaguya with Alicia on Prim's other side. That would put the Ambassador on Alicia's other side but I ignored her for a moment to set a hand on Kaguya's shoulder and squeezed softly as she smiled at me with a soft blush.

"Ladies, good to see you once more." The Ambassador, full name Bingo Bronx (Yes, really. I don't know if the name's silly, awesome or both) said before looking to me. "Champion." She said to me respectfully.

"Come now, it's the holidays. No titles for the time being; let us be friends." I replied simply as she smiled back; we had talked after Celestine anointed me Champion and I was being introduced to the various ambassadors.

"As you wish." The woman in question (When standing) was five nine in height and wore and... interesting outfit; a black, gold trimmed corset with six buttons with linked chains (Two linking the upper two together and the other four joined in an 'X' for some reason) that was fused with a jacket's shoulders and sleeves that was red with wide, black cuffs trimmed with gold, a red panel going down the back with two coattails. A black collar extended from the jacket and left her chest bare with cleavage showing B-Cup breasts. Four-point star earrings were on each ear and her legs were clad in tight pants with red, gold trimmed stripes on the front, offset to the sides with gold designs on the outside of them Finally red boots, trimmed with gold would finish the clothing. She bore a youthful look (Despite being in her thirties) and had waist long, blonde hair with a princess style braid behind her head and a set of green eyes.

(-)

Name: Bingo Bronx
Title: Ambassador of the Twenty Five Stars
Class: Gunner
Level: 27
Alignment: Friendly
Reputation: 78
Status: Healthy, Relaxed, Thinking

Romance Rating: 97
Corruption Rating: 12

Known Traits
[?]
[It's High Noon] When an opponent is drawing a weapon you can draw yours faster. +4 to draw speed. If you draw a weapon in reaction to a threat drawing theirs increase your Dex & Acc by 7% and your damage by +4.
[From The Mouth Of My Guns] You know how to persuade people with words... and failing that, firepower. Gain 1 Acc for every 5 Ple (Rounded Up). +2 Damage to all Firearms. Additionally if you have a firearm as a Primary Weapon gain +1 Diplomacy, Bartering & Negotiation for each Piercing Damage that firearm has.

[Full Speed Ahead] You have a natural feel for ships and how to steer them. All ships you're steering turns faster and take less damage when impacting something.

The daughter of a wealthy plantation owner and blacksmith she found she had a knack for crossbows before finding and learning to love the power of firearms. One of it's strongest advocates in the Rycall Republic she would become a Lieutenant Commander in Rycall's Naval Forces on board the RRV Dolphin before switching positions to becoming an ambassador to Eostia.

(-)

( For the curious; yes, RRV means 'Rycall Republic Vessel'.)

And with that I turned to Celestine and smiled. "I'm glad we were on time for dinner; it's good to see everyone."

"It's good you've arrived as well." She replied as she clapped her hands together. "I'm glad you found your way here safely, given the weather."

"Yeah, I have to upgrade the other Riders to cut through the whiteouts." I said as she blinked for a moment. "Honestly, I should have done it sooner."

"I see... I am sure everyone flying them will appreciate the efforts." She replied with a smile.

"Honestly; flying on them spooks me at the best of time, even if I know they are reliable." Klaus quipped with a soft chuckle. "Still, I can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve next."

"Well, that won't be until the new year." I said with a soft chuckle as he looked to Lulu next.

"If nothing else it spooks me a tad less then that contraption you're producing." The halfling snorted in reply as she grinned.

"Ha! Relax and I'll show you what I can do, ne?" Lulu let off with a grin as she crossed her arms in pride. "I can't wait for that, ahhh, help from James to make it." She said; said 'help' being the spell fiber which wasn't common knowledge and why she didn't mention it before the ambassador as I gave her a nod.

(From what I know some people looked into the broken Cloud Riders after that battle to see what was powering them and only saw 'a block of spell glass'; likely they saw the resin holding it in place which was the same, colorless tone as the spell fiber, presumed it was all the same stuff and called it a block of spell glass. While anyone worth their salt would know that couldn't be the truth of it that still meant they had no idea what it actually was. The truth would get out someday, but as long as we could keep a lid on it until the Black Storm was dealt with then I'd call it a win.)

"I don't mind; if anything once I'm done with mine it should help yours out quite a bit." I replied with a grin. "I can only imagine how much you can haul once it's done." I let off as Lulu puffed her tiny chest out with pride. And then I noticed Maia who had an elbow on the table and her head in her hand and just looked... out of it, like she was thinking of something or had something bothering her. "Maia, you okay over there?" I let off as the redhead jerked a bit and looked to me.

"Oh... Yeah, I'm fine." She said in a... duller tone then her usual chipper and friendly pitch. "Sorry. I invited Vult to go drinking and hang out but he said he had to 'hob-snob with an old client' instead." She said with a snort before finally giving a weak smile. "Guess he's worried about work... or something." She said as I tried to keep a neutral look. That was... odd; shouldn't he be slowing down in the holidays? I wanted to ask if she wanted to talk about it but around a filled dinner table seemed like a bad time to do it.

"Honestly, given the reputation the Black Dogs hold it would be for the best." Claudia said as Maia gave her a sour but not overly angry look. "I mean no offense and none doubt Vult's strength and use in combat but he does not carry a... how is it best to say it..? He's saddled with rumors of rape, dishonor and worse from his men's action. Like it or not their actions reflect upon him and they do so poorly." Maia huffed softly but said nothing... likely because even she was forced to admit Claudia had a point. The Black Dogs were hired when you needed the job done, consequences be damned.

"Speaking of mercenaries, House Onglave opted to hire the First Lyran Guard to further bolster their border with Balanar..." Alicia let off; clearly trying to steer the conversation in a new direction. "I have no idea why; they're well staffed as it is."

"Oh, that's simple." I said, leaning over a bit to look at her past Prim. "One of their members rescued their heir,Valora, after she and her unit was captured. She's... very taken with him." Prim's head all but snapped to me as she looked with wide eyes. Likely she sensed something romantic in their air there. I opted to give a retelling of the tale (With Myr's version of events and Valora's more... enhanced retelling) as the ladies (Minus Lulu and Maia) seemed to swoon at the brief tale of bravery... and stumbling... right before comparing it to my father's own tale of how he rescued my mother...

"Hoooo, a young mage and a lady knight?" Claudia said with some bemusement as she looked to her husband. "Where have I heard that before?"

"I haven't a clue." Klaus said with a teasing chuckle. "Perhaps with Alicia's new engagement to James?" Alicia sputtered at that as I tried to stay composed.

"You're blushing!" Prim accused at me.

... Maybe not as composed as I had hoped...

"That is true..." Kaguya said with a giggle of her own. "Had I not known better I'd call you a heart breaker, Dearest." She finished as Bingo looked to Alicia, Kaguya then back to me... then to Prim, likely realizing why she was between me and Alicia.

"Well... fitting for a hero..." The Ambassador let off as I sighed.

"I'm... not trying to collect women, it's..." I began, pausing as words failed me for a moment. "...I care, and if it had been most women I'd have said no."

This would have been easier to deal with if Prim wasn't snickering at me. And Lulu. And Maia. And Claudia. And Klaus.

Alicia and Kaguya had the sense not to snicker at the guy they planned to marry... if just for my sake... Kaguya merely patted my shoulder with a smile and a soft giggle as Alicia sputtered for a moment in embarrassment as she blushed and looked away.

"Ara, how lovely this relationship is growing... I'm jealous, to be honest..." Celestine let off with a wide smile as I gave her a deadpanned look.

"Careful. I might invite you into it." I said, as if it was a threat... as she blushed hard and made her look back at me... as the room went silent...

I caught the grin Prim gave me, look of shock from Alicia and calm, considering smile from Kaguya as the rest of the table snickered at Celestine now.

"Full glad am I to be invited here..." Iryna, who I almost forgot was present, let off with a wide smile.

"Tis a good bit of entertainment... that I can't gossip about, sadly..." Akane Lee added with a grin.

Mallory DuLouvenoir sighed and shook her head, as if disappointed in the antics going around her.

Antics that ended once dinner arrived.

[-]

For the most part after dinner we talked and played games; glass Battle Chess boards and Battle Fleet games broken out to play with. I'd also brought a new game with me; made from a flat board with a small, weak stone in the middle projecting a vertical board with circles on a seven by seven grid. On a touch it would drop a projected red disk down until it hit the bottom or another disk, then blue, then back to red with the aim of getting one color in a line of four horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

It was Connect Four. I remade Connect Four.

The new game was well received as everyone broke down into groups; the usual Maia/Kaguya/Lulu trio was hanging out together with Iryna, as did Prim and Alicia but with Akane and Mallory while Celestine, Claudia, Klaus and Bingo made up one more group that I ended up joining. It was a good, long, casual talk that lasted until the evening and rather enjoyable. I would finally make my way to the roof and do a little stargazing before going to my room. It was always amazing, looking to the sky here where the lack of electric lights on a bright enough night would make a gorgeous view that you didn't get with a mass of an illuminated city.

The differences between my old world and this one was staggering and not just in how one was a modern world of technology and science and the other was a medieval land of steel and magic. One was a world of information and connection via the internet and one was still divided by distance. One was a world of democracy and the other a world of nobility and royalty. It was something that, in ways, I was still adjusting to, even though I should be used to it by now...

Despite everything I had here in this world, all I've done in it... I can't help but miss my old one... more over at this time of year; nearing Nova Aurora in one, nearing Christmas in the other... Was it wrong to wonder how my first family and batch of friends were doing? Were they still mourning..? Were they moving on and staying happy and merry..?

It would be selfish to expect them to still be crying for me but I still hoped they were thinking of me on some level... I imagine it would be, but still...

I need to stop thinking of it... I have more problems in this world to tackle... And then someone opted to speak to me.

"And lo the hero, good and true in a private moment looks to the stars and seeks answers they have not." My head turned and I could see Klaus walking over, arms wide as he spoke like he was on the stage for a Shakespeare play. "Contemplating matters many would see as beyond their understanding, beyond their comprehension; the unknowable thoughts of a legend! Yet they do not see that the legend for all his deeds and victories is as much of a man as they and much they wonder and struggle with are the same as the peasant who grew the wheat and grain for his bread and mead! The struggle of the greatest is not so different then those of his lessers!"

What else could I do but clap at his performance. "Bravo, Klaus. Your own work or some play?"

"I've seen more then a few while Claudia is away on duties." He said as he walked to stand by me with a smile. "She thinks I enjoy the culture of it all; in truth I seek new sweet nothings to whisper to her ear." I snickered a bit as I leaned into the crenelations of the roof with Klaus doing the same. "Regardless, the words are not untrue; in high esteem of the masses you are now... even if you are as human as they."

"Well, save the ones not human." I quipped as he chuckled.

"You know what I mean." He said with a smile and a wave of his hand. "Regardless I imagine there's a more pressing matter upon your mind... your abundance of brides." He let off... and despite my best efforts I did indeed wince.

"In my defense I never expected three different women to propose in such... passionate manners so close to one another." I replied as he chuckled.

"Do you love them?" He asked as I felt my jaw clench. I had no answer, at least none forthcoming. He just smiled wider, clearly expecting it. "Hmm... I think you know the answer already; regardless of if you wish to admit it or not."

"Klaus..." I started, sighing for a moment and, I hated to admit it, squirming for a moment. "Am I the only one finding this odd? Sure, nobility is allowed more then one bride but how many do take more then one and how many such high profile ones at once? More over they... well, I'm not sure why they'd all be willing to share one guy."

"They're not sharing 'one guy'; they're sharing you." He said as I tried not to huff as I opened my mouth to- "But I do feel that helps sum up why you have such troubles accepting your own feelings; you still see yourself as that lad don't you."

My mouth shut and he kept speaking. "You've always been a little more humble then your peers but more over you're usually less ambitious. You never sought more then you thought you deserved and never wished to take more then you earned." Well... I... he wasn't wrong I'd say... "And that leads you thinking you don't deserve their love and desire as well as making you reluctant to admit to your own feelings. Well, am I wrong?"

... "... I can't argue with that..." There was a factor he wasn't aware of; my old, previous life... I was a fairly average guy before and... well... I... yeah, became a lord... well heir to a lord... Still, the memories I found myself with once I entered here is... who I'd be, I'd imagine... It was like... not a fake life I was leading but a second chance that... It was hard to explain to myself...

I can't even explain it to someone else without sounding crazy!

"Heh. Even after being named Champion of Eostia you haven't changed all that much." He let off with a chuckle. "I dare say that is comforting in a way... but we both know you can't carry yourself as you had been... And it's best starting with admitting this; you deserve their love. Story over."

"... It's easy to say but still-"

"No, no, no... Listen... You don't decide that." He said with a smile but a stern tone. "After I first met Claudia I was a blubbering mess over her and even as I noticed she had an interest in me I shied away from it... at least until she started to drag me out to dates." He said with a soft chuckle. "I didn't deserve her hand, I had thought... but she thought different and... well, I started to understand what she saw in me... That's the first time I started to feel honestly confident in myself... because of her."

"Klaus..."

"And it's true you bore more confidence that I had in that age, if in a quiet manner, but that doesn't mean you have your short comings in that same manner." He carried on, his smile faltering a hint but staying. "So let me spell it out for you, blunt as blunt can get; you do not decide if you deserve their love or not. They do. They decide who has earned or should have their love, not you. You can accept their feelings or reject them, but you can neither deny they exist nor deny that they are theirs and theirs alone. You cannot decide how they feel; merely return them or don't. And I know you do; you're not one to toy with their hearts with such flippancy."

"... And if they're wrong..?" I asked after a moment.

"Then they're wrong and have to deal with their own mistake. But they're allowed to be wrong." He replied with a grin. "But once more, not your choice to whom they give their desire to." He paused as I took a moment to think on it and... yeah, he was right... He kinda was. "Whatever mental block is holding you back is there for a reason, I am sure... but for this you don't need it. They love you. That's all there is to it, and they know they're putting those feelings upon burdened shoulders... but you need to let them know of your own sooner or later. They are sure of their feelings and admit to them. You know yours too. Best to admit it, if only to yourself... and them once you can."

"... Heh... And tell me, how long were you planning this talk?"

"Since the promotion ceremony but once Alicia stepped in and with everything else going on I felt it better to wait." He answered with a shrug as he smiled. "Does it give you some clarity?"

"... A little, to be honest." It... kinda was, to be frank. I was shot, torn from my world and given the task of saving another filled with people, many of which I've come to deeply care about... but there was always an... anchor, I think, holding me back... I want my old home back, my old family back, my old house, my old friends, my old life... My computer and rolling my eyes at stupid Twitter threads, fumbling as the Impostor in Among Us, talking shit at guild-mates in games, buying a bag of chips and making it vanish over an evening of gaming or getting dragged out to hockey...

I miss what I can no longer have...

...and yet...

... I had new things to be thankful for. New friends, new family, new life, new home, new... new loves... All of which are under threat... and in my old world handling the threat didn't work out so well but here...

I can... I can handle it here... I just have to step up... But even so I have to do more then step up...

I have to live...

"I can see you've a new resolve. Good." He said with a grin. "Like it or not you're the hero now. You have to act the part... time to time, anyway."

"Great! Just what I need! More nude statues and portraits!" I blurted out.

He got a laugh out of that. Despite everything else... I did feel a bit better.

[-]

I would talk to Klaus for a while before we went back down and I'd end up speaking to Kaguya for awhile (I sought her out as she was the most distant, physically, from me most of the time) but soon Alicia and Prim would join us and we'd go to bed together; there would be no fun or anything just a lot of snuggling as I kept them close. Come the morning we even bathed together and just... stayed cozy, I guess.

We wanted to go and visit the city but given the whole CHAMPION OF EOSTIA thing (Used with the same energy as HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, of course) that would be difficult, even before considering I'd be chilling with three Shield Princesses. That would get a lot of attention... Just... yeah...

So, four spells stones enchanted with Illusions were called for. Post-Illusion and once we got dressed I looked more like a merchant's son, Prim a socialite, Alicia an adventurer and Kaguya an heiress. Different hair colors, eye colors, different faces (Myself looking more like Cloud and Prim, Alicia and Kaguya looking more like Aerith, Tifa and Yuffie respectively, if in different clothes. Yes, I did that) and then we went out...

...after making four more stones for the Dawn Templars following us. Because what was the point of blending in with four Dawn Templars trailing behind us?

That would be like trying to pick up chicks at a party but your mom was following you around with a sign pointed to you saying 'THIS IS MY BOY!'; kinda undermines things.

That said it was good to do some shopping. The only issue was visiting the tailors as we had to be mindful of dropping the Illusions to see how it all fully looked; even if Prim was the only one dress hunting.

We opted to each pick a place to go and took turns visiting; the tailor's was Prim's choice (And a mid-range store; she still had fun) but Alicia's was the weapon's shop. She wanted to test the spears and lances as while she had a great weapon in the Skysplitter the fact was as great as swords were they lacked the reach of lances, spears or other polearms. Naturally I offered my services to enhance any weapon she picked with enchanting (It was weird having Alicia-looking-like-Tifa giving me a smile like a child told 'I will buy you five pounds of candy') but we ran into a slight issue.

There was a reason why during her travels she relied on her sword so much; spears are long. A shorter polearm is four to five feet long, six to eight for something more standard and up to fifteen feet in some formations of the military.

(In case your wondering; yes Eostia used those early in the Garan war. The issue was orcs and ogres would charge, drive themselves onto the spears, weighed them down or broke them to make them useless afterwards, sometimes didn't die and wasted the extra length. Regulars still trained with them to handle other fronts, mind.)

The problem was the shorter ones were more easily carried on the back with the right enchantment but lacked the range of a more standard polearm. After some searching Prim brought over something and made a suggestion. The items in question? A pair of three pound orichalcum ingots.

While the obvious solution she was suggesting was to ask Lulu to make a spear that didn't change the issues of 'too long to carry' versus 'too short for a good range', at least until Prim made a novel suggestion; that I apply the same enchantments to it that I used on the Shining Gemini. That was a great idea; a four foot tube shaped length of a handle with anchor points for the stone would allow me to use an over charged Arcane Weapon to create extra length as needed; giving it another one to four feet as needed with a variety of spearheads, halberd heads, axe heads and more. I could also give it a mace or hammer head, long blade, axe head and more to make it more versatile. Lulu could put a point or weighted end on the other end to stab or bludgeon people with. I could add the recall spell I used in the Shining Gemini and Gregory's Golden Thunder Axe so she could use it as a javelin as needed and have it fly back to her hand...

I think Alicia drooled. That said I opted to speak up once more and asked if orichalcum or mythril was better. Price wasn't the issue and not just because two of these girls were princesses; sure, orichalcum was more expensive by about four or five times (Depending on where you bought it from) but the real cost came in forging it and we had Lulu to help with that. The forging cost was a non-issue; no it was a weight issue. Orichalcum was slightly lighter then steel but it was comparable. Mythril was much lighter and while weaker then orichalcum was still stronger then steel. Which was better came down to a question; what was more important; weight or strength?

Alicia choose strength. More over she suggested that, if Lulu was willing, to line the inside with Crystal Mythril.

And now I have to explain that so you understand what it is; despite the name and expectations it wasn't any sort of crystal or crystal/mythril mix or an alloy of mythril it was a... well, combination of metals. It looked like rainbow bismuth in tone; a metallic tone with pinks, greens, purples and blues. The differences is while bismuth had golden tones Crystal Mythril bore silver and white tones. To make it you smelt twenty parts mythril and one part flaked or powdered orichalcum; powdered preferred.

Now if you know anything about orichalcum you'd be raising your hand up and saying 'but orichalcum can't alloy with other metals'. Yes, that's correct. That's why Crystal Mythril isn't an alloy; it's mythril with orichalcum in it, much the same way a chocolate chip cookie isn't a chocolate cookie. It's a cookie with chocolate chips in it. The interaction of mana inside of the metal gave it it's unique tone and color. It was... rarely used because aside from being hard to make it was soft. By soft I mean like rubber. That meant to use it it had to be layered with normal mythril (Or, even more rarely, orichalcum) during forging to make things stick together with some strength. Using it as a weapon was ill advised but using it inside a weapon with layers holding it together it could do one thing very well; channel mana. It could channel a person or stone's mana so well that a low grade four stone could output the power of a mid-grade three stone... assuming you had the right amount, because you won't nail boards together with a sewing needle.

It was tricky to make, trickier to layer and trickier to layer in a way to maximize the power output and minimizing the softness at the same time... but for Lulu I bet it would be a welcome challenge. Of course in addition to that we had to deal with one other issue; the stone.

By my calculations to get a good, overcharged Arcane Weapon spell you needed at least a baseball sized, higher end grade four stone at minimum. The Shining Gemini bore grade threes and Makoto's Kouzenken bore a grade two. For her needs we needed a grade three at least, grade two preferred. That would be expensive...

Material bought in the form of orichalcum, powdered orichalcum and some mythril we were off to a high end magic shop. I wanted to browse for a bit and while Prim and Kaguya would both like that as well and now Alicia had a reason to browse as well. I was hoping for a few tomes, focusing on spell craft but also on how to further enhance enchantments but I was also looking for good spell stones... and now I had another reason to.

We all opted to do that first.

And we lucked out. The stone in question was half the size of a baseball... but grade one... Oh yeah... that would work! And the price was...

...two hundred and twenty platinum...

...and that was a steal...

To put this in perspective; I paid under a quarter of that for an expensive revolver made of mythril and a grade two spell stone. The stone was half the cost with mythril, forging and bullets being the rest of the cost. I barely had enough cash to buy this thing. I would come close to bankrupting myself paying for it.

All four of us bought it; pitching fifty platinum each (We had to drop Illusions to show that, yes, we could afford it. We got a twenty platinum discount... because CHAMPION OF EOSTIA) so the spell stone was now covered.

And yes, I found my tomes, plus a small batch of grade three stones. Did I pay too much for them in the end? Yes, yes I did.

Was I going to make something with them? Damn right I'd do so.

Kaguya, in the end, had a more interesting spot to visit; a store for drinks. Supposedly it had tea leaves from across the continent and even other continents such as the Sunkissed. It wasn't just that however; there was coffee beans and grinds, booze of all types, a selection of juices and blocks of powdered grape extract that, when mixed with water, would make grape juice... with a warning to not leave it in a dark place for too long or it would turn to wine... Huh...

(To answer the question you might have; the answer is it came from Justical which was under a prohibition of alcohol... and, well, not everyone listened. There were moonshiners over there (And even coined the term in this world) and this was a creative way to get around it. Indeed, the warning was mandated by the Justical crown so people avoided making wine with it... and ended up all but screaming in every town square that you could buy wine... or rather something that would turn into wine, after awhile.)

I bought some coffee while Kaguya choose a selection of teas of every type and color you could name. The whole place smelled of exotic herbs and floral scents... It was nice...

And of course, once we were home it was time to ready for the party...

[-]

Duchy of Elddale
Castle Elddale's Cellars

A pull on a hidden latch opened a hidden door, sliding back from the corner to let three men in; Arnold and Victor von Blitzhaus as well as Vult of the Black Dogs. He had carried the Fang of Bahamut in a blanketed bundle, a rope letting him carry it with ease in the middle. In addition Alundra van Bludhorn stepped in after them, the door shutting behind her. Able Redguard looked up from his place and stood; a long table was set up and bore members of the Cloaked Crowns at it... with one space empty and notable; Beardsley's usual space.

A painful absence and a reminder of the dangers of their path...

Arnold took his place with Victor joining him, Vult and Alundra moved across from them. There was a usual gathering of these people in Castle Elddale this time of year; the excuse of a Nova Aurora party easily shielded curiosity as to why so many people of influence found their way to his home. "All rise!" Able let off as the members of the Cloaked Crowns stood up. "Members, let us begin with this meeting with the pledge." Vult and Alundra shared a look as the rest moved to clap their hands before them before moving their hands into fists shoulder width apart and level with their chins, palms facing them before speaking as one.

"We are the watchers of the Crown. Until comes the worthy heir upon which it can rest we will ready the throne. From shadows we undermine the weak usurpers and build the next empire. Gloria Imperatori!" With that everyone would seat themselves as Alundra and Vult would sit as well.

"Presuming no objections then this meeting of the Cloaked Crowns is now in session." Able began, looking about for a moment. "Very good. To begin with; we welcome Alundra van Bludhorn to our order. Having an additional Traditionalist of such prestige will benefit us greatly. We will teach her our ways in time... more importantly, Vult has come forth as our ally, Varro... Arnold says you have proof you are more then a mere mercenary; ignoring that the size of the Black Dogs places you as anything but mere."

Vult's reply was to grin and undo his bundle. Once the cloth wrap fell off nearly the entire room gasped as he lifted it up and set it to the table, near the middle; the Fang of Bahamut now in clear view, all but gleaming in the light of the room. "... That's convincing..." Canton Rongera let off as the room turned to hushed whispers and tone of shock and awe.

"The Emperor's Blade..." Able let off in awe before looking to Vult once more. "Arnold is correct... That is a rather hefty claim to the crown."

"Glad we can agree on that, but the real challenge is getting the crown." Vult let off with a grin. "I'm sure Arnold's brought it up before but the unexpected development of this war has forced me to start altering my plans. Among which I need to account for two factors in regards to the Church." That surprised them as they looked about before looking to him. "I'm well aware they want to take over Eostia for their goddess but I need to know how they intend to do so and what the disposition of their leadership is."

"We have information on both; but may I ask your intentions?" Count Arron DeSagesse asked of him with a soft frown as Vult replied, starting with a confident smile.

"To leverage them against our foes, of course!" The King of the Mercenaries let off. "Eostia knows of the Black Storm and is chasing us around but if we can get them to sniff around the Church a bit that's a benefit but more importantly if we can trigger a conflict that softens them up for us later." He let off with a grin as it turned darker. "And while I doubt the Archbishop would be willing to join with us a more... ambitious member of their order could be convinced to join us as a means to gain their little Theocracy... We just have to ensure they're 'dealt with' before the end comes..."

"Hmmm..." Arron let off, crossing his arms for a long moment as he thought. "Indeed, the Archbishop is cautious and wouldn't consider aligning with us for any reason... but I could see Darkpurge or Stellaclamor attempting such an alliance for their own ends and ambitions... but we'd need to find away around Lucilius or to remove him from the picture..."

"That wouldn't be easy." Able let off with a frown. "As Arron said he is cautious... We would be better off attempting to leverage Celestine and her ilk against them." Arnold and Alundra shared a look and matching frown; there was an interesting situation. The Traditionalists wanted to use the Church against Noxdecus and now the Crowns wanted to use Celestine against the Church... and likely she'd bring her new Champion along to assist.

That would be an... interesting conflict if it happened.

"More importantly we need to work out a new plan to deal with Garan." Johnathan Kincaid let off with a frown. "Before we could use Garan as a tool to weaken Eostia and move to place. That Garan is no longer a threat means we can finally act to overthrow the High Throne but now we have to consider they might move to assist Celestine."

"More over, according to Stark, it's safe to assume that Queen Olga and James Noxdecus are on good terms; friends even." Alundra added with a snort. "She might move on his behalf alone."

"My benefactor should be able to ensure the other nations nearby are preoccupied when the time comes." Vult explained firmly. "But the basic plan is unchanged; we take Garan first. We just have to change the means."

"Indeed; you managed to poison Olga... interesting..." Able let off as he frowned in thought. "...Should we spread this fact about?"

"It would not gain traction with most, I think." Johnathan replied. "Even then it might benefit us in the long run to allow the idea to stick; we'll need to defeat both Olga and Noxdecus in the end. If the general populace thinks he bested her at her peak then defeating him in turn would be crippling to Eostian morale... doubly the lost of his creativity... Speaking of which, Arnold, Victor, Arron; has Channer or the other enchanters made headway on copying his air travel?"

"The issue isn't the enchantments; it's the materials." Victor told them with a sigh. "Channer hasn't been able to work out what he's used beyond a new form of spell glass. Unless Arron's men have had better luck-" Arron shook his head as Victor frowned. "-then that's a hurdle we haven't conquered yet."

"We can't just use normal spell glass?" One of the few women at the table asked as Arron sighed.

"No." He began. "Obviously a large enough or powerful enough spell stone would be too expensive, but spell glass in the size required is hard to make and not cheap. Charging spell glass as it's made with one, steady charge is difficult. Even then the shape of the glass matters; if it's in an orb then it will be harder to disguise the placement, making it an obvious weak point if not done correctly. If we do it in any long block it would be easier to hide but it would also crack easier if anything flexes. No matter the shape, given the size and weight of it all a hard enough landing could make it crack."

"How much spell glass are we talking about here?" Alundra asked in curiosity.

"Rough estimate would be ninety to a hundred and ten pounds of quality spell glass." Arron replied as she winced. Low grade spell glass that was more or less a hundred pounds would be about fourteen inches cubed, four cubed inches more then normal glass. Higher grades were less dense and yet more brittle and would spread out to twenty two inches cubed. "Maybe twice the amount in lower grade glass." Alundra winced once more.

"Can we mitigate the brittleness at all?" Canton asked as Victor sighed.

"Perhaps with rubber padded springs or the like, but the fact stands even with spell glass this would be an expensive endeavor." The Blitzhaus heir let off.

"You'd think that he came from a more enlightened world to work out such problems..." Vult said, looking bemused. "If he made a new sort of glass then we should make an effort to know more of it; if only to counter it better if not replicate it."

"We'll set that to the new year... We know Celestine subsidized it to a degree but we also know now Noxdecus is able to make enchantments to imprint enchantments onto objects for him." Arnold let off with a frown. "That is the secret that allowed him to churn out voxluxs and filter stones at an otherwise unthinkable rate. Channer has had... no luck in replicating the effect, at least not yet."

"Hmmm, I can see low level enchantments for a whole army now if it could be copied." Vult said with a grin. "Be pricey in stones, given you'd still need something good enough, but damned effective if you had them. Either way; if that boy of yours is as clever as you say he'll work it out."

"We had best work it out..." Able said with a stern look around the room. "We all know how much air travel brought victory this time. We need to be able to ride the sky as well; even if not in the same quality the ability to mobilize troops and supplies is too invaluable to ignore. Even if the risk of brittle blocks is there we may wish to make the attempt regardless."

Vult couldn't help but grin a bit as the meeting carried on. As a group the Crowns were weak and pompous; having done very little over the last thousand years but decline yet thinking they were the answer to everything... but they had determination and persistence that was worth celebrating; worms digging at foundations over time and trying to topple the Castle of Eostia over. More over collectively they had useful resources, insight and intelligence he lacked.

They would be useful in forming the Cuntry... and a few, perhaps, still useful once it was formed...

[-]

So the time of the party came.

The location would be a ballroom inside the palace with a Nova Aurora tree within; decorated in whites, golds and cyans of the holiday and capped with a golden sun. The colors matched the long cloths on the walls. Snacks and drinks were set out (Including my mother's gingerbread army) for everyone to enjoy. There was no need to dress up so comfortable dresses and tunics were the order of the day; I opted for a cozy, blue tunic with the House Noxdecus emblem over the left breast, black pants and boots. Once I arrived I could see Prim in a dress that was a pink sundress that was cute (And was the most covering them I have ever seen her wear), Kaguya in her usual wear and Alicia in black slacks and a cropped, blue top. I didn't have a chance to get to any of them as I saw Klaus (In his usual wear minus the red scarf thing and the hat) with Claudia (In a set of black short-shorts and turtleneck, sleeveless sweater that was white with gray wave patterns on it); the latter of whom broke off to greet me. I reached for a handshake only to get a hug instead.

"Hello to you too, Claudia." I quipped, smiling a bit as I hugged back for a moment. She let go in time for Klaus to reach over and shake my hand. "Klaus."

"It's good to see you well and good." Claudia said with a bright smile.

"As well as can be exp-oof!" I let off as Maia tackle-hugged me (Although not in the Prim 'boobs-to-the-face' manner) as I wrapped an arm around her waist. "Hello to you too Maia, more cheerful now?"

"A bit." She grinned in her... normal outfit. Sans weapons. Yup. She let go and stood with her hands on her hips as she smiled, her usual mood returned. "Good to drink and relax for the holidays, eh?" She let off as she moved an arm and pumped it once.

(I later learned what might be the reason she was more chipper then the other day; Vult called her up and said his talks with his old clients went well enough that he'd be able to hang out with some of his lieutenants in Skycrown for the new year and invited her to go drinking with them. That was... I could respect Vult as a leader and warrior, I wasn't so sure as a person before and less so now. It felt kinda like he was toying with her, and not in a good, clean fun way.)

"Now come on! Let's go!"

"Whoa!" I let off as Maia grabbed my arm and yanked me along; I had stumbling steps for a moment before planting my feet to try and pause her and speak to my fiancees... only to be pulled skidding along like a child as she dragged me behind her. Prim snickered (Dammit Prim! That's your response!? In case your wondering, yes I did later say that to her face. She snickered louder.), Alicia raised an eyebrow and Kaguya sighed and shook her head. I gave them a (Mostly false) hurt look as I looked to where Maia was pulling me to...

"He's here, he's here!"

"Mister Noxdensios!"

"It's Noxdecus!"

"M'lord, M'lord!"

"Here you are kids!" Maia let off as I was pulled to Celestine (Normal outfit)... and her orphans! Like two dozen young boys as I was yanked forth, pulling me right in front of them, stumbling two steps before coming to a stop and composing myself.

"Boys." I let off before looking to a bemused High Queen. "Cele."

"James, good to see you relaxed... somewhat." She let off with a giggle as she smiled. There were a few tables about for the kids with some toys and games laid out for them along with snacks, including the ongoing defeat of the gingerbread army. Yes, games I made were there as well. "I'm glad you're here." She said as she walked over and gave me a hug, one returned as I patted her back twice.

"Glad to be invited." I replied as we let go... and I felt my hand tugged, looking down to a little scamp with a grin.

"Can we go flying later!" He let off as I offered a chuckle.

"As long as the weather's fine enough and Celestine allows it I suppose we can do that."

"YAAAAAY!" Needless to say my answer was cheered as I ruffled his hair. I tried not to but I still grinned; it's hard to play aloof with kids.

"Come on, come on..." One kid let off, grabbing my hand and yanking as I allowed myself to be pulled towards one of the tables. Maia had opted to move off to talk to Kaguya as Celestine followed me and the kids who stayed flocked about me. I went along with it; what kid wouldn't want to play games with the Champion of Eostia, huh?

And so I ended up playing several kids in Connect Four... And yes, I held back a bit; oh, I made sure to win a good chunk but I let each kid win at least once. Really the highlight would be facing Celestine in Battle Chess... So, how did I fair against the High Queen in the Game of Kings and Lords?

...

One out of eleven isn't too bad... Before you ask, I was sure she was holding back; this is what you get facing a foe centuries older then you. The kids cheered Celestine on at first but once it was cleared I was the underdog they opted to cheer me on instead.

Others were about as well, of course, the Ambassador, Iryna, Mallory and a few others, all chatting, drinking, playing, relaxing and more. Finally Prim arrived as I finished a Battle Fleet game with one of the scamps (As I had come to nickname them, meant lovingly of course) it was Prim who walked over and set a hand on my shoulder. "James, sorry to pull you away but care to come spend time with us?" I knew who 'us' meant as I nodded.

"Sure... I had intended to before being pulled away." I said as I stood, looking to the boys. "Excuse me lads... and stay good for your mother here, eh?"

"Okay..."

"Byyyyyye!"

"We will!" They let off as Prim took my arm and led me away as I waved.

"Thanks." I said softly with a sigh. "Good kids, but a bit much to deal with so many at once..." She giggled loudly for a moment as I moved my arm around her waist, smiling to her as she leaned into me.

"Well, you seemed to be getting a bit tired of it... But it's good you gave them some attention." She said, as she gave me a smile.

"Like I said, good kids." I said just before we reached Alicia and Kaguya. "Ladies." I greeted, reaching out and pulling Alicia (Who went full blush) to me in a hug... and realized a problem as I sighed.

"What's wrong?" Prim asked in response to my sigh.

"I have three fiancees but only two arms." They all shared a laugh as Kaguya stepped in and hugged me around the neck before I shrugged and pulled on Prim and Alicia, making them both yelp as I hugged Kaguya... and kept them in the way of it as I chuckled for a long moment. "Well, this works." I joked, all three squirming and giggling before we turned into one, large hug. Once they let go I gave the princesses a a smack on the ass each then Kaguya once I had an opening. They were all a bit surprised, but quickly smiled as we moved to a table to sit down; Prim and Alicia to either side of me and Kaguya ahead of me.

"You seem rather... well." Kaguya let off, suggesting something else as I chuckled.

"Let's just say I had a chance to consider a few things; is all." I opted not to mention Klaus gave me a new perspective, but still...

"Good hear!" Prim let off, flagging down one of the maids. It took little time for a pitcher of eggnog to be dropped off with glasses; Prim moving to fill the glasses and pass them around. "With everything that's happened we, ahhh, haven't have the chance to talk about our relationship beyond an agreement to marry." She said as I nodded.

"That's... fair. My father made a suggestion of how it would go on Ur's end." I began to explain. "Which would be me moving into Ur and leaving Mungale to Cress. I know Alicia said her brother would become heir in her place which would leave her to moving over." Both Prim and Alicia nodded and gave a verbal affirmative before I looked to Kaguya. "But that still leaves you the odd one out... I imagine you can't just upend your order and move to Ur easily."

"That is true; but while I am a leader of the order I am not so indispensable to the day-to-day running of things that I could not live in Ur, if it came to it." Kaguya replied with a smile. "And with the Cloud Rider allowing me to traverse the distance with great speed and efficiency I would be able to head back when they require me. It would be an inconvenience, I will admit to this, but it would not be so grave that I cannot do it with reasonable ease."

"With luck it'll be easier come the new year." I replied as she raised an eyebrow while Alicia and Prim gave me curious looks. "And no, I'm keeping that quiet for a moment. I will say I have plans; I'm just stockpiling what I need to make it." I took a moment to sip my drink as Alicia smirked softly.

"Not going to rest on your laurels then, are you?" She said with a smile that faltered quickly. "Given what's still ahead of us I can't blame you. I fully plan to train harder, come the new year. We have a lot to be ready for."

"I made sure to grab a few new spells as well." Prim added, patting her chest once as well. "And I've been experimenting more with the holy-fire spells I know; I'm hoping to make something new." That got a raised eyebrow from me as Kaguya smiled and nodded to her.

"That reminds me; I've been meaning to teach Dearest a spell as well. Perhaps I can learn that holy-lightning one as well." The priestess said before clasping her hands together.

"Oh?" Well, I wasn't turning down the chance to learn a new spell. "Well far be it from me to turn down the offer; that sounds great."

"I have nothing to add to the magical side of the conversation, sadly." Alicia let off with a sigh before smiling. "But Lulu did agree to make my spear; to be honest she sounded excited at the challenge."

"Fuck right I am!" Lulu's voice came from where she was standing with Maia, holding a mug up.

"Lulu! Language in front of the children!" Celestine's firm voice came as Lulu stiffened as she nervously chuckled.

"Sorrrrry!" She let off.

"If it turns out anything like the Dragon's Claw then I wouldn't worry one bit; first time I used it in combat it cut though an ogre's neck and I thought I missed until it's head came off. I felt nearly no resistance." Alicia gave a low whistle at that as she nodded. "I'm sure I'll enjoy enchanting it when the time comes. If you want I could also peek at Skysplitter; I'm sure it's spell matrix is locked but you never know."

"Apologies; locked enchantment?" She let off.

In short an enchanter can 'lock' an enchantment in place on a spell stone making it impossible to change or alter. You couldn't even add another onto it. Of course if you knew the 'key' to it you could do so... but there's an issue with that; one) that required the enchanter made a key in the first place, two) that they wrote it down somewhere and three) it didn't require something obscure or destroyed to use. Some people hid the key inside the enchantment but it was usually in some form of puzzle or riddle... In short; it was a headache at the best of times. I explained it all, of course, to the table as Alicia frowned and nodded.

"Yeah; Skysplitter, or the stone in it at least, was a gift that was granted to my family in the final days of the Kingdom of Endonis." She replied. Endonis stood where most of modern Feoh did as well as some of Ur. Houses Arcturus, Leosol and Draken all have ties to that old kingdom.

"It was a gift from the... Purcian council, I want to say?" I let off as I looked up in thought only for Alicia to nod.

"Yes, indeed it was." Alicia said with a grin. The Purcian City State was the smallest nation to break off from the Imperium and survive; it used to be just Greenback City and some towns and farming villages around it. And yes; the City State would grow into Pulca, post-Brazen Empire. Purica was in an awkward position between Endonis and the Beramus Kingdom. There was something of a three way conflict between Endonis, Beramus and another kingdom, Ferion, and small skirmishes and a war would break out for a time.

At first Purica was neutral and just wanted to be left alone but, as things tend to happen, 'neutral' and 'enemy' are not so far removed in the minds of the paranoid and Beramus moved to conquer the City State. That pushed them to an alliance with Endonis and they even became a vassal state of the Kingdom; one treated well but the loss of their independence still stung them.

And then the Brazen Empire happened... Yeah...

"Enchanting has come a lot since those days. Well, you can say that about much of the world, I think." Alicia said with a smile as she moved to sip her own drink.

"You do know your history, don't you?" Kaguya said as I smiled, finishing a sip of my own drink.

"Skysplitter was made in a time when enchanting was still in a state of infancy." I replied. The Imperium had enchanting but to what level we don't know; so much was lost in the First Age of Conflict that what was known of enchanting was destroyed. Most heirs of the Imperium were left starting from near scratch. At best. "It was considered one of the finest works of it's age and a cornerstone of what was made later. If you're going to learn the history of enchanting it's going to be mentioned; in passing at worst and with more detail commonly."

"I imagine the Sword of Justice is another of those cornerstones." Prim let off as I nodded. The Sword of Justice, also known as the Blade of Justical was a mythril blade forged by one of the Kings of the Knight's Kingdom. It was primarily an emblem of authority, like how some nations might have a scepter or the like save it was the primary sidearm of the king and, as such, built to be functional and was one of the most powerful weapons of it's era.

To explain; Skysplitter bore it's short lasting but massive strength bolstering enchantment but also had a lesser known effect that reduced the impact force of anything that hit it making blocking less straining for the wielder. That was on top of the usual ever-sharp, durability bolstering and such spells. The Sword of Justice was meant to do three things first and foremost (On top of the usual package); the first was physical reinforcement effect that made the holder stronger, granted greater stamina, faster and more durable. The effect wasn't that powerful... but for once every hour it could grant the user an explosive amount of power for a short burst... In other words it did the same thing as Skysplitter but with a weaker, passive, always on effect as well.

Second was it was a powerful magical focus; the grade of the stone in it wasn't public knowledge but mid-grade two was the minimum and high-grade one was more likely making it highly effective for magic users as well. More over it's said that part of the stone was powdered and smelted into the blade itself to make it more conductive. And yes, those wearing the crown leaned towards the 'magic knight' archetype.

Lastly it bore Heavenly Smite into it... which is a case of how in the ever loving fuck did they do that!? No, really. It was a pure holy spell that was one of the most powerful known, even now. To put this into perspective if Olga's Annihilation Stream was an S Plus Tier spell then Heavenly Smite was an A Plus to S Minus spell. And they jammed it into one spell stone!

That's like... packing a nuke's level of force into a hand grenade... I have no idea how they fit it in there...

That's not to say you can just drop the spell anytime you wanted to; you could only use the spell once and after that it would be nothing more then a normal sword, reduced to the basic enchantments for a month. Indeed; one of their lost wars was due to their king being tricked into unleashing the spell too early and hitting a flat, angled magical shield to deflect the spell. It didn't fully work but it only managed to kill a handful of people.

"Is there a story to how it was made?" Kaguya asked as she looked to me.

"A bit of one..." I let off as I set my drink down and leaned back, looking up to begin to speak... "To begin with you need to know one of the players was Marcelina Verdantpath; at the time the Knight Incarnation of Larentia. This was in the tail end of the Age of Conflict so the fighting was slowing down and Justical had been established and, at the time, ruled by King Axleon Sacergladius. He had been penning the De Iustitia as the founding document of the kingdom, what it would become and what it would stand for. It was during this time he heard of a growing army coming up from the Empire of Burnis to their south."

"He moved his own army to intercept only to find it that an elven woman was fleeing from them; Marcelina." I kept going as I looked over the three ladies at my table before carrying on. "By all accounts she had gone to a nation near them to train men to defend themselves before Burnis conquered it; they had learned of her and wanted to... how do I put this...? Their emperor wanted her as a wife... or more accurately, a breeding slave." All three winced as I kept going on. "Needless to say, she disagreed."

"The Emperor entered Justical to chase her down and King Axleon took it as an invasion." I kept going. "Once he realized the situation he offered Marcelina shelter and confronted the Burnis Army who wasn't ready to challenge the Knight's Kingdom so they made an about face and returned to the empire. Instead of attempting to leverage her position he offered her refuge and protection. Then of course she integrated with Justical's forces as a general and, well, one thing leads to another and general and king fell for one another."

"The Sword of Justice, as they say, was a labor of love by King Axleon to her." I began. "How true the tale is I don't know but they say he went to the mines to mine the mythril himself. He mined the gold to make golden mythril that would make it's crossguard and pommel. He would smelt the metal himself, dig out the spell stone used in it's build himself and then he hammered, forged and refined the blade with his own two hands, as was the mythril scabbard. Only the spell stone and enchantments was done by another's hand. He planned to offer it to her the moment he asked for her hand in marriage. He... never got to offer it to her."

"The King's brother had a son and despite attempting to raise him in an honorable manner he... well, it's a tale as old as royalty; someone thinking their position of birth gave them all the rights in the world. And so Leo Sacergladius started a plot with the Emperor of Burnis with Marcelina as a bartering piece; having his own army raised to follow his orders just as Brunis moved their armies to the border. King Axleon sent his armies out to meet them but he couldn't leave the capital himself as he was meeting with the leaders of three, nearby, smaller kingdoms for peace talks which left Marcelina there as well. It was part of Leo's plan and he moved to besiege the capital from the outside as agents within moved to secure the king and general."

"There's a dozen and a half tales on what exactly happened but most agree on three points; Leo tried to stab Axleon from behind with a magically charged blade, Marcelina pushed the King out of the way and was run through the chest by the stab." Prim gasped softly while Alicia shook her head at that part of the tale. Only Kaguya stayed stoic but she lowered her head a bit at it. "King Axleon was, understandably, enraged and took Leo's arm off with his blade. Leo survived and retreated but he wasn't able to escape the capital. Axleon would stop at his quarters first to take the sword he planned to propose to Marcelina with. He would find Leo and remove his other limbs before beheading him, learned he was in league with Burnis... and assumed the smaller kingdoms were likewise in cahoots with him; slaying their leaders then and there before marching out to smash Burnis' army and launch a conquest of Burnis and the three, smaller kingdoms."

"Most people think this is where Justical's desire to spread their version of 'justice' stems from but I don't think so; more then likely it was those who came next in line after Axleon." I said with a sigh. "In reality I think it came more from his heir, Julius Corona who used 'justice' as an excuse to launch his conquests to expand his power and glory with those following him swallowing the line whole. Axleon... Axleon was acting in pain and heartbreak in his conquests... he lost the love of his life and never took another lover. He was pressured to but refused."

"That's a sad story." I jumped a bit in my seat as I looked to see one of the Scamps by me... and I found that a half circle of boys to my side and behind with Celestine standing behind them. I... hadn't noticed them.

"Well, there's a lot of sad stories in the world; much as I hate to say it not every tale ends with a 'happy ever after'. But it does make those tales more special, in a way." I told him as he looked up at me with sad eyes still.

"But still..." He let off as I turned in my seat and lifted him up as he yelped. I sat him on my leg and smiled to him.

"You need to understand; everyone will face strife in their life; no matter how rich and powerful. The poor and the the wealthy both will struggle, in different ways." I told him and by extension all of the children. "No matter the race, gender, creed, standing or class; we will all find strife and struggle. We will all stumble and err and we all have a dark side to our souls. The challenge isn't to be... The challenge isn't to never get yourself hurt, you'll get hurt. It's about learning to cope with it, manage it and push through it. Rising over your pain as opposed to succumbing to it. Controlling the dark side to you and channeling it when it's needed and containing it when it's not. King Axleon dealt with his hurt poorly... and nations suffered for it in the end, even his own."

"But... who's been hurt but managed to be good in spite of it?" Another boy asked as I chuckle.

"Well, I know enough to say you can look to the woman behind you for that answer." I replied in a semi-cheeky tone as the Scamps blinked and turned to their motherly queen who blushed and looked back at them."

"Hardly the same hurts King Axleon has had, but yes... I know my share of it... As long as I have lived sorrow and sadness have been constant companions." She said as she smiled and moved to rub one boy's head. "But so has joy, friendship, happiness and excitement. Life has it's harms... but it has so much more. So long as one holds true to hope and treats his fellow man well... the next dawn can be brighter then the last."

I couldn't help but smile at that... as I heard a soft chuckle behind me, turning my head as Klaus moved to walk into better view. "Well spoken... for a young man you're wise beyond your years."

"Maybe I have an old soul, eh?" I (Half) joked with a shrug as he chuckled. "But yes... I'd say the next dawn will be brighter then the last."

[-]

I left the party a little early (Mind I still stayed for the dinner, carols and such) but told my three fiancees to come to my quarters later in the night. As I waited I made sure to set a trio of small boxes aside (Pink, White and Blue) before moving to clean and wash up in the bath. Once done I even opted to dab cologne behind my ears softly. I... don't recall going this far before; I normally didn't bother with cologne. I only had it because someone snuck it into my luggage all the time!

(It was my mother. My mother smuggled cologne into my luggage. ... It also explained the four additional boxers I was sure I didn't pack...)

With a towel around my waist I entered my quarters fully and waited; flipping open a book to pass the time. It was maybe an hour later when there was a knock; I stood and smiled a bit. "Come in." I said as the door opened.

"Ooooh..." Prim let off, first to enter and grin. Alicia followed and blushed a bit as she looked over me, averting her eyes. Kaguya was the last in, shutting the door behind her as she looked back at me with a soft smile. "Someone got ready."

"It's like I know you or something." I quipped back as Alicia let off an amused snort. "Joking aside; I wanted to give your gifts in private." That got their attention; Nova Aurora was set to be tomorrow and that was the normal time to give gifts, even if gifts the day before wasn't unheard of. Once they saw the boxes there was a gasp from each (Prim's being the loudest, of course) as I moved to them. "Given the... unusual situation we're in getting rings for you girls wasn't an option before... Given the announcement is coming I opted to make these." I said as I opened Prim's box.

"Make?" Alicia let off as Prim went full blush as she saw hers.

The ring was a deep pink in color with a small dome on the top that was clear. The circle the dome was set on was white with a pink rose on a green stem inside of the dome; like a fly trapped in amber. It was made of pure spell stone and I recolored and shaped it myself with my own magic. Taking Prim's hand I moved to set it to her ring finger as she blushed; a built in spell fitting it to place. "I made each from spell stone; quality stones and enchanted them all. Prim's can act as a focus and will bolster her magic (No joke, when I used Observe on it the ring bore a plus seven to Mag) and a built in Tailwind spell. More over all three rings have a built in voxlux spell... just in case." Prim was still blushing as she flexed her hand once before looking it over.

Kaguya's was picked up next and she noted the color and stood straighter. Once I opened the box and she would see a ring with a braided band with two red and one white strands. A ring colored gold was set to the top with a red sun that was made to shimmer in the light gently set to it as I slipped it onto one of her fingers. Kaguya's blush was like her; more reserved even as she offered a genuine, soft smile. "Like Prim's yours can be a magical focus and bolster your spells (Plus seven to Mag once more) but has a Holyjolt Weapon spell into it for your kanabo."

Finally, as Kaguya looked over her ring, I picked up the last box and turned to Alicia, opening it. The ring was blue with a wider band and a panel that would be flat to the finger. The top of it was golden and bore a silver sword inside of a golden crown on it. "I made it as flat as I could to make sure you could get a gauntlet over it. I enchanted this one to boost your strength (Plus seven, just in Strength) in addition to a Physical Burst spell to increase your strength further while the spell is on."

"You really went to work on these, huh?" Alicia said, admiring her for a moment before stepping in to hug me and kiss my cheek.

"I can't always be there to help you girls." I said, hugging her about the waist. "This is what I can do to help you guys take care of yourself."

"You're too sweet." Kaguya said moving to kiss my cheek as well... followed by Prim who took the time to disrobe (And caused Alicia to do a double take) before she kissed me as well as I moved to hug Kaguya and Prim to me next.

And then my towel came flying off. "Prim!" Alicia let off as she looked to her cousin with a disappointed frown.

"That was me, actually." Kaguya admitted a moment later as she stepped back to undress. Alicia gave her a look... and yelped as I moved to pull the blonde's top off.

"James! Ahhh!" She let off as I grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up and kissed her on the nipple firmly before suckling on it.

"A new year is coming. Let's end this one on a good note, okay?" I let off as I started to nip at her nipple as I felt someone (Prim, I think) yanked the pants off of Alicia as I chuckled. Soon I would carry her to the bed and lay her down, pushing her legs up and moving back to kiss at her sex softly. She squirmed for a moment but as I pressed my tongue up into her she would moan and relax finally, looking up at me with a blush.

What I (And Alicia) didn't expect was for Prim to kneel by Alicia's head and grab her cousin behind the knees and pulled to lift the blonde's sex and ass up and towards her, leaning in to jam her tongue into Alicia who yelped. "P-Prim!? What are you, oooooh!" Alicia's surprise gave way to a long moan as I sighed.

Of course, Prim would jump in on that.

(Something I hadn't realized until a bit after this was just how long Prim had been attracted to Alicia; after our first night her sexual desires finally made themselves known and second only to me she desired Alicia... I started to wonder how much Prim pushed Alicia to admit her feelings just to express her own desires. Prim was a pervert, I guess...)

Kaguya let off a small giggle and softly pushed me to sit on the bed, legs off the side before kneeling down and pushing my legs open. Alicia was squirming under Prim's attention but wasn't trying to buck her off or shove her away... I opted to keep an eye there in case Alicia became too uncomfortable about it but I trusted she could speak up on it.

(She was uncomfortable about it but it wasn't the lesbian sex or lesbian sex with her cousin that was doing it; it was the realization that she liked it. She did lean towards the more conservative end of the Eostian spectrum (Which was still sexual to a degree, because Eostia) and had to come to terms with it. Alicia, whatever faults she had, was a big girl and she would... and only Prim caught on and wouldn't mention it for months.)

It was no surprise that when Kaguya kissed my cock and slipped it into her mouth I found Alicia mewling a bit more and squirming as Prim circled around to be between her legs fully, keeping her lips in place as much as she could. Alicia still wasn't fighting back, but squirming as she moaned out as Kaguya moved deeper down my cock, making me look down at her. I would stroke her hair as I smiled down to her before giving Alicia another look. "You okay, mm, over there, Alicia?"

"Hooooooooly! Prim! Fuck!" She let off as two finger was slipped into her sex by her cousin. She was shivering harder under Prim, biting her lip as her back arched harder, quivering as her legs wrapped about the head eating her out.

I think she's fine.

Mostly.

I looked back to Kaguya who suckled on me for a moment but then I moved to grab her under the arms. She squeaked a bit as I stood and turned her upside down as she gave a soft yelp and moved her legs to either side of my head; I held her in a standing sixty-nine as I kissed her sex as I moved to suckle on her clit as she shivered over me as I my hands gripped her ass; both because it was a fine ass and to hold her to me.

Her lips went back to my cock as oral sex carried on, moaning as she bobbed on my cock while I worked on her sex, groaning into her. I would keep my focus on her clit as I moved my hand around to press two fingers into her sex, softly scraping at her insides. I couldn't really see my other brides but Alicia's moans were still filling the air.

Kaguya popped her lips off me, tapped my tight with her palm twice and, getting the message, I gently lifted her up and turned her right-side-up. I started to set her to her feet but she had other ideas; arms moving around my neck and legs around my hips. It took a moment but soon I positioned my cock to her sex and she all but lowered herself down onto it as I moved my hands back to her ass to help guide her down onto it.

"All right you!" I heard as I (And Kaguya) stopped to turn our heads as Alicia locked her legs around Prim and turned them both over with Prim squirming. Alicia would slip off, pull Prim up and tossed her (Softly, of course) face down on the bed and grabbed her by the ass to shove her down more before pressing two fingers into her sex as Prim squealed; Alicia was in a mood as her thrusting into Prim's sex was just short of punching her ass and pussy as I just blinked.

"This is kinda surreal..." I let off softly.

"Not in a bad way." Kaguya let off before she looked to me as I looked back and we both shrugged softly before we got back to what we were doing. The literal and figurative fuckery with those two could wait. I rammed up into her and dropped her onto my cock as we moaned together, joining Prim's squealing out on the bed. "Right there..." The priestess hissed out, shivering as I groaned into her ear.

She clenched with her arms and legs just before her sex clenched as well, moaning out as I shivered and came right after she did; pushing my first load of the day up into her as I held her to me. It was only once her climax started to end that she started to relax her limbs and I could set her on her feet as she used a small healing spell on me. I gave her ass a good, playful swat before looking to the cousins.

Prim was face down and ass up, legs parted, biting the sheets and climaxing as Alicia kept going, punishing her cousin for her own aggressive oral before; had I not known these two I might have been worried about what was going on.

Instead I opted to inject myself; moving behind Alicia and setting a hand to her hip as I lined up with her sex. It wasn't until I was pushing into her that she knew what I was doing and looked back, moaning out as I pulled her to me (And away from Prim who collapsed) as I turned her head and kissed her as I started to rut myself into her from behind; the princess knight moaning back as she pushed her hips back into me. At that point my hands opted to move to and hold her breasts, squeezing lightly as I groaned into her mouth as Kaguya moved to pull a recovering Prim into a cuddle; rolling her over to her back, spooning into her from the side and kissing her gently while toying with one of the large orbs Prim called a boob.

I ignored that, pinching Alicia's nipples as I did my best to give her the pleasure she'd deserved; rocking harder into her to increase her pleasures. She would break the kiss, leaning her head back over one of my shoulders as she moaned into the air before I felt her shudder in a climax; I was still able to keep going as I ended up extending her pleasure before I came myself; load number two pushing up into her as my groans joined her chorus of pleasure.

Once I pulled free of her I'd help her lay down to her side as she took a moment to recover. For better and worse I had to push through one more...

"Eep!" Prim let off as I grabbed her legs and pushed them up and nearly to her chest. I gave her a grin, saying nothing as I just pressed myself to her once more (Having used another healing spell to help keep myself going) and drove down into her. I wasn't gentle as I started to fuck my first fiancee but I wasn't being rough either; a bit forceful is a better way to put it.

As I worked Prim's sex with my cock Alicia would crawl over and lay on Prim's other side, spooning her and, almost in a daze, grabbed her other breast as I slammed down into her; as if I was trying to make a home for my dick in her womb. After a moment I found myself going harder into her; I hadn't even noticed as I rammed down into her and panted over her as I groaned out as I worked her sex.

It didn't take that long for me to unleash load number three and girl number three to cum, shivering under me as she mewled out. I was panting a bit as I pulled free as Alicia moved to gentle lay me down between her and Prim. For her part a still shivering Prim rolled over and on top of me, chest to breast as Kaguya moved to cuddle into my side, Alicia doing the same on the other side of me. I moved my arms around Alicia and Kaguya as I layed my head. "Fuck you three..." I let off with a soft chuckle. "... Honestly, it makes me feel bad I've been spending more time sorting my own feelings rather then-"

"Hush." Prim let off, smiling to me with a twinkle in her eye, panting as well with a finger moved to my lips. "You don't need to rush on our account. Even if you don't say it you're actions speak for you."

Well, that shut me up but with a smile as she set her head to my chest, the other two to my shoulders. It was... I felt rather relaxed and... happy...

I won't lie, there were other conflicting emotions there as well; a feeling of guilt that I had three girls and desire for one, notable High Queen making me feeling kinda greedy, a bit of lust for them as a whole, more then a little 'why me', more then a hint of thinking this was too much, but that storm of emotions and wants were muted and tiny under just being... happy...

...

I was going to do all I could to protect these girls... I could say that... I-

Well...

[̶̢̦̰̩̳̭͓̫̳̜̉̓̍́̾̌̕͝ͅF̵̡̞̳̙͇̦̖̥̄͝ử̷͔̆̒̔͐͘̚͝͝ç̶̪̹̜̼̼͖̬̬̙̟̙͔̲̓͗̄k̵̛̻̰̗̖̱͖͕̊̌͛̔̾͂͋̅͘͝e̴͔͈̤̠̜̱̬̫͔̙͌̊̓͒͆̆̌͐̊͝ḓ̶̮̰̺̪͔̰̩̃͜ͅ ̷̡̡͇͖̮̫̰̂͐̽̉͂̋̈̍̔̋̄L̵̞͙̲̯̖͙͕̈́̏̀́̀͋i̴̙̗̬̿̈́̂s̸̤͒̓͋̈́ţ̶̛̱͔̞̳͙̙͖̟̈́̽]̵̲̝̭̲̟̙̮̰͙̟̍͒̌͗́̿͒̑̓̀̽́̈

C̸̰̒ŏ̶̫r̵͙̫̍ȑ̶̮̪̋u̶͖͙̍p̵̛̻t̷̬̓̄e̶̜̬͋ḓ̵̃ ̴̪͚͊̆T̵̜̽̌a̸̞͗̈͜s̷̱̆k̸̙̈

̷̮̏C̷̛̭͗o̴̟͋͗r̶̡̋͜r̷͍̚u̴͕̦͗̚p̸͍͝t̸͓͛̽e̵̩̜̚͠d̶̮͇̃̏ ̶̱̈́͂Ţ̸̂͂ã̶͙ś̸̱̒k̶̥͝

̵̗̝̎C̶̯̩̊o̷̫͆͋r̴̟̺͗r̸̟͊ù̴͍p̸̰͂t̴͙̏e̷̤̊̑ḓ̷͓̊̔ ̶̘̌B̶̝̳̑ǒ̸̻̅ň̵̥̮̌u̶̮̗͝s̷̬͂

̶̟̪̋

̷̥͐W̷̘̑a̶̒͘ͅr̵̝̰̓́n̸̨̤͊͌i̴̢̭͆̓n̶̘̗͝g̷̤̐,̴͚̊͊ͅ ̴̭̑R̶̰͆́P̷̫̙͋́G̶̖̚͝3̶̫̹͛X̴̥͠ ̷̰͎̽͝Ś̴̘͙y̵̬̪̆s̴̻̚t̵͈̀e̵̡̅̔m̸̻̾ ̴̻̆͝Ċ̵̲͜͠ő̶̹̜ṙ̴͕͓̍r̸͒͜ũ̶͓͙̈p̷̡̟̊t̵͕̣̑͝ỉ̴̟͜ọ̴̬͠n̷͙̤͗͐ ̷̛͚̄D̸͓͍̃͝e̵̡̜͘t̷̖̦̔e̶͓̫̊c̷͖̿t̸̠͛ë̸̱̩́̈d̴̦͇̈́̑

C̶̮̘̽͗ǒ̴̖̟ṅ̸͜t̵͍͙̂́a̸̝͐̒c̵̺̄͌t̶̫͂ ̶̡͓̇S̸̼̽͊y̵̜̗͋s̵̝̳͌ẗ̴͈́ȇ̷̪m̴̘̀ ̷̮̀̈A̴̘̾̓d̸̟͝m̵͕̓ḯ̶̩̣n̵͔͝

...

What in the fuck!? [Olivia? What's going on?]

[̵͈̀̄Ĭ̶̤ ̸̥́̕å̴̡̳m̷̫͚̈͝ ̸̖̭̉u̵̧̺͂͝n̴̳͓̄̄s̵̺͉͠ü̶̡̹͠r̶̩̋e̶͙̎̏ ̴̖̀w̶̮̎h̴̲̒̈́á̸̡t̵͗̉ͅ ̵͈͔͊͆i̵͙̝̚s̷̰͈̔.̴̛̤͖͝.̷̨̽̒.̴̮̄̂]̷̢͛

̴͍̀͗

̶̵̻̱͒͊͒͝[̵̠̌͌.̴̛̤͖͝.̷̨̽̒.̴̮̄]̷̢͛

̵̱͊͒[̵̠̌͌S̸͔̳͋t̴͍̥͌̚ą̶͎̈́̋ǹ̴͕ď̸̜b̸͈̓̅͜y̶̏̕ͅ.̵̈́͐ͅ]̵̣͝

...

All of a sudden my happiness turned to worry...

[-]

Character Details

Name: James Noxdecus
Social Rank: Count's Heir
Title: The Hero of Eostia
Class: Mage Knight
Sub Class: Paladin
Level: 39/100
XP: 2369/39000
Achievements: 89

Platinum: 100 Gold: 54 Silver: 8 Copper: 6

USP: 22
RSP: 7
SSP: 2

UTP: 11
RTP: 0
STP: 0

Regular Stats

[S] Con: 84/225 (2087/6000 XP)
[P] Str: 118/225 (371/9000 XP) (+13 from Equipment=131)
[S] End: 88/225 (3382/6000 XP)
[P] Dex: 122/225 (814/10000 XP)
[S] Agi: 91/225 (389/6000 XP)
[P] Acc: 115/225 (1275/10000 XP)
[S] Mag: 94/225 (4127/8000 XP) (+16 from Equipment=110)
[P] Mnc: 104/225 (3901/8000 XP) (+31 from Equipment=135)
[X] Lck: 72/225 (372/5000 XP) (+4 from Equipment=76)

Sexual Stats

Sta: 26+44=70/125 (4224/6000 XP)
Rec: 49+17=66/125 (3983/4000 XP)
Pow: 31+30=61/125 (2651/5000 XP)
Ple: 33+24=58/125 (3567/4000 XP)
Wil: 33+25=58/125 (2337/4000 XP)
Rap: 81+18=99/125 (3567/8000 XP)
Cap: 34+27=61/125 (171/4000 XP)

Regular Traits

High Born
Your reputation with the Middle Classes and High Born is increased by +15 due to your birth. In addition your schooling grants you +500 XP

Noble Allowance
You gain 2 Gold per Day.

Gift of Steel and Silk
Your starting equipment is replaced with equipment one level higher

Appraiser
You can tell what a magical item or weapon can do by a simple examination. Gain the [[Appraise]] Skill

Spell Weaver
You can imbue items with spells and other abilities to make them better. Gain the [[Imbue Magic]] Spell

Muscle Wizard
When training your magic you also train your body. For every 5 points of Mag add 1 to your Str (Rounded Up)
-Upgrade: Now gain 1 Str for every 4 Mag

Tap For Mana
You know how to use magic to it's fullest. All magic costs 5% less mana.

Hit and Move
Your strength just makes you faster. For every 5 Points in Str gain 1 in Agi (Rounded Up)

Strength From Resilience
It seems your resistance to damage fuels your might. Gain 2 Str. Additionally for every 5 points in Con gain 1 in Str (Rounded Up)

Dual Cast
You can cast two spells at once with relative ease; but each spell costs 10% more mana.

Best Seen and Not Heard
Your sneaking skill is boosted by your Agi Stat as well

Arts and Crafts
You can make any sort of art or object easier. +5% Value, Durability & Damage from any items you craft

Armor Clad
You wear armor well and it seems to be better on you then others. Agi Penalty of any armor is halved. +3 to All Resistances to any armor you wear

Bo-Man
You are an expert in the use of bo staffs and staves of all sizes. +Bo Staffs & Staves to Primary & Secondary Weapons

Bolster Armor
Your armor seems to be stronger then if another wore it. +10% to all resistances of your current armor.

Hybrid Master
You are a master of Hybrid Magic and understand it's complexities. -15% Mana cost when casting a Hybrid Spell. In addition adapting and creating Hybrid Spells are easier for you

What's A Paladin?
You Are! You gain all the traits, skills and equipment that the Paladin class has access to

Gunslinger
You have the ability to use pistols as a Secondary Weapon.

Sexual Traits

Chick Magnet
Almost every woman has an attraction towards you. Some can explain it, some cannot. Every female you know gains +25 to all Romance Values. There's a random chance of a Desire increase to women around you.

It Keeps Going and Going...
Gain 1 Sta for every 5 Con (Rounded Up). Additionally gain 1 End for every Even Numbered Level Up
-Upgrade: End gain applies for every Level Up now

Lady Luck's Lover
Raise your Lck by 50% of your Ple

Sex is Power
Anytime you gain Sexual Stat Points as a reward you also gain Regular Stat Points equal to half the amount (Rounded up)

The Speed of Sex
You gain 1 Rap per level up. Additionally, gain 1 Dex for every 6 Rap
-Upgrade: Now gain 1 Dex for every 5 Rap

Relations: Brides

Name: Prim Fiorire
Ttle: Girlish Shield Princess of Ur
Class: Wizard

Stat Bonus: +5 to Acc, Mag & Mnc. +3 to Con, End & Dex. +5 RSP
Trait Bonus: Prim's Pure Love ~ +4 to Magical Damage & Healing +2 to Magical Resistance
Bridal Bonus: Prim's Hero ~ All of your Resistances are increased by 3. Additionally any armor you wear gains +2 to all Resistances +2 to all Primary Stats. +1 to all Secondary Stats

Name: Kaguya, Sun of the East
Ttle: Blessed Shield Princess of Thorn
Class: Cleric

Stat Bonus: +5 to Con, Dex, Mnc, Str & Mag. +3 to Acc. +5 RSP
Trait Bonus: Kaguya's Calm ~ +6 to Magical Healing +4 to Magical Resistance
Bridal Bonus: Kaguya's Chosen ~ All of your Resistances are increased by 1. Additionally any armor you wear gains +1 to all Resistances All Holy based spells gain +3 to their effects

Name: Alicia Arcturus
Title: Noble Shield Princess of Feoh
Class: Knight

Stat Bonus : +5 to Con, Str & End. +3 to Dex, Agi & Mag. +5 RSP
Trait Bonus : Alicia's Devotion ~ +4 to Physical Damage +2 to Pysical Resistance
Bridal Bonus : Alicia's Ally ~ All of your Resistances are increased by 1. Additionally any armor you wear gains +3 to all Resistances. +3 Damage to all Combat Arts

Relations: Concubines

Name: Carmen Shard
Title: Blade of House Fiorire
Class: Spell Blade

Stat Bonus: +3 to Dex, Acc & Mnc. +1 to Agi & Mag. +2 RSP
Trait Bonus: Bodyguard's Duty ~ +5% to all Stats when defending another person

[ - Author's Note - ]

Yup... No fighting or physical threats, and yet I still managed a cliffhanger! I imagine some of you already know who's behind it, but we'll see him next chapter.

Oh, and a new Questlines chapter will be up as this one goes live.

As always tell me what you liked, didn't like and thought, leave a comment and I hope you all enjoyed.

Until next time!

~~Eostian Scribe