Chapter 3a: Liberation
Adrian was beginning to feel claustrophobic. The narrow, dimly lit hallways of the building made him feel trapped. The lack of any windows or any outside noise led him to believe that he was in an underground complex of some sorts. The one thing keeping him from going crazy was his new savior, Saralyn. As they were traversing the building, Adrian counted at least twelve unconscious guards lying on the floor, a few of the guards locked in the cells.
They had been walking for more than 10 minutes now. Adrian was under the assumption that this was a small prison, not some massive underground complex.
How long did it take for the Order to construct this place? And why were they keeping mamono prisoner? They weren't the type of people to take mamono prisoner. They kill on sight. Speaking of which…
"I just realized, I don't know your name. Mind introducing yourself?" Saralyn asked, putting a hand on Adrian's shoulder.
"Ano- Adrian. Adrian Walker. At least that's what the interrogator called me."
"You don't know your own name?" Saralyn asked in disbelief, narrowing her eyes in confusion.
"When I said I woke up in the forest with no memory of how I got there, I forgot to mention that I had zero memories of anything whatsoever. The unicorn I was talking about, Sharon, sheltered me for five months, and during that time, I called myself Anon. Just a mere fifteen minutes ago I learned what I think is my real name." Adrian explained.
"Wow… That's exactly what happened to me five months ago too."
"Wait a minute. You woke up on the exact same day as I did?!" Adrian exclaimed, suddenly putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Sharon talking about "his beloved" suddenly made sense. "Are you…?"
"I believe… You are my husband. This marker that I've been chasing, was simply my mamono instincts leading me to my husband." Saralyn explained, looking at Adrian lovingly. "It is unfortunate that I do not remember anything about you, but it doesn't matter now. We're together again."
"Wow…" Adrian let everything sink in. "I thought you were dead, all this time. Five months is a long time for a mamono to be away from her husband. You were traveling here, all this time? And what species are you? You look human to me."
"I spent a couple months in Dragonia before I traveled here." Saralyn was about to continue talking, only for her to go quiet when the two of them heard some muffled shouting coming from a nearby room farther down the hallway they were in. Saralyn pulled Adrian into a dark corner, and held a finger up to her mouth to signal for him to be quiet. Adrian realized that he was completely defenseless.
"I need some sort of weapon to defend myself with." He whispered to Saralyn. Saralyn looked at him nervously, then looked into her small backpack. She pulled out a strange looking dagger and handed it to Adrian. It felt lighter than most knives he had used during his time with Sharon, despite being bigger.
"Anything else? These people are armed with swords and spears. I can't fight them off with a single dagger." Saralyn shook her head and shot him an annoyed look. She held up her revolver, and then pulled another one out of a special pocket in her coat.
"Just stay behind me. The dagger is just for you to hold them off until I can help you. There's bound to be some more suitable weaponry in this place." Saralyn turned back to where the voices were coming from. "Now stay quiet, I'd like to hear what these people are talking about."
"We've been infiltrated? How? This place has several enchantments in place to prevent the monsters from finding its location. Every single entrance has been hidden, sealed, and rigged with traps. We should've been practically invisible with how much time we spent securing the prison." One of the voices ranted.
"We suspect it's some renegade adventurer, thinking they're some sort of hero by destroying the Order's property. That would explain how the monster traps wouldn't have triggered."
"We didn't make the prison human-proof? Why?! Especially with the Aperians running around, the Order has had to deal with more and more human opposition everyday, sometimes even more than monsters."
"It's just a single human. There's no need to panic. We take care of the infiltrator, and then we can think of a solution to humans accidentally stumbling across the prison."
"Just a single human is putting it very lightly, they managed to fuck up several guards all on their own. What if they are a disguised monster, looking to free their companions?"
"The gray incubus arch mage would have alerted everyone if that were the case. Just stop panicking, stay on patrol and if anything seems off, call for help. Understood?"
"Understood…" The voices ceased their argument, the two people walking in opposite directions. One of them began walking in Adrian and Saralyn's direction, whistling. Adrian began getting up to try and escape, but Saralyn held a hand up to get him to stay still. The man passed by the dark corner they were standing in, unaware of the pair's presence. Saralyn immediately took advantage, grabbing the man by the shoulders and jabbing him once in the neck with a dagger similar to the one she had given Adrian.
"Holy shit…" Adrian mouthed, looking at the corpse. Strangely enough, upon closer inspection they were still breathing despite what should've been a lethal wound.
"It's realm-silver. Stab someone with it and they begin to lose their energy. A normally lethal blow would knock them out cold for a little bit. A few minutes, at-"
"Hey! You alright back there?! Why did you stop whistling?"
"Dammit!" Saralyn whispered as the unconscious man's partner began to rapidly approach their position. Quicker than they had expected, he saw his partner's unconscious body on the ground.
"Oh shit… Intru-" Adrian quickly ran up to him and slashed the back of his neck once with his own dagger. The man led out a small cry of shock before collapsing next to his friend. Adrian began to pull the man's sword off his belt to take as his own, before Saralyn pushed his hand away.
"Saralyn, I need a better weapon than a knife. There's no way I can defend myself against the guards with just this." Adrian remarked, irritated.
"I don't want to kill anyone. And I don't want my husband to kill anyone. Despite what these people are doing, a lot of them are just people doing their jobs to provide for their families. They're not bad people. That's why I use realm-silver, it's impossible to kill anyone with it." Saralyn explained, taking his sword off his belt and hiding it in a dark corner. Her eyes darted between Adrian and the hallway. Adrian looked on, as he remembered something he had read during his time with Sharon.
Furthermore, it seems the monsters of the "age of the former Mamono Lords" preferred to eat human flesh, but the monsters of the present have changed greatly, so they instinctively find the idea of killing and eating humans to be disgusting, and they wouldn't even consider it.
"That's right… You never answered my second question. You're a monster, but you look completely human to me. What species are you?" Adrian asked, anxious to hear what type of monster he would be spending the rest of his foreseeable future with. Saralyn was no hellhound or ushi-oni. She seemed friendly and significantly more restrained than a lot of the species he had read about.
"I'm a mutational variant of a vampire. A dhampir. We're born when vampires get a little too eager with their servants and decide to have sex before they become human. We dedicate our lives to hunting vampires who mistreat their servants and personally correcting their egotistical behavior." Saralyn proudly explained. "In addition to that, we don't have any of the weaknesses that vampires have. We can eat garlic, stand in the sun, and touch water without going into shock."
"Sorry. You're not ringing any bells here." There were two hundred and thirty one entries in the two books dedicated to monsters. In truth, Adrian could only remember a select few dozen of them.
Saralyn looked disappointed at his lackluster reaction. "Are you… Impressed? Interested? Anything?"
"Um, yeah I guess I'm impressed. Vampires always seemed like the type of monsters that need to be taught a lesson. I assume the thirst for my blood isn't a problem for you?"
"Um… No. No it isn't." Saralyn's voice faltered for half a second. She looked at the dimly lit hallway once more. "W-we should probably get moving. I don't want to get caught out in the open again." She grabbed Adrian's arm and dragging him down the hallway.
"Do you at least know where we're going?" Adrian called out, before Saralyn turned around and shushed him. She got into a crawling position, motioning for Adrian to do the same. They turned a corner, the hallway they were in opening into a catwalk overlooking a massive room with a high ceiling. Cells filled with various types of monsters like werewolves, mantises, werecats, arachne, mothmen, and even a couple hellhounds. Adrian noticed that almost all of the monsters were forest dwelling.
No wonder Sharon's forest seemed so empty. This is where everyone must have been going. A chill ran down Adrian's spine; How long had the Order been doing this? There's at least several dozen in this room alone!
"Holy shit." Adrian whispered to Saralyn. "How did the Order manage to capture so many monsters in one place?"
"That's what I'm afraid of. You see the particles in front of the doors?" Saralyn asked. Adrian looked a bit closer at the cells. Squinting his eyes, he could see a faint red film surrounding the cell doors.
"Yeah, I see them."
A few of the more aggressive monsters had actually managed to tear the doors off their hinges, but they still couldn't escape. Adrian let out a quiet chuckle when he saw one of the Order soldiers get startled by an angry hellhound.
"This is the kind of magic that's very hard for humans to perform, and even harder to maintain so flawlessly. Even heroes blessed by the Chief God would struggle to keep up this sort of magic, and yet, from what I can tell this magic has been here for several weeks." Saralyn pointed to one of the cells. A mantis had scratched tally marks into the walls with the scythes on her arms, adding up to twenty two days in total.
"So… The only way they could be maintaining that sort of magic would be…"
"A monster." Saralyn finished Adrian's thoughts for him. "One capable of performing and maintaining this type of magic, like a baphomet, or a dark mage. But that still makes no sense. Why would a monster side with the Order, especially when their fellow monsters are being kept in such conditions?"
"I don't know. But what do we do now?"
"We need to try and get rid of whoever or whatever is controlling this magic. And we need to do it quietly." Saralyn scanned the cell block, pointing to a lone man standing in a room on the same level as they were overlooking everything. "I say we… "ask" that guy. Let's go."
Adrian nodded silently. There were no guards on the catwalk that they were on, which made for an easy path to the observatory. The two of them reached the door. "Knock. I'll take care of him."
Adrian stood up and knocked on the door. The man opened it, his eyes widening seeing Saralyn's revolver pointed at his head. He began to scream but Adrian quickly slapped his palm over his mouth. Saralyn quickly grabbed his sword off his belt and tossed it outside of the room. The three of them went inside, Adrian closing the door behind them.
"Who is maintaining the magic on the cells? Tell us!" Saralyn whispered with a hint of aggression in her voice. "Make things easier for the three of us."
"There are two of you…" The scared man mouthed. "W-whatever! I'm not telling you anything! No matter what you do to me!"
"She's a monster. You can't tell." Adrian spoke into the man's ear, causing him to shudder. "You know what the Order says about monsters. They'll steal your soul and then torture you for all eternity. You wouldn't want that, wouldn't you?"
"Adrian…" Saralyn began to say before Adrian shot her a "Just go with it" look.
"N-no! I-I don't want that!"
"Then tell us, who is stopping the monsters from escaping?"
"It's… The man in the gray robes. He's across the cell block!" The man pointed to an identical looking observatory across from the one they were in. "There. I told you. Please don't kill me…"
"You're in luck, then." Adrian jabbed him once in the head with his realm-silver dagger, knocking the man unconscious. Adrian caught the man before he could hit his head on the floor, and laid him down against the wall.
"You know… You're not helping the Order's opinion of monsters by saying that kind of stuff. A lot of monsters actually want to co-exist with the Order." Saralyn said, looking at Adrian's handiwork.
"From what I read, the Order's opinion of monsters is already mostly terrible."
"That's not entirely true-" A knock on the door interrupted Saralyn's sentence, the door opening a second later. A heavily armored man and three other guards stood in the doorway.
"It's the infiltrator, she broke one of the prisoners out! Kill both of them!" The leader of the patrol yelled. A very loud 'bang' interrupts him, and he falls to the ground, unconscious. Two of the three remaining order soldiers charge at Saralyn, while the third advances towards Adrian.
Saralyn stepped backwards to avoid one of the order soldier's blades, and then whipped him in the face hard with her gun. The other one tried to flank her, and managed to get a glancing blow on her side before she could dodge out of the way. Saralyn stumbles backwards a bit, and lets out a small gasp of pain. The order soldier tried to capitalize on his advantage and charged forward, but Saralyn dived out of the way, landing on the ground.
Meanwhile, the first order soldier recovered and swung his sword at Saralyn. Saralyn rolled out of the way, and fired 2 shots at his legs. He crumpled to the ground, and Saralyn fired another into his head, knocking him unconscious next to his friend. The second soldier, wanting to end the battle as soon as possible, ran towards her with his sword drawn. Saralyn fired two shots into his chest, completely incapacitating him for the time being.
Meanwhile, the fourth one rushed towards Adrian, excited for an easy kill. He dodged under his blade and grabbed his arm, trying to disarm him. He held onto his enemy's sword tightly, not letting him take it. Adrian punched him in the stomach, causing him to stumble for a split second, but he endured it. Adrian took out his dagger and plunged it into his sword arm, causing him to drop his blade. He stumbled backwards, but before Adrian could finish him off, he kicked him in the stomach, stunning Adrian.
Saralyn finished off the two soldiers hounding her and turned toward Adrian, seeing that he was struggling. She pointed her gun at the last soldier and pulled the trigger, only for the gun to make an empty clicking sound.
"Shit! Adrian!" She curses. The fourth soldier retrieved his sword and charged at Adrian, preparing to kill him. Adrian threw himself to the side, and hurled his dagger at the last one, embedding itself directly in the man's head. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he dropped to the ground. Adrian quickly crawled over and retrieved his dagger.
"We need to hide now. The others definitely heard us." Saralyn quickly pulled Adrian up and both ran into the hallway, taking several turns. The pair found a vacant room and closed the door behind them.
They had been fighting for about 30 seconds, and that was more than enough to alert the entire prison block to their presence. Both of them could hear prison guards running towards the observatory. Thankfully, none of them entered the room they were hiding in.
"You should really find a quieter method of fighting." Adrian whispered to Saralyn. She lightly punched him in the side.
"I'm working on it."
The sound of cloth rustling came from the corner of the storeroom they were in. Adrian whipped around, seeing one of the boxes jerk to the left slightly. He turned to Saralyn, then back at the box. The dhampir slowly got behind him, covering him with her revolver. Adrian shook his head.
"Are you crazy? Use something that doesn't make so much noise." Saralyn nodded slowly, instead pulling out a realm-silver dagger identical to the one Adrian was using. Adrian quickly grabbed the top of the box and tossed it to the side. Curled up inside the box, was a young devil bug looking absolutely terrified of the man. She opened her mouth to scream but Adrian quickly shushed her.
"Stay quiet, we're not going to harm you." Adrian ordered. The devil bug nodded her head slowly. Saralyn put down her dagger and looked over Adrian's shoulder.
"What's your name?"
"L-laura… Who are you two? Why are you here?"
"We're trying to see if we can free the prisoners. Are you alone? Where are your parents?" Adrian asked, searching the other boxes. All were empty. The devil bug had been separated from her parents.
"They took mommy and daddy and threw them in one of those cells! I managed to escape though. I promised I would be back for them…" Laura sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "But when I came back to the cells, I saw someone in gray robes shouting something, and this red stuff appeared on the doors. I was scared, and ran here… I've been in here for a few hours now."
"That's very brave of you." Saralyn complimented the devil bug, causing her to smile for a split second. "Did you happen to see where the man in gray robes went?"
"He went through one of those big gates." Laura answered. Saralyn nodded, and stood up.
"Take care of Laura while I'm gone, alright? I think she could use someone to accompany her. Also, barricade the door." Saralyn left before he could protest.
Chapter 3b: Countdown
Aperia
A kikimora set a bowl of steaming hot soup in front of her husband. The sound of soft snoring emanated from the nearby bedroom, their daughter sleeping peacefully for her afternoon nap. The kikimora filled two glasses full of water and put one down next to her husband's bowl and one next to her own, before finally sitting down herself. A sigh came from her master's mouth as he stared at the food.
"Is something the matter, Master? Is the soup not to your liking?" The kikimora asked, her maid instincts kicking in. The man shook his head.
"No, no, it's just… I have a lot on my mind."
"That's why I'm here, master. Feel free to tell me everything." The kikimora reassured him.
"I'm glad I have you. Rumor has it that Ophelia is going to officially declare war on the Order in a few weeks from now. The angels and valkyries have been saying that it's because the Order is corrupt and rotten to the core, and that it needs to be 'burned to the ground and rebuilt'." The kikimora's husband drank some of the soup.
"People are always saying that Ophelia is going to declare war on the Order ever since the old king and queen were killed by the Order. Yet it's been twelve years since they died, and despite all the hate towards the Order, Ophelia has yet to make any moves against them." The kikimora explained.
"This sort of stuff will eventually boil over. Ophelia won't be able to ignore the voices of her people any longer. And besides, what about all the members of the Order that just keep… dying for some reason? It's been happening so often that it can't be natural."
"Honey… The idea of Aperia secretly assassinating members of the Order behind our backs is just a conspiracy theory with no real evidence." The kikimora was about to continue when the door to the kitchen opened. In walked a younger kikimora.
"Hello! Weren't you taking a nap?" The kikimora's mother asked.
"I want what you're having! It smells tasty! Can I have some?" She asked hopefully.
"Of course you can have some." The young kikimora grinned and began to scoop herself some soup. The kikimora and her husband smiled, momentarily forgetting the threat of war looming over their heads for a blissful few hours.
Ophelia sat in her office, waiting for yet another one of her subordinates lost to the Fallen God, a dark priest. This one had hit her especially hard. The priest, named Selena, had been a good friend of hers. She was in charge of enchanting weapons for the Aperian Military. She and her fellow priests had been responsible for many of Aperia's military victories in the past.
Normally, she would let her subordinates deal with the relocation of corrupted priests/angels, but she wanted to speak to Selena personally.
Ophelia's assistant knocked on the door. "She's here."
"Bring her in." Ophelia ordered. A dark priest and her husband walked in. Both looked at her with a feeling of disdain. Ophelia felt a strange sense of deja vu.
"Selena, what is my number one rule regarding romantic relationshi-"
The dark priest interrupted her before she could finish talking. "No, you listen to me, you fucking tyrant! Your policies have done nothing but hurt me for the past year. You say you mean well, but I don't think so."
"Tyrant? I am just trying to help, Selena. The Fallen God is evil. She seeks to upend everything we have worked on for the past several years. You can't just let her play with you like this."
"PLAY WITH ME, HUH?! My life has improved significantly since I let her 'play' with me. I feel better than ever now that she has enlightened us." Selena snapped back.
"Stop being selfish. This isn't just about you. Think about your job. We have to waste time and money looking for someone to enchant weapons for the Aperian military now. Time and money that could be used elsewhere. As for my policies, they have been perfectly tolerable and fair."
"Time and money, huh? That's all I was to you, a way to save time and money? Well, good luck on finding someone who wants to be used as a tool. And your policies have not been tolerable or fair. In fact, your policies remind me of how the Lescatie did things, back before they got-"
Ophelia suddenly stood up from her chair, her wings folding out. She glared down at the priest and her husband, causing the latter to shudder slightly. Selena held her ground, glaring right back at the seraph.
"You do not compare me to the Order. I have spent years constructing a place free from their stupidity and zealousness. I have spent months on end making sure each and every person has been treated fairly, not just in Aperia, but everywhere. Aerokon. Juno. All the countless territories that we own. Yet, you have the gall to compare me to our worst enemy, the organization that is an anathema to our core values?"
"Getting angry at the truth, aren't we? We'll be leaving now. Oh, and by the way, I remember the contract you made me sign. I've already chosen what mamono realm I want to go to. Don't bother asking."
"Good on you for saving my time. Now get out."
"Gladly. Come on Gareth, we're leaving." Selena gently gripped her husband's arm, and took him out of the office, slamming the double doors behind them. Ophelia walked over to the window, and watched them leave the city. Ophelia watched as their figures grew smaller and smaller until they completely vanished. Yet, Ophelia kept staring out the window long after they had left. Despite everything she said, she was still going to miss the two of them.
She sat back down in her chair and began poring over some loose documents that were laying at her desk. She saw something in the corner of her eye. A document, handwritten by the conqueror of Lescatie herself, Druella, and given to her during a meeting a few weeks ago with the lilim's diplomats. She began to read it aloud.
"Greetings Matriarch of Aperia, I am writing to you to propose a deal that I think could greatly benefit the both of us. Rising anti-Order sentiments in your territories have left many monsters worried about a potential war. I am proposing an alliance that will both help deal with the Order non-lethally as well as share the pleasure and happiness of-"
Ophelia immediately crumpled the document into a ball and threw it into the fireplace, watching it burn. She tried to think back to the meeting with Druella's diplomats. How did they try to present this to her?
Five weeks ago
Diplomat Castor Bistoa Lescatie and his wife Francia Reinel Lescatie walked up to the gates of Aperia. In Castor's left hand was a bottle of mamono realm ink, and a demon feather pen. In his right, he held an incredibly important document; an agreement saying that Lescatie would handle the Order for Aperia in exchange for Aperia not getting involved. It also included the details of forming an alliance with Lescatie.
To say that he was nervous would be an understatement. If he succeeded, thousands of lives would be saved. If he failed, thousands of lives, potential lovers, would be at risk. The thought of men being sent to fight what she believed was an unnecessary war instead of staying home and being with their family saddened both him and his wife.
"Castor, It's going to be ok. Whatever happens, happens. I'm always going to be here for you." Francia said to calm him down, while brushing some of her fox tails on him.
Castor relaxed slightly and gave his wife a smile. His wife knew how to calm him down.
"I'm just so worried. What if-"
"Shhhhh, It's going to be fine. You're going to do amazing. I can just tell."
"You know how stubborn Ophelia is when it comes to stuff like this."
"The two of us just have to present our best case to her. Maybe she'll change her mind." The youko said optimistically.
Castor thought back to his time in Lescatie. He had spent days, weeks even trying to perfect the perfect treaty to give to the Matriarch. Even now, he wasn't sure if it would work.
The cities Castor had visited usually fell under two categories: They either revered the Chief God to some degree, or were indifferent to the Chief God. But he had never seen a city that actively hated and denounced the Chief God. And now, that country was on the brink of starting a civil war.
Both of them went up to the gate. The gatekeeper looked up from the book he was reading, and saw the two of them.
"What's your reason for visiting Aperia?" The gatekeeper asked.
"Diplomat Castor of Lescatie has scheduled a meeting with the Matriarch. Diplomacy business." Francia said.
"I see. Good luck with that." The gatekeeper said with an amused tone. Francia really, really didn't like the sound of that.
"If you ask me, those zealots deserve everything that's about to hit them." The gatekeeper continued.
"I just don't understand why she believes she needs to wipe the entire Order out."
"Not the entire order. Just the people that abuse their authority, which just so happens to be a majority of their higher ups. Have you seen the things they do? If anything, wiping them out would make the world a better place. But maybe the Matriarch will listen to what you have to say, who knows?" The gatekeeper continued on.
The gatekeeper let them through. Castor and Francia walked through, and the gatekeeper shut the gate behind them.
Both of them walked to the Matriarch's castle, and stopped outside of the main entrance. An angel escorted them to the guest room where they would be staying until the diplomacy meeting.
"So what do we say first?"
"She's an Angel, right? A seraphim. The only one that's ever come down to the surface. Angels care about humans deeply. We say that she's going to get innocent people hurt if she starts a war."
"Okay, that's a good start."
"Let's bring up the economy. If she forges an alliance with Lescatie and lets them handle the Order, her country will be able to develop faster."
"Good idea…"
Both of them talked for several hours. Eventually they got tired, and decided to retire for the night. After a session of intense lovemaking to relieve their stress, both of them wished each other goodnight.
"Goodnight, Francia."
"Goodnight, Castor. Remember what I said this morning? Whatever happens, I'm always here for you." Francia gave Castor a quick kiss on the cheek, and the two of them closed their eyes.
The day had come. Both diplomats took deep breaths and began to go over the notes they had made the previous day, preparing themselves the best they could.
"Ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be." The two of them arrived at Ophelia's meeting room, the angel that had greeted them yesterday standing guard at the double doors. Her head perked up when she saw the man and his wife.
"Best of luck to you two. You're going to need it. Fair warning though, she doesn't like Lescatians." The angel snickered under her breath.
That was not what either of them wanted to hear before a diplomacy meeting. Nerves aflame, both of them waited outside the meeting room. The angel knocked on the double doors leading to the room.
"Come in." an bored, yet authoritative voice said from inside.
Ophelia felt that she was wasting her time. She was going to declare war on the Order whether Lescatie liked it or not. But out of some tiny feeling in the back of her head that maybe Lescatie had a good reason for her not to, she agreed for a meeting between two of Lescatie's best diplomats.
She heard a knock on the door to the meeting room. "Come in." Ophelia said.
A youko and her husband walked in. Diplomat Castor Bistoa Lescatie and Francia Reinel Lescatie. Both were wearing elegant clothing with the symbol of mamono realm Lescatie on it. The two of them sat down next to each other on the opposite side of the table from her.
"Matriarch Ophelia, we have come to negotiate with Aperia. I understand you want to declare war on the Order?"
"That's right."
"We hope we can change your mind. We've created a document explaining an alliance with Lescatie, as well as what to do concerning the Orderl." Castor passed a document across the table to Ophelia, along with an elegant looking pen and a container of ink.
"Fine. I'll humor you."
Time to see what they came up with. Ophelia slowly read the document. Continuing down the document, she eventually came to a blank line. That was where she needed to sign, she guessed.
Ophelia re-read the document to make sure she didn't miss anything. What they were offering was tempting, she had to admit. She weighed her options, and made her decision.
"So, have you reached a conclusion, Matriarch?" Francia asked.
"I have."
"And?"
"I'm not signing anything."
Castor's heart dropped to his stomach at those words. He quickly composed himself and began to try and salvage the situation.
"Why not?" he asked as calmly as he could.
"What you're offering is tempting, sure. But I don't want to join you."
"We're not planning to turn Aperia into a mamono realm behind your back, if that's what you're thinking about."
"Oh really? Call me skeptical, but I don't trust you at all. And I trust Druella even less." Ophelia retorted, her eyes narrowing at the two.
Castor gave his wife a worried look. The situation was falling apart, fast. He attempted to try and assuage Ophelia's fears. "Ophelia, I assure you that your lack of trust is unfounded. We have a perfect track record in-"
"Let me just say that a majority of my people share my opinion about your kind. If I were to sign this," Ophelia pointed at the document, "My people would be very, very angry at me. And the last thing I want to do is anger the people that I swore to protect."
"Ophelia… We swear that-" Francia began to speak.
"Every now and then, my military has to swat away your membersthat think they know what's best for Aperia. And that isn't even mentioning the Fallen God. If I recall correctly, you allow worship of that absolute maniac."
Castor grimaced. It was true that some members of the Extremist faction had gotten somewhat overzealous by attempting to change Aperia into a mamono realm. They had been punished accordingly but the damage to the Aperia and Lescatie's already unfriendly relationship had been done.
He knew he had to change the course of the conversation, fast. "Well then. A-about the Order, and your plan to declare war. You have our word that we won't lay a finger on Aperia. We can take care of those in the Order that are corrupt."
"And what, give them a loving wife? Let them walk, despite the crimes they've committed?" Ophelia scoffed. "You extremists need to learn how to actually punish someone. If we got our hands on them, a life in prison would be the best outcome for them."
The seraph stood up, and pushed the document towards the two diplomats. "There will be no alliance between our nations. Not today, not ever. We do not trust you to keep your end of the deal. Leave."
"Matriarch, please consider-"
"No. You are dismissed."
"Matriarch-" Ophelia shot them a nasty glare and gestured angrily to the doors. Refusing to back down, Castor tried one last time to try and get Ophelia to listen to them. "Ophelia, just hear us out for one second-"
"If you do not leave, I will have you removed. Forcibly." Ophelia growled.
"Let's leave. There's nothing we can do now." Francia grabbed Castor's hand and began to gently pull him to the exit. Ophelia looked on as the two of them left. As soon as the doors closed, Castor let out a sad sigh.
"Well, that was an absolute disaster. We need to let Druella know about this so we can plan accordingly." He mumbled, leaning on Francia's shoulder. One of her tails wrapped around his body. Castor smiled, feeling a little better.
"We can't let this setback ruin us. Come on, let's go destress before we return to Lescatie, if you know what I mean."