A Vulpine Spanner in the Works
Chapter 33: The Rulers are A'Wonderin'
[Fluder Paradyne]
It didn't take long after receiving the report from my messenger for me to assemble my disciples around the ritual circle in preparation for casting the spell 6th Tier spell [Greater Scrying]. It was a useful spell, but unfortunately, it was heavily limited by the mana a user could put into it.
By myself, the spell could reach a radius of about a 150 miles, quite possibly a little further. Yet, that would require for me to expend almost all of my mana in the process to do so. Thankfully, with the usage of the ritual circle, my disciples were able to pour their mana into the spell, drastically increasing the distance and lessening the burden upon myself.
Alas, with all of my disciples working in tandem with me, the distance the spell could reach was up to the city of E-Rantel. That made the spell unviable for any spying upon the Re-Estize Kingdom due to the prohibitive costs.
For one, I would have to constantly relocate myself to the cities on the edge of the Baharuth's borders repeatedly, if not stay there permanently since I was the only person in the Empire that could cast the spell. I had too much of my work and research tied up in Arwintar to relocate. And that was ignoring that his Majesty called upon me for guidance and aid quite frequently.
Then, there was also the requirement of multiple different mages with good mana capacities to aid me in expanding the spell's range. That was too much of a waste of my talents and that of my mages when I could focus my efforts elsewhere.
Besides, even if spying upon the Re-Estize from Arwintar was impossible without the irresponsible misuse of resources, that didn't mean that [Greater Scrying] couldn't be used within the borders of the Baharuth to spy on any of the potential political enemies of his Majesty. Thankfully, Arwintar was right in the middle of most of the cities in the empire, giving a good range of coverage for the spell.
With the Great Lake of Tob just within the limits of the spell, it would allow for me to confirm the news of this goddess known as the Fox Princess lived there. From that, I would decide the next course of action.
Looking upon all my disciples, I announced, "Prepare yourselves! I cast [Greater Scrying]!" As I said this, I unleashed the buildup of mana and watched with spell come to life in the middle of the ritual circle as a sphere-like portal of energy.
Directing the portal's attention upon the Great Lake of Tob, I waiting in anticipation for the image of the lake to appear. Then, with the sound of cracking glass, the portal shattered into motes of fizzling mana as my eyes widened in astonishment.
That had not happened before. I had never encountered anything that could cancel [Greater Scrying] upon attempted viewing. That…That was magic of enormous power to just stop my spell like that. Power beyond that of the 6th Tier. Perhaps there really was credence to this goddess?
And that excited me. The possibility of learning magic greater than the 6th Tier was an opportunity that I would be willing to trade anything for. But first, I needed to scout out the lake with more…expendable forces before heading there myself.
"Master Fluder," One of my disciples, Vizik Tomahl, asked, "What just happened?"
I gazed at the man with a look of dire seriousness, "An event that fills me with both dread and excitement. My spell was negated by a magic greater than the 6th Tier." A hush fell across my disciples as they heard this.
"Master, does that mean that the report given by Marneus is true?" Another disciple, Elandria Brana, questioned with a growing awe.
"Perhaps. But I wish to do some further investigation into this before I can fully believe it. But to begin, I must visit his Majesty before I fully act. And such should take immediate precedence over all else."
With my opinion known, I made my way out of the ritual room and off towards his Majesty, Emperor Jircniv. I felt that it would be best to inform the Emperor of this so that I could attain his aid and resources in this urgent course of events.
And, while I did have the funds myself to supply any expedition to the Great Lake of Tob, it wouldn't hurt to try and utilize the royal treasury's coffers before dipping into my own. I had great confidence in being able to convince his Majesty to aid me in light of everything that I have been told. Jircniv is a smart enough boy to understand the potential issues he might face if he were to assault the Re-Estize and this 'goddess' was on their side.
If not, then I would simply fund everything myself and uncover the truth of the matter.
[Cut]
After arriving at the Imperial Palace, it was a simple matter to explain that I had urgent business with the Emperor. None dared to deny the request of his Majesty's mentor and strongest mage in the Empire. From there, I was quickly escorted to the doors of Jircniv's office.
A simple scanning of the richly painted red doors told me that the wards of reinforcement were holding strong. That was something that didn't surprise me, considering that I was the one who had created those wards in the first place.
As a child growing up, his Majesty had been the target of multiple assassination attempts. One such attempt, around the age of six, involved a physically powerful assassin breaking down the door to his room after fighting his way past most of the guards.
If I hadn't been with him at the time teaching one of his lessons, then the boy would have certainly died. From that point on, I took upon the task of warding the boy's doors to hold against assault until help could arrive.
In a way, it could be reasoned to say that I am possibly a little overprotective of the boy. I did essentially raise him like my own son, so it would hard not to. It's only a shame that the boy did not have an aptitude for magic.
Giving a nod to the pair of guards at the door, I waited as they opened the door, allowing me to step inside the grand room that Emperor Jircniv used as his office. Various expensive heirlooms lined the walls of the office, while the marble floor was covered in a crimson carpet.
At four different point of the room were figures covered in black armor. Each of them were part of the Four Imperial Knights squad. Neither their station of birth, nor their background mattered in induction into this squad. As long as their skill and prowess were above all others, they could join this team whose sole goal was to carry out the Emperor's will and defend him with their lives.
Focusing to the center of the room, I saw Jircniv set down his quill and look up at me with a smile. "It isn't often that you come to my palace with a request, gramps. Most of the time, I end up coming to you." Jircniv teased, making me smirk in amusement.
"I'm old, your Majesty. There's not much I need help with at this point in my life. In comparison, you're young and still wise enough to receive consul from others before you commit to a great decision." I replied back.
"Then what does that say about you, gramps? You never ask for the consul of others."
"It says that I'm either wise enough to no longer need consul or too stubborn to try and hear it." I answered as I approached his desk covered in gold filigree.
"Fair enough." Jircniv reasoned before turning serious, "So, why did you come to me today?"
"Earlier today, I received reports from my spies in the Re-Estize that the Magician's Guild of E-Rantel found what is said to be a goddess residing at the Great Lake of Tob. In addition to this, the report says that they received a gift from this goddess that is able to greatly enhance the magical abilities of their mages." As I said this, a look of deep thought overcame Jircniv's face.
"You were able to guarantee the validity of such reports?" Jircniv asked in concern.
A frown slightly marred my face, "I'm not absolutely certain that this Fox Princess, as they call her, is a goddess. What I can confirm is that she was powerful enough to stop a 6th Tier spell of mine from scrying the lake. That immediately tells me that she is stronger than I am." I admitted, shocking Jircniv.
"If that's the case, then do we have any idea about where the allegiance of this Fox Princess lies? Would she side with the Re-Estize if it we assaulted them in a few months?" As Jircniv asked this, he was already going through the potential repercussions of such an event.
"Our spies do not know. All that they have told us is that the Magician's Guild is worshipping her and that she gifted them what is said to be her blood to enhance them. But that is all we have to go on. For all we know, she could be uncaring to all but her followers." I truthfully answered.
But if she were to side with the Re-Estize, could I truly say I would try aiding the boy as best as I could or would I attempt to join her in an effort to learn from her magic? And already, I knew what my answer would be.
"But that doesn't confirm if she would stand in my army's way or not. Considering that you came to me yourself with this information, what is it that you think about this? Magic is your specialty, after all."
"I wished to hire an initial scouting party of adventurers and mercenaries to investigate the lake before going there myself regardless of if the scouts come back with news. I can't ignore something of this magnitude, your Majesty." I answered.
Jircniv nodded in agreement, "If you were to head to the lake and try to meet this 'goddess' would you be willing to take one of my knights there with you to act as protection in case such meeting turns hostile?" I could read the dual intention behind requesting for one of his Imperial Knights to accompany me.
One reason was to protect me, not that I truly needed it. Another was to try an establish a diplomatic relationship with one of his representatives. But the final, and true, reason was to potentially try to assassinate this 'goddess' if she turned out to be hostile. If it failed, then the boy would have a better read on the Fox Princess' strength with the loss of his guard.
"How could I deny you, your Majesty? Who would you send with me?"
"Leinas." As Jircniv said this a woman in dark armor with long blonde hair approached. By all rights she could be considered a beauty from what one could view from the left side of her face with the only blemish being a tiny mole at the corner of her mouth.
Yet, the long bangs covering the right side of her face hid a horrid curse afflicting her that caused the right side of her face to disgustingly secrete pus, with no method yet found to fix it. Not even I have been able to break this curse afflicting her.
She was also the least trustworthy of all of Jircniv's knights because of her lack of loyalty. The only reason she was even working for the Emperor is due to him having a higher chance of discovering a cure with all of his resources in comparison to others. But the moment that someone else came along with a better chance of fixing her, she'd leave Jircniv in a heartbeat.
This also made her the most expendable of his knights.
I could see the gears running through the boy's mind. Send the expendable knight to potentially die if the worst came to pass, while also measuring the strength of the Fox Princess against a close-quarters combatant whereas he could measure her magical ability through myself.
There was a bit of pride I had for the boy utilizing his resources to properly gauge a potential enemy. He had done well with my teachings.
"I'll put a request out through proxies for adventurers and mercenaries. Once completed, we shall find out exactly what we are dealing with." I summarized.
"With any luck, this will be a boon for the Empire. Otherwise, I'll need to change our plans." Jircniv pondered aloud, something that I fully agreed with, even if my thoughts went opposite his.
"Yes. Let's hope."
[Momonga/Ainz Ooal Gown]
Sitting upon my throne, I found myself listening to a tedious amount of reports from both Albedo and Demiurge. For the past few days, I'd been auditing every part of Nazarick to get a handle on events that were occurring with my subordinates. Ever since the confrontation with Kashia five days ago, I found myself unable to try and meet with her until I had Nazarick's internal issues under my control.
It's because of this that I've been going through the activities of the inhabitants on each floor of Nazarick to make sure that they weren't doing anything that would get them killed by an extremely pissed off kitsune.
On top of that, I've also had to delve into scaling up food production after hearing of multiple instances of cannibalism on the 2nd Floor. Beyond that, there were also other things that I've had to immediately shut down.
Aura, for instance, wanted to let multiple beasts out of the tomb to explore and hunt. One problem with that, we're too close to multiple human settlements that releasing what Aura considered to be 'simple' beasts outside of Nazarick would cause too large of a risk of being noticed by some random traveler who would alert the local authorities.
As a method to placate her, I allowed her to instead bring back beasts to Nazarick that she thought were interesting. Last I saw of her, she was playing with some strange 'singing' moles while Mare just watched in interest.
Shalltear wanted to acquire some random travelers who wouldn't be missed to utilize as living blood bags. I had her cease all thoughts of that immediately. As of the current moment, my only idea of appeasing her was to find a substitute for human blood or I might give her free reign to capture criminals that society wouldn't care about. In a way, it would actually be a service to permanently prevent them from harming others while not letting them go to waste like a simple execution would cause.
The two simplest Floor Guardians to handle were Cocytus and Victim. Cocytus, when he wasn't following orders to monitor Nazarick, only wished to fight decent opponents. My current idea was to possibly assemble small mock fights in Nazarick's colosseum which could satisfy Cocytus' urge to fight. As for Victim, he was content to relax unless called upon, making him the easiest.
That really only left Albedo and Demiurge for me to go over with. I did need to learn of Demiurge's progress after all on the more 'ethical' farming practices I was having him enact.
"Let's start with you, Demiurge." I said, causing the archdevil to stand at attention. "How is progress with the new farm? Additionally, are there any other plans beside the farm that you've been working on?"
"For the farm, the harvesting process has been going splendidly. The only setback is that the hide harvested for the scroll materials is that it, like the humans before, is only suitable for scrolls up to 2nd Tier at best." Then, he pushed his glasses up his nose, making me slightly worried at what he was about to tell me.
"As for other plans, Albedo and I have been working together on two of them while I have already drawn up plans for a third. One is a retooled plan to capture Ninya Veyron after our prior plan was not to your liking." I couldn't stop myself from resting my skeletal face in my palm as I considered how Demiurge misinterpreted my orders.
"…Demiurge, can you please explain to me what you thought I meant when I said to cease all plans against Kashia's daughter?" I asked with slight frustration.
"As I understood it, you believed that the agents we originally planned to send after the girl were too weak and would fail the mission, drawing Kashia's ire upon Nazarick without any suitable hostage to control her. As such, we planned to use agents, such as the Pleiades, to perform a capture mission." I felt myself sigh at exactly what I quickly realized was going to be so much work.
"Demiurge, and Albedo as well," I saw the succubus perk up upon her name being said, "End any and all plans now, and in the future, against Kashia's daughter." I specifically ordered, "Now, repeat back to me how you are interpreting this order."
"Of course, my Lord." Demiurge said with a bow, "You wish to permanently put pause to any actions taken against the girl until you feel that it is in Nazarick's best interest to have a hostage against Kashia."
At this point, that was likely the closest he would get to actually interpreting what I wanted without devolving into a further master plan or doublespeak. I was almost tempted to think about why I should even bother trying to rein my subordinates in when I didn't care about most of the people outside of Nazarick?
It would be so much easier and take considerably less effort to let my subordinates just live with their fantasy of me being an evil overlord trying to conquer the world. The only thing holding me back from allowing my subordinates to act out their wishes was Kashia. One single person who was probably the only friend I might have in this world. And yet, what was one person's wishes in comparison to all of Nazarick's? Thoughts for later, I suppose.
Instead, I focused back upon my subordinates, "Good. Unless I give the order, towards either of Kashia's daughters, treat them as under Nazarick's protection until then." I ordered with very little room for misinterpretation.
"No harm or actions will befall either of the sisters from Nazarick unless you order it, Lord Ainz." Demiurge replied with utmost sincerity. That filled me with a small measure of relief as I gazed upon Albedo who looked at me with a simple smile.
"And what of you, Albedo?" I asked.
"Your wish is my command, Lord Ainz. Nazarick will not take any action against the sisters." Albedo answered, earning a nod from me.
"Now, what is this second plan that you and Albedo have been working on?" I asked the archdevil.
"Earlier, you showed disappointment in the progress your Momon persona has been making with reputation within the kingdom. We felt that if your Momon persona had a fabricated demon lord to fight and defeat, then your reputation would skyrocket and put you into a better spot for whatever form of political maneuvering or outcome you've wanted."
That actually intrigued me. Adamantite-plate aside, it was considerably difficult to continue garnering a reputation quickly when, besides Shalltear, the worst I've been dealing with is simple monsters. Even the feast I attended days ago did little but get the name of Momon into the mouths of the minor nobles who had attended or gave me options for future work.
Fighting a demon lord would also land me political favors depending on who I protected from the conjured enemy. That would be useful for future endeavors that I, as Ainz Ooal Gown, couldn't accomplish subtly.
"Go on and tell me of what this plan entails. I'm interested." I said, giving room for Demiurge to continue.
This made Demiurge smile, "The plan would have Albedo play the part of a demon lord assaulting the Re-Estize capital. Midway through the assault, the adventurers, Momon and Nabe, would arrive to stop the threat and drive off the demon lord and her forces. Within all the confusion, some of our covert members will sneak around the city to acquire information and items of import to Nazarick."
When Demiurge said this, I considered the possibilities of a demon lord attacking the capital of the kingdom. This wasn't a game as the people who might die in such an attack were real.
And yet, if they were to die from a false-flag attack, their deaths would have meaning. It would aid both myself and Nazarick which could mean that I might be able to help more people in the future as Momon. But did that need to happen or was I just getting impatient at how slow my progress was as Momon?
All of this didn't even consider that Kashia would never allow it if she found out about the plan. I could always just lie to her. Keep her out of the loop until everything was over and claim that the demon lord wasn't mine. While skeptical, she wouldn't have any reason to actually doubt me since I haven't lied to her before.
I needed to give some thought about this before I could really sign off on the idea. This wasn't soldiers butchering a village or bandits I might potentially allow Shalltear to hunt. These were innocent people.
This was a slippery slope that I was approaching.
"Demiurge, I'll allow you to assemble forces and come up with a plan for this attack as long as it entails as little destruction and casualties as possible. Additionally, none of this is to go ahead until I give the direct order for it." I explained.
"As you wish. I'll have a plan and forces gathered within two weeks for your approval."
I gave him a nod of acknowledgement. That gave me time to really consider this plan. "Finally, what about this last plan that you have in motion?"
"Due to your wish to avoid conquest against the Re-Estize Kingdom or the Baharuth Empire, I have looked at simple conquest against the nation of the Wyvern Riding Tribe before moving onto the Dragon Kingdom. As they are small in scale compared to their neighboring countries, it would be simple enough to conquer them before using their country as a staging point for the Dragon Kingdom." Demiurge finished explaining his scheme with a mixture of pride and pleasure on his face.
As I considered it, I thought about how not only Demiurge, but also every other NPC in Nazarick believed that I wanted to rule the world, enough so that they were devoting everything to planning and gearing up for it. What would me being made the ruler of the world bring?
You agreed that our original world was a hellhole, that this world seemed so much better and could be made better.
Kashia thought that altruism and aiding the people of this New World would go a long ways in making things better than Earth. And yet, from learning a small summary of the things that nations were dealing with, it seemed like more work than simple aid would be needed.
Kashia said the Re-Estize is filled with corrupt nobles and an incompetent ruler. The Baharuth planned to continue a grinding war until the Re-Estize ran out of men and resources. And three of the human-centric nations; the Holy Kingdom, the Slane Theocracy, and the Dragon Kingdom were constantly fending off stronger and stronger attacks from non-human nations that planned to kill or enslave them.
While not the directly toxic hellhole that Earth was, this New World was a hellhole in its own way. The only difference was that it looked nicer and the oncoming misery was out of sight.
Maybe there was a way to fulfill Kashia's wishes of making the world a better place while also satisfying what my NPCs felt I should be doing?
I could do it as an experiment of sorts. Conquer a small nation or two, see what I could do to positively change it for the betterment of the nation's inhabitants and for Nazarick, and look into potentially expanding if the experiment worked out.
Kashia might initially disagree with the method, but if I made the end result better than when I arrived, she'd have little reason to argue. I think that would be for the best.
"I will allow this plan to happen if you abide by a few conditions. Of which, conquering the Wyvern Riding Tribe should be done with as little brutality, torture, and death as possible. I want to rule its people as my subjects, not as slaves or resources to be harvested from. I see this singular conquest as an experiment in making a nation better and its people happier than before I arrived. Now, tell me how you interpret this order?"
Demiurge pushed his glasses up and grinned, "My Lord, you wish for me to challenge myself by making this war have as little, if no, bloodshed or violent methods occur as possible. You want me to discover a method to make the population want you as their ruler, in comparison to their own, so that they may become your loyal subjects."
While the doublespeak was still littered through his answer, Demiurge was close to the intent of my request, at least. "Keep me informed of all updates pertaining to this."
The archdevil gave a bow, "It will be done." With Demiurge handled, I looked to Albedo.
"Aside from your two plans made with Demiurge, do you have any other plans being worked on?" I asked the succubus.
She maintained that soft smile and shook her head, "No, my Lord. Aside from my normal duties to Nazarick, along with the plans I collaborated with Demiurge, I have nothing to report."
Thank whatever god is out there that Albedo wasn't coming up with schemes left, right, and center. At least with Albedo, it seemed that I didn't have to constantly focus my attention on her like I did with Demiurge.
"If that is all, you two may leave." I said, dismissing the two. They both gave a bow before leaving to perform their duties.
[Kashia]
I had to scrap training for my team today, like I had for the past few days, because I needed to focus my attention on the Elwuld situation. It had been a fiasco that needed to be dealt with delicately. As such, I felt it best to send them all back to E-Rantel to wind down and take a break from their training. Additionally, I didn't trust putting them in a dungeon that Momonga had worked on with me and filled with his monsters at the moment.
I kept quiet on all the 'demonic' details of what happened from the others, aside from Lukrut. As far as they were all aware, a village had been attacked by monsters and I was aiding them in my goddess persona.
And to start with, I first made sure that Momonga's people were out of Faelwuld with my kitsune covertly moving about the city and sniffing around for duplicates of people or monsters.
That took a few days as I wanted to be thorough about it. I didn't need anymore surprises to show up right now. Thankfully, I was given the all-clear from my servants that they didn't discover any signs of monsters hiding within the city. This led to the next step of my operation in relocating all the former victims back to their homes.
As for the former victims, I created some temporary housing for the transition, then followed that up with providing everyone food and water since this village was not prepared for handling such an influx of mouths to feed even before their subjugation and torture, let alone after it. That made it convenient to use [Permanize Magic: Enlarge] to grow small amounts of food into large feasts for everyone.
I've also taken to wearing my goddess outfit around the people in the village, though, this time, I finally made some alterations so that I didn't look like I was about to start spinning on a pole. More specifically, longer skirts and less of my tits on display. I did keep the original version of it stored in my inventory for…personal use.
I made sure to check on Nero during this interim, and the kid seemed to be holding up well considering the things he went through. He spent all of his time, when not with his grandfather and sister or training with Yamato, helping out everyone in any way he could. The kid was busy now, but I wondered what he'd be doing after everything had calmed down?
Maybe I should try aiding him with his training? While Yamato would be great in training him for physical combat as well as paladin skills, it could be a good idea for me to help him with his magic training since mom was a goddess of magic after all.
I could even have Ninya tutor him if the chance arose since it would both help him in learning magic, reinforce what Ninya had been learning from me, and give the pair of them more people around their age to talk to. Heh, look at me finding kids my daughter's age for her to talk to.
Next, I'll be scheduling playdates for her.
All of this led to me standing before a crowd of these displaced survivors that had been gathered together in the village center for their relocation back to their homes. Even the original residents of Elwuld had come out to listen to what I had to say. During this, I could hear all of their hushed whispering as they looked at me.
"What do you think the goddess brought us here for?"
"Is she planning to perform another miracle?"
"Maybe she's sending us home?"
Many more such questions spread out through the crowd until I finally spoke, causing a hush to fall over the crowd, "I know that it has been difficult period for all of you. You have all endured and survived challenges that you should have never been forced to face. But I wanted to let you all know that, after making certain that your homes and city were safe, you'll all be able to return to your homes, your families, and your friends today!"
The moment I announced this, cheers and prayers of gratitude came from the crowd, all directed at me. Even with the pleasurable warmth filling me from this worship, both direct and indirect, what felt better than all of that was to see all the happiness and hope shining in their eyes.
"In a few moments, I will open a [Gate] to Faelwuld. From there, I'll give each of you a parting gift for all your troubles and have you go through to your homes." Saying this, I cast [Gate] to the city square of Faelwuld and patiently waited as all the survivors formed a line and approached me.
The first to come up to me was a father with a haggard face but an expression of relief that juxtaposed it. He had brown hair sprinkled with white hairs. Holding his left hand was his daughter, a girl of seven or eight, who shared a lot of resemblance with her father.
Yet, while his expression was filled with gratitude and relief as he looked upon me, his daughter's gaze was filled with awe and childlike wonder.
As they approached, the girl broke away from her father, and ran up to hug me around the legs before her father could pull the girl back. "Thank you for saving daddy and me, Miss Goddess." I smiled and crouched down to her eye-level.
"You're very welcome. I was happy to help." I answered while rubbing the top of her head.
"Are the monsters going to be gone forever now?"
"Yes, the monsters are gone and will never hurt you. But," Saying this, I conjured a little golden fox statuette in my hand and held it out for her, "if you're ever in trouble or scared, just hold that close to yourself and think of me and all the bad things will go away."
I watched the girl take the statuette from my hand and hold it tight against her chest like it was a stuffed animal. "I will, Miss Goddess." I gave her one last pat on the head before standing up to speak with her father.
"I apologize about my daughter, my Lady. I hope her actions didn't bother you?" He said with worry in his voice.
Putting my hand on his shoulder, I said, "You have nothing to apologize for. She's just acting like a child her age should." That reassured the man as he smiled and nodded.
"Thank you." A moment later and I conjured a fox statue made of gold and gave it to him. He looked astounded as he took it into his hands before being surprised by the weight. "Is this solid gold?"
"Indeed it is." I answered with a nod, "Do whatever you wish with it. Keep it, sell it, melt it down, it's yours to do with as you please."
"H-How can I ever repay you or something like this?" He asked.
"Live well and take care of your daughter. That's the only payment I want or need."
"I promise that I will. Aveline and I will never forget what you have done for us." The father replied. I nodded before bidding him to walk through the [Gate]. Aveline gave me a wave back to me while I gave her a little wave in reply.
Then, the next person in line stepped forwards. That's how it went for what felt like an hour as I spoke with the person for a few moments, gave them a gold or platinum statue before sending them on their way. I flipped between gold and platinum due to how many people I was giving these gifts to. It was a risk of wrecking the economy by flooding so much gold into the market.
But, when I had finally finished with the last person, I closed the [Gate] and looked upon all the villagers who had been watching me do this. "I shall leave for now, but my servants will remain to continue watching over and protecting you." I announced before teleporting away.
[Ninya]
It had been an odd few days to say the least. The morning after mom came back from wherever it was that she had spent a day at, she announced that dungeon delving would be put on hold for the foreseeable future and that we'd be heading back to E-Rantel. Adding to that, mom had been extremely busy with helping a village which had been attacked by monsters.
From what she said, a follower of hers had been in the village at the time and had prayed for her help. And, which she did save the village, a lot of destruction occurred which she had to clean up along with ensuring that the village could stand on its own before she was comfortable with backing away.
Because of this, mom didn't have as much time to directly tutor me, so I continued working on [Foxfire Will O' Wisp] while enjoying my time where I could hang out with Tuare.
Currently, I was in the garden of the sanctuary mastering having three spheres of [Foxfire] orbit around me as I studied the animation method that mom had written for the orbs. From what I could understand, animation came with intent.
One had to focus their intent into the mana used in the spell, almost like pre-written instructions. These instructions could vary between being simple, such as 'attack enemy nearby and block attacks' to more complex, such as 'attack a specific enemy if they perform a certain spell and block attacks from another specific if they are not magical'.
It was better to use simple command intents since the more complex the intent, the longer it would take to cast. Well, at least if you weren't mom. It took her under three seconds to cast the spell utilizing highly complex commands whereas it took me ten to fifteen to create a single sphere with barely any intent put into it. And that was just a single sphere, not the three that the spell used to make it complete.
Mom just said I needed more practice before I'd make a working sphere of [Foxfire Will O' Wisp]. But I was so close! I just needed to work at it a little bit further and I could nail down the animation method. Then, it'd only be an issue of concentrating on all three sphere's at once after putting intent into them.
I could likely get the animation method down within this week or next week, but then there was getting all three spheres to orbit me after that would probably take a week or so more. And then, mastering the time it took to cast the spell to be viable in combat would take even longer. Though, I guess I really shouldn't be complaining about the time it took me to learn this 2nd Tier spell in comparison to other.
I'd probably get it down within a few weeks due to my talent and mom's notes being very good at explaining how to cast the spell. In comparison, others would likely be taking months or even years to learn this spell, though that might be shortened with mom's notes in hand.
What made all of this work worth it, besides learning a powerful spell, was how giddy I felt for the day when I finally got to show mom the results of what I learned! By mom and Grandma, that day was going to be amazing.
Hopefully, following that, future spells in the tome would be quicker to learn after building off of my knowledge from prior spells. I can't wait to see what the strongest spell mom put in this tome is like.
Speaking of mom, she's been getting a bit of a traction with the people of E-Rantel. For the past few days, the Magician's Guild's religion, the Order of the Fox Princess, has been giving out healing potions to the people of the city as charity.
From what I and the others saw when we visited the Adventurer's Guild, they definitely took well to the charity along with talk about the 'Fox Princess', enough so that I spotted a few adventurers visiting the Magician's Guild out of interest. It also helped that the group of adventurers she saved on the night the Magician's Guild was attacked had been spreading praise about her, especially their team leader, Elia.
Then again, I think anyone would be highly grateful for being resurrected from the dead like they had all been.
I hadn't heard a peep coming from the temple in the city. Apparently, it seems that the priests are still reeling over what happened to Verona. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that the church has given up. They'll probably do something in retaliation, I just don't know what it will be until it finally happens.
[Alecto Damian Ryle Vaiself II]
It has been some time since Eight Fingers last had a meeting together. But that should be a given considering both the nature of our organization and mentality of its members.
None of us could trust one another as they all vied for my position while I did what was needed to keep them at theirs. It was funny, in a way. If multiple of them worked together, they could easily have me deposed from my position as head of the organization. At the same time, they were all so self-interested in their own positions of power that they pulled each other down. It was just like the phenomenon of crabs in a bucket.
Leave the top of the bucket open, and instead of working together to escape, they would pull whoever was the closest to escaping back down with them. Back down into the muck where they all belonged.
Lubelina; before she died in that fire of her brothel, she was nothing more than a commoner who lucked into her fortune. Now, she had been replaced by Prian Polson, another commoner who had been lucky enough to have enough knowledge, and be high enough in his former position, to replace the late Lubelina.
Hilma Cygnaeus; a whore who knew enough secrets from fucking nobles to gain her power. All of what she had was due to her appearance. Take that away and she was nothing more than a scheming bitch that was a decent fuck.
Ampetif Cocco Doll; a degenerate with a knack for torture and breaking slaves that would imprison and fuck any he took a fancy to. Only his first name was real. 'Cocco Doll' was just his attempt to have three names so that he could imitate nobility when he was really just an urchin from the gutters.
Zero; a one-named killer whose only aspirations lay in proving himself the strongest fighter in the kingdom. The tactical mind he had was wasted on his pursuits.
Raglin Zolber; the smuggler who was good enough at his job to not get caught. His mind was only built to smuggle cargo, otherwise he was a simple wretch with a gambling addiction.
Noah Zweden; he was a conman who managed to trick enough idiots out of their money to make a fortune. Yet, even with all the gambling dens he ran, and all the fortunes he threw around himself to display his opulence, he was merely playing at being a noble.
Finally, there was Count Iselk Bernard von Dalton III; the only other true noble at our table aside from myself. He was the only person of our group that I could respect due to his family's history. And because of that, he was also the person I viewed as being the most dangerous to me.
At the very least, he wouldn't be that worrisome once he left the country with the princess of his in tow. Considering that her kingdom was so far away that I hadn't heard of it, that meant he'd have little power to affect my ruling position in the Re-Estize. Though, considering his high likelihood of becoming king of another nation, that was certainly a good tradeoff to the head of the Eight Fingers.
It was certainly on a faster route to kingship than my own path.
And what a long path it was indeed. As my father was the brother of the former king, it made the fool Ramposa my direct cousin. Ever since my father was cheated out of the throne by Ramposa's, he had been plotting to get, if not himself, then me to the throne.
I shared this desire, especially because of how incompetent Ramposa III was. He let his noble vassals plot around himself, being none the wiser on how truly alone he was in court. His realm floundered, with his favorite daughter, Renner, being one of the few that was trying to do something about it, even if that was in vain.
At the same time, his sons bickered over the throne like children, bringing the realm to the cusp of civil war in the process. Ramposa should've named his successor as Zanac ages ago, considering how much less likely the man would run the kingdom into the ground like his brother, Barbro.
They were all an embarrassment to the line of Ryle Vyself.
As head of Eight Fingers, I've been slowly working on destabilizing Ramposa's position so that his leadership can be put into question. From there, it is only a matter of allying with the right people and seeing both Barbro and Zanac face 'tragic accidents'. As for Renner, without her father's protection, she can easily be removed. Ramposa's two other daughters are no threat to me considering that neither has sired a son, not for lack of trying mind you.
Quite tragic that they've had multiple miscarriages. Sadder still that the three sons that they've had between them were so sickly that they didn't survive the week. As consolation, at least they've had four daughters between them. This left me as third in line for the throne as anyone else in my way has suffered 'accidents' throughout the years.
But now, my time for ascension is growing near. I've already put into a place multiple assassination plots on either of Ramposa's sons. From there I'd be made king, and for my first act as king, I'd eradicate Eight Fingers and establish my competence to the masses. Next, I'd change how we've been fighting this war on the Katze Plains.
The Baharuth Empire has been utilizing mages in their armies for years, while the Re-Estize has absurdly focused our efforts on cavalry. It's astounding how our armies have held out for so long when we deny ourselves a weapon of amazing power to use in our wars! The Magician's Guild was established by our country to utilize the ability of our mages, but we've only ignored them, making them a dangerous faction that has hidden many tools and abilities that should be used by the crown, not hoarded by a bunch of scholars.
Aside from updating our armies, I had plans in place for assassinating Emperor Jircniv, something that Ramposa has been too 'honorable' to attempt. With luck, my plots would succeed. If not, I would have to resort to more drastic measures.
By the end of it all, I would be the king that solved all the problems that Ramposa had been too incompetent to fix, even if half of his issues were from my own doing.
Until then, I had to play the part of the head of Eight Fingers.
As I sat at the round table of our meeting room, I took note of everyone who was in the room. First of interest was Zero, the giant of a man with tanned skin covered in tattoos. He seemed to revel in showing off his muscles as his vest covered very little of his torso, and nothing of his arms. Like a brute, he sat with his feet propped up on the table, while his hairless head was propped against his arm. I watched his eyes study each of us with feigned indifference.
Next was Raglin. His body was covered in a green threadbare cloak which his face had a thick and bushy brown beard. From what I've learned, he tended to like radically changing up his appearance every few weeks to avoid being recognized due to being a smuggler.
Last time I saw him, he had extremely long and messy hair like a barbarian.
Next was Purian, visibly looking nervous at his first attended meeting. He had high high cheek bones, giving him a slightly skeletal appearance. Additionally, his blond hair had a ridiculous bowl-cut that had a ponytail in the back. His outfit looked recently bought as it seemed ill-fitting on his body. Likely, the man bought a new outfit after attaining his inherited position.
It amused me with how he tried so hard to make himself seem powerful, when all it did was highlight how out of his depth he truly was.
In comparison to Purian was Noah dressed lavishly in fine silk clothing as gold and jewels draped from his neck and covered his fingers. He had his his blond hair gelled back while his mustache was neatly trimmed. The greed coming from his purple eyes was palpable, but it also made him highly predictable.
As long as he had wealth and power, he could be easily controlled. Noah was someone I could easily trust, since I could always trust that he would go for whatever offer that would give him more money and power. As such, he wouldn't join whatever plans of betrayal that the others might conjure against me, simply because I could always give him more than anyone else.
But were I to be unable to satisfy his greed, he'd immediately abandon me for the next best offer.
Finally, there was Count Iselk, who looked so visibly different from when I had last seen him. His hair was disheveled while the beginnings of a stubbled beard filled his face. The clothing he wore seemed slept in, but his eyes, they were the most drastic of his change in appearance.
They looked haunted, with the heavy bags under them denoting how little sleep that he's been getting. And yet, regardless of his exhaustion, his body constantly fidgeted in his seat, almost like he wanted to do something else right now.
What could have happened to the Count to cause this?
Putting the question aside, another question I had was where Ampetif and Hilma were? It had been almost 20 minutes since the meeting should've started and they still hadn't arrived.
"How long do we have to continue waiting for Cocco and Hilma?" Zero demanded impatiently, "I have other things to do besides wait for those two to finally show up."
Raglin was the next to speak up, "I'm in agreement with Zero. If they haven't arrived by now, then we shouldn't be forced to wait any further for them to show up."
"My, my, you two are in such a rush." Noah teased in his lazy tone. "Perhaps our associates had a slight delay in their journey?"
Zero glared at Noah upon hearing this, "Easy enough for you to say. You just have to sit on your fat ass to make money for this organization. I have to actually do work to keep things running smoothly." The warrior growled.
"I think that just says more about your choice in career path compared to mine." Noah retorted.
Zero gave Noah a vicious grin, "Would your career path prevent me from putting my fist through your skull within the next five seconds?"
Noah's eyes lost the lazy gaze they held and now glowered at Zero in anger. Before anything further could come of this, I held up my hand to both of them, "Please, let's avoid any needless conflict among ourselves. Zero does have a point that we do need to begin our meeting, with or without our two missing associates. If they arrive during they meeting, they can be informed of what they missed-"
That was when the doors of the meeting room swung open, letting the bright light of the hallway outside shine into our dimmer meeting room. I saw two figures standing there, and almost assumed it was Ampetif and Hilma that had finally arrived until my eyes caught up with me.
Standing there was a pair of women that I couldn't recognize. One was a beautiful and shapely blonde woman in strange black clothing. Her eyes were a glowing gold as they scanned the room with an unreadable expression that the smile she had didn't match. The only thing I could recognize on her was the adamantite-plate of the Adventurer's Guild resting on top of her chest.
What was an adamantite-plate doing here?!
Next to her was a woman with messy red hair that went down to her shoulders. Her clothing consisted of a simple white dress that seemed more like a sheet of cloth tied around herself to give her some form of modesty. That was all she wore as her feet lacked any form of footwear. This red-haired woman seemed to hug onto the blonde's arm like a lifeline.
It was when my gaze went to her face that my blood went cold. Even with her sunken face lacking the calculating vindictiveness that I remember, I knew this woman. Yet, she had been thought to be dead.
Lubelina.
Yet, the woman I saw now could be said to be what was left of one of the cruel leaders of Eight Fingers. There was no malice, no cruelty, nothing of the former rival that had once been on our council. Now, just a broken woman whose attention was fixated on the blonde next to her with a mixture of terror and submission in her gaze.
"Hello, everyone! Sorry to barge in, but my friend, Luby, here," The blonde slightly pushed Lubelina, still cowering into the blonde's arm, to the forefront like a parent introducing their shy child, "was so excited to introduce me to all of her friends."
Purian was the first to speak up in recognition, "Lubelina, is that you?" He asked in disbelief. The red-head seemed to look to the blonde for permission, and the blonde gave a nod and a grin.
Lubelina turned back to Purian and answered, "Y-Yes. I am Luby." She answered in a demure tone. After Lubelina said this, one of her hands let go of the blonde's arm and clutched the side of her head as her face became filled with pain, then it faded and the redhead went back to wrapping that arm around the blonde's once more.
"Now, Luby, how about you introduce me to all of your friends?" The blonde asked Lubelina, as if talking to a child.
"Th-This is my Mistress-Goddess, Kashia Blanc. I-I do wh-whatever she wants and she makes the-the-the voices go away." She then looked back to Kashia and asked, "D-Did I do good?"
Kashia gave her a pat on the head. "Very good. Let's go find our seats at the table, Luby." Upon saying this, they headed for the two empty seats of Ampetif and Hilma.
While everyone was reeling from what they just saw, I took recognition of the name that Lubelina had said. Kashia Blanc. The same name of the princess from a foreign land that Count Iselk should've had in his dungeon being broken right now.
My eyes glanced over to the man and saw how frightened he looked as he did everything to avoid gazing at the blonde, like he was trying to avoid her attention. That told me everything I needed to know. Whatever kind of torture or magic that Lubelina went through to become as she is now, Count Iselk possibly suffered as well.
And that meant he's been a spy for Kashia this entire time!
"While I can enjoy the stick you managed to remove from Lubelina's ass, those seats aren't yours." Zero said as he finally took his feet off the table and seemed ready to stand.
"Trust me, the two former owners of those seats won't need them anymore." Kashia answered as she sat Lubelina into Hilma's chair.
"And you killed them?" Noah asked as he looked at the blonde with some concern.
"At the moment? I think one of the two is still alive right now." Just as the words left her lips, Zero's chair flew into the wall behind him, smashing into pieces, as the warrior shot across the table with his fist cocked back to immediately kill the woman. But, much to all of our surprise, Zero seemed to stop in the air, about three feet away from Kashia with his fist outstretched.
"What is this?" Zero growled out as his muscles strained against some invisible force keeping him in place. Then, much to our horror and disgust, the arm outstretched towards Kashia snapped in place at the elbow, with Zero's forearm now bent backwards.
Zero shouted in agony as his body thrashed, yet was still unable to move. "Oh, I'm sorry. I just have this habit where I do whatever I want with body parts when people freely offer them to me." Kashia said in mock apology.
"The only thing I was offering to you was a quick death, you blonde bitch!" Zero spat at the woman in a mixture of rage and agony.
The most unsettling thing was how Kashia continued to maintain a smile on her face as Zero's left arm snapped at the elbow, eliciting another roar from the man. "You bitch!"
"Didn't your mother ever teach you that it's impolite to say that to a woman?" Kashia said with a chastising tone, followed by Zero's right leg breaking at the knee. As Zero screamed once more, I spotted Purian quietly sneaking away from the table and towards the door while the woman's attention was focused on Zero.
He seemed like he was about to make his way out as well when he opened the door. But glancing back to Kashia, and how she didn't even seem to react to the light of the hallway entering the room told me that she already knew, and that Purian wasn't going to escape.
I was proven correct as when Purian entered the hallway to run away, a flash of red fur dashed past Purian, taking his hand in the process and knocking him to the ground. From the angle of the doorway, I couldn't tell what had attacked the coward. But from the way that he looked around himself in terror, there were more creatures in the hallway besides just the one that took his hand.
Purian then tried to quickly do a mixture of stumbling and crawling towards the meeting room, slipping on the blood pooling at his feet for part of it, "No! Let me in! Let me in!" He shouted like his life depended on it.
Just as he was about to cross the threshold of the doorway, what looked like a snake covered in blue fur wrapped around his ankle and began pulling him away!
"NO! DON'T DO THIS! LET ME GO!" He shouted while scrabbling against the floor to find some form of purchase with both his free hand and the stump of his right hand, smearing blood on the floor.
"I'LL GO BACK IN! JUST LET ME GO!" Something slowly closed the door to our meeting room from the hallway and my last vision of Purian was him crying and begging as he was dragged out of sight down the hallway while the door closed completely.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO-" Purian's muffled screaming came from the hallway before being quickly cut off.
My heart thumped in fear as I couldn't tell what was worse, the terror of knowing that we couldn't escape or the terror of not knowing what the hell was out there that would tear us apart for trying? My gaze trailed back to Kashia, along with everyone else in the room as she snapped Zero's other knee, earning one more scream before the broken warrior heavily breathed in pain and exhaustion.
"Let's see, what do I know about you, Zero?" Kashia asked rhetorically, "You are the muscle of Eight Fingers who kills anyone you're told to kill. You're also obsessed with being known as the strongest warrior in the kingdom by fighting the two people who are considered better than you, Brain Unglaus and Gazef Stronoff. Well, not to worry as you've just fought the strongest in the kingdom and were throughly defeated."
Zero glared at Kashia upon hearing this, "You're not the strongest warrior. Just a witch hiding behind her spells." He retorted.
Kashia seemed to take on an apologetic look, "Oh, of course. How rude of me to hide myself from you." A moment later, multiple limbs of golden fur materialized from the blonde as a pair of matching ears appeared on her head.
I counted nine of these limbs which I realized were her tails, with four of them wrapped around each of Zero's limb and one wrapped around his torso. These tails were all keeping him in place, and they were also what had been snapping each one of his limbs like they were twigs.
"Is this better? Aside from hiding my true appearance, my tails were all that I used to beat you. Therefore, that still makes me stronger than you." She taunted as Zero looked on in horror. "The moment you made me your opponent, you never stood a chance. You were doomed to forever be an ant beneath my boot."
Zero's tanned skin began to turn pale as all the fight just left him. His fighting broke, and compared to the confident killer of before, now he was just hollow. She then brought the man closer to her before putting a finger to his head, eliciting a scream of absolute agony before she stopped and pulled away from the man.
Following this, Kashia allowed Zero to stew in his recent pain mixed with his broken dream for a little longer before one of her tails slithered up to the killer's neck and snapped it. His broken body was unceremoniously tossed aside as the life left his eyes. What made this terrifying was that now the inhuman woman was going to focus on someone new with Zero dead.
"Miss Blanc, I'm certain that we can come to an arrangement that's beneficial to all of us without violence." Noah reasoned in an attempt to sweet talk his way out of whatever Kashia had in store for all of us.
This caused the woman's gaze to immediately focus on him as her golden slitted eyes glowing in the dim light made her look like an inhuman monster hunting prey. "Seems we have a volunteer!" She announced with glee.
Noah's eyes widened in fear. Before he could try getting a word in, one of the golden tails shot across the table and wrapped around his neck. Ominously, Noah was slowly reeled out of his chair and across the table's surface, grasping at the tail choking him in order to free himself.
His struggles were in vain as he was brought before Kashia as she put a finger to his head. Then, he began screaming until she finished whatever agony she inflicted upon Noah like she had Zero. Following this, Kashia's tail raised the choking man into the air until it lowered him so that his feet were now touching the ground.
"Noah, I see that you really like money, is that right?" Kashia asked with a friendly smile.
The golden-furred tail around Noah's loosened so that he could speak. "Yes. I like money."
Kashia gave an understanding nod. "You're only in this criminal enterprise for the money. I bet that you'd leave it immediately if you never had to worry about wealth ever again?"
Noah nodded enthusiastically, "I'd never do criminal work if I never had to worry about money. I'd leave Eight Fingers immediately and live happily on my estate for the rest of my life!" Was…Was this bastard really going to weasel his way out of this?!
"Well, it's your lucky day as I feel like being a merciful goddess to you. I'll let you live, I'll even give you all the gold that you could ever need in your life." Kashia said, reassuring Noah. "Would you like that?"
"Yes! T-Thank you! I promise, I'll make certain to pray to you and the Four Great Gods every day for the rest of my life as thanks for your mercy." Noah swore with a smile. Then, he looked around as Kashia still hadn't released him. Additionally, he didn't see any of the gold he was promised.
"M-Miss Kashia? Weren't you going to let me go? A-And you mentioned the gold that you would give me? Yet, I don't see it." Noah questioned. Yet, while he didn't notice what was happening, I did.
There, at his feet, I could see the tell-tale glint of gold slowly rising up his boots.
"I am a goddess of her word. I am going to let you go. As for your gold, just look down." She answered and pointed her finger to Noah's feet. When he followed where she was pointing, Noah looked down to see what seemed to be a golden shell forming over his feet that was steadily rising to his shins.
"What is this?! You said that you would let me go and give me all the gold I'd ever need in my life!" Noah cried out as his heavy golden boots scraped against the ground while he tried to free himself.
With a mocking smile, Kashia patted him on the cheek, "I never lied to you. I promised to let you go, and I will after I've finished giving you your gift that was so readily agreed to. As for your gold, I promised that I'd give you enough to last the rest of your life. I'll leave you some air holes, but other than that, the human body typically dies after three days without water. All of that gold is more than enough to make sure you live out the rest of your life surrounded by what you love."
The blood drained from Noah's face as he heard this, making him struggle harder as his feet thudded against the floor. "Please, I'll do whatever you want! Don't do this to me!" I noted that the growing golden prison was now speeding up as it covered past his knees, forcing his left leg to remain mid-kick while his right was stuck to the ground.
"But we already made our bargain. I'm being very generous and giving you everything that you wanted." The gold sped up and was now at his waist. "I'd inhale if I were you since you need all the breathing room you can get."
With wide eyes, Noah did just that as the gold went up his torso. "We can make a new deal! I have so much to offer!" Noah bargained further while he still could.
"Noah, that isn't how this works." Kashia said with a tsk. "Besides, as one whose life has consisted of conning people, you should've really paid attention to what you agreed to." Noah's chest was completely covered as his arms were locked into place.
Before he could say another word, the gold had grown to cover his mouth, muffling any further words as it continued rising. I saw Noah's eyes look at me one last time in terror before they were covered over by a metal exterior. In a few more moments, Noah's hair disappeared under his new prison until all that was left was a humanoid golden statue.
Yet, even covered, the few air holes that Kashia put into the statue allowed for his muffled screaming to come out. Once finished, the monstrous 'goddess' let Noah and his prison fall the ground.
She had conned the conman.
Then, she seemed to blink away from where she'd been sitting until I heard a screaming coming from Raglin. Looking over, I saw Kashia with her finger against the man's forehead and her tails wrapped around his body. When she pulled her hand away, she bent over to meet the smuggler's eyes.
"You seem to like smuggling slaves across borders." When she said this, I could innately tell that Raglin was not going survive this, nor would his death be pleasant. "You're also a gambling man. Up to try your luck?"
Raglin froze for a moment before making up his mind on if he should play whatever sadistic game that Kashia might conjure up, "Will I live if I do?" He glanced over to the statue containing Noah, "And not in horrid punishment if I do win?"
"Of course. If you win this game, I'll let you go free to do whatever you wish with your life. I won't go back on any deal made with me."
"Then I'll do it." Kashia's smile grew wider as more of her tail shot out and wrapped around his limbs as they forced him into a curling position. "What is this? What game am I supposed to be playing?"
A small wooden crate reinforced with a metallic interior appeared next to the inhuman woman, "The game is going to be survival. I'll have you smuggled on the normal route that you've had to smuggle your slaves, there and back. You'll receive all the accommodations that you provided to them. Food and water every few days, a little opening at the bottom of your crate to remove any waste, almost no protection from the heat and cold."
Raglin shook his head, "No, this is impossible! I'll never make it!" While saying this, Kashia's tails ripped off his clothing until he was only left in small clothes.
"If it's good enough for slaves, it's good enough for you. Just think of it as a little trip you have to take before you are free." With that said, Kashia shoved Raglin into the crate while a conjured lid appeared on top of it. Raglin banged the inside of the small crate, barely enough to move his arms and legs, while his muffled screaming could be heard, begging for freedom.
Another golden tail pushed the crate away, hard enough to slide across the floor until it came to a stop after banging into Noah's prison. Muffled screams came from both prisons after making contact.
But with Raglin now dealt with, that only left me for Kashia to deal with, and she knew it. I watched her slowly saunter over to me, each second drawing out more of my fear. Some might consider her movements to be enticing, but I knew that she was taunting me as she finally stood before me. I hadn't moved from my seat since this started as I was too afraid to find out what might happen if I were to do so.
Amazingly, I managed to find my voice, "Why are you here?" What could we have done to anger this woman so?
"Because your group touched my daughter, along with all the other lives that it has ruined over the years. Did you really think that there might not be any consequences for your actions?" When she said this, her finger stuck out and touched my forehead, not even bothering to remove my hood to find out my identity, making me feel like a jagged dagger was being stabbed through my head.
I screamed until she finally ceased her torment and I began heavily breathing from the ordeal.
"Well, well, I never would've believed that the direct cousin of the king would be the one running a criminal empire." My eyes widened as I realized what she had just done. Kashia went through my memories!
"You don't understand! Everything that I and my father have done had been to remove the crown from Ramposa's family and put it into the hands of someone more competent! He and his father have run the Re-Estize into the ground!" I shouted in frustration to the woman.
This only received laughter from Kashia, "You're being serious, right?" She questioned with more laughter, filling me with anger.
"Of course I'm serious!" I responded.
"So, let's get this straight, you and your father both helped to aid and lead a criminal empire within the Re-Estize so that they could make things shitty enough for you to declare the king incompetent, be declared king, or have his heirs declared king, kill the heirs, and then become king? And then, you assumed that you could magically fix all the problems plaguing the kingdom, most of which you and your father have had a hand in making, without issue? There's being delusional, and then there's the absolute lunacy that you have imagined."
She continued laughing while patting me on the shoulder. Each pat made me more and more nervous on what she'd do next.
"The laugh you gave me almost makes me not want to punish you. Almost." Then, her expression became deadly serious as she lost the fake smile she had maintained throughout the entire time she got here, "But for a royal brat with high aspirations like yours, we need to do something special. I'm going to give you the choice between a fun prison like Noah received, maybe done in platinum instead of gold, or you can accept the terms of a [Geas] I'll put on you."
I think I've heard of that contractual magic before, namely how it was used by rulers of far-off kingdoms to enforce treaties. I could have myself bound to whatever magical contract this woman might create or I could find myself in a metal prison like Noah, waiting to die of starvation or thirst.
"I'll agree to the [Geas]." I said immediately.
"Good choice. It's a lot more fun than just copying a previous punishment I gave someone." Kashia said in a teasing tone, "Under the contract of [Geas], you will follow every order I give until death. Do you agree?"
"Yes." A moment later, I felt the spell sink into my body, making me understand that I was fully enslaved to the whims of this 'goddess'.
"Now, sit in your chair as if it were the royal throne and don't move." I found my body move without any choice in the matter as I sat properly with my back against the chair and my arms on the rests. "For one with aspirations to become king, lets give you a proper throne to fit that position."
Moments later, I felt my chair shifting as the wood turned to gold encrusted with jewels. The armrests of my chair then began growing over my forearms until they had become merged with the chair. I could feel the same happen to my feet. Now, the only way I could ever come off this throne was by losing my arms and legs.
"Next, you'll need a crown." As soon as she said that, I felt a heavy weight on my head while what felt like a vice was wrapped around the top of my head. "Finally, a scepter to wave about the court!" I saw the gold of my armrest shift as my hand trapped inside the gold was forced to turn before gripping something. Then, a scepter started growing until it reached the height of my eyes.
"What are you doing to me?" I asked with fear evident in my tone.
"Preparing you for your royal attendance at court." What did she mean by that? She wasn't seriously planning to send me out in public like this?! "And done!" She announced before a reflective mirror appeared in front of me.
I got a horrific look at the crown that Kashia had put on me, a garish piece of gold and jewels that was so tightly bound to my head that I'd likely be horrifically injured from attempting to remove it.
Carved above my throne was written 'KING EIGHT FINGERS' which I was able to decipher backwards after a few moments. By the gods, she was going to show me out in public!
"For your order, I'm going to send you to court. There, you will only say that the goddess known as the Fox Princess has sent you, you'll not make any further mention of my identity than that. Following this, you will announce yourself as King Eight Fingers and then explain everything about your criminal empire along with your reasons for doing it. Additionally, you will only refer to yourself as King Eight Fingers."
I was going to be executed! "Please, there has to be another way! King Eight Fingers can't be sent to court! Please, don't make King Eight Fingers do this!" With horror, I realized how much she had me change my vocabulary with that order.
Yet, I couldn't move or try to look at her as Kashia's first order was that I remain seated like I would in a royal throne and not move. Instead, I looked straight ahead and watched from my peripheral vision as a dark portal opened next to where I forcibly sat, leading off to the one place I suspected but was terrified to be sent to.
My mockery of a throne was soon turned so that I fully faced the portal to my doom. "King Eight Fingers is willing to do anything if you don't do this!" I pleaded, even if I already knew that Kashia wouldn't be swayed.
"Have fun, King Eight Fingers!" Kashia said cheerfully before sliding my throne, along with myself, across the floor and into the darkness of the portal as I screamed.
A moment later, and I was now in the brightly lit throne room of the Re-Estize Kingdom in the midst of its courtly session. I looked upon Ramposa, his family, and the multiple other lords and ladies of the court as they all gazed at me with confusion and shock.
In addition, I saw multiple guards who had pulled their spears out, ready for some threat until they saw my imprisoned form on this throne.
Normally, I might have found myself absolutely frozen in terror, but I wasn't given such a reprieve as Kashia's order took control of my body and I began to speak…
Sorry about the wait, everyone. My computer died because it couldn't handle killing xenos in Space Marine 2. Anyways, I'm up and running again.