Conviction, page 6
“Why did we leave a whole day early?”
“Bianca, your family is likely at the center of the demonic weapons, at least your father is. I have no proof, but they were all too willing to point us down a path that I am sure they have prepared for us to find all the evidence that we need. It is likely that the picture will be such that a player was the source, but your brother facilitated the transfer of the weapons himself. If you think your brother can do anything without your father having a hand in it, you don’t know his type as well as you think you do. The only reason I am going to play along with this for the time being is that it will ensure that fewer, if any, of those weapons are used in the battles to come.”
“Do you think my mother knows as well?”
“That I am not sure of. She loves her children enough to try and stop your father, but she lacks any ability to do so. At the very least, if we follow the path that your father has set out for us it will unveil some of those responsible and I doubt any of your siblings beyond your brother are involved. The hard part is your mother, who correct me if I am wrong, but that is who you wish to become Lorena’s personal maid.”
“You know me too well and yes, I intend to have her mother be mine. They are the main ones from our families that we care about as they were little different from us.”
“Only the man they were given to happily embraced them and I refused you. I would think you would care more for your younger siblings as they were raised similarly to you.”
“It is rare for royal siblings to get along outside the crown prince and his sisters as the other boys want to take his position, or at least he has to assume as much. As for my sisters, well let’s just say a few of them fought to be the one sent to you over myself. Even my sister, who was only six when you first arrived, wanted to be considered. Though, I think in her case she was just mimicking the rest of us as she didn’t even know what marriage and bearing children meant yet.”
“I think I would have left and never looked back if your dad had attempted to match me with a six-year-old… Mind you, I might have had you and the rest of your sisters kidnaped by Zylah after that out of principle as well.”
“Then you would have really had to marry me, and perhaps a few of my sisters as well. On second thought, I would rather marry Victor than share a husband, even you, with any of them.”
“I can still make that happen. Perhaps I could even convince Victor to let you stay young and have you marry Prince Vicenc once he comes of age and have you become queen.”
“I will ruin your life if you dare do that to me. I will become a true spinster before I marry a man over a decade my junior.”
“Everyone always seems to make such a big deal about such little things as age. I mean worrying about marriage while still able to have children is one thing, but with that being solved, what matters so much about age?”
“Consider it just part of who I am. I would marry you if you were a hundred years my senior so long as you looked the way you do now, but I will not marry someone I would feel the need to mother.”
“That has nothing to do with age, only maturity and I would argue that after 30 men don’t do much more of that. Sure, life will still shape us, but rarely do we mature much after that. In fact, you could say that some of us become less mature as we get closer to our end.”
“Why does it even matter?” asked Princess Bianca as frustration filled her voice.
“It doesn’t, but you’re fun to tease and it is making me smile to see you take me seriously on this threat. After all, do you really see Victor letting you be queen one day?”
With that the tension broke as Princess Bianca found herself blushing slightly as she took the moment to shift the topic.
“I see. Now, do I still get to pick how we ride for the next leg of our journey?”
“Within reason, as I still need to be able to direct our flight.”
The smile that Princess Bianca gave Xeal told him that she had given it much thought and so it was that as they took off, Xeal found himself with her in his lap. Though, she wasn’t facing forward as one might expect. Instead, she was seated such that her legs were almost perpendicular to his own and her head was nestled into the left side of his chest. She was seated at a slight angle such that her rear wasn’t actually on him and was instead just in front of him, as her waist met his own while she held onto him. As for being strapped in, it was clear that she had thoroughly studied the saddle on the ride out and had provided a few easy solutions. It was such that Xeal almost would bet that the saddle had been made with this purpose built into it and he couldn’t help but see Queen Aila Lorafir having that done for her own use one day.
By the time they landed once more, Princess Bianca had fallen asleep with a gentle smile on her face that made Xeal wonder just who the true her was. In many ways it made Xeal think of Enye’s tribulation and how she had found herself fighting against the other versions of herself to become the true her, and he wondered if Princess Bianca and Lorena would face a similar challenge. Part of Xeal was curious just what the three would be capable of as a team, as they all had top-notch infiltration skills for their level and if they worked together, they might be able to forge a new joint legacy to reach tier-8. After seeing the results of the five ex-pirate captains’ joint legacy and remembering the few other such legacies in his last life, Xeal was convinced that having a shared legacy was far more potent than regular ones. That was, of course, save for the rare exceptions who simply broke common sense, like Takeshi had in his last life.
Still, that was a thought for another day as Xeal gently woke Princess Bianca, who seemed to not want to wake and end her moment with him. Even so, wake she did and aside from a bit of pouting at the fact that she had slept away part of her time holding onto Xeal, she didn’t offer any resistance in dismounting and enjoying a quick meal as the griffin rested as well. Though when they once more took to the skies, the sun had set and Xeal was having to fly by his advanced senses, as even the griffin seemed uncomfortable in the darkness. Even so, they managed to land just past the border fort and from there they made their way back to Anelqua, where they spent the night in Queen Aila Lorafir’s care.
(*****)
Morning April 2 to Evening April 5, 2269 & ED Year 9 Days 49-60.
Alex was happy to step out of his VR pod on April 2nd and thanks to him returning from Habia a day early in ED, he could enjoy a longer break for once. Plus, as it was another swing dance day, it meant that he would once more get to enjoy dancing with four of his wives. A fact that they were more than happy to accept, in return for him spending a fair amount of time with Kate just going over paperwork. Though both Sam and Nicole joined them as they were both filling in and handling most of the work that Kate planned to keep as being part of her duties, even after reducing her workload. Most of which was the type of document that was of a more sensitive nature and as she put it, she didn’t want anyone outside the family to see them. Though, as a minority owner, all Gaute had to do was ask and Kate would fill him in and give him access to all of the documents.
That was if he wanted to fly to Colorado to look them over, as she refused to allow some of the documents to exist anywhere but within an isolated network that she had set up. While most of these documents were harmless in Alex’s eyes, there were also plans for the next ten years of FAE’s development included in them. Some of these, like the plans for expanding the city in Wyoming, were less sensitive. However, others, like a list of events that she predicted to occur based on Alex’s memories and the changes that he had noted to her in the current timeline, were beyond top secret. Simply to access these files and plans surrounding them required knowing where to look and really wanting to open them due to how deep they were buried. Still, Alex just smiled as he knew that this was just part of who Kate was, and her even letting Sam and Nicole see them spoke volumes about just how much she had grown to trust them.
There was one other bit of news that Alex learned upon logging out on the evening of the 4th, in that Anna had delivered a day early. Which once more placed Sunday as the day of birth and Alex chuckled to himself at just how funny that was, as he started to tease Kate about how he would need to take Sundays off when her due date neared. On this she had simply commented about how Sundays were when everyone but him spent some extra time offline and that was likely the cause of it. Either way it was another Sunday baby and Alex was really tallying them at this point.
Though it wasn’t until he logged off the following day that he got to meet his new niece, Tana. The little girl already had a full head of hair that Alex could tell would match her parents’ brown, though he expected it would go blonde for a bit while she was young. Still, for Alex, seeing his first niece in this life was something else, as he realized that the only time he had seen any of Anna’s kids in his last life was well after they were out of diapers. That realization brought another wave of emotions that Alex didn’t really know how to process, though his wives were more than happy to help with that once he got a moment alone with them. Still, Alex was happy and with the house now having 11 children in it and one more on the way, he couldn’t help but feel as if he couldn’t get much farther than he was from the bachelor life he used to know.
Things in ED were nonstop for Xeal when he returned on day 49 as with the framework of the treaty done, an official version needed to be signed. It took Kate five tries to get the wording such that both kings would sign it and she had also crafted the investigation contract that was directly tied to the treaty. Furthermore, it would need to be signed before King Ulfert Uladzimir would sign said treaty, as he was adamant about it. This only further assured Xeal of his belief that he knew more than he was saying and so it was that as day 51 arrived and Xeal left to guide the players who would be getting dragonoid slots to Cielo city, all that was left was the actual signing of the documents. Though, that wasn’t to say that issues couldn’t derail things and as Xeal thought about issues, the sight of Mittie Alabaster smiling at him as he arrived made him frown.
“What, didn’t expect to see me here?” asked Mittie as she teased Xeal. “Or am I just that unpleasant of a guest for you?”
“Things are mostly stable at this point and I expect that by next year teleportation routes will be reopened. Which means, our cooperation should be coming to a close for the most part,” replied Xeal. “Don’t tell me that you are seeking to increase the depths of Salty Dogs’ involvement with FAE?”
“What is so wrong about that? I would think that you would want to maintain a friendly relationship between our guilds.”
“Mittie, you are always welcome to come and take up a bit of my time for any deals that you have in mind, but I would like to know beforehand.”
“No, if you know I am coming Kate will dig into things more than I like. This way I can catch you unaware.”
“There is the pirate in you. Either way, unless you wish to pay the cost to go to Cielo city, I will have to ask that you wait here for me as I fulfil my obligations.”
“I will tag along, but that is another thing, why did you make it such that only you could escort our members when you made this deal anyways? Seems like something that could have been easily left to a vice guild leader or lower, if you ask me.”
“Why is it that you seem to always be the one coming to make deals with FAE? Personally, I think Ferne would get as good of if not better results.”
“Are you saying that she is more attractive-”
“Mittie, you know better than to play at such banter with me.”
“Oh, but it is so much fun to see you react, especially when none of your wives are here. Tell me, is the rumor that those two fox-girls have officially become your wives true?”
“Daisy and Violet would in fact be my wives and if you paid attention, you would have heard about us celebrating it in Hardt Burgh with their tribe.”
“That’s the issue, not much information leaves your city anymore. Between the war and what I suspect is Kate’s work, even major events within its walls are hard to confirm the details of.”
“There are several high-priority individuals there right now. Frankly, most of the NPCs that I am counting on building up my territory are there. Keeping them safe is the very reason that none of my NPC wives stay there long and it has fallen to the beast-men council to make most decisions during this war.”
“So, tell me, what have you learned about the fox folk of Eternal Dominion?”
“That is an oddly specific question.”
“Yes well, they are only in a few pockets in this world and each tribe is very secretive, which to me is code for that they are hiding something worth looking into. Yet, it seems that they all trace back to the ones here in Nium and the more I look into things, the smallest of the continents seems more and more intriguing. I know, I know, our deal means that I can only ever have a minor presence here and that it is your territory, but if I am wondering, it is only a matter of time before others do as well. How long do you think it would be before every major power wants a piece of whatever is hidden here?”
“They are more than welcome to come and try, but they may find that resources can only be stretched so thin and enforcement of order is taken seriously here.”
“I know that the areas where your guild relies on have been placed under your members’ management for the next 100 years, but what about where other guilds are focused?”
“Once Habia falls and the new territories are drawn up, all players will have access to a formal route upon which to request the same protections. While most of these groups will need to apply yearly as being a duke has certain advantages, it will still allow guilds who are properly utilizing areas and are taking reasonable steps to protect it, feel secure in doing so. However, you already knew that as it was part of the deal that got so many guilds to side with Nium and it’s why over 75% of the guilds that were based in Paidhia are willing to charge into Habia. In fact, I would say once I complete my plan, most guilds in Habia will simply surrender as Abysses End finds itself alone in fighting an impossible war.”
“Nuthi is beyond himself at the fact that Dragon Legion isn’t able to help slow you down. He, like the rest of us, is realizing just what an asset a united continent is. I am willing to bet that your plans are such that no other continent will achieve the same thing, else you wouldn’t have ended the other two wars with ceasefires while going for all or nothing here.”
“I could have just been stretched too thin to truly win the other two conflicts.”
“I would believe that with the situation in the Huáng Empire, but you could have taken over half of the continent with little effort in the Muthia Empire. Yet, you set things up such that when the ceasefire ends, an endless war will await that region. After all, players will be the main force of any army by then and that will make any gains extremely difficult at that point.”
“Believe what you will, but I am not simply going to tell you anything. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to handle my duties. If you wish to continue this discussion, we can do so at my estate in Cielo city.”
“Right and how many of your wives are there waiting for you right now?”
“All of them as well as a few other people. Sorry, but this is one of those times that I like to use as an excuse to take a bit of time to enjoy the perks of being married to them.”
Mittie just gave Xeal a look between interest and disgust, as he stepped away and checked in with the FAE players responsible for checking everything over. Once that was done, it was time for him to oversee them all heading to Cielo city and as he stepped through the teleportation gate first, he was greeted by Eletriza, whose basement he had just entered. With her were many other members of her race, as they guided the arriving players out and into a designated waiting area. From there they would have to sit through an ever-lengthening explanation of the rules of the city as with each group that arrived, someone found a new way to piss off the dragonoids. Even so, Xeal never heard much of a complaint from any of the rulers, who instead had only grown in their devotion to him as his power rose.
“Welcome home,” greeted Eletriza and Xeal was just happy she left off any sort of title before she continued. “My daughter tells me that things have been going well for you as of late. Does that mean that our constant changing of altitude to accommodate your wives joining us is coming to an end?”
“Yes, and my children will be returning to the ground along with most of the others who have been staying in my estate.”
“That is a shame. The four of them have been a joy to observe these past few years. Personally, I wish that you would simply make the preparations to join us here in a more permanent state. I mean really, what more do you have to accomplish on the ground below once you reach tier-8? My daughter has also let me know that the rulers down below seem to believe that you should be beholden to them in some way.”
“I am and I have no intention of moving here for many more years. That said, I do appreciate having a secure location to take my family and everything else you and your people do for me. Now, if there is more to discuss, you should gather the other rulers once things here are handled and come to my estate.”
“I will have to do that as with the war below ending, we will want to truly start on building up your estate soon.”
As Xeal nodded and bid Eletriza farewell, he ignored the look Mittie was giving him as they left the other players behind and headed for Xeal’s estate. Once they were far enough away from the crowd of players that even those with enhanced senses would be unable to hear them, Mittie started to speak once more.
“Just how deep does your connection here go?”
“Once more you are asking questions that I have no reason to answer. Suffice to say that they are among my most trusted allies and while they will not wage war on the surface, extracting me by any means necessary were I to be imprisoned is very much something they would do.”
