Conviction, page 7
“Are you their king? I mean how else are you able to get them to be so accommodating and I think you undersold us on just how easily you could have monopolized the benefits of this city.”
“I will, once again, let you believe what you will.”
“Are you married to the four dragonoid women that are always with you as well?”
“No, though that might happen in another decade or so. Really depends on how things play out between now and then.”
“Okay, I am going with that they want you to rule them, but you want to just leave almost everything to them. I will be sure that gets spread as far and wide as possible if you don’t deny it right now.”
“I don’t see what I lose about others believing that at this point. There is a reason I told you that they would come to my rescue if needed.”
“Alright!” all but shouted Mittie as she stopped walking and gave Xeal a hard look before continuing. “I will tell you why I am always the one who is coming to visit you and why I am here today, you terrify me. At first, I thought you were just an emerging talent with God-defying luck who would eventually slow down, but now I doubt that you would lose if every nation in ED that you aren’t allied with, tried to defeat you. Before Kate fully defected to you, I figured that even if you managed things here in ED, you would mess up in reality, but that isn’t happening either. Yet for all I can tell there should be nothing special about you before you started to play ED and I am sorry, people don’t just suddenly understand things on the level that you do. That is why I am here today, as I know that it is only when mutual interest keeps us on the same side of things that I am safe. Now how do I make sure that is always the case?”
Xeal sighed as he looked at Mittie for a long moment while deciding how he wished to proceed, before finally responding to her.
“I am not planning to cause any major rifts between myself and Salty Dogs. So long as no guild tries to get so large that it threatens to ruin the economic viability of this world, or attacks Nium or FAE directly, I see no need for any more major actions either.”
“And you don’t think that you have done that already?”
“Is Salty Dogs failing? In fact, other than Abysses End, have my actions destroyed any large group of players the ability to earn an income from playing ED professionally?”
“You have caused many of us to start hedging our bets. We all see what you have done to Abysses End and before you say it, yes, we have seen what they have done to themselves as well. The point is that we all fear your vendetta could come for us next. What happens when you are following a questline that we are as well and only one of us can obtain the rewards for it?”
“I don’t take on quests that others would be likely to, but any such quest would be no big deal either way, as one of us would back off over something so minor. I don’t even know when the last time I took a non-war related quest was at this point. However, that is coming to an end, so I will just say that so long as your guild has no hard feelings when it happens and keeps all hostile actions limited to the scope of the quest, I see no reason to worry.”
“Right, sure, because human emotions don’t get in the way of logic all the time. Fine, I suppose damage control will need to be the default status-”
“Mittie, I do not expect Salty Dogs, or any other guild, to simply yield to me on every matter. I may have set myself up as a check on all of your ambitions, but I am no ruler over you that expects everything to be given to me. I have clashed with Fire Oath and Dragon Legion and I do not wish to remove either from this world. Were I to fully explain why I am so dead set on the destruction of Abysses End to you, I would have to marry you as they are the only ones I trust fully with my reasons.”
“So, when’s the date?”
Xeal rolled his eyes at Mittie’s joke before responding to it anyways.
“I thought I told you not to flirt with me and I already told you, that isn’t going to even be entertained.”
“What, flirting is a way to deal with a stressful situation for me. It helps that I know I will never have to back any of it up with you as well. Still, now I want to know what Abysses End did even more.”
“No. Now if there is nothing else, you can go explore the city as I enjoy my break.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad. Just tell Kate that I want a new arrangement that will keep my ships that have been doing food deliveries busy once this war ends.”
“What, your members aren’t itching to fight sea monsters?”
“Not all of my members are battle hungry, or even adventurers. Many just love life on the sea and want to enjoy a mostly peaceful time as they sail from port to port.”
Xeal held in a laugh as he agreed to toss the issue at Kate, with no guarantee that she would offer anything. Still, with that the two parted ways and Xeal was happy to make it to his estate and see all of his children for what felt like the first time in ages. At five and a half they were all full of energy and talkative, as they fought for his attention while trying to tell him what they all had been up to. From this, Xeal learned that their mothers had been taking them all on trips to see their relatives at least every couple of months. Even Xin had met his uncle and a few of his half cousins, and they all had picked up some kind of martial hobby. Though luckily, they were all only level 0 still and play fighting was all they knew. Still, from what Xeal knew, it wasn’t uncommon for children’s hobbies at this age to come into play when they decided on what class to pursue.
In this vein, Xander had picked up two swords as he tried to emulate his father and was constantly looking for his approval. Likewise, Xin had gone for dual wielding, but he favored a single sword and a short spear, as he waved the padded weapons around while trying to show off. In a slight surprise for Xeal, Maki and Ellis were singing while tossing daggers, or at least the weighted bundles of cloth that stood in for them. When Xeal looked at his wives for an explanation after the pair declared that they were going to be singing ninjas, all he got was some story about how Grandma Jin had several ninjas guarding her and loved their singing. From that Maki had decided that she was going to be a singing ninja and Ellis hadn’t wanted their duet to be lost, so she had turned it into a dance act almost.
Like this time passed as Xeal played with his kids, until the four dragonoid rulers arrived and sought a moment of his time. After escaping from what had turned into each of his kids grabbing a limb and refusing to let go for a moment, the five of them made their way to an empty room with some chairs and a table. Once they were all seated it was Malgroth’s father, Uritheth the wildfire dragonoid, who was the first to speak.
“Xeal, we wish to change the agreement that binds us currently, as we wish to be allowed to fight on the surface in full force should another portal to the demon plane be opened.”
“No,” replied Xeal without a second thought. “I have plans for if that occurs again and even if a few powerful demons manage to slip through, by the time you could reach them, any damage they will do will have been done. Should a full-scale incursion occur, we can discuss this then, but I am not going to let you all start watching for portals to the demon plane and attacking them.”
“I would have thought you would have been happy for our willing aid,” commented Lughrai’s father, Georai the landslide dragonoid. “Surely the strongest force on this plane should be involve if the entirety of it is threatened.”
“They will be and all of you have long since lost that title when my kind started to reach tier-7. We may not be able to take you one-on-one, but we can easily overwhelm you with numbers and when you add in that we can’t truly die, you have a force that can take on anything.”
“Do you even know how endless the numbers of demons are?” asked Lumikkei’s mother, Chikkei the blizzard dragonoid. “Your kind may never truly die, but that just makes you an endless food supply to them.”
“You are well aware that my guild has Lucida and that at her current level she could have closed a portal twice the size of the one that was opened with little issue. She can also control any demon tier-6 and below with no issue, and constantly cycle through the ones she is controlling as they die. Heck, she could simply get them to attack the demon closest to them before moving on to the next one and the next one, as the mass of them devolves into chaos if no demon lord is present.”
“We are not saying that you don’t have the means to fight them without us,” replied Uritheth. “Only that our aid could ensure the damage they deal is minimal.”
“The answer is still no. If they pop up underground that is one thing, but the last thing I need is for you all to trigger an event where the gods get involved. While the day may come that I am ready to face off against them, it is not this day.”
“Drop it,” cut in Eletriza, just as Uritheth was going to make another plea. “You just want a good fight and ever since Xeal has come along, all of the challenges that you so enjoyed have stopped. We asked and he answered. We pushed and he still held firm. Is he or is he not our king?”
“I am not,” retorted Xeal. “You may see me as such and I may have that power, but I am no king.”
At Xeal’s words all four dragonoid rulers looked at a loss at how to proceed until Chikkei finally spoke.
“Why do you claim all of the power of a king, yet refuse the responsibility of one?”
“Bad luck and necessity,” replied Xeal. “Had you all simply let me be, I would have happily ignored all of you, at least until after the current war had ended. After that, well, adventure is what I plan and what greater adventure is there than trying to figure out how to get up here? Thanks to my lightning form, I would have succeeded as well and who knows what would have happened at that point. Yet you all came to me and tried to force your ways upon me, so I took control of my destiny and in so doing I seized power over you. Had I done so out of anything but necessity, I would accept the responsibility of being king with that power, but you are all capable of self-governance for the most part and so things are the way they are.”
The room went quiet once more as the four seemed to each have their own internal debate on what to say and Xeal could tell that they were dead set on something. Yet he didn’t feel like they had touched on it yet and if he had to bet, they were wearing him down to accept whatever it was. Even so, he didn’t try and cut them off and instead waited until finally Georai spoke.
“Will you remain opposed to accepting our fealty in its entirety forever, or will there come a day that you are willing to rule?”
“Depending on how things play out, I may not even remain on this plane most of the time. If you are asking if I will ever have any desire to resolve disputes and enact laws beyond the ones I bound you all to after our first encounter, no. If you are asking if I might live here and take an active interest in the city, then yes, I may reach that point one day.”
“Are we just to wait to see what the future will bring?” asked Georai.
“Yes, though make no mistake, as I am sure your daughters have made it known to you, that I doubt that a future exists where I don’t have strong ties to here.”
“Thank you, we will take pride in that fact,” commented Eletriza. “But what is to happen when the four of us start dying? With none of our kind seeking to claim our positions any longer, we fear a collapse in our way of life coming and while we have a century or so before a major issue will occur, by then the damage will be done.”
It was with this question that Xeal knew was the real issue at hand and so he didn’t just give the first answer that came to his mind, and instead gave the issue a fair bit of thought. The simplest thing to do was nothing and figure that necessity would create a solution as it always did. However, those solutions were often the least bad option left and much worse than a solution that could have been implemented before the necessity arrived. It was with this thought that Xeal shifted to just what an optimal solution would be and how best for it to be arrived at before he responded.
“It is clear that my very existence has changed the very nature of how dragonoids see themselves and what they strive for. I suspect that it would be a simple thing for me to solve this issue by telling you all the solution that I want, but that would truly make me your true ruler. As I am unwilling to do that, all I can do is offer a bit of advice. So, while strength has been what you all ruled by and how you kept each other in check before, now you must look to the other qualities that create good leaders and use that to find your heirs. I am sure that your history will have accounts that should help you and when in doubt, I find asking those who are below you can yield promising information if done right. In that respect I am willing to lend you members of FAE to explore anything that you feel you need to, but acting directly would hinder you. The four of you may even come to different solutions and methods to pass on your authority and that is fine, at least in my mind.”
“So do what we want is the only answer you will give us?” asked Uritheth, sounding annoyed. “I would have hoped for a bit more direction than that.”
“He has said that he doesn’t wish to dictate our actions,” commented Chikkei, like a mother scolding a child. “Besides, if you could discern a bit more from his words, he has given us paths to find answers and offered assistance in doing so, not simply pushed the issue back on us.”
“Indeed, perhaps we should speak with and study other rulers, and see what their own histories can teach us,” added Georai. “After all, while their experiences are much shorter than our own, it will offer more examples of what traits a good ruler has and what makes a bad one.”
“I think that this is a discussion we can have when Xeal is not present, as I can see that his patience is wearing thin,” interrupted Eletriza. “Any more and he may feel that we are pushing him to offer more than he is willing to at this time and there is no need to rush things just yet.”
Xeal was rather annoyed, especially at Uritheth over his instant complaint at his answer and part of him felt like the man was trying to deliberately provoke Xeal. Though, as Xeal had thought about it, that would fit with the way Uritheth operated and were Xeal to react, he might be pulled into the role of king as he begrudgingly accepted it. Then there was Chikkei, who seemed to always wish to soothe Xeal and slowly draw him in, and part of Xeal worried that she was letting her instincts drive her towards more. Thankfully, Georai lived up to his title quite well in Xeal’s mind. The man would continue to plan and gather information, until he believed he was ready to act and then as suddenly as a landslide would devastate an area, Georai would act. Finally, there was Eletriza, who had never gotten over her mix of fear and admiration for Xeal after their first meeting. While what information he had gathered made her out to be the most impulsive, yet calculative of the four normally, when it came to Xeal, she would always seek to avoid his anger. Even when he hadn’t directed that anger towards her in a long time and suddenly a thought occurred to him as he spoke.
“Eletriza, when was the last time you visited Levina?”
“I make the trip at least once a month currently. Though as you stop having us head down to the ground as often, I expect that I will have fewer opportunities in the future.”
“And how often are the other phoenixes visited by all of you?”
“I see Bīng about half as often,” commented Chikkei. “I also take time to talk with Ninlil and Matrikas often enough.”
“I visit Seraphina and Eris regularly and have even said hi to Brangwen a few times,” added Uritheth. “I am hopeful that one of her children might offer a good fight someday.”
“I have visited with them all at least once, but I mainly speak with Eba and Jewel,” offered Georai.
“I have also visited with them all, but Levina is my main focus. Also, she would love for you to visit more often,” finished Eletriza.
“Good. Now, would any of you allow them to rule over you?” asked Xeal.
The looks he got at this question were perfect as none of them dared answer. However, it was clear to Xeal that they wouldn’t willingly allow it, but they doubted they could resist it. So, rather than wait for them to respond, Xeal continued to speak instead.
“You should see me taking an active role in ruling you much the same way, as it is possible that I may never die in this reality. There is still a long time before that will be for sure, but when my body in my reality starts to fall into ruin, it is very possible that I will sacrifice the little time I have there for an eternity here.”
At this news the four seemed to want to ask Xeal to explain more, but he just held up his hand and after asking that they not spread that information around, called an end to the meeting. He had given them enough to think about and he wanted to return to his time with his family. Like that the rest of day 51 passed and when day 52 arrived, he handled getting the treaty and contract signed by both King Victor and King Ulfert Uladzimir. Once that was done, the stage was officially set as Xeal took just over another week to make sure the sudden reorganization of troops was complete.
This involved many disgruntled NPCs, orcs in particular, because only 40,000 would be allowed to march, as there would be only two invasion forces from Nium in the first wave. As such Xeal had balanced those with experience and those who had yet to have a chance to prove themselves in battle, with the latter making up the majority of the orc forces at least. As for the beast-men and humans, experience and power were the top determining factors in who he would allow to march.
So it was that as Xeal logged out on day 60, that everything was ready to be set in motion for what he hoped would be one final campaign to end the conflict, at least on the surface of Nium. At the same time, below the surface another struggle was getting ready to begin, as the crusade to subjugate the dark elves was about to commence. As much as that conflict worried him, none of his wives, or prospective wives, had allowed him to dissuade them from joining him there, as he would be taking direct command of those efforts. It was also here that every elf that would have normally been invading Habia was, to include many of Queen Aila Lorafir’s children. Further supporting this group were many of the orcs and beast-men that had been excluded from the forces above. The main issue was that even the town that they had captured from the subterranean dragonoids wasn’t large enough to fit this force in, let alone the tunnels that they would be fighting in.
