Chapter 82 – Feisty Marriage

"So then, your plan is to take out all four of the figureheads of the empire and the reasoning for such a thing is because your friend Ikarus wants it?..."

When he puts it that way, it sounds stupid really, we have explained more than just saying 'Ikarus wants the empire changed' but he has to sum it up in that way? I'm a little annoyed but not for that reason, I'm not just Petra's friend though...

(Desmond) "... I guess it's pretty understandable, I'd do anything for Es"

(Esmerelda) "As would this one for you, Des"

'Es and Des, pretty cute sounding nicknames for each other I guess'

All six of us are around a table in the bandit camp on the beach after eating something the dragon prepared for us, I'm pretty certain it was some type of meat and vegetable dish but whatever it was, it was sublime!

Clearly this dragon knows how to cook very well, I guess Petra does know how to as well but home cooking is extremely rare since we rarely have the time for something properly prepared other than using just a campfire or buying premade food, my example being that bento box she made in the elven war dungeon. My cooking tastes like shit but I don't really use seasoning or care that much so it's understandable.

This place is obviously empty though, the hundreds of pirates are either dead or all fled after all, they'll probably try and come back at some point down to the amount of loot scattered around here but it will end up messy if they do, the bastard and the dragon have made a point to wipe these lot out for some reason.

(Petra) "What's your reaction to this other than just summing it up or being condescending?"

I guess even Petra kinda got that feeling from him, he clearly knows we can handle the four.

"Hypothetically speaking since I'm not agreeing to this, what would you have me do? Just waltz in after you've killed everyone?"

He says he's completely against this but he's still asking about it, there is some interest hidden deep inside. Hang on, is that me being perceptive or my eye of wisdom having an effect? I still can't freaking tell with that.

"You're a fan of big entrances after all, their deaths won't be able to be kept secret for very long so you intruding into the princess's birthday party declaring yourself the new ruler would fit the situation well"

Wait, the princess's party? When was this a thing?

"Petra, what you talking about?"

"Ah, sorry Ikarus, forget to mention it. Had a carrier bird find me when we were resting a few days ago sent from Jekyll, you were sleeping so didn't want to wake you. Slight change is that now we have a better opportunity in the near future to get all four targets at once. Waiting a long time for everyone to be together is no longer required"

Petra normally goes into detail on a lot of things when I ask about them so if she's saying not that much has changed, then it isn't a worry, at least our goal is coming closer. I do hope we can get this guy onboard; the dragon doesn't seem to have an opinion on the whole thing and will just follow her husband wherever he goes, at least she seems that way. No idea why she doesn't really care but dragons do seem to be pretty carefree except in some very exceptional circumstances, of course being mother.

"You've even got someone on the inside? I guess you've definitely planned this out, I dread to think what would happen if no one was around to fix all the turmoil that will happen after"

"Only you can take on that role Desmond"

Heh, it seemed like he was trying to play the guilt treatment on Petra then and she played the reverse card, you can never win against Petra in a conversation or a debate, it's impossible.

"Urgh, you can try as much as you want, it still won't convince me otherwise"

There must be something that can convince this guy to take his rightful seat on the throne, I guess it isn't technically his seat since his father is still alive and kicking but he won't be after this.

"Then explain your reasons why you don't want to take your legitimate seat on the throne that your family stole from you? All the suffering they've put you through, all the hurt and even dragon hunting they do and even then, you still don't care?"

She's getting pretty passionate about this; she's trying to play at his emotions and convince him but obviously it's proving difficult. This time around he does take a second before answering, clearly he's giving this some serious thought but of course, he's surprisingly stubborn on this.

"Petra... I already said that won't work on me... If you want the actual reason, then I cannot give one. I just simply don't want to do it, nothing more, nothing less"

Huh? This guy seriously can't give a reason why he wouldn't want to be emperor other than he just doesn't want to do it? I mean, it would obviously be time considering and tedious work but the idea of being that powerful a person has to be tempting. Even I'm not completely against the idea of being a king or ruler, it's just everything in that dungeon when we were rulers has shown me it's too much work and can be boring for someone of my distracted mind, just assign all the boring shit to someone else and that basically fixes nearly everything though.

Me and Petra are still not taking over the empire even if there are temptations to do so. Even if we could get support and sort a lot of the problems out, I'd rather build our own country together then fixate on something that I'll never have a true connection towards. There's a load of reasons for that, I have actually given this some thought believe it or not but I'm not going to get into it properly now, it's his empire to take control over anyways.

His wife seems to have something to say on the situation though, this is a bit unexpected.

"Des... thou should heed this one's advice; isn't something to cast aside without a proper thought or diligence"

"What is it Es? Why should I listen to them?"

"Because it is thou's destiny, Des must do what thou was born to do"

"You really using that destiny bullshit on me?"

"Yup, ignoring thou's destiny is recipe for disaster. It is your destiny or fate to lead the empire into glory and new age, denying it is denying thou-self"

I still struggle a little to understand what this woman is saying but she's arguing our case so I can kinda understand what she means, I'm not sure if by destiny she means something like a prophecy or maybe just because it's his blood, what's the chances of there being two prophet dragons anyway?

"Look Esmerelda, we're not arguing right now"

"Oh? So thou wants to resume this when visitors are gone? Once again thou is putting things off"

"Must you start?"

"Oneself must always tell thou when something is amiss"

Things seem to have gone a little tense now, it looks like those two want to have an argument about whatever it is the dragon is speaking about, she really does like using the word thou a lot.

"We'll make our leave if we really can't convince you then"

Wait, Petra's giving up? I know the married couple seem to be in disagreement and now are at odds but that can't be it, unless she's got other backup plans, it's probably that thinking about it.

"Yeah, you can bugger off now"

"One apologizes on thou's behalf, hopefully visitors enjoyed the meal"

(Ariza) "Yeah, it was nice, thanks for the food"

(Zeki) "It was nothing special but it was alright"

(Ikarus) "Thanks"

(Petra) "..."

'I guess that means we're leaving now, looks like we're moving onto plan B, whatever that is...'

__________

As we're walking away from the large beach tent we were eating dinner in, all of us seem to have something to say on what just happened except Petra.

(Zeki) "That was fucking pointless, at least that dragon can cook"

(Ariza) "He really did seem against the idea"

"*Sighhh*... so what next then Petra?"

"..."

The three of us look obviously disappointed in how things have gone, Petra seems to be thinking heavily on something right now as we're walking away and clearly wasn't paying there.

"It's orangey's turn to carry us next, my shift is over"

"Seriously kid? You only had half a day... Forget it, I fly quicker than you so it doesn't matter"

Just before I'm about to change form and start flying us wherever next, Petra now seems to have words to say.

"Wait a second before changing Ikarus, want to check on how things are going"

Petra stops walking with us and turns around to face the pirate camp we just left, clearly something has her mind thinking about what just happened. She now has that look she gets when she figures something out and a small smile appears on her face, something is about to happen.

"What is it Petra?"

"Heh... nearly forgot how those two resolve disagreements, no point leaving until we watch how it gets resolved"

Huh? Just as I'm about to ask what she means by that; the purple dragon flies out of the large tent we were just in ripping it to shreds in the blink of an eye and now is in the flying above overlooking her husband.

"You won't win this time, you overgrown lizard!"

<Thou can bite my tail>

Hold the hell up, they're actually fighting? The dragon has now flown back down and has landed next to the bastard, she appears to be slashing her tail towards his body aggressively and he looks to be swinging his long sword aiming towards her neck, it's clearly not gotten to the point of poisonous gas yet but it still looks deadly.

"Should we stop them?"

I mean, I know married couples have fights and all but not to this extent, it actually looks like someone's about to get seriously messed up in a minute.

"Ikarus, this is only a sparring session for them, don't worry about it"

"As much as dragons are stupid, they sure do know how to settle arguments like a complete badass, I need to take some advice from them here"

"Zeki, you're being a dumbass again, this is coming from someone who has never once laid hands upon someone he cares about"

"That's not true brother! I'd hit you if you pissed me off enough"

"Really? You've had two hundred years to even when I've slapped you for being nasty, cruel and insufferable. Ikarus is right, you really are a tsundare at heart"

"Fuck off"

I can't help but start to chuckle at Ariza calling him out, he's basically all talk to us three phoenixes and the dryad, I've never seen him even raise an arm to Ariza despite those two having the occasional fight with each other. It's probably best to stop now though otherwise he really will sulk; can't say I blame Ariza for giving him the odd smack or two though. I wonder if it's a gender thing but I've seen him kill females, specifically the elves in that dungeon and beastfolk without blinking an eye so gender discrimination isn't a thing he has apparently.

I've only seen Ariza hit him once though and that was about that boyfriend comment, he had been mentioning it nearly every hour for days beforehand and that eventually made her snap. It says a lot that he can make someone like the kind and sensitive Ariza get that irritated but that must be his super power, being annoying. It's a good thing he came along when he did otherwise, I would've hated turning into him, I do admit I was a little obnoxious back then and he really did open my eyes to it slightly.

Back onto the maddening fight we're witnessing anyways, I can't believe this is only a sparring session, I've seen a decent share of combat throughout my travels now, best parts have been admiring Petra but this looks nothing like a sparring session, her tail in particular just made contact with his body throwing him backwards and just before that, he actually made a deep cut on her neck with his blade. Damn, I'll never do that with Petra if we get married, I'd rather be weak then ever hurt her in anyway at all. Wait, I'm thinking about marriage now, for fuck sake, shut it Ikarus!

Their little battle goes on for a while longer and when it finally starts coming to an end, the dragon finds herself completely on top of the bastard lying flat on the ground, his sword has also been disarmed and it's clear who one this last battle, it did look pretty close though with the dragon looking to be in a fair bit of pain during that. Obviously if she had used her voice and flew about, he wouldn't have been a match but clearly this couple have been doing this type of thing for a while now.

<Thou loses this duel>

"*Huff, huff, huff*... What am I losing by now anyways?"

<Half a dozen, thou has been sloppy recently>

"And you lizard keep using your tail like a whip, it's harder to keep up with such a cheat"

<Oh? Does though wish for another tail whipping? That can be arranged>

"Not funny Es, we've got company here so get off me already, it's clearly my loss"

<Fair point>

As they're speaking to each other, I can't help but want to check out their health right about now, they must've done some damage to each other.

'Status'

[Name: Esmerelda | Species: Dragon | Level: 399]

[Health 10,116/40,000]

[Stamina 12,612/19,750]

[Magicka 30,081/40,000]

----------

[Name: Desmond | Species: Human | Level: 622]

[Health 9,472/40,000]

[Stamina 4,992/10,000]

[Magicka 12,200/12,200]

'Jesus fucking Christ! Were they actually trying to kill each other?'

[<Targets -Esmerelda- and -Desmond- both appear to have no life threatening injuries, -user- worries too much like the usual>]

How ever these two fight, it clearly drains a lot of HP, probably breaks a few minor bones but clearly isn't life threating for them somehow. Each to their own I guess, some couples enjoy a happy stress-free marriage, others prefer a marriage where the solution is literally violence, they look to be smiling at each other so I guess it's okay? Some of those cuts and bruises do look pretty bad though.

The bastard then starts walking over to us after his conversation with the misses is over, he does look to be wobbling a bit but like I just thought, he's got a smile on his face but it's just turned to be more forced in the last second or two.

"Looks like we're in agreement unfortunately, I'll be there at the date, make sure you keep up your end of the bargain so I don't look like a complete idiot declaring my sibling and father are dead when they actually aren't"

(Petra) "Of course, we'll see you then"

And just like that, we've somehow got this guy on board, it only took a tail whipping from his wife to convince him to do so. What a stupid chain of events, not going to question it any further. He does have something else to say though.

"There is one condition I have... the emperor doesn't die by your hands"

Does he want to kill his own father or spare him? We can accept the first bit but the second is trickier since he also shares the dragon enslavement policy.

(Petra) "What's your thinking?"

"Just call it reparations and leave it at that, that's non-negotiable. You can take on my remaining siblings and the witch, my father is left untouched by any of your party's hands"

Okay, this now sounds like he wants him alive, Petra seems to notice this also but gives it a slight pause before answering, then responds in quite a demanding manner.

"He must die, you surely know that? Sparing him would leave a massive loose end that could end up backfiring massively"

I'm not completely for killing an old man but he's just as guilty as his son so should be viewed in the same way, me and Petra are both wrong on this though.

"*Sigh*, must I spell it out for you Petra? He will die by my... own hands; you have my word on that. Once it's done, I'll make my way over to the party and make an entrance once you've finished as well, make sure you don't disappoint otherwise it'll be a right cock up"

The bastard turns, then walks away while the dragon nods at us and follows him, I guess we're in agreement even if it didn't need confirmation, all four will die on that night, just he'd rather take his own father on. I guess I can understand that since he basically was abandoned by him, at least plans have now been set in motion even if things are going to go pretty serious now.

'Shit's finally gonna hit the fan, we're coming for you Leone and Alistair...'