Engage! - Part 2

I sit down beside the twins to rest and pull out some cold tea to refresh myself.

Arturus stares intensely at me, and I notice that he wants to say something, so I raise an eyebrow at him, and he blurts out, "How many skills-… how many levels do you even have?"

It's actually pretty impolite to ask someone their level, like asking a woman her age, a dragon the thickness of their tail, or a man the size of their dick… wait, that last one I'd gladly tell anyone. Anyway, neither levels, skills, nor even "Magical Power" can reliably tell how powerful someone actually is, so one's level is personal information that's rarely shared.

"Brother, please," Antares tiredly pleads, and even Ahren looks surprised by Arturus' audacity.

"Fifty-nine," I answer honestly.

The three show a variety of surprised reactions, both because I actually answered and because of the number.

And my answer emboldens Antares to ask, "How did you manage to level up so fast?"

I shrug. "I'm Gifted. There's no reasonable way for a normal person to keep up with me."

"Oh… that explains a lot…" Ahren mumbles wryly.

"It's like the Gods wanted you to come here…" Arturus whispers soberly with a frown.

But I also smile wryly and agree, "Yeah, that's exactly what we believe happened. We came to Confiel to ask for aid just in time to participate in the deposal of your parents, which led to us meeting Yunia, and then, right next to our future home, we entered an ancient dungeon that gave us the Royal lineage. There are just too many coincidences."

Arturus' frown deepens, and the three of them go silent, in awe due to the revelation. Perhaps they now understand that serving us will be unlike serving any other Lord.

--

I watch as Hana beats a bunch of our men, then she drags a Companion to the female bath. I feel like following them, but then I receive a message that Lyle wants a quick meeting.

I really find it hard to say no to him…

I take a [Gate] back to the castle and receive the little cockblocker at the main hall, but Garanae has come with him too.

The disheveled boy with wild eyes hurries into the room with an apologetic smile on his face as he quickly explains himself, "Wolf, I'm sorry. I forgot to ask you this yesterday because I got too excited talking about the inventions."

And the blonde boy frowns annoyedly at him as he begrudgingly keeps up with his hurried pace. "He would've again forgotten to ask you before you left if I hadn't reminded him," Garanae exposes Lyle, making him wince.

I smile politely at them and motion to the grass sofas as I assure them, "It's no problem, I still have time. Take a seat… and what did you want to talk about?"

Garanae sobers up and asks, "Do you remember Ankara Gartania?"

"Uuuh…"

Lyle refreshes my memory, "Chosen Descendant of Fort Erda. I invited him to explore the Wisps of the Proud dungeon with us."

I clap my claws as I recall him, then I frown in concern. "Ah, I remember now. Weird boy, not very friendly."

Lyle raises an eyebrow at my use of "boy" since we're all supposed to be of similar ages, but neither of them comment on it, and then Lyle continues, "Yes, he kind of is. You two didn't get along very well… but we still need to ask this, as a favor to us: can you help him and his family?"

I lean back on my sofa and let my tail sway in thought, then I cautiously reply, "Well, what sort of aid do they require?"

Lyle turns to Garanae, who's more apt to eloquently explain, "The imperial nobles of Goldcross and Fort Katakti are complaining that his family are incompetent and aren't fulfilling all their obligations as Lords. The truth is that they're being deliberately ostracized and isolated so that they'll struggle, creating a justification for their deposal."

The imperials are against the Gartanias, but not the elves?

They both seem to be a bit knowledgeable about the plotting of nobility, so I decide to share and ponder, "Do you know about the Purification? I heard that the temple will call for it soon, so do you believe they are at any risk of being challenged during it?"

The two share a worried look.

"Father didn't mention that to me," Lyle hesitantly confesses.

Garanae nervously runs his hand through his sweptback hair. "Same, so we honestly can't say, but the Purification would be the perfect opportunity to steal their Lordship since they have no allies."

I feel like I'll only be able to give them an answer after we've squeezed Katasko's commanders dry, so I make a small request, "I can't make any promises right now, but we're set to make a move against Katasko soon, so can you name these nobles that are plotting against his family? If they're the same as those behind Katasko, we'll gladly help him."

And that's enough to appease Lyle. "That'd be wonderful! Thank you, Wolfy…" He exclaims with a wide smile of gratitude.

But I still need more, so I lean forward and warn him, "But… if Ankara really wants our help, he should come here himself and ask for it."

He immediately cringes. "You know how he is. Sometimes, he can be a bit… 'difficult.'"

And even Garanae backs up Lyle's view, "He's a good person, really, he just has trouble making new friends."

I'm starting to wonder what, exactly, is wrong with Ankara…

But I narrow my eyes, unconvinced. "I'm helping their whole family, so if not Ankara, then at least his father needs to get in contact with us."

"We will convince them," Garanae affirms with an unusual amount of conviction. It seems he can be quite a good friend if he's capable of overcoming his fear of me to help Ankara.

I nod solemnly. "Very well, I'll be waiting."

"That's all we had to say," Lyle politely replies, and I hum, then the two rise up.

"Good luck at the capital, Wolf," Lyle kindly gives me his blessing.

Garanae nods soberly and adds with the same tone, "Our families left because we didn't want to deal with this 'Purification,' so yes, good luck."

"Thank you. I believe we'll need it. It seems like things always become complicated whenever we get involved," I wryly reply.

"I don't envy you," Lyle whispers back with a worried smile while Garanae simply raises his eyebrows in surprise.

Then I just smile and wave as they leave.

"Fort Erda has no strategic value to us, Wolfy," Yunia cautions me through [Bind], not supportive of my desire to help the Gartanias.

"Think of this as a means of ensuring Lyle's and Garanae's loyalty. A web of relationships makes us stronger, after all," I explain myself.

She hums pensively, "Hmm… it'll all depend on how much we have to invest to 'save' the Gartanias."

I nod internally in agreement.

--

There's not much to do before we leave for Mac Gantus, so I decide to fly around the city on a whim.

I cram a squad of Companions into a Dragon-class plane and tell them to follow me. We'll use Emergency Rings just in case one loses sight of the other.

The plane lands right at the entrance to the castle and waits there for me, so I shift into my dragon form, then I spread my glorious wings, start flapping them… and use [Telekinesis] to take off because I still don't know how to fly properly with them.

The plane is way faster than me, so they have no problem keeping up.

It's kind of refreshing feeling the freedom of flight and cutting through the cool air with my totally aerodynamic body. Aoi gets a bit envious of me because right now, she and Lina are stuck in a meeting with the High Officers.

"The amount of contraband the Townsguard finds has been increasing," Sandoro calmly reads the report.

"Why is it increasing?" Aoi innocently asks.

"Unknown, but the reason is sure to not be good."

Aoi tilts her gorgeous human head. "Have they become better at finding it?"

Lina relays for me, "Wolfy says that it's likely that the number of attempts has simply increased."

"They're testing the new Lordship," Almaria guesses.

Alcander hums in thought and inquires, "What about that spy we 'recruited.' Doesn't he have any knowledge about how to infiltrate the underworld?"

"So that we can control them? That sort of imperial maneuver is frowned upon here," Sandoro dryly shoots him down.

And Alcander shrugs while smirking. "Either that, or we spend our entire lives fighting them."

"We need to find out what they're trying to get into Escanso and whether or not it poses any sort of danger to our city," Lina sums up Yunia's and my thoughts.

Sandoro nods in acknowledgment and writes it down on the "to-do" list. "I'll assign a number of knights to investigate that."

Talking about criminals, the bandits operating in the Riverlands in the northern part of our territory have mugged two merchant caravans, confirming our suspicion that the presence in Cereleia's Radar that we saw over there is bandits. The most valuable thing stolen was the Eia, but it wasn't a big shipment, and the bandits don't seem to be particularly murderous, so we aren't too worried about them. It's only if they start moving south and threaten the main Eia distribution that we should begin to worry.

The Mendecassa sisters and Iril are having trouble tracking them down, so perhaps we can offer to lend them a hand. We definitely need to build better relations with them, especially the usually scantily-clad sisters.

"Moving on, how are your duties progressing?" Lina continues.

Alcander's Royal Land Engineers are starting to come together, and they've already begun inspecting the villages to plan the growth of their Shells. They'll be ready to begin their work soon.

Almaria's organic body for the golems is still in its early stages. She has grown a succulent into the shape of a female body, and right now, she's trying to make it produce a rubbery sap for skin that's pleasing to the touch.

Sainalai finds it very amusing that the golems' genitals are an important part of this project. The rest of the officers remain stone-faced while Almaria explains how she plans to grow a self-cleaning, self-oiling vagina.

After composing herself, the little ginger halfling gives her report. She has made a bit of progress with Jarvis and the [Possess] spell. It's such a simple spell that it's only a matter of time before she finishes it, but whether or not it's practical to actually use it is still to be determined.

Her work with helping the Chimeras adapt to their new lives is mostly done now since the town is teeming with Spirit mages who know how to cast [Solidify], so the market for that spell is stabilizing, removing the need for us to actively participate in it.

Aisco stops zoning out and focuses on the meeting when it's his turn to speak. He's training the men in [Fire Magic], and the results speak for themselves. With Alcander's [Ritualism], our mages can unite their "Magical Power" and blow holes in our Shell (with enough time to cast). Though it's impressive, they're actually still just at the "beginner" level of [Ritualism]. This skill is so powerful that it's basically "siege magic" for the imperials, and it's even considered by historians to be one of the main reasons that the first emperor was able to conquer the continent.

The Celestial Horns are slowly progressing through their learning of how to use their "battle bodies" without the need for [Solidify]. This training has some overlap with Sai's [Possess] research, so she's advised to work together with them.

In my mind, the image of a Horn using a fully enchanted suit of armor with the help of a personal golem is amazing. Being able to move without the need for flesh created through [Solidify] would make them nearly indestructible. Armor is made to protect the body, but without a physical form, they basically have no mundane weaknesses.

Mimi reports that the RRRI has calculated the cost of the new [Telekinesis] gems that will power the planes, so an overall estimate of the price can now be determined.

We'll announce that estimate and gauge the interest of the merchants. If the Imperial Army doesn't show interest in the Raki soon, then we might just start selling it to the rich fucks who want to commit suicide at near-supersonic speeds.

The Transport Airplanes division is taking longer to make real progress since those planes need a lot more engineering to not just disintegrate once they reach max speed.

We should begin stockpiling crystals, so the Carrier and the Winch have permission to bring back more Drifting Islands to extract their Air crystals. The Chimeras with knowledge of refinement and re-attuning will also be notified so that we can officially organize a refinery.

There's also a shipment of crystals coming from Rabanara, so we'll be swimming in crystals soon enough. Perhaps we should branch out and produce other crystal-imbued items.

Then they receive a small order from Petra asking for Moonlight Moss and emellanat, and I tell the girls to accept it.

Lina and Aoi also report that the Printing Press is finished. It's a rather simple device, so they quickly made it with magic and over-engineered it, using far tougher parts than were needed just to get it done.

The other Crown Lords have reported a lot of movement at Katasko's HQ in Goldcross. Most of their officers seem to be retreating back to the Mainland in preparation for the Purification, so Lotus has her men stalking them. We should strike in a few days from now, after we've scouted out the capital and investigated the situation of the nobility over there.

Now that we're talking about our trip, the Emperor is said to be quite busy, so there's no real prediction about when he'll be able to receive us. Since there's no need to take an [Eternal Gate] to Mac Gantus, we'll use the Floater to save on costs and ferry most of our knights to the capital, just in case someone tries to challenge us.

Brett is included among those knights, but maybe he should spend a few more days here in therapy. If it's only him, then we can just pay for his use of [Eternal Gate].

I haven't personally talked with Brett yet, so perhaps I should go meet him.

--

As I pass above the Prasa de Ananci, I notice that there's quite a considerable number of people praying to our portraits on the Shell, which is kind of worrying. It is the last day of the month of Prayer, so perhaps people are just compensating for their prayer debt…? Hopefully.

The sight of a shining silver dragon grabs their attention, then they point and shout.

"Is it a dragon? Is it a plane? Yes, it's our Lord and his men!"

I keep the dragon contained and move on. Now's not the time to give my ego a blowjob.

The town is actually quite lovely this morning. Colorful, pretty, and orderly, it's always a treat to watch the people as they go about their business.

The dragon settles down and focuses on flying, and soon, we both notice how therapeutic it is to slowly fly across town, feeling the wind against my scales with nothing to distract me.

These past few days, everyone has been in a hurry to get everything in order before we leave for the capital, so it's like our minds have been stuck in "overdrive" mode, causing a bit of wear.

Three days of travel in the Floater plus however long we'll need to wait until the Emperor is available seems like a nice change of pace. Let's just hope that our plot against Katasko doesn't fail disastrously…

I don't believe in jinxing.

Anyway, I soon reach the temple, and it's a carbon copy of any other. There does seem to be a crowd of people at the large building beside the temple grounds, which I assume is Escanso's "House of Healing."

The free treatment doesn't start until tomorrow, once people have paid their monthly taxes, so I guess they're just asking for information or something.

I land on one of the grass fields that surrounds the temple, and I realize that maybe I should've tried coming here incognito.

The kids scream in fear and run away while the few priests nearby pale in awe.

Perhaps they wouldn't be so afraid if I was in my normal humanoid form…

I quickly shift back to normal and casually stroll forward as if nothing happened.

The Dragon-class plane lands behind me, and the squad of Companions disembarks, struggling to contain their smiles.

The priests recognize me and become mortified at the commotion the children created, so they start rounding up the little ones and hurrying them away to prevent even more embarrassment.

But my heart has already been wounded.

I only like that people fear me when I'm trying to look fearsome…

"Don't worry, Wolfy, most people find you adorable," Roxanne makes an attack of opportunity.

"I won't take that as an insult," I composedly reply and move on.

The temple is busy, but the people make way for us, so we get inside without a problem, and I immediately notice Ciel doing her idol thing by leading a simple song.

They sing a song that is a prayer to the Goddess of Prayer about missing the month of Prayer, so they pray that nothing bad happens to them because they forgot to pray for protection.

"Wolfy…" Ciel grumbles while internally rolling her eyes.

"It's an accurate description," I categorically reply, but she just grumbles internally and ignores my internal monologue.

"Ah… so you're the source of the commotion," a familiar and pleasing voice graces my ears.

I look to the side and see the beautiful Teresina coming down the stairs from the second floor, her arms entwined with her just-as-beautiful daughter.

My lips immediately part into a smile, and I see Teresina's mouth twitch, which I assume is because she's holding back her own smile.

It's time to flirt a little before we leave.

--

--

Hall of Fame of Patrons

The patrons who support Rupegia shall have their names sung by the bards for they deserve the glory and honor. Their names are:

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