Vulcan's Dilemma Pt. III

Fuck.

What the fuck.

Oh crap, what the hell did she just say right now?

How's your dad doing? Noooooo.

Ahhh, I want to stick my head in a box and throw it away. This tension is KILLING ME.

"..." Levii stood silent, her face darkened at an angle.

The Queen didn't look bothered at all, she was still lazily lounging on her fancy chair, awaiting Levii's response.

I feel like if I let go of Levii's wrist a nuclear bomb will go off, ahhhhh, I can't deal with this kind of stuff!

It reminds me of when I would mention a pet to a friend, forgetting that their pet had died a while back already (This is a terrible metaphor, I am not going to compare Levii's deceased father to a dead pet!).

"He's..." Levii finally spoke up, I could feel a lump form in my throat-

"Doing fine."

?

Wah?

Time out, time out.

Huh?

"Is that so? That's good to hear." Flaur promptly smiled with the satisfactory response, and now looked at me- her eyes flitted over me from top to bottom.

Levii... Levii, ughh.

This is just too cruel.

I won't stand for this-

Levii looked up from her brooding posture, she gave me a glance.

Her fingers rested delicately on wrist- as if to warn me to not do something I'll regret later.

HnnnnNNNNGH!

I'm just MAD.

I AM PISSED.

I want to give this insensitive brat sitting on her chair a piece of my mind.

I... I...

Sigh.

I can't.

Not now, no- not now.

The time isn't right.

Not while Levii is giving her best not to lose her cool either.

I have to play it smart- I need to recover myself.

I'm no stranger to garbage rulers, it's what I've always dealt with in Epoch.

"Mm, who are you though? I saw you walking with Carmi and Levii, so I was expecting you to be an Imp along with the Princess."

"But as I can see now- you're no Imp."

"And ah, apologies Levii, I didn't recognize you at first because of your different appearance."

"But, back to you-"

Time to play ball.

I knelt down, hazarding to finally let go of Levii's wrist. I need to focus on how I present myself now.

"Forgive me, your Majesty."

Uwah, this is embarrassing- but I have to endure! I'll just pretend this is roleplay!

Why does that make this easier!?

No, no- focus!

"As of recent, I had found myself helping Steppe Imp Princess Levii from a Human raiding party that had attacked her village."

I could hear papers being ruffled from the table, but I kept my head bowed- I couldn't gauge a reaction just yet.

"From that attack I managed to repel the invaders, but in consequence- I lost my memories."

"But-" I began to slowly raise my head.

"I believe I was called before 'Kai' before I lost my memories."

Perfection.

The horrible lie continues!

"*Snort*"

Mm?

"K-Kai?"

Flaur, or should I say, the horrible purple-haired brat, had her face twisted like a dry plum; she was on the verge of laughing her ass off!

"H-How *Snort* Noble of Y-You,,, K-K-K-Kkkk-"

"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

I'M GONNA KILL HER.

FAUSTUS WAS RIGHT!

She fell out of her chair and rolled on the floor, just laughing and laughing.

"D-DELICATE? YOU? WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

From my disbelief I scanned how the others in the room were reacting to this-

Levii, not you too!

"K-K-Kai is my savior, p-please!" Weren't you just on the verge of killing her yourself earlier!?! Choose a side damn it!

Even the Djinn Chief was having a hard time not laughing, she hid her face behind some documents, but I could see her eyebrows twitching from above the stack.

I glanced behind me, but I don't know whether to be thankful or not that Carmilla's stony expression hasn't changed one bit since we've arrived inside.

This wasn't supposed to happen!

It was supposed to be like, "Wow, Mister Hero, you're so cool and handsome for saving the Steppe Imp Princess! You should, like, definitely work at my castle and be given a comfy middle-management job with a great retirement and dental plan."

Ugh, me and my name- I should've just went with my last name instead.

"F-F-Forgive me Sir K-Kai- whewww." Flaur had finally stopped her fit of laughter, she lifted her head from her sprawl on the wooden floor.

"I haven't laughed like that in a loooong time, thank you hehe!" Thank you, my ASS. Don't 'hehe' me either, agh!

"Is. That. So? You're. Welcome." I retorted robotically; I've never been good with dealing with girls like these before- hell, just girls in general. Ahh... my lonely bachelor soul...

"*Ahem* your Highness? I believe there is something we have to return to?" Carmilla walked past me and Levii as her shoes clacked on the wooden floor. She arrived to the table, but instead of taking her seat- she instead stood next to the Queen's seat.

"Yes, yes- I know, quit nagging." Flaur picked herself up from the floor and returned back to her chair, Carmilla pushed it in for her.

"So- back to business, shall we?" Flaur resumed a regal tone, abandoning whatever child-like whimsy she had established prior. It was like a total one-eighty of a personality swap.

"Sure yer' Highness- but is it fine to have them here?" The Chief gave us a side-glance as she asked her very legitimate question.

"If Carmi's fine with it, I don't mind."

"Right Carmi?"

I could see Carmilla's eyelids twitch ever so slightly with the further use of the nickname 'Carmi'.

"Yes, your Highness." Is that steam coming out of her ears or am I just imagining it? Yeesh, scary.

"Well then, let's begin hmm?"

"So we shall, Carmi, the report."

I don't know how to describe this feeling of being somewhere where you're not supposed to be. But I think the best way I could describe it is like standing in line for someone for something you have zero interest in. It feels wrong, but you can't really escape it.

Levii and I are just standing around here so awkwardly- but we must persist, this is a top-tier hidden event occurring in-front of us. Besides, even if I did want to leave- I don't know how confident I am in protecting Levii from that scary Royal Assistant.

Sure, Levii's gotten a power-boost- but even then, I haven't seen her in action yet- and from what happened earlier, she's vulnerable to whatever Carmilla had tried to do on me.

It's just too dangerous to derail ourselves from this now- so it's boiled down to a war of wills.

Hm?

The heck is that?

I look scan around the room, I see nothing- but I feel 'something'.

Ah- there, in the top-right corner of the room.

The hell? It's like a small black orb, it has a single gross looking eye on it- it's gaze squirming all around the room.

An eavesdropper!?

What do I do!? I know it's not exactly my business to prevent the leaking of top-state information, but neither is to NOT prevent it.

NNnnnngggg.... screw it.

If it's magical, maybe I can use 'that'.

// Activate Manual Use Skill [Reflection]? [Yes] or [No] //

//[Yes]//

I felt my scar warm-up a little as my skill activated, thankfully no one has noticed me enabling it.

This is a gamble- and in all honesty, I don't really think I'll lose anything from it.

If it works, it works. If it doesn't, oh well; not necessarily my problem...?

Wait, am I a moron?

It IS my problem.

I'm an unknown variable to Carmilla, if the fact that whatever in here leaks to the outside and that's found out- then I'll lose all future credibility. Hell, I'll probably be imprisoned, or even executed!

Who knows what kind of stupid strong goons they got in the kingdom!? I can't just assume I'm the strongest out here, can I?!?

Work! Work! GO away you dumb ball thing!!

The black orb in the corner of the room looked as though it began to slightly fizzle, then from that fizzle- a sudden pop; it completely disappearing from the room, I couldn't feel it anymore either.

Bye-bye bozo, better luck next time (there better not be a next time!).

Whew, skin saved for now- hopefully that doesn't bite me in the ass later down the line.

"Is something wrong Kai?" Levii whispered to me, I shook my head lightly.

"Nothing- let's just listen to how these talks go."

Carmilla shot a dirty look at Levii and I whispering but returned to her clipboard after confirming we weren't scheming anything. She began to recount her report to the table.

"As of two full moons ago, the Crown had simultaneously received multiple anonymously given reports of sightings of the infamous wanted war criminal, Dizalk Truskil, being harbored at the behest of the Djinn clan's mine."

"Dizalk Truskil is wanted for the many violations of killing countless neutral-zone free citizens that supported her Majesty, Flaur Goetia's, rightful succession."

"They had escaped imprisonment after their successful fleeing of the kingdom once her Majesty had been instated as Queen of Modos."

"That is the preliminary report, your Majesty." Carmilla gave a polite bow, the talks were now up between Flaur and the Chief.

There was tension in the air between the two of them, it only broke once the Chief spoke up.

"I see... well this is a problem."

She rubbed the nose of her bridge with her two fingers.

"Other than the report, what more proof d'you have?"

"Absolutely none."

"That's why we're here to find out more in person- Chief Azu'll"

Ah that's her name, cool.

Wait- no other proof?

What the hell're they thinking? What's Flaur's angle?

"..." Azu'll sat silently in her chair, mulling over what I'd no doubt to call a very unreasonable visit.

"Relax, Azu-Azu" Is her personal power to be as obnoxious as physically possible?

"I'm not here to outright claim you're guilty or anything. As I said before, the Djinn's are our historic allies, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt." Flaur rested her head on her palm, she looked lazy- but her eyes looked focused, she wasn't slacking off.

"But as they say, 'A Demon's honesty is only as long as their tail', or as the saying goes."

"Tell me what you do know- I promise I'll believe you." Flaur planted her small, gloved hand onto her chest, her black military-like uniform doing hardly much to present anything other than her ridiculously large boobs.

"...Hmph." Azu'll looked unimpressed as she slowly rose from the table.

"I... I... DAMN IT." But to Levii's and my surprise, she suddenly slammed her fist onto the table- papers ruffled everywhere from the impact.

Yet, Flaur and Carmilla looked unfazed- as if they were expecting this kind of reaction.

"How'dya you know? How'dya find out? I made sure to keep it secret, even from the others." She snarled, this switch of power-play completely blind-sided me- just before, I could've sworn she had the upper hand in the talks.

Flaur remained composed at her seat of the table, her eyes were closed as she listened to Azu'll's rant. Carmilla was taking notes on her clipboard, equally as diligent.

"P-Please, just punish me! I'll tell you where he is! Just leave the Djinn clan alone, I'm beggin' ya!" The strong looking, wizened Chief of the Djinn clan was prostrating on the floor, sobbing tears of forgiveness.

I don't know how I feel watching an older woman like her act like this, but I couldn't look away.

"Mm... is that right, Azu-Azu? You'll tell me where 'he' is?" Flaur had finally opened her eyes, but instead of the usual playfulness she had shown before-

this time, they looked far too cold.

"Well, if you say so. Only issue is, well..." Her steely-cold eyes fixated on the groveling Djinn chief.

"How're you going to bring 'her' to me?" Her lips curved into a wicked smile that I could only describe as maliciousness incarnate itself.

"As well... she's been long dead for over three hundred years now, y'know, hehe~?"

///