Yunia's fear that we might've overplayed our hand sends a chill through me, but I activate [Acting] and maintain my dignified expression. We're a bit too deep to turn back now.
"You'd 'deal' with Heretic's Rest in exchange for a seat on the Council…?" Cinanta slowly repeats in confusion.
"A new seat, a suitable reward for our royal family," Yunia answers firmly.
"And how would you 'deal' with them?" Edoso questions stiffly.
"You can't seriously be considering their childish tripe," Lerante begins whining again.
"None of you have done anything even half as significant for your seats," Yunia harshly states.
But he calmly replies with wisdom for once, "With good reason. We aren't Lords, but guardians of the elven lands, and we let the younger and more energetic Lords drive change."
"Pay attention to the whole picture-… the whole painting," I begin and quickly correct myself, then I make a dramatic pause to make sure that they're all paying full attention to me. "You shouldn't fear me, but what I represent. I'm a Gifted man with three Blessings in my family and two Interventions. The Gods guided my harem towards me; they brought us together because our Threads are much stronger when intertwined. Then we were taken to Gecynd, the Tree of Mana, where we saw a vision of Legado, the dungeon where we rescued the Chimeras, inherited Arreira's will, received Patrono, and where I became like this!" -I raise my claws and tail and show them clearly to the old farts- "And not only that, but heretics attacked us along the way not once, but twice!"
I stand up and add another dramatic pause where I catch my breath and harden my resolve. I wish I had [Intimidate] right now, but I'll just have to use Hana's experience with the skill to mimic it the best I can. "You can run, but you can't hide from the truth! Something big is coming, so we have to strengthen not just the High Forest's society, but that of all humanoids because things will change one way or the other!" -I swing my claws wildly as I gesticulate- "If you think that you'll be able to preserve your way of life after it's all over, then you're all fools, and so am I for wishing to join you!"
I let my words hang in the air for a few seconds, then breathe in and calm myself down in an instant as I take my seat again.
"You know he speaks the truth," Edoso smugly announces, not even deeming the other Elders worthy of his gaze, completely sure of himself.
"I call for a private convening," Armos immediately requests, his tone deadly serious.
"Coward," Cinanta hisses at him.
"Language, Cinanta," he retorts with a shit-eating grin.
She turns her nose up snobbishly. "Not a curse if it's the truth."
"Not the time for bickering," Lerante interrupts them sternly.
Armos sighs and cools down, then his incredibly handsome face hardens, making him actually look threatening for once. "We can't decide on this matter right now," he states, his gravelly voice echoing in the dark room as everyone falls silent.
But Yunia calmly breaks it after a short pause, "We're not expecting you to decide right now, we haven't even stepped in Heretic's Rest yet, but we've made our demands clear."
"Why do you want to join us?" Cinanta asks, still impassive, but seeming more reservedly curious than uninterested.
"We didn't agree to inherit Arreira's will to simply sit on it like a pretty Title. He tested us thoroughly and deemed us worthy of being true royals, above simple Lordship, a beacon for this nation."
"So you just wish for power," Lerante bitterly states.
I suddenly realize that we sound like megalomaniac proto-dictators on the rise. I'm someone who believes-… no, believed that the only ones who deserve power are those who don't want it, but now, I think that type of thinking just breeds stagnation because who decides who receives that power?
Who watches the Watchmen?
If I'm not worthy of that power, nobody is, but that doesn't matter since I'm confident that I'll use it well.
I glance at Yunia. It's not just her who gives me support in learning how to rule. All the other wives provide their own input and contribute to our decision-making.
We will use it well.
This isn't Earth, and democracy would never work here, but maybe I can bring forth the Enlightenment to Rupegia and reform the High Forest as a constitutional oligarchy.
I look each of them in the eye to display my unwavering determination, then I stop at Edoso and speak to him, specifically, "We won't stop with the Institute. We'll bring not just change, but progress to the High Forest, and then to the rest of the Realm, which will require us being part of the Council instead of just Lords of a single territory."
"Such ambitious goals," he replies flatly, not letting a single hint of approval or disapproval show in his tone or expression.
I nod once. "You only have to wait and see."
"And so we shall." He nods back, then turns to the other Elders. "I call for an end to the Granreniandisabis."
--
With each step we take back to our home, I feel the weight of exhaustion growing on my shoulders, but I soldier on and keep my head held high with dignity.
But once we're on our home turf, I become one big baby in need of attention.
I enter Lina and Aoi's workshop, and my body gets hit with a gust of hot, humid air from the forge. The smell of iron and coal is heavy in the air, and though there's an airlock room enchanted with a deep [Clean] spell at the entrance, I don't think Yunia and Roxanne would ever voluntarily come here.
My two industrious wives have their heads close together as they look down at the long and thick steel pipe and talk hurriedly.
I take a moment to take in their forge and recognize the standard medieval blacksmithing forge tucked in one corner while the rest of the room is populated with all sorts of magical and non-magical variations of smithing and metalworking tools, most of which I have no idea what they're used for. There are also a few different ovens and even what seems to be a cauldron boiling with dark water.
As I approach, they stop what they're doing and give me their full attention, making me feel a bit guilty for interrupting them.
"I just want to observe and act as a body pillow," I immediately explain, and they both grin happily.
Aoi switches into her human form since it's more suited to cuddling, then they make room for me to sit between them.
"So, what are you two doing?" I gently ask as Lina sits on my lap and Aoi hugs my arm.
Aoi easily lifts the thick, heavy steel tube on the table with just one of her thin arms and rolls it over so that we can inspect its surface.
"We're trying to make a sliding rod so that the lathe's tower can move along the linear axis," Aoi expertly explains, and I raise my eyebrows at her impressive vocabulary and articulate use of words.
"She can only speak like that when it's something to do with smithing," Lina wryly remarks a bit teasingly.
Aoi narrows her eyes dangerously. "'Manufacturing,' Lina," she dryly corrects our cheeky dwarf with a very snobbish tone, then starts laughing at herself. "It's fun to be mean."
"Oh, no, she's going to become another Roxanne," Lina replies, her gloomy face warped in horror, and Ciel gets a chill.
"Roxanne is getting kinder, so we needed a replacement," I cheekily affirm with a grin, and Lina pouts.
"I know you like pain, so why aren't you happy?" Aoi innocently asks her.
"I-I, uh… don't…" But Lina stutters shyly as she doesn't know how to react to Aoi's frankness.
"There are some things about humanoids that I don't understand," Aoi comments as she stares at Lina curiously. Her gorgeous blue-and-red eyes with their black sclera look alien and intimidating, mesmerizing the cute young girl.
"Li~ke…?" I curiously question her.
"Lina's fear of my beauty. It's not threatening, so why does she fear this face?" She tilts her head to the side, and her lustrous, dark blue hair covers her face like a drape.
I look at Lina, but she keeps her head down and starts to blush, refusing to address the question.
I gently stroke her dark hair with a hand-shaped tentacle as I start to deliberate, "I think your type of beauty creates an air of authority around you, but your personality is a bit odd, so she doesn't know how to deal with it."
Aoi blinks, then stares a bit closer at Lina, who responds by turning her face away. "Acting as if I had authority would be enough," Aoi replies, still befuddled by Lina's demeanor.
I smile wryly and pat her head too with another hand-tentacle, making her turn her attention to me. "But you aren't, so her logical mind automatically keeps searching for a solution, but her anxiety leads her to overthinking things, spending too long without coming to a decision, just to freeze up in front of you."
She squints her eyes in thought, making her expression look quite stern. "Hm… so her 'Intelligence' is high, but not her 'Wisdom'?"
My smile becomes a smirk. "I'd say that she has more issues to deal with than just low 'Stats.'"
And Lina starts pouting. "I prefer Aoi's explanation," she mumbles, then rests her head against my chest.
"But I know you have many problems, so both could be right," Aoi adds, and Lina groans cutely, but doesn't respond.
Then the two go quiet as they start to feel the effects of [Massage], and we spend a few minutes just enjoying being in each others' presence.
But Aoi takes a look at the clock and leaves to deal with the boiling cauldron, and their industrious minds soon overcome their need for cuddling.
"Where are lathe prototypes?" I ask them as Aoi comes back with another rolling rod.
"The heat warped their dimensions too much, so we moved them into another room, which is properly cooled," Aoi explains as Lina pulls out a cooling magic tool and applies it to the rod.
Then Aoi hands her a caliper (which is also magically cooled to keep it from warping) that they made by hand using my memories, and the little dwarf expertly measures the rod as she adds, "We're testing out wear-resistant metals, and it turns out that the merfolk craft metal in an interesting way, which seems similar to your memories of chrome plating."
"This metal will be used for the ball bearings, so it's really important that we make the right choice," Aoi continues with a proud nod.
Since the lathe spins the piece being cut at very high speeds, the primary spinning component would be ground down after just a few uses if something as rough as the average imperial steel was used.
Aoi reflexively reads my mind and nods as she runs her hands along both of the rods. "But we don't understand your idea of an electric motor that well," she replies absentmindedly.
"We just have to wait until Lyle comes to Escanso," I state. A simple three coil electric motor isn't complicated, not like a combustion engine, at least, but the girls know nothing about [Electric Magic], so it's easier to just get Lyle to build it, instead.
After a few more rods are finished, the girls switch locations to the manufacturing room, which is perfectly cooled, but I think I was more comfortable in the warmth of the forge. My… draconic (and definitely not "lizard") side seems to enjoy the heat.
The girls set the rods in the dozen enchanted half-built lathes and make them spin endlessly. Tomorrow, they'll stop the spinning and assess the wearing of the rods.
We retreat to a tea room where Roxanne is drinking with Hana while a maid plays soothing tunes on a guitar. I smile wryly as I enter because the sight is so posh that it hurts.
"Wolfy~!" Roxanne greets me happily, then throws herself at me, and her hands start exploring my athletic body.
Just from the tone of her voice and the mischievous wiggle of her tail, I know exactly what she wants.
I softly kiss her lips and sense the faint smell of alcohol on her breath, though she's far from being drunk.
"Roxy…" I reply huskily, and she giggles seductively.
"Hana manhandled me a bit, so I wanted to indulge in your soft and tender touch," she coyly requests as her pale finger makes circles around my chest.
I softly hum in understanding and lovingly cup her cheek with my padded claws. This room doesn't have a humanizing enchantment, but I don't need it to give her what she wants.
--
The girls start gathering in the room since we'll be taking it easy today, but some exciting news brings us to the entrance of the castle: Rande has returned.
We call back Osaria, Klein, and Anton, and they bring the gay Grosshils with them. We also call for the twins, Mimi, and Krysta to witness this historical event, and we all excitedly chatter outside at the top of the steps in anticipation as we wait for the Space mage to finish casting [Gate].
Once the familiar black circle appears on the ground, Rande and his own group of Space mages immediately pop out of it.
"Lords!" The dark-skinned mass of muscles shouts as he comes forward wearing his characteristic dimpled grin on his face. "I've brought you a bounty from Faium!"
He dramatically waves his hand at the mages behind him, and each of them pulls out a table that's been filled with chocolate goodies with a *poof*.
HNNNNNGH…!
We cheerfully descend the steps and crowd around the tables as Rande excitedly explains what he has procured for us.
Chocolate cake, chocolate milk, cookies, pudding, bars, syrup, drinks, including one that's bitter and fairly similar to coffee, fashion products that are clearly marked as inedible, and a crazy bounty of snacks that have been enhanced by chocolate. This is diabeetus, in edible form.
The thing I've noticed, though, is a complete lack of anything related to nuts. They haven't discovered hazelnut, peanuts, and white chocolate, so if we open up a coffee house with my ideas for chocolate desserts, we'll print money. No, we'll… uh, "make a river of coins"…? "Make a river of coins from their flow"…?
Eh, shorter is better.
I give Rande a slap on the back as I congratulate him, "You did it, you madman, you actually did it."
He laughs softly, basking in the glory with the ease that only an elf ever could. "I won't say it was easy, but using your name definitely helped," he pompously replies.
"I hope you didn't make him too many enemies," Osaria remarks and lands her hand on his shoulder, then pulls him into a hug and gives him a kiss on the cheek. I give her a single warning glance, and she smiles mischievously but doesn't push it further.
It's her fault, since she used to fuck her own son.
But Rande simply snorts and maintains his confident smile as he explains, "Of course, I made a lot of enemies. I got a deal for cocoa ahead of half of the Mainland nobles. The prospect of being the first to supply chocolate to the elves got many of the suppliers salivating. They know that elven chocolate will one day be the finest in the entire realm, so they just want to be among the first to make a connection with us."
And Yunia takes his side, "The only people who might come to dislike us for this are merchants and greedy nobles. They'd never be our allies to begin with."
Rande nods. "You said it, cousin."
She smiles subtly and whispers, "Good job, cousin." And they share a warm look.
The chocolate is just a gift. The real haul is the large order of raw cocoa fruit he acquired and a contract for a continued supply of it. Even though it was expensive, after running the numbers with Mimi, we'll still make a good profit if our plan goes well.
The only thing that might ruin it would be if the Tribunal decided to block us. They won't like it if we simply become ridiculously rich from this business, so we need to start rolling out our social projects to butter them up.
Though they definitely won't like what we're going to do tomorrow.
To celebrate, we start up a small impromptu party right here at the base of the steps that lead up to the castle, and I decide to invite the rest of the High Officers, Oritiki, and Rande's men.
Hukarere sneaks in, and I decide to also call for Kaatohe so that she doesn't feel left out.
We don't have enough food to invite the Companions too, but once we get the cafe ready, we'll let them go wild there as an inauguration party.
Lina is quite happy to reunite with Oura, Rande's bookworm wife, and Osaria not-so-subtly encourages me and Nito, Rande's trap husband, to work on becoming friends with each other.
We both stare at the chibi griffin and hedgehog as they gorge themselves on sweets. Nito's new nature spirit is a lot more cuddly than it looks; just like how Gify's entire body is rubbery, Uri's spikes are very soft and springy. It's a cute and rotund little thing that likes to make a lot of adorable sniffing noises when it's happy.
"They're useless…" I state flatly.
"Yes…" Nito hesitantly agrees.
"They eat as much as a grown adult…"
He nods shyly. "Yes…"
"And then they just loaf around, doing whatever they want and being cute while they do."
He nods again but slower. "Yes…"
"And yet, we can't hate them."
He nods repeatedly with vigor. "Yes…"
"It must be mind-control."
"Ye-… what…?" He turns to me and blinks blankly. His silver hair is tied back, putting all the focus on his feminine, oval face, and gentle blue eyes. Then his red, parted lips catch my attention and I-…
Goddamit, Osaria. Why is he so cute?
I ignore my horniness and continue, "I don't understand why I like this little thing, but I do."
He blushes and nods repeatedly as he becomes shy again. "Y-yes… same…"
I pat Gify's feathery head, and she activates her "massage" as she closes her eyes and starts her stupidly fast digestion. I really do love this useless, cute little thing, for some reason.
Since Osaria is with Klein and Hana is with Hermann, I decide to play along with the girls' silly fetishes and keep Nito company. He's the animal caretaker of Rande's escort company, and he really likes his job, so I start talking about pets, and he eagerly joins in.
--
Night falls, and the party starts to die down, but before we leave for our bath, Sandoro insists that we have a quick session of Gestalt training.
The Celestial Horns are quite happy to have another opportunity to beat us, and today's spar isn't that different from yesterday's. We'll continue with this type of training for a few more days, and then we'll switch to something else since improving our martial skills isn't really the point of this training.
"Secret training, huh…" Kaatohe softly remarks as we finally enter the bath. I'm thankful that she and the others waited until we were done before they started bathing.
"Just one of our many secrets," I calmly reply and smile at the bronze-skinned beauty.
"If you're curious, a concubine has the right to know most of them," Osaria slyly remarks as her hands make their way down the Bengal-headed woman.
Kaatohe's cat eyes scan my body up and down, measuring me up while Alissa takes her time washing me. I know that Kaatohe hasn't been sleeping around anymore since she met me, so I think she might be seriously considering becoming a concubine.
Hukarere is staring at me too, but she's just hungry, so she isn't paying any attention to their conversation.
Today, I'm craving flatness, so I start with Lina as an appetizer, then I go for Aoi as the main course, Kaatohe as a side dish, and Hukarere for dessert.
Talking about sweets, we ate so much chocolate at the party that we don't have any dinner tonight and just lounge in our "game room" until it's time to sleep, which comes earlier today because Operation Extinguisher starts tomorrow morning.
--
--
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:
Prince PreownedFIN.
Prince Creamy Spinach.
Prince Owldente.
Prince Charlie Foxtrot.
Lord Andrew Meyers.
Lord Novgarod.
Lord Michale Erwin.
Lord Bakerdea.
Lord Maurice.
Lord Empyrean.
Lord Mattirro Draca.
Lord Fullmoon.
Lord Sean Drake.
Lord FrostyCube.
Lord Mike Bartter.
Lord Cardinal Steiner.
Lord Warwulfv.
Lord Jorge Franco.
Lord Khristopher Welsh.
Lord DJ.
Lord Philip.
Lord Tenebris Lupus.
Lord The Tallest Joshua.
Lord Copey Dunt.
Lord Dracopuppy23.
Lord Chris Carter.
Lord Paul Daval.
Lord Paul Daval.
Lord Bradly.
Lord Aubrey Powell.
Lord AndreyUC.
Lord Tmac.
Lord Krawn.
Lord Jetdy S.
Lord Greysen Simmons-LaRose.
Lord Aubrey Powell.
Noble Salty Panda.
Noble Mild Fracas.
Noble Aclys.
Noble CarlBaxter.
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