The little tea party in Vivian's house had been…..interesting.
I was still unsure of what to make of the woman. One moment she was ditsy, the next, she showed frightening competence.
"W-what did you do here?" The aforementioned woman finally blurted out as we approached the foothold.
"We used the Church to sanctify the land here." I said simply as her mouth opened agape.
"You killed it. The land here is dead." She whispered.
I raised an eyebrow at that, not realizing to the extent that we 'invaded' this area. To use terms from back home, our common sense was overwriting this small area.
However, both Artoria and I lacked any care about it. They brought this upon themselves and in our minds, it was rightful reprisal.
Maybe after we left the land would heal, but I didn't care to check.
She clutched the big rolled up map in her arms as she hesitantly stepped past the 'threshold' that denoted our foothold. It was rather visible in application as the ground didn't show an ounce of 'life' compared to mere inches away where wild grass and plants grew.
She was clearly uncomfortable, more than just a mental thing.
The actual entrance wasn't far up either.
The Two Youkai Guards nodded politely, opening it up as I twirled my finger in the air, eliciting a crackle of thunder to prove my identity.
My Divine Sword was still pierced into the ground, keeping the storm above from dissipating.
However, just as quickly as the discomfort appeared, it was replaced with a curious gaze. "Oh, what's that." She pointed at someone passing.
"An Oni." I replied.
The Oni in question glanced our way and gave a gruff grunt in response. He carried a few dozen wooden boards on his shoulder as he was apparently part of the construction crew.
"Oh, those ones have different wings than the bird ones!" She pointed at another Youkai, who I assume she was comparing to the normal Tengu.
"I believe those are a different type of Bird Youkai, Lady Vivian." Artoria said pointedly.
"It's so colorful here!" She just smiled brightly. "The different clans here don't really intermingle much." She hummed. "Oh, is that a Beast Clan!? Wait, that's not one of my kind."
"That's a werewolf." I replied again. We honestly did have a wide array of different species and individuals. More than just Youkai lived in Kyoto, and more than Youkai joined the army.
Hell, there were a few hundred humans mixed in with varying degrees of ability. I met one or two that were nearly mundane in physical capabilities without any magical knowledge, but they were helping with logistics.
"Oh, right, I remember them now!" She nodded.
I admit, it was a little…endearing. She acted very different from the majority of the Fae I've met so far.
She seemed more…whimsical.
Though, I knew for a fact that she was just as dangerous as any of her kind.
"This way, Lady Vivian." Artoria urged her forward as we approached the main building where everyone else was. Artoria didn't want to give Vivian the chance to run around and accidentally cause problems, it seemed, because she was very quick to throw open the door and gently nudge her inside.
"Wilhelm." Yasaka greeted, her eyes falling on me then Artoria and then Vivian. "I was starting to get worried, you disappeared so suddenly. Is this the one who I should blame for kidnapping you both."
It wasn't just her here, it was Nurarihyon and her Generals around a table.
Well, that was a lie. I used my Kaleidophone to send her a message that we were fine after everything settled, but that was still something we wanted to keep secret.
"I didn't kidnap them!" Vivian immediately retorted. "They accepted my invitation."
"So you whisked them away without giving them the chance to leave behind a message, perhaps let anyone else know that they were fine considering we're in the middle of a war?" Yasaka raised an eyebrow.
Vivian pursed her lips. "I suppose I can understand your perspective."
Neither Artoria nor I spoke up in her defense, Yasaka was in leader mode and it was important for her to establish her 'authority' in front of Vivian.
"The intricacies of our departure aside, we bring good tidings and an item of value." Artoria however moved the conversation along.
Yasaka wasn't truly trying to press Vivian about her 'mistake'.
"That's right!" Vivian perked up. "I brought a map of the realm with me, I heard it was something valuable to you all."
"And what is the price of this gift?" Yasaka said evenly.
"We discussed compensation. Lady Vivian merely wishes to accompany us and watch from the side. She requested access to come and go as she pleases and even venture into Kyoto." Artoria explained. "I made sure to iron out the details."
Of course, Yasaka also knew this part.
Vivian looked optimistically happy.
Yasaka took a moment intentionally before letting out a sigh. "Very well, I'll give her a copy of my seal so no one bars her path."
Vivan slapped the map on the table in front of everyone in her excitement. "I'm so excited! It's been so long since I've been outside!"
Yasaka pointedly ignored her and unfurled the map onto the table. "Let's see what we're working with here."
Artoria quickly pointed to a marked spot. "We are here. As we suspected, we are just inside the territory of our foes. If we pushed any further south or east, we would have run a foul other forces."
"And these borders all around…?"
"From what Lady Vivian Described, they are to be considered other Kingdoms separate from these Summer and Winter Courts."
"Yup." Vivian nodded. "You're actually very close to Avalon over here." She pointed to the east side."
"How far inland is their capital or their primary home." Nurarihyon leaned in.
"It's up here!" Vivian pointed and a small marker appeared on the map.
"That's a fair distance away." Yasaka muttered.
"Can you tell us about the terrain?" One of Yasaka's Generals spoke up.
"And the enemy forces. What kind of resistance can we expect?"
"Control yourselves, gentleman. She is considered a Guest." Yasaka interrupted them. "I'm not sure she is comfortable giving this kind of information out."
Vivian bit her lip. "Well, I don't mind. It's pretty common knowledge. I can't tell you what her armies are like, only that they're large but they're normally used to fight against the Summer Court. But….uh….I don't know what you mean by 'terrain'?"
They looked between themselves.
"General Ogata." Yasaka spoke up as one of the previous ones, an older man with cat-like eyes and no other non-human features, stroked his beard at her side.
"What we mean to say is….if we were to march from our current location straight to the enemies' seat of power, what natural obstacles would we encounter?"
"Oh, that's what you mean. Well, over here is the Enchanted Forest, which….you should probably avoid." She pointed at a spot not far from us, and dragged her finger rather far along the 'border' of the Winter Court's territory.
"Is this the same Enchanted Forest that was prevalent in legends in my homeland?" Artoria furrowed her brow.
Now that she mentioned it, I know quite a few fairy tales involving a so-called 'Enchanted Forest'.
"Yes! It's actually in a lot of places and it's all connected. If you know how to navigate it, it's a good way to travel to other parts of the realm in less time." Vivian hummed. "But…..the Hag Witch that lives there doesn't like people wandering in. Either you pay for passage for each person, or you get lost wandering it forever."
"And what sort of 'price' would she require?" Yasaka asked.
"Uh…well, last I heard, she's quite fond of children."
"We're not handing over children for her to play dolls with." Yasaka snorted.
"No, um, she's fond of their taste." Vivian corrected.
"Should we just burn the forest down?" Nurarihyon responded without a second thought.
"It'll come back. It's been destroyed a few times. But it's not entirely set in the Winter Court's territory, so you may anger someone else if their portion of the forest gets destroyed." Vivian responded.
"As much as I'm willing to say fuck that witch and just trample through anything she does, we do have too many boots to properly look after everyone in case she tries anything funny while moving through it." I threw my own thoughts out.
"There is plenty of room to ignore the forest. We simply go around it from the east." Artoria pointed out.
"Well, the ocean there isn't a bad place to cross. Plenty of Fae use that way and it's the normal method." Vivian agreed.
"Pardon, did you say ocean?" I looked at her, then at the map.
"Yes, the lighthouse right here is the start of it.' She pointed at a map where there was a faint drawing vaguely resembling a human made lighthouse.
"Lady Vivian, this map shows only land. Are you implying that there is a vast sea that separates the land here." Artoria questioned, pointing at the same spot.
"Huh? Oh no, that's just a small gorge." She cheerfully smiled and seemed to come to a realization. "I suppose you wouldn't know." She tapped her chin. "Anyone who tries to cheat and cross that point ends up plummeting into the sea at a random spot, so I wouldn't suggest it."
….cheat?
But I think all of us were confused.
Not a river, not a lake, no indication of anything on the map, but apparently, in that line running across the border up to this 'Enchanted Forest' there was a whole ocean that separated the spot where you could just make a small jump to normally cross.
"Why is this Ocean not shown on the map?" Artoria asked.
"Why would it? The Ocean is in the sky." Vivian tilted her head, looking at us like we were strange.
I already saw Yasaka rubbing her temples. "Could you please elaborate on this ocean?"
"Hmm? Oh sure, it was accidentally created from the Winter Queen and the Summer Queen having a bit of a spat. It's one of the spots for their constant battles. It's technically not owned by anyone, so there are a lot of wild Fae that live there, or criminals or whatever that don't want to associate with anyone else." She flipped her hand through the air non committedly.
"It seems we are going to need to amend our plans to account for nautical warfare." Artoria looked a tiny bit annoyed.
"If you're just wanting to cross, it's not very long, I know the route. But you can't fly over it, if you try, you're going to fall off the edge of the ocean and land somewhere else and even I couldn't help you." She shrugged.
"What about Teleportation?" Artoria asked.
"The ocean doesn't like when people cheat, so it'll probably mess up your teleport if you try. It probably won't care if you get everyone across at least once." Vivian said plainly, despite the very ridiculous nature of that notion.
This place was way too weird.
"We're pulling the cart before the horse, Lady Yasaka." The named General Ogata spoke up again. "There is a fair distance to what she described, the Light House she mentioned as seemingly the entrance point. How many strongholds can we expect before we reach there? How many cities, fortifications, or towns do we pass through that belong to the Winter Court?"
"Oh, there are a few dozen. I can mark them for you." Vivian said helpfully.
"I have a suggestion." I opened my mouth looking down at the map. "If we're going to have to sail across this sea the old fashioned way, then we're going to need ships. Commissioning ships, or buying them, is going to take far longer than it'll take for the armies to reach that spot through marching and conquering. So, why not have a group of people go in advance and….secure some ships from the natives?"
"Wilhelm." Yasaka looked at me.
"Yes?"
"Do you want to go be a pirate?"
"I really do." I admitted without hesitation.
"I'll take my boys and go with him." Nurarihyon volunteered. "We're not much cut out for traditional warfare, we'd do better in something like this."
"I can't say it's a bad idea." Yasaka responded, looking deep in thought. "Very well, it makes sense to be prepared ahead of time. I don't suspect we'll need Wilhelm's strength at this stage, but we'll be careful."
Well, it looks like Captain Wilhelm Henry Schweinorg was once more reporting for duty.
@***@
Rizevim Lucifer POV
"Sorry I'm late everyone, I had a few things to hold me up." Angra Mainyu walked into the room, he glanced around and at me as I looked up from my device. "Shit, what's the score? I seriously got caught up."
"You're down, 2-0." I replied as I glanced back at the humans playing their sport on the device.
"Son of a bitch!" He huffed in annoyance. "I swear to myself, I'm going to make an example out of my goal keeper."
"Are you both…..keeping up with human sports?" Hanpa asked.
"Hmm? Not in particular, just a little….wager we had."
Chernobog rolled his eyes. "They kidnapped a group of human athletes and are making them compete. The losers die as it were."
"How droll." Hanpa scoffed. "This seems childish, even for this group."
"No, no it's good." Angra Mainyu waved his hand. "You see, we grabbed a bunch of human athletes, we told them that they were going to play against another team, and the loser would die. Of course we did the whole song and dance of showing them that we meant it, Evil Gods, blah blah. Then we dumped them on an Ice Hockey Ring and told them to get to it." He smiled, really proud of himself.
"….and?"
"Neither team plays hockey." I said plainly.
"I suppose that would be an amusing way to pass the time." Hanpa relented. "But is that really a productive use of yours and our time?"
"It's been slow." Angra Mainyu sighed, leaning back in his chair.
"Did you call a meeting just to assuage your boredom?" Hanpa grumbled.
"I'm not that bad." He harrumphed. "We have a new member, a big shot so I wanted enough people gathered to welcome them. Though, it was rather short notice again, so I don't expect anyone else to show up. What do you think, Crom Cruach?"
"I almost didn't come myself." The Dragon said with a shrug.
"We really need to work on attendance." Angra Mainyu frowned. "I know these past few meetings have been abrupt, but I'm starting to get the distinct impression that no one wants to be near me. And that really makes me not so happy."
I felt a small fluctuation of his power as I glanced up then looked back down before setting my device onto the table.
"I don't understand your fascination with human athletics." Chernobog shook his head, eyes still on the game we were playing it seems.
"I have an appreciation for competent people."
"Even humans?"
"Especially humans." Angra Mainyu slammed his fist on the table. "There are billions of humans in the world, do you know how many of them could be described as competent? It's a feat worth acknowledging."
"I can't tell if that's an insult or praise." Chernobog snorted.
"I'm a practical God. If it were all the same, I would happily use competent humans as my subordinates. Unfortunately, they're nothing more than ants the vast majority of the time."
Speaking of subordinates and ants…
I gestured, allowing a Magical Circle to appear, a Teleportation Circle behind me.
"Lord Rizevim, I've accomplished what you asked of me."
Wonderful, that means everything is settled.
"Oh, if it isn't little Leviathan the lesser." Angra Mainyu's eyes smiled in place of his nonexistent mouth.
He knew exactly the right words to make her angry, not that I cared.
"What happened to your arm, little Leviathan?" The Evil God asked.
I turned my head just enough to notice that she was missing her arm…again. "Did you pick a fight with the new Satan again, Katerea?" Because I would be the one annoyed after I went through the effort of getting her a new arm after her bout with the new Satan of her namesake.
"…..your orders to be as amicable with the Fae as possible, Lord Rizevim, I…..made a mistake." She trembled slightly.
"Oh that sounds interesting. Those Fae were always so fun. We even had many legends and myths appear among the humans due to them appearing in my motherland." Chernobog sat up. "Little Devil, tell me how you lost your arm, I want to be amused."
I gestured for her to speak and closed my eyes tiredly.
"….I thought it was not but a child and it asked me to….play. I did not wish to offend as their culture was strange to me. It ripped off my arm before I could utter a word and ran away." Her voice shook slightly.
Several of them laughed at her misfortune.
The Dragon out of all of them let out a whimsical sigh. "That brings back memories. The Fair Folk did make things interesting back in the day."
"Speaking of the Fair Folk, Crom Cruach, Rizevim, how goes your little plan, hmm?" Angra Mainyu looked at us expectantly.
"All preparations have been completed." I replied. "The thing has been given over and the Winter Queen accepted our help."
"Well, I hope it's a good show, I did lend you help from my old bastard of a subordinate even if he was barely resurrected." He cheerfully chuckled. "Any news on that front, Crom Cruach? I know you've been watching the Devil News as they've covered that little war between the Youkai and the Winter Fae."
"There's nothing new yet." The Dragon also had a devil device and looked at it with uninterest for now.
Angra Mainyu clapped his hands. "Well, regardless, it seems our new member finally arrived!" A Teleportation circle lit up. "Everyone, please welcome Aphrodite to our group!"
The Greek Goddess appeared in all her beauty.
Her allure and charm were enough that I was momentarily affected before I turned my interest away.
"Hey there boys." She winked mischievously at everyone, her charm amplified several fold.
I internally sighed, using my Demonic Power to shield myself. Everyone else performed similar actions at her 'greeting'. I was merciful enough to even shield Katerea, mostly because I didn't want to be embarrassed second hand by her.
"Is this a joke?" Hanpa asked, his hand slamming on the table. "I was told we were getting a new member, not a whore."
I peeked one eye open because I could feel the tension that appeared form his said that even as my lips curled up.
Rather quickly, he was blasted out of his seat and across the room, and through several walls.
Aphrodite holding up her dainty hand in his direction with her Divine Power simmering down.
Without another word she walked around the table and took his seat. "Offering your seat to a lady, what a gentleman~."
The Sumerian God quickly got back up on his feet, none the worse for wear perhaps aside from his pride as he ripped open the wall and walked back inside.
He was ready to fight.
"Come now everyone, we're all friends here." Angra Mainyu released his own power down on everyone, causing Hanpa to momentarily pause. "Hanpa, you deserved that one, don't argue. And Aphrodite, that was your one free shot."
Both Deities seemed to scoff in unison, which only elicited further annoyance between them.
With a gesture from the Evil Zoroastrian God, another chair appeared and Hanpa sat back down.
"I don't believe I need to introduce our new and illustrious colleague –"
"Oh, you're too kind~" She cooed.
"So how about I give a brief summary of why she's here with us. I'll give you a hint, guess who helped us free Kronos and his Titan friend from Tartarus under Hades' nose."
If I wasn't aware, perhaps I would have shown a bit of surprise just as they did.
The Greek Goddess was not known for being particularly scheming or….powerful.
"Of course, it took awhile to convince her to actually join us officially." Angra Mainyu chuckled.
"You basically forced my hand. That Eris has no sense of self preservation, do you know she nearly walked right up to me all but blurted out her new 'friends'?" She looked around the room. "If I hadn't taken action, she would have gotten Zeus and everyone else looking much closer to all the 'lesser Gods' and they would have found out what I've been doing."
Of course, only some of us knew the truth.
The Goddess Aphrodite sat across from us.
But the Goddess Aphrodite was most certainly not the one looking at us right now.
@***@
A/N
If you want to read 10 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
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