Alice got to enjoy her turkey leg, as well as various candies, and we said our goodbyes to Sara. We even had a lead on the second ring!
"What kind of name is Tiffany for a dragon?" I asked Alice, as we walked through the castle halls towards Promestein's lab.
"Her real name is probably long and hard to pronounce," Alice replied. "Monsters often adopt cute little names in the common tongue so that other monster races and humans have something to work with."
"So next we go find a dragon," I said. "Hopefully that goes as well as the Sphinx did."
"It won't," Alice said. "First, I can't go with you. The dragons still resent me for opposing the Dark God. Granberia will be better to accompany you, since she can speak to the dragons in their own tongue. You'll probably have to fight to get that ring. I'll give you a few valuables in case she's in the mood to bargain."
We arrived at Promestein's lab, formerly the server room and my office. I guessed that since she'd been using it for thirty years I should probably claim a new room. Promestein was quite pleased when I presented her with a ring so quickly.
"Great job, boss!" Promestein said. "I've already designed a program to scan the world for objects that have something in common with the ring, I just have to plug in the exact attributes once I analyze this thing. I should have it ready by tomorrow. Then I'll need four people who can teleport to deliver them to the towers so that we can get that spell working worldwide. Same drill as when you put the seal on the angels. Make sure you change them all at the same time."
"Which will take the seal down," Alice noted. "If we're going to revive Ilias, we'll need that back up as soon as we get the rings' general locations."
That was prudent. I had hopes that Ilias would have a new attitude once reborn, but no sense in taking chances. She'd be tough enough without an invincible angel army at her command.
"You should go see Gabriella," Alice suggested. "She'll be very interested in how you've progressed since she last saw you."
"That sounds great!" I replied.
"Afterwards, come see me in our room," Alice said, smiling suggestively. "I'm enjoying my vacation from Monster Lord stuff. Been looking for an excuse for years."
Gabriella was not hard to find. Nero and Neris were with her, taking magic lessons. Erubetie, for some reason, was supervising.
"Hey, everyone how's it going?" I greeted everyone.
"Oh, hey," Nero said noncommittally.
"Hey dad!" Neris echoed with a bit more enthusiasm.
"Luka!" Gabriella was of course the most excited of all, being the only one in the room to not have seen me since my return. She rushed towards me and wrapped me in her tail, in addition to the normal hugging I'd been growing used to since my return.
"Easy now, Aunt Gabby," Nero warned. "He just got back. Mom's gonna need you to keep it PG rated."
"Believe it or not, this old woman can control herself," Gabriella responded coldly. "What do you believe to have been between us?"
"Oh, we've heard what was between you two," Neris answered, tickled.
"Kitsunes talk too much," Gabriella said, releasing me. "It was a quest and his semen was needed. I was drafted to extract it. I assure you, I didn't enjoy it in the slightest."
"Yes, yes, it was the mission," I said, ashamed that I was already lying to my kids. "We were just two adults doing what had to be done to save the world."
"I guess your hand must have been broken that day?" Neris asked slyly.
"Sis, no dude wants to jerk off in front of a bunch of women," Nero said, rushing to my defense. "Besides, dad's been with succubi. Trust me, it's not even possible to get yourself off once you've been with a succubus more than a couple of times."
Which was one reason I hadn't even bothered to touch myself while I was alone for five years. I'm not even sure my body would have responded to a woman, at least not for the first year or two.
"I'm just messin' with him!" Neris laughed. "Sorry if this conversation makes you uncomfortable, dad, it's just that I look at you and you're like, our age, so sorry if I treat you more like a brother."
Although I had questions about succubi and my son, I decided to put those aside for the time being. I turned to Gabriella. Unlike Alice, who hadn't aged a day since I'd last seen her, Gabriella had been middle aged thirty years ago and now was definitely beginning to cross over into actually being elderly. Nevertheless, she would probably outlive me.
"Alice thought I should let you know how far I've come with my magic," I said to her. "I'm sure that however far I've come, there's still so much more that you can teach me. That marble trick saved my life."
"Indeed?" Gabriella replied, impressed. "What else can you do now?"
I showed her my flying, my ability to summon artificial spirits, a virtual Angel Halo, and my speed. I also told her that I could no longer be defeated by critical ecstasy anymore, and could recover from having my brain cracked by powerful monsters' pleasure attacks. My only weakness was my human body. My fake Gnome helped with that, but a powerful enough single blow could kill me instantly if it caught me. Still, between my speed, power, and immunity to pleasure attacks, I had become virtually unstoppable. Although I'm sure a very clever opponent who knew what she was up against could do it.
"So what you're telling me," Gabriella observed. "Is that all those things I told you barely registered, but a version of Alice with virtually no magical education helped you to achieve your full potential?"
"Oh, Gabriella, please don't be insulted," I begged. "Ariana just… used small words that I could easily understand. I'm sure that if you'd had the time to really teach me theory I'd have become even better. There's still so much that I can't do, like close those rifts."
"I am not insulted, my dear boy," Gabriella assured me. "We only had a few lessons and it wasn't until the last two that I had any inkling how your power worked. And yes, I shall make of you an incredibly powerful wizard now that you're back. I taught your children how to use their own versions of your power."
"I heard," I said, turning to Nero and Neris. "You two are pretty impressive."
Erubetie cleared her throat. It made a very strange sound.
"That is why I am here," Erubetie interjected. "As with you, they could not touch their power for the longest time. We still do not know why, but powerful slimes such as myself and Undine are able to see and even touch your power when we are in close contact. It was necessary for the first few lessons to be… somewhat intimate. So we didn't start with them until they were old enough. It has simply become a habit for me to supervise and assist with the lessons."
"Even then, it was… interesting," Nero said with an embarassed smile. "When you're a young virgin wrapped up in all that slime for an extended period, things…. Happen."
"I assure you," Erubetie replied. "It was unintentional."
"Nero developed a bit of a crush on her for awhile," Neris teased.
"Shut up!" Nero yelled. "It wasn't a crush. I just wanted…. More lessons. That power is hard to reach when you're not used to it. Right, dad?"
"It was indeed," I confirmed. "But Erubetie only needed to show me how to grab it one time."
"Me too," Neris said smugly. "Nero was a bit slow. Took him several dozen tries to get it right."
"It was hard to concentrate!" Nero objected.
"How about we stop talking about life with a castle full of monsters," I suggested. "Which I'm sure is going to involve a ton of interesting stories I don't want to hear about, and instead why don't you two show me some of the neat things you can do?"
As far as magic went, quite a bit. Their staffs not only made it easier to channel their power, it also converted their power into forms more traditional to this world so that they could cast spells taught to them the traditional way. That had been Promestein's doing. Although they couldn't do it as long, nor were the spells as powerful, they could cast almost any spell Alice or Gabriella could.
It was all very impressive. I made sure to tell them so. They seemed appreciate of my praise. I was relieved that there seemed to be no resentment that I hadn't been in their lives, yet their attitudes were very… impersonal. I guess I shouldn't have expected more. They didn't know me. They had only ever heard about me. Now I was some guy who was the same age as them. My world was full of nontraditional family units, but this was the most bizarre of all. My two children, raised in a castle full of monsters, probably having all kinds of sexual experiences, accidental and intentional, with no father around to counsel them. They seemed well adjusted enough. Alice and Tamamo must have done great work both protecting them and educating them. Still, it would have been nice for them to get a father's, and a human's, perspective on it all.
Nero and Neris excused themselves, Nero for some free time, Neris to cover for her mother in her day to day duties as Monster Lord. I was grateful that Neris was giving us the opportunity to spend time together. In my year of marriage to Alice, I'd spent maybe two hours a day with her unless we took a vacation. Erubetie accompanied Neris to assist her, she also having volunteered to do a lot of the more mundane work a Monster Lord was responsible for. That left me alone with Gabriella. Suddenly, things were awkward. It had been thirty years, but the last time I'd talked to her was in a small forest, and she'd come onto me.
"So…" Gabriella started. "They are fine children, are they not? I want to assure you that they have been in the best of hands in your absence."
"I'm sure they have," I said. "I wonder how many pairs of hands have been on them?"
"As far as I know, none, until they were of age," she replied. "Afterwards… Nero may have… enjoyed some experiences. Of great variety and length. I know that you humans don't think of sex the same way that we do. But I can assure you that he was always treated gently and nothing ever happened without his mother's approval, until recently. He's a grown man now, so his choices are his own."
"I'm sorry, Gabriella," I said. "he is a grown man. Thank you all for respecting his childhood. That brings me to another question: if Neris is qualified to do Alice's job from day to day, why can't she be Monster Lord? She's literally Alice's daughter."
"She is not really a monster," Gabriella replied. "Even if that could be overlooked, and given her strength of will I believe she could convince the monsters that matter, she will never possess sufficient power on her own. Neither sibling can use any power at all unless they do it together. There would have to be two Monster Lords. A female human with monster DNA, perhaps that could be accepted. But a male? Unthinkable. I am sure you are aware of what Alice will have to do to insure the continuation of the Fateburn line on the throne."
"I am," I sighed. "And I'm okay with it. She became very tolerant of me stepping out under certain conditions. I'm not going to be a pain. This is important to her."
"I'm sure you are also aware that her appetite had to be sated as well," Gabriella said. "I speak from experience when I say that once you have had freshly squeezed semen, you can never go back to the secondhand version."
"I know that as well," I said. "I probably don't want to hear anymore about it, though. I'm back, now. Mr. Luka 'Food Source' Fateburn has returned. So I take it that you've been… eating well?"
"I wouldn't say 'well'," she replied. "But I have often gone on the prowl with other monsters who can teleoport. There are now countless clubs where humans and monsters can 'hook up' for a quick meal. Tamamo calls it 'fast food'. So, when would you like to resume your lessons with me?"
"Probably not for a bit," I answered. "Not until Alice goes back to her regular duties. I'm sure you understand that I want to spend as much time with her as I can. Especially since we've got yet another crisis that could end up….."
"You don't have to say it," Gabriella replied. "Both crises you solved ended with you taken from her. All of these rifts are practically an invitation for you to be yanked out of her life once again. Spend as much time as you can. You both deserve it. You would have been so proud of her, Luka. She has become a wise Monster Lord and a wonderful mother. I am happy to say that she is still the person you fell in love with. The years have only made her better."
As we lay in bed after another satisfying round of lovemaking, Alice held me tight. As bad as it had been for me, it had been thirty years for her.
"Alice, did I do the right thing?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Severing the link between our worlds," I replied. "I had nothing else. That was my last shot, but I spent years wondering if I could have tried something else, or maybe done something earlier to avoid being in that situation."
"Stop doing that to yourself," Alice admonished gently. "That was the most heroic thing you've ever done. She was going to kill you. The only way to stop that was to get her to your world, where she had almost no power. If she'd killed you and freed her daughters, there would have been no one to oppose her. There really was no other way."
"I just keep thinking about how you would have found a way if you had been in that position."
"But I wasn't!" she replied. "We had no way to communicate with you! All we had was that damn tracker. All I could do was watch your vitals drop! I've spent the past thirty years wondering if I should have done something, too! Why didn't I react fast enough to disperse her smoke so that she would have dropped you!? I blamed myself for a long time for letting her drag you to subspace where I couldn't help you. But we're together again. You're still young, I'm still young. You think it was worse for me because I had to wait thirty years instead of seven, but the only number that matters is that seven, because that's the number of years of your life that I lost. You only aged seven years! If you'd been here the whole time you'd be over fifty! At least now I get to grow a little old with you."
"So if we save the world again, what do you want to do with the next few years?" I asked.
"The most important thing I want to do with you is guide our children," Alice replied. "You weren't here for their upbringing, but in fairness I wasn't either. Being Monster Lord doesn't leave a lot of time for mothering."
"Who were their caregivers?"
"I didn't want them to just have Tamamo, like I did," she answered. "Tamamo knows how to raise a Monster Lord, and neither of them are going to be Monster Lord. I wanted them to have a joyful childhood, nothing like mine. So Tamamo would take them to Yamatai occasionally, Gabriella would spend a lot of time with them, but the person who spent the most time with them was Granberia."
"Granberia? Really? She doesn't seem like the mothering type!"
"I'll let her tell you all about it tomorrow, when you go face that dragon," Alice said. "It's quite a story. She's not the Granberia you once knew."
"So did the kids get the upbringing you wanted them to have?" I asked.
"I think mostly they did," Alice replied. "We let Hiro share all the cool stuff from your world with them since he is an encyclopedia of knowledge about that stuff. We don't have internet from your world anymore, so all we've got are the DVDs and such, or recordings people made while they streamed. Promestein and Hiro created a new internet just for our world, and one of the first things we did was put up a library of every piece of media we had."
"Well, I brought back several thousand on my tablet, so I'll let Hiro add whatever wasn't already in the online library. How is Hiro, by the way?"
"A different person as well, but that's understandable. He's in his late forties now. He married a lamia in Yamatai! Older woman, too! Even accounting for the difference in how humans and monsters age. They'll get to be old together! He still likes all that stuff from your world, but he's not as annoying about it as he used to be. His wife set him straight about speaking like a normal person. Something which I'm going to have to start over with you. Those five years back on your world must have ruined you!"
"Do you think Nero and Neris like me?" I asked.
"They respect you," Alice replied. "They grew up hearing again and again what a hero you were, how you saved the world twice. Looks like they'll get to witness you doing it a third time before you really get a chance to spend quality time with them. But they also learned that you were a good person. All of us saw to it that they knew that, sharing our personal stories about you. It might take some time for them to warm up because they just don't know you. But they want to know you as much as you want to know them. They don't resent you, if that's what you're worried about."
"It'll be weird having kids the same age as me," I laughed.
"It'll be even weirder for me!" she chuckled. "I'll probably start treating all three of you as my kids! I had just started to learn how to treat you like an adult before you left! Now that's all out the window!"
"So when do you think you're going to want to look for someone to father an heir?"
"Are we really talking about that now?" she sighed. "I was urged to do it a long time ago, but a part of me always believed you'd come back. Now that you're back I don't even want to think about it for a long time. My prime childbearing years last until I'm eighty. So let's not talk about this for at least another ten years, okay? I feel so silly talking about it only months after we got married! I was so foolish and young then!"
We lay there just gazing at each other for awhile. I kissed her, and she giggled.
"That was funny?" I asked.
"No, I was just wondering," she said. "Which variant of me did you like the best? How many of my counterparts did you encounter, anyway?"
"I didn't count them, but I think about forty," I said. "The vast majority seemed no different from you. I think my favorite was one who I think was like you, but my encounter with her was very unexpected."
"Oh? How so?"
"Well, I was pretty lonely, so I often took to trying to watch your counterparts from a distance, which rarely worked out well since you're impossible to stalk. But this one time, I was watching another Alice, with another Luka, in camp. She was training with him, then the training turned into playing, like it did so often with us. It was just so wonderful to see that again."
"I'm guessing it got ugly once she confronted you," Alice said.
"For a moment, yes," I confirmed. "But unlike you, she detected my special power and because she did, she believed my story. She let me come back to camp and sleep with her and the other Luka by the fire. She said she thought it would be something you wanted."
"I wish I could send her a thank you note," Alice laughed.
"One more comes to mind, the last one I encountered. She really gave me perspective on the kind of person you are. She wasn't the Monster Lord, she was a leader in the resistance. She saved my life. Came all the way to the castle to try to rescue me. She taught me how to use my power in ways even Gabriella hadn't figured out. Her bravery, her guts, her intelligence… I knew you had all of those things, but seeing all that in a person who grew up so much differently from how you did…."
"What was her name?" Alice asked.
"How did you know her name wasn't Alice?"
"Because only Monster Lords get to be Alice," she answered. "I want to know what my mother would have named me had I not been born the daughter of a Monster Lord."
"She was named Ariana," I replied.
"I like that name. I won't ask you how many of my counterparts tasted you. If you met forty, I'm assuming the number is somewhere between 38 and 39."
"Not that many," I said. "But if there's one thing every Alice has in common, it's an appetite."
"Were any of them fat like me?"
"They were all much younger, and you're not fat."
"You're right," she agreed. "Just a little rotund."
"I don't care," I said. "In fact, I want to get fat with you when this is all over. I want them to have to build us a new, bigger bed."
She giggled at that. We continued to talk and laugh and get reacquainted for the rest of the evening, until we fell asleep in each other's arms.
The next morning, I went to check on Promestein's progress, while Alice took care of any unfinished Monster Lord business that required her attention. Promestein's news was not great.
"So the good news is that I finished up early and we got the new discs installed," Promestein reported. "The bad news is that we only got readings on two more rings."
"Could they have been destroyed, or melted down?" I asked.
"Unlikely," Promestein replied. "Those are legendary rings. The term 'legendary' in our world is a lot more specific than it is in your world, much like the term 'hero' used to be. Legendary things can't just be destroyed using normal means. How to destroy such items is different for each one. Cast a certain spell, throw them into a certain volcano, pour a special liquid on them, that sort of thing. It's more likely that what I found that those three have in common aren't common to the other two."
"What do the three have in common?"
"A specific alloy that only those rings in all the world have. The one on your finger is one of the three detected, another is in Northern Hellgondo, which is dragon territory, so that's not surprising. The third is at the bottom of the southern sea."
"Wow," I said. "So all I have to do is get a ring from a dragon, go down and search the sea floor, and then I still have to find two more rings that probably exist, but might not."
"The first two should be no problem for someone like you," Promestein pointed out. "You go down to the bottom of the sea the way people on your world go to Hawaii, and between your abilities and that fireproof ring, a dragon should be no problem. It's finding the other two rings that are going to be tough. I'll keep working on it."
"So I couldn't help but notice that thirty years later, you're still behaving yourself," I teased.
"Don't read too much into it," Promestein said grumpily. "This is the best place for me to do research and they respect my work here. If that changes, I'll move on. I don't really care who I work for."
"I know there's a heart in there somewhere," I said.
"I assure you, it's there only because I have a human form and a human form requires a heart, even though I don't really need it since I don't have blood. I was created to be smart, not emotional, or moral. Everyone in this castle keeps that in mind. You should too."
"And you're telling me this because you care," I said. "Otherwise, why warn me?"
"Don't try to outlogic me," Promestein warned. "Back to business, I have a job for you besides those rings. A pretty pressing job."
"What do you need?"
"We've got a problem with reptilian invaders from another world that keep on coming back," Promestein explained. "Most of those rifts that open are natural phenomena. For some reason, either having to do with probability being warped, or some interaction between biological life and spacetime, they always open to let something through. Most things come through, get destroyed or driven back into the portal, or just end up pulled back into their own world since they aren't bonded with anyone here, and we never see them again. The lizards are different. They can open their own portals and every time they do they send more of them. They regard this world as a food source. What I need you to do the next time they show up is go into subspace and do what you did between your world and ours. Cut the link."
"I'm surprised you haven't figured out how to do that yet," I said.
"Force lines have historically been used by gods to store spells for a reason," she explained. "Even gods can't destroy them. Only your power can. Those things hate your power, doesn't even take a lot for you to do it."
"Couldn't I just destroy them all? Only the ones that connect to other worlds?"
"I wouldn't," she explained. "World to world force lines don't store spells as far as I know, or at least they aren't used for that purpose. But every world is connected to other worlds. If ours wasn't, what would that mean? I don't want to create another new crisis solving an old one."
"Okay, so that just leaves getting into subspace and moving around. Has that problem been solved?"
"It has," she said brightly, handing me a small device. "This is a modified version of the sealing device you used thirty years ago. I tried to modify one of those on the fly when you were in subspace battling the Dark God. I failed. A few days later, I did solve the problem. Anyone can go to subspace now, not that anyone has had a reason to do so. As for moving around, just decide where you want to go and go there. Your mind is your propulsion, as long as you're not under too much stress."
Granberia poked her head into the lab. "Luka, are you ready to go to Tiffany's lair? I will be transporting you."
"Oh, yeah, I guess I'm ready!" I said.
She nodded in response and we began walking down the hallway. It took me a minute to realize that we were headed towards her room rather than the exit. Which we didn't need anyway, because teleporting FROM indoors is perfectly safe. It's teleporting with an indoor destination that is hazardous. I also noticed that she was not wearing armor. She wore a simple white robe.
She opened the door to her room and invited me in. I walked in with her and had my first good look at her room in thirty years. It was still as spartan as I remembered it, but it was a little different in some way that I couldn't place. Before I could figure it out, Granberia jumped me and tackled me onto her bed. She didn't go for my clothes. She simply settled for holding me and nuzzling her head into the crook of my shoulder.
"I wished to catch up a little before we left," Granberia said. "I have missed you so much, Luka. I lost my two best friends on that day."
"Alma Elma," I said unnecessarily.
"Yes," Granberia said. "That day changed me. I was in a deep depression for over a year. I would see no one. Not Sara, not Alice, unless there was some duty I had to perform. I no longer enjoyed combat. I was so young, so foolish, to think that it was a lark! That I was so…. So much greater than any possible competitor that no one could truly hurt me, and that no one who I wished to protect could be harmed as long as I was present."
"That wasn't your first battle," I said. "Was it the loss of people close to you?"
"Yes," Granberia said. "I had seen death. But those were the deaths of ones whom I barely knew. Seeing Alma Elma killed and you lost to us… I lost my innocence that day. I had thought myself worldly because I was a veteran of so much combat, because I had so many responsibilities. That day exposed how little I knew. I had to find out who I really was."
"And who are you, Granberia?" I asked. "I liked the old Granberia. I guess we were both young. We still are, really. Your people live even longer than Alice's. You haven't aged a day in the last thirty years."
"Fighting is the only thing I know," Granberia replied. "it is still my primary responsibility as a Heavenly Knight. I considered putting down my sword forever and finding a new way to live, but I realized that it would just be another form of immaturity. I long for the day when the world doesn't need a Granberia. As long as it does, I will be ready with my sword. I just do not take any joy in it as I used to. I believe I understand you better now, Luka. You did not like fighting either."
"So you still practice, spar, and work out, but now it's… work?"
"It is," she sighed.
"So what do you do for fun?"
"Once I came out of my depression," she said. "I renewed my relationship with Sara. She too, had come to realize what her path in life should be. Her father had freed her to follow her heart, but she chose the path of responsibility. I respected her choice a great deal. She married a very good man. He's not much of a king, but he is kind to her and lets her make all of the decisions. When I am here, I read, I meditate. I have improved my magic abilities a little with Gabriella's help. I enjoy spending time with Nero and Neris. They like many of the same things you did from your world. I still enjoy watching movies and old wrestling events with them. I work with them on their combat skills. Alice putting those two in my room and leaving was one thing that facilitated my exit from depression."
"Thank you for taking care of them, Granberia," I said. "Wondering how they were doing was tearing me apart while I was gone. I feared that I'd never know them."
"They are as amazing in their way as you are," she said, smiling up at me. "Nero has a reckless streak, but his heart is as optimistic and generous as your own. Neris is more like her mother. Except more patient. They still need to find their paths. As the two best able to close these rifts that keep popping up everywhere, they have chosen that as their path for now. But running from crisis to crisis is no life. I want to help you solve this problem so that they can find out what truly makes them happy."
"Are you happy, Granberia? Did you find the answers you needed?"
"Partially," she said. "Having you back has made me very happy. I look forward to spending a lot more time with you. When this is all over, of course. Alas, searching the world for rings is not a warrior's task. I am only accompanying you to see Tiffany because I am best suited to negotiate for the ring."
"Oh, we might not have to fight for it?" I asked.
"That is my hope. Dragons do not like humans, and most still resent the Monster Lord. They obey her because she is strong, not because they love her. They are fond of dragonkin, however. So there is a chance. If it does come to a fight, you will be on your own. It would not look good if I fought one of my own over a ring. Not that you should need my help."
"Hopefully I can handle it if it comes to that," I said. "When do you want to go?"
"Soon," she whispered. "For now, I just want to be close to you."
Soon, turned out to be an hour later. Granberia teleported me outside, but not to the dragon's lair. Rather, we stood in front of a large tomb, with a gigantic statue that I was surprised I hadn't seen before. It was a statue of Alma Elma.
"This is where she fell," Granberia said. "She did not suffer. She had no resistance to fire. She was incinerated the instant she was hit. I still wonder to this day how she could have been so unfortunate. With her speed, they should not have been able to hit her."
"I noticed that there were a lot of them after her," I said. "With all that fire being thrown around…."
"Yes," Granberia said. "and dragons are cunning. Perhaps she knew she was doomed and distracted them anyway. It bought us time to get into the castle. The entire battle lasted no more than an hour. Long enough…."
"You never really came clean with me about your relationship with her," I said. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Perhaps that's why I brought you out here," she sighed. "You always were able to make me open up in ways I would never do with anyone else. When I was on my journey with Sara, I realized just how much I'd kept from you. I had never been as open with anyone as I was with you, yet parts of me still remained closed, even to you. Even to Alma Elma."
"I'd been told you two were very close," I said. "It surprised me back then. I'd thought Alma Elma dishonorable, evil, and you the epitome of honor and goodness."
"For a brief moment," Granberia replied. "You and I were seriously crushing on one another, as they would say in your world. Ah, if only we had both acted on that window of opportunity! The fact that we did not has always filled me with regret. That was one thing that I never admitted to you until now."
"I thought you said that you were satisfied?" I asked.
"I did not lie," she replied. "Alice went to great lengths to cultivate our relationship in healthy ways, so that there would be no jealousy on my part. Then she went even further, allowing us to express our love for each other in other ways, at least occasionally. I had great plans for us when I returned, but…."
"You lost your two best friends," I finished.
"And lovers," she admitted. "Alma Elma was my first lover. Those fights I did not want you to see? Those were…. Only barely fights. I am as vulnerable to pleasure attacks as you are, perhaps moreso, even though I am unaffected by sexual magic. I stood no chance against a succubus of her caliber. I didn't even get better with each battle. I think I may have gotten worse, because I wanted her to keep on doing those things. I don't think I ever asked her to just… make love. Our desires were always disguised as challenges to one another. I think that's why I kept on challenging you. I knew no other way of expressing love."
"Alice told me that was what was going on with you when you attacked me in San Ilia," I said, chuckling. "She was never jealous about you. She thought it was funny."
"Because she was sinking her hooks into you as a woman," Granberia said, a hint of bitterness in her voice. "I cannot complain, though. She could have forced you to love her as most monsters did at that time. When a monster wanted a man back then, she simply kept him in critical ecstasy until he became addicted and devoted to her. She fought fairly. She earned your heart, even before she admitted to herself that she was trying."
"You know, you knew Alma Elma better than anyone, but you never told me any stories about her. Do you want to tell me some now? I felt like I never really knew her as a whole person. Her moments of seriousness were rare."
"Yes," Granberia replied. "Someone should know who she really was. I can think of no better person to share that with than you."
Taking a seat on the hard ground, Granberia began to tell me about the life of the person she had been closest to. Most of the stories were funny. But they also filled me with regret that I had never had an opportunity to really learn who she was.
About two hours later, Granberia teleported me outside the lair of the fearsome… Tiffany. I had never seen this part of Hellgondo before. It was bleak and rocky. Tiffany's lair was a large cave. As we walked inside, it was about what I imagined a dragon's lair to look like. Treasure was everywhere, and a large dragon was laying on top of a large pile of it.
"Is she even going to know where the ring is?" I whispered to Granberia.
"A dragon knows where every piece of her treasure is," Granberia assured me.
Tiffany sniffed the air, catching our scent, then gazed down at us balefully. She snorted smoke out of her nostrils.
"Excuse me!" I shouted up at her. Her head had to be at least sixty feet above me. "I need a certain ring from your collection to save the world and I was wondering if I could give you something in exchange for it."
Her response was a loud roar. It sounded pretty hostile to me. Tamamo had placed some valuable trinkets with powerful magical properties that were not very useful to us, nor considered very likely to be useful. They did, however, have a value equal to or greater than the ring we sought. I opened my backpack onto the ground and poured it out. Gems, daggers, small rods, rings, bracelets, necklaces, all kinds of magical artifacts that would make a jaded tabletop adventurer think he had found the mother lode.
Tiffany wordlessly bent her head down to inspect the goods. She picked up some of them with her talons and shook them. She even tasted one of them. When she was finished, she placed them all back on the pile. She looked me right in the eye, her face only a foot from mine… and roared again. I was nearly blown back by the force of that roar. My ears were ringing. Granberia just stood next to me, her expression unreadable.
"Did you want any, or all of these?" I asked. "I assure you, each and every one alone is more valuable than the Ring of Brocia that you're holding. They would make fine additions to your collection."
She roared once again.
"Are none of these good enough?" I asked. "Perhaps I could go back and get you something else?"
Tiffany let out yet another earsplitting roar. My head was starting to hurt.
"Thank you for clarifying your position on this matter," I said.
Granberia made a few guttural barks and growls that got Tiffany's attention. Tiffany responded with much louder growls and small roars of her own.
"She says that she will take all of the valuables you have brought, in exchange for nothing. Unless you wish to fight her, in which case you would have the right to take out of here whatever you can carry."
I had expected that this might happen, so I charged up what I hoped was just the right amount of my power. I apparently had more concern for her life than she had for mine, because no sooner did my hands start to glow than she unleashed a massive stream of fire at me. Sphinx had not been lying to me, however. The ring I already possessed indeed made the fire harmless to me. I barely felt the heat. When Tiffany looked down at me and saw that I was still standing there, her reaction was remarkable. She yelped in confusion and fear, reached for something in her largest pile, and dropped it in front of me. The ring!
"Coward," Granberia said. The dragon glared at her and said something that sounded very much like she was offended.
"You are rude!" Granberia said hotly. "You refuse to speak human with a human in your presence, and not just any human, but the Monster Lord's husband! Then you abandon the battle simply because your opening attack did not have the results you expected? Luka, blast this arrogant dragon into unconsciousness. When she awakens, she will find her treasure pile halved."
"No!" the dragon yelled, and for the first time, slowly opened her mouth in front of me to show me her human portion. I still couldn't get over how weird that was, having a human head and torso inside a mouth. Actually, her human portion kinda did look like a Tiffany.
"I apologize for my rudeness," Tiffany said. "Please, choose any one thing from my hoard that you desire. As a sign of my respect for you and the Monster Lord."
"The Monster Lord's husband would like to know if you have any knowledge of the other rings," Granberia said. "If you have knowledge that is helpful, we will take only the ring. If you do not have any useful information, we shall take several items from your hoard. I have already spotted over a dozen that would be very useful to him."
"You wouldn't!" Tiffany cried. "Okay, okay, I know exactly where you can get another ring. Saja had one of the Rings of Brocia on her finger!"
"And she's sealed!" I yelled, trying and failing to snap my fingers. "That's why Promestein couldn't detect it! It's in subspace!"
"Hmmm…" Granberia mused. "I do recall her wearing a few rings. Very well, Tiffany, your information has proven most helpful. The Monster Lord will be pleased with your cooperation in this matter."