Trials, p.3
Trials, page 3
“I order that all illusions being cast by Odelia, Saphielle, Sylmare, Cremia and Itylara are to be dropped right now!”
As Xeal finished speaking, he smiled as Queen Aila Lorafir became Odelia holding a lemon and the other four could be seen in the four corners of the room. Queen Aila Lorafir could be seen seated along the far wall from where Xeal entered looking smug as she spoke.
“You could have at least played along and eaten the apple.”
“Aila, I didn’t believe the scene, so sorry, but I doubt that it would have tasted like an apple. You would have kissed me before offering me the apple.”
“True, now let them turn that lemon back into an apple and see if that is true,” replied Queen Aila Lorafir.
“Don’t tell me that they can alter reality with their illusions now. That would break more than a few rules from what I understand.”
“We don’t alter reality, we alter your perception of it,” retorted Odelia. “You were the only one who saw anything. I did nothing to shift my voice, yet you heard me as if it was Aila speaking, even after you stopped believing I was.”
“While there is still more testing to do, they each have the ability to completely fool one of the five main senses even if you know it’s a lie,” commented Queen Aila Lorafir. “The only drawback is that it requires all five of them to work together if they wish to fool all five senses.”
“Which is why we wish to be placed on the same ship for this war,” added Odelia. “That way we can truly rule the seas. Just imagine what will happen when we put an entire fleet under such an illusion.”
Xeal instantly thought of sailors seeing a massive fleet of hundreds of ships emerging from a fog and thinking that thousands of attacks were headed for them. Add the results of them believing that their perfectly intact ship was sinking, and the ability to capture vessels with no fight became insane and too easy. Xeal frowned as he thought about this and replied.
“What is the drawback? Anything that broken must be balanced by something.”
“It costs an insane amount of MP,” replied Odelia. “While the five of us could trap an individual in such a world for days, we expect that around 5,000 will be our limit and that would only be for about two minutes. Normal illusions affect everyone in range equally unless the caster purposely excluded them, which increases the drain on them, while our new abilities are pretty much the opposite.”
“So, you won’t be able to defeat a fleet of warships without any trouble, but you could create a fair bit of chaos. What happens if you make me believe that I just died?”
At Xeal’s words, Odelia and the other four ex-pirate captains frowned as they looked at each other in a way that spoke of some recent trauma as Queen Aila Lorafir spoke.
“That was what they all experienced at the end of their ascension. After hearing it myself, I can say that it surprises me that they didn’t actually die.”
“We had to keep saying that it wasn’t real over and over in our heads while fighting the pain,” added Sylmare quietly. “I will say that if given the choice between going through that again and dying for real, I might just choose to die.”
“It is actually part of what I wish to discuss with you as I know you are not one for torture, but I wish to allow them to test their abilities on Durz and Xuk.”
“No! Aila, if it involves pain I will not allow it. Tricking them into-”
Xeal paused as he realized something that might be possible as he looked at the five and frowned as he continued speaking.
“I forbid any use of your ability to trick others into doing anything that would violate, or nullify a contract under normal circumstances. That said, you will be working to test just what is possible using your abilities to nullify such deals without triggering the consequences, quite extensively.”
Xeal could see the realization hit each of those in the room as Queen Aila Lorafir smiled while the other five all frowned and started to sulk slightly as Xeal continued.
“The five of you will be staying here and training under Aila’s watch and I am fine with you seeing what you can do to both Durz and Xuk. While I will not allow you to actually torture them, you can cause minor pain occasionally and try to trick them all you want. I will also be having Kate joining you all from time to time to test things with contract breaking and you are all to follow her orders as if they are mine.”
“We may have been pirates, but sometimes I wonder if you are not something far more sinister,” commented Odelia.
“I am. Not by choice, but by the necessity of being a noble and guild leader with a war to win. On that note, if there is nothing else to discuss I need to return my focus to that.”
“Really,” scoffed Eira, finally breaking her silence as she observed the situation. “You discover that you have five new tier-8 assets at your disposal and you act like it is a trivial matter. Xeal, I doubt that the beast-man tribes have any but Chiharu and that is still one more than the orcs have.”
“Eira, I only have them until this war ends and can only use them to control the sea and raid ports. They should allow Nium to easily gain the naval advantage, but their ships can’t jump from place to place. Even if we only wanted to transport them at will, garrison portals function terribly at sea, much like they do for travel to Cielo City.”
“We would be willing to do more if you were as well,” interrupted Sylmare.
“Got it, you don’t want to give them that so you don’t expect much,” retorted Eira. “I agree, they would be poor choices for you to even give an inch to.”
Xeal just smiled as the five ex-pirate captains frowned and he made his way over to Queen Aila Lorafir and after a few kisses and hugs and sending a few messages, returned to his normal routine. The fact that he did so with a rather potent weapon for the near future was enough to keep a smile on his face as he did so. Even though they were still stuck on the level 200 monsters and he was watching his experience from grinding diminish each time they leveled up. Thankfully, he was seeing progress and when the night of day 46 arrived, Xeal believed that they might be able to attempt to face level 201 monsters once he reached level 193 after a few more grinding sessions. With this thought on his mind, Xeal made his way to the quest world, where he was greeted by Austru as she smiled at him as she spoke.
“It seems that you didn’t need to cancel on me like you had feared.”
“Ha, yah, almost did with everything that is going on, but that would have seen me fail at one of my most important responsibilities.”
“Oh, and what is that?”
“Placing the ladies in my life ahead of all trivial matters that can be done later. Even with the war in Nium ramping up, I am not on the frontlines and things in my reality can be handled by others for a single evening.”
“Am I a lady in your life, or just a fling? I mean I still feel a bit like the other woman with how little of you I get. Though I also understand it, I just wish that I could be on the same level as the others who already hold a piece of your heart.”
Xeal just smiled as he pulled Austru into a kiss before replying.
“Austru, I promise you that you are not the other lady. If it weren’t for the fact that Aalin, Gale, Luna, Selene and Kate were all busier than I like, I would be happy to have them join us tonight. Though if you wish for that to happen in the future, I can see that it is arranged. I just thought that you wished to have me to yourself on these nights.”
“I do want these nights to myself, so maybe just once every third night like this, or so, would be fine.”
With that Austru pulled Xeal onto her bed where she initiated another kiss and Xeal just laughed to himself as he enjoyed the moment for what it was. Once more he limited things to just kissing and snuggling that night and he just enjoyed the time he had available to spend like this. When morning came, it was once more time to return to the daily minutiae as he gave Austru a kiss goodbye and returned to Nium.
Time passed slowly as more and more information came streaming in on the situation on the frontlines of the war. None of it was good in Xeal’s eyes, even if it was about what he had been expecting to occur at these stages of the war. Paidhia’s advancement into Habia had stalled out as new battle lines were established there, while the assaults on both border forts that were along Nium’s borders with the two kingdoms had begun. Xeal had placed Casmir and Caleb in charge of the fight on the Paidhia front, and Takeshi and Asa were handling the Habia front. With the town that FAE had built between the two wall forts on the Habia border, it was the one that Xeal and Kate had agreed needed the stronger defense. While Takeshi was rarely there, he would drop anything that he needed to if a major attack was imminent and Xeal would likely find his way there as well. Thankfully, the facilities there had also served to make it an attractive location to defend for all those who had gained access to it since it had been established, even if it was still only halfway built. Still, that was enough to act as a great forward operating base and as a result, Habia seemed to be looking for an alternative route of attack while Paidhia had already started a full assault on the forces guarding the forts there.
All told, casualties had already reached around 25,000 NPCs and 200,000 players across all fronts and no real change in battle lines had occurred as of yet. Still, rumors were everywhere and with all of the members of Fire Oath, Salty Dogs and Dragon Legion arriving to head to Cielo city on day 50 as scheduled, Xeal found himself being asked even more questions. Many of these were related to how long he expected that Nium would be at war, or if there was a workaround to avoid the need for traveling by ship. In the end, Xeal just stuck to saying that they needed to secure their own passage to either Dragon's Heart city, or Anelqua, regardless of circumstances. While he knew that it was possible to facilitate them traveling through the Muthia Empire, Xeal also knew that would essentially reveal too many other cards.
With the direct questionings over, Xeal was happy when he had dropped all of the players from the three super guilds and his own off. At the same time, he was happy that Enye, Dyllis, Lingxin and Mari had at least consented to visiting the now completed area of Xeal’s estate on Cielo city, where Queen Nora and Prince Vicenc were currently staying. With that handled, Xeal had met with the four rulers of the dragonoids before he allowed their daughters to spend a few days with them. This meeting had been mostly the formalities of the current situation on the ground and how Xeal wanted them to handle the exile situation of Durz and Xuk. Though neither had been transferred just yet, it was only a matter of waiting for the right time to do so quietly. While neither was tier-8, Xeal had been insistent that they be guarded by at least two tier-8 dragonoids at all times and that they were not to be killed.
When Xeal had escaped from that meeting, he made his way over to his estate to see how his wives and Queen Nora were doing. Especially as both Princesses Lorena and Bianca were currently staying there as well and he expected that there was going to be a scene when he arrived. That thought, however, didn’t play out nearly how Xeal had expected it to when he arrived, as while there was a scene before him, it wasn’t any of the ones that he had expected. Standing to greet him were both princesses dressed as maids as they bowed and spoke in unison.
““Welcome home, my lord.””
“No, just no.”
That was all Xeal could say as he took in the scene of both of them bowing to him and addressing him as their lord, as Princess Bianca spoke while both of them still held their bows.
“My lord, we are at your service. Please don’t hesitate to give us any order you deem appropriate.”
“My lord, we have come to accept our role in your house and are ready to do what we must to gain any favor we can,” added Princes Lorena.
“Who put you up to this?” asked Xeal as he tried to hold in his annoyance.
“Why would someone need to put us up to this?” replied Princess Bianca.
“We assure you that we made this decision completely free of any coercion.”
At Princess Lorena’s words, Xeal just walked past them feeling like he would be better off speaking with Queen Nora about the situation. As he passed them, they both stood straight and turned to follow him and Xeal spoke again.
“Don’t follow me.”
“If that is your will, my lord,” replied Princess Bianca.
“Stop calling me that.”
“Would you prefer master?” asked Princess Lorena.
“I would prefer you both acting like the princesses you are!”
“But that got us nowhere, my lord,” commented Princess Bianca with a slight smile. “So, we decided to throw our status away and truly serve your house every moment outside of our designated alone time with you.”
“I can just order you away if you are in service to me.”
“But you won’t, my lord,” continued Princess Bianca. “For the same reason that we are up here in the first place. It would simply go against who you are. It is the same reason Princesses Mari and Lingxin found their way beside you, as well as Eira, Luna and Selene. While you are becoming more resistant, I believe that Daisy, Violet, Bula and Dafasli are more of whens and not ifs on becoming your brides one day. That just leaves the four dragonoid ladies that serve you and us, of those who currently want in and you have a chance of escaping from to consider. We can’t train with any of you. You are only required to spend another 100 hours alone with each of us and outside of that time we will likely be ostracized by everyone. So, we have chosen to discard our pride completely and accept possibly being looked down on just to have even the slightest of chances!”
Xeal found himself locking eyes with Princess Bianca in a battle of wills as she looked like she dared him to deny her logic. The longer this continued the worse it would be and Xeal knew it as he finally responded while maintaining the staring contest.
“I will admit that I have underestimated your resolve, but it won’t work. I am confident that I will not fall for either of you, even if I must offer you a chance to change my mind.”
“That is fine, my lord,” interjected Princess Lorena. “Our goal isn’t your mind at all. It is simply to not be shut out by your wives. Now, can we please stop fighting over this and just accept that it is the current state of affairs and move on?”
“Fine, but under one condition. You both must live just like any other maid would the entire time.”
“Did you think that we weren’t?” retorted Princess Bianca. “How else could we expect for them to allow us to learn from them?”
Xeal sighed as he realized that both of them were serious about their decision, as he turned and continued to walk until he came to the room where his wives were gathered. As Xeal entered, he took in the room and took note of Queen Nora’s presence as Xeal’s children and Prince Vicenc played as if they had never been apart. Xeal could see the frown on Enye’s face as she took note of Princesses Bianca and Lorena behind Xeal as she spoke.
“I take it that they actually swayed you to allow them to maintain this ruse?”
“Unfortunately. However, the first time that they seek to be treated as anything but maids outside the time that I must spend with them they have to give it up.”
“Is that so? Very well. Bianca, I wish to bathe. Could you draw the water for me and Lorena? I like to be clean before entering the bath, so please prepare the supplies needed for you to clean my body.”
“As you wish, my lady,” responded Princess Bianca. “Do you have a preferred method for determining if the temperature of your bath is correct?”
“Also, do you have a preferred scent for the soap that is used, my lady?” added Princess Lorena.
“Today, I simply wish to see what you two choose. I am sure that it will be at least palatable as I am sure that you both are used to being pampered in such ways. Dear, I believe that I will go ahead and see if they are ready to serve in a Duke’s house over the next few days.”
As Enye said that, she stood and gave Xeal a kiss and both Princess Lorena and Princess Bianca left the room as Queen Nora spoke.
“Enye, don’t be too harsh on them, for your own good. After all, the last thing you need is to feel guilty over your actions towards them and find yourself letting them step closer to Xeal in a moment of weakness.”
“I think Nora has a point,” commented Dyllis. “So, I will join you, and I for one say that none of us should interact with either of them alone.”
“You can just leave me out of whatever comes of those two,” interjected Mari. “I will just accept yours and Enye’s opinion when the time comes to either shut them out for good, or allow them in.”
“I will join Mari on that as I find it too easy to see myself in them and wish to give them a real chance,” added Lingxin. “Xeal, know that I love you and accept the why behind how you are treating them, but I don’t like it and I for one will not blame you if they become mistresses for you.”
“Lingxin!” shouted Enye. “How is that staying out of it?”
“I am joining her on leaving the decision to you, not staying out of it,” quipped Lingxin. “I already said that I see a bit of my own situation in the one they find themselves in. There is a real chance that they will watch as everything they love is ripped from this world, just like you could, were it not for Xeal standing in the way of it.”
“I think we all need to just let them feel like they are at least not alone during this time,” interjected Xeal. “Lingxin, I have no intention to ever take a mistress of any kind. I only wish to show my affection to those who I think may become a wife one day. That said, 200 years is a long time and who knows what situations could arise between now and then. Now, in the meantime, you all need to make up your mind on Bula before anything else, as thanks to Freya I feel that my will to keep her from joining you is far too weak at this point.”
At Xeal’s words the room got silent for a long second as they all started to frown and he could tell that they were considering the issue. Xeal thought that it would take a minute before anyone responded when Eira broke the silence.
“Bula will likely join us as none of us hate her, especially after you shared what you did with us, but only after we all have reached tier-7 and you will never become the ruler of the orcs in anything but name. At least that is where I stand on the matter, though part of me wants to say that you should make her suffer through you embracing Daisy and Violet before you accept any affection from her. However, that is the petty part of me and it should never be allowed to decide anything.”
