Rupegia

I send three light-Ciels into the dark abyss, one up, one forward, and one down, but this is starting to drain me too much, so I retreat back to the fortress with Lina and keep her company while she resumes her enchanting work. It makes me feel uneasy not being there with the wives, but this is a small concession in exchange for a great increase in our scouting speed.

But now there's nobody to talk to, so I get a bit distracted, and then I overhear something that makes me interested in the conversation between Lina and the enchanters.

The elderly eagle-headed man slowly shares his opinion, his voice slightly hoarse but still a lot stronger than his visual appearance, "I've seen damage to the back of the brain impair one's ability to interpret images and even make them immune to [Illusion Magic], so I believe that sending the image directly into that area will be more efficient."

And the hairy, opossum-headed enchanter slowly nods along while making old-people noises like, "Uhum, uhum…"

Then my little Lina boldly makes a counter-proposal, "It's in the central part of the brain that we process functions like memory, so I believe that sending the image there will help us in truly understanding the extra-dimensional geography of the area we see."

The two elderly enchanters share a look, and then they both lower their heads as the eagle declares, "Very well, we shall go with your proposal, Your Highness."

But that annoys her, so she more sternly clarifies, "No, I want you to consider it. My proposal might not actually be helpful in combat, but there might be other situations where it's more useful, so I'd like to study these two approaches."

I love seeing her being so assertive, so I fawn over her cuteness as I pat her head.

"How… how may we actually carry out this study, Your Highness?" the opossum slowly questions, perhaps a bit stunned at the adorableness before his eyes.

So she breathes in deeply to give her time to gather her thoughts, and then I give her a little hand to help her explain, "We gather a group of people to test the enchantments for us in as many situations as we can imagine, then methodically write down their experiences and compare the results to find out which enchantment is more effective under specific conditions."

The opossum passively mumbles his "uhums" along with her explanation, but the eagle enchanter has a sharper gaze, though he doesn't seem very eager.

"Very well… we shall follow your request, Your Highness," he states with a neutral tone as he bows.

The two have been very careful with their phrasing. They just want to defer to her and treat her words as orders, but they also don't seem to actually want to methodically test the enchantments. The former is probably because they've been conditioned to please royalty, and the latter might be because they aren't familiar with the principles of the scientific method.

The fact that she's a little-girl-Queen giving orders from the lap of her boy-King husband certainly doesn't give a very convincing image of authority. But right now, we don't need to look imposing. We just need to show them the results.

Or rather, she needs to. I'm just here to give her moral support while I focus on the summons.

And talking about them, the light-Ciels are starting to run out of mana, but instead of replacing all three, I have one return its enchantments to me and then allow the plank it carried with the [Gate] coordinate to just fall down into the nothingness. After a minute of waiting, I try to open a [Gate], but I realize that the coordinate has disappeared.

I blink blankly in confusion, then open a [Gate] on the planks of the other two elementals, and they appear, as expected, so it doesn't seem like a scrubber has affected them.

"Officer Alcander!" I exclaim as I put Lina down on my seat and dart after him.

"Y-yes, Your Highness?" he stiffly replies as he immediately turns around, surprised at my hurried tone.

I'm actually feeling very disturbed, but I use [Acting] to hide my tone to not frighten the men, "A [Gate] coordinate I put on a plank has disappeared. What could've done that other than a Scrubber?"

"The plank was destroyed?" he tentatively suggests.

I frown thoughtfully and rub my chin with my padded claws. "That's… a possibility. Anything else?"

He shakes his head. "Not that I know of."

But I insist, "What about distance? Or the plank being sent into another dimension?"

"You would still be able to start casting [Gate]; it'd just cost so much mana that you wouldn't be able to finish the spell," he calmly exclaims.

So I sigh dejectedly as I shake my head. "No, the coordinate has disappeared from within my mind."

"Then it's either a Scrubber, or the plank was destroyed," he states matter-of-factly.

But that just makes me even more concerned, so I recompose myself and soberly declare, "I've never heard of monsters with Scrubbers. If they really have some, then we must prepare for being ambushed."

And the mature imperial man nods and hums in agreement. "Indeed. I'll send the court mages out to drop backup coordinates away from the fortress."

But I get an idea. "I can send a couple to my wives, and they'll escort the mages for a while."

So he smiles and lowers his head respectfully. "Your help is appreciated, Your Highness."

I nod, and then I return to my lap loli after sending two Space mages to the wives. We already know that the dungeon can teleport the portals away, and if the monsters activate a Scrubber that covers the fortress, we could potentially be left stranded, so having backup coordinates is paramount to our safety.

I send two more light-Ciels after the plank, but a couple of minutes later, I come to the conclusion that it was destroyed because the same happens to the first two elemental-wives. They're suddenly attacked by an invisible force that rips them apart into thousands of little pieces, and then the sense sharing is cut off as they die.

Then the last two light-Ciels also die in the same way two minutes later. It seems like there's a "killing sphere" around the bridge at the end of the corridor of skulls, and now I don't really want to fully explore the extent of the sphere because we've already lost four sets of enchantments without any gain.

In the end, the only good thing that happens this morning is that the little pigeon Gify brings to the fortress doesn't die of its mind being blown. It's stunned at first, but it soon recovers and is filled with a child-like wonder.

It even attempts to enter the 4D training area, but since it lacks both the helmet to see and the necklace to move in 4D, it gets dizzy and backs off. But this brief experience just increases its curiosity, so it spends all its time inspecting every inch of the 4D floor it's stepping on, then the men inside the training area as they get used to the extra dimension.

 

"This is the sixth tunnel of skulls," Urmeie grunts impatiently.

"Wolfy says that the previous ones all end in a suspended bridge into absolute darkness," Alissa stoically replies.

"I think it's time to do that Thread thing again," Lily suggests, also starting to sound impatient.

"It's quite a lot of strain that we're putting on our husband," Yunia calmly points out.

But Lily just shrugs and shakes her head. "Sucks to be him, but he's the only one who can do it."

And that ticks Alissa off. "You could've said that with a lot more delicacy and respect," she sternly states as she glares at the rude loli.

"I'm sorry; I'm still learning," Lily apologizes, yet we can hear the shit-eating grin in her tone.

So all she gets are unamused frowns.

As the only one not glaring at Lily, it falls to Ciel to announce, "We'll attempt to use his Thread after lunch, once everyone's had some time to rest."

"So, can we go back now?" Sam-sam immediately asks. It's understandable that he'd tire of walking first since he has toddler-like legs, but he's probably just being lazy.

And Roxanne remains absolutely silent, even though she was about to ask the same thing as him.

"We must finish escorting the Space mages first," Yunia soberly points out.

"Awn…" he whines like a child, which would be cute if he wasn't a disgusting goblin/imp.

So Roxanne whines internally to satisfy my desire for cuteness, "Awwn~…"

 

Lina organizes the testing without issue, and though the enchanters appear subtly skeptical at first, they quickly realize the wisdom in her words when they discover that her suggestion helps mages aim ranged spells and helps Earth mages build fortifications, so they quickly create more helmets and give them to the mages, which Alcander is thankful for. As for the other enchantment, it's clearly better for fast-paced melee combat, so we now have two types of helmets and possibly more on the way as the enchanters become eager to test out their ideas.

And then we all go back to the guest mansion for lunch.

"What's with the bird?" Thant curiously asks as he sits, and the little pigeon eyes the big snow cat warily.

This is something that will sound outlandish to the Earthlings, so I'm actually quite happy to explain, "They're a guest. I offered them food in exchange for a little help, and Gify invited them to stay for a little longer."

"Can it… understand us?" he concernedly questions, and the birb brain stares blankly at us, completely oblivious to what's going on.

And I chuckle softly. "No, it's just a bird. You have to use [Animal Tongue] to talk to it, but it still won't be able to understand anything complex."

"That's seriously a thing? You've become Dr. Dolittle now?" Lily casually remarks and immediately starts filling her plate. She isn't actually being hasty since Urmeie has already started eating.

But I blink blankly in confusion. "What? I don't know that one." And I'm really surprised that she just mentioned a reference that I don't know about.

"Movies about a veterinarian that can talk to animals," she offhandedly explains.

And I just shrug. "Well, I literally just speak normally, and they understand, so… yes?"

Then I notice that Samkelo is chuckling quite heartily, and our silence gives him an opportunity to interject with a taunt, "Wow, Lily. That's a really old movie, even for you. Are you sure you're just thirty years old?"

But she actually makes an adorable expression by frowning and pursing her cute little lips in embarrassment. "My parents were Westaboos. They used to download whatever pirated western movies they could get their hands on, so I spent most of my childhood watching random western stuff."

"Now that's something I didn't know," I blurt out, actually impressed. I wonder if it's just something exclusive to alt-Lily, but since it's embarrassing, even my Lily would be unlikely to admit it.

"Obviously, because it's an embarrassing memory," she cutely grumbles as she glares at her plate.

"But how do you know what she's talking about?" I question little Kellogs.

"Freddie Murphy is a gem," he answers matter-of-factly, and I frown as I get the feeling that there's something wrong, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is.

 

We have a short rest to let digestion do its thing, but then the sad yet inevitable time comes: the little bird is fully rested, and it feels ready to spread its wings once again.

"Gih guh gih…" Gify wistfully chirps and lands a wing on the pigeon's shoulder.

"Pih piih!" the little pigeon cheerfully replies, too innocent to truly understand Gify's words.

But the little griffin has taken a liking to this young bird, so she gives it a long-winded speech full of life advice, "Giih."

"Piih," the pigeon obediently thanks her. It appreciates the food, the company, the hair-nest, the (almost literal) mind-blowing experience of 4D, and the care it's been given, so it'll forever keep us in its memories. It's experienced something no other bird has ever experienced before, so it'll pass it all on to its children to immortalize this time together.

And Gify nods, still wistful that it's losing a new friend, but also happy that they met, even if only for a very short time. "Goo gyieh."

"Pih," the bird replies as it nods, then flies off.

Though this is a touching moment, the cute little birb clearly changed after its experience in 4D, making me wonder if we've just created a breed of super-birds by accident…

 

The Sky Lander enchanters are definitely pulling their weight. Each new enchanted helmet and necklace is better than the previous one, and we have an army of them pumping out new ones constantly.

Lina's work is basically done now that the enchanters have learned how to reproduce her helmet, so she might as well just leave them be and only occasionally help them out. And since we're going to do something potentially dangerous, I want her to stay with us.

So, we know the drill. I get on the Bed of Preservation, then a disposable golem and Samkelo put their hands in the "control slot" of the Bed and activate it. Kellogs then uses his Gift to locate my Thread and slowly pulls it out. Emphasis on "slowly."

At first, I feel nothing, but soon, I feel a tickling inside my head. It slowly but surely grows until it becomes really annoying, and then Samkelo stops just as everyone starts to feel weird.

"What the… I'm hearing something," Lily confusedly remarks.

And Yunia calmly explains, "You're hearing his Thread. If the gnome didn't stop, you'd start to fully relive memories related to him, one after the other, and the experience would feel so real that it would overwhelm your senses in an unpleasant way."

"What…?" Lily quacks, but Yunia just shrugs.

It is what it is.

"That felt nice," Chesa suddenly remarks, a cute little smile appearing on her lips, and we raise our eyebrows at her.

"That means that your memories with him were all pleasant," Alissa teasingly states and cheekily stares at the mer girl.

"Oh…" she hums loudly in realization, then stiffens up completely, and her light blue skin begins to redden slightly.

But after an appropriately long time that isn't long enough to be mean, Ciel kindly clarifies, "For us, they're unpleasant due to how 'intense' they are, so that doesn't mean what you think it does."

"Oh, thank God. Mine were nice, too," Samkelo remarks out loud and chuckles in relief.

"Eww…" I grumble back. Just the idea of him remembering me and feeling good makes my skin crawl.

"Mine feel uncomfortable," Thant rather hesitantly shares, and it makes sense because he sided with Lily at the beginning.

But the roasted-cinnamon loli in question is suspiciously quiet. It's obvious that her memories of me are quite bad, but not all of them are, and maybe there's something else there that we don't know about. But I'd rather not think about that right now, to be honest.

Urmeie and Caterina are also silent, but they have calm expressions, so I guess they weren't feeling anything special, which is alright. Kaatohe and the Companions all seem blissful, and if I could, I'd put a finger in Kaatohe's pussy just to confirm that she's getting wet.

Then Samkelo does a bit of "shifting" as he attempts to find the "beginning" of my Thread. I actually need to reach the "end" of it, but this is more familiar to him since he's already done it once, so it's easier to just let him continue.

"I think it's here," he suddenly announces.

So Yunia takes control of the golem using the Bed and envelops the part of my Thread that's closest to the surface with Life. This makes me feel a watery sensation inside my head, so I "grab" it with my [Soul Manipulation].

"The sound is gone," Lily curiously remarks.

"That's because I just grabbed it, so you can't 'see' it anymore," I casually explain.

And she frowns in disbelief. "That… is that really the best way you can describe it?"

"It's the only way we can describe it," I reply with a shrug.

"Nobody has ever done this before, and the only person who could even attempt to explain things is a haughty bitch," Alissa calmly follows up and flashes a cute smile.

"Damn," Thant hums in surprise.

So Ciel sighs and calmly chastises her, "Alissa, don't insult the Oracle. She's just… eccentric."

"Hmph…!" my loyal little fox stubbornly grumbles and looks away. She doesn't like the fact that I had to "sully" my completely spotless reputation and apologize because I made the Oracle orgasm with just my [Sense Soul].

I slowly bring my Thread out of my chest, which doesn't make much sense since the "watery sensation" was inside my head, but whatever… And now it's time to meditate and "access" my Thread.

So I close my eyes and focus on it. Then I feel a familiar itch, like that of the "cursor" inside my mind, and I latch onto it. This time, things go much smoother, and I quickly enter my "Thread," and then my whole life starts to flash before my eyes.

But when I reach the present, my life flashes again, even faster. Then a third, then a fourth, then a fifth, and it goes on and on, each time moving faster and faster until it all turns into a wild blur.

This is all just a cool effect, though, so I just continue forward and get past the "screen." Then I find myself staring into a black void, completely empty except for a short length of white string, which floats completely straight and ends in nothing.

So now, I grab that, and then I feel a tug, which gives me a sensation of distance and direction, just like with the fellowship bond.

Then I open my eyes and smirk as I announce, "Alright, it's time to find that goddamn portal again."

 

Predictably, it takes us to a corridor of skulls, but it's one that we haven't explored and is suspiciously in the exact opposite direction of the last corridor that we encountered. So, we've barely started the day's expedition, and we're already getting a really bad feeling about this.

"Is everyone ready to do this?" I ask out loud, my tone assured and authoritative to inspire confidence.

"To die in an obvious trap? Yes," Lily sarcastically replies, but there are two clear sides with opposing opinions about her sense of humor.

"Put your war faces on, everyone. We don't know what to expect here," I soberly reply, deliberately not addressing her directly.

"I'm always ready!" Hana exclaims with a fearsome grin, and her powerful voice infects the mood of the Companions.

"For the Ryders!" a girl cheers.

"Blessed by the light!" another follows.

"Blessed by the light!" they all repeat our motto.

"That's so corny," Alissa overhears Lily whisper to Thant.

Oh, but we're proud of that! We're corny… to the bone!

"Be brave!" I shout with [Godly Language].

And everyone suddenly cheers, "URAA!"

Now we're ready, and not even the wives are afraid of the corridor of skulls anymore. But we won't let overconfidence blind us, for it's a slow and insidious killer, and we're the ones doing the killing here.