Rupegia

Intermission – Elder of Exiles

 

The deafening sounds of those dreadful "weapons" become muffled once we enter the flying construct of these humanoids, and we're immediately slapped in the face by a lavish interior. They're not that different from the Wretches, after all, and I start to worry about our future.

The corridors are also uncomfortably small, even for someone of my age and lack of size, so the men have an awkward time not bumping into the other little humanoids that pass us by. I don't think bringing the strong men with me was necessary, after all, but I do feel more comfortable with them here as these humanoids are rather intimidating.

Thankfully, the chosen room is spacious enough to comfortably fit everyone… suspiciously spacious, actually. I've seen the Guardian alter space at will, and though this magic seems very underwhelming, I can't ever underestimate these humanoids after having seen the "invisible killers."

There are seats for everyone, though they're slightly too small for the men. Then an armored woman whispers something to the… young humanoid leader, and he nods as he flashes her a smile. She blushes and stiffens, confusing me about the reason for the flirting, but then she leaves the room with a perfectly collected gait, and I wonder what that was all about.

"Now, what is your name?" the young… "human" leader kindly asks.

His voice has a sweet undertone to it that makes me feel at ease, yet his questions feel like orders, and my knees weaken the closer I get to him. I'm not sure if I like him or not, as he reminds me too much of the Guardian, but I can't find any fault in his attitude.

"My name is Echo of Bliss," I collectedly answer.

He seems to be confused for a second, but then he snaps out of it and continues, "My name is Wolf Ryder. I'm the Crown Lord of the Western High Forest and the chosen inheritor of the elven royal line."

Royalty…? But they don't look like elves. Actually, I have no idea what race the young royal is, which is very odd.

The other royals also give their names, and then the armored woman that left comes back with a robed soldier, who starts to chant something peaceful. The spell quickly completes, and the chairs suddenly widen to a comfortable size for the men, who murmur in delight.

But while they rejoice, there's something that confuses me. So I frown and carefully choose my words, then slowly ask, "What is the meaning of your name, Royal Ryder?"

"'Your Highness' is the correct honorific," another armored woman sternly corrects.

I breathe in deeply and show no reaction to not encourage the men to become dangerously belligerent in front of royalty, then calmly repeat, "Forgiveness. What is the meaning of your name, Your Highness?"

He gives me a curious look as he replies with a gentle tone, slightly soothing the men again, "There's… no meaning to it. Do yours have meaning?"

I slowly nod to not hurt my neck. "Yes, my birth reminded my parents of their own childhood, so they wished for mine to be at least as happy as theirs were."

"Names with meanings were more popular a long time ago, but that has gone out of fashion," Royal Ciel states. Her voice is even more alluring than young Wolf's, but I find her tone less commanding, though I'm not sure which of the two is more dangerous.

"Why?" I blurt out, my curiosity about these odd humanoids getting the better of me.

"Because uniqueness is both bad and good," the quiet dragon speaks, and her voice is as fearsome as her gaze is penetrating. I feel little "danger" from her, but I know very well that she's the one you really don't want to anger. "Names can have hidden meanings, or they're picked just because they sound pretty. But what you're called should have no influence on your Fate, so we don't normally give meaningful names to avoid creating wrong expectations."

"That's true," Royal Wolf casually remarks with a bright chuckle, and the female dragon seems to give him a kind gaze, sharing an understanding that I'm not part of.

"I see. How curious…" I remark, trying to glean some meaning from their actions.

But Royal Wolf waves his clawed hand dismissively, creating tinkling sounds as his shiny scales hit each other. "Let's get to the main topic. We need to agree on a way to transport your people, and it'll likely involve flying on an airship."

"'Airship'?" I question curiously.

He motions to the walls. "This is an airship."

And I frown concernedly. "It's… small."

But he soothingly replies, "Indeed, but we can borrow more from the Sky Landers. Still, it'll be a bit of a journey, so you'll need to prepare for it."

"I see…" I hum as I'm suddenly overwhelmed with thoughts of everything that we'll need to do.

But we're completely at their mercy…

And I let out a long sigh. One moment, I was enjoying afternoon tea, and in the next, I have to start preparing us for a migration as our homes are now under threat of oblivion.

"I understand this can be difficult," Royal Wolf kindly states with a sympathetic smile.

But I'm frustrated. What does he know of us?!

"Do you…?" I blurt out against my better judgment. Then I realize how rude that sounds, so I hastily add to mask it, "… Your Highness?"

And his intense gaze becomes surprisingly wistful. "I have a home that I can't return to. I believe it still exists, but I can't get any information on it."

Maybe I was hasty. I know nothing about these… "unique" humanoids.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Your Highness," I earnestly apologize. Then I glance at the men and see that they've been completely enthralled by his charisma.

We're more than just at their mercy now…

And I already feel my resistance slipping away as his kind gaze pierces my heart. "And I'm sorry for yours, but we'll try to help ease things for you."

"I thank you for your kindness, Your Highness," I reply and lower my head in guilt.

I don't know why humanoids would ever be kind to us; that's why I'm so suspicious, but I can't find it in me to resist his benevolence.

But I'm suddenly pulled back from my thoughts. "Were you happy living in your village?" the dragoness curiously asks.

What a… curious question.

"I believe so…" I answer truthfully.

"Believe?" she repeats intensely.

We're proud of our lifestyle, so I defend it, "Life isn't easy, but we were blessed with peace." But there's something about my tone that feels… empty.

And her interrogation continues, her large, intimidating head starting to seem larger in my eyes, "Why hasn't your kind grown and expanded? Your island has a lot of undeveloped land."

"It was unnecessary. We shouldn't upset the balance as we're… we were exiles," I calmly answer, as I'm already used to being questioned this way by the younger ones.

But she asks me a question that puts me a bit off balance, "Don't you feel envy for the other Titans that were allowed to build a huge civilization?"

And I start to feel defensive. "Why would we? We're content to live our lives in peace and quiet."

Then she makes me pause. "And what about now? Do you think that you'd want to expand now that you aren't under their control?"

"We'll be under your control, Your Highness," I point out after a moment of thought.

"We'll allow you to expand as you wish," the young Royal Wolf answers reassuringly.

Now I'm out of options, and I can't think of a true answer to give. "I… don't know. That's not for me to decide."

"It's better to live as a pious humanoid than to live as a monster under Destruction's merciless will or even as an atheist," Royal Aoi continues, her intensity starting to feel like actual pressure upon my body.

"That's for them to decide," Royal Ciel interjects, staring sternly at the dragoness, yet her voice feels like a fresh breeze on a hot day.

But then an odd silence settles in, and I feel like saying something, but I don't have any actual answer to give. I need time to think.

So I just hum with an anxious frown, "I see…"

And the dragoness Aoi suddenly becomes embarrassed, and then her tone softens into something that could even be called "girly." "I… I hope you find your Spark. I was a godless monster like you, but now I've converted and gained a system. I've finally found my purpose in life, and it has made it much better."

But I suddenly realize something extremely important, and even the men suddenly seem alarmed. "Wait, you were a monster? A monster like us?"

Now her lips attempt to rise in what seems to be a smile, though it also almost looks like she's snarling. "Yes. My soul wasn't so different from yours not that long ago."

Again, I'm speechless, and all I can do is hum, shocked, "I… see…"

"For those who wish for it, we might find a way to convert you too, but we'll leave that decision to the individual," Royal Wolf strikes us with another stunning statement.

I don't know what the future holds, and frankly, I'm scared of it, yet my hand trembles with excitement.

So all I can do is honestly thank our benefactor as I lower my head, "I appreciate your consideration, Your Highness."

 

Intermission end.

 

I'm grateful that the Rupegians at least use "your" when referring to us because if they didn't, their manner of speech would become awfully stilted. I like the show of respect, but not even the dragon in me would enjoy the extreme levels that earthling royalty would go to with it. Banter is just a part of my DNA.

Anyway, there aren't a lot of exiles, just a few hundred of them, but since they're so big on average, we'll need to arrange for a number of transport airships to take them back to the High Forest. Echo of Bliss will also talk to the rest of the villagers and slowly explain everything, so it might take a few days to organize everyone, but he and Hihiriwa should be enough to get that sorted.

And now that we're free, we have a party to participate in… buuut we get a message from Queen Venison that she wishes to talk. Yunia is actually just supervising right now, so she joins me this time.

Alissa then takes Ciel to the Carrier so that they can snipe some Titans, and that proves to be an… interesting distraction.

Hana comes back from battle and lands among the Companions, who are a respectable couple of meters behind them.

"Girls…" she greets huskily.

"Your Highness," they reply, and a few of the more carnivorous ones have very wide grins in the hopes of getting her attention.

Control yourself, my dragon. Tonight… the orgy will be tonight…

"Are you enjoying yourselves?" Hana teasingly continues.

"Apologies, Your Highness, but do I hear a suggestive tone?" a cheeky one replies, and she has just earned herself a ticket for a mind-blowing orgasm.

"I won't answer that, but instead, I'll say that I'm now enjoying myself," the thirsty dragonkin suggestively answers.

"Understandable," another girl follows in the same tone.

"The view is so nice, after all," a third adds.

And they all sagely hum and nod as they observe Ciel firing the gun while only wearing a mildly body-conforming dress.

Recoil must've been a divine creation because dayumn…

 

The meeting with Queen Patika is in the stupidly big main hall of their palace, the not-Sistine-Chapel, My Eyes Hurt From All These Colors Version, and she and her husband receive us at the clear glass table at the center.

Ah, yes, this must be where the Titans got their sense of style from… though theirs was so much more exaggerated to the point of being warped.

The Hau-Hou pair receive us with warm smiles, and Patika promptly begins after we sit, "We must thank you all for saving the Sky Lands. This would've ended in a completely different way if the Gods hadn't sent you and the other earthlings here to save us."

"Don't mind it. Even if we had a deal, it was simply the right thing to do," I assuredly answer.

"Still, we must give you your deserved honors…" Then her smile dies, and she becomes solemn. "And also our most sincere apologies."

"The attack on the factory happened under our watch, so we're partially responsible for anything that was stolen," King Temamana gravely continues.

The dragon is actually offended while the human is wary, but any emotional reaction will reveal some of the cards in your hand, which is simply unnecessary unless you're trying to deceive your opponent, and we aren't aiming for that… this time.

So Yunia gives the diplomatic answer, "It was a difficult time. We understand that anyone able-bodied was being mobilized for defense, and that left the factory with less protection."

"Even we had most of our men in combat rather than defending the factory," I add in the same tone.

And Patika states, "But since you're the saviors of our nation, we must make it clear that we'll provide any support required to find the culprits."

We haven't cleared the Hau-Hou of being behind this, so we'll reserve our suspicions. The attack was perfectly timed, as we were all busy dealing with the Guardian, but the fact that every single Prince and Princess was mobilized and sent to the front at the same time would be a bit difficult to hide.

Servants would know, and it's hard to keep them from gossiping about this sort of information at such a critical and tense moment, so it'd eventually leak and reach eager ears.

But for now, it's time to be tactical, so I relay our pre-approved statement, "We don't want to show weakness or dwell on this matter. It has already happened, and we only want to rest for now, so let's move on." Now this is being deceiving.

Then Yunia immediately moves us on to the second important topic, "There's also not much to be done, though we'd appreciate some concessions to soothe our worries and repair our relationship."

And Patika smiles eagerly. "Certainly. But before we start with that, I wish to suggest something. We heard that you land-dwellers enjoy having 'victory parades' across town, so why don't we perform one with you and the other Gifted at the forefront? It'd be the least we could do to honor your accomplishments."

They certainly know how to butter up a dragon's ego.

 

Negotiations bore me, especially when I'm lacking sleep, and King Temamana seems to be the same. We share a wry smile as the two women have an intense discussion, but Yunia notices my thought and decides to finally put an end to it.

Then we have some free time while we wait for the parade to start. The final report of the battles comes in, and I go over the casualties. One Companion dead, crushed in the super fortress when it was attacked by the spheres; twenty-two Lordsguard died in the battle with the endless horde; one spirit Chimera pilot was shot down and hasn't been found; all our Wasps are either damaged or destroyed; we lost half of our Dragon-Class planes; and just two Eagle-class were destroyed.

The concerning thing is the pilot. We're above the ocean, and it's very likely that their gem would've survived the crash, so we'll contact the mer living below to begin a search effort. This area is very populated by mer since it's safe due to the constant traffic of merchant ships coming and going from the capital, but I'm worried that it might have fallen onto a merchant ship, and they may have stolen the valuable gem.

If we're lucky, he fell with the wreck, which is much easier to find than a little gem in a huge ocean.

 

It takes a surprisingly short time for the Sky Landers to organize the parade. Considering how easy it is to start an orgy with them, I guess they're just that good at partying.

And then it finally starts as evening sets in. Night is the perfect time for it as magical fireworks are set off, the kind that you'd see at the start of the first Lord of the Rings movie, and the human (child) in me gets obsessed with staring at them.

Pretty colors…!

But there are orgies going on in the streets, and the dragon is more interested in that, so I use two monitors and keep one on the porn while I smile and wave.

"Holy shit, they're actually fucking," Lolily quietly coos.

"How long have you been here? Shouldn't you be desensitized to it by now?" Alissa questions back, wanting to banter a bit with her.

But Lily just shrugs. "We don't go out a lot. No real point to it."

"On the one day we went out, we started an orgy," Hana brags wistfully.

"We don't go around fucking random people," Lily grumbles as her mood starts to shift.

"Yeah, we have two virgins we've gotta protect," Samkelo offhandedly jokes.

Thant just rolls his eyes, mildly annoyed, while Chesa purposely ignores the conversation, but it makes me happy that she doesn't even blush. It's only with me that she really feels shy.

"We've taken friends to brothels before," Hana states and turns to the virgins.

Thant isn't adept enough to hide the excited twitch in his tail, but Chesa continues to ignore things, even more so now that casual sex has been mentioned.

And Samkelo takes the bait, "You in a brothel?"

"Yeah, I fuck other women. Plenty of people have seen me cum, already," she proudly answers and crosses her arms to frame her breasts and make her nipples poke through her dress.

"You really want me to follow you around like a dog, huh?" he remarks with a snort, talking to us in general rather than answering Hana directly.

"I want you to bend over for us and lick our feet," Yunia states sternly, unleashing her queenly aura upon him.

But he smiles wryly. "And then you peg me?"

"No, but I can have someone else do that for me," she follows up even more intensely, and that shuts him up for a second.

I shiver as I feel a few gazes fall on my back, but I simply ignore them because that's not even what she's implying; it's just that the fujos that I've married won't miss a chance to tease me.

"What good is it if I don't get to fuck you?" the gnome attempts to dodge.

But Yunia's blue jewels enthrall him and forbid such cowardice. Her tone is final, like a sentence being delivered, and it spells the doom of his asshole. "It's the closest you'll ever get to me, and you will enjoy it, I'm sure of it."

I sense that a certain someone is getting annoyed by the sex talk, so I masterfully interject in the best way to annoy everyone, "Just smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave."

As for the parade, the Sky Landers have requested to buy our supply of blanks, and we've agreed to it at a cheap price just because we want this party to really bang. And they use it to blow the eardrums of everyone nearby as they have their men showcase the auto rifles to the crowd as we pass by.

And they're going wild from both the gunfire and the sexy women that are throwing coins while free alcohol slowly flows through the streets. That worries me, though, as it could turn into a mess really quickly since they've already been partying all day, but it seems that the Hau-Hou know how to control their population, for the level of chaos remains low.

Which is great for us as we get most of the attention. The dragon in me is loving this parade while the human would rather just go to sleep, but the dragon wins this battle of emotions, and by a lot.

I'm not the only one enjoying this, though. Yunia, Hana, Kaatohe, Urmeie, and Belind are all radiating noble energy, as expected of them, though there's one intruder among them, but that's fine since the vibe she's exuding is basically the same as the others. Looklwind is the only noble "not in his element," and he's doing just as I said: smiling and waving, but there's not much emotion behind it.

And this parade is actually nice because our open carriage is enchanted with a sound-deadening spell, so all we hear are the faint muffled sounds of the craziness going on around us. We don't want the headaches to come back, but the sounds are still loud enough to give us a bit of euphoria.

The Carrier was also brought back from the first level of the dungeon to be displayed above us, but we don't have the airplanes take off and join the parade because most of them are under repair. But the Sky Landers are ready to make up for that, and they use their own planes to fill up the sky.

Trailing the parade are the coffins of the deceased, but instead of creating a solemn mood, the crowd parties even harder once they spot them because their spirits are walking in the flesh alongside their bodies. They'd still party hard regardless since that's the general rupegian way of honoring the dead, but since the crowd can interact with the fallen heroes, they let their fangirl sides come out.

All of this is a nice ego boost, and I even start to feel refreshed, but the real fun is still to come.