Rupegia

Chapter 165: Rough Start – Part 1

"Who was that person?" I sternly question as I release Caterina's hand, who slowly sheathes her sword as she stares at the Travelers suspiciously.

"Whakaahua, our healer," Samkelo answers, eyeing the Punisher Captain quite warily.

"What the fuck is going on?" U Thant growls, but he doesn't seem like a threat, even though he's a lionfolk. I can feel that he's just posturing to not look like a wimp.

Ciel then uses her angelic aura to diffuse the situation. "We're all among friends and allies here, so let's sit down first and talk through this calmly," she kindly suggests, the power of love in her voice soothing even Caterina, who un[Equip]s her armor.

And so we do as she says.

I get some looks of disbelief from the Travelers as my wives and I occupy a whole sofa and also my lap. There are also wandering eyes since the girls are all wearing very attractive clothing that shows a lot of skin, but it's Aoi who receives the most glances as they start to imagine the logistics of fucking a dragon.

Chesa, the Thalanthro girl, seems more interested in Gify, though. She also barely showed any reaction to Whakaahua's disappearance and Caterina's shouting, so I already have her pegged as a "weird one."

There are two Chimera soldier guides here, so I point to one and order, "You, call Prince Hekeman-u. We have a serious situation here."

I know that this soldier knows Andraste, and though he freezes for a second in indecision, he still bows and hurries out.

Then I turn to the Travelers… the Heroes, and command, "Now, tell us who this Whakaahua was."

But U Thant, the snow lion, really wants to take back control of the conversation. "Wait, wait. What did you do to him that made him teleport? You two were just staring at each other when he suddenly jumped in his seat and went 'oops,' then just disappeared."

I think that's a fair question, so I answer honestly, "I have a skill called [Sense Soul] that lets me see some of your 'Stats,' and what I saw when I used it on Whakaahua was… confusing. To begin with, his 'Name' is definitely not Whakaahua."

"Then what was it?" Samkelo eagerly hums.

I frown and look away as I try to remember, and Gify gives me a little clawed hand by showing me the memory in question, "Some random characters, like, 'Munzer K-N-Q,' then it was…" -I hold back a grin because that'd be inappropriate- "'Tycho peeweechinchin wowowo baa~sd.'"

"[What…]?" the young gnome quacks in English confusedly.

I shrug and let out a deep sigh. "That's what I saw… along with some numbers that were ridiculous, like twelve 'plus' eighty-six 'Strength.'"

"What does that even mean?" Urmeie asks out loud, but she doesn't get an answer.

Adding those numbers, you get ninety-nine, which is a common "max value" in certain RPG games. Coupled with his name being as if someone had just typed random things (chinchin is schlong/penis in Japanese), I believe he was some sort of "cheat-like" existence. Could've been a Gifted, but that'd make him a very frightening Gifted, if not God-like.

"How about we recall Lily? She should also hear what happened," Alissa suddenly suggests, and even I agree.

I turn to one of the Companions and calmly order, "Call her back for us." And she promptly obeys with a nod, though I sense a lick of fear in her expression. I am sending her to basically convince a grumpy, angry dragon to come back.

Samkelo turns to Alissa and questions curiously, "How do you know her name?"

But Alissa smiles proudly. "I know quite a lot about my husband's former wife."

"Former wife?" Urmeie repeats in disbelief.

"You're from Earth, right? Aren't you too young for that?" U Thant questions me, his fanged jaw slack from surprise.

"I'm thirty years old," I answer with a wry smile.

"Fuck, you're the same age as me!" mama bear… sister bear shouts, taken aback, but then she suddenly frowns. "That explains some things…"

"Ayy, another fellow old fart!" Samkelo cheerfully exclaims with a grin.

"I-I'm not old!" I retort, horrified.

But the (old) young gnome ignores me and points to Chesa and U Thant as he teases, "These two squirts are little teens, just like most of the soldiers, so it was just Lily and me who were mature here, and it was starting to get lonely."

That draws some soft chuckles as the tension starts to diffuse.

"I see you have an enviable inclination towards nonchalance," Caterina calmly states, and I take note of her use of "enviable." She is someone who needs to chillax a bit more, after all.

He shrugs as he smirks and leans back in his seat. "I've made Lily and the white cat mad a few too many times, so I'm used to it."

"Why do you call me 'cat' but call Lily by her name?" U Thant dryly asks.

The gnome flashes him a cheeky grin. "Cuz it ain't funny when she's mad."

"Oh, it is; you just need to learn how to dodge," I state matter-of-factly and mirror his expression.

"I believe you meant not literally," Yunia calmly clarifies, and her joke gives me a pure smile, wiping away some of the pain from this explosive first meeting.

And I wryly continue, "Yes. Well, the [Dodge] skill also helps, but if you need it, you did something wrong."

"Since you mentioned it. What was that exchange with her about, exactly?" Urmeie curiously inquires. I didn't peg her as a drama hound, but she is an adrenaline junkie, so I guess she likes any sort of excitement.

"We're monogamous back on Earth. Me creating a harem was a betrayal," I succinctly explain.

"Huh…" sister bear grunts thoughtfully. For once, she doesn't try to act irreverent, as it's clearly a serious topic for me.

"Are they really all your wives?" the mer girl curiously asks.

Alissa's pimping senses start tingling, but she also senses that Lily is returning, so she keeps it brief, "Yes, we are, and we're proud of our positions, but let's not talk about this right now because Lily is returning."

The Companion saunters into the room, quite happy with her successful mission, and Lily comes in right behind her, giving me a moment to finally appreciate Lily's clothes along with those of the other Heroes. They're all wearing a comfy but fashionable shirt and pants combo with vibrant colors and intricate silver trimmings that have a rather formal air but (unfortunately) aren't semi-transparent like normal Chimera fashion. I do like sharply dressed women, though, and both Lily and Chesa look ready to kill.

The Heroes also wouldn't be out of place on Earth, except for the fact that they're all non-human, though Lily could pass as a cute little girl. But then the venomous look that the roasted cinnamon dwarf gives me pulls me out of my musings. She even frowns at Lina, and I think I know why she'd object to me having a loli on my lap.

"The fuck happened?" she asks and looks around as she sits down.

And so I describe everything that I saw in Whakaahua's [Soul Info].

"You sure that skill can't be fooled?" Caterina questions, as even she finds Whaka's "Stats" to be ridiculous.

I shrug tiredly and honestly answer, "It's the first time such a thing has ever happened, and I simply have no idea what the fuck those 'Stats' mean. I only know what I saw, and Gify can confirm that there's no error in my memory."

"Gih!" she chirps and proudly stands up on my shoulder.

Chesa subtly bites her lower lip and puts a hand over her heart as she's lovestruck by my chibi white griffin's adorableness.

Gih!

And then Caterina grimly continues, "But the fact that he disappeared without releasing a single trace of mana means he either used heretical magic or he has level one hundred in [Mana Efficiency], which has only ever been achieved by Emperors or elderly Grand Mages."

"He was neither, but we don't know much about him. He was just the healer that was assigned to us," the snow lionfolk assuredly confesses.

"But if his 'Stats' were true, then he definitely could have perfect mana efficiency," I point out. Adding up the numbers in his "MP" entry results in 999,999 mana, which I assume is God Ruler level, if not beyond that.

But Caterina's words take such a somber tone that it gives us pause, "If an existence such as his truly exists… then the Realm is in danger."

We fall silent for a moment as we reflect upon that. Whaka's existence simply doesn't make sense.

And then Samkelo shares an interesting piece of information, "I saw him using an Inspection Crystal in front of us. If he could fool it, then maybe he could fool your skill, too?"

"So… a heretic," the Punisher affirms, her expression turning dark and murderous.

"Wouldn't be the first time a heretic spy has managed to get close to a Gifted," Alissa bitterly remarks. Indeed, the Innocent Nymph, the werefox spy that tried to approach us from behind, and the heretic that appeared in the bandit camp we attacked in the Misty Low Forest; all attempts to kill us.

"Are you sure the spell he used was heretical?" Lily soberly questions the Punisher.

"Only heretical magic doesn't use mana, and when you use mana, you always leave a trace," she states categorically.

"She's a Punisher Captain, by the way," I proudly add.

"Right, introductions!" Ciel suddenly exclaims.

And we finally share everyone's names. I also share my new name because the vision only showed them my earthling name.

"Chuuni," Lily grumbles, trying not to smirk, as I know that she doesn't really dislike my new name.

The other three do grin teasingly, though, and then the gnome curiously asks, "Why did you change your name?"

My answer is clear-cut, "Because Heitor is a grandpa's name, and I just wanted a cool name for myself."

But they just chuckle.

"What's the problem with his name?" Alissa questions with a frown, feeling a bit defensive about her beloved husband.

"Imagine if his name was literally Dragon Knight," Lily dryly answers, seemingly disliking having to talk to my wives.

"It'd be weird, but not something that deserves ridicule," my loyal fox slave assuredly retorts, and Kaatohe and Hukarere nod emphatically at her words.

"It also sounds like something from Maplethorne," Hana adds in support.

"Different cultures," Lily hums dismissively with a shrug.

And that ticks off Alissa just a little bit, but she drops it, for she knows not to start an argument with Lily.

Then we finally finish introductions, and I receive a lot of raised eyebrows at the number of women who are related to me. But first, the golem trio draws eyes full of wonder from the two "boys."

"Are they like robots?" Samkelo excitedly asks.

"Not exactly," Jarn calmly begins.

"Our emotions are heavily suppressed," Ted follows with a clinical tone.

"And we're conditioned to only have one wish: to serve," Suzy finishes in kind.

"Rad," U Thant hums, puzzling me because I think that slang is too old, even for me.

"So, you're people?" Lily skeptically asks, her face still sharp and stern.

"We have more in common with summons," Ted explains.

"And they are merely mirrors, copies, of the summoner's soul," Suzy adds.

A hint of a smirk starts to creep up on her face as she turns to me and gives my ass a brief tonguing, "So you put a copy of your own soul in a female suit of armor? I always knew you had a thing for traps, but I didn't imagine it would involve making yourself into one. Must be a new brand of narcissism."

"Isn't she just Roxanne, but worse?" Ciel worriedly asks through [Bind].

"At least we have a second confirmation that I'm Wolfy's type," Roxanne smugly retorts.

"'Narcissism'?" Alissa questions, then the golems give her an explanation of the word through [Bind], and the negative connotations of "Narcissism" tick her off further. "Why is that such a bad thing? There's nothing wrong with loving yourself. Wolfy is a great person, and it's simply good to have more of him," she states emphatically and gives me a beaming smile.

This is the kind of praise and worship that I expect of my lovely wives, but for the Realm Travelers, it only sounds cringe, and then it comes off as borderline insane once they realize she's being 100% not ironic. I've been around these wonderful women for so long that I'd actually forgotten what an earthling would think of their behavior towards me.

And Lily narrows her eyes in disapproval, her expression making alarm bells ring in my mind. She's giving off the signs that she's preparing for a fight, but it's already too late to appease her.

"How old are you, Queen Alissa?" she quietly asks with a thinly-veiled hostile tone.

Alissa immediately understands what she's getting at. It's always been in the back of my mind how young most of my wives are and how the average non-creep earthling would call me a creep pedo and then sic the cops on me.

"I'm old enough to lead men into battle and kill others with my own hands," my brave wife faces the ultimate boss with a bold, unwavering declaration.

"You sound young," Lily states, then turns her sharp eyes towards me, and I brace for the incoming verbal spanking. "Have you been fucking underage girls, Wolfy?"

I just smirk and cheekily answer, "They aren't underage in this world."

Alissa immediately backs me up as she glares at the roasted cinnamon loli, "It's the Sin of Rape to have sex with immature girls. If the Gods allow, then it isn't morally wrong."

"You have child brides, Wolfy," Lily severely states, completely ignoring my fox sex slave, and that ticks Alissa off once again, making her legitimately angry.

"You don't have the right to treat me like a child," Lina suddenly chimes in and gives Lily a gloomy stink-eye, defending both Ciel and me from being called pedos.

"As I'm a dwarf too, I can sense that you're very young, so, in my world, you are a child," the angry loli states to the angry loli.

"We're not on Earth," I calmly retort, trying to not sound smug.

"I believe there are more appropriate times for this conversation," Samkelo attempts to diplomatically diffuse the situation.

But the young snow lion sides with the angry loli as he reprovingly remarks, "No, no… I've just remembered that I heard that King Wolf Ryder married three former slaves, with two being Blood Slaves." And he tries to shame me with his stern stare as if I give a single fuck about his opinion.

"You aren't supposed to mix fantasy and fetishes with reality, Wolfy," Lily caustically adds, almost sneering.

Now the mood heats up as our side recovers from the shock, and our indignation starts to flare up. Everyone can easily detect the disgust and disapproval in Lily's and U Thant's tone, and such harsh criticism of us, the royals, deeply offends our loyal men.

"Regardless of whether or not you're his former wife, your tone is too disrespectful," Oritiki warns dangerously, and the bull's aura of dignity and authority clashes with the loli's aura of anger and scorn as they attempt to intimidate each other.

Things are starting to get out of control.

And the dragon inside me smirks at their challenge, but there are more important things than butting heads with moralistic earthlings.

Then a powerful, crystalline voice echoes throughout the room, the virtuous purity of her tone making her impossible to ignore and the intensity of her reproval enough to stop the bull-headed Horn and the bullheaded loli. "Now is not the time for such talks of morals," Ciel reprimands the childish trouble-makers.

But while U Thant bites his tongue, Lily stubbornly insists, "Oh, it fucking is! My ex-husband has not only cheated on me with multiple women, but he's also a fucking pedophile!"

So I just give them the naked truth, "Okay, and then what? These are the rules of the world, and the Humanoid Gods still approve of me, as I still have the Blessing from the Goddess of Knowledge, even after all this degeneracy."

"If we don't tell you that your actions are abhorrent, then who will?!" Lily lashes out frustratedly. I know that all she wants is to fight because she's angry and hurt, but I'm not just going to accept her moral-bashing.

So I fully glare at her as I growl, "You're not going to convince me to change! You're just going to drive a wedge between us like this after the Gods explicitly told us we have to work together to not die!"

And I get a bad feeling that both Lily and U Thant want to say "fuck the Gods," but they seem to know that that would go down very badly with the present Punisher Captain and the numerous pious Rupegians. I also now understand that the Gods had to explicitly tell us to work together, or we'd be at each other's throats right now.

Yunia then coldly bashes them back with the truth, "I understand that there's a calamity approaching? One that is worse than the 'Fortress of Calamity' that threatens the Chimeras?"

But the Heroes don't seem to have realized that there's a bigger picture here, so I give them a little push, "I've been sent here by the Gods to find the Lord of Storms that's somewhere in the Broken Skies, not to deal with this Fortress of Calamity. There's still a lot more going on in the rest of the world than just this little threat to the Sky Lands, like multiple assassination attempts upon my life by heretics, for example."

That finally gets Lily to stop, as she frowns thoughtfully, then sighs and stops glaring at us. She's not enough of a berzerker to completely lose her "Intelligence" when angry.

And so, the bomb has been defused, allowing the mood to settle down again. Oritiki and the others on our side are still quite miffed, but they won't press this further if we let it go, though they won't forget this offense by the Heroes.

An awkward silence begins to set in, but then Samkelo remarks with a conciliatory tone, "Rumors take a while to get here, and when they do, they've been warped a lot. Like, people have been talking mad shit about you."

"The Chimeras warned us that you could enthrall and seduce any woman with your touch," Chesa suddenly adds, and the not-Zora girl stares at me with a rather concerned expression.

I shrug as I calmly brag, "I have high 'Charisma' and multiple sex skills. I can even use magic that makes sex into something amazing, so the rumor is partially correct, though it's a bit exaggerated."

"What the fuck…" Lily grumbles in disbelief, while U Thant and Chesa become speechless, then Samkelo starts wheezing.

"That's why I'm here. I'm chasing his tail," Urmeie remarks with a smirk, talkative again, now that the topic isn't about morals.

Yunia's feeling vengeful, so she attempts to make them even more disgusted, "And because he's the only weredragon in existence so far, a lot of women want his children, as they seek more prestige."

Then Alissa pounces on the chance to proudly pimp me out, "But he is extremely skilled in sex, capable of giving so many bliss-inducing orgasms to women that they hopelessly fall in love with him."

And Kaatohe comes in for the finisher, "He also has [Mana Body], which makes his cum magical, so it's really tasty and nourishing to Chimera spirits like me."

"Eww…" Lily quietly whines, while Chesa just grins in disbelief.

"Okay, TMI, dude," U Thant complains as he raises his furred hands in a plea for us to stop.

But he once again uses such an old slang that it throws me off, so I reflexively remark, "You're using English slang, but your name is completely exotic to me."

He questioningly raises a furry eyebrow. "What? Don't you know Burme?"

But I frown in confusion. "Burme? Where is it? I've heard the name once, but I don't remember where it was on Earth.

"Right next to Cambodjia," he answers, sounding a bit annoyed at my ignorance.

Now that is a place that I can point to on a map, though it's a curious choice for a reference since "Cambodjia" isn't a particularly recognizable country. "Oh, yeah~… I just don't know much about the countries over there."

"Hmph… you're not the first," he grumbles and glances at Lily, who pointedly doesn't look anywhere near where he's sitting.

I turn to the other Heroes and ask, "What about you two?"

"South Africa. I used to be black," the beardless gnome answers with a grin.

"What?" I quack confusedly.

He just shrugs and answers amusedly, "I guess there aren't any black gnomes, or something? So that's probably why the Gods made me white?"

"I also had darker skin," U Thant quietly chimes in.

"I had pale skin," Chesa hums.

"We have no idea why we were changed this way," Lily flatly adds as she refuses to look me in the eye.

I want to say that she used to be lighter-skinned, but I don't have the energy to address her right now.

"You could always use [Alteration Magic] to change your skin tone?" Kaatohe questions them.

"We don't feel like it," Chesa nonchalantly answers.

"I like this white coat…" U Thant hums as he pats his arm with his furred hand.

And Samkelo just shrugs.

Then we turn towards Chesa, as nobody has anything else to add. "What…?" she whispers confusedly.

Her forgetfulness is… well, odd. "Where are you from?" I kindly ask.

"Philippines, Puanabik…" she answers, then immediately adds rather dryly, preemptively answering my question before I can ask it, "My mother was Russian, so I inherited her facial features and skin color."

Then Lily tiredly raises her hand and scans the non-Heroes as she shares, "For those who don't know, I'm an Indian who emigrated to Canada, but I assume only we know what those words mean?"

And Alissa doesn't miss the opportunity to be antagonistic, "We know quite a lot about Earth, as Wolfy has told us many stories about it, seeking comfort in the memories, for he had nothing else to remind him of home, alone as he was when he first came here."

Technically the truth, though it's more like I simply allowed them to peruse my memories through [Bind] and with Gify's help.

But the problem is that Alissa's little speech kills the mood just as it had started to recover.

"Sorry… I couldn't stop myself," she guiltily apologizes through [Bind].

"The Gods said that separating us was necessary…" Chesa points out, sounding rather sorrowful as she empathizes with my story.

Instead of guilting them further, I decide to impassively follow up with my opinion, "I am a King now, so I believe my purpose was establishing a safe territory that we could start spreading our earthling knowledge from, and I'd never have achieved this much if I hadn't been forced to abandon my old, meek self."

U Thant and Chesa share a look, then he worriedly admits, "We're dumb teens, so we don't know much."

"There's no hurry. You'll find your calling one day," Ciel kindly soothes them. Then the lion's eyes fall upon her massive cleavage for a split second before he looks away.

Then our chat is interrupted as the Chimeras have finally returned, but it's only Diplomat Tamapa with a couple of soldiers, and the zebra-headed man looks awfully tense.

Seeing that he has everyone's attention, he clears his throat and calmly announces, "Your Highnesses, Travelers, the King and Queen would like to speak with you about Mr. Whakaahua. We've already begun a search for him, but we have little idea of where he might've gone."

"I'll have my detachment join your men in the search," Caterina immediately volunteers. I believe her goal is to have the Punishers observe the Chimeras rather than for them to be useful to the search itself.

"You're welcome to join our men," Tamapa answers with a nod.

Then we leave the mansion.