Rupegia

Chapter 65: The Last King – Part 1

Yunia lays in my arms as I play with her springy ear. It's squishy like our lobes, but more elastic, and without any of the harder cartilage like a human ear. You can easily roll it up, and it immediately unfolds itself with a "sproing" when you release it.

I flick her ear, and it goes all "boing, boing" on me. She slaps my hand hard, and I return to [Massage]ing her head. It's so adorable and fun to play with her ears, but I still prefer Alissa's fluffy ears and tail.

She slowly strokes me with her thin and long fingers. I send an image of her hand wrapped around my rod to Hana and Roxanne, and they both protest because the image is too arousing for their current situation.

I shoot upwards, and Aoi complains, "What a waste…"

Her hand continues stroking me, but gradually stops. After a few minutes, she actually falls asleep.

Am I for her what Alissa was for me…?

Not long after that thought, I drift off to sleep with a warm feeling in my heart.

I'll treasure you, Yunia.

We slowly wake up together. My left arm pinned under her has fallen asleep, but after a quick [Heal] on the nerves, it returns to normal.

She sits up on the bed and stretches, giving an alluring display of her perfect form. "How long did we sleep?" She asks.

I pull out my pocket-watch from my pants by the bed and check. "About an hour," I say.

"We still have some time to walk around, right?" She asks, expectantly.

"Sure, but we'll have to eat out, then."

"Oh… May we do that, then?" She asks, unsure of herself.

I smile warmly at her, and her expression stiffens. "We could end the walk in a restaurant and call the girls so we can all eat there together."

"Okay." She smiles and nods awkwardly.

I have a Holly crawl on the ceiling as we go down the stairs. I notice that the innkeeper frowns a little as we walk away; Silvane already paid for the damages to the door and a bit more, but it's obvious that the innkeeper would've preferred that we didn't cause such a ruckus to begin with.

I also notice an intense stare from a middle-aged silver elf man following us, but he immediately goes back to reading his book when I look in his direction.

Just as we are about to leave the inn, I stop and say, "I think I found our spy." Then I snap my head to the silver elf man, and he jumps in his seat. His hand trembles, and he fumbles his book.

Yunia raises an eyebrow at me as I guide us both towards the man. Then I release her arm and approach him alone, making him panic further.

I stand right in front of him and glare down with unbridled anger. "Be very careful about whom you spy on," I say with a growl, and the man weakly nods. "Hmph," I mimic Yunia's scoff and walk away. The man immediately gets up and runs away towards his quarters upstairs.

We finally walk out of the inn, and Yunia asks, "What was that about?"

"I'm almost completely sure that he was the one that told Lord Ira about us," I respond.

"Hm… But why would you confront him like that?"

"I'm rather tired of being spied on."

She narrows her eyes disapprovingly. "You're always being spied on."

I shrug. "Doesn't mean that I can't dislike it."

"Are you going to be angry all the time when we go outside, then?"

"I'll just try to intimidate them to stop."

"And when that inevitably fails to stop them, how are you going to escalate things?"

I look at her with a bit of surprise on my face. "Why do you think that it will fail?"

"There are few ways to stop spies from doing their job that doesn't involve the potential for a Sin of Reckless Murder," she answers with a little tiredness.

"I'll find other ways. But that's something for when we are Lords, so I don't have a concrete plan yet since I lack a lot of experience in espionage."

"The Lords hire commoners as spies, but if you start targeting the commoners, then the Tribunal will come after you."

"Then we'll find other ways that don't punish the commoners."

"That's acceptable." She nods and pats my hand.

We go to the lower level of the town, and the day instantly turns to night. Slowly pulsing lights decorate the signs of the shops; the ever-present ceiling gives a more claustrophobic or comfy feeling to the streets, depending on who you ask; a slightly damp and cool air forces us to put on our cloaks to warm ourselves up; wisps of smoke and mist occasionally appear from of the ducts of the city-wide air conditioner network; more plants, vines, and moss cover the walls of the tree-houses here than on the upper level; less cheery, but calmer elves walk through the streets; small streaks of light comes through the holes of the upper level, giving our environment a very moody atmosphere.

Gify finds this level "okay." She prefers sunny and open-air areas rather than the darker and moody places like this one.

A few children play with the [Float] enchantments on the holes in the middle of the streets above us. They throw themselves into the hole, and the enchantment activates, pushing them back to the street.

"You've played around with one of those, haven't you?" Yunia asks gently.

"Of course," I answer.

"If you hadn't, then I'd say that you were as cold as a summon," she says, and we chuckle softly.

I notice that the priests set up shop in a few spots. They seem to be selling both contraceptives and fertility drugs.

We're in the month of Birth, and the temple suggests that people try to conceive in this period so that the children are born in the month of Combat, which is seen as a good omen. But also, a lot of children are conceived during the month of Drink and, therefore, are born in this month, also giving its name an unintended meaning.

Unfortunately, we reach the end of our walk as we stop in front of a restaurant called Aldo Uente. It's a comfy restaurant attended by some kind-looking old elven women that don't speak Andraste. I put ten points in [Ingua Language] and impress them a little with my fluency in their language.

Then we sit at our table and wait for the girls.

Yunia frowns and becomes increasingly anxious. I raise an eyebrow at her, confused, and she glares at me.

"What?" I ask.

She clicks her tongue and says, "This Gift to change your skill points at will is, frankly, ridiculous. Did Ciel ever call it sacrilege that you can just 'play' around with the God's Blessing in such a silly way? Instant casting spells is one amazing Gift, but being able to become a master of any sort of skill at will is simply too much.

"Do you know how long I spent practicing [Weaverism] to be able to cast [Precognition]? My entire life! Even though I always had a large positive soul potential, it still took me more effort to reach this level than a normal mage would to learn their first Spirit familiar spell. And you can just spend a few seconds re-arranging your points to be able to cast those same spells! Madness!"

I smile wryly and say, "I can't learn any spell from [Weaverism] since it doesn't automatically give me the spells, though."

She turns her head to the side and looks at me with the corner of her eye. "But you can still cast something like [Fire Spirit] whenever you want just by changing your build."

"Actually, that one I can't. For some reason, I can only automatically learn spells up to level forty, so I can only cast up to [Heart of Fire]."

She scoffs and mocks my tone. "Pah! 'I can only cast up to level forty.' Still ridiculous!"

"Well, I'm only a cheater, after all," I say in a low tone and hold back my grin.

She clears her throat and holds back a cringe. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to belittle your accomplishments."

"No, that's…" -I smile wryly- "that's just a joke that Ciel says whenever she remembers how ridiculous my Gifts are."

"At least you admit that they're ridiculous," she says in a low tone and glances at me from the side of her eye.

We only have to wait for a few minutes while pecking on croutons before the rest of the girls arrive.

"Good timing," Yunia comments.

"Don't underestimate my ability to track down Wolfy," Alissa proudly says, and I chuckle.

They sit down, and we order a soup party. Aoi and Gify have the most trouble eating their soup and dipping the side dishes in, until they start using magic to help them. The people around us become a little mesmerized as they watch a small dragon and a nature spirit using [Telekinesis] to control their spoons and to dip bits of food in their soups.

"So, how did your research go?" I ask Lina.

"I've found an enchantment to create a vacuum in Roxanne's workshop. Also, they lent me a copy of the biography of Arreira," she answers looking proud of herself.

"Great, I wanted to try out some 'totally safe' things with the Decay pots that we have," Roxanne says with an excited grin.

"We'll discuss Arreira after we're done eating," I say and pat Lina's head, then I turn to Ciel, who's sitting at my other side. "And how did Aoi do?"

"Kwah!" Aoi suddenly lifts her head out of her bowl and looks at us with fear and surprise stamped on her face.

Ciel smiles and answers, "For a first-time reader, she did pretty well. Not well enough to fully read by herself, but she took your advice to heart and will keep observing us to learn more. She's perfectly capable of learning how to read with enough time."

Aoi gives us a toothy grin when she hears Ciel's praise. Hana pats her head, and we smile.

Then I turn to Alissa. "And how did it go in the armory?" I ask.

"I've found a [Mana Arrow] bow," Alissa answers quite happily.

"Does it have [Loosen]?" Lina asks.

"It does. It's even stronger than the one in my current bow, but the quartermaster was impressed with yours," Alissa answers and smiles. Lina doesn't know how to respond to the compliment, so she just nods and retreats into her mind.

Hana chimes in and excitedly reports, "They also have a lot of armor, even a set for dragons, but it's for a much larger dragon than Aoi's current battle-size. The quartermaster said that they can adapt it easily to a smaller size, though."

I nod and say, "Let's all get fitted for armor tomorrow, then. I want Aoi to be able to fight at a size slightly larger than you. If she's too big, it might be hard for her to navigate in certain environments."

"They also have some chain armor that doesn't interfere with casting spells," Alissa says and looks at Roxanne, who nods without much spirit. "It looks kind of pretty, though," she adds, and the vain succubus perks up a little.

"Any new enchantments?" Lina asks, a little hopeful.

"Only [Searing Blade]. Anything better than what we have already is custom-made, so we'd have to order it and wait for a day-cycle or so," Alissa answers.

"That's good enough. Our equipment was already pretty close to a knight's," Ciel says.

"I've also found a metal halberd for Aoi, so it shouldn't get damaged by her claws anymore," Hana says, and Aoi perks up, looking excited. "I've asked them to make the texture of the grip rougher so that it doesn't slide out of her claws."

"Good! Now I can smash without holding back," Aoi says with a satisfied nod.

We finish our meal, but decide to linger for a little longer and order some desert.

"So, Lina, what can you tell me about Arreira?" I ask her.

She smiles gently and brightens up from her usual moody expression as she says, "His story is very interesting. The generals were vengeful and wanted to fight the Empire to the bitter end, while the God-King admired the Empire and didn't want war. But together, his generals held more power than him, so he was forced to fight."

"God-King?" I ask.

"That's how the rulers called themselves back then. They were so powerful that they thought of themselves as gods," she answers.

"Something the temple outlawed after the God of the Sun Ascended. They were all false gods, arrogant mortals who didn't know what a real Humanoid God was," Ciel says.

"Ah, right. I think that Alissa is a descendant of a God-Ruler," Lina says. I chuckle in surprise, and the other girls mumble, looking impressed.

Alissa plays with her ear, deep in thought as she says, "Hm… I think it's possible. The Verners have been in power through most of the history of the Low Forest in some way or another, so even the times they weren't at the top didn't last long."

"Aren't your leaders elected by the Elders?" I ask her.

Alissa nods, making her cute ears bob, and answers, "Yes, the best of us is chosen, but once you're the best, you gain resources to remain the best forever. In the case of my Mom, she was the best Verner of her generation, and she tied with my Dad. Lucky for them, they fell in love and married, so there was no need to choose between them."

"So, tell the truth, who do you think would've won if they hadn't married?" Hana asks.

"Dad may be the best hunter of the Forest, but Mom is much smarter, so who knows?" She shrugs.

Yunia props herself forward, looking proud, and says, "I'm a direct descendant of the last elven king, though I'm only part of a branch family, but we could still make a claim for the status of High Royalty since the real royals disappeared." Then she becomes a little embarrassed at her own pride.

Roxanne chuckles and says, "So, we have two princesses in our harem. Now, what's next? Ciel is a long lost descendant of Sommerland royalty? Lina is the bastard child of dwarven nobility?"

"I'll be a dragon queen one day," Aoi says and lifts her claws shyly.

"Does 'merchant queen' count? I can still make a comeback," Hana says with a grin.

Before the girls start joking around, I put the conversation back on track. "Since the royal family became heretics, didn't Arreira's death mean nothing? They fucked up so badly that barely any elf wants them to come back, right?" I ask.

"I wouldn't say that his death meant nothing, but the second part of your statement is correct," Yunia says, matter-of-factly.

"But that happened many generations after his death. I don't think that the dungeon's riddle is about that," Lina says.

"But the dungeon only appeared recently," Roxanne says.

I smirk and point towards Roxanne. "Exactly," I say.

"But how would this 'Dungeon Master' know all this? How could he keep someone alive inside a dungeon for so long?" Ciel asks.

"[Golemancy]?" Alissa suggests.

"He'd still need some way to know about the status of the royal family," Ciel says.

"Can't he observe us and eavesdrop on our conversations since we are in his dungeon?"

"That's… possible," Roxanne mutters as she starts to imagine the possibilities.

"Having to rely on hearsay to grasp the status of the outside world seems quite unreliable," Yunia says.

"Indeed," Ciel agrees with a nod.

"The coincidence of it appearing around the same time that I came to this world can't really be ignored," I say.

"Coincidences are allowed to happen sometimes," Yunia says with a shrug.

"Not when it's related to a vision that Gecynd saw. There's at least some significance for our Threads of Fate to be so intertwined that she saw the dungeon, not me."

"But so many generations have passed for Arreira's family that I don't think that him living or dying would've had that much effect on their Fate," Ciel says.

"If the royal family hadn't gone into hiding after his death, then the other elves would've turned to them to keep the war with the empire going," Lina says.

"So he did save the High Forest from destruction," Hana says.

Lina nods. "Yes, that's what all the scholars agree about, but apparently that's not the answer to the riddle."

"Okay, then why did he sacrifice himself, to begin with?" I ask.

"To stop the war," Lina answers.

"That's it? No other reason?"

"Hm…" She hums, and with a *poof*, she pulls out a heavy book out of her [Item Box]. She flips through it, then stops at a particular page. "Here: Arreira lost control of his generals when the skirmishes started, then the generals decided to retaliate, contrary to Arreira's orders.

"He tried many times to turn the generals against one another, but that only backfired as they all banded together and started the war without his approval. He couldn't forcefully remove them as the generals threatened to fight together if he tried, and that would only result in Arreira's defeat. Now, without anyone else with the power to make his generals stop, he could only watch as the elves started losing Glorampina to the Empire.

"As the Empire started to encircle the High Forest, Arreira decided to participate in the war. He eventually spearheaded a campaign that concentrated the largest elven army ever gathered. Then he led it south, towards Antano, to stop the Imperial campaign taking over the region, and met with the Emperor there.

"It's said that when they met face-to-face, Arreira fought perfectly in a one-on-one duel, but he didn't have the immense 'Magic Power' of the Emperor, and couldn't manage to interrupt his casting. The Emperor cast [Fissure] and split the land, creating a ravine into which Arreira fell, then the Emperor slammed it, creating Ultirei's Tomb, and Arreira was never seen again.

"Even though the elven troops tried to attack in revenge, the Emperor dealt with the entire army by himself by casting a huge [Meteor] that created Loyalist Lake. That battle was seen remotely by most of the elven leadership, and it finally humbled them, leading them to negotiate the terms of surrender."

"How did he see the Empire? Why did he admire them so much?" I ask.

Lina flips through a few more pages, then she finds the correct passage. "Arreira was against elven isolationism. He believed that the purpose of civilization is to work together and to continue growing more and more intertwined. He created the first few permanent trade deals with Maoka and tried to eliminate the self-sufficiency of Aloresta, that's how the High Forest was called back then. Without self-sufficiency, the elves would be forced to interact more with the rest of the realm if they wanted to keep their economy stable.

"This angered his generals, as they were fearful of the Empire. At the time, they correctly believed that the Empire was aiming to conquer them next, so they didn't want to weaken Aloresta just before the war. But Arreira thought that defeat was inevitable, and he campaigned for the elves to strike a deal with the Empire in the same way that Gray Roost and Gnomeria had. The Empire's rule over other nations was rather lax, but elven desire for independence was too strong for Arreira to gain any significant support.

"He saw an opportunity for the Empire and Aloresta to interact and learn from each other. Both nations had a strong desire to protect the common humanoid as they forced the strong and the rich to stand on the front lines to protect their weaker countrymen. He saw more similarities than differences between their nations.

"He wanted to bring the Empire's standards of system magic and science to Aloresta, which was bogged down by the overly-obtuse [Weaverism] being glorified too much and holding back progress in other fields. He also coveted the wide range of products that the Mainland had made available to themselves, and tried to mimic that by opening trade with Maoka and the Chimeras, with a small degree of success.

"But he saw the Empire's ruthlessness as barbaric and wanted to influence them to become more like the Tribunal. He saw no need for all the killing and spent most of his life working together with the Tribunal to make their laws fairer for everyone. This is what gave him the title of 'Unyielding.' Even though he went against the entire elven nobility, he still managed to get many laws approved and enforced, to the acclaim of the commoners."

"I can see a few points where he failed, though," I interrupt.

"What do you mean?" Yunia asks.

"The Tribunal continues to be something only present in the High Forest, and the Empire continues on with its 'brutal' laws."

"But there's the temple and the Seekers of Truth for that. We don't need the Tribunal to exist in the rest of the Empire," Ciel says.

"Have you ever heard about a Mainland noble paying compensation to commoners?" Roxanne asks, and Ciel frowns. "Root Lord Rico did for getting us caught in a struggle between Lords without warning us of the danger beforehand."

"The Wandering Knights protect the commoners, but they aren't as organized and effective as the Tribunal," Hana says.

Ciel puckers her lips and nods. "Yeah, I get it," she says.

"But that's not all. He also failed at making the elves more open-minded," I continue.

Yunia frowns and gives me a smug side glance as she says, "Oh, please. We've improved greatly since then. Non-elves couldn't even enter the High Forest before Arreira's death."

"Just two days ago, two Crown Lord families fought because one wanted a more open society while the other didn't," Hana says, a little bluntly.

Yunia's smugness fades instantly, and she becomes inexpressive. She grinds her teeth, and her eyes lose focus, then the table goes silent.

"I'm sorry. That was too much," Hana apologizes while cringing.

Yunia shakes her head slowly. "No, that's not it. I'm just… I'm just tired. But you're right, elves haven't really changed that much…" She rests her head against her palm and closes her eyes, then she waves her hand dismissively. "Anyway, please continue."

Alright, then.

I shrug and sigh while looking at the other girls.

"There has been some progress in elven society, but it doesn't look like Arreira's dream was fulfilled," Lina continues.

Oh!

"He didn't just die to end the war, he sacrificed himself to show how delusional the elven pride truly was," Roxanne says, and we hum in understanding.

"He sacrificed his dream just to end the war, but the elves didn't understand that, so in the end, his death failed to accomplish what he wanted. Maybe he didn't need to spy on us since he knew exactly what would've happened once he was dead," Alissa says.

I grin in excitement. "Did we crack the code?" I ask.

"I don't think it should be this easy," Yunia comments in a low tone.

"It did require an outside perspective, though. One that neither an imperial nor an elf would usually have," Roxanne says and looks at me with a warm smile.

Ciel nods in agreement and says, "You'd need a neutral view on history. Something that the temple and the elven scholars both lack."

"Tomorrow, after we're done with the armory, I want to try to open that door," I say.

Lina nods repeatedly. "I can't wait," she says, softly.