Chapter 315 – Re: Gale

Day 54 (Cont)

Evening

"I have talked with the heads of the Round Table Conference. While there was some dissent, they have agreed to meet with you and your people in the morning."

"Thank you, Chief Esseba. Though things might even be more problematic than we thought." John replied, turning towards the chief. He was in the man's audience room with Sato and Mail; the former had just arrived a few minutes ago with an escort of several elven town guards.

"What do you mean?"

"Sato. Will you tell the Chief what you just told me?"

"Of course, Rou," Sato said, then turned to the chief. "I just finished interrogating the humans who attacked Mail. It turns out there is a traitor in your village. They gave away your daughter's position and the strength of her guards. While the ones who survived didn't know their name, they were very adamant an elf was the source of their information."

"Hmm... this is troubling indeed. Do you have any proof other than what these humans said?" Esseba asked.

"No... Well... other than what my boon told me anyway. They believe it was the elves who provided the intel, so unless whoever told them that was lying to them, I believe it to be true."

"Good work, Sato," John said, patting her on the shoulder. 

She leaned her head on his shoulder for a moment and smiled up at him. "Mmm... It was great! Your powers made it easy. Now Ee has two new volunteers for the mines. I left them a little roughed up, but no worse for wear."

"Two? I thought there were three of them."

"One had plans for Mail... so he is now fertilizer for the farm." She said, still smiling sweetly up at him with her eyes closed. Her eyes snapped open after a moment, and a concerned look formed on her face. "That... that was what you wanted me to do, right?" 

He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and smiled back. "Exactly." He wasn't sure he wanted to know exactly what happened to the man, but he had given enough goblins the Vlad the Impaler treatment for attempting the same thing with Aqua that he was in no position to judge. 

"Umm... thank you again, Lady Sato, for helping rescue me and saving me from that fate," Mail said from John's other side. She was blushing a bit, which somehow made her look even more beautiful to John. Little John seemed to agree, the damn thing twitching in his pants at both the adorable elf on one side and the powerful ogre on the other. 

At least you don't discriminate, buddy, but frigging calm the hell down!

"I'm no lady, but you're welcome. I just hope you're not a blanket hog; Mi is already bad enough about that."

"Huh! Wha? What do you mean!?!" Mail said, blushing even deeper as she waved her arms around in exasperation, which made Sato let out a loud belly laugh.  

"Ahem. Blanket etiquette aside, thank you for saving my daughter. Speaking of, are the rest of your party coming to the village as well? I would very much like to give them my thanks as well, along with a reward." The chief said.

"Well, Mi and Ruby are on the village outskirts with Riana and Sui, helping prepare the new spiritwalk anchor point in case your people do decide to come with us. As for Ee... she is busy back home in the mine. She plans to gut that whole mountain of its mithril deposits before we leave. Speaking of, Rou, what did you do to her to make her so energized?"

"Well..." He said, thinking back to this morning.

Earlier

John's Bedroom

"Rou, what do you think?" The voice of Ee said behind him. She sounded a little different, a little deeper, but he didn't really pay it too much mind.

He was just out of the baths and was now enjoying a coffee while Returner was updating him on everything that had happened while he was away. Aqua was taking a nap in the bed, her head and torso dangling off the side since there were no bodies in the way to keep her from rolling around.  

"What do I think about wha-" John said, then stopped. In front of him was a rather attractive ogre; not in the unparalleled beauty way, but more of the tomboy girl next door kind of way. Or the Amazon kind of way if he was in his human body.

Nearly eight feet tall, she was just shy of looking him directly in the eye with her deep red, almost purple eyes. Her button nose, full pink lips, and broad smile were framed by a head of messy platinum blonde hair in a pixie cut. Two thick black horns stuck out of the sides of her head above her ears, curving backwards a bit. Her skin was a pale grey-brown colour and very muscular, giving him the impression of both toughness and softness at the same time. She was wearing just a pair of his red fur underwear the tailor had made for him from the leftover bear pelt and a white wrap struggling to hold in a pair of the most massive breasts he had ever seen. They were squeezed tightly behind the band, but she had to be at least an O-cup.

They look massive but proportionate on her frame... she looks really good... Damn it! Down boy. Aqua and Riana just took care of you; would it kill you to stay down for a few hours?

"I take it you like how I look now!"

"I do... though I liked you before as well."

"I knew it! The girls were all worried that it was our size that was bothering you, but I knew that you didn't really care about that!" She said, then grabbed him and pulled him into a bear hug, driving his face between the two watermelons on her chest. 

Yeah, her skin is really soft and smooth, and she might be as strong as I am. Wait? What did she just say?

"I just can't wait until you see how fast I can mine stones now! I was blessed by both the lesser god of the earth and the lesser god of agriculture when I evolved into a Half Earth Lord! I'm going to make myself so useful that you don't think about letting go of me again."

"Mmmrph!!"

"No way. Not letting you go. You ran away and left me without my cuddle monster. You're not meeting with the elves until later, so I'm going to hold you right here until then." She said, picking him up and carrying him to the bed. Lying down on her back, she held his horns so he couldn't move his head, keeping him pinned in place in the valley between the two mountains.

"Mmmmrph!!!"

"Now. I want you to tell me what you have been up to while you've been away, and why Ruby seems to think you gave her a blessing. You can't do that, can you?"

"Mmmmrph! Mmmm! Mmmrph!"

"Oh, you can? She said she felt closer to you than anyone else in her life when you gave her that gift, like you were holding her soul in a warm embrace. Well, I want the same thing for us. So please, Rou, can I have a blessing too? One I can use to help make our village grow and prosper."

"MMMMMMRPH!!!"

Present

"Umm... well, it's a boon called Ki that can help boost her base stats. Honestly, I barely understand how it works myself, but she seemed to take to it like a duck to the water. She was so excited to try it out, she ran right for the mines after I gave it to her." He said, scratching his head with a forced smile on his face.

It was the only thing I could think of before dying of asphyxiation... though that would have been a hell of a way to go.

"That explains why she was so happy. Well, chief, that's where they are currently, though I'm sure you can pass any gifts for them off to our Lord. If there is nothing else, I should get back to them. Riana is excited about exploring this village, and I said I would walk around with her and Sui."

"No. That should be good enough for now; just no picking fights while in the village. We are guests here."

"I would never, but if they offer to spar, I'll probably take them up on the offer. I'm itching to try out my boon to see if it works in a fight. Are you staying here tonight or returning to our village?"

"I haven't even thought about it yet, but probably here if there is a bed that won't collapse under my weight. I do have a meeting in the morning."

"Okay then, I'll let the girls know. See ya soon!" She said, then exited the chamber with a jauntiness in her step. 

"I should be angry that you have a Dorian placing such a spell outside of my village without my permission, but it seems my daughter has taken more than a few liberties in her role as our lead diplomat. Perhaps too many."

"Father! I... I thought it for the best, as time is short for this chance to save our people!"

"Sadly, you may be correct. Now, you have had a long, strenuous trip. Why don't you go rest up? One way or another, I suspect we won't have much chance for relaxing in the coming days." The chief said, then turned to John. "I believe you and I have things to discuss. I'm not against this plan, but that is only because annihilation seems to be the only other option. I'm going to need a lot more details from you on where you plan on taking us, and what you're even expecting of our people if I'm to have any hope of convincing the rest of the Round Table families to join us."

"Father, I should be part of these-"

"You have done enough, daughter. I know the other elders, and I have been training you to become the next matron of a high family, but sometimes there are discussions that need to happen just between men. Besides, I may be old, but my brain isn't addled yet. I can see that your judgement is clouded right now. Go and rest. We will talk again in the morning."

Mail shook as she clenched her fist to her sides, but she just walked quickly from the room, leaving him alone with her father. The elderly elf sighed, then walked to a cabinet to the side of the room and started to dig through it. "You disapprove?" He asked.

"No. She seems to have decided to throw herself in with me, so you wanted to make sure you didn't have someone else parroting my same points while we talk."

"That is one thing. That, and she is clinging to you as someone clings to a sapling while hanging off a cliff, praying to the gods that its roots don't let go." He said, digging deeper into the cabinet than John thought was possible for a piece of furniture that size. "Did you know that not a single elven village was willing to come to our aid?"

"I think she mentioned something like that."

"It was truly surprising. In the past, we had provided aid to most of them during their times of need; now... now even the hand of my beautiful daughter and the dowry she comes with were enough to stir one village to come to our aid. Not one of those pompous cowards was willing to stand up to the humans who continually encroach on our lands and covet our treasures." He said, turning back to John and tossing something at him. 

He caught it and looked down at the glass jar full of red liquid in his hand. "What is this?"

"It's what the humans decided to start a war over, our secret medicine. Due to the bad blood between the humans and us, it is forbidden by ancient oaths to share it with them. Yet I can just hand over a vial to you, an ogre, and no one would blink an eye."

"They are going to war over this? I would like to think there were dumber things wars were started over, but I can't think of one offhand."

"Desperation and greed on their side, unwillingness to be flexible on ours. If it wasn't for your offer, we were going to either die against the invaders in some damnable last stand or abandon the village and scatter to the winds trying to escape. No matter the choice, many would die, others would be enslaved, and my people would never be able to recover."

"Why didn't you just give one of these vials to another race to give it to the humans? Seems like that would save a lot of problems."

"Hah, this is just an excuse they are using to attack us again. There is more than one faction at play here. If that vial got into the hands of the kingdom, part of the army may retreat, but the others would probably remain to try and subjugate us. No, this is the same pattern the humans have used time and again for over three hundred years of my adult life."

"I see... so you're giving this to me because you're telling me that we are going to have an uphill battle tomorrow morning."

"Ahh... you do see the issue. Yes. Tomorrow is going to be a difficult day. Twelve families run this village, and we are deadlocked: six are progressive, and six are traditionalist, but all have varying amounts of resentment toward humans. Then there is this traitor in our midst. I'm guessing they have made a deal with one of the human factions to get leniency and concessions after the war finishes. I fear this might be someone in my faction, as I have a hard time believing the traditionalist would ever deal with a human from anywhere but smug superiority."

"Are you saying that this is a fool's errand?"

"No. Not necessarily. There are still 1600 humans marching on our lands, hell-bent on killing us. Fear is a great motivator to get people moving in the direction you want. What happens afterward will be the main problem. Now, for the real reason I sent my daughter away." He said, pulling out a large bottle and a couple of wooden cups from the cabinet. "She would give me nothing but grief for drinking at my age. Worried about my health, like I was ready to fall over like deadwood tomorrow.

Now, I have questions about this other world, the people in it, and I hope you have some answers for me, and this bottle of elven wine will make sure our throats remain lubricated while we discuss these important national affairs. Care to join me for a drink, Lord Wayne? Or should I be saying, Son-in-Law?"

"With pleasure. And call me John. The first is too stuffy for drinking, and the second is still to be decided."

"Come now. A beautiful maiden's hand that ties our people together? I can think of no greater symbol of unity that would unite our people during this unprecedented event. Oh, I know, a grandchild would be excellent. I would love to have one or two before this old man returns to the world tree."

"Let's talk about where I intend to bring you first before we start expanding the family tree."

With that, John and Esseba talked long into the night about John's idea of starting their new life in a world that needed healing from the hordes of undead that plague it. Of his plans of introducing magic mana to the world with his mana spring, to create a safe refuge for the remaining humans to build a new life as they built their power to retake the world from the zombies that infested it. Humans who only knew of elves from fairy tales and had no hatred for them.

It took some time, and several bottles of wine, but they worked out the framework of this new... nation seemed too grandiose of a title... new state they would build together with their peoples. All it cost John was some time, and agreeing that another warm body would soon be joining his bed. 

Now all that was left was to convince the other families to join them.