Chapter 689 – Updating the People

Chapter 689 – Updating the People

‘You got everything?’ John asked via mental connection and got an affirmative, if hesitant, signal back. He had just confirmed what conditions he wanted Aclysia to present to the Lake Alliance. The biggest obstacle was less the terms and more the question whether or not they would even answer any calls.

Responding from the other end, Aclysia voiced her discomfort, ‘Master, is it truly wise to hold a press conference without me or Beatrice around? You are quite light on bodyguards at the moment, perhaps...’

‘I have Metra and the elementals with me, it’ll be fine,’ he responded. His mood had stabilized considerably since returning from the Embassy. Overall, he was still feeling pretty annoyed with the situation, but he had calmed to a level of acceptance by now. Repeating the Hollmey adage a couple of times in his head also helped. ‘I just need to get all of these talks out of the way. Then I can go help Jane and look after Eliza.’

A worried sigh filled his mind. ‘I am certain you know what is best, Master,’ the weaponized maid stated and reached out for the mental equivalent of a quick kiss. Their thoughts intertwined for a moment, then Aclysia distanced herself to see to the task John had given her.

“Alright,” John rolled his neck and took a cookie out of a nearby bowl. He snapped it in two, ate one half himself and presented the other to Sylph. Having respawned just a few minutes ago, the thunderstorm elemental was as busy babbling as ever. Right up until she full body hugged that cookie and started nibbling on it. To pass the time, and somewhat recompense the air spirit for dying again, he scratched her fluffy head with his index finger.

Not that her happy humming and trance-like eating didn’t pay him back with her adorableness. If it weren’t for Sylph’s reaction to sugar overdoses, he would have spent the next ten minutes in a state of patting and feeding her. It was like getting to see one’s dog or cat after a hard day of work, it just cheered him up.

Light fell into the tent for a moment, as Metra parted the slit cloth that made up the entrance to take a peek outside. “How long do they take to get done with this?” she asked, crossing her arms but remaining standing where she was. “The whole place is already standing, so why can’t you just immediately start your announcement thing?”

The berserker babe pointed with her head at the entrance and the large stage that stood not far away from their current location. It was the very same stage that John had opened the whole festivities on, that he used to broadcast the Tier 3 Guild Hall upgrade and that he had planned to hold the closing speech on as well. A closing speech that now had to double as his public response to the attack.

“Two reasons, one feeding into the other,” John told the First of Wrath. “Primarily, I just announced that this would be happening like half an hour ago. I don’t think most people have realized that the invasion was even a thing yet. By delaying the event, I give social media the time to spread these things. The announcement will have a bigger impact the more people see it live. To that end, I have told the technical crew to double check every cable, the excuse being that I am afraid the earthquakes from the volcano may have dislodged something and I don’t want to start with even the smallest risk.”

“Which,” Salamander chimed in, stepping behind John’s chair and pressing her boobs against the back of his head, “is an actually valid concern, so nobody can say a fucking thing.” She reached down and ran her hand through his hair. The weather was already warm, even though John had deactivated the Weather Tower now, but between her boobs and her palm John was grilling. The squishy and gentleness of the entire thing kept him in place though.

Along with his humour, it was quite clear that his Libido was returning to him now. Not completely. The events of the day put a damper on things, the loss of life and theoretic meaninglessness of that life in the face of reality being the dream of an incomprehensibly large deity. Not exactly a combination that resulted in a raging erection. Salamander’s care did get him to a solid half-mast though.

“Also, the journalists will be thankful that we gave them at least some notification ahead of time,” John finished the topic. “Also, also, Sally, any reason you’re being this nice right now?”

“You’re just so hot when you’re angry,” the endflame elemental confessed immediately. “Not to mention victorious. Turns me right the fuck on.”

“I’m with her there,” Metra said. Under other circumstances, this would be directly leading to a blowjob under the table. Instead, the topic sort of died off. The evening would contain a lot of lewdness, that much was certain. For now, they were just waiting for all the cables to get checked.

About ten minutes later, John was walking up the stairs of the stage. The crowd was a wild mixture of journalists and the few people that prioritized coming here over doing anything else. Presumably, mostly visitors from other parts of Fusion, who didn’t have to check whether their house had gotten away unscathed.

Cameras from private individuals and news channels were all directed at the stage. Overall, the crowd was smaller than at the opening ceremony. To very little surprise. “Hello,” John started basic and serious. “I will keep this short, as there are things to be done and people to talk to. Today, we were attacked by the Lake Alliance. It was a full-force invasion. As far as we could gather so far, its entire goal was to intimidate and deal as much damage to the infrastructure as possible. As for the why, I have engaged recently in attempts to sign a white peace with them. That is to say, I wanted to immediately have all warfare cease, with no losses of territory or other concessions on either side.”

“Optimally, yeah,” Metra answered, folding her hands behind her head as they continued to walk. The motion stretched the fabric of her grey, partially translucent mini-top to a dangerous degree. “Although I can wield whatever weapon you offer me anyway. I am not picky.”

John nodded and automatically looked down at her delicious midriff and the way the clearly visible muscles shifted with every one of her steps. The half-mast from earlier returned and went up to three-quarters risen. With every task done, it seemed that more of his lust returned to its rightful place.

Putting an arm around him, Metra leaned over. “I am happy to serve you as the sex slave you made me, my king,” her teeth snapped together next to his ear in an oddly sultry, if primal, sound. “Whatever way you want, I will serve.”

“Not quite yet,” John stated, not for a lack of conscious desire. His dick just refused to go the rest of the way. If he had gone the full erection, he would be stomping towards the nearest tent immediately. As it was, he put his arms around Metra and Gnome and was happy with his life, fondling their round butts. “I’ll see if I can repair Lakamun’s axe for now. A bit more axe than Qiada was halberd, but the closest thing of quality I can get in the short term. Once we gather some new materials and Marathyu is back, we’ll get you an upgrade.” He grinned at Metra, “How would you like to have a weapon forged using all six supreme elemental metals?”

“Fuck me sideways, John,” Metra laughed, grabbed his chin and mildly forced him into a sudden and wild kiss. Her tongue was on the aggression, right up until John fired back, grabbed her by the ponytail and got on his toes. The few centimetres he had grown since acquiring Metra put him on eye-level with her, so that combination allowed him to claim the loving high ground. Eventually, he ended the kiss by pulling the blonde berserker babe away from his lips. “You really know how to please a woman.”

“More like a tomboy battle enthusiast,” John retorted, let go of her hair and put his hand back on her ass with a nice smack. “Which, given who my girlfriend is, should surprise nobody. Anyway, you said you lost some other materials along with Astrotium, right? Small parts of gods?”

“Yes,” Metra responded in her usual carefree manner, although her breathing remained a bit heated. That John’s fingers skirted dangerously close to the valley of her bubble butt didn’t help. Neither did that her extremely small hot pants left her brown flesh free to the greedy touch. “As you know, us Metracana were highly experimental and Sargon decided to just throw the highest quality shit at the wall until something stuck together. Scales of Tiamat, teeth of Abzu, eyes of Marduk, tools blessed by Enkidu. I doubt you can find any of these things today. Astrotium is at least found sometimes, even if we have no idea how the fuck it is created.”

“Mhm...” John would have scratched the back of his head, if his hands weren’t occupied in more pleasant places. “What about Lyoste’s Rest? Could there be something there?”

“...Huh,” Metra let out a grunt after a few seconds of thought. “There might.”

“Do you remember exactly where it is?” John wondered, as he formed the procedure to this situation. Shaking her head, Metra denied this and the Gamer continued, “Then I’ll see if I can convince Momo to tell us or meet with you in the area. Once we have peace, you’ll have a few days to take a flight down there and check things out.”

“Its really not impeding me in any way,” the First of Wrath reminded him. “No need to send me to the other side of the earth.”

“Metra,” he looked her deep in the green eyes, “you should know me better by now than that. When would I ever leave any of my loves hurt in the most miniscule manner? That aside, modern aircraft makes this less than a week of a journey, so it’s not that much to ask. We’ll have to hire some private machine though, otherwise we won’t get you through security...”

“Seriously, fuck metal detectors,” Metra grumbled.

“We hopefully won’t have to deal with them much longer. Once this whole peace thing is done, Fusion is unofficially going into a period of internal focus. We have expanded a lot recently and its time to order things properly. Plus, the whole birthday has given me the wish to spend some time just with all of you and less with my desk or foreign diplomats...”

“M-more time for cuddles?” Gnome asked, hopeful.

“Among other things,” John responded with a lewd smile, then kissed her on the cheek before she could place the tiniest, cutest of complaints. “For now...” he sighed afterwards, as Newman Shire came ever closer. “...more work.”