Chapter 97: Peace and Quiet – Part 2

Chapter 97: Peace and Quiet – Part 2

Peace and quiet. Without any pressing matters arising, I finally achieve true peace within my heart as even the dragon calms down. I need to balance my two sides, so now it's time for the human to be in full control.

I keep adding and removing points from [Summoning Magic] while I reflect on my knowledge of summoning. The mana training routine is so simple that I can do it on auto-pilot. It isn't a sub-process yet, but I believe that it'll gradually become one over time.

This kind of training is really slow at increasing our mana, so we'll have to do it every day if we ever want to even get close to someone like Grandpa Ryzek when we're older.

Back to Summoning, I start to compare the "intuition" the skill gives and quickly realize that it's similar to wormhole theory, as in, it's possible to punch a "hole" through the "fabric" of reality. The problem is that after that, things go... "abstract," and I can't make sense of it anymore.

A "wormhole" isn't an actual thing that exists or can be recreated through known physical phenomena/processes, making it something entirely magical. There's also the possibility that it violates some primordial law of reality, putting it in the same realm as my [Redirect Mana] when being used to interrupt spells.

Also, the skill provides zero information on this spell, so I can't even try to guess at what it's all actually about. Maybe at the capital, we could find some sort of clue...

"We actually do have to go to the capital sometime soon," Yunia suddenly points out, pulling us all out of our musings. "As the newest Crown Lords, we have to pay our respects to the emperor himself."

"Can it wait until after our wedding?" Alissa asks, worried that she'll have to change her preparations.

Yunia nods gently. "Yes, it can. We're advised to get our own territory under control first before we go to meet him."

Alissa smiles contently and returns to planning our marriage ceremony. She's thinking about all the guests we'll have to invite, then she suddenly frowns because of Hana's and Roxanne's parents.

"Can we have a simple ceremony with just us, and then a party later on when everyone's together?" I immediately suggest. It might take us too long to find Hana's parents, and we don't want them to miss the ceremony.

Hana's heart goes on an entire roller-coaster in a second, the coming depression immediately being blasted away by a high of happiness from my suggestion, then she shouts and earnestly pleads, "Yes! Can we, please? I want... I want my parents to see the exchange of our vows."

"That's acceptable. We might now be able to speed up Confiel's search by throwing our influence around, too," Yunia agrees, her calm demeanor not showing a hint of sadness at the mention of parents.

Neither does Aoi even bat an eye at it. She's so detached from her monster parents that she barely even remembers them anymore.

Then we turn to Roxanne, who seems to be growing increasingly distressed.

"We have to invite her. It'll be worse if we don't," Ciel advises her, then gets up and walks over to the tense succubus to give her a hug.

Of course, I take the opportunity to hug her too, and the situation quickly devolves into a cuddle puddle.

Roxanne deliberately nestles her head between Ciel's breasts, which slightly annoys Hana, but she lets it pass, this time.

Once everyone's comfortable, Yunia adds on another blow to Roxanne's will, "It'd also be proper if we met with her in person instead of just sending a letter. The [Eternal Gate] network extends into Xane, if my memory is correct, so it's now trivial for us to go there."

"Hnn~..." Roxanne whines like a sad dog.

"Why do you fear your mother?" Ciel asks with a very cautious and gentle tone as her fingers run through Roxanne's dark, silky hair.

"I don't exactly fear her, I'm just ashamed of suddenly going back since I never even wrote them a letter," she confesses.

I hug her body tighter while Ciel comforts her, "You'll have to meet her, sooner or later, but we'll be right there with you."

"You can't enjoy anal without stretching the asshole first," Hana wisely advises, and Ciel gives her a brief glare.

"Earthlings use the analogy of 'pulling a tooth,' but okay, I guess that one works, too," I mumble and chuckle.

"Well, Hana's right... I miss my Dad," Roxanne whimpers again and curls up into a ball while Hana gives Ciel a smug smile.

Ciel plays with her floppy horns and reassures her, "The actual ceremony will take a while, so you do have time to get used to the idea of meeting her." Then Roxanne nods slowly.

"How about we meet with everyone's parents? One visit per day," I happily suggest.

Lina suddenly lets out a sharp cry of surprise, "Ah! Can my parents be first, please?!" She desperately pleads.

Of course, nobody can say no to the anguished face she's making.

We all hum in agreement, and Lina lowers her head, blushing in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. It's just that they don't even know if I'm alive..." She meekly explains herself.

I reach over and pat her head with my claws, then I list out, "We'll visit Lina's parents first, then Alissa's, then Ciel's, then Roxanne's. How about that?"

"My parents?" Ciel questions confusedly.

I smile warmly at her and hold back a chuckle. "I mean, Arantos, the Head Priest, is kind of your dad."

Ciel scratches the back of her head embarrassedly as she mumbles, "Oh, yeah. Well, I was planning to suggest that we visit him, anyway."

"Let's wait for a few days to rest up, then we'll start visiting them all," Yunia suggests, and we all agree. Just two or three days to make sure that all the important matters are taken care of.

Our bill for using the [Eternal Gate]s to cross the continent multiple times might become expensive, even for us, but we won't be doing it for too long, so it's an acceptable expense.

Our morning continues on in silence. We only get a note from Sandoro reporting that there are multiple priests and a few commoners praying in front of the Shell, on Prasa de Ananci, where the divine beam of light shined down on us.

They're actually praying for us, which is a bit weird to think about, but I find it more amusing to think that if that plaza actually becomes a holy site or something like that, we might have to change its name. I'm not much of a history buff, but it does make me a bit giddy when I think about how we're making history and what my descendants might have to say about me.

Even a few Chimeras are seen praying, so I think Teresina is probably quite happy with how they're starting to convert.

Then, for lunch, we invite Oritiki and her husbands.

I wish I could watch her getting fucked again so that I could masturbate to it or get one of the girls to suck me off while I watch them. I found it to be a truly beautiful sight to see such a big, strong woman getting double-teamed by these two ripped guys.

"Well, I'm glad things haven't changed much," Oritiki suddenly blurts out.

"What?" I ask absentmindedly, breaking out of the spell that her cow tits cast upon me.

"The 'Divine Intervention.' I thought you'd be..." -She scratches her horn in thought- "I don't know, 'worshiped,' by the others." Then she shrugs.

"Oh, that," I hum, still a bit absentminded.

"Not everyone is that pious," Ciel responds with a gentle grin.

"So I should worship him, or something?" Oritiki probes further.

Ciel is taken by surprise and opens her eyes wide. "Wait, are you converting?"

Oritiki awkwardly gestures with a frown as she tries to articulate her thoughts, "Those were the Gods who did that... time stop? And the beam of light? If they do have some power over the realm, then maybe I should pay my respects to them?"

Not-Thor agrees emphatically with her, confidently sharing his opinion, "Yeah. That 'event' was pretty intense. If the Humanoid Gods really are that active, then it makes no sense for us to ignore them."

Hey, that's the same reasoning as mine.

Rei, the warthog husband, exhales loudly, his large nostrils visibly flaring. "Their power over our Fate should be much stronger than their power over the physical realm, right?" He wonders with a stern tone.

"You don't really have much of a Thread for them to influence, though," Ciel points out.

But Yunia counterpoints, "Their Threads are still there, just cut. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to use [Precognition] on them."

"If I throw a rock at you, would you be able to see it?" I blurt out a question.

"Yes, because the rock is still being affected by your Thread."

But Silvano presses me with another question, his eyes wild and excited, before I can even answer the first one, "Is it related to your Gift?"

I nod subtly, maintaining an impassive expression. "Yes. It's why I know so little about it."

Poosh and Sandoro aren't mages, so they can't help out with the experiment, but they're still very interested in it regardless. I assume it's because of the words "danger" and "Gift," respectively.

"What will our purpose be, exactly?" Almaria questions, seemingly the one with the most professional demeanor right now.

"Interrupting it. Whatever happens, the spell must not be completed," I seriously warn them.

"Ominous..." She hums grimly.

I can't hold back my smirk. I don't want to explain everything about my Gift, but it does end up sounding pretty ominous from how I've described it so far. "Indeed. It's really dangerous, which is why we'll prepare as many safety measures as we can."

"Is it really necessary to cast this spell?" Sandoro asks, his face stiff as he tries to hold back his disapproval.

"Yes. I've been guided to it by the Gods," I calmly state, and that settles some of their tension while also feeding their curiosity.

Sandoro rubs his chin in thought, now a lot more open to the experiment than before. "I see... Shouldn't we ask for the help of the priests, too?"

I shake my head and dismiss that suggestion, "Any information about this is too sensitive to involve outsiders, and Ciel can handle whatever healing might be necessary. Also, I'm only telling you all about this experiment because you're my Blood Slaves; it's that secretive."

He lowers his head respectfully and backs down, "As you wish, your Highness."

Then I turn to Almaria. "We'll use your [Interruption Field] since it's stronger than Yunia's, but we also have to make sure that it won't accidentally kill me since I have [Mana Body], so I want to start testing that out with you as soon as possible."

She subtly nods, completely composed and professional, then I glance at Sai as I add, "And your soul healing, too."

The cute loli excitedly agrees, and we wrap up the meeting.

I take them both to an empty room to moles-... test out the Field with them.

Conclusion: it works, perfectly so, but it hurts so much that I don't hold a shred of doubt about it being able to kill me. Like, Jesus fucking Christ on a bike playing with a kite. It. Fucking. Hurts!

Oh, yes, it also interrupts any spell that I try to use without a problem, so I don't think the other safety measures will actually be necessary, but it's always better to be safe than sorry.

Sai's little hands gently touch my chest as her spirit hands massage me. Having this cute little loli giving me a worried look as she heals me almost makes it all worth it, almost.

I don't even have Gify here to help with the pain because she won't get anywhere near the blood circle of a [Disruption Field], so I instead rely on the girls to comfort me a bit. I've also confirmed that I'm definitely not a masochist.

We put a stop to the testing early, and I spend the rest of my day cuddling with Alissa and Ciel to heal the echoes of pain from my mind.

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