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Arc 8 Chapter XXXII: Of Swift Returns And Stately Visits
🕑 Added 2024-11-16 23:23:11 +0000 UTCA/n: Prepare thyselves my pretties, for next week we go to competitive racism land!
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(Reyvin's POV)
Just around half a day and a half after I had disposed of the murderhobo filth, a bit after midnight to be more exact, I found myself standing atop the White Gold Tower alongside a trio of other figures.
The view was downright immaculate even with the almost complete lack of lighting, though I doubted my current companions could appreciate it as Titus kept fidgeting about in irritation.
"And when do you plan on sharing your reason for calling us up here?" The good Emperor finally asks "Some of us do require sleep, Reyvin."
Both Commander Maro and Battlemage Caladon look equally as curious, though the mage's gaze is far more reserved than the bodyguard's.
My relaxed expression shifts from my usual relaxed self to being deathly serious as I spoke in a completely flat tone "I have decided to usurp your empire, bow before your new overlord mortals and I will permit you to continue living as my slaves."
Caladon raises a confused eyebrow, Maro frowns, and Titus just scoffs "As if you could ever be bothered."
I let out a tsk at his lack of reaction "Ruin all my fun why don't you?"
The old fart chuckles as his advisors look on, confused as to how to react.
They are not given enough time to truly consider it however as the surprisingly silent flaps of two large wings cut into the air to our west, a great crimson blur practically flashing into existence as the massive form of a dragon promptly parked atop the great tower without so much as a thud.
The tower was large enough to hold five larger dragons atop it comfortably so there were no issues with spacing.
"Ah." I hear the realization in Titus' voice as he looks on in wonder, his Battlemage joining him as poor Maro helplessly clutched at the hilt of his sword, knowing damn well he was utterly useless in this kind of situation and hating every moment of it.
"Odahviing." I give the Dovah a nod.
"Sahrot Fahlil." His voice rumbles out "Your might grows."
"Why thank you." I bow dramatically and look up to the figure jumping off the dragon's back and down his side with practiced ease.
Much to my amusement, Minthara's armored form somehow makes more noise as her boots hit the stone below us, an unfamiliar mask covering her expression as she looked up to us.
Well, I say it was unfamiliar but that is mostly because I haven't exactly seen it in this life specifically. I had no reason not to give her all the Dragon Priest masks I've gathered and it really didn't take her much effort to hunt down any we missed once we were done with Alduin.
Turns out the bastards drew their lichdom from the big black and dead all this while and killing them now was insultingly easy.
Anyway, to make a long story slightly less long, she managed to get her hands on Kohnariik and had it dyed to fit in with her silvery-steel armor while refitting her helmet and effectively just turning the mask into a visor.
That she told me through the Orb™ the bloody thing let her slowly start practicing real actual time magic as it corrected any minor mistakes and slowly let her optimize it nearly made me break something as all the other masks were, and pardon my Aldmeri here, utter shit.
She did promise to teach me when she mastered it so it isn't like I was too salty about it.
Now some may go 'Oh but Reyvin, isn't that her heritage, aren't you abusing your relationship just to expand your power?'
You see, that would sound reasonable, if it didn't also sound like something someone without the chance to learn time magic would say.
My musings are cut off abruptly as she lifts her helmet off and greets us all with a cheerful smile, looking far more relaxed than she was before she left the city "Apologies for being late." She says to the trio, mostly to Titus "I got stuck in a bit of... adventuring."
"Quite." Titus scoffs, still staring at Odahviing in awe "I trust that your adventuring" He says with some amusement and a chuckle "Will not come back to bite us in our proverbial collective rears soon enough?"
"No one was left to report on us." She fires off without skipping a beat.
That Maro nodded sagely at that actually made me respect the man more oddly enough.
Titus' shoulders slump slightly as he mutters "I suppose that is the best I am getting, isn't it?"
Ignoring the grumbling old fart, she turns to me with her cheer renewed.
"Had fun?" I ask with a smirk.
She looks like she wants to tell me all about it but holds herself back as she turns to her erstwhile mount "Thank you for bringing me here, you can return to your brothers now."
Odahviing doesn't seem bothered by the dismissal as he inclines his massive head "Thuri." And takes off with a whispered string of Thu'um throwing him into the air and beyond the sight of the weak.
"Magnificent." I hear Caladon mutter to himself.
Now free of her vassal's imposing presence, Minthara ignored the trio of observers as she gave me a quick hug, not terribly comfortable due to the armor but still warm in its intent.
Titus cleared his throat and looked at her with a raised eyebrow but at this point she had slowly grown inured to such teasing and merely raised an eyebrow of her own in turn.
Chuckling, the old Emperor shook his head and spoke "Do be sure to be on time tomorrow, having you present to greet the Alinori delegation will ensure we speak from a position of strength." He waits just long enough for her to nod before adding "And of course we will be discussing your decision to go galivanting off into foreign territory young lady."
"I-" She goes to protest.
But Titus does not hesitate and strikes the final blow "The Lady Valena was devastated when she heard you joined Julius' little expedition." He 'sighs' in defeat "Why she may even force me to have you join her for some lectures in diplomacy once more."
Minthara, whose once good cheer was ever so swiftly replaced with dread, failed to hold back a gulp of fear at the mention of her etiquette teacher.
"Do enjoy your evening." Titus fired off a final shot with a wink as he quickly lead his entourage away before the literal demigod managed to get over her light trauma.
It took her a few seconds after they left but when she realized what Titus had done all she could do was pout.
"There there." I chuckle as I pat her on the shoulder "I won't let the scary Seneschal hurt you."
"My savior." She sniffs dramatically and we both share a chuckle.
One teleport later we were back in my mansion, the protections and wards of the city thoroughly failing to hold my skill at space magic back as I didn't merely break through them but blatantly went around them, not even so much as disturbing a wisp of Magicka as I did.
Akulakhan gave me a light bow as he left to guard the door outside my study and I summoned an ornate barrel of my newest growing addiction, pouring two crystal glasses enchanted to chill their contents full of the sweet wine Hassildor had gifted me.
"Wine?" Minthara rose an eyebrow "You know I don't particularly enjoy drinking it."
"Just take a sip and tell me what you think." I answer knowingly.
Not willing to be stubborn about something so small, she does as asked and I see her eyebrow raise as the taste struck her "Sweet like mead." She comments.
"My thoughts exactly." I grin back "It was a gift from a... family friend you could say."
"The vampire?" She raises an eyebrow.
"The vampire." I nod.
She takes another sip without thinking "Now that I think about it you know an awful lot of those."
"Eh" I shrug "Not my fault most people need hundreds of years to become powerful enough to be worth knowing."
Her hand pauses mid yet another sip, I knew she'd enjoy it, as she blinks in surprise "I fully expected you to lament how they are some of the rare people who won't just die of old age." She tilts her head "This feels far more reasonable."
"I mean yeah sure." I shrug and give her a pointed look "I just didn't want to ruin the mood by discussing the mortality of our friends and vassals."
Her cheeks take on a slightly rosy hue as she looks down in light embarrassment "Sorry."
Rolling my eyes I wave it off "Not the first time your foot ended up in your mouth."
Her embarrassment grows by an order of magnitude.
I naturally do not desist and give her my sweetest smile "Don't worry though, it is quite adorable."
She makes a noise that is something between a boiling kettle and an undignified squeak before practically slamming her now empty glass atop my table "Right. When is the Dragon Banner scheduled to return?"
It would have been quite a good change of topic... if her face was not currently a burning red that is.
Still, I was as always magnanimous in victory and thus I showed mercy.
We spent the late night and early morning relaxing as I regaled her of our political advancements and she told me of summoned sandstorms, freshly inspired Forebear Redguard allies, of ruined Aldmeri fortifications and outposts and a rising fanaticism among those troops that accompanied her west.
Needless to say, we both derived great enjoyment from our silent yet inevitable victory.
In the words of a certain immaterial soul tumor I hoped I would never meet:
Everything was going
Just.
As.
Planned.
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The following day found us both in the grand throne room of White-Gold, Anondor standing to my side while the recently returned Skirnir accompanied Minthara, both of us positioned in our previous spots in the seats of honor as we awaited the city's most recent visitors to make their way to us.
The chamber of the Elder Council was not occupied solely by us either, as multiple high nobles and their entourages made sure to attend today's events, a good number of them not even bothering to live in their actual domains and delegating most of their work to a loyal steward while they enjoyed the high life in the capital.
Honestly so long as the stewards did their jobs well I couldn't even be bothered to be offended by this, they were only mortals and for all they knew this was all the life they would ever get.
I could feel Scorch's burning gaze from within but I knew I wasn't being an arrogant cunt in this case, perspective made fools of all of us and expecting everyone to be as 'enlightened' as I was just plain idiocy.
Naturally, the dreaded bird man didn't care one whit for that and kept giving me his glare of judgement for a good hour after that.
Eternally enflamed poultry aside, many familiar faces were gathered in the grand chamber, everyone from the entirety of Titus' personal council and his greatest loyalists present in the capital or their representatives. Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, recently joined by Leyawiin, and to everyone's grand surprise Skingrad, made for a rather strong core for our newly empowered grip on the heartland.
The rest was occupied by the rulers and representatives of the by now thoroughly pacified nobility of the other holdings, all of them ever so slightly consolidated under the soft leadership of one Vitellius Tor, even if the fat Count knew damn well how any kind of attempt at gathering further power would end.
Why we even had such grand examples as Leyawiin and Skingrad to serve as warning to anyone trying to get funny and step out of line.
The fat man seemingly noticed my subtle gaze and inclined his head, the fact that my head barely even moved in his direction for this to happen not bothering me whatsoever. I could always appreciate a showing of skill, no matter how annoying the one with said skill was.
My observations were ended prematurely as the great doors of the chamber were swung open by the Penitus Occulatus guards and a Master of Ceremonies began announcing the titles of the dozen or so Alinori nobles who deigned to grace us with their presence.
But I did not care overmuch for most of them, only a certain duo drawing my eyes as I beheld Kinlord Narsis and to my surprise his daughter, the selfsame powerful mage who joined Harkon's Volkihar in their ambush all the way back then.
Narsis looked tired, and I didn't mean he was tired from the road. There was a certain air of exhaustion surrounding the Mer as he tried hiding it from me with downright immaculate posture and self control.
His daughter however... well she was currently staring at me with what I could only describe as the gaze of a schoolgirl trying and failing to hide her crush.
Huh... So that was a thing.
