Chapter 468: 165: Rough Start – Part 3

Manasong

I notice that Samkelo's eyes are reddened and his posture is relaxed, which makes him look like he's baked, but I ignore it for now because the talks take a serious turn.

The situation with the Chimeras is basically as bad as it can get. This unmanaged, flying dungeon birthed a tribe of intelligent, breeder-type monsters, then the dungeon grew in secret until it reached a size that the Sky Lander military couldn't deal with, and now, it's drifted close enough to threaten their lands. But the cherry on top is that the dungeon also has barriers that prevent the military from trying to siege it and grind it down through attrition.

All they've managed to do is keep the Fortress at a standoff distance so that the monster raids can't reach their Sky Lands, but with the military tied up over there for so long, piracy has started to make a comeback. At least not all of the pirates are rapist-murderer heretics, as that'd attract too much attention from the Holy Avgi Empire right under them, and even in the Sky Lands, the Punishers are feared by the Wicked.

But back to the Fortress of Calamity, the Heroes have managed to pass through two layers (same as "floors" in a land-dungeon), a storm and a fog that act as natural barriers against large armies, but the Heroes have been having trouble getting through the third layer, a flying fortress, which contains the portal to the next layer. It's similar to the sphere fortress we infiltrated back in Legado, but this one is properly manned and defended.

"Have you attempted to sabotage it?" Yunia solemnly begins the inquiry.

Hekeman answers, as he's participated in almost every delve with the Heroes, "The monsters already know that we're trying to infiltrate the fortress, so their elite are constantly guarding the structural weaknesses."

"What about wiping them out from within?"

The rhino Prince shakes his head negatively. "They have so many different monsters with search and detection capabilities that it's not really feasible."

"Whenever we attack, they reinforce the fortress with a flood of monsters," Lily stoically adds.

"Do they have Scrubbers?" I switch topics.

The Heroes don't seem to know what a Scrubber is, so Hekeman answers in their stead again, "In some places like the barracks and the inner core."

I frown as I tap my forehead thoughtfully with a padded claw. "Okay, that is worrying. I have a very strong aversion to fighting inside Scrubber range."

"[Wha…? Why do they scare ya]?" Samkelo quacks in English.

"Don't use English, please," I kindly request.

The young gnome shrugs. "Yeah, sure. Why do the Scrubbers scare you?" he repeats, and I find it funny that he sounds more formal in Andraste because leveling the skill eliminates most of a person's accent and their use of slang.

"Because I can't simply [Gate] my men back to safety if shit hits the fan," I answer matter-of-factly.

"That's an interesting expression…" Kaatohe quietly remarks with a wry smile. The Chimeras are the only race that would understand such an idiom.

"Escape Bombs have been enough for us whenever we've needed to retreat," Lily retorts in kind.

"Didn't they pursue?" Yunia questions.

Samkelo smirks evilly as he answers, "Not us. If the monsters chase, they lose their numbers advantage, and then we slaughter them."

My elven Queen frowns as she considers their answers. We don't really know how powerful the Heroes are, so it's hard to predict how another delve would go, but at least we can trust in our own power.

And I want to destroy it. "Do you have the schematics of this fortress?" I continue as the dragon in me wakes up in a mood for violence.

"We have an incomplete one," Hekeman hums.

"Then show it to us."

This fortress is cylindrical, and its cannons are mounted on swivels, allowing them to easily shoot up or down, so attacking from below would give them a range advantage, but the fortress' upper part is reinforced and enchanted, so it's a tough nut to crack from above. Not only that, but the standard Trinity Cannons that the ancient Chimeras use are point-defense weapons and certainly not suited for offensive sieges.

"But [Ritualism] was created specifically for breaking fortresses, as it allows mages to combine their power into one massive spell," Alcander eagerly chimes in. He has level 28 in the skill, so I bet he's itching to pierce that thicc fortress with a big, phallic ballista bolt.

"And we also have the Field Guns, which I bet have a range advantage on their cannons," I add, equally excited to test my babies in more traditional warfare.

"'Field Gun'? Why is that term familiar?" Lily suddenly asks as she raises a thin eyebrow.

And a wave of nostalgia hits me as I happily answer, "World war two. Pak 40, 6-pounder, and other AT cannons. We hand-crafted a few and then made APFSDS, HE, HEAT, frag, and even airburst rounds for them."

"I know some of those words," Samkelo memes like a brother from another mother.

"Occasionally, I'm reminded of how much of a nerd you are," the angry cinnamon loli dryly replies.

And I smirk cheekily as I banter back, "Look who's talking, sweaty. You'd struggle to find a more competitive nerd than you in an e-sports tournament."

She bites her lip in rising annoyance because I totally got her with that one. She should've known better than to use "nerd" as a taunt.

Then the white lion finally finds an opening to join the conversation, "Ayy, I know what airburst is. It's like those grenade launchers in the Battlefield games where you can blow someone up from behind cover?"

But his comment strikes me as odd. "Wait, airburst only appeared in one really old Battlefield. What were you doing playing a vintage game?"

Wolf's Trivia: the really old games are called "retro," which are very clunky to play as gaming was in its infancy; the "vintage" games are the old games from the "homogenized generations," the eras when every big game played exactly the same because the companies got lazy; and the "modern" games are those that have full-body VR support or any sort of evolved control more complex than a joystick or m+kb.

And now, back to the conversation. I really can't see U Thant as a vintage gamer. He did say some old memes before, but it's almost like he's from a different… a different time period?!

Is he from the past…?

But he frowns confusedly as he retorts, "What do you mean? Every modern grenade launcher has airburst mode now."

But they don't…? Is he actually from the future?

Then Chesa quietly chimes in, also looking quite confused, "'Battlefield'? Don't you mean 'Battlegrounds'? That FPS where you have tanks and helicopters fighting?"

"Yeah, they compete with Call of Duty," U Thant immediately replies, very excited that a girl has shown some knowledge of games.

"'Call of Duty'? Isn't it 'Call to Arms'?" Lily questions, and my mind starts spinning.

Wait, what?!

"I have no idea what the fuck they're talking about," Urmeie quietly whispers to Aoi, who's sitting beside her.

"Earthling things, but don't worry because not even we understand," the little blue dragon whispers back.

Then it suddenly strikes me. "Berenstain or Berenstein?" I soberly ask as I stare intensely, my sudden change of tone taking the Heroes aback.

"Stain…" Lily hesitantly answers as she immediately understands my intentions.

"S-stein…?" Samkelo fearfully answers as his eyes fly between Lily and me, and the three of us fall silent in astonishment.

"What?" U Thant grunts in confusion.

It… it's starting to make sense!

"Mandela died in prison?" I continue, and I feel my shiny scales wave in anxiety.

"No," Samkelo breathes back.

"Yes…?" Lily hesitantly answers with a worried frown.

And I slam my hands onto the table in shock as I shout, "Wait, WHAT?! He didn't! He died of old age!"

But Lily sticks to her answer as she replies in kind, "That's the Mandela Effect! People thought he was alive, but he died in prison!"

"No! That's the exact inverse…!" I shout again in disbelief.

"I've heard that one. He died in prison," Chesa chimes in worriedly.

"The fuck are you two talking about?!" U Thant growls in concern.

"We're not from the same Earth! There are differences!" I howl frustratedly, my voice echoing across the huge throne room as an oppressive silence falls over us.

Samkelo sinks in his seat and starts mumbling in realization, "Now I get why the vision gave me the feeling that we were all from different places."

Then Lily's sharp voice stabs my heart like a sword, "You're not-… you're not Toto! I fucking knew it!"

I don't know if that's good or bad, but I start blurting out the grievance that she gave me during our first meeting as I glare at her, "I… I remember that we explicitly told each other that if we were thrown into an Isekai scenario, we wouldn't wait for the other because the comfort of having a lover would be too important for our mental health to pass up!"

She glares back twice as hard and even releases her high-level aura of pure anger at me. "I don't remember that! I seriously don't remember that! But you always complained that anime harems were naive and unrealistic, so it's pretty fucking crazy that you're the one with the huge harem!"

But I shake my head angrily as I retort, "I don't like anime harems with limp-dicked protagonists, but that's the only thing I've ever said about that!"

She suddenly stands and points her finger at me as she shouts in rage, "You're not my Toto!"

I also stand up so fast my chair falls backward. "And you aren't my Lily!"

"I believe it's best if we adjourn this meeting," Ciel kindly but firmly declares.

"Very well…" Queen Patika soberly replies.

I enter the carriage and immediately sit. Then I facepalm and wince as I cut my forehead with my claws. In my agitation, I must've undone their padding, which is pretty fucking stupid since I already have a sub-process that keeps the padding on at all times, even when I'm asleep.

Alissa grabs my hands and pushes them down, towards my lap, while Ciel gently touches my head and casts [Heal].

"We may enjoy pampering you, but it also hurts us to see you like this," my chocolate angel kindly remarks.

"I don't know why I'm so agitated, tee bee aitch," I hum with a bitter smile and relax back on my seat.

Ciel sits in front of me while Hana sits down on my other side, so the big-titted dragonkin hugs my tail and presses it between her breasts. The rest of the girls transmit their feelings through the hug, giving me a bit of comfort, though Roxanne and Hana deliberately try to make the hug more sexual.

It's still effective at calming me down, and so our resident angel smiles wryly as she analyses, "Things are complex, and your orderly and organized mind is having trouble dealing with so much stuff all at once."

"Complex is an understatement," I grumble and sigh.

Then Yunia decides to share, her voice so soft and shy that it's almost like Lina is talking, "I understand a bit how you and Lily are feeling. This is a delicate situation with no easy solution."

She and her ex-fiance, Brás, went through something similar, and it ended with tears.

I quietly hum in understanding as I start to put my thoughts into words, "Yeah… but I can't even get mad at the Gods. Imagine how much of a mess I'd have made if I was given [Otherworldly Summoning] and then met this Alt-Lily before I was ready."

"I believe it's fair for you to be a bit mad at them for putting you through this without your consent," Alissa comes in with a surprising take.

"I didn't expect you to say that," I reflexively reply.

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My little fox beauty gives me a pained smile as she caresses my scaled hand. "Seeing you like this has made me realize how much Lily meant to you, even though this 'Alt-Lily' is a bitch."

We fall silent as the girls try to shoulder my pain, but then Ciel quietly criticizes, "'Bitch' is a slur to weredogs."

"It's a common insult for earthlings," the fox dismissively replies.

"Still, let's not get used to saying it in the presence of others," the motherly wife politely requests.

There is a weredog Companion nearby, who shows no reaction as she likely doesn't care, but Ciel is kind of right, and a non-Companion might take it the wrong way. Then Lina looks away embarrassedly due to her previous use of the slur.

"Yipping vixen, then," Alissa nonchalantly deflects.

Ciel subtly rolls her eyes. "Still a slur…"

"But I'm allowed to," the fox insists.

And I'd rather not get involved in this argument.

We return to our guest mansion, and I pull out my bottle of Cinco Flores to drink while we wait for lunch. I can't really focus my mind on anything, even the baby golem experiment, so I just have a Companion as a snack.

The wives are also a bit bored, so we all play with this girl's body until we break her mind with pleasure. But then we receive a message from the Queen asking to have a private meal with us so that we may talk.

Since Venison is hiding the women from us, we decide to fuck with her just a little bit. I summon two nature elemental-wives and have them play with a few Companions to provide some background music for us while we eat.

The Sky Landers still have the tradition of fucking in public, but they aren't exactly connoisseurs of tentacle porn, and the faces the three royals make as they walk in are priceless. Hekeman gets an instant chub while Alissa sees Venison's nipples harden, so it's only King At-Risk-Of-Getting-Cucked that seems truly shocked.

"You're welcome to play with our sex toys, Queen Patika, but men aren't allowed to touch my women," I huskily declare.

"O-oh, I see… but I'll pass," she quietly answers, her hesitation telling me that she was a bit tempted.

There's an elemental by each wall, so no matter where they sit, they'll have the sight of a tortured beauty. Hekeman is the only one who blatantly steals glances at them, and his cock hardens in his pants, emboldening me further, so Alissa pulls my Cock out and casually strokes it while we eat.

As for the food, there's an interesting not-cabbage roll made with large not-palm leaves, which allow for quite the thick-boy-roll. The interior is filled with either spicy grains or ground beef with not-tomato sauce, reminding me that the Chimeras are the ones who gave not-tomatoes to the elves.

"You mentioned that you wished to talk, Queen Patika?" Yunia politely questions a moment after we sit down and begin to eat.

The delicious deer Queen nods solemnly and begins, "From what we've heard, we can assume that The Four aren't very… favorable towards your family, or even towards each other, so we wish to aid you in taking the lead and uniting them."

This is noble-speak for "we want to help you control them."

"Indeed, they have eccentric personalities, but I believe that's a requirement for a Hero," Alissa gently replies with a playful smile.

"I'm… tempted to agree," Ciel adds with a frown.

"Yes, 'eccentric' is an adjective that fits all of them," Hekeman hums soberly.

And I politely ask, "Very well. What can you tell us about them?"

The Queen glances at the rhino prince, who clears his throat and begins his prepared speech, "Starting with Lily Sinngh, it seems she's not exactly the same person you knew."

"She isn't, though she's still very similar," I agree with a nod. Their pronunciation of her last name is weird, making me believe that Alt-Lily's name isn't the same as my Lily's.

"Our experience with her has been that she's quick to anger but also relentless and tireless thanks to her Gift, making her the more reliable fighter among The Four. She acts as their leader as she has more 'Wisdom,' but she's too harsh, and her comrades are often frustrated with her."

That's the Lily that I knew on steroids, considering that my Lily wasn't a mass murderer of monsters.

"She seems worse than me," Urmeie jokes, and I can't help but smirk.

"At least you're self-aware," I reply, and she masochistically enjoys my banter.

Hekeman waits a second for us to stop flirting, then continues, "Second is Samkelo Nkosi, the oldest but also extremely aloof. He can see through walls and effortlessly use [Alteration Magic], but he seems more interested in using his Gift to get himself drugged than helping his comrades fight. He simply has no discipline."

Okay, the fact that he can see through walls is concerning since I fucking know he uses it to peep on women. I may be allowing my women to expose themselves, but only when I allow it. And I know that I'm a fucking hypocrite since I've also spied on many other women before, but I won't allow anyone else to do it too!

"Third is U Thant, a youth who seems like an unending well of divine power. He's naive and idealistic, while he craves to be the leader of the group, so he's often frustrated with himself and the others. He must be controlled the most, for he'll endanger others with his recklessness."

Now that's a slip. U Thant must be "controlled," not guided or trained, controlled.

"And lastly, Chesa Nagangrap is also quite aloof, but she seems to be merely bored, and she follows along with everything that Lily says, almost like a slave. Her power allows her to control the weather and the land, which is extremely useful in the Sky Lands, but it seems that Chesa isn't putting much effort into her Gift, so she rarely achieves much."

Queen Venison is so subtle with her staring at my Cock that only the golems notice it as she waits until nobody's looking, but their gazes are unreadable, so she's unable to guess where they're focused. I've also ordered them to simply stare at her continuously so that I can memorize every curve of her delicious body, giving her no openings for a safe peek.

"Yes, they do sound like Heroes at the beginning of their journeys," Alissa wryly remarks as I'm momentarily distracted with netori fantasies.

And the Queen solemnly adds, "But none of The Four have the personality of warriors or soldiers. Compared to the achievements of your family, they're sorely lacking."

Then Ciel comes in with a kinder, more level-headed take, "They've been chosen by the Gods themselves, so we must at least have faith in their potential."

That, I do.

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Manasong

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