Clair POV:
The rescue of Yukina and Max went as planned, I helped them at the right time and their faces made the wait of half a day worth it.
I mean, every hero comes at the exact right time. Right!? It would've been too boring if I have met them inside the city. I had to hover over them for a few hours and even had to use two clones to keep their pursuers on the right track. They might have fled otherwise.
And the pursuers will surely tell the tale of my elf-dragon form. Which will give them new material in their propaganda and a reason to attack Aeron, even with the wall as an opponent. I mean what is more likely to manipulate people into an aggressive mindset? A small elfen girl or a monstrosity?
Bingo! The small elfen girl that is hiding a monstrosity inside of her. They will announce me as a monster while my people will take their claim as an insult and will get furious over such statements.
I just have to deny their claims and shut Yukina and Max up. The people of Aeron will then accept the coming war. And I'll even make this war like one of the modern wars on earth. Distant from the population and far away from the brutality of a battlefield. This will further bring the people of Aeron to accept the war.
There won't be any humans on my side, only degraded stone soldiers. This will be so much fun.
“Is something?” Yukina asked and brought me out of my thoughts. She must have noticed my absent gaze.
“No, please don't speak about my elf-dragon form, I showed it to them so that they would flee. But most people wouldn't like to know this form about me,” I said and gave them a smile.
“Of course. We would have been doomed if you wouldn't have come,” Max said and nodded in acceptance.
“Good, then let's go to Nahar, my friends will wait there and we have to speak about the coming events,” I said and took two comfy chairs out. They are connected to a steel pole.
“Sit down, I'll carry you while flying,” I said and they sat down. Then I grabbed the middle of the steel pole and lifted off.
We reached Nahar an hour later, Max was pale as a white sheet of paper and Yukina closed her eyes during the whole flight.
“That was too fast and too high,” Max said as he tried to keep his dinner inside. His legs were still shaky.
“I thought I'll die, I've never flown in my whole life.” Yukina
“Well it's over now, so come inside, the others are surely waiting for us,” I said and walked inside the mansion from Kyli.
Kyli's adviser Rilo waited behind the door and greeted us as we came inside.
“Hello Miss Clair, Kyli is waiting inside the office. Miss Malinda, Miss Bose and Mister Drull are already inside.”
I waved at her and said while pointing at the two behind me.
“Hi Rilo, could you send some maids to prepare two rooms for my guests?”
“I will send someone, how long do they plan to stay?” Rilo
“Don't know,” I said and walked to the office. Rilo bowed and then left to fetch some maids.
We walked to the office and I opened the door. Inside were Kyli, sitting behind an office desk, Lilia and Ilza on a sofa and Drull standing by a window. Kyli's guards were standing at the door.
“Hi, I have fetched Yukina and Max.” Me
Kyli stood up and gave me a greeting hug while saying, “Hi, nice to see you. Lilia already told me about your clash with Gaia and a little bit about your being here, could you please fill me into the rest?”
“Sure, but first let me introduce you to Max the aide and protector of Yukina,” I said and gestured to Max.
“It's nice to meet you, my name is Kyli and I'm the queen of Aeron,” Kyli said with a smile.
“Thank you for having us here,” Yukina said and bowed slightly. These Japanese are too polite.
“My name is Max Musterman, thank you for taking us in,” Max said and also bowed.
“Well Clair basically created the whole country and put me into this position, she also saved my life, so how could I not help her friends,” Kyli said and sat back down on her chair.
“Please sit down, and tell me what happened,” she then said and pointed at two chairs in front of her. I simply sat down in the lap of Lilia.
“Thanks,” Max
“Thank you. What do you already know?” Yukina
“My spies told me about a massive enlistment of the common folk and their preparation for war. And I know from Lilia that you were overthrown by the cardinal who is now, as my spies told me, a pope and the head of Raska. That is all I know of,” Kyli.
“Well, the pope has used my connection to Clair as a mean to start a revolt and exclaim Raska as the saviour of humankind. He is a fanatic who thinks of anyone not human as an abomination of nature that has to be either killed of worked to death. I fear he has already the full support of the population and is planning to attack Solo and Kirk. He will claim to be the enforcer of Siria who wants all non-humans dead.” Yukina
“But isn't Siria afraid of Master? I mean last time we saw her she nearly pissed herself in front of the might of Master.” Drull
“I don't know. It might be possible for him to work without the order of Siria.” Yukina said and shook her head. She waited for a moment and then continued.
“I don't know about the current state of the country. They put me into a cell and left me there for a few months. Max rescued me as they send me to the execution field.”
“Did they do something to you?” Kyli asked worried, she knows how it feels to be imprisoned and at the mercy of your captors.
“Strangely no, a man in black robes forbid any harmful acts against me and only asked me some questions. Now that I think about it, I think I told him the truth without thinking about lying. He just asked me some questions about Clair, which I couldn't answer as I don't know too much. It were things like strength and weaknesses whom I clearly don't know.” Yukina said and looked at me with an apologetic expression.
“Don't mind it,” Me
She still looked apologetic but turned back to look at Kyli.
“May I say something your Majesty Miss Kyli?” Max asked for permission to speak. He's strangely silent, might be because he's in the presence of a foreign queen and his actions might affect Yukina.
“Sure,” Kyli.
“I searched for information during the time of her Empresses imprisonment. The pope withdrew a lot of soldiers from the border to Duren and is planning to use these forces during the coming war. These warriors are all veterans and have a high strength. Normal soldiers of Solo and Kirk won't stand a chance against them. Their countries were simply too long in piece,” Max said in a respectful tone and even stood up as he spoke.
“Hmm, yes they will surely be a problem for those people. Is there anything else?” Kyli.
“They saw my elf-dragon form. It might be used as propaganda against Aeron,” Me
“Elf-dragon form? You have such a form?” Kyli asked. Oh yeah, she never saw me in that form.
I changed my head into the elf-dragon form and gave her a toothy smile.
“Yes, they will surely use that. It won't look good for the “Goddess of Carring” to have such an appearance. But the trust of the people of Aeron in you is too high to be affected by it. They might even see such an exclamation as an insult and demand an apology. We don't have to worry on our side. However, others might not think so.
Our investigations of the nobility of Kirk showed us a high displeasure of Aeron and especially you Clair. They don't like your sudden increase in power, your treatment of the common folk and on top of that your treatment of the nobility. They will surely use this opportunity to further denounce you.
It might even be possible for them to band together and form an alliance with Raska against us. Do you think we could take an attack of both countries?” Kyli asked a little worried.
“ Sure, they aren't strong enough to overcome the wall. The guards have an average strength of 100.000 and we have a few million of them. Their soldiers won't stand a chance. We might have to close our borders, in order to prevent the infiltration of terrorists or foreign soldiers. But we are independent and don't need any outside sources.
However, the other countries won't fare well. They will most likely fall under such an onslaught. Schwarzwald and Eisenberge might hold on longer than Solo and Tragon but they will ultimately fall under such a military power,” I explained in a matter of fact tone.
“Then what will we do?” Lilia
“I think we should wait and see what happens, Solo and Kirk will be the first to be affected. Their actions will help us to choose our own. For now, we should just strengthen our information network and wait for their move,” was Kyli's answer. She really grew into the role of a queen.
“So we have a few more month to prepare. Yukina and Max, what do you want to do?” Me
“I'd like to help in any possible way!” Yukina
“And I'd like to further serve Miss Yukina.” Max
“Kyli, do we have a general?” Me
“We don't have a military, so we don't have a general. The person who would come nearest to such a position is the head of our guard department. He's a beastkin of the tiger tribe. He has some knowledge about jungle warfare and monster extermination. But not much about normal warfare between humans.” Kyli
“Can you send someone to call him over?” Me
“Sure,” Kyli said and pushed a button on her desk. A minute later a maid came inside and left with the order to fetch said, person.
Rilo came also in and informed us about the finished preparation of Yukina's and Max's room. They left to get some needed sleep.
“So Kyli, what happened during my absence? I wasn't really in Nahar for some months. Anything of importance?” I asked during a dinner and in the absence of Yukina and Max. I don't want them to listen in on this, they still are foreign people.
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“Well. The “Church of Carring” gains more strength by day and the number of immigrants from Tongva is also rising. They say that the influence of your religion began to spread to Tongva and they wanted to see if the rumours are true about a non-discrimination of beastkin.
Most people are already showing signs of fanaticism and the main religion is “The Church of Carring” the other gods are almost not existent in Aeron.
However, those churches who are still here, aren't publicly discriminated. Yet we aren't able to stop the discrimination that is coming from the people itself.
I think the reason for the rising popularity of “The Church of Carring” is your influence on the mindset of the people and your regulations. The introduction of public schools, libraries, baths, parks, community places and free travel, as well as the newspapers and the rising literacy rate, are all strongly influencing the opinion of the population.
Tests showed us that a common child of 10 years is already more knowledgeable than a non-Aeron
adult of 30 years. The child, of course, lacks in experience, but it knows how to read, write and is more open minded to uncommon things. It also can solve problems at a faster pace.
Your rule of either [Body Enhancement] or [Magic Manipulation] training during school makes our citizen also stronger than the basic non Aeron person. Our magic academy had to be enlarged twice up until now and it will only grow larger with time. We had to employ a lot more teachers and the town around the magic academy is already the second biggest of Aeron, directly after Nahar.
Other than that; The monster extermination progress well, the roads and new towns are all growing,
our economy is stable and high, the harvests are bountiful, our magic academy has many good young people and the criminal rate is extremely low.
We had some problems with an underground criminal organisation that worked in slavery and drugs. But we quickly found them and they were exterminated by our guards. It's hard for them to establish themselves.
Most drugs are legal and the effects are commonly known, so not many take them.
And slavery is something that is almost a death sentence for anyone inside Aeron. That was also the reason for their downfall. They tried to sell a child to a pair of rich and childless merchants. Well, the pair told them on the guards and the organisation crumbled down before they could establish themselves in any real way.
All in all, Aeron is prospering and the people are happy.” Kyli reported proudly.
“That's good, intelligent citizen are the blood of every country. We just have to make sure of any rotten apple in the ruling part. We have to establish heavy punishments on bribing and corruption. And a transparency of the governing workers. We can't allow them to become something like the nobles outside of Aeron, power corrupts.” Me
“It sure does, you do whatever you want,” Lilia said from the side in a teasing voice.
“Yes, and more power makes it possible to do whatever the fuck you want. These people have only theoretical power, they can only do what they want as long as people listen to them. They can't force them with strength into submission and that is the difference between me and them.
And the people won't fear me as long as they don't see my real strength. That and I'm not allowed to be openly cruel.” Me
“That's why you have Dex am I right?” Drull asked with a grin.
I opened my mouth to answer him, but it knocked at the door and Rilo came inside.
“Mister Farion has arrived,” Rilo
“Thanks, send him in five minutes to the work office,” Kyli.
Rilo bowed and left while we walked to the office. Kyli sat down at her desk while we made ourselves comfortable on the sofa.
It knocked shortly after and 2.3 metres tall tiger beastkin man, with stats physical stats in the 20.000 came inside. He wore a uniform of a high ranking guard and bowed deeply to Kyli.
Contrary to Pia, his skin was mostly clad in fur. His face was also that of a tiger and his stature looked more like a human in a tiger costume on two legs than a human with some parts of an animal like Pia. He must be a pure beastkin. Pia, who looks more like a human is the result of many generations that have mixed with humans. While these beastkin only mixed itself with people of their race.
“Your Majesty, you've called for me? How may I serve you?” Tiger Beastkin man
“Hello Farion, let me introduce you to Clair and her companions,” Kyli said with a smile and Farion turned to my side. His eyes widened and he prostrated himself, with a jump, on the ground.
“My Goddess, I didn't know of your attendance. I'm sorry for not noticing earlier,” he shouted and hit his head on the floor. The wooden planks even cracked a little.
“Don't mind it, nice to meet you. You can call me Clair, like anyone else. Your name is Farion am I right?” I asked and heard a whispered,” Her goddess Clair knows my name!”
“Just act normally around me,” I further said and waited for a reply.
Farion looked up, worship showed itself in his eyes. He said,” Yes my goddess, I am thankful for your words. May this unworthy believer know what he can do for you?”
I looked at Kyli and the others for a moment, seeking help from this zealot, but only saw them trying to keep their laughter at bay.
“Kyli will fill you in,” I said and Farion put his head back down on the floor.
“Ähm, you may rise,” I further said as he didn't move and he finally stood up and looked at Kyli.
“Farion, how much do you know about warfare?” Kyli
“I'm sorry to say this your Majesty, but I'm not too versed in the art of war. My tribe seldom fought other tribes. At most it came to small fights of 20 to 50 men. I do know many tactics against monster and bandit groups. I'm sorry to disappoint you,” Farion said and bowed deeply.
“Don't mind it, you're not trained for such a thing and your knowledge with monster is a great help in our guard department.” Kyli
“May I know of the reason for such a question? I might be of help either way.” Farion
“The following will be secret and is not allowed to leave this room. Do you swear to not reveal it to a third person?” Kyli asked gravely.
“I swear on my name and family,” Farion said resolutely and with one fist above his heart.
“Good, then listen well. War will most likely come over this world in the near future. Raska has announced a holy war against all non-humans and Kirk will probably join them against the other countries. As you know, Aeron lacks a standing military so we are in search of a general. You, with your knowledge and experience of commanding troops, are the closest person to such a job we have. We thought of gaining some consultations regarding tactics and a war in itself.” Kyli said and Farion's whiskers and fur stood on end as he listened to her.
“You don't have to worry about our citizen, the stone guards and the wall will be enough to stop any army that may come. However, there might be an increase in the spies and terrorists who will try to come to Aeron. So you'll have to increase the security on our borders to Solo and Kirk.” Me
“Yes my Goddess, this one will execute your will with utmost care,” Farion said with a very deep bow.
“Good, that would be all for now. We think the information about war will come in one or two months. Be prepared for it. Our spies further heard of a tactic of the enemy to raise their morale against us. There might come rumours about Clair being a monster in disguise. This will be a plan of the enemy to weaken our will and justify their war. They are lies and don't have to be taken seriously.” Kyli said in a stern tone.
Farion's fur further stood on end and he growled while saying, in a deep and dark voice full of blood-lust,” How dare they to spurt lies about our goddess. We will rip them apart for such a despicable act.
I'll immediately inform my subordinates and then find someone versed in the arts of war. I'll guarantee that I'll be of help when the time comes.”
“Good, you can go then,” Kyli said and Farion left. But not before once again prostrating to me and bowing to her.
“Are they all so...eager to help Clair?” Lilia asked as he left.
“I would describe them more like a zealot than eager, but yes. A lot of people are like him.” Kyli
“Nothing that I didn't expect from my Clair,” said Ilza proudly.
“Indeed, Master is worthy of such praise,” Drull chimed in and Lilia looked at them helplessly.
“Well..., I'll be going then, I need to make some soldiers for the war. Contact me when you need something. Oh, and offer Yukina and Max a job at the magic academy. They both should be strong enough and qualified to teach. Thy might even replace the current clone headmaster.” I said and said my farewell.
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Here it is, thanks for reading.
I have some problems with my way of writing a dialogue. Are there any tips? Someone said that they look too forced lately.
But I don't know how to write them any differently. I don't like it to not say the name of the speaker after each spoken part. I have problems to identify the person who speaks in a lot of stories and try to avoid this by stating the name after each spoken part.
I tried to reduce the simple “I said” parts with Me or only the name of the speaker. But it's not the best solution. Any suggestions? Please give me a comment or send me a PM on RR (I rarely read my e-mails so a PM on RR is the faster way to contact me).