Reivan's ship arrived in Lageton as fast as they expected and without any issues to speak of.
The only unsatisfying part was how there wasn't really much fanfare to welcome them—which was somewhat understandable, given how bleak the general situation was.
Some of the budding nation’s pitiful citizens either experienced or heard about entire families getting wiped out for various reasons. If that wasn’t enough, there was a not-so-little monster problem spawning from literally underneath the ground, causing even more unease.
Nobody was in a very welcoming mood. Even Reivan would have felt too bad if a festival or something was thrown to herald his arrival.
Thinking about it, he couldn’t help but sigh in regret. It had been two months since the Sage King died but the effects of the battle were still vividly felt in every aspect of life here.
A sudden realization made him pause as he alighted from the Black Pearl together with his entourage of close associates.
'Hm? It feels as if it's less hot than before. Or is that just me? Ah, maybe that’s because it’s 4 pm and the sun’s about to set…?'
Just to make sure, Reivan touched his neck and felt slightly less sweaty than he expected. His eyes shut, focusing on the sensation of the world around him. And after a moment of deliberation, clarity struck.
The heat hadn't died down, but its nature had changed since he was last here—it felt as if the heat had become more normal.
Essentially, it meant that people like him—who possessed extremely refined physiques that should be resistant to this level of temperature—could now resist it more easily.
Or rather, nothing had changed. The world had simply taken a step back to how it should be.
'It's not quite there yet. I honestly shouldn't be sweating at all.'
Even though it wasn't much, any boon to Lageton's current situation was more than welcome. Ordinary people probably hadn’t realized a thing and were still sweating their balls off, but the improving climate conditions would make it easier for the knights to do their jobs, at least.
"It's not as hot as you said," Helen expressed from beside him, dressed in her knight uniform rather than a dress for reasons he could not be bothered to argue with her about. She even walked a step behind him as if she was his guard. "Was it some sort of prank, then? Did you lie to us again?"
"I didn't, okay?" Reivan grumbled a little. "It just got better. Right, Gwen? Tell her."
"His Excellency is right, Lady Helen," Gwen backed him up—and rightfully so because he was both correct and her boss. Though she was a knight, she had already donned clothes that made her look like an important official, all billowy and totally different from what hot secretaries usually wore back on Modern Earth.
He derived some slight disappointment from that, but that was besides the point.
"Look alive, people," Jiji announced in a tone loud enough for only them to hear, wearing an elegant dress that was similar to what Helen should be wearing as the national ruler’s wife. "Stop goofing off in front of our subordinates."
Despite not having the entire city toss rose petals up along their path or holler their names, the arrival of a royal family member anywhere couldn't just be treated as if some nobody showed up from Worgon Outpost.
Some of the personnel that had already been here in advance were waiting for them in the port where the sky arks would be parked until they had to be used—which was practically the Samsaran Palace's private port, given its position at the easternmost edge of the city. With the temporary banning of all voyages between Lageton and Worgon, the ports previously dedicated to this had been integrated into his new home until further notice.
It was here that his government's staff awaited.
Most of them were handpicked by Jiji and Gwen, so Reivan had already been introduced to them about a week ago before they all got shipped off to Lageton in advance to help fix the shitfest that would serve as his domain.
Hector and Mimi would have been part of the group too, if Reivan hadn't successfully convinced them to wait in Aizen until the atrocious weather conditions didn't pose a threat to the child in his sister's belly—which was a point heavy enough for the couple to immediately agree. Mira should have also been here but was probably playing coy by not showing up, though she could also be busy for some reason.
As for the darkin and warbeasts, they were also noticeably absent because they were presumably hard at work. If he squinted hard enough, he could see some shadows on the horizon, swimming across the sea of clouds. He'd be willing to bet half his fortune that those shadows were Aizen's newest citizens.
In essence, everyone here was already familiar with everyone else and nobody else was watching them now. That meant they didn't need to make a show of playing niceties and whatnot—something Reivan internally celebrated because now was not the time to waste daylight.
There were some exceptions among the welcome crew though.
'Priests of Sormon...? Did Frey send a delegation?'
Reivan easily spotted a group of white-robed individuals in priestly garb.
At the head of their group was a charming woman who noticeably had a motherly figure and a mole near the right side of her lower lip. She gave off an air of maturity and—though he couldn't explain why—kindness. Or maybe it was just because she was wearing priest robes that Frey seemed to abhor wearing in everyday life.
That said, even when surrounded by priests wearing similar clothes, she still managed to come off as especially benevolent.
A quick look with [Supreme Insight] revealed that she was named Isolde and was surprisingly 152 years old. Aside from that, there was nothing extraordinary in her status page other than the fact that she had reached the limit of human potential. Scanning the other priests around her revealed that all of them were also half-ascendants or close to it.
Clearly, this was a very beefy group of priests even though they all looked like bookish people who couldn’t hurt a fly. This world was really scary because one could never truly be sure how strong someone was before you tried their patience.
Reivan glanced at Gwen for answers but found that she didn't seem to have any. That meant that the priests weren't expected to be here at all.
He shared knowing looks with Jiji and Gwen, nonverbally deciding to split up. While he and Helen headed straight for the unexpected group of clerics, the other two went off to say hello to their subordinates. The two valued practicality and they planned to get to work as soon as possible.
As Reivan and Helen neared, Isolde stepped forward as the group's representative and bowed deeply.
"May the light of the sun warm your path, Your Excellency," she greeted.
"And may it continue to do so for you, priestess." Reivan also gave her a respectful dip of the head. Not too much though, because he was the nation's leader now and a ruler's crown should never sink too low.
'I'm not wearing one right now though.'
With their greetings out of the way, Isolde was the first to introduce herself. “This humble servant is named Isolde, Your Excellency. I am a daughter of the kingdom who chose to dedicate her life to the Saintess’ cause instead of following in my father’s footsteps as a knight. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“I see. You do look like one of ours,” Reivan chuckled goodnaturedly before asking the questions he wanted answered. “And to what do I owe this pleasure, if I may ask? I did not expect to see the faithful here.”
Of course, he was very careful not to sound unwelcoming.
Given their inherent desire to help any who needed healing and their sheer ability to do just that, it made perfect sense to invite the Sormon Church into his budding nation. And he did, in fact, want to do so too.
There were some very glaring issues that may get in the way of that, however.
First, because of past incidents in their history, all religions were banned in Arkhan. The people also inherently avoided them, the aversion to anything related to gods becoming ingrained into their very psyche.
Second, given the Sormon Faith’s reach all over the Argonia Empire, the people of Arkhan never had a very good impression of it, even when compared to other religions. It is said that the banning of all religions is mainly to prevent one of Argonia’s staunchest allies from spreading its influence into the republic. Which, Reivan admitted, was wise of the republic's ancient rulers. It seemed those great personages realized the danger of letting an enemy's religion take root in Arkhan.
Because of those two facts, Reivan did not know how the citizens would receive any Sormon Priest that arrived—even if said priests only wanted to help them with the purest intentions. Quietly walking away and refusing treatment was one thing, but what if the Arkhanians tried to attack the priests while they were busy healing someone? What if they threw slurs at the relatively pure clerics?
To avoid endangering the priests and having them suffer any trauma from being shunned, Reivan chose not to invite them here at all.
Fate worked in strange ways, it seemed, because the priests of Sormon had now invited themselves here anyway.
“The Saintess was waiting for you to send us an invitation,” Isolde sheepishly smiled as her pretty brown eyes met his. “But she realized that you may have some... reservations about inviting us to a potentially unwelcoming environment. That is why I and a number of volunteers journeyed here to directly ask you for permission to operate in Lageton.”
“Admittedly, I would have liked to have this conversation back in Aizen.” Reivan shrugged, not really minding how they had done things. He really did want them here.
If they volunteered, knowing what to expect, then he had nothing else to say but words of gratitude.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Sormon’s faithful are always welcome where the kingdom’s shadow looms,” he said as he dipped his head lightly as a sign of respect and appreciation. “I’d tell you to be careful, but I can tell that all of you are quite capable of taking care of yourselves.”
Isolde giggled, demurely covering her mouth. “I was told that the prince was extremely perceptive. It seems the praise is deserved.”
“Oh, it’s just a talent I’ve always had… In any case, you may rest assured that you have my full support here.”
“Thank you very much, Your Excellency. Now, if I may trouble you over any inns…”
Reivan nonchalantly flicked his wrist. “You and the others can temporarily stay in the palace while I have a church set up. It won't take long.”
Isolde’s shoulders jumped and she hastily shook her head. “That would be far too much, Your Excellency. I was thinking something along the lines of a recommendation letter so we can stay at an inn long-term…”
“I'm afraid you won't find many inns or hotels open in the current state of affairs. Don’t worry about the church, I’ll have a portion of our budget allotted to it so it'll be done in a jiffy.”
“No, that wasn’t the problem… Or rather, that makes it even more of a problem if you intend to pay for the construction as well…”
Seeing her reluctance, Reivan sighed and offered a reasonable compromise. “Then let’s go with this: there are many vacant buildings or ones made… irrelevant given our current situation. We’ll perform some quick renovations to one so it can be made into a chapel. Then another one for your private quarters.”
“But—”
“The former will also function as a treatment center, so it’s fine. You and the other priests get a roof over your heads while we are freed from the fear of diseases, injuries, and maybe even maladies of the heart. We are the ones who benefit more from this, Sister Isolde.”
Isolde seemed to think on it for a few moments before reluctantly nodding. “Then we’ll have to impose on the prince’s—I mean, the Hierarch’s generosity.”
Reivan ignored her verbal slip and smiled.
Honestly, he really did come out as the winner in all of this. He would get to choose where the site for the chapel too, and there were many options to go around. Having a Sormon Priest anywhere nearby was a massive load off his mind.
It was not beneficial only to his constituents, but also to himself and those he loved.
As for the costs, he couldn’t care less about that. It was just money. He had a lot of it and no amount of the stuff could bring someone from the dead if they died from not having a priest save them in time. Those damned bills wouldn’t even make for good tissues to wipe his tears with.
Plus, he already had knights stationed all over the city, so he could just ask the ones who had the [Earth] attribute for help in fixing up the building. Said knights were on the Aizen Kingdom’s payroll, so it cost Reivan nothing.
Was he abusing his authority? Maybe. But nobody was going to complain about free health care.
Afterward, he exchanged a few more pleasantries with the kind older woman and proceeded toward his palace, with oddly silent Helen staring very hard at the back of his head.
“What is it, my lovely wife?” Reivan asked with a hint of playfulness when he couldn’t take her muted glare any longer. “Did you fall in love with me again? You can’t keep doing that every day, you know?”
Helen impassively rolled her eyes before continuing her glowering. “Priestess Isolde seems nice.”
“Oh, her? Well, Sormon’s devotees normally end up like that, no? Most of 'em are really nice people. They’re not hard to like when all they ever do is make things better.”
“She was big too.”
Reivan didn’t need her to elaborate, because he had obviously noticed as well. He also couldn’t get out of this line of conversation without addressing it. “Were they?”
“I saw you look.”
“Ehem. W-well, honestly? They were a little too big… I like yo—”
“They were around as big as Elsa, though?”
Swallowing his words, Reivan shut his mouth.
It seemed that making it out of this undamaged was not in the cards, so he would have to try to mitigate some of the damage instead. He could have cited the ridiculous age gap, practically disqualifying someone older than his own mother from becoming a romantic partner. But that honestly would’ve made him sound like a bit of an asshole and he didn’t like that.
Shunning a woman just because her age was in the three digits was almost as bad as disparaging a man for being short.
Besides, all things considered, Isolde looked amazing despite her age. He wouldn’t have even noticed how old she was if he didn’t have [Supreme Insight].
Obviously, saying all that wasn’t going to help his case. “Just so you know, I didn’t stare at her lewdly at all... I just noticed them. It was mostly a business interaction.”
Helen snorted in annoyance. “I won’t say anything about Elsa and the other concubines. But she better not—”
“She won’t! She won’t, I promise.” Reivan held a hand to his chest. “You can literally leave me if I do that.”
She groaned. “I don’t think I can go that far…”
Her muttered words made him feel great but the context made his mood fall right back down. He grabbed her hand and didn’t let go until they made it into the palace.
----------------------------------------
Reivan and Helen, together with Jiji and Gwen—who reunited with them once their business was done—toured the important bits of the palace to familiarize themselves with their new home-slash-workplace.
As it turned out, Reivan couldn’t get invested in the tour because he’d been here once before. Though brief, he’d managed to get a pretty good idea of where everything he needed to know about was.
Obviously, Gwen didn’t need the tour either, but she still came along anyway. He was sure it was so she could answer any of their queries.
The biggest surprise was how expansive the section dedicated to his concubines. There were multiple wings for them, so it was kind of like an entire village existed just to house his mistresses and the children he had with them. But he supposed that made sense given how he was expected to have a lot. And probably some more, if good candidates continued to volunteer.
Surprisingly, Helen's mood didn't sour at the notion of concubines. She even had the hint of a smile while noting that there was plenty of space for kids to play and wander. Maybe she intended their children to get close to his children with other women too? It certainly warmed his heart to know that she didn’t plan to shun any of his kids.
Then again, she was a bastard child too. So perhaps her past affected her sentiments.
Eventually, the tour wrapped up and the four of them decided to have dinner in a veranda overlooking the bleak landscape of Lageton and its surrounding areas.
"Burn this all into your retinas, ladies," Reivan gestured with his fork as he willed a few flying swords to release a pleasant chill to counter the incessant heat. "We're the ones who have to fix this mess. Somehow. Hopefully."
"I mean," Jiji gracefully guided a spoonful of soup into her mouth, only speaking afterward. "While this was a tragedy, we have essentially eliminated a competitor for the domination of the continent just as they were getting close to ending the game once and for all. We're also in a slightly superior position against the empire. Cleaning up any mess resulting from that is but a minor inconvenience."
Gwen nodded as she efficiently put away her food. "I agree, Advisor Jiji."
"Glad to hear it, Secretary Gwendolyn." the cat-eared princess grinned. "It'll take some getting used to. These new titles, I mean. Don't you agree, Your Excellency, the Grand Hierarch of Samsara, Reivan Aizenwald? Or should it be Reivan Samsara? How about Reivan A. Samsara?"
Reivan groaned under his breath, careful of the eyes around them. "Can you give it a rest already…? No need to say the full title. You want me to go around calling you Jiji Aizenwald all the time?"
Jiji giggled. "Why? I am merely addressing you with your well-deserved title. Anything less is disrespectful to your hallowed station."
"One of these days, I’m gonna..." Reivan sighed before turning to Gwen while pointing at something in the distance. “Anyway, care to explain why there’s a giant floating fireball on the horizon that’s not the sun? It’s past dusk so the sun should be long gone anyway. And I don't remember suns having fiery tentacles and shooting mini-suns at flying people.”
Gwen finely chewed on her mouthful before answering. “As I mentioned earlier in the ship, those things and a number of smaller ones pop out of a volcano every once in a while. Sometimes, craters open up erratically to release them.”
“You did say something like that, yeah… Are they an issue?” he asked, before clarifying. “A real issue, I mean.”
She shook her head. “Worry not, for size does not always mean it is strong. It’s a bit troublesome given their lack of a weak spot, but they can be taken out by sheer persistence.”
Reivan sighed in relief before stabbing the last steak with his fork, calling dibs so that his wife—who had been eyeing it—couldn’t take it before he did. Triumphantly, he escorted it into his plate and resumed eating.
“You said they come from volcanoes?” Jiji clarified, apparently finished with her meal. “Even the ones that are supposed to be dormant?”
“Upon recent scouting trips, all volcanoes are now active,” Gwen said.
‘Shit. I can already tell that it’s somehow because of that elven Transcendent who got offed by Sir Rolf.’
Reivan didn’t even know it was possible for that to happen. Transcendents were really the stuff of both nightmares and legends if the aftereffects of their battles could awaken dormant volcanoes and cause them to vomit sentient masses of lava.
‘Seriously, what the fuck. I'm glad we don't have volcanoes back home...’
The funny part was that Arkhan wasn't even known for having a lot of volcanoes, mostly because most of them had gone dormant more than a thousand years ago. Yet here they all were, reminding the world of their existence as if the Transcendent battle had awoken a bunch of slumbering dragons.
Squinting a little, Reivan looked into the distance and used [Supreme Insight] on the giant ball of fire.
‘Huh?’
Blinking out his surprise, he tried again. But still, nothing showed up.
Or rather, it was as if he couldn’t target anything with it when he looked. All of it was just "normal lava".
“Well, that’s strange…” Reivan muttered to himself. "Is the real body somewhere inside, and that’s why I can’t examine it...?”
Jiji seemed to notice his confusion, but chose to ask Gwen more questions instead. “What do you call it?”
“We are going with Lava Demons for now,” Gwen said nonchalantly. “It paints a good picture when we’re fighting these monsters. Knights against demons, as they say. And because they’re so big, their demise can be seen even by ordinary people. Our reputation has been improving greatly because of that.”
“Two birds, one stone. I like it.” Jiji snickered in approval.
Helen took a break from filling her stomach to gesture off-handedly at the Lava Demon. “How strong is that one?”
Gwen took one look at the distant ball of fire and the faint traces of tiny shadows buzzing around it. “It is stronger than me, at least in the sense that it can destroy more things faster than I ever can.”
“If you fought it, would you lose?” Reivan raised a brow in curiosity.
“I do not believe so,“ she answered before elaborating. “Its relative slowness and the simplicity of its actions mean it wouldn't land a hit on me unless I allow it to. But I would not win either. It isn’t a foe to be fought in single combat after all.”
“I see…”
Jiji chimed in. “So you’ve all just been throwing loads of people at it?”
Gwen nodded. “That has proven to be the best strategy against them. These past few weeks, fighting them has served as relatively good teamwork training for the knights and the darkin too, so I have assigned them to be the ones to take care of Lava Demons. Battlemages are to just offer support when necessary.”
Reivan continued to look into the distance. “They’ve been fighting for a while now. You think I should help?”
“There’s no need. But if His Excellency wishes to do so, then by all means. Just please remember to head out with a guard escort.”
“Great! I’ve been wanting to stretch my fingers for a while now.”
“Me too.” Helen tapped him on the shoulder. “I’m coming too.”
He rounded on her with a frown. “No, you aren't. What if you’re pregnant?”
“I’m not, though. Not yet.”
“Yeah, but what if you are?”
“I told you, I’m not. I know my body better than you.”
Reivan clicked his tongue, not really capable of a decent retort. Since she didn’t seem like she’d give in, he just shrugged. “Fine. But you’re only offering ranged support, got it?”
Helen frowned in dissatisfaction but nodded when she realized he woulndn’t negotiate on that part.
And so, he summoned Zee and both of them rode the giant winged serpent toward the equally enormous sphere of burning lava.
What fun.