The Monster Cores Raleigh got me were all extremely rare. It was worth waiting all these years. However, they were extremely rare. Some of them came with a description of the creature, some even with a drawing and what powers they had. As one may suspect, these descriptions and drawings were rubbish.
Researching for the creature name listed on the core {Appraise} results yielded fuck all. Not even Marlowe could help me with that. Did I mention these were extremely rare creatures? Now I was faced with a dilemma. I could either burn one of my permanent summon slots and risk having a shitty creature, or I could summon the creature and check if it was any good, but then I wouldn’t have the Core to assign it to a permanent summon slot.
Because, being extremely rare, I had no duplicates.
So, being me, I dumped the Cores in my item box and delegated the problem to future Haru. Or whoever I reincarnated at in the future. Anyway, I doubt any summon could help me against the dragon bitch-goddess. So, yeah. At least I learned something useful. You have one, you have none, as the saying goes.
----------------------------------------
Fast forward a few months after Marisol’s return, it was finally election day. Windemere was about to become a pseudo-democracy and the Queen was going to be just a novelty for tourists. We were going to elect a parliament, change the government system, district governors, city mayors, lawmakers, judges, and all that jazz. The years of delay were important (and maybe not enough) because we needed to raise a new generation of people with the correct civic education.
I say pseudo-democracy because one of the requirements for eligibility and elector status was the Tabard. As one traitor spat in my face, a piece of cloth cannot dictate the fate of a nation. I’d spit back that it was not a mere “piece of cloth” but a Living, Magical, Quasi-Sentient piece of cloth with more levels and Status than said traitor and most of his co-conspirators.
The subordinate Tabards were almost ubiquitous in Windemere. We even had a problem with counterfeit Tabards but they couldn’t properly replicate the {Appraise} results, especially after the Tabard leveled up and got a Perk to make the subordinate Tabards change their descriptions to include the date and time. I was baffled. If they started to make long-distance communications, take pictures, disseminate hate on Twitter, and download porn, I’d ask Loki to take me back to Earth.
Alas, that wasn’t going to happen. Me going to Earth. The Tabard would probably hit the level cap before that, so we were good.
Where was I? Yes, elections. General elections.
It was a holiday in Windemere. People filed in to cast their ballots, some wearing a subordinate Tabard, some wishing to undergo the trial before their district electoral committee. Some detractors badmouthed Queen Mirina because she was giving away her power. We let them talk and the Wolf Guard advised people to not react or engage such naysayers. The people needed freedom of speech without fear of reprisal.
Mirina and I decided to let the elections run without our interference. Windemere had to walk on its own legs. In the future, I would come back and see what happened but History would be the judge and jury on this decision. The only thing I made was a living ballot printer that would create them out of silk for the elections. This way, there would be no forgeries.
----------------------------------------
The day after the elections, while the ballots were still being counted, I was sleeping with my wives in our sky palace when a call woke me up. Despite not needing it, I enjoyed doing so with the two of them.
> [Administrator Hotline]
>
> CALL START
>
> Wyxnos: Your wife's soul is fully healed. Go to the temple you've built. My priest there has a receptacle. She sleeps inside.
>
> Haru: What? I thought it would take centuries!
>
> Wyxnos: It would, but your friend Loki showed me a faster way to do it. More expensive and demanding too. Well, my job is done. I included a tissue sample if you don't have one. You have the adequate tools to bring her back to life in her prime. Good luck.
>
> CALL END
The former college professor hung up on me. I felt my blood boiling. No doubt his students back on Earth hated him.
I stirred them awake and after a fresh mug of coffee (the power to summon raw coffee, roast, and grind it with magic is awesome), I explained what was going on.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go and get her," Mirina encouraged me.
Part of me felt like I was cheating on them. "Just like that?"
Approaching from behind me, Jocelyn leaned her chin between my ears. "Of course. We know how you feel. She's the First Queen of Windemere. The first person you fell in love with in this world. We understand it."
"What Jocelyn wants to say," Mirina straightened her back, "is that we understand if you want to ditch us for her."
I jumped, causing Jocelyn's mouth to clamp down as I headbutted her chin, "Never!" I looked up and threw a soothing spell at the silk-woman without a second thought. Then I cradled her in my tails and brought her to stand next to Mirina. "You're not replacements! I'd never1"
"What if Lorna wants exclusivity?" Jocelyn teased as she rubbed her chin.
"I don't think that will happen. She's… she'll understand. Lorna will understand the circumstances."
"Even if she doesn't, it's fine," Jocelyn replied. "We knew what we were getting into. We also understand the circumstances. Even if you dump us and send us back to the surface, it was worth it. Who else in this world can say they were lovers with a Goddess?"
"Bullshit!" I shot back. "I'm no Goddess. Not really. The Matriarch is a fraud. I'm a fraud. You look at me, you see Haru, but I'm not Haru. I'm a guy from a very mundane world. A guy. Always has been."
Mirina narrowed her eyes and stared at me. "We know that. Why are you repeating yourself?"
I felt my eyes moisten.
"The one that needs convincing is you, Haru," Jocelyn added. "Will you come back here? Let us meet Her Majesty? Our first wife? We'll be waiting for you to bring her back."
Queen Mirina sipped her coffee. As it was proper, we waited in silence until she finished. The human woman laid her mug on the table and grinned, "Go. Who knows? Maybe we can have a foursome. I want to see if the [Prostitute Queen] is all that the bards sing of."
That was so out of character for the dignified Royal my brain stopped and my chin dropped.
Like an old Windows PC, I rebooted after the blue screen. I took both women with my tails and brought them in for a long kiss.
----------------------------------------
I decided I fucking hate Wixnos. For real this time. If he'd done his fucking job, none of this would have happened. I used {Shadow Warp} to move to the bottom of the island, then dropped down to the cathedral square, thinking to myself. It was a sobering moment. I made no friends among the Gods. None of them. Not a single one. They all knew what was about to happen to Lorna but sat on their hands nonetheless. The only thing that changed afterward was their stance. No longer I was a bug to squash and crush. I was someone dangerous that could, had to be reasoned with. They were too quick to throw one of their own down as a sacrifice. If the dragon-bitch had any other tricks up her scaled sleeves, that remained to be seen.
I had half the mind to let the next Demon Lord rampage as much as it wanted. See what the Gods would do, how they'd squirm. A small part of me wanted to kill all of them. A lot of minor Gods steered way out of my way and let the big ones deal with me but I was being handled.
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Inside the cathedral, I felt the small cloud of Divinity that spread like a gas, siphon away into Pandora. It was my protection against attacks by the Divine, the only reason they hadn't done me away. I walked all the way to the back and then to the workshop of the Crafting Gods, as Wyxnos and Labraid were called. A gnome priest adorned with Wyxnos's cogwheel symbols on his clothes approached. He was smiling too much, in a forced attempt to look friendly.
"[Matriarch] of Windemere. Welcome, welcome, Your Majesty. It is a plea--"
I frowned at the gnome to silence. He whimpered and fidgeted. He had a shiny orb that shifted with a nebulae pattern inside. It was like glimpsing at one of those MiB universe marbles. It made me nostalgic and erupted my fears of what Lorna would say regarding her wishes to not be brought back.
"Your God has something for me," I stated, my already soured mood dropping to the negatives.
"Yes, yes, Wyxnos has a mighty gif--"
"Enough!" I grunted. "I'm not in the mood for whatever you are trying to do."
"Here, here, a pretty orb for a--"
I snatched the orb from his hand, instinctively weaving an inertial field spell around me to keep it from falling off.
"A mighty boon upon--"
I almost hit the gnome. Instead, I leaned close to the smaller guy and hissed, "don't speak of what you don't know," I laced my words with a Royal Geas. From the cost, I knew he wasn't from Windemere. "Do you know what this orb is? What does it mean to me?"
"I do not, Your Majesty," he replied honestly without his fake mirth.
I had no need for brownnosing fools, much less for me losing control. Kingdoms blew up for less than this. "Tell Wyxnos I want you and your gilded tongue went from Windemere in a week. Or I'm going to hunt you down and rip your soul to pieces."
> Soul Orb
>
> Price: Inestimable
>
> Indestructible
>
> An orb that contains a soul restored to its prime. It can only be broken by Haru Stouthammer. Once opened, the soul will move on unless something keeps her from doing so.
Apparently, I didn't need to be that careful but whatever. The item description made me suspicious. It was practically impossible to erase me from the System. So long it and Yznarian continued to exist, I would be reborn somewhere. I feared no trap. They knew the consequences if they crossed me. I'd wipe their churches out, let them starve without Faith, find a way to reach their domains, kill and devour each of their Divine Cores.
----------------------------------------
I offered Mirina and Jocelin to bring them with me to the sanctum but they refused, claiming it was something that should remain between Lorna and me. Part of me knew they were as afraid of what would happen as I was.
The Home-Tree was already huge but not as big as the seven trees in Fulgen. We were halfway there. Briar's contract would end in another two and a half centuries. Nenandil and Pandora both appeared next to me.
"We're with you, Haru," the fairy comforted me. "Let's meet Lorna together."
I wiped away tears, "Let's."
I noticed Vesper had heard us coming. She stood by the door of our home with her head lowered. I knelt next to the silkie and offered her my hand. "You too, Vesper. You're part of this."
"I'm honored," she replied with a knot in her throat. "But first, three dryads spawned inside this glade, my Lady."
"They did? How did Briar react to it?"
"Miss Briar took them under her wing and gave them temporary housing in the Tree-Home boughs. The dryads, however, want trees of their own. We didn't know how to proceed so we kept them from planting their seeds."
"Is Briar fine with them planting their trees in the glade?"
"I believe so, my Lady."
"I can give them blessed seeds of whichever species they want, except the one," I said, staring at the giant tree. "Can they wait? I'll look into it. Come, let me introduce you to my wife."
We gathered in the front room and I held the orb in my hand. Trembling, I crushed the giant marble and felt the soul attempting to escape.
> Soul Shepherd
>
> Materialize Spectre
Lorna, looking healthy and in her twenties, appeared before us. I fed her a steady trickle of Energy and she recovered consciousness. The spectral cat-kin looked around, smiling as she recognized the house and Nenandil. Finally, her eyes rested on me. Her grin told me she'd recognized me. I blinked and the droplets rolled down my cheeks...
"Beloved. I remembered I asked to not be disturbed after my death," she admonished me with soft words, her tone bringing up all the bottled emotions in me... "What's the matter?" I reached out with a hand and she took it. The ghost's hands were dry and cold. "How long have we been apart? I like your fox ears... What's wrong, my dearest?"
The pain, the indignation, and a bit of the anger escaped. Pandora illuminated the room with her golden light. It helped me hold on to my wits by a thread.
She hugged me. "Take your time. I'm not going anywhere."
I hugged back and cried for who knows how long until I got tired.
"Let me introduce you to our new family members. This is Vesper, a silkie that took over the housekeeping."
"A pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty," the tiny silkie standing on the table curtsied and smiled. "Please, feel at home, and do not be afraid to ask me anything."
Lorna looked at the house, "It's our old house! It's better-looking than when we lived in Perenneth!" Lorna cooed and then gave me a quizzical glance. "What should I call you?"
I found her antics so endearing that I managed to giggle between my hiccups. "Haru Stouthammer, at your service."
"Half-dwarf?" I nodded. "Fox-Kin?" Head shake. "Kitsune? Oh, right. The tails! So many!" The specter giggled.
She flew behind me and looked at them. I almost preened and begged for her to touch them. But no. Everything is in due time. Then she tugged on them to see if they would come off. She was impossible. My mirth was cruelly tempered by the dread I felt in the pit of my stomach. I couldn't allow myself to be happy. Not until Lorna was flesh and bone again.
"I was not supposed to be here. Something's wrong." Lorna was serious now. She flew around and faced me. "Haru, what happened?"
The tears that supposedly dried minutes before came back, an endless stream of tears and snot. She hugged me again. Even Nenandil and Vesper weren't immune to the mood and were bawling with us.
"What is the last memory you have before today?" I asked.
"Dying of old age in bed with a liquified Lakerta by my side," she answered. "I felt like not a single moment passed in-between."
"It's been six hundred years, Lorna. I believed you'd passed away peacefully and lived my lives (not sure) after that, as I'd promised. I freed the slaves, fought Bundeus, punished several kingdoms. Auvanini is free of slavery to this day. But someone stole your soul before you could reach the afterlife. They kept you, prisoner, all this time, waiting for the right moment to strike at me."
"Who?"
"The brood-whore," I spat. Not literally. Gotta respect Vesper's work.
"What did they do?"
I nodded. "They used a forbidden magic spell where they sacrificed the soul of my one true love to kill me. I got a Kitsune Perk. Each time I would die, a tail was sacrificed. I lost three. They tortured you beyond almost any hope of recovery. I was in so much pain I almost destroyed the world."
I explained more about what the dragons did, what transpired after that, and about my lives in these centuries.
She felt disgusted and horrified. "I'm so, so, sorry!"
As Lorna attempted to break my hold on her soul and pass away, I held her back. "Please. Stay with me!" I let my fears speak for myself. In a desperate plea. She wanted to go away. I could feel her soul struggling against the power that kept her here.
She stared at me, horrified. "I can't, Haru. If I stay, they'll use me to hurt you again."
At that moment, I knew the one thing that would make me give up my endless reincarnations and embrace oblivion.
Desperate, I tried to argue, "They can't! I took their magic. Now I'm the only one in this world that can use Fate magic. And I have a lock of your hair with me. I can remake your body and make you live again."
"No. Don't make that face, Haru! You know I love you. But I can't live as Lorna anymore. I've lived for three hundred years but Lorna was a sad existence. Born a slave, forced to whore me, to pick the [Prostitute] Class, sold by the brothel to keep them from splitting me from Eric, violated and vilified by those monsters in people's clothing… You were the light in my life, but that life is over, Haru."
I fell on my knees. "I can't go on without you."
"You can. You already did once, and now you have two splendid wives. Let me move on. I still don't want to live anymore. Not as Lorna," she added in a whisper.
Given the nature of souls, that was paradoxical. "But souls that move on are reincarnated. You will live again, even if you don't remember me. Let me give you a new life then. One in which you won't suffer!"
She shook her head. "I understand what you say, and I can feel the pull of a new life calling to me. But no. You'll know who I am and will shelter me, spoil me. I want to live freely. A normal, happy life."
"Without me?" I whimpered.
She held my cheeks and brushed her ghostly lips against mine. "No. That's the only regret that keeps me bound here. That you miss me and still remembers me after all these centuries."
"I literally cannot forget. There's a Perk for that," I joked with a wry chuckle.
Lorna's tail started to flicker back and forth as she opened a grin, "I love you, soul from another world. Why don't we make a little wager? A game?" She whimsically teased me.
"What game?" I asked but her feline grin spelled mischief of the highest order. That smile felt, to me, like both honey and a poisoned dagger.
"Find me. Find me and make me fall in love with you again. I'll be around, somewhere in this world. If we are FATED to be…" She didn't speak the word out loud but it jumped and struck my ears like a chord from the heavens. My {Fate Magic Affinity} talked to me.
Lil' kitten girl wanted to play tag. I thought about scouring the world after her, trying to find a needle in a haystack. I bet the System had some way to find people, maybe dunno a unique ID, but that wasn't visible to me. I had to level the playing field and I instantly knew what I had to do.
"Let's make it a game then. But allow me to set a few rules. I'll cast a spell that will make sure we'll be reborn around the same time and meet every life. Regardless of our species, we'll be drawn to each other. How does that sound?"
"Only if I don't remember my past lives," she counter-offered and trilled, "I want each experience to be fresh and exciting!"
She truly was the cat-kin Queen.
"But if you don't remember, what's the point?"
"Nine! They say cats have nine lives. If for nIne times you make me fall in love with you. If you do that, you can remind me of what we experienced together."
"Eight then, because I'm sure I already did it once."
She playfully pushed me away, "That's too pretentious of you! How dare you assume I've fallen in love with you when I was just using you to climb the social ladder!"
I momentarily felt the heat drain from my hands, feet, and face. An instinctive fear that it could be true but it was just her teasing me.
"I'm kidding, you silly kitsune!" She bopped my nose and tugged my ears before I could react. "I can't believe you fell for that! What a lack of faith!" She clicked her tongue. Eight more times it is."
"I'll make it so you'll regain all your memories at the end. I can do that, but first, I want you to meet my family here."
"Family? LIke in father, mother, siblings? Or those two you took in to fill the hole in your heart left by me?"
She was teasing again. "A Lorna-shaped hole can only be filled with Lorna," I poked my tongue at her.
Lorna laughed deliciously. It was worth more than five gormandizing groans. "That's the spirit."
I took the lock of hair out of storage. "But it will be hard to meet them like that, ghost [Queen]t. Come back to life for a while and come see Windemere six centuries after you left it."
"Then what? I don't want to live as [Queen] Lorna again!" She protested.
"Do you remember the story I told you? About the star-struck lovers in 'fair Vernona'?"
She did. Lorna jumped (floated, actually) up and down as she got what I meant.
"Romeo and Juliet? Yes. Oh. Oh. Who's going to drink the poison? I'd rather do it, because getting stabbed hurts a lot."
"The {Fate Magic} spell will be stronger if we both do it together. And we're talking about dozens of lives in the future. What is a little suicide pact between us?"