Avery I

PA 0

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” The annoyance behind her asked, for the fifth time since they’d left.

“Of course it is,” Avery scoffed back at him. “I’ve told you before—we need more allies in case that King attacks us, and this woman definitely needs more allies for when he does attack her.

Originally, they’d planned to stay in Issei’s city, where they’d continue preparing for a potential invasion. (Un?)fortunately, Issei’s own people were pretty self-sufficient, (probably since expecting a teenager to run a village was ridiculous), so they already had most of the logistical issues sorted before they were even needed. This meant that the two monarchs were suddenly in a position where they had both a lot of time and a lot of things to worry about.

Inevitably, this led to them coming up with new plans. Specifically, Avery remembered what Xian had said, about another God-King to their south, and so she decided to go and see if they were amenable to an alliance.

“But what if they’re hostile?” Issei continued. “What if they try to kill us or something?”

“That’s a possibility,” she allowed begrudgingly, “but it’s a low one. This Queen apparently rules from a geographically isolated area nearby, so she’d unlikely to have had much contact with her surroundings in the first place. Plus, from what Xian’s scouts have told me, they don’t have any visible military despite that being the city she rules from. So even if she’d hostile, we shout be able to deal with her easily.”

“You aren’t filling me with confidence here,” Issei muttered dryly. “I’d rather not have to deal with her at all.”

Avery spun around with a scowl. “Look, if you’ve got any better ideas, I’d love to hear them! But right now, we’ve got an angry warlord on the border. I’d rather stack the deck in our favor as much as possible. And that means, sometimes you’ve got to take risks. So unless you have anything to add that’s just not more complaints, just shut up for

Issei scowled back, but then looked away, relenting. “Fine,” he muttered. “…I wish Fatima was here. She at least listens to me.”

Avery ignored him. She’d wished she had Fatima instead of her current partner from the beginning.

--

When they finally reached the home of Queen Isabella, they were… surprised, to say the least. It wasn’t really

The village was… surprisingly undeveloped. Sure, it had its fair share of wooden huts, but it lacked any walls or roads, and there were even still tents propped up between the buildings. Maybe this Queen had other intentions, but either way it was weird. And that wasnt even the strangest part.

No, that wasn’t the weirdest part. An underdeveloped city was odd, but not that strange. No, the really weird things were the crosses.

Wooden crosses, some simple sticks tied together and others being incredibly detailed were scattered around the village. Attached to walls, sticking out of the ground, and even carved into the walls. They were everywhere.

And then they arrived at the ‘palace’ of this Queen. A palace that looked suspiciously like a church.

“Oh, this isn’t good,” Avery muttered quietly. Then, taking a deep breath, she pushed open the doors.

The first thing that hit her was the humming. It was a quiet, solemn song. One that brought back memories, of days in the monastery. Of playing with her ‘sisters’ in the gardens, of sitting in a classroom studying the bible, and of the day she turned eighteen, and they kicked her out without a by-your-leave.

She didn’t know much about this Queen, but she already knew she hated her.

Closing her eyes, she took a moment to center herself, before walking deeper into the church.

At the altar sat a woman

“Are you the local Queen? Isabella?” Avery asked gruffly, stopping a few steps behind the woman.

The humming cut off abruptly.

“…This is a holy place, ma’am,” the woman whispered softly. “One should not be so crass within its walls.”

Avery bit her tongue to keep from snapping. ‘Diplomacy, remember?’ she hissed to herself. “…I’m sorry,” she murmured quietly. “But are you the Queen? This is important.”

The woman sighed, before standing up and turning to face her, a neutral expression on her face. “Very well,” she sighed. “What are you bothering me with this day?”

The first thing that Avery noticed about the woman was that she was… big. Not overweight, necessarily, but definitely heavier around the waist than she was used to seeing. But she’d spent the last few years playing football for her college team, so perhaps that was to be expected.

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Ignoring her weight, Avery took in the rest of the woman’s appearance. She had dark brown hair, bundled into a tight bun that was covered by a white cloth—no, a white fox pelt. She’d seen enough recently to know the difference. Her skin was darker—not as dark as Fatima, but noticeable non the less. She was also short, barely coming up to Avery’s chin and only reaching Issei’s eyes. And surprisingly, she wasn’t draped in normal white or brown furs, but pink, which was made all the more bizarre by how it contrasted with her complexion.

“Right,” Avery began, for some reason put off by all this. She shrugged her shoulders, ignoring it for now. “I’m another Queen myself, Queen Avery, and this is my ally King Issei. I’m here to talk to you about an alliance. See, there’s another King out there, King Enzo, who’s been conquering his way up the coast. Our own ally is in his path, but you’re not that far off. So, we wanted to speak to you about a mutual defensive alliance, to protect each other from this threat to the south.”

“I see,” she hummed. “I thank you for informing me of this, but I do not need your protection.”

Avery felt a chill run down her spine. Did she already have allies of her own? Or was she a warlord herself? “Can I ask why not?”

“Isn’t it obvious, silly?” she giggled. “That’s because the Lord will protect me!”

Oh. She’s just religious.

Avery felt herself relax a little. This was fine. She knew how to deal with the devout.

“Is she…” Issei spun a finger next to his ear when the other woman wasn’t looking.

“No, she’s just Catholic,” she muttered back.

“I understand where you’re coming from,” Avery began, trying to piece together an argument that wouldn’t offend this devout Catholic. “But the Lord works in mysterious ways. Wouldn’t you say that we could be his protection? That us coming here with an alliance is the Lord’s way of protecting you?"

The other woman’s eyes went wide. “Oh! Of course, I hadn’t thought of that! Oh, I must be so awful to have doubted the Lord so! ‘Oh Lord, wash me from my guilt and cleanse me of my sin. I acknowledge my offense; my sin is before always.’”

This woman was way too easy. Still, best to get some brownie points where she could. For the first time in her life, the twelve years she spent growing up in a monastery were going to be useful.

“It’s alright,” Avery told her. “’Remember, Lord, your compassion and mercy which you showed long ago. Do not recall the sins and failings of my youth. In your mercy remember me, Lord, because of your goodness.’”

“Oh!” the woman smiled brilliantly at her. “A fellow believer! And to think I thought I was the only one all the way out here!”

“Yes, well…” Avery trailed off. She already didn’t like dealing with people, and this conversation had so far been taxing, to say the least. Too many old memories she’d rather repress were coming back the longer she stayed in this damned village.

“Ah, how wonderful, how wonderful! Does that mean you’ve come here for the arrival?”

The what.

“The what?” Issei asked, causing her to glare at him. What did she say about staying silent and letting her deal with this?

“The blessing of the lord!” she smiled happily, caressing her stomach happily. “The arrival of my little baby boy!”

Oh. Avery had thought this woman was just a little plump—but no, instead she was pregnant.

“Oh,” she stuttered, having been wholly unprepared to have this conversation. “Um, congratulations? Who’s the father?” she asked, before wincing. She couldn’t exactly tell how old it was, but if the baby was older than four months then…

The other woman looked up at her, eyes shining with bountiful emotion. “God!”

“…I’m sorry?”

“The lord himself has seen fit to grant me a son!” she exclaimed fanatically, her voice bouncing throughout the odd acoustics of the building. “At first I thought I was being punished, that my devotion had proven faulty all these years. Sent to this cold, primitive land, I thought myself forsaken. But then I realized—it was not me that was forsaken, but the rest of the world! This is not the rapture, as I once thought it was, but instead a new Genesis! A new ark, with us as the few to survive the storm. All the sins and sinners of the old world were washed clean, creating a new and pure world in its place. But he could not clear from these poor lost lambs the original sin, and so what happened once before shall happen again! For the Lord himself has entrusted me, Isabella, with the Second Coming! I shall enact the role Mary, and give birth to this new world’s lord and savior, Christ reborn!”

The two other God-kings stood wide-eyed across from her as she finished her tirade, chest heaving with exertion and her eyes wild with zealotry.

“I, um…” What the fuck was she supposed to say to that?! “…congratulations?”

“My thanks, Queen Avery!” she giggled, suddenly looking more like a giddy schoolgirl than the religious fanatic she had just revealed herself to be.

Wait, they’d gotten way off topic.

“Uh, about that alliance…” Avery began slowly, trying not to set this woman off again.

“Hm? Oh, yes, of course, of course! I’d love for you all to protect me!”

“That wasn’t…” Avery sighed. “Yes. We’re allies now. Please just… we’ll talk more later. I’ll send someone in a couple days to iron things out a bit more.”

“Wonderful!” Isabella smiled. “Truly, this is a blessed day.”

“Good,” Avery turned to leave, wanting to get out of this city as soon as possible. “If that is all, then I’ll be leaving for today. I’ll speak to you another time.”

“Oh, no! Don’t leave so soon! It’s been so long since I spoke with another believer!”

“I’m sorry, Queen Isabella,” Avery replied, crying mentally. She just wanted to get away from this woman, was that too much to ask!? “But I have a duty to my people, to lead them in these trying times, and I need to return home soon.”

“Oh…” she sighed. “Well, if you’re sure.”

“Thank you for your hospitality, as brief as it was, Sister,” Avery gave her a gracious nod, and then walked at a calm and sedate pace out of the church, Issei following behind.

The two monarchs walked in silence for a bit, each digesting what they’d just witnessed.

“Are you sure she’d not crazy?” Issei asked her once they were out of earshot.

“No, just Catholic,” Avery muttered back. “…But yes, probably.”

“…What should we do about that?”

And that was the question, wasn’t it?

They needed more allies, that much was obvious. But an ally like that…

“Nothing, for now,” she grunted, marching her way back to the edge of the city. “We’ll wait and talk it over with the rest of them once they get back. But right now, we need a short term solution for a short term problem. And if we get a religious zealot on our side, then at least she’s not on the enemy’s side.”

“…This is going to blow up in our face, isn’t it?”

Avery sighed, not even in the mood to argue. “Mostly likely, yes.”

9,930 God-Kings Remain

Regional Map (Fatima) [https://i.imgur.com/sLBgoM2.jpg]