“Aargh!” Lilian groaned once more as he walked from the train station to the suite Joshua had rented. Lilian had landed in the Primal Kingdom almost eight hours ago, in a sky carrier port six hours outside of their capital city of Baillo.
Lilian looked down at the corner of his vision, and saw a message from Joshua that had remained unopened for the past four hours, which read, “Have you landed in Brazil yet?”
Lilian continued to leave the message ‘unread,’ and rolled his eyes. He’d never understand his new Master, what with all the weird alternate universe phrases and words he used.
Lilian stopped in his tracks as the GPS notified him that he had arrived at his destination: a small run-down looking shack in the middle of nowhere. Its exterior was dilapidated, and looked as though it hadn’t seen proper maintenance in years.
Lilian’s nostrils flared as he barged into the shack. The shack itself looked as though someone had been living there yesterday, with laundry strewn all over the floor. A small bathroom and bedroom were accompanied by a kitchen, and all three looked as though they’d seen better days.
“Fuck!” Lilian threw his suitcase against the wall, nearly breaking it in the process. He walked over to the bed, and threw himself down face first. He rolled over, and let out a long sigh.
“Why the fuck did he send me here? Did disciplining me in front of all those people really mean that much to him?”
“Someone sounds angry.” Lilian jumped out of bed and drew his gun on the intruder, only to slump back down when he saw their identity.
“What are you doing here, Three?” The AI rolled her neck, and sat down on nothing in midair. Lilian’s eyes twitched, but he said nothing.
“Well, Master Cole sent me after you since you weren’t responding to his messages.” Lilian rolled his eyes and turned his back to her.
“He sent me to this shit hole of a living space! I needed to get back at him somehow without invoking any of the punishment clauses on our Judgment Contract.” This time, it was Three who rolled her eyes, appearing in front of Lilian’s sight in the process.
“You idiot.” She produced a bit of static on Lilian’s panel, causing him to jump out of bed in pain.
“You bitch! What was that for!?” Lilian angrily looked at the slender woman, who was cut from his own visage before he became a man. He hated it. It reminded him of what could have been, and who could have become.
“You’re the bitch. What happened to the person who would do anything and everything to accomplish their goals, whatever they happened to be? Now that you’re no longer in charge of your own agenda, you’re dragging your feet and kicking up a fuss. Pathetic.”
Lilian felt heated, and knew that no amount of yelling at the AI would do any good, so he merely turned away from her once more. “You think I don’t know that?” Lilian said, his heart feeling empty at the words. “What the hell can I do for someone who has amassed so much power already? It’s like he already sees all the outcomes, and that’s frightening.”
Three mimicked sitting next to Lilian, and shot him a smile. “Please. His appearance is calculated. Do you think he doesn’t have his own fears, worries, and goals? You just need to ask questions, instead of waiting for him to come to you with information. He likes to take care of things himself if he can help it. Reminds me of a certain someone.”
Lilian mumbled something that could have passed as a defense to his character, and let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in. “Anyway, I didn’t come here just to get on your case.” Three said, and Lilian looked at her code-filled eyes.
“Lift the mattress.” Lilian did as he was told, and found a remote control that had only one red button on it. He pressed it, and watched in awe as a hole opened up into the floor.
“A bunker!” He breathed, turning back to Three. “Where did he-?”
“Well, you know how it is.” Three cut him off, hovering down into the abyss. “You know how some aristocrats are, right? I heard that King Metron funded this one personally. Come down, and see your true home.”
---
A few hours later, Lilian was all smiles as he headed to the bar. The tour of the underground facility had gone well, with the space itself definitely being enough to hold all of the troops Joshua would want to ship to Baillo. Lilian had picked out a room, each of which came equipped with its own bathroom and shower, and set up his things, truly making it feel like a home.
Three had let him be after relaying the Paladin’s orders, and Lilian finally had peace since arriving at the bunker. After freshening up, he decided to head to the closest town inside the city: Sesa. Sesa was a city like none the young Asahian had ever encountered before. Instead of being drenched in the constructs of technology, it had something that Lilian couldn’t quite describe. Far from having sidewalks that moved on their own, and spacescrapers like Asahi had, the ground of Sesa wasn’t even paved.
Have I ever walked on soft soil like this before? Is this why it's called the Primal Kingdom? It wasn’t as though Lilian had no concept of what Ethia was like before Judgment intervened and made the economy boom, but he hadn’t ever experienced the feeling of the grass beneath his feet either.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
It was such a huge disconnect from what he was normally used to, that he didn’t even notice when he bumped into someone.
“~~~~~!” Lilian cocked his head at the unknown word. “Oh shit, forgot to set my translator function to Espada.”
Lilian cursed, and it seemed the woman across from him started to fiddle with the same settings on her own Judgment Panel. “Huh, a foreigner. Who'da thought.”
Lilian tilted his head once more at the dialect, before shaking his head and offering a small bow. “My name is L-” Lilian’s voice caught in his throat as he spoke. Sure, he was comfortable enough being himself in front of Joshua and the others because, like it or not, they knew where he came from.
However, if it were in a normal situation, with a normal person, would they be disgusted at his use of a female name? “-Leo. My name is Leo.” Lilian said once more, trying to become more familiar with the cover name that he’d use.
“And you are?” Lilian laid eyes on the woman for the first time, and knew instantly that he’d fucked up. She was wearing a white silk dress that conformed to her elegant curves, and had a neckline that left little to the imagination. Her chocolate skin stood out against the white fabric, and curly black locks framed her thin face. Piercing amber eyes seemingly searched his soul, and Lilian couldn’t help but feel himself entranced. However…
“Oh, pay it no mind, now.” The girl, no, the woman gave him a pearly smile, and grabbed his hand. “My name is Christna. In fact, I was just looking for someone to spend the evening with. You from outta town?”
Lilian’s heart caught in his throat as he walked along, trying not to let his mind linger on the sensation of her breasts on his arm as they walked. This was a new experience for him. After living as one for so long, he had lost all ability to be nervous with the familiar female anatomy. Now that he was a man, however… that very tolerance seemed to diminish with every passing minute.
“Something like that.” Lilian replied, and the woman stopped dead in her tracks. She turned, and her eyes skewered him once more.
“You’re not from the Metron Kingdom, are you, Leo? We can’t be having spies around here during the preparation, now. I have a duty to report such people to my father.”
“Not at all.” Lilian replied coolly, with all the practice he’d had on the plane. “I’m just a sightseer from Asahi. You can even confirm on my ID if you wish.”
She gave him yet another scrutinizing gaze, and was shocked when he actually materialized the copy in her AR. After giving it a few glances, and rotations, her smile quickly returned.
“Great! Let’s get to drinking!” She pulled him along once more, and Lilian felt his brain about to let his body take over, when a piece of information from earlier hit him between the eyes.
“Wait, you said that you’d need to report me to your father, right? Who’s your father?” Christna smiled even wider as she pulled him into a bar called, ‘The Grove.’
“Oh, he’s not too big of a deal. He’s the Warrior King of the Primals, Peter Ramire.” It was a good thing that Christna was leading them, because Lilian’s eyes bulged out of his head at the time.
The Warrior King… one of the three Great Primals who rule over the continent. The People’s King, the Machine King, and the Warrior King… fuck my life. But if she is really his daughter, then that means… a princess, huh? Is this how Joshua feels, just showing up and letting fate take the wheel?
They sat down at a table close to the back of the bar, where there were no windows. And no angles to be sniped from. I don’t even think I warrant the attention on my own, but I don’t want to risk being dragged into her political mire.
“So, what brings you to Sesa?” Christna smiled, and leaned in on the table. Her deep v-neck made Lilian’s eyes shoot straight up to meet her’s. He saw her snicker, and felt his face get hot.
So, it’s a game to her? Ok. We’ll play it your way then. “Well,” Lilian started, taking his left hand and intertwining his fingers with hers. Her eyes widened in surprise, but Lilian paid it no mind and continued, “It turns out I’m just one of those curious types, you know? I wanted to know what other countries are doing for their war games. Even the Luong Empire is preparing for thiers right now.”
Her eyes stared into his, as she lingered on his every word. Poor girl. Has she never had anyone return her advances?
Lilian shifted and moved his chair, so he was sitting next to her. He threw an arm around the blushing girl this time, and resumed speaking. “To be honest, I’ve always wanted to come to the Primal Kingdom, but never found a good reason to. On top of viewing the War Game preparations, I can now say I’ve found another.”
Lilian laid a kiss on her cheek, and watched in amusement as Christna’s face turned into a confused expression, before blushing, then becoming silently furious. “All right, that’s enough. We wouldn’t want our princess here to get devoured by a foreigner, now would we?”
Lilian glared at the large man, who had stepped directly in front of himself and Christna. He was bald, and looked more like a bear than a man. A hairy chest peeked out of a black tank top, and a pair of jean shorts accompanied the man’s less-than-refined look. “Did you hear me, Asahi boy?”
Lilian shifted his gaze back to Christna, whose face had become considerably pale. She looked a lot like a child who had been caught stealing cookies. His eyes darted back to meet the man’s, and grinned widely.
“You know, I don’t think I will. The princess and I were having a good time here.” His hand went further down, coming to rest on her sternum, right above her cleavage. The man’s eyes widened, as did Christna’s.
“You dare-!?” The man cut himself off as he lunged at Lilian, who met the man’s face with a hard, cold, size 8 boot.
The man recoiled at the unwillingness of Lilian’s legs to succumb to the pressure of his charge. He pulled away, nose busted and bloody. Christna’s mouth was hanging open in shock.
She could only stare on in silence as Lilian followed up his boot with a tornado DDT, planting the man through a nearby table. Lilian shot up and looked around the bar for the next threat, but was only met with cheers.
“Ey, Haras! Give the kid a drink on me!” A balding man sitting at the counter said, continuing, “As thanks for showing that Warrior King scum what’s what!”
Another round of applause sounded from the bar, and Lilian just looked at Christna, confused. She shrugged and said, “This place is anti-establishment. The only one in the city, and one of the few People’s King hideouts in the Warrior King’s city of Baillo.”
She snuggled closer to him, and put a hand dangerously close to his crotch. It was at that moment that reason left Lilian, and he found himself lost among the drink and the company around him.
Soon the two had gone back to a hotel, but Lilian froze at the door. Crap… what size was my dick again?