Monarkea finished setting the last piece in place and then moved back to take stock of the restored treasure hoard. It had indeed been a far easier task than had been previously expected, and her newfound power was to thank for that.
If you had never looked upon the vast collection of wealth before, and if you had never been as overly obsessive as a true dragon when it came to such things, you never would have noticed that the vast vault had ever been even remotely damaged.
But, had you been a true dragon and had you seen the monetary menagerie in its previous two states, you would have immediately been able to detect that not only had the collection been drastically altered, but you also would have marveled at how everything that had been either damaged or destroyed had not merely been put back together perfectly. Likewise, you would have noticed that these formerly damaged and destroyed objects were in a far better shape than they ever had been before.
Plus, to put it in more Human/ Earthling terms, Monarkea had used a draconic interpretation of the art of ‘Feng Shui’ to make everything just kinda ‘fit’ where it was placed. While a normal human would have had their jaw drop due to the sheer magnitude of bling on display in that vault, a dragon’s would have dropped through the core of the planet and out the other side.
Every dragon worth their salt would have invested time and effort into learning how to make everything in their hordes fit together seamlessly, but Monarkea, like her father had been prior to his run-in with the Warden Stone, was far, far better at this than anyone else. Although, this may have had more to do with her power, age, education, and relations than actual talent.
She was still very good at it, though.
And so, with that headache done, she stood back and let her gaze sweep over the vault. The corners of her reptilian lips began to curl upwards and she felt a large degree of satisfaction at what she had accomplished. Despite being absolutely massive at this point, she had moved each piece around with more grace than one would have expected from a winged lizard the size of a kaiju, and that only added to the amazing state that the vault was now in.
“So, you done?”
A voice from behind her caught Monarkea’s attention, and she turned to see Vaile sitting at an antique table on an equally antique chair sipping some very high-grade wine from a chalice made of solid mithril. While he was holding the chalice in one of his hands, the other held a newspaper which was a gift from the newer version of the still-in-reconstruction Trelawny Kingdom.
“I am.” Monarkea replied as she turned about and walked towards him, her massive clawed feet crushing the things they fell upon, only to have those very same crushed items restored to an even better state than they had been before the impact as her feet lifted up and away from them.
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“Good. Good.” Vaile said as he took another sip of his drink and quickly letting go of it and using his newly freed hand to turn the page of the newspaper before grabbing the dropped chalice before it could even fall a mere three inches. “Lovely work.”
“You think so?” Monarkea asked in a tone that seemed riddled with doubt. “It was a rush job at best.”
“Maybe you think it looks bad, but to someone like me, it looks amazing.” Vaile said as he shot a glance over to the massive dragon and then between her body, legs, and the ground towards the huge amount of financial assets. “Maybe I’m just easily impressed by the sight of more gold, jewels, and the like than I’ve ever seen before in my life.”
“You cannot be serious about that.” Monarkea muttered, obviously doubting her Lord’s words.
“It is a matter of perspective.” Vaile retorted. “From a certain point of view, what I said was an absolute fact, but you could also say that from another point of view it is an absolute lie. Depending on how you view my ‘life’ this legitimately is the most tangible, physical wealth that I’ve ever had the pleasure of gazing upon. Although, if you viewed ‘life’ in another, more metaphysical way with virtual wealth accounted for, then yes, I would be lying.”
“I don’t understand.” Monarkea grumbled.
“Good. I honestly hope you never do, for your sanity’s sake.” Vaile replied. He then pulled out another antique chair from his Item Box and sat it down next to his own seat. “Well? Take a seat. I’m sure you’ve got stuff to say, and I’d prefer not to have to crane my neck to the snapping point just to look you in the eyes. Plus, I don’t want to shout.”
“As you wish, my love.” Monarkea said before backtracking on that last word. “I mean, my Lord.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Vaile muttered. “I’m used to it by now.”
With that, Monarkea used her powers to shapeshift into a more human form, though she made sure to keep as many visible clues of her reptilian nature available for easy viewing as possible. Once the transformation was complete, she took her seat next to Vaile and the Repulsive Tamer pulled out another chalice from his Item Box and poured Monarkea a drink.
“Try it. If memory serves, this stuff was only available for about a month before it was permanently removed. This shit sold for millions of dollars on the secondhand market, but I was smart enough to keep a ton of it just sitting around with me.” Vaile added as he finished pouring the wine. “It is the old dilemma of item hoarders. Never know when that random spoon you found lying on the ground would be useful, so might as well take it with you.”
“You collect spoons?” Monarkea asked with confusion.
“No.” Vaile replied as he set down his drink and turned a page. “But you never know if a spoon shaped like a key will be useful later on, so I kept it regardless.” Vaile flashed a smile after that and looked over at Monarkea. “Or am I just bullshitting you?”
Unfortunately for any Marie Kondo wannabe that would have ever wanted to look at Vaile’s own hoarded shit, he was not.