Vaile was bored. Sure, there was a lot to do in the capital of the Solusand Dominion, but the Raid Boss-turned-God Queen refused to let him out of the palace. That was not to say that there wasn’t a lot for someone to do there either, it was just that those things were duties performed by servants and court attendees. Vaile could go for a bath in one of the many pools that were scattered about the place, but he did not want a repeat of what happened in the caves of the Karnarous Forest, not to mention that these pools were not for bathing or relaxing and instead were there for rituals and ceremonies.
Vaile was getting rather tired of this effective house arrest, but he was less angered and concerned by it this time compared to the first time he had experienced it. He was not in any danger of being r*ped and used as a studhorse, and he had a lot more freedom to move around. He did, however, still want to leave the confines of his effective cell and help his Tamed Beings and their subordinates a bit more. Due to being kept in this place for what to him felt like far too long, his mood began to darken, and it became apparent to all who were within the palace and who saw him that he was beginning to dislike his ‘accommodations’.
Luckily for the Solusand Dominion, the wise and powerful Pharaoh, Zahra I, saw that her love was starting to show signs of wanting to flee and called him to her court.
…
Vaile walked into the throne room of the palace, the massive tree trunk style columns holding the ceiling up with magic being used to artificially reinforce the supporting beams. If it weren’t for that, the spacing of the columns would have been too great and the roof would have collapsed down to the floor a long time ago. It was still like he was walking through a redwood forest made of painted stone and plaster, and to anyone with even a lick of sense the whole thing would have been both awe-inspiring and intimidating.
Through skylights high above and via a series of magical mirrors, the light of the day filled what otherwise would have been a dark place. But what made the act of setting foot here all the more intimidating for the masses was the place where Zahra I reclined. From behind her seemed to shine the light of the morning star, painting her body as a kind of haloed silhouette that was staged several meters above the floor before her.
To a normal person of the New World, Zahra I would have seemed to be glowing with divine power, but to Vaile it was painfully obvious that while she was indeed incredibly overpowered, the vast majority of the lighting was practical effects. Although, he had to admit that at least the old filmmaker J.J. Abrams would have been proud of all the artificial lens flare that was going on. Besides, he didn’t even notice a lot of it without shifting his mask’s vision levels. He thanked the developers and programmers once again for their willingness to add an option to most in-game eyewear that would allow for the lowering of bloom and other visual effects as he walked up towards the bottom of the stairs that led to Zahra.
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As he reached the first step, the voice of a rather grumpy palace guard roared at him.
“KNEEL BEFORE THE ALMIGHTY PHARAOH!”
Vaile looked at the unhappy person and then back to Zahra. Before his Tamed Being could intercede, another voice followed the guard’s.
“You fool of a foreigner; don’t you know the manners of court?!”
Vaile slowly turned his head to see a person who he was absolutely positive was not a native. The skin of this person was wa~~~y too pale and his entire wardrobe was completely out of fashion for the area he was in. What made things even more ironic was the fact that he was obviously not following the procedures himself. His clothes were wrong, his stance was wrong, his tone was wrong, and his actions were wrong. At least the guard had the right to speak; but this guy? He likely was not even a part of the nobility of this nation.
Vaile turned back to Zahra, ignoring the man who now seemed even more furious. The guards began to advance towards Vaile, almost certainly in an attempt to force him to kneel, but they stopped midway and held their weapons at the ready as the second person to yell at Vaile stomped forward and began to both yell in his face and try and force him to the ground.
The idiot in question was almost certainly under Level 20, and Vaile had recently gained another level due to his bombing campaign, so the strength of the obvious outsider was not nearly enough to make Vaile budge at all. Finally, seeming having had enough of Vaile’s unmovable nature, the aggressive bastard decided the smart thing to do was to smack Vaile across the face.
Vaile, for his part, saw the blow coming, and unequipped the mask in just the right way that when the palm of the other guy’s hand struck it the mask flew off and revealed Vaile’s face. As the mask slid across the floor, several things happened in short succession.
First, Zahra became even more furious with the fool than she had already been.
Second, all the ladies in the room and for about three or so kilometers around instantly swooned.
Third, all the men in the same vicinity immediately felt both inadequate and extremely impressed by Vaile’s overwhelming handsomeness.
And finally, the idiot who started all of that went pale in the face and then proceeded to void his stomach all over the nice carpet that was beneath his feet.
And, it was also at this moment, that the sounds of other people vomiting, this time in the rafters, tipped Vaile off that someone either was planning a coup or that the Sandy Bastards had infiltrated the palace. Either way, Vaile now had a lot of crotches to kick, and time was a wasting. Putting his hand on the idiot who started all of this, Vaile smiled warmly before landing his foot between the opposing person’s legs. And with that, the party got started.