"You sure warmed up to my tits pretty quickly," I noted. "They really that good?"

"They are, but that isn't the only factor," Rachel said, her face on one boob and her hand on the other.

The two of us had gone back to Amelia's chambers after the duel, with that whole 'let's go find someone worth talking to' thing just being a bit of theater. The duel had been short, I'd won by standing there and firing a gun- by the way, did you know that an AK-47 powered by fire magic instead of gunpowder still kicked exactly as hard, and that this really hurt if you weren't ready for it? I mean, okay, I'd figured out how to brace it properly during the test firing phase, but getting kicked in the shoulder like that still hurt even when you were prepared for it- and Rachel hadn't even done anything, but all the same, that plus yesterday's events have... really taken a lot out of us.

So, we were going to lay on the incredibly comfortable couch, we were going to cuddle, and we weren't going to jack shit for the rest of today. Well, I mean, I was going to also read a book because even with a gland making adderall and releasing it right into my bloodstream, I still had ADHD and would otherwise get really bored just sitting here, even if I was cuddling with my girlfriend.

Of course, now we were talking, and that very much could sustain my attention.

"It finally clicked for me, earlier," Rachel continued. "You said it yourself- you're the biggest-dicked alpha bitch in the land. And I finally realized, that doesn't actually conflict with you having an equally ridiculously large rack. You're still Archmage Lucifer Morningstar- tireless, headstrong, driven to provide for those you care for and give them a better life, stiff-necked and straight-backed, and absolutely vicious in your defense of the people you care and provide for. You, darling, are an alpha to the core... and you simply have a somewhat different idea of what an alpha is supposed to look like. A syncretic idea, informed by your own ideas of womanhood from another world, and... one I think I like better than our own ideas of what an alpha should be. One with more softness to it, more personal touches and gentle love."

"And more titty for you to rest your head on," I added.

"More literal softness in addition to the metaphorical softness, yes," Rachel said, nodding gently. "Hrm... Should I find a way to work your nipple piercings into the metaphor, with your softness still having just enough hardness tucked away in it to be exciting?"

"It seems like you already did," I noted. "And as much as I like nipple piercings and think they're hot, I'm not sure making them a standard accessory for alphas would be for the best. Because boy howdy, let me tell you, I was a bizarre, syncretic weirdo about gender back home, too."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, see, most transgender women did not like having penises," I said. "It was, in fact, the orthodox position, and there's nothing actually wrong with 'having a dick gives me gender dysphoria' and saying as much, but it definitely was still kinda alienating to me, because I actually rather liked having a dick. And because our treatments at the time were, like, hormone pills and also optionally surgery to turn your dick into a vagina, and the hormones would make your dick not work as well, I was gunshy about the whole affair and basically kept the fact that I was a trans woman a secret. So my own ideal womanhood, even before I came here, was very much 'big tits but also still big dick,' because I am an inveterate top and I desire the sexual power symbolized by stuffing a fat hog into a bitch. And so when I showed up here... I'm going to be honest, I really have not changed that much as a person, besides being more capable of and willing to use violence, which is more down to the litRPG system y'all have here than gender norms. It just so happens that your existing notion of what an alpha should be happened to mostly be a good fit for my ideal expression as a woman, and I've kinda just... rolled with it."

"So, if I'd summoned nearly any other transgender woman from your world, they would have immediately made themselves into omegas?" Rachel asked.

"More or less, yeah," I said, nodding. "Maybe unusually tall omegas, because a lot of them like being tall, but yeah. Omegas are much more in-line with my world's conventional ideals of womanhood, but, well... I'm a weird gay freak, so I took a different path. One that you, darling, seem quite happy with."

"It's not the worst thing in the world," she said dryly.

The front door opened, and Amelia walked in, shutting the door before sighing loudly.

"Today was interesting," Amelia said.

"I would apologize, but lying is rude," I said dryly.

"You shouldn't apologize even if you meant it," Amelia said, waving it off as she walked across the room and flopped onto the other couch, her hair and dress and big fat mommy milkers all bouncing as she did so. "The Duke is our liege, and does wield more power than we do... but, all the same, after this latest embarrassment, our faith in her has been shaken, as well as everyone's idea of just how powerful she truly is. As such... concessions have been made. I gathered, during her ranting, that you asked her for patronage in exchange for machines that would greatly increase the populace's productivity?"

"I did, yes," I said, nodding.

"Would you be interested in a similar arrangement with myself, while you stay at the Temple?" Amelia asked.

"I suppose, but... the Temple doesn't really seem like a production center to me," I said. "It's a temple, not a countryside village with a flock of sheep in the nearby hills. What could you use them for?"

"Well, quite aside from the fact that we could convince the nearby farming villages that it would be better to simply produce a bit more fiber and selling all of it to Kotor, then using that money to buy finished fabric from us, there is also the fact that your machines would be an excellent bargaining chip for me to use in further negotiations with the rest of the council," Amelia said.

"Ah, more nobility politics," I said, nodding. "It's... mmm. I don't mean that I specifically distrust you, but..."

"But, you have just met me, and have already had your life uprooted by the politics of the aristocracy once before," Amelia said, nodding. "I understand perfectly your reluctance to play such an important role in a political scheme you know little about. My apologies for thrusting the matter upon you so soon."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"It's okay," I said. "Although... might want to hold off any other requests for political help for, like, another month while Rachel and I settle in and make some friends, and get our bearings again."

"I can honor that, easily."

"Thank you. But... I do have a question about some previous political maneuvering, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Go ahead," Amelia said.

"In here," I began, "when it was the outdoor atrium where you and the council were having dinner, the Duke specifically said that Eris was her only daughter. Between that and Eris being an obviously terrible match for Rachel, with that suboptimal status being known pretty much since Rachel was adopted as a knight of the household, I do have to ask: why is Eris the only daughter Duke Nukem has? Why are there not more potential heirs? Especially considering that Eris is, you know, an alpha and a Red Wind, and thus clearly expected to personally go out and fight if there's a war?"

"Well, it goes back to the last war with Tepes," Amelia said. "It was not completely a rousing victory for Nukem. The vampire war-prince who Abigail Van Helsing slew in battle? Adrianna Tepes? Well, before she returned to dust, she killed the previous Duke, Kara Nukem of the Black Flame, along with that Duke's eldest two daughters, including the heir apparent, Ariel Nukem of the Black Stone. Our current Duke was the only survivor, and she was not unscathed either; Adrianna placed a tremendously potent curse upon the Duke, rendering her completely barren. And as Kara had been made an only child in a previous war, it was feared that this would extinguish House Nukem forever."

"I can see how that would inhibit having more children so you can have spares," I said, nodding. "But... if that did happen, how the hell did Eris get made anyways?"

"It was a miracle in every sense of the word," Amelia said. "I was but a novice at the time, barely old enough to read and write, and my memories are not wholly clear. But I do remember giving my mana, once every week, for five years, until finally, between the Grand Temple of Kotor and the smaller temples throughout Nukem, we were able to gather a truly monumental amount of mana, and use it to summon a mighty, powerful angel by the name of Gabriel. Understand, Prince Adrianna was a tremendously mighty sorceress. Her immortality gave her long, long, long years to hone her art. None can say for certain, but it may well be that she had [Void Spellcasting, Level 100]. And so... Gabriel was not able to break the curse entirely. But she was able to weaken it, just enough. In the right time, at the right place, the Duke would be able to produce a single heir. Biosculpting to split the embryo, and make twins, would not work here- it may work for anyone else, but not the Duke and the Duchess. What would and did work, however... was using biosculpting in the womb to ensure that the child would be born an alpha."

"Ahhhh," I said. "A reasonable idea at the time, but..."

"Indeed. Had Rachel Miranda not been born two villages away from Nukem Manor that same year, and five years later adopted directly into the Duke's household to undergo training as a knight, the plan would have been to find for Eris a bride with a primary Void affinity, to bring Void magic back into House Nukem's bloodline without unduly saddling the last scion of Nukem with the weight of pregnancy. But..."

"But, the Duke herself married a knight as reward for exceptional service to the realm," I said. "And apparently decided, upon adopting Rachel, that this seemed an excellent practice to make into a tradition."

"Precisely," Amelia said. "And while the Duke may wish to go back to her original plan... she will face a new obstacle that did not previously exist."

"Let me guess- everyone with a primary Void affinity joins the Temple?" I asked.

"Or lives as solitary wizards who interact with the nobility precisely enough to maintain their right to continue living in their towers," Amelia said. "Those are all quite asocial, with a few being actively anti-social, and marriage is... not a prospect, with them. But, the Grand Temple of Kotor is where our highest-ranked clergy congregate, and that includes every nun with a primary Void affinity in Nukem- most of those are born here, but all who are born in other temples, or even on rare occasion to lay parents, come to Kotor."

"And the High Priestess of the Grand Temple of Kotor," I continued, connecting the dots. "She very much has the power to prevent any nun living here from marrying the Duke's daughter, if she so desires."

"It has been made clear to all involved that this is a temporary state of affairs," Amelia said calmly. "Preventing the Duke's daughter from marrying a suitable bride indefinitely is, quite clearly, an attempt to finish the job that Adrianna started, and which the Temple itself labored so hard to reverse. But... withholding that help for now, as a clear bargaining maneuver to extract more concessions and good behavior from House Nukem? Well. That's simply business as usual, isn't it?"

"I see, I see," I said, nodding. "Thank you for explaining that, there were a few details that I didn't fully understand at the time. Would've made things even more tense and dramatic at the time. In fact, Rachel, why didn't you tell me at the time? You were definitely upset enough to bring it up."

"I was more than slightly panicked yesterday, on the worst day of my life," Rachel said archly. "It had not quite occurred to me that you didn't understand the full weight of what you'd done."

"Well, fair enough," I said.

"Mrrnm..." Rachel grumbled, slowly pushing herself up and off of me- thankfully after she moved her hand off my boob so I didn't have her entire body weight bearing down on it. "Mmm. High Priestess, is there a place in the Temple I may use sometime soon for a summoning ritual?"

"Of course, of course," Amelia said. "There is likely a free summoning chamber available right now, if you'd like."

"What're you going to summon?" I asked.

"Do you remember how you got here?" Rachel asked, sat mostly upright on the couch, with my mildly-squished legs between her and the back of the couch.

"You'd screwed up an angel summoning, right?" I said. "Hrm... You know, thinking about it, that suddenly doesn't make as much sense to me. Doesn't summoning angels take a ton of mana?"

"Usually, yes," Rachel said. "However, there is one angel in particular who can be summoned for very little mana, mighty and generous enough to pay the rest of the mana cost herself for summoners. She is weakened by this exertion, and provides no material aid to summoners, staying for a few minutes to talk to them, give small advice, and, on rare occasions where it was impossible for the summoner to learn in any other way, teaching a spell or two. The ritual itself is modestly complex, and it is the final task set to novice void users as a rite of passage. Successfully summon this angel, and you have graduated from novice status, being fully recognized as a competent practitioner of void magic." She sighed. "And I failed, somehow. And I would like to try again"

"What's this angel called?" I asked.

"She is the most mighty of angels, the highest on the hierarchy," Amelia said, reminding me that, by the way, she was the High Priest and probably knew shit about her own religion. "She is given many titles- Steward of the World, Our Mother in Heaven, and Prince of Darkness." Hang on a fucking minute- "But her name is one you will find very familiar:

"Lucifer Morningstar."