章 429: The Moonflow

"Thanks a lot you two..." Rikku stated irritably as she, Yuna, and Paine all settled down for the night in their room at the Travel Agency. By this point the sun had fallen, and Alex had also returned to Asora for the night in order to handle any business that he might be needed for there, and to spend some time with his wives and children that weren't exploring Spira.

Both Yuna and Paine looked up at Rikku's statement, and the former asked,

"Thanks for what?" Rikku mock-glared at Yuna with a pout, and declared,

"I'm talking about earlier in Alex's car!" Nothing else needed to be said at that, as both Paine and Yuna immediately recalled with red cheeks the scene of Rikku in Alex's lap as he drove, kneaded her breasts, and ate her out all at once.

"He did tell you to sit back." Paine said matter-of-factly, to which Rikku deadpanned at her as she remarked,

"Yeah, well you never expect THAT to happen if you hit a bump in the road!" Yuna just kept silent as she watched the exchange between her two friends, in which Paine retorted to Rikku,

"After everything else that's happened since we've met him, are you really surprised?" Rikku went notably silent when she heard as she recalled the events Paine was mentioning, which made her awkwardly pop her lips as she realized the taciturn girl's point.

Ever since they had met Alex each of the three girls had been embarrassed more times than any of them could recall before, though almost none of the events had actually been Alex's fault. First there was the night that Rikku had accidentally crawled into Alex's bed while they were at Besaid, before all three of them ended up peeping through the opening in Alex's tent to spy on him with his wives.

Then there were the numerous little accidents that had happened afterwards, from swimsuit mishaps while they played around Besaid, to even sudden missteps while fighting that ended with any one of them in a precarious situation right before Alex's eyes. The most 'extreme' incident until that day though had been the morning they all woke up at Kilika, and the three of them went to use the bath only to find Alex inside with Lala. Who he also happened to be inside of at the time.

The sweet and innocent girl didn't even bat an eye at their sudden presence during what was supposed to be an intimate moment between lovers, and instead she happily invited all three of them to join her and Alex, while also telling them how good it felt to have sex with him.

With the numerous nip and pussy slips, panty shots, accidental groping, and many other incidents that had happened recently passing through her mind, Rikku had to admit that it wouldn't have been too unexpected for such an incident to suddenly happen.

"But still! You two just sat back as he did that to me!" Rikku pouted as she brought up the one way this incident was different, in which Alex had actively taken the initiative to not only strip her naked, but to assault her nether regions with his mouth and tongue while his hands attacked her breasts. Yuna just giggled dryly as she deflected,

"But it all happened so fast, we didn't know what to do..." At first Paine just nodded in agreement, before the edge of her lips curled upwards in amusement as she remarked,

"You didn't look like you hated it though." Immediately Rikku's entire face turned red before she promptly dove into bed and pulled her covers up over her face. Then the sound of her fake snoring filled the room, as the blonde quickly tried to escape the conversation.

Knowing that that was probably all they'd get from Rikku for the night, Yuna then turned towards Paine and asked,

"So what about you Paine?" Though she appeared amused at Rikku's antics, Paine immediately frowned as she asked, "What about me?"

"How do you and Gippal know each other?" Yuna asked with stars in her eyes, excited for this particular gossip since they knew next to nothing about Paine's life before the Gullwings. She wasn't the only one curious though, as Rikku's ear peeked out from under her covers, ensuring she didn't miss a single detail.

This time however Paine turned over while also turning out the light, before saying, "There's nothing to tell." Yuna however wasn't satisfied by that answer, as she dug at her,

"Oh come on, Gippal seemed really surprised to see you." Seeming fed up, Paine then said,

"Being nosy is how you lose friends." Immediately Yuna appeared to panic as she said,

"Wait really?! Forget I said anything then!" Rikku just sighed under the covers at how quickly Yuna caved, but she didn't say anything lest the conversation focus on her once more.

With the lights out and everyone in bed, the three Gullwings were soon fast asleep.

***

As the sun rose over Spira the next morning, Alex appeared out of a cloud of mist in front of the Travel Agency, startling the Al Bhed who were already working in the early morning as they prepared to depart. Pausing only long enough to greet the Al Bhed he startled, Alex then entered the Agency building where he greeted the Al Bhed at the front desk before making his way towards the room the girls stayed in for the night.

The Travel Agencies were akin to the most widespread and popular hotels in Spira, mostly being located far into the wilderness or by the temples where Summoners would stop on the pilgrimages. Ever since the arrival of the Eternal Calm though, the Agencies had seen a massive increase in business and profits due to the large amount of people now exploring Spira without fear of being attacked by Sin. This had turned their owner, an Al Bhed named Rin, into one of the richest people in Spira.

Making his way through the halls of the Trave Agency, where many of those who were a part of or were intending on joining the Machine Faction were staying, Alex finally arrived at the room that had been booked for the three Gullwings the night before. Right as he raised his hand to knock though, the door was thrown open by a certain blonde.

"I'm gonna go see if there's anything for breakfast!" Rikku called out to her two roommates, only to immediately run right into Alex since she was looking back. Alex meanwhile was looking at the view he had over Rikku's head, which was Paine completely naked with her back to him as she bent over to get dressed.

Then, before either of them could say anything, an even more naked Yuna walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head, and a few beads of water running down her delicate pale skin.

"Can you see if there's any-" Yuna began as she walked out of the bathroom, only to pause when she noticed Alex staring at her and Paine.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" She cried out while dropping to cover her exposed body, drawing Paine's attention behind her to see Alex admiring her ass as she bent over. While her reaction wasn't as extreme as Yuna's, Paine still quickly whirled around so that Alex couldn't continue looking at her ass, only to realize a second later that he could still see everything else as her hands immediately went to her crotch and breasts.

Lingering for a moment longer than necessary, Rikku then slammed the door shut before turning towards Alex and asking,

"Can't you go five minutes without perving on us?" Alex simply cocked a brow at her accusations, and responded with,

"I literally haven't done anything TO perv on you guys. YOU'RE the one who flung open the door when Yuna and Paine were naked." Though she wanted to retort back at him, Rikku realized she couldn't since Alex was technically right. He had gone to knock, in which she could have refused him. She however had been the one to throw open the door and allow Alex to see inside.

She wasn't about to admit that though.

Instead, Rikku simply harrumphed as she walked away, going to find something for breakfast before they leave. Alex meanwhile went to lend a hand to the Al Bhed that were also preparing to leave, which none of them knew how to handle after Alex's demonstration the day before.

When the trio of girls finally finished getting ready and eating they came outside, only to be stunned momentarily when they saw Alex helping the Al Bhed. Though moving around the heavy Machina was practically negligible to him, just going through the motions for a while was enough for a light sheen of sweat to have developed on Alex's bare skin. There was even a bit of steam rolling up off of Alex's body that was noticeable in the morning sunshine, drawing even more attention to the muscles that weren't covered in fur.

"You guys ready?" Alex asked as he lifted a massive Machina component over his head with one hand, seemingly oblivious about the 'show' he was putting on for the trio and all the Al Bhed ladies around him. Of course, a major part of the attraction all of the ladies were feeling towards Alex had to do with the 'Seduction' skill and 'Peerless Beauty' ability he had obtained from Alice, despite all of the seals he had placed on his body to contain it.

"What? Oh, yeah!" Yuna suddenly exclaimed as she realized she was staring, before lightly hitting both Rikku and Paine on their shoulders to get them to stop staring as well. Pretending as if he hadn't noticed them staring, Alex went to deliver the component to the place it was supposed to go before making his way back to the road.

Next they were planning to go through a series of winding canyons and forests before arriving at an incredibly wide River known as the Moonflow, which they would cross on the back of a Shoopuff before reaching the next major city by nightfall, Guadosalam.

Before the group could depart though, a voice called out,

"Hey! Hang on a minute will you!" The four of them then turned back to see Gippal running up towards them, before throwing his hand out as he reached them as he continued,

"I wanted to apologize for accidentally attacking you yesterday, and to thank you for your help this morning." Alex gave a quick nod while grasping Gippal's hand and giving it a firm shake, and said,

"Don't worry about it, though maybe don't attack everyone who shows up in a vehicle. Not everyone is able to deploy countermeasures when rockets are shot at them like that." Gippal only laughed awkwardly at that, before changing the subject as he said,

"I also wanted to ask you to watch out for Paine. She may be able to kick anyone's ass, but you can never have too many people watching over your own." The edge of Alex's lips curled up in a smirk as he replied to Gippal's concerns,

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to pay VERY close attention to Paine's ass." Though Gippal was sure they weren't talking about the same thing, he didn't pursue it when he noticed Paine looking over at them suspiciously.

As everyone else said their goodbyes Alex once again summoned his prided sports car on the other side of the bridge that led to the temple, where Yuna and Paine joined him as they waited for Rikku, who was saying goodbye to some of the other Al Bhed she knew. Before she could join them though, Yuna happened to glance down the path they had arrived on and said out loud,

"I wonder who that is." Alex and Paine also glanced over when they heard that, and saw a group of the giant fan Machina that the Al Bhed used to get around on quickly approaching them.

"Heh, so he is going to show up after all." Gippal muttered as he also joined them, piquing everyone's interest as Yuna asked,

"Who?" Gippal however only gave a wry smile before answering,

"Who else but the Meyvn of the Youth League?" Immediately everyone else's eyes went wide at the information, while Alex only chuckled as he said quietly,

"Well this aught to be interesting." They then delayed their departure as they watched the Machina steadily get close, until they could make out the figures riding on them as they pulled up.

With dust from the road filling the air from the force of the giant fans, everyone else began to cough while Alex just narrowed his eyes as a group of figures approached them through the clouds.

"I had hoped to catch you before you left. I'm glad to see that I'm not too late." The figure in the lead said as the dust cloud finally settled, revealing the figure of the leader of the Youth League as Gippal said, Meyvn Nooj.

As he approached them Nooj scrutinized Alex carefully, already knowing who he was due to the circulating footage from Luca, as well as his own encounter with Alex's people. After taking an extra second to look over his three companions, Nooj turned his attention back to Alex before saying,

"So am I correct in assuming that that spectacle yesterday was your doing as well? It wouldn't be the first time I've seen something amazing related to you." Alex smiled wryly as he recalled the report he received from Sephie regarding their trip to Youth League headquarters, and replied,

"You would be correct in your assumption, I was trying to make a point to Yuna about something." Nooj's brow twitched when he heard that, as he never heard of someone literally displacing an entire ocean just to 'make a point'. However, already deciding not to use common sense with Alex due his previous experience with Sephie and his two 'Knights', Nooj ignored it as he said,

"I just wanted to come and formally apologize in person regarding Beclem's actions and attitude before. I hope there are no hard feelings." Alex waved away Nooj's concerns and replied,

"Don't worry about it, I'm well aware that the people of the Youth League don't have any good opinions of New Yevon or their customs. That being said, there still needs to be a certain level of respect paid to those who deserve it, and Yuna is definitely someone who deserves it." Unsurprisingly, Nooj nodded as he said,

"I agree wholeheartedly. She is extremely popular amongst the majority of our members, and we have been trying to gain her favor for a while now." As he said that Nooj glanced at Yuna pointedly, who immediately shook her head before saying,

"I'm honored, but I have no intention of becoming directly involved with any of the factions in Spira." Nooj nodded slowly as if he had anticipated her response, but then he added as if to joke,

"But you have no problem with being a Sphere Hunter?" Yuna smiled wryly as she replied,

"I joined for private reasons." Nooj simply nodded once more before turning his attention back towards Alex, and saying,

"Well then, I said what I needed to say. I wish you well on your travels." Before he actually left though, Nooj then directed his attention towards Paine and said,

"It's good to see you again Paine, stay well." Then without any clarification on how they knew each other, Nooj led his small entourage back to their Machina transports while leaving both Yuna and Rikku stunned.

"First Gippal and now Nooj?! You need to spill the beans girl!" Rikku declared with sparkling eyes, fully intent on getting the full story from Paine about her past. Paine however brushed her off as she opened the door to Alex's car, and said,

"Come on, we're burning daylight." She and Yuna then crawled into the backseat, while Rikku took the passenger seat next to Alex. Naturally, when she saw she was sitting right next to him, any enthusiasm Rikku had in getting information from Paine had subsided.

"Stay in your seat today, and I'll make what happened yesterday up to you by allowing you to drive for a while once we get to the Thunder Plains." Alex told her as he too got in, instantly making Rikku brighten up as she grew excited at the prospect of being able to drive Alex's amazing vehicle.

Making the Windows transparent, they waved goodbye one last time to Gippal as Alex took off and turned in the direction of their next destination, the Moonflow. Before they could get there though they had to travel through a series of winding canyons and thick forests, which the girls warned Alex were filled with numerous bandit clans.

"I actually feel sorry for any bandits we end up coming across..." Yuna muttered as the image of what Alex's car would do to them filled her mind, which she knew very well due to seeing what it had done to any fiends that dared get too close the day before.

Of course, she ended up seeing that very image nearly an hour later as they neared the halfway point between Djose Temple and the Moonflow, when they rounded a corner and found a group of bandits robbing someone in broad daylight.

"Shomone help meeee!" The blue-skinned Hypello cried out as numerous bandits grabbed every one of the crates that he had been hauling in his Chocobo drawn cart. The leader of the bandits however didn't pay him any mind as he shouted,

"Hahaha! Take it all boys!" He was so distracted by the easy take though, that the bandit leader didn't seem to notice the car approaching them until one of his men alerted them.

In an instant the bandits got ready to fight as the oncoming thing skid to a halt right before them, unmoving while it issued a low rumble. Then, something that appeared to be some kind of gun popped up from the front of the thing, and pointed itself directly at them as a voice stated,

"Step away from the Hypello. If you do not, then you forfeit your living privileges." for a moment the group of bandits didn't say anything as they instead glanced at each other, before they suddenly burst out laughing.

"'Living privileges'!?"

"How idiotic!"

"HAHAHAHA! I know right!?"

On and on the bandits laughed while making jokes and smart remarks, until the voice stated with deathly finality,

"Very well then, your lives are forfeit." The moment that word echoed throughout the canyon, it was followed by a concussion of noise and an explosion of gore, as the entire top half of the bandit leader suddenly exploded.

The sound of the gunshot echoed for several seconds, with no noise being made after it as everyone stared at what remained of the bandit leader in shock.

*BANG!*

The next shot then sounded, destroying the upper body of yet another bandit before shooting the next target. One by one the bandits were all easily killed regardless of if they tried to flee or fight, with each death being an exceptionally gruesome one.

When the slaughter finally ended the doors to the car finally opened to reveal Alex and Paine, along with a green looking Yuna and Rikku. Approaching the Hypello, Alex asked him,

"Are you ok?" The blue frogman smiled widely and replied while doing a little jig with his hands in the air,

"Of courshe. Thank youuuuuuuu!" Alex chuckled at the sight of the Hypello's dance, while even Yuna and Rikku got a little color back into their cheeks as they looked away from the grisly sight of the bodies. The Hypello then continued,

"Lately we have beeeeeen udder shiege! Ze banditsh have beeeeen shtealing shupplies for ze shoooooow!" As the Hypello appeared distraught from their recent hardships, Yuna focused on the last part as she asked,

"Show? What show?" The Hypello then excitedly told them about how someone he called the 'Chief' was going to put on a music show at the Moonflow, a conversation that was seriously longer and more drawn out than needed due to the Hypello's unique way of talking.

By the time everything was said and done though, the Hypello's cart was hitched to Alex's car for them to tow, while the Chocobo that had been pulling it sprinted alongside them, seemingly loving the competition. The Hypello himself however was riding directly on top of Alex's car, dancing as they went due to the stickiness of his feet keeping him from falling off.

Soon enough they left the winding chasms that were infested with bandits behind, and arrived at a road that was surrounded by dense thickets. Here Alex had to slow down to little more than a crawl due to the numerous people lining the road, all of which were apparently traveling to the Moonflow.

"Woah! There's tons of people here!" Rikku exclaimed in surprise at the crowds, to which Yuna said,

"Well, with Sin gone people can afford to stop and admire the beauty around them." As she said that Yuna recalled her last visit to the Moonflow, when she came through on her pilgrimage with Tidus and the rest of her guardians.

This had been back before he knew that the Final Summoning took the Summoner's life in exchange, and so Tidus had promised that after they brought the Calm they'd return there to admire the beauty of the Moonflow for as long as Yuna wanted. She had humored him at the time instead of telling Tidus that she wouldn't survive the Final Summoning, but now here she was again with Tidus gone instead.

For a moment melancholy filled Yuna as she recalled the days spent with Tidus and her guardians on her pilgrimage, before they rounded the bend and the Moonflow itself finally came into view.

The Moonflow was a massive river a few miles wide that bisected the continent of Spira into its norther and southern half, meaning that anyone traveling across Spira needed to cross it at some point. On top of that it was also one of the most beautiful sights in all of Spira, with Moonlilies growing along its banks and Pyreflies drifting along the surface at night.

Then there were the people.

While there had always been people around the Moonflow on both banks, Yuna had never seen so many people gathered there at once. There had to be hundreds of people gathered just along the southern bank that they were on, and that wasn't even accounting for what was on the north side.

"I know it's good that people can enjoy things now, but this seems a little extreme..." Rikku muttered as she watched people crowd around stalls selling goods, trampling the vegetation, and several even jumping into the Moonflow and disturbing the Moonlilies. Alex nodded slowly in agreement as he said,

"Maybe when I get established in Spira I'll have my main wife take over any nature conservation groups that are here, or even create one if there aren't any..." Though he was facing forward, Alex still noticed through his 'Domain' as Yuna smiled slightly and mouthed her thanks, as she hated seeing places she treasured being treated like this.

As they slowly moved forward through the crowds, the Hypello they had given a lift to finally leapt off of the roof of Alex's car and called the Chocobo over to reattach it to the cart.

"The Chief ish over therrrrrre, thank youuuuuuu for ze riiiiiiiiiiide!" He called out while doing his little jig, which earned him a bit of chuckling and pointing from the surrounding people as Alex and the three girls also got out of the car.

"Think nothing of it." Alex said as he shook the Hypello's webbed hand, which had a curiously contradicting slimy and sticky feel to it. He then however flicked his wrist to produce two business cards to give to the Hypello while saying,

"Give these to your Chief for me, if he's lucky then they give him a opportunity too good for him to pass up." The Hypello didn't even bother looking to see what was on the cards as he accepted them, before they then said their goodbyes as Alex's group headed towards the Shoopuff station to cross the river.

Meanwhile the Hypello slowly made his way through the crowds while leading the Chocobo forward, until he arrived to a cleared area where several other Hypellos were working.

"Nonononononononono! That goes over there, and this goes over HERE! Then put these up over here, and those up over there! Oh mymymymymymymymy, so much to do and so little time!" Cried out the only person in the clearing who wasn't a Hypello, an extremely short statured person whose whole body was covered in robes, while his face was concealed by a large mask in the shape of a beak. He was of course a Pelupelu.

"Chief, I have retuuuuuuuuurned!" The Hypello called out as he approached, gaining the attention of the Pelupelu.

"Already? My that was so fast! But there's still no time to waste, we need to set up the stage, sell the tickets, find our performers. So much to do, yup-yup!" He said in his fast paced way of speaking, before he immediately added unloading the cart to his employees workload, not that any of them complained.

"Chief, theshe are for youuuuuu." The Hypello told him as the Pelupelu tried to walk away, drawing him back to accept the two business cards that were being offered.

On the front they were the exact same, each one having bold letters stating 'WE WILL GRANT YOUR WISH'. When he turned them over though he saw two different styles and colors of flowing intricate circles, and two different names below them, Serafall Leviathan and Ingvild Leviathan.

...

While the Pelupelu was setting up for his great performance, Alex's group had just stepped off of the basket that hauled them up, and onto the carriage of a mighty Shoopuff as they prepared to cross the river.

Shoopuffs were large greenish elephantine creatures that stood over twenty feet tall, with a long thick tail protruding from their backside that sported a fin on the top. Their heads meanwhile had small triangle shaped ears, slanted angular eyes, and their mouths were extremely long and skinny trunk-like appendages that were coiled whenever not in use.

The curious thing was that no one had ever actually seen a Shoopuff eat, or even knew what it was they ate. Alex however hoped that once they had one in Asora, Nana would be able to use her ability to communicate with animals to discover the secret. What was even curiouser though was that Shoopuffs apparently generated milk, which one of the Hypello running the station tried to sell Alex in small glass milk bottles before they boarded.

Once the four of them were seated though, a Hypello leapt into the drivers seat situated right at the base of the Shoopuff's head, and they headed off onto the river. They had just left the banks behind when Yuna suddenly seemed to recall something, and said to Rikku,

"This where we first met Rikku." Looking back at Yuna, Rikku laughed awkwardly as she corrected,

"You mean this is where I tried to kidnap you before Tidus and Wakka beat me up..." The two girls then chuckled at the memory, though the actual experience had been quite intense with the Al Bhed kidnapping Summoners to try and save them from the Final Summoning.

Alex as well chuckled along with them as they made their way further across the Moonflow, before he turned his attention to the waters themselves. Through his 'Domain' Alex was able to feel the numerous ruins below them, which were now homes to the hundreds of aquatic fiends living in the waters.

The ruins were from an ancient bridge that once spanned the entire width of the Moonflow long ago, on which people had tried building a city as well. Since the bridge hadn't been built to support such a load though, it had collapsed and plunged the entire city into the depths along with it people. Apparently the temples of Yevon then used the story to teach humility ever since.

For the next hour or so the group relaxed as the Shoopuff carried them across, occasionally passing other Shoopuffs going the other direction, while the rare fiend would also get close before fleeing from the elephantine creature. When they finally arrived on the other side, the sun was starting to dip in the sky.

"Mmmmm, spending the morning in the car and then spending a couple hours on the Shoopuff, maybe we should walk the rest of the way to Guadosalam?" Rikku said as she stretched once they got off of the Shoopuff, to which Yuna and Paine readily agreed as they similarly loosened up their muscles.

With Alex agreeing as well they then started their walk to the next big city in Spira.

Once they made their way through the crowds of people around the northern banks of the Moonflow, the group once again found themselves in a forested thicket where fiends roamed. Once they reared their ugly heads, the girls were only too ready for a fight to burn more of their energy and test out more of their new Dresspheres.

This time however they switched up their usual styles to experiment a little bit, with Paine using the 'Black Mage' Dressphere that specialized in attack magic, Yuna using the 'Samurai' Dressphere that specialized in a unique sword style, and then Rikku using the 'Berserker' Dressphere to brutally pummel her poor opponents. The entire time Alex would simply stand back and watch the girls fight, only intervening to give them some advice to help them fight better.

As the hours passed by the sun dipped even lower until it was nearly on the horizon, and they finally found themselves standing at the entrance of Guadosalam.

Unlike the other cities in Spira, Guadosalam was actually underground with the roots from the trees above holding the earth in place. As they passed through the large and intricately decorated entrance hall of the city though, Alex noted that there was none of the Guado in sight, instead only the few other people who call the city home, or were passing through.

"It's so empty..." Yuna muttered as they actually entered the city, which was unlike what she recalled the last time she had been here. Though that time wasn't exactly a 'happy' experience, seeing the city so empty didn't make Yuna feel any better.

Though, all three of the girls became noticeably more alert when they noticed one of the city's few residents walking around.

"Hide!" Paine exclaimed as all three of them hid around a nearby corner, and they watched as a man dressed in a green jumpsuit walked by. Once he was gone Paine muttered,

"That's right, I think I heard that the Leblanc Syndicate made its home here after the Guado left..." Though Alex was acting calm behind them, Yuna and Rikku shared a look before the former said,

"Maybe we should continue on to the Thunder Plains and stay at the Travel Agency there tonight. I don't want to get into a fight with the entire Syndicate right now." Though both Rikku and Paine nodded in agreement, Alex just smirked as he remarked,

"It'll be fine, Leblanc's nothing to worry about. Let's go." Then, before any of them could even try to stop him, Alex strode forward without a care as he began to explore the tunnels making up the mostly empty city. Left with no other choice, the girls could only follow along behind him as they tried to prevent Alex from starting a fight.

It appeared as if he was intent on doing so though, as they eventually arrived outside of a particular residence that Yuna hadn't wanted to see again. The former home of Seymour Guado.

Now however it was the base of the Leblanc Syndicate, if the pink heart-shaped banners were any indication, making the girls even more hesitant to approach.

"Wait! We shouldn't get any closer!" Yuna tried to plead with Alex, who strode right up the manor without a single care. He didn't even falter as Yuna grabbed onto his hand and tried to pull him away, or when Rikku did the same with his other hand while Paine even grabbed a handful of the red fur on Alex's back and tried to pull.

Unconcerned about their efforts though, Alex walked straight up the doors of the manor, and placed one of his feet against the double doors before forcing them open as he called out,

"Any one home?" What greeted them though was something that none of the girls expected.

When you stepped inside the manor you would find yourself facing an entrance hall with a staircase on either side to lead to the upper floors, while another set of double doors were directly ahead that led to the dining area of the manor. And when Yuna had last been there the walls had been covered in portraits of each 'Maester' that had led the Guado in the past, ending with Seymour himself.

Now however each of the portraits had been replaced with the same woman in every single one in differing poses, while pink banners, flowers, and other such decorations filled the space. The most surprising thing though was that all throughout the entrance hall was the many members of the Leblanc Syndicate, all lined up with Leblanc herself at the top of the connecting staircases with her two lieutenants lined up behind her, Ormi and Logos.

Behind all of them though was a silver haired maid that watched over all of them, as they all bowed and chanted,

"""THE LEBLANC SYNDICATE WELCOMES THE DRAGON EMPEROR!"""