Chương 102: Chapter 28
As Queen of the Sky, Frey couldn't simply teleport or use a carriage as transportation. She needed to arrive from the sky and do it with both grace and presence.
Beside her flew her two daughters, Claire and Luchia, who served as her personal guards. Both shared a striking resemblance to their mother with similar body types and facial features easily being often mistaken for the Demon Lord's younger sisters, not daughters.
Claire, as the oldest of the twin sisters, was the leader of the twin wings and was in charge of her mother's personal guard. She was dressed in a purple bodysuit, long black gloves, and long black boots that had a silver-colored plating beneath the knee and didn't cover her talon-clad feet.
She had yellow eyes and shoulder-length silver hair.
Luchia, the youngest of twins, acted as her sister's second in command. The sisters were dressed in the same outfit, with the only difference being her boot plating, which was gold-colored.
Same as her sister, she had shoulder-length hair but only hers was golden blonde.
Behind the main trio flew the rest of Frey's personal guards, who also acted as her servants and handmaidens. Finally, two massive wyverns carried all the luggage.
Easily reaching hundreds of kilometers per hour, the group quickly approached Tempest's southwest border.
Frey expected some sort of escort but the swarm awaiting her looked like a trap. Hundreds if not thousands of flyers hovered at the very border with a wasp-like humanoid in front.
{ Be prepared! } She gave an order and flew toward the wasp at the same speed. Showing any weakness and hesitation would damage her reputation.
As she came closer to the border, the wasp majin started to fly toward her with the rest of the massive swarm not moving.
Frey rapidly slowed down and hovered in the air with her wings spread. She looked at the wasp with a neutral, almost bored expression, as if the whole border interaction would be a waste of her time.
The wasp majin stopped about ten meters away from her and bowed. "Demon Lord Frey, let me be the first to welcome you to the Tempest Hegemony. We are prepared to escort you to the capital."
"Very well. Lead the way." Frey casually replied.
With the wasp majin flying beside her and the rest of the swarm surrounding them at a polite distance, they moved on at the same pace as before.
'This is an army. Some of them dwarf my daughters in power. And my guide, she clearly is the highest ranking here. Just how powerful could she be?' Frey observed the creatures with a passing glance.
But she could see the unease in her daughters' eyes. They were afraid they would fail their duty to protect her if a fight broke out. A lot of these flyers were unknown even to her. 'Veldora is creating new species of creatures it seems. What a disturbing development. And their power levels. My spies reported nothing of the sort from Tempest's battle with Gelmud.'
Her curiosity got the better of her and she asked her guide. "Your forces, I haven't seen many of them before. Is the Storm Dragon creating them?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't confirm if Lord Veldora was directly involved in spawning any of my troops. Most were named by Lord Momonga and rest by Lady Shalltear, the daughter of Lord Peroroncino and Lord Momonga's second consort."
"I see. How interesting." Frey replied with a light smile. 'It's not even Veldora himself creating armies but his subordinates!? The situation is far worse than I could possibly imagine. I must reach some agreement with the Storm Dragon or prepare for a war for the very survival of my nation.'
With their flying speed, the group reached the capital in a few hours.
While Frey and her retinue landed at the front entrance of the castle, the flying swarm hovered over the castle.
An elderly human-looking butler led them inside. About half of her servants stayed outside to unpack the luggage and sort out the logistics of keeping wyverns fed during her stay.
Same as the wasp-looking creature, he was hiding his power completely. Her two daughters were now walking so close to her that it started to become borderline inappropriate.
{ Keep proper distance! } She reprimanded both.
{ Mother, we need to protect you! These majins give me goosebumps. } Claire messaged back.
{ Do not show fear! Now step aside and behave properly! } Frey harshly ordered.
Reluctantly, both of them carried out the order and stepped aside.
Continuing to keep up the appearance of calm confidence, she followed the elderly man through the long hall toward the throne room.
The needless luxury of the castle rivaled Clayman's, who preferred to show his status through wealth. 'Huh, so Veldora also wants to show wealth… wait a minute, why is artwork depicting him so sparse compared to his three servants?'
As they walked on, Frey's suspicions only grew stronger. 'Maybe Veldora isn't even in charge of Tempest? The official leader is Momonga after all. Could it be that they are just using the Storm Dragon as a front to hide their own power?'
Once they reached the throne room her suspicions were all but confirmed. She was greeted by the three Lords, and although there were four thrones, the central one was taken by Momonga and the Dragon was nowhere to be seen.
The Demon standing beside Momonga created a throne for her to show they saw her as at least an equal. After a quick exchange of pleasantries, Frey was led to private quarters assigned to her and her servants.
A beautiful woman dressed in a metallic maid's dress was now guiding her through the massive castle. 'She looks like an otherworlder. Could it be an intentional fakery to give the impression they are summoning them or just a genuine otherworlder who is used as a maid?' Frey mused.
The question remained unanswered as once they reached Frey's quarters the maid left with one of her handmaidens to show them where her staff could get water, cook food or request whatever Frey needed at the moment.
"Mother, there are far too many strong majins for us to tackle. I will plan your escape route should the locals turn hostile." Claire said the moment the maid closed the door.
"Calm down! We are guests so act like one!" She shot down her daughter's suggestion. "This is an opportunity to show your skill in social conduct. Claire, and Luchia, during our stay you both will act as my envoys and Fulbrosia's nobility. There will be no panic! There will be no planning of escape! And there will be no display of fear! You are the pinnacle of our kind so act accordingly!" Frey walked back and forth in front of her kneeling daughters.
Frey walked up closer, leaned down, and grabbed both by their beautiful faces and forced them to look into her eyes. "Put on your best dresses and mingle with the local nobility. Study them, befriend them, seduce them if you must, but leave a good impression. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, mother." Both responded in unison.
The option of a political marriage to assure an alliance should never be overlooked. The Ten Great Demon Lords, after all, was a loose alliance and there was little chance any would come to her aid if she drew the ire of the Storm Dragon or the enigmatic leaders of Tempest, who likely were at least on the same level as her.
'I wonder what approach Clayman and Carrion will take. Clayman likely will appeal to his wealth and offer a lucrative trade deal. Carrion… his options are much more limited. Same as mine. If the Empress of Sarion forged an alliance with Tempest, I would be forced to do the same.' Frey slowly walked through the quarters, inspecting every nook and cranny.
She walked into the bathroom where her handmaidens were already filling a bath for her to freshen up after the long trip. 'If Claire and Luchia play their cards right, they might catch the attention of Peroroncino.'
The birdman had rather unashamedly checked out both her and her daughters in the throne room and thus likely was an easy target for any woman with a decent head on her shoulders.
How things would pan out was hard to tell at the moment but one thing was clear; she needed to end the visit with some sort of beneficial deal.
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Carrion sat in his carriage and looked outside the window with a bored expression. His overreliance on |Spatial Motion| had made him far too impatient for such a slow mode of travel. But since most of his servants didn't have such an ability, there was no other option but to endure a long and tedious carriage ride.
The six red and gold painted carriages were pulled by two massive tigers each, through the uneven forest ground. The lycanthrope craftsmen had poured their hearts and souls into creating them.
After all, their beloved leader deserved nothing less.
If not for Frey telling him of her plans and how many of her servants she would take along, he would just have taken the three beasketeers and that's it.
The leader, Albis the Golden Serpent, was a snake-type lycanthrope.
In her human form, she was a curvaceous young woman with long black hair with a few streaks of gold. She had emerald green eyes and was dressed in a white tunic with red accents. In her true or beast form, her legs transformed into a snake tail and she grew three golden horns on her head.
Out of the three beastketeers, she was the calmest and most diplomatic but that didn't mean she was weak by any means. The only one who could defeat her in one on one combat in all of the Beast Kingdom Eurazania was the Demon Lord Carrion himself.
Next was Phobio the Black Leopard Fang, a leopardman. In his human form, he had black hair, yellow eyes, brown skin with pointed ears, and a long dark-haired tail. In his beast form, he was a massive leopard clad in dark plate armor.
Unlike Albis, Phobio was hotheaded and prone to solve any situation with his fists. Paired with his arrogance, Phobio was the one to challenge Carrion a lot more often compared to the other beasketeers. No matter how many times Carrion had tried to beat some sense into him, the leopard was as prideful as ever and was pretty much ready to challenge the Storm Dragon himself to a fight.
The final member of the beasketeers was Suphia, the White Tiger Claw. In her human form, she was a short slender woman with long silver hair, blue eyes, and the ears of a tiger. Same as Phobio, she had a tail but hers was white with black stripes. In her beast form, she was a large white tiger.
The tail was not the only thing Suphia shared with Phobio. She too had a rather short-fused and impatient personality. Unlike Phobio, she was much more laid back, and unless provoked, could easily get along with others.
'I should have taken one of my concubines with me.' Carrion grimly mussed with a long yawn.
{ How long till we reach Tempest's border? } He messaged the driver of the carriage for the hundredth time since the beginning of the trip.
{ We should be about half an hour's ride away from the border, Lord Carrion. }
{ Finally. Inform me when we cross the border. } Carrion said and closed his eyes. A short nap and he would be there. The Lord of Tempest he was in correspondence with had promised to arrange transportation magic the moment he crossed the border, so the journey had almost ended.
{ As you command, Lord Carrion. } The driver replied.
Just as he was starting to have a wonderful dream about fighting in an arena, the driver's message awakened him.
{ Lord Carrion, we have arrived. Tempest's representative is opening some sort of portal. }
{ Drive through it. } He replied sleepily and opened the blinds to look outside.
A bustling city came into view with monsters of all kinds stopping and watching the procession. 'Such wealth.' he looked at the decorated building that came into view. His own kingdom, save for the royal castle, was a far cry in terms of architecture and intricacy.
It's not that Carrion just hoarded all the wealth for himself. His subjects wanted to give him the best and often kept only enough to survive.
Tempest's castle easily rivaled his. Carrion stepped out of his carriage and looked up to see how far up the towers went. The three beasketeers got out of their carriage and walked up to him.
"Remember, no provocation! Especially you, Phobio. We are not here to start a fight." Carrion said as an elderly man approached them.
"I will follow your lead, Lord Carrion." Phobio replied with a bow. As eager as he was for a fight, if he messed up now there was a large possibility that Carrion would make a rug out of him.
The castle was unnecessarily lavish, reminding him of Clayman's dwelling. To his disappointment, Veldora didn't grace him with his presence. But the three Lords of Tempest greeted him as an equal.
The temptation to challenge Momonga was there for sure, but without any way to gauge the undead's power, he decided to suggest some sparring matches between subordinates to see what they would throw against his best.
Once the official part was over, a lycanthrope maid was leading him and his retinue to a part of the palace that was assigned to him.
{ Lord Carrion, would it be too out of line to ask this maid to spend some private time with me? } Phobio messaged him as he practically drooled at the tanned maid.
{ Think with your head for once and pay attention. She is taken! } Carrion messaged back.
{ I don't doubt your wisdom, my Lord, but could you tell me how you know that? }
{ First off, use your nose, idiot. She has the scent of one of the Tempest's lords lingering on her. Second, she is wearing very expensive jewelry and if you had looked at her necklace, not her cleavage, you would have noticed that she wears a necklace with the avian's crest on it. }
{ Ohh… I will be more observant from now on. } Phobio messaged.
Carrion did his best to not sigh in annoyance. Phobio was a horny idiot. Suphia was glaring at the maid and practically looking for a reason to start a fight.
Whether it was because she had gotten bored out of her mind during the long trip or because the maid, by the looks of it, was a wolf lycanthrope and wolves and cats had a barely hidden animosity between them, was hard to tell.
{ Albis, I need you to be on top of your game and keep those two in check. } he instructed his most reliable servant.
{ I will not fail you, Lord Carrion. } Albis messaged back with determination.
'I hope they accept a suggestion to have at least some friendly sparring so they can blow off steam.' Carrion mused as he entered his quarters and looked around.
The place for rest was rather unimportant. After everyone had settled in, he could go see the arena that according to the maid was near the castle.
Proofreading by Dtrackt, Sad_Smiles, I AM THE STRING CUTTER, RottenPizza, Ethal07 and Alassandro.
AN: Thank you for reading the story, and if you have caught up to the latest chapter, you can check out my other work or join my discord server (Link is in my profile) where additional chapters are available or if you are interested in becoming a beta reader.
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