[November 4th DxD/June 28th DBT]
"This is new. Is that formal wear back in your world?" Lupusregina asked, her brows rising as she saw Vahn checking himself in front of a standing, full-length mirror. He was going to be visiting Royalty, so he had donned his loose but regal black, grey, and gold-embroidered yukata beneath the haori that bore his symbol as the Dragon God of Infinite Possibilities. With that, he had on numerous golden accessories—the lowest of which had a Rank of A.
"As the name implies, my Dragon's Pavilion draws from what Ainz would recognize as Eastern elements. My origins are more Western, but I have long since abandoned them..." Vahn explained calmly, checking his side profile before looking to Lupusregina and asking, "What would you like to do? I won't remain silent if they demean or denigrate you for wearing your usual outfit. But respect is something meant to be offered before it can be expected in return. If we garb ourselves in a manner that invites debasing or condemnation, we can't very well be surprised when we're subjected to rude or crass remarks."
"Besides Lord Ainz, my sisters, and Lady Albedo, the only opinion I care about is yours. But if you want to dress me up with equipment from your world, I'll happily accept them as gifts," Lupusregina countered, her eyes narrowing and a predatory smile adorning her face as she continued lying languidly on the edge of her and Vahn's shared bed.
"Hmn...I'm sure we could come up with something..." Vahn hummed, his expression a relaxed smolder as he approached Lupusregina and helped her to her feet. Lucky for Lupusregina, he had hundreds of outfits for her to choose from, many of which granted greater protection or had stronger effects than even her most powerful equipment...
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Following a lengthy carriage ride, which took them through a winding forest that sloped around a tall hill supporting the famed Ro-Lente Castle, a massive, heavily fortified structure with tall, curtained walls interspaced every eight hundred meters by spire-tipped, blue-tiled towers. Between the outer and inner walls were training grounds and stables for thousands of Knights, soldiers, and horses. As for the palace proper, named Valencia after Re-Estize's Founding King, it was a truly grand, multi-tiered structure spanning an impressive fourteen hundred by seven hundred meters—with its most elevated point towering nearly two kilometers over the rest of the capital.
"Man, that took forever—" Lupusregina remarked with a groan, standing with her hands inverted atop her waist and rolling her neck. The carriage ride had taken more than two hours. She didn't particularly mind the ride itself, but since it would take an additional two hours for them to return to their inn, she couldn't help feeling that the Kingdom was wasting her and Vahn's time.
"Let's not give anyone in the palace a reason to look down on us," Vahn stated, sporting a calm smile as he casually sized Lupusregina up as she stretched. At her request, he had attired her in the partially armored attire of the Pavilion's Maid Battalion. It consisted of a classic black-and-white maid outfit: a black, long-sleeved outer dress with a white panel down the front, frilled shoulders, and an apron bearing his seven-winged symbol in gold. Where it differed from tradition was that it came with heeled, black leather combat boots, a silver-ringed sword belt that was currently bereft of arms, a similarly silver breastplate with a dragon's visage pattern, and matching gauntlets with a sleek, scaled design.
"I'll do my best. But I've never been a big fan of formalities," Lupusregina sighed, correcting her posture and cupping her hands neatly atop her lap, imitating her big sister, Yuri Alpha. The reason for this was that there was a familiar figure in pristine steel half-plate armor with red, yellow-trimmed, banded accents, sand-brown pants, stylish, red-brown boots with yellow-gold seams, and rugged, heroic features.
"Lord Vahn. It pleases me greatly to see you in good health," expressed the figure, a tall, burly man with a well-groomed chin-strap goatee, spiky brown hair that was swept back, and thick eyebrows that sat above sharp but clear brown eyes. When he extended his leather-gloved hand to Vahn, adorned with a thick steel plate, the latter accepted it readily.
"Chief Warrior Gazef—you clean up well," Vahn remarked with a humor-tinged tone. The last time he had seen Gazef, the man looked weathered and carried an air of grim resolution. Now, he looked years younger and exuded the atmosphere of an old friend elated to see someone they had lost touch with.
"Those should be my words to you. I mean no offense when I say this, but I've never seen a man who was handsome to the point of appearing beautiful before..." Gazef countered hesitantly. Vahn had always had an exceptional appearance, but his current garb elevated that to a level that made even the sincerest flattery feel insufficient. He had never seen such fine fabrics. And the accessories Vahn was wearing made their Kingdom's regalia seem like trinkets...
"No offense taken," Vahn responded, extricating his hand from Gazef's to gesture to Lupusregina as he stated, "This is my traveling companion and bodyguard, Lupusregina Beta."
"Greetings, Lady Lupusregina. You're even more beautiful than the rumors claim..." Gazef expressed, touching his right hand to his chest and offering Lupusregina a respectful nod without breaking eye contact.
"And I'm ten times as powerful..." Lupusregina hummed, her golden eyes narrowing into a predatory smile that made Gazef break into a cold sweat, shocking him to his core. He had heard the rumors of Lupusregina beating monsters with famously high difficulty ratings in a single blow. At the time, he assumed such rumors were an exaggeration. Now, after seeing her for himself, he felt they didn't give her enough credit...
'Just where are all these powerful people appearing from...?' Gazef asked himself, recalling his meeting with Ainz and doing his best to appear calm and remain courteous as he guided Vahn and Lupusregina to a luxuriously decorated sitting room. Vahn himself didn't seem especially powerful, but his capacity as a healer was beyond compare. There were reports that he could heal and bless hundreds without needing rest—a phenomenon that Gazef had witnessed firsthand. Other capable healers could heal or bless maybe a dozen or so people before they required upwards of half a day to recuperate, so even vesting Vahn with the moniker of Great Healer was an understatement. By comparison, he was practically a God...
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After having their bodies physically and magically searched to ensure they weren't carrying hidden weapons or poison, Vahn and Lupusregina were chaperoned by a small contingent of Knights to the palace's throne room. Vahn expected a grand hall on par with Nazarick, so he was a little surprised when, after passing through a dome-shaped antechamber and a pair of ornate, heavily reinforced orichalcum doors, he and Lupusregina found themselves in a room roughly seventy meters long and thirty wide. The entire floor was covered in a dark-blue, felt-like carpet, with a royal-blue, gold-trimmed aisle down the center. The similarly royal-blue walls were lined with angular white marble and bronze pillars, and the roof was predominantly white, with an arched, bronze-lined structure.
As he and Lupusregina made their way down the central aisle, Vahn took note of the many Nobles present without turning his head or making eye contact. There were twenty-three in total, facing inward and split fourteen and nine on both sides of the aisle—presumably in accordance with their factions. More notably, at the back end of the room, positioned five steps higher than the rest of the room, were a total of four red-cushioned, gold-backed, spire-tipped thrones—three of which were assembled to the right of the largest throne at the center.
While one of the thrones remained empty, the other three were occupied by a short and stout man with golden blonde hair and somewhat beady, dark-blue eyes. Next to him was a slender, dainty-looking young woman with long, almost luminous gold hair and large, bright, sky-blue eyes that resembled the surface of a reflecting pond at an angle. Vahn surmised the two to be Second Prince Zanac and the Second Princess Renner, meaning the elderly, grey-haired, grey-bearded, and mustachioed man seated atop the center-most throne was their father, King Ramposa Pharill Ryld Vaiself the Third. His maroon-red-and-yellow robes, fur-lined yellow cape, many golden accessories, and six-pointed, gem-embedded golden crown made that very apparent.
Causing a stir among the Nobles, Vahn stopped the designated six paces from the stairs leading to King Ramposa's throne before disregarding the procedures that had been explained to him by remaining upright, his back straight, and his gaze focused on the elderly King as he calmly expressed, "I am Vahn Mason, leader of the Adventurer Party, Retinue of the Dragon. It is a pleasure to make Your Majesty's acquaintance."
"You impertinent whelp! Bow your head before the King...!" growled a burly, short-haired, bearded man with sun-weathered skin, thick brows, and a scarred face.
While continuing to hold King Ramposa's gaze, Vahn calmly asserted, "In my culture, people only bend the knee and bow to those they've pledged their allegiance to. Your Majesty is certainly deserving of deference, but it is not to the extent that travelers and people from foreign lands must bow to you."
Raising his right hand to quiet down the Nobles causing a ruckus, King Ramposa calmly and authoritatively declared, "That's enough. I did not ask this man and his companion here to have them humble themselves before me."
Waiting for things to quiet down, King Ramposa lowered his hand and held Vahn's gaze for several seconds before scrutinizing his appearance more broadly. He had encountered more foreign leaders and dignitaries than he could recall throughout his long life, but Vahn's appearance and aura were the most striking by a considerable margin. It wouldn't surprise him in the slightest to learn that Vahn was a Prince who had escaped his Kingdom or Empire in search of adventure and romance.
As he hadn't brought Vahn there to interrogate him, King Ramposa got to the point, stating, "The Great Healer has done my Kingdom and its people a great service. If there is a reward you desire, you need only to request it. So long as it is within my power to provide, I will grant you anything you desire."
"All that I desire is either in my possession or within my ability to grasp with my own power..." Vahn countered calmly, offering King Ramposa a slight nod as he asserted, "I aided your people, not because they were inhabitants of the Re-Estize Kingdom, but because they were people in need and our paths happened to cross. Healing and blessing them cost me nothing but time, and time is the resource I happen to have more than any other."
Keying in on Vahn's final words, King Ramposa's brows creased slightly, his hands clenching into fists atop his throne's armrests as he tentatively inquired, "Forgive me if this comes across as too probative...but would Sir Vahn happen to be a Dragon?"
"In a sense..." Vahn confirmed with a nod, his casual, almost dismissive admission exacerbating tensions in the throne room to the point that the air seemed to thicken and press down on those present, as if gravity had suddenly doubled.
'So that's how he's able to heal without exhausting himself. It must be a form of Wild Magic...' King Ramposa determined, his scalp tingling as he did his best to retain his composure. Dragons were the undisputed most powerful creatures in the world, and if Vahn were telling the truth, it more than justified him remaining upright, even when presenting himself before a King.
Closing his eyes, King Ramposa offered a slight bow as he expressed, "It was not my intention, but I fear I may have offended you by my inability to keep my people from speaking rudely. Please allow me to apologize on their behalf..."
Though it was an action performed while remaining seated, Vahn could feel the sincerity behind King Ramposa's words and actions. This all but confirmed that the Noble faction was the rot eating away at what could have been a well-regulated Kingdom. The fact that he had permitted the trafficking of most demihuman slaves for nearly forty years under his rule was a point against him. But the fact that the practice had been abolished under that same rule suggested it was a holdover from his predecessor's, not a pastime he personally endorsed.
Nodding approvingly, Vahn calmly affirmed, "I did not plan to hold Your Majesty to account for your people's actions, but I accept your apology. Henceforth, let us speak as equals."
"You honor me..." King Ramposa responded, feeling tremendous relief. He didn't believe for a moment that Vahn viewed him as a true equal, but the fact that he was willing to say so was both an honor and an endorsement. After all, if it got around that he was the equal of a Dragon with the ability to heal innumerable people, his popularity was bound to surge, weakening those who would see him deposed and his authority cannibalized...
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