[January 22nd DxD/September 14th DBT]
"Here's the invoices for today's expenses..." Remedios expressed with a glower, presenting Vahn a small crate full of rolled scrolls and parchment paper.
"Good work," Vahn responded calmly, accepting the crate, placing it into his Inventory, and having Sis download its contents directly into his mind.
"Hmmn? You purchased 400,000 units of grain? That's nearly the entirety of the Sorcerer Kingdom's reserve..." Vahn noted, causing Calca, who was sitting in his tent with him, drinking tea and chatting, to blink and raise her brows in surprise.
"That's how much they were willing to part with when we asked how much they could spare. Why, can you not afford it...?" Remedios asked standoffishly, her eyes narrowing challengingly.
"I'm more concerned with how you plan to transfer and protect the grain," Vahn responded, contending, "Teleporting the bushels to the staging area we've set up near your border is a simple matter, but you would need two hundred wagons, just as many coachmen, and a minimum of four hundred horses to transport them further. Even if your men can drive them, I doubt you can find two hundred adequately maintained wagons and hundreds of horses readily available for purchase."
"We don't need to transport them all at once..." Remedios asserted, the crease of her brows deepening as she argued, "Once we retake Kalinsha, we'll have the surviving citizens transfer the supplies we've amassed into the city's storehouses. Even if they're weakened, carrying 25kg shouldn't be a problem for them. Our people aren't so feeble that they can't carry a single bushel of grain..."
"That doesn't strike you as a tad cruel—immediately putting people who have been starving for weeks to work...?" Vahn asked, adopting a frown of his own.
"If Your Lordship has a better solution, I'm all ears," Remedios countered witheringly.
"Remedios..." Calca sighed, closing her eyes and exhaling in exasperation before drawing Vahn's gaze as she supplanted, "If Lord Vahn can help us transport our supplies, we would be forever grateful."
"Sure. I've never tried transporting such a large volume of goods all at once, but it shouldn't be an issue," Vahn responded, causing Remedios to lower her head, raise her right hand, and clench it into a fist—the vein in her right temple visibly bulging.
"Why is your default emotion toward everything I say and do outrage...?" Vahn questioned, exhaling from his nose and frowning as he pointed out, "Whether I proactively offer solutions or agree to your requests, you treat both outcomes as if they're slights against you. I consider myself to be a fairly patient person, but your antagonism is seriously beginning to annoy me."
"Oh? Would you prefer I bend the knee, grovel at your feet, and thank you for every little thing you do, irrespective of how inconsequential you make everything out to be...?" Remedios rebutted sharply.
"Remedios. That is quite enough. You will apologize to Lord Vahn and then excuse yourself from here at once..." Calca asserted, rising to her feet and adopting a stern, clearly disappointed expression.
"No. This is good..." Vahn stated, similarly rising to his feet and meeting Remedios' glower with a scrutinizing look as he questioned, "So, just to confirm that I understand your grievances, the reason you resent me is that I'm able to address your needs and resolve most of your difficulties without meaningfully burdening myself?"
"What I resent is your smugness and arrogance..." Remedios hissed, her expression dark as she asserted, "You behave as if all of this is beneath you. Meanwhile, our people are being kept prisoner by sub-human scum who view them as little more than meat. And to make things worse, once everything is said and done, you expect us to work alongside and coexist with those monsters..."
"These are all fair opinions, especially given what you've gone through..." Vahn conceded, nodding sagely. Then, with a serious expression, he met Remedios' gaze and asserted, "But the way things are now isn't how they must remain indefinitely. The abhorrence you feel toward demihumans as a whole isn't justice, Remedios. Justice, by definition, is fair, unbiased, and blind to matters such as a person's background or race. Your desire to kill all demihumans, regardless of whether they've personally slighted you or harmed another human, is neither fair nor just. It's you acting out the very same behavior you condemn in those you view as below you..."
"You're wrong!" Remedios shouted, clenching her teeth and balling her hands into fists as she asserted, "We purge demihumans and monsters because they view humans as cattle! Unlike them, we don't slaughter for sport or take pleasure in their massacre! We must destroy them! Because if we don't, they will kill, enslave, and devour us!"
Shaking his head, Vahn calmly countered, "You're incapable of seeing the forest for the trees. Not all Demihumans are guilty of the behaviors you're describing, Remedios. And if you flip things around and view the situation from their perspective, your Order seeks out, slaughters, or enslaves them insensibly—same as the monsters you despise."
Stepping forward, close enough that Remedios was forced to look up at him, Vahn firmly asserted, "Being born human doesn't preclude one from behaving like a monster..."
Though she was able to stand firm during Vahn's initial retort, Remedios found herself feeling like a mouse before a mountain-sized giant when he stepped forward and towered over her. It was unintended on Vahn's part, but as he recalled the faces of the scientists who had tormented him as a child, his Will of the Emperor activated, infusing his words with a certitude that left even the argumentative Remedios at a loss.
Fortunately for the increasingly sweaty Remedios, Vahn quickly realized what he was doing, compelling him to retract his power and regain a smile as he calmly affirmed, "In summary, I have no problem with you seeking revenge against those who have directly harmed you and your people. As Grandmaster of the Roble Holy Kingdom's Paladin Order, it is your duty to pursue justice. All I am advising is that you don't take things too far—lest you become the very thing you hate in human form."
"..."
Still shaken from the overwhelming aura that had enveloped her very being, Remedios didn't immediately respond to Vahn's words. Instead, as if she finally recalled the difference in their status and power, she offered a curt nod, muttering, "I understand..." in an uncharacteristically subdued tone.
"Even if you don't, that's okay," Vahn responded, suppressing the urge to reach out and caress Remedios's head as he adopted a distinctly fatherly smile and expressed, "No one is flawless, Remedios. Even the Gods are capable of making mistakes. What matters is that we learn from them and continue moving forward."
"..."
Though she wanted to refute Vahn's words, particularly his assertion that the Gods were capable of making mistakes, Remedios ultimately held her tongue and looked past him to find Calca staring at her with a glower that forecasted a protracted lecture.
exhale
Breathing out through her nose, Remedios met Vahn's gaze and glumly affirmed, "I have been excessively rude to you. If there is a way I might be able to make amends, you need only to tell me what you want me to do..."
"Then I request that you take at least the next forty-eight hours and use them to rest. That means removing your armor and delegating your usual responsibilities to your adjutant or lieutenant..." Vahn responded, exhaling a sigh of his own. He was tempted to explain that her constantly stressing out prevented her men from getting the rest they needed. But since there was a non-negligible chance that his doing so would rekindle Remedios's aggression, he kept the advice to himself.
"But there is much that still needs doing before we deploy..." Remedios argued, grimacing conflictedly. She had never been good at sitting still, even during times of peace. Vahn's request that she relax while her nation was being occupied—she couldn't help but feel he was being more than a little unreasonable.
"If you cannot abide by Lord Vahn's request, consider it my order," Calca stated, her expression and tone firm as she moved to stand to Vahn's left with her hands folded neatly over her lap.
"Your Majesty..." Remedios muttered, her brows creasing further and her jaw tensing in vexation. This wasn't the first time Calca had taken Vahn's side against her. Rather, as the two spent more time together, Remedios got the impression that Calca was growing to be more dependent on Vahn than her and the Paladin Order as a whole...
"Go, Remedios. The sooner you delegate your responsibilities and shed your armor, the sooner you can return to duty..." Calca contended calmly, leaving Remedios at a loss for how to respond.
Deciding to throw Remedios a bone, Vahn proposed, "If you can't think of anything else to do, you're welcome to return here and join us once you've put up your sword and armor. Before you arrived, Queen Calca and I were discussing methods to improve crop yields and distribution without having to depend on an Undead workforce. You're welcome to join us—but only if you agree to keep things lighthearted and casual."
"Oh...if that is what Lord Vahn has decided..." Calca sighed, unable to mask her disappointment. She had been enjoying her and Vahn's hours-long private discussions, principally because she could completely relax her guard when it was just the two of them. With Remedios present, she would have no choice but to conduct herself as a Queen...
Noticing Calca's reluctance to have her return and join the discussion, Remedios couldn't help but stare at her Queen and best friend with slack-jawed incredulity. She couldn't fathom—or accept—that Calca had fallen in love with Vahn. So, after convincing herself that she was misconstruing the situation, she accepted Vahn's invitation—if for no other reason than to ensure nothing occurred between the two behind her back...
...
..
.
As the day was winding to a close back in his palace, a version of Vahn was relaxedly perusing a report related to the Federation of Independent Nations' activities and a series of incidents that had been occurring in the world of One Piece. Imu was still at large, with a 6.66 billion Berry bounty on his head, but he was far from the only one causing trouble. Blackbeard had gone to war with the remnants of the Big Mom Pirates, and the Stella Arkadia had been attacked, boarded, and plundered by a group of space pirates, led by a man calling himself Captain Harlocke—the Pirate King of the Eiichiro Supercluster...
"A self-repairing spaceship powered by a dark matter engine...there's really no limit to what might appear in shonen settings..." Vahn mused aloud, causing the maroon-haired beauty deepthroating him to raise her head and ask, "Did you say something, babe?"
pap pap
"Just thinking aloud. Now, how about you give your jaw a rest and give me a taste of that committed, fully 'ganic pussy~?" Vahn hummed, patting his naked right thigh. In response, the maroon-haired beauty, Gloria, rose to her feet, hands caressing her toned abdomen and eyes narrowed hungrily as she asked, "Is this what Daddy wants...?" before lowering her hands to her pussy and spreading it.
"Every day, all day..." Vahn responded, sinking further onto the sofa he was lounging on, allowing Gloria to readily straddle him, her tight, well-developed pussy swallowing his cock like a sheath. Ever since she gave birth, she had been eagerly seeking him out to have sex every day. It was a tad inconvenient with his current restrictions, but instead of attempting to deter her, Vahn gave Gloria's left ass cheek a crisp-sounding smack, an action that caused her once red-brown, now scarlet eyes to gleam as she raised her arms above her head and began swaying her hips like a dancer fishing for tips before rent was due...
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