Chapter 273 – Friendly Chat
Mhyreth spent three hours figuring out the perfect spot for the [Contact Mirror] in the Royal Suite, the one used for myself and any of the girls who were sleeping with me that day. The ‘Harem Lounge’ was separate, meant to be a sanctuary for the girls, someplace where they could rest and relax. I made it a point not to go into the Harem Lounge unless specifically invited by a quorum of the girls there. Not because there was anything keeping me out, but because giving them that little area to retreat to kept them happy and signaled that I valued them as more than mere possessions. I could always order them to come to me, if I needed them, so it cost me nothing, and made the whole harem easier to manage.
The Royal Suite, however, was my domain, though all the girls were welcome in it. Since Mhyreth wanted the [Contact Mirror] someplace where I could easily access, since it would allow her to introduce me to her father, and help us communicate, before actually meeting, that meant it needed to be somewhere I had easy access to. However, it would be categorically foolish, and more than a little rude, to put the mirror somewhere in the public domain, where anyone could access it. At the same time, the mirror couldn’t just be sealed away in its own room, where no one would see it unless they were actually in the room. There was no voicemail on the thing, after all.
Finally, she found a place that she liked, on a wall in the living area where a couple chairs could easily be turned around to face the mirror, if need be, but where it wouldn’t be in the way or omnipresent. The [Contact Mirror] was square roughly a meter on a side, and acted like an actual mirror when its magical properties weren’t in use. The place Mhyreth put it worked for both its mirror and communication modes, and letting her place it made her happy, so I didn’t object.
Mhyreth held Vyllan in one arm as she ran some of her MP into the mirror, and there was a low pulse that you could feel in your bones as the mirror sought out its pair. What had been a reflection of the room faded into blackness as the glass became more than glass. A moment later, the blackness shifted, showing a room that was opulent, but obviously lived in.
This wasn’t the kind of room meant to impress, like some of the sitting rooms in my own palace were. No, this was the domain of someone who had wealth and power, and knew it. The kind of room where the person who owned it had nice things as a matter of course. Some of the items visible in the frame were works of art, but others were trophies, the kinds of trophies that one gets when they have had a long and prosperous career.
It was not just the trophies I noticed, but the range of them. The head of a Tier 3 Dragon was there, mounted and preserved next to a [Goblin Chief’s Sword], which was a common drop off the Tier 1 creatures. When I looked at Mhyreth, she chuckled. “The sword is from Daddy’s first solo hunt. He killed a tribe of goblins on his own, and took the chief’s sword as a trophy. The dragon head is new. Apparently, a young dragon tried to move into his territory, and thought that having a dozen levels on Daddy meant he could ignore a Demon Lord.”
I chuckled at that, but any response was curtailed by a woman stepping into the frame. She was a succubus, that much was obvious, but the shape of her face mirrored that of Mhyreth’s closely enough that I knew there was a relationship, there. Which was only confirmed as the woman smiled, and said, “Ah, Mhyrie! You look so healthy! And is that cute little bundle in your arms your child? Oh, he is absolutely precious! I can’t wait to come see you with hubby!”
Mhyreth blushed, and said, “Hi, Mom. Yes, this is Vyllan, my son, and this is Zayn Greene, the Demon Lord who made me his familiar, and is the father of my child. Master, this is Orinona, my mother, and third wife to the Demon Lord Yhrath.”
“A pleasure, madam,” I said, with a nod. “And might I say that you did a splendid job raising your daughter. She’s not just intelligent, beautiful, and well-spoken, but also one of the better siege mages I’ve met in multiple timelines.”
Orinona chuckled, and said, “According to my little bookworm, she was not exactly eloquent when you first met. Something about trying, and failing, to kill you immediately.”
“Well, even before I became a Demon Lord, I had some impressive protections in place. As evidenced by the fact that my ascension to Tier 2 happened thanks to defeating a Tier 2 melee combatant with over ten levels on me in single combat. Still, it was very impressive how much damage she was able to put out in a single spell, without even using siege magics. Actually injured me, despite my ample protections. Of course, as a Greater Incubus, I was able to heal myself as I ‘persuaded’ her to be my familiar.”
“Oh, yes, I made her go into graphic detail about how that persuasion went. My little writer was always better at describing things than living them. But I am glad she finally found someone to experience the things she wrote about. And that she looks happy. We were worried when she was first summoned, that she’d be bound to someone who would mistreat her, instead of fucking her like she deserves. Hubby was planning on sending assassins if the reports weren’t favorable.”
I chuckled at that. “Well, I am not stupid enough to go through the trouble of summoning and binding a Tier 2 demon as my familiar, and then go treating her like a disposable tool. The idiots who do that typically summon some form of imp or possibly one of the warrior-types of demon, and they summon them as early as possible, because they are naturally weak individuals. Also, you don’t summon a succubus and simply not fuck them. Though I admit, I hadn’t expected my succubus to arrive wearing only some lather on her skin.”
“Ugh,” Mhyreth groans, one hand covering her face. “That was so embarrassing. Getting summoned directly from my shower, while I was washing my legs. And he didn’t even have the decency to die when I tried to kill him!”
“Ori, do I hear our little novelist?”
A deep, authoritative voice sounded from out of the frame on the other side of the connection. Mhyreth’s mother smiled widely as she looked to the side. “Yes, hubby! She got the mirror installed already, and is here with her Master and their cute little newborn boy.”
A Greater Balor, like Yhrath happened to be, was not a creature to be taken lightly. Of course, since they stood at three meters tall, and had a build that would make professional bodybuilders weep, no one ever took them lightly, when it came to matters of brute strength and physical combat. However, a Greater Balor was far from a mindless brute. They were big and powerful, yes, but their clawed hands often had surprising dexterity and fine motor control, and they typically had decent mental attributes. They weren’t going to out-charisma a succubus or out-intelligence a mage, but they often had skills bolstering them when it came to social situations or strategy.
Yhrath was a typical member of that species: big, with red skin, horns, wings, and lots of muscles. At first glance, that is what you would see of him. But that would be doing him a grave disservice, even if his class were a supremely martially-focused one, like Blademaster of the Hellfire Citadel. You did not become a Blademaster of anything, much less a demon citadel, unless you were smart enough to read the battlefield, and flexible enough to adjust to changing factors. Sure, people focused on insane feats like cleaving incoming spells, or the like, but the true mark of a Blademaster was in having the level of battlefield knowledge and control to overcome whatever situation was put in their path.
Stealing some of the aura one might expect from a Greater Balor and Demon Lord was the fact that Yhrath was currently dressed in a fluffy bath robe that was either made large enough for him, or had magic in it to size to fit. Either way, the look was something you’d be more likely to picture on a pervy old man with centerfolds running around his mansion than a powerful warrior who effectively owned an entire star system. Then again, we were basically calling him at home, on what was a private line, and, just as Mhyreth had made sure this [Contact Mirror] was situated somewhere private, her mother had obviously done the same.
Yhrath sat down in a chair, and Orinona giggled as he pulled her into his lap, playfully slapping his chest before they turned their attention back to the mirror, and us. Still, he did his best to give me the Fatherly Glare(tm) as he spoke. “So, you’re the Greater Incubus who summoned my little smutwriter?”
“Greater Apocalypse Incubus now, but yes.” I smiled evenly as I spoke. “There were a few issues that needed handling, between when I summoned her, and now. Some of those issues required antimatter weapons in large quantities.”
Yhrath’s eyes narrowed, and his tone was more serious when he spoke. “What ‘issues’ require that kind of weaponry, in enough quantities that you rose from the beginnings of Tier 2 to comfortably into Tier 3 in mere months?”
“Well, I used a few of them on my own home planet to convince people that if people wanted to start playing the atrocity game, then I could play, too, and I was better at it than they were. It has had the effect of ensuring that any conflicts since then remained within certain guidelines. Normal weapons, instead of anything too indiscriminate.
“Then, there was a case where someone got the foolish idea to use [Mystic Monster Maker] to boost a Tier 2 sea monster into a Tier 3 version, and set it on some of my newly acquired territories. Your daughter actually helped end that threat with her siege magic, by channeling a Tier 3 Greater Angel with a spellcaster class’s full mana pool into her [Annihilation Amplifier]. It was quite effective, as you might expect.”
“I’m so proud of you, sweety!” Orinona gushed. “I know you always were pouting about how you didn’t get to unleash any of the really big destructive spells, usually, since hubby didn’t want you blowing up the city for fun.”
“MOOOM!”
I managed to avoid laughing, though only barely, and I could see Yhrath was not even attempting to hid his grin. Still, I couldn’t let Mhyreth suffer the ‘embarrassing mother’ attack forever. Time to continue the story.
“At the same time, I had my fleet of warships out doing some deep strikes into Incux territory. Has Mhyreth told you about them?”
Yhrath nodded. “Yes, and we’ve had our own experiences with the bugs. It has been some time since they’ve tried our borders. Probably realized that there were easier meals out there. I know that the Ouran burned them pretty badly a generation or two ago. Have they come to your world?”
“A single hive ship, but it was destroyed by my forces. However, that put us in contact with the Systems Commonwealth, which is where the Incux have apparently been focusing most of their attention for the last couple decades. They’re strong enough to fight back, but the Incux replace their numbers faster, and so anyone who knew the least bit about war could tell that they were slowly getting defeated.”
“And these antimatter weapons your fleet has allowed you the ability to strike the Incux somewhere that would change the calculations, I take it?”
“We bombed three of their ‘cattle worlds’ where they were breeding and raising sapients as food stock. We struck the cattle, specifically, since it was harder for them to replace. So far, we’ve had some reports that the Incux offensive has been halted, and they even sent an entire fleet on a suicide mission, to either capture new cattle, or die trying, reducing the number of mouths to feed.”
Neither Yhrath nor Orinona looked shocked or surprised at those tactics. Rather, they looked a bit impressed. Yhrath nodded once. “From what Mhyrie has said, you aren’t the type to make a decision like that easily, but you also aren’t going to second guess it once made. Too many leaders get drawn one way or the other, and either become monsters to be put down, or ineffectual obstacles to be overturned. Good to see you are neither.” There was a pause, and then, “Now, with that out of the way, let me see my grandson!”