Chapter 35. The reunion (3/3)

Gwen's point of view

 In the morning, while we were eating, Luneth was on edge, I had never seen her so nervous since her calamitous prediction, the kingdom is in trouble at the moment although I have done everything possible to keep it out of the public eye, the war against the black shell is imminent, but the worst thing is not them, it is all the dogs that will come after us once we kill each other, at the moment we do not have the capacity to fight on more than one front.

 Inside the ocean, several hundred kilometers away, our scouts have detected an anomaly, beasts of all kinds are gathering, according to Luneth, it will be a problem, in other words, almost deadly, on the other hand, we lack resources, we have sold and lost a lot of our currency to hire the inscribers and be able to upgrade the outer and inner walls.

 Luckily the throne room was modified as a gift, as they decided to serve me, but still the materials for the formations was extravagant to say the least.

 In case anything was missing, it looks like I might have some traitors among my own, the black shell ones have already found a couple of secret lookout posts, each being ambushed and leaving no one alive.

 If it weren't for the fact that I have a couple of vassals with flying races to relay messages, we still wouldn't know of their losses.

 But calamities wait for no one and so it was when she warned me that the crossroads, between calamity and an uncertain future, had arrived.

 I did not take long to call everyone, no one must be absent, today is an important day for our future and only then a soldier brought a message from the castle gate, an immortal who wishes to join me.

 A servant who comes to you can be two things, someone who admires you and wishes to serve you or someone who wishes to use you, either a traitor or a person with ambition.

 But at this moment I understood it in a certain aspect, perhaps this morning's premonition has to do with these guests... Coincidences don't usually exist and this one doesn't seem to come from luck.

 That being so, I asked the guard to take them to a separate room, where I could rest.

 With a certain headache due to what could happen, I sat down on my throne.

 To my right, there was Leva, you could call him my right hand, but lately I trust Luneth more, not because he has done anything wrong, but what can I say, between girls we understand each other better, besides, since he invited me to that drinking contest and he lost the first one, I kind of lost some respect for him.

 The first to enter the throne room were the leader of the Bulls, Tambor, a huge but wise monster, along with his wife and youngest son. Following him appeared the leader of the Azure Birds, a species which is able to breathe underwater and fly, they are our most capable messengers and we also use them to watch our skies, he came with her husband, in their race there are no women and they have a strange way to reproduce between men, being able both to conceive an egg.

 The third to arrive was the leader Naga, he came alone with two guards, although young and inexperienced, he is still loved by his people....

 So little by little they began to enter, one after another, the tables full of food and drinks began to empty and I could not take anything, as I am the queen I have to stay on the throne being an example of fairness and majesty, luckily for me, there was still Luneth by my side and I could chat with her while we waited for the guests.

 After a few minutes, all the leaders of my kingdom, except those who were on reconnaissance missions and others, the guests arrived.

 The great door opened and before me, the eldest son of Tambor, Gong. The asshole was in the middle and did not flinch, the same for his followers, completely blocking my view of the guests,

 Luckily, after going halfway around the course, Leva became enraged and waved him away and so I managed to give them a glimpse.

 Their clothes strange but seamless, completely clinging to the skin like lycra, all composed of shades of white and leaving not a hint of skin in sight. On his face a strange mask in the same way, from his body could only be seen a pair of black horns, with a blue end and white hair.

 Another point was that they had chains for tails, again strange, yet there are many strange breeds in LAZ, an example were those two male birds that were feeding each other.

 But it seemed that they were hiding something more than their skin, with just one look, Luneth, screamed in terror, she could see something that I could not and it could only be something associated to her condition of high priestess, out of curiosity I also looked at Luneth's entourage, the other priestesses of the Moon and all of them without exception were trembling.

 I did not understand her fear of these beings, but if they were afraid, it was not for a small thing, as a good friend, I did not avoid comforting her a little, with my touch she seemed to wake up and with that she tried to be brave, it's funny because whenever she tries it she always ends up sticking out her chest, tense as a bowstring, I laughed inside and left her alone, now I was interested in these guests, among them, there was one who seemed curious about Luneth, if it turns out that behind the mask there is a hottie, I wouldn't mind trying to become her cupid, this girl needs to mature a little.

 Although I'm sure if she knew my intentions, she'd jump that I'm a year younger than her, physically and that as queen I need to bring out an heir... etc. Piss-poor in any case.

 A minute passed since they walked in, but it seemed like they were waiting for us to break the ice, that already hinted that they were not afraid or pressured of where they were, I didn't know if I liked that about them or if it bothered me.

 It was then that Leva exploded, although he doesn't need much for that, but the reason was also laughable, he wanted them to take off their masks, to show me their faces and as a sign of respect, but they took that moment to laugh at him completely, two women painted him green and like most immortals, we knew before our end in that the age of moral freedoms was booming on earth, so when one scolded the other for imposing her gender due to being a man, I couldn't help but chuckle a little slyly, poor Leva, but I need you to get more enraged and do something silly, if you are able to hurt them being 11 on 1, then they are not that good and surely not the calamity, if they are stronger than the, then I can have some use and some care for them, last and least likely, if they are able to hurt you, then I will use you to bind them to me.

 Killing them was out of place, as an immortal has the ability to return from the kingdom of the dead and with that we would only have one more enemy, plus with the prediction I didn't want to end up on the wrong track.

 But who would have thought that they opted for the last option without hesitation, plus they beat him without making any effort, chained him to the ground and forced him to kneel.

 At that moment Luneth informed me that a strange magic was booming, according to her the controller is the leader of the faction, the one who was watching her, I first thought that he was in the midst of his subjects out of fear or as an attempt to defend himself, it seems that these are not common guests after all.

 The leader approached Leva, although he was not afraid of being killed, but he still had the tension through the roof, but instead he showed us more than enough to understand that they were being compassionate, he mocked Leva as he removed his helmet, then they forced him to hit the ground with his forehead, an act which in other kingdoms and above all without the threats we had on us would have started a battle, but now I could only let it pass, in that instant, before the eyes of all he threw the helmet up, pointing a little in the direction of the second woman to mock Leva and before the eyes of all, they shattered the helmet as if it were paper with their chains.

 Not everyone present knew that both the helmet, like Leva's armor, had resistance inscriptions, not the best, but enough to withstand a few arrows on the surface, even the attack of a hammer would only leave a slight mark, but here it was shattered into pieces.

 Those who knew about Leva's armor, became serious, these beings in front of us were very strong, too strong.

 It was my time to speak, I had to get Leva out of their hands and so it was, I tried to look nice and set a trap for him, but their leader was just as nice, giving him back without putting any hindrance, he had escaped my trap without any effort, that made me nervous, someone strong is a problem, someone strong and smart is a calamity.

 - Well, since you are here to join me, let's make it easier for everyone, kneel down and I will accept you as vassals, in that case our faction will prosper together, as long as you are loyal to me, you will never lack anything and you can live as you wish- I have to trap them under me, if I can have such a strong faction as my subjects, I can defend myself from many of my enemies and finally take the city from the black shell faction.

 All the vassals present seemed to agree and looked on expectantly, but then a clap of thunder fell.

 - Sorry, little empress, but you seem to confuse something, we do not want to be your vassals, we would like to be hired as mercenaries, simply mercenaries, Free - Her voice was calm but shock and disgust appeared in the eyes of many of the leaders present, some like Tambor seemed to nod with a smile, the immortals under me did not give much stir, they were aware that as an immortal, he was a possible comrade in arms, either as an ally, under my command or as a member of another kingdom, but the native leaders had flames in their eyes, for them this was an insult, although I was sure that what they had was fear, someone so powerful and with freedom from mercenaries was not good, more if someone decides to pay them a higher price and end up betraying us, that was also my biggest concern.

 Leva next to me, even bleeding he seemed to laugh and grabbed his trident, it seems he liked the room to become a powder keg, deluded, he seems to forget that his helmet was enchanted and that he would end up dead in seconds... Oh moon, what a future awaits us.