Chapter 180 – Noble Reactions

*** Princess Esiyae ***

"Where is Faylen?" I ask my stupid first wife. Mother really picked a winner for me.

"Dead," Talindra says. "Slave bitch got her with a trap."

"You took your damn time and then even let a slave kill my wife with a trap!" I scream, my hand finding the bitch's face.

"Her maid was an old noble. She knew how to fight and used all her mana. Caught us off guard," Talindra says. "On the way out the slave acted like she did not know about the tunnels and fake tripped into a vase to trigger the trap."

"I will punish you later," I mutter. I lost way more women than I should have to take a damn slave and Princess.

"Your Highness," a crew member says. Clearly worried for their life now. How many things are they all going to mess up?

"What!" I say.

"The ships are damaged. We patched them while you were gone, but we will have to stop to fix it before we make it all the way back," she says. "The tide didn't stop receding like it was meant to."

"What do you mean did not stop receding?" I ask.

"We timed it so we would enter after low tide. Low tide was an hour later than it should've been," the sailor said. "I think the Goddess is cursing this trip."

"Shut up and get us out of here, or the Goddess will not be cursing this trip," I command. "We can stop in Migate to repair."

*** Queen Yumanea ***

"Your Majesty," a maid calls out. "Your daughter has been attacked in her home. She is currently missing. Trackers place her heading towards The Marble Cliff. Duchess Fluvis has been told, and runners have been sent to her wives. A few maids are dead, and more hurt. Seems they went in through the escape tunnels. Looking into who would have the knowledge."

"Start with the Ashmark family," I say. "Tell Fluvis I will cover the cost."

"She is pregnant, your Majesty."

"She has others who can captain the ships," I say. "Otherwise, wake Nesh and send her over. No, send Nesh anyway. Alzi is gone, correct?"

"Yes," the maid says with a bow. "That is all I have right now."

"Then go," I say. "I have a dark elf to yell at."

The door closes behind the maid, leaving me alone. I head over to my desk and bring up Irdru. She better be in the office already.

"Your Royal Highness," Irdru says, still in her nightgown.

"Second time something has snuck by you. Fix it," I say. "My daughter was kidnapped, and what of her wives? I know most were out of the house, but the ones that weren't?"

"Lady Isda is fine. She was sleeping heavily, but Lady Oriphusa was the one who found them. She healed who she could and confirmed Lady Isda and her children will be fine," Irdru says. "The issue is Alzi. She is missing. Her maid, Aurora, formerly a wife of the Grimsbane family, is alive but unconscious. Lady Oriphusa is working to keep her and the children alive."

"How many dead?" I ask.

"Just three maids. Fifteen attackers. Looks like your daughter killed ten, Aurora got two, and a trap got the last three. The remains of one were to the wife of Princess Esiyae. Faylen was the woman."

"Ashmark?"

"Gone. Looks like they cleared out a few days ago. Just some maids left to keep up the appearance. Currently gathering information from those left, but I don't expect to get much," Irdru says. "They clearly planned this out."

"I don't need much. I want to be talking to Queen Edeozia in an hour. Rally the troops. Duchess Fluvis will have my daughter back if they went by sea, and the trackers will get her if they went by land," I tell her. Stupid plan. I doubt Fluvis would let a pregnancy hold her back from punishing those who invade her water. Much less taking the one that gave her so many cute kids and Nesh is still a better captain than any in the stupid Edeozia empire.

Elora, you better keep Alzi safe. And it would be nice if you came back.

"I'm doing another investigation on the houses," Irdru says. "I'll be including the Kitsunes we have running around as well."

"Let me know what you need. I'll be busy taking a bit more land from our northern neighbor, but I can trust that to my daughters if you need me," I say. My kids may not have led the last war, but most fought in it. Elora may get her chance in a war now. I just hope it ends fast enough so I don't have to raise another kid to kill.

"Will do, your Royal Highness," Irdru says.

*** Fluvis ***

"My Lady," Petunia says. "You are almost ready to pop! Get out of the carriage right now!"

"Get in or get out of the way," I say. "Stop wasting my time. I've already sent a message to the dock and to my women. They are expecting me, and I need to go to the temple."

"But my Lady," Petunia continues, holding the reins of the horses.

"Fluvis, where do you think you are going?" Lottie says.

"To get back the father of my children. Get in or shut up," I say, stirring my mana. The kids seem to understand the situation and let it move freely. Little troublemakers have been messing with me lately—more than just pulling on it, but making spells fail.

"Fine, but we can't take all three of us. We have to take care of the kids we already have," Lottie says.

"I know that was why it was just me," I say.

Lottie doesn't say anything else; she just picks up my angry maid and forces her into the carriage. I grab them both and wait to arrive at the temple, a practice that has gone out of fashion for some reason.

Daring to travel through her domain, sailors rarely even give her a second thought or prayer. It's stupid, really. I bet half my success has been showing the Goddess the respect she deserves. But don't tell your enemy when they are making a mistake, I suppose.

...

"Here," the driver calls back. I move as fast as my growing belly lets me; Lottie and Petunia help me down and open the door. I kneel in the standard pews as always. I'm nothing in front of the Goddess, no need to pretend.

"Goddess of the Sea, give me..." I start to say, but instead of the normal black, I see white. Then I see the inside of a very different temple.

"Hello, Fluvis," a soft voice calls out. "My loyal follower and a humble one. I am nowhere near half your success. Do you wish to bring Alzi and Elora back home?"

"Yes, Great Goddess," I say, bending over as much as my body would allow. "I wish for safe passage and good winds in your domain."

"I can do better for you if you wish," the Goddess offers. "Much better."

"I do not deserve that much. But if you are willing, this one will gladly take the help," I dare say. The kids may not listen, so I'll need all the help I can get.

"Be my champion. Most are chosen when they are kids, but I saw no reason to make one when you were born," the Goddess says. "But now I have a number of reasons to have one, and I need her to do things now. Not eighteen or twenty years in the future."

"I. Am I worthy?" I mumble. "Are..."

"You said it yourself. Sailor hardly prays to me," the Goddess says. "Yet here you are pregnant, kneeling before your Goddess. Accept my gift."

"Yes, Great Goddess."

"Then look at me," the Goddess says.

I look up expecting to see a body without a face as all describe the Goddesses. But all I see is a perfect face. Soft, warm, and loving.

She really made me a champion. Old me. Mother, are you proud of me now?

"She always was," Sea chuckles. "Proud and annoyed. She liked to rant to me about things once you took over for her. Fun to listen to, really. The Princess is heading for Migate first for repairs. Now go get my friend's champion back."

"Friend?" I say, but all I see is the back of my eyelids. The perfect face is gone.

"Hurry," gets whispered into my brain.

My maid is a bit stunned, still kneeling beside me. My wife is clearly just starting her prayer.

"You..."

"Get up," I say. "We need to go."

"You wanted us to pray, and now you want us to leave," Lottie says.

"I'll explain on the way. But I think I did more than enough for this trip," I say. I doubt the Goddess cared about these two praying when she made me her champion. Showing up and trying should be enough. I'll need to talk with the Priestess when I get back. Maybe see if they know who her friends are. I'm sure she is talking about colorful Alzi. Elora would know if she was a champion already.

"I better not get this crazy when I'm pregnant," Lottie says, helping me up.

"You'll be worse," I say, doing my best to rush us to the carriage. Best not to piss off my new patron Goddess on the first mission.

They didn't believe me at first, but once my hair started to change, they didn't have a choice. It did help to calm Lottie down a bit. She was clearly worried about me, but it would be pretty sad for the Champion of the Sea to die on her first trip out to sea.

It also got some good cheers from my old crew. Most were finishing the preparations, but my officers got a quick rundown. Luckily, I had them prepared for the ship already, so just a few hours and three vessels were leaving the port. Ready to remind the world not to steal in my waters.

It feels good to be able to say my waters. I always had to find some clunky workaround to prevent claiming the Sea from the Goddess, but as her champion, I get to be a bit looser with my tongue.

At sea again in my newest creation as a champion while pregnant with dragons. I'll even get Alzi and Princess Elora on the way back. If only I could have Estrella with me. But one wife will have to do it. The maids will already be struggling with two of us gone.

Stay strong, Alzi and Elora. Help is coming.