Chapter 266 – All the Cards are Played

*** Queen Phollo Ironfang ***

"Is the damn baby out yet?" I ask. Stupid Aunt has been taking her time with the newest kid. Six hours have passed, yet she hasn't given me the latest kid yet.

"Not yet, your Royal Highness," a maid says.

"Take me to her. I'm tired of waiting," I say, standing up from my throne. The traitor's proposal has been looking better every day. The Goddess claims I'm irrational and crazy. That my sister or even Alzi would be a better Queen than me.

A traitor or a bastard would be better than me? What sickness is my Goddess going through right now? That bastard's only worth is to provide me with children, and even in that, she would only be sufficient at it. And her blood was tainted by the traitors, so how many rituals would I have to perform to cleanse that blood out of her veins? Lucky for her, I refuse to let that backstabbing slab of meat go inside me.

The maid walks through my grand castle towards the harem's chambers. I'm not happy that Aunty gets a cave here. I thought the dungeon would be better after her third failure to produce a male royal dragon, but my dear sister says the royal feelings of the cave would help grow a royal. I'm starting to think the punishment of the dungeon may be a better motivator.

I hear the old woman's pained screams bounce off the obsidian walls. More waiting, it seems.

I push past the maids by her cave and find my sister already helping the stupid woman give birth. The healer is pushing mana into the woman. I would've thought that by her seventh child, she would know how to give birth, but here we are.

"What is taking so long?" I ask.

"The baby is big," the healer says. "But you are getting so close, Iekos. Just a few more pushes for me, ok?"

"I'm trying," my Aunt screams out. "I'm trying."

"I know, dear, and you're doing well. I can see the baby. You'll be able to hold them soon."

My Aunt lets out an annoying scream as a contraction hits her. The healer begs her to push. My sister holds her hand.

"My Queen," my sister says. "You know what it is like to give birth. The child sets the time more than the mother does. Let Iekos do her thing."

"One more, Iekos. One more good push for me, please," the healer says. "There you go, perfect."

The baby starts to cry almost as hard as her mother.

"A beautiful baby girl," the healer whispers.

"Let me see her," I say. Another failure.

"Yes, your Royal Highness," the healer says, slowly turning to face me. "Here."

"A fucking silver. Couldn't you at least give me a royal if you couldn't give me a boy?" I say, letting the healer keep holding the failure. The defective, useless, crying thing. "I have no need of more silvers. Maybe if it had a dick, I could accept this."

"I'm trying, my Queen," my Aunt cries. "I pray every day. I pray, and I pray, and I pray. Please. I ask Fertility and our Patron. I beg for it. I promise, your Royal Highness. I want to give you a male."

"Well, keep praying. You'll have another chance soon."

"My Queen," my sister asks. "Please, give her a break. I know having a male is important, but this is just going to kill her, and possibly the child, if you keep this up. She needs a rest just like we do."

"Her only value is in kids," I say. "The next moment she is fertile, we try again."

"I need to do a ritual," my Aunt says. "I need material for a ritual."

"What do you mean?" I ask. "Sex isn't a ritual. Just force that bastard's prick into you after I take that rod out."

"Fertility isn't letting royals get pregnant without a ritual or Alzi," my sister says. "Since we don't have Alzi, we have to do the old rituals. If it is accepted, it should make the kid more likely to be male and a royal."

"Alzi! The bastard is controlling if the royals have a fucking child! Who is she to keep that from us? Fertility thinks she can make us dragons bend? You can do that if you want. I don't care. Justice has sense, unlike all these idiots!"

"My Queen," my sister says, but I have no need for her words. No, I'll work with that idiot traitor and take Alzi for ourselves. I can give the three traitors a combined cell in my dungeon.

I move out and down to the dungeon, rushing through my grand halls. The women in the lower realm are already ready for a war, and I need to work to overcome the annoyance of our Goddess sticking her head in the sand.

No, she is doing worse than that. She's asking us to bow to traitors. The very traitors she branded as such.

I'll work with one of them for now and get the Goddess to step up.

The champion of Justice is meditating in the corner of her cell when I arrive.

"We have work to do," I say. "Too many have failed me here. I'll try this plan of your Goddess."

"Good, we're going to have more people fighting than the Goddess of Justice had hoped," she says.

*** Elora ***

My horse races under me as I push forward. The enemy has finally given me my chance.

I have to be careful, or my wives will kill me. I likely won't be able to put the enemy Princess into the ground or give her a spot next to Azula De Vil, but I can still provide my wives some breathing space, along with my nobles.

Eirina isn't running into a battle, instead looking for an empty field to fight in. I would prefer taking it to the forest for extra cover, but I'll just have to count on my shields to let me get in close.

"I'm glad you are willing to join me," Eirina shouts at me. "I was worried you would be busy sucking on Alzi's teat. Needing your healer to come out and fuck you back into action is a bit sad, don't you think?"

"You should worry about your dead nobles and not my wife. You're bringing up a moment of triumph for her and a failed plan on both sides," I shout back. I jump off my horse. I have too many Skills that require both of my feet to be on the ground. A soft slap on the rear of my horse commands her to give us space.

"I guess it would look like that to you," Eirina says. "Shall we?"

I launch forward in response. I manage just that single leap before I have to dive to the side, normal icicles ringing out against my shield.

The normal game of cat and mouse that ranged mana users play with us strength types begins. She hopes that she can get a hit in through my armor and shield before I can close the distance.

Spikes on my boots let me dig into the frozen ground. All sorts of ice flies at me, battering against the enchanted steel of my armor, my enemy praying to at least wear me down into a retreat.

But slowly, I make my way to the woman. My legs prove to be stronger than her horse. And it's not like I completely lack range. A good spear throw or a good slash strike with a Skill can tumble her just as well as any ice she throws my way. If given the chance, I could even test a bow and arrow against her.

But for now, I will keep her from running too far and just chase the idiot around.

*** Alzi ***

The Princess warned me that many women would be sent to me today. And I believed her. Why wouldn't the nobles ruin more women's lives over a few kids? Capturing their top noble, or whatever Shifty is, wasn't enough to end things.

No, why quit when we have Shifty and are killing more nobles than they are? No, that is when you hold strong, and to break their strong defense, you launch a big attack that uses almost everyone!

We only have three healers for them all. What do you mean that isn't enough?! No, you're amazing, Alzi! Just fuck them all, and they'll be in top shape, Alzi, my Love.

I did figure out the stupid hearts. The more they are filled, the more I lust after women. I don't think they make me more lustful; they just show how lusty I am.

I am glad to report they don't fill up from seeing frostbite, lost limbs, terrible burns, or women in extreme pain. The last one, well, maybe all of them, I hope, are situational. I wouldn't mind getting lustful after torturing some of the brothel owners before burning them alive. I'll find a way to make Elora keep that promise to me.

But for now, I have an ever-growing number of nobles crying on their way to death to deal with. The Princess was hoping that I would quickly get them back onto the battlefield, but I can't do that without letting others die, so too bad. Come up with a better plan next time.

What really sold how bad it would be was when I heard the drums. Why is music being played? Is this meant to be a celebration or festival? How disgusting is it that you need to trick people into thinking this is something exciting?! Why do I have to be around so much death all of a sudden? I was supposed to be here to keep people alive. Not to listen to them die without even getting the chance to try to save them.

"Where is Alzi?!" someone shouts from the front.

"I'M BUSY!" I shout back. "PLENTY ARE DYING ALREADY; JUST PUT THEM DOWN AND LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M TRYING!" I've filled this tent with my mana again, knowing I'll have to fuck some of these nobles anyway. Might as well use it to the fullest.

"Leave," Shyla says. "Leave. This is the medical tent. This is breaking all the rules of combat."

"We'll leave when we have Alzi in our hands. Do you think a bunch of injured women can stop us?"

"No! My Lady will not be taken again. Your kind has done enough damage to her."

"Tailor, get out of our way, or we will make you. We don't have time for this. Some injured nobles and commoners won't stop us."

"You'll hang for this," Shyla says. "You'll hang, and I'll laugh."

"Hmph. I doubt it. I think you'll find us being protected instead," the woman says. She shifts the curtain to the side while I work to heal the wounds as quickly as I can.

A blast erupts outside, and metal clashing against metal starts to ring out. The extra commotion buys me enough time to stabilize the current noble. I dare to peek out, just to find a bloodier mess than usual. All of my healers are alive and look to be unharmed, at least, but many of the patients are worse off, if not already dead. They got two of the six intruders in the brief clash.

Hardly worth it.

"Now, Alzi. Come on over here before more people die. You seemed to like this one a bit," the leader says, some elf, based on the eyes, her blade resting against a passed-out noble I healed earlier.

The extra comment likely comes from the fact that I failed to hold back my release with the women; even with Petra's help, I have too many distractions to hold back completely with the nobles. It's an issue that will start to show up in the ranks in the coming months.

"You would risk my children?" I say. "You have to know what my mana and seed combine to do."

"Just come out peacefully," she says, giving the woman a thin cut. It's just a dribble of blood, but it's enough for my Skill to work.

The elf collapses in surprise, most likely. I still don't know how to use my magma, not that it would be a good idea to start unleashing that inside the tent. The other three just look around for which noble is casting the Skill or spell.

"Tailor! What are you doing?" one of them demands.

"Nothing. I don't know what is happening to her. We have no nobles with that Skill. Must be the Goddess, my Lady is a champion," Shyla says. The intruders must've already dealt with all the nobles still capable of fighting. Nobody attacks the final three, and they aren't threatening any of my children, so I don't really know what to do. If they all just rush me, there isn't anything for me to do. I can't hit them all, and I'm sure they'll figure out that it's me doing it and find some counter for that. Or maybe they won't count as hurting my kid.

Suddenly, the tent rips to my right and left, a few more intruders joining us, and they waste no time coming for me. Two firm hands grab my arms and pull. I try to use my new Skill on the latest women, but it doesn't find a target. The women wish my children no harm, I guess. I give my magma a pitiful try, but it abandons me, refusing to come out again. They at least throw a coat on me before I'm carried out of the tent, and outside, I see the guards are already dead. Their bodies were torn to shreds by the ten women.

They throw me onto a horse and rush us away, holding a sword against my throat.

The pain starts off low as we move away from the camp and the battlefield, which is still raging on. Finally, the woman starts to hurt my kids, but it's too late to do anything about it. None from the battlefield notice a few horses off to the side, and I don't have time to kill them all myself if I even could. Instead, I get to feel the pain grow and grow until the woman is the only thing keeping me on the horse. Then, the darkness finally welcomes me.

...

"Sorry, my Champion. This was not the path to my Temple you were meant to take. But even Goddesses sometimes have to work with what is given to them. Sorry for the pain, but I'm happy you are finally here."