NOVEL NEXT Chapter 157: The Signing Ceremony Begins
As Equinox bowed and departed, Klaire, Carl and Gillian laughed. "I can't believe that custom of Kon's homeland has been adopted."
"Is it not a common human custom then?" Kyubi asked.
"Not really, have you ever seen the humans that came from Carl's hometown? They always walk away a bit, then turn around and do it when they realise they forgot." Gillian said with a slight chuckle.
Bahamut grunted and cleared his throat. "Gillian, as my apprentice, you should remember certain things we discussed need handling..."
Gillian's jaw went slack and he ran off towards the house.
"What exactly is he doing?"
"I think he's asking your boy to send him to get Gaia, I look forward to seeing if she gets annoyed by his energetic mannerisms." Bahamut chuckled.
The four of them made their way to the house and they found the kids staring at the display with lightless eyes circled in dark rings in the case of Tiamutael and Kitsunoko and drooping wings and wobbling head in Raziel's case
"You three need to learn your limits, we have guests coming, so go and get washed up and dressed properly." Klaire said.
The children looked at her as though not entirely sure she was real. "...We were just enjoying our time with you..." Tiamutael said, barely managing to get the words out without yawning.
"Which was very sweet and we love spending time with you, but you need to make sure you're taking care of yourselves too, or we're going to do nothing but worry about you..." Kyubi said as she walked around the kitchen and withdrew everything they would need for lunch.
"...Yep and if we can't trust you to take care of yourselves, we can't let you go on your own adventures."
The three kids suddenly shook off their weariness.
"What!? You're going to let us go on an adventure? Alone?"
"Absolutely not. You are going to start getting adventure class at school, when you can convince Equinox to let you, we'll find an escort to accompany you. Only when you can come back with a perfect sheet a hundred times in a row, will you be free to go without supervision."
The three kids moved into a huddle to evaluate the offer they had been made.
"Kids, why are you acting like this is a negotiation? Break the agreement once and you'll be on grounded designation until you're adults." Klaire said, not willing to entertain their fox-minded attempts to turn an inch into a mile.
With that, the kids nodded, then ran over to hug each parent in turn.
"You guys are the best!"
"Good, now go wash-up and get dressed, best behaviour while the guests are here and then we'll each stay with one of you tonight. Dad will be going to the variants tomorrow, so no school for you three, but Tiamutael will be watching Daddy and sending him any support he needs."
"Why are you mentioning that?" Kitsunoko asked with knowing disappointment.
"Well, because it means you three will be going to bed early so you're all rested." As Klaire spoke Kitsunoko groaned, but stopped when she realised that her siblings were not so disappointed by that decision.
They then ran off to take a bath, with Tiamutael stropping back as he was beaten to the bathroom.
"I really hope our next is a boy, I'm starting to feel really bad for the poor guy." Klaire said.
"Agreed, but at least he has his dad to bathe with so he isn't totally alone."
"I think I'd kinda like the next ones to be made the old-fashioned way..." Carl had spoken out of the context his internal monologue provided. "...Woah, woah, woah, don't get the wrong idea, I got a pretty big boost in the DIV department at five-stars, but not quite enough."
"How much do you have now?"
"Well, it isn't a formula anymore, it's at a flat million. I need to level up before tomorrow so I'm going to be a bit of a show off tonight."
"Why do you need to level up?"
Carl explained that he wanted to level up in order to know exactly how fast his divinity capacity is going to increase. Of course they were interested to see what he meant when he said he was going to be a bit of a show off, but at the same time they wanted to have it be a surprise.
As lunch was nearly ready to be served, Gillian returned with Gaia, Rhea and a red cheek.
"Carl, your man Gillian is a lecherous hound." She huffed as she stepped forward.
"No, he's an idiot, but very much a love-sick pup. What happened?" Carl laughed, desperate to hear what misunderstanding took place.
"Well, Rhea came and hugged me for inviting them over, then I tried to pass him back and grazed her, then tried to apologise..." The more Gillian explained, the more everyone laughed at his awkwardness.
Bahamut clipped his ear then led an apology that left the aspiring diplomat in awe, then got another clip round ear for making it seem insincere.
"Bahamut, for what it's worth, until your new protegé got flustered he acted respectfully. I'd recommend you train him to remain calm in the face of such occurrences, he overthinks everything too much, but it's clear that he sincerely cares about upholding the faction's reputation."
"I appreciate the evaluation, I knew you'd understand the situation when he arrived. Your insight is truly a gift, one I wished him to experience as a benchmark for him to compare future acquaintances to."
Gillian asked if the slap was necessary if that was the case, but only earned a cutting question in response. "If I was not well acquainted with the leaders of your faction, would they have stopped at just a slap?"
Gillian deflated a little bit and took it to heart, choosing to dissect the situation to the best of his ability. Something which Gaia respected, at least enough to offer a point of commendation regarding his use of ancient greek.
"I was honestly quite surprised he knew it, it's clear he has a talent for languages and a solid grasp on the importance of first impressions..."
Carl patted him on the back, then turned to Bahamut, saying it might be a good idea for Gillian to be a silent observer with the elven gods.
Bahamut nodded, then portaled out to go and collect them.
"So, seducing elves now?"
"No, not seducing anyone, for any of us. Just making friends and repaying Illum for letting me have a couple of creatures before I faced Gilgamesh."
Carl caught her up on the situation, Gaia nodding along as she understood each point he noted.
When Bahamut returned, they all had lunch and then both sides examined the other's list of what they called "vital clauses" which were essentially ultimatums for the level of diplomacy that could be reached.
With only one such clause being a point of contest.
"Unfortunately Haven is off-limits and so is Lunelia. We can't allow free transport on those worlds." Bahamut stated flatly.
"What do those two worlds house, that make their public access restricted? Carl has given me a weapon of great power, so I struggle to see what could lead you to make them off-limits."
"To put it simply, Haven is our homeworld, asking for free access here is akin to rifling through your host's bedroom. Lunelia, well that is probably best seen for yourself to understand."
"Well then, should we go?"
When they all looked to Carl, he sighed. "Okay, but stay close, not sure how she'll react to non-faction members." Carl opened a portal to majesty.
As they all stepped through Illum and Eldorlora went rigid. "Is this one of tho-"
"This is Majesty, a creation of mine. Her purpose is to help us tame The Carrion that infests many worlds. Regardless of how destructive they are, I'd rather not eradicate them entirely."
"I admire the search for an alternative to extinction, but if what you call "The Carrion" are what I think, then it is effort wasted."
"Actually, I came here not long ago, they didn't attack me until I upped the hostility." Kyubi said in order to advocate for Carl's plan.
"Truly? Why don't we go see this progress?"
Kyubi blushed slightly then turned to Majesty. "Hey, what's it like down there right now?"
'Apologies Mistress Kyubi, after your exercise their aggressive traits resurfaced.'
Kyubi's tails went slack, hanging as low as possible without touching the floor. "Unfortunately, my Kimono was damaged, as a result I shamed myself and opted for violence. My actions seem to have made them relapse into their base nature."
"Well, that is a shame, but the matter of why this world must remain off-limits is settled. I wouldn't want my people coming here and getting injured."
They all bid Majesty farewell, except Kyubi who said that she was going to rejoin after keeping Majesty company for a while and giving Carl and Klaire a kiss on the cheek each.
Upon returning the elves conceded the point that it would be reckless to fight for access to unexplored worlds, so simply stated the right to propose that point when surveying had been completed.