BXBX NOVEL Chapter 365 364: New Orders
Staring at them blankly for a few moments, I eventually smiled as I leaned down and placed a kiss on both their heads before whispering "Wake up, both of you... we need to get ready."
Anput\'s ears twitched, and she whined softly as she nuzzled closer to me, while Leone yawned as she opened her eyes, blinking a few times before looking up towards me.
"Morning..."
Chuckling, I leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips instead of responding verbally, enjoying the taste of cinnamon as I indulged a little.
Moaning softly at that, Leone blushed as she felt me pressing against her, and I grinned as she shimmied over, letting me start my morning off right.
Anput awoke moments later, her nose twitching as she watched Leone, and a small pout tugged at her lips as she glared up at me, only to gasp as I devoured her lips next.
We moved over to the bed for a half hour, the light of dawn beginning to stream through the windows as we finished up, each of us satiated for the time being.
Using my Light Magic to clean the room and us up, I began to strap on my armor and weapons, Anput and Leone mirroring me as we dressed, preparing to set off for the Council Hall first to figure out where we were going.
The walk there was spent in comfortable silence, each of us basking in the night we had just had as we traversed the opulent castle, only to freeze as we reached the first floor.
Standing near the bottom of the stairs was Adelina, and she was looking off towards the side with a mixture of sadness and anger, only to shake her head as she stalked away.
Watching her go, I glanced towards the direction she had been looking and sighed, seeing Nirinia currently locked in a tight embrace with some random Legionnaire, their lips fighting desperately as they rested against the wall.
Sensing our gazes, Nirinia released the woman and smiled down at her, whispering something to her before watching as she walked away with an obvious limp.
Turning towards us, Nirinia approached, the tall Djinn rolling out her shoulders and cracking her neck as she gave us a small, sad smile.
"Ready?"
She stared at me for a few moments, waiting for an answer, and I shrugged as I said "Yeah... come on then. Is the meeting still in the Council Hall, or..?"
Walking beside the woman, I peered over at her expression, searching for what could have been wrong, but...
Maybe there was a tinge of pain inside those eyes, but Nirinia seemed to be back to her former self, an arrogant smirk resting on her lips as she walked languidly through the halls.
Whatever happened between her and Adelina must have been enough to give her the closure she needed, I guess.
"Yup, still at the Council Hall Bluey. Oh, and your Mom wanted me to tell you to be a bit more discreet with your fiancee\'s; we had to vacate that entire hall since no one could stand the moaning."
Anput smirked while Leone blushed, and I shrugged again as I smirked at Nirinia, saying "Can\'t help that I\'m good at what I do, now can I? Besides, she\'s got no right to ask that of me when she never once made an effort to be quiet when I was a child."
The Djinn chuckled at that, mirth filling her jade eyes as she added "She\'s never been one for half measures has she?"
Shaking my head, we turned the corner and entered the Council Hall, where most of the Centurions and other important people were waiting.
Glancing at Nirinia once more, I noticed that she wasn\'t even looking towards Adelina anymore, instead moving over to Lady Sker and talking quietly to her as they waited for the meeting to begin.
What I did notice was that Adelina was still roughly the same, glaring at the Djinn as she entered only to return her gaze to the table, where a map was laid out.
Making our way over to Iaso and Liga, I nodded to the two and spoke quietly to them as well, getting to know them a bit better as we awaited the arrival of Mom.
She didn\'t take long to enter, and she nodded to Adelina, telling her to begin.
Clearing her throat, Adelina began to recount the various losses and gains from this opening engagement against the Kingdoms, reporting that only four people were killed yesterday, compared to the estimated four thousand humans killed.
She also reported that our Fire Mages needed to be better at controlling their flames, as some houses had been burnt down near points of interest.
Next, she went over how the Twelfth Cohort would be staying behind before traveling towards Romagi, where they would join up with Lady Sker and her detachment of half of the Legion to take over the strongest of the three Kingdoms.
Giving her orders to those specific Cohorts took awhile, and when she was finished the hall was emptier then before, those Centurions excused to go begin preparations.
Lady Sker also departed with them, nodding to Nirinia and Mom, who stayed behind.
The Djinn made her way over to us, standing idly nearby as Adelina began to discuss our plans for making our way to Tragon, where the Gate Incidents had taken place.
We were meant to investigate what happened there, since the entirety of Tragon was rumored to be rather empty at the moment, the populace either dead or gone, long since departed from the abnormal area.
According to the Councilors, Tragon had been hit by dozens of Gates, meaning this was no small incident, and that the capital city Nogart had suffered attacks from around four such Gates.
Additionally, the Councilors had said that a survivor from Nogart had fled to Goron, speaking of a giant metalloid monster capable of using all four basic elements as it razed the city to the ground.
A dozen or so feet tall and two to three dozen feet long, the monster had a thick carapace of some kind of metal that wasn\'t penetrable by anything they had seen used against it, and that the monster had been both in a frenzy and collected, sometimes lashing out randomly before stalking around, hunting anything that remained alive.
The Councilors had dismissed that persons claims as fantastical, since Nogart had some of the remaining Justiciars and some foreign dignitaries that were incredibly strong, so they believed that the persons claims were exaggerated at best.
We all scoffed at the humans desire to avoid facing such a garishly obvious threat, something that was entirely within the realms of possibility for something that could create and control Gates.
The Labyrinthian was something we knew nothing about, even to this day, so who knows what kind of creatures and horrors roam around its center?
With that briefing over, Adelina gave out the orders for our march, pointing out key points of interest on the map that we needed to investigate, places that had fallen first or simply seemed to have been subject to multiple Gates, if rumor and hearsay were to be trusted.
There would be little fighting against the humans when we went to Tragon, but the dangers were far greater than those that went to Romagi.
Adelina made sure each of us understood that we were facing something unknown, something that had the capability to wield Gates, was extremely tanky, strong, and unpredictable.
Something that could utilize magics, wielded blade like claws...
Yeah, each of us understood that what we were getting into wasn\'t something small, and we all left the Council Hall in a somber mood.
Nirinia and Mom joined me as we made our way towards the garden, talking amongst ourselves as we discussed what the upcoming portion of the Crusade would be like, all while a Lioness watched as we left, her eyes filled with complex emotions.
Each of us sensed her, but Mom seemed to not care as she focused on her Squire, while Anput and Leone had decided to let Nirinia deal with her own issues.
As for the woman herself, the Djinn ignored the gaze of her childhood friend, instead asking Mom about just what we knew about the Gates as of current, her mind focused on the here and now.