Chapter 316 – Re: Gime

Day 55

John woke up that morning on the floor of the chief's audience chamber, using his cushion as a pillow. At some point, Aqua, Mi, and Returner had shown up, but instead of waking him, they cuddled into his sides and allowed him to rest. 

They had a quick breakfast with Esseba and Mail, then idled around the village for a bit while the two elves attended the start of the meeting. John thought he was supposed to meet them right away, but Esseba said he needed to lay the groundwork in the first few hours of the meeting if they were to have any hope of getting the others to come around to their plan without dragging their heels further. So they were left to their own devices for a bit.

He was impressed with the village and the way these elves chose to live with the land, shaping it to their purposes instead of building as humans did. It wasn't efficient by any means, but aesthetically it was beautiful. 

"These people... they're not prepared for an actual fight," Aqua said suddenly.

"No. No, they are not. A couple of high-tier fire spells and you wouldn't be able to breathe here. The larger trees might survive, but everyone inside of them would be dead unless they could seal themselves away." Returner added. 

John looked around, appraising the place from a more military viewpoint. It was all wood, albeit some of the trees appeared to have some enchantments on them. The larger trees were surrounded by smaller ones, with wide paths through the forest surrounded by shrubs and other scrub plants. Dry leaves littered the areas off the paths, and he realized that this place was a tinderbox waiting to explode. It would be one thing if there were people casting water magic to put out any flames, but in the middle of a battle, that might not be possible.

"No walls to impede an attacking force, no urban planning to direct the flow of an army that breaches a wall. Just a bunch of trees that each become their own little fortress. A pain in the ass, but destroy the rope bridges to isolate them, and even if they survive the fires, a few determined men with axes and a little preparation could bring these down one by one unimpeded. They have a couple hundred kobolds here with crude spears, but elves themselves are mostly wearing leather armour and carrying bows. I've only seen a few wearing chain or half plate... so I don't think they have any actual line infantry at all. I'm guessing their plan is to meet the humans in the forest somewhere and start whittling down their numbers with ambush tactics and hit-and-fade maneuvers. Try and bleed them before they arrive en masse." He said, drawing that information from his memories given to him in Warcraft.  

"Are you going to help them?" Aqua asked.

John thought about it. He could break out his mech and stomp these armies flat fairly quickly, but that would just cause more death. The humans were the aggressors right now, but he didn't know who the real bad guys were in this story. What he did know was that it wasn't the regular soldiers they had assembled for this conquest. If he killed them all, they would just assemble another, larger army and come down even harder on the region, and he wouldn't be there to protect it then. There would be assholes among the human army; there always were, but many were probably conscripted just for this, and would have families waiting for them back home. Lives to return to. It didn't sit right with him to send them all to their deaths just because of their leaders' choices.

Oddly, he felt a faint pull to the north, like the canon was telling him he should go and fight there. It wasn't as strong as other canon pulls he had experienced before, but ever since Destiny and Xiaolin tinkered with his body, he thought he could feel its echoes more clearly.

"Let's worry about that later. If they do turn down my plan, we can at least offer their men transport to the north." He said, not wanting to commit to anything before the meeting. He knew she didn't want to see these people suffer because of war, but he didn't have time to end every threat in this world before they left. He barely had time to try and do this. 

The meeting hall for the Round Table Conference was at the base of a large tree in the centre of the village. Once called in, John and his entourage walked through a pair of ornate doors carved to resemble vines, leaves, and grapes, and stepped directly into a chamber that belonged in some fantasy movie. The domed room was at least fifty feet across, with the curved walls peaking at a point in the ceiling thirty feet in the air. Almost none of the wood looked like it had been worked; rather, it had been grown to fit the shape it was in. Even the large, circular table in the centre of the room appeared to have grown out of the floor and was shaped into the desired form.

Esseba was seated at the far end of the table from where they walked in, with eleven other elves seated around the table. Standing behind each of them was another elf, each obviously younger than the ones who were seated. Mail stood beside Esseba, so John assumed they were the heirs to each family, or at the very least someone of high rank. 

"So you're this supposed 'Lord Wayne' that the chief has been angling for us to join with all morning. You don't look like anything special; why should we waste our time humouring your delusions? Just take the payment we're offering you and go crush some human skulls. That's what your kind are best at, isn't it?" One of the older elves said before he was even introduced. Like Esseba, he was showing his age, though he was much skinnier than the chief and lacked the majestic moustache.

"Kaliel! That is too far! Let us at least hear what he can offer us before we just dismiss him." Another old elf said, this one seated to the right of the chief.

"Offer us? Bah, what would he have to offer us other than muscles? His charming personality? Please, Adren, you are becoming as soft as the Esseba. Maybe you want to offer your charming daughter to him as well? She is only fifty, but you know what they say: if there is moss on the crack, she is ready for the act."

"Crude as ever. One would think you're the ogre in this room and not our guest." Another elf said, this one seated away from both Esseba and Kaliel.

"I have no reason to play nice. We have an army coming this way, and this meeting is preventing me from joining our scouts to get an accurate count of their numbers. I for one would rather be bleeding them now, not wasting time on yet another meeting while they draw even closer!"

"Then shut your mouth and let him speak!"

The room devolved into a shouting match then, causing John to rub his forehead in frustration. Insults aside, these people were under stress, and the cracks were showing. 

"ENOUGH!" Esseba shouted, rising from his chair and slamming a fist on the table. "Lord Wayne is my honoured guest, and you WILL show some decorum, or so help me, I will accept his offer for my family alone and leave the rest of you here to your fate!" 

"You keep alluding to this offer, Esseba, but what in the world could an Ogre offer us?"

"Yggdrasil. He offers us Yggdrasil."

Hun?

"What in the heck is Yggdrasil?" John whispered to Returner.

"Hmm... in ancient texts it is said to be a tree that connects many realms together, though I'm not sure how it works exactly. Elves are said to worship the world trees, so it may have something to do with that... but that is just conjecture. My apologies, but that is all I know; it wasn't a focus of my studies under Velvet."

"It's fine. Thank you."

Was that the tree Ash is waiting for me at? I mean, it was so massive I couldn't even see the top of it. I’ll ask Xiaolin next time I’m at DEN.

"Yggdrasil? Really? An Ogre has access to a tree out of our legends?" 

"He is more than just an Ogre. He has travelled to many worlds, and is offering to bring us to one of those and join him in rebuilding it."

"Are you insane? What proof do you have of this? This fantastical village of theirs isn't proof that he has access to Yggdrasil."

"It is my belief that he is the one who will lead our people to our promised land. A land that is said will have access to other worlds and wonders beyond the imagination."

"The promised land? That is just some fantasy, a tale for children. This is reality, and right now a human army is bearing down on us from the north; if these numbers you gathered are to be believed, they outnumber our fighting force three to one. Even if we put a bow in the hand of everyone in the village, we would still be outnumbered. We need to act now and start wearing them down, else we will be surrounded and destroyed!"

"Ha ha hahaha!" John started to laugh. He couldn't stop himself. Before he had come to DEN, no, even after he had been in DEN for half a year, he would actually be agreeing with this surly elf. The thought of someone just happening to show up in their time of need with powers that could whisk their people away to some promised land just sounded too far-fetched to be true. He activated his Guide of the Sage Quirk, guiding the room's attention towards him. 

"What's wrong with him? Is he about to go berserk and attack us?"

"Oh, I'm just finding that I'm agreeing with you. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, you would be correct. You need to head north, start bleeding your enemies while they are moving and not massed. Ninety-nine times, you would be right to be skeptical, to question Esseba's sanity at even the thought that a child's fairy tale might be true. I would have done the same. 

However, this time, this one time, you should listen to what I have to say first, then make your decision. All of you. I'm not just an ogre, but a human who has become a demigod. I have been blessed by many of your greater gods, and even ones beyond them. I can give you a nice show of my powers if you wish, but let me tell you of my offer first.

In seven days, in the place where the goblins used to make their nest, I will be casting a spell to take the land, the buildings and all the people that are there with me. I am bringing it to a world called Earth, a version of Earth anyway. It is an advanced civilization, but relies solely on technology, as magic did not exist there before my arrival. Currently, the world is in turmoil, and most of the population has been killed by undead hordes. The thing is, while their medicine doesn't work on the zombies, our healing magic destroys them easily and cures the virus that turns people.

I wish to bring your people with me to this place and found a new nation to help reclaim this world. To this end, I had my... my wives build an anchor point for a spiritwalking portal outside of your village last night. If you choose to accept, we will open the portal, and you and your people can bring everything you can with you for the journey."

"Preposterous! But let's say we believed a word you said. It sounds like you just want us for a source of cheap labour. What's in it for us?"

"Other than saving yourself from annihilation? First, I'm offering your people a position on the ruling council I plan to create once things stabilize. The humans of this world have never heard of an elf outside of fantasy stories; they would hold no predetermined prejudices against your people, and I suspect would accept their saviours having power over them. Mainly if you helped teach them magic and how to live off the land.

The second thing I am offering is only to those who accept my leadership. To my more devoted followers, I can provide boons. The one I have in mind for your people is the one I received from the Great God of Birth and Wisdom. I heard your people have difficulty conceiving children? With my blessing, Father of All, I should be able to increase elven fertility to something more akin to humans."

That caused a lot of murmurs around the table. It was his ace card for the day, a way for them to recover from their population decline. 

It's more like a Jack than an Ace, but I am the Jack of All Trades... I'll use whatever I got. 

"So you expect us to just submit to you? To live with filthy humans?"

"If that is how you want to look at it, yes. Submit to me, follow my rules, and save your people. I'd prefer to call it joining with me, though."

"Why?" Another Elf said; this one was standing behind one of the elders who hadn't spoken much since the start.

"Why what?"

"Why are you even offering us something like this?"

"Because your people are like a... good friend of mine, just a few thousand years behind her in development. I'm pretty sure if she were here, she would want me to try and save her people, even if they were not part of the same lineage as she is."

"Good friend? Are you friends with an Elf? Where is she?"

"She is... waiting at the base of Yggdrasil, waiting for me to rescue her. Her time was cut short, but she isn't ready to meet her ancestors quite yet."

"I really hope they choose to join you."

"So do I. If they don't, well... I wish them luck." John replied, still nursing the headache of trying to deal with twelve bickering men. Mail escorted him out to the anchor point, as he had sent the other women home earlier. They had more important things to do than listen to them deliberate, leaving him to his own devices until Riana picked him up at sunset. 

They still hadn't come to a consensus by the time the evening rolled around, spending most of the day tossing questions at him or the women who were with him, then fighting all over again. Some begged him not to leave, but to stay and fight the human army for them, but he flatly refused that. They had his offer, and that was all they would be getting out of him.

"Do you really think you will be able to fix our fertility problems? Many couples try for twenty-five years or more and can never conceive."

"I believe so. I know I have several abilities that increase my own fertility; so as long as they are loyal to me, I can offer them some of the same abilities in return."

"Mmm... that would indeed be a boon to my people. I always wanted to be in a large family, but my mother died in an accident, and my father never remarried, so I ended up as an only child in the head family. My cousin is actually set to become the new head when my father passes, which will leave me in an odd position. I was supposed to be wed to one of the other villages to strengthen our ties, but that is no longer possible. It's weird to say, but I have too high a status to be wed to your average elf, but once my cousin takes the head, my value drops significantly so that even the other head families in the village wouldn't consider me a good wife. So I wouldn't be allowed to marry even the poorest elf in the village, but the ones I can marry wouldn't want me. "

"That seems rather odd."

"Well, to put it in a different perspective, I am like a human princess. If my father is on the throne, I am valuable. If my Cousin is on the throne, I lose most of that value, but the trappings are still there."

"You would think with how small your population is, that wouldn't be such a big thing, but who am I to judge. Why are you telling me this?"

"Just to let you know how grateful I am that you accepted our marriage proposal. If...if we can have children sooner rather than later, my family's leadership will go to our son, and our lineage will continue. I would hate to have been the last of my line."

"Hmm... family is important, and Lord knows I have a massive one... and it continues to grow by the day. I was going to ask you if you were sure you wanted to go through with this, but you seem adamant."

"Yes. Even if the rest of the elves turn down your offer, my father and I plan on bringing our family and branch families with you. That is one hundred people. It would be best if we tie ourselves together sooner rather than later, but I understand if you wish to wait."

"Yes... for my own heart if nothing else. Somehow, I have ended up with a lot of wives, fiancées, girlfriends and concubines... and the line is really blurred as to which are which. Political marriage or not, I would really like to get to know you better first. Okay?"

"Of course. That would be agreeable, though if I may, I already find myself drawn to you... I've never been carried like that before, and that magic...it felt nice to be protected like that."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it despite the situation leading to it."

"I did. Next time, can you slow down a bit? I want to be able to enjoy the experience."

"Heh, sure."

They kept chatting idly until they reached the anchor point. A shimmering purple portal was there now, along with five elven guards and a very pregnant Dorian. 

"Rou!!! I'm here for you!!! Come touch my belly!!! Your daughters are all trying to kick their way out!!!" Riana shouted, floating over to the pair of them. Her flower was billowing out motes of mana behind her as she glided towards them, a happy expression on her face. Her belly was huge, and her pink dress could barely contain the bulge. If she were human, she would be in the late third trimester of her pregnancy.

She drifted into him, forcing him to catch her. He immediately started channelling Ki through his hand as he rubbed her belly. Little kicks pressed up against his hand, telling him at least one of the three were active right now. He looked into her eyes and kissed her. "Damn, you're beautiful; you're going to make a wonderful mother."

"You think so... this is so new... no Dryad ever needed to be a mother before."

"You have me and the rest of the women to lean on; you will be fine. Now, let's go home. I'll give you a massage to help you feel more comfortable."

"I want more than a massage. I really want some of you inside of me tonight."

"Thought you'd never ask." He said, then looked down at Mail. She looked embarrassed but kept glancing at Riana's belly. "Did you want to feel them kicking too?"

"If that is okay."

"Yup! I love being touched like this. I hope you let me touch you someday too."

"Umm... I think that will be nice."

A few minutes later, they said their goodbyes and returned to their village, leaving a flustered Mail behind. She found herself rubbing her flat belly, imagining what she would look like if she were the same size. She liked the idea, though she wasn't sure if she would be able to fly as Riana could in that condition.

"In time... everything in time." She murmured and left the portal behind.