Chapter 368: Ownership
Early Evening - Late Winter : The Nest
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"Hm..." Looking over the crowd of thunderbirds frantically speaking to one another while more continued up into the cavern, I wore a satisfied expression. -I had to simplify the oath runes to use them in mass, but it might work in my favor...-
In short, I had implanted oath runes into about four thousand thunderbirds, essentially all the nobles, and because there were so many I had to do at once, I had to simplify them greatly. Instead of killing them for disobeying, it would simply inflict a debilitating migraine-like pain. It basically acted like a safety net in case I made an error implanting the oath, so a thunderbird wouldn't just drop dead if the rune was set off accidentally. -But it might work in my favor...-
Watching a few thunderbirds quickly keel over in pain after glaring at me, I smiled. -This worked out quite well...-
Although I had deviated from the original plan of bringing all the thunderbirds back to Bahamut, I was more than pleased with how things laid.
"S..sir... I-I mean Lord.. Nott..." A very young thunderbird, far younger than even Chamrosh, spoke up nervously as he walked up under me. "A..are you really not going to kill.. or enslave us..?" He was clearly a non-noble and questioned my intentions behind leaving them all be.
The moment he asked the question, everyone hushed in an instant.
But I didn't hesitate to answer. "I seated myself as your Monarch because you, as well as this cavern, are quite useful to me. I would like nothing more than for your race to thrive and grow. The stronger you grow, the greater asset you become."
There was a pause before an older, female thunderbird spoke up. "So.. you see us as assets?"
I quickly nodded. "However, I don't believe you have room to complain. Unlike the nobles, I am pulling you under my wing. You have the freedom to do what you wish, be it travel the world or start a family knowing I am backing you. You no longer have to fear the skies, and if you wish, I can give you all purpose again." I paused before looking at another man with a distasteful expression. "If you wish to stand against me, you may, but I can guarantee the fate of your friends and family who remain under my wing will be better."
There was a pause before a younger girl turned toward the man I was looking at with an angry expression. "Why can't you all just accept mercy?!"
Her anger was so genuine it took me by surprise. -Huh?-
"A feast has been laid at our feet, yet you all are questioning what to do with it! Stop staring at it, you idiots! This is an opportunity for us to finally return to our former glory.. so why do you have to be so skeptical?!"
"Because a leader who sees his subjects as objects will never-"
"HE'S NOT OUR LEADER!" She yelled with a squawk. "He said explicitly that we were to choose our own leader! All he is going to be is a guardian and a guiding hand!"
There was a long pause that followed before Chamrosh chimed in with a more calm tone. "I agree, there are no unreasonable downsides to this offer. If you wish to live with humans, all you have to do is not assist the Holy Kingdom in, I'd assume, military-related efforts." He glanced up at me for confirmation before continuing. "If a monarch's subjects are not assets to their leader, what are they? Slaves? Friends?"
The other man responded instantly. "But what will happen when he needs to use us?! We will die-"
*CRACK* The sound barrier snapped as an older female thunderbird smacked the man across the face with her talon, drawing blood from his cheek. "If you wish to die, do it on your own." She was easily one of the oldest thunderbirds among those I could see, speaking coldly and eloquently before turning back to me. "Lord Nott, we will take you up on your offer." Her eyes were lit with the fire of determination.
-Hoh?- My smile widened.
"However, I have a question."
I paused.
"What will our relationship be with the dragons..." She seemed anxious as she spoke, darkening her expression without easing her gaze. "Will you protect us from them?"
I quickly shook my head, but continued before anyone could jump to conclusions. "From now on, you will be working alongside the dragons, as well as my apostles in Siratha. You may consider it an alliance for mutual benefit." Idly glancing over the crowd, trying to gauge their reactions, I found surprisingly little resistance to the alliance.
As the older woman turned to glance at another thunderbird a few dozen meters away, she nodded before lowering her head toward me. "In that case, I hope you can convince them to release any.. perhaps long-standing grudges..."
-How humble...- I was honestly quite surprised. -But...- "That won't be necessary."
"Huh?" She quickly looked up at me with a confused expression.
"Your race wasn't the only to.. struggle a bit over the last few millennia. They have held up better culturally, as well as strength-wise, but compared to the dragons, you guys have.. actually preserved history from before the war."
They quickly started mumbling, "Huh? But didn't he mention Hera Monachalkos being the Monarch of Bahamut?"
"I did." I straightened my posture as I spoke. "I helped her 'revive' herself. She was pronounced dead before the end of the war, but she was just trapped at the peak of this mountain on the verge of death."
Several of them in the crowd immediately tensed before looking upward, as if toward The Scar's peak.
"In any case, I believe you all should be able to handle things from here. I'm going to help that dragon back there before bringing the nobles to their 'new owners'." My smile slowly turned predatory as I looked over the thunderbirds scattered farther away from the hole. "I look forward to everyone's cooperation in the future."
Finally hopping off the raised steel platform I had created, I made it crumble to a fine sand before turning back toward Chrysi and making my way over to him.
As I flew, he simply stared at me with an expression of awe on his face, but while I didn't know what it was for, he made it clear the moment I landed.
"What kind of rune was that? How did you do a few thousand at once? What were they for? I've never seen them before." His questions were like a barrage of artillery.
But I responded in kind. "They were oath runes. All I did was copy-paste a sequence a few thousand times. And they were to keep the thunderbirds from running off while I'm helping you or flying them out of here."
His eyes gleamed even with my simple response. "C-Can I see the oath rune you used?"
Gently landing, I shook my head. "It's not a rune you can use, nor will you understand what it's doing."
"B-But perhaps there is something to be gained..."
Looking him in the eyes, I watched the ocean of curiosity rampaging as if stemming from his soul before sighing. "Haah.. alright. I'll show you while I look for the other cavern, just follow me." Hopping into the air again, I got ready to show him the rune before glancing at his eager look one more time. "Just don't tunnel vision on the rune. Watch where you're flying."
He quickly, eagerly nodded before taking to the air as well.
But my warning went completely unheeded.
To the thunderbirds nearby, it probably looked like I was dragging him through the air with something like a hypnotism spell. Thankfully though, while he was most definitely not watching where he was flying, everyone mostly cleared out of the way, so he didn't bump into anyone.
After we descended into the lower cavern, I flew around it so my aura could penetrate the ground in various spots and checked for another cavern, but there was nothing other than absolutely colossal veins of minerals, metals, and mythril that seemed to settle there, giving credit to the idea that the cavern had been melted away. -I wasn't totally convinced that the presence I felt was a phoenix, but...- Slowly but surely, that was changing.
However, regardless of what was there, it was nowhere to be seen. Through the floor of the cavern, there was nothing even looking down over fifty kilometers. -The question is.. should I point him toward the presence I felt wave at me, or...-
Looking back at him, still entranced by his own curiousity, I had to weigh my options. The odds were, even if I pointed him toward the presence, he wouldn't find it and would eventually come to me, as I wished. -That presence was at least several hundred, if not a thousand kilometers away...-
But if he did end up finding it, the odds of him dying were guaranteed. -Whatever waved at me was at least on my level...- If it was indeed a phoenix with the capability of melting a bubble in a mountain a few hundred kilometers wide, the odds of him even getting close were slim to none.
And understanding his curiosity, I knew the temperature would only entice him more. -I'll have to at least warn him so he doesn't keep going down toward the mantle thinking the heat is from the phoenix...-
But fate had its plans for everyone. Even if I wanted him to come under my wing, forcing him wasn't the answer. -And if I misguide him and he notices, it will break trust...-
Meaning the only thing I could do was let him forge his own path. "Haah..." -If he dies, I'll be really annoyed though...-
Reluctantly flying to the far side of the cavern from the entrance, aimed straight into the heart of the mountain, vaguely toward the presence I felt, I drove my aura through the wall to check for a cave system to send Chrysi into, but instead, I found something else. -Huh?-
It was another cavern, although only about two hundred meters wide, with a small cave-like offshoot leading into the mountain. -What are the odds...-
Being about eight kilometers into the wall, it certainly wasn't super close. -But it could be something...-
Eventually drilling to it, I made a moderately orderly tunnel before sending Chrysi on his way with a mound of warnings about what not to do so he didn't accidentally cook himself or starve to death while he was exploring, telling him to regularly return to the cavern here to restock his supplies when needed, and remember his promise. -All I can do now is hope fate continues to be on his side...-
Finally returning to the upper cavern, I spoke to Chamrosh about keeping his eye out for Chrysi, and to make accommodations for him whenever possible, as well as getting up to speed on the thoughts of the thunderbirds.
But there wasn't much to see yet. -It seems like they'll be fine though.-
Thankfully, the lower caverns thunderbirds were.. shockingly adaptive. Most of them even favored me for the takeover rather than holding onto old disdain.
Of course, there were still those who opposed me, but I simply let them be for the time being.
All that was left for me to do was gather the nobles and bring them to Siratha and then Bahamut, with about three hundred expected to go under Lief, and the rest under Hera.
But.. the trip was far more troublesome and time-consuming than expected.
Although typically a fast race, the trip was only dragged by those who chose to rebel halfway through. There were even a few who died during the flight.
In the end, it took almost a week to get to Valtivar, but when we got there, the thunderbirds' opinions of my offers flipped on their heads.
To them, Siratha's forest of treants was an indescribable paradise even the nobles could only salivate at.
Unfortunately for them though, wherever they initially chose to go was the place they would end up, without exception, for the simple reason that I wasn't confident Lief could manage, or even make effective use of more than a few hundred of them.
But perhaps that was me just underestimating her.
As I shifted to my humanoid form and walked into her office, giving her the gist of the situation, her eyes lit up. "How many can you give me?"
To her, it seemed like she could more than easily make use of a few thousand, let alone the few hundred I was giving her. -Maybe I'll tell the rest if they do well in Bahamut and get released, they can come here...-
It was a small encouragement, but an encouragement nonetheless.
And while most of them still harbored ill intentions toward me, there were indeed a few that started flipping sides when I raised the offer.
However, it would be a long time before they managed to come back here.
In their new home, in the heart of Bahamut, their new owner was going to work them like mules.
-I just hope Hera doesn't mind me being a little late compared to when I said I'd be back...-
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