This time, we parked the Lilia over the horizon from Milishion before I headed in. A crystal earbud allowed me to communicate with Sprite even through the anti-spirit field since it was basically just magical radio—something Sprite was now producing en masse for Ariel's troops to use when they were deployed. I touched down in the forest, outside the line of disruption and looked around, humming quietly.
"Alright, what am I looking for?" I asked, probing the earth with my senses and not finding anything buried.
Sprite's voice sounded in my ear, "Well, it's one of two types of field, right? Either it's radiating out from a central point within the city and this is its limit, or it's tied to something—"
"And the effect describes the boundary edge of whatever it's tied to," I nodded, moving deeper into the forest, closer to the disturbance I could now feel. "Alright, let's see what they did."
It was only a few minutes of walking later when I found something. A line of disturbed earth that stretched into the distance in either direction of the city—clearly the work of an earth mage, or multiple earth mages. A bit of probing with magic later and I found that something had been buried here.
I used earth magic to move the dirt off, revealing a thick band of what felt like silver and whistled. It was an inch deep, four thick, and it circled the entire city. It had to be tons worth of the stuff.
"That's a lot of silver."
The band appeared to have been constructed in five foot segments, the ends of which were notched to fit into the next piece flush, and the next, and so on. Kneeling down, I used water magic to clean it off and looked it over. After a few moments I came to a conclusion. "It's the same thing repeating over and over. It's incomplete, just like the other one. A spell, but it's missing a component."
"I still haven't been able to determine what that component is, master," Sprite apologized, and I shook my head.
"Not your fault. We may find something in their library. But first, let's take care of this mess, hm?"
Standing, I dusted off my pants, then summoned my staff. Holding it out, I tapped the bottom end of the staff to the silver band and focused on my earth and fire magic. With a bit of effort, I sent mana through it until I felt the entire structure in my mind. Then, I heated all of it, until it became a puddle of molten silver underground. Once it was good and melty, I pulled.
Silver flowed out of the earth and I directed it beside me, into a cube shape held in place with force magic, where I rapidly cooled it. It just kept coming and coming, the cube growing larger the entire time, until finally I had it all and all that was left was a great big, gleaming silver cube.
Sprite appeared beside me with a smile, reaching out and touching the cube. "The field is gone, master! At least, the first one. There's another."
I sighed. "Of course there is." Gesturing at the cube, I asked, "What about this?"
"It's inert now. No more active magic, just residual mana. All of the inscriptions were destroyed when you liquefied it."
Grinning, I nodded. "Good, good. Send it somewhere secure. It's ours now. I'm sure there are lots of things we can use this on."
"It would be perfect for an equatorial belt around the exterior of Laputa, for layering our own enchantments," Sprite pointed out.
"Do it."
The cube and Sprite both disappeared and I took to the air, heading for Milishion. "Where's this second field start?"
"I don't think it matters," came the answer. "Now that I've had something to compare it to, it seems like the second field is of the radiating type and seems to be in the center of Milishion. And as luck would have it, guess what new decoration was recently added to their church, in the center of the city, since we passed through the first time!"
"A layer of silver?" I asked, and the girl laughed.
"Exactly! I'm studying it now and it appears to have the same inscriptions."
"Got it. So rip that off, send it, and the city should be unprotected," I surmised, earning an affirmative sound from Sprite.
Bending light around myself to go invisible, I gained altitude and made my way into the city center. The gleaming silver coating over the church was obnoxiously obvious, to the point of standing out like a sore thumb. I'd noticed it the last time I was here, but hadn't thought much of it then—just putting it down to typical royal/clergy things.
The process of ripping the silver off went quickly and soon enough, Sprite appeared at my side with a smile, Sending the sphere I'd made from it away—likely to join the cube. "That's it, master! The city is open. I'm already taking all of their books."
"Make sure you get everything," I sent her a smile as I looked around, spotting the Lilia coming now that it was okay to approach. I flew over and touched down on the deck, dropping my invisibility spell. "I want everything. All their books. All their notes. All the hidden documents they don't want anyone to know about. Then, go ahead and steal their treasury. If they're going to try to wage a war on us, good luck paying for it without your gold."
"Already on it~!" Sprite laughed. "They had a lot! There's also a couple of magical armories—one under the castle, one under the church. I've taken the weapons, armor, and magic tools from them for study so we can make our own."
"Good girl," I grinned, reaching out and patting her head. Humming, I looked around and considered, before shrugging. "Fuck it. Let's loot the place to the bedrock before we go. Destroy the wards protecting the castle, church, those seven magic towers around the city—all of it. Then deconstruct them all. Every building. Every road. Every piece of armor. Every weapon. Every piece of metal down to their cutlery. Strip this city down until there's nothing left. We'll use the materials for Laputa. I want to send a message. Anyone who tries to wage war on us will end up bankrupted and living in the gutter."
Sprite winced. "But won't that wind up killing a bunch of people just by starvation and exposure?"
Sighing, I nodded. "Yes. Yes it will." Looking to my summoned spirit, I asked, "Do you know why, when you go to war, you attack a nation's citizenry in addition to their army?" She shook her head, so I told her the truth. "Because when you go to war against a nation, you go to war against a nation, not against that nation's government. Your goal is to make the people suffer until either they demand an end to the war, they overthrow or kill the people calling for war, or there's no one left to support the war—no one to make boots, no one left to hammer out swords, no one to grow and harvest crops and animals, no one left to transport it to the front."
Moving over to the railing, I leaned against it as I Sent my staff back where I'd summoned it from. Sprite moved to stand beside me as I looked out over the city, where drones had begun to swarm and the towers, church, and castle were quickly being sectioned off and Sent elsewhere. The effect looked like they were evaporating from the top down.
"Is Ariel busy?" I asked, and Sprite shook her head. "Bring her here, would you?"
A moment later, there was a flash, and my blonde queen wife blinked, looking around in confusion, before a look of realization crossed her face. She moved over to the railing beside me and leaned into my side as she studied what was happening below. After a few moments, she let out a quiet, "Tch. Of course you would."
"Mm. And you get why, right?" I asked, and she nodded. "Ariel. Shizuka. Wife," I reached out and put a hand around her waist. "Tell Sprite why we did it."
The blonde let out a sigh, before resting her head against my shoulder. "What you have to understand is that the war was coming to an end. Germany surrendered in May of 1945, which marked the end of the war in Europe. My home, however, refused to surrender. 'Death before dishonor' as the saying goes. There was even a coup to keep the war going, because we were doing a little imperialism at the time and some people didn't want to stop that. And the Americans had gone a bit blood crazy," she paused, looking at me to see if I'd deny it.
I shook my head. "No, we did. Your people were doing shit that pissed us off in ways the world had never seen before." Glancing at Sprite, I asked, "Fun fact. Know how our old world figured out how much water is in a human body?"
Sprite looked between us as Ariel winced. "I'm not going to like that answer, am I, master?"
"No," Ariel murmured, shaking her head. "My people did that. There were experiments on captured prisoners…" She turned a look on me and added, "Not that we were the only guilty party when it came to that."
"I didn't say you were. We did shit to our own citizens who didn't even know they were being experimented on. Nobody's hands came out of that mess clean."
She nodded and looked back out over the city. "Japan wasn't willing to surrender and America at that point was too angry to stop. They split the atom and discovered how to turn it into a weapon. Then, they destroyed a city with a single bomb. I know you've been playing with nuclear weapons, so you know what they can do. And yet, my country still did not surrender. Three days later, they did it again. One attack. One weapon. Another city. All told, between one hundred and fifty thousand and three hundred thousand dead. The threat was clear: the bombings would continue until either the war ended, or we ran out of cities. The war ended. And compared to all of the attacks before? What could have happened if it had dragged on? It was a mercy."
The blonde looked to Sprite as she wrapped an arm around my waist and squeezed. "You destroy a nation by attacking its people, not its leadership, or its armies. It is only when its people are broken that the nation is broken. Milishion is not the entirety of Millis. It's just one city. The capital, yes. The seat of government. But not the rest of the country. There are other cities, towns, and villages that make up Millis. These people will suffer, yes. But most of them will live. In poverty perhaps, but they will live. And they'll spread. They'll tell the tale of what happened. That their leadership declared war—marched their army and sent their fleet against Asura. And then, as soon as the army was out of sight, the city itself was taken from them, along with everything they owned. Their homes, their money, their goods, their food, their livelihoods. All of it gone, without a single life lost in the taking. The war will end because no one will be willing to continue it. Hitogami will find only a broken people here, unwilling to raise their fists against us again, for fear of what we'll take from them next."
"And then, in a year or two, when they've got their shit sorted and new leaders decided, we can sit down and have a negotiation," I said, and Ariel nodded.
"Right. That was the other part. Of course you wouldn't forget it," she chuckled. At Sprite's confused look, she continued, "After everything, the Americans stuck around and helped us rebuild. They basically turned us into a vassal state in all but name. We'll do the same with Milis."
Studying us closely, Sprite asked, "…Shouldn't you two hate each other?"
Ariel and I shared a look, then laughed. Ariel answered that one. "That was our great grandfathers' war. For us, that was… what? Eighty years ago?"
"Something like that," I agreed. "I haven't exactly kept track. Point is, our countries were allies and had been for decades by the point we died. They had anime and sexy Japanese schoolgirls, so of course I couldn't hate them."
"Mm, hunky American men and guns," Ariel purred, grinning at me, before laughing. Looking to Sprite, she continued, "We like to joke, but the truth is, we're basically each other's fetish. Man who conquers, woman who enjoys being conquered."
"Just wish we could've met earlier," I murmured, leaning in and kissing her neck, earning a nod from Ariel as she returned the attention.
"That would have been nice." Sighing, she turned and pulled me into a hug. "Sprite, can you finish here? Rudy, I want to take the ship and go laser some boats."
"Sounds fun," I agreed, picking her up and heading inside as the Lilia turned and accelerated away from the city. "In the meantime…"
"In the meantime, be your brutish, American self and thoroughly conquer this Japanese schoolgirl queen's pregnant pussy!"
"Are you supposed to be a JK or a queen this time?"
"I happen to be both!"
"Rudeus! Husband!"
"Oof!" I huffed as a redheaded missile hit me in the chest and squeezed hard enough to pop my back as she wrapped her legs around my waist and began unsubtly grinding her crotch against mine. I squeezed back just as hard and the redhead laughed, before loosening her grip. I did likewise, then leaned down a bit to kiss her. "Wife. Good to see you in person again."
"Mm!" Eris nodded, a lusty grin on her face as she did, her red eyes staring down at me with that look she got whenever she wanted to try to destroy a bed together. "Gonna need to make up for lost time! I need my Rudy time!"
Chuckling, I grinned. "I'll give you all the attention you want. But first, I think your friends are getting worried. Or maybe embarrassed and worried that you're going to just ride me right here."
"I could!" the redhead leered, before unwrapping her legs and dropping to the ground, then turning to the two girls with her. "Rudeus, these are Isolte Cruel and Nina Farion. Isolte, Nina, this is my husband, Rudeus."
I stepped forward and offered my hand. "Nice to meet you both, and sorry about Eris."
"Hey!" my third wife protested. "Don't apologize for me!"
"Someone should," I countered with a grin.
The taller of the two, Isolte, took my hand with a smile. "It's good to finally meet you. Eris speaks highly of you."
"Constantly," Nina, the blue haired girl, rolled her eyes before shaking my hand.
"Of course I do! Rudeus is worth bragging about," Eris nodded, crossing her arms under her breasts and glaring at the pair—which was just another way to say her face was in its usual friendly expression.
The pair of girls exchanged a look, before looking up to the Lilia hovering above us. Quietly, Isolte murmured, "She may be right."
"Don't tell her that. She'll get a bigger head," Nina countered just as quietly.
I wrapped an arm around Eris's waist and pulled her into my side. "So, what was so important that you called me up here? There's a war going on back home, you know."
"Oh, I know," Eris shook her head. "It's all Ariel talks about lately. But she and Sprite have that handled," the redhead waved my concerns off. "Let's go inside."
I allowed myself to be pulled along towards the large building that looked like one part church, one part coliseum from the air, with statues of swordsmen out in front of it. "So, this is where you've been training?"
"Mm!" Eris agreed.
"It is the Sword Sanctum," Isolte explained.
"I was brought here by my father, the Sword God Gal Farion, to further my training," Nina added.
Isolte nodded. "My grandmother brought me. She's Reida Reia, the current Water God."
"And those two have stuck us together and made us fight each other ever since that first day," Eris continued, grinning as she did. "It's been fun."
Looking around as we entered, I asked, "Where's Ghislaine?"
"Training with Gal," Eris nodded up ahead, to where we heard the sounds of fighting coming from the open doors leading to the coliseum.
We quickly passed through the hall and into the arena, where Ghislaine and a large man were fighting. The guy was big and scarred, with a bit of hair on his chin but otherwise clean shaven, and his blue hair cut short.
"He looks like an asshole," I murmured as he and Ghislaine clashed, with the sound of steel ringing on steel.
Eris chuckled. "He's not. He's actually nice. Just uh," she gestured at her face, "one of those faces."
I grinned and pulled her in, kissing her pouty lips. Beside us, Isolte whispered a quiet, "Oh my," as her eyes went wide. Nina, on the other hand, frowned, her grip tightening on her sword as her side. For some reason, she looked annoyed and a bit jealous.
"Who's this, granddaughter?" a voice asked from the side, and I looked over to see an older woman sitting at a table off to the side of the arena, sipping at a cup of what might have been tea. She had probably been beautiful once, but the years had not been kind to her—turning her hair gray, wrinkling her face, and making what had probably been an amazing body saggy in places I was glad my wives would never have to deal with thanks to Sylphie and Sprite. Her eyes, however—those were still clear and sharp, and she assessed me as I did her.
She recognizes me, I realized, wondering just how much Eris had told them about me.
Sending the older woman a smile, I made my way over and offered my hand. "Rudeus Greyrat, ma'am. Eris's husband."
"Hoh? Is that so?" she asked, shaking my hand and giving it a squeeze that turned into a little test as she applied a bit of touki—then quickly escalated as I matched her, and continued to match her. Her eyebrow went up at that. "Reida Reia."
"He is!" Eris declared, hands on her hips, feet apart, shoulders back, and head held high—her usual defiant pose.
"Well, it seems you've found quite the strong young buck," the old woman murmured, releasing my hand, only to reach up and squeeze my arm through my coat. "Mm. Yes. I see. Both Sword God and Water God styles, then? And… something else." She glanced at Eris. "That thing she keeps wanting to do and holding herself back from."
I smiled and shrugged. "I've picked up a thing or two here and there."
The ringing of swords clashing stopped and I turned to see Ghislaine and Gal with their blades locked. He pulled back and nodded. "Good. You've improved."
"Nn," Ghislaine nodded, sheathing her sword. She turned and sent us a smile as she strolled over, sweat dripping down her tanned, muscular form. Beside me, I heard Eris gulp. "Rudeus! You came!"
"Not yet," Eris muttered, glancing between me and Ghislaine with that look that said if we didn't find a bedroom soon, then the ground would do just fine.
"Down girl," I warned, resting my hand on her lower back for a moment before moving to hug Ghislaine. The woman grinned, only to splutter as Eris gestured and summoned a downpour of hot water above her.
"Eris," she growled.
"What? You're sweaty! I'm not licking it off of Rudy if it goes stale!"
Isolte made a face while behind us, I'm pretty sure I heard Reida choke on her tea. I laughed and hugged the big beastkin woman as she grumbled. "How are you, Ghislaine?"
"Good," she nodded. "You're keeping up with your training?"
"Mostly," I shrugged. "We've been busy. Building a flying castle. Preparing for a war. You know, the usual stuff."
"Of course," the woman chuckled. "You're staying the night?"
"Yeah."
The cat woman's grin became a leer. "Good. It's been a while. You, me, and Eris can catch up—"
"Rudeus Greyrat! I challenge you!"
I blinked. Ghislaine sighed, golden eye rolling as she let me go and moved over to Eris's side. I turned to see Nina glaring at me. Pointing to myself, I asked, "Me?"
The girl glared a bit harder. "Is there any other Rudeus Greyrat around here?"
"Fair," I shrugged. "No."
The blue haired girl faltered. "No? What do you mean, 'no?'"
"I mean no," I shook my head. "Not interested. I came to visit my wife, not get caught up in bullshit. I don't have time for you."
The young woman began to shake where she stood, turning red as Eris laughed at her and Isolte hid a giggle behind her hand. Even Ghislaine, Reida, and Gal looked amused—which only embarrassed her more. "Y-y-y-youuu—"
"You gonna just let him dismiss you like that, daughter?" Gal verbally prodded her, a smirk pulling at his lips as he glanced between us.
"You coward!" the young woman accused, reaching for her sword. "I—"
I pulled on my mana and touki, turning fully to face her. Something in my gaze made her falter. "You draw steel on me, I'm going to beat you into the ground. I said no. You can respect that and walk away with your pride mostly intact. But if I have to, if you force the issue, I'll give you the lesson in manners your daddy apparently didn't. The last time somebody got one of those lessons, she wound up stripped naked and tied up for anyone to see for a night. You want that?"
"Do it Rudeus~!" Eris, the shit-stirrer, encouraged with a leer.
"You be quiet, or you're getting a spanking," I warned.
"Worth it!" my menace of a wife laughed.
"Who do you think you are?!" Nina yelled, before drawing her sword and approaching. "I am Sword Saint Nina Farion and I challenge you to a duel!"
A quiet sigh escaped my lips and I nodded, moving towards the arena. Behind me, I heard a quiet hum from Ghislaine. "I see he hasn't changed at all."
"Nope!" Eris laughed. "This is gonna be good."
"You nobles, royalty, swordsmen, and mages, with your titles and your dick waving. Alright. Fine. Rudeus Boreas Greyrat. I am but a humble Sword Saint of the Water God style." I turned and sent her an expectant look. "Well, come on then. What are you waiting for?"
Nina hesitated, eyeing me skeptically. "Eris said you were a mage."
I shrugged. "Does it matter? I'm not going to beat you with magic. That'd be like your dad picking some random five year old out of a peasant village and beating him silly." The girl's angry flush grew darker at that.
"You're unarmed."
"If that's what you think," I nodded. "Attack, or don't. I'd really like to get to the business of trying to knock up my wayward wife and that beast of a woman Ghislaine, and you're holding up the process. So unless you're volunteering to take their place, I suggest you hurry it up."
The young woman's blush went nuclear as she processed that. "You, I, that… Arg!"
She screamed and launched herself at me. She was fast, I'll give her that—almost as fast as Eris. Also, even though she was clearly pissed off, there was no killing intent or bloodlust in her attack. Angry though she may be, she had a sort of calm in battle that I hadn't really seen before. It was interesting, so I decided to see where it went.
I launched myself backwards a few steps, allowing her sword strike to pass harmlessly by, then turned to the side to avoid the blade of vacuum and touki trailing in its wake—I'd seen that trick too many times from Eris to be fooled. She followed up with a thrust that I stepped into as I twisted my body aside again to avoid the follow on vacuum blade, then slapped her blade away, nearly tearing it from her hands.
Nina moved with the motion of the strike, leaping away to make distance and taking up a Sword God stance as she began to circle. Her anger had cooled and now, she regarded me calmly—reevaluating now that the first exchange was done. Her dark blue eyes met my green and she rushed in again, leading with a horizontal swing that was clearly not meant to hit, but rather to force me to move to avoid the vacuum blade. Instead, I stepped into it and punched.
The air cracked with a sonic boom and Nina, who had just begun a combination of thrusts meant to try to skewer me with more vacuum blades where she expected me to go, found herself bowled over by the wind off the blow. I launched myself at her, following it up with a kick to the ribs that sent her spinning through the air, before she bounced off the ground.
Nina righted herself, stabbing her sword into the ground and digging a shallow trench as she used it to kill the momentum from the kick. Then, she was running at me again, circling around to the side as she swung her sword and filled the air with more vacuum blades, trying to position me how she wanted. I let it happen, dodging and ducking between them as she got closer, before finally she blasted across the remaining distance between us in a sword strike I'd seen Ghislaine use before—much faster than she had before.
I felt a thump of metal against my skin, and then there was a sound like a small explosion as shards of metal pelted my body.
Nina stopped, frozen in place as she stared at what was left of her sword, and where it had hit me. My jacket had a cut in it, but the flesh below was unblemished. The sword, on the other hand, had shattered under the force of her touki clashing with mine—the metal unable to withstand the forces, like it had been put into a hydraulic press or something.
"You lose," I shook my head, dusting off my face, hair, and clothes with a gust of wind.
"That… How?" Nina asked, her voice suddenly small and a bit vulnerable.
"Titles aren't everything. Just because someone's a saint this, king that, or emperor the other doesn't mean they've got the power to back it up. The inverse is also true. Just because someone's a novice in a school doesn't mean they're not monstrously powerful." She met my eyes again and I smiled. "Now, do you remember what I promised you when we started?"
Nina blinked, then turned red. "Um—"
"It's time for that lesson," I nodded.
"N-no," she shook her head, trying to back away—only for the ground under her feet to give way, letting her sink in down to her ankles before solidifying, locking her in place. It only lasted for a second before she jerked her feet out, but a second was all I needed to close the distance and grab her.
Stone shot up from the ground like liquid and I held her arms in place against her sides, before solidifying the stone around her to hold her like that and filling it with my mana to make sure she couldn't just break it. Then, I grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up, throwing the young woman over my shoulder.
"L-let me go!" Nina yelled, kicking and thrashing where I held her, only to yelp as I smacked her firm, round little ass. "Eep! You- you pervert! I'll—ah! Stop!"
"You can get this spanking here in front of everyone or in private," I warned, squeezing her ass firmly. "But it's happening either way. Which do you prefer?"
The young woman gulped, going limp in my arms. "Please not in front of daddy."
I marched her over to the group who had been watching. Eris was red faced and practically drooling, shifting back and forth as she rubbed her thighs together and clung to Ghislaine, barely holding it together—definitely in the mood. Ghislaine wasn't nearly as bad, but from the way her eye tracked me, how her tail was wagging, and the fact that her nipples were pointing at me she was ready to go herself. The surprise was in Isolte, who was blushing hotly and fanning herself.
Gal Farion, on the other hand, glowered at me. He crossed his arms over his chest and rumbled, "Where the fuck do you think you're going with my daughter?" Bloodlust rolled off of him as he flexed his touki—
I reached out and crushed it. "You're the Sword God, right? One day here in the next five, maybe ten years, you're going to be calling me the Magic God. So mind your fucking tone. I'm a man of my word. I told her I'd punish her for being rude and I will. And neither you nor anyone else are going to stop me."
The man's eyes narrowed into a glare… before he laughed. "Oh, we're gonna fight later. But sure. Go ahead."
"P-papa?!" Nina yelped.
Gal shrugged. "You brought it on yourself. Next time, don't force a challenge on someone who doesn't want it."
I turned to look at my wife. "Eris."
The redhead stiffened, her own ingrained response to that tone kicking in. "Yes!"
"We're going."
"Yes husband!"
"Rudeus?" Ghislaine asked, and I nodded.
"You too, Ghislaine. Everyone, please excuse us. We're going to retire for the night. I'll bring them back tomorrow," I waved, before lifting us up and heading for the Lilia