Micchi Versus the New World - chapter 104 (Patreon)

Alt link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1REItT90TbsNvGZw2a99SgP56g0ZtJYeLAGTMsmaEo-U/edit?usp=sharing

Chapter 104

Citizens of the city backed away and leapt from the road to let them through. The leader of Amarinth was surrounded by loyal dark elven and beastling subjects. Pulling the moving throne were hooved beasts with lion-like faces and spikes on their backs. Sitting on that cushy throne, an awning providing him shade and a couple of elven babes seeing to his needs, was Loraine's piece of shit uncle, Sultan Yusef. He was dressed in gold and red robes, had his beard done into two thick braids with golden bands woven into it, and his fingers and ears heavy with jewelry.

When a little boy tripped trying to move out of the way, the entire envoy didn't so much as stop.

"Oh, no. The child!" Kain was about to storm out there.

"I got this," I said, grabbing his shoulder to hold him back.

The beasts were about to trample him until I stomped a foot on the ground, raising a barrier of ice between them. As soon as the kid got away, I let it drop, and they were none the wiser about who did it.

"Alright, let's give the sultan a warm welcome of our own," I said.

Kain recoiled like someone slapped him in the face. "I beg of you not to do anything rash!"

Ignoring his pleas, I whistled sharply to the guild. Every member emerged and fell in line behind me, including Oaks and Bogart. Frey was trying in vain to keep Yui from coming out, but she eventually broke free to join mine and Anya's side at the front.

Climbing onto the rooftop of the guild hall were Hurai and Thelesia, the latter raising the giant flag at the coming guests. All the while Kain was freaking out, but Rugal had gotten himself a seat and bottle of wine.

"All of you, I order you to disperse at once!" Kain shouted in panic.

Rugal raised a bottle to him. "Let them say their peace, Prince Kain. Not all fights end with bloodshed."

The Amarinthian group stopped a good ten meters away. Their monsters snarled and bared their teeth. They didn't look like any ordinary burden beasts.

Loraine hid half herself behind my back, shying away from confronting her uncle now that he was really here.

"I expected a royal welcome from the king and prince of Scoth, not a barbarous guild leader, an ungrateful viceroy who should be on my side, and the rabble of the city." Sultan Yusef leaned forward and scoffed, his voice like the low draw of someone who thinks they have all the time in the world.

"Take my title away if you want, but my place is with these two." Anya smirked.

"Aw, man. I wanna rip his beard off so bad and use 'em like nunchucks on his ass," Yui said, hankering to get into a fight.

.My brain took a moment to rewire itself.

"Wait, am I the rabble?" I asked.

Anya and Yui traded glances, then had to hold in their laughter.

"Well, y'ain't viceroy of Ash'tar and y'ain't a guild leader!" Yui cackled.

"Hah? Who the fuck are you calling rabble, ya barnyard shit stain? Come down here and say it to my face!" I walked forward and his people on the ground drew their spears, his women pointed their hands which were glowing with magic at me, and the beasts looked ready to pounce.

"How dare you insult his majesty, the sultan!"

"Brute! Barbarian!"

They hurled insults my way, but none of them reached my ears. A low growl silenced them all at once. Everyone on their side cowered when the real apex predator showed up. Spears lowered and glowing hands trembled, even the beasts that pulled the throne had their tails tucked between their legs.

Snarling, Kawa sidled up right to me. The fur on her body was standing on end and shedding cinders like she was about to combust.

"L-Lady Micchi, wait! Kawa, heel!" Kain ran to put himself between us to stop me in my tracks, then turned to face the other army. "Sultan Yusef, I am pleased to receive you! Forgive my associates… They were merely eager to greet you… If you will follow me, I shall show you to your accommodations I hope will prove adequate."

"They won't, but I will accept them graciously in the name of your father, the king. Though I suppose whether or not I make it to those accomodations is not up to you." He nodded, putting a damper on Kain's mood.

"I'll paint this road in shit with your face another day." I spat on the ground in front of the sultan's envoy, then gestured for the guild to step aside and let them pass. Pulling Kawa by the collar, we moved out of the way, but made it perfectly clear none of them were welcome.

As Kain and Rugal escorted them away, the streets quickly went back to normal. Regardless of what might have gone down, I had no intentions of fighting today. All I wanted to do was show those fuckers I hadn't forgotten, and that I held onto my grudges.

"I'm sorry… I couldn't do it after all," Loraine said. "When I saw him, the face of the man who killed my own father… I just froze up."

Kawa nuzzled into Loraine's chest to cheer her up.

"You want me to kick his ass right now? Because I'll do it. Ain't nothing in this city gonna stop me if you say so," I offered.

She sniffled and giggled at the same time, though I wasn't sure if she realized I was being serious.

"I know you can, but for Kain's sake and the sake of getting through this summit, let's put a lid on the violence for now." Loraine smiled.

Over the next few days, lords and representatives arrived one after the other. Each of them had to make a spectacle of it, coming in like they were leading a parade. Ririko strutted in with half her Glamour Guards, Kaoru came dressed a twenty-foot long traditional Jinwan robe, and Chieftain Breila brought some fucking dinosaurs into the city. There were more who I didn't know but all acted just as high and mighty as the next.

Cynderace itself fell into a sort of celebratory mood and became just as lively as the nightlife in Ash'tar. Guild members from other nations' branches came, too. Several guild leaders even made time to come. But mostly just to drink and party.

And at the moment…

"Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink!"

Anya was chugging beer casks against ten of the meatiest beastlings, humans, elves, half-orcs, and other races that think they had a chance to outdrink her. Nine eventually tapped out or passed out, falling onto the floor of the tavern, barfing over themselves, and probably one sip away from dying. It was just between the Dragon of Tohoku and Drox.

The entire guild went crazy when both of them downed their casks and had to get new ones.

"You're a tough one, I'll give ya that. But I know when someone's at their limits," Anya taunted.

New casks were placed in front of them, and Anya cracked it open to start drinking again. Drox, however, couldn't pick up his cask and passed out, his head smacking the table on the way down.

"Anya! Anya! Anya! Anya! Anya!"

Victorious, Anya stood up and roared, smashing her cask over her head and drenching the floor in beer.

"For fuck's sake." I groaned.

Over by the receptionist counter, Oaks, Frey, and the other pencil pushers were in a sour mood, knowing exactly who was going to have to clean all this up.

Not in the mood to party, I exited the guild hall only to have Yui pounce onto my back.

"Ane~go~" Yui swayed back and forth on my back, almost making me trip on a guy passed out on the steps.

"What? Work on hold because the whole guild is getting wasted?" I asked.

"Nah, I worked all day. If you're thinking about putting me back in there, I got nothing else to do. I say we go fuck some shit up," she suggested.

"Hmm… In that case, I got just the idea."

We bought a barrel of ink from my guy who moved up from the shitty part of the city. I had a big hand in it from buying his shit up all the time. He even went as far as designing me a bottled container that used wind magic to shoot ink out like an aerosol can.

Our fun was unfortunately stopped by Cynderace guards, at the entrance to the Arcane Ward.

"Halt. Prince Kain had a feeling you and the guild leader might try something funny, so he posted us out here," one guard said.

"Yeah, but you ain't gonna stop us." Yui grinned.

"W-We aren't?"

I stared the five guards right in the eyes, and they instantly decided that facing Kain was better than dealing with me. We were let through without any problems, and Yui gave them a bottle of wine from the guild to make up for it.

The Arcane Ward was mostly made up of dome-shaped buildings of varying sizes. Floating crystals and potted plants were a common sight.

The place was named after the incredibly tall spires that Mildred designed in this section of the city. It also had a college and dormitory where aspiring students, scholars, and other magic-users lived to perform research and monitor demons. Since the royal family didn't have a castle and their villa was too small, Kain wanted to host the summit in one of the main lecture halls. One of the scholars' quarters was being used to house important guests. Sultan Yusef being one of them.

We found his giant throne wagon parked in a square around a fountain along with other, smaller carriages. Talk about compensating.

Too bad it was also guarded, but unlike the entrance to the Arcane Ward, these were the Sultan's people. Maybe eight of them if no one was hiding.

"Oh, look who's here. The champions of the Lannarkis Ring." A bulky dark elf sized them up and growled.

"Hey, hey! We're not here to fight if we can help it. How about you guys take this and buzz off?" Yui tried to offer them another bottle of wine.

The elf snatched the bottle, popped open the cork, and drank it all in one go.

"It ain't enough," he said, burping in Yui's face.

"Well, amnesia it is." I pulled the elf down and threw a headbutt, knocking him out cold. The others were about to fight back, but Yui was faster to shock them, poking them like a human-taser.

"I'll paint the bozos, and you get the wagon?" Yui asked.

"Fine by me," I said, putting down the large barrel of ink.

"Whatcha gonna graffiti?"

We returned to the guild hall after giving the Sultan's ride and his guards a new paint job. There was nothing better than vandalizing someone else's property. Too bad Anya passed the fuck out, otherwise we would be telling her all about it.

I was about to have myself a drink until Kain barged into the guild, panting like a dog.

"What's good, Gofer?" I raised a glass in his direction, then saw that Yui was about to sneak off with some herself and slapped it out of her hand.

"I received… complaints from Sultan Yusef's guards… You vandalized them and his property, didn't you?" Kain asked.

"Hey, you can't prove it was me."

He put a hand to his face and groaned. "Who else has the maturity level to draw a phallus with hairy testicles across the side of the sultan's wagon?!"

The entire guild bursted into laughter.

"Okay, that was me. I'm just letting him know he's a dick. You gotta admit, that's pretty funny." I chuckled.

"These childish acts may not be violent, but they are very antagonistic to the—"

Ethel and Roma entered the guild, panicking as they pushed past Kain.

"Lady Micchi! Loraine has gone missing!" they exclaimed together.

"What?" I jumped out of my seat and grabbed both of them by the collars. "Gone missing where?"

"W-We're not sure…" Ethel stammered.

"Wait a minute… I thought I saw Lady Loraine walking alone on my way here," Kain said, falling into thought.

"You didn't think to say something sooner? Where, damn it?" I growled, running out of patience.

"I had believed she was only taking a leisurely stroll! But now that I think about it, she might have been… heading in the direction of the Arcane Ward."

Why? For what? Don't tell me she's going to confront Sultan Yusef alone?