Wriothesely's POV
I looked up, following the familiar laughter to the source.
And there she was, Lady Furina sitting on a beam right above us.
"Hey, hey, Wriothesely. Who is this idiot?" She pointed towards the man.
I just shrugged my shoulders.
"No idea whatsoever."
"Really?"
"Really."
"He seems to have something against you though."
"Well, yes. That does seem to be the case. But... How come you're here, Lady Furina."
Hearing my question, the archon let out an annoyed sigh.
"Look at this! Sedene gave me this a while ago!"
She jumped down from the beam and pushed a piece of paper into my face.
Please go find Wriothesely for me.
Neuvillette.
"He didn't even bother writing me a full letter! This is just a piece of the one he sent to Sedene!" She complained.
Pfft!
This is quite un-Neuvillette-like.
"I would have expected him to send a long and detailed letter-"
"He did! Just not to me! He sent one to Sedene! He even wrote one for the girls and the Phantom! But I got this!"
As Lady Furina huffed and puffed around angrily, the mystery man finally seemed to regain his composure.
Well...
Somewhat.
"La-Lady Furina. What- What are you doing here?"
And oh, what a horrible plan it was to disturb the annoyed archon.
"What I'm doing here? You are asking what I am doing here?!"
Rest in peace, person whom I don't know.
"I'm here to save this idiot so the other one doesn't destroy the nation!"
Hey!
Why am I randomly insulted again?
"Do you even know what stupid thing you're doing?! Kill him your butt! If he didn't control himself, you would have long turned into nothing but a puddle of blood!"
Puddle of blood?
Is that what the conch does?
I turned to Trow to ask, but she shook her head.
"It's a long story. It might be better to ask Monsieur Neuvillette later."
That I will do for sure.
Just what kind of thing did he randomly throw at me before I left?
At least attach a warning or something!
By this point, everyone on our side had been calmed down by Lady Furina's presence.
The other side, however...
They looked like they didn't know where to run to escape the archon.
"Lady Furina."
"Yes?"
"Could you perhaps..."
I shook my cuffs at her and she immediately understood.
"Oh, right."
With a snap of her fingers all forthy men were disarmed and tied up by ropes made of hydro.
"Isn't it cool?" She asked smugly.
"Yes, yes." I nodded along.
I was just about to ask her another question when a familiar figure caught my eye.
"Claude?"
I looked confused at the boy running our way.
Wait...
Was he holding a...
At the same time, Trow too called out confused.
"Veleda?"
Her soft call caused the melusine Claude was holding in his hand to wave at us excitedly.
"Trow look! I brought a cute kid!" She shouted.
You brought him?
I'm quite sure he is the one holding you.
The two quickly reached us and Claude put the melusien, Veleda, down.
"Trow look at him! Isn't he cute?" She pulled Claude closer to Trow.
The corner of Trow's mouth twitched as she looked at her friend.
"Why are you here, Veleda?"
"Oh, that! This kid popped up from Meropide with a map in hand. When I questioned him, he showed me his destination and told me that he was under Monsieur Neuvillete's orders. I figured I would be able to see something interesting if I followed along so- Huh? Who's the shiny guy?"
She stopped mid-sentence and turned to look at me in surprise.
Shi-shiny guy?
Trow quickly pulled her aside and threw her a few unfriendly-sounding words in a language I once again couldn't understand.
After that, she turned back to me.
"My apologies, Your Grace. Veleda is... on the older side when it comes to melusines. She's also a bit... odd."
"She wasn't sick." I couldn't help but point out.
It was just an observation, but...
"Well, of course not. I went through that useless thing way back." She shrugged her shoulders.
She seemed annoyed at first, but then she suddenly shot Trow a floating grin.
"I had Monsieur Neuvillette all to myself back then." She chuckled.
Trow's reaction to this was far more intense than I could have ever imagined.
She slammed her hand on top of Veleda's head, followed by, what I could only guess was a string of curses, in the same language as before.
Alright...
This isn't something I want to get involved in.
Besides, I had something else to do anyway.
I turned around and was left speechless.
Lady Furina was holding Claude's cheeks as she looked at him with sparkling eyes.
What the-
"Wow! Really? Are you sure you don't want to work for the Phantom?"
"I'm quite sure, Lady Furina."
"Aw... What a pity. Having a cute kid like you around would have made it a lot more fun. But oh well... Here. This is what Neuvillette asked for. Actually, take two. If he doesn't need the other one you can just keep it." She smiled.
What the hell is going on here?!?
Is there something about Claude I'm just unable to see?
I walked a bit closer and Claude finally noticed my presence.
"Ah! Your Grace! Wait- Oh, Your Grace, you're fine. I should go!"
It was as if a world-changing revelation had just hit him.
I was barely fast enough to grab him before he ran off.
"Stay right there, young man. What are you doing here?"
In the Court. On the surface.
For the first time and without supervision.
"Monsieur Neuvillette sent me here to make sure you're fine, Your Grace. Now that I've confirmed it, I should go back and inform him."
He tried running off again but I pulled him back once again.
"You're not going anywhere before you've informed me about what exactly happened in Meropide."
Just what exactly is with this kid?
Why is he in such a hurry?
"Do I really have to, Your Grace? If I don't get back soon I'm afraid that Monsieur Neuvillette will scare our engineers to death!"
"Scare them to death?"
"Yes, yes! You won't believe just how scary he looked before I left!"
Scary?
Neuvillette?
Stern? Sure.
But scary?
"He's pissed off." Lady Furina commented from the side.
"What?"
"He holds you quite dear, even if he cannot understand why. You don't just go around threatening someone that a... uhm... Neuvillette, holds dear. It isn't only enraging, but a major insult."
Her next words sounded within my mind only.
"The back of his mind probably stings from the thought that someone actually dared to touch someone that is dear not to just a dragon, but one of the Sovereigns at that. A dragon's innate pride, so to speak. Couple that with his worry for your well-being and voila! You've got a very pissed dragon whose anger could be felt by me and just about every melusine in Fontaine."
Well, that...
That's not good.
"He wouldn't..."
Kill anyone, right?
"Well, that depends. I've heard quite a few not-so-child-friendly stories about dragons with an injured pride. They don't exactly end well."
Oh...
We're totally screwed, aren't we?
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It's 3 AM WTF?!
Why am I still writing?!
How am I still awake enough to write?!
It's beyond me.
But, here you go!
A new chapter, brought to you by a tired author who just realized she should have been asleep four hours ago.