Dissonance 11 – What is a King to a Cultivator?

What is a king to a Cultivator?

Eldred was not the philosophical type, but even he found himself contemplating that question. He had enough time on his hands, forced to trot at a reduced speed courtesy of his decisions. The crate of alchemical supplies would have slowed him to a jog and carrying Ellie around further reduced his speed.

Initially, Eldred had resigned himself to walking. His impatient spirit had been unable to cope with that. Since his sleeping bag would already need to be checked for fleas, he decided to have Ellie curl up inside it and then stuffed the resulting shortstack burrito into his backpack. It wasn’t a perfect fit, but it worked. Blessedly, Ellie was just that tiny.

She did not seem to mind that arrangement one bit. She had not been comfortable in the daylight. In fact, the only complaints he had ever heard her make were about the sun. That had been while they were still in the cover of the forest. One time, she had poked her head out after they had hit the plains. She had hissed at the daystar like a highborn vampire, then resumed talking to Nyx. The banshee kept hovering pace with Eldred, using her ghostly nature to push her face through the bag.

While the girls enjoyed their talk, Eldred continued to contemplate that question.

Everything depended on circumstances, of course. Kings reigned over a vast variety of societies with anything ranging from an iron fist to blasé absence. Prosperous to ruinous, stone to nuclear age, monarchs were common everywhere. Eldred vaguely remembered something about the cycle of four states from his politics classes… aristocracy, oligarchy, democracy, monarchy – something like that?

‘Wished I had paid more attention,’ Eldred thought. ‘Then I wouldn’t have to work out the answer to this question. I would just know.’

What is a king to a Cultivator?

The question was becoming more pressing with every passing minute. The second day on this world was nearing its end and Eldred was approaching the castle. He was moving at about half the speed he had the day before, so it made sense that it took him a full day rather than half of one to get back. It was fascinating how quickly his own perception of speed had shifted. Already, he felt like he was moving through molasses.

That was the first point to consider in the question: power. What power did a king have compared to a Cultivator? Personal power was the first question on that front. Unless they were dealing with a hero king of some stripe, it could be assumed that, even at just one Core, Eldred was stronger. Then there was political power to consider.

Surely the king was ahead there? Well, as Eldred thought about it, he wasn’t actually that certain about that fact. He was Iridescian. He had never really thought about just how much power that gave him, but if he wanted to, he could have hired an army of bored locals and just led them through this portal. There were more people in the rundown district Eldred now called home than there were in this medieval capital city.

Economic power?

These people still built with straw.

Iridescia delivered assembly furniture with throwaway tools made of steel.

There was no competition.

“Eldred?” Nyx asked, when he was heading straight towards the castle.

“Yes?”

“What are you thinking about?” The question was presented in that kind of tone that made Eldred think she already knew and just needed the confirmation.

“How to deal with it if the king insists we hand Ellie over to him for being technically involved.”

“Why?”

“…Because he might.”

Nyx looked at him for several long seconds. “I love and adore you, my lion of fire and will,” she spoke, her melodic voice soaked in her forlorn nature and swinging with mild resignation, “but you can be quite bullish.”

“How do you mean?” Eldred now stopped. He was oblivious, but he at least knew he was oblivious.

“When there is a straight path, you will walk it without even considering the bridge to the simpler solution.” It was only half a metaphor. Nyx pointed east, to where the other half of the capital had once been and the massive bridge that stretched across the excavation towards the concrete tower where the portal lay. “Just drop her off here while we conclude our business.”

“Ah.” It finally registered with Eldred. There was no need to make the king even aware of Ellie’s existence. “Right…”

It was a twenty-minute detour, crossing the bridge and then putting the backpack down. Two guards from the kingdom were posted there, but they knew better than to stop an obvious Iridescian. Eldred entered the efficient concrete structure, then put his backpack down gently. One poke had the wrapped-up goblin wiggle. A couple more pokes later, her head surfaced from the sleeping bag. Crumbs surrounded her face.

“Undignified,” Nyx remarked and wiped them off the goblin’s face.

Eldred didn’t mind his rations disappearing. Ellie could stand adding a couple of kilos. She wasn’t famished, as was made obvious by her thighs, but her nutrition still left something to be desired. While Ellie made a variety of cute squeaking sounds, the driven man explained to her what was happening. “We’ll go deliver the alchemical supplies to the king,” he said. “Just wait here for a bit and then we’ll go to Iridescia, alright?”

“O-okay!” Ellie stammered. “T-that’s, uhm… you’re n-not just… lying to me to make it easier to capture me… r-right?” She shook her head. “Forget I asked that… you’re big and strong and tall and powerful… y-y-you don’t need to do that.”

“Indeed, I do not,” Eldred stated, suppressing his urge to pat her head. He failed. The greasy sensation on his palm was worth her smile, but he still was looking forward to throwing her in a bath. ‘I don’t have a bath,’ he realized. ‘I suppose I can take her to a bathhouse…?’

Eldred repressed the urge to wipe his palm on his expensive suit. Instead, he concentrated on his hand. As he walked past the guards, his hand was set on fire, slowly burning the dirt away. His flesh was unaffected. The guards subtly quivered in their armour at the casual display of might.

It did feel good to be powerful.

With no goblin on his back, Eldred ran over the bridge and then over to the castle. He had just enough decorum to stop at the castle gate. The alchemical supplies in the crate rattled. “I have come to return the stolen goods,” he declared to the guards. “Inform whoever it may concern that the goblins are dead and most of the flasks are still intact.”

One of the royal guards took the crate from him, then ran inside to deliver the message. Eldred was invited inside with many bows and several Iridescian phrases. The language truly had penetrated deeply. “Wonder why they are switching to Iridescian,” Eldred spoke aloud. It was initially confusing to the servant attending to him in the waiting room. That same servant jumped when Nyx manifested in all of her secretarial beauty.

“Politics, my love.” His banshee settled in his lap, manifesting with as much weight as she could without bothering him. The more of her perfect ass he felt press down on him, the better. “Speaking your language binds him closer to you and isolates him from foreign courts.”

“It is your language too,” Eldred suggested.

“I am uncertain of that.” The ghost lady stared wretchedly into the aether, only coming back when Eldred pressed a kiss on her cheek. “Thank you…”

“Do not thank me.” Fingers combed through the wispy strands of her hair. “You’re saving me too.”

Fire and ice, they put forehead to forehead and just… calmly existed for a minute. “I will train that goblin for you,” his banshee suddenly whispered.

The words were so absurd, so out of the blue, that Eldred could not help himself but laugh. “What do you mean by that?” he asked, though he already had an inkling.

“What I said, Master,” Nyx cooed quietly, a gleeful fantasy putting a smile on her face. Despite the black trails of never forgotten tears on her face, she looked devilishly happy as she spoke. “It will be my honour to unveil to the greenskin her proper station as your third haremette.”

“Don’t pressure her too much,” Eldred requested.

“Moral doubts? I assure you, she wants it.”

Doubting his banshee’s intuition on the matter felt unwise. Not that Eldred really had moral doubts. With a shrug, he explained, “If she wants in, that’s good enough for me. We are saving her from a life in disease and poverty. Also getting to live and love with the two most gorgeous women in the world is a privilege.”

“It is,” Nyx agreed, pressing a little tighter against him. “Ah… showing more ladies the glory of your will of corded steel and your muscles of solid marble.”

Eldred laughed again, partially because of the uncomfortable shifting of the servant. The man was clearly not used to this type of conversation. That wasn’t Eldred’s problem though. He wasn’t going to lie about what his harem was. “You seem to enjoy the idea of my harem expanding more than I do.”

“Perhaps I do?” Nyx did not sound entirely certain. Whoever enjoyed it more between the two of them, they weren’t far ahead of the other.

They really were just made for each other. Two that had found each other in the ruins of their lives, forging ahead into a brighter tomorrow. “We make for a perfect couple of perverts,” Eldred whispered.

Nyx’s response had the trill of half-sung poetry. “A deviant I will be, to be submissive with others for thee. For this wish they may brand me with a name I can’t deny, which I shall wear as a proud queen in your bed and beneath the sky.”

Truly, any sane man would have been satisfied with half a Nyx in his life.

Alas, Eldred had only managed to score her because his brain had jumped off the hinges.

‘There might be a lesson there,’ he thought, ‘but I am too distracted by her ass to figure it out.’

A messenger entered the chamber, immediately heading towards Eldred. “Excuse the wait, honoured Iridescian,” he said with a bow. “The king is busy. He is most pleased with your act and has given me the honour of delivering to you this bonus to your pay.” A leather pouch was extended towards Eldred. Coins within clinked as he simply took it. “We will confirm that your mission has been a success.”

“Fantastic, then I will be on my way.”

“O-of course.”

Was the man disappointed that nothing else had been said or simply this in awe? They lived in two entirely different worlds, literally and figuratively.

Eldred only wanted to get back to the literal part. This medieval exploration had been a fun excursion and he was richer for it in several ways. Alas, the longer he stayed, the less he liked it there. There were ticks and fleas everywhere, the peasants were clearly bowed by a life of hard work, and even the green landscape lost its charm after a bit. He wanted to be back among his people, where he knew an ice cream store was at most 30 minutes away.

Nothing happened to stop him. He just made it back to the portal, picked up his bagged goblin, and made it through to Iridescia.

________________________________________________________________________

“Of course you picked up a goblin,” Avari drawled when the greenskin was presented to her. “I’m genuinely not surprised. Second I heard you were killing them, I thought to myself ‘what are the odds they stole an attractive kid or maybe had a struggle-cuddle baby with an elf that looks decent’?” She sighed. “I’ll let ya get away with it the first time, but for the future, please don’t pick up the hot chicks you see in other worlds spontaneously like that.”

“Why not?” Eldred asked, his male brain putting the obvious answer out of reach.

Nyx let out a resigned sigh, clearly unhappy about her own knowledge. “It bodes poorly for the stability of the harem.”

“If you pick women all over the place, then bring them here after, that’s basically telling your entire harem: ‘I want to add this one, figure it out’. Plus, you know, it sets a poor precedent bloat wise. It’s easy now, because it’s just the three or four of us, but as the harem gets bigger, it needs more time to absorb newcomers.”

“That makes sense,” Eldred relented without hesitation. Listening to Avari on these things was just generally wise, she clearly had studied the matter. Though Nyx whispered sweet everythings in his ear, Avari was the voice of reason. He rewarded her for it with a kiss on the cheek. Brattily, she pushed him back after, happily blushing all the while. “Well, for now I just brought her somewhere better to live. No harem introduction yet.”

“Uhm… s-s-should I be part of this conversation?” Ellie asked. Between the curtain of her bangs and the edge of the sleeping bag, only her eyes were really visible.

“In a minute, girlfailure,” Avari told her fellow shortstack, though that was the only similarity the two had. One was standing with her massive tits pushed out, as naked as the company guidelines dictated for their base of operation. The other still did not want to leave her bag. “You got an extra bag of coin, you said?”

Eldred nodded and handed it over. Avari pulled one of the coins out, inspected it wearily, then gave it a bite. “Tsk. Bunch of copper in there. Cheapskate is diluting his money supply. Wait here, I’ll put some clothes on and hide this bag.”

“And then to the hospital?” Eldred suggested.

“Yup, that goblin needs a screening!” Avari shouted back as she disappeared up the flight of stairs.