Chapter 7 Part 2 of 3 (Patreon)

Chonglu waited outside of Delilah’s office in Alva. He had a forlorn look on his face as he scratched the patchy beard on his face numbly.

The door to Delilah’s office opened as Commander Glosil walked out.

“Sir.” Glosil saluted Chonglu, not waiting for his response before he marched down the hall; his aides and officers falling in with him as he started talking to them, passing orders.

Chonglu rose to his feet with a long sigh. He pulled on his robe. He breathed out and stood straighter as he faced Delilah’s office, bracing himself before he walked past the guard into the room.

She looked up from her notepad. Her pen point resting on the page. Her desk was organized in a strict way. Her hair was pulled back in a bun. Her young face didn’t show any childishness of her age. Her eyes seemed to pierce through him. “Chonglu. Sorry. Just give me a moment to write up some notes.” She bent her head and continued to write.

“Certainly, Council Leader,” Chonglu said, standing in front of her desk.

“Please, take a seat.” She waved at the chairs, not looking up as she continued to jot down notes. She circled and underlined a few key things and then closed her notepad and placed it to the side, resting her pen atop it. “Chonglu, thank you for seeing me on such short notice.”

Chonglu gave her a terse smile. “Look, Council Leader, I can save us both some time. Please thank Erik and Rugrat and the rest of the council for their faith in me for running Vuzgal. I lost the city. I will retire quietly from the public eye for this shame.” Chonglu bowed his head.

Delilah sat forward, resting her hands on the table. "Chonglu, that was hardly your fault. None of us could have predicted the Black Phoenix Clan. I sure as hell didn't." She sighed, looking tired as she sunk into her chair and waved her hand. "I don’t want you to retire Chonglu. I want you to run Alva.”

“Run Alva?” Chonglu’s eyes widened.

"When I started as Council Leader, Alva basically managed itself and had a few hundred people. We’ve just passed one and a half million Alvans. It might not be long with the people from Vuzgal and the guild joining us that we reach two million. I cannot run this dungeon city and the nation growing around it by myself. So, would you be interested in being Alva's City Lord and I can be the nation's Council Leader?"

"You don't doubt my abilities?" Chonglu’s brows knit together.

"Erik told me once. Don't watch what someone does day to day and forget to watch them when they are at their lowest. When one is under pressure that is when to watch closer. Chonglu, it is because of your performance with Vuzgal that I am completely confident asking you to run Alva Dungeon."

Chonglu was rendered mute as he cleared his throat. “Aren’t you scared that the Black Phoenix Clan will find us again?”

Chonglu felt the mana in the room twist.

“Vuzgal and Vermire are just our outposts, we can lose them if we must, but Alva. Alva is our home, they will need a dozen ships if they want to threaten us in our home.”

Chonglu gritted his teeth, raising his head. “Council Leader, I would be honored to serve Alva.” Chonglu stood, cupping his fists and bowing.

“Well, Mayor Chonglu, your first job”—she dropped books on her desk—“Is to get up to speed on Alva’s developments.”

Chonglu looked at the books. “More information books,” he muttered.

“Oh, there’s always more.” Delilah smiled devilishly.

Chonglu gave her a nervous smile back. “What will people think with me sending my children to the Fighter’s Association though?”

“You have your own reasons. Sure people are going to use that as a point of weakness, but Chonglu, you will not be the best mayor of Alva you can be by being meek. You must promise me two things. One, that you will be dead, or right by me as the last two people to leave Alva if we must flee. And, two, you will do everything in your power to support the people of Alva. We do not know how much time we have until we are found. We must use every second and squeeze every minute we have to be ready.”

“I promise,” Chonglu said solemnly.

“Then I picked right.”

***

Rugrat reached the front door and raised his hand, pausing. What the hell am I going to say?

He heard noises approaching the door from inside and expanded his domain just as the door opened.

“Why do I have to?” Racquel opened the door and looked at Rugrat. “Ah.” She smiled, making Rugrat grin. “Been here long?”

“Tell him to stop wearing a hole in my steps!” Fred said from within the house.

“Do you have a minute?”

“For you.” She crossed her arms and tapped a finger against her pursed lips. “Anytime.”

She giggled at his expression and closed the door and looped her right hand in his left.

He held her hand properly a second later as they went down the steps to the porch.

“So what’s up? Or just can’t resist me?” Racquel grinned, biting her lip and giving him a wink.

“The latter definitely, but I wanted to talk about… us. This,” Rugrat said.

“Okay?” They walked along rows of fruit trees and down the dirt packed road that mounts and carts travelled with their supplies.

“I…” Rugrat paused. “I like you, a lot, so I want to know if you want to take this further or not.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like if you want to date me.”

“I thought we were already dating?”

“Well, we were seeing one another in Vuzgal, then you disappeared to the higher realms, for some time, and now we’re back to, meeting up.”

It was Racquel’s turn to go silent. “I was a little scared the first time we went out. Also, one hell of a way to start dating, in the middle of a destroyed city filled with undead.”

“Hey, location, location, location.” Rugrat grinned.

Racquel smirked and shook her head before turning serious again, side stepping some fallen fruit and pushing into Rugrat. “I had just gotten out of the dungeon. I didn’t know if I liked you or if I just wanted to get into your pants. I’d been stuck with my family for centuries. Thankfully, most of it was spent cultivating, so time disappeared. I didn’t want to be just infatuated with the first man I met and that was it. I wanted to explore, to see the realms. We traveled through the Fifth Realm, seeing their contests. Won a few of them too. Then escaped to the Sixth Realm and their dungeons and academies. Reaper, Dromm and I went with William down into the dungeons while Dad and Elizabeth studied. We wandered from city to city, through dungeons, we made riches and gained acclaim.” Racquel’s eyes shone.

“We stepped into the Seventh Realm, cities that can spread as far as you can see. Airships as long as the Vuzgal tower. Dungeons that span under continents. Factions that are capable of offering resistance to the Associations. Fighters that can crack earth and sky iron with their attacks, Masters! Teachers that have attained mastery in their craft! Experts were a commonality as were liquid cores. A single person could rise into a superpower or a faction could collapse into nothing, their wealth and families eaten in political fighting and registered battles!”

She let out a breath.