'This might very well be the most fantasy-coded city I've ever visited...' mused Vahn, admiring the predominantly wood and stone structures of Bonta, the largest city in the World of Twelve with a population just over a million people. It wasn't the most thoughtfully designed, with few straight roads and buildings that seemed to be competing for the same lot of land, but it had remarkable verticality, with most buildings having three or more floors, brightly tiled roofs, external pipe systems, and skyways connecting between businesses or residences owned by the same individual but not necessarily built on the same lot.
"I can't remember the last time I felt this free~!" chimed Amalia, balancing haphazardly atop the sloping parapet of a cobbled bridge with her hands held out to her sides. Her actions drew a great deal of attention, but she was wholly unbothered by their gazes and remarks. Instead, she modeled a broad, almost cat-like smile as she eyed the upcoming shops and signs like a predator that had chanced across a surplus of prey.
"Just be careful you don't slip and fall into the river..." sighed Eva, walking close but not too close to Vahn along his left side. Her leaf-green eyes would occasionally flicker to his hand, but when he offered it for her to hold, she refused on the grounds that she would need both hands free if they were attacked.
"I couldn't, even if I wanted to~" countered Amalia, proving her claim by swaying to her right. Eva's eyes widened upon seeing her begin to fall, but before she could charge forward to try and catch her, Amalia, laughing, was righted by Vahn's invisible Domain, wrapped protectively around her waist.
"See? What did I tell you? With Vahn as our escort, Ogrest himself could appear and we'd be completely safe~" chimed Amalia, adopting a broad, toothy, closed-eyed smile.
"Ogrest. I've heard that name before," noted Vahn, offering his hand to Amalia as they reached the end of the bridge. Instead, she unabashedly leaped toward him, compelling him to grab her by her waist and set her down as she merrily explained, "Ogrest is the Great Beast of Calamity, a blue-eyed Ogre who gained the power to oppose the Gods. Some claim he's just a myth, but it's said that if you journey by sea near Mt. Zinit, you can hear his cries moments before great catastrophes."
"And no one's traveled to Mt. Zinit to confirm his existence?" asked Vahn, prompting Eva to chime in and explain, "It's not that they haven't. The mountain is perpetually enveloped by swirling fog and storm clouds, and the seas encircling its island are the most treacherous in the World of Twelve, with colossal, ship-breaking Krakens infesting its waters, massive whirlpools that can appear and vanish without warning, and a vast fleet of ghost ships that grows larger by the year. Many Heroes have attempted to overcome these obstacles to locate and finally defeat Ogrest, but the few who returned had succumbed to madness."
"Hmmn...I see..." muttered Vahn, causing Amalia and Eva to stare at him curiously as he shifted his gaze to the southeast and peered through all of the obstacles in his way to stare at a desolate, bone-littered mountain several thousand kilometers away. As he tried to peer into it, however, he came into contact with a barrier similar to his Domain, which bounced his perception away and caused a ripple through space and time.
'Interesting...' thought Vahn, narrowing his eyes slightly. He could easily force his perception through the obstruction, but since Ogrest wasn't his to defeat, his perception returned to Bonta, where Amalia curiously asked, "Is something the matter?"
Adopting a relaxed smile, Vahn caressed the green-haired Princess's head with his right hand, confessing, "I was just contemplating whether or not I should do something about this Great Beast of Calamity. But as he's never done anything to antagonize me, and this ultimately isn't my world to fight for, my intervention could make things worse."
"Could you do something about him...?" asked Eva, brows raised and eyes wide as she eyed Vahn expectantly.
"It's fifty-fifty," answered Vahn, making a so-so gesture with his left hand as he explained, "There's a good chance this Ogrest is stronger than me, but in terms of Authority—the capacity of Gods to bend the world to their will—I'm at the top. I might not be able to defeat him directly, but sending him to the far side of the universe or flinging him into another dimension is a simple but destructive solution."
"Destructive how...?" asked Amalia, staring at Vahn with an upturned gaze, her curiosity piqued and her heart racing at the prospect that he could rid their world of Ogrest with a simple wave of his hand.
"Well, you see..." started Vahn, expanding upon his previous explanations of fate, karma, and the reasons he was primarily an observer of the World of Twelve. The important takeaway was that, while he could solve most of their world's problems, it was infinitely better that they or others acquired the means to solve them themselves. By the end of the explanation, they were in the back corner of a cafe operated by a buxom Ecaflip, a Class of people who developed fur and increasingly cat-like features in proportion to their greed and willingness to take risks.
"This explains why the Gods of our world are seldom seen and rarely take direct action..." sighed Eva, nursing a large milkshake topped with a dozen sliced strawberries.
"That's not entirely true," countered Vahn, shaking his head before calmly appending, "I'm certain they have their reasons, but, generally speaking, Gods who directly preside over a world have free rein to influence it. The main reason many stop doing so is that it becomes increasingly tedious to keep fixing things over millennia, and the more they do so, the more their people become reliant on them. In the worst-case scenario, their people can turn on them for not fixing things, which, in turn, weakens their status and influence as Gods."
"So the Gods began ignoring our world to protect themselves...?" asked Amalia, frowning deeply with an overturned silver spoon in her mouth and a half-finished banana split on the table before her.
"I would have to ask them to know for certain," answered Vahn, raising his gaze, peering through the ceiling and the floors above as he added, "But I have no particular interest in meeting your Gods. It would almost certainly result in me having to prove my power and Authority, and since the people of this world are physically influenced by their beliefs, it would complicate the lives of many if I inadvertently slew the God that conferred them their unique forms and power..."
"Does that mean you could defeat the other Gods? Or would you do the same to them as you did Ogrest...?" asked Amalia, abandoning her frown for an excited, shimmery-eyed smile. Her position was implicitly elevated in proportion to Vahn's power and Authority, so if he were more powerful than other Gods, his making that known would consequently elevate her above them.
"Generally speaking, I can't be defeated," answered Vahn, piquing both women's curiosity as he explained, "Even if my body is destroyed, I can reform as many times as I please. And since I grow more powerful over time, my serious bouts typically end the same way—with my opponents either giving up or depleting their strength until mine surpasses them. It isn't the most glamorous way of fighting, but from the moment I'm forced or decide to take action, the outcome is decided. The only variable is how long it will take to achieve."
"I want to see you in action..." hummed Amalia, leaning forward in a way that deliberately emphasized her cleavage while tracing her tongue along her upper teeth.
Raising his right brow, Vahn asked, "Did you have something specific in mind? As long as it doesn't influence things on a mass scale, there isn't much I can't do."
Grinning from ear to ear, Amalia's brown eyes glistened as she revealed, "Bonta has many things it's renowned for, but two of its most celebrated pastimes are Gobbawl and tavern brawls. Once we're finished shopping, we can head to the docks to meet up with Yugo and the others. By now, they should have chartered a ship and found a place for us to stay. After we get checked into our room, we can find a bar full of ne'er-do-wells for you to teach a lesson!"
"Mmn...I'm generally against baiting people into conflict, but I don't mind sharing a drink with two beautiful women..." responded Vahn, adopting his characteristic smolder as he discreetly slipped his hands around Amalia's and Eva's backs to caress their sides. His contact sent a pleasant tingling through their bodies, but that was it. He wasn't attempting to excite them, so instead of stimulating, he had the energy that flowed into them provide comfort.
Scooting closer to Vahn, Amalia's smile gained an overtone of mischief as she asked, "But isn't it more exciting to seek trouble? Sure, things can get out of hand, but I'd rather get into a bar fight than spend my life caged in a castle like a rare flower that needs protection. Men should be bold, and roses should have thorns..."
"Not everyone enjoys causing trouble, Amalia..." sighed Eva, sitting back with her arms crossed and eyes closed, effectively trapping Vahn's hand and arm in place as she contended, "There's nothing wrong with settling down, performing your duties, and starting a family..."
"Sure, maybe in a few years..." conceded Amalia, leaning closer to Vahn and slipping her right hand under the table to cup his bulge as she added, "But you can't understand the world and its peoples without meeting and interacting with them. My brother might be the next King, but I won't be a sheltered Princess or a political tool..."
"Well, you've got my support..." affirmed Vahn, turning his face sideways and leaning in to give the bronze-skinned beauty a kiss. At the same time, he slid his hand down to Eva's right butt cheek, causing her cheeks to tint red and her gaze to sweep the cafe's interior to ensure they weren't being watched. In the process, her gaze met that of the proprietress, prompting the cat-like woman to wink playfully before retreating to the kitchen area with her feline tail swishing behind her...
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[Several Hours Later]
After failing to find Yugo and company in the harbor, Vahn expanded his Domain to encompass the entire city, pinpointing their location at a cheap inn located in the same district as one of Bonta's most famous attractions, the Bontanese Gobbowl Stadium. There, on a stone balcony with a great view of the city, Yugo dribbled a white, blue-horned ball that resembled a spherical sheep with stitching for its mouth and eyes like a skilled football player.
"Oh, hey! It's Vahn! And he's brought Amalia and Eva with him...!" shouted Yugo, his brows shooting up at the arrival of the trio from a precarious set of curved stone steps without a railing.
As Yugo made his way over to greet the trio with a smile, a breaking voice complained, "Aagh! Not this guy again! We're never going to have any real adventures if you keep calling Vahn to solve every little thing!"
Accompanying the voice, Percedal emerged from the inn's interior with a notably annoyed expression. He couldn't deny that Vahn had been helpful throughout their travels, particularly when one or more of them got lost or captured. But as an aspiring Hero who dreamed of perishing honorably in battle, Vahn's assistance was denying them opportunities to make names for themselves or die trying.
"Aww, come on, Dali. Vahn's a really nice guy," remarked Yugo, his brown eyes glistening as Vahn handed him a pouch filled with colorful, starburst-shaped candy.
"More importantly, why are the two of you here...?" asked Eva, standing with her arms crossed and an unamused expression adorning her face as she questioned, "Where's Ruel and our ship?"
"Present and accounted for, my long-eared friend," responded an aged voice, followed by Ruel and two other old men emerging from the inn's interior. One was tall, dark-skinned, and had the cat-like features of an Ecaflip, wearing a scant red jersey and what looked like a linen diaper. The other was short, barely 120cm tall, with a crazy, X-shaped hairstyle split between his head and the sides of his face. He also had tufts of hair growing from his large, rounded ears, and large, steampunk goggles that looped over his head and caused his eyes to appear massive behind dark green lenses.
"And you, my tall and handsome friend, have arrived not a moment too soon," added Ruel, directing the statement and an opportunistic grin at Vahn. Then, much to Percedal's frustration, the trio of geriatrics began explaining how they planned to acquire the funds to purchase a ship by winning the championship match of a Gobbowl tournament scheduled to take place in nine days...
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