Chapter 41: Chapter 40: War And Diplomacy Part 2

With their plans for after set, the others were even more keen to throw the party. The knowledge that their routine was coming to an end so soon was enlightening and they now knew that they had been ignoring certain eventualities.

The party was planned for the next day with Darren, Daniel, some of Alysse’s friends and some of Blanc’s friends on the guest list, they also invited everyone’s parents including Leanna and Alisha.

They hoped that they might be able to offer Carl some degree of comfort, even if they knew he would be a little put out not being able to talk to Leanna freely about the diplomatic issues and exactly how they made so many improvements so quickly or the extent of their territory.

They spent the rest of the day getting things ready for the party, which made everyone even more excited for the party. The adults were happy to see them acting like normal teenagers for a change, even if they were a little anxious about the party getting out of hand, they trusted the three to be somewhat sensible given that they weren’t really the party animal types.

“Lydia, do you think we should set up a temporary perimeter to stop people wandering off and annoying the Lugarian’s?”

“Yes.”

“Professor Kon, do you think we should set up the map room to display the Archyon survey and security lock it?”

“The fact you are asking suggests you know. Alysse, if you want us to get excited for the party, can you please start things off with a bit of a display on what we have found and surveyed there. We need to use this opportunity to show the work we did in an hour as weeks of ongoing work.”

“Right, great idea, Blanc can you whip up a timelapse record of us flattening that land?”

“Sure thing…” Blanc quickly disappeared to go and create the video as requested, he had been working on such a thing in his spare time as a just in case, so it wouldn’t take him long to finish.

Alysse set to work on a perimeter wall and Gillian went to explain to the Lugarians what was happening and promised it would be back to normal afterwards.

“These kids are something else. I mean if I had all this crap going on at their age I would have been crying under the bed.” Noah declared shamelessly.

“You aren’t wrong, that’s why Carl wanted it to go ahead, the problem is he doesn’t know when to give himself a break. I think things are going to turn volatile if we don’t hear anything from Klaire soon.” Lydia sighed.

“Indeed, he is almost as emotional as a banshee himself, if the dragons push him too far I don’t want to think about what he will do in a spur of the moment decision”

“Come on guys, you’re making me feel bad for struggling to find the two critters he wants… Wait, just got an idea, be back in a second…” Noah suddenly ran off, leaving everyone to assume he either went on a misguided beast hunt or just wanted to bail on setting up the party.

He came back with Carl in tow a short while later, both of them concerningly excited about something. “Lydia, Kon, Blaine, need advice on an idea Noah came up with.”

“My instinct tells me it’s a bad one, but why don’t you elaborate.” Kon shrugged.

“I want to make a pet each for Tiamat and Bahamut, using a material from them. That way I can give them each a new race of direct descendants, which will demonstrate my power to them, it will also provide me the opportunity to create two powerful species I can set loose as a trump card with neo genesis.”

“So your idea is to use that ability as a deterrent? Make enough powerful creatures that it’s more trouble than it’s worth attacking your territory since you’ll just completely change the landscape and leave an ecosystem filled with creatures descended from the likes of Tiamat, Bahamut Kyubi and any others you align yourself with.”

“Yes, but the point is, if I make the two of them, for bahamut and Tiamat, I can create them anytime I want.

Firstly, they would be perfect pets for Noah and Blaine as well, their instincts and power will make over creatures more submissive and easier to study and deter if necessary,

Secondly, we have been considering making more concessions than we would have liked with the dwarves because of one world in particular…”

“You mean the one with all those precious metal traces, rich in materials that would make your construction skill a great deal cheaper.”

“Exactly, on a planet full of dragons, they will do the mining and gathering for us. Obviously we won’t take it all, but as the official owner of the planet I actually have the right to demand tribute from it’s residents.”

The adults burst into laughter…

For some reason they were listening to Carl’s plan to create a planet full of dragons so that he could tax them.

“Have you considered the possibility that Bahamut and Tiamat might find your use of creatures originally made from their materials as a bank account, a little insulting?”

“I had, that why I won’t. I’m going to use it as an experiment, that knowledge will be the only thing I ask for in exchange for my assistance. As you said, the wyvern killing Klaire and I had nothing to do with Faylorna, which means the wronged are still yet to seek reparations. Wouldn’t letting that be water under the bridge be setting a bad precedent?”

“I don’t like how much sense all that made, but what is it you want to experiment with?”

“If neo genesis can reproduce every creature I have designed before, then doesn’t that mean their blueprints are stored inside of me somewhere? I want to test that so Noah doesn’t even need to get me one of the beasts I need for the other two.”

“I get the feeling if I don’t let you follow-up with that inspired idea, my skin will be a lampshade next to Lillim’s bed, so I don’t really have a choice but to let you try this experiment.”

Carl pumped his fist in the air and ran back up stairs to try and visualise the genetic bank he wanted to try utilising. He had forgotten one small, incredibly hyper and easily starved of attention problem though.

“Dad, I know your mopey but can we play a game?”

“I am not mopey, I’m… Okay yes, I miss Klaire, and Kyubi and Lillim and everyone. I wan’t to see them all tomorrow but I don’t know what I am supposed to say, besides I know you’re just going to play tricks on me all night with an audience to watch.”

“No I’m not. I don’t need to. I already played the trick and that big meeting. I just want to see what they say when they see you carrying me around.”

“Thank you for reminding me…”

After that Carl really had no choice but to attend, so by the next day Kitsunoko was thoroughly excited knowing she would be the centre of attention. She wasn’t shy about that fact either and told everyone they had to call her “Carl’s daughter” all night, which was a fact they all delighted in.

The first to arrive were the parents, professor Liam, a few other teachers who the adults invited as reinforcements, some beast-geeks Blaine invited and some hunters who Noah once called competition but now thought of as valuable connections since he wasn’t in the trade anymore.

Leanna and Alisha obviously ran directly to Carl, though they were halted by a small fox girl who all but demanded her grandmas’ attention, at least until Leanna cleared her throat. “Ah yes, my darling grand-daughter, she who single handedly nearly caused a riot at the end of year assembly.”

Kitsunoko very quickly reevaluated the attention she wanted. “Err, that doesn’t sound like me, I am a good girl who never misbehaves. Anyway, shouldn’t you be telling Dad off for being silly since then?” She proceeded to throw Carl under the bus immediately with everything she hadn’t been specifically told not to mention.

Whilst Carl was receiving a lengthy lecture…

“Mum! Dad! Can’t believe you both made it!” Alysse hadn’t seen both her parents together in so long the shock nearly made her crush them with her welcome hug.

“Gillian, am I to assume you haven’t done anything but nearly die? That is the only time you contacted me, so I assume nothing else happened.” Gillian’s dad appeared in alpha-mode. It was bad enough Gillian abandoned them without a word, but his inability to maintain contact had aggravated his dad since Lillim demanded he either drop the grudge or become Samael’s hunting dog in the demon realm.

“Well that assumption would be wrong, Archyon is a dangerous planet with no atmosphere or even stable gravity and yet we have already laid some solid foundations. If you want to see how far I’ve come, I’ll be happy to take you on and bring the whole pack under Carl’s control.

The two of them growled at each, slowly changing into their beast forms when Equinox appeared and sent a cold chill down their spines.

“Gillian, please don’t embarrass Carl or the faction. Why don’t you go show your father and Alysse’s parents what you have done? You can prove our guest wrong gracefully and if he still causes a scene, I will fulfill my duty as chief of emotional support and escort him out.”

Gillian and his father quickly simmered down after that, Equinox was an incredibly potent prescensce to creatures as sensitive as lycans, even half-breeds.

“Son, if Carl made that one to… I might well sign on, I never want to be on that things bad side.” He chuckled nervously and Gillian followed suit, then orders and led the way to the workspace where the map was set up with both the mock timelapse and incredibly detailed survey information which left all the parents impressed.

Not long after they finished the digital presentation for the parents, the guests started arriving in earnest, clearly eager to both catch up with their friends and compare notes on post graduation life.

To give Alysse and Gillian more private time with their parents, Kon decided to take the optional program students on a tour of the HQ so that they could compare the faction facilities to what they had at their own, whilst Blanc just ran everybody through the same presentation.

When Carl was left to mingle thanks to Lydia interrupting the ongoing lecture however, hell broke loose when Kitsunoko got the attention she craved.

“Are you really Carl’s and Kyubi’s little girl?”

“Yep and Mama Klaire’s too!”

“Kitsunoko, please elaborate more… She was actually made with the same skill I made Squidge with, though it took a donation of Kyubi’s tail fire and Celestial fox fur.”

“Wow, that’s awesome and what was that big water dragon at the assembly that caught the Madam Director?”

“That was Levi, she’s away with Klaire right now…. She’s gone to Faylorn on family business, apparently they weren’t too thrilled she didn’t announce her marriage.”

“Aww. Do you miss her?” Carl looked at the girl like she was thick and everyone who wasn’t the dense girl held their breath.

“Yes… Luckily my skill let’s us chate through the system even though slates don’t work in the misty village.”

“Oh well at least you haven’t lost contact!” Kitsunoko began to growl at her. “Sorry did I say something.”

“Yes “N’t lost cont” is very insulting phrease to Kitsune” He said out loud whilst saying something else to Kitsunoko telepathically. ’If you can’t deal with stupid people, you aren’t going to have much fun with Gillian around.’

Kitsunoko changed into a fox to smother her laughter, then very quickly fell asleep.

The party turned out to be surprisingly productive, the beast tamers and trappers that Noah invited and the beast-geeks Blaine had, turned out to be very good at what they each did and potentially very skilled faction members in future with the interest they took in Carl and his pets.

[ LEVI HAS SIGNED A CONTRACT WITH FAYLORNA BASHE ]

A tear fell down Carl’s cheek and he headed straight for the kitchen which was unoccupied to have his overdue breakdown.

He wasn’t subtle and most of the others followed him, saying that they had just received a message from about a project update that Carl’s skill had completed a step. Since planetary settlement projects were incredibly valuable, discretion was both natural and respected.

“Carl what’s wrong?” Leanna asked, hugging him along with Alisha.

“I just got a message from the system, Levi signed a contract with Faylorna, I don’t know what it is, but at least I know they’re still alive…” Carl sobbed a bit, the simple, vague message told him next to nothing, but it meant everything to him at that moment and then he got one that meant even more.

[ KLAIRE HAS RESCINDED STANDING PERMISSION FOR LEVI TO ACT AUTONOMOUSLY ]

[ LEVI DESIGNATION SET TO GROUNDED ]

[ MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM KYUBI : CARL, FAYLORNA JUST SUMMONED LILLIM AND I, NOT LONG NOW. WAIT JUST ONE MORE WEEK… IF I DONE THE MATH RIGHT. ]

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