Chapter 1636 – Arrival in Prague
The Gamer still had an intense dislike for journalists and their organizations. Most of these news crews were the nice public face for the kind of guild that made their living selling intel on the Abyss Auction. At best they were selling a version of reality that catered to their readers and at worst they were sucking every penny out of his private life that they could.
One unsteady step down these stairs and he would have headlines about it everywhere within 20 minutes.
John arrived at the bottom of the stairs without incident. The crowd of journalists was about to descend on him. Just as their feet touched the red carpet, the two so different yet similar figures of Beatrice and Ehtra landed between their Master and the eager news crews. Feathered wings of grey metal and white, electrified membranes of draconic wings stretched to form an impassable barrier. If that hadn't been deterrent enough, Metra landing a moment later certainly was.
“Do keep your distance,” Aclysia warned, from the top of the stairs. Next to her, holding a parasol above her head, stood Claire. Where the head maid kept her body language graceful and even, Claire retained the brutal disdain she had for any annoyance for her beloved. Red eyes glowed sinister in the shade of her sun-cover.
The journalists backed off. The duo folded their wings. The rest of the harem descended the steps.
First was Rave, of course. The First Lady of Fusion smiled for the cameras, then smiled a little wider when her man greeted her with a ready arm. She nuzzled up against him and they exchanged their first kiss of the trip.
Next was Momo. Skipping down the steps with the ease of fae wings, the chancellor of Fusion landed next to John on the left. By position, she got the ‘honour’ to claim his side during these public displays. “Can we make this quick?” she whispered, her wings trembling uncomfortably. Even if she had beaten the fear of it, public attention was still something she liked to avoid.
“We’ll try,” John promised and kissed her on the forehead.
Descending half in the air and half on foot came the elementals. Gnome at the head, Undine right behind her, with Salamander and Sylph curving through the air. Once they were at the bottom of the stairs, Siena rose from the leader’s shadows. All of them wore flowing summer dresses, elaborate but not overly ornate.
Annoyed more than anything else, Scarlett walked down the stairs. The redhead did not even pretend to care for the journalists, instead hanging onto her phone and barking some business orders into the microphone. In her own suit, she was a heavy contrast to the woman in the ash-coloured dress behind her. Lorelei had her hands folded in front of her and walked with such utter feminine grace that John noticed a temporary halt in the click of the cameras. The people were just that entranced.
Lee used that moment to hurry down the steps behind them, slipping into the crowd of haremettes unseen. “Sneaky little thing,” John complimented her, when she stopped behind him.
“I’ve put some points in it,” the gamer girl answered.
“You need more,” Nia pointed out. The blonde had just appeared next to them – a fact that made no one around jump. No one on the red carpet, anyway.
“Don’t compare me to you, that’s unfair.”
“Life isn’t fair,” Nia stated, remembering to add a disarming smile.
Hailey was next to step out. The country gal was in the kind of clothes that she had worn before meeting John. That was to say, she wore stuff that was as modest as it could be in hot weather. A tank top and a pair of practical, loose jeans. The outfit was as simple as it was alluring, showing just enough to guide the imagination without giving everything away.
Delicia, wearing her maid outfit (as did all the other maids), had no such things to hide. The shortstack went down the stairs, her huge knockers bouncing inside the confines of the chest piece of the white-black uniform. After jumping down the last three steps at once, she put her hands on her hips and inhaled deeply. “Ah, home sweet home!”
“We’re two countries away from your home,” John told her.
“It’s close enough!”
Last, John stepped out with his second body and wandered down the stairs with Aclysia and Claire. The two maids smiled elegantly, as they descended the steps. The crowd of haremettes put themselves in a photogenic assortment. Playing limited ball with the press was, ultimately, beneficial.
Ehtra took a step back, Aclysia three steps forward. Together with her twin, the first maid flanked John, forming a formidable wall against unwanted forwardness with their presence alone. Now that they both could project their emotions in an actual, tangible fashion, it was more effective than ever – although arguably still less than their combined reputation.
“Mister President, what do you have to say about the recent demise of Josef Mengele?” the first question came flying his way.
“Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person,” John answered plainly. “Next question.”
“There are rumours floating about that you killed him.”
“Does not surprise me.” John waved off. “Next question.”
“If you were to kill Mengele, how would you have do-“ The reporter asking the question stopped instantly when the combined ire of Aclysia and Beatrice crashed down on her.
“I have given all the public statements I want to on the matter of the Purest Front,” the Gamer broke the ensuing silence, his tone devoid of all the frustration he expressed through his maids. Only charming ambivalence was left in its place. “Please, I’m here to attend my best friend’s wedding. Let us talk about pleasant things.” ‘Not that Mengele’s death wasn’t pleasant,’ he added in his mind.
Questions from there pivoted to dull things. John’s opinions on the current state of the Token, Fusion’s expansion and newly acquired seat, the rumours that he had established a Kingdom connection in his Mine, and all of that.
John did as politicians do and used a lot of words to say very little, especially about that last bit. The kobolds that had been advertised in the Building upgrade had been sighted here and there, but John had not actually made contact with them yet. He had left it to the trusted core of miners that he had under contract to do some scouting before he spent hours upon hours trying to find an entrance.
Similarly, he had not yet placed the outpost. He simply did not have the time to go through the potential negotiations while also doing all of the things he was expected to do as head of state at the moment and keep his love life running at the usual pace. He had to attend sessions of parliament and its two constituent houses, engage in private talks, do paperwork, and attend all manner of public events.
Getting his face out there was important, especially since he was going to be absent again soon enough.
The interview session ended with the sight of another plane closing in on one of the airstrips. Lydia’s vessel, John was certain. Under other circumstances, he would have gotten ahead of the crowd and greeted the queen himself. Today was one of the few occurrences where he should and did prioritize someone else over one of his women.
Following the red carpet, the Gamer and his haremettes made their way away from the reporters and to the resplendent welcoming committee. The carpet eventually split in two, white marble visible between the dyed pathways of red, rolling out the Austrian flag in front of them.
At the end of it, before a large water fountain of gold-trimmed marble, stood Maximillian. Cocky as ever, he had one hand on his hip, while the other arm was hidden by the royal red and white cape that laid over his shoulders. Underneath he wore a suit of gold and black, a pin depicting a stylized eagle attached to his breast pocket.
“Welcome to my humble abode!” Maximillian shouted. On cue, Hawlper rose from the water fountain, drawing a sphere of crystal-clear liquid behind it. The sapient black hole released its influence, causing the water to splash into the basin behind the king. Drops of water froze all around him, their momentum expertly halted by first counteracting with manipulated gravity and then dropping the pull of mass altogether.
“There is never anything humble about you!” John shouted in a way that no one but good friends were allowed to shout at each other. “You’re the face of drama!”
“And you’re the face of ruining fun times!” Maximillian shouted back.
The two men did not say anything else, while John crossed the distance with long, hurried strides. They shook hands, not with the grace of two rulers, but with the resounding clap of friends that hadn’t seen each other in too long. Hands raised to their shoulders, their palms met, their fingers clasped down, and their wrists turned, pulling them towards each other. Entering a half-embrace, they patted each other’s back.
“Good to see you, buddy,” John stated.
“Same,” Maximillian answered and they separated again. “What kind of upgrade did you pick up this time? Because I don’t remember you being this hale.”
“Funny, that was the name of one of them, although the last Perk was called Herculean.”
“Yeah, you’re not that big.”
“The girls love it anyways.”
“I’m sure they do.” Maximillian tilted his head to the side and John glanced over his shoulder. Behind him, his harem was interacting with Maximillian’s. There was an enormous size difference, the nearly twenty girls that John had brought along forming a half-circle around Irielz, Laralia, and Alice.
“Are you an official thing?” the Gamer asked quietly, gesturing with his head at the first Maiden of Null.
“We are something,” Maximillian answered with a shrug.
“I’m putting off the talk,” Alice stated, suddenly standing next to the two of them.
After all his time with Nia, this kind of shenanigan no longer spooked him. Neither did it work on Maximillian. “Alice, we’re having the guy talk right now.”
The Red Maiden tilted her head and smiled. The dark-haired woman took a large step back, did a curtsy in her impossibly white dress, and disappeared back to the other crowd. “She’s gotten paler,” John noted.
“Is that a surprise? The sun here isn’t half as merciless as Florida.”
“No, just interesting to note.” John rolled his shoulder. He looked around. “No larger welcoming committee? I expected you to put up at least an orchestra.”
“They were delayed,” Maximillian said with a long sigh. He wasn’t kidding.
‘To be fair, neither was I,’ John thought. “You know you’re getting married in a few days, right?”
“Buddy, I haven’t managed to get that out of my mind for the last fourteen days.” The king shifted about where he stood, looking at his wife-to-be with equal parts nervousness and anticipation.
As a recently engaged man, John understood fully. He chuckled suddenly and explained when Maximillian sent him a glance, “You know how men prop each other up by saying ‘the worst she can say is no’? And then, if you’re normal, you eventually find out there’s a whole cascade of worse things women can say to annihilate your confidence… and now it kind of loops back around to being true anyway.”
“Yeah, thanks, buddy, that’s what I needed to hear.”
John just laughed and patted his friend on the shoulder. His tone had been too dry to be taken as genuine worry that Irielz would say no. The succubus strutted over at the same time. Short and busty, the light-grey skinned woman in her almost traditional dress, as black and gold as her husband-to-be’s suit, was a sight and a half.
“Not to interrupt your bromance or anything,” she said, dark lips spread in a teasing smile, “but we do have more guests to welcome.”
“As per usual, my fiancée is right,” Maximillian stated. “One of my servants is waiting by the exit. They’ll make sure you are accommodated. You just need to sign the contract to put your teleporter down.”
“Alright,” John said with a smile. “Am I the first arrival, by the way?”
“Second,” Maximillian answered. “The Magus family got here before you.”
That was expected and yet not.