Vittorio cackled as gleefully as could be wearing Takuto’s appearance. Meanwhile, Atou’s tentacles had erupted and were swaying menacingly with her desire to impale him.
And this is why I hate holding meetings with both of them present, Takuto sighed. Readjusting the meeting’s end time in his head to make up for the delay, Takuto decided to prioritize calming Atou first.
“Now, now, Atou. Take a deep breath. I couldn’t come up with a better plan than this. Enduring this farce is worth it if it guarantees our safety. You don’t want things to end up like last time, do you?”
“Urgh… I don’t, but… but…. King Takutooooooooooo!” Dismayed, Atou clung to Takuto, tears welling in her eyes.
Takuto patted her back and fixed his gaze on Vittorio disguised as him. His Disguise skill worked perfectly. It was easy to tell them apart because Vittorio was acting like a buffoon, but if he seriously acted like Takuto, it’d be impossible to tell the difference.
After the TRPG faction’s surprise attack on Mynoghra, they had learned the hard way that disguises created by the game system were nearly impossible to uncover. This disguise would not be seen through unless their opponent had some kind of Detect ability.
The system guaranteed that Disguise skills worked, and that was a key factor in their upcoming strategy.
“Now I’m getting excited! It’s looking like this All-Faction Conference is going to be sensationnel and thrilling!”
Vittorio was now on board with the plan. Takuto’s greatest concern with this strategy was how Vittorio’s whims would play into it, but it appeared he’d successfully baited the Gleeful Spin Doctor with the allure of messing with other Players.
“However,” Elder Moltar interjected, “I have my doubts about letting him go alone. Some people may look down on Mynoghra if the king attends without an entourage.”
“A Botchling will go with him,” Takuto said. “The Botchling has Mimic, which allows it to transform into any of us. With that, we can maintain the appearance of a master and retainer attending together. Hero Yu will be attending with just his retainer as well, so we won’t look out of place.”
“All right, then…” Elder Moltar reluctantly agreed. He couldn’t tolerate anything that defiled his king’s majesty, but he understood Takuto’s logic. He still thought that it wouldn’t hurt to bring along some lesser servants.
However, Atou voiced the same question before the old sage could.
“But, King Takuto, is there really a need to have the same numbers as that Hero? I can understand leaving the Dark Elves home to keep them safe, but you could bring some of our disposable units to act as meat shields at least…”
“Look, Atou, even that would slow us down. Besides, think about where we’re going. Bringing incompetent subordinates will only get in our way.”
“Don’t you dare speak using King Takuto’s face and voice, you damn jester! I’ll rip you to shreds!” Atou flared.
“Yuuummy! Insult me more, baby!”
“Atou, language…”
“Ah! I-I’m terribly sorry, King Takuto!”
“I never get tired of watching good ol’ sludge tits here,” Vittorio trilled.
Takuto didn’t mind that Vittorio took over explaining for him. He actually preferred him to, but he wished he wouldn’t rile Atou up every chance he got. But if Takuto tried to mediate here, he had a feeling it’d only send them back to square one, so he decided to force them back on topic.
“Vittorio,” he said, his tone serious. “We still have plenty of time, but I want you to prepare in the meantime. As for training your Disguise… Well, I suppose that relies on your skill, so it shouldn’t really matter?”
They still had a while until the date and time of the All-Faction Conference. If they could believe the invitation, then the Succubus Army was going to need time to convince all the factions to participate. Mynoghra could prepare in the interim.
They could strengthen their ties with Phon’kaven and consider their next policies. They could also exchange information with Yu and gain knowledge about things they didn’t yet know. Mynoghra had a lot of events queued, but they still had some leeway before things got chaotic.
“Hm-hm-mm-hm. In that case, I guess I’ll go check up on little Yona’Yona!” Vittorio declared. “And what will the great and mighty King Takuto Ira be doing in the meantime?”
“I think I’ll work on Seldoch since you obtained it for us. Oh, but maybe I should go and meet Yona’Yona in person? It seems a certain someone has been pushing a whole lot of unreasonable demands on her.”
They had plenty to do, but the most pressing issue was managing their own country. Takuto needed to get some policies in place, even rough ones. Especially for the newly acquired Trade City of Seldoch and its surrounding territories. He wasn’t about to neglect his new territory just because he’d landed it and could move on to obtain more. It wasn’t going to be easy managing such a large territory, but the rewards would be just as large if he put in the work.
For Mynoghra to conquer the world and reign as the supreme power, they would first need to solidify control over Seldoch.
“Good luck!” Vittorio encouraged him as if he were completely uninvolved in the affair. Miffed beyond belief by his attitude, Atou flayed him with a death glare.
Exhaustion hung heavily on the face of every Dark Elf. They were likely to lodge separate complaints about this later—every single one imploring Takuto not to let Vittorio and Atou attend the same meeting ever again. They didn’t have to make the request—Takuto would strive to make sure it didn’t happen again, regardless.
“And there you have it…”
Takuto earned several sympathetic looks when he ended the meeting on that uncharacteristically vague remark.
They had plenty to do. The most critical was confirming the strengths and weaknesses of the RPG Hero Duo. This was a matter that could potentially affect the future of Mynoghra and should not be taken lightly.
Takuto steeled himself and wondered if he had overlooked anything.
But the tension from Atou and Vittorio’s bickering still lingered, interfering with his ability to concentrate. Seriously, nothing good ever comes of putting Atou and Vittorio in the same room… He was mentally drained, but was willing to overlook it because they had a solid plan in place. Or at least that’s what he told himself as he shifted his focus onto the next set of problems.