[August 15th DxD/April 8th DBT]
Following a week of decompressing from their time in the Training Room, Vahn was preparing to part ways with Yugo's group as he headed for the Sadida Kingdom alongside Amalia and Eva.
"Here, I want you to have this," said Vahn, handing the teary-eyed Yugo a compass that hummed with a faint golden glow.
"Is this a compass...?" asked Yugo, inhaling a suppressed sniffle as he gazed curiously at the simple-looking but, unbeknownst to him, virtually indestructible compass.
"It's not just any compass," responded Vahn, his smile broadening as he explained, "Instead of North, it points to whatever the holder most wants to find. Prolonged usage consumes mental energy, but it should prove to be invaluable in your search for both the Eliacube and your family."
"Really? Is it better than Skribble...?" asked Yugo, referring to the Shushu-possessed map his party had acquired near the outset of their journey. It had the ability to locate virtually anything within the World of Twelve, but as it was a demon and highly temperamental, the routes it advised people to take often led to their demise.
"It may not take you to what you're searching for, but it will take you to where you most want to be..." answered Vahn, extending his left hand to ruffle Yugo's hair through his hat. The compass in question could read its user's heart and lead them to what they most desired, so while it had its flaws, he believed it would, if nothing else, help Yugo find himself.
"Thanks, Vahn...I don't really get it, but I trust you..." expressed Yugo, his brown eyes utterly devoid of suspicion as he squeezed the compass and held it close to his chest.
"You can also trust that if you ever call out to me in a time of crisis, I may not appear immediately, but I will appear..." asserted Vahn, retracting his hand from Yugo's head. Then, as he had already opened a door-shaped golden portal behind him, where Amalia and Eva were waiting patiently to follow him through, he turned and walked away.
"Bye, Yugo. Be sure to take care of yourself. And don't be afraid to come and visit us. I'll make sure the Sadida Kingdom welcomes you with open arms~" chimed Amalia, beaming happily and waving her hand before she followed Vahn through the portal.
"And good luck on your journey," expressed Eva, offering a more reserved but arguably more sincere smile as she gave Yugo a slight but reassuring nod before turning away. Yugo teared up witnessing them go, but instead of letting them flow, he inhaled deeply through his nose, his chest puffing out slightly before he bowed and simultaneously shouted, "Thank you for journeying with me all this way! I will never forget the time and memories we shared...!"
Turning to glance back at Yugo through the still-open portal, Amalia and Eva began tearing up themselves. Thus, when the former looked to Vahn, he didn't hesitate to smile and nod approvingly, prompting Amalia to rush back through the portal and give Yugo a firm, smothering hug before she returned to Vahn and Eva many minutes later...
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"Wow...it feels like a lifetime since I last saw this sight..." muttered Amalia, her eyes glossy with emotion as she, Vahn, and Eva stood on the edge of a grassy cliff overlooking the ancestral forests of the Sadida peoples and the source of all forests across the World of Twelve. At a glance, it looked like a sea of lush green without any gaps, and at the center of it all was a massive tree with a broad canopy, topped by a second tree with a slightly twisted trunk.
'How curious...' mused Vahn, his Domain and senses piercing the dense foliage to reveal that the naturalistic Kingdom was situated within a large crater several tens of kilometers across and more than a hundred meters deep. The lush greenery that spread out before him was actually the tops of millions of tightly compacted trees, forming a nearly unbroken umbrella of shade that housed tens of thousands of hollowed, tree-formed abodes and vast farms of mushrooms—some of which were so big they had been converted to storehouses. A heavy aroma of mulch and pine rose from the forest like perspiration from the planet itself, but while potent, Vahn didn't find it unpleasant.
"Shall I signal for a patrol to come pick us up, or is there another way you want to enter the Kingdom?" questioned Eva, producing her bow from the stylish, wooden, emerald-embedded bracelet Vahn had gifted her.
"Well...I do want to show off Vahn's greatness. But I also just really want to see and interact with my people..." admitted Amalia, smiling awkwardly and scratching her left cheek. She had considered having Vahn appear in his enormous and majestic Dragon form and having him descend from the sky, but she didn't want to alarm her people or miss out on the chance to see their happy faces as she returned to the palace.
"Then we'll return with a procession," decided Eva, taking aim with a light-formed arrow and unleashing it directly overhead to produce several small explosions reminiscent of fireworks. Less than ten seconds later, the long and deep reverberation of a horn emitted from the forest's center, causing hundreds of birds to take flight.
Turning to face Vahn, Eva, carrying herself poisedly and professionally, explained, "A Dragoturkey patrol should arrive within a few minutes. But before we enter the Kingdom and the royal palace, there's something I feel the need to mention..."
"Is it concerning my brother?" asked Amalia, preempting Eva's response by turning to Vahn and revealing, "My brother, Prince Armand, has had a crush on Eva since she first arrived to stay with us. He's not going to be happy to learn that the two of you are in a relationship, but Eva has made it clear to him multiple times that she has no interest in him."
"It's his breath..." appended Eva, looking slightly sickly as she explained, "When he talks, it smells like the underside of a plant pot that's been left on a moldy sill..."
"Yeah. And he really likes to get in people's faces. So you should prepare yourself and, if possible, go easy on him when he tries to pick a fight with you," added Amalia, pinching her nose with a mischievous grin. There was no doubt in her mind that Armand would carelessly pick a fight with Vahn, but she trusted that the latter wouldn't seriously harm him.
"I technically don't need to breathe at all, so I should be fine," responded Vahn, smiling faintly and extending his right hand to caress Amalia's head. At the same time, the sound of distant but rapidly approaching footsteps reached his and Eva's sensitive ears, followed by a group of seven of the bug-eyed creatures known as Dragoturkeys—outfitted in harnesses made from leather and leaves.
"It's the Princess! The Princess has returned...!" shouted the Sadida at the head of the group, a lean and muscular man with broad shoulders, tanned skin, and, most notably, a head encompassed entirely in fur-like moss that gathered at the back to form dreadlocks. This peculiar feature was shared by all male Sadida, and, much like Amalia, they wore little clothing—most of which was formed from leaves, bits of cloth, and vines.
Bringing their Dragoturkeys to a stop near the base of the cliff, three of the Sadida at the back of the seven-person group promptly slapped their hands together to produce thick vines that raised those at the front to the cliff's edge. There, a shorter Sadida male with a long, moss-formed beard that hung down to his belly descended from his Dragoturkey and stepped forward, greeting, "Welcome back, Princess. His Majesty and your brother, the Prince, have been eagerly awaiting your return."
"I'm relieved to hear that," responded Amalia, standing straighter than usual with her chest puffed and her chin raised proudly as she ordered, "Now, please send one of your men back to the palace with utmost haste to inform my father that we have a very important visitor to our Kingdom."
Stepping slightly to the side and gesturing to Vahn, Amalia added, "Allow me to introduce Vahn, the Dragon God of Infinite Possibilities, as well as my fiancé. And, yes, he is both a Dragon and a God. It's not merely a title, nor have I been deceived by him."
Looking between Amalia, Eva, and Vahn as if the former had completely lost her mind, the bearded guard deliberated for several seconds before nodding grimly and passing along the order to one of his men. He clearly didn't believe Amalia's assertions, but as it wasn't his place to get to the bottom of such things, he decided to leave the matter to the King and the Prince to resolve...
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'I can see why she wanted to return in this manner...' mused Vahn, seated behind Eva on a Dragoturkey as Amalia's improvised procession made its way through the Sadida's canopied forest, passing pod-like dwellings that were completely exposed to the elements. Every Sadida that laid eyes on her immediately rushed over to welcome Amalia back. And as news of her return spread, hundreds gathered along both sides of the compacted dirt path leading toward the massive tree at the forest's epicenter—the Royal Palace of the Sadida, Sheran Sharm Sandata.
Though it took nearly two hours for them to reach their destination, a long and thin wooden bridge that connected the forests where the lower-born Sadida lived from the Royal Palace, Vahn rather enjoyed the leisurely ride as he got to caress and hold Eva's sides. Said bridge was intentionally too thin for a Dragoturkey to cross, so they had to disembark and proceed on foot toward a cottage whose roof was formed from giant, overlapping tree leaves.
"That's quite the plummet..." remarked Vahn, gazing over the edge of the bridge and into the deep pit below it. There was water at the bottom, but it was easily a two to three-hundred-meter drop—more than enough to be fatal to the average person or invading army.
"If you're scared, do you want to hold my hand...?" asked Eva, sporting a smile with a hint of playfulness as she sought to get back at Vahn for his antics on the back of the Dragoturkey.
"Do I look scared...?" asked Vahn, causing Eva's pupils to briefly contract as he fell over the side of the bridge. Instead of plummeting to the water below, however, he walked along the bridge's remarkably thin edge as if it were flat ground.
"Oh! I want to try that...!" exclaimed Amalia, causing the hearts of all her retainers and the many citizens watching from afar to skip a beat as she fell over the opposite edge from Vahn. She had complete trust in him, and as she expected, her sense of gravity promptly shifted so that the edge of the bridge became like a balancing beam.
"Ahaha! I really feel like I can do anything when you're around~!" chimed Amalia, walking with her hands held out to her sides for balance while her escort watched on with expressions of horror. Their instinct was to lunge forward and pull her to safety, but since their brains couldn't make sense of the phenomenon they were witnessing, they were afraid they would err and send her plummeting to her death instead.
"Kyaaaaaaa! Princess! Please stop doing that~!" exclaimed a high-pitched voice. Instead of emanating from a woman, however, a tall, lanky male Sadida wearing a leaf-green thong rushed forward like he had something shoved where the sun didn't shine, pursued by a much shorter and fatter, pear-shaped man.
'Ah, Eunuchs...' noted Vahn, his senses probing the duo and very quickly ascertaining that they were missing something fairly important to being male. He hadn't been aware that the Sadida had the tradition of castrating male servants, but as it was a fairly common practice among many worlds with noble societies, he took the revelation in stride...
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