He came here to check on the river, not become some artefact for public posterity. So what if Shavak's daughter didn't like him?
Of course, him doing this didn't go unnoticed. As the creatures began to whisper among themselves.
"Is that Havon? Isn't he just a newborn?"
"He doesn't see even the princess as an equal."
"He seems scary."
Were among some of the whispers that Lucius cared to listen to. Though one of them in particular bothered him more than the others.
~Newborn? Can they tell that I was spawned just a month ago?~ Lucius thought to himself.
From what he could tell, there had been no difference between him and Pagan who could be referred to as an ancient being.
Though he ignored all the gossip and instead focused his attention on the burbling of water that seemed to be coming from the distance.
"You know, I don't know what customs you have where you're from, but often visitors don't walk off on their own," Shamira called out from behind him.
Lucius turned to look and saw that a long line of Chame people had formed a line in front of Shavak, one of them currently complaining about something to him. No doubt everyone had their fair share of complaints at this time.
Avankor for some reason decided to stay behind as well, and the pundits seemed like they were happy to be rid of Lucius.
"My name is Shamira, princess of the Chame people," Shamira introduced, before bowing. Lucius looked at her vacantly for a moment, before realizing that she must've been waiting for him to reply as well.
"My name is L- Havon, saviour of the forest," Lucius said almost sarcastically. Though he knew it was a necessity for him to take up the role of saviour, he never was much of an actor, and pretending to be animal Jesus wasn't exactly on the list of things he was dying to do.
"Hmm, so you say," Shamira commented as Lucius began walking towards the river once more.
"Is that what this is about? You have a problem with me being Havon?" Lucius asked in a bored manner as he saw a glimmering blue sparkle further out in the distance.
~There are so many soil patches... do they sleep in these?~ Lucius thought to himself as he walked over one such soil patch.
"You know, if you're looking for mana stones, we don't have any. You won't gain much from fooling my father either," Shamira replied, looking down at Lucius as they walked. Perhaps this height difference alone was what allowed her to overcome Lucius's somewhat cold presence.
"I'll be out of your hair as soon as I slay the necromancer," Lucius replied half-mindedly, before pausing to look up at Shamira. ~Ah, no hair,~ he thought to himself, before staring at the jewels on her forehead.
"Those look valuable, are they natural?" he asked though he wasn't actually that interested in them.
"Natural? Of course, they a-" Shamira was about to reply, right as they reached the river. Before she could finish Lucius bent over to inspect it.
"You guys drink water from this no?" he asked, before having his tail ingest some of the water.
[Catalyst absorbed.]
[+20 exp]
~There's no vegetation here,~ he noted to himself as he looked up in the direction that the river came from, before walking there.
"There's nothing up there," Shamira said, before hastily following Lucius. "You move so fast for someone so short," she whispered, unaware of Lucius's hyper senses.
~I never thought a reptilian would be the one to make me have a height complex,~ Lucius thought to himself.
After walking for a while, the river led to a sort of underground waterfall. The water pressure coming from there would make it impossible for anything to go up through this way, and just as impossible for any living thing to come down without dying first.
"Do you know what this is connected to?" Lucius asked.
"No. And why would you need to know that? I don't get how that will help us win the war?" Shamira replied defensively.
"If we can figure out where it's connected to on the surface, we can send stuff down here without having to put the entrances in jeopardy of being discovered," Lucius replied vacantly before moving back towards the king.
"Send stuff? You're a warrior, aren't you? Can't you just kill the necromancer? Aren't you supposed to--- I don't know, know how to fly?" Shamira asked after a moment of thought.
"Sigh, look, I get that you're looking out for your people. But you're annoying, you'd be a better help if you just stayed with everyone and lied to them that everything will be okay. And from what I can tell, fighting should be the last thing on your mind. Your people are starving, and your guards can barely stand at attention," Lucius replied.
This reality already felt far from being... real, and it wasn't as if he cared about the princess of a race that might be wiped out the next morning. So it took him almost everything he had to keep his conversations civil.
"Lie to them?" Shamira asked in indignation.
"Or are you under some naive assumption that your entire race could not be wiped out tomorrow?" Lucius asked before heading back towards Shavak, leaving Shamira to think about what he had just said.
"Havon, you're back," Shavak sighed in relief, the long line in front of him having barely moved.
"Can you show me to one of the escapes? I need to survey the surface," Lucius replied, causing silence to spread throughout the entire cave.
"T-The surface is infested with those creatures. I don't th-" Shavak was about to reply.
"I need to draw up a map or we won't be able to do anything. I'll be fine, just show me to the escape," Lucius interrupted.
"Havon does not fear the creatures," one of the Chame people whispered. This consensus spread like wildfire until everyone there began silently reciting something like it was some kind of church mass.
"Havon the fearless, descendant of god--" they began.
"What's going on?" Lucius asked as the people stared at him, now not in fear, but in adoration. The look reminded him of how Pagan sometimes looked at him.
"Havon shall spawn forth, a child of the earth, the lowest among the low. And from there, he shall rise to power, and bring back paradise for all," they continued, relief showing on some of their faces now.
"They have seen hope with their own eyes," Avankor whispered, before looking down at Lucius as well.
"I will go with you. You'll need someone to have your back," Avankor added.
