Collide Gamer Chapter 190 – Rex in Germaniae

“So, Herman wants us to roll around Thursday evening?” Rave asked as she was going through her clothes. It was 8:30 in the morning on Tuesday. They had already spoken with Lydia about today's plans. If the vote today ca to a tie, and Lydia was of a solid mind that it would, the tournant would officially begin. The planning stages, anyhow.

John could potentially get announced as a fighter that very day, so he had to be there. Rave, on the other hand, wouldn’t be confird until, at the earliest, a day later. She had insisted on coming with him anyhow.

“It’s not like they will find out anything about just by seeing ,” she had argued, “and I really want to see the big R himself.” Lydia had pondered about it for a mont but ultimately agreed, as long as Rave spoke to no one outside of her group during the event.

Also, Rave had to wear sothing at least sowhat presentable.

“Yes,” John answered her question, “although I wouldn’t call 3 PM ‘evening’. Have you decided what to wear yet? We have to leave in ten minutes.”

“How about this?” she asked and held up a pink shirt and a green miniskirt.

“I am getting the feeling that you don’t know what ‘presentable’ ans,” John stated drily. Pointing over his shoulder with his thumb he added, “Look at my two girls here, these are pri ladies.”

He was speaking about Momo and Aclysia. The forr was wearing her poncho-bodysuit hybrid outfit, the latter the dress they had bought the previous day. They were decent and elegant figures. Although Momo looked kind of odd, both were highly presentable for the occasion. Aclysia bowed at the complint with the slightest hint of a happy smile dancing around her lips.

“’Your girl’ is a bit reductive,” Momo complained. John tried his best at a calming gesture. Momo kept staring and sighed. “Just because you made , does not an I am your property. Remind why we are coming along again?”

“Because I need to announce you as my designated golem to enter the tournant with ,” John told her.

“Right, and Aclysia is coming along because…?”

Aclysia quickly turned her head when hearing Momo’s question. The guardian looked at her younger sister dead in the eye. “Because I will not leave Master’s side unless absolutely necessary.” Her tone did not leave even the tiniest gap for disagreent.

“So, ya telling to cover up?” Rave pulled his attention back to her, now holding one of her jeans.

“Well, no, I don’t think jeans are exactly proper… but they sure are a step up from miniskirts. How about this,” John let her keep the jeans and went to get one of his shirts. It was a plain black one with dark buttons.

“Ya want to wear guy-clothes to an oh-so-proper event?” Rave giggled and took the shirt.

“Well, I doubt I can get you in a dress, even if we had one here,” John answered.

“I guess,” Rave quickly changed out of her current clothes and into the newly suggested combination. John had spent the remaining last evening fucking varying girls of his harem, as well as part of the morning. Therefore, he only got a slight hard-on as he watched his girlfriend strip in a knowingly teasing way.

The shirt was made for John, so it was a bit too big for Rave, but because he was a pretty lanky dude (and it was one of the shirts that were a bit too small for him anyhow) it was on a level where it was still in the acceptable range.

“Mhm, yeah, this could work,” Rave agreed and raised a sleeve-covered arm, sniffing at the wrist area. She made a disappointed face and then walked over to John, pressing herself against him in a deep hug.

“What’s this about?” John asked as he pulled her in himself; he didn’t need a reason to be close to his girlfriend, but his curious nature got the better of him, as always.

“What use is it, wearing your boyfriend’s shirt, if it doesn’t sll like him?” Rave said and slightly stuck out her tongue as she looked up to him.

He gladly t that tongue with his own, and for a mont, they kissed. Then the door flew open. “I gave you until 8:35, it is 8:38! I demand that you cease your flirtations and move according to the titable!” Lydia commanded.

“Gaia, I thought we agreed that you relax, Lylytina,” Rave whined but obeyed, departing from John.

The princess looked at Rave, inspected her clothing, and nodded approvingly, albeit with slight reluctance. “I am, I gave you three full minutes of leeway instead of 30 seconds. Consider the importance of this event. Now get moving, the driver is already waiting. Oh, and one more thing,” Lydia glared at Rave’s blue eyes, “do not call that in court.”

“Correct if I am wrong, Lyly, but I think the agreent was that ya get to sleep with John here and in return I get to call ya what I want and you have no right to complain about it, right?” Rave reminded the princess, who grit her teeth.

‘Seems like the foolishness of her past behaviour has finally dawned on her.’ John thought and repressed a smile.

“That was our agreent, correct,” Lydia admitted after relaxing her jaw. “I do implore you then, to resist the urge to ridicule in front of the electorate.”

“Okay, I’ll do ya the favour, princess,” Rave, surprisingly quickly, agreed as they went to get their winter clothes and then to get into the car. Lydia exhaled in relief, and monts later, they were on their way.

They used the Traffic Tunnels again, but Lydia checked her watch relentlessly anyhow. She was wearing the decorated version of her uniform he had seen her leave with yesterday. It differentiated itself from the normal one via golden strings weaved throughout the fabric of her green jacket. Elegantly decorated buttons held the golden shirt underneath closed, instead of the plain bronze ones. The emblem on her chest was the sa, however, and apparently no single occasion could make Lydia put aside the conviction that footwear must be made to march in, not to look pretty.

“You wear that suit surprisingly well,” Lydia, who had spent the ti looking at him the sa way, comnted.

John had afforded himself a black suit with fitting pants. The buttons were of a fine silver tal, the cloth sothing softer than silk but incredibly durable. He wore a pure white shirt of the sa material underneath, and even though Lydia raised an eyebrow on the fact that he kept the last two buttons open, John wasn’t about to close them or put on a tie. He refused to look like a full-ti nerd, but he also wasn’t going to put on the suit of soone he wasn’t.

He hadn’t liked the figure that had looked back at him in the mirror of the bathroom this morning; short hair kempt and gelled, buttons closed all the way up, tie tight around his neck. So, he had washed out the annoying paste, removed the tie, opened two buttons and just let his hair lie however it wanted to. He breathed a lot easier afterwards, both figuratively and literally.

“Well, it was tailored for , and it did cost a lot,” John smirked and put his arms around the two ladies sitting to each side of him, Rave to the right and Aclysia to the left. He felt like just about the tightest pimp in existence right now. And no, not in the ‘I rent out girls that I abuse’-way. Just in the ‘everything is going my way’-way.

The car ca to a halt after a short ride. John looked out the tinted window with interest. He had no idea where this election was supposed to be held. The only great building he could see around was…

His skin started prickling with nervous anticipation. His Wisdom quickly pushed the feeling down as the unnecessary anxiety that it was, but he couldn’t help but feel in awe when the Cologne Cathedral towered high above him as he stood on unnaturally empty streets.

The sight of that building made him realize what an enormous occasion he was about to get into. It was the election of the head of one of the ten strongest organisations on the face of the planet. What enemies or allies he made during the course of the next weeks could prove vital for his entire life in the Abyss.

‘I am going to see Romulus today,’ the thought made him gulp. He finally would get a chance to take a look at the one everyone called the Apex. A human to overco even gods like Nathalia. Would he even see anything if he used Observe? Would the ruler of Europe notice and kill him for such an affront? Questions and doubts suddenly filled his mind, the cathedral seemingly growing further over his head.

Then, he was suddenly shoved a step forward. He turned to see Rave smiling at him. “Ey, don’t freak out, tiger,” she whispered, “I am nervous too, but all ya gotta do is take a few more steps.”

Slowly nodding, John reached for her hand, and together, they followed Lydia, who had gone ahead without a mont’s hesitation. When they stepped through the cathedral’s gate, they were pulled into another barrier.

The inside of the cathedral was just as imposing as the outside. It largely looked like a standard church, rows of benches, all pointing at a central altar. With the difference that the altar had been removed. In the middle of the cathedral were two raised plateaus, one big one and a smaller one on top of that. However, the size and gothic design of it all gave it an aura of mystique, and the air was buzzing with magical powers. Arcane energies bundled to decorative lines and practical cables were hovering close to the walls and buzzing through the air.

The middle plateau held two tables of the sa length; the right one had four chairs whilst the left one had only three. One chair was decorated more heavily than the rest and had a golden bar worked into the backrest. On the higher plateau stood a single, imposing throne. Oakwood, red cushions, silver and gold hamred into mythical creatures decorating the edges, it looked both ancient and well preserved.

The hall was largely empty. Only a few people had sat down on one of the many benches already which, as John now noted, were heavily cushioned themselves, unlike the ones he usually saw in churches.

“Here goes hoping that there is no anti-communist fanatic threatening us in this church,” John jokingly whispered to his girlfriend and succeeded in getting a snicker from her.

“Well, this ti I could smack him over the head and call it a day,” she responded before they caught up with Lydia. The few eyes that were present looked at her with keen interest, a few more almost ready to jump out of their seats and walk over. None of them did. They just followed and listened. In the near total quiet of the cathedral, nearly anything said could be heard.

“I will have to mingle with my subjects, allies and foes,” Lydia whispered. “I suggest you keep to yourself; don’t let anyone get you into their net of questions. If asked what you are doing here give vague answers and nothing that is clear. No reason to unveil what you are here for ahead of ti.” The princess showed him a sly grin, “After all, I might not need your services.”

“What?” John had the mind to whisper back, but his tone was flabbergasted.

“I got so good news this morning, we will see if it all works out like I intend, you just stay at the ready. If you sit down, do it sowhere from where you can get back up without much of a fuss, if I announce you as a fighter you must be able to get to the front.” She gestured towards the tables. “Making your way past kneecaps is a sorry sight, unworthy of a royally chosen fighter.”

John, confused, nodded, and the princess walked towards the middle plateau, stopping at its base. There she was imdiately besieged by the first noble, tangling her into so sort of aningless conversation.

“Maybe I will find out what the inside of a Mana Factory looks like after all,” John said, scratching the back of his head. How else would he get rid of his debt if Lydia didn’t need him?

“And after I went through the trouble of saving ya,” Rave joked and kissed him on the cheek. “We’ll manage.”

The four of them stepped towards the far right of the room and kept to themselves. Occasionally so noble tried to talk to them, but following Lydia’s recomndation, he kept conversations at a bare minimum. They typically went sothing like this:

“Hello, I am Lord Insert”

“How nice, I am John.”

“John?”

“Yes, I know a terribly boring na; did you know that its Russian equivalent is Ivan?”

“You speak English, are you from Britain? Arica?”

“Ah, well, I suppose you could say my blood hails from there, but it's been a long journey.”

“Really? I would like to know a bit about it.”

“It’s a rather boring tale, and I don’t want to waste your important ti, Lord Insert.”

Rave was also approached several tis, but in the art of getting her partner to quit the conversation, she was way more skilled than John, and so she was left alone as soon as the nobles realized that she wasn’t easy pickings. Nobody approached Aclysia or Momo, as it was apparent to everyone that they were here as his golems and servants.

John used Observe on every single one of the people he was approached by. Cautiously first, more emboldened later when there was nobody objecting. Sure, a few were able to partly or completely block the skill, hiding private details like the information box or number of sexual encounters from him, but, generally he found out a bit about the nobles. After a while, he found a common the among them: all of them were lesser nobles, here only to sit in the back row and see first-hand how the top might shift in the coming years instead of reading it in the newspapers tomorrow. However, John found himself wondering about a thing.

“You are probably asking yourself why none of these fools knows who you are, John Newman,” said a fragile voice. An old man in a blue military uniform stepped towards John. Stepping was a bit of stretch here, really, crawling on two legs and a cane would have been a more apt description. The man had only the slightest bit of hair still growing from underneath his hat, and his skin was wrinkly, pale and covered in age spots. John, who had recently watched the new Star Wars movie, was reminded of Snoke, just without the horrible face disfigurent.

Now that was interesting. John had had no idea that organizations got themselves patron gods. It made sense, and from how that sounded, it was a mutually beneficial pact. The organization got protected and the god got a lifeline in the form of mana rations. He would need to dive deeper into god theory to completely understand how important that was for gods to have. ‘Adding that to the pile of things I have to read up on,’ he noted to himself.

What John found just as interesting was the fact that the current emperor didn’t get that shiny throne up on the highest plateau. That likely ant it was reserved for Romulus. Aside from the Apex, John was only watching out for one more person.

And that person entered with such pompous clothing that John couldn’t help but notice him. Wearing a suit of golden colour, shimring like it was cut from the tal itself, with a purple tie around his neck and wearing a cloak of the red and white design often found in pictures of kings, Maximillian stepped through the door. His entire regalia combined old and new in a flashy display that was almost dazzling.

Head held high and with a cocky smile, he walked up the midway. “Well, well, well,” he shouted and smiled at a random corner. John followed his eyes out of interest and found a cara. Not a small one a private person was holding but an arcanely modified version of the ones used to shoot blockbuster movies. It hovered there and pointed at the king of Vienna. John now noticed several of those floating around the place. They had not been there before. He checked the clock. It was now 10 AM. ‘Did they fly in when the event started?’

Anyhow, ti to Observe who he was up against.