Dragon's Tale 108

Our escape was … strangely calm … especially considering we were swimming away from an intense battle between two fleets, each belonging to one hegemony strong enough to rule most of the world if it wasn’t restricted by the other — as long as the world was defined by the Mediterranean Sea like Romans liked to do, of course, but that as a topic for another time. 

The biggest reason for our effortless escape was that neither fleet was fully aware of our importance. For the Republic, we represented an agent that stole several highly-critical items from one of the Patrician families and kidnapped a valued … let’s say guest … from under their noses. The fact that it ruined the great plan of House Junia, the first among their precious Patrician houses, made it even better.  

And, for the Empire, they had just lost their precious Princess once again, after getting so close to bringing her, and in their incompetence, revealed her presence to the Republic, granting them a chip that they could use to interfere with their internal affairs … especially with their Emperor taking the throne with a rather dubious coup. 

With each side confident that the other side was to blame, neither of them actually paid any attention to their surroundings — other than preventing the attacks — allowing us to swim away.

And, that was not the extent of our advantages. With my transformed legs, I was able to swim much faster than any man could, even with the assistance of most magic, especially any that could be cast without alerting the fleet to our presence. I dived deeper and deeper, the pressure nothing against my enhanced body. 

Girls might have suffered more trouble with the pressure, but luckily, having a premier healing sorceress with us meant that it was hardly a challenge. Curing the impact of the pressure and temporarily enhancing their bodies so that the pressure didn’t hurt them was a trivial achievement for her. 

I was more than three hundred feet deep as we swam away, tense as I used my enhanced senses to focus on my surroundings. The depths of the sea were far from safe, filled with many feared monsters — and many more that were unknown. 

Risking to meet with one of those creatures was supposed to be madness, and I was certainly not looking forward to such a confrontation even with my latest power-up. 

The close call with the Archmagus taught me that I was far from the apex of the world, and while they were restricted by the world itself, there was no guarantee that the same was true for the rumored monsters that lived in the depths of the sea. 

Amusingly, it was the existence of the fleets that gave me the courage. The battle behind us got more and more intense, the aftereffects of the spells creating excellent concealment for our presence. And even if the worst happened, I would have just swam back to the fleets, trusting them to handle the beast. 

And, there was something strong enough to shrug off two fleets, each filled with multiple soldiers … I shrugged. Some probabilities were just impossible to guard. 

Instead, I swam, grinning wildly as I examined the cold depths of the sea, my enhanced vision allowing me to penetrate into the almost absolute darkness with ease, enjoying the rare sights. 

There were surprisingly many creatures at the depths we were traveling, but none of them had any notable magical presence, making me guess that any that had such ability had been scared by the battle. 

Theodora thrashed in fear occasionally, but that died quickly whenever I caressed her waist, reminding her that I was there to protect her. With that, her fear had abated quickly. After saving her many times, that was enough to fill her with a sense of guarantee. 

Still, even as the distance opened further, we stayed submerged — I didn’t want to get noticed by a curious mage patrolling the perimeter. 

Xia poked me a while later, her beautiful eyes showing signs of exhaustion, showing that maintaining the spell to keep them comfortable was getting more and more difficult. I chuckled even as I put a finger in her mouth, letting her replenish her magic, her pull not even enough to register. 

After the latest transformation, my mana reserves reached an impossible point. If only I could actually use it. 

Theodora looked at what was going on in shock, and I chuckled, replicating the same feat for her, though much more careful not to overwhelm her reserves. Unlike Xia, she was not a sorceress, and her reserves were correspondingly pitiful — though it was amusing how my perspective about what was a lot and what was limited in terms of what counted as a lot of mana had changed. 

Her beautiful eyes widened in surprise as she felt my mana filling her reserves with a smoothness that was not possible, one that turned into thoughtfulness. 

Her expression didn’t surprise me. Even in exile, she was still a princess, experienced enough to think about the implications of such a thing even in the perilous conditions we were in. She looked at me questioningly, making a wide gesture. 

Probably asking about my limits, afraid of exhausting me. 

I just chuckled. 

We continued, though I started moving toward the surface. The battle was still going on, but the farther it got, the less reliable the cover it provided had turned. In case of an attack, I wanted to stay as close as the surface. 

Just because we could travel in the depths of the sea easily didn’t mean that it was the preferred location for our battle. 

As we moved to the surface, the light started to get brighter, allowing the girls to see as well. Also, the fish started to get more abundant, creating a beautiful sight. Xia even chuckled when one made a figure-eight around us, tickling him a little.

Theodora’s face it up as well, even more, intense than I expected, though it was probably the after-effects of the realization that she had been just saved, mixing with the sudden calm instead of the intense escape she expected to experience. 

I just swam, carrying them toward the shore, moving as fast as one of the legendary mermaids, finally relaxing as well. 

Not only I managed to get away from the Republic, but also I managed to plant a fake trail that would be very difficult to detect. Not impossible, maybe, but as long as I could step onto the shores of Africa, it would be much more difficult for them to track me. 

Then, after the great battle faded at the horizon, I finally pushed to the surface. 

“F-finally,” Theodora gasped as she looked back. Xia’s breath was just as relieved, but rather than speaking, she cast a few quick healing spells, making sure nothing was wrong. 

Her habits as a healer were immutable. 

“That was … close,” Xia murmured as she looked at Theodora. “Too close, why did we take this risk exactly?” she asked. 

I chuckled at her prickly attitude, recognizing signs of jealousy very easily. She was clearly angry that I had saved another woman more than the strategic risks I had taken to do so. “Well, I thought it would be rude to leave my beautiful Theodora imprisoned since she was captured while trying to arrange an escape vessel for us, right, sweetie?” 

“Well —“ she tried to say, only to be interrupted. Though, it was less about the intimidating aura Xia was radiating — far less than a sorcerer ordinarily could, her unique mana nature hampering her once more — and more about the fact that my hand shifted, grabbing her ass, suggestively enough that there was no doubt it was not there to keep her on the surface, but to tease her. 

She looked at me, surprised by my priorities, but I just shrugged. 

Teasing the princess of the Roman Empire made the leisure part of our little journey much more fun. 

“A great risk to take for a disposable courtesan,” Xia said, her tone scathing as she noticed my move, and coming to an inaccurate conclusion about the importance of Theodora — well, partially inaccurate, I thought as I examined our relationship. 

“In a way,” I said with a chuckle, which earned an angry glare from Theodora, though it died just as quickly as my fingers wandered. What was the point of saving the royalty at the risk of my own life if I couldn’t tease her a bit? “But she has another identity, one that’s considerably less important to being my woman,” I said. This time, Theodora smiled rather than scowling, the admittance of her belonging to me enough to cover my teasing. 

Her hero worship was even more intense than I expected, it seemed. 

“And what’s this great identity,” Xia said, dismissal. “A minor noble from one of the colonies?” she declared dismissively. 

“In a way,” I said with a chuckle. “Does the rightful owner of the throne in Constantinople count?” 

I expected Xia to react in disbelief, and certainly, that was her first reaction. But then, she pressed her hand on Theodora’s arm, and cast a spell. It was clearly not offensive in nature, but some kind of diagnostic, so I let that slide. 

An extremely complicated diagnostic spell that I had no hope of actually casting even if I had my full control, but still a diagnostic spell. 

I didn’t expect Xia to gasp in shock before looking at Theodora with a mixture of shock, fear, and … worship. 

“An ordained daughter of heaven! It’s true!” she gasped, freezing with a shock that was even greater than she had discovered my unique nature. 

Though, I wondered if her identity was truly that shocking, or if it was the compounded chains of shocks she had been dealing with, and this was just the last step. 

After all, she had a long day. I chuckled and shared a glance with Theodora…

And started swimming toward Africa. 

We still had half a sea to cover…