349 Dont Look! (2/2)
That was when the entire room was flooded with fire and a lot of their stuff went up in smoke, including their clothes.
A Draconian Guard came up. ”My liege, reports from below. Your sister, Se'lea-dras, has returned through the Portal.”
”Se'lea?!” Zor'khan blinked. ”That's impossible. Se'lea is still in the southern seas! I can sense her. She hasn't left the ocean.”
”But… the reports…?” the guard hesitated.
Zor'khan frowned. ”We have to get to the bottom of this. Let's go.”
Remian hastily stood up. ”I'd like to come along too.”
That was why about ten minutes later, Zor'khan and Remian burst in on Darian and Mindy in various states of undress…
”Don't look! DON'T LOOK!” Mindy shrieked, hugging herself and crouching in a corner, with Darian's drake-scale jacket covering her. Apparently of all their clothes, it was one of the rare survivors.
Darian himself had lost pretty much all his other clothes. Having used his surviving jacket to cover Mindy, he stood there awkwardly scratching his head covered in nothing but lumps of melting metal in front of the Emperor and his elder brother. ”Uh… hi…?”
Zor'khan glanced at Remian. ”I take it these are your people?”
”Yep.” Remian grimaced. ”That's my brother.”
”He's Draconian.” Zor'khan observed. ”And the girl seems to be unharmed by the flames. Fascinating.”
”DON'T LOOK!” Mindy only shrieked louder. Appearing naked in front of the Emperor was something that didn't even occur to her in dreams.
”So, how shall we handle this?” Zor'khan asked Remian.
”You just agreed to let me keep all the mana my people bring back from the Portal. It's a bit early, but… actually, come to think of it, why were you guys even on the other side…?” Remian turned to his brother.
”We were looking for Tim.” Darian winced.
”Tim's having dinner with the Fourth Princess.” Remian told him, flat out.
”Is he, now?” Darian had a flat look on his face. He started rubbing his knuckles.
”My apologies, your Imperial Majesty, but it seems we have quite embarassed ourselves in front of you.” Remian sighed.
”Indeed. It's not every day one bursts into a room to find his brother naked with a girl.” Zor'khan nodded candidly.
”NOOOO!!” Mindy shrieked, then burst into flames and then pounced on Ling Yun. ”Give me your armor!!”
”Y-yes, your Highness!” still clueless about Mindy's identity in general, Ling Yun hastily obliged.
Zor'khan cleared his throat. ”Gentlemen, I propose we afford the lady a little privacy.”
Leaving Mindy and Ling Yun's armor behind, the Emperor, Remian, and two naked or near-naked teenage boys exited the Portal Room. The Emperor called for some clothes as Remian inspected the formations and systems of the decontamination chamber.
”Interesting.” Remian noted. ”I like how this room uses all the ambient mana leaking from the Portal to power the decontamination fires. There's almost no leakage.”
”We were trying to keep it secret, after all.” Zor'khan admitted. ”Leaking ambient mana would draw all the magi of Ecclesia over like flies to syrup. Plus, I hear the designer didn't want to accidentally turn our local livestock into Wilds. The guy thought that Wilds were simply normal animals mutated by mana.”