Dimensional Descent

Leonel found Noah's actions to be amusing. It was clear that Noah was a lot more sensitive to trouble Leonel might cause if he went instead, so he chose to bite the bullet. Toward such a thing, Leonel's eight brothers laughed until they couldn't' breathe anymore.

"Look at that, Cap. Someone else notices all the trouble you put us through." Franco almost fell out his chair.

"If anyone was going to cause us trouble, it'd be that big mouth of yours." Leonel snapped back.

"Not cool, Cap. Poking at your boy's insecurities. No wonder Noah doesn't trust you."

Franco feigned hurt, his overly large hands also pressing against his chest. But, no one could take him seriously while he was wheezing with laughter.

Since he seemed to be having such a great time, Leonel kicked at the leg of his chair, causing him to truly fall over completely.

"Ah! I swear I'll make a worker's union! By then you won't be able to bully me anymore!"

The laughter in the dining room continued for a while. However, as the minutes passed it became clear that it was actually taking Noah quite a while. In fact, it wasn't until half an hour later that he finally returned, his expression just as placid as ever.

"What happened, Noah?"

Everyone looked over. They might have been able to tell a problem or the good news by another's expression. But, Noah was truly too difficult to read.

"There's a lot to do because we've brought so many people along with us. However, it seems that due to some special event occurring, the restrictions on travelers has been laxed. That said, there's still a bunch of requirements we have to meet.

"We all have to register and it's fairly detailed."

Noah began to pass out what everyone assumed would facilitate the registration process. But, when they all saw just how detailed the analysis had to be, they couldn't help but frown.

It had to be remembered that in the Dimensional Verse, the less information others had of you, the easier it was for you to protect yourself. But, this form of analysis was clearly overly invasive, it even required information about their Ability Indexes, something most kept as close to the vest as possible.

They couldn't' help but feel that Planet Luxnix was taking advantage of them all.

Leonel, though, saw one step deeper.

There were so many spacecrafts flying into Planet Luxnix, and now Noah was mentioning this special event. Connecting the dots, it felt like the Luxnix were using this opportunity to form a census of the people of their Sector. Leonel couldn't be surprised if this information was used to gain a general understanding of the strength of the Sector.

Unfortunately, they didn't really have much of a choice… At least that was what it seemed like until Noah continued talking.

"… After speaking with our overseer, I realized that there was a bit of a loophole here. Because Leonel and I both carry Luxnix blood, I believe we'll be recognized as members of the Luxnix branch families.

"So long as you all register as our vassals, it should be possible to circumvent a lot of the more invasive questions and leave them with only a surface level understanding of you all. But, the decision is up to you all."

"Oh, since it's like that why didn't you just say so? You made it sound like I'd have to give up my precious cherry!" Raj exclaimed.

Several weird looks were sent over toward Raj, their expressions warping. Precious… cherry?

"What are you all looking at? My body is a temple!"

Raj's speech was so impassioned that the jiggles of his chin vibrated to their own rhythm. Unfortunately for him, his opining was matched with the sound of dry heaving.

"I think I'm gonna throw up. Hey Franco, cup your hands together for me real quick." Gil heaved, only to be met by a slap to the back of the head by none other than Franco himself.

Noah blinked as he watched this scene, feeling somewhat stunned. He had presented this matter with the utmost seriousness because it most definitely wasn't a joke. It might have sounded nice to explain it away with a word like 'vassal', but the ultimate truth was that for the duration of their stay on Planet Luxnix, they would essentially be at the whims of Leonel and Noah.

There were no such thing as human rights in the Dimensional Verse, there was only those with strength and those without, those with background and those without. If they signed up in this fashion, their lives and deaths would be in the hands of the two of them. The amount of trust it would take for someone to take such measures without hesitation…

Noah's expression remained placid, but he couldn't help but be moved.

Unlike many Princes, he had never experienced the cruelty of nobility, not personally, anyway. The Fawkes family had never had internal machinations, at least not at the highest levels. So, things like brothers backstabbing brothers wasn't part of Noah's lived experience.

That said, Noah's upbringing had still been extremely strict and he had seen exactly this sort of cruelty in the royal court and other noble families countless times. He always followed the rules to their ends, but he was also perfectly aware that he couldn't' expect everyone to be like him either.

On top of this, due to Noah's status, he didn't really know what it felt like to have real friends either. He didn't get the chance to grow up with his cousin by his side and everyone else was either his subordinate or someone who wanted to get close to him for the sake of the power he wielded.

Understanding Noah's perspective, it was no wonder he was so shocked right now. At the very least, Leonel's eight brothers didn't hesitate in the slightest to jump head first into acceptance.

Lionus looked toward Noah with a knowing smile. Of all those here, he probably had experienced the life most like Noah. It seemed that they both had some growing to do.