Sunset. Stephanie Dola, 25 years old, was standing in front of the imposing doors of the library. Her heart of was beating like a drum. Optimism, fear, hope and despair, were swirling around in her chest like dead leaves in a storm. In the end, she dared to lift the heavy metal ring and let it fall on its placer. There was a loud sound, and after a few seconds the door opened automatically. She swallowed and entered the library.
A voice came booming from above her
"Greetings, princess Dola of Elkia! What do I owe this visit to? It is so rare to see you in my library" Jibril was greeting her from the top of a block of book shelves that may have been thirty meters high. At the sight of the Flügel, Stephanie's heart was gripped by a terror so complete, that she completely forgot the reason why she had come altogether.
Jibril put a finger on her lips "Oh? Maybe you didn't hear me" she then teleported right in front of the human, floating at around a one meter from the ground.
"Could it be that you are here to challenge me?" Jibril asked with a wolfy smile while leaning forward on the already terrified princess.
"No!" Stephanie cried, and ducked for cover behind the closest chair. Jibril cocked her head and covered her mouth with a hand, pretending to be surprised
"Oh, my! That happens every time I talk with an Immanity!" she was of course counting Sora as an Unknown.
"T-t-the human!" Stephanie managed to stammer
"The human?" Jibril asked, this time really not understanding
"A-a-a human was seen entering this library! W-w-what have you done with him?" Stephanie said while partially abandoning the protection of the chair's back. Jibril's eyes lightened up
"Oh, you mean Sora! He is fine, do not worry. He lives here now!" Stephanie's face was pure incredulity, but then turned focused again
"I-I-I need to see him. To be sure that he is well, obviously!"
"Oh? So you don't you trust me?" Jibril frowned, and changed tone "That is so impolite …" the princess quickly jumped back behind the thin protection of the chair.
"I am sorry! I am sorry! I am sorry! I need to ask him something! That's the only reason I have come here, I swear!" she shouted as if begging for her life
Jibril tilted her head. She was curious now "Uhm… Very well princess, please do follow me"
Stephanie was reluctant to leave the vicinity of the entrance, but eventually took a deep breath and followed Jibril in the center of the library; then the Flügel left her alone to go fetch the earthling. Sora was as surprised to hear that somebody was daring to enter the Flügel's liar just to talk to him, and so he followed Jibril to meet Stephanie. He found her standing in the central room, throwing around nervous looks.
"Good evening Your Majesty, my name is Sora. How can I help you?"
She quickly pulled herself together upon seeing him, and assumed a very dignified air
"Good evening Sora-san, my name is Stephanie Dola, granddaughter of King Makoto Dola, of the Commonwealth of Elkia. Thank you for receiving me without notice"
"It's a honor to have you here, please have a seat" he said gesturing to the closest table
"Can I offer you something?" he asked again after they both took a seat
"No, thank you for the offer…" Stephanie was about to talk about the reason of her visit, but her eyes just could not stop following Jibril, that was floating around looking at them like a curious child. So she started with a different lead
"Can I make you a personal question?"
"You can make whatever question you want, but I do not guarantee that I will answer"
Stephanie took a second to absorb the longer than expected answer, decided to take it as a 'Yes', and pushed forward
"Do you really live here?"
"Yes"
"With … her?" her voiced trembled a little and she also shrunk slightly upon mentioning the Flügel
"Yes"
She was mystified "Why?"
"I like books"
Her eyes went wide "I-Is that all?"
He shrugged "We also play games"
Stephanie's eyes went even wider "W-w-what kind of games cold both of you play?"
He seemed to take a second to reorder his ideas "She got bored with Risk, so I am teaching her Warhammer now"
She blinked "I… never heard of those actually"
"That is not surprising. I just arrived from a far-away place"
"Yes, I heard of that!" Stephanie jumped at the opportunity to enter into the real reason of her visit.
He cocked his head "Have you?"
"Yes, since about a month ago, rumors have been swirling of a very strong player come from outside the city. From what I heard, this person seems to be thinking in ways completely different from anyone else I ever heard of, and defeats his enemies in ways never seen before. Your appearance matched perfectly all accounts, including the clothes that you are wearing just now"
He gave a quick glance at his shirt, and thought for a second of the few people that he had out-run before moving in the library.
"Uhm… I am afraid that your agents may have been giving you bad intelligence Your Majesty; it is true that I am weird, but I really would not call myself a strong player. Are you here because of these rumors?"
She took a serious and intense expression
"Yes. As you know, the entire race of Immanity is faced with a great danger"
"I did not know that" he said without showing any emotions
"The former king of Elkia passed away more or less when you arrived"
He blinked "My condolences" he said in a respectful way
"And so, a gaming competition was started to choose his successor"
He raised his eyebrows "Interesting system…"
She was starting to get angry, but tried to keep a stoic façade
"I am his granddaughter, and he wanted me to inherit the throne… but I was defeated in the competition"
"I see" he said emotionlessly
Her right eye started to twitch "What is worst, Kurami Tseru, the one that is now set to become the new ruler of Elkia, is an agent of Elven Garde…"
"Terrible"
Now she was trembling with rage "…which means that if she becomes the new ruler, all of Immanity will become a puppet of the elves"
"Truly terrible"
It was too much for Stephanie, that just exploded
"Why are you acting as if it does not concern you?"
"I am really not into politics"
"But this affects you as well!"
"I really don't think that it does"
"Of course it does!"
"Why?"
"You are human! Like me!"
"That's debatable"
Stephanie slammed her hand on the table and stood up
"How dare you! Do you think that you are better than anyone else?"
"No, just from a different world" Jibril smiled upon hearing that, and Stephanie blinked
"W-what?"
"I am from a different world. I may look like you, but apparently I should not even be alive according to the rules of this world. Can you confirm that, Jibril?"
"Indeed!" the Flügel dove in between them and gracefully landed on the table "I analized him in depth and I can say that Sora may look like Immanity, but he is definitely something else!" her presentation completed, she took flight and returned to her observation point, really enjoying the show up until that point
Stephanie looked at Sora, uncertain on how to proceed
"So… what are you?"
"Jibril calls me Unknown"
"So… if I asked you to compete against Tseru to save this country…"
"Not interested"
"But… but you would be king!" she said, desperately trying to motivate him
"I am really not into politics"
Stephanie took a moment to think it over "How do you call yourself on your world"
"Human"
She seemed relieved
"You see? You are one of us!"
"I would not say so"
Stephanie started to grow desperate "Why don't you want to help us?" she asked in a pleading tone
"Because every human that I met here tried to screw me up. And so, maybe this person is terrible, and the elves are terrible, but I do not know it. And frankly, I do not care, because humans are pretty bad too." Sora answered coldly
"I – I don't think you understand …" her face was turning red
He shrugged "Possible"
"When the new king is chosen, a Race Piece materialize. Do you know what that is?"
He shook his head "Nope"
"It is the most powerful magical item in this world. Whoever holds it has absolute power over the entire race. If the elves were to take possession of it, Immanity would be removed from the roster of the Wise Races, and humans would not be protected by the Pledges anymore! We would be slaves of the elves! Everyone, including you!"
Sora did not even blink "Considering that I have no spirits in my body, I highly doubt that I will be affected"
Her face was really red now "You are a monster! You do not care about anybody but yourself"
"Correct. I am an evil, egoist alien from another world. I do not care about this planet"
"Why are you doing that?"
He rolled his eyes, and pointed a finger to his face "Alien…" he said as if trying to explain something to a slow learning child. He then pointed another finger to his heart "Evil…" he said in the same tone. Stephanie seemed on the verges of tears
"And you even pretend to be kind! Hic!"
He cocked his head "I never said that"
"I should not have lost time with somebody that steals the clothes of women!"
Sora raised an eyebrow, thinking of when he had thrown the clothes to the woman in the shrubs
"Your Majesty… I think that your agents are very bad at doing their job"
"No, it's the truth! I was there and I saw it all! Hic!"
Sora was about to get angry, but suddenly stopped
Wait a minute… Hic?
Sora swore, groaned and pinched his nose
"Your Majesty… please be honest with me now. Before coming here, did you drink something… alcoholic? Or worse?"
Jibril's eyes went all sparkle "What?! The princess is drunk?" she jiggled and clapped her hands in delighted while floating closer
Stephanie seemed to recover from her rage
"Well, yes… I had one drink…"
Sora made a face "One drink, you say…" he looked at her intensely "…At the time! For a grand total of…"
She shrunk "Well… three"
Jibril jiggled. Sora grumbled
"OK… and how strong is this… thing, that you drank?"
"It's not strong… Hic!... We give it to our children!"
He raised his eyebrows "I dare to doubt that!" he mumbled to himself, then got closer to her and addressed her in a very professional way "Very well Your Majesty…. Please say 'Aaaahhhhh' " she complied, and Sora frowned
"The smell of distillery of Earth… Sweeet memories…" he said like a mentor disapproving of his pupil's behavior. She turned away from him and crossed her arms, pouting like a child
"I am tired of you! You are mean! Hic! I want to go home!"
"Good idea. Are your attendants outside?"
"I came alone!"
Sora grew worried
"Your Majesty… I really think that it is too dangerous for you to go alone in the streets like this"
She threw up her nose
"I can take care of myself! Hic!"
"Sure! Normally you can … but not tonight! Please… I will sleep in the entrance, you can take my bed"
"No, you take me home right now!" she ordered in a childish way
His eyes went wide
"Riiiight… A commoner man walking at night holding a drunken princess in his arms... Nothing suspicious there… at all!"
"If you take me to the Palace, they will reward you"
"With one hundred lashes… or castration!
Stephanie took a very regal pose "Take me my Royal Robe, so I can get ready to go out!" she commanded. Sora's eyes went wide
"Sure… it's in the other room!" he said pointing the door of his bedroom
"What are you waiting for? Go fetch it and put it on my shoulders!" she spouted drunkenly
Sora put on an up-to-no-good face
"I am but a mere commoner!" he said in an exaggeratedly subservient tone that a sober person would have immediately classified as mockery "How can I recognize what belongs to Royalty? I humbly request that you indicate it to me, Your Majesty, so that I can attend at your commands! " this said, he walked close to the door.
"That is fair. Hic!" said Stephanie stumbling towards the door. Sora pulled it on the outside and stepped aside "After you, Your Majesty" he said acting as a perfect butler
"Good that you understand your place now!" said the princess as she walked in the room. Still on the outside, Sora slammed the door closed and locked it.
Jibril's jaw dropped open "Did you just kidnap the princess?" her eyes were sparkling. As he put the key into his pocket, Sora made a foxy smile
"Whaaaaat? Me? Of course not, I am merely protecting her from her drunken evil twin!"
Jibril burst into laughter
"Let me out!" Stephanie cried from the inside
"Tomorrow!" he shouted back
"You have to let me go!"
"And I will! When you are sober!"
"I am going to die if you let me here! Hic!"
"Inside there is water and a bathroom. You are not going to die"
"I also need food! Hic! I am going to starve!"
"Not in the next month!"
While Stephanie kept protesting and hammering the door, Sora turned around and started to walk toward the entrance of the library. Still laughing, Jibril followed him.
"Hey Jibril, I have a question for you"
"What is it?"
"To your knowledge, how much of what she said is true?"
Jibril thought about it
"The part on the Race Piece is true. It is also true that the previous king passed away, and that there is a competition to choose the next one… But I really don't know about Elven Garde's involvement. I am not so interested in the politics of Elkia myself"
He nodded to himself "Makes sense"
They reached the sofa in the entrance room
"Well, this is my stop, my Lady. Unfortunately, humans still need to sleep"
"I don't mind. You are cute, when you sleep" she said with a mischievous smile
Pretending to be shocked, Sora gasped and covered his mouth with his hand
"What a dangerous Angel! From now on I will be sure to lock my door when I sleep!"
Jibril pretended to whine about it
"Whaaaat? Why?"
"Obviously, I fear that my chastity may be in danger!" said Sora giving his best interpretation of a noblewoman worried about her virtue.
They stared at each other for a few seconds, and Sora cracked up first. Then they both burst into laughter. Jibril wiped a tear from her eye.
"That was fun! Good night, Sora"
"Have fun tonight. I will see you tomorrow"
The following morning, Sora unlocked his room, and knocked at the door. Jibril was fluttering around behind him, already chuckling in anticipation
"Your Majesty? Are you awake?"
A groan came from inside "Yes, I am awake"
"May I come in?"
"Why shouldn't you? This is your room"
Sora thought about it for a second
"The real meaning of the question was: are you dressed?"
There was a moment of silence, then a shriek
"EEEEKKKKKK! Where are my clothes! Pervert! What have you done to me?"
Sora's eyes went wide and turned around
"Ma'am! Did you steal the princess's clothes tonight?"
She balked at the accusation
"What? Of course not! Why would I do that?"
Sora crossed his arms "Because you thought that it was hilarious… or something?"
"How dare you! You are the man! And you have the key!"
"Oh yeah? And you can teleport, and go through walls!"
She put her fist on her waist
"And so? Are you saying that I am lying?"
He raised his right hand
"I swear on the Pledges, that I did nothing to the princess tonight"
She raised her right hand and did exactly the same. They stared blankly at each other for a few moments as they tried to make sense of what just happened.
"Ehm… Your Majesty …" Sora called on the inside "… we both swore on the Pledges that we did nothing to you… Could it be that yesterday you undressed yourself and then you just forgot… because you were drunk?"
"How dare you! I was not drunk at all!"
He rolled his eyes
"Could it be that you forgot because you were so tired yesterday?" he asked in an exasperated tone.
There was a moment of silence
"Oh, yes! I just found my clothes… so that must be exactly what happened. I am so sorry, this is so embarrassing!"
He finally exhaled
"It is all good Your Majesty… Nobody has been castrated here … Yet!"
Jibril was laughing "This is very funny! I am happy that you are my pet!"
He put a hand on his eyes and groaned "I am too old for this bullshit!"
Some time later, they were both sitting at the same table of the day before
"So, you are going to help me by winning the competition!" she stated
"Nope!"
"Yes you will! I have dirt against you!"
He cocked his head "And what would that be?"
"You kidnapped me!"
Sora grinned "Whaaat? That was quarantine!"
She blinked "Quarantine?"
"Yesterday, at a certain point you just collapsed on the table! Obviously, I assumed that you were sick, and as I am new of this planet, I was not sure what to do!" he said exaggerating how worry he was at the time "And so in the superior interest of the Kingdom of Elkia, I quarantined you for the night, in the hope that the evil spirit of wine would abandon your body spontaneously"
She was perplexed "Wine spirit?" her face turned bright red with incredible speed, once she realized what Sora was alluding at
"W-w-what are you insinuating?"
"Hic!" he said perfectly imitating an alcohol-induced hiccup
She turned even more flustered
"W-w-w-w-what are you doing? T-t-t-that made no sense! I do not understand at all!"
"I just have a hiccup, Your Majesty. No need to spread rumors about it at all!" he said with an even bigger grin. Jibril covered her face with a pillow to contain her hilarity.
"N-n-n-nobody will ever believe it!"
"Incorrect. Most people will claim that they do not believe it. In your presence. But then, behind your back… who knows what they are going to think about you? And then… wait! Was there a man there? And why was the princess in the home of a Flügel? Conspiring with Avant Heim?"
Stephanie admitted defeat "I am sorry! I am sorry! I am sorry! I swear, I will not try to force you anymore! Please, forgive me…"
Sora relaxed "Apology accepted" he said gently "I will of course keep for myself the little incident of yesterday. But now, I really think that you have to go, Your Majesty"
Stephanie looked at him for a moment. She was at a loss. Very slowly, she stood up and turned away, pathetically dragging her feet. Then she stopped, straightened up, and threw herself at Sora's feet. She was crying
"Please … I beg you… Help me … help this country … I will never ask you anything else … all of the opposite, I will do whatever you want! Please! Save this country, and I will be your slave!"
This said, Stephanie started to formulate a Pledge, but before she could say 'Aschente' to complete it, Sora stopped her by grabbing her hand. He looked intently in her teary eyes
"Looks like you are telling the truth after all. Or at least, you believe that what you are saying is the truth…" he stood up and made her seat again "…unfortunately, that does not change much. Humans cannot use magic on my world either. And the elves are very proficient with it. I do want to help you now… but I really don't know how…" his eyes met Jibril's, that was following him with attention. He suddenly had an idea.
"Hey, Jibril, can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Can Flügel detect the magic of the elves?"
"But of course! Those losers are tricky, but there is no way to escape the senses of a Flügel!"
Sora turned to Stephanie "So… when is it that I should challenge this spy of the elves?"
"Uhm? It will be in a four days… the challenge will be chess and …"
"Irrelevant!" he interrupted her, then turned to the Flügel
"Do you have anything to do the day of this game?"
Jibril perked up and went into flirty mode "Ooooh? Are you asking me out on a date?"
He made an apologetic smile "Weeell… I am inviting to go out and do something funny… but this something is usually not considered a date on my planet, so … for this time … I am actually not asking you out"
She pouted "Too bad! But tell me, what is it that you want to do?"
He grinned "Have you ever conquered a country?"
She turned serious "Of course I did!"
He gave her a look full of admiration "Wow! You have to tell me that story someday!" then he seemed to remember that the point was something else, and shook his head with force to regain focus "As I was about to say, I would like to conquer the Kingdom of Elkia. It's the first country that I try to conquer, and I really could use your experience and support on the matter…"
"Ooooh! So, it's your first time?" she said with a malicious smile. Sora made his best interpretation of a shrinking flower "Well, yes, it's my first time and I am very nervous…" he then gave her puppy eyes "…please be gentle!" he said as maidenly as he could.
Jibril mustered all of her manliness as she replied "You won't even feel it!"
she was the first one to crack up this time, and one second later they were both laughing hard, holding their bellies. Stephanie's jaw dropped on the ground.
"W-w-w-w-what is the meaning of this? she exploded "The fate of Immanity is at stake here!"
Sora reproached her immediately "Shut up, kid! Mom and dad are talking about important things here!" he scolded her
"Yes! Go to your room!" Jibril joined in.
The poor princess looked down and decided to just let the terrible duo to go on with their antics.
Jibril recovered first "Ok, that turned out well! I don't mind helping you Sora, but I am still not sure why you need me"
"I am sure that they are going to cheat using magic; and this is where you come into play"
Jibril did not seem too thrilled "Uhm… so you just need me to check that they do not use magic, so that you can have a fair fight?"
Sora raised a finger "Nonononono! I must have explained myself very poorly…" then his lineaments creased into a devilish smile "What I want is the enemy to believe that I expect a fair fight… I want them to cheat… and them I want you to expose them cheating. That, according to the Pledges is an instant loss… so that we will win!"
Jibril's eyes were shining with excitement "Ooooh! That seems so funny!"
Sora nodded "And there is more! In this way, you can remind both the elves and the humans, that it is actually Flügel that rule!"
"Yes!" Jibril shouted while throwing up her punch "I am in! Let's give those losers in Elven Garde a lesson that they will never forget!"
Then she seemed to think about something, and her demeanor changed dramatically. Slowly, she turned towards Sora, took a very dignified air and spoke in a very priestess-like way
"That seems a very well-thought plan. I shall support you with all of my abilities… Master"
He raised both eyebrows. Stephanie's jaw dropped on the ground "W-w-w-why did she just called you…"
Sora immediately turned to face the princess and cut her out before she could say anything "Don't believe for a second that I am actually her Master! It's more the other way around!"
Suddenly, he seemed to have realized something, and addressed his landlady again "And that's why you said it, isn't it? You found amusing the inversion of roles!"
She smiled "Very smart of you… Master"
He crossed his arms "Well… I don't mind if you call me that way when we are alone, but can you please avoid doing it when other people like the princess are around? People may act carelessly , if they take you at face value, and that would be dangerous for them, problematic for me, and most important… annoying for you"
She seemed to think about it "Uhm… what you said is quite right. Very well, Sora; I will keep this only between us!" she agreed happily
Sora turned towards Stephanie "Do you need anything else from me, at the moment?" she didn't, and so he accompanied the princess to the door. Stephanie left the library with a mixture of excitement and relief to make arrangements for the match. Of course, the excitement and relief that she was feeling were both related to the king competition, and the fact that she was finally leaving the library.
After the door closed, Sora turned to his landlady
"Are you really sure you want to use that nickname?"
"Don't you like it?"
"I may like it too much actually… I am afraid I will start to believe it!"
"Are the rulers of your world really so unwise?"
He acted as if he had been punched in the face "Ouch…" he said jokingly "…that hurt. Very well, Jibril-sama, I will try my hardest not to get comfortable with it!"
She gave him a solemn nod "Good. But I feel like I should do something to compensate you… you can give me a nickname too!"
"A nickname for you… I see" he went pensive and rested his chin on his hand for a moment "What about LAD?"
She was unimpressed "Lad? Why lad?
He shook his head "Not lad, but LAD, or L.A.D., meaning Little Angel of Death. What about it?"
Her eyes widened "Ooooh! Angel… one of those beings from your world that look like Flügel!"
He nodded, and she smiled in response "I like that! Yes, you can call me LAD"
He smiled "I am glad that you like it… my LAD"
She smiled, and changed topic
"So, if you win you will become King"
"Apparently"
"And then?"
He shrugged "I don't know. Let's win the game first; because I don't think that the plan will go without a glitch".
It went without a glitch.
Stephanie arranged for all of the referees to meet before the arrival of Tseru, and when they were all present, Jibril and Sora teleported in the room. There was a certain commotion at the appearance of the Flügel, but Stephanie managed to calm down the dignitaries and to explain them the plan.
"We will now do what we call: swear on the Pledges" Sora announced to the mystified referees
After losing on purpose a game of rock-paper-scissor with Sora, Jibril was bound by the Pledges to monitor the room where the competition was going to take place, and truthfully report any use of magic or other cheats.
As foreseen by Sora, after Jibril additionally swore on the Pledges that she was not interested at all in ruling the irrelevant kingdom of Elkia, the dignitaries of the human kingdom did not need much prodding to accept any help that could keep the elves of Elven Garde out of the picture.
Once everyone was on the same picture, Jibril went into hiding, so that she could observe the hall, but nobody would spot her.
The hall gradually filled with spectators, including an elf shrouded in disguise magic that nobody but Jibril noticed. Finally, Tseru appeared, fully confident in her imminent victory. She and Sora exchanged some trash talk, then sat at the table upon which sat a perfectly normal chess board, and the match began. Sora gave his best, to be sure that his adversary would feel threatened enough to cheat, and when that happened… Jibril descended from the ceiling, swearing on the Pledges that Tseru was cheating using magic in cahoots with the elves. She then threw a beam of light on Senator Viel Nirvalen of Elven Garde, while simultaneously undoing her cloaking spell. Tseru tried to deny any involvement but all of the referees were already against her, and nobody could question both the Pledges and the senses of a Flügel.
As the clamor from the crowd escalated, Viel decided that the safest option for her friend was retreat, and so created a magic whirlwind that allowed both of them to escape. Sora won the competition. And the crown.