Jibril was having a lot of fun.

Six nobles from around the kingdom that really did not like their feudal privileges reduced had come to challenge king Sora. The loser had to do whatever the winner asked.

Sora had accepted their challenge, and had absolutely demolished them. The first two were outrun, the second couple was arm-wrestled, and the last two were defeated at something called martial arts.

Excited after the workout, Sora gave the six defeated nobles a mad smile

"So… it looks like I won! I can ask you everything that I want! I could strip you of all of your possessions… including your clothes!"

The nobles swallowed, and Jibril smiled: beaming with pride, like the owner of the most powerful hound in an illegal racket of dog-fighting. But Sora was not done yet

"I could do all of that…but I won't. For this one time!"

And so, magnanimous in victory, the king seemed content to confiscate some land then and there, slightly reduced the station of a couple of them, and made them swear on the Pledges not to oppose his rule and report of any knowledge they had about plots against the Emperor. They also lost memories of the challenge, of course.

The six defeated challengers left the room dejected, although somewhat relieved that they got away with so little damage. Almost as soon as they left, Stephanie entered the room

"So, how did it go?" she asked

"I did exactly what you said"

She smiled "Good! Those six were really starting to gather too much power, especially the Duke of Jo. You really helped me out there, Sora"

He made a gesture of dismissal "It's part of my job. Besides, your system of playing different factions of nobles against each other is quite ingenious. That way they cannot unite against the crown; will you explain it to me some more please?"

She gave him a radiating smile "Yes, of course!"

She opened a map of the kingdom, and started to introduce the main factions of nobles as singular entities, before breaking them down into individual actors.

Jibril suddenly seemed to perk up, and flew out of the window. She climbed almost vertically in the blue sky, maneuvering in a way that would make it very difficult to spot her for an observer walking towards the palace. She finally reached a position that seemed appropriate and tried to assess whether her first impressions had been accurate. They were. She smiled, and teleported back into the room, right in front of Sora and Stephanie

"Master!"

The human raised his eyes from the map "Yes?"

"We are going to receive a visit soon"

Sora exchanged a glance with Stephanie, that just shook her head, before asking: "A visit? From who?"

"The ambassador from Elven Garde"

He made a face "Really? That's a surprise!"

She smirked "Yes, and he seems furious!"

Sora raised his eyebrows "I see. Thanks a lot for the heads up! Uhm…" he made a face "Jibril, would you do me a favor?"

"What is it?" she asked

"I am pretty sure that the ambassador is a very skilled magician; can you cast some kind of surveillance spell on him, to be sure that if he tries to use magic while he is here, we will be at least aware of that?"

She cocked her head "Wouldn't it be better to dispel it altogether?"

He seemed to ponder the issue

"If it is something with immediate destructive effects … yes. If it is instead some kind of listening magic for spying, it may be more useful to leave it alone and exploit it to feed false information to the enemy. But please try to take note of everything that he does, also about the dispelled incantations"

She seemed impressed "As expected from you, King Sora. I will arrange something to that effect; all intelligence magic of my knowledge will be allowed, while everything else will be automatically…"

she suddenly stopped, seeing that Sora was now staring at the ceiling with a very pensive expression

"Ehm… am I wrong?" she asked

He smiled awkwardly

"Sorry for being so nitpicky… if all magic except the spying magic is dispelled, the ambassador may correctly deduce that we are letting him do it on purpose… and react accordingly"

She bit her lip and nodded slowly "That also makes sense … but then what can we do?"

Sora suddenly seemed to find a solution of his liking

"What about this? You will dispel the first two attempt at using spy magic, but you will let the third 'slip'… and then you will start dispelling again, but you will 'miss' the seventh and thirteenth attempt. This way it will look like those were just mishaps"

"I see. Very clever. But why not to allow third, sixth and nineth attempt?"

"Because failing to dispel with a regular patter may also be suspicious. Besides, I do not want the enemy to place too much magic in here anyway! What do you think? I know I am being very nitpicky, but I think this may really help"

she really was impressed now "I think that the elf stands no chance. I will do as you suggested, Master"

"Thank you, my LAD, I am in your debt!" he then turned to Stephanie "Your Majesty… what do we know about this particular elf?"

The elf ambassador was shorter than Sora by an entire head. He looked like an old man, which meant that he was at least centuries old, maybe even more. He had very little hair on his head, very wrinkly eyes and a big nose.

"Your inauguration speech was absolutely unacceptable" was his opening salvo

Sora didn't even blink "Why?"

"Are you out of your mind? It was incredibly aggressive!"

"Against who?" the king asked emotionlessly

The ambassador acted as if he could not believe his ears "Everybody!"

"Incorrect" Sora stated flatly "The correct answer was: nobody. The state of Elkia that I described is a fact. The fact that Elkia is still here and that it will never just surrender quietly is a defensive statement. The fact that the other races will never do a mistake again is because we will explain their mistakes to them; very quietly and politely. The last part was emotional, but no country was mentioned anyway; it was just to rouse the crowd and increase my popularity. I am sure you understand…"

The ambassador glared at him "And do you understand what happened after that?"

"Lots of things happened after that. Could you please be more specific?"

"The crowd assaulted people from all of the other races, including elves merchants!" said the elf, while pointing an accusatory finger at Sora that just nodded, seemingly absent-mindedly

"Yes, I heard that a number of humans annoyed and challenged foreigners… and lost a lot of money in the process. As per usual. I am sorry, Lord Ambassador, I fail to see the problem there"

The elf ambassador looked aside and seemed to deflate

"Well, it is true that nobody was hurt…" then he turned to Sora again "So, you are telling me that you have no intention of attacking another country"

"Of course not…" Sora lied out of his teeth "… I want nothing more than just keep friendly relationship with all of the neighborhood and beyond! Besides, even if I wanted to attack another country… what could I do? I am a human, for Tet's sake! Do you really think that I am a threat to Elven Garde? That is the largest country in the world!"

There was a moment of silence, as the elf's eyes seemed to try to penetrate into Sora's skull, but the human king quietly sustained the glance.

"Anything else, Lord Ambassador?"

The elf grabbed his chin "Yes, actually. Are you a puppet of the Flügel?"

Sora raised an eyebrow "No. Why do you ask?"

"Then why was there a Flügel at your side when you delivered the speech?"

Sora decided not to talk about Jibril's role in his plan to seize power. It was possible that the ambassador already knew, but there was no point in giving up information for free.

"Oh, you mean Jibril! That's easy, she is my Special Assistant"

The eyes of the old elf widened "What?" he bent forward, outraged. Sora raised an eyebrow

"She is my special assistant"

"Not that! Her name"

Sora's face was deadly calm when he replied "Jibril"

"That is unacceptable!" the elf said with a tone that did not admit objection

"Incorrect. That is: not your business" Sora stated flatly. The elf reacted as if it had been slapped, but recovered fast

"Do you know what that monster did?"

Sora frowned "First: she is a Flügel, not a monster. Second: you will have to be more specific about that"

"Are you mocking me?"

"She has lived for thousands of years. It would take me a decade only to read her CV"

"And so?"

"And so you will have to be more specific" Sora repeated like a robot

The elf glared at him trying to decide whether lowering himself to answer the question was necessary or not. Finally, he decided to be more specific "She destroyed our capital!" he shouted outraged.

Sora was non-plussed "Oh, that! Yes, she told me that" he said nonchalantly. The ambassador's eyes went wide with outrage

"And you are OK with it?"

Sora shrugged "It was during war time"

"Do you think that that makes it acceptable?" the ambassador asked as if he could not believe that he had to explain it.

Sora nodded "Yes, that's exactly what I think"

The ambassador looked at him coldly "I don't think that you understand the situation"

Sora did not change expression "Then please do explain it to me"

"If you do not banish her from your government immediately, the relations between our countries will sensibly deteriorate"

Sora had no hesitation "Fine by me. Anything else?"

The ambassador seemed at a loss "You just said that you wanted to stay in good relations with your neighbors…" the elf was not done yet, but the human cut him short. Sora narrowed his eyes, took a step forward, and gave the ambassador a glance that would have paralyzed a charging bull

"That was before you tried to stuck your giant proboscis into the composition of my government!" he shouted.

The ambassador was stunned by the sharpness of the reaction, and backed down. Sora loomed over him, his eyes sending flames.

"Anything else, Lord Ambassador?" he growled, then pressed forward "No? Then this meeting is over! You can find the exit by yourself!" King Sora roared to the dumbfounded ambassador

"I don't think you understand…

"No, it's you who do not understand! GET OUT OF MY PALACE! NOW!"

Barely believing that he was really being kicked out in that way, the ambassador started to back down, but then stopped and crossed his arms "This is not over! I have the right to be escorted out, and I am not going to move until I get what I am entitled to!"

Sora looked appalled, and his demeanor switched dramatically again "Oh, heaven! How could I forget about your rights! I will make up for that immediately!"

The elf looked satisfied "Good that you know of your duties!"

Sora looked around and spotted a group of janitors. He asked them to approach

"My Ladies and Gentlemen… sorry to disturb you…" Sora addressed the group "…the Lord Ambassador is leaving the palace, and … I hate to place further works on your shoulders, but … could you please escort him to the exit? Just to make sure he does not get lost into this large palace!"

the ambassador's mouth dropped open "What is the meaning of this?"

Sora pretended to be oblivious of the problem "I am giving you an escort! As you demanded!" he said in the most innocent tone imaginable.

"I did not mean something like this!" the old man protested

"Well, you did not specify, and I already appointed them!"

"I demand that you appoint somebody else!" the elf yelled

Sora wore the stern expression of the protector of law and order

"The word of the king is law, and so the king has only one word! Now it is too late to change!"

"This is outrageous!"

Sora narrowed his eyes and gave the elf in a very dangerous look

"What is the problem? Are you saying that this is not good enough for you? How dare you to look down on the escort that I so graciously granted for you! Perhaps I should contact the Senate in Elven Garde and tell them about your offensive behavior and attempt at interference!"

The old elf was speechless for the rage, while the janitors chuckled and their chief agreed to take the job; Sora grinned "Great! And please try to entertain our guest with some nice songs for your village, so that everybody will be on notice that the ambassador has concluded his visit! You know, in this way they can pay their respect to him…"

The workers laughed hard this time, and Sora handed their leader a piece of paper "When you are done, please come to see me; I will reward you for your trouble. Show that message at the royal gate, and I will come to you immediately" the chief janitor bowed low, and the crew took position around the elf, that was boiling with rage.

The procession started orderly enough, but when the escort started to sing, the elf decided that it was too much, and just run for the exit. Laughing and singing, the janitors chased him.

Sora laughed and headed for the archive.

In the archive, he found Jibril perusing on an old text. She raised her head from the pages

"What was the commotion?"

Sora laughed "I kicked the ambassador out of the palace"

She raised an eyebrow "I heard many people running and shouting… did you have to drag him out, together with all of his staff?"

Sora raised a hand "Nothing so dramatic. I gave the ambassador an honor guard of six janitors to accompany him to the exit. At a certain point he decided that he could not take it anymore and started run towards the gate… so obviously his guardians had to, oh-so-merrily chase after him, while singing a delightful folk song about killing the pig to make salami!"

Jibril burst into laughter, and covered her face with the book, her shoulders trembling. When she finally emerged again, she had tears rolling down her cheeks for too much laughter.

"Is … that … so?" she asked while struggling to regain her composure

Sora made a face "I am surprised you did not hear it"

She blushed slightly "Yes, you are right… I must have been very absorbed in the reading! So, what did the ambassador wanted?"

Sora shrugged "He did not like the royal speech. But I managed to handle that part without problems"

"And the other part?"

The human made a gesture of dismissal "He had some ridiculous demand that I rejected offhandedly. Nothing that deserves your attention!"

She looked at him "Are you trying to protect me?"

He raised an eyebrow "I thought that you were the one protecting me… by being sure that he could not use magic in here"

She smiled "Well, I did do that…" she made a pause and looked at him for a few seconds "Thank you" she finally said

He chuckled "For what? I should be the one thanking you!"

She shook her head "Sora… please, don't lie to me … I said: thank you"

He looked at her again, and grew serious "It was the minimum that I could do..." he said "So you were listening after all…"

She nodded "I was"

Sora's eyes shot opened as he pretended to be outraged "You lied to me!"

Jibril was caught off-balance "W-what? You lied to me too!" she said on the defensive

"I said that the ambassador had some ridiculous demands. That is a fact. I said that I rejected them immediately. That is also a fact. I said that it was nothing deserving your attention. I still believe that!"

There was a moment of silence; Jibril slightly looked down

"Well… if you put it that way…"

"Instead, you said that you were not listening! But you were!" Sora assumed a very melodramatic pose, covering his face with the back of his right hand "I will never be able to trust anyone anymore!"

Jibril was embarrassed "You are right. I feel so ashamed…"

Sora realized that he had gone too far "Hey… I was kidding! Do not worry about it!"

Jibril still looked downcast "But… I did lie to you!"

He scratched his head "Well… I would have preferred that you had not done it… especially because there was no real reason for doing it! But there was no harm done, it's all good"

"So… you forgive me?"

"Do you promise never to lie to me again… without a good reason?"

She smiled "I promise!"

It was his turn to smile "You are forgiven, my LAD"

Two weeks later, the ambassador was back; even more furious than the first time.

"Do you think that you are very smart?" he roared as soon as he saw Sora.

The human was nonplussed "Good morning, Lord ambassador. What do I owe the honor of your visit?"

"You know very well why!" the elf shouted

"Not in the slightest" the human said seraphically

The elf took a long moment before deigning himself to give an explanation "A Flügel attacked the capital of Elven Garde!"

Sora covered his mouth in horror

"Attacked! I am shocked that your capital was attacked by a Flügel… there must have been thousands of victims!" his expression changed swiftly, as if he had suddenly remembered something "Oh, no, wait… Pledges are absolute, so it's impossible that anybody died… or am I wrong?"

The elf looked downcast "You are not… but that it's still unacceptable!"

"What is unacceptable? What happened? And how am I connected to it?"

The elf pointed a trembling finger at him "Don't even try to deny it!"

"Deny what?" asked the king of Immanity with a note of annoyance in his voice

The ambassador sent him a burning look "Your Flügel monster pet appeared above the sky of our capital, and unleashed a barrage of attacks!"

Sora scowled and started to count on his fingers

"Number one: Flügels are not monsters. Number two: Jibril is not my pet. Number three: what proof do you have that it was Jibril. Number four: what happened to the city? You still have to tell me what happened to the city! Were buildings destroyed?"

"No…"

"Then what happened?"

The ambassador looked away "A message was delivered"

"What message?"

The elf lowered his eyes and did not reply immediately. An awkward silence followed, until he finally swallowed his pride and reported what the message said: "Elves drool, Immanity rules"

Sora laughed in the ambassador's face "And how was this message delivered?"

The older man gave him a burning look "You know very well how it was delivered!"

"How should I know that? I have nothing to do with it!" Sora lied shamelessly "Was it by throwing leaflets?"

"No…"

The earthling narrowed his eyes "Uhm… you said that the Flügel threw a barrage of attacks… could it be that it was written on the ground, in giant letters, using those attacks as a colossal pencil?"

"Something like that" the ambassador said in humiliation, as he realized that now he could not prove that Sora was behind the attack.

The message had actually been written on the side of a mountain, so that it could be read from many miles away, but Sora had decided to play slightly dumb. In that way, he was hoping to make the ambassador understand that he was indeed the one ordering the provocation, while using only words used by his opponents and disguising the rest as mere conjectures.

Then the king of Elkia counterattacked "And now, what proofs do you have that it was Jibril? I want to check, but if she has an alibi for that day, you will have to apologize to her!"

The ambassador was appalled "I will never do that!"

Sora's eyes turned as hard as steel "Oh, really? You just made a pretty heavy accusation, and so you'd better show some proofs of what you said!"

"How dare you…"

"Do you have any proof with you?" Sora shouted "And when was this message delivered anyway?"

"How dare you…"

"Apologize!" Sora shouted

"What?" the elf could not believe his ears

"Apologize!" Sora shouted again

"Are you insane?"

"Do you have any proof? No? Then I demand that you apologize for slandering a member of my staff!"

The elf looked around, looking for support "This is ridiculous!"

"I demand an apology!" Sora roared, looming upon the elf, his eyes laser focused on the ambassador, that just remained silent. The human narrowed his eyes

"Final warning. Present your proofs or I will kick you out of here. Again!"

The ambassador gave him a last outraged look before throwing up his hands "This is a loss of time! I challenge you on behalf of Elven Garde!"

Sora repressed a grin "And I accept!"

Few minutes later, they were in a large room inside the palace. A square of about 20 m side had been drawn on the ground. On the northern side of the square, Stephanie and a number of dignitaries were aligned as witnesses of the challenge. The attendants of the elf ambassador took place at the opposite side, while Jibril and a Werebeast contractor – most likely an agent of the Eastern Federation, and so hostile to Elven Garde – were standing on the eastern side of the square. Sora and the elf entered the square from the western side, and moved to the center of it.

The ambassador looked at Jibril with hatred "What is she doing here?"

"She has a role in the game"

The elf gave Sora a mellifluous glance "You seem to rely a lot on her"

Sora gave the ambassador a sideway glance, then his eyes seemed to go into trance. But that lasted only for a moment, before he regained focus immediately.

"Of course I do!" he said cheerfully "Because she is awesome!"

Jibril perked up, and chimed in "Do you really think that, Master?"

"I do" said Sora, thinking that it was the end of it. He was wrong

"Compliment me some more, Master!"

Sora's smile turned awkward Uhm… do you mind if we do this later? We have guests right now"

Jibril blushed "Of course! Sorry!"

"My apologies, Lord Ambassador" said Sora, actually embarrassed

the elf seemed triumphant "Do you think that that is going to be enough to apology?"

"No?" the king asked defensively

"Not at all! Is this how seriously you are taking this challenge? I expect you to make it right later"

"Uhm … I suppose that you want some kind of advantage in the game?"

The ambassador nodded forcefully "Definitely! I demand it as a compensation of your behavior!"

Sora mulled over it "I guess there is no way around it"

The elf made an unpleasant smile

"Good that you understand your situation. What do you want to bet, human?"

"I propose that we both bet a territory as large as 90% of the extent of Elkia"

"I want you to bet more!" the elf charged

"So, 91%?"

"All of it! You owe me that!"

"I see. Well… I guess that I have no other choice but concede you that"

The elf smiled in triumph "And I want something else"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Your Flügel"

Sora blinked "Eh?" the rest of the Elven Garde delegation also seemed shocked

"Wasn't I clear?" the old elf pressed on

"It's a strange sensation, Lord Ambassador… I feel like my brain registered what you said, then refused to acknowledge that it was real, and erased any trace of it, so I will ask it again… Eh?"

The elf smirked "I want your Flügel"

Sora shuddered, and did not bother to hide it. His lips turned on a mask of pure disgust

"I see… looks like I heard right the first time after all…"

The elf nodded, looking at him with intensity "Indeed. Are you going to answer now?"

"Out of the question"

The ambassador got closer to Sora, his eyes boring into the human's

"Maybe I explained myself poorly. You will answer that" he hissed.

Sora narrowed his eyes, as he leant forward himself

"Maybe I explained myself poorly. The answer is: 'out of the question'. It means: NO. I will NOT accept this exchange"

"Because you cannot or because you do not want to?"

"First of all, I do NOT WANT to, thanks for the chance of making that clear. But even if I wanted, which I absolutely do NOT want…I cannot."

"What is the prize? I will bet 20% of Elven Garde' territory…"

"No"

"30%"

"No"

"50%"

"No"

"70%"

"Stop doing that! I cannot! She does not belong to me!"

The elf did not seem convinced "She does everything you want…"

"Incorrect! She does what she wants, and occasionally makes me a favor. Now, can we please go back to something less… disgusting?"

"Master…" Jibril interjected. Sora turned to face her

"Tell the ambassador that he has to bet his Race Piece. If he does that, I accept to be part of the bet"

The ambassador made a creepy smile "Seems fine to me" the other elves looked at each other in disbelief, and some of them tried to plea with the ambassador that it was too dangerous, but the old man cut them short.

Sora felt his blood freeze "What are you doing?"

"Speeding up the process" she answered

"It's too dangerous!"

"I have faith in you"

Sora's heart skipped a bit… but he could not lose focus

"Jibril, please… this is not necessary!"

"Are you afraid of losing?" she asked

"Of losing you? Yes! And a lot, thanks for asking!"

Jibril suddenly felt a pang in her chest. She hated to be doing this to him, but she was convinced of her reasoning, and so she pressed forward "So you are saying that my evaluation of you is incorrect?"

Sora was at a loss of words, and the ambassador chuckled mellifluously "So?"

"I need a moment to think" the earthling said weakly

The elf looked at him like a cat playing with the mouse "Don't take too long… I have business…"

Sora's head turned to him with the speed of lightning, his voice sounded like a thunder in a dry summer day, prelude of a typhoon.

"You will wait as long as necessary! And if this is not fine with you, you can return into the hole from where you crawled out today!"

The ambassador felt something into his throat and went silent despite himself

Sora folded his arms and closed his eyes

"Why is she doing this? It makes no sense"

"I mean… on the one hand I am happy that she trusts me so much that she would put herself in so much danger, but there is actually no guarantee that I will win! It is too dangerous!"

"On the other hand, if I just refuse to go on with this, she may get angry… for real. She may even leave me, which would be very bad… in many ways"

He swallowed internally

"But at least that way she would be safe … so I guess that that is what I am going with…"

He sighed internally, then brought his hands to his head and gritted his teeth

"This is so frustrating! Why is she doing that? She is not a…"

The word died in his mouth as his eyes shot open at the realization

"She is not a child… Of course she is not a child … She is an immortal superior being that lived for thousands of years and that has an entire library memorized! What does a lowlife like me think that he is doing, patronizing her?"

"Besides… she actually does a lot for me… Maybe it's time that I start returning the favor…"

The eyes that were opened were very different than those that were closed. They had turned into two burning furnaces adorning a head that looked like that of a wolf. As he zeroed in on his opponent, the room fell silent, and even the ambassador felt a chill down his spine.

"Elf… I accept your proposal. The game will take place in this square. Exiting the square with both feet will result in instant loss. It will be forbidden to use abilities surpassing those of a human, so super strength, super speed and magic, for example, are absolutely not allowed. The Flügel referee will swear on the Pledges to report truthfully any use of magic that she will detect. The Werebeast referee will use its superior senses to measure the speed of our movements, and will swear on the pledges to report if any of us uses abilities above those of a human. Using forbidden abilities will of course result in instant loss. All memories of the fight will be erased from the defeated party"

The ambassador's mouth dropped open, but recovered quickly

"This is unacceptable"

"The Pledges are absolute. The challenged party has the right to choose the game"

"I don't think you understand the situation. You owe me, for your disgusting behavior in presence of guests!"

Sora narrowed his eyes "No, it's you who do not understand!" he hissed. A hiss that would soon turn into a roar

"I am taking risks that I do not want to take in order to get things that I am not interested into! Enough is enough! You got plenty of concessions already, it's time to play!"

The elf was at a loss of words, and Sora continued

"Now, for what the game actually is…" he raised his right hand, showing its back to the ambassador. The index and middle finger were held together, while the thumb, ring and little finger were bent on the palm.

Sora grinned like a wolf staring at a lamb "This… is a knife…"

The ambassador lasted less than three seconds.

Sora conquered all of Elven Garde, and a Rook Race Piece.

In utter shock, the ambassador backpedaled while muttering incomprehensibly, until he tripped his feet and fell on the ground. The rest of the elven delegation was equally shell-shocked. Most of them were just covering their faces, while one of them could only stare into nothingness while repeating "It cannot be… it cannot be…"

Sora walked towards them, leaving the ambassador in the center of the square. They withdrew, cowering in fear. He stopped and raised a hand, as a peace gesture

"Please don't be afraid… fellow citizens. I have no ill will towards the race of the elves, and your life is not going to change in any dramatic way"

A voice came from behind him

"That's very generous of you… my Lord"

Sora turned towards the ambassador, his eyes sending flames "Except for you!"

His voice had turned into something terrifying. It was low, and dark, and merciless. It sounded like a giant demon talking from the depth of a cavern.

"How dare you to speak to me after all of what you have done! You insulted my precious friend in my presence! You tried to force me to cast her away! And then you tried to make her into your slave, as if she was an object! For all of that, YOU ARE GOING TO PAY!"

The ambassador started to beg, but to no avail

"You will now be sent on a remote village in the mountains of Elkia, as a school janitor. For the next 100 years, you will not be allowed to use magic, or to leave the school premises. And you will be compelled to clean all of the toilets of that school in a never-ending cycle until the end of your penance time!"

"No, please!"

Sora snapped his fingers "Teleport!" the former ambassador disappeared, having the power of the Race Piece taken care of enforcing Sora's command.

Ignoring the gasps all around him, Sora moved swiftly to the next point on his agenda, and wished to establish a telepathic connection with the members of the elven Senate. There was no need for him to talk aloud, but he did it anyway.

"Honorable Senators of Elven Garde… good morning! I am Emperor Sora, leader of the combined elves and human nation; I am talking to you thanks to the power of the Rook Piece. I believe that right now, the elves of the empire are in a state of great distress, and scenes of mass panic may soon start, if they haven't already. I wish to issue a declaration to reassure our people, but first I wish to meet you all. I will teleport you all to Elkia city in about thirty minutes… so if you are taking a bath, right now… please be ready by then!"

Sora looked at elves' delegation. Now visibly relieved, they bowed low in front of their Emperor, and took their leave.

Half an hour later, Sora was sitting at the head of a long table. Stephanie was sitting at his right, while he had asked Jibril to stay outside; the elves guests definitely did not need any additional source of stress, while the Rook Piece would take care of any possible foul play. Sora spoke to the empty places of the table.

"Honorable Senators, everything is ready on our side. Does any of you need any more time?"

Apparently, everybody was ready, and so the Emperor simply snapped his fingers. Suddenly, the entire Senate was teleported at the table. They were weary, but Sora smiled warmly at them

"Welcome, Senators! Thank you for accepting my invitation! I want to make clear that this… was not my plan. I really have no idea what the former ambassador to Elkia was thinking when he bet the Race Piece, but… he did it. And that's why we are all here right now. Any questions so far?"

There was a moment of silence, then an old elf close to Sora – most likely the leader of the Senate – made a question.

"What is going to happen to Elven Garde now?"

"I would like to reassure you that I have no intention of turning Elven Garde in a giant wallet for Immanity. I do want to make humans and elves more connected than they are right now, but I have no intention of imposing a barrage of drastic changes to the way you govern your own affairs… "

There was a collective sigh of relief, but Sora was not done yet

"So, now that you are all part of the administration of the Empire, we will make a game and you will lose. The losers will be bound by the Pledges never to make a false report to me"

Many elves adjusted their position on the chair, uneasy. Sora tried to reassure them.

"The human officials of Elkia had to do the same; please do not believe that you are being treated differently. Princess Dola, could you confirm that?"

Stephanie was happy to oblige. As many the elves knew her, that seemed to put at least some of them at ease. And so they all lost a round of rock-paper-scissors and were enrolled in the burocracy of the Empire. Sora was pleased and leant back on his chair.

"Good. Now, I said that I do not want to unleash a barrage of changes… but there is one major exception. Slavery. That has to go. I abolished it in Elkia already, and I expect Elven Garde to do the same as soon as possible. This is not negotiable. That is the one major thing that I wanted to discuss with you. I would like it to be done using the existing regulations and procedures of Elven Garde to avoid as much disturbance as possible. So, first question. I would assume that once slavery is abolished all of the slaves will automatically receive the treatment of the lowest-class free citizens. Is that correct?"

There was a lot of nodding

"Good. My question here is: do these free citizens currently receive money from the state? I am just trying to understand if this is going to create a financial storm… or something"

"No, that won't be a problem" the answer had come from Senator Viel Nirvalen. She did look familiar to Sora, but he had managed to see her clearly only for a few seconds before she had run away from the king-making competition with Tseru, and so he did not recognize her.

"Excellent. Second question: how much time will it take to draft a new law and make it operational? Please do include some extra time for unforeseen events"

"Six months" somebody said

"No, three months…" Viel interjected "…I researched this topic for 10 years, and I have a draft ready for that". There was a flourishing of discussion, but in the end three months seemed to be accepted as a realistic time frame.

Sora was satisfied

"Very well. Just because it's our first meeting and we don't know each other… I want to be sure that you know that if by the end of the third month that law is not in effect… I will simply do it myself by Rook-Piece-enforced Imperial Decree… and that won't look good on you"

The elves looked at each other, uneasy

"I really don't want to do it, but I will if necessary. So I am asking again: are you sure that three months are enough?"

This time, there was some discussion limited to the senior officials, that quickly became too technical for both Sora and Stephanie. However, it seemed clear that each faction of the Senate was trying to collaborate on implementing the new norm to avoid being publicly overruled. Finally, the old elf close to Sora took the word.

"I think that three months is feasible, but just to exclude any mishap… we would like to ask a four-months deadline… Imperial Majesty"

Sora nodded

"Very well, four months it is! Of course you know that you don't need to use all of the time, if it turns out that is not necessary, right?"

The old elf bowed "Of course, Imperial Majesty"

"Excellent! Then I will inform the elves of the realm of what we just talked about. Then I will talk to the humans, to make sure that they know that we are all fellow citizens of the same great nation! Anything else that we should be discussing? No? Then it was a honor to meet you all… It is my intention to set up a regular meeting with you all, but I will notify you once I have a better grasp of our new situation… right now the crisis has priority. See you soon!"

This said, he snapped his fingers, returning the elves to their homeland. Immediately after that, as promised, he addressed both the elves and the humans. There were indeed scenes of mass hysteria all across Elven Garde, but the Imperial Speech managed to put most of it under control. For the humans it was the other way around… because most of them did not even realize what had just happened. But when it became clear that Elkia had conquered Elven Garde, there were massive celebrations all across the country.

Later that night, Sora was very tired. It had been an incredible day, and an incredibly successful one. Still, there were just so many things that did not follow his original plan… Sora was thinking about it, when Jibril appeared in front of him, seemingly out of nowhere. She seemed mortified.

"I am sorry, Master"

"For what?"

"I made a lot of problems for you today"

He looked at her "You think so?"

She looked away from him "I see. Looks like this time you are really angry"

He cocked his head, perplexity all over his face "Jibril… I really do not believe that you made problems for me. Why do you believe that?"

She took a deep breath "I was too playful, and so I embarrassed you. And because of that, that elf treated you so badly… And then I forced you to accept a bet that you did not want to take"

She lowered her eyes when Sora looked at her

"So… you think that your behavior influenced the elf ambassador?"

"Yes"

"I agree. And in what way do you think that it influenced him?"

She gave him a confused look "I… just told you…"

"Let me rephrase it: what emotion do you think that the elf was feeling towards me right before we started the game?

"Despise"

He nodded "I agree. Last question: is despise often associated with… I don't know…" Sora's face turned into a triumphant grin "Underestimation?"

Her eyes went wide "You… you did it on purpose! How did you know that I was going to do it?"

He shrugged "I didn't. When the elf brought up the fact that I rely on you a lot, I could have just ignored it… but instead I used it – and kind of encouraged you to go along – to throw the enemy off-balance…" he made a pause "However, when you kept pushing it, I really had to ask you to stop!"

She blushed "Yes… sorry about that!"

He made a dismissive gesture "Not a problem. For the other issue, uhm… I admit that I would have preferred if you hadn't forced me to accept the bet. On the other hand… we have an Empire now! Thank you"

She felt something stirring in her chest "A-are you really thanking me?"

"Of course! If the elf hadn't been so obsessed with you, and if you hadn't forced me to take the risk… things would be very different right now. So… thank you! Although, for the next time, let's try to discuss this kind of issues before the declaration of war. Today it went well, but it was kind of spontaneous; next time I want to be prepared for it!"

"It makes sense…" She went pensive for a second, as if she was trying to find the words

"Sora, do you mind if I ask you something personal?"

"What is it?"

She did not answer immediately "Do you really believe that I am as worthy as the entirety of Elven Garde?"

He scratched his chin "Well… If you really want to, I will tell you… but I was hoping that my actions today had spoken for themselves already"

She gave him a warm smile "You are right… please forget that I asked"

He smiled "Asked what?"