Sora was worried by the news coming from Avant Heim. The de-facto leader of the Flügel, Azrael, had apparently not taken kindly that a number of children of Lord Artosh were now spending time on the surface, acting like the servants of a human insect. She had not forbidden them from doing anything so far, but Sora was troubled. Was he doing the right thing? He did not exactly have a plan about the Flügel, and he did not consider himself nearly qualified enough to actually understand them. Giving the Flügel something to do was an idea he got simply because Armisael volunteered to clean the palace. Sora was doing his best not to hide anything to the Flügel, and that the tasks were assigned on an absolutely voluntary basis. He also did trust Jibril saying that the spirits in the Flügel showed sign of improvement, but he was nonetheless worried that his actions could create frictions withing Flügel-kind.
He had to stop mulling over that problem, because Stephanie had entered the room. He stood up and went to greet her.
"Your Majesty. I am glad that you are back safely" he said
She sighed "Thank you, Sora. It's good to be back"
He raised an eyebrow "I dare to hope that the trip was not too uncomfortable?"
She gave him a tired look "The trip is not the worst part of these meetings"
He made a face "I see. The werebeasts are still unfriendly to Immanity, eh?"
She nodded, and sighed again "Even more so, since the Empire was established"
He seemed embarrassed "I am sorry that this is making problems for you"
She shook her head "Not at all… this is in no way your fault" she looked at him "Sora, I wanted to ask you something"
"Sure"
"Are there werebests in your world?"
He blinked "No"
"Are you sure?"
He shrugged "Unless some ancient legends are true… yes, I am sure. Why are you asking?"
"In the embassy of the Eastern Federation, I noticed that they have a lot of devices similar to yours… how do you call them again? The tablet and the mobile phone?"
He raised his eyebrows "Really?"
"Yes. They are much bigger though, and for the most part, they are attached to the wall"
Sora scratched his chin "Interesting… can you make some drawings of what you saw exactly?"
"Gladly"
Stephanie drew a few sketches, that thoroughly convinced Sora that the werebeasts were in possession of informatic technology that, at least on the outside, was similar or superior to that of Earth.
"Uhm… Very intriguing indeed…" he mumbled to himself
Later that day, Sora decided to visit the Flügel wing of the palace, now home to about three hundred. True to her words, Ramiel had dramatically changed the architectural style, now sporting many of the characteristic of Avant Heim that Sora found so fascinating. The area now looked like a crossing between a village and an aviary, with multiple passages dug in the walls at any height, extra levels added for a more rational exploitation of the third dimension, and vertical galleries to provide quick access to those extra layers. Luckily for him, Ramiel had been so considerate to think about the access of non-flying creatures, and so he could still go around without being accompanied.
Most of the Flügel were living in newly-built rooms right below the ceiling, that provided direct access to the sky, as it was the most logic choice for a race of angel-like beings. Instead, Sora took a downward stair and moved to the cellar, that had in fact been elected as the residence of one of his friends. The cold, dimly lit environment was mostly silent, but rustling noises revealed that the landlady was at home.
Sora knocked against the wall to announce his presence "Iruel! May I come in?"
The rustling noise ceased, then a shadow quickly moved across the shady corridors, heading straight for Sora. The Flügel had a much different appearance than the others of her species: she was covered from head to toe in a worn black cape, with openings only for her head and wings. She had short black hair, golden eyes and a feline expression. She grinned upon seeing him.
"What do we have here? If it isn't Emperor Sora!"
"Good afternoon Iruel, I hope I am not disturbing you"
The woman stood by, to let in her guest "Not at all, please come in… welcome to my humble abode!"
"Thank you… how are you liking your new home?"
"It's wonderful! I really like the humid air that you have here on the surface. I did find a place dark enough in the depth of Avant Heim, but I really did not like to live there. Because Avant Heim is flying far above the clouds, it is always sunny there! And the nights themselves tend to be shorter! Yes, yes, I really prefer to live down here!"
"Great to hear that!" Sora said while looking around; he spotted familiar symbols written on the walls "Looks like Jibril was right… you really took a taste for computer science"
She seemed delighted "I did!" and immediately started to talk about her new favorite topic. Sora was really not too good with the technical aspects of informatics, but he let her go wild. It took almost an hour before she needed to catch her breath.
"I am sorry… I got carried away"
By that time, Sora was about to have a headache, but still managed to smile "It's all good, don't worry. Actually, that's why I came to visit you: I just learned that werebeasts may have computers!"
She almost jumped at him, eyes glinting "Really!"
"I haven't seen them myself, but from what I heard, it looks like they do"
"That is so interesting… do you think that I could have a look at them?"
He thought about it "Well… we can try to ask…" he ventured, but Iruel cut him short "No, that's impossible! They would never let a Flügel do it! I guess I could challenge them, but even Jibril lost once against them… Argh! That is so frustrating!" she seemed really annoyed, and Sora repressed a smile.
"Iruel… do you know what cyber warfare is?"
She looked at him "Uhm… no, actually…"
Sora smiled, and told her everything he knew about hacking, spoofing and informatic warfare. By the time he was done, she had a huge smile on her face.
"That… sounds… awesome!"
"It is indeed a fascinating topic… I think I will leave now, but let me know if you want to try to hack the Eastern Federation; I will try to help you out"
"Yes! Let's do it!"
Few weeks later, it was the day of Sol Invictus, a very important religious festival for Elkia. As such, Sora was to assist the High Priest of the Temple of Sol to perform a series of holy rites. A grand celebration was to be held in the Imperial Palace, at the presence of a huge crowd, that included basically the entire nobily of Elkia. A number of dignitaries from different countries were also present.
A stage had been built, upon which Sora, the High Priest and a number of Clerics were to perform the rites. They were a good hour into the ceremony, when suddenly the crowd let out a general exclamation of surprise. Sora looked around to assess the cause, and noticed that a number of people were pointing their finger upward. He naturally followed the cue, and quickly found the cause of the commotion: a group of Flügel, in V-formation, was heading straight for the stage. Sora recognized Jibril as the lead, then Zeruel, Armisael, Ramiel, Sachiel, Shanshel, Iruel, Gaghiel, Bardiel, Sandalophon and Tabris; eleven in total.
Beside the stage, Stephanie looked worriedly at Sora. She had learned that he was kind of a stickler about formality – he was still calling her 'Your Majesty' after all – and she wondered how he was going to handle this gross violation of the protocol.
The Flügel landed on the stage and quickly knelt down, still in their V-formation.
The high-priest was outraged.
"What is the meaning of this?" he shouted.
Sora had a stern look in his face, as he raised his hand in an imperious gesture
"Do not be alarmed, Your Holiness! I shall handle this!"
The priest looked at him, and seemed reassured "Very well, Emperor; I leave this to you"
Sora walked toward Jibril maintaining a stony expression, while the Flügel kept their heads low, looking at the ground. Finally, when he was around a meter away from her, he could not resist anymore and smiled "It really never gets boring when you are around, isn't it? Fine then, what is this about?"
She raised her head to look at him "We would like to deliver a message, Emperor Sora" she said solemnly
He nodded "You have my attention…" he smirked "…and that of everyone else"
Jibril smiled, bowed her head "Oh departed Master, Lord Artosh: he who created us, but no longer draws breath. At last, our long-cherished hope of finding someone worthy to serve as our new Master has been realized. Unknown to this world, he would command the humans, the elves and even us, overturning everything that we think we know…" she raised her head, and looked into his eyes "…My Lord… my Master… we of the Flügel, Exceed Order n.6 are pledging ourselves to you… all we are is now yours, Master. Use us the way you see fit, we will find no greater pleasure than carrying out your will!"
Sora felt his heart swell; there was a general gasp as he knelt in front of Jibril to take her hand and make her stand
"My dear friend… please stand up! I am so moved… there are no words to express how happy you just made me…" he chuckled awkwardly, and took the chance to wipe a tear from his eyes "…although I don't think that anyone here will ever believe that this was not staged" he said, then straightened himself and took a deep breath
"I really feel like I have to give you something in return, and so… I hereby appoint you as Supreme Commander of the newly-formed Imperial Military…" there was another gasp in the hall, but he ignored that, instead he looked at the other Flügel, that were still kneeling in front of him, eyes downcast "…and you, my ten new friends, shall be the first unit of that Military, and your name shall be… Furies of Vengeance!" most of them did not move, but some looked at him. He could see a spark in their eyes... and tears of joy for a couple of them. He turned to Jibril again
"Commander… please withdraw now, and if you have other surprises… please wait until the end of the ceremony"
She bowed low "As you wish, Master" she then gestured to the other Flügel. They all took off in unison, and they took position right under the vault.
Sora returned to the side of the High Priest "We can go on, Your Holiness… I am pretty sure that they will not interrupt again"
The priest did not seem too happy about how Sora had dealt with the situation, and made no attempts to hide it "What… was… that?" he hissed
Sora didn't even flinch "The quickest, quietest way to deal with the interruption without unseemly fights, while at the same time ensuring that there won't be any other interruption"
The priest was not placated at all "You basically bent backward!"
Sora was unphased "I disagree, but if you are unsatisifed… you can challenge them to a game, I suppose"
The High Priest froze, threw a quick side glance at the Flügel, and went back to perfoming the holy rites. The ceremony proceeded without further incidents.
Sora was playing Viking Chess with Jibril. She liked it very much, but she hadn't mastered it completely yet. Still, after only two games, she had become a quite dangerous opponent for Sora.
Suddenly, Jibril perked up and grinned
"We are going to have visitors soon" she said
He looked at her inquisitively "Do you know who they are?"
She shook her head "I don't know their names, but they are two werebeasts"
Sora grinned and made his move on the chessboard "They never visited before… I really wonder what happened"
Jibril made a predatory smile "Me too… all I know is that it certainly has nohing to do with Iruel" this said, she made her own move
"Nice move! Did you have time to dig in the material that she managed to hack from the Federation's embassy?" and he moved the pieces again
"I did. Their game seems actually quite entertaining … haha, nice try there, but it won't work!"
"I agree… a war game is always entertaining! I just do not understand why they made it a virtual reality game. Werebasts are physically very powerful, so they coud have just made it a soft-air competition…"
They kept playing for a few more minutes, until Stephanie run into the room
"Sora! A message from the Eastern Federation"
He exchanged a complicit glance with Jibril "Really? And what does it say?"
"The Werebeast's Priestess wishes to discuss an urgent matter with you as soon as possible! This is incredible!"
He cocked his head "What is incredible?"
"Do you know how many times we received an invitation from theyr leader?"
He shrugged "Uhm… Not so many, judging from your reaction"
"This is the first one since the Eastern Federation was established! It's incredible!"
"Does it say where do we have to meet?"
"The Temple of the Shrine Priestess in their capital city"
He nodded "Makes sense. Do you know where that is, my LAD?"
"Of course I do! Shall we go right now?"
Stephanie panicked "Wait! This is an historic moment! There are so many things to prepare!"
Sora looked at her "I see your point, princess Dola… but the message says as soon as possible. How much time do you need to prepare?"
Stephanie seemes to scramble inside of her own mind "One day! Give me one day, please!"
He nodded "Fine by me"
"Thank you!" Stephanie beamed, and run out of the room
Sora checkled, and went back to the game with Jibril.
On the evening of the following day, Jibril, Sora and Stephanie teleported in front of the Temple of the Shrine Priestess, and presented the invitation letter to the startled gatekeepers. They were let in though a long series of colorful corridors and even more colorful and decorated rooms. Sora enjoyed the style of the building, that to him appeared like ancient Chinese, while Jibril did not seem very impressed and Stephanie looked very tense. Certainly, she was going through her mental checklist to ensure the best diplomatic outcome of the meeting.
Finally, they were admitted into the Inner Sanctum, at the presence of Priestess Miko, leader of the Eastern Federation. Sora knew that Disboard followed the Earth protocol that the lower ranking figure had to introduce himself first. He also knew from the history of Earth that when the absolute rulers of two countries met, there was often a little bit of a standoff, with both sides making the case why it should not be them to introduce themselves first. More than anything, he knew that he had no intention of losing time with such nonsense.
He stepped forward and made a small nod "It's a honor to meet you, Priestess Miko. I am Sora, ruler of the Empire of Gamers. This is Jibril, my Special Assistant and Supreme Commander of the Imperial Military…"
"Howdy, foxy!" Jibril greeted with a coy smile
"… and this is Princess Stephanie Dola, governor of the Elkia Commonwealth"
Stephanie was very nervous "I-It's a honor to meet you…" she stammered. Doubtlessly, Stephanie would have liked to start discussing the many issues that she had been tirelessly preparing the previous day, but Miko had other plans. Too fast for a human eye to follow, she lounged at Sora, her sword stopping mere centimeters from the Emperor's neck. Jibril narrowed her eyes, but Sora just smirked. Stephanie was flabbegastered and backpedaled.
The priestess's eyes were sending flames "The Eastern Federation is going to take revenge on the Empire immediately. You really hurt us, you bald monkey. Your death won't be painless"
Sora grinned "Shall I take that for a challenge?"
"You are damn right you can"
"Challenge accepted. And I am impressed; I actually don't think that I would ever have the courage to challenge somebody, and then try to beat them at their game"
"Is that why you sent your Flügel pets to hack our computers?"
He frowned "They are my friends, not my pets… " then the frown turn into a sly smile "This said…yes, that is exactly the reason why I asked them to hack your computers. To be clear, I actually had no intention to attack you… yet"
"That's why I challenged you. It's a preemptive strike to prevent you to organize your attack. Besides, even if you don't attack us directly, all you have to do is to leak the information about our game to the other races. They will be upon us immediately, and we will be destroyed"
He nodded, as if she had made an interesting point in a topic of little importance "That makes sense. Very well then, if I win, you will join the Empire the same way as the elves"
"And if I win, the werebeasts will maintain the right to self-governance, and you will not tell anyone what you found about our game"
He made a face "Eh?"
"What's the problem? Are you afraid?" she pressed him
He ignored her challenge "These two things… are not mutually exclusive. The elves are part of the Empire, but they still pretty much self-govern themselves as before. The integration of the two entities is done only on issues that both parties agree on. Are you sure that we actually have to fight?"
She didn't flich "Yes, It's a matter of honor. Now, choose the game"
Sora mulled over the problem "As you wish… then let's solve this with the toss of a coin. I will toss, and you will guess"
She was outraged "Are you serious? You care so little that you are entrusting the future of the entire werebeast nation to the toss of a coin?"
He was unphased "I am indeed serious. But don't worry, it's not going to be a normal toss"
She narrowed her eyes and leant forward "What does that mean?"
"You will see… Let's have a seat first… and can I have a cardboard screen?" he asked while producing two little booklets from his pockets
She glared at him "Are you mocking me?"
"Not one bit"
She looked straight at him for a couple of seconds, but he sustained her gaze without a flinch. Eventually, she gestured towards a table, and asked a maid to bring what Sora had requested. Sora and Miko sat at opposing sides of the table, with Jibril and Stephanie at the sides of the Emperor. He put the screen in front of his face, in order that he could not see part of the table in front of him, and produced a coin
"Do you want to analyze the coin?" he asked
"Definitely" she said while taking the little metal disk. She checked that the coin had both faces, then tossed it a number of time, using her incredibly accurate senses to detect any abnormal behavior. She could not find anything suspicious.
"Please put it on the table in front of me… in a way that I am unable to see on which side it rests"
She raised her eyebrows, but did as Sora was saying, and placed the coin in an area that the human could not see because of the screen in front of his face.
"And now?" she asked
Sora took the coin, and placed it on the table, making it stand on its edge "Now, any movement of the coin, will count as the toss"
This said, he gently poked the coin, that rolled forward for about ten centimeters before stopping… still standing on its edge. As Miko's eyes went wide, Sora grinned, removed the screen, and quickly placed the two books at the sides of the coin, preventing it to fall on either side. Then he pretended to be shocked
"What? That is impossible! It's a draw! Who would have ever thought that the toss of a coin could result in … this!"
Miko managed to put herself together "Well, that was… unexpected"
Sora smiled "So, how are we going to deal with this? Do you want to do it again, or have we both won?"
She finally broke down and laughed "I say that we both win… Thank you"
He smiled "Don't mention it"
she produced the Race Piece of the werebeasts: a pawn. Sora accepted it, and that's how the Empire became a three-racial state. The rest of the visit was much more relaxed, and Stephanie managed to discuss with Miko a lot of the things that she held dear. Much to her delight.
Standing right outside the gate, Sora was looking at the two figures approaching the Imperial Palace. Besides him, Stephanie seemed nervous - that was understandable, considering the bad experiences that she had with the werebeasts officers in the past – while Jibril had a coy smile on her face. Having received early warning from Zeruel, that was patrolling the sky above the capital that day, the Emperor had decided that this time he wanted to greet them in person. After all, they were all citizens of the same country now. Sora addressed the older of the duo: Ino Hatsuse, whose name he knew from Stephanie.
"Good afternoon, dear Sir… we finally meet in person! I hope that your travel was a pleasant one"
"Thank you for your warm welcome, Emperor. This is my granddaughter, Hatsuse Izuna"
Sora lowered himself so that his face was at the same level with the child, he then did his best to act cute "Nice to meet you, Izuna-chan! My name is Sora… you can call me Uncle, if you want to"
"Nice to meet you, you shaved monkey!"
Sora raised his eyebrows "Shaved monkey?" he touched his face "Well… I did shave myself earlier today… I have no justification for that! But look…" and he pulled on his sleeve, revealing his forearm "…I have more fur than most humans!" he then put a hand beside his mouth and lower his voice in a conspiratorial way "You see the human princess, behind me? She almost has no fur at all… Ew!" he said pretending to be disgusted
Izuna looked at him seriously "You are right… at least you have some fur like a werebeast… what about the other one?"
He cocked his head "The other one?"
"The one with wings"
Sora's mouth contorted briefly "The other one is super powerful and super scary… I cannot say anything about her!"
Izuna nodded with a serious expression "I understand, I am also afraid of her"
He smiled, then straightened up to address the old man "So, what can I do for you?"
"Why do you think that we are here?" Ino asked
"You are here to challenge me"
"That is exactly the reason. Will you accept?"
"Depends… and I want to make clear that unless you have the Race Piece of another race, I am not going to bet any of mine"
Ino nodded "Wise policy, but while we do want to challenge you, we are not here to bet"
Sora was perplexed "No betting… than why do you want to challenge me, if I may ask?"
"It's a matter of honor… I want to be able to say that I defeated you in something"
Sora nodded "I can understand that. Very well then, what do you propose?"
"How about sparring? I heard that you like combat games a lot"
Sora made a huge smile "You heard well! Sure, let's do this!"
He turned around to show the way; Izuna run to his site and started to jump around him like a puppy
"Hey Uncle, I heard that you are very strong!"
He seemed embarrassed "Some humans would agree with you, I suppose"
"The priestess of the Eastern Federation is also very strong!"
He nodded "Yes, I got that impression too"
"You are very lucky that the world is ruled by the Pledges, you shaved monkey… or she would have ripped off your face with one single blow"
He nodded again "I am sure that she could do it… but why would she do it?"
She raised her eyebrows "Are you stupid? You took our land!"
Sora seemed unphazed "I must have expressed myself poorly. The question was not why to do it; that is obvious. The real question was: why would it be her job to do it?"
She sneered "And whose job should it be, shaved monkey?"
He smiled at her "I was under the strong impression that the actual fighting was your job… Madam Physical Representative"
She stared at him for a second, then her expression shifted to a more mature and solemn one "So you knew it. Then why did you treat me like this? Was it to mock me?"
He raised his hand "That was absolutely not the reason"
"Then what was the reason?" she pressed him
"I thought that you would have preferred to be treated like a normal child, just for once. Was I wrong?"
She looked at him for a moment "No… you were not wrong… but how long were you going to keep the fiction going?"
He shrugged "I would have had no problem to keep this going until the end of your visit, and do the serious talk with your grandfather alone"
"Then why did you start treating me all formally?"
He made a face "It was not me who started talking about ripping off faces, and the like… but you can keep calling me uncle, if you want"
She thought about that "Yes… uncle. And please, keep calling me Izuna-chan"
"That works for me, Izuna-chan"
After showing his guests their room, they all gatehered in one of the rooms of the palace, set up as an impromptu rings for martial arts. Sora was very excited to have a sparring buddy, and Ino seemed very keen to teach a thing or two to the youngster he was facing. Stephanie was keeping points. At the end of a couple of hours of boxe, karate, judo, and a number of werebeast fighting styles, the score was an exact draw, but both men declared to be satisfied with the result.
"That is unacceptable" Izuna said "You will fight me next time…"
The panting Sora raised an eyebrow "Ehm… right now?"
She shook her head "No, you have to regain your strength first. Otherwise it would be boring for me"
He chuckled "That is very nice of you, Izuna-chan"
Stephanie chimed in "Then, if you all agree, we can start getting ready for dinner…"
Everybody agreed, and by the end of the meal Ino and the princess were deep into diplomatic and economic disquisitions, while Jibril seemed to be having a great time at teasing them both. Sora and Izuna snuck out of the lunch hall, and went back to the sparring room.
"You really are strong, if you managed to go toe to toe with my grandpa" she observed while taking position
"Uhm… I have the very strong feeling that he actually went easy on me"
"Then do not hold back. I will see for myself how strong you are, and then I will tell you if my grandpa was actually serious or not"
"Seems like a plan… but please go easy on me!"
They sparred a little in the room. This time, there was no doubt on who was the stronger
"You are right… my grandpa is actually stronger than you. Still, I really never thought that a human could be this good at fighting. I am impressed"
He scratched his head "Thank you. That means a lot from somebody as strong as you are"
"Do you know why my grandpa did not go all out?"
"Uhm.. no. To me, that actually does not make a lot of sense"
"I asked him to, so that I could talk to you alone"
He nodded slowly "I see. I guess that it worked then. Alright, what do you want to talk about?"
"Do you know why I am so strong?"
Sora thought that Izuna may have been the result of a magical experiment to create a super-soldier, but decided to keep that hypothesis for himself "No" he just said
"I was bestowed this power by the Old Deus of the Werebeasts"
He gave her an undecipherable look "Must be a great honor for your family"
"It is a great honor. My family is extrememly proud of this"
"And you? How do you feel about it?"
"I was very proud too, of course…"
"And then…"
Her expression grew stern "I told you already"
"You told me that yout family 'is' proud, while you 'were' proud… but then…"
Izuna tried to play it off cooly, but could not. She sniffed, her lips trembled, and eventually her eyes swelled with tears "Do you know how stressful it is to carry the destiny of an entire nation? Do you know how it is to be placed on a pedestal so high that nobody can reach you? Do you know how it is to be completely alone, whithout a single friend?"
He looked at her "I am afraid that I am not the right person to answer that. You know, when I was about your age… I would have done anything to get the kind of power that you have… and I wanted it to do exactly what you did as Physical Representative of the Eastern Federation: fight for your country. On the friends front… well, I always had at least few friends. But I spent most of my time alone anyway. Because I wanted to. So I am sorry, but I am afraid I cannot understand you so well"
She smiled at him "No. That is enough"
He cocked his head "Is it?"
"Yes. You want my power? You can have it"
He raised his eyebrows "Can I?"
"You have my Race Piece, and the Immanity Piece. You can use it to take the power away from me and give it to yourself"
"I see…" he smiled "This can actually work!"
She seemed relieved "So, are you going to transfer the power to yourself?"
He shook his head "No, not to myself"
She sneered "Why not? Are you scared?"
He chuckled "That is not the issue"
"Then why not?"
"I am from a different world. The Race Pieces do not work on me. But even if they did, I am not sure that I can use the power of two Race Pieces at the same time without the two of them interfering with one another… And I am pretty sure that the Old Dues that gave you its power would not be too happy if it was transferred to someone that is not a werebeast. My idea was to give your powers to your grandpa; what do you think about it?"
She seemed alarmed "No, that is not acceptable"
Sora was surprised "Ok, than… who do you think should receive your power instead?"
She waived her hands "Nobody. I wanted you to inherit my power, but if you cannot… then I will just keep things the way they are"
he was baffled "Uhm… can you please tell me something more? Maybe there is something that I can do…"
"Please, just forget about it. I changed my mind."
He blinked "I see. Very well, then…" he scratched his head, with a guilty expression "…on a completely unrelated note… I am a horrible host… when did you say that you are leaving again?"
She smirked "I didn't tell you. We are leaving tomorrow morning for the Capital of the Eastern Federation. Former capital, I guess…"
His eyes looked into distance, and seemed to go into trance for a moment "I see… in this case, please forgive me"
She cocked her head "For what? You did nothing wrong"
He looked at her "For this…" the Pawn Piece appeared into Sora's hand "… by the power of the Werebeast Piece, I order you: tell me all of the truth, now!"
Her eyes wide with terror, she desperately tried to shut her mouth with her own hands. But there was nothing that she could do, and the words escaped her lips like air through the open fingers of a hand.
"If I transfer this power to someone else, they will suffer what I am suffering now! I cannot let this curse befell on anyone else but you, because you conquered the Eastern Federation, so you should take responsibility for it!"
Her secret now exposed, she covered her face with her hands, trembling with shame. Sora mulled over the revelation
"I see. That makes sense…"
"Why did you do it?" she shouted "I felt as if my heart was being pulled out of my chest!"
Sora looked at her "What about a lottery?"
"I don't want to play now!"
Sora didn't even flinch "Every year there will be a lottery… and the winner will inherit your power… for one year, until the next round… would that be acceptable for you?"
Her eyes went wide "W-What?"
"I can give your power to a different person every year, so that they will feel good at the beginning – like you did – but then they will not have to suffer like you do. Is that an acceptable arrangement for you?"
"A lottery? Don't you care about who is going to inherit this power?"
He shrugged "Can be an election… can be a tournament… talk with your priestess, she will know which one is the most appropriate. I will just do the transfer"
She looked down, and hugged her own arm "W-would you really do this for me?"
"I would not propose it otherwise"
"I wanted to give you this power to make you suffer…"
"I know. And I don't care"
"I called you shaved monkey! And even worse things when you were not around"
He scratched his head "Well… I would have preferred if you had not done that. Still, my offer does not change… and if you ever want your power back, just tell me. I will give it back to you immediately"
She looked at him "R-really?"
He smiled gently "Really"
"But… how can I tell you that I want my power back if I am at home, in the Eastern Federation?"
"Just think my name three times… and you will be able to talk with me"
She blinked "Can everyone do that?"
He smiled and shook his head "No, I just wished for it using the Werebeast Piece"
Her eyes went wide "Only for me?"
"Well… almost. I did something similar for Princess Dola some time ago…" he chuckled "…the first times she was constantly calling me for help! It was so cliché! But she got better at gaming, and now she rarely uses it"
"I will not use it, I promise!"
"Don't worry about it… use it, if you need to…" he suddenly got serious
"What is it?" she asked
"I just thought that somebody may not want you to give away your power, and may try to force you to keep fighting"
She sneered "I am the most powerful Werebeast of the Eastern Federation. What could they do to me?"
"To you… probably nothing. But they may kidnap your grandfather to force you to go along with their demand…"
She stiffened "Oh…"
Sora looked into her eyes "If anyone is forcing you to keep your power… call me. Don't be shy, don't be afraid to disturb me, just call me. I will be very angry if I will learn that you are in trouble from anyone but you"
She swallowed "So, if I don't call you, then you won't help me?"
He make a gesture of dismissal "The moment I learn of it, I will descend upon your enemies like a meteor on the dinosaurs... that will happen anyway. But if it was not you that called me in the first place, then I will have to scold you. And believe me, you don't want to hear my sermons… they never end!"
She fell on her knees and prostrated in front of Sora "Emperor! My Emperor! I will never forget this… I shall serve you for the rest of my life! No matter what happens, I will always be loyal to you"
Sora looked down on the trembling child with a serious face "You are a good kid… I accept your offer. For the rest of your life you will have to do the following. First: keep being a good girl, second: be happy. These are my orders, now go and make your Emperor proud"
"I will save you. I promise that I will save you. One day, you may be in danger, and when that day will come, I will save your life, like you saved mine today!"
He smiled at her gently "You really are a good kid… but remember: it's the job of the adults to save children, not the other way around…" he knelt in front of her and patted her head "…just be a kid for a few years now… I have the feeling that you have grown up far too quickly. Then, when I am old and you are an adult… please do save me if I am in trouble!"
"I will! I will! I promise!"
"And I believe you…" he stood up "…this said: it is quite late. It'a probably past your bedtime, or am I wrong?"
"No, you are not wrong…" she seemed ot hesitate "Uncle… my grandpa adjusts my blanket when I go to bed. Can you do it, tonight?"
He smiled "Let's find your grandpa first… and if he is fine with it, I will be happy to" he offered a finger to the child, that grabbed it with her small hands
Ino Hatsuse seemed overwhelmed by what his granddaughter was telling him, and just tried to maintain his usual imperscrutable expression. Both him and Sora put to sleep the young Representative, before giving her the goodnigh.
Alone in the corridor, the two men walked shoulder to shoulder for a few steps, before Ino broke the silence "I am a proud man, Emperor. And a patriot. I really do not like the idea of a human holding our Race Piece…" he looked at Sora, that remained silent "… but thank you for what you did for my granddaughter. I haven't seen her so happy in a long time" the old man slightly bowed his head
Sora bowed back "It was a pleasure"
Later that evening, Sora was walking to his room when he heard Izuna's voice inside his head
"Uncle… are you awake?"
He smiled "I am, little one. What's up?
"I cannot sleep… will you tell me a story?"
He nodded "Sure! Let's see …uhm… what about this: I will tell you of when I was a young boy, and I was in the mountains, dancing and singing around the fire with my friends. Do you want to hear that?"
The following day, Sora, Jibril and Stephanie accompanied their guests to the door to bide them farewell. Stephanie went back inside quite soon, busy with a number of tasks, but Sora and Jibril stayed outside a little longer. As they walked away, Izuna kept turning back to wave at Sora
"Goodbye Uncle! Thanks for everything! See you soon!"
He smiled and waved back, wishing them a safe travel. Eventually, they were too far away for him to see or understand them. Jibril looked at the back and forth, and felt a somewhat warm feeling spreading into her chest.
"I am impressed, Master. Looks like you are good with children as well"
"Thank you, my LAD… I am not sure though, that kid was in a very peculiar situation…"
"I know. I heard you"
His eyes went wide, then he chuckled "Yes… of course you did"
She took his hand into hers "I am proud of you, Master. I am happy that you have been sent to this world"
He lowered his eyes "Thank you... That means a lot to me. I am also happy that I was sent here"