The day after officially becoming the Master of all Flügel, Jibril and Sora were discussing about building an astronomical observatory on top of a high mountain.
Jibril was confused "Why on a mountain, Master? It is so inconvenient!"
He chuckled "A remote location is better for a number of reasons: first of all, it is away from other sources of light that may interfere with observation. It is true that the capital of Elkia does not have as many sources of light as the metropolis from my world, but it is now provided with electric illumination, and it will just get worse in future. In addition, if you place an observatory on a high mountain, it tends to be higher than the clouds and so you can observe the star more often"
She nodded slowly "That makes sense… and we can teleport anyway, so it's actually not going to be a problem…"
Sora grinned "Exactly… I am really excited to see the first results… the starry sky is so beautiful, even to the weak human sight. I am really envious of you Flügel, Werebeasts, or even the elves; I cannot imagine what you can see with those incredible senses of yours!"
She made a smug grin "Yes, Master! A Flügel definitely does not need those lenses you are so worried about"
"Well, you don't need them to see what I see. But you do need it to see what even you cannot see!"
She was impressed "Oh! You are so wise Master… as per usual. Do you have an idea already on who should build them?"
Sora mulled over the case "I will have to send out a request for proposals… The elves are very good craftsman, but the werebeasts have advances technology… but I also heard that the dwarfs are very good craftsman, maybe more than the elves… what do you think?"
She nodded "I would definitely trust a dwarf's craftsmanship over an elf's"
"Good to know… anything else?"
She thought about it for a moment "No, I think we are fine… I am really looking forward to visit this place once it is built … ski ('I love you' in Japanese)"
Sora seemed to mull it over "Uhm… well, they are high mountains… there may be snow, after all…"
She was taken aback "N-no, Master… ski"
He did not change expression "Yes, yes, I got that…" he scratched his chin "Uhm… let's keep it at that for now, please. I want to talk with princess Dola about something…" and turned his attention to the parchments on the table. Speechless, Jibril could just stare at him for a few seconds, wondering if she had learned the wrong word, or if she had just pronounced it the wrong way. In the end, she turned around and started to sadly float towards the door.
"Oh, Commander, one more thing…" she heard Sora calling her from behind
Still downcast, Jibril stopped. She slowly turned around, and gave him a mortified glance.
Sora gave her a gentle smile "…of course I love you too" he said with eyes full of tenderness.
Her eyes went wide while her heart suddenly swelled. She dashed into his arms and started to kiss him.
A few days later, Viel visited the Imperial Palace to report on the activity of the Senate. Elven Garde was quickly falling in love with some of the mining techniques from Earth, and the youngest elves were starting to be intrigued by the possibilities of fusing magic with both werebeast technology and engineering from another world. Viel herself seemed to enjoy her new role very much, and this time she accepted Stephanie's invitation to remain for lunch.
"Did you give any thoughts about succession, Emperor?" she asked
He thought about it "A little… very little, I am afraid…"
"What if we briefly discuss the issue now? Will you allow it?"
He shrugged "Well, why not? Ok, let's try it"
"So, let's say that you reached your goal of conquering the world… how are you going to organize your succession?"
He puffed "Difficult… so difficult…"
She smirked "It won't be difficult if you get married…"
Stephanie grimaced, and Jibril gave the elf a death glare, but Sora simply ignored the comment and seemed to be staring at something very far away
"I was thinking about a different type of issues"
"Like what?"
"Well… the Empire was put together under my tenure, so I can claim some credit for that. My successor will not. Also, I am Unknown, so I can claim that I am not biased in favor of Immanity – although I definitely look like one – my successor will most likely not be Unknown though…"
Viel turned serious "I see. Do you have some ideas already on how to solve that?"
"Well, my first idea was to take turns… first successor will be a human, then an elf, et cetera… but that is also not good, because elves live so much longer than the humans… and Flügel are immortal!"
Jibril repressed a smirk, and turned the other way
Stephanie butted in "Why don't you try that thing from your world… democracy I think it was called?"
He made a face "I am not sure that it can be done here… because of the Race Pieces"
the princess was uncertain "I am not sure I follow" she said
"Whoever owns a Race Piece has virtually absolute power on a certain race. If I give those Race Pieces to different individuals, those will fight among themselves like it was before I was taken to this world. Meaning, that all of what I am doing now is going to be for nothing. On the other hand, if I give too much power to the wrong person… well, you see the problem"
Stephanie's eyes went wide "Oh, yes. That is a problem"
Sora was still looking far away "Unless… uhm… maybe not…"
Viel looked at him attentively "Did you think of something?"
He turned to her "I am not sure that it makes sense…"
"Just tell us what you thought"
he shrugged "Alright… in my world there are essentially two ways of governing a country: monarchy, and democracy. This is a gross oversimplification, but it will go for now. On earth, monarchy tends to concentrate all of the power in the hands of a single individual, that rules for life by birthright, while in a democracy many individuals holds a small fraction of the power for a few years, provided that they are chosen in an election… "
everybody nodded
"… more than two thousand years ago, there was a country called the Roman Republic, with a very peculiar system of government. In this system, rather than avoiding a single person with absolute power by splitting said power among many people, absolute power was mostly split… temporally"
Viel and Stephanie exchanged a glance, clearly confused, while Jibril was acting all smug. She really liked Roman history, and she knew very well what the Emperor was talking about. Sora pressed on
"To simplify… the Roman Republic was mostly ruled by two individuals called Consuls, each wielding almost absolute power. Whatever a Consul decided, could be vetoed only by the other Consul… but the Consuls themselves stayed in power for only one year, and they were chosen in an election"
Viel seemed to have an idea "So, if I understood correctly… you are planning to give the Race Pieces to somebody that wins an election… but only for one year?"
He nodded "Yes… that is what I am thinking about"
"So, the idea would be to have… sixteen Consuls?" Jibril butted in
"Exactly. Each race will elect a Consul every year, but only one of them will get the Race Pieces. We can call that one the First Consul"
"And how is the First Consul going to be selected?" asked Stephanie
"The sixteen races will take turns in electing the First Consul, following a determined order"
Viel nodded "So, if the order is: Elf, Flügel, Human, then the first year the Race Pieces will go to an elf, the second to a Flügel, and the third year to a human?"
"Yes, precisely. Every race will get to have one of their representatives as First Consul for one year, every sixteen years"
Stephanie was not convinced "If there is only one person with the Race Pieces, what is the point of the other fifteen?"
"The idea is to have a counterbalance to prevent the First Consul to go rogue… like in the Roman Republic, the Consuls could veto each other"
"How will they be able to veto his decisions, if the First Consul has absolute power?"
"Before receiving the Race Pieces, the First Consul will have to swear on the Pledges to respect a set of rules"
"Rules like what?"
"Let's see. Number one: respect this list of rules. Number two: return the Race Pieces at the end of the Year. Number three: accept the veto of the other Consuls. Number four: a certain minimum amount of resources must be reserved for exploring the galaxy … et cetera… What about that?"
"That seems reasonable … " Viel said, and then grinned "You are really are dedicated to that exploration goal of yours, eh?"
Sora smiled "Very much so" Jibril turned around, so that nobody could see her blushing, while Stephanie noticed that Sora turned serious "is there a problem?" she asked
"Well… because there are 15 Consuls, I really would not want the First Consul to be made powerless by crossed vetoes of Consuls that stand on opposing views of a certain issue. And maybe it's only two of them that makes problem… I want it to be able to actually take decisions"
The princess, very experienced in dealing with court factionalism, nodded "That is a very real danger"
"Uhm… the problem is that the Roman Republic only had two Consuls… while Disboard will have 15… Oh, I got it! The First Consul can be stopped by the veto of 8 Consuls – the majority – not only one"
Viel clapped her hands "Wonderful, I am convinced! As a general good idea, I really like this plan"
Stephanie nodded, and so did Jibril
"Thank you" Sora said "You know what? We actually do not need to have all of the sixteen pieces to have a system like this in place… shall we start to lay some of the groundworks in case something happens to me?"
They all agreed, and soon afterwards both Viel and Stephanie left the room, leaving Sora and Jibril alone.
"Master?" she asked, while looking at him intently
"Yes, my LAD?"
"Once you are dead… what am I going to do?"
Sora was taken aback "Uhm… I see…" he took a deep breath "Well, I hope you will find something else that gives you happiness … and keep living a happy life"
Jibril seemed appalled "You mean… that I have to forget you?"
Sora bit his lips, and looked away "Well, not immediately I hope, but…" he took another breath and found the strength to look at her again "… in the long term I think that it will be better if you just move on with your life…"
She seemed lost, and crossed her arms, as if to hug herself "Are- are you giving me an order?"
His eyes went wide "What? No, no… I am never going to give you an order about this, but…" he joined his hands, as if praying her to remain calm "… let's put it into this way: if when I am on the other side I can still see what happens on this world … I would be very sorry if I were to see you spending an unhealthy amount of time grieving on my grave"
Jibril sniffed "So… I cannot even visit you? Like… at all?"
He gave her a loving glance "That is not what I said. Please do come to visit me … If you have good news to share. When something bad happens, and you need to put something off your chest without anyone judging you… do come to visit me. Or when it comes the time that there is a lot going on, and you don't know what to do, and you need a quiet place to think… do come to visit me. But please… do not make my grave the center of your life. There must be something else… something better for you to go back to"
She looked downcast "How can you say all of that like this?"
Sora blinked, then moved close to her to put his hands on her shoulders, making her look into his eyes. He smiled gently at her "Jibril… this is just the way it is… "
She struggled to hold back tears "Are you … happy that that`s the way it is? Are you still just waiting for the ship to sink… so that you can finally rest? Are you just going to conquer the world, and then…"
His eyes widened "Oh… No, Jibril… I have no intention to… accelerate the process, please do not worry about that"
"But then why …"
"Humans are not immortal, Jibril… that this is just the way it works …"
"Can't we do something?" she suddenly said, her eyes full of hope "Maybe the elves have a magic to make you live as long as they do… maybe we can create one that will make you live forever"
Sora felt like his chest was about to explode, and his hand run to his heart by its own volition "Oh my … I … I … I don't know what to say… I never considered the possibility… it goes against anything that I know about … human's life…"
A shadow fell above Jibril's eyes, and she tried to stop her lips from trembling "So… you actually want…"
He took her hands into his own
"Please don't believe for a second that at a certain point I will want to just… run away from you, one way or the other…" he said while looking at her in the eyes. The Flügel sighed with relief
Sora cleared his throat and cupped her head into his hands "I am happy. I am so, so happy that somebody like you is even suggesting this… I am just… overwhelmed. Uhm … can we talk about this another time please? Right now, I really do not believe that I can articulate anything rational"
She leant forward, resting her forehead on his "Yes Master, of course we can talk another time. I will make sure that you live a long happy life, we have time for this…"
Jibril and Zeruel teleported right in front of Sora on the plateau that had become the Empire's equivalent of Cape Canaveral.
Jibril waved cheerfully "We are back, Master!"
He smiled "How did it go, ladies?"
Jibril's gave him the thumb up "Perfect!"
Even Zeruel seemed satisfied "It all went well, Lord Sora. Jibril reached a ceiling of 105 km… she was well within what you would call 'space' on Earth"
Sora grinned "Great! And how is our little passenger?"
Jibril seemed to remember something important "Oh, you mean Momo?" she raised what looked like a bubble of magical energy. It was transparent, except for the golden elven runes around it, the only exterior sign of the barrier separating the inside and outside of the bubble.
Zeruel leant forward and looked inside the bubble, where a small white mouse was munching some grain "It seems fine to me. Was it scared, when you were up there?" she asked to Jibril
"No, not that I noticed, but something incredible happened!" Jibril said with shining eyes
"What is it?"
"It started to float! I know that it was expected, but it was incredible! A little thing that cannot use Ley lines to fly… was floating around! Just because it was so far away from the world!"
Jibril's enthusiasm was infectious, and so both Sora and Zeruel joined in the excitement. Eventually, they were joined by Viel
"Sorry for the intrusion, everyone… can I take Momo to the infirmary? The healers would like to analyze it"
Jibril quickly nodded "Yes, of course!" she said while handing over the bubble to the elf
"Thank you, Jibril … nice job"
Sora and Zeruel raised their eyebrows, and even Jibril was surprised "Thank you… Viel…"
The elf smiled, bowed, and run away with her fluffy load.
"I didn't know that you two had grown close…" was Zeruel's comment
"Me neither…" Jibril said, her mouth still half agape
Sora remembered something he had heard on Earth: 'space brings out the best from everyone'. He looked around; at the beginning of the space program, everybody tended to stay with those of their race, but now the Emperor could see that some of the elves were happily chatting with the werebeasts lookouts, and Raphael was assisting the healers in analyzing the conditions of the mouse. He smiled at the scene.
Zeruel cleared her throat, and Sora turned to her. He was surprised by what he saw: Zeruel was looking down, seemingly very embarrassed
"Lord Sora… I have a question…"
"Ehm… yes, sure…"
Zeruel opened the mouth as if to say something, but then remained silent, apparently unable to utter even one more word. Sora gave a sideway glance to Jibril, that just smirked, and suddenly understood the problem. He smiled at the redhead Flügel
"Zeruel… sorry to interrupt you…"
The fiery Flügel stopped struggling against herself, and just looked at the human, that pressed on
"I have been thinking… would you like to be the flight-lead for the next test?"
Jibril smiled, and Zeruel's face lightened up, then immediately tried to hide how happy the proposition had made her
"Well… yes, I would like to… but why are you asking me all of a sudden?"
He smiled "I have been sending only Jibril so far because she is stronger, and so she had a higher chance of survival if anything went wrong. Now that the system seems to be working fine though, we can move to the next stage and open the program to other people"
She nodded "I see. So it's not only for me"
He made a face "Please don't take it the wrong way, but… I intended everyone to participate in the space program. Sure, Flügel – and I mean all Flügel – seem particularly adept to it, but in the long run I intent to send other races too"
"You are the Emperor, and this is your program"
"Thank you, so can I write you up for the next flight?"
Zeruel nodded, and went to join Ramiel and Raphael. Left alone with Sora, Jibril took the chance to make a question of her own.
"So, Master, when do you think that we can aim for a moon landing?"
He thought about her question "Uhm… not sure about it… the models of the Ley lines magical field so far predict that it should be possible for a Flügel to fly directly to the moons around Disboard… but there is a problem…"
"What problem?"
"On my planet some were opposed to the space program because they believed that it would have angered the gods. Now, that turned out not to be the case, and besides, there is no magic on my world to begin with. However, I really want to be sure that no Old Deus or even Tet himself is going to be angry, if we send somebody on one of the moons"
She nodded slowly "Well, that makes sense… let's suppose that a Flügel can indeed fly up to the moon, and that nobody is going to retaliate for it… how much time would it take in that case?"
He shrugged "With the data that we have now… I would say that it would be possible in three months; but let's make six, as there is just so much more that we still do not know"
"And who do you think it should be the first one to land on the moon?" she asked with a mischievous smile
He shrugged again "Well, there will be a lot of factors to be considered. On my planet, all of the astronauts were former military pilots, so I would say that whoever want to be considered should at least have served in the Imperial Military first… Apart from that, I would probably give preference to candidates with experience and talent, so… maybe the strongest Flügel, or the Supreme Commander of the military could be good candidates… what do you think?" he said nonchalantly
The strongest Flügel and Supreme Commander of the military repressed a smile and tried to act cool "I think that those are very sensible proposals…"
Sora laughed and cupped her cheek "So, my LAD, how does it sound to be the first being on the moon?"
She hugged him, resting her head against his chest "As soon as I am there, Master… I will be back for you… I will put you into a protective bubble like the one we just used for Momo … and then I will teleport back to the moon with you. I will not allow anyone else to be the second one on the moon"
He kissed her on her hair "You are kind, my LAD, thank you"
She slightly shook her head "No, thank you"
A few days after sending the first mouse into space, Sora and Jibril were having a late-night cup of tea at the library.
"You know Master? I am really falling in love with the science of your world!"
He smirked "You have good taste! Does that have anything to do with the space program?"
"That as well, but I just discovered genetic engineering and that is so interesting! Actually… I was thinking about an experiment, and I would like to hear your opinion on it…"
"Yes, of course. What kind of experiment?"
"I want to make a hybrid"
Sora's eyes went wide "I see. A hybrid… of what with what, if it's not a secret?"
She seemed to shrug "Half human, half Flügel…"
He nodded slowly "I see… and do you already have some candidates in mind?"
"Me and you… what do you think?"
He nodded even more slowly this time "I am honored… I really am… uhm… and how is this going to happen, exactly?"
"I was thinking about taking a piece of your soul and fuse it with mine, inside my body"
He made a face "That seems straightforward…"
"I think so as well. So… what do you think?"
Sora scratched his neck "Uhm… I have nothing against it, really… but I do have some concerns…"
She gave him a knowing smile "Oh, I see. You are afraid that I will spend all of my time with the hybrid! Don't worry, that is not going to happen! I will juggle everything and things will remain as they are now, I promise!"
He chuckled "Well, thank you for saying it but… I am actually pretty sure that things will change between the two of us… and I think that that would be perfectly normal! For my part, I will try not to be too jealous of your new number one…" he sighed "…I am afraid that I cannot guarantee anything about it, but I will do my best to keep it under control…"
She was clearly not expecting that kind of answer "Well… thank you, I guess… was that the only thing?"
"Ehm… No… My main concern is: if this … uhm … " Sora stopped, as if he could not find the word
"Hybrib…" Jibril prompted. Sora looked at her blankly, so she went on "… that is what we were talking about"
he shook his head "Child…" her eyes went wide as Sora pressed on "… this is what we are actually talking about"
Jibril blushed "S-So you got it…"
He smirked "Yes. I did…" he changed position on his chair, intertwining his hands "So, the fact is… I don't know how this child is going to be… but if it is going to do what daddy did when he was a toddler, but with mommy's level of power, well… I am afraid that there is nothing I can do to help you…"
She smiled
"I see. But don't worry: I am the one who wanted this… I will take care of everything…"
He chuckled "Best thing would be that it is weak as a human for the first twenty years… and only then, after it gets some wisdom, starts developing Flügel power…"
She agreed "Yes, that would be the best thing… I will dive in the genetic engineering books from your world to try to arrange it that way…"
He nodded "And if that does not work… I guess I will have to ask a favor to Tet"
She blinked "Tet… have you ever…"
He shook his head "No, never heard of him ever since I came here…"
"Do you still hate him?"
He smiled, and shook his head again "No, I am grateful now"
She repressed a smile "Why did you change your mind?"
He smirked "It is more or less all your fault"
She hugged him "This child is going to have the best dad in the world!"
"What a smooth talker!" Sora's face contorted briefly "On a completely unrelated note… I assume that you figured out everything about human emotions… including maternal love?"
She shrugged "It's a work in progress"
Sora's smile contorted awkwardly "Ah… Ehm… Please do not take it the wrong way…" he took a deep breath as he tried to find the right angle to approach the issue
"I am assuming that no Flügel has ever raised a child, is that right?"
she nodded "That's right"
"Well… I don't know how human this child is going to be, but… maternal love is a very important part of development for a human child. I am not saying that I understand it, but… even I was not raised by a weapon! Also, lots of experiments about this were done on my world and… it turns out that it makes a big difference! So… I really think that we should wait for this until that part is figured out. What do you think?"
She was mortified "Oh, I am so sorry! I had no idea! Of course, of course, I will wait until I understand that completely!"
He hugged her "No need to apology… you had the best intentions… and we have time"
She hugged him back "Yes, Master… we have time"