"As king, you must have stronger desires than anyone else. You must be more magnificent, more easily angered than everyone else! He should be both pure and chaotic, a man who was more real than any other man. Only through this, could your subjects be impressed by the king, and only this, would the message of 'if only I was king, that would be wondrous' would be imprinted upon the people's heart!"

Servant Rider, Fate/Zero.

...

…

Napoleon gazed out at the stars as he sat at the top of the dormitories. They still unnerved him. Sure, the stars existed, and they would always exist. But the fact that they were in the completely wrong positions remained something which still struck him as wrong, as if something which should be there wasn't there. He wondered if the stars he was even looking at were even the same ones on Earth, or whether they were completely different.

He tore his gaze away from them, towards a bottle of wine he had procured from the chef Marteau, than at the princess whom was sitting next to him. She had been overjoyed to finally meet Louise, and had talked with her for quite a while, about little things, frivolous things like life in the Academy and their childhood adventures. Even a man whom was as used to violence as he was turned green when he heard about the incident involving a cat, Louise's spells, a box of toothpicks, and the chief maid of the Royal Palace whom had a serious things for chocolates. But even as Louise and Henrietta happily recalled the past, the princess looked at the emperor and both of them knew. As two rulers from completely separate worlds, they wanted to discuss their worlds and the nature of being a sovereign.

Napoleon opened the bottle, and poured a glass for both of them before taking a sip. It was one of the best bottles in the kitchen, a personal gift from Marteau whom had grown to like him. The red wine was rich and invigorating, though it was not quite comparable to some of the drinks he had partaken at his table at the height of his rule. Just as he was the first to drink, as the one whom was not ruling this land for the moment, he was the first to speak.

"Why are your courtiers not out at this hour looking for you? Given the security concerns that are part of this Academy, I would think they would be more cautious."

Henrietta giggled in response as she took a sip.

"I'm sure they are. But everyone here knows that Fouquet will not be coming back here. She'll be doing everything she can to get out of the country as quickly as possible. Besides, I do this fairly often. My chief bodyguard knows this, and she knows I'll return safely. I'm a capable mage in my own right, after all.

Besides, I'm curious to know about you. You claimed you ruled the entire world?"

Napoleon laughed without humor before answering. It would be degrading of himself to start by lying to another ruler.

"I told Louise that so she would believe me easier. I did once nearly rule the world. But I overreached. My armies were destroyed by a force powerful than any weapon, nature and snow, and then all of my subjects rose up against me. It was at the moment of my defeat that Louise summoned me. If she hadn't, I likely would have been forced into exile on some remote island."

"Then, why did your subjects rise up against you?"

"They were not my people, and unlike my people, never truly accepted my rule. They acquiesced because I had defeated them in battle, and the minutes my army weakened, they rose up against me and sought my defeat.

But I'll turn that to you. Louise and the common people I've talked to all seem to view you as a figure of justice. One who will right any wrongs that the nobility and the tax collectors commit.

But if the people love you that much, why not just get rid of the nobility? Why not rule directly, without their aid?"

"What are you talking? Why would I do that? Sure, some of the nobility are bad, but so are some commoners. A sovereign's role is to keep the peace, so that all the subjects may live happily."

Napoleon had closed his eyes in listening to the princess's response. After taking another drink, he opened one of them as he responded.

"What gives you the right to rule and keep the peace?"

"What?"

"Why you? Who made you the princess of this country?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about. My mother was grieving after the death of my father, so I became the leader. That's all there it is."

"So, then why did you have to step in? Why not let another noble step in?"

"Because that is what is expected of me. As a member of the royal family, I am designated to rule."

"And who designated you?"

"Well then, what about you? Who made you the Emperor of your country, Bonaparte?"

"I did."

"….what?"

Henrietta nearly spilled the glass she was holding. The familiar had given she couldn't believe.

"I made myself Emperor. Me, my genius, and my will, caused my people to accept my absolute authority. I attempted to assert that authority over that world, and I came close to succeeding. That is all there is to say."

"But an Emperor is a holy figure! He is someone designated by Brimir to lead all the peoples against the elves, to take back the Holy Land! One can't take the crown of an emperor, it is given! What you're describing is just some petty conqueror, and you fit it perfectly! People like you can never truly obtain the loyalty of the people, and so you will fall, achieving absolutely nothing!"

Napoleon simply glanced at her, drained his glass, and stood up.

"I am terribly disappointed in you, princess."

"What?"

Henrietta stood up in outrage. She was prepared to insult the man for insulting her and the Crown before he continued.

"There were other monarchs in my realm. I had many enemies, but I did not have an equal – only when all of them united were they capable of surpassing me. I had honestly hoped, princess, that you would be an equal to my own will. I have been proven wrong."

He poured more wine into his glass, sniffed it, and continued.

"You can call me a petty conqueror, but you were given your rule, princess. The nobles and commoners were taught from the moment that they were born that they are to obey you, and so they did, without properly questioning why they should. You never earned your crown, whether through glorious deeds or a brilliant tongue like some of my fellow rulers or me. It was simply a very nice present given to you from your father before you, and one that he got it from his father.

You think you can keep your crown through peace, through a fair and just rule. You are utterly doomed to fail, princess, and especially so given the nature of your religion. If peace exists for too long, the noble and the people, with their immediate wants sated, will look at that Holy Land which your religion dictates must be claimed from these elves. And they will clamor for the drums of war. The aristocrats will do it all the more so, as they got their power through accomplishing great deeds, and they will seek to expand it by doing more of those deeds.

You will get war one way or the other, princess. Whether you manage to keep the peace through your Germanian alliance or not, all you'll do is suppress the passions for future martial glory and the desire to save their souls through holy works. And when you cannot suppress it any longer, it will explode with a great fire which will most likely destroy your regime. That is what will happen to you and your realm. War cannot be avoided, only delayed, and you will lose the ability to control when and how it will happen if you do delay it."

Napoleon finished his glance and walked to the door. He had figured out the nature of the ruler of Tristain, and what she had desired. She wished for an impossible dream, peace throughout Helgekinia and within her subjects, possibly throughout the world. Even if that wish wouldn't result in her destruction, the likely result that would occur if the future monarchs of Tristain kept pursuing ephemeral dreams of eternal peace would be the final destruction of their regime.

"Wait."

Her voice called as Napoleon's hand touched the doorknob. Henrietta was looking out towards him, and her voice was hollow and trembling.

"If you're saying that I can't search for peace… what should I be searching for as a ruler?"

A long silence followed as only the wind could be heard. Napoleon simply looked into her eyes.

"If you're saying that you don't know the answer to that question, towards what your objective as a ruler should be, then you're someone whom is truly unfit to rule, princess."

And with that, the Emperor turned the doorknob and headed down to the courtyard.

...

Agnes, the captain of her Majesty's personal musketeers, grumbled as she tramped up the stairs. The princess had vanished, and the guards were in a panic as usual, wondering about where she went and they had speculated that she may have been captured by Fouquet. The captain had intended to leave to track Fouquet during the night, but the insistence of the guards meant that she decided just to make sure that her Highness was safe before she left for the port of La Rochelle.

Seeking a high vantage point, she had climbed to the top of one of the five towers and looked everywhere below her to see if her keen eyes could locate the princess. She had utterly failed at that, and it was only when she looked forward that she realized that her Majesty was on the top of the tower across from her. The result was that Agnes was forced to climb down the tower she was in, walk across campus, and then she had to finally climb up another separate one in a second tower to make sure that everything was alright with her Majesty.

The princess had not moved from her position, her head tilted up at the night sky. Agnes instinctively shivered from the cold, and realized that the princess must be freezing as she was only wearing a royal dress. Taking off her cloak, she went up to her Majesty and draped it around her shoulders, which caused the princess to jump. It appeared that she had not noticed the captain in the slightest beforehand.

"A-Agnes?"

"Yes, your Majesty, I am here."

Agnes promptly knelt to one knee, her head looking down the ground. There was silence, which was disconcerting to the captain of the Musketeers, the personal royal bodyguard. Her Majesty normally would object to this degree of formality, but now she wasn't saying anything.

"Agnes."

"Yes, Majesty?"

"Why do you stay loyal to me?"

If it was not for her nerves, Agnes would have stood straight up at such a question. Instead, she kept her kneeling pose, awaiting her Highness's command to rise.

"Is something wrong, Majesty? You seem shaken up."

"Please, answer the question."

"You're my princess, Majesty. I am obligated to follow your orders to the very end. I swore an oath on it. If you ordered me to leap off this tower right now, I would do so instantly."

The princess gave a soft laugh at that.

"No, please don't do that. But, is just being the Princess enough? Would you follow anyone who was the ruler of this country?"

"No, Majesty. As I said, I made an oath to serve you. I will follow you under that oath until it is ended. That is all there is to it."

"But not everyone in this country has. Why do they follow me?"

Agnes could tell that something was incredibly wrong. The Princess was trembling as she asked these questions. And all the captain could do was answer them truthfully and honestly.

"I cannot see into the hearts of others, princess, so I do not know. But I do know this, if you are frightened about losing control."

She rose, and her strong hands gripped her Majesty's shoulders.

"I swore an oath to protect you. If there is anyone in this country you fear, I will strike it down. Even if I was told to fight Karin of the Heavy Wind, all the people in Helgekinia, I would do so. I will protect you, no matter what. This is my pledge of loyalty to you, and it is I will intend to fulfill for all eternity."

The princess said nothing, but it was clear that Agnes's words of trust caused something to crack. The burdens of ruling a country with absolute justness and fairness, only to be confronted with the harsh words of another great ruler whom had proclaimed the futility of her dream, caused her smiling face to disappear. She threw herself into the arms of Agnes and sobbed like a child. The captain was shocked for a moment, but now finding nothing better to do, she put her arms around the crying girl.

"You'll be safe, Princess. I will guarantee you that."

And with those words, she broke off the hug.

"Keep the cloak. I will be heading to La Rochelle now to track down and capture Fouquet. I will see you soon, your Majesty."

She gave a quick bow and strode off. Henrietta watched her go with an expression of trepidation on her face. To some degree, she was terrified of letting Agnes know, but given what she had just told her, she came to believe that she knew what she had to do. And so the princess came to a decision, one which would change the fates of nations and the lives of nearly everyone in Helgekinia.

"Agnes!"

The captain wheeled around and turned. Her Highness's voice had returned with authority and vigor, and there was not a trace of tears on her face. Her hand was within her dress.

"You will be going to La Rochelle, but not to track down Fouquet. I have a different mission for you."

As she pulled out an old love letter and a dazzling blue jewel, she worried about how Agnes would react about hearing the details about this love affair with Prince Wales. But at this point, there was no turning back.

"This is possibly the most important mission you will ever conduct for Tristain, and for me."

...

The curtains were pulled out, and Louise grunted, only to roll over at the sound of thunder.

"Whattimeisit~?"

"Time to get yourself out of bed. In light of what we've discussed last night, things are going to change here."

Last night? What had she been discussing with her partner last night?

Oh. Right. Void Magic.

Louise abruptly sat up forward, the sleepiness completely washed away from her. Napoleon was now sitting in a chair, holding a steaming mug of coffee from which he took a sip.

"If Void Magic is really as different as it seems to be, then your classes aren't going to be all that useful anymore. Besides, classes are still cancelled, and it looks like it will be for a while longer. So, you and I are going to train."

"Train? What? But how do we train if neither of us actually knows any of this Void Magic?"

"Who said anything about magic?"

"What?"

Napoleon paused to sip on his coffee. He then stuck a finger in the air and whirled it around, assuming the pose of a teacher.

"Valliere, why are you learning magic to begin with?"

"Isn't that obvious? Because it's the duty of nobles, and it shows that we're respected!"

"Wrong."

Again, Louise stared at how quickly Napoleon shot down that answer.

"You are learning magic to fight. You are learning so that your superior magic can defeat the magic of your enemies. How often do your parents, whom I'm guessing know magic, actually use magic in their everyday lives? How often do they use servants or other laborers to accomplish tasks which they could have done with their magic?"

"That's…"

"Exactly. So I will train you how to fight. You should feel honored, Valliere. The Emperor who conquered the world will teach you how to train yourself.

So we will start off with some physical exercise. In all the time I've been under your service, I've never seen you make any real attempt to train your body, which is completely unacceptable for a fighter. So we will begin by heading out and running for three miles after you're dressed."

"THREE MILES? Are you insane? In this weather?"

"I thought about doing five miles, but decided to accommodate you. And Valliere, I am nearly 50 years old. If you can't keep up with me, I will become incredibly disappointed. Now, let's move!"

...

The dockhand sighed as he looked at the giant line waiting to board The Concord. With the victory of the Reconquista, the aristocratic forces seeking to overthrow the monarchy, all but certain, refugees were seeking to return to their country. However, many of these people in their chaos had lost their papers, and so a brisk underground trade in counterfeit papers that would permit them to return to their country had erupted in this city of La Rochelle over the past few days. It also meant that the need for people to check for the proper documents had grown, a paranoia which had also increased in the light of some incident regarding the Tristain Academy where from what the dockhand had heard, a couple of students had died. It's not like it matters to him. Mage deaths were no concern to him anyways – nobles had their magic, but they never, ever used it for the commoners. Instead, they talked of the virtue of hard work and how those whom followed them and lived productive lives would be able to meet Brimir.

Still, a job was a job. He looked over the papers of a well-fed, overdressed nobleman and directed him to the upper decks, where those whom could pay would enjoy the air and sunshine as they flew to the floating continent of Albion.

The next group was a family of four. He quickly received the papers of the wife, the husband, and a son, but then he pointed to the daughter, a girl of around 11.

"Her papers, please."

The father quickly fidgeted, unwilling to look him in the eye.

"Please, sir, she lost them in the crisis and as we fled the village. Everyone else has their papers and if we can just get her on, we'll be a family together. It'll be no bother to you."

"You're the fifth group that's tried that within the last three hours. And most of the time, you're just smuggling someone for another hand, or maybe she's a friend of a friend. Either ways, orders are orders. No papers, she stays.

"No, no no! I want to go with Daddy! Daddy, don't leave me!"

The family quickly discussed things among themselves while the dockhand impatiently tapped his feet and the line grew restless at their crying. After discussion, the father chose to stay behind with his daughter, while the wife and son went on ahead. After much hugging and crying, the two went on ahead while the rest of the family left, with plans to do…. Well, something. It wasn't part of his job to think about that.

The next person stepped forward. She was a well-dressed woman, with striking green air and vibrant eyes, and who seemed strangely familiar. She coolly handed the documents forward.

"Name?"

"Matilda Saxe-Goth."

He felt the dockhands, and then stopped. It felt odd, and a little different from the other documents. Could it be….?

The dockhand seized a quill pen which was lying around for just this purpose and stabbed it. A small hole appeared in the travel document. Official documents were made of special materials which were too thick to be stabbed by a quill pen.

He looked up, and then realized the woman had taken off. And then he glanced at a Wanted Poster and realized who "Matilda Saxe-Goth" was.

"Guards! Guards! It's Fouquet! Catch her!"

The nearby guards, five commoners armed with halberds, caught side of the woman and took off. They knew this area extremely well, and her vibrant green hair made spotting her easy within the crowd. Without looking behind her, she fired off spikes of earth, but they were aimed wildly, and one woman screamed as a spike took off her right arm. Nevertheless, the guards continued, and Fouquet darted down an alley-way, one which they knew would eventually lead to a dead end.

However, she had not even taken ten steps into the alley before she was violently slammed into the ground by an invisible force. The guards leapt back as a griffin landed on top of the thief.

The rider of the griffin leapt off of his mount. He wore a spectacular wide-brimmed hat, and while his hair was grey, it was clear that he was not yet 35. The eyes were sharp and piercing, and his green clothing somehow matched him perfectly without being garish in the slightest. Every member of the guards knew who he was.

"Captain!"

"Now, now, gentlemen, it's Wardes. Are you people unhurt? I didn't mean my wind spell to be that powerful. Still, you men did a good job in cornering this scumbag."

The men shook their heads, and their hearts filled with pride with the acknowledgement they had received. The captain of Tristain's Griffin Knights had a high reputation even among commoners, and he was known not to be like many nobles whom would take all the credit for the capture without even acknowledging the efforts of those below them.

"I'll take this murderer to the prison. I'll make sure to inform your captain of your great efforts. Now, dismissed!"

As the guards saluted and left, Wardes turned to the thief whom was still clutched in the talons of his beloved griffin.

"Did you really intentionally do use fake documents just to find me?" He asked. "You could have just sent a letter, you know."

The thief gave a mocking grin up towards the captain.

"We both know you love to play the hero. How could I pass up the opportunity to please you? Now get your damned bird off me, and I'll get the Staff of Destruction out of its hiding spot."

As Wardes gave the order to his griffin, the two gave a wicked grin towards each other as they went off downs the alleyway, to the location where she had hidden the magical artifact after entering the port city. A short while later, commoners could be seen pointing as a griffin flew off towards the sky, heading in the direction of Albion. However, as Wardes had used a wind spell to shield himself, they could not see who was on it, something which many people would regret in the days to come.