Chương 146: Challenging the Empire
The city-state of Calissa was a beautiful Victorian city filled to the brim with class, nobility dressed in flamboyant colours and an atmosphere that made Ray resemble the historic books he often read when he was a kid, depicting the European baroque period.
Among those streets, three individuals walked, getting quite a bit of attention. Ray, Tsunade and Azrael had evaded all border controls and landed directly inside the centre of the capital. The gigantic palace in the centre where the Emperor lived was obvious to everyone, but he didn't intend to head straight there, instead, he wanted to linger around for a bit to see what this beautiful empire had to offer.
First and foremost, the best was to get themselves up to tone and so he went straight to what they believed was an exchange market, where they sold some gold in exchange for the empire's currency.
After that, they rushed to a prestigious clothing shop where he got something stylish and casual. A white shirt and trousers. Azrael for her part didn't wear a dress, she used her darkness to copy one out of the selection that she liked.
"My lord, does this go according to your preference?"
She asked her master, Ray thought that anything that was in black would look pretty on her. After her evolution, Azrael who could only hide her wings by shrinking them, became able to hide them completely, and although this wasn't up to her liking, she accepted it for now as they were doing a bit of infiltration.
Ray then found a dress for Tsunade but alas.
"I'm not wearing that even in a million years".
Tsunade refused vehemently to wear a dress, instead, she wore something like a green hakama that no one had bought as according to the shopping clerk, it wa considered as 'classless'.
She wore it and felt quite comfortable with it.
"So? how do I look?" The blonde asked Ray, to which he inspected her. It wasn't sexy by any means, but he couldn't understand why they'd go as far as to say it was classless. Its colour wasn't lime green but instead olive green, a colour that went perfectly with Tsunade.
"I think that Hakama was made to be worn by you~"
"Tch, you're just saying things" She blushed and hooked her arm around his, obviously happy at the compliment.
Azrael coughed and did the same with his other arm, and they departed that shop, now attracting more gazes of interest instead of gazes of suspicion. After that, they headed to a restaurant to have a meal.
**
**
"How am I supposed to eat with these?" Tsunade looked at the metal fork and knife, confused. She had never seen anything like that in her world and even during that time in our world, she never left Japan.
"This is fork and knife, you use them like this" Azrael was kind enough to explain to her.
We were served pasta, a European delicacy.
"This is nice!" Tsunade enjoyed her dinner after learning how easy it was to eat with a knife and fork compared with sticks. Our little journey around the Empire was quite fun but the night was approaching, our time to act.
"So, is your mood better now?" I asked her.
"Hmph, just a bit" she still harrumphed, I don't think her mood is going to be completely lifted until I gave her a nice massage.
"Tonight is going to be quite busy for me. I have a few customers that I want to attend" I said and Tsunade flinched.
"You still have..." She trailed, I know she wants to say I still have to attend her, but this woman hasn't made any booking.
"I still have one-quarter of the treasures from Nazarick after using another chunk with Azrael" I sipped my juice and stared at her.
"And what do you plan to do with it?"
"I don't know... I may wait to use it with Kuroka later on~" I smiled and teased her, a teasing she didn't seem to like a lot.
"..." Tsunade was looking at me with a killing gaze, of course, she understood that I was going to use the remaining of treasures in an X10 session with her.
"My lord, you're teasing her" Azrael commented and sipped on her soup, since I made love to her she's been a lot more talkative, opinionative and overall, someone I enjoy hanging around with a lot more.
"Oh?"
"There is no way my lord would use it with anyone else, right?"
She and Tsunade can't be called besties, but Azrael seems to be under the impression that Tsunade is my subordinate, or my woman, which is not the case. She's my customer who decided to stay and travel with me for a period, eventually she will return back to her world.
"The thing is, that Tsunade is not my woman... moreover she is still thinking of her previous beloved" I shrugged my shoulders.
Tsunade bit her lips, staring at me angrily, I touched the elephant in the room now.
"You have already defeated me, I will–"
"Do you even know what that fight was for?"
"..."
"Because you were being stubborn, that's all... I would have gladly erased him off your mind with my body, with a nice massage, but you were being stubborn and didn't want to let go" I said.
"I am ready now".
"How–"
She pulled me by the collar and kissed me on the spot. The people who had been curiously staring at us all gasped, from our mannerisms they must have thought Azrael was my wife while Tsunade was our friend.
"I will be your woman, Ray. If you want a test of love you will have it, but don't expect me to just lay down doing nothing".
This woman went as far as to sneak her hand under the table to grasp my crotch.
"You should know I'm not exactly the most passive of women, so brace" After a rough squeeze, she let go, I was rather amused at how hard she was trying to keep her dominant persona.
"Is that so?~"
"I'm going to make you pay for leaving me hanging time and time again, Ray".
"I'm looking forward to it, but before that, we have to meet the Emperor".
I was a bit expectant for tonight, I'm one rank away from Overgod Stage, which means that I'm a million and two hundred chaos points away from being able to summon Elysir and mom again.
I thought I had been rather lucky thus far until I saw that number. To attain it, it would be equivalent to ransacking three Nazaricks. Unless I get some special customers, I don't even think I can get away with it just doing massages. Which means the most efficient method is precisely to conquer.
"I more or less understand your intentions," Tsunade said.
"Have you gotten any news?" I asked and she shook her head.
"Laier and their group have reached the border city of Calisto, they met the city lord and were disposed of the Armatista. From what katsuyu has seen, they're going to send a special group from the empire's army to fetch the armatista from Calisto into Calissa for the Emperor's alchemist to use. Laier was paid, he's just a bit depressed he didn't get on with me in the end" Tsunade shrugged.
I indicated for her to continue.
"In the Re-Estize Kingdom... something odd is going on".
"What is it?"
"The forces sent were assembled from different border cities, E-Rantel is one of them. A quarter of the army returned to E-Rantel... and they were exterminated upon entrance".
I frowned.
"Before perishing, Katsuyu's clones didn't manage to even see what was it that caused their demise. So I have lost contact with that group entirely, as for the city of E-Belf, to the south of E-Rantel, it is just a normal commercial city. The armatista report was handed over to the city lord who will contact the monarchs of Re-Estize to take action on the matter".
"E-Rantel, huh...?"
"It is possible that Ains Ooal Gown has found lodging in E-Rantel, my lord. With Nazarick extinguished it is only natural the survivors would look for a place to settle in. Usually, a cave would do, but since his ambitions aren't inferior to ours, it is safe to assume he plans to conquer the Re-Estize Kingdom, starting from E-Rantel and paving his way forward, although I'm not aware of his methods" Azrael advised me, this is the most I have seen her talk in a while, the punishment did wonders to her.
"Why don't you just let him?"
"Hehehe, what are you thinking?"
Tsunade leaned on me and whispered, "Let him take the Re-Estize Kingdom~"
"..."
"From what we know, the most basic of intel. The Re-Estize Kingdom, the Baharut Empire and the Slane Theocracy are the strongest forces in this world followed by the Elf Country and the Draconic Kingdom. If you are to find strong individuals to calcinate... it is going to be within those borders. If I am to think the way Ains Ooal Gown views conquer, then he will assemble his lost forces in the Re-Estize Kingdom going after the Dwarf Kingdom to the north and the Demihuman tribes to the south. Then he will march towards the Slane Theocracy".
"But he doesn't even know where I am".
"he doesn't but he knows how to get to you whenever he wants to".
"Solution..."
"Yes, so right now you're not his priority, his priority is to become stronger. He knows he can't defeat you as he is".
"..."
"Let him get the Re-Estize Kingdom and perhaps even the Slane Theocracy, by the time he comes to face you, he will have tripled or even quadrupled his forces".
"Which means more chaos points for me... you're evil, Tsunade"
The sannin leaned back and continued to eat, "I would do anything for the safety of my village. But this is not my world... for as long as I am here, I'm loyal to you".
"I may have to go to your world one day and see what it is like~"
!!!
"Please no, my world is already tumultuous as it is. We don't need a Sun God suddenly manifesting".
"Come on, it can't be that bad".
"Trust me, it hasn't been long since the last war, things are slowly starting to look better–"
"Don't you think I could become a symbol of peace in your world?"
"... the wrong people would start coveting your powers, there will never truly be peace. If you want to come, I can tour you around, but just... don't get involved in politics" She rolled her eyes.
"Sure~"
I don't promise anything.
**
**
Economy, strategy, resource management, politics... to be a successful Emperor, one needed broad knowledge in many subjects.
Charisma, intelligence, shrewdness, proactivity, resilience... to be a successful Emperor, one needed a set of particular characteristics.
"Your majesty, it is already this late..." a maid opened the door of the palace royal room briefly, staring inside the figure of a man sitting in between a mountain of documents together with other five individuals, sorting them out.
"We haven't finished, Aliyah." He said to his maid who surrendered and bowed, it wasn't the first time, and it wasn't going to be the last time.
"Please be mindful of your health, your majesty," she said and closed the door.
To be a successful Emperor, one needed to be a responsible individual.
"Your majesty, if it is okay with you, we can finish this on our own" His ministries insisted.
A new batch of reforms to improve the empire's economic stance taking into consideration the existence of the new catalyst mineral surged in the southwestern border, armatista.
'I can't trust them' he kept his poker face and shook his head.
To be a successful Emperor, one needed to trust nobody and Jicniv Rune Farlord El-Nix was a successful Emperor.
Having disposed of all his seniority family members during his transition, he was labelled as the 'Bloody Emperor', fated to fail. Tyrants attached themselves to power through violence to conceal their obvious lack of craft and management.
That was a common belief, but not in his case. Through his government, the Empire did nothing but increase in power and economic prospects. He had already planned his ascension and supremacy within capable standards.
To take over the Re-Estize Kingdom within the next decade and face-to-face against the Slane Theocracy before the end of the century.
His objectives were ambitious but possible. Little did he know, his ambitions were about to receive an unexpected boost.
*BOOOMMM!!!*
The windows exploded all of a sudden in golden flames, raising the palace alerts to the maximum.
"What is going on?!"
"Assassins, hurry up and protect the Emperor!"
The ministers acted up to protect Jicniv who stared in awe at how two individuals levitated out of the palace and landed in the room. His gaze was firmly fixed on the gorgeous woman dressed in a long black dress with twelve wings flapping about.
Nevertheless, despite her majestic form, it was clear she was subordinate to the other individual, a dark-skinned man with long pitch-black hair and a golden tribal tattoo shining beneath his clothes. When Jicniv stared at that man's eyes, it was like there was no end to them, they had stars within.
'God' is the first thing that came to his mind, the moon was flashing behind him and although not very obvious, it was like a shadow was starting to very subtly place itself above that moon.
"Kneel before your new God," said the female.
Jicniv and his subordinates looked at one another before they broke into a fit of laughter.
"I don't know who you are, but I don't think cracking a joke after bursting into my palace is your best choice, apologies are your best choice, assailant" Jicniv walked forward confidently, he extended his arm forward and a ball of flames formed in his hand.
By now the guards should be rushing up, all he had to do was stall for time.
Azrael sighed, she swung her hand and Sheol, her scythe, manifested and drew alertness. She made a small motion and put it to the side before stretching her finger towards the emperor and his people. Just a single finger, her index finger.
She pressed that finger down.
*BAANGGG!!*
Faces met the ground with such force that half of them were rendered unconscious on the spot, Jicniv gasped, his head bled up at the cheer impact against the granite floor that cracked up.
All of them without exception were subjected to a ridiculous spatial force that made them kneel helplessly.
'What is... this?!' He struggled to stand up, completely unable to.
"I said, kneel before your God".
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