A few days later, permission was given to the emperor for an audience. It had been a very long time since he had entered the imperial family as himself. It was also the first time it had been brought in with a human body.
I received brief instruction in imperial etiquette, but no one is more versed in etheric imperial etiquette than I am. Leaving behind the bewildered education official, I finally met the emperor.
“Meet Your Majesty the Emperor.”
The emperor and I have a very ambiguous relationship. Although he is an aristocrat of the empire, he holds the position of a saint that the emperor cannot touch at will, and his armed forces are very threatening to the imperial family.
“So, is this the first time you’ve seen Count Akasha in person? As you have heard, I am very devoted.”
“thank you. It’s the first time I’ve seen you in person.”
The emperor examined me very carefully from head to toe. And our eyes met.
“Are you a count of ether or a saint?”
Comes out strong from the start. It means deciding on one of the two positions. But why am I?
“It’s both.”
“Right. So are you on my side?”
The emperor was very direct. Originally, I knew that there was this side, but today it seems to be unique.
“I would like to remain neutral if possible. If I lean to either side, the empire will be thrown into chaos. But what I want to say for sure is that I am not Your Majesty’s enemy.”
After hearing my answer, the emperor placed his hand on his chin and fell into long thought.
“Even if you stand by my side, the empire won’t fall into chaos.”
That’s it. The Aether Empire has been maintaining stability since the time of Ether by establishing a strong imperial authority. It was only recently that the aristocrats began to raise their heads.
“It would be like that when there is a wise king like His Majesty. But if not, it just creates a tyrant. So I think balance is important.”
I know what kind of personality and talent the current crown prince has. It’s not the lumber that will make a good emperor. Perhaps even the emperor knows that. The Emperor fell into thought again.
“I definitely think it doesn’t matter if my son doesn’t succeed.”
“your majesty!!”
The knights and ministers nearby were frightened by the sudden shocking remarks of the emperor. The emperor waved his hand to silence it, then opened his mouth again.
“What do you think of my daughter?”
Is this also the case here? What are you saying, marrying the princess and becoming a grand duke to clean the place by proxy?
“I’m sorry, but I’ve never heard of the princesses.”
Of course, I’ve seen it through an alter ego. Among them, the youngest princess is the same age as me. Even the princesses didn’t have children who were particularly talented.
The pinnacle of the Aether Empire, the strongest country on the continent, is a position that anyone can covet, but not everyone is me. Right now, my territory is not much that I personally managed. By the way, take over the empire? It’s nonsense.
The emperor was more persistent than expected. After that, I attempted to marry the princess several times, but I avoided it by using the shield of the church.
“Sorry. I wanted you to be by my side”
“I have a wanderlust in my natural temperament, so I won’t be able to stay in one place.”
The spirit, as it was then and now, wanders around a lot.
“Even if you are not my person, I hope you will not forget that you are a person of the ether.”
“I can promise you that.”
Half of it is no different from the country I created. This is where he lived in his previous life. There is more affection than other countries. As long as I exist, the Aether Empire will not collapse in vain. Anyway, I am also a guardian spirit here.
After the emperor’s audience, the conferment of titles to the vassals, as if the emperor had taken care of the convenience, proceeded in an instant. In the meantime, Wither showed off his skills and found a fairly decent mansion for sale in the imperial capital and signed a contract with it. Now, even when they come to the imperial city, they no longer have to worry about finding a place to stay. At this point, I thought it wouldn’t be bad to just buy a house that could be used as a lodging for each important base of the empire, so I told Wither to proceed.
Now, the affairs of the ecliptic are over. But I don’t think I can go back to the Akasha estate. One of the alter egos that spread across the continent and searched for Nanagopi found a suspicious entity.
“This time we will go to Tonpa Port in the south.”
At the gathering of the vassals and Joseph, he announced his next destination. But everyone is speechless. Now it seemed that I had reached the level that everyone thought it was.
“It’s okay to go back with the wither.”
It is more efficient to embed the Wither in the territory rather than carrying it with me. Actually, I don’t really need the other party too much, but even if I separated Jake and Joseph, they wouldn’t fall apart. With the exception of Wither, the others left the imperial capital and headed for the southern part of the empire.
As the party moved, I observed what I suspected to be Nanagopi. Eltis said that Nanagopi needs a lot of food. If you watch, you will see something in action. However, for almost a month while the party was moving, the suspected Nanagopi did not show any strange behavior.
Finally, the party arrived at Tonfa Port in the southern part of the Empire. It is a port, but it is not the sea. It is a lake as wide as the sea the size of a decent kingdom called Krafia Lake. There are only a few proper ports on the coast where the eastern and western continents face each other. Humanity has yet to conquer the sea.
The monsters in the depths of the Far Sea are not something that humans can deal with. I explored the sea in a spirit state and observed the giant monsters of the sea, but I thought that mankind could survive until now because they didn’t come out on land.
Only a very small part of the near sea is allowed to mankind. Even that is not so easy that you risk your life. That’s why the fish caught in the ports of Krafia Lake in the southern part of the empire are quite popular.
The party found the best accommodation in Tonpa Port and thoroughly enjoyed fish and shellfish dishes from Lake Krapia. It was the first time I had eaten such fresh fish dishes, and it was a very satisfying meal.
In the meantime, I continued to observe what I suspected to be Nanagopi. It was really ordinary. Over the past month and to this day, doubts have continued to creep in that this is Nanagopi.
Still, I decided to keep an eye on it for a while. The couple really enjoyed their vacation. I went out on a boat on the lake and tried fishing for the first time since I was born. Argin and Jake must have been talented at fishing, and they even caught fish the size of their arms. I also caught the biggest fish using the expedient method of looking inside the lake as an alter ego.
They grilled and ate meat caught from the lakeside and admired the lake as the setting sun was shining. The Paladins and Priests were also resting in peace after a long time.
Then the target finally started to move. I decided to go with Jake when I saw Jake, who was trying to move alone by space movement, but noticed them like ghosts and stood up.
“From now on, no matter what I do, believe in me and follow me.”
“Yes, lord”
In case there is an unexpected situation, I have nailed it in advance. And using mana, he kicked the ground at full speed. It seems that the body moves vigorously for the first time in a while. I thought I would become a master if I trained a little bit, but I couldn’t move vigorously because I was constantly creating clones, so I was putting it off.
I am also an unmanned person close to the master. And the aftermath created by three master-class knights following me created a commotion in the quiet Tonpa Port.
The place I arrived at full speed was an ordinary two-story house on the outskirts of Tonpa Port. Without hesitation, I broke down the locked door with force, entered, jumped upstairs, and kicked open the door.
“Stop”
The grotesque beast that was about to devour the old man in front of me saw me and stopped. The culprit is now a small girl who appears to be five or six years old. no it was a girl She was also the granddaughter of an old man who was about to be eaten.
That was until his head split in half, revealing a mouth with hundreds of sharp teeth.
The girl’s eyes tremble like crazy. And soon, tears started pouring out.
“sorry. Help me.”
Seeing this, Eltis said that he let go of Nanagopi in the past. Since the species called vampire itself is a species that accepts humans as its followers, it may not have been particularly objectionable to Nanagopi, who did similar things. But I am not. And neither are my friends.
“Shut up. monster!”
Before I could, Joseph ran forward, picked up the girl with one hand, and slammed her mercilessly to the ground. And tried to draw the sword. For the first time in a while, as the Heretic Judge, it seemed that his blood was boiling.
“You can’t kill me”
He stopped Joseph from trying to kill him at once. I have to save him and give it to Cthullah. Then I heard a small sound from the next room. Normally, I don’t care about that at times like this, but I can simply send an alter ego.
There, a small bird the girl had been raising was about to open the cage and come out. Can a normal bird do that? no. I broke the wooden wall at once, went into the next room, opened the cage, and grabbed the little bird flying out of the air.
The little bird made a plaintive cry, but to no avail. I didn’t even notice it as an alter ego, but this bird is not an ordinary bird either.
Like the girl, her soul is too small. Based on the story I heard from Eltis, I have been looking for things with a small soul. And what I found was a girl. A human with a human body, but with a very small soul, the size of an insect. Now I see the bird as well. Originally, it was a small bird, so I inadvertently passed it by, but this bird is also related.
‘What is it, wasn’t there just one Nanagopi?’
Holding the little bird in her hand, she returned to the girl’s side, and the girl, still held by Joseph and pressed to the floor, opened her mouth to see the bird.
“I guess it’s over now, Nana”
Surprisingly, the little bird answered.
“But don’t lose hope yet. Gopi. How many times has this happened?”
The legendary monster, Nanagopi, which existed at some point and had been roaming the human world for thousands of years, was two from the beginning.
“What are those things called?”
Argin, who was watching the situation blankly from behind, asked.
“Did you hear that? These are Nanagopi.”
“yes?”
It wasn’t just Argin who was surprised. Neither did Joseph or Jake, who were holding the girl. You wouldn’t have thought that the legendary monster could look like this. Of course, that was before I saw it myself.
Still, for a monster that has lived for thousands of years, it was fortunate that it was disguised as a weak and humble status. If you were living somewhere disguised as royalty or a strong wizard, it would have been quite a headache.
“I’ll take these and leave.”
The old man who is still unconscious will not understand the situation even if he wakes up. There is no need to show that the granddaughter he has been raising so dearly is actually a monster.
“Never look outside, stay for a moment.”
There were quite a few people outside who had come in because of the commotion we had been running into. I left the bird in my hand with Jake and went outside for a while.
“Everyone look here!”
I stood in front of people and got their attention. And a bright light flashed very briefly at my fingertips. I didn’t know that I could use it like this, but I had a hard time secretly practicing it. It was very difficult to control the amount of memory erased depending on the intensity and intensity of the light.
Leaving the dazed people behind for a moment, I moved the entire party to the inn by space movement. Nanagopi was surprisingly quiet.
We left Tonpa Harbor once, hiding Nanagopi wrapped up tightly so that he wouldn’t escape. In the meantime, he began to summon all the alter egos around him. It was unreasonable to move to Count Ctolari’s house with the party and these. As if placing souls on a stepping stone, they began to place even Count Ctolari.
The stepping stones were completed while moving as close as possible to the Earl of Ctolari. I stopped moving and this time I spoke in advance.
“I’ll take care of these”
Jake and Argin were indifferent. Joseph looked like he had a lot to say, but he didn’t say anything. I don’t know if it will be enough magic to go all the way to the Countess of Ctolari, but I wanted to do something because I could take a break in the middle.
And I started moving with Nanagopi. All clones start calculating only for spatial movement. One after another, the scenery in front of my eyes changes and passes swiftly. Although my magic power was a bit dangerous, I arrived at Count Ctolary’s office.
Clink!
I felt a little sorry for Count Ctolari, who dropped the teacup in surprise, but he greeted me with a bright face. Next time I come, I’ll have to buy a good teacup set.
“It’s been a while? Count Ctolari”
From noble mtl dot com.