"I seriously need to speak with Theli about a few things, do you know what he is up to?" asked the now not so young but stil younger than most other kings, king of Gloire.
"I don't know, he is always all over the place, just try to yell his name through a window, he might just hear you" responded Jeanne to the king, who looked quite tired.
"The fact that this sounds probable is deeply concerning..."
"But anyhow, your majesty..."
"You are adressing me with my actual title? I smell danger"
"...How is it going with Alga, ever since you two agreed to the marriage, you've been quite tired huh?" said the first general while moving her eyebrows obnoxiously.
"I can tell what you are thinking but no, no such thing happened, I am tired because of what I want to talk with Theli about" responded the king with a flat expression.
"Well, that's no fun, what is taking so much of your sleep away that I am not aware of?"
"I am talking about the dragon Jeanne, the dragon that keeps going through our skies to get to who knows where, people a bit scared of it and also, I noticed that black knights that appeared a while back only ever show up in our country to deal with some bandits that are getting too big for their britches"
"I have no proof but it just seems so have his face plastered on those things, don't you agree?"
"He is quite used to weird and random shit like that, so it wouldn't be surprising but surely, that can't be all?" the general had heard about those but since there wasn't much to do about those issues, she had just ignored them.
As long as these two things weren't attacking them, she wasn't planning on doing so either.
"Well, a while ago, he asked me to pick a side, to side with the 'threat', I didn't know what he meant then but it is clear now, he wants me to side with the sins and I honestly can't say that it is a bad idea, the seven of them and their lesser sins have appeared but barely any sign of any virtues, only what our three otherworlders reported about Kindness but he hadsn't shown himself since" it seemed like all of his tiredness was gone as he spoke of this.
"But, I was wondering whether I should do so officially or not, our allies and neighboring countries would probably not see that with a good eye but they are only attacking in Laparadis, they have left everything else mostly alone from what I know at least"
"Siding with the sins huh? That sounds like both a great idea and a terrible one, for now, no one is willing to be the one to throw the first rock at them, letting them do whatever they want in Laparadis" remarked Jeanne.
"They are afraid of them, even the holy kindgom of Heilig isn't doing anything against them, announcing a partnership with them would scare away people even more, so I think it would be best to just make a secret deal for now, have a little chat with whoever is in charge" she spoke her thoughts as she rubbed her chin.
"Since Theli seems to know them already, just call him up and ask him how to do that, he'll probably arrange something without anyone's permission in a second" she added with a grin.
The king slouched back into his throne as he though about all of this, the previous generation of sins had been long ago, so long that he had no idea of what they had looked like or how they had acted, they were well known for having existed and that was pretty much it, to know more, one would have to dig through some ancient archives.
He readjusted his crown as he tried to think about what he knew of those new sins, some accidents were attributed to them already but it was pretty much impossible to know if it was the case, the only one that was pretty much confirmed was the little trip through the capital of Heilig Pride had taken to slap their champions around.
She hadn't killed anyone, surprisingly but she had still tossed the champions around effortlessly, not that it had been a fight so to speak since she just showed up while they were just living their lives but it was still something.
That was about it, only Pride was certain to have done something so far, other might have been spotted but rumors weren't information.
Thinking about the specifics, he guessed the reason why Heilig hadn't acted was because of their slight obsession with holy power, Pride apparently radiated that same energy in an even purer form, so it was easy to see why the king would be hesitant to attack the sins when their members included someone of such a holy nature.
That night, after another discussion with his soon to be wife, who was a bit too mischevious for his liking, he walked to his balcony and braced himself.
'I can't believe I am doing this' he shook his head in defeat before breathing in.
"Ithelisemou! I require your presence!" he yelled out of his window, not actually expecting it to work despite his earlier words.
"Good evening Pepin, if your calling me by my full name, it must be quite important"
"You- You heard that?" asked the king incredulously.
"Oui, I did hear that, my hearing is quite intense you see?" casually responded Theli, who had literally appeared next to the king the second his name was called.
"I- Moving on, I need to talk you about the sins" the king cut to the chase but it seemed like things weren't going to go smoothly.
"Well, I know that I did a lot of questionable things but I wasn't expecting the king to come talk to me about it"
"No time for joking Theli, I am talking about the cardinal sins, I don't even want to know what is it you are referring to"
"Oh, those guys, quite the weird bunch, I get that you have made a decision concerning the side you'll choose?"
"I have ideas but could I perhaps meet the one in charge of all of this first-"
Before he could even finish his sentence, they had been teleported away.
"It's her" Theli pointed at a skeleton on throne and even the expressionless undead seemed flabbergasted.
"She's Vainglory, he's Pepin III, I hope you'll get along!"