The next few days passed uneventfully as our research progressed somewhat, but we weren't able to create any breakthrough we were seeking. I left one of my new puppets to continue working in the lab and moved my avatar to the [Throne Room] as guests arrived at the Hold wanting to meet me.
I sat on my Throne, waiting for Zhongli to prepare everything for the official audience. My Guards were stationed near me, while Palace Guards took their positions next to the pillars and walls of the [Throne Room]. As my wives were busy, the rest of the Thrones were empty.
Soon, everything was ready, and Zhongli gave the go-ahead for Durandal to bring the guests in. When the great doors opened, Karma, followed by Irelia, Shen, and Zed, entered.
~"It's great to see you again. Welcome to Hold."
-"Thank you, Yue. Or should I call you Your Majesty?"
~"I don't mind either way. Just use what you think is more suitable. Tell me, what brings you here?"
-"We came with the wish to bring Ionia into the Hold."
~"What changed your mind? Last time, you were opposed to anything that would place you under our influence."
-"Help the Hold provided changed our outlook on the situation we were in, and understanding that Demacia, Noxus, Shurima, or even Freljord could defeat us in the frontal battle, we decided that we needed to seek protection before something happened again."
-"Indeed, many elders stepped down in the aftermath of the Noxian defeat, and as young blood flowed into positions of power, many wished to seek deeper cooperation with the Hold."
-"Our Orders also agreed to follow the will of the majority, but we wished to remain independent forces despite joining the Hold."
~"I see. The Hold will, of course, welcome you, but be mindful that we are about to take part in a major War between worlds."
-"We will assist you, but our people don't wish to become your army."
~"Good. Ionia shall become Vassal of Hold, keeping their internal autonomy but joining structures of Hold as well as upholding Laws of Hold. Orders shall become independent Sects that will be able to recruit and teach people of Hold, but must provide training to soldiers that are deemed talented in the field as well as share their techniques."
Four Ionins knelt before me, accepting my decree.
~"Karma, you shall be formal representative of Ionia in Hold. I hope you will become part of Duty and work alongside others to better Hold as a whole."
-"I will."
~"Irelia, I will leave the defense of Ionia in your hands. You shall be trained in Domination and later command a force that will be responsible for keeping Ionia safe."
-"Thank you, Your Majesty."
~"Shen, Zed, I will treat you as representatives of all Orders of Ionia. Orders will be required to take dojo here in Hold and provide training. We shall not intervene in your ranks, but you are required to share your techniques. We vow not to disclose any of your techniques and only teach soldiers who took the same vow to prevent their dissemination."
-"Thank you for understanding, Your Majesty."
~"Do you have any addendum?"
-"No, Your Majesty."
~"Good. Then, from this day on, Ionia is part of Hold."
Four Ionians stood up and, as the audience reached its end, were taken by Durandal out of the [Throne Room]. After waiting a short while, I turned to Zhongli.
~"What is your opinion?"
-"Good enough for me, but Loki would take an issue with allowing them to call you directly by name."
~"She indeed would. Well, I'm the Emperor here, so luckily, she doesn't have much power to correct me."
-"You sure?"
~"Sigh. You are here?"
-"I'm. Now, Mr. Emperor, care to repeat that."
~"Indeed. You don't have power over me."
-"Good, at least you are not some weakling. Good job during the audience, but aside from what was already stated, I have one issue to point out."
~"What is it?"
-"You should have someone record your decrees for ceremonial purposes."
~"Hmm... What do you think about it, Zhongli?"
-"This is a good idea."
~"Then either Nuwa of Fuxi shall record my decrees during the audiences."
-"Sure!"
-"Fuxi... Sigh."
~"Is there any other matter that requires my attention, Loki?"
-"Yes. That Artoria girl wants to meet you. To be more precise, she wants to invite you to Avalon for some reason."
~"She is our ally, so agree in my place. When does she want me to meet her?"
-"In five days."
~"I'll be sure to be there."
As tomorrow was the day when I was to fight the angels, I decided to take the rest of the day off. Traveling to Moon Palace, I found a quiet place in the garden, and after taking out my zither, I sat down and played some tunes.
Focusing on music, I didn't notice how I started to gain spectators, especially certain Pink Fairy, who decided to stream my performance in the Chat.
This was the first time people in Chat had seen me, and the addition of playing music resulted in a strong first impression. I continued to play until the camerawoman disrupted my concentration.
~"Hmm? Elysia? What are you doing here?"
-"How come you didn't notice me? I thought you were always aware of your surroundings."
~"And I normally am. I decided to play some music as meditation, so I actively ignored everything else."
-"I see. Do you have free time today?"
~"As you can see."
-"Then can you help me with something?"
~"Sure. What do you need me to do?"
-"When I was talking with Aletia, she mentioned that she was locked somewhere, so I wanted to help her, but I don't know much about seals and such, so I need help."
~"Alredy first name basis in the Chat, huh? As expected of you. Let's go then."
Focusing on the connection to Hikikomori Princess, I took us two to her world. We soon found ourselves in a dark and damp dungeon, standing before a stone gate.
-"So you have the correct address, Yue?"
~"I'm rather sure, but as dungeons lack postcodes, I might have taken the wrong turn somewhere."
-"Sure... Can we enter, or something is going to attack us?"
~"You think that those two statues are just for decoration here in the wet cave?"
-"Right."
~"Do you want me to get rid of them?"
-"Can you? I don't want to keep Aletia waiting."
I nodded and simply erased dormant opponents and other traps in our way using Path of Nihility. Stepping forward, I opened the stone gate and entered a room where, in the middle, was a monolith with a person half submerged in it.
Elysia ran past me toward a blonde girl who looked at us two with her bright red eyes. I focused on the seal, working out its mechanism to safely extract the sealed Hikikomori Princess from her confinement.
-"Hello! We met for the first time! I'm Miss Pink Fairy, Elysia!"
-"Hello..."
~"Elysia, don't overwhelm her. She has been alone for a long time, and she needs some time to get used to speaking again."
-"Can't you just heal her?"
~"She is a vampire. She doesn't have physical injuries aside from a lack of blood. Her psyche is a different matter. I'm not a psychologist, and spouting my philosophy may not be helpful here."
-"Right. Sorry for startling you, Aletia."
-"No... I'm happy to not be alone."
~"I'll free you in a second. Please be still."
I decided to use the direct method, and after checking that it wouldn't harm her, I erased the monolith using Path of Nihility once again. Levitating Aletia slowly to the ground, allowing her to stand on her own. At the same time, I created clothes for her with the Authority of Reason.
~"How do you feel?"
-"Weak."
~"I see. Here, eat this."~I passed her blood fruit, the same one I gave Arcueid long ago.
-"This..."-Aletia was unsure at first, but after biting, she quickly drained the life force from the fruit.
-"Tasty."
~"Glad you liked it. Elysia, I'll leave you two to talk. I'll take a quick look around the world."
-"Won't you stay?"
~"I'm not acquainted with Aletia. My presence will be counterproductive. Just talk with her for a while, and I'll be back soon."
Elysia nodded while Aletia looked at my back when I left the room.
Back in the cave, I scanned the dungeon, looking for some interesting things. Detecting a large structure in the deepest point of the dungeon, I decided to visit it first. Teleporting there directly, I ignored wards that were preventing anyone from doing just that.
Walking into the villa built there, I arrived in a room with an old skeleton sitting in a chair. I checked the formation on the ground for any danger, and detecting none, I activated it.
A recording of the owner of this place appeared and proceeded to explain some of the history of this world. While biased, the information about hidden powers was greatly appreciated, as I would like to avoid being spotted by that false god when I leave the dungeon.
Not taking anything away, I offered a quick Elven prayer to the deceased owner, and I left the villa, traveling back to Elysia and Aletia.
I was away for only ten or so minutes, but two girls were now able to talk freely with each other. Stepping into the room, Elysia instantly noticed me.
-"Yue, good timing. Help me choose a name for Aletia."
~"Choose a name? Am I missing something?"
-"Aletia wants to leave her past behind, so she asked for a new name to move forward."
I looked at the vampire, who was intently staring at my veiled face.
~"Running away won't bring you closure. You might regret it one day."
-"..."
-"Yue..."
~"I apologize for being insensitive. Before anything else, there is one more thing in the room. A recording that was sealed at the same time as you. It might add some context to what was done to you."
-"Recording?"
I nodded and extracted a small sphere from the floor of the room.
~"Do you want to see it?"
Aletia hesitated for a moment before nodding. I then started projection left by one who betrayed and sealed her long ago. Listening to the testimony and confession of Aletia's uncle, I once again felt glad for having power.
One impacted the most was, of course, Aletia herself, who quickly cried when she heard the reason behind everything. She buried her head in my stomach and cried her eyes out despite Elysia offering her own shoulder to her.
Deciding to let it be due to the unstable state Aletia was in, I waited for her to calm down. A few minutes later, Aletia calmed down enough to speak.
-"Can you bring my uncle back?"
~"Not now. He is under the control of the false god."
-"What if I were to get rid of that control?"
~"Then I promise you to bring him back."
Aletia nodded and stepped back from me. Elysia approached the small vampire from behind and hugged her.
-"What will you do now, Aletia?"
-"I will take revenge for my uncle."
-"I see. I'll help you!"
~"Sigh. Don't forget your responsibilities, Elysia."
-"No. I want to do it myself."-Aletia spoke up.
-"You sure, Aletia?"
-"Yes. You will help me gain power, right?"
~"As I promised before."
Aletia nodded. Her eyes were no longer lost as before but glowed with emotions.
-"But, will Aletia have to stay here? She has nowhere to go."-Elysia pointed out an obvious issue neither Aletia nor I considered.
~"Well, I can help you get to the surface, or... Hmm... How about waiting a few minutes? I can feel someone approaching this place."
-"Someone is here?"
~"Yes, quite an interesting person, I must say. An otherworlder."
-"Huh? Someone aside from us traveled to this world?"
~"He is too weak to travel in Chaos by himself. Most likely, he was brought here by the false god."
-"Another victim..."
-"Indeed. He might help you on your quest for revenge."
Aletia nodded, agreeing with Elysia's idea.
Moments later, silent steps could be heard from the entrance. Despite the darkness, each of us could see shagged white-haired youth entering into the room. He also noticed us and became alert.
~"Stand down, young man. We are not your enemies."
-"Why should I believe you?"
~"Because you are too weak to defend if I were to attack."~To prove that I sealed his movements for a short while.
-"Ugh. What do you want?"
-"Help me kill one who brought you here?"
-"Litle girl? I don't care about that whole Ehit guy. I just want to go back home."
~"Naive."
-"What?!"
~"You are naive. Why would you return a toy before fully enjoying it? You were brought to this world for entertainment, and willingly or not, you will have to entertain that false god."
-"..."
-"He won't let you escape, but if we are strong enough, you will be able to return, and I will get my revenge."
-"Why do I need you, little girl? You don't seem strong to me."
Aletia pointed her hand at the man and threw him around the room a few times with magic.
-"Hmpf."
~"Don't judge people by their looks."
-"Right, right. You are strong, I get this, but why don't those two help you instead?"
-"I can't just depend on them."
-"Depend, huh?"
~"I can see that you are distrustful, so how about I create a vow between two parties? Even that false god won't be able to break it, so you won't have to be afraid of being backstabbed."
-"If you can do that, then I don't mind helping that little girl."
-"Aletia Galdea Vesperitio Avatarl."
-"What?"
-"This is my name."-Aletia looked at me.-"I won't leave any regrets."
~"Just do what you think is best."
Under the careful watch of the man who introduced himself as Hajime, I prepared a vow that made it impossible to betray any other person who also made said vow.
Both Hajime and Aletia made their vows, and I left the spell formula in Aletia's hands in case they ever needed it. While the two of them still had some distrust between each other, it should get better as they travel to gain power.
~"Now, I suggest you continue to descend, as reaching the bottom of this dungeon can prove useful to your journey."
-"Thank you, Yue."
-"Sure, it's not like we have other choice."
~"Two of us will be going back. If something serious happens, just notify Elysia. She would certainly help you, and even that god can't beat her easily."
-"You can count on me!"
-"Yes."
~"Also, if you ever need it, I can send you blood fruits."
Aletia nodded with a twinkle in her eyes.
After bidding farewell, I took Elysia and returned to Moon Palace. Elysia called those girls who were free while I prepared some food for us. When everyone gathered, we sat down and had a family picnic in Moon Palace's garden.
Ningguang asked me to play zither once again, as she missed my previous performance, so we had a great time for the rest of the night, listening to all sorts of different songs.