As everyone was making their way out of great hall, "Star" stopped "War". "I had heard that you had given credit to "Ice" for killing Venpa. As his former captain, I would like to thank you for that."
"There's no need to thank me for anything. I didn't "give" him anything, it's just the facts that he's the one who actually defeated Venpa. I was just there to land the final blow is all." "War" said.
"I understand that, but still you could have taken full credit for it and no one would have argued. I appreciate you for honoring "Ice's" actions is all I want to say." "Star" said seemingly begrudging the fact that he was thankful to "War".
"So I noticed your award was for defeating those two guys who betrayed the Empire, but they didn't mention that monster you fought. What the deal with that? What even was that thing?" "War" asked.
"It was nothing. Never ask about it again." "Star" said solemnly.
"Oh I see, so you don't know either." "War" said almost mockingly, though he didn't mean it in such a way. He then walked towards some Imperial attendants who led him to where he would be meeting with the Emperor.
"Right this way. You will be meeting in this room, the doors will open when his majesty is ready." He said.
As he was waiting outside it occurred to him that although he had spoken to the Emperor a few times but this would be the first time he would be meeting the Emperor face to face. He wondered what he'd look like. Was he strong? He had a myriad of questions about the Emperor flying through his mind when he was told it was time for him to enter.
As the doors opened "War" walked in and saw a curtain covering the far side of the room. "Should have known this meeting wouldn't actually be 'face to face' but oh well it doesn't matter as long as I can say what I need to say." "War" thought. When he entered the room he tried to assess how strong the Emperor was but he couldn't get a read on his aura. It was almost as if something was preventing him from sensing his aura.
"Aren't you going to bow? You're in the presence of your Emperor?" The Emperor asked as "War" walked in.
"There's not a man I'd ever bow to." "War" said instinctively without thinking. "Oops, I might of made a big mistake. Oh well, it's the truth. I'll just get the chips fall where they may." He thought as he realized who he was talking to.
"How dare you, you insolent fool! You dare speak to the Emperor in such a manner? We should put your head on a spike!!!!" One of the Emperor's guards shouted.
"Hahahaha!! What an honest guy! You couldn't help yourself could you?" The Emperor asked while laughing. "I knew you were a fun guy. Most people grovel and act so ridged around me. It gets unbearable. It's refreshing to hear someone be so straight forward."
"Well I guess I don't know how to be anyway other than how I am." "War" said shrugging his shoulders.
"Haha! I like it. You've been doing a great job I've been watching your fights, they've just been getting better and better. You beat some real tough guys this time around. You've still got a long way to go, but color me impressed." The Emperor said.
"Umm, if you don't mind, I actually had a favor I wanted to ask you." "War" said unsure how his request would be received.
"Ha! Making a direct request from the Emperor! How bold. Go ahead, you've piqued my curiosity." The Emperor said laughing again.
"Well, I don't know if you've heard but I've been assigned a political marriage. So I was wondering-" "War" said as he was interrupted by the Emperor.
"Oh yeah I set that up. What do you think about her?" The Emperor said.
"You set it up? But the paperwork said it was set up by High Command." "War" said confused.
"Yeah they made a match for you. They set you up with some lady assassin, she was a real looker but I had a better match in mind so I changed the paperwork a bit." The Emperor said. "You see I got a marriage request from the King of Sora, he wanted you to marry one of his daughters. You killed her brother in law and he wants you to marry her. I thought that was hilarious so I set it up."
"Oh, I see." "War" said visibly confused as to what to say next.
"What are you dissatisfied with her or something? If so I could change her out for someone else. It does have to be a princess in order for it to count as a political marriage, but I can give you a pick of what candidates are available." The Emperor said.
"I won't go through all of them but there are several options that you should already be familiar with. For starters I've heard that you have a good relationship with Princess Lunamaria of Orenden. You even have an option in your own crew. That girl Margarita, her mother is the chieftain of Amazonia. That technically makes her a princess. Of course, the King of Sora has one more daughter if you want to switch to her instead. Oh and you seem to have gotten quite a lot of attention from the head of R&D Ton Bi. But I'll be honest, if you marry her I'll lose respect for you."
"So you can make your pick in a bit, but for now I have more important things to talk to you about." The Emperor continued. "I'd like to speak to him alone so the rest of you get lost." The Emperor said waiving off his guards and attendants. They were hesitant to leave the Emperor alone but knew better than to argue with him.
The two talked for quite some time before eventually "War" left, and almost immediately after he had finished his meeting with the Emperor he was roped into a meeting the two ministers of High Command.
"Good evening "War", how was your talk with the Emperor? Did you discuss anything interesting?" The Minister of the Left said in an extremely thinly veiled attempt at learning if "War" and the Emperor were discussing anything that could be detrimental to them.
"Nothing special. I just wanted to ask him about getting a new fiancé. Other than that we didn't talk about much other than fighting. I'd say that you guys know more than anyone how the Emperor can be." "War" said and the two ministers exchanged a look saying they understood what he meant. After all the Emperor was not one for serious conversations, nor was it an easy task to steer him into one.
"Did you have any discussions about, the creature you and "Star" saw?" The minister said with an intense stare.
"Oh he didn't know about that already? That's surprising." "War" said. "And I'm guessing, for whatever reason, you don't want him to find out. Am I right? Guess that means we need to make a deal."
"You know we could just have you silenced." The Minister of the Left said while dropping his facade.
"Yeah, you definitely could, but if you had me killed right after the Emperor awarded me it'd look kinda suspicious. That's why we're even having this conversation in the first place right?" "War" said.
"Hmph, so what do you want in return for your silence boy?" The Minister of the Right asked, finally speaking up, seeming to have lost his patience.
"It's nothing special. I just want you guys to leave me and my team alone. You know I can promise you guys that I'm not teaming up with the Emperor against you guys." "War" said putting his hands up."
The ministers had been their positions of power for as long as they had by being able to discern whenever someone was lying. They could tell that "War" was not trying to deceive them, so they said, "Fine, you have a deal. For now." The ministers then begrudgingly shook "War's" hand before they left the room.
Shortly afterwards, "War" would leave and upon returning to Vercheg he called a meeting with his team. "I want you guys to listen very carefully. What I'm about to tell you is very important. The contents of this conversation can never leave this room."
"Why so serious? Oh! Did the Emperor tell you some super cool secrets?" "Fire" asked with a childlike excitement.
"It's kinda related, but we can talk about that some other time." "War" said dismissively.
"What I want to tell you right now, is my goal. My true intentions." "War" said in a serious tone. By "War's" demeanor everyone could understand the gravity of the conversation that was about to unfold.
"I want to crush the Empire. I'll defeat the Emperor, High Command, and anyone else who gets in my way. So I need to know right now if any of you have a problem with that."
"War's" words shot through the room like lightning. He had just suggested something beyond ridiculous. To stand against the Empire is suicide, as they themselves had proven many times. Not to mention, even if they wanted to do such a thing there was still the matter of "Star" and the other Royal Guard Captains. They were all unstoppable monsters, there was nobody who stood a chance at beating them. "War" knew all of this, so why would he ever suggest such a thing?
The others weren't sure what to say. They all had their own problems with the Empire, but talking about open rebellion against the Emperor and High Command was taking it a bit too far they thought. Eventually after discussion back and forth the team eventually all agreed to follow "War" though some were more reluctant than others.
"You know I'd follow you anywhere"War", but I have to ask, how do you plan on actually defeating the Empire? Nobody has been able to pull it off in the last 1000 years." "Wind" said. "We definitely don't have the power to pull it off."
"You're right we definitely don't have the power. Right now at least, our last battles proved that. We'll go over the finer points of the plan later, but the first order of business is that we have to get a whole lot stronger." "War" replied. "We'll wait to make our move until we're strong enough to crush the Empire. I don't care how long it takes, 1 year or 10 or 100. I'll see this through till the end no matter what. Until then we'll just bide our time."
Two years later…