"But you left."

"Yeah, but it wasn't easy. She kept chasing after me and telling me how she wanted to go adventuring to stay with me. Had to cross an ocean to get rid of her."

"Oh, that sounds exciting. Did she chase after your ship?"

"Ship? No, I ran."

"You ran. Across an ocean."

"Er… No, I took a ship."

"You really haven't shown even a fraction of your skills, have you."

"It was a fast ship. Big, too. Lots of, uh, sailors. And sails. And rigging? I… I even got the sea sickness! Yeah, that was—"

"Scipio, has anyone ever told you that you're very bad at lying?"

"What? No, I'm not!"

"Then what's this I heard about you being outlawed from Gatterpoint Harbor? Back when it existed, that is."

"Existed? What happened to it?"

"Completely destroyed just before you returned."

"What? How the fuck—"

"A colossal wave smashed it into the sea. Punishment from the old gods for their greed, or so it's being said."

"Urgh, water."

"You seemed to have no fear of it when you fought on the lake."

"Not afraid of it, I just don't like it."

"But you rode a ship across the ocean."

"When was tha—Oh. Yeah, I did. Never doing that again. Barnacles everywhere."

"Tell me, what is a barnacle?"

"It's, uh… It's a type of creature with a hard shell that attaches itself to an underwater surface and—"

"How strange, Scipio, that sounds exactly like how I was prepared to describe it to you if you didn't know."

"Fuck, why're you so annoying?"

"Volcatia Scipio. I permit you some privileges because of who you are and what you have done for the Empire, but never forget that I am your Imperatrix. You will apologize now, or I will exile you."

Volcatia sighed.

The Imperatrix was fun to talk to in a certain sense, just as she'd expected.

She was maybe the only person alive who could force her to be human anymore.

Humanity hadn't been a problem for her years earlier when she'd had nothing on her mind but victory, but when she'd lost that thirst…

And after that, when she'd become something beyond human…

No, she was still human.

"I apologize, Imperatrix."

"I forgive you, Scipio. Let's return to being friends for a while. Would you like to tell me of your time in the Daggaekha Republic?"

"I thought it'd be fun to make some money."

"You're already the richest citizen in the Empire."

"Yeah, but—"

"I'm not sure you realize the magnitude of it, so I'll be very clear: if you ever attempt to withdraw from our banks anything approaching the full extent of your wealth, I will exile you."

"Yeah, yeah. What would I ever do with that much money anyway?"

"You could found a country or five."

"Sounds boring. Who'd wanna rule a…"

"Go on."

"So there I was in Gatterpoint Harbor."

"There you were indeed. I'll admit that it was only a vague guess that you were there, but when I heard tell of a gambler who always found victory no matter what he played, I took note. It was said you were a man, however. Funny that."

"Eh, people're shit at telling stories. Anyway, I tried to play normally at first, but it was hard."

"It's not difficult to imagine the struggles of a girl as poor at lying as you in—"

"I'm not that bad at lying!"

"Some would see it as a thing to take pride in."

"Everyone's been saying it lately."

"Perhaps you should stop lying so much. To yourself, first and foremost."

"I don't lie to myself."

"I believe you. But if you go back to your story now, you were about to tell me of your gambling victories while you were in the Republic."

"Not much to tell. I won a lot of money. It was fun for a while."

"But then you were forced to stop."

"I didn't put my money into a bank there."

"Fearing the same outcome as here?"

"What? No, I just couldn't. Have to be able to read and write, and—"

"Of course! You couldn't… Oh, that's incredible."

"It's not that funny. Their written language is all these weird squiggly lines, and all the fucking words look the same."

"But you could speak it."

"Some."

"I can imagine exactly which parts you learned. So you took the money you won and…"

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"I just kept it in my room at one of the inns."

"In locked chests, I assume."

"Nah, that got to be way too much effort after a while so I just threw it in a pile in the corner."

"With no fear of it being stolen."

"Didn't really think about it at the time? It was an expensive inn, and they had guards."

"Were they strong?"

"Maybe?"

"Could they defeat Mellitus?"

"Maybe? They had some weird potions they drank that made them really strong."

"The alchemists of the Republic have always been famed for their—Well, that's hardly relevant now that they're all probably dead."

"Serves them right. Shouldn't have put up rewards for my head."

"Surely you did nothing to deserve it."

"I didn't! What? Stop looking at me like that!"

"Do you plan to eat all my fruit before you leave?"

"Maybe."

"I think you may be the only person who dares speak with her mouth full in my presence."

"Sorry?"

"Don't apologize with half a pear in your mouth, Scipio. Finish this one, and then finish your story."

"If you'd stop interrupting, I'd be done already. I started winning more once I figured out that you're supposed to cheat, and the real game was how much cheating you could do without getting caught, and then I started going to the more wealthy gambling houses. Eventually I was up against senators and the wealthiest merchants—"

"Ah."

"—and I got to know everyone there since we played together so much. Couldn't speak the language that well, but it was enough. This one senator, Schmodt, was really funny, I remember. Almost killed me a couple times I was laughing so hard. But then they banned me because I won too many times."

"Just because you won too many times."

"Yeah. Bunch of fucking—"

"When you won, what exactly were you winning?"

"They'd give me these scraps of paper that I could turn in at the bank to get money."

"And you turned them in."

"Had to get my money, didn't I?"

"And you then put this money…"

"In my money pile."

"Because you couldn't use the banks to store it."

"Yeah."

"How much did your winnings amount to?"

"Didn't keep track. Pile was fucking huge near the end."

"I heard the legendary gambler of Gatterpoint had over ten billion tals at one time."

"It's all that stupid paper shit. How was I supposed to know? Kept getting into everything in my room. Lost a few pairs of shoes and a lot of clothes in it."

"And the inn's maids said nothing?"

"I'm not a complete idiot. I didn't let them in. Changed my own sheets and everything."

"You look very satisfied with yourself."

"I didn't realize I had ten billion tals. Fuck, I should've spent some of it. Could've hired someone to wash my sheets and clean the room discreetly."

"Now do you see while you were outlawed?"

"Because I was too good."

"No, Scipio, because you destroyed their economy. You took so much money out of their banks and into your money pile that they lacked the currency to run the country."

"What? But it's just paper. They could make more."

"Do you know how long it would take to make ten billion pieces of paper?"

"Um…"

"Even excepting that, replacing the money you had stockpiled ran the risk of destroying their country further if you ever did spend your winnings."

"Why? They'd just be getting their money back. And then they'd have twice as much of it."

"No. The Republic's money is based—was based on the principle that the paper represented gold. It had value so long as people believed it represented a certain amount of gold."

"I think I'm too old to be hearing more of your lessons. This isn't even interesting."

"Scipio, stop being difficult."

"I'm not! It's just boring!"

"The simple version—a simple version for a simple person—"

"Thanks."

"—is that by having twice as many tals, each tal is worth half as much."

"Okay."

"Which would mean every person would have their wealth halved."

"Oh."

"And in their trades, their money would become half as valuable, meaning they'd have trouble buying from other countries."

"But I was only there a few months!"

"Yes, and it's amazing what you accomplished. If they weren't on the other side of the Charus Kingdom and logistically impossible for the Empire to maintain a hold on, I would have declared war and crushed them instantly while they panicked."

"Still, they didn't have to outlaw me. They had great… Nah, I'm thinking of somewhere else, I think. Gatterpoint… Shit, I can't remember. I was having kegs of this amazing dwarven ale delivered to my room every day—"

"The stories didn't mention that."

"Hey, I had cause to drink."

"Why? You missed your archmage's pretty legs?"

"Y—No! No, I was still really fucking depressed from before, okay?"

"Yes, and you have my sympathies, as always."

"Thanks."

"Mm." Aquila shifted to a sitting position on her sofa and placed her hands on her lap. "Well, this has been entertaining, Scipio, but I need to return to keeping the Empire's blades sharpened."

Volcatia took the last bite of the apple she was eating, then, after a moment's thought, tossed the core into her mouth as well.

She hadn't left any remains of the other fruits either.

She was being considerate.

Aquila was an imperatrix, after all.

"Before we part, would you care to tell me why you've really returned?" asked the older woman.

"Mm?"

"You aren't here to fight, you aren't here to race, you aren't here for your vengeance, and, regardless of what you say, you aren't bored, Scipio. Or Vol, if that's what you want to be called." The Imperatrix ran her finger along a small scar just above her jawline. "No, you're something else, aren't you."

Volcatia eyed her uneasily.

This was the problem with talking to Smart people.

They listened, yeah, but sometimes they actually thought about whatever the fuck she told them and then told her things she didn't want to hear.

Aquila smirked. "I was confused at first when we began, but that was because you said you had friends. If that was the case, why come to me? The times of you needing my lessons are long past. Your stories are from years ago, but you talk about being with people. I'd wager if I let you go on, you'd tell me about a memorable person from every story, wouldn't you?"

"The ones I remember, I suppose."

"Remember. Yes." The woman who was nearly three times Volcatia's age leaned her arm on the side of the sofa. "Strange how you had trouble recalling a woman you spent an entire year with, isn't it?"

"It was a really long time ago!" Volcatia protested.

"But that senator you gambled with for a month or two—the funny one—Ah, I've forgotten his name in my old age."

"Schmodt?"

"Yes, Schmodt. Stranger still is that you recalled his name with no trouble."

"He was really funny."

"I'm sure. I'd wager you haven't even thought of…" Aquila snapped her fingers in an attempt to force the thought forward. "My memory's fading once more, what was the name of your archmage? The one with the legs?"

"Um…"

"Is it that you don't remember or that you don't want to remember?"

"Well—"

"Is it that you grew bored of her, or is it that you grew scared of her affection?"

"I—"

"Volcatia Scipio, know that I'm helping you in part now for your past service to the Empire but also because I fear for the safety of the Empire if you continue as you are."

Volcatia frowned.

The Imperatrix of the Stadal Empire, known to her enemies as Aquila Intrepida, sat calmly and spoke once more using the same, unhurried manner that she always spoke in.

----------------------------------------

Volcatia lay atop the roof of the workshop in D-five once more.

Its exterior had changed considerably over the past day, though that was limited to the upper parts, which had grown a series of jagged metal spikes that pointed out at every angle.

She'd cleared a small section of them off to lay down upon returning.

Aquila had been fun to talk to for a time, just as she'd expected.

The old woman was one of the few constants in the two segments of her life, and it was reassuring to know that she was still there.

She'd gotten boring at the end though.

Maybe all the senators from the Republic who called her the Muscle-brained Imperatrix were right about her.

Maybe she wasn't really Smart and was only smart.

There was no fucking way Volcatia was lonely.

The second thing Aquila had said gnawed at her more deeply though.