Drim grabbed both Pox and Drimini by their scruffs and pulled them up to his face to get a better look, wondering why his ‘children’ had been walking along the other freshly appointed CP officials. Both of them were wearing Central Peace pendants, so there could be no mistake that they were randomly just caught up in the foot traffic.
“Department of Restoration: Director of Forestry,” the ‘parent’ muttered, reading the plant-girl’s pendant first. And then he moved onto the fluff ball. “Department of Restoration: Director of Recycling and Waste Disposal.” They were both a part of his uncle’s department. Though he helmed the Reconstruction Division, so they wouldn’t really overlap in duties except for certain projects. But it still was likely the core root of the cause.
For the moment, Drim set them down, but gave them a glance as if instructing them not to flee. He pulled out the tablet he’d stashed in his coat and dug into the recent elections. “Well mawhg me…” Apparently both of them had actually been a part of the vote, respectively winning their elections by landslides. While he couldn’t deny that they were good choices for their elected positions, the king could only feel pity for those who had lost to them.
But still, as their guardian, he couldn’t also ignore the pride welling up within him. So he knelt down and patted both of their heads. “This is great, though I don’t know why you felt the need to hide it from me. But remember that it’s a big responsibility. There will be people relying on you. So if you can promise me that you’ll take it seriously and do your best, then I’ll allow it.”
The two little ones gave him sincere nods, so Drim released them to carry on about their business, and they rushed ahead to join the rest of their peers. And the man’s next inevitable conversation approached him, bringing up the rear of the group.
“I think they just wanted to try and accomplish it on their own,” Harth explained. Though the king’s uncle was in a permanent position that didn’t require re-election, he’d been a part of the ceremonies to welcome all the new faces to his department. “If you’d known about it, you likely would have felt compelled to assist them.”
“Yes, I suppose,” Drim couldn’t deny. “Just didn’t think they’d strike out on their own so fast.”
Harth chuckled and put a hand on his nephew’s shoulder. “They always do. And it feels like it’s earlier with each generation. At your age, I was just a college dropout. Look at what all you’ve accomplished in comparison.”
“And about what’s ahead…” the man’s tone got a bit more serious. “As always, you’ve completely defied my expectations. I never could have even conceived of your plans. I’m sure if I let myself dwell on it, I’d have a few recommended changes. But I trust you, Drim, and your sister, and all of your friends. At the very least, I’m reassured by the fact that you believe you’re doing what’s right. As for my part, I’m ready to provide the support you need. Though I never expected it to be the direction my life would take.”
“Thank you, uncle,” Drim couldn’t even begin to express his appreciation properly. “I’m sorry for always putting burdens on you.”
“Well, I’ve done the same,” Harth owned up to his own past requests. “But what else is family for?” The two men then shared a proper hug before Harth returned to his group. As for Drim, he still had the rest of his own ‘family’ to speak to. Though the next person just ahead wasn’t exactly someone he’d count among that number.
“Don’t worry, I’m not here to try and arrest you,” Tusmon scoffed when The Fiendish King approached, breaking off his current conversation. “But wherever you find a large crowd of Fiends at a public event with a high chance of chaos, you’ll find the Fiend Crimes Division there as well.”
“With how busy we’ve been lately, I had been thinking of upping recruitment. Fetter already decided to join on his own, to my surprise. But would you care to explain why I’ve received an influx of applicants from Fiendish residents over the past few weeks? Just what exactly is going on with your group? What are you planning, Drazah? My friend here won’t tell me. Though he was kind enough to mostly fill me in on what happened to Hower, I still hoped to get a proper answer from the leader.”
Drim’s mouth scrunched, unsure how to answer. “Quite honestly, I didn’t know that they’d done that. Since they’re residents and not members, they’ve already made it clear they have no desire to work with us. But perhaps they appreciate the work you do and see it as a good place for a Fiend to apply their talents. I’m guessing quite a few of them are our recent graduates like Wental and Pak who have had a hard time finding a place they belong otherwise.”
“Uhuh…” the detective clearly wasn’t buying it but still let it slide. “Well there’s something else I’d like to discuss. Though we are now a fully independent organization, out from the Central Peace’s thumb, we are still beholden to the regulations of the world. And seeing as you’re about to be the ruler of said world, in a way, that would make you our future boss. As such, perhaps it may prod your sense of responsibility to provide funding for all these new potential recruits.”
“I get it,” Drim immediately clued into the not-so-subtle grift. “Go find Roque and tell him to add you to our list of our recurring donations. He’ll hook you up so that you never have to worry about money again no matter how much you expand. And it’ll keep coming as long as your division holds to its values.”
Tusmon didn’t need to be told twice, giving barely more than a courteous nod of thanks before he rushed away to find the walking money bag. That left Drim with the man he’d been talking to. And the king struggled to initially find an icebreaker. Since Xard was one of the few he still saw himself on the outs with ever since their spat back at Rathe’s lair—though not nearly as much as some, and not as severely as the time the redhead had genuinely wanted to kill him. If they recovered from that, they’d get through this rough patch, especially since their combined dream was about to come to fruition.
“Still building your strength even here,” the king found something to latch onto and went with it, noticing the tension bands around Xard’s fingers he was using to improve his grip and gather energy at the same time. “Don’t you think we’ve earned a break?”
“No,” The Artillery immediately refuted. “I’d say we need to grow our power now more than ever. Or at the very least, not become complacent and let it wane. We may have conquered any major threats left in this world. But this planet isn’t the only one we have to worry about now. You weren’t there to fight against the monster on P2. It was a nightmare, and it still has us in its sights.”
“Not to mention that we now know there’s an entire universe out there filled with the divine. By all rights we should have lost to Rathe. But we got lucky in that she wasn’t great in combat. If we come across another that actually knows how to use their powers to their full potential, we need to prepare as much as we can. So I won’t let myself slack on my training for even a day. If we end up fighting more in the future, we might even need to make a ‘Deicide’ Crime Card.”
“And don’t think I’ll let you take it easy either, Demigod of Nurture,” Xard stared him straight in the eyes. “Like it our not, you’ll be our best defense until your mother can figure her zjik out. So I’ll make sure that you live up to your own potential as one of the divine. We are your disciples now, after all, so it's to be expected we’d want our deity to live up to his name. And in turn, I expect your ‘nurturing’ powers to help us break through our own ceilings.”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“That’s all very fair,” Thorn couldn’t deny. “But as your deity, I command that you need to at least try to enjoy yourself and take the wins where you can. Otherwise, it won’t matter how much we train if our minds aren’t ready for what’s to come. Plus, we need to ensure our priorities are in order. Let’s finish saving this world first before we move on to the stars.”
“Of course,” The Artillery finally stopped his regiment and raised his fist. “Partner.”
Drim bumped it back, sharing a nice moment with the man that he hoped would reconcile their gripes and build their bond moving forward. The next in line was also a relationship that had been a bit rocky in recent times, but their friendship had persisted through it all.
“It’s time, Drim,” Nathym was struggling to hide both his unyielding nerves and uncontainable excitement. The Engineer then pulled a small remote out of his pocket, with a protective cover over the singular button so it wasn’t accidentally pressed, and held it out to his friend. “Here. This is it, the trigger to activate the project.”
But the king actually pushed the man’s hand back and insisted, “No, you hold onto it Nathym. After all, you were the one who did all the hard work, so you should have the honor. Just wait for my signal.”
Even though it had never left his hand, the scientist began to look at the remote like an incredible gift, making him have to hold back tears. Or perhaps it was just the sentiment, that all of his efforts had been recognized.
“You know, when we were first discussing this plan all those years ago back in my old workshop, I never thought we’d actually make it this far,” Nathym began to reminisce. “Back then, it seemed just like a fanciful idea that could never become reality. Didn’t help that we were in such a zjikheep. Can’t say it inspired a lot of confidence. Do you remember it?”
“Yeah, it was an abandoned fallout shelter from the war you bought for cheap, right?” Drim could still easily picture the place. “It was pretty worn down with the walls looking like they’d collapsed any day. But you had all this amazing tech displayed on them, items that were singularly worth more than the entire place. Can’t say I never judged your priorities.”
“Well, I don’t know, I kind of liked the charm of it,” The Engineer could only shrug. “But those were interesting times. Back before we were rich and famous. I was selling random gadgets to get by, and this weird kid would show up every so often wanting new toys and spouting about how he wanted my help to save the world. Then you eventually wore me down, made me see it too. Now we’re just a button push away. Gah, man. It’s taken years, but this last bit of waiting is what’s really killing me.”
“Well I guess I should stop wasting time here then so we can get on with it,” the president-elect jested, more to push himself forward more than anything. Otherwise he’d be happy to delay it for as long as he could.
Near the end of the hall, the man of the hour was once more ambushed by his producer, performing a last-minute check-up of his status. Chorus checked every seam of his body and grunted in approval, unable to find a flaw with Mallea’s work. And then they let out an exhaustive sigh, one of both relief and annoyance. “Things are going to get very boring after tonight, aren’t they?” The Quick Changer was already dwelling on the future.
“I don’t mean what’s immediately ahead. Yes, tonight will be endlessly exciting, the event that will be talked about for centuries to come. But tomorrow… what exactly is there to look forward to?”
“Uhm, a peaceful world?” Drim had to offer a stern, if not slightly rhetorical answer.
“Heh, peace doesn’t forge inspiration,” Chorus could only lament. “But in a way you’re right. It will be a different landscape, with new issues and new wants. I suppose it falls to me to find the entertainment that lies deep. Sadly, I’ll have to discover a new star with your saga coming to a close.”
“Oh who am I kidding. There will never be anyone as interesting as you again, and I refuse to go back to dealing with the self-entitled nepotism incarnate that is the world of celebrities. Ah well, I still have a lot of footage to work with, parts of your story yet untold to the public. After tonight, they’ll be clamoring for it even more. So it gives me time to find a new muse. Now go out there and give it your all, crushing my dreams in the process. Run along.”
The king didn't really volunteer to leave, rather he’d been handily dismissed by his producer who walked off and left him behind. So he had no choice but to keep going, meeting with the last person at the end of the hall.
“Er, hey, Phon,” Drim barely muttered since things were immediately awkward. The siblings hadn’t actually seen much of each other since the election, since what had happened in Rathe’s lair. After spending a few days recovering, an impromptu proposal was made about the future of Fiendish society.
Then following discussion and debate, the country decided to move forward with it. And ultimately, they wanted the change completed before the inauguration, so it had become a bit of a rush, with a lot of the work falling to Phon and a select few others. It meant the Drazah Duet hadn’t had the chance to hash things out in a proper spat.
“Look, about what happened…” the brother began what he assumed would turn into an apology as the impromptu words started to leave his mouth.
“You did a stupid thing,” his sister interrupted him, while also saving him from his jumbled thoughts at the same time.
“Well, yeah, I guess you could say that,” Drim didn’t really try to argue.
“It’s nothing new,” Phon sounded so sure of herself, as if it was a pointed and indisputable fact. “That’s been our entire relationship: you doing stupid things. When we were kids and you wanted to sneak out, that was a stupid thing. When you wanted to kill our parents, that was a stupid thing. When you wanted to stay separated after we made contact again so you could grow and see the world on your own, a stupid thing that I’m definitely still annoyed about.”
“Telling the world our real names again after we’d made new lives for ourselves that were earnest and respected. Moving back to our burned down old home when we had the wealth to start anew anywhere in the world. Travelling the entire world to rob every single bank only to not actually steal money at all. Faking our deaths to infiltrate the CP. All stupid things.”
“Starting our own business and staffing it with eccentric murderers we didn’t know beforehand. Very stupid thing. Fighting against the entire world and risking our lives to save a country of rich mawhgers we would have been better off without. Extremely stupid thing. Hosting a tournament and promising the victor anything they could possibly imagine. Stupid and riskily reckless thing. Allowing ourselves to be imprisoned for a year just to prime the political climate. Stupid and very painful thing.”
“Going to space for some fancy mineral and pissing off some alien monster. Stupid thing that I’m glad that you at least weren’t a part of. And facing off against a demigod, risking everything, including the stability of the world. The stupidest thing. Though, I’ll admit some of the escalation there was my fault. But it’s a spot we never would have been in if not for all the prior stupid things.”
“Now… after all that, after all of our hard work—years of scheming, plotting, lies, deception, blood and sweat—you’re about to go and do another stupid thing. Perhaps it really is my fault for enabling you all this time. But maybe I’m just selfish. The warmth I feel when I see the joy on your face when all those stupid things pay off, well, I guess you could say that’s my stupid thing.”
“So when all this is over, and you’re ready to move on to the next stupid thing, I’ll be right there with you.”
“Thank you, Phon!” Drim couldn’t help himself and rushed in for a deep hug. “I definitely wouldn’t have made it this far on my own. So thank you for always being there. I don’t deserve to have someone like you who never gave up on me.”
“You’re right, you don’t,” the woman giggled as she let herself relish in the deep embrace. “But I would do anything for my little brother, as stupid as he may be.”
The nice moment lasted just a minute longer, but regrettably time was running out. It wouldn’t do for the new ruler of the world to be late to his own inauguration, so Drim had to reluctantly break it off. He took a few more deep breaths to calm himself and then rounded the corner that led to the prep area just to the side of the main stage. But there he found himself taking a sudden step back, surprised by who was standing in-wait.