Gabriel sat on a chair in his room, his arms placed on a small table in front of him. His hands tingled beneath the bandages, it felt as if his bones were squirming, eager to burst out of their fleshy prison.

"We shall soon be done so please bear with it, soon you will regain access to your hands."

An aged woman sat on the other side of the table, her hands resting on his. She was clad in the light-blue robes of the church, the Gransax Cathedral in the capital to be specific. A few motes of pale blue light peeked out from where her hands were resting on Gabriel’s.

As a priest of the church, what she used wasn’t magic, not strictly speaking at least. No, what she used was Divine Power, energy and abilities handed down directly by the god she served. Judging by the pale blue colour she was probably a worshipper of Hakoten, the god of the sky.

Divine Power and the Divine affinity, while they sounded similar, were a bit different in nature. Divine Power relied on the god you served, it was something they handed to you, basically lending it to you for a while. The Divine affinity on the other hand functioned more like the Demon affinity, it took rather than borrowed, ignoring the god’s intentions and desires as it plundered their power wantonly.

"There we go, young friend, that should do the trick. Your hands may feel ticklish for the next few days, but I assure you that it is perfectly normal. Given time, it will pass."

The old lady pulled back her hands as she spoke, the light dimming as she slipped her fingers back into her long sleeves. Her hazy and glazed over eyes were looking straight at, and past, Gabriel.

"It is safe to remove the bandages straight away, but if I may offer a suggestion, I would recommend that you give them a thorough cleaning at the earliest convenience. Unwanted filth occasionally rises to the surface as the body is healed, the muck will inevitably get expelled from the body at the first opportunity."

Healing, that was what she had been doing. Gabriel was the main character of the upcoming investiture, there was no way that the Imperial Family would let him show up with his hands bandaged. As such, they had requested that a priest from the church head over and take care of his wounds.

This was already the fourth, and thus final, session. The investiture had already been publicly announced two weeks ago, and would take place a mere week from now. The empire was thus naturally bustling with activity, citizens and nobles alike gathering in the capital to prepare for the upcoming ceremony.

In fact, Gabriel was probably one of the last to head out. It seemed as if the Imperial Family wanted him to maintain an air of mystique before they properly unveiled him so he was allowed to remain in the Vritara duchy while everyone else headed out. Naturally, this everyone else also included Alice, who had actually left for the capital earlier than she had to.

Counting the days, it had already been 16 days since he last got to see or speak with her. It was… strange to be away from Alice for so long. In the years they had spent together, this was their longest separation yet.

It was… Uncomfortable. It felt as if his chest was constantly prickling, a tingling akin to fingers slowly wandering up his neck ceaselessly annoying him. He wanted the damn investiture to just start already. Alice had strictly told him that he was not to arrive early because there were some things she wanted to set up, so he was stuck here for now.

She was planning something. Well, he was doing the same so it could only be said that they were similar in that regard. Hmm… Since they were similar then she was probably as annoyed as he was right now. Wait, no, scratch that probably. Knowing Alice she was probably just a step or two away from throwing a fit. But she clearly wasn’t, she was being patient despite the prickling sensation. Thus, so too would he be.

"… And may the blessing of Hakoten follow your steps."

The voice of the priestess reached him, it seemed as if he had zoned out for a bit and inadvertently ignored her. As for whether or not she noticed, she at least didn’t show any reaction as she rose from her seat and bowed politely.

"I believe there shall be no more need for my services here, Ser Gabriel. I anticipate hearing about your deeds in the forthcoming ceremony. May you have a continued blessing."

She left behind the same polite farewell as always and then stepped out of the room, two knights escorting her out of the mansion and back to her carriage. Left alone again, Gabriel removed the bandages that now clung to his hands, a murky brownish-black liquid sticking to them.

He wriggled his fingers and twisted his wrists a bit, but other than the tickling she mentioned he felt no other discomfort so the fractures were indeed gone. He rinsed his hands in the basin he always had in his room, filling it with water was easy enough thanks to his covenant with Alice. Once he was clean and dry, he activated the stud earring with a bit of his mana.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Fox, what’s the status on the eye?"

The earring was one of the first items he got his hands on after making contact with the Night Pack in the past. Granted, this was an upgraded version, but the core functions remained the same, communication with the pack. And in this instance, he got in contact with the second in command, the one who would originally be leading the pack right around now, Black Fox.

"It’s looking bad, boss. We’ve been putting pressure on him from multiple sides, but I fear we may lose it. I’ve done some digging into it and it seems our competitor is from Nightshade’s Kiss. Should we just take it?"

Black Fox, Solomon Giradin, didn’t beat around the bush and gave a concise report. They apparently weren’t the only ones vying for the Eye of Rostam, and their competitors just so happened to be annoyingly stubborn. If it kept going like this then it was highly unlikely that they would be able to acquire it the legal way.

Gabriel fell silent for a moment after Solomon gave the report. The Eye of Rostam was the ring he had in mind for proposing to Alice, it was so famous that not even the emperor could scoff at it. He knew that Solomon and the rest of the Night Pack had been having some troubles getting their hands on it, but for it to be Nightshade…

"Nightshade… No, just leave it."

Hmm, if it was them then they may as well just give up on getting the Eye of Rostam. No, if the Nightshade got it then it meant that it would just end up in his hands anyway so it couldn’t really be called giving up on it. Naturally, Solomon understood the secondary meaning implied by Gabriel’s dismissal.

"Le… Alright. Going for Plan B then. I’ll drop it off at the usual location and then go dark for at least two or so weeks. I’ll report back afterwards."

If the first one can’t be obtained then they would have to go for the second one, they always made contingency plans for situations like this anyway. As for why he had to go dark… the investiture was coming up. As a noble of the empire, Solomon had to be there. Naturally, that didn’t mean that he had to tell the boss about it, the boss was luckily someone lenient enough to just accept it when they said that they had to go dark for a while.

Gabriel cut contact with Solomon after they talked a bit more, setting up a few more plans should anything happen during the time they wouldn’t be contacting each other. But once that was done, he didn’t have much else to do so he headed to the training grounds. He would have time for a few hours of training before it once again became time for Trisha to help him with his proposal plans.

And in such a manner, the last week quickly passed, the empire alive with sound as the investiture finally arrived. And as such, Gabriel naturally made his way to the capital.

——

While the Earhart Empire was bustling with sound and life due to the investiture, the Yverial empire across the sea was alive with sound because of a single man. Saint Arthur. He had started in a small village, but he had already made his way to the capital, dredging up forces and followers in every city he passed through. By the time he reached the capital, he had a veritable army following him. The common populace was rising like a tidal wave, it had already become something no one could ignore.

"You’ve got good style. Gotta show off your luxury if you have it, it’ll just be wasted if you lock it up in a treasury because you’re fearful that someone might take it."

Arthur sat in an ornate wooden chair, golden ornaments etched into the carvings that adorned the back of the chair. He was leaning back, his dark golden hair swept back as his violet eyes took in the splendour of the meeting room. As he was the one leading the common populace, the imperial family naturally had to meet him when he arrived at the capital.

Rare animal pelts, paintings from long dead artists, sculptures showing ancient heroes and monsters, plants that were once extinct. The Yverial Imperial family decorated the meeting room with all their luxury, their entire palace was like that. They had ruled for many years, they weren’t shy about showing it off.

"It is good that you enjoy it. Now, may I assume that you did not march up to our gates simply because you were curious about them?"

Naturally, Arthur wasn’t alone in the meeting room. Ignoring the ten or so knights that stood there, the Crown Prince of the Imperial Family was also there. A table stood between the two men, the entire length of it covered by a scale-like material.

Valentine Savon Yverial, Crown Prince of the Yverial Empire. His elbows rested on the table and his bronze-coloured hands were clasped, his chin sitting on his fingers as he observed the so-called ‘saint’ with sharp amber eyes, a few strands of blue hair falling over them.

The man was called a saint, but Valentine didn’t believe it. He didn’t seem the type. Sure, he had helped a lot of people on his way here, but Valentine didn’t for one second believe that he did it out of the kindness of his heart. No, such people were long extinct, everyone who acted for others did so because they had an agenda.

Arthur simply grinned wildly when faced with Valentine’s sharp gaze, leaning forward slightly.

"You want something, don’t you, Valentine? Of course you do, everyone wants something. Wants are what drive the world forward! We wanted to move faster so we invented the wheel, we wanted to become stronger so we invented weapons. We wanted to cover more land so we invented vehicles and society. We wanted to control society so we invented greater weapons. We wanted to gain freedom so we stole magic. It’s all wants, its always been wants."

Arthur didn’t shy away from it. Greed. Desires. Ambitions. It was what made humans, it was what defined them. You wanted, so you lived. You lived, so you wanted. God, it really was beautiful.

"I know what you want, Valentine. Yverial is too small, isn’t it? The resources are already dwindling, aren’t they? It’s enough now, but what in ten years, or twenty? What about when your numbers have doubled? How many more mouths can you feed, how many more people can you support? It’s not a lot, is it?"

Arthur had carved a path here straight from the outskirts of the empire, he’d seen the situation they faced. It wasn’t at the very brink yet, but given a few more years of peace and they would face some hard, devastating even, times.

And to the future leader, who knew this truth better than anyone else, Arthur stretched out his hand.

"I have the solution for you, Valentine. A drop of water for Yverial, A cup of poison for Earhart. You need just take my hand and I’ll help you feed all those mouths."