“Hell no! No way!” Scytale crossed his arms in front of him to form an ‘X’. “Why would I need to go to the Cerulean City? No, you can deal with the grumpy Archduke on your own.”
“Do you seriously think I’m stupid enough to let the Archduke meet you?” Lucille hooked an arm around his and dragged him forward. “All I want you to do is do a little poking around near the embassies of the Heavenly Sects and see if you can find any leads.” He was far too strong as he strained against her, and she sighed while planting her hands on her hips. “I’m still lost as to why Lucius says this has something to do with the Demon Emperor’s incognito mode clone while he is unaware. Surely he would’ve been told already.”
“Maybe the *thing* behind him doesn’t think it’s important enough,” her bond pointed out. “I’m actually getting the picture that Demon Emperus Grumpyus doesn’t like that thing too much.”
“Which doesn’t make sense, because he would’ve consented to the relationship to serve them as his master,” she murmured. “The role of the ‘Authorizer’ is important enough that it needs all parties to be fully willing participants.”
“If you say so.” Scytale shrugged and spun around. “I’m going to find out what Sedric is up to-”
“No you’re not.” Lucy renewed her dragging. “This way, O’ slippery serpent.”
“Ugh….”
…
“You stay out here,” Lucille ordered, pointing at the ground. “Capiche?”
He glared at the sky blue carriage that had stopped right in front of the bottom of the hill to let him out. “Why bother to bring me all the way out here?!”
“Because I forgot you needed to be dropped off earlier. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” Lucy stepped into the carriage and shut the door. It began to roll onwards.
“You have perfect memory!” The humanoid serpent exclaimed with indignance. He scowled as the coach left, and he turned around to face the city. “What in the seven realms am I even supposed to do?”
His face screwed up as he tried to think. “Okay, so… Heavenly Sects… intruders… plots…” Scytale scratched his head and shrugged. “Nope, I don’t want to think anymore than I have to, and definitely not when I didn’t even want to help Lucy with this.”
He looked around and nodded to himself. “This is about cultivators, right? So first step would be to find a cultivator! Easy peasy!”
…
With the doorkeepers politely bowing to her, she walked through the double doors three times her height and entered the main hall of the Aethereal Palace. After a while, she noticed the unusual sight of the incognito Demon Emperor talking to his aide outside of his study.
Count Daymar Bentsen was the first to notice her. “Oh! Your Grace, it seems Count Goldcroft has arrived. Perhaps we should leave this conversation for another time.”
The Archduke gave her a flat stare, shook his head with a sigh, and walked away. The Count gave Lucille an apologetic smile.
After giving the brown-haired man her greetings, she followed after the Archduke and eventually made it to his side. It was obvious he was walking quickly to avoid her, but she didn’t care how fast she had to walk. “Your Excellency, I hope you have had a productive week!”
He didn’t answer and swung open the doors of his study. Instead of only on his desk like usual, some of his work was on the table in front of the couch. The Archduke chose to sit down on the very end of the couch instead of his armchair. “The snake...?”
Lucy blinked and realised he was talking about Scytale. “My bond. If you dislike my personality, I’m certain he’ll infuriate you even more,” she assured him. “I could call him here if you want to see him regardless.”
“Don’t.” He sighed and waved a hand at her. “Sit down already. We have something important to discuss.”
Not once had he spoken like this before. Lucille sat on the opposite end of the couch and waited for him to begin.
The incognito Demon Emperor firstly crossed his arms and studied her. “How far have you progressed with your technological development plans?”
“I’m scheduled to visit Alichanteu after this week,” she informed him, resting her hands on her lap. “My aide’s second secretary has been making progress in a Minor plane’s city with involving his merchant union in the city’s politics and regulations, but it will be another six months before I can profit from that. The dwarven clans of Alichanteu have arranged to create a prototype before the end of this year, but as for establishing a technological development department under my lead... I wanted to wait until preparations for the black market dimension had been finalised.”
Lucille paused and gave him a look. “Do you want me to halt those plans? I can, but I’d need some sort of explanation that I can provide the involved parties with-”
“Refrain from making assumptions, Goldcroft,” he answered curtly. The white-haired man picked up a page to scan it. “If you accelerate those plans, I am prepared to shield you and the Commission as the Archduke.”
“Shield me? As the Archduke?” She stared, not expecting him to suggest that. “That would mean you’re prepared to use your connections and vassals so I can produce technology without Olden and Radical involving themselves?”
“Yes. Your point?” he asked blandly.
Lucy put a hand to her head. “I... don’t see a reason for you to do this, Your Grace. No-one else knows of our arrangement so the Aethereal Duchy and Aurelian Commission appear to have no connection on the outset. Introducing technology as simple as trains doesn’t seem to be related to your aims of protecting the timeline’s integrity...”
He put the page down and clasped his hands together. “The Commission working with the Aethereal Duchy to research and develop technology would provide us the reason to meet so often and for me to aid the Commission,” he explained. “Additionally, the System has noticed... an oversight.”
The System shouldn’t be capable of having ‘oversights’. She tilted her head. “How?”
The Archduke pointed at her. “Why do you think you have been brought to the Tower?”
She had considered that question many times in her past. Lucille placed a hand on her chest. “Because of my connections to this place.”
He frowned. “I’m not sure what connections you speak of, but that is the not the answer.” Stolas Eterial looked at a notification he received. “The System cannot do an omnific scan until the Tower assimilates a realm or forerunners are called to the Tower, if that information answers any questions you have.”
She paused. “I thought all the realms were already part of the Tower, just... sealed off until they’re needed.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I do not mean the Main Dimensions. I’m referring to assimilation of the beings within the realms. You should know about that prerequisite if you come from the Cosmic Realm.”
Lucy considered it and nodded.
Not everyone is granted a soul port at the same time as the Tower gains a realm. For the ‘splintered’ realms of the Mystical, Heavenly and Cosmic Realm, each planet, lesser realm and plane must be individually assimilated. So the System called forerunners to the Tower before it could scan everyone on Earth.
...the Hero must’ve been let in because the System couldn’t yet see his Origin Skill.
“So then I must assume I was to be the Hero’s nemesis from the very being, as it became obvious that only I had a chance against him in the past timeline,” she concluded.
“...no, that’s not it.” The Archduke crossed his arms, looking almost perturbed. “For a forerunner to be chosen, they must satisfy all conditions of a very strict criteria. The Hero of Light has been determined to satisfy none of the criteria except youth.”
Lucille stared at him. “None?”
“He’s subpar when it comes to natural wit, talent, charisma, manipulation ability, empathy, appearance, ambition, as well as potential. The System chooses outliers as forerunners, so even if he had been severely deficient in one of these, he may have been an option.” He shook his head. “As it stands, it’s clear that he wasn’t able to become a forerunner because he was outstanding in any aspect. He is... not mediocre, but little more than average.”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
A wide smirk split Lucy’s face. The disguised Demon Emperor eyed her oddly. “I don’t see how this is amusing.”
“Of course not. That would mean you have a sense of humour.” She gave him a dismissive wave, ignoring his glare, and placed a hand on her chin. “I’m just satisfied to know my conclusion about him has been proven correct.” Lucille slowly lowered her hand when she realised that she had been chosen as a forerunner for an altogether entirely different reason. “So. Is it my unique disposition towards soul power? Yet the System wouldn’t have known that at the time... my intelligence? My appearance?”
Lucy put a gloved hand on her cheek. “It has to be those. I wouldn’t have had the Hero gaining an inferiority complex towards me yet so obsessed with me if I had neither of those things,” she announced faux proudly.
Her audience gazed dully at her. “It was your wisdom, Goldcroft. Your wisdom and your knowledge. Unlike many of the forerunners under observation, you had the foresight to adapt to any of your circumstances on Earth, excel while under those circumstances, and carve a path for yourself. Intelligence is useless in the Tower filled with non-human races magnitudes more intelligent than the average human.” He shook his head. “You were chosen because you had the highest chance of creating a lasting impact that was beneficial for the realms.” He pointed at her. “Advancing the Tower’s societal, technological and magical status was the very thing you were brought here to do.”
She went silent as she gazed at him for a while. “Well that failed spectacularly then, didn’t it?” she replied blithely. “I had an impact, but I won’t claim it was beneficial!”
The Archduke ignored her mocking statement. “In the prior timeline, you claimed Earth was destroyed because of the Hero and the Supreme Institutions. Earth was a high value trophy for all the forces of the Tower because of its advanced magical technology mixed with anti-mana mundane abilities.” He passed a stack of pages to her. “Reducing the value of Earth by releasing those technologies early would’ve been the chosen measure to prevent its destruction, but you were otherwise occupied with keeping the Hero occupied. The conclusion is that the System chose to sacrifice Earth by letting you distract the Hero. Without that distraction, he undoubtedly would’ve ruined the realms themselves rather than a single planet. I am sure he went on to cause more damage that you have yet to reveal.”
“My home world is a ‘single’ planet...” she repeated darkly.
He eyed her sceptically. “Are you angered that Earth was sacrificed?”
“Angered?” She closed her eyes. “No. I know more than anyone that it’s the people and not the ground under our feet that matters. And they called on Tartarus themselves. Earth’s attitude did not land them in a good position when the Eternal Empire commanded they join the Empire as a vassal kingdom.”
Lucy looked down at the stack. “What are these?”
“Variations of several proposals I tasked my vassals with creating,” the Archduke commented lazily. “I presumed the type of technology you’d be researching first and told them of it. Sort through them yourself and dispose of the ones you didn’t intend to proceed with or wish to develop at a later date.”
“I see... I’ll work quickly to set up the facilities for these projects.” She pulled the top one off the stack and glanced at the one underneath. “If I was to be fair, I would offer some of these projects to Ravimoux, but Ravimoux still hasn’t managed to establish a black market in the Aethereal Duchy.” Lucy looked up and glanced at him. “It would certainly speed things along if Regulus Ravimoux gained access to here.”
The incognito Demon Emperor, who had closed his eyes, opened them and furrowed his brow. He sat up and held his chin. “It would be an advantage to me if the Ravimoux County established a black market here...” He grabbed a page and scrawled down a note, before handing it to her. “Here, official permission for Count Ravimoux to establish a black market here.”
She eyed the note with curiosity. “But... why?”
“Olden and Radical have been digging around, looking for a weakness. It’s better to give them a decoy before they purposely plant evidence to give me a false weakness,” he explained. “Having a black market pop up in my formerly ‘pristine’ Duchy is a detail they’d jump at to use at a later date.”
“They’re bound to suspect you’re using it to distract them,” Lucy mused, putting the note away.
“We’ll both know that it’s a decoy, but they’ll have no choice but to keep track of it,” the Archduke murmured, closing his eyes again. “And they’ll refrain from doing anything about it because they’ll want to use it for a crucial moment when it matters most...”
“Cunning. Please notify me when Olden or Radical will be attacking the black market of Ravimoux though,” she remarked. Lucy didn’t hear a response so she assumed he was ignoring her, and just continued sorting the proposals into piles. She paused when one document had an uncommon seal on it. “Your Grace, I believe Count Bentsen made a mistake. This is indeed a proposal for the Commission, but it involves a tri-way deal with a house of lesser royalty, so it’s not something I can involve myself with in yet.”
There was no response, so she glanced at the other end of the couch. “Your Excellency?”
Lucy froze up when she realised that the Archduke had his eyes closed, and the only sign he was alive was the slow moving of his chest as he breathed. Her expression twitched. “Your Grace?”
With silence being her only answer, she stood up and walked towards him, grabbing one of his private documents next to him. He didn’t move, even when she snapped her fingers.
The Archduke and individual responsible for governing the lives of close to a billion members of his Duchy, had fallen asleep with her right next to him, leaving the rest of the work to her alone.
That’s it. I am done. I am going to retaliate, and I swear if he complains to me about this that he’ll never see me again-
Lucille quickly looked around and noticed his stationary. A plan began brewing in her mind as she glanced at the sleeping disguised demon. If she was going to get away with her revenge, she needed to do something to balance the frustration-to-mildly-bemused ratio so that he’d have no justification to punish her.
He should thank me considering I’m going to be doing all his work. I doubt there are any nobles as nice as me in the Empire.
...
There was a knock on the study doors. “Your Grace?”
“You can come in, Count Bentsen,” Lucy called out.
The brown-haired Count opened the door and stopped when he saw her sitting relaxedly in the Archduke’s armchair, smiling from ear to ear with the scarlet pen she had ‘borrowed’ from him two months prior in her hand. “Is something the matter?”
“I- wha- Count Goldcroft, what is the meaning of this?!” he asked, stunned.
She shrugged. “He fell asleep, so I kindly took it upon myself to continue his work for him.” Lucille smiled brightly. “He would’ve made me do his work if he was awake.”
“But... this... this isn’t appropriate,” the Count repeated, dumbfounded. “A Count doing His Grace’s work... not even one of his vassals...”
“I am not suicidal enough to fraudulently apply the seal of the Archduke on anything,” she replied blandly. “I only used the copier item he has here and wrote my proposed answers on the duplicates, to be used if he finds them appropriate.” She gestured to the sleeping white-haired man. “If you wish me to stop, feel free to wake up the sleeping ‘demon’ yourself.”
Lucy definitely did not take enjoyment out of the joke she made.
Count Bentsen grimaced and dipped his head to her. “I’ll accept. Just... don’t use the seal for anything... it’s made to kill anyone who touches it who’s not me or His Grace...”
...
A humanoid snake was whistling as he walked through the streets. He had given up after meeting the first cultivator he came across and decided he’d just fudge his way through explaining how much ‘work’ he did to his bond. Lucy was bound to immediately know he hadn’t done anything, but that was a problem for future Scytale.
Present Scytale was enjoying himself to his hearts content, being away from his bond-
“Honourable sir, would you spare me some change to buy a piece of bread?”
Scytale hesitated when he heard an old voice calling out to him. He turned to see a man wearing fraying brown robes with weathered, sunspot-covered skin across his nose bridge beneath his narrow eyes. The man’s skin looked paper-thin with age and the bushy hair on his head and beard was scraggly and haphazard. A long scar stretched from above his right eyebrow across his nose.
“Uh... I’m broke,” Scytale replied awkwardly.
“Surely a serpentine beast as powerful as yourself has something to spare a poor mortal,” the man said, bowing deeply.
“Nope, I’m really broke. My bond has all our money on her and-” Scytale squinted at him. “Hey, how did you know I was a serpent beast? Only other magical beasts should be able to sense that right away.”
“A minor talent gained through my lifetime,” the man replied respectfully.
“Huh.” Scytale looked at himself, turned his pockets inside out and shrugged. “Nope, I’ve really got nothing right now. Nothing but- oh, wait.” At the bottom of his shirt pocket he took out a small ruby and put it in the man’s hands. “My bond was messing around with spells and I grabbed one without thinking.” He gave the man a thumbs up. “Turn it in for money or something. Lucy can buy a bunch more so it doesn’t matter if I miss this bit.”
The old man fell silent for a minute, and just as Scytale was about to wave a hand in front of him to test if he was still aware, the beard man threw back his head and laughed. “Honoured sir, the carefreeness in how you act with others is a trait I am most jealous of! I only wish to live a life as calm as yours!”
“Uh, my life hasn’t been all that calm, what with all the eldritch abominations and stuff-”
“Honoured sir, let me grant you a small gift for this interaction I have been most delighted to have.” The old man grasped Scytale’s hands in his own and smiled gently. “Please, hear the words of this old man and let me divine a small element of your future I see. It is most entertaining I wish to share it with someone.”
“...sure, I guess?” Scytale replied. “What’s going to happen?”
The old man smiled wider, the glowing characters of a spiritual divination art being cast on Scytale’s hand. “I see a powerful winged beast wearing armour of the ancient most behemoths. Heralded as the empyrean sky beast, you will surely outshine any and all beasts below the dragons.”
Scytale cocked an eyebrow. “I already knew I’d get that strong though.”
The old man calmly shook his head. “There is still more. Mine energies perceive... a young man, barely more than a child. A child of mine own realm, born from the weakest city in the weakest realm. And...” He closed his eyes and hummed. “This boy has... a unique destiny. The one born with the destiny of the Strange Star, an unpredictable celestial body that obeys the forces of chaos. The boy with the name of the sword.”
“...are you saying his name means the sharpness of a sword? Like, ‘Feng’? Do you realise how little that narrows it down?” Scytale sighed and ran a hand down his face. “Every man and his dog is called Feng in the Heavenly Realm! If a parent has even the slightest wish for their son to become a warrior they’ll just go ahead and choose to name them the most common name in the-”
He hesitated when he realised the old man was gone. Scytale rolled his eyes and walked off. “Stupid cultivators and their smooth exits.”
He walked for a while until he met his bond on the sidewalk. Lucy dragged him in the direction of the teleportation array. “Hey, what’s the rush?”
“We might be dead in half an hour so I want to leave the Aeternus plane within the next five minutes,” she replied in an upbeat voice. “If we die, just know that you have never lost the position of most infuriating acquaintance in my heart for as long as I have lived.”
“Yeah, thanks,” he grumbled. She shoved him onto the array and they waited patiently as the violet energies began to fill their vision. “What did you do now?”
“Stole all his pens,” she replied calmly. “That’s most of what happened.”
Scytale stared at her. “What else did you do?”
Lucy stared at him and smiled brightly. Scytale knew she wasn’t going to tell him anything.
“And how about you,” she continued conversationally. “Did you find any leads?”
“Nah. Only this weirdo old man who told me my ‘future’ after I gave him a pity gem,” Scytale said with nonchalance.
Lucille paused. “...did this man happen to have a long scar on his face that stretched from his right eye to his nose?”
Scytale stared at her. “How did you know?”
His bond gained a look of horror. “I cannot believe you just met with the Old Man Hao. You do realise that every person he’s involved himself with has ended up creating chaos in the Heavenly Realm?”
He smirked. “Not a problem. He just told me I’d get overpowered and meet this other random guy from the Heavenly Realm.”
Lucille put a hand on her forehead. “Great, one of the most powerful cultivators in the Heavenly Realm has divined that my bond of all people is going to wreck so much havoc even he thinks it worth it to tell him...”
----------------------------------------
A white-haired man with neon blue eyes was staring at his desk while standing behind it. He looked around the room to find the work he left before falling asleep, but it was gone.
The Archduke’s aide walked in and paused. “Ah, Your Grace. If you’re looking for Count Goldcroft, she left. She completed all your work for you. I, uh... permitted it,” he replied sheepishly.
The Archduke frowned. “Goldcroft isn’t one to do that for no reason. She wasn’t being ‘nice’.”
“Well...” Count Bentsen looked around. “Whatever she’s done can’t have been too destructive, or else we would’ve noticed it...”
The Archduke noticed something and frowned harder. He picked up the stationary container. “My pens. Where are they?”
They stared at each other. The Archduke narrowed his eyes. “She stole my pens.”
“...at least your inkwells are all intact!” the Count said, forcing a laugh into his voice. His voice died off. “...but there weren’t that many inkwells when she was working in here.”
Something made the Archduke decided to pick up an inkwell and completely tip it upside down. It didn’t have a stopper yet nothing except a single, small drop of black ink splattered onto the desk and spattered his jacket. He looked across the room and saw the high cupboard where he had kept all his inkwells was open and empty.
“If the inkwells... are empty and here...” Count Bentsen hesitated. “Then... where did the ink go?”
The Archduke looked down at his desk of drawers and stared. He opened the first drawer. Then he opened the next drawer. He got down on one knee and quickly opened the rest of them. He lowered his head to check underneath the desk and was blank-faced when he saw the black ink seeping through the desk and down the sides, onto the carpet.
Count Bentsen slowly approached and kneeled down next to him and could finally see the result of Lucille’s handiwork – Every. Single. Drawer.. was filled to the brim with ink.
“...I’ll call for a servant to clean this up.” Count Bentsen carefully retreated, leaving the Archduke alone.
After a solid fifteen minutes of staring, the incognito Demon Emperor slowly stood up and raised his eyes to the ceiling.
[So... you still sure you can’t be bothered to kill her?]
An uncharacteristic, twisted smirk spread across his face, but his blue eyes glittered with wrath.
“If she doesn’t fear my anger, then I’ll throw her to the wolves at the Banquet. Goldcroft should hope she’s smart enough to work her way out of a scandal.”
He roughly swept all the inkwells onto the floor next to his desk where they shattered, and marched out of his study.