Chapter 18
god emperor T.
location: Edie family mansion, Enlan, Britannia
Day: 25th Jan 5027
Darrah looks in the small mirror of her makeup toolbox and adjusts her makeup one last time.
she has already done so multiple times but one last time wouldn't hurt right, right?
She has to look absolutely perfect today, after all, today she is attending one of the most important social events for high society.
on the surface, it's just the birthday party of Edie Poet.
the heir to the Edie family and only son of Edie Patton, the seventh wealthiest man in the world, but the affairs of the rich and powerful are never that simple.
in truth, the party serves to establish connections and alliances among the rich and powerful and a meeting place for the elites to coordinate and plan their moves.
As the heir of the Evans family, Darrah has two goals she needs to achieve today.
the first is to establish connections and business deals with other families that would help her raise her family's status back up, as it has been declining recently after her father made several wrong deals and failed investments.
the second is to find out what the heads of the top thirteen families are planning. Darrah's father has noticed that they have been acting suspiciously lately and he suspects they are planning a big move with the spike in renting prices.
- my lady we have arrived -
the driver informs Darrah. before, getting out of the car and opening the door for her to come out. Darrah gets out of the car and smiles at the six foot blue wolf that is her driver and bodyguard.
-thank you, Derek -
Darrah starts walking toward the gate of the mansion with Derek following behind her while the car drives to the parking area.
in the current era of self driving cars, there is no need to hire a driver. however, having one is a sign of wealth, as it's a tradition that the elites kept for generations.
Darrah makes her way to the mansion, she observes the massive mansion in front of her. even by the standards of the elites of society, it's an impressive piece of architecture.
the building itself is like a grand palace rather than a mansion that spans multiple city blocks in width.
the mansion is built in a gothic Victorian era style with multiple high towers and decorated with gargoyle statues.
An even larger garden surrounds the mansion; in the middle of the garden and in front of the mansion gate, sits a beautiful fountain made of marble.
in the middle of the fountain resides a statue of an angelic child with six wigs on his back, two on his head, and two more on his waist.
simple white cloth wrapped around his angelic body.
the child lifts one hand reaching for the heavens looking sorrowful.
a small trail of water comes out from the child's eyes and flows down his cheeks like tears and into the fountain basin below.
the small child cries eternally wishing and longing for the heavens.
- what a depressing fountain - comments Darrah looking noticeably less excited
- they said Sir Edie Patton had a unique taste, now I can see what they meant –
Derek adds as he escorts his lady to the mansion
Darrah enters the mansion with Derek and immediately gets hugged by another girl
- Darrah you are late - the young dark elf smiles as she crushes Darrah with her hug
- I m, missed you t,too -
Darrah groans while trying to talk but is unable to draw any air into her lungs from the crushing hug.
- lady Sarah, I would recommend you loosen your grip if you don't wish to miss Lady Darrah forever –
the blue wolf chuckles quietly as he watches the two friends
-oops - Sarah lets go of her childhood friend and backs away
- my bad I got a little too excited -
having obtained her sweet sweet freedom Darrah takes in a breath of air and then looks at her guard Derek
- what kind of bodyguard are you? shouldn't you protect me from assaults like this -
- I am shameless I have no excuses my lady -
Derek smiles while watching the two girls banter with a warm gaze.
' ahhh how nostalgic I am glad these two haven't changed '
Derek starts to recall the first day he met Darrah he was the son of the head butler for the Evans family.
all the servants of the Evans family lived in a building at the edge of the garden of the Evans family mansion, this way they were always close to the mansion.
Derek lived in one of the apartments of the servants building with his father and mother. it was a decent three bedroom apartment, and the Evans paid his father pretty well.
Despite that, Derek couldn't help but feel slight inferiority towards the Evans, and that inferiority was slowly turning into resentment but fate had other plans in mind for him.
one day, while he was in the garden, he saw two girls; one human and one dark elf, Derek recognized the human girl as Darrah Evans but he didn't recognize the dark elf girl, it seemed like the two girls were playing catch
'Who are you? '
the dark elf girl stopped and looked at him tilting her head
' Your ears are too big '
Darrah stops as well and looks at the wolf boy then thinks for a moment
' Ah I got it, you must be the son of Uncle Truman wanna play with us? '
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
the young dark elf girl doesn't wait for him to answer and grabs Derek's hands then drags him along while shouting loudly
' NEW FRIEND '
'W, WAIT '
Derek tries to resist but the dark elf girl he will later know is called Sarah doesn't relent as she drags the wolf boy along
it was thanks to these two girls that Derek's resentment and sense of inferiority disappeared.
- hey did you hear? there's a rumor that says that Agent 00 will attend the birthday party -
Sarah's words pull Derek out of his memories and back to reality
- for real ?? - questions Darrah with a look of shock and excitement
when the world was united, the concept of foreign enemies slowly disappeared, with the exception of the kingdom of Kim Sungtae. That led to the disappearance of the need for secrecy about the identity of agents.
furthermore, since their main work now revolves around subjugating powerful monsters and hunting down criminal organizations, government agents became like local heroes and more powerful agents like members of the strike force became international celebrities.
some of them even work as actors in their free time or have their own aethernet channels and sites with dedicated fan bases
- why would Agent 00 attend a birthday party? he is not known to be interested in the social world - Derek asks
Darrah recalls what her father told her about the nobles and starts to wonder if the suspicious movements of the other families are related to the government in some way.
- I think he might come and if he does, we have to find out why -
Darrah whispers the last part in a very low voice so that no one can hear her besides Derek who is both close enough and has very sensitive ears from being a wolf.
**************************************************
location: warehouse of Gangcheori, Seoul, Koya
Day 25th of Jan 5027
~ Gangcheori really lives up to its name this is an amazing car ~
Ken comments as he checks the features of the car.
as he does, he sneakily connects the car to his watch allowing Rin to hack it and connect it to the aethernet channel that's centered around his brain; giving Ken and the others the ability to control the car via their watches, and protecting the car system from other techno mages.
Daxia and Saiko load the food and water into the trunk of the car.
the manager smiles benignly at the trio.
-of course, it's the best car we have in addition to the normal mode and off road mode, it also has a boat mode, submarine mode, and even an underground drill mode. it's the only method of transportation you will need. -
~tsk, it can't fly though that's unfortunate ~
the manager has one of the veins on his forehead bulge out at Ken's annoying nitpicking.
he can't help but feel like he is getting roped
'But it doesn't matter I will be the one to win in the end '
he ignores Ken and continues
-the car is made from chromium, cobalt, and nickel alloy making it extremely tough and can survive most explosions and projectiles -
an invisible Noai floats next to Saiko while watching the manager and comments
- he is a very good actor -
Saiko takes note of Noai's comment but doesn't react to it.
Ken gets out of the car and then smiles at the manager.
~now it's time for us to pick a treasure ~
the manager maintains his benign smile and leads his trio of customers.
- this way -
the trio is led out of the machinery section of the warehouse and towards the artifact section.
numerous paintings, weapons, and other historical artifacts surround the trio each placed in its own display case and held up on a pedestal.
Saiko glances toward a painting that catches her attention.
_Who is that? _
the painting is of a large man with orange skin, wearing golden bulky armor and a golden laurel crown.
one of his hands had a massive claw, while in the other hand, he held a large fiery sword.
the sword guard resembled a bird perhaps a phoenix except it was blue.
the large man stood firmly full of the dignity of a warrior with the sun glowing behind him bathing him in her glory.
~oh! That's god emperor Trump ~
Ken responds with a smile.
~ he was worshipped before the cataclysm and for some time after it. artifacts depicting him are rare but there are many records either about him or referencing him so many believe he was a real person~
the manager smiles
- you have a very good eye miss. there are only 3 copies of this painting in the world and this happens to be one of them -
Saiko shakes her head.
_ I was just curious but I am not interested in the painting we are on the run right now, and it would be a hindrance to have something that big_
Ken then notices a weird transparent orb that floats in its display case.
~ that one looks interesting. what is it ?~
the manager looks at the orb.
-to be completely honest I have no idea either. One of our men found it inside the corpse of a deformed and mummified animal. we have no idea what it is nor what the animal was from how damaged its body was. -
Naoi moves closer to the orb and examines it.
- it's called a yeowoo guseul or fox bead, it has many uses but it’s rarely used for good -
Ken and Saiko listen to the invisible Naoi.
- you should get the fox bead although most people can't use it it's better to make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands -
at the same time, Daxia notices something dart away at the edge of her sight.
she follows it and sees it’s a goblin like being.
It had red Skin, sharp teeth with long fangs, and two short horns on its head.
The little goblin continues to walk leading Daxia to a mask.
the goblin like being is invisible to normal people but she can see it thanks to her eyes.
- what's this mask? -
the manager watches her with intrigue but then returns to his benign smile.
-that's a dokkaebi mask, they say a dokkaebi possesses it which is ironic since the mask itself was made to look like the face of a dokkaebi-
- what's a dokkaebi ?-
the manager smiles wider.
- it's a local spirit. you can think of it as a mix of a Ghost a goblin and a demon, it's not evil just mischievous-
Daxia observes the creature in front of her
' so that's a dokkaebi, he looks oddly cute '
she chuckles to herself quietly and assumes the creature wants her to take him with her since he led her to the mask.
'well the mask fits my style too '
the mask covered mainly the lower half of the face from the nose down.
it looked like the nose and mouth of a dokkaebi with sharp teeth and long fangs, and from the edge of the cheeks, the mask extended upwards to cover the edges of the face before ending in two small horns.
Daxia takes the mask from its display case and puts it on.
immediately upon putting on the mask, she feels a surge of energy flood her body leading her body to vibrate as a connection between her and the dokkaebi is formed.
Ken notices and frowns.
~hey don't go acting on your own. we had already picked something ~
Daxia chuckles a bit.
-I am sorry, I got carried away but I think I am now linked to the mask so -
~you are shameless how~
Ken is about to get angry but gets interrupted by Saiko who places a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.
_ It's all right I can write more spells to pay for the two of them the mask and the bead _
she then looks at the manager to confirm if it's fine with him.
the manager nods with a smile.
- of course, I would be happy with that -
Ken sighs and then takes the fox bead out of its display case and places it in his pocket.
~well, I guess it's our turn to fulfill our part of the deal please bring a traditional grimoire and mythical ink ~
the manager nods once again maintaining his benign smile all the time.
- of course -
he sends one of his employees to bring the grimoire and ink, and the employee returns with the items after a few minutes.
_ my turn _
Saiko takes the items and begins to inscribe her spells.
the manager observes Saiko carefully trying to get as much information about her magic as he can. however, he is completely surprised by her magic which is unlike anything he has ever seen.
if one were to describe normal spells it would be like a series of equations and calculations to guide the energies in the aether field to obtain the desired outcome.
if likened to a computer the caster would be a technician, the spell would be the circuit boards and energy would be the electricity flowing through the circuit board, and finally, the world itself would be the image projected by the computer screen.
on the other hand, the spells Saiko is inscribing have little to no circuit boards instead it looks like a conversation, and that conversation is in a language he doesn't understand.
in this case, rather than a technician, she is a programmer who understands the coding language of the universe itself and is communicating with it.
after a few moments, Saiko finishes inscribing the spells and offers the grimoire to the manager.
_ here you go? _
the manager takes the grimoire with a smile but his facial expression changes to one of cruelty.
- thank you but I am afraid none of you will leave this place -
hundreds of employees flood the warehouse and surround the trio.
- not with the artifacts you took, if you hand over the artifacts, I may let you go peacefully if you resist I will -
Ken raises his hand up to interrupt the manager.
~ mate spare us the speech~
the manager looks at Ken perplexed.
-what? -
~do you think this is our first time or something we all knew you would try to attack us and take the artifacts back once we give you the spells. why do you think I made us pick the artifacts first? ~
Ken takes out the demon skull and forms the demon sword.
the manager looks more surprised
-but-
~ we are on a tight schedule here let's not waste time unnecessarily the government robot search will reach Seoul in another 45 minutes ~
Saiko looks at the manager apologetically.
_ If it makes you feel better, I didn't know until I was alerted by a friend _
the manager gets more confused at the declaration that a friend alerted her when there is no one else around.
' Did one of the employees betray me and tell them she doesn't seem to be lying '
-pffft -
Daxia laughs at the confused manager and prepares herself for battle as well eager to try on her new mask.