Akahime nervously shuffled towards the conference room on the top floor of Redleaf castle. She tried to keep her hands from tidying her maid uniform, which was a full-body leather suit with a knee-long dress, and a corset on top. Unfortunately, she was losing that battle, with her nerves being simply too much to control. It wasn’t just the thought of being allowed to participate in a gathering of bright young minds that made her nervous, but also the thought of seeing Joshua again.
Although she’d been resurrected by the Phoenix System following her seventh death a month ago, her backup was from the prior year. After being told what she had done to Joshua and his companions, she was horrified with herself.
She would have liked to say that she had no idea where her negative behavior came from, but the truth was that she had more than an inkling. In the diary left behind by her past incarnation, she lined out how things had gone.
In a move that completely blindsided her, Akahime’s past incarnation had started investing in drugs, and lots of them. Essentially using her club as a central port for trafficking, things were going well enough until she decided to try those same drugs that she was selling.
The current Akahime could only sigh at her past self’s stupidity. There was an unwritten rule not to consume your own product, and she had ignored it in favor of short term pleasure.
Although she didn’t have the memories from that time, both Joshua and her father’s attitude towards her when she awoke from the Phoenix Chamber spoke volumes to how badly she messed up.
In fact, her very situation now was also a very big testament to it. Upon her father’s judgment, she was to be sent to the Metron Kingdom, not as an envoy, but to live as a maid for a year, and learn some humility.
The fact that Joshua wanted nothing to do with her, instead he had gifted her to the queen, which pained her heart, but how could she blame him? Although she wanted dearly to make it up to him, if he wasn’t ready to accept her apology, then there was no point in even trying.
She sighed and leaned against a copper-colored wall, sliding down to the floor where she was met with cold metal. “What do I even do to apologize?” She whispered, burying her face in her hands.
“Well, trying here at this meeting would be a start.” Akahime bolted upright, smacking her head against the metallic wall, an action that would have been much worse had the bun that her hair was tied in not cushioned most of the impact.
“Ow!” Rubbing the back of her head, Akahime looked up to see Lucina Metron, her once best friend looking down on her with pity in her eyes.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you like that.” Lucina sat beside her on the floor, where the two stayed in silence for a few moments.
Eventually, it was Lucina who spoke up. “I know we haven't really been keeping up too much these days, so how’ve you been doing?”
Akahime wanted to cry now that her friend had begun speaking to her again, but she fought back the tears and responded, “It actually hasn’t been as bad as I thought. I’m enjoying learning some things from a fresh perspective, it’s just the lack of people I can talk to that bothers me. I feel so lonely sometimes.”
Lucina gave her a sad look and pulled the former empress-to-be in a hug, shocking the Luong Empire royalty into silence. “Sorry I wasn’t there for you originally, it took a few weeks to let the feelings from our trip cool down. I’ve sorted myself out, and I’m ready to start treating you like my childhood friend again, if you’re also ready.”
This time, Akahime couldn’t keep her tears in check, and ended up burying her face in her hands to keep the tears from spilling onto her face. “Thank you… thank you so much.” She muttered, and smiled when she felt Lucina’s hand rub her back.
“Come on.” Without waiting for the girl’s tears to stop, Lucina helped her up and they resumed their walk into the conference room. “Tell the nanites to stop your tear ducts. We need to look confident heading in there, lest we be shown up by the other people present.”
Doing as she was told, Akahime’s eyes went from red and puffy to normal in a fraction of a second. “Why is that? Isn’t this just a meeting to discuss the future?”
“Kind of.” Lucina flashed her a mischievous smile. “However, it’s probably going to evolve into something more.”
When Akahime cocked her head in confusion, Lucina rubbed her back once more and smiled. “We’re probably going to have an allocation of duties. If you want to get back on his good side, you should do something for him, and do it well.”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
---
I sat down in my chair, and told Un, Three, and X to stay hidden from view. There were certainly people in the room who knew of the Judgment’s existence, but I still needed Raiden in the dark, even if he had sworn fealty to me under a nigh-unbreakable contract.
“Let’s get this meeting underway.” I looked around at the assembled members of my, ‘faction,’ and smiled at myself. I felt as though I had collected the best minds from the people I had met in this world thus far, save for Leray. However, the Felis and I would have a meeting afterwards, since publicly outing her as a powerful figure wouldn’t be smart.
Prince Raiden, Princess Lucina, and Princess Reya all settled into their seats, while Akahime bowed before taking hers. Both Lilian and Winter were standing behind me like bodyguards, so I had to shoo them away to take their proper places at the round table.
“What is that?” Winter pointed to a scorch mark on the floor, one left by Starlord Alexstasia Bloodcrown. Huh, so they haven’t fixed it yet.
“Just something that happened during the last time I was in a meeting here. Don’t worry about it too much.” All four of the royalty shared a look, while Winter seemed disinterested.
Only Lilian knew the truth, and he tried his best to hide a smile under his hands. “Well, let’s get this underway. The first thing I wanted to focus on is our immediate goal. Does anyone have an inkling of what it is?”
Raiden raised his hand, and I nodded to give him the go-ahead. “I’m guessing your primary goal is going to be overseeing the war game between ourselves, The Metronian Kingdom, and the Primal Kingdom.”
I nodded, causing Raiden to smile at his correct guess. “Absolutely. However, can anyone be a little more specific as to what I need?”
“Able bodies.” Reya replied immediately, and I nodded once more.
“Yep. Despite us having the advantage when it comes to the pure quality of a fighter, the Primal Kingdom will almost certainly overwhelm us with their numbers.”
“What are your plans to combat that problem then?” Winter asked, causing me to smirk.
“Well, I wouldn’t say it is just my problem. King Metron has agreed to my request to name some of you as my captains. He said that it would please him to see some of his children working together for the kingdom, instead of separately as they usually do.”
The three Metron siblings groaned, causing my grin to widen. “He also told me that you’ve all been trained by the same instructor in combat since a young age. The man you took me to see, right, Reya?”
She nodded, drumming her fingers on the desk in front of her. “I see. So you want us to be your captains, and subsequently find our own people to use as soldiers?”
“Exactly.” I replied, glad that at least one of the royalty was quick on the uptake. “In addition, I’d appreciate it if you could at least train them in the basics of combat, unless that is unnecessary.”
The three nodded, easily coming to terms with my demands. It was at this point that Akahime gingerly raised her hand, and asked, “What will my position be?” I tapped my foot in thought, an action which seemed to intimidate the former empress-to-be.
“You will be in charge of the vanguard.” She stared at me for a moment, before bowing deeply.
“By your will.” She said, a little too dramatically for my taste. I couldn’t understand the smile she wore, nor the appeased look she threw out to Lucina. I wonder if she realized that the vanguard were the most likely, if not the first to accrue casualties on any given battlefield?
Whatever. I’d have to check with Lucina later about what was up with her. For now, I just needed to get back on track and continue the plan. “Moving on to Winter and Lilian, both will be in a guard directly under my supervision. As you all should know from recent media exposure, Winter is a Strafe family member. She will gather the other living Strafes under me, and that will make up the backbone of my guard unit.”
A smile appeared on Winter’s beautiful face and she nodded eagerly. “Lilian, on the other hand, will go to the Primal Kingdom ahead of us, and start collecting information. He’ll use my funds to rent some property we can use ahead of the War game.”
Lilian nodded, and asked, “How early should I leave?”
“The sooner the better,” I responded, and continued, “If you don’t have any qualms, I’d like for you to leave tomorrow night.”
He shrugged. “Nothing is taking up my time. Not like I have a lover… or two… or three…” I shot him a glare as more than a few of the ladies in the room looked down nervously.
My eyes twitched as I mentally ordered, Book him a flight in two hours. “As you wish, Master.” X’s soft voice resounded in my ear and she set to work.
A moment later, she sent a notification to Lilian, whose eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “Fucker!” He hissed, and ran out of the conference room in a hurry.
The rest of those assembled looked at me, and I explained, “Lilian just found out that his flight was actually tonight, and he has a very limited time to get his things ready. I’ll fill him in on what happens later.”
“Is there really any need to continue the conference anymore?” Lucina asked, garnering a few murmurs of assent. Thinking about it, I could see how she would think so, especially if I wasn’t going to micromanage them.
“For now, just know what your roles are and what I expect you to get done in the next month.” I said. “As for Lucina…”
--
When the three hour total conference was done, and all the bases had been touched upon, the participants staggered out of the room. All of them, of course, save for Akahime, who somehow left with more energy than she entered with.
After the room was vacated, X, Un, and Three appeared around me, sitting in the chairs that had been occupied only moments earlier. They all looked at me in silence, until finally Un spoke up and asked, “So, what next, Paladin Cole?”
I smiled as I answered, “Kill time for a month. That’s what.”