Fanwork#3674 Words. Gird for Battle Reaction.
I've been girding for a while, but the battle's not here yet. The one in game, that is. The thread exists in a constant state of war, and one cannot truly prepare for it without stockpiling reserves or engaging in economic witchcraft.
Fortunately, all this extra time means we can gird pretty well! Drown the Lord Protector in Arete!
Hunger mulled over his options. Ultimately it seemed likely that the Royalist faction would be far more permissive in their attitude towards the fate of the Tower. They were in dire straits, while the Protector was essentially secure in his power. There were abilities Hunger could offer the man, meritorious service or the use of potent magics, but he had no way to knowing whether such services would - or even could - outweigh the Tower's value in the Protector's eyes. Profit decoupled from risk at certain levels of attainment; for an autocrat with effectively absolute control, simply minimizing disruption could matter far more than expanding the scope of his conquests.
The Royalists, on the other hand, would be desperate for victory from any quarter; thus willing to pay a desperate price. Assuming they had forces sufficient to be worth allying with, they were probably the better option of the two, and certainly the more ethically palatable.
Peeking inside Hunger's head, he believes that the Royalists are his best shot at smashing the Tower, rather than merely the least unpleasant path. He's correct that they need the help more, so if the Tower is actually important to anyone (which we now know OoC it is, since it's the font of Myth), they'd be easier to convince to give it up. Whereas the Protector doesn't need to make deals with shady mercenaries, and if he's as canny as he seems, it's plausible that he wouldn't. I can see where Hunger's coming from, here, but I don't think I'd come to the same conclusion in his shoes. The Royalists simply don't have the apparent oomph to make aggroing the Protector worth it, absent moral considerations. If they had the strength, they wouldn't be so desperate- an oversimplification, but the Protector's overwhelming position makes me think it isn't much of one.
But sic semper tyrannis, however Hunger came to his decision is fine with me.
"Well," Hunger said. "Since we ourselves are royalty now, it would only serve our purposes to defend the rights and privileges of our fellow monarchs. How easily power corrupts."
"Power is merely utility!" Gisena replied. "You'd only have been corrupted if you turned into a tyrant."
"Aren't I already one?" He raised an eyebrow.
"If that's your intention, you're doing a poor job of it!" she teased.
Whatever title you style yourself with (practitioners name as they will!), you've swooped into the Elixir, won an overwhelming military victory, and ousted the old government. You've got more in common with the Lord Protector than the royalty from that perspective. Rather than royal privilege, you should be focusing on the new being better than the old. If you were actually a tyrant, that is, which according to Gisena you've been failing at.
In the Realm of Myth, though, there's special meaning to being Royalty- as the Tears show, so names are actually pretty important. The story is what matters, after all.
"Pffh," Aobaru protested. "Of course she'd say that, you've surrounded yourself with yes-men and women! A King, a Princess, a Duchess, a mercenary and a squire. Who could oppose you in the strength of your own court?"
This is also true! I mean, Hunger is so tsundere about grabbing authority that we don't have to worry too much about actual civilization-scale tyranny until we're forced into actually accomplishing our Geas, but Hunger beats up his poor minions whenever they defy him and call him the Reckoner. At least Gisena knows how to navigate the Doom, but she's in this for pretty jewelry so she'll only call out egregious uses of power.
Aobaru continues to call himself a squire, even though it was the "mercenary" we just dropped 7 Arete of training on. Amusing, but I'm starting to worry about that boy...
"Maybe so," Hunger said. "Or perhaps I am merely a small fish in an even smaller pond. Nothing more than a frog in a well. For what is the trifling might of my Kingdom compared to the majesty of peerless Nilfel?"
Letrizia snickered. "These people do seem a bit full of themselves! Even compared to imperial nobility, they've had it easy. It must be nice to live in a land totally saturated by magic..."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Gisena said, frowning. "The magic of myth promises glory, but danger also. It simply doesn't offer power without commensurate cost."
"Smaller" is correcting for the relative size of average fish and ponds, but I prefer the implication that the fish is bigger than the pond. Hunger could theoretically solo the rest of his kingdom, so the metaphor would still hold! Except the fish would drown, let's hope that doesn't happen.
As arrogant as Nilfel is, it really is mightier than the Elixir. And it has to deal with having the Lord Protector, eeww. But there's no need to be snooty about it, so I should join with Letrizia in making fun of them. Nyehhhh.
They set out in search of the Royalist inner circle, Hunger allowing his Rank to guide him in the absence of any solid leads. Despite the numerous and powerful magics in their arsenal, they lacked an easy means of information-gathering besides the roundabut method of Gisena's Artifice. He'd prioritized raw power and comprehensive defense over more utility-focused magics, which had served him well in battle but caused them to somewhat flounder here.
Hey, brutishly wandering around until Rank coughs up an answer has worked so far! As long as you ignore the horrible scarring. And all the Arete we spend to make it work. Hm, you know, I think we should maybe grab some information-gathering magic soon. Just a random thought I came up with entirely on my own.
There's always the Time domain, but those prophecies are blurry and Gisena has so much to do already. And while blurry is better than nothing, we already have that with Rank. Simple visual scrying would be a good investment if it's available, so we can get general ideas. And the Truth ring stuff to answer yes/no questions when we have strong suspicions about things?
For this specific situation, danger sense from Time would have been a godsend, so maybe I should go with "more is better" and grab every magical system that isn't nailed down. Yeah, I like that idea.
Shadowcord isn't unrelated to information gathering, so I'm trying to imagine a way to invert it? Nah, doesn't work. We could possibly make divination spells more stealthy by combining our powers with her, though!
Eventually he found himself back in front of the stall where they'd eaten. Midday cast gleaming sunlight down across the white stone of the city, a haloed iridescence rising off the Miren expanse. But a breeze of the east wind was equal to that challenge, carrying heat away before the glow of the sun became a glower.
Here's the best reason to get divination magic. After flailing around, we ended up right back where we started, and the street vendor was the lead all along. It's too silly, but that's what happens when you screw with destiny in the Realm of Myth. Conservation of detail!
And, come to think of it, the most suitable information-gathering magic for Hunger would be kinda like astrology. That way, he could join me in desperate analyses of "what does the sky mean?" The sun is shining! Gleaming, rather. Triumphantly? Halo? Iridescent? Get these advancement words out of my sky. Miren is surrounded by a colorful halo, which I suppose is symbolic of either the Lord Protector or the somebody else? Since the sun is about to become threatening, it's probably LP, but it doesn't exactly fit because he's already up to no good. The easterly breeze is, which direction did we come from? Not that "east" is consistent in the Voyaging Realm, so who knows if we're windy. The breeze could also be the Lord Protector, since his patron is smoke-themed which is similar-ish.
Alternatively, it's Hunger who is the sun, since it's getting all the advancement names and also Edeldross. We should worry... hm. We should actually not worry about the breeze, it isn't threatening the sun, it's just stopping it from harming anyone. Iridescence, Triumphal Gleam, and Vanquisher Halo all increase Charisma, and Sky Veil allows for control over it, as represented by the breeze. Damn. If all the celestial happenings I've been trying to divine are just what upgrades we've picked recently, I'm going to be put out. Let me go back to see if there's any merit to this.
[ ] Sky Veil [7 Arete] - Just as the sky emblazons one's majesty, so too can it do the inverse, serving as a curtain drawn against the solar blaze of superhuman will.
Yep, there it is. "Solar blaze," is what Hunger's immense charisma is referring to. And the breeze is the sky moving to gentle it. Which would make the "Sky Veil" an atmosphere, protecting against the harmful effects of the sun. I'm not sure if that was supposed to be obvious, but I didn't get it until just now. So, in this case, I'm fairly sure my sky reading is just Sky reading. But what about before? I recall a section when we were resting in the Kaguya devoted to the sky that stuck in my head a bit.
Dusk had come to the Sovereignty, the sky clearing slowly of its invader's cloud-carrying shroud. Wide fingers of sunlight dappled the mountains and springs, bathing reconstruction crews and emergency staff in their warm, fleeting glow.
Ah, that was when we grabbed Silver of Evening. That one was obviously related to the pick, though, and it was an EFB so I didn't think it odd. I need to find one that I was doing some real tea-leafing over.
So I ctrl+F'ed for "sky" and there were just as many instances of "risky" as "sky," that got a chuckle out of me. And I also stumbled on this line I'd forgotten: "
The night sky's incursion against sun and blue," was what the Evening Sky in the pirate's possession was described as. Interesting, because Hunger's Mantle seems not at all in opposition to daytime. It just... is. And with Sky Veil, the Evening Sky is closer to the Noontime Sky than it is to any non-Sky existence. With Tower, it'd just be a Sky. Continuing that thought, "Sun and blue" are an awful lot like the golden-blue runes on the Walls around here. For whatever that's worth.
Point is, I'll look more closely at the relationships between our Sky upgrades and the sky messages in the future.
The fish-vendor's stall now enjoyed bustling patronage, workers of all professions wrapped around the tiled sidewalk in patient anticipation of his marinade and dough. Yet the hawker waved Hunger over immediately when he saw him, pushing a tray of completed snacks into his hands.
Ignoring the envious glares of the customers, Hunger feigned aplomb as he took the food in hand. The vendor had greeted him convivially, and clasped his forearm to pull him close as if they were old war-buddies:
"I'd been looking for you. You're a mercenary, aren't you? You and your party. This trip isn't just for tourism."
Hunger played along, but kept his words noncommittal. "Anybody could be a 'mercenary' for the right job at the right price. It's not so much a calling as a vocation of circumstance."
Paranoia mode is still active: What could it mean that the fish stall is popular? Surely this is a setup, and Hunger getting to cut in line was intended to present a negative first impression to the Miren public. Alternatively, the food is good. There's some evidence for this in Letrizia's exclamations, but I'll keep my eyes peeled.
More seriously, if the Vendor (yes, he gets capitalization now) wanted to grab Hunger for a chat about rebellion, why did he wait until now to do so, rather than speaking earlier when there were less people around? Also, when he had the chance, since he wouldn't know we'd come back. I suspect the answer is Rank, but that's barely an explanation, Rank does everything. In this case, he might have only just
noticed our Rank when we were using it to search. I don't think Hunger was being loud about it, but who knows what these guys can do with Pressure. This theory is unfortunate, because if the Vendor noticed than the Protector can likely do something similar. And I'm again more suspicious of the Vendor.
Or he could have been eavesdropping, since he mentions our "tourism" excuse and we were chatting about that around here. But that's not even slightly magical, which is lame. :s But he's wrong, Hunger-style tourism absolutely includes overthrowing tyrants by default, just like he kills Prime Rotspawn on vacation. As if the king would be something so common as a mercenary! No, he's just a tourist you pay to kill things, much more respectable. But Hunger's last line is so coooool, I want to be him. You know, from a distance where I don't actually have to be maximum tryhard.
The man chuckled. "Well said. I'd expect little less from a hero whose Pressure weighs so heavily upon the world. I've a job, if you'd be willing to hear it. And the reward would be no less than a prince's ransom!"
Hunger raised an eyebrow. Keen senses, to detect the Pressure that Hunger usually kept carefully restrained. Though, his power had grown swiftly in recent weeks, perhaps beyond his ability to effortlessly control. "You need help serving your overburdened customer line?"
The vendor laughed again, waving him off. "Nah, let them wait. The anticipation is half the joy of eating! No, I confess to being a patriotic sort, and the state of Nilfellian commerce is so execrable these days. No concern for customer service, only the ceaseless churning-out of watered-down product, substitution of diligence for inspiration. That's why the genuine work is so hotly demanded! I'd like to reach the whole nation if I could. Feel free to eat, it's on the house. Think it over? I promise it'll be wholly worth your while."
Vendor is no less slick. Of course the reward for a princess's freedom would be equal to "a prince's ransom!" It couldn't be otherwise, by definition- well, unless you were sexist about it. It's not
super odd that Vendor can feel his pressure, though Hunger takes note that it's not normal either. But I think that it makes it more likely that he can tell the difference between
having and
using Pressure. I'm waving off Hunger's speculation that it's a lack of control on his part, surely he would have noticed before now, as he was concerned by his growing Charisma. Instead of practicing control, trying to drop Shadowcord over his pressure might be more fruitful to prevent Nilfel wizards from noticing his exertions.
If we weren't so horribly pressed for time, I'd be down for Hunger's Customer Service Sidequest. The Doom of the Tyrant would make it a short experience normally, but with his Charisma his utter lack of acknowledgement for roles should come off as charming. Earn that minimum wage! Or the prince's ransom, I guess, since you'd have to pay almost as much to get Hunger to be a waiter as you would to have him fight monsters. More, really.
The Vendor's euphemisms largely aren't, since the "diligence over inspiration" philosophical dispute appears central to the whole civil fracture. Blatantly so, with the temple's conversion to a factory. But, as I've asked before, does that really serve the Protector's purposes? To have "watered-down, not-genuine, uninspired" production, that is. Quantity over quality is totally valid, but Nilfel is rich as hell. The army, in particular, should already have both since they've been well-funded for a while. So what's the need for industrialized weapon production? To arm the people he's conquered, like some bloody pyramid scheme? Or maybe the Vendor is just biased, and the new products aren't worse as far as utility goes, merely much uglier. And with less customer service.
So now we have food again, which is the most important part of the update.
Briefly Hunger felt the counterweight of the vendor's own Pressure, a gesture of sincerity. Formidable, only two or three steps below his own. This was a soldier capable of singlehandedly felling cities, well comparable to the Nilfellian captains he'd witnessed on patrol at the Walls. Power tightly clasped, feigning weakness, but Hunger had no doubt this man's 'knee wound' only bothered him about as much as his own injured lung. It wasn't a meaningless wound, but no insult of such meagre severity could unmake a warrior of capacity such as this.
Convenient as it appeared to be, Hunger had no intention of falling into the clutches of Nilfellian secret police. Though his Rank rarely steered him wrong, it was prudent to be cautious when plotting against a nation populated by formidable magi. He ate carefully as he strolled around the city, tracking down the others before finally returning to the hawker's plaza.
"Steps." We heard Adorie was a half-step below Catherine, but that must be closer than I thought if 2-3 steps below Hunger (Rank 7.075 right now, if I recall correctly) is a city-killer. Or Rank 6 is enough to take on a city, for some reason (Unshattered?) I'd been putting that landmark at Rank 7. Regardless, this guy is swole. Which is even more suspicious! Especially because he can detect Rank, meaning people in Nilfel can detect Rank, meaning how has he managed to maintain secrecy? His arrow to the knee game would have to be incredible. Or he has stealth techniques for Rank that I'd envy.
I posit that Rank is steering Hunger wrong. The Protector has higher Rank, as do some of his minions, I'd bet. There are probably some interesting things you can do to the "currents" of Astral-ness to have them react in particular ways when outsiders try to disturb them. Meaning that one, we're screwed, and two, we need divination even more desperately. Maybe we can grab a friendly Astral summon with such a capability?
And, on further reading, the line about Hunger admitting to "plotting" against Nilfel sticks out. He has Guile-Defeating Stance, which must have some mechanism for detecting trickery so it can activate... wait, no, that's garbage, we wouldn't need the stance if it worked like that. But intention-detecting magic isn't out of the question, which would explain the ambush when I didn't think we'd given anything away. And magic is infused into everything here, so who knows what spells could be hidden. The secret police are not to be underestimated!
As they heartily consumed a second lunch, Hunger consulted Gisena on the matter.
"I don't think he works for the enemy," Gisena said thoughtfully, "And he doesn't have any unusual magics active. But it's best to be cautious nonetheless! Just because neither of us can sense any duplicity doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Let's consider the worst case. What if this is some form of trap, perhaps even an unwitting one?
--Vendor suspicion, I'm inclined to take the genius's word for it. And Hunger's, with Guile-Defeating Stance there's little duplicity that he can't sense. But I'm absolutely sure we were played by somebody here, so the vendor must have been as well. Because, as you know, I am from the future, and (spoiler alert) it was a trap. There's no party like a Hunger party, where every scenario is the worst-case!
Gisena doesn't sense any magic- I'm surprised. Not because the Vendor doesn't have magic, but because I didn't know Gisena could do that. Am I being forgetful? I think so, I vaguely recall her talking about the spells in the Temple antechamber. Huh. I'll write that down for the future. But for now, the key word is "active." Doesn't exclude my "everything is bugged" theory. The vendor was noted to be a master Rank-concealer, though, so I believe her assessment of his magic less than that of his intentions.
Do you have any wonderfully devastating powers you could pull out of a hat?"
"A few," Hunger admitted. He grew fastest when exposed to direct conflict, but there were powers he could tap into that were less affected by the Ring's out-of-battle dampening. The might of the Forebear was chained within his Blade, even its shallowest remnant sufficient to bring this world and all its denizens effortlessly to their knees. If he could somehow tap the true harmonics of that essence, rather than just skimming its cloud-shadow...
But that was something to be reserved for utmost emergencies. It was no trivial thing to assume a fraction, even a sliver, of the Forebear's mantle.
"A few," he repeated firmly, "But it is as you said. The magic of myth does not offer power without commensurate cost."
"Yo, Hunger, what's your Arete stockpile looking like?" "Pretty good, Aabchemu splurged for a multiplier."
Gisena knows us so well! Or maybe she's just desperately hoping that we aren't reckless enough to charge at the Tower without a bac- wait, no, this whole operation was her idea. Dammit Gisena, why do you have to be just as crazy as Hunger is? None of the sane party members have enough +Cha to oppose both of you.
So that's how having Arete translates in-character, huh. Having voted for maximum recklessness as Hunger's characterization, it's good to know that he's always had a backup plan (even one as barebones as "Arete Through") this whole time! The same one as the thread, which is cool.
Hunger could be talking only about the Arete we're spending on the advancements when he mentions cost- but honestly, some Forebear mental contamination might be helpful at this point, to keep us alive. /jk. Yeah, the only cost should be the immense effort he has to put forth to draw it out. There might be some exhaustion-like penalty for spending way too much Arete in a period of a few hours, when we attune the Tears and eat the Tower and pull out a Blade EFB? That would suck, so hope not. And we should pay the cost, because our current situation surely qualifies as an emergency. Perhaps not utmost. Certainly not Uttermost. But at least utmore. And far beyond Ut.
The silver lining of that cloud is that our desperation makes the Ring happy, so we should be getting some picks soon.
After the danger, but since the danger is neverending after is also before! Progression OP.
So is the Forebear- Hunger's perspective on the powers locked in the Blade is different from mine. They're obviously present, but I hadn't considered them closer to hand than any other advancement (because OoC, they aren't). But to Hunger, all that power is already there, just waiting for him to yank it out. It must be a comfort, he has few enough of those.
Gisena tapped her chin. "In that case, I think it's our best lead! We didn't really have a plan besides relying on your Pressure and this is what it gave us. If it's not enough, we'll just have to pull out all the stops! Maybe I can awaken to some secret powers as well?"
"What a terrible plan," Hunger shook his head. "If only we had some kind of genius around to ensure our plans were good!"
"A genius is still limited by the nature of her implements! I'm sure I could build you a Royalist Lens if we had half a week to spare..."
"And take away my scouter?" He clutched the Decimation Lens protectively. "I know your Truth-scanning has only limited bandwidth. Mitigating the Decimator is a highly productive function."
"In that case," Gisena said cheerfully, "I suppose we're relying on a food-stall vendor to connect us to the forces of the Princess!"
"I suppose we are." Hunger squared his shoulders and returned to the hawker.
Come on, Gisena! When we call you a genius, that means you're supposed to be a deus ex machina to solve all of our problems! Now you say it doesn't work like that? What do we even pay you for- oh yeah, we don't. Well, fair enough.
The shame is real, though. It's embarrassing to not be in control of your own destiny, especially since Hunger didn't spend the Arete to make this happen. But don't dwell on it, especially because it's a good thing! And not a trap. (psst, it's a trap, everything is terrible). At least the Vendor is a cool character worth the word count. And Hunger likes Gisena's present, it's a good sign for their relationship. "Highly productive" is Hunger speak for "Thank you Gisena, you are the best."
We need divination, this shame must serve as a lesson. Might there be an All-Divining Stance? Save us, Forebear.
I wonder how much I should read into Gisena's teasing about her own secret powerups. Surely she's not close to a breakthrough so soon after the last one? And we can't buy RW unless she does that first. She did spend a week in Verschlengorge, so maybe she's whipped up something nice? And since we don't have any on-screen information on it, that leaves us free to retroactively spend Arete on it. Bleh, but also yay? Can never have enough of that stuff.
The man gave him a weathered smile. "So, what did your better half say?"
"We like your food and believe in your vision. Let's bring genuine inspiration back to this nation again. I suppose we'd be some flavor of public relations consultant?"
"You read my mind! Yes, that description fits perfectly."
Ha, "flavor." Get it, because he sells food. If you did, you're smarter than I am, because I only now realized the terrible, terrible joke. His compliment is good, on the other hand. It's so good that I'm going to steal it. Whenever someone does something nice for me, there can only be one response; "I like your food and believe in your vision." Bam, instant friendship.
These blatant euphemisms are entertaining. If the public doesn't like Adorie, we'll relate to them with our sword until they do. Hunger sure is good at his job, no matter what it is, as long as he can hit people. It's a skill with surprisingly broad application.
After he finished with the lunch rush, the vendor lead them through twisting corridors of older construction. They walked for nearly fifteen minutes - a fairly long distance given the superhuman capabilities of all involved - to reach a dilapidated wooden door overgrown by a trellis of vines.
Ah, yes. The fate of the nation is important, but you can't just skip out on the lunch rush. I suppose it'd be suspicious to do so, but I'm antsy and LP has us pegged anyway. But things must be done properly! Just like the secret hideout is appropriately sketchy, this is approved by the Myth Foundation. Maybe not so secret, though- isn't Nilfel having a bit of a space crisis? There shouldn't be too many abandoned buildings, if that's true. Hm.
Like with Gisena after the blood buffs came online, I struggle to visualize "superhuman walking." Accretion based Agi doesn't care about physics, so I shouldn't even bother trying to understand it. Hunger goes brrr.
Gisena blinked, eyes green. "Spatial magic, and powerful. Rather more formal and concrete than most of the energies here!"
The vendor nodded. "The Lord Protector thought he'd closed all of these passageways, but there's a few that only the tower staff and garrison knew about. This'll take you straight to the Princess and the Opalescent Tower itself. She can make our case better than I ever could. Go on, she knows to be expecting you."
Ohhh, wow. I feel more dumb for forgetting Gisena's magesight now, there was a whole envy joke and everything. And the Elixir analysis. Moving on. I'm not sure what the importance of the magic being "formal" (organized?) is. I didn't even know that was a thing you could see. More reason to grab Philosopher's Wreath, I want cool magic discussions.
There is zero chance that the Protector doesn't know about this, even without knowing it's a trap. For the Accursed's sake, Gisena was like "cool, space magic" in a single glance! And she's a genius, but she isn't the only one who could do that. To say nothing of how "the tower staff and garrison" is more than a few people, any of which could have slipped up. Or perhaps not, if there was some binding magic on them. Since the Vendor isn't dumb, that must be it.
How did the Princess know we'd be coming? Some magic of the Tower, of her own, or did the Vendor call her on his cell phone? It's more dramatic not to know. Gotta build hype for Adorie the Adorieble- as the Vendor says, the wait is part of the experience. Good to know that our prospective allies stick to their values.
Aobaru scoffed. "Why should a King wait on the whims of a princess? My teacher's way more important than this girl. Let her know we'll be through when we're well and ready!"
"A king?" The vendor blinked slowly. An amused smile crept up his face. "Traveling so far from his kingdom? Well, I suppose stranger things have happened. You will find a stalwart ally in Nilfel, your majesty, should you restore our princess to her rightful crown."
Yooooouuuuu idiot. Sometimes I wonder about that boy. I want to appreciate him sticking up for us, but simultaneously blowing our cover and insulting our hosts for no reason far overshadows that. The Princess of Nilfel is not just "some girl!" Even the Tyrant has more tact than that, when he cares to. And Hunger is only "more important" than her because of Progression, the Kingship has nothing to do- well, I was going to say that the Princess of a superpower is > a King of a backwater, but she's locked in a Tower so maybe not in this case. But still. Manners. Learning those is actually one of the duties of a squire... so when we bust out those lessons, Aobaru will have brought it on himself in more than one way. Lesson one: Don't be a dick.
Fortunately, this old man isn't so easily insulted, and this information might actually be better shared, if it improves our negotiating position. Or helps us relate, same thing. Was this planned ahead of time, and Aobaru wasn't being a shit? Nah, I doubt it.
"Is there something wrong with a King waiting on the whims of a Princess?" Gisena asked innocently, looking at Aobaru. "Shouldn't princesses exist to be spoiled and pampered by kings?"
"What you two get up to on your own time is your business," Aobaru said. "Don't involve me in that stuff!"
"We are supposed to be incognito," Hunger observed dryly. "Though I appreciate your enthusiasm in standing up for me, squire. And despite your total lack of operational awareness, you are correct. Kings exist to be figureheads to be spoiled by Princesses, especially Princesses Regent, who do all the paperwork for them."
"How repressive!" Gisena pouted. "You're doing a better job of being tyrannical already!'
He shrugged. "Practice makes perfect."
Quick, deploy all the banter to distract from how totally Aobaru screwed up! The bantest, even. No more than a mild scolding for now, but next training session is sure to be brutal- unfortunately, since we're going to have to up the intensity in response to his destiny, it's not really a punishment. But he's old enough to correct his behavior with an explanation, punishment is overrated anyway. Go easy on the poor idiot.
That'd be an interesting addition to the Banquet of Kings- to be a king is to spoil a princess. It's not the worst answer, even! I'd call out Aobaru for having a dirty mind, but no, it's clearly Gisena. I take back what I said about punishment, she needs paperwork dumped on her so she can cool off. If this is tyranny, so be it!
But seriously Aobaru, what the hell are you doing.
