Sitting inside the secret chamber of the Imperial Castle were five people. A large rectangular table was set in the center of the room, facing the door and behind it, massive curtains that hid something were barely opened. Four members from the Elder Clans were currently present. Saito Yoshitatsu who sat on the left side of the table, closest to the curtains, had her eyes closed in silent meditation. Sotomura Tomo, or better known as the Grand Sage looked to be quietly facing the empty seat across him, but everyone knew he was busily investigating blue prints he had stored in his head and thinking up new marvels for the world. He sat at the right hand of the table, closest to the door. Daisuke simply drank a cup of warm tea, facing his friend Yoshitatsu. Sitting at the end of the table with her back to the door, was Tatsumaki Suzuki, fanning herself.
Behind the veil was the emperor whose face was illegal to be seen by any. Any except his royal advisor, that is, Suzuki Tatsumaki, the official Shogun of the New Kyoto Empire.
“Where is he?”
Suzuki asked impatiently. The “he” she was referring to, was Taira Akihiko. The doors burst open the moment she asked the question, and walking through was a drunk Akihiko, with a woman in arms.
“I’m here, I’m here.”
He dizzily said, stumbling towards his seat. The other clan heads sighed, except for Sotomura who simply couldn’t care less and had calculated the chances of this happening.
Akihiko took his seat which was close to Suzuki. Suzuki covered up her nose, the stench of the alcohol was annoying her.
“Why would you bring a whore to this meeting, again?”
Suzuki asked angrily.
“Don’t worry, this one will not spill any information. The last one didn’t as well.”
One of the guards who had been hiding in the shadows came out, slit her throat, then dragged her back into the shadows, in an abnormally organic fashion.
“Oh… that’s why… hic.”
He said and fell face flat on the table. The shogun glared at him for a split second before changing her attention to the others.
“Now that all members are present, shall we begin?”
Suzuki asked. Seeing no objection coming about, she started to speak.
“It would seem that Kazoku have all been raised to an ample standard.”
She said emotionlessly.
“The Selection Ritual shall take place as is supposed to. I have contacted one of my trusted subordinates to take them through the process. Normally, he would have been here by now, but an incident came up in the Dhijan Hero Nation, so he will arrive later in the night.”
There was still no reaction from the others, who quietly listened to her.
“Are there any pressing issues any of you have to report?”
They all remained silent, meaning there was none.
“I see. In that case, let us bring forth our suggestions for the future of this Empire.”
This, was when the true natures of the heads would show themselves.
“My sector has seen a surprising rise in migration of women. I wish for more land to cater for these people and quite a few trainers to help in teaching them how to do intense labour and fight.”
Yoshitatsu said.
“More land? The Sotomura clan already sacrificed a third of their sector to you last five years. If you do not have space for more people, do not accept them.”
“You wish for me to callously abandon those people?
“They were never your responsibility to begin with. Do not add them to your plate, Yoshitatsu. Or previous events will reoccur and I am not in the mood to clean up your mess again.”
The air between the two women started to get intense, both silently glaring at each other.
“Please calm yourselves. We cannot act so foolishly in front of the emperor.”
Mori reminded them.
“I will be willing to take in more people. I have enough space for that. And my sector possesses a lot of handy people. We’d be willing to teach them and if you require their services, I will treat them as your people and not hold them to anything.”
“Mori-san, I don’t think you should be wasting your precious time with such stressful things. You are already filled to the brim with crop production. I wonder how our economy would survive if you received even more workload.”
“Hehe, you can hand… hic… them over to… hic… me.”
Akihiko offered half-jokingly.
“That’d be no better than sending them to a brothel.”
“You’ll hurt my feelings, Yoshi-chan.”
“It will be no problem, Suzuki. I am very confident in my ability to handle this. I would even like the extra labour force, and the best part would be that I am not paying them for their labour. Yoshitatsu will simply be catering for their livelihoods and basic needs.”
“Is this acceptable, Yoshitatsu?”
Suzuki asked her. Without glancing at anyone, she nodded her head and closed her eyes, satisfied to have gained what she wanted.
“Who else?”
“How. About. Me?”
A voice echoed through the room. All the clan heads were immediately paralysed with fear. They failed to understand how their bodies were unable to move. Even the normally unfazed Great Sage had sweat snaking down his forehead at the pressure that was crushing down on the them.
Slowly, the door leading to the room opened up. Heavy steps echoed through the silent room. The sound of metal hitting metal resonated as the armor pieces clashed with each other.
The stranger had a large helmet in their arms as they walked towards the table. Their skin was grey and their eyes were a dull golden. Short pointed ears on a handsome chiseled face, with messy gunmetal silver hair and a recently shaved face.
He stood on the table and faced the curtains, trying to get a good look at what was behind it. After seeing, he lost interest.
“W-Who?”
Akihiko asked. him being the only one amongst the present participants to be able to move. This surprised the intruder, making him smile lightly.
“Oh my… Suzuki. Did you not inform them of my arrival?”
The intruder asked.
The clan heads found their gazes to be on Suzuki. A sweat was snaking down her face and for some reason, the whole situation became more terrifying than it originally was.
"Over the course of the past two decades, I'd heard rumours of a knight dressed in black armor."
Mori's voice trembled.
"They say wherever he went, villages burnt to the ground. Fertile lands become deserts. Imperial beasts run. The trees in Larm part ways for him. They call him the Black Knight."
Mori glared at the intruder with daggers for eyes.
"At first I took it as that. Just rumours. But one day, I got concrete evidence. I'd hoped I wouldn't meet this Black Knight as an enemy."
The man in black armor grinned after hearing Mori speak.
“Someone here who has heard of me? How grand. It is as you say! I am the fabled Black Knight, but I am also better known as the patron god of the Tatsumaki Clan.”
He boldly said. The room was already dead silent, but the announcement found a way to make the place even more so. Until, Akihiko’s laughter boomed in the room.
“Hahaha! This is f*cking hilarious! I didn’t know you could play like this Suzuki!”
The others looked at the drunk man and their hearts sank. A god had appeared before them and this was his reaction? Was he planning on getting them all killed?
“Be quiet, Akihiko!”
The one to scream this was the usually calm Mori. His heart was pounding so loudly if anyone were close enough, they would have been able to hear it.
“Huh? Why? What would the actual Fafnir be doing here? In fact, didn’t we personally see to the destruction of The Horizon about six years ago? It’s impossible for any god to come to this world now.”
“SHUT UP, AKIHIKO! Our lives are at risk and this is your state?!”
The drunk looked very hard at his friend.
“Heehee, the world is spinning~”
He fell face flat on the table, leaving everyone speechless.
“Oh? That is amusing. However, Mori. Your lives are not at risk with me here. That doesn’t mean you can rest easy. My name is Fafnir, I am a Fallen God and I go by the title The Black Knight as of now. I have been cursed to give you lot 1 wish each that is within my power. That means five wishes. Now, you see, I have been wronged by one said member. This one with the white hair. I don’t know if it’s Ibuki or Suzuki. I never could tell those two apart.”
He pointed at the sweating priestess.
“Anyway, long story short, I am free to destroy her anytime I wish, but it is painfully obvious as day that she’ll use her wish to protect herself. So, I have come here to you people. You see, I have talked with the one who punished me and he said that if four members were to vote for her and her clan’s salvation, I should leave it alone. So, I have come to ask you lot the big question. Of the four remaining members, who will use their wish to save the Tatsumaki Clan? You have thirty seconds each to decide. Starting with fat guy.”
He pointed at Daisuke whose eyes went back and forth from all those in the room. Upon seeing Suzuki’s miserable face, his heart cracked. He had hoped he’d never see that expression on her ever since "that incident". Allowing for her clan’s destruction would bare way too much on his conscience.
“I want the Tatsumaki Clan to remain safe.”
“Nice! Next is you, confused woman.”
He pointed at Yoshitatsu. Her eyes kept facing down and the Tatsumaki Clan Head’s face was slowly regaining its composure. She would accept whatever fate followed. Yoshitatsu noticed this and her guilty conscience weighed heavily on her. She was one of the major factors of that incident and allowing the destruction of the Tatsumaki Clan was simply too cruel of her. If Suzuki acted emotionlessly, she wouldn’t complain since she was one of the reasons Suzuki had become the way she was.
“I want the Tatsumaki Clan to remain safe as well.”
“Oho? I did not expect that of you! I just need the next two to reject this offe-“
“The Sotomura Clan requests the safety of the Tatsumaki Clan.”
The Great Sage responded immediately. All eyes fell on his shockingly quick decision.
“That makes three of us, and like you said, Suzuki will vote for her own safety. Which means the Tatsumaki clan is safe and there remains only one of us with a wish. Currently, you are an enigma and there are several things we could use you for. The best wish at the moment would be to turn you into our servant.”
“You want to make me your servant? How bold.”
Having adjusted to the pressure in the room, Sotomura crossed his fingers in thought as a smirk came across his face.
“I am sorry, mighty Fafnir. You failed to predict that our loyalty to the Tatsumaki clan was higher than our selfish wishes. We are the ones who sealed you gods for good six years ago, so what made you think we’d allow you to simply do as you please?”
Tomo started to give off an entirely different pressure of his own, motivating the others.
“What? You are supposed to be the smartest person in the world at the moment? The standards are far too below the bar now. Why didn't you simply use your wish to make me your servant then? Is it because deep down, you know that it is impossible to keep a being such as myself as your servant?"
"You've got me there. I am not sure if we can actually keep you as our servant even with my wish. I doubt you came here without having calculated the possibility of one of us requesting that. The best option now would be to save the Tatsumaki Clan and use the last reckless wish on you."
He pointed at Akihiko with a grin. Fafnir also smirked after hearing Tomo's reasoning.
"I see you're someone who likes to consider multiple possibilities. In that case, did you consider the possibility that I simply wished for you to waste your wishes to protect the Tatsumaki Clan, of whom I never had any plans of destroying? Maybe I simply got one of you drunk before the event so I could manipulate them into wishing for my freedom. Maybe I infiltrated the Tatsumaki Clan to start a rumour about how the Elder Clans were starting to get weak. Maybe I planted a spy to keep me updated on everything that was happening in the clans. Maybe one of you here has always been on my side.. Who knows? Anyway, time to make your wish, Akihiko.”
