CHAPTER 572

NEW TOMORROW (II)

The already-crowded city had begun bleeding people on the edges by the midway point of the sun; thousands upon thousands of tents were spread on the city’s outskirts, housing hundreds of thousands of people that streamed in from virtually every corner of the Empire. Some stuck to isolation, others formed small groups, and some yet the larger ones that seemed to dominate the city both within and without.

Settled on a small hill just outside the city, warded off by hundreds of staunch-seeming guards hawking at anyone who walked by, a small group had formed, drinking merrily. Though Seya and Avar arrived a bit early, others weren't too far behind them; Val, Edith, and Tim arrived just half an hour later, with Eggor, Reli, and Cae lagging an hour behind them.

By the time midday came about, the two had turned to fourteen in total, among them faces familiar and slightly muddy.

In the midst of the heated discussion, the space just outside the hill ripped open as four figures, three women and a man, walked through.

Eggor’s eyes landed on the small entourage as he exclaimed softly; it had been a long while since he’d last seen Alison and Lucky as they were among the first to withdraw from the fortress and into their dukedom. The changes were quite noticeable, yet not distinct enough to make them unrecognizable – for starters, Lucky had let her hair grow long, almost on par with Alison’s – and had switched her usual, leather-bound getup for a more uniform combination of courtly suit that was supposed to go to men.

Alison, on the other hand, had styled her golden hair into a single braid, appearing ever as young, sporting a one-piece, crimson dress with golden threads binding it together. Though both had traded in their somewhat youthful appearances of before with a slightly more mature look, the changes were rather minimal, at least in comparison.

The two standing behind them, however, Eggor had trouble recognizing as the last time he’d seen them, they were a couple of kids yet to enter teenagehood. Yet, now, both had fully grown, the man sprouting into the tallest one in the family, sporting broad shoulders and a somewhat muscular build, mimicking Lucky’s clothes down to a tee.

The woman, on the hand, appeared rather graceful, taking far more after Alison – at least in countenance – with her hair loose and free like a flowing waterfall, cascading down the naked shoulders that gave way to a rather fluffy-looking, twilight-dyed dress.

The appearance of the four quickly shook the atmosphere as, one by one, people began getting up and formally greeting them; Eggor lamented inwardly as, technically speaking, he was of higher rank than them, yet hardly afforded such a reaction from people. While Alison and June tended to the greetings, Lucky and Anton quickly rounded the crowd and joined Eggor, Cae, and Reli, sitting down for a round of drinks.

“—ey, what do you know, just a week ago I ran across Cae’s name in the reports,” Lucky said. “The fucker made a report over how I was negligent of my duties. Huh? What about now pipsqueak? Do you dare say it in my face?!”

“… you are negligent of your duties,” Cae, now in his thirties, replied with a sigh, fixing his spectacles. “Your last public appearance was dominated by you chasing people around with daggers if they refused to share a drink with you.”

“… bah, why bother,” she shrugged, taking a sip. “Anty here has gracefully taken over my duties.”

“That’s right,” the man nodded, staring daggers at Cae. “I request you immediately pull back the report slandering the Father-Mother. All her duties are regularly completed by me.”

“… you really got him to call you Father-Mother?” Eggor asked, chuckling faintly. “I’m glad to see you haven’t changed one bit…”

“Why change perfection?" Lucky asked, glancing at the still-silent Reli sitting beside him. "On the other hand, a lot of things have changed about you. Some of which, and by some I mean all, we seemed to have been misplaced an invitation for.”

“… we didn’t want to make it big,” Eggor said. “And inviting the likes of you would certainly ensure that.”

“And that’s why we’ll be drinking today as if it was yesterday!” Lucky said, gulping down half the bottle before Anton suddenly took it away.

“You have hit your hourly limit,” the man said. “You should eat something.”

“…”

One by one, new arrivals slowly began entering the picture until the small hill was as compacted as the city itself, with hundreds inhabiting it. Old friends reunited, new friendships were formed, and everyone slowly settled down into small groups that rarely remained static, with people moving in-between them frequently.

Chatter was unceasing, silence finding no room for itself amidst the masses. Though quite a few years had passed, in the grand scheme of things, it was still a short period of time. In relative perspectives, to some people, fifteen years felt like a lifetime, and to some, it was a flick that barely registered. To those who were young kids, it signaled one of the most defining fifteen years of their lives, and yet to those who were older it just meant a fair passage of time.

“Any word on whether Hannah and the rest will be joining us?” Val asked the quasi-original group that had formed sporadically after intermingling, composed of a number of those who’d been with Lino since the early stages.

“She should,” Eggor said. “I doubt she’d miss Aaria’s big day.”

“Hardly feels like an Empire with one of the holding pillars out in the void, and the other spending time god-knows-where,” Lucky said. “Shouldn’t Dukes like me, in a proper Empire, be forever fearful of keeping their seat? Why do I feel like nobody gives a shit?”

“It’s still the early period,” Cae answered. “Now, with Aaria’s Coronation, it might change slightly as I heard she has some big plans.”

“They still need to be approved by the Court, right?” Edith asked in a mellow tone.

“Hm,” Cae nodded. “But considering that the Court is still either indifferent or quite terrified of Brother Lino, so long as her ideas aren’t insane, it should be smooth sailing.”

“Hm,” Jonttar, feeling somewhat as though not belonging to the group, still decided to chime in. “Fifteen years is too short of a time for decentralized powers to gain much ground. Even if the Emperor had mostly relegated his duties over to the Court, everyone’s still in the checks-and-balances phase, mostly vying for lesser places in the Court that won’t have any immediate ripple effect.”

“Aii, can we not discuss politics?” Lucky said, sighing. “I’m already getting a headache…”

“Aye, today we’re celebrating,” Eggor nodded. “So let’s drink!”

“Drink!”

**

Aaria knocked softly onto the wooden doors of a small cabin whose chimney was still spewing forth billows of smoke, sounds of thundering hammers echoing far out into the surrounding area. Shortly after her knock, the hammering stopped and the sounds of footsteps approached swiftly, opening the doors. From behind, an aged, yet still robust, topless figure covered in sweat peaked, his somewhat distressed expression quickly turning upside down into a brilliant smile. Just as he was about to lunge over at her, Aaria backed away fearfully.

“Dad! No! You stink!”

“Eh? So what? You never minded it before.” Lino said, seeming somewhat confused.

“I’m already dressed-up, though,” Aaria sighed, shaking her head; the older she grew, the more she realized that she could hardly judge the man before her in terms of his age. “The Coronation will start in a couple of hours; I don’t have time for another bath.”

“Eh? That thing’s today?”

“…”

“Sorry, sorry, as you know, your old man is growing ever-older and ever-more-senile,” Lino said with a chuckle. “I keep forgetting stuff.”

“You already blew through that excuse for this month.” Aaria said.

“Eh? I did? What do I have left?”

“I think you’ve only got ‘I accidentally broke my knee with a hammer which caused temporary memory loss’ to go with.”

“Hm, yeah, let’s go with that one,” Lino chuckled. “Come on in. I’ll go and quickly change.”

Aaria followed him inside, the striking scent of metals was hardly anything new to her nostrils; the older she grew over the past fifteen years, the more time she spent here, with him. Sometimes, she would sit for hours and days, simply watching him hammer away at the same piece of ingot over and over again – and sometimes the two would drink for hours on end and talk about anything and everything.

Walking in and going to ‘their room’ to the side, furnished to her taste from fifteen years ago that he was still adamant about not changing, she realized she had spent far more time within these four walls than she did in either the Palace or the Court. Rather, the flamboyant scents and perfumes, the artificial bearing of those two places, set her off for some reason. Were it not for the fact that the Court insisted, and that her Father didn’t bother to even show up to the hearing, she wouldn’t have chosen to become the Empress just yet.

Even still, it hardly mattered to her; she knew that, within her lifetime as a ruler, her role would be further and further diminished, something she was overtly looking forward to.

Lino came back a couple of minutes later as she prepared a cup of warm tea for each of them, waiting patiently. To her shock, he dressed up in formal clothing – not the ilk that an Emperor would wear, but still a massive upgrade from the hemp tatters he usually wore, be it in his house, or in the Palace.

“—eh, what are you looking at?” he asked, grinning. “Your dad cleans up nice, doesn’t he?”

“… truth is, I didn’t even know you can clean up.” Aaria replied, grinning back.

“Ouch. But, oh well, I deserved it. Big day, ain’t it, firefly?”

“… not really,” she shrugged. “Shouldn’t you be more pitiful about it? You’re no longer going to be an Emperor.”

“Funny; there are people who still think I am an Emperor?” he asked back with a smile. “Are you sure, though, that you want it? If not, I can just wring out someone who can’t say no and have them take the Crown.”

“… it’s fine,” Aaria said, chuckling. "This will at least be an incentive for me to find a husband, mother a couple of children, and pass on the Crown as quickly as possible."

“Aye, to be honest, for a while now I’ve been thinking you share the tendencies of aunty L’ and Ally…”

“… ugh, you’re a bastard…”

“What? Can you even judge me on it?” Lino said, taking a sip of the tea. “I haven’t seen you share a conversation with a man your age in years. To be fair, though, to do that, you’d have to stop hanging out with your old man all the time.”

“… am I bothering you?”

“No; I just feel like you’re wasting your youth indulging me, firefly,” Lino said, his smile turning warm and gentle, creases of his face seemingly deepening, growing coarser in Aaria’s eyes. “But, if that’s what you want, I certainly won’t say no.”

“… you’re a tough act to follow, dad,” Aaria chuckled. “Whether I want to or not, each time I meet a new man, I almost instinctively compare him to you. And, unsurprisingly, each one of them seems to fall a wee bit short.”

“… though I’d like to say that my angel deserves a hero of her own,” Lino said. “If you want to catch one, you’ll have to wait a couple of million of lifetimes for it, firefly. I’m fairly certain that a great deal of those boys are in many ways far better than I am, or ever was.”

“… I don’t care whether they’re strong or not,” Aaria said. “But… in how they treat me. You… talk with me. Not to me. If they aren’t overtly terrified of me, stuttering through whatever kind of messy flirtation they are trying, they’re trying to sell themselves to me. I did this, I did that, I own this, my parents own that… it gets rather tiring.”

“… then don’t worry about it,” Lino said. “Don’t settle, is all I ask. I don't want you to come crawling back to your mom's and my place in a few decades, crying over how he cheated on you."

“Oof. That hurt.”

“Anyway, who’s even coming to this thing?” Lino asked.

“… uh… everyone? It’s… it’s kind of mandatory, dad.” Aaria said, sighing.

“Eh? Really? Damn. Looks like I’ll be drinking buckets this week,” Lino crackled. “Haven’t seen some of them in quite some time.”

“… will… uh… will mom be coming?” Aaria asked in a somewhat tempered voice.

“As far as I know, she’s already here,” Lino shrugged. “You’ve neglected your training again, haven’t you?”

“Eh? What?” Aaria asked in confusion.

“She’s been standing behind you ever since you walked in, firefly,” Lino chuckled, pointing behind her back, causing Aaria to spin around and spot a woman draped in a simple, white-dyed dress, leaning against the doorframe, long, crimson hair hanging to her side like the fire of the sun, her lips curled up into a smile. “See?”

“M-mom!” Aaria quickly shot up to her feet and ran over, throwing herself into Hannah’s arms while the latter glanced, exasperated, at Lino. “Welcome home…”

“What? Did you really think I’d miss this big of a day?” Hannah chuckled, rubbing Aaria’s head gently.

“N-no… of course not…”

“Ah, how touching,” Lino said, taking a sip of the tea. “The first thing your mom did to me is slap my face because I haven’t replied to any of talismans. Then my ass… because I haven’t replied to any of her talisman calls. What a strange woman…”

“Oh shut it, old fart,” Hannah rolled her eyes. “Come on. Let’s go and intimidate the entire Empire into kissing the ground upon which our little kid is walking.”

“Oh, damn woman. Now you’re talking.” Lino quickly got up while Aaria sighed; no matter how many years pass, it seems as though nothing with these two would change. They'd still remain as ever-eccentric, taking life in strides, at their own pace, and their own rules. "What do you think we should do?"

“I was thinking that you roll in with completely unleashed aura—”

“I’d kill pretty much everyone if I do that, though.”

“—slightly unleashed aura, while I set myself on fire and put Aaria on my shoulders. Then, when we’ve got everyone’s attention, you start shouting like a madman, breaking tables, throwing a tantrum, that kind of stuff, while I roar and spew fire out of my mouth at random directions.”

“… holy shit, that sounds awesome!” Lino exclaimed. “While we’re at it, I can secretly attach some of my aura to Aaria and have people believe she’s spewing it. And we can, like, generate a massive halo of fire behind her, and inside it we can squeeze our faces, looking all menacing-like at the masses.”

“… it is genuinely – genuinely – terrifying,” Aaria chimed in at last. “That I have no clue whether you’re joking, or whether you’re actually going to do it… genuinely terrifying.”