Capitolo Terzo: Conquista (10)

“Dad? Can Stands be used as armors?”

The question came to me out of the blue and hitting like a bullet train. I almost jumped in surprise when Giorno asked me this. My current plans of checking the current prices of trade goods here in Delhi pushed away as I turned to stare at my son. The boy looked nervous, the kind of unease one would have when they were of the thought that they did something wrong by either asking or doing something in that regard.

It felt fitting he asked now that Hannah had left with Santana to go and check for the resources herself. She wanted to see Delhi, but accepted Giorno’s request to skip a walk with her because of what had happened recently. The boy would eventually see it during one of our future trips in India since I had already mentioned to my wife how I wanted to set up a good base here too. And with some support from Erina’s father, perhaps make sure to reform the colonial system into a more autonomous hold over the sub-continent.

“Can you please elaborate?”

He shifted nervously out of his seat and walked up to me, calmly setting himself on my lap without even asking. I blame Hannah for being so keen to let him be bossy about this sort of stuff, but it was the sort of flaw I could overlook if kept to little. Still, the topic itself held me tense as this could be a troublesome detail which I had to be wary of.

“I had a strange dream. There was that bad guy and… and I kind of beat him by punching him a lot with… I think it was my Stand.”

Rasputin was in… how? Magic? How did he survive? My grimace displayed a new interrogation for Baba Yaga once she was done pestering Jojo about Britain. While at first the redhead had tried to appear flirty with Jojo too, she seemed to understand it was a dying effort because of how ‘polite and dense’ the man was. At least his density came to be helpful now that he was married and dutiful towards Erina. Still, that didn’t stop the witch from pestering him with questions about Britain.

After all, there’s so much someone that has lived centuries in the depths of Russia knows about the world around her and, as if behaving like a knowledge-hungry child, the woman engaged in lengthy interrogations about the places the people around her came from. She tried to do the same with Santana, but she realized fairly quickly that the man had lived ‘in a rock’ for a long time and couldn’t provide her with answers that weren’t the same I could provide when it comes to the United States and Mexico.

“And did it feel real?”

The boy nodded. “It was scary at first, but I did what Papa would have done and kicked his butt.”

I stared at him for a while, a smile growing at that blunt explanation before I moved my hand over his head and ruffled his hair.

“Is that so? I bet my child will be the toughest hero ever. And an armor? How did it come to be like that?”

“It was so great, Papa. I put it on because my Stand told me to- I mean, I think it was my Stand.”

“Did it help you through the scary monster? Did it look like it was familiar and yet not?”

The boy nodded twice and I hugged him a bit. “That’s indeed your Stand, sport. And I think that you are already showing promise in becoming a quick-learner as your papa.”

The news drew excitement out of Giorno. “Really?”

“That doesn’t mean I will train you now,” I remarked calmly, his eagerness quick to deflate at that. “But you still have the potential to be great, and this is proof of it. If you so seek to become that, you will train and you will gain power through hard-work. Like I did, like your mother did.”

“...Why not go through short-cuts?” He inquired. “I don’t wanna, but many would do that.”

“Because many are so afraid of putting time in things that they see as tedious. But it’s that difficult step that allows us to grow and be grand, my child,” I explained to him as tenderly as possible. “You will face trouble at times. Maybe one day your mother and I will not be around to provide you with support but… you will be ready. I promise you that when the time comes, you will be prepared to handle the injustices and the unfairness of this world.”

Giorno nodded, keeping quiet as he enjoyed the overall pleasant embrace for the time being. He was satisfied with what he heard, but I really was curious about this Stand of his and why its effect ‘wrapped’ around his body as an armor rather than fully manifest. Was it even Gold Experience? I had so much to think about and maybe inquire out of the boy but-

“S-Sir, there’s someone looking to speak with you.”

As soon as I heard this call, I glanced outside the window, the pilot looked a bit nervous, but not outright terrified. Not a threat, but definitely something that had him on his toes. I huffed and, after ruffling Giorno’s hair some more, went to check what it was all about. Disembarking from the vehicle, I quickly noticed the source of unease by the pilot.

The individual was wearing a full body set of robes which covered everything but a small opening for his green eyes. There was something inhuman about his gaze, and yet I couldn’t perceive any disturbance in it.

“Greetings,” I hummed and the man actually bowed as I approached.

“Greetings, oh Divine Being. I wish to apologize for this intrusion but I believe we need to talk of urgent matters,” The old figure replied, amusement and excitement coming up through his voice.

“What about?” I pressed and he nodded.

“The world as we know it may come to face grave issues against a threat beyond Earth,” The elder man replied humbly. “Apologies for sounding so mysterious, but even I have limited

“And what’s your name then? I suppose that shouldn’t be this difficult to answer.” I asked, feeling like this robed individual was more than just a simple spectator.

“I go by many titles, but right now my only worthy name I can provide you out of truth and not admiration is Kiran of Shrin’dalla.”

I… didn’t know anyone with that name, and my ensuing frown caused the elderly figure to chuckle.

“Oh, apologies, divine one. It’s just that curious to see a man of your stature address me so kindly. I am, after all, just a Servant of the Light.”

That clicked with something I heard in the past and… then my eyes widened.

“You are someone like Kate. A being with animal-like features such as fur and peculiar ears and tail,” I guessed, remembering having heard the same thing from Zephy many years ago.

He clapped his hand together and nodded. “Aye. The true term in this case is Prime. And I believe that Kate you have mentioned may be someone that will be crucial for the war that will come to this world.”

Prime? I could tell that’s how they defined their unusual ‘species’. There had to be more to this.

“Do you Primes have your own society? Culture?”

“And a shattered government,” Kiran admitted jovially. “But please, if I may be a bit bold. May we take a seat? My legs are not as strong as they used to be.”

I nodded, taking a moment to retrieve two retractable chairs and setting them for the two of us. I also retrieved the suitcase with the tea ingredients and components to organize a pleasant discussion with this source of knowledge. And from that I learned a lot about things Kate and Zephy didn’t know about. Primes were a species that was not native of Earth: they came from the stars. Centuries ago something happened to their planet leading to its destruction. Survivors were scattered, with many eventually settling down on Earth. And from their arrival, curious elements came up relating how some civilizations grew and became great.

Some Primes were responsible for it, selling wisdom and clever plans to improve humanity piece by piece and also learning from our way of harnessing war. They were peaceful despite their innate powers, and that led them to face a threat in their home planet that they were unprepared for. There were Gods, albeit those were even more limited than the ones represented before the Christian God.

They had specific limitations, they had specializations and they weren’t much before someone that attained power by a particularly powerful magic. Chaos. I almost felt a frown explode at the notion that I may be facing a Slaanesh-grade threat in the near future. How near? I couldn’t tell. Soon, but not ‘too soon’ as Kiran told me.

There were so many uncertainty-driven factors that I found myself contemplating if the old ‘Master of Knowledge’ was holding back on me. It was possible, heck, I would be doing the same if I was in the same position as his. This notion was pushed by the way he paused many times in his explanations, something that I initially ruled as him thinking of which words to use next, but many times those breaks happened mid-word. So, rather than just bluntly bring this up, I decided to play it to him.

“It is indeed a most unusual story you are providing me, Kiran. However, I have a question pertaining to said knowledge,” I remarked politely. “Would I be prevented from giving such a tale to my dear friend Kate? After all, we are as close and tight as siblings should and I would never lie to a sister of mine.”

Instead of looking cornered by such a proposal, the furred man in front of me grinned. “I see no issues in having the Princess being told of this now rather than too late.”

Oh? I guess that would be great-

“However, since you brought up your capacity to not only know where she is but visit her yourself with no hassle, would it be too demanding of me if I asked for you to do the same with other Pillars of our society? Those on Earth, obviously.”

I was surprised by this request. There were others like… Kate? To make it clear, there seems to be a distinction between the normal Prime and those like Kate. Crests of Order, or Pillars of the Dragons. The naming was just quite flamboyant and very bizarre. I wanted to say it didn’t fit with Jojo but the exceeding nature of this strangeness seemed to fit neatly within the standard Jojo-esque narration I had grown accustomed to. And if they were indeed within reach… were they like Kate?

“Do you have any clues where I should find them?”

He smiled, retrieving a small map of the world out of his robes and giving it to me. My eyes narrowed at this move- he knew I would have asked. He knew I would have gone out of my way to try and call him out on holding back on me and… had me pick up this task. They were ready for this event and now I was saddled with this new task. I fished the paper off his palm and gave it a look. It didn’t look like an advanced map, having just natural borders highlighted together with green dots pointing at places I would have to check.

Four locations were set, the first one being in India which I could tell was related to the ‘special student’ Kiran mentioned during his explanation of where his temple was. Next up was somewhere in South Africa, which I could explore by getting to Cape Town and then, hopefully dodge some issues with the local Boers in the deeper regions of the British domains; then there was a point in Scandinavia, right between Norway and Sweden.

Both countries were suffering a steady decline, one that I had planned to eventually exploit and heal with economic intervention but that I will definitely have to tackle now rather than the planned timing I had for that. Finally, the last location was a place I was going to struggle to get into. Hunan, China- I was supposed to somehow enter Qing Dynasty’s China as a British Man without getting killed by either the locals or the warlords within the region… that was going to be rough.

However, I think things have already changed ever since I managed to get in contact with the Guangxu Emperor and set him up to discuss with one of the ‘unruly revolutionaries’ that the Empress Dowager Cixi had so many times tried to have suppressed. Then again, it took very little to befriend Sun Yat-sen himself, the man having been almost captured by the Qing officers sent after his head while he was touring France.

He was immediately brought to me and, after sharing an interesting conversation about his plans for China and how Britain could help about it, I decided to have him ‘endear’ the Emperor himself. While many would see this as a disastrous plan, the historical context may help understand why I would set up a ‘Republican’ to speak with a ‘Monarchist’.

Sun was initially a believe of constitutional monarchy and became a proponent for Republican Democracy only around 1910s when the chances of a constitutional monarchy were shredded to pieces… with the assassination of the Guangxu Emperor by fierce monarchists. Now, one would be stunned, why kill the Emperor if you are loyal to him? And the truth was tied to what the Emperor was doing to warrant this attack. The Hundred-Days Reforms was an attempt to modernize China and to establish a constitutional monarchy. What killed this effort was that the reforms were quite tame in their effect on the country and easy to repel by someone like Cixi.

What I had in mind, as I would soon see in the last two years since that meeting, proved to be indeed the right path: Sun was nervous, the Emperor was eager and I had to act many times as a mediator. It was odd for Guangxu himself, the man being treated less as a deity and more as a negotiator and one that could understand the points raised by Sun. There is much to say about Sun’s own ideas as those were just generally reformist in the overall situation.

Not like one could really blame him since the handling of government’s affairs was a state secret, so not many could define what was really the best for the country if not someone that could access the data on this matter. Which is why, surprising many and irritating Cixi to no end, Sun was made a Royal Adviser and one that was to be treated as a ‘Friend of the Heavenly One’.

Assassination attempts were, as expected, many but reforms were passed and some of those even got a valuable ally of the Empress Dowanger now siding with the Emperor. Yuan Shikai, the man that would have caused a whole century of division and strife in China due to his ambitious plots, was more than happy to be granted a grand pension and be provided with the chance of having the bulk of the army at as disposal… in exchange of a proclamation of loyalty to the Emperor.

Up to this point, the old general was polite enough to keep his side of the bargain, the Beiyang Army model now being implemented with other sections loyal to the country and providing for a counter to the warlordism that was spreading within China. By using this sort of connection I should be able to infiltrate the region with ease but… I will have to speak with the Emperor before daring to do such a thing. I needed his permission and I knew that bypassing this practice would land me on some serious issues.

Kiran left shortly after, ‘vanishing’ from my sight as I turned around to walk up to the plane. Giorno was soon asking me who I talked with and if he was a good or bad person. I explained to him as much as I could about who Kiran was, and then, as Hannah and Santana got back, we resumed our trip to reach Erina.

Now, how do I break it to my wife that we may have more trips to make before going home?