After two gring victories, Samsara had earned itself some respite.

  Fortunately, Argonia didn't bother them in the months that followed. Reivan wasn't itching for a fight either, so he remained in Lageton to fulfill his duties as its ruler.

  Well, he was secretly a figurehead, but it wasn't as if he couldn't help at all. Gwen, Jiji, and Elsa would be doing much of the management and administration in his pce because they excelled at such endeavors. But he could lessen their burden by frequently touring the city and monitoring the general mood within. It was normally a job for subordinates to do rather than the boss himself, but he had other purposes for observing the popuce anyway—such as making sure nobody was being possessed by an esper or something.

  Surprisingly, the frigid weather brought more than chilling winds with it.

  The people of Arkhan were reinvigorated, their motivation shooting straight through the roof and into the clouds. It more than surpassed expectations.

  A retively rge group of men had volunteered to form a sort of militia that would aid in the defense of Lageton if the need arose, or even follow the army as reinforcements if the fight ever had to be taken to the enemy. Furthermore, every youth or elderly capable of casting even a single spell was walking into the Mage Tower to learn how to better wield their wands.

  In fact, they were fit to burst, which was really saying something. Because even after the Sage King's death, the spatial expansion effects that made the tower's interior roomier than it should be had remained intact—this was actually a big part of why Lageton wasn't cramped beyond measure despite its now drastically enrged popution.

  Other than that, there were talks of venturing into agriculture.

  The eastern portion of Arkhan—which included Lageton—had been focused on industrial production rather than agriculture. But this did not mean that they had no farmnds. Rather, more of the territories focused on industry rather than agriculture. So although they were few, some knowledgeable people among Lageton's remaining popution were very eager to put their wisdom to good use.

  Furthermore, Samsara's Western Expedition had just rescued hundreds of people from the Western regions of Arkhan. Having focused on agriculture, many were knowledgeable about Arkhanian farming among their people.

  There were plenty of brewers as well. And anything that had to do with alcohol production received wide-ranged support from the people, so Reivan's office was under quite a lot of pressure to get this shit rolling as soon as possible. The alcohol sent in from Aizen and distributed to particurly hard-working Samsarans was appreciated, but nothing sated the Arkhanian pallet more than their own people's brews.

  Personally, Reivan preferred his own people's brews in general, so he understood their preference for native blends.

  'The issue lies with where to have them do it.'

  Sitting comfortably on the balcony of Elsa’s mansion while enjoying the cold morning air, Reivan gred at a basic map of Lageton and its surroundings.

  Said map had been recently drawn and wasn't as detailed as he would have liked. But it would do for now. Not that he had a choice, anyway. Besides, with all the terrain changes happening this year, it was a waste of time to draw anything too detailed anyway. Literally anything could happen and the ndscape would change.

  The heat and volcanic eruptions of months past aside, Dom, Reivan's lupine spirit beast, was periodically summoning blizzards that covered the nds with snow as well. Emphasis on "periodically", because he would be reverse summoned after a full day of blizzarding—if that was even a word. After a while, the snow would melt and find its way to depressions on the ground that would soon turn into kes or momentary rivers.

  Samsara's citizens had taken to calling this day of snow "Snowday" or the "White Day", which was coincidentally an unofficial holiday in Modern Earth for lucky men who got chocotes on Valentine's Day. Nobody knew how it really started, but White Day became the one day of the month when everybody just stopped working and took a good rest. Maybe rex and enjoy the small bit of alcohol they managed to save up. The few remaining children came out to py too, which was mildly arming because the blizzard was usually so intense that it was easy to lose sight of someone just a few meters away.

  Arkhanians feared not the cold, however. And it seemed this mettle was inherited by their crops too, because most of the known ones were highly resistant to cold. Somehow, even their wine-producing crops were grown under the ground, so there was no risk that a monthly blizzard would clean out their fields.

  'It'll have to be near the new kes, then. Fortunately, we’ve finished setting up the detection enchantments.'

  With how Samsara was still in a state of war, it would be dangerous to split their civilian popution up. This would make them harder to protect if anything came up and increase the area that had to be protected, requiring even more manpower.

  Of course, some of the most gring threats seemed to have been dealt with. Like the volcanic eruptions and the strange va creatures that they brought out. Ever since sealing off all the craters, none had appeared. And the gradually improving weather from before Dom called forth blizzards to freeze up the pce had already reduced the number of incidents. By now, the unfathomable creatures of va were a thing of the past.

  Still, the Argonia Empire remained a constant threat to peace.

  They had espers, for one thing, and they had also shown off that they had more monstrosities in their not-so-little bag of abominations. In particur, a massive swarm of those bat-like monsters would be a bit hard to deal with if unprepared.

  The tter problem could only be dealt with through force, but the former, at least, had countermeasures for them prepared in the form of the aptly named “Ghostbuster Formations”. Aizen also had these very old formations set up all around it that could detect espers. It merely found them though, not outright kill or damage them. But its ck of lethality was made up for by the ease of creating and the absence of a need to maintain.

  Those same formations had been set up all around Samsara these past few months.

  And it was a good thing they were, because hundreds of espers were found within the first few days. Terracatta Cn knights made short work of hunting them down, for the espers could not hide within the earth when they faced off against powerful warriors who swam in it.

  ‘Goddamn it, those bats are annoying. I’m gd we found out about them before I allowed farming settlements though.’

  It would have been a disaster otherwise. So even if extra effort had to be expended to ensure the safety of anyone trying to restart Arkhanian agriculture, Reivan was gd that he still had the chance to prepare. He wasn’t too te yet, and that was what mattered.

  “Dear.” Elsamina peered from within the warm hallway, unwilling to step into the exposed balcony. “Are you going to eat breakfast here or…?”

  “Here. I’ll eat here before going back.” Reivan stood up from his chair, shaking off the dew that had built up on his skin after staying still for so long. He walked over to his fiancee’s side and looked at her stomach, which was very slightly bulging. “Don’t go too near the doors. It’s cold out.”

  “I know, I know…” she said, thoroughly tired with his constant nagging. Then a smile graced her lips as she looked down and rubbed her belly. “Papa’s such a worrywart, isn’t he?”

  Feeling slightly aggrieved for being perfectly reasonable, Reivan sighed and closed the gss door to the balcony behind him. “I’m just saying…”

  “Rex, I’m keeping warm, see?” Elsamina gestured at her feet, where a miniature lion was radiating a comfortable warmth from its very presence.

  It sat there proudly while staring at Reivan, seemingly watching him for any sudden movements.

  Reivan snorted at its obvious distrust. What, was he going to suddenly hurt his own fiancee and the baby in her belly? This lion was a bit cking in the head, it seemed. He both approved of its vigince but was dissatisfied with its target selection. Something that time among humans would fix.

  Arm in arm, Reivan and Elsamina walked to a private dining room where the food had already been id out waiting for them. So after carefully escorting her to her seat, he sat down and began digging into a hearty meal.

  Until Elsamina brought up a somewhat difficult topic that slowed his hands.

  “Have you given my idea some thought?” she asked, stirring a cup of milk and slowly adding honey to it.

  “I have…” Reivan looked up to meet her gaze, pcing down the spoon that had been halfway to his mouth. “I’m still not completely supportive of it though.”

  “Hm… And what did Gwen and Jiji say? What about Helen? Or the crown?”

  He shook his head. “They all said that either way would be fine. And that we should decide on this between us instead.”

  “I see. I knew they'd be considerate about this…” Elsa brought the cup of milk to her lips and took a sip, licking up the white mustache that was left behind afterward.

  It was more seductive than it had to be. Or maybe he just liked her too much. Hell, maybe it was both.

  Calmly enjoying the view, Reivan drummed his fingers on the table as he gave her proposal more consideration. “The merits are clear, though.”

  “Right?” She smiled, gd that he agreed. “My marrying one of your other identities would be much better for you.”

  Elsamina’s proposal had been simple—instead of Reivan and her getting married, she would instead publicly marry “Ken”.

  It would make a lot more sense in the eyes of everyone who knew her, because she had already been seen attending a past event with “Ken”. And it was fairly known that the gorgeous businesswoman was betrothed to the actual owner of the companies she ran.

  Basically, it would make no sense for her to suddenly marry the prince of Aizen from an outsider’s perspective.

  The marriage would also solidify the existence of “Ken” as a person.

  In the worst-case scenario where Reivan royally fucks up the rulership of Samsara, he could then restart as “Ken”. He could also potentially use the fake identity for other things, such as a sacrificial mb to take the bme for him. Or, since few people knew what “Ken” really looked like, Reivan could just reshape it to lean more toward Arkhanian features—so he could use his fake identity to get along with someone prejudiced against Aizenians.

  Reivan could switch between the two when convenient.

  ‘I clearly benefit from this.’

  But not Elsa. She would get nothing out of this. Instead, she would have to live out her life married to a phony. Even their kids would have to py along with the charade.

  This wasn’t even her first strange suggestion.

  Ever since she found out about the way his shapeshifting ability worked, she proposed an experiment with it: namely, trying to see if his current form’s blood was carried over when he impregnated someone while shapeshifting. Or if his real blood was inherited, regardless of whether he was in disguise or not.

  The former would have very interesting implications.

  For example, it would mean that he could essentially manipute the genes that his children inherited by changing himself during the times when he… attempted the conception of a child.

  It would also give more credit to a possibility that had been living in the back of his head for a while now. Which was the prospect of retaining the ability to father children even after Ascension by way of using [Reality Falsification] to transform into a mortal version of himself.

  As it currently stood, [Reality Falsification] penalized him when the changes it resulted in were too beneficial for him. But it offered no resistance or punishment when he made himself weaker. So, if he Ascended and used the power to temporarily become a mortal again, there was a very high likelihood that he could do it freely and without consequence.

  And as a mortal, he would retain the function of procreation—which was a very important thing to anyone who stood in a position of hereditary power.

  In essence, Elsamina wanted to prove that his child-making capabilities were dependent on his current state, real or falsified.

  They did this by making Reivan transform into his “Ken” identity whenever he… inseminated her, as husbands tended to do with their wives when they were trying to have kids. He still frequently slept with her in his real form, but the final part was always left for after he transformed.

  ‘God, I can’t even remember why I agreed to that one, now that I think about it…’

  Perhaps it was because she only made her requests when they were in the thick of it. How was a man supposed to refuse any request at that point? The chips were truly stacked against him. Elsa didn’t seem to mind because no matter how the child turned out, it would be their child anyway. And honestly, at the time, Reivan had agreed with her.

  A clearer mind outside of the bedroom made him realize that maybe he shouldn’t have been so impulsive.

  Considering how he’d agreed to that, it was strange for him to be resistant to a mostly ceremonial detail such as who Elsa’s public husband was. He would still be her spouse no matter how one looked at it, after all. There wasn't a "Ken" somewhere out there, so the risks of being cucked while he wasn't looking were nonexistent.

  Reivan felt like he would be mistreating her by going ahead with her pns. But the fact that this proposal came from her was confusing his morals. What was the right thing to do here? Was it wrong if the person herself wanted it? His ability to detect lies had long confirmed that she felt no qualms about the whole affair.

  He really wished someone would tell him, but everybody was staying out of it because it was a private affair between the two of them. Which was respectable, honestly. But at times like this, he just wanted some concrete advice.

  Elsamina smiled warmly at him and walked to the back of his seat, massaging his shoulders just the way he’d grown to like. “I can see how conflicted you are with this, but if it’s because of me, then you don’t have to be so concerned. Think about it some more. Or tell me how you feel about it and we can decide together.”

  Reivan sighed and pced a hand atop hers, craning his head back to look at her face. “Functionally, I can see the benefits.”

  “That’s a start.”

  “But emotionally, I don’t know. I mean, I’m both Reivan and Ken, so you’d be married to me either way. And you’re okay with it too.”

  She nodded and smiled down at him. “All points that point toward agreement. So what causes your hesitation?”

  Reivan closed his eyes for a moment of self-reflection and said the first thing that came into his mind. “It feels like I’m being unfair to you. Don’t you want to be the wife of Samsara’s ruler? Queen doesn’t really fit, so maybe The First Lady or something?”

  “That sounds very dangerous,” Elsamina immediately responded. “I’d put myself and our children at risk of assassination. I don’t think Argonia is beyond such dastardly means.”

  “That’s… That’s true…” Reivan turned pensive. He also trusted the kingdom and its ability to resist the empire, but he wasn’t in the kingdom.

  He was in Samsara, a satellite nation serving as a buffer state so war never truly reaches the kingdom’s mainnd. Security here was significantly less robust. There were no nation-spanning formations refined for generations, no loyal army of Ascendant warriors cultivated through thousands of years, and no extremely old Transcendents who would die to protect the country.

  Just a bunch of mortals. Some strong. Most weak.

  In fact, he would rather send Elsa and their soon-to-be-born child home just to be as safe as possible. But he knew she wouldn’t like that. And he didn't want to subject her to such a fate either. He did not marry her just to turn her into a caged bird, to be admired in captivity until it expired or stopped being interesting enough.

  “And besides…” Elsamina bent down to whisper very closely into his ear. “I’d rather be someone’s first wife than their second.”

  Reivan stiffened. “So you are unsatisfied…”

  “Now, now. Don’t take what I say the wrong way.” She pulled away and pinched his ear, tugging on it pyfully. “Any woman would want to be the first more than the second. It’s not strange. It’s just I want to be with you more than I want to be first, understand?”

  At her words, he couldn’t resist a smug smile. “And so this is, to you, a satisfying compromise?”

  “Exactly.” she agreed with a hard nod, fiddling with the ear she’d been tugging on. “I’m the First Wife, but I’m still your wife. Not Reivan’s wife, but still. It’s good enough.”

  Reivan chuckled at the ticklish sensation. Was he this easy to convince, he wondered?

  “Besides,” Elsamina added, moving over to straddle his p instead. “I want our wedding to be a more intimate and private affair. If I marry a prince, it’ll have to be a national event.”

  “It doesn’t have to be—”

  “It should. And I’d be too guilty if you forced otherwise.” She insisted, before leaning over and pnting kisses on his neck.

  That was it. That was the end of logic. At that point, he stopped worrying and just gave in despite the seething little red lion in the corner.

  Unfortunately, neither Reivan nor Elsa had time for more than a single round of early morning fun. Even the baby in her tummy wasn’t going to stop a loving couple’s passion, though he was naturally more gentle nowadays.

  She apparently had appointments with a few people who wanted her advice on something or the other. What that something was, he didn’t know. He had been too busy enjoying the afterglow to process what she said while getting dressed.

  Meanwhile, Reivan had a meeting with Gwen in about an hour. But with Elsa leaving, there was no reason to tarry in her mansion. He already had a reputation for womanizing among his close associates, and he didn’t want them thinking he was gunning for Elsa’s maids too—though they were all very pretty when he noticed in passing.

  ‘Helen should still be in Aizen visiting our nieces and nephews. She won’t return until after lunch, so I suppose I'll just kill time in my office.’

  Reivan easily snuck back into his pace, which wasn’t hard because the guards knew most of the identities he used. Also, nobody else rode a winged serpent but him, so that was a clear indication of who he was for those people in the know.

  He had Zouros deliver him to the window of his office and got in that way because doors were overrated. Naturally, he didn’t expect anybody inside.

  So imagine his surprise when Gwen was slumped over her own desk, seemingly fast asleep.

  Reivan held his breath and moved as quietly as a mouse, closing the window he’d used as an entrance behind him. He then went over to his own desk and sat down, looking at his sleeping secretary.

  Because of their need to personally coordinate with each other regarding many subjects, Gwen had her own office in addition to a desk inside his office if they ever needed to work on something together. It was to the side, out of the way and very rarely used, but it was there when she needed it.

  Now it was being utilized for sleeping. Arguably not what it was made for, but nobody was going to compin.

  Reivan leaned back on his criminally comfortable seat and observed his very hardworking subordinate. She was drooling, he noticed, and a few strands of her hair were sticking to her face with saliva as glue.

  He looked away and decided to pretend as if he saw nothing.

  ‘Hm. Well, I did come here an hour early. I can’t bme her for taking a power nap.’

  Checking the clock on the wall, Reivan confirmed that it was only a quarter past eight. So there were still forty-five minutes. Dawn had long passed, and he was sure she’d woken for her early morning routine. The fact that she felt tired enough to take a nap afterward spoke of her fatigue.

  Reivan csped his hands together and prayed to her.

  ‘I’m sorry that I’ve made you work so hard!’

  While Samsara would not have colpsed due to mismanagement even if she wasn’t around, it would have been worse off without her. Much worse. And he had to admit that he’d grown reliant on her competence, to the extent that he’d feel utterly lost without her.

  ‘I should give her a vacation… Or a raise. Or a raise and a vacation.’

  He was already paying her a lot though, and he felt as if he’d just given her a raise recently. How much money could someone who worked so much possibly even spend? Did she even spend her money at all? Most knights, he was told, didn’t. Because they were too busy or didn’t know what to spend it on. Had Gwen fallen into the same habit, perhaps?

  If so, wouldn’t money be a useless reward for her?

  ‘It’d be nice if she had some kind of vice. Then I could just give her more of that. But she doesn’t…’

  Suddenly, Gwen bolted upright, her jaw sck and her eyes unfocused until she saw him.

  “Ssp.” Gwen sucked in the drool dripping from the corner of her mouth before hastily wiping away what remained with her hand. “Your Excellency?”

  “I didn’t see anything,” Reivan immediately defended himself, calmly picking up the nearest document he could and pretending to read it. It was upside down, he realized with horror.

  But the other side was bnk, so she wouldn’t know it was until she came over and took a look. All he had to do was py it cool.

  Gwen, surprisingly, had crimson ears and a slight blush of mortification on her face when he looked up. But whether it was her professionalism or her respect for the royal family, she refused to make any further comments.

  She gnced briefly at the clock before turning back to him, all while fixing her not-so-messy hair. “You’re quite early, Your Excellency. I expected you to come ter because you went over to Miss Elsa's abode.”

  “Ahaha, yeah…” Reivan scratched his temple, looking anywhere but at her. “She left early and I didn’t have anywhere else to go, so I just came here to wait for our scheduled meeting.”

  “I see.” Gwen stood up and cleared her throat. “That works out for us. We can just have the meeting early.”

  ‘So you’re just going to pretend nothing happened, huh? Alright. Works for me.’

  Reivan drummed his fingers on the desk and nodded. “Wonderful. Go on, then. I heard you properly organized scouting forces for whatever the Argonians were doing now. What have you found?”

  Months had passed since the st engagement. But needless to say, Samsara couldn't just put thoughts of the empire out of their mind. The fact that their most recent battles were met with success was proof enough—knowing your opponent’s moves was paramount in war.

  Gwen then began making her report, putting the earlier embarrassment behind them. Reivan listened carefully, but every second raised his confusion even more.

  “They’re fighting each other…?” Reivan’s brows furrowed as he swept his silver hair back. “Any thoughts as to why?”

  She shook her head. “The darkin and Mercers I sent to scout the northern regions were only able to view it from afar. But according to them, they’ve spotted imperial settlers moving into the ravaged cities of the republic.”

  ‘So they ensve all the Arkhanians they find, but then move settlers into the pces left vacant. Why can’t these bastards just rule over the Arkhanians instead? Is having sves really that important?’

  “But their armies are definitely fighting each other?” Reivan confirmed, still unconvinced. “It’s not some misunderstanding? Like some Arkhanians forming some sort of resistance movement against them or something.”

  “The darkin might make the mistake since they are retively new to our world.” Gwen shook his head. “But multiple Mercers, all sent to different regions, all say the same thing—that the Argonians were fighting each other. Though their homunculi and espers seemed to be staying out of the fight. Only people participated.”

  Reivan scratched his head. “What the hell are those crazy bastards doing…? Although I’m happy for their idiocy because it gives us space to manage our affairs. But seriously, what the hell are those guys doing?”

  “On other matters,” Gwen moved the conversation along, taking out a pile of documents and handing it over. “These are request forms stating rgely the same thing.”

  “Let’s see…” Reivan raised a brow as he flipped through the documents and hummed in thought. “The Mage Tower and quite a few citizens seem to want permission to attempt a clean-up operation of the waters past the southern shore. Is fishing in the patch of sea to the east not enough?”

  The shores to the south and the waters near them were still somehow contaminated with ash even after months had passed since the st volcanic eruption. Clearly, the fish disliked the murky water and steered clear. Even aquatic monsters were absent.

  To the east, between Lageton and Aizen’s Worgon Outpost, however, was untouched. And Reivan had given a few fishermen permission to test their luck there, even doing them the favor of having knights preemptively clear out any dangerous sea creatures.

  Gwen shook her head. “They’re merely thinking of the future, Your Excellency. There are more of them now, after all.”

  “...Right. That’s true.” Reivan licked his lower lip, thinking about how Lageton was getting a bit too cramped. And that was with the mage popution being crammed inside the Mage Tower.

  It was becoming increasingly apparent that he needed to set up more cities or expand Lageton itself. Probably the tter, but the earlier concern of farmers wanting to resume their craft was another weight on the side of the former option.

  Seemingly aware of his thoughts, Gwen gave him some bait. “If this succeeds, together with the start of agriculture, Samsara’s popution can feed itself within the next two years. Even without relief aid from the kingdom. I preemptively asked the Priests of Sormon if they were willing to help, and they were very amenable to the notion of attempting a restoration of the soil around Samsara.”

  “Hoh.” Reivan grinned, gazing at her emerald green eyes knowingly. “You want us to establish more settlements, don’t you?”

  Gwen didn’t agree or disagree, merely saying, “A wise man once said that it is unwise to put all of one’s eggs in a single basket.”

  “That’s not what the kingdom did, no?” Reivan retorted, but not in a tone that was overly confrontational. Rather, he just sincerely wanted to know why she thought that way.

  Aizen, after all, was a kingdom that prospered because it put all of its proverbial eggs in a single basket and protected that basket with everything it had—without ever greedily reaching out for more baskets or a bigger one.

  “I cannot deny that.” she nodded. “But Aizen had many eggs and a very rge basket, with numerous men in steel armor that could dominate anyone trying to take from the basket. In addition to centuries of preparation before the empire, in its infancy, got close enough to try.”

  Reivan grunted. “And now, you are saying that we are facing a very old and very prepared empire. So we cannot handle this the same way the kingdom was handled in the past?”

  “Yes.”

  ‘Well, she has a point, I guess.’

  Reivan gave it some thought before eventually agreeing. “Alright. But we need to make sure the cities themselves are safeguarded against the usual threats. We also have to set up those forts we pnned to protect the border first.”

  Gwen showed another rare smile and nodded. “I will make arrangements with this thought in mind.”

  “And as for the sea cleanup, I’m assuming House Demoscene will be there too, but enlist some volunteers from the Terracatta Cn to help out anyway. They all have the [Water] attribute, right? They’ll be a huge help.”

  “Understood. On that note, I’ve already solicited volunteers yesterday and have a list prepared for your approval. We can get to work this afternoon.”

  Reivan fished out his stamp from within his spatial ring and approved the operation.

  He wasn’t even surprised at Gwen's competence anymore, simply moving on to the next topic. Afterward, they discussed all sorts of other matters before they ran out of things to talk about. It was noon by the time they found themselves at a good stopping point, so they decided to end the meeting.

  Gwen made to leave after losing a very polite argument about how she should take a break sometimes, but stopped at the door. “Your Excellency. If I may…”

  “Yes?” Reivan raised a brow.

  “Please forget what you saw earlier…”

  Seeing her genuine and very rare embarrassment, Reivan couldn’t help but smirk mischievously. “My apologies, Dame Gwendolyn. But my memory is quite good.”

  Gwen’s ears once again burned red as she saluted, before scurrying on out of there.

  Left alone in his office, Reivan chuckled.

  ‘I guess even a cool beauty has her cute sides too.’

  Reivan smiled at the unexpected fortune and stood up, staring out the window and out into the snow-covered city beyond. It was slow, but he could practically see the city regaining some of the vitality it had lost. And with any hope, the momentum of that rise would be enough for it to become greater than it ever was.

  Lageton’s people were taking the initiative to better their own lives now, unsatisfied with living off hand-outs from a foreign nation or standing by to see if someone else could fix things for them. They were motivated. A people downtrodden by fate and circumstance, getting back up from the mud and standing tall.

  The storm had come for Arkhan and its people, but they had come out stronger for it, in a way. And he was seeing that strength now.

  And what a beautiful thing it was to behold.

  AnnouncementChapter Word Count: 5184Last Edited: March 23, 2025