87 Answers

What should he start with then? What was the best thing to ask first?

Emp looked at the girls at his side and chose to ask about Celtine first.

"Then about her, what did I do wrong, why is she so distant with me? Why was she so upset when I told her about my feelings?"

He really felt depressed about this so he really wanted to know.

"Don't misunderstand, your two servants, they aren't mad at you, they are mad at themselves and don't know how to face you."

"What? But why? They have done nothing wrong."

"Clearly this is not what they feel. I could tell you exactly what is the problem but as the goddess Love, I know it would be better if they were the ones to tell you why they feel this way. Either find out by yourself or wait for them to be ready to talk. The only two things I can say is that you did nothing wrong up to now, you've been great even, and I already gave them the answer to their problems. I knew this would happen from the start so I told them what to do on those papers you all took last time you came."

"Really?"

"Yes really, I told you they were important."

Emp was impressed by Love. That time, he just thought it was a waste of time but if he had known then how he now felt, he would never have thought so. The way those two acted was really disturbing to him, he wished they'd be back to normal soon.

"The girl Celtine will take time though. There is a massive differences in culture between her and this Steelwood empire. Not only do you not share the same race but by her standards, a single man should belong to a single woman and the other way around. She strongly rejects the idea of sharing her partner, she can only see it as disgraceful decadence."

"So you mean to tell me that I should choose who I love most and leave the others be in order to satisfy her?"

"No, I don't think you can. I made you with too large a heart, you are the son of love after all. I love all things and you are not far off from that. You may not love everything and everyone but once you do love something, it will be hard for you to let it go. It is not because you are a lecherous man or that you like to change lovers from time to time, it will purely be because of my divine influence. You will love and love, unable to do anything about it and those feelings will only grow. That is why I gave you the ring of allegiance, once you start loving someone, letting them go or loosing them would be devastating for your heart."

"Isn't that cruel?"

"I didn't mean for it to be cruel, I just wanted you to feel love like I do. I admit that love sometimes hurts a lot but when you reach that perfect state of acceptance, care and comfort with another you wish to share those, you will never want to leave that state.

Love is a powerful drive, you lived it already. The love for a friend let you risk your life to save theirs and the love for this girl here had you move faster than I ever saw.

This isn't a curse or a cruel trick, you will love and love more. With a good character like yours, that love will bloom into smiles around you and help you protect those you hold dear. It will help you fulfill the bet too.

I can see it in your head already. You're thinking it all the time since that mage attacked Mable. How do I make sure she is safe, how to make sure they are all safe? Let me give you the answer, you will find it enlightening I'm sure. Who do you think are the most protected women in the world? Wouldn't they be the wives and daughters of the emperor?"

Emp stared into her purple eyes for a really long time after that. Wasn't she right? His name was Emperor, he was meant to be an emperor. If he did, there would be all the armies of the empire at his order to protect them, who would be crazy enough to attack someone in the family of an emperor?

"Nowhere will ever be perfectly safe since Death as a lot of reach but this is the best you can possibly do aside of course from being at their sides all the time. You don't have to hurry though, things are moving just as they should, luck made sure of that. Since you're so mean to me and I don't know when you'll be back next, I'll tell you now; the ancient of the school is preparing something interesting. He will ask something of you and you will say yes. You could say no as well and make your own path but I tell you, accepting his plan will be best if you want to keep friends and lovers close for later in your life."

"I will keep that in mind."

Up until now, Love had refused to do many things for him but everything she had said had helped him a lot. He had no reason to not trust her words and so would pay close attention to whatever the duke would ask him. However, he wasn't here to learn about his future, he was here to know what he was supposed to do right now.

"What about Mable? What do I do for her?"

"The girl does like you a lot but she isn't the ruler of her own destiny, or at least not yet. She's just afraid of getting hurt. Think about how you feel from that mute servant reaction, this is the sort of pain she is afraid to feel."

"Is it because of her father? She talks about him a lot."

Emp remembered that way back in the first moral class, she was one of those who had raised their hands when asked if they had been told they would be able to chose their own husbands. He also remembered that she had lowered her hand when asked if she believed it was real.

"What do I do then? How do I give her control over her own life?"

"Again, the answer is: nothing at all. I can't see the future, I just know what everyone is thinking and planning right now. I can tell you that if nothing crazy happens, things will end up well. If she makes the right choice that is, I gave her a hint just earlier. I've got your back my darling boy, don't worry."

That answer felt very disappointing to Emp since he really wanted to help. Was there really nothing he could do to help?

"There are things you can do to help things go in a way that will satisfy your hunger for love but I can't tell you those because you are missing pieces. I really want to tell you what you missed because I can't wait to see the face you'll make hearing it but I can't. In any case, I know you enough to understand that you will do the right thing even if you aren't told what that thing is."

Emp made a frustrated pout but gave up on trying to get more information. Knowing he was on the right track was enough for now.

"So the next one you want to know about is that girl in the village right? She's a bit far from here so I have a hard time looking."

"Does this mean you can't help for her either?"

He wanted to know how to tell her how he felt without loosing her forever from the embarrassment.

"I can help, of course, this one is the easiest of the lot in fact. Not the girl herself, I mean, the way to help you. I can feel how much you love her already and for me, it's easy to tell that this feeling is shared with her. The best part is that she already knows how you feel, she's just gathering her courage now. Keep going like you are now and everything will fall in place soon, I'd say in less than a month. Don't forget about the flowers and she will make her feelings clear soon."

So he was worrying about what he felt for all the girls but in fact he had been fine? He only had to wait?

That was very soothing for him but he still had many question. What about Galana and Brenia, what was it that he really felt about them, was there a way to make it clear?

"The warrior girl has a past much more troubled than it seems. She's bitter and distrustful, her heart half dissolved. She's also entirely fixated on her own goal, if you do want to keep her close, know that it will be a hard thing to accomplish.

What you feel towards her seems blurry because you don't know her enough. Just spend more time with her and whether you like her or not will become clearer.

Just don't jump to any conclusion too fast, mistakes do happen in love. I'm not saying this is necessarily the case here but not confuse lust for love. Lust is very talented in breaking perfectly working relationships with a momentary feeling, I warn you now.

As for that bookstore woman, just give up on her. She's not worth any of your time."

"Why?"

Love seemed to dislike Galana and she did nothing to hide it. Her eyes showed displeasure and her mouth twisted in disgust at her mere mention.

"She insulted me and mocked you, she has a foul mouth and can't seem to work out solutions for her simple problems. She is a burden with no will of her own and keep placing herself in trouble. Plus, she never apologized. I want better for my son. I don't care if you like her rough attitude or her oversized sense of distorted morals, she is just no good. I am the one to bless marriages, even if you ignored my words and took her in, as your mother, I would never bless that ceremony and that would make it invalid. Just forget about her."

Love hated her, there was no other way to say it. Love would not help him about her but her words did help him understand what he felt. He noticed that he got frustrated hearing Love criticizing her, maybe he felt more strongly about her than he first believed. (1)

He felt he still needed more time to think about both Galana and why exactly Love didn't like her. In the meantime, he still had more things to ask about. In particular, something that bothered him for a while now.

"Why do I look so much like a Muracier? I could understand that some might mistake me for a Muracier because I do have their name but why are there so many people recognizing me as a Muracier before even seeing the name. You four made me, how did I end up looking like them?"

"That's a hard question."

Love moved her lips left and right trying to find a good way to say it.

"You remember what I told you about that second soul?"

He did very well, after all, it was an important event in his life.

"I told you back then that creating a new human from scratch was easy for us but since we had to make use of that spare soul to make everything work, we had to make sure it would bond properly. We cheated a bit and took the blood of his family as a base to build you. If you had been born the normal way, It would be like your father was a Muracier and your mother was custom made by us."

So, did this mean that in the end, he really was a Muracier? That was incredible! He had not expected that. No wonder everyone felt he acted and looked like one of them, he was half truly Half Muracier. That was really surprising he had not guessed it at all.

Then...

Wait...

The body had to match the soul? The body was linked to the Muraciers to make the soul fit, did that mean?

"Yes, in that stone you keep over your mantle is what remains of the general's brother."

What! (2)

*-*-*-*

(1) I just noticed I made a terrible mistake in chapter 64: "Mable's Champion". Emp refers to Balpoisson by name even if he isn't supposed to know who holds the debt of Galana. This is a major inconsistency. I went back and fixed it as I was writing this one. I just wanted to clarify once more in case someone gets confused later on. Emp does not know who Galana owes money to.

My apologies if I led you to believe otherwise with my stupid mistake.

(2) Back in March, when I wrote the side chapter titled "Who's soul was it?" I really expected that this reveal was never going to come into play. I thought Emp would remain in the dark for the rest of the story and I wanted to give the readers the conclusion they needed to know if they had guessed it right or wrong. However, now that I place it in the story, I feel like I butchered the opportunity. I learned a valuable lesson today. Even if I think it will never come into play, never reveal anything out of the text. I erased the "who's soul was it?" for the new readers and also because it isn't needed anymore since everything I talked about there is now or will very soon be covered. Sorry for messing it up. What a horrible week.