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Having returned to Par'Talucca, Asai decided to entertain his royal-duties. To officially ride upon a majestic red-mane beast through the capital city, ensuring the citizens who were lucky enough to witness his march would undoubtedly spread rumours to the other far corners of the kingdom. 

With his regal demeanour, Asai led the company at the fore. Swiftly followed by his party members which would make it abundantly clear to all, his current hierarchy and the seats of power. The only surprising element seen here was that Sora Kaka was riding alongside her father, rather than behind, which indicated their equal power and weight of word when it came to their new monarch.

As for their two princesses, the official story which wasn't so far from the truth, was that Kozumi was nearing the end stages of her pregnancy. And thus, wasn't in the condition to travel such far distances. Something, only the more senior of the citizenry prioritized, as they were still very nationalistic at heart and being governed by someone who was considered family was better than a stranger from the south.

And even if they demanded evidence and proof, it wasn't as if they had the legal power or weight to make demands of the man.

Seeing the golden wings soothingly hum upon Robin Sol's back, as her aura and blessings were bestowed upon the people that were fortunate enough to land in her gaze. The younger generation of dhans were all up and ready to jump ship. If Asai had claimed the girl to be of dhan-descent, they would whole-heartedly endorse such a claim.

Within the crowd, were knights and soldiers sent from Duke Jeffrey's territory. There to record and to formalize the relationship between the two kingdoms. Usually, Queen Victoria Del Lagos, the current reigning monarch of of the sovereign-kingdom would travel to its vassal state and seat upon its throne, in which she would accept Asai's oath of fealty and subservience. However, as the queen was also in the same state as Kozumi, Asai was saved the trouble of having to publicly kneel before his people.

Something that honestly saved them a lot of trouble, as the elderly weren't yet ready to accept being lesser than the south.

Sora, who by now only had eyes for the king. Didn't even try to make any attempt at all to hide such thoughts and admiration. Making it publicly clear to all, just how devoted she had become to the man, and as a member of clan Kaka, the people took this new insight entirely positively. Considering how her household wasn't a clan that simply boot kissed royalty for gains, evidently from their refusal to answer Xian the usurper's summons.

...

During the ride back to his palace, Asai found himself lost in thought, as the scenery before him began to blur. Whilst he was being paraded around town as a king, his closest counterpart being Victor Del Lagos was most likely entrenched within some random old castle, located somewhere within the deadlands, battling it out against the dragonkin. And although it appeared massively selfish on paper, at the end of the day there was only a week left until his boat was supposedly ready. And if he was impatient enough, perhaps he could order Robin to fly just the two of them over.

After all, they were visiting on diplomatic terms to hopefully foster a new friendship between realms.

Cutting his mental-dialogue in half, two little youngsters dressed in their respectively grey and pink yukatas ran on over, and rather than flowers they gifted the king with a little wooden figurine; evidently it was self-carved.

"What's this?" The king inquired softly.

"It's you king! Papa says, you saved us all, which makes you a hero."

Hearing such a comment, Asai faded back into his bubble, whilst Sora was quick to spoil the kids with dango and mochi treats. Robin gazed on and also felt incredibly tempted in sharing her own hand-made sweets. However, she remembered Asai's desire to monopolize her cooking to himself, and restrained herself.

"I'm a hero?"

Before he could dive further into scrutinizing his own choices and actions, the man noticed a little toy, snugly kept within the kid's sash. Doing as he pleased, he dismounted and paused the entire parade to speak to the child.

"Girl, what's that?"

The little dhan, who sported sky-blue hair and eyes tried to hide the little toy. "My king, that's a gift my mama left me, you can't have it..."

Asai chuckled as he heard such a comment, whilst the adults nervously watched on, an awful memory regarding Xian flew through their minds.

"Can you tell me about it? In exchange, I promise to make the people of Par'Talucca happy." Stretching out his little pinkie finger, he successfully coaxed the girl into showing him the figurine which revealed itself to be a raccoon, albeit with a leaf atop its head.

"This is, Tanuki! He's a raccoon that has magical powers, but he needs to use his magical-leaf to access them. He can transform and he likes to play pranks on naughty children, so be good!"

[Summon Yokai] !

Tanuki emerged out of Asai's shadow, quick to swirl around to his front. His sudden fluffy and adorable appearance filled the two kids with joy as they bear-hugged the raccoon to bits.

"Sora, what do you know of this Tanuki? And are there any myths that mention anything among the lines of a magical-leaf?"

Sora the dhan, beautifully straited over towards the man, performing as trained as the public eye was currently upon her. Taking her chance to empower her clan's image, she leaned in close and whispered into Asai's ears.

"Your Majesty, have you made the time to visit our treasury yet? It's locked and only enterable by the wearer of [Par'Talucca]. I was going to mention this to you before, but your schedule appeared incredibly busy. It's said that there are ancient records and manuscripts kept there, as well as relics, weapons and armours of the past kings." 

Suddenly feeling invigorated with excitement towards royal-relics and potential weapon additions. Asai head patted the two kids before sending them back to their family and resuming the parade. 

Rather than his prior lack lustre mental energy, he now felt somewhat relieved that he could continue to strengthen his parameters even more.

"Forever a student..." Honestly, if he ever managed to max out his level, and stopped growing and improving. He could only imagine himself to be lost, a life without purpose?

"Ah... I'm already having an existential crisis, and I still have another 5 centuries to live out..."

[Longevity]

Lifespan increased to [607.5] Aging greatly decelerated [Youth] Greatly extended.

Glancing over towards Robin Sol, who was a half-elf. Asai was glad to have met such a woman. Someone who would bravely trudge through the passing of time together with him. Truly, through thick and thin.

...

Catching Asai's eyes linger upon her, she pulled out a few wagashi confectionary sweets, riding close enough to feed the man directly. Robin entirely forgot about the thousands of eyes that were observing them, as they entered their own little bubble.

At this point in time, Asai's trust in the girl was so absolute, his mouth instinctively opened to receive her kind-gesture. Something he immediately somewhat regretted as diabetes assaulted him.