21 Chapter 21

"Princess Alexia it's nice to see you again." I said greeting the white-haired beauty and her evil smile she wore disappeared as she put on a more social 'face' but my party and I, however, saw it and thus knew she had some kind of nefarious scheme she just cooked up in her head.

Alexia nodded her head slightly in acceptance of my greeting and then all but skipped over to my party as she took my arm and pushed it against her breasts that were covered in her Midgar academy uniform. "Oh, it's most definitely a pleasure to see you again Jake. I cannot wait for you to come to Midgar Academy. As I am going to give you the 'Best' welcoming you will ever see hehe." Alexia said giggling and I wondered if this whole thing was about that knight dude that was her betrothed.

I tilted my head as I met Alexia's eyes and I decided if I was going to be used a 'boyfriend shield' that I was going to take advantage of the smug girl as I just nonchalantly wrapped my arm around her waist making her squeak.

"Well come on Princess Alexia. We have to go to the palace to meet your father before we will do anything at the academy." I said smiling as squeezed her waist making her face tighten and her eye twitch as held in her reaction as she knew the knights would separate us if she freaked out. Which would ruin her game...

The trip through the intercity tram was awkward as a couple of the shadow garden girls gave Alexia dirty looks and Alexia herself was put off at how naturally affectionate I was when I matched her over-exaggerated motions to make us look closer.

"So what kind of speech do you plan on giving at the academy?" Alexia asked and I blinked as I almost forgot about that honestly.

But I shrugged as I pulled out a pamphlet of papers depicting the Norse runic magic system in its simplest stages. "Are those ancient runes?" Alexia asked frowning as she took in the runes and I shook my head.

"No those runes are from another world and you guys lost the meaning and thus the method to use those runes in magic new artifacts. These runes are from a new system and thus are perfectly recorded and are capable of anyone using if they can use the slightest bit of mana." I explained as I proved my words by making my finger glow with mana and then I bent over to draw a tiny rune on the ground and in a second later heavy gusts of wind filled the tram before I scrapped the rune off my foot as I saw the knights of Alexia reaching for their swords.

"Anyway, with these runes. Magical artifact creation will no longer become a thing of ancient times." I said confidently as Scathach and Baldur had already shown me how to make some simpler stuff like exploding arrows, and some methods of propulsion to make cars and if I got it down right maybe one day I could make an actual bomber plane or something.

"This may lead to war... The other nations won't like Midgar getting probably years to learn how to make artifacts en-mass before they can steal the methods for themselves as even my father will want to hoard such knowledge." Alexia said bluntly and I nodded smiling making her frown at my attitude.

"Yes... War is coming but not with the Orianna kingdom or the other nations." I said with a sad smile as I could already see Nirn's gods pushing their people into attempting to take over this plane of existence. "I will explain in a while." I finished quietly as I closed my eyes and relaxed in the tram while actually using magical senses to see if I could pick up any signs of the Cult of Diabolos.

"Nope tell me!" She demanded petulantly pulling on my arm and in response I just let my head go limp and pretended to be asleep as her arms jerk dragged my head onto her shoulder making her freeze as I heard Delta growl and Zeta hissing while Tamamo just giggled.

"Jake don't bully the princess too much." Alpha said with a tight smile and I sighed pouting as I opened my eyes back up before I looked over to Ereshkigal who was sitting primly beside Alpha and Tamamo and then I glanced at Alexia.

"Oh yeah, your father wanted to speak to me in my capacity as the Pope of the Gaia church so I decided to bring along one of the Pantheon's gods in the lady before you. The Goddess of the Dead and loving caretaker of all souls within the land of Kur as its queen." I said cheerfully and Ereskigal's eyes snapped open to stare at the frozen Alexia with her golden eyes glowing with divinity.

I could hear Alexia swallow as she bowed in her seat slightly with Ereshkigal reigning in her divinity before the goddess went back to relaxing with her eyes closed.

-

The rest of the trip through the tram was silent except for Zeta and Tamamo talking about the best way to cook fish or something as they didn't care about Ereshkigal's little power move having long since gotten used to the gods and their... Moments of flexing their power.

So once we arrived at the palace once again Ereshkigal unleashed her domain with dark shadows filling the palace with massive skeletal Gallulu spirits appearing around at rest and I could already see how this was going to go just as the time I got cocky at that elven city but as Beatrix pulled the hood down off her face and showed off her identity combined with Alexia being with us we weren't immediately beset by the palaces guards.

"This is a bit much isn't it." Alexia muttered as Ereshkigal walked beside me on my right while Alexia was on my left.

"A goddess wants to make a point." I said dryly as Ereshkigal smugly walked beside me obviously preening at showing off her power in the mortal world. "She won't hurt anyone who doesn't do something utterly stupid so just let her have her moment." I finished with Alexia's face twitching and I could see the thought running through her head at that moment.

'I wish she was an absentee goddess like Beatrix.' Or something like that... Everyone wanted a god and their miracles to fix their issues but with gods came their endless desire for entertainment and thus the endless bullshit they inevitably started.

Once we reached the throne room we came to see the sides of the room filled with what looked to be the nobility of the land in attendance and at the end of the large throne room there was a man in a suit who was standing beside the throne.

"The king of the Midgar Kingdom welcomes you Jake Bariss Pope of the Gaia Church." The man I recognized as some kind of announcer loudly spoke and then the announcer bowed low before he rose up and again spoke loudly with his voice coming out clearly. "And the Midgar kingdom also welcomes the goddess Ereshkigal the Queen of Kur, to the mortal realm." The announcer said obviously trying to sound as respectful as possible and it was only with my year plus of spending time with Ereshkigal that I knew she was desperately holding in a blush of embarrassment as she regally accepted the announcer's bow.

"The king will now see you two in his private meeting room." The announcer said more quietly as the nobility began whispering but Ereshkigal's clearly powerful presence combined with the 'goddess' of war Beatrix kept anyone from saying anything overtly.

Once we got into the private room I took in the king of Midgar's appearance and I realized how Iris Midgar, Alexia's older sister heavily took after him, having taken his red hair and wine-red eyes.

"Sir. It's pleasant to finally meet you face to face, rather than merely sharing letters" I said in greetings as I wasn't going to bow and call him my king or whatever as he had already pushed my church to be a more autonomous organization as he was using my church and by extension Shadow Garden to keep the Cult of Diabolos on the backfoot.

The king of Midgar merely stared at me for a second and then looked to his daughter Alexia who tightened her grasp she had over my arm and then a matching evil smile for a split moment crossed his face before he put on a more genial smile. "Ah welcome to the capital Jake Barris and I welcome you as well Lady Ereshkigal..." The king said before pausing as he looked back to me.

And then he wore a friendly smile as he spoke again with my face freezing at his words. "I see you are still close to my daughter? Hmm well if the rice is already cooked as they say, I can only marry the two of you together in order to preserve her honor. Lady Ereshkigal our royal family would be honored if you would preside over the wedding." He finished his words clapping and Alexia's arm around my own went slack as we both stared at her father in shock at his bullshit.

"Marrying my Apostle to a princess and even being in charge of it.... Deal!" Ereshkigal said fiercely and I could feel the gods and goddesses rioting within me at losing the opportunity as I sputtered at his bullshit.