A deal with the empire.

It's been two months since the battle against the empire and I'm currently back in Yggdrasil. I went to the Kremore Kingdom to visit the royal family again since they were worried about me, I guided the kids on how to level their skills fast and also helped them regrow their tree plantation. I also followed the royal family as we went around the entire kingdom to bless the fields, I could have done that even from Yggdrasil, but King Gerald wanted to make a show for it.

That alone took almost over a month, but we switched to my carriage to move faster, I mentioned I had plans to be elsewhere this month, so they complied. While traveling the countryside on the Kremore Kingdom I noticed many elven and human-elven families living there. Elves are very intuned with nature and so they truly enjoy farming and are very good at it with their Nature Magic.

I decided to be a bit mischievous, so when we met with the elves I went and hugged them, hehe. They all froze and were shocked! It was fun and I bet that will be a story they will tell their children in the future, it's not always that the god you worship visits you and hugs you.

Anyway, I was back in Yggdrasil to plan my visit to the empire. The 10 shadow elves and Seb were going with me as the elves were hopefully going to be teachers in the academy and Seb always followed behind me. He took his role as a butler very seriously and he really loved serving me, so I, of course, had no reason to deny him that.

"How high have you gotten your new skills at?" I asked the elves, the max level for both [Master Teacher] and [Shadow Stalk] is 100.

"We are all at level 40 or over in [Shadow Stalk], My lord. And [Master Teacher] has only reached between 10 and 15." The high elf in the group answered as they all saw her as the leader of their group.

"Great progress, but it will only get slower now. We are going to the empire soon and many there are racist due to their past emperor, he brainwashed them that we were evil creatures. But I want you to ignore them unless they attack you, you just ignore them. Even if they insult me!" I told them. Using me as a topic can really work in provocation against the elves.

"But, my lord! If they insult you, they should pay for it!" The high elf said, and the other elves just nodded in agreement.

"No buts, they don't know us and therefore fear us. And they will provoke us to 'prove' their point in us being dangerous, if you attack them, it will only prove them right." I really don't want an incident now.

I managed to eventually get them to promise me to not act out if they heard any insults., only if they attacked. I also told them not to kill if the attackers were just scared citizens, but to kill if they were scum. Elves are intuned with nature and can easily sense malice, they can also sense the nature of a person if they are close to them.

===

We were currently on our way to the Empire and due to the last battle, I was not sure we were welcome, but I heard that the new emperor is better than the old one. Apparently one the nobles who were against the war against my people had taken the chance to cease the throne before the old emperor's supporters got it. I had already sent a peace offer and the current emperor had signed it, so while the war didn't last long, the empire would be sensitive to elves for a while.

I had of course already notified the emperor of my visit and so they should expect me. So far the welcome we've gotten has surpassed my expectation. We arrived in a few villages and I used them as a 'test' to see how they would welcome us. Many villages there were very welcoming and some were even drafted in the army and were present on the battlefield that day, even they were welcoming of us.

Over 15,000 people had died that die and the most died on the volley we fired at them. I had the misfortune of meeting the family of some of the dead, while they did not want to see their husbands/fathers killers, they never truly blamed the elves, but the empire for their stupid decisions.

We also had an incident in a city that we stopped in to rest for the night, though none of us really needed the rest, I want the elves to get used to the humans in the empire as they will live here for a while. Some idiots thought it was a perfect time to capture some elves. I took that time to destroy them and had the elves sneak in to find any documents as proof of their wrongdoings, otherwise, it will just look like mass murder.

Not to my surprise, the lord was in on the bad things happening in the city. He even let his own people get kidnapped and sold elsewhere. It was not my place to punish them, but I did gather all the documents we found and then killed many of those who had a hand in that world. The empire sure is corrupt. We mostly killed the worst of the worst, as I said, I don't want to seem like a mass murderer and while I hate people like them, it is not my place to punish them.

It took a while, but we got to the capital and went straight to the palace, where the emperor lived. We arrived to find him outside, waiting for us, he looked older than I thought, around his mid-forties, Long brown hair that he had put up in a ponytail and a brown goatee on his shin. He was standing tall at 6"2(188cm) and had a luxurious red and golden robe on him. He looked exhausted.

We had our greetings, his name was Aleri Anneious, and I could sense no hate towards me or the elves. He seems like a good person, but I can also tell that he does not want to be emperor. Which makes me wonder why he took the throne in the first place.

We got in a great hall where we were going to have a meeting and many nobles from the empire were to be present, he warned me about many of them being supporters of the old emperor. As soon as we walked in, I could feel the stares of hate and disgust on me, and stares of lust and greed at the elven companions that followed me in.

I'm currently in my original height, so I'm very short but the emperor did not look down on me because of it, but some of the nobles seem to.

"Welcome to the empire, Lord Mlande!" The emperor said as we all sat down around a big round table.

"Thank you for having me, Emperor Aleri," I answer back before continuing.

"I came here today to try and mend our relationships," I say and look the emperor in the eyes.

"Mend our relationships!? You killed our people, you kill our emperor and you got our prince in custody!" One of the nobles yelled back.

"Correction, I killed your emperor AND your prince," I said and look him straight in the eyes.

"WHAT!?" Many nobles stand up and shout.

"The moment you tried to invade my land, I killed the prince," I said, the emperor looked pleased, but many nobles looked angry, probably the old emperor's supporters that wanted to put the prince on the throne and control him.

There were a few whispers among the nobles before one brave noble stood up.

"Then you need to compensate us for the death of the prince! The elves behind you will do fine!" The fat noble said as he stroke his ugly, greasy mustache. I laughed out loud, gaining the attention of everyone around the table.

"The reason this all started was that the empire conspired with the demons to attack my domain. You used demon fire to try to torch my forest down. You did so, thinking we would not retaliate! The reason why we have never attacked anyone before is not that we're weak, it's because we despise war." I say loudly.

"It started when your people tried kidnapped my people for greed and lust, what my people did was get them back, and then that was the end of it. But this time, you tried to destroy our land, that is an act of war, so we responded with what you all wanted." I look over all the nobles.

"Believe me when I say that even the demons have no chance at all versus my people. Even one of my guardians(Ynas) is enough to destroy them on this continent. But you humans are always preaching about the evil of demons, but you collude with them in secret! What does that make you?" The nobles who just wanted to get their hands on some elves seem to have not listened at all.

There was a short silence before the whispering continued, I looked at the emperor and our eyes met, he seemed amused.

"You say that one of your so-called guardians are enough to destroy the demons, then why don't you? We also have information that your guardians can't leave your territory." He says, and everyone gets curious about the answer.

"That was before. I had ordered my guardians to never leave the territory without my permission. This was before I sent them to this land a very long time ago when I came back, I fixed that. Since I came here, the only damage the demons have done to my people is through you. I've seen the strength of humans on this continent and you have enough strength to drive them out if you wanted to, but you are so greedy for power and wealth that the future of humankind does not matter to you at all. Demons only purpose is to feed on the souls of mortals, you are food to them and you help them get stronger"

Demons will get what's coming to them soon enough, I want people to see them die when Ynas gets the order to destroy them. I plan to have humans and elves march on the demons before sending Ynas. Both in order to let people know our strength in number and the overwhelming strength of power we have.

"Enough, let's talk about the real reason our guest is here." Emperor Aleri ends our argument, now that he's got the information he needs. The nobles shut up, but I have no doubt they will stop their plotting.

"As a means to mend our relationship, I plan to have these elves behind me become teachers in the academy. They are all masters in all forms of melee and ranged combat, as well as in nature magic." I mention my reason for coming here.

The emperor looks interested, many nobles can feel the strength of the elves and are thinking of their children who are in the academy, how it will benefit them. Other nobles feel this is the perfect chance to get their hands on elves if the elves will live in the empire, and me not being here then they will have a chance to catch them. Foolish thoughts as even one of these elves are enough to destroy even the strongest squads in the empire by themselves, and their teamwork would make them even more dangerous.

I get excused as they will start to discuss my idea, but it didn't take long before I got called back in and it was accepted. There was a small celebration for our new agreement and the start of a possible alliance.

The next day, we have a letter of introduction from the emperor and many nobles as we are on our way into the academy, the headmaster is already awaiting us and after the battle, many teachers have fled the country, so they are in need of teachers.

We arrive and are greeted by an older woman, who leads us to the headmaster. The woman is very powerful for a human, most likely a teacher here. I need to start planning on how to deal with the holy kingdom. They worship the goddess of light, Iphion, and will probably take offense if I come calling myself a god. And I can't sense any other deity in this land, so if this Iphion exists then it's either a being stronger then myself or has ways to hide their presence.

I wonder if I can use light magic? Now that I'm in this world, many restrictions have been lifted since the game so maybe I can learn other elements. I guess I'll experiment with that when I go back home.