128 Introducing Galana

"We'll be home in no time." Emp told Galana shortly after they left Red-water city.

This time around, he was walking at a decent pace instead of running so it would take longer. He had plenty of time to reach the village before nightfall so they would be just fine.

"Home huh?

...

It's fine, you can take your time. I've been stuck in the city for six years so I'm happy to be outside again."

She said it while looking at the changing scenery around them but Emp couldn't help but notice she spent as much time looking up at him and his armor than she did looking at their surroundings. He guessed it was normal considering that he was most likely occupying almost half of her field of view because of the way he was carrying her.

Speaking of the way he was carrying her, she was still making that strangely embarrassed face because of it.

"Am I doing something wrong? Why are you making that face?" He finally chose to ask.

"You know, the way you are carrying me. It's usually how a valiant knight will carry a princess or how a newlywed man will carry his wife. It's a classic scene in many stories I read."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

He expected her to get angry again and yell idiot at him but she didn't.

"Yes, I expected that answer. It's just more practical for you isn't it?"

Emp nodded but Galana couldn't really see it because of his helm so he gave her a clearer answer.

"Exactly, aren't you upset?"

"Why would I be upset?"

"I feel like usually, you'd get upset and call me an idiot at this point."

She pounded his helm with her fist.

"What is that even supposed to mean? I'm trying to be nicer and the first thing you tell me is how I should be upset? You're an idiot!"

Emp laughed happily.

"That's more like it."

"I hate you." She pouted angrily.

"Do you want me to carry you differently?"

"No, it's fine..."

They continued to travel like that for a bit, before she found something else to speak about again.

"You asked about what you had missed but there isn't much else to talk about. We've covered pretty much everything. Now I'm more curious about what "I" missed. I know you've had a bunch of trouble, I know you got married to a girl I forgot the name of, I know there's this other one I told you would be trouble but that's about it. I don't know anything recent, I don't know what you've been up to or even what makes you so busy."

It was true that Emp left out a lot in his letters. They were too far apart to talk about everything and he was so occupied all the time that he simply couldn't fit or even remember about everything in a single letter. He wondered what he should tell her and what he was best not to. To be technical, she was now a sealed slave so it should not matter what he told her but if he did it would be riskier to release her later.

"I'm not sure what I can and can't tell you."

"You already told me the great general isn't really your father because you were born from the gods, you even told me your actual name is Emperor and spoke about that weird bet or whatnot. Can there be something even worse than that? I don't think so. Come on, why should I be the only one to talk about myself all the time?"

Since Emp already had a strong inclination on always telling everything, her argument worked really well on him. He decided to tell her about as much as he could think about. He started with what he felt was the biggest thing.

"I plan to take over the empire."

"The green dragon empire right? That's about that thing the gods told you to do. Wait, are you saying you're leaving soon?"

She seemed a bit worried and sad at the same time.

"No, that's not what I meant, I plan on taking the Steelwood empire for myself first."

Her eyes instantly went wide and she started to squirm in his arms.

"You what!? Wait, hold on! Put me down! I can't talk properly like that! Are you even serious?! What the fuck! What in the bloody lake is this about!?"

Emp stopped walking and placed her back on her feet in front of him.

"What sort of fucked up decision is this?! You're saying it like a random guy would say he's going to take a drink! What's wrong with you idiot!? The Muraciers swore to protect the empire and you're saying you want to betray their words and the emperor and take his throne! Did you go insane?"

Emp shook his head in his helm.

"I didn't go insane, my goal is perfectly reasonable. I think I can protect everyone better if I'm the only one at the top. Splitting the power of the empire in two never made sense in the first place. Anyway I don't feel compelled to follow a promise made by people who aren't really my ancestors."

"But you don't really have to do all this do you? The goal is just to make sure this other emperor doesn't stay on his throne, you don't have to have an empire of your own to do that, being the great general is more than enough to do that! By the ancestors, you don't even need that! I'm sure you could just walk in there, kill him and then leave!"

"But my name isn't General or Assassin, my name is Emperor, that's what they meant for me to do when they made me."

"But don't you understand how insanely dangerous that is? Do you know what will happen to you if you get caught?"

"Do you really think its safer to walk across the continent, step inside the imperial palace of the strongest empire there is and slay their emperor? Calm down and think properly, you'll see right away that its my best chance, its the safest path for me and the best way to effectively protect everyone I care about."

She made a pout to go along with a sigh and brought her two hands to her hair to help her think, stroking her ponytail strongly.

"Once you're truly the next great general, if you announce your intentions, one of three things will happen. Either they will label you as a traitor and no one will side with you, either the emperor will give up in front of the might of the Muracier and the armies of the empire or the whole thing will unravel and there will be a huge war for the imperial throne. The last one is the most likely, I don't see what's good about that."

"The Grandbois are really bad at everything military related. They have no realistic chance of winning. The only reason they have the throne is because we're standing behind it to push away anyone that would covet it. If the Muraciers and the Grandbois fight, the Muraciers will win every single time. We know that, they know that, everyone else knows that. As long as I can get enough people on my side first, everyone else will stay put."

"Are you really sure about that? You don't know, nobody does, nothing is ever certain. I was sure I was going to spend the rest of my life as Balpoisson's slave but that's not what happened. Anything could happen because anyone could do something crazy at any time."

"Even if you tell me this, it's still my best chance. You won't change my mind whatever you say."

"Urgh, who's the crazy bull-headed idiot now? I can't even say "just be careful" because however you put it, there's nothing careful about that! The only thing I agree on is that if you need to become an emperor, this will probably be your best bet. You haven't told this to anyone right? You know it's dangerous to say anything, if anyone heard you we'd be in serious trouble. You need to make sure no one will find out, order me to never talk about it too, that's safer."

Emp was about to answer by asking her if she'd help him but he was interrupted by another person and her very happy dog.

"That's a bit late now. If you wanted to keep that secret, you shouldn't speak about it in the open like that."

"Who are you!?" Galana asked nervously. She felt like she had been caught doing something terrible.

Meanwhile, the dog came running to Emp to request some love again. Emp had his armor disappear and petted the dog as he answered Galana. He was surprised to see June here again and really frustrated that she might have heard what they were saying but he wasn't extremely worried about her.

"She's June, a thief."

"A thief? Come on, aren't we friends? I'm more of an opportunist of sorts."

"I see, so you're a scavenger." Galana interpreted.

"Aw, why do you both have to be so mean with me? I'm doing mostly honest work here."

"And you know her?" Galana asked him with a frown.

"Sort of. What did you hear June?"

"I saved you from that sloth just the other day, can't you be kinder?"

"June, what did you hear?" He just repeated.

"Fine you mean apprentice, I didn't hear the whole thing but I heard more than enough to understand you want to beat up the emperor to take his throne. I don't think a bit of strength will cut it, you know? Also, I'm pretty sure that if I said that to the right person, you'd end up in big trouble."

"I think you should kill her in case she does decide to talk to anyone." Galana said.

Emp protested right away while June stepped back in feigned shock and horror, she had obviously taken it as some joke.

"I'm not gonna kill June just because she overheard me talk. That wouldn't be right at all."

"But she's been creeping and spying from the roadside, you even called her a thief just a minute ago! The first things she did was come out and threaten you with what she heard too!"

"Woah there! I didn't threaten him! How come whenever I say something to someone it gets misinterpreted in the worst possible way!?"

June seemed to be about to cry.

"How is that not a threat! You'll ask something ridiculous from him in exchange of your silence and the moment we'll have left, you'll rush to someone else to sell the info!"

"The first part is mostly right but I mean... That's not a threat! I'm just jumping on a good opportunity! Aren't we friends?"

"I feel more friendship towards your dog actually." Emp answered while giving the dog some new piece of meat.

The dog was really happy about it.

"Hey, stop corrupting my girl! Look, I'm sure we can come to an agreement, its not like I want to rat out the son of my best friend. Anyway, what would the guards even do? Oh the son of the smith in that village want to usurp the emperor's place, what a grave danger. that's not worth killing over is it?"

"The son of the smith?" Galana didn't see at all how this was related to anything until understanding flashed through her mind. That woman didn't know he was a Muracier! She heard only the very last part of the conversation!

"Oh, right, Marcelia, of course, the son of Marcelia."

"Am I missing something?" June asked in confusion.

"You are but we aren't going to tell you what that is. You have to understand June that this is really important at least to me and Calla, I can't have you say that to anyone."

"Yeah, everyone will laugh at his silly dream if you say it. His wife will definitely feel ridiculed." Galana added.

That wasn't really true but Emp had no reason to say it aloud.

"Right, your wifey Champom will be so ashamed she won't ever come out of your house again if I say anything. Marcy will be super angry too. You know what this means right?"

"That you want money?"

"No! I'm fine with the reward you gave me the other day thank you very much. I want something much better! You'll have to shut your mouth about the timestop sloth! No telling Marcy about it! You stay mute and I stay mute too, how does that sound?"

She was making the smile of a shady merchant that was about to make some ridiculously lucrative deal. Emp felt sort of bad for tricking her like this, if she did keep her words, he was exchanging his future for the promises she wouldn't get scolded by Marcy. At least, in the end, she found the money.

"Fine then, I promise I won't say anything about how you almost left me to die to the sloth."

"Deal!" June clapped her hands together right away.

"Wait she did what?" Galana asked with an angry frown quickly forming on her face.

"♪ Nothing. ♪" June claimed happily.

Galana glared her way but June mostly ignored her.

"Maybe you should be more careful about who you frequent, she was all too ready to kill someone she had never met over something so stupid. I wouldn't thrust her if I was you."

"What!"

"It's fine." Emp calmed Galana. "It's time we leave."

He put his armor back on and lifted Galana in the air again.

"If you do become the emperor, make sure to give me some big shot title, make me a noble, yeah?" June laughed

"Do you even know what nobles do." Galana said, skeptically.

"They laze around all day and get rich anyway."

Galana answered with a pout because she kept complaining of exactly that and June laughed again.

"Sure, I'll do that. See you for the new year I guess." Emp told her.

"You bet, your favorite big sister will be there for the food!"

She waved them goodbye and Emp used the Space blessing to leave. "What a strange woman." he couldn't help but think.

The next instant, they had already left her far behind.

"Are you really sure it's fine to leave her like that?" Galana asked with a small bit of worry.

"Of course its fine. She knows almost nothing and even if she says something, It will do just like you said two years ago. No one will believe her because she's just a thief, or scavenger or whatever she calls herself. I agree she is untrustworthy but she's still a friend of Marcy and she's done nothing wrong yet. She was right at the end, your reaction was a bit extreme."

She punched his helm again as she screamed her answer.

"I'm bond to you idiot! If you die I die too! Loosing my life to a lousy noble scheme is the last thing I want!"

"It can't be lousy, I haven't planned anything yet."

"It's even worse!"

"I need to defeat Graube Muracier first before I make any plans. He want to take the title of great general for himself so there will probably be a battle for succession."

"Oh come on! You have to tell me those things before I accept following you! I don't even want to try to picture what a fight between two Muraciers look like."

"According to my teacher, it won't be a fight with weapons but instead a fight to see who the rest of the family supports."

"So it's a noble thing? It's going to give me a headache. What/"

"Wait, we're passing a village."

Emp stopped her for a time while he stepped through the village before the hills. He didn't want to let someone hear them by chance again, even if they were moving fast enough to only let them catch a glimpse.

Once he let Galana speak again, she had calmed down a bit and asked a few more question.

"How does this work exactly? How many people must you convince? Just how large is the Muracier family in the first place? Is there something precise you have to do?"

Emp did his best to explain about Blackbull's plan, what he knew of the branch families and the vassals and how he expected everything would go.

"So you have to prove your worth and look better fitting to the role than this guy Graube... But I messed up the whole plan didn't I?"

"What do you mean?"

"You needed to put some of them on your side before he knew you existed but thanks to your intervention in my problems, everyone will know you're real in no time. I feel even worse than before."

"Blackbull will be really angry but I think it will be fine. He would have learned about it the moment I sent the letters to potential ladies in waiting anyway. Things will just move a bit faster than they would have otherwise, don't beat yourself over it. The worse that could happen would be for him to come directly to give me trouble. I'm not strong enough yet to face someone like him."

"I feel like you are plenty strong."

"You don't understand, its all raw strength, I don't have the family techniques or any good self-magic. Currently, if I can't overwhelm an opponent with strength alone, I'm not likely to win at all."

"Can't they teach you that in that school of yours?"

"Not really, they can only show me the basic or things that are common in the empire. I'd need Chinui to show me but I can't go there now, I don't have the time. Even if I run, it will take me days to get there and who knows how long to learn. I already have my hands full with everything else."

"What else could possibly take so much of your time? Aren't you at two places at once?"

"I have many things on my plate already. I'm not done with school, I haven't finished my confirmation gift for Mable, I have to spend time with Calla, take care of things about the ladies in waiting, go around the trial grounds of Life and Truth, train the Porter sisters and my brother in law and I've also got to watch out about that war mage Ninoslav in case he comes back."

"Wait up, I didn't know about half of that. Who are the Porter sisters, what was that about the war mage, about the trials and about the confirmation gift?"

Once again, Emp did his best to explain everything to her in the clearest possible way. He told her about how that mage came back to abduct a girl he knew, about how the Porter sisters followed him and Calla back to Dark-glint as well as how he bought Svae, about his promise to Celtine, about how busy he was with all his school classes, about the details of the deal he had with Mable and about Gilbert wanting to be a knight. It took him so long to explain all this in details and answer all her questions that they had almost reached Dark-glint by the time he was done.

Their long talk was only interrupted by the low woods and the howling hills. Not only was the sound of the wind so strong they could barely hear each-other, it was the first time Galana saw it and so Emp let her take a long look at it. He passed through the Low woods slowly and let her admire the effect of the strong winds.

"I can't believe the wind is so strong here." She screamed over the sound.

"It's even worse in the hill, you'll see." He answered just as loudly.

She felt very interested by the strange sight of the bent forest and the hills full of holes but the inside of it was really on another level. The deafening screams of the wind, the darkness covering fissures and caves leading into the unknown far bellow, the small pockets of light sinning across gaps of narrow paths, all of it was just to the taste of someone raised with the stories of adventure of her parents. For the first time since they left, she didn't spare a glance at Emp, even though she kept her arms around his neck to hold herself more upright.

"Can you see that light up there?" He asked.

Miraculously, she heard him over the wind.

"Which one?"

"The one at the far end."

"The one I can barely see over the outcrop over there? Is that where we're going?"

"Yes, I jumped from there all the way to here the day I received your letter because I was hurrying but this time, we'll take the long way around."

"You're crazy! There's no way anyone can jump that! It's too far up and its too dark!"

"You don't believe me?"

She shook her head, still not looking at him.

"I do believe you, that's the annoying part, that's why I said you're crazy!"

She turned her head back up towards his face. He saw her lips form the words "thank you" but he didn't hear them over the wind.

"I can't hear!"

"Promise me you're never doing something so dangerously stupid again!"

"I can't, what if I had to save you again?"

He never planned to do it again but who knew what trouble the future held. If he promised that, he might get in trouble later.

"You're a stupid idiot!"

Emp's laughter was devoured by the wind and he made his way to the other side with a sightseeing Galana.

He pointed out the entrance again from the spot he jumped when they reached the top. She knocked against his helm hard again. Emp wondered if she would end up hurting her hands by doing that.

"That's not something to be proud of! Stop boasting about your own stupidity!"

Once they left the cave under the hill behind, they followed their previous conversation until they reached the village. Emp had the sun right at his back while he walked as it was going down and closing in on the forest bellow it, his shadow stretched far ahead of him but other than that, it gave him no inconvenience. He was not too disturbed aside from how hard it was to not laugh at how Galana kept squinting her eyes to look anywhere.

"Once we're in the village," He told her. "I'd like you to not talk about anything related to the Muraciers unless someone is directly talking about it to you. There aren't many who knows who I am here."

"Alright, just to be sure, who does know?"

"The village chief Bor, the mage I hired, the Champom family, Marcy and Svae. No one else knows. In particular, I'd like you to not say anything to the Porter sisters, I'll tell them myself if they progress enough in their training."

"Got it, If there's one thing I'm good at, it's keeping secrets."

Since they were almost there, Emp put her down on the road and removed his armor. He wanted to walk in with his usual look. He also gave her a nod to show her he had heard her answer and asked her what he was the most eager to know since he had started telling her everything she didn't know.

"So, now that you heard everything, will you help me?"

She answered with a confused frown.

"Help you with what?"

"Help me reach my goals."

"What? But, how could I even help? You know that everything we've been talking about is way out of reach for me right? There's nothing I can do."

"That's not true at all, there's plenty you can do."

"Really? Didn't we have that same conversation this morning?"

She looked like she had given up on everything and was looking his way with a defeated pout.

"No that's true that you could help me, I need someone to take care of papers."

"Take care of papers?"

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"Yes, the more I'm learning and the more I see that I'll have a lot of documents to handle. Nobles like to have everything written and recorded. I'll have reports, letters, messages, information, summaries and so on to work with. For now, I don't have much but because of what we did in Red-water and the letters I'll soon send to potential ladies in waiting, I'm convinced I'll start receiving mountains of things. If I succeed, I'll have to deal with the entire Muracier house papers and military papers too. Celtine can handle all my school papers and even takes notes for me but she can't be over there and here at home at once. I'd like you to write and read for me, take care of storing and organizing the papers and books properly and watch over them all for me. That would be a huge help, I could do so much more thanks to that. That way, you'd be able to keep an eye on our money too, you'd have all the notes of the money we receive or spend. Honestly, who could manage money better than you?"

"So you want me to do the job of a treasurer and a secretary?"

"Why not, I can't hire someone unrelated because of what I plan to do, I can't let others see most of those papers. I'm sure you can do it. Also, you wanted to learn magic like your mother, you'll have access to all my spell books and class notes, Martin, the mage I hired, will be close by and you'll have my help too so you'll definitely manage to learn. Once you do, you'll be an even greater help to me. So, won't you help me? You don't have much else to do in Dark-glint anyway."

She seemed unsure but was attracted by the possibility of learning magic properly and changed her attitude after he mentioned it. She accepted his offer hesitantly.

"I guess I could, fine, I'll do it."

"Great, thank you. I'm sure you'll like it. Now, let's get into the village, I'll present everyone to you."

"I feel nervous about meeting your wife. Will she be angry at me for causing you all this trouble you think?"

"It will be fine, I've never seen Calla angry before. You'll see."

Galana followed him towards the village gate but before they got there, Emp remembered something. He searched into his bag and retrieved a long band of white cloth that he presented to her.

"Do you want it?"

"What for?"

She didn't understand what he meant.

"Your forehead."

"Oh, right..."

She hesitated a second before grabbing it and wrapping it around her head. She tied it in a thick knot on the left side of the back of her head. It mirrored her ponytail that was more on the right side, it didn't look that out of place even if her hair had more volume than the cloth.

With that done, they finally walked in. The guards at the gate recognized Emp and didn't ask him any question aside from if he had a good day. He answered positively and led Galana across the town, past the bridge and all the way close to the other gate where his house was built.

"Here we are, that's were I live." He told her when they got close. "I'll give you a room upstairs."

"What the fuck? Why is your house so damn large?"

"It's not that large, it's almost full already. Before we get in and meet everyone though, I have something to show you. I picked it up in the antiquarian shop but since it won't fit inside unless I place it in the main room, I'll leave it here in front of the house."

"What is it?"

Emp had bought the statue the mercenaries had hauled back from the expedition. It was a larger than life rendition of a man with a proud and dignified look. He stood straight with a royal cape and gowns, he had his palms open towards the sky in front of him and fine sculpted flowers grew out of his hands.

Emp drew it out of the bag and placed it between the front door and the window so that anyone passing by could admire all the details carved in the statue. Whoever made that was a master in his craft, like the statue of Love he had seen, it was so realistic he felt that the statue could just come alive at any moment.

It stood on a large rectangular pedestal with words carved on its front.

Only two things disturbed the magnificence of the statue. First, the head was missing, small cracks ran downwards from the neck and Emp had no idea what had happened to it, it was like that already when the mercenaries brought it back. Second, the name indicating who that statue represented engraved under the text had been forcibly removed with something like a pickaxe. There was no way to ever know what the name on it was.

Galana looked at it curiously but didn't understand what she was supposed to see in it.

"I guess it's a pretty statue but the head is missing. Why are you showing me this?"

"That's the statue the mercenaries brought back. It's the thing your parents died for, the result of their hard work."

Hearing his words, her mild interest was replaced by a hard stare at the block of stone. She stepped closer and touched it with the tip of her fingers. Her eyes lost their focus on the statue and she just stood there at its contact. Emp had no idea what she was thinking right now, she didn't look neither happy nor sad. Had he done good or not?

"I felt you should be the one to have it since your parents lost their lives at the place where it was found. It didn't feel right to leave it in a shop in Red-water."

After that, he let her contemplate the statue for a while. They were standing just by the door of his house so he wondered if someone inside would notice he was back before Galana was ready to go in but it didn't happen.

"I don't know what to feel about that piece of stone. I'm angry because it's partly for it that my parents died, I feel sad looking at it because now that I know where it comes from, I can't help but think of my parents, I'm also happy that its here, I feel like I should be proud that they did it. They found the lost city and this is the proof. I want to smash it to pieces... I also want to keep it close."

"I don't know what's the right thing to do. I would keep it but if you want to destroy it, that's fine too, I brought it here for you after all."

Galana shook her head.

"No, you were right, if I destroyed it, I'd feel like I turned their whole expedition into a pointless waste. At least, now I can feel some comfort knowing that they found something."

There was another long moment of silence with only the sound of their breath to show they were alive before Emp asked her if she was ready to go in. She rubbed her eyes, tore her gaze away form the statue, rolled her shoulder while drawing a big breath and finally, she nodded to confirm that she was ready.

Emp opened the door and called for the others inside.

"Hi everyone, I'm back!"

"Emp!"

The moment he called, he heard someone shout his name followed by a bunch of quick running steps upstairs. Those were probably the sounds made by the sisters, he expected Calla to be more quiet.

He smilingly removed his boots and Galana imitated him despite not having any replacement footwear. He stepped into the main room to see Calla smiling brightly from close to her kitchen tools. He wanted to go see her right away but the sisters ran down the stairs towards him and slid under the table to poke at him from under with their practice swords.

Emp had no choice but to dodge the hits and catch them first before he could go meet Calla properly. He caught both of their wrists and dragged them out from their cover.

"Owa, we failed again! Hi Emp!"

"Welcome back!" They told him after they got caught.

"Hi you two. Could you let me go see Calla?

"Oops, sorry."

Emp dropped them back down and went to share a hug with Calla while Svae was floating downstairs. She welcomed him back politely but warmly and Emp waved his hand at her from the arms of Calla.

He shared a quick moment with his wife before he was interrupted by a torrent of questions form the sisters. First of those was as expected.

"Who's this?"

They were pointing at Galana awkwardly standing by the entrance.

"That's Galana, she's a friend of mine."

"Hi, I'm sorry to intrude."

"Are you the girl Emp ran off to save?" Leo asked innocently.

This him had left without a word but the other him arrived not too long after to explain that he urgently had to go to Red-water to save a friend of his. He hadn't given much more details and left again saying he had to go back to Bêtéclair. Erin thought it made no sense since he just said he had to go to Red-water but she didn't have the occasion to ask about it.

Galana made a bitter smile to answer.

"Yes, that's me. I would have been in a really bad situation if he didn't come for me."

The smaller girl was about to ask for more details but Emp interrupted her.

"You should wait to be introduced before you start embarrassing her. Galana, those are Leonni and Erin."

"Hi." The two girls waved their hands.

"Then, the one floating up there is Svaenaha."

"Hi, welcome in master's home."

"And finally, this is my wife Calla."

Calla just gave Galana a shy smile and waved her fingers from behind Emp. Galana walked closer to her and bowed deeply in apology.

"I'm sorry I caused trouble for Emp and you. I also apologize for showing up unannounced and the trouble I'll cause from now on too."

"What trouble?" Erin asked with curiosity.

"Galana will live here, at least for a while, I'll give her the room close to the study upstairs, the one next to Svae."

"Eh!?" The girls cried in surprise.

"Is that fine with you Calla? I know I should have asked you before but it will be troublesome if you say no, I'll have to bring her all the way to Bêtéclair."

"It's fine." She answered with an unsure tone through the magic cuff.

Caught on the spot like that, there was no way she could say no even though she knew nothing at all about Galana or her story aside from a few snippets Emp told her here and there.