World Keeper

Chapter 1006: Empress’s Wish

Elisae stood atop the highest tower of her castle, thinking to herself while gazing into the dark horizon. The nation of Hanbei had changed considerably over the years, both with their technological advancements and its political relationships. As it stood, Hanbei now almost dominated the human continent.

While Elisae had not always intended this result to happen, she ultimately felt that it was inevitable. After all, Hanbei was stronger both technologically and economically, and was one of the few nations that had a goddess presiding over it. In the last few years, Hanbei had begun to integrate with other nations, absorbing their land and expanding their own borders.

The main reason why such a thing was possible was the living conditions in Hanbei, which could be considered the best in all of Earth. Whether it was their education, law enforcement, or agriculture, the residents of Hanbei were able to develop in a safe environment without sacrificing their personal growth.

Although it seemed silly to think that a video game was the turning point of the nation’s political landscape, it was true. Hanbei had frequent patrols that eliminated the dangerous monsters within its borders, which left the lower level civilians unable to obtain experience fighting. This was why nobody originally considered submitting to Hanbei, because they were looking towards the future. If Hanbei’s newer generation was unable to obtain experience, they were destined to decline.

The way that Elisae solved this was rather… unique. She founded an entire empire within Fragments of Acidia, and dedicated it to the people of Hanbei. This provided her civilians with more than enough room to develop in a safe environment, where their personal training would synchronize with the real world.

Over time, Elisae began to approach the leaders of neighboring countries. She would propose to protect the other party’s nation by expanding their more advanced policies, in exchange for the other nation coming under their banner. At the same time, the current ruler would be allowed to maintain their control over the local territory as a governor, so long as they were not involved in any corrupt practices. Originally, many nations rejected this idea, feeling that Elisae was making a grab for power.

Elisae did not take these rejections to heart, feeling that it was only natural. She even took steps to ensure that the rejection did not impart any negative karma on the other party. Although she couldn’t say that she could fully control her karma, she had certainly learned some rules in regards to how it functioned.

For those few countries that did join at first, they experienced a surprising period of growth. This was not only because of Fragments of Acidia, or the beneficial policies, but also because they had come under the banner of the Goddess of Wishes, Honesty, and Peace. Yes, she had acquired two additional domains, one by divine forging and the other as a Fragment from the game. Unlike most divine rulers, Elisae focused all of her divine abilities towards the protection and development of her country.

After a few years of watching and observing the situation, several countries attempted to renegotiate with Elisae. They wanted her protection without admitting Hanbei as their sovereign. Unfortunately for them, Elisae had to firmly reject this proposal, because her abilities had been set such that they only worked passively within the borders of Hanbei itself. Thus, expanding these powers to other nations could only be done when they accepted themselves as part of Hanbei.

Over time, more countries decided to accept the proposals, some even actively reaching out to Elisae. After all, she did not truly ask for them to do anything other than recognize Hanbei as their ruling power. She wasn’t asking to tax them, or for any of their special resources. All trade would continue as it had before. The only thing being changed was that the kings and queens of these nations now had another person to answer to if anything extreme happened.

Now, there was only one nation left that vehemently opposed the integration of Hanbei’s policies. That country was none other than Kross, still under the command of the King of Knights, Reynard Kross himself. Reynard Kross often portrayed his nation as the original divine nation of humans, having ruled as a god long before even Udona took the throne. At the same time, he painted Hanbei as a wicked dictatorship in order to push his warlike policies.

As a stark contrast to Hanbei, many citizens of Kross were suffering under unfair taxation, the brutality of law enforcement, or even the inability to protect themselves from local monsters. Elisae had tried to reason with Reynard, proposing a number of measures to lessen the hardships of civilians, but she was refused every time. She was confident that the only reason Reynard never attacked her directly was for fear of her karma.

Thus, with her being unable to help openly, she arranged more secretive methods of helping the citizens of Kross. She sent out covert teams, offering those most affected sanctuary and a better life. For those that agreed, they fabricated a scene of a monster attack in order to discreetly take them under Hanbei’s care.

Naturally, this had led to a decline of Kross’s population, but Reynard still showed no signs of compromise. He spoke to his nation as if Kross was thriving, as if there was no land more powerful. Elisae could only shake her head and sigh, wondering if Reynard had truly lost his mind.

What else can I do? She asked herself. Hanbei had already become a true Empire, appearing as the face of the human race on Earth. However, looking at the situation in Kross, she always felt that there was more that she should be doing. It was hard for her not to resent the fact that people were suffering when there was no need for them to do so.

She let out a long sigh, holding one hand to the night sky and muttering to herself. “This wish I make on behalf of those under my care. I wish for the knowledge to save those suffering under tyranny, to save those who lack the means to save themselves.”

A golden ring appeared around her wrist as she spoke, and Elisae felt a familiar rush of knowledge. In fact, she made this wish every year, hoping for a different answer. Every year, her divinity advised her to go to war, to forcibly annex Kross. In doing so, there would be a brief period of bloodshed, followed by the unification of the continent.

Elisae despised this answer. Saving the people of Kross by killing her way into the capital? That was unacceptable. If a war truly broke out, knowing Reynard’s personality, he would conscript every able-bodied man and woman to fight. No matter how conservatively she fought, there would be far too many sacrifices.

Thus, she sighed, preparing to lower her hand. As she did, a new surge of information began to enter her mind, different from the usual urging of war. She saw a massive spell diagram, and felt the knowledge of its purpose. A special energy, one that she had never heard of before.

Elisae didn’t know why she was getting this information now, when she had never received it in recent decades. However, this energy provided a new hope for her. If she could successfully create the energy depicted in her vision, it would help Hanbei in ways she had never expected.

Unfortunately… Elisae was not well versed in such high-tier magic. She had no confidence in casting this spell herself, so she was troubled. She sat down on the tower, and pulled out her terminal, activating a modeling software and beginning to record the spell that appeared in her mind.

In total, it took Ellisae more than twelve hours of constant work before the spell was fully transcribed. When it was, she felt as if the information had vanished from her mind. Although she could still recall the vision, she no longer saw the spell in as much detail as before, as if her divinity had merely been holding onto it long enough for her to record it down.

“I need to speak with someone about this…” She muttered to herself, closing her eyes. Lady Janis, are you free to speak?

Across the vast sea, the sun was only just rising, and the Queen of Gandor felt the familiar voice entering her mind. With a smile, she closed her eyes. This is a rare treat, for the rising Empress to seek me out.

Please don’t tease me, Lady Janis. I wish to seek your aid in a critical matter. When the queen heard that, her brow raised slightly. There was something that Elisae needed to consult with her about?

Have you set your eyes on even the land of Gandor? She responded, though there was still a touch of a playful tone. In truth, she wasn’t sure if Elisae planned to turn her attention to other continents after she finished unifying the human realms.

Surely not. Elisae responded swiftly. My divinity provided me with a spell in response to a wish. However, I don’t have the expertise to cast such a complicated spell. It is of the fourth tier, and should be among the more complicated ones in the tier.

The elven queen was confused, understandably. It must be the dead of night for you. You called at such a time, merely to ask for the use of a scroll printer? Scroll printers weren’t incredibly complicated devices, though they were a specialty of Gandor, especially those for fourth tier spells.

More than that. I would appreciate it if you analyzed the spell, and gave me your thoughts on it. I do not know how useful it will be to you, but I trust your judgment when it comes to magic.

The elven queen hesitated, but ultimately let out a sigh. In the end, she was being asked to proofread the spell. This showed that Elisae trusted her with the matter, but at the same time, it was a strange request to give to the ruler of another nation. I’ll take a look at it. I hope that this spell won’t prove to be a waste of time. She scolded lightly, indicating that Elisae should have given the matter of proofreading the spell to her own scholars.

Thank you, Lady Janis. I’m sending a model of the spell to you now. The elven queen shook her head, retrieving her own terminal. When she saw the complex spell model, she thought little of it, passing it through a geometric translation software. There were bound to be some small flaws in the model, which were smoothed out by the translation.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, when the spell had been fully translated, the elven queen looked at the printout of the spell’s effects. It’s clearly meant to create an advanced energy. She thought to herself, seeing the step-by-step instructions for the energy conversion. However, she had no means of telling what energy would be created by the spell.

Unlike Elisae, the elven queen was not a God-Queen. She had ruled for centuries by virtue of her elven lineage. Meanwhile, this spell seemed to require a touch of divinity to use properly. Why couldn’t she send this request to someone else? Even the Ashtanu Research Foundation would be more equipped than myself.

As the queen thought of this, she thought back to Elisae’s special circumstances. Something about her karma directed her to send this to her, rather than anyone else. Is she offering me a chance? Everyone knows that helping Elisae is equivalent to helping yourself.

In the end, there was only one thing that she could do. She had to make sure that the spell worked, but she did not possess the divinity needed to use it herself. In that case, she sent a message out to summon her grandson, a recently awakened God of Magic.

When her son entered the throne room, he gave a polite bow. Despite his divinity, he still showed the proper respect for his grandmother as the ruler of the nation. “Your Highness.”

“Gelwyn, I would like you to test the safety of a spell for me. This spell comes from the Human Empress, so I expect that there will not be any problems, but… it requires divinity to use. Thus, I can only entrust this matter to you.”

Gelwyn blinked in surprise, having the same thoughts as the queen herself when he heard that Elisae asked them to review a spell. “In that case, I can only act according to Your Highness’s wishes.” He said in that same polite tone.

The queen made a gesture at her terminal, and soon Gelwyn’s own terminal released a soft hum. “If there are no problems, you can perform the spell immediately.”

Gelwyn thought about that, looking through the file that he had been sent. As a God of Magic, it was easy for him to analyze and save even a fourth-tier spell to his mind. After looking at it for roughly a minute, he closed the file and turned around, extending his hand. His divinity and mana poured out, creating the same magic diagram that was depicted in the file.

With how densely woven the lines of the diagram were, the queen was able to see nothing other than flowing silver and green energy rushing towards the spell. Meanwhile, Gelwyn maintained a calm expression, watching as the spell merged the various energies together. In the end, a small trace of his divinity was extracted for the spell.

When the spell was completed, a golden crystal hovered in the air, floating over to melt into his chest. Gelwyn closed his eyes, sensing this energy. “The energy appears to be stable, and it doesn’t show any signs of an adverse reaction. You should be able to tell the Human Empress that there is nothing wrong with the spell itself. Additionally… I was awarded an achievement for the successful creation of a ‘Saint Energy’.”

The queen offered a small sigh of relief, closing her eyes again to send a message to Elisae. I have reviewed the spell, and it appears to make an energy that takes the form of a golden crystal. I can have a scroll of this spell sent to you, though I would like to ask what the purpose of this energy is.

Thankfully, Elisae seemed to have no desire to hide the truth, though that was also one of her pledges as the Goddess of Honesty. This is an energy designed for divine rulers. Think of it like… a cross between the priest and maid class, kind of? Someone that has this energy can imprint their divine abilities in it, and impart a seed of it to someone else, designating them as their follower.

Their followers, in turn, can then use those divine abilities themselves, while enriching their own divinity. Once their divinity has reached a certain threshold, they can impart a seed of this energy themselves onto others, further sharing the original abilities. Meanwhile, any god that has access to this energy from the same source can impart their own divine abilities, creating a network of divine power.

Most importantly, because this energy only replicates divine abilities that have been saved, it doesn’t pose a risk of collapsing if too many different divinities are incorporated. The downside is that the gods who have this energy can’t access the powers saved by other gods.

The elven queen furrowed her brow, as if wondering what the point was, before she blinked in realization. You mean this energy purely exists for mortals serving the divine.

That’s right. Because it nurtures their divinity, these mortals will be able to use the replicated divine powers if an urgent need arises. Elisae confirmed readily. I call it the Gift of Divine Rule.

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