Fates Parallel Chapter 496 - Empire

Starting an empire was the last thing Yoshika had ever planned on doing. While it was true that she technically intended to take over the world, she’d never intended to do so as a ruler. In hindsight, it should have been telling that gods presiding over entire worlds were called Sovereigns. Perhaps the outcome was inevitable.

Still, it felt too soon! Naming herself empress would be tantamount to declaring herself publicly as a rival to God-Emperor Qin, and she doubted the empire would take such an audacious claim lying down. In the worst case, it might spur the sects towards all-out war.

Unfortunately, the lords of Yamato loved the idea. While Yoshika wanted to work towards a unified Yamato, the warlords weren’t going to drop their swords and spears overnight. Escalating the rivalry with the neighboring empire potentially allowed them to get the best of both worlds.

Yoshika needed to talk it over with someone with a better understanding of imperial politics, and there was only one person like that who she trusted enough to advise her on something so serious. She needed Yan Yue.

She flew back to the refugee camp to meet Yang Qiu and Mayor Morita. Keeping her promise to relocate Kasuga’s people gave her a good excuse to return to Jiaguo, and the visit home would help clear her head and recover her strength.

She gathered up the refugees within her soulscape, though her soul felt badly strained by the time she’d gotten all of them.

“Sorry, Yang Qiu, I don’t think I’m going to be able to bring you with me on this trip.”

The demon shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll make our way back on our own time.”

“You’re sure you’ll be alright on your own?”

“We won’t be on our own. Ruiling and Yuuko are going to be traveling with us. You go handle your queen shit, we’ll be fine.”

Yoshika chuckled. She could always trust Yang Qiu to be irreverent with her, no matter how high she rose.

“Thanks. Good luck, Yang Qiu.”

“You too.”

With so many people weighing down her soul, Yoshika wasn’t able to rely on Lightspeed Traversal or even Wind Walking to travel back to Jiaguo. She could still fly quite fast, but without her long-distance techniques it took her a few days to get from the south coast to the center of the continent.

That gave her time to reflect on just how far she’d come. A decade ago, it would have taken her months, or even years to cross such a distance. Even as recently as two years prior it would have been at least a month or two, and that was before considering an entire city’s worth of passengers.

While Kaede had been groomed for leadership, Jia and Eui would have never even imagined that they’d find themselves seriously considering founding a new empire.

Was it even something they wanted? They had been hoping to slowly bring the continent together through diplomacy, but the looming threat of Emperor Qin and the Divine Sovereigns was always going to force their hands at some point or another. Perhaps taking a more proactive stance was just what they needed.

Yoshika spent the entire trip fretting over it, and before she knew it, Geumji’s familiar peaks appeared on the horizon. Back home at last. Though she hadn’t been gone long, it felt as though she’d been gone for years. Yoshika was looking forward to catching up with her friends and family now that the nation wasn’t in crisis.

She touched down just outside the city. There was no fanfare—nobody waiting for her. She’d come alone, and nobody knew to expect her. She made her way through the ongoing development of the outer city without interruption, but it wasn’t long before people started noticing.

Yoshika had never walked around the city in her spirit form before. Meili could go completely unnoticed, while most people were too intimidated by Kaede and Eui to approach. Jia was more approachable, but her small stature combined with her habit of slinking around meant that most people didn’t even notice her unless she wanted them to. In her combined form as Yoshika, she struck an unexpected balance.

Nobody bothered her, but they didn’t avoid her either. Instead, as she passed through the gates to the inner city, a growing crowd of awestruck onlookers followed her.

It wasn’t the reception she’d wanted or expected, but as she made her way to the center of town, Yoshika realized that the crowd was anticipating something. Yoshika only used her spirit form for official business. Announcements, assemblies, petitions—that sort of thing.

She didn’t know what she’d done to earn that kind of attention. Sure, she was the founder of the country, but it was just a little city-state populated by a mixed assortment of immigrants. Yoshika wasn’t the most powerful cultivator—Lin Xiulan was stronger, and so was Qin Zhao, even if he had been hiding his strength.

Yoshika wasn’t even a particularly strong leader. She mostly served as a figurehead while Yan Yue and the council did all the real work. Yet despite all that, somehow the culture of Jiaguo had managed to put her on a pedestal—one that was probably only reinforced after her death and resurrection.

She didn’t know how to handle it. Did that make the nation more dependent on her, or less? Was it like this for Qin’s emperor? He hadn’t made a public appearance in centuries, but the empire still worshiped him.

By the time Yoshika arrived at the square, half the city had managed to assemble there, eagerly awaiting whatever message she had in store for them. Nevermind the fact that she’d planned no such thing.

There was no stage prepared. Nobody had known to expect the event—not even Yoshika—but she couldn’t just leave the crowd hanging.

Yoshika floated gently up to hover above the fountain decorating the center of the square, turning slowly to take in the gathered crowd. She didn’t have anything prepared, so she just said the first thing that came to mind, her voice resonating throughout the entire assembly.

“Thank you for the welcome home, everyone. I’m glad to be back. We won.”

It took an awkward moment for the crowd to realize she was finished, but after a beat of silence, they erupted into cheers.

—-

Yan Yue was all but rolling on the floor laughing.

“‘We won’?! Ahahaha! You—hah—are a legendary orator.”

Jia crossed her arms and pouted, her face burning.

“We were on the spot! There was no time to prepare!”

Yue shook her head and chuckled as she poured them each a cup of wine, handing one to Jia.

“Welcome back, dear. I missed your ridiculous antics. I was just thinking that it had been too long since the last time the entire town ground to a halt for an impromptu festival.”

Jia blushed as she took her cup.

“Sorry. We didn’t really think that through. We’ve had a lot on our mind since the war ended.”

“Oh? Do tell. I take it that the succession hasn’t been going smoothly?”

“Eh, you could say that. They want to crown me empress.”

Yue spit out a mouthful of wine and waved at her face as she coughed and sputtered. Once she regained her composure he put a hand to her chest and took a deep breath.

“My apologies. I wasn’t expecting such a tasteless joke—not even from you.”

“I wish I was joking.”

She stared incredulously for a moment before downing her wine in a single gulp.

“Oh, I’m going to need something stronger.”

Yue went to her cabinet and dug through it for some sort of essence-fortified spirits, refilling her cup as she spoke.

“You’re not actually considering it, are you?”

Jia took a small sip of her drink to buy time to gather her thoughts.

“I don’t know. Maybe? We’re out of our depth on this, which is why we came straight to you.”

“And here I thought we just had such a powerful bond.”

Jia giggled and shook her head.

“Yue, you know we love you, but not more than our sisters, parents, or actual girlfriend.”

“Mm, fair enough. It must be weighing on you quite a bit for you to see me before any of them.”

“You have no idea. So what should we do?”

Yue sighed.

“Well obviously you—”

She hesitated, then bit her thumbnail and started pacing around the office.

“Okay, as much as I want to tell you it’s moronic, I suppose I owe it to you to properly consider every facet. There...is some merit to the idea.”

“Really? I thought you’d be totally opposed.”

“Please, Jia. Don’t insult my intelligence or your own—you wouldn’t have come to me if you didn’t think I’d give you my most honest consideration.”

Jia scratched her head awkwardly.

“Right, sorry. I guess I meant that I thought anyone from Qin would be against it.”

“Oh, most will. Not Xiulan—I expect she’ll be delighted—but the rest of our Qin immigrants will see it as nothing short of blasphemous. Or...they would have.”

“If not for what?”

“You, of course. The rumors about your disappearance and return have been the number one subject of gossip within the city ever since your resurrection. It’s even managed to distract them from how much they despise me.”

Yue took a large sip of her drink, pretending not to be bothered by her unpopular sentiment.

“But now, after your triumphant return, and your grand speech...well, if you were ever going to publicly announce your divine ambitions, this would be the time.”

“But should we?”

She sighed, looking into her drink and swirling it around.

“That’s another question entirely, isn’t it? Should you declare yourself empress of Jiaguo and Yamato? My first instinct is to say no. It’s foolishness—suicide. You’d be pitting yourself against the God-Emperor himself, and while he hasn’t been active for a long time, that is not a fate you want to tempt.”

“But...?”

“But that’s a shallow view. And one which makes the mistake of underestimating your foe. You are already pitted against Qin, and it would be the pinnacle of hubris for us to assume that he doesn’t know that.”

Jia bit her lip and took an uneasy sip of wine.

“This might be a silly thing to ask but...are you okay with that? I know you’ve said you owe us a lot, but it doesn’t feel right to ask you to go against your entire nation for us.”

“‘My nation’ was more than happy to allow me to be bought and sold as a commodity to amplify the status of a bunch of withered old men addicted to their own power. You granted me a new life, and that life is yours to do with as you please.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works...”

Yue shrugged.

“It’s my decision to make, and I made it a long time ago. Now let’s talk about the pros and cons.”

Jia nodded.

“The most obvious benefit is that Jiaguo and Yamato remain self-governed. Change will be slow, but hopefully if we don’t have to micromanage everything, it will be lasting.”

“Certainly. It gives you the distance to act as a guiding star, but the power to employ a heavy hand where necessary. On the other hand, it does somewhat alienate our allies. Qin’s political climate is already unstable in the wake of your last visit, and Goryeo might not be as inclined to work so closely with us once we’re openly hostile to the empire.”

“I...think Goryeo will still work with us.”

Yue raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? Know something I don’t?”

Jia shrugged.

“Not really? It’s just...Queen Eunhee seemed like she was trying to set us up for this. She kept testing us, and pushing us to grow as leaders. I think she knew something like this might happen, but she still let Eunae stay here as an ambassador, and Haeun as our disciple.”

“In other words, she’s using you. I can’t help but note that between Jiaguo and Yamato, we share a much larger border with Qin than Goryeo does. In the event of a war, we stand to lose much more than they do.”

“Exactly. Which is why I don’t think they’re going to be concerned about it. Goryeo’s always been able to hold her own, even against much larger and stronger neighbors.”

Yue chewed on her thumbnail thoughtfully.

“So you would be solidifying your power here and within Yamato, bringing yourself up to equal footing with our main ally, while also creating enough distance from the immediate politics of rulership to allow the nations under you to develop organically. All in exchange for making an enemy out of the most powerful being on the continent—who is most likely already your enemy.”

“That...sounds about right?”

She put her drink down on the desk and pinched the bridge of her nose, returning to her chair and sighing heavily.

“Jia, I cannot believe I am saying this but...I think you should do it. It’s bold, risky to the point of insanity, and exactly the kind of thing that you do best. For your future ambitions to guard this world against the predations of the divine realm and become the true goddess of our realm, I think you should turn Jiaguo into this continent’s second empire.”