I suppose I could have gated to the pit, I certainly remember it well enough, but I don’t want to see that place again. Disrupting court is definitely the lesser of two evils, besides this is my territory now. After kissing Mercy, I step up and take her throne which causes many of the nobles to gasp.

  Luckily, I shapeshifted to my beastman form before coming here, so everyone recognizes me. As soon as I sit down, Mericel jumps into my lap before Mercy can and gives me a hug. Mercy looks disappointed, but moves to stand next to the throne instead.

  Zamart, Alexa, and Alannis all take turns to welcome me and catch up a little. Once that is out of the way, I start dealing with the complaints of the nobles who are attending court. Mostly, they have simple complaints, mostly to do with the transfer of power.

  Basically, they are all just worried about whether or not they will lose their positions. Like most of the nobles I have met in this world, they only care about themselves. I am careful with my words as I lay out how the government of the empire will work.

  I am very clear that anything I say wrong, or don’t say, will be used by them to cause trouble. Little do they know that to get away with anything they will have to avoid Muyaun’s spies. I doubt any of them are sneaky enough to manage that, but there is a chance that I am wrong.

  Even though I make sure to speak clearly, the nobles keep asking the same questions in different ways. They are obviously trying to get me to say something that they can misinterpret to their own advantage. It quickly gets to the point that I just want to strangle all of them and be done with it.

  Unfortunately, I can’t do that, it would cause chaos and a bunch of problems for Mercy. Compared to a normal country, hers is already pretty short on nobles thanks to me. If I were to kill even more of them at this point it would cause even more problems for her.

  Considering their country is joining my empire, they are already having enough problems. The last thing that I want to do is make things harder on Mercy and the others. Despite how good it would feel to strangle the nobles, I control myself and keep talking carefully.

  I feel that I am doing pretty good at controlling myself until my enhanced hearing picks up something. A lot of the nobles brought people with them, mainly their children, and it’s from one of them that I hear the comment. It is a snide comment about how Mercy is too weak to rule and that’s why she married me.

  There is no way that I am going to let a comment like that slide, so I quickly use air mana. I replay what he said, but loud enough for everyone in the court to hear it. He turns bright red and tries to hide when everyone in the court turns to look at him.

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  I use the same air mana to flatten the guy to the floor, at which point one of the nobles speaks up. He apologies for the idiocy of his son and begs me to have mercy on him. I tell him that I am not going to kill the kid for one comment, but he should educate his son better.

  He promises to do so and I release his son, then go back to holding court as if nothing happened. Luckily, there are only a few nobles left for me to speak with at that point and court soon ends. As soon as the nobles are gone, Mercy jumps into my lap and kisses me passionately.

  Mercy says “I wasn’t expecting to see you! When did you get back?”

  “A couple of hours ago. I hope that me just showing up isn’t going to cause too much trouble for you.”

  Mercy says “It shouldn’t and even if it does, I don’t care!”

  Zamart says “Actually, I think your show of strength will make the nobles behave, at least for a while.”

  “I didn’t really do anything scary!”

  Zamart says “You cast spells with an incantation or even a movement and you stay calm the entire time. That is what scared them.”

  “I wasn’t calm. I wanted to kill that brat when I heard what he said about Mercy!”

  Alexa says “You may not have been calm, but you looked calm and that was enough to make them wonder just how powerful you might be. Until they can figure that out, they should behave. At most, they will choose someone to be a sacrifice and have them do something to see how you react.”

  “I guess that will have to do. Alright, so how are things going? What can I do to help smooth things over?”

  Mercy says “Well, for one thing, you can make yourself seen. There are plenty of people who will be loyal to you, but they need to see you. Us saying that you are the emperor is different from them seeing it for themselves.”

  “Ugh, more nobles!”

  Mercy says “No, not the nobles, they can see you in court. I want the common people and the army to see you. Especially those who were in the rebellion and fought beside you.”

  “That I can do. I haven’t been here since the capital was rebuilt, how about a tour of the city?”

  Mercy says “Sure, we can do that. It is a bit late to do it now, how about tomorrow?”

  “Sounds like a plan. How are you Mericel? You’ve been really quiet.”

  Mericel says “Who me? Oh, so now you want to pay attention to me? How come you haven’t visited in all this time?”

  “I’m sorry, Mericel. I have had a lot of things that I have had to do. I would have visited, but I really haven’t had any free time.”

  Mericel says “Don’t forget that I have been inside your head. I doubt you even thought about me!”

  “No, I did, a couple of times. Honestly, not as often as I should have, but I have been through a lot. I wasn’t lying when I said I really don’t have any free time.”

  Mericel says “You aren’t a very good big brother!”

  “Wait, what?”

  Mercy laughs and says “Since you married me, she is your little sister too now!”

  “I guess that’s true. I didn’t realize! Well, if you are my sister, that means you are an auntie now, Mericel!”

  Mericel says “What?! You already got my sister pregnant?!?!”

  “No! Mercy is not pregnant! I meant my kids that I have adopted! Like Kechara and Mulan! You are technically their aunt now.”

  Mericel says “Oh, that’s alright then. What am I supposed to do as an aunt? Do I just play with them?”

  “Playing with them is good. Teaching them things is also good. Being a role model for them is also good.”

  Mercy says “I’m pretty confident in her ability to do the first two, but that last one, not so much. At least not a good role model.”