“Mercy wanted to join us, if that’s okay with the two of you.”

  Seronia says “Sure, I don’t mind.”

  Krenocia says “The more, the merrier!”

  I quickly invite Mercy, who shows up instantly, and the four of us move to the bedroom. Krenocia immediately takes charge and starts giving the rest of us orders. I certainly don’t mind since everything that she orders me to do is something I want to do anyway.

  We have a lot of fun, but even in a soulscape we can’t keep going indefinitely. Mercy is the first one to fade away as she runs out of mental stamina and leaves the soulscape. Seronia lasts a few rounds longer than Mercy did, but still fades away before Krenocia does.

  Krenocia insists on a few more rounds with just the two of us after her sister has left. Once she is exhausted and I am alone, I end the soulscape and get some actual sleep. I only sleep for a few hours, as usual, but I feel pretty good when I wake up.

  Mercy is still sound asleep and wrapped around me like a koala, so I can’t really move. However, this time I don’t really mind since I have something that I can do while I am trapped. Word by word, I start going through the draconic language and learning the information.

  Each word has a wealth of knowledge attached to it and this is the only way to learn it. Or I guess absorbing it would be a better way to describe it since the knowledge is already in my head. Either way, I quickly lose myself in the information and the next thing I know Mercy is kissing me.

  I return the kiss with interest as I put the knowledge aside and things quickly escalate. We keep our morning fun to a single round and then Mercy has servants bring us breakfast. We eat breakfast together in bed and then a servant informs Mercy of the day's schedule.

  Mercy says “So, I need to attend to the morning court, but it shouldn’t take long. After that I can take you on a tour of the city.”

  “What about the kids?”

  Mercy says "Apparently, Kechara and Mulan already ran off with Mericel.”

  “That’s fine. They will have more fun touring the city with her than they would with us.”

  Mercy says “That’s certainly true. So, are you going to wait here while I attend to court?”

  “Nope. I will come with you.”

  Mercy says “Thank you. I know how much you hate politics.”

  “It’s alright. Unless I completely ban nobility, it is something I am going to have to get used to dealing with. Although, I am hoping that you and the others will deal with most of it for me.”

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Mercy says “We will do our best. I think this merit system will make things much easier on us. It should make it so that we have mostly useful nobles, eventually.”

  “More likely we will just get a bunch of nobles that are pretending to be useful.”

  Mercy says “I can live with that. Whether they are pretending or genuine, it will be the same for us. In fact, those that are pretending will actually be easier to deal with and to manipulate.”

  “Probably, but I would still rather not deal with them at all.”

  Mercy says “Well, the chances of that were completely gone when you decided to become an emperor.”

  “Yeah, I know. It’s not like I have much of a choice. If I don’t become an emperor, then the peninsula is likely to lose the war. We need everyone to be unified, not only to face the demons but to face the main continent afterwards.”

  Mercy says “You are already planning that far ahead?”

  “Trying to. It isn’t easy considering how much could happen between now and then. I just want to do what I can to make sure things are stable for you and the kids if I am not around.”

  Mercy says “I thought you were working on sticking around? Speaking of that, how did your chat with the goddesses go?”

  “I am, but I am also making plans for incase I fail. It went as well as I could have hoped, they let me out of my promise.”

  Mercy says “I’m guessing that you are going to be doing a lot of experimenting then. Please, be careful.”

  “I will be. I’ve got a lot to live for now. Besides, I am a lot harder to kill than I used to be. The experiments I plan on doing shouldn't be all that dangerous.”

  Mercy says “Wow, you have changed. That is the first time I have ever heard you actually agree to be careful!”

  “Oh, come on. I am not that bad.”

  Mercy says “You most certainly are! But don’t worry about it, we all love you despite that.”

  “Thanks, I think. Come on, let’s not keep the nobles waiting too long. I don’t want to listen to them whine about it.”

  Mercy smiles and says “Alright.”

  Before we leave the room I return to my beastman form, I switched to human for Mercy’s sake. When we enter the throne room, I notice a lot of the nobles trying to hide their disappointment. They were probably hoping not to see me again, they seem to still be scared of me.

  However, that is actually perfect, I can tell them about the new system for the nobles. If they are still scared from that little incident yesterday, they are less likely to try and argue. First though, I will listen to what they have to say, that is the point of court.

  This time, there is a second seat next to the throne so that Mercy can sit next to me. There are about the same number of nobles, but there are far less extra people this time. After Mercy and I are seated, the nobles come forward one by one to voice their issues.

  It is a serious test of my patience to listen to them go on and on about their concerns. They are not even serious issues, it is things that could be solved easily enough, but they want more. They want someone else to solve their issues so that they have someone to blame if it doesn’t work.

  Either that, or they are just looking to be seen and heard in court to reaffirm their position. There could be other reasons, but I just don’t care enough to try and figure them out. I will say that despite their whining, it is nice that the nobles are on their best behavior.

  They are still scared after my actions yesterday, which I find surprising since I didn’t do much. I wasn’t even trying to scare anyone, well other than the kid that made the comment. Then again, I guess I did kill a bunch of nobles previously, so I probably have a reputation amongst them.

  “Mercy, is this enough of your nobles for me to make the announcement?”

  Mercy says “Yes. All the most important ones are here.”

  “Okay then.”

  When the last noble has gotten an answer to his issue, I stand up and all eyes focus on me. I then explain what the system for nobles is going to be in the empire in detail. Once I am done, I answer the noble’s questions about it for the next half of an hour.