Emperor Amn says “Neither did I! At least, not until I met Ash. Anyway, he will be traveling with us to the conference. You should treat him as my equal, I do.”

  King Gremshow gulps and says “Understood!” then he gives me a slight bow.

  It is rather awkward, but the moment is broken by more servants entering with trays of food. As the host Gremshow takes the seat at the head of the table and Amn and I sit on either side. The servants lay the trays on the table and fill plates for each of us, but they are normal sized portions.

  As the servants move away, I ignore manners and load my plate with several more portions. Gremshow raises an eyebrow at that, but he doesn’t say anything and just focuses on his food. As I start eating, I notice scuffs and scratches on the table, so out of curiosity I scan it.

  The table is made from wood and just gilded with gold, but it is still a waste as far as I am concerned. In fact, the gilding is hiding the fact that the table itself is masterfully crafted. I would find the table far more impressive without the layer of gold which is just gaudy.

  Out of habit I run a scan through the table and find that it has a decent mana capacity, but it is degrading. The wood the table is carved from is starting to break down, so it must be really old. The gold has been in place for a while as well, so at least it seems Gremshow didn’t do it.

  As I am scanning it, I realize that the table has detailed carvings that have been covered up by the gold. It is almost like adding the gold was to hide the carvings, which makes me curious. However, I hold back my curiosity for the moment and continue eating.

  King Gremshow says “Emperor Ash, forgive me but I can’t help but feel that I have heard your name somewhere before.”

  Emperor Amn says “You probably heard it from my people. Ash is the one who figured out how to push the living desert back.”

  King Gremshow says “Really? That was you?! In that case, thank you! Thank you so much!”

  “No problem. It was really just me wanting to satisfy my curiosity. Speaking of, now that we are done eating, would you mind if I fixed this table?”

  King Gremshow says “Fix it? I know it is gaudy, but I don’t think it is broken?”

  “The gold was added later and it seems it was done to hide the original carvings. I am curious about those carvings.”

  King Gremshow says “Well, if I am being honest, I hate this table, so go ahead!”

  I wait a minute for the servants to finish clearing the table and then I push my mana into the gold. The gold was molten when it was applied to the table so it is quite difficult to remove. It would probably be impossible using normal methods, but magic is a great cheat.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Under the influence of my mana the gold is extracted from the table and forms into two small bars. Putting them aside, I put a repair and a cleaning enchantment into the table. Under the influence of the enchantments the table is soon returned to its former glory.

  Emperor Amn says “Wow! This table is a masterpiece!”

  King Gremshow says “Yes, it is! I had no idea, but I can see why this was done.”

  “What do you mean?”

  King Gremshow says “These carvings depict the former royal family. The ones that my great grandfather deposed. He tried to destroy all record of them once he took the throne.”

  “Why not destroy the table instead of covering it up?”

  King Gremshow says “Honestly, I have no idea. There must have been a reason considering how much of a waste of money it was. Unfortunately, we will probably never know what the reason was.”

  Emperor Amn says “Well, at least it is a much more attractive table now. Unless you plan to also suppress the past?”

  King Gremshow says “No, I don’t see a point to doing so. I have even allowed the old records that were kept hidden to be added to the library.”

  “That is a good thing. Those who don’t study the past are doomed to repeat the mistakes that were made.”

  King Gremshow says “What do you mean by that?”

  “For example, if you study what led up to the fall of the previous royal family, then you can avoid making the same mistakes that they did.”

  King Gremshow says “That makes sense. I had never thought of it that way. I always thought that those scholars who studied history were just incapable of doing anything else. Maybe I should pay more attention to those historians.”

  Emperor Amn says “ One of my advisors is my chief historian. He can almost always find some relevant information to any problems that come up.”

  King Gremshow says “I will consider doing something similar once I return. For now, we should get going. Unless you want to stay the night and leave in the morning?”

  Emperor Amn says “No. We can make quite a bit of distance before dark. Let’s get moving.”

  King Gremshow says “Are you sure? You know that the old bat will be grouchy if we show up early.”

  Emperor Amn says “She is not that bad and she is also not that old!”

  King Gremshow says “You can only say that because her kingdom doesn’t border your empire directly! You don’t have to deal with her and her daughters anywhere near as much as I do!”

  Emperor Amn says “Oh, right, her daughters. That could be a problem.”

  “Something that I need to know?”

  Emperor Amn says “The kingdom we are headed to next is ruled by Queen Mavel. She survived the passing of her husband and retained control of the kingdom. She has quite a strong personality and tends to be very blunt.”

  King Gremshow says “Actually, she has outlived two husbands.”

  Emperor Amn says “Anyway, she has a number of daughters and is likely to try and get you to marry one of them.”

  “No thanks, I already have four wives. I don’t need any more.”

  King Gremshow says “Four? You are so lucky!! My wife is a harridan, she won’t even let me look at other women! She even replaced all of the attractive maids!”

  Emperor Amn laughs and says “You probably did something to make her suspicious!”

  Gremshow grumbles, but he doesn’t try to refute Amn’s statement which probably means it is true. They continue talking about women as we leave the castle and the caravan gets ready to go. Even though he has his own carriage, Gremshow joins Amn in his carriage.

  I have no idea what they are talking about, but we haven’t even left the city when Shiro leaves the carriage. She mounts one of the extra beasts and then rides up alongside me to chat with Lizzy. We soon leave the capital behind and follow the road heading north.