[Author's note]
If you like my work, please consider joining my Patreon for early releases for Wattpad and the fully edited books, Ebooks are already available and I need the funding to get Physical copies out, there are tiers for every series I have and an all-in-one bundle for my ebooks.
If you join my Patreon, you would help me out greatly in sustaining my writing up to a professional degree, I have the goal of selling my books and sharing the unedited versions here in Wattpad has helped me a great deal in getting my works known and out there, but as every author, I wish to make a living with doing what I love, creating stories for the world to enjoy while keeping myself fed with an income from it.
You can find my Patreon at www.patreon.com/padgevanderklift
If you want a fun chat, my discord is open for all Wattpad members as well, only the general chat and the rules are available, but feel free to join us at https://discord.gg/w66GDsg
[Padge's perspective]
You would think misfortune in a world like this could not get this 'cartoony'.
But upon stepping from the Abyss I walked through with my teleportation spell, I found myself in a room that closely resembled what I recalled from Edo period Japan during history classes in high school. The plastered walls, bamboo and rice paper sliding doors. Round decorational windows, all the things commonly seen in those historical buildings, they all surrounded me.
The fact the two people before me were not in a bed, but on a futon and wearing kimonos made this only more obvious that I had stepped into some kind of 'Asian-influenced' part of Motis.
"I-I-I'm sorry!" I exclaimed, holding my hands up to shield myself from the view, but the fact that the two women before me were bare naked and had been in the middle of 'the deed' when I stepped into the room made this a far more problematic situation.
One of the two women before me was the Empress of the Agral Empire, whom I had chosen to be the target for my teleportation spell, but I had completely forgotten that people have their normal daily lives continue even when you are nowhere near.
"Emperor Baerne? What brings you here, prefer this more experienced woman over my daughter?" Xeahia Montagnon asked me with a flushed face as she modestly covered herself with the blanket that lay thrown aside over the futon.
"Xeahia, Dear? Who is this man... and more importantly... why did he barge in on us!?" The woman who had been pinned down by her lover, the Empress, upon my arrival, asked fiercely, sending deathly glares at me.
"My apologies, my name is Emperor Padgett Cornelius Baerne of the Empire of Yggdrasil, I have come here to inform about a few things with Her Imperial Highness Lady Montagnon, but I seem to have had rather poor timing." I said, introducing myself while my cheeks burned fiercely, and I kept my gaze locked on the round window to the side.
"Would you mind leaving me and Kioko finish our business, I as about to pounce her, so... if you could... y'know... leave!" As the Empress before me gave me a scornful look, I knew I had to leave, both because I had walked in on a couple about to get it on, and the fact that I was not feeling too comfortable standing like that when there are two naked women before me like that.
It was, rather... 'stimulating' so to say.
As far as enjoyable goes, it certainly was... but the fact I had walked in on a foreign Empress about to... I knew I had no place to hang around, and seeing she was also the mother of Pomae and that I had a wife, daughter and children at home... Taking all that into account, I quickly turned on my heels and paced out of the room, only to hear the sounds of the two women moaning immediately burst trough the thin door after I had closed it.
"Ugh... should have know this 'could' happen." I muttered and several young girls walked by, some in what seemed to be serf's clothing. Others among the group wore fancy and expensive looking dresses and I could even recognize the small hooves under each of them who wore a dress.
Are those all children of her? I wondered and was suddenly addressed by a girl of maybe sixteen years old. "Sir, might I ask what you are doing in the Empress' Lovers' Palace?" She asked me, her wolf ears perked and attentive and I recognized the deadly air she had around herself.
She did not wear the 'same' serf's outfit others like her had worn. She wore an outfit that held silenced chainmail woven into it. Her arms were hidden by wide sleeves, but I could tell from how she held her posture she was used to both hand-to-hand combat as well as weaponized battle.
I noticed the hakama she wore and knew she was not a normal serf; she was either a guard, or a spy that was utilized for safety.
"I am the Emperor of Yggdrasil, I have come to speak with Lady Montagnon, but unfortunately my teleportation spell was off-target and I unfortunately found myself i- uwah!" As I spoke and mentioned my teleportation being off-target and almost explained I accidentally found myself in the room where the Empress was at that moment, I found my self faced with a short sword pressed against my throat.
"Are you an invader?" The girl asked me, the look in her eyes telling me that one wrong move would be the end of me.
That is, if I wasn't... me, that is.
"«Soul-Bound Stun»." With those words, the girl's eyes no longer glared at me with killing intent, instead the fear of what happened showed in the faint flicker of fear she showed.
Her ears immediately folded flat against her head and she stood trembling as far as the spell allowed it.
A simple spell utilizing nothing else but the rune «Isa» but had the potential to fully immobilize a target. If I set my mind to it, this would potentially be the cruelest way of eliminating an attacker. I let the girl maintain her heartbeat and breathing, but I could even paralyze the muscles needed for that, meaning it was a slow and painful suffocation death while the blood stopped moving.
A terrible idea what that must be. And the girl before me seemed to realize she could not win against me.
"As I was about to say, I misplaced my teleportation, I intended to appear outside the gates of the palace and request an audience. But might I suggest that you refrain from attacking foreign Royalty on sight, especially a God at that." I said and stepped away from the blade that still hung close to my throat.
"Please request that your Empress make time to speak to me today, I shall be outside the Palace waiting." I said and walked away from the wolf eared girl. Her grey furred ears standing out amidst her brown hair.
As soon as I felt I had put a safe distance between me and the girl, I released a tensed sigh and the spell upon her.
Thump.
The sound echoed through the hall just loud enough for me to catch, but I could figure it was the girl who had collapsed after being face with her own Deity's magic turned against her.
***
I had made my way out of the Palace and was escorted out of the Palace grounds by several guards, each wearing similar outfits as the girl who had placed her blade at my throat.
It seemed they were the common guard around Agral from what I understood as I talked with the eight guards at the Palace gates before receiving a recommendation for a fancy restaurant where I could wait for the Empress reply, one of them even offered to come and get me once her reply was known.
And so, I made my way through the streets. I really felt like I had suddenly stepped into old fashioned Japan. The buildings had the simple plastered walls all around me. Simple red shingled roofs of intricate designs that overhung the walls below them. Not a single building had more than just one floor, but in turn they often had walls around them and held massive footprints.
Making my way through the busy streets of Whitebridge, I found myself passing several 'food stands' I guess you could call them.
A drape shielded the interior of the stalls and the customers from sight, while also doubling as a name sign. Pleasant scents wafted through the air around me and as I closed in upon the restaurant I had been referred to, I saw a woman in her mid-thirties wearing a kimono, modestly bound shut with a wide ribbon around her waist who greeted me as I entered.
"I was referred here by the guards at the Imperial Palace to wait for the Empress' reply for an audience." I spoke calmly and the woman nodded. "May I know your name?" She asked and I nodded. "Emperor Padgett Cornelius Baerne of Yggdrasil." I spoke calmly and saw the woman's face pale at my name and station.
"O-o-of course, please e-enter M-Milord..." She stammered as sudden formalities kicked in.
I was guided to a low table, one you would never fit a chair in front of, but with that fact came also that four pillows lay around the table and I was offered a free bottle of local wine while I waited for the food to be brought.
When the hostess returned, she held what I could only call... a very small bottle of wine and a shot-glass.
"Your Imperial Highness, I do not know if you are familiar with the rice wine our nation produces, this bottle is on the house." She said and nervously poured a glass for me.
So, sake... I guess?
And when I saw the clear, pale fluid in my small cup, smelled it, I knew it was sake. I had occasionally drank it in my previous life whenever we went to a Japanese restaurant with the family.
And this definitely smelled like the real deal. A small sip was all I needed to appreciate the drink and thanked the woman who hurried off.
It took a long time for the Empress to let word reach me, I took out my pocket watch and found that two hours had already passed.
With a sigh, I poured another glass of sake and leaned my elbows on the table when the hostess returned with a few dishes I had ordered and a fork and knife.
"I hope you will enjoy the meal, Milord." The hostess said and I nodded, while I tried to the food one by one.
The dishes were all things you would find in a Japanese restaurant, but I guess this was the 'real deal' or something like that.
I had no idea how they made all these dishes, I could, of course, simply ask Miyako about it, but right now as I ate, I sat wondering what had happened to the chopsticks I had expected to be given.
If I recall correctly, even the Empress here ate with them. Was this them being considerate of a foreigner?
"Your Imperial Highness, Emperor Baerne, I have word from her Imperial Highness Empress Montagnon. She will receive you now, please follow me." The guard who had offered to come fetch me when the Empress' reply was known said, bowing slightly before me. With a nod I rose and found myself at the small reception desk where the hostess of the restaurant accepted my payment in Serpent Coins, but a few Silver Serpents was enough to pay for the meal I had.
After that, I was guided along by the guard.
We took a long walk down the streets and I could only stare in awe at the massive building to mark the middle of Whitebridge.
The massive Edo-styled palace towered high above the city on an elevation. Before the first outer wall, I was halted by guards, but the man escorting me quickly cleared the situation and got me into the palace grounds.
A short walk through the halls of the place, I found myself faced with the Empress not much later than I had entered the palace.
A room with tatami mats upon the floor, a single pillow for me to sit on, and a few opposite to me, across a low table, where the Empress of the Agral Empire sat with multiple of her lovers by her side, one of them being an elven man.
On her side were, the same woman whom I had walked in upon with her, the elven man, a faun man whom I could only presume to be her first husband and a few young women who all had the small hooves.
"Emperor Baerne, May I hear what has brought you to us in such a manner for long held to be impossible?" Xeahia asked me and I nodded.
"Seeing my son has been born, my wife and I wished for a short holiday to relax a little and we were planning it, or more, thinking of places we could go, when your daughter suggested a private beach you supposedly own. Yokoyama, I recall she mentioned a city like that where we could potentially spend that holiday." I explained and Xeahia nodded.
"Ah yes. That always was little Pomae's favorite place to spend vacations. Wasn't it Dear?" She said, turning to the elven man next to her. He simply nodded, not taking his eyes of me and suddenly addressed me.
"I do hope you take good care of our daughter. I will not see her feelings hurt by some incompetent Emperor. God or not, I will go to great lengths for my daughter." The man spoke, harsh yet politely.
I could only nod at such a bold statement, but I intended to treat her well, I simply would let the fact whether that marriage happens or not depend on time. Right now is too early to decide that.
"I came here to request that my family may use the private beach of the Empress for a few weeks during our holiday." I said, explaining my reasoning for coming all the way out here, even if it merely took a single spell to reach my destination.
"Ah, I see. Smart girl that Pomae. Very well, I shall permit it. When did you intend to use the beach, I can understand that during winter is rather unorthodox to take a beach holiday." Xeahia replied with a nod and a smile.
"We had planned on going around the beginning of spring. The weather should turn for the betting around then if I recall Agral's weather from what I read in many of my books about the area's climate and topography." I replied and she nodded.
"Very well, I shall send word to prepare our mansion at the Yokoyama beach during the second week of spring, come to my palace again two weeks, I shall provide with carriage and armed escorts to get your family there safely." Xeahia said calmly and I held up my hand briefly.
"I would like to see it first, that way I can simply teleport there later on, like how I arrived here today. It would save me a great deal of travel with my newborn son." I explained and the Empress before me seemed a little lost in thought, but eventually she nodded.
"I shall prepare an escort for you to leave in the morning. Is that agreeable with you? Your Highness." She replied and I simply nodded.
As long as I can see the place I'll be having my holiday at, I'm fine.