Transcendence?

***Jamaian Union, Jamai-Capital***

***The Immortal Empress***

*Crack!*

I throw the broken feather into a big box with broken feathers. It's proof that I worked too much today. Either that, or the quality of Jamaian feathers is really poor.

“Next one!” I hold out one hand and a servant places another feather in it. The female servant is standing behind me with a box, which is filled with writing utensils.

Today I am in a particularly bad mood. I feel the anger boiling up inside me with every new report I sign. The stupidity of some humans is limitless.

“Do these guys really think that I am stupid!? That Jamaian noble is trying to cheat me with this report! Those numbers are totally wrong!” I hit my head onto the desk. “Maybe I should start some public executions like in the first days of my Empire.”

The servant behind me is becoming a little stiffer. It's hard to be the ruler of a vast nation. A fast movement of my pencil and the cheating report is marked as useless. It will be sent back to the noble who made it.

After thinking for a second, I draw a little gibbet into a corner of the report to motivate the creator.

In that moment, the door to my office flies open and Tjena limps inside. She is carrying a big bag despite her injury. Tjena still has a slow healing wound from the abduction incident. I forbade anyone from healing her with high class healing spells.

So everything that's left to Tjena is the low level fast regeneration magic, which she can use herself. I actually did it to punish her. She should remember this for a long time, because she royally fucked up during that incident. First with the abduction and secondly by jumping in front of me!

There would have been no problem, if I had caught the guard alone inside my barrier. Instead she had to jump at someone, who was clearly affected by a weird spell.

This Ascathon is actually really dangerous, I'll have to be very careful when dealing with him. And the aura, which was emanated from his wife felt also really dangerous. That's in line with the report, which I read at the Academy.

Argh, to think that there could be a family of three immortals on this world! I am really at a big disadvantage right now.

The door is closed behind Tjena by a guard.

“Mislow is advancing with their troops!” Tjena is breathing heavily. Did she run here with her bad leg?

I place my feather on the desk. “Then it's fortunate that our supplies and the reinforcements from Phenex arrived.”

Tjena shakes her head. “But they aren't attacking us! At least not with their main forces!”

My brain freezes for a second. “Haaah?” That's not logical! “Then who is the target? Everyone else should be their ally!”

“They are marching against Norfolk!” Tjena signals me to wait. “And there is more! One of our ships spotted a fleet of thirty ships from the Nation of Mist and they were headed towards Norfolk too!”

My mouth opens and closes a few times while I try to restart the gears in my head. “What's wrong with those guys! Did they turn nuts!? Why are they fighting each other without reason!?”

“Apparently this is the reason. Artefacts like these are sold all over the continent by the Lenarch merchant house. The Nation of Mist and Mislow could have felt threatened by this.” Tjena empties her bag on my desk and looks at me expectantly.

I can't help it and pucker my forehead. Then I grab the artefact, which looks like a hair dryer from a technological realm. Oh, it's so long since I saw stuff like that. I totally forgot that some convenient items like that exist.

A small infusion of mana produces a hot stream of air. A button on the device is obviously for the temperature and the stream of hot air turns cold. That's convenient, especially in this climate.

At a glance, I recognize a shaving tool, a desk light, pocket lamps and various other devices. I start cooling myself with the hair dryer, while inspecting the other items. My view falls onto a REAL PEN! I am saved!

“~Hahahaha … HAHAHAHAHA!~”

Tjena looks at me like I am mad. She obviously doesn't get the joke behind it.

I hold up a pocket light and shove it into her face. “~Look! They even carved -MADE IN SARN- into the wood!~”

My precious aide shakes her head. “This is serious! Those things will turn our whole world upside down! And they are cheap enough to be bought by almost everyone. And even commoners can operate those tools! Just the lowest classes of servants may not be able to afford them.”

I nod. “Ascathon flung the gauntlet into everyone's face !”

“Then what shall we do!? This is a unique opportunity to take action! They gave us an opening!” Tjena shakes her fists at an imaginary enemy. “And maybe it would force them to pull back their forces!”

“Why should we want that they pull back their forces?” I arch an eyebrow at Tjena.

Tjena turns red. “I have no right to say this, but I don't want that little Sera gets hurt.”

“You don't have to worry. If someone can build something like this, …” I point at the artefacts on my table. “... he can build tools for war too. In fact, I believe that they will get a bloody nose.”

By holding the pocket lamp under my face and infusing mana into it, I hope to create a fearsome impression.

“~The ghost of knowledge escaped from his prison! And there is no possibility to imprison something like it again!~”

“~BWHARHARHAR!~”

I switch off my little light show and sigh. “I guess I will have to change my plans. The world may start to advance rapidly from now on.” Then I realize Tjena's dumbfounded expression. Probably I went a little too far with my little act.

While smiling, I hold the pocket light towards the servant beside me. “Take that and put all your will into it to shine. Imagine your power flowing into the artefact.”

The servant takes the artefact with a curious expression and looks at it. Then the pocket lamp begins to shine. It's not as bright as in my case, but the provided light is decent enough to see in a dark room.

“~Have you ever used your magic or cast a spell before?~”

The servant shakes her head and hands the artefact back. I turn towards Tjena. “See? Now all those weak magicians know what's possible. They were never before able to cast a spell and suddenly a whole new world is open to them! Do you think that they will hold still if someone tells them that they aren't allowed to use tools like that?”

Tjena pulls a grimace and shakes her head. “That will create a civil war! Even amongst our own Empire!”

I sigh. “No, it won't. We will allow artefacts like this. The circumstances changed a little. I guess it's easier to deal with those who oppose the new world order than to suppress ninety percent of our population.”

Tjena opens her mouth, but I signal her to shut up. “This isn't just an issue between magicians and non-magicians, or commoners and nobles. There will be many magicians, who embrace these new artefacts. Just think about the many people who have the potential, but didn't have the strong mind to use their powers correctly? Or those who weren't willing to put much training and effort into honing their skills? They will be on the side of the commoners. And there are actually many people in that category.”

Tjena slowly nods after thinking about it for a second. “It will still shake our society. Everything is designed to maintain the status quo. This creates trouble to no end.”

“I don't think that we can put this idea back into Ascathon's head. You said that these artefacts were distributed all over the continent at once? That was without a doubt a complicated logistical effort.” I pull a face and look down on my reports.

“On the other hand, we may really use this opportunity.” A smirk wanders across my face as a bold course of action comes to my mind.

“What are your thoughts, my Empress?” Tjena arches an eyebrow.

“We can't attack the Nation of Mist right now. Our navy is busy with holding the current stalemate. We can't attack Mislow either, because their borders are still heavily fortified. And we can't attack Norfolk, because it's too far away.” I tilt my head and look at the ceiling. “Wouldn't this be the perfect opportunity to take control of the Academy? It's just one city, so the added logistical effort would be marginal.”

Tjena nods. “With our reinforcements, it should be possible. Especially with your elite troops.”

A ferocious smile forms on my face and I point at Tjena, who ducks away.

“Then assemble the troops! We will try a surprise attack through the Gates! ~Why are you on the ground?~”

Tjena struggles to get up again. “It's just a conditioned reflex! I can't forget what usually happens to something at which you point your finger!”

.