《The Emperor's System》Chapter 35: Departure, Part 2
Advertisement
Silver was thinking whether he should eat Maggy raw or if he should cook her first, he was ok with Nick calling him fatty because he was his master after all, but for a tiny little girl to disrespect him, the king of the barren forests, was heresy.
"Okay calm down, she didn't mean anything by it, she is just a little girl that got used to seeing a handsome man like me, and was just surprised by the sudden appearance of a fatty like you." Nick consoled Silver seeing as how it seemed to be ready to bite Maggy.
"And you, Maggy, don't make fun of others just because they are different, don't you know that even beasts have feelings, look, you've clearly upset him!"
"Sigh, why can't you be more like me, I treat everyone fairly and never discriminate, look I even accepted this fat beast to accompany me even though it would ruin my image."
"..." Silver didn't argue because he was already a slave anyway, so he might as well accept this abuse.
So, after taking a moment to convince everyone that Silver was safe, Nick had Peter transfer all their luggage onto Silver's back. One had to admit that silver was incredibly large and seemed to be groomed with the ability to be a comfortable mount.
Nick felt everything was going smoothly until he noticed that Peter seemed to be down, so he asked him what was wrong, Peter then replied with tears threatening to fall from his eyes.
"Well, Mr. Nick, now that you don't need the carriage anymore, you don't need me anymore either, so there is no point in me traveling with you." Although he was saying this peter's thoughts were completely different, he was just too scared to ride on such a horrifying beast.
As a carriage driver, Peter had a trained eye for long term potential customers, so, he stuck with Nick, even though Nick only paid him one-tenth his usual salary and always weaseled out of the rest, even so, he still persisted.
But if that meant riding on that beast, he would never do it, why you ask, well it was because he lost two of his favorite cousins to a beast attack, what is the real reason you ask, it was because he was afraid of heights...
Nick was stunned, Peter was mostly right, he really didn't need a carriage right now, but he could not bear to see Peter go, why you ask, it obviously because they have traveled together for a long time and have developed a sense of comradery towards each other.
What is the real reason you ask, well, it was because he couldn't ride a beast around the city now could he, once they arrived at Imperial city he would need to go find another carriage driver which would take some time, time which he didn't need to waste if he had Peter with him.
But if one told Nick to stop lying and to tell the god's honest truth, he would say it was because Peter was cost-effective, he acted as a carriage driver, a butler, and even a nanny when Nick wasn't around, plus, he came really cheap.
"No, don't say that, who says that drivers can only ride carriages, have some ambition, I didn't want to tell you this because Silver is very sensitive about this stuff."
Advertisement
"But you see, Silver's fat affects his sense of direction and sometimes even his eyesight, so he could almost be considered absolutely blind, which is why he needs you to guide him!"
Peter became even more firm in his decision to leave, he feared heights, and hearing that the beast he would be riding on was blind didn't help the situation.
But then Peter looked down to his chubby belly and wondered when fat had started disrupting eyesight and sense of direction, who in their right mind would believe that, the beast must just be dumb and blind.
"I am grateful for your confidence in me, sir, but you see it is a long journey to Imperial city and I think I ought to return home to my wife."
"Well, Peter I can't force you to stay, but I have had this long-standing tradition which I used to send off my closest friends and even though it might be a little excessive, you have to accept it and can't refuse."
Nick seemed sad about Peter leaving but looked like he was ready to reward Peter for his diligent services.
Peter screamed in his mind, 'Mr. Nick, please be as excessive as you possibly can, you can even reward me with an origin stone, I won't flinch in accepting it as a sign of our friendship.'
"I guess I can't refuse then," Peter said as he raised both his arms to his sides as a sign of helplessness.
"Oh, you seem to have experienced this tradition before seeing as how you're already in position. Does this mean that it has already become famous?" Nick said in a puzzled manner.
Peter was puzzled as well. Did this tradition require a certain position to accept the rewards? Then suddenly memories surfaced his head, he remembered how terrifyingly scheming Nick was and instantly turned fearful, now he could only hope that he was overthinking things.
"Okay, let's get started!" Nick said as he clapped his arms while sending a mental command to Silver at the same time.
Silver quickly nodded as it raised its claws solemnly and started using the rocks around it to sharpen them, but sadly the rocks couldn't help since they were sliced apart before they could even serve their purpose.
Peter started sweating heavily as he asked in a shaky tone, "Mr...gulp...Nick, could I possibly ask what this tradition entails?!!"
"Oh, sure you can ask, you will know sooner or later anyway, you see this tradition was passed down in my family for generations and it is said that once this ritual is performed the person leaving as well as the person doing the send-off will part ways for good."
"But the ritual is very simple, and all it requires is for my beast to give you a little tickle as a send-off..."
"Maybe another time, I've now seemed to realize that I would miss these kids if I leave now, and besides, my wife is probably enjoying her alone time and it would be rude of me to go and interrupt her!" Peter immediately changed his mind.
"Are you sure, you know the kids and I could manage without you if you really want to go," Nick asked with a frown.
Advertisement
"I'm certain, I'm positive, I'm dead set on traveling with you, and don't try to convince me otherwise!!" Peter wouldn't budge on this matter.
Oh, my god!!! No wonder those who participate in this tradition part ways for good, the person leaving would be dead after being tickled with those sharp claws, so does this mean that Nick's ancestors were psychos as well!!
Now Peter was no longer an employee, but a captive.
After they were all done packing, Nick then stored the carriage into his system space, but he didn't try to do it in secret since it wasn't anything unbelievable, unlike the pet storage space.
Peter and the kids stared in awe as Nick made a large carriage vanish into a dark vortex.
Nick had managed to sell his house, but for a ten percent discounted price, if anyone who knew how stingy Nick was heard this they would be suspicious and wouldn't believe Nick would do such a thing, but Nick really did do it, he was just too kind.
Around this time in the city, the person that bought Nick's house was leading his gang to the house.
"Wow, only our boss is smart enough to buy a house in the most secluded part of the city, away from prying eyes while we accomplish our objective!!" Lackey number one said.
"You think that is smart? Don't forget that our boss also got a ten percent discount on the price!!" Said lackey number two.
The boss was silent and to be frankly honest quite bored, his lackeys always praised him and were natural-born bootlickers, so he felt no joy from hearing their words, no excitement, if only something surprising happened once in a while to bring his dull life some joy.
Nick and the gang were on top of Silver and were having a great time soaring through the sky, all except Peter of course, who was screaming, shrieking, and shedding tears of ‘joy' throughout the flight.
It had taken twenty minutes to travel to the mountains, but it had only taken a minute to get back to the city, and this was all without sacrificing their comfort.
Peter didn't understand Nick's way of thinking at all. Why did they have to go through the city, wouldn't it be less conspicuous if they flew around it?!
But he soon noticed that they were heading to their old house and quickly realized that Nick must have forgotten something important in the house, and they were heading there to retrieve it.
And he was soon proven right because when they arrived at their old house Silver started slowing down and slowly started landing.
The person that bought the house had just turned the corner when he saw a generous beast landing beside his house, no wait, it wasn't landing beside his house; it was landing on top of it!
"Wait!!! Stop, don't break my house!!" The boss and his lackeys ran anxiously towards the house.
The beast was inches away from sitting on the house when it stopped and hovered there, but before they could sigh in relief, the beast used its humongous claws and grabbed the house from all sides, and started uprooting it!
Nick was furiously managing his 'crane' as he gave instructions left and right.
"A little from the right, yes that's it put your back into it, come on didn't you eat any breakfast today, more power!!" Nick was having a great time.
"Master, you said I couldn't have breakfast as part of my diet, remember?" Silver asked cutely, did his master forget what he said this morning?
"Ahh, a figure of speech, it's just a figure of speech, come one now slowly back up...yes that's it slowly, like there is an elderly man behind you and you’re slowly pushing him away, don't you dare squash the elderly man or I'll fight you with my life!!!"
Silver couldn't understand what his master was saying, but he did his best not to mess up, fearing how this lunatic it called master might punish him if he did.
Nick had tried to store the house into his system storage space before he left this morning, but it didn't work no matter how hard he tried, and this was because the house was attached to the ground firmly, so his only option was to get silver to uproot it and then store it in the space.
The boss and his lackeys were losing their minds. They had spent half their savings on this house and it was about to be taken away, literally! But as he was about to wallow in despair the boss noticed a familiar figure on top of the beast, wasn't that the person that sold him this house?!
"Sir!! Mr. Hollywood, it's me, the one that bought that house from you, remember me?!" The boss yelled as loudly as he could in order to make sure Nick heard him.
+ 5 domineering points
+ 5 domineering points
+ 5 domineering points
Nick looked down below and blushed slightly from embarrassment. It was so embarrassing getting caught in the middle of a robbery. He had told the man his name was Mr. Hollywood to avoid dirtying his name too. This was so embarrassing.
But it seemed that seeing him riding on such a magnificent beast earned him some domineering points.
"Hello there, you sure came early, don't worry I won't be long, I'm just clearing out the area for you, a few minutes from now you will have a clear patch of land you can plant your crops in, build a house on or even use as a personal toilet if you wanted."
As soon as he finished, Silver had also finished uprooting the house, so he hurriedly instructed Silver to fly away, out of the city.
The Boss and his lackeys stood dumbly, waiting for this funny dream to be over.
After leaving the city, Nick had Silver put the house down gently so that he could store it in his storage space, and just as he thought, it succeeded.
Now that everything was ready, and all that was left was to collect some domineering points from the city before leaving.
"Okay, now it's showtime!! Silver suck in your bell, that will lose us some points and comb your hair, we want you to look as majestic as possible!!"
Advertisement
The Girl from the Mountain
Alexandra Bedford is a weapon, a young woman with telekinetic powers capable of leveling entire cities, born to fight in the desolate remains of post-apocalyptic North America. There is only one problem: she may be losing control of her abilities. Sixteen years after a global pandemic devastated the earth’s population, the lines in the old United States have been drawn between the Cheyenne Directorate in Colorado and the New England Alliance on the East Coast. The Directorate, of which Alexandra is a part, is a small but powerful organization dedicated to returning the country to its former glory. However, when a diplomatic mission to the New England Alliance goes wrong, Alexandra finds herself at the center of a bloody civil war. Battles are fought on the old highways and in dilapidated towns and once-great cities. And as the conflict escalates, all of North America faces the threat of being burnt away by nuclear fire. Against this backdrop of war, Alexandra tries to uncover the long-hidden secrets behind the plague, her abilities, and the two men fighting to decide the fate of the United States - Henry Bedford, Alexandra's father and leader of the Directorate, and John Martin, the mysterious figure at the heart of the New England Alliance who may hold the key to everything she seeks. None of this will matter, however, unless Alexandra can prevent the power growing inside her from taking over and consuming the very world she is fighting to save. Author's Notes: I appreciate you taking a look at my novel, The Girl from the Mountain. If you're a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, military thrillers, and/or cosmic horror, I think you'll enjoy this story. I completed the novel's first draft back in 2011 and made significant changes in 2016. Since then, I've more-or-less sat on the manuscript while working on other projects. Thanks to a bit of prodding, I've decided to send this story out into the wild with some touch-ups and additional revisions. I welcome any comments or criticisms, and I hope you enjoy The Girl from the Mountain!
8 227Iciry's Light
A young boy must face the rising darkness of the High One, an ancient evil who, long ago, tried to enslave the world as a whole. Learning who he is through the forced teachings of his family, Damien must accept who he is to stop the rise of the Darkness.
8 114A World In Motion
The world is great and so much remains shrouded in darkness. We can stand on the shoreline and see the outline far in the distance but too often we fail to grasp what goes on. We limit ourself to our immediate surrounding and claim our small piece of land to be the center of it all. A king meets his end so it falls upon the son to wield the power of the crown. What if things were different? What can i do to facility such changes? With a need for something the newly raised king embarks on a journey to find out just what is possible in this world, his world. Historical fiction - The world has the same principal rules as our own but from the perspective of culture/technology/and more its different. Multiple Lead Characters - With time more characters will become relevant so you will experience this world from different vantage points but it's all connected and with purpose. Drama - True depth to a story rests in the arms of character you grow to love or hate, their humanity. Drama is an inevitable feature of humanity so if i succeed in creating fictional humans then drama will surely follow. Action - Place one human in the same room as another and you'll eventually witness action. Action with all the blood and pain associated will it is a natural extension of the human experience. Welcome to my world. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Image by Peder Balke (1849) Nationalmuseum. Public domain.
8 154Age of revolution
Those in power have always wanted one thing more than anything, more time. Everyone wishes for more time, but like all things it has a price, what would you be willing to do to have more time Izhar was one of the few powerful mages of Iliv who now suffers from old age. His last spell was to bring his one hope, immortality, but his dream of eternal life was broken he has a second chance at immortality, but he must complete a task of a being of unknown power on a world where humanity advanced with machines. Give the novel a chance, as updates will be slow. I prefer reading a chapter with fewer errors and longer chapters.
8 210MY RANDOM POESIES
A series of my random poetic endeavours
8 204TMNT Girlfriend Scenarios (Discontinued)
The reader is the middle child of the four turtles (& is a turtle them self). Leave any requests under Arthur Note.
8 184