"It's fine. You don't have to justify anything. This is a transaction. Understand, this is a one time thing. I will only do this once and only for the emperor."

Ambassador says "Understood. I will make that clear when I report to the emperor. Are there any other conditions or anything else you will need?"

"No, nothing else. It will be best if we can set it up for the same time as I need to go pickup the elves."

Ambassador says "Of course. I will report to the emperor and arrange everything. Once everything is ready I will let you know."

"Alright. Just keep in mind that you need to keep things honest. If you betray me I will have no problems burning your capital to the ground."

Ambassador says "I understand. I will make sure the emperor knows as well. For the procedure itself, do we need to keep it a secret?"

"No. Actually, it is best if there are a lot of witnesses. Otherwise you will have to deal with rumors of the emperor being replaced or consorting with demons. When he gains lifeforce he will look younger, probably by several decades."

Ambassador says "True, that could cause problems. The empire doesn't need that kind of confusion."

"Exactly. I will leave the arrangements to you."

After saying goodbye to the ambassador I head for the library to check on Lin. She already has a huge pile of books on her normal table and is skimming through one of them. I sit down next to her, take out the golem book, and start reading where I left off.

Lin says "Aren't the elves in the city? Don't you need to keep an eye on them?"

"They are, but between the rods and the adventurers, they should be fine. If one of the rods gets used I will still sense it in here. However, I doubt anyone is going to try anything right now. No matter who it is, if someone tries something they will become the council's target. With the council already in a bad mood, I doubt anyone wants to be noticed right now."

Lin says "I don't get how you can be paranoid one minute and so laid back the next."

"You don't? How many times have you called me crazy? It isn't that I am laid back, it is just I don't feel like anything is going to happen today. Besides, I wanted to spend some time with you."

Lin says "While you get points for being sweet, stop calling yourself crazy, only I am allowed to call you crazy."

"I can't wait to watch you tell Myria and the goddesses that they aren't allowed to call me crazy anymore!"

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Lin says "Myria will be easy, we have an understanding. I admit that I am a little nervous about telling off the goddesses, but I will do it."

"I believe you. However, you don't need to. The goddesses are justified when they call me crazy. I don't mind it at all. Just the fact that you are willing to stand up for me makes me happy. I love you!"

Lin says "You had better! I love you too! Now, go away, I can't work with you here distracting me!"

"Yes ma'am!"

I stand up, lean over to give Lin a long kiss, and then leave the library while laughing. As I make my way back to the castle, I send out my mana to check on the groups of elves. They are all doing fine and I can't even find anyone that is following them.

When I get back to the castle I find that the huge stack of crates is gone and no new ones have been left for me. Since the bows are already finished, that means that I don't have anything that I need to do. So I make myself comfortable on the tower roof and go back to my reading.

Every dozen or so pages I will stop and send out my mana to check on the groups. I am really not expecting anything to happen, but it isn't like it costs me anything to check. When I finish the current book, I have some lunch and then start the next book.

A lot of the information in this book is stuff that I already know so I just skim through it. I plan to read all the books Lin has about golems and then go back to the library to check their books. Once I have read everything that I can, then I will start experimenting.

I also plan to experiment with creating an artificial spirit, but not until I have golems figured out. If I can create an artificial spirit for the castle, I can probably also create one for a golem. From what I have read so far, no one has ever even tried to make a living golem.

My thought is to see if I can make a golem body that a spirit can control. If so, it would mean that Athena and Yui could have bodies to wander around in. Right now it is just a thought, I will have to see how things go with the experiments.

However, from my current knowledge of magic, it should be possible. It will just depend on whether or not I have enough time to work out how to do it. Right now, I don't have anything to do until I hear from the ambassador.

Which means that this is a good time for me to do the reading and start experimenting. How much I manage to accomplish will depend on how long the empire takes to get ready. I imagine that once the emperor hears my answer things will move quickly.

After all, it isn't like he is going to find anyone else that can preserve his life. At least, not without selling his soul, although I'm not sure if demons can actually do that. Either way, I am the emperor's best bet, if what I was told is the truth.

Speaking of, I should probably find out if the ambassador was telling me the truth. Zachariah's merchant group is probably my best bet to find out what's really going on in the empire. So, when I finish the current book I decide to take a break and go see Zachariah.

Zachariah says "Ash, I didn't expect to see you again so soon. What's up?"

"I was wondering if you know the current situation in the northern empire?"

Zachariah says "I may not know everything that is going on in the empire, but I should know most of it. What are you looking for specifically?"

"What's the situation with the emperor and his family?"

Zachariah says "The emperor is getting old and he is not expected to live for much longer. He hasn't always been the kindest ruler, but in general he has been good for the empire. Things are expected to get chaotic when he dies because of his son."

"What's wrong with his son?"

Zachariah says "He is regarded as an idiot who is only interested in women. I suggest you never let him see Lin. However, he unfortunately has a powerful faction within the empire behind him."