"Let me guess, the leader of the faction thinks that he can control him once he becomes emperor?"

Zachariah says "Correct, but the faction is being careful and not making any big moves. They are waiting for the emperor to die."

"That figures. I assume that there are other factions who are opposed to the son becoming emperor?"

Zachariah says "Of course. All the other factions in the empire, of which there are quite a few, are against the son becoming emperor. However, that is the only thing that they agree on. Some factions are supporting one of the grandkids, others are supporting someone from a branch of the imperial family, and some are even supporting an end to the rule of the emperor. Luckily, those factions are few and small."

"You think ending imperial rule would be a bad thing?"

Zachariah says "From a business point of view, yes, absolutely. That kind of power transition would not happen quietly. If anything, it would be worse than the son becoming emperor."

"Do you think the southern empire would invade them?"

Zachariah says "If things get a little chaotic, they would probably nibble away at the border. If things get really chaotic, then yes I can see them invading. The two empires are fairly equal in strength. Anything that weakens the northern empire would upset that balance."

"Isn't war good for business?"

Zachariah says "It can be. Especially for weapon and food sales. However, a war between the empires would be bad for the city and bad for trade. We may not be part of the empire, but anything that affects the empire will also affect us."

"Then in your opinion, would the emperor living for another ten years or more be a good thing?"

Zachariah says "If the emperor can live until his grandkids are old enough and names one of them as his heir, it would prevent most of the chaos. There would probably still be some fighting between the factions, but it wouldn't be too bad. However, I very much doubt that he can live for much longer. Even if his body doesn't give out, he probably won't live for much longer."

"You think that someone would assassinate the emperor?"

Zachariah says "Yes. Most likely the son's faction. Time is against them."

"A son killing his father. This is why I hate politics."

Zachariah says "Oh, it wouldn't be the son. He has no control over the faction behind him. If anything, he is the faction's puppet."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Well, the emperor will have to figure that out, it's not my problem. Oh, do you know what faction the ambassador is?"

Zachariah says "He used to be an imperial faction, but now I believe he is part of a faction supporting one of the grandkids. Although, I don't know which one specifically."

"So, that's why he was so excited when I said I could give the emperor more time."

Zachariah says "You what now?!"

With a laugh I explain to Zachariah what I am going to do for the emperor. After that we chat for a few more minutes and then I return to the castle. I go back up to the tower roof and return to reading and keeping an eye on the groups.

The main thing I am getting from the books now is different ways to make the golems. A lot of mages have tried different ways to make golems, but most of it focuses on combat ability. It doesn't look like anyone really worked on making the golems smarter.

Then again, the mages in this world use golems differently than I am planning to. They have a mage control each golem, like a remote control car, when they use them in battle. I don't have multiple mages to spare so I need my golems to be able to act independently.

On the other hand, I don't plan to go too far with it, I don't want to create a magical Skynet. Other than the spirit for the castle I don't plan to make anything else sentient. What I want is to be able to make golems that I can program like I would a robot.

The most I am aiming for is for them to be able to recognize friends and foes. Also maybe understand basic tactics and follow orders, that should be enough. That is for later though, I have a few more steps to take before I try that.

For now, I still have a dozen or so more books to read and that is before I even go to the library. The groups are doing fine and the elves look like they are enjoying themselves. I keep an eye on them until the last group returns to the ship and then I just read.

I make it through two more of the books before Lin comes back for dinner. I gate the kids over from the ship so they can eat with us and we can spend some time with them. After we are done eating I spend some time playing with the kids before opening a soulscape.

During the soulscape I make sure to spend some time with Kechara, Asuna, Haku, and Ekard. I feel really bad that it has been so long since I got to spend any real time with them. When I get back to the peninsula I will do my best to make it up to all of them.

After the soulscape, I put the kids to bed and then go take a lava bath. When I get out of the bath, I go find Lin and then we go to bed together. Once Lin falls asleep, I enter into meditation and start working on my core.

As I am working on my core, I keep switching between all of the techniques that I learned. I am mainly doing it to make sure that I don't forget any of the techniques. I am also thinking about trying something out, but I want to make sure the techniques work first.

Since I was able to enchant the weapons while scanning the city, I want to try using two techniques at once. I feel like the capacity of my mind has improved lately, so I want to see what I can do with it. First I go through all the techniques so I can make sure there are no problems.

This also lets me know them a bit better so that I can find two that match up. If this is going to work I need to use two techniques that compliment each other. Once I have two techniques picked out, I focus my mind and try to use both at the same time.

However, even though I am able to split my focus, using two techniques doesn't work. At least, using those two specific techniques doesn't work, but I don't give up. Instead I try a different set of techniques and when that doesn't work I try another set.

After trying all the combinations that I think should work, I am left stumped. None of them work, but from everything I know I should be able to do this. Not wanting to give up, I start trying the combinations that I don't think will work.