Book 15: Chapter 54
Although I made a promise to Dragon Mom, the truth was that it was going to be somewhat of a challenge to locate them, not because we lacked clues or couldn’t find them, but something much simpler. I didn’t have time.
Freya didn’t lie to me. That was the reality. We had lots of work to deal with daily. We had our hands too full to do anything else with letters and envoys coming in and going out. Moreover, there were lots personal letters from my moms. Perhaps the private letters I sent them last time sent off some sort of weird trigger for them. They practically sent me a letter on the daily. At first, I thought it was something crucial, but then I discovered that it wasn’t the case. They were basically reports about what they were doing every day, how much they missed me and their calculations for when they’d get to see me again. Oh, there was more. They asked if the other sneaked over to see me. They also asked about the girls. While they were at it, they’d sneak in their feelings they wanted to share with me.
You think it was sweet, do you? It wasn’t. Not. One. Bit.
At first, there was a blissful feeling to be derived from it, as I got to know that my two moms still loved me. Soon, though, I realised an issue after I read them. Receiving a letter from them didn’t imply that was it, because I had to write back! I had to write back, not to mention that I had to write my response within the day. Not only that, I also had to ensure my tone was gentle, on top of trying to avoid exposing my irritation. I had to reach the word count, as well; else, they wrote back woefully sobbing, “Do you hate me now, Son?” Seriously, I eventually started thinking my two moms were more ridiculous than my wives…
The most terrifying part was that I couldn’t ask Freya to respond, as I had to personally pen my letter. Therefore, I had to write two different letters every night, lest they discover I copy pasted when they met, in which case, I’d be in for it. My original plan was to look into the matter pertaining to the dragons at night when I had time. I wanted to look through the files for clues, search for the villagers of the particular village, and then find an opportunity to visit it. Instead, I had to handle the alliance’s affairs during work hours; then, I had to write letters at night besides taking care of my wives and girls. As a result, I couldn’t find any chance to look into the dragons’ case.
Although Dragon Mom looked forward to hearing more – evident by the fact that she wanted to ask me something every morning – it agonised her to see me so exhausted and half-asleep in the mornings. I felt very sorry for Dragon Mom. She saw hope, yet she was helpless. She had to rely on me. I knew I needed to get to the bottom of it for Mom as soon as possible, or else, she was likely to land herself in trouble if she went out. The thing was that I needed time, nevertheless.
I questioned why I had so much work. I swear I was meeting people I was familiar with every day, but they brought something different to the table every day. I just couldn’t figure out why there was so much to sort out with an alliance. I was very annoyed, honestly. I wanted to tell those below me, “Can’t you do something yourselves for a change?!” But I knew they might do something harmful if I did that. Elves and humans hadn’t shown any noticeable changes with regards to their opinions of each other. The only reason they formed an alliance was because of me. Once I was missing from the picture, the alliance, which had yet to settle down, was very likely to face problems, for the reason that there was no problem if they wanted to cut themselves off from the alliance. What means did we have of punishing a nation?
The elven nation had always been a self-sustaining nation, while the most powerful empire, Rosvenor Empire, was fine without our two nations. As for our North, we didn’t need either nation, either, after adopting an industrial system. As for metal mines and other stuff, the North had begun to mine all those we had located. In other words, the alliance between our three nations was meaningless and superficial. The only reason for its existence was my wilful desire.
I had to be very careful when dealing with matters associated with the alliance. I absolutely couldn’t delay. I could only hopelessly watch elves and humans entering and leaving my Imperial Palace. I also began to build an embassy for humans and elves nearby the Imperial Palace. Trying to do that on top of our national affairs work, which was a lot to begin with, kept me and Freya busy all day long.