Why Did You Summon Me?

When Mia returned to her room, her maids flocked around her. They had noticed how dejected Mia looked the moment she came in. “Your Highness, is everything alright? Shall we prepare anything?” The concerned maids asked.

“Uh, no. I just need some time alone, please,” Mia replied, visibly exhausted as she waved the maids away.

Mia fell face first onto her bed and closed her eyes, enjoying its softness. Mia pulled Sharkie over and rested her head on its fluffy back. She remained in that position for a time, and sometimes, she would nudge the shark gently.

A while later, Mia turned over and kicked her heels off, leaving only her white silk socks on. She swung her legs, which at the edge of the bed, giving an ample view of that which she short skirt, at this moment, did not cover. Fortunately, no one was around to do anything about it.

For some time now, Mia had been living the dream — as a princess. She was given the best that money could buy. She was the center of attention at every ball, party, and gathering she attended. The people that flocked around Mia were brilliant and remarkable, yet they held great respect for her. In the past fortnight, Mia had been showered with more compliments than she had gotten in twenty years. She was provided with the best of materialistic and luxurious experience money could offer.

Contrary to Mia’s expectation, however, she was less happy now. When the short period of happiness gained from her reunion with the Emperor faded away, Mia found herself her yearning for her real home. She missed her snug little chalet at Da Xue and her kind, close friends. Mia even missed Lulu, who she was really close to despite the short time that they had known each other for.

Her new friends were pleasant, but how many of them were nice to her not because they wanted to please the Emperor? Mia knew that these things were not as simple as they seemed. She truly had enjoyed her time with her new friends, but she could not shake the feeling that something was amiss.

Mia rolled and raised the plushie upward. She looked into its lifeless eyes and asked, “Sharkie, do you wonder if those we left behind are missing us? We’ve been gone for such a long time.” [1]

Mia was rather emotional at that moment. It was so deep that she forgot Baiyi had told her that time in their own timeline had stopped.

“Maybe, I’m just not cut out to be a princess,” Mia said, after which she sat up and put Sharkie aside.

Mia got up and began to undress. She took off her shoulder-baring blouse first, followed by her short skirt and her white silk socks. Then, she reached into her storage pouch and pulled out the water bucket-like robe, which Baiyi highly favored. Mia hated this robe, but today, she chose to wear it.

The heavy fabric of the robe completely covered her body, hiding her beautiful figure from view. The robe made her look plain and modest.

Mia walked up to the enormous mirror in the room and stared at her reflection. Some seconds later, she realized what was missing. She removed the accessories atop her hair, letting her black, waterfall-like hair cascade downward. Mia used the accessories to re-tie her hair into ponytails. Then, she attached to two blue ribbons atop her hair, making it seem as though she had a set of perked-up rabbit ears.

After taking off the luxurious robe that made her resembled a princess, she was plain old Mia again. Plain Mia was not exceptionally talented in anything, but she was loved, nonetheless, for her kindness, friendliness, and gentleness.

Some girls acted like princesses despite being commoners, but Mia did not do this, despite how much the Emperor cared for her. [2]

Mia was done dressing up, so she walked out of her room and met the Emperor in the hallway. They had not spent much time together lately, so Mia did not know what he had been up to.

When the Emperor noticed Mia’s simple robe, he smiled. “Yep, definitely cuter this way.”

“Hello, Royal Gramps,” Mia greeted the Emperor the same way she greeted the Archmage when she was at Da Xue.

The Emperor smiled and ruffled her hair. “If you chose to wear something this simple, then you must be on your way to meet your master, right?”

Mia nodded.

“Great; I am going to see him, too,” the Emperor said, chuckling. He locked arms with Mia, and they both went to his office.

When the pair walked into the office, they saw Baiyi hunched over the office desk, which was filled with documents — hard at work. The food an attendant brought earlier was untouched and already cold.

The Emperor took a piece of toast from the plate and took a large bite out of it. “How did you fool the servants into thinking that you had eaten these?”

Baiyi did not look up. “Like this,” he said, snapping his fingers, and the food vanished. After re-reading the document before him, Baiyi placed the imperial seal on it.

He looked up at the Emperor and said, “Did you just wage a war on the Morserian Empire?” Without waiting for an answer, Baiyi continued, “No; I suppose ‘war’ is the wrong word. You launched a sneak attack on them, didn’t you?”

Mia cried out in surprise. This was why she had not seen much of her Royal Gramps in the past few days! Whilst she had been living the life of a princess, the Emperor had spent half a month embroiled in a war.

“Excuse my pedantry, but that’s was  just  against Mornseria. It’s barely an empire,” the Emperor calmly replied, correcting what he considered minor misinformation.

“Fine. Mornseria isn’t an empire. But, you launched a sneak attack, just like that, without giving away anything. If I had not been paying attention and noticed the abnormal changes in the rations of our reserve soldiers, I would not have known that you launched an attack!”

“It’s a surprise attack. Stealth is of importance,” the Emperor replied dismissively, unconcerned about his infringement of another country’s sovereignty. In fact, he seemed pleased with himself. “The lesser people know about this, the better.”

The Emperor used his mana to pull a chair over and sat facing Baiyi, after which he tossed over a scroll.

When Baiyi unfurled the scroll, he realized it was a status report. Due to the sensitive nature of this attack, the preparations had been rushed. A two hundred-man squadron — the Emperor, several Praetorian Sorcerers, and the Sorcerers Corps — had carried out this attack. No soldiers had accompanied on this venture, so the squadron had lost half of its units in the attack.

A hundred-man loss was usually manageable, but in this case, it was a terrible loss. The lost units had been Rohlserlian sorcerers — the Empire’s trump card. The loss of a hundred of them dealt a devastating blow to the Empire’s military might.

Baiyi — who had already become the shadow ruler of the Empire — saw the loss from the Emperor’s perspective and could not help wincing.

He was perplexed. What was the point of the surprise attack? Was it done to celebrate the return of the Book of Servitude, as the Emperor needed target practice? If that was the case, why did the Emperor pick a difficult enemy such as Mornseria? Was this glaring oversight a result of Archmage’s memories merging with the Emperor’s?

The country that Rohlserl was wary of was Mornseria, which was not far off becoming an empire. Mornseria was as old as Rohlserl’s, and the country — just like Rohlserl — had been founded on magic, so its citizens also venerated sorcerers. Although Mornseria’s military was not as good as that of the ancient Rohlserlian Empire — and it’s ruler did possess anything as strong as the Book of Servitude — its people were tenacious fighters, ready to die for their country. Making Mornseria an enemy was no different from inviting a throbbing headache.

The Rohlserlian empire and Mornseria had fought hundreds of wars over the years. Rohlserlian empire did not lose in any of these wars, but its victories had also been pyrrhic; the heavy losses incurred always dented the empire’s military might.

Mornseria had complicated terrains and strange environments, so the Rohlserlian empire had not yet been able to conquer it. This lasted until Rohlserl the Nineteenth reached Demigod level and no longer needed to be mindful of his mana. Only then did he single-handedly sweep through Mornseria, leaving destruction in his wake.

Despite its destruction, however, Rohlserl the Nineteenth could not annex Mornseria, as the Mornserians — a bunch as unyielding as the environment they thrived in — would not give in. After their country was destroyed, Mornserian refugees fled and hid in various areas around the Rohlserlian empire’s borders — as bandits. These bandits did not forget the wrong that was done to them; they remained a thorn in the Rohserlian empire’s side till its downfall.

Baiyi placed the parchment down and looked at the Emperor. “Why?”

The Emperor’s expression changed to one of disappointment. “You really are that dimwitted. Why are you unable to deduce the simple reason for this? You’re worse than Little Mia. I bet you think I did all of this just to show off my power, don’t you?”

‘And? Is that wrong? Besides, no matter how dimwitted you think I am, there’s no way I’m worse than Mia,’ Baiyi grumbled in his heart.

“Can you, please, look at where the surprise attack was carried out?” The Emperor said, rolling his eyes.

“Coninopolis? Isn’t that the center of Morserian magic? That’s where most Mornserian sorcerers gather…” Baiyi muttered, lost in thought. Suddenly, he shot to his feet. “See?! You really did it to show off your power!”

Before the Emperor could protest, Mia said, “The name ‘Coninopolis’ sounds familiar. I think… Oh! I remember now! Mr. Hope, Laeticia told me that the Holy City of Canningham had another name in the past; it’s called Coninopolis!”

When Baiyi heard that, he froze. Hundreds of thoughts flashed through his mind, and in seconds, understanding had dawned on him.

The Church of God’s Grace was founded right after the Rohlserlian Empire fell. At this point, it had yet to come into existence. In the future, many scholars theorized that an older version of the Church began even before the fall of the Rohlserlian Empire. This was corroborated in the future by the Church and its scripture.

Mornseria did not see religion as elaborate schemes to fool the uneducated; instead, it welcomes everyone into the fold, regardless of their religion. Thus, many religions and cults flourished in Mornseria, and the country’s ruling class used them to fight the Rohserlian Empire.

It was no surprise that a behemoth like the Church would be founded in such a country, neither was it a surprise that the Church would one day build its city on the ruins of ancient Coninopolis.