A dark silhouette covered the sky in an instant shrunk as one person flew down, two teleported and another... jumped?
The first one that flew down was a woman, she had a ponytail that wrapped around a small pendulum at its end. The two who teleported seemed to appear quite similar. And...
Splat!
The final... uuuuh
"Envoys?"
Grey Roster was in raw disbelief. His face was contorted in disgust and suprise at one of these 'terrifyingly powerful' envoys splatting on the ground in blood and guts without any flight or transport.
Jannet began with an apology.
"I'm sorry, he's fine, just ignore Natsumi for now. He has his reasons for being like this. My name is Jannet nice to meet you."
Lacra put her hand directly on Grey's face and pushed him back. This was an important event with the envoys of the Future King. However exotic they may be, she had to take this seriously.
"I am Queen Lacra, supreme ruler of the Avenus kingdom. I believe we have important matters to discuss."
They both looked at Natsumi's splattered still alive corpse on the ground. Neither of them were bothered as they were used to such gory sights within whatever bloody lives they've had.
"Let's go somewhere more appropriate."
"Agreed."
At a private meeting room Lacra and Jannet both sat at the same table. Natsumi who had fully healed, Chizuru, Keith, and Grey were also seated at the table.
"So, you are the envoys of the Future King."
"That is correct Queen Lacra"
She clasped her hands together underneath the table.
"Under the Future Kings decree you want to cooperate with our kingdom to learn our mana burning methods?"
"No."
"No?"
"The Future King does not require knowledge of how you produce 'mana' by burning the go... world tree."
Jannet smiled.
'If the Future King doesn't find value in our mana production, why is he so interested in us in the first place? He doesn't need our power, these envoys make my survival instincts go full alert even though I sense no mana from any of them. Why!? What does she mean?'
Lacra's mind was at full throttle, decoding the implications behind that statement.
'I thought the Future King wanted us because we were unique in mana production!'
Jannet continued,
"Our decree is to connect your world to his own kingdom of worlds, Laniakea. And through that you spread the technology of burning world trees down. Space platforms will attach themselves to your world allowing for travel. You may ask for our help and cooperation to make this process as smooth as possible."
Queen Lacra was relieved, it seemed Mana production did have value after all.
"So we just have to conduct trade through these trade routes?"
"Incorrect."
'What possible purpose could these so called 'space platforms' possibly could be used else for!!!'
"They will also be travel routes for people to and from your world and others."
'Phew it's just the Future King integrating us into his multi world empire.'
"You might also encounter a little trouble."
"What kind of trouble?"
'Interworld pirates, some form of tax from the Future King, the Future King!?'
"There might be a huge influx of tourists occupying the areas around these platforms. New worlds tend to attract a lot of attention within Laniakea."
'oh'
"Will we get to choose when and where these space platforms are placed?"
"Of course that's exactly why we're here. Just don't take too long, the Future King doesn't wait forever."
The meeting continued for many more hours where Jannet and Queen Lacra discussed the logistics of the space platform, possible interactions with foreign economies and cultures, the nature and size of the platforms as huge portal palaces that seamlessly connect each world, and the changes that Avenus will face as time goes on. Lacra had cooled down and her fear over what the Future King would do faded into the background as the conversation smoothed over. Until,
"Why"
"hm?"
"What is so important about our world to be integrated into this grand empire beyond my comprehension? We've seen what the Future King can do, we're just ants in his eyes. Why does he need some ant nest that serves no true value to him. You seem to have some kind of disdain for the world tree. But I can't see why you want our slow inefficient way of destroying its wood instead of the raw power that I've seen."
"..."
Jannet had not quite prepared for a question like this that poked at the core of Laniakea. She decided to respond honestly.
"A civilization, more than any individual, carries a kind of weight to it. Every action a society performs is the cumulative sum of many many people. A thousand workers digging a hole and one person digging the same hole in the same amount of time may practically be the same. But the weight of cause and experience of those thousand workers will always outweigh whatever that individual has. The requirements for that hole to exist is hard to define, as the 'many' could have more or less but achieve the same result. An individual either does or does not... does any of this make sense to you?"
"I'm not quite sure what you're saying?"
Jannet's Ki began shaking the room and pressing down on everyone there. Her explanation was important. Not just Lacra but Chizuru was also a recipient of this information. It felt like cold wind endlessly pouring down on the room.
"The Future King is... a god, as you understand it. But lets just say, it is much harder to circumvent the actions of a civilization composed of many individuals than the actions of one individual with the power of a civilization, conceptually speaking."
"Sorry but I think we're off track. We should be leaving now. You wanted us to install the first one at the capital right here?"
Jannet pointed at a map of the capital at an empty lot from a freshly taken down church.
"...yes"
Jannet and everyone else proceeded to leave the room. Even Grey Roster had started having a riveting conversation with Natsumi.
Meanwhile Lacra was sitting there. Her hands clasped beneath the table again, in the same position as when she heard Jannet's response and felt the cold wind of her ki.
'Who could possibly circumvent the Future King?'