The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 188

Chapter 188 – Asylum

The next week was, obviously, quite busy. Constructing the building for the Embassy had been easy enough, but you needed more than just a building for such things. Sure, I had decorated the outside of the building with sculptures in relief, with the summoning being shown at the bottom, to the left of the gate, and following along with the counter-clockwise rotation of the building until, at the top, it showed my return home. However, that was just the outside. The inside needed more than bare stone walls if it was going to convey the proper gravitas.

Thankfully, I didn’t need to worry about that, personally. I wasn’t entirely unskilled when it came to artistic endeavors. Part of the transformation of being a Summoned Heroine was that I picked up new skills and abilities more quickly, after all, and my turning into a lich gave me a great deal of time. So, I could have decorated the interior of the embassy myself.

However, I was also well aware that I was a poor choice for doing something like that. An embassy needed to be both a representation of the country, and an advertisement for it, while at the same time not running counter to local sensibilities too much. That kind of balancing act was not my forte, since even before I had returned to Earth, I had been more of the ‘my way or the highway’ type of leader, except that I had the power to enforce that. Catering to mortal expectations or cultural norms was not something that came naturally to me, and I knew it.

In addition to the aesthetic issues, there was also all the wiring and plumbing and installing of facilities that needed to happen. I’d solved the issue of power and water supply, but routing wires and pipes through the building was not something I had the practical experience to handle myself. Of course, I did not have to reinvent the wheel, or anything like that. After all, I had people who knew their business better than I did. The point of having a team was to use their expertise when yours was lacking, and I had not survived the other world’s trials by assuming I knew everything.

Which is why I had tapped others to handle those problems. For all my skills and expertise, it was impossible for me to be an expert in everything. More importantly, my undead nature meant that I struggled to see the mortal view of things. That was a weakness I recognized in myself, and that is why I brought in others to finish the work on the embassy.

Jenna Duke was a former American, and now citizen of Risen Athelia, who had been living in Saipan. She was a certified electrician, both with regular wiring, and magitech wiring. I wasn’t certain of the differences between the two, but she was known in the city for being the top commercial electrician, so that was good enough for me. She had a team with her, running wires to set everything up before the drywall teams came in to cover things up and prepare the building for decoration.

Kekoa Iokina was a native-born Hawaiian, and a plumber. The man was big and broad-shouldered, and, if half the rumors surrounding him were true, laid as much pipe in his personal life as he did in his professional one. I wasn’t personally interested in such things, naturally, but knowing your plumber was always looking to get his dick wet meant you could be on the watch for spies, or find ways to ‘encourage’ him to work better.

The plumbing work brought up an issue that I had not considered, because I was not a plumber. Conjuring water was good, and all, but when the water went through the pipes, where would it go afterwards? Especially in the restrooms. I did not have power, water, or sewage connections to the city, because I did not want to open up vulnerabilities for my embassy. After all, I’d shown the Americans how cutting off services to their bases in Athelian territory essentially forced them to abandon the bases, and I knew that someone would try and do the same thing to me, if I let them. Which is why I needed to find a solution to the waste problem before it became a real problem.

Thankfully, I had people who already knew about such things. While Risen Athelia in the old world had been the land of the dead, those undead had once been living, and with that came things like waste. While most of the old capital of Arela had a fairly traditional sewer system, both the royal castle and the Athelian spire had self-contained systems. The castle’s was for security reasons, since it eliminated potential means of entering or exiting the castle without being seen, but the Athelian Spire required a closed system because they conducted magical experiments there, and no one wanted to see what kinds of abominations might arise from magical toxic waste or the equivalent.

The result? A septic system that converted mass to magical energy, and fed that energy into the building’s wards. In other words, waste, water, and anything else that was dumped into the trash chutes was transformed into energy that helped keep the lights on and the wards up. Of course, there were wards on the trash chutes to keep living beings from getting thrown away and ‘converted’.

Once all of that was done, the interior designer, Shimoda Kaiyo, was able to go wild on the public spaces, while the engineers set up the storage and living spaces with something weighted more towards function over form. Shimoda needed to worry about form, as well, but having the building look the part of an embassy was key, especially in the areas where there were more likely to be foreign nationals visiting. First impressions were important, after all. While I might not be more than a novice when it came to PR games, I knew enough to let professionals do their job, within budgetary constraints, of course.

However, the reason I was at the embassy today was because I had been informed that we’d had our first incident of someone seeking asylum. Not that a head of state was obligated or even expected to review such cases, but there were a few things about this request that interested me, besides the fact that it was the first one, and had come only a day after the embassy was officially open. Starting with the identity of the asylum seeker.

Jafaris Boone was forty-four, born to Keon and Anber Boone, just a year after I was summoned to Onearth, in Harlem, New York. According to his official record, he had excelled in sports as a child always being bigger, faster, and stronger than the other kids. However, shortly after he turned 13, he stopped playing sports, and would often miss school a couple days each month. Eventually, he graduated, and went to trade school, and became a general contractor. Officially, he had done nothing of note since then, except for running his handyman and construction business in Armonk, just north of the Connecticut border along I-684, where he owned a sizeable house and some land out by the East Branch Byram River.

However, unofficially? Well, it was clear to me that while Jafaris was born to human parents, he hadn’t exactly been full human. Perhaps a latent bloodline that reacted to magic rising once again? And the sudden change away from athletics would suggest that the bloodline awoke more fully when the boy went through puberty. Given the absences from school, and his now living out in a forested area? I had some guesses as to his true nature.

As I stepped into the room where Boone was waiting, I found my suspicions confirmed. It was plain to see in the way his soul looked, of course, but even for someone who couldn’t see souls, you could read the signs in his body language. The way his eyes snapped to the door when I opened it, the involuntary sniff of the air as he tried to place my scent, and the way he tensed, like a predator sensing an even stronger predator? All classic indications.

“Hello, Mr. Boone. As you probably already know, I am the Lich Queen of Risen Athelia, Akagawa Kaori. Normally, I would not be personally handling this matter, but, since I am in town and you are the first to visit the embassy, I took an interest. I am especially interested to know why a werewolf would be seeking asylum with me.”

Naturally, I was wearing ‘civilian’ clothes, not my formal robes and armor. Well, the dress was actually from the other world, and had been made from the silk of an infernal spider, meaning that it could stop a sword with ease, even before it was enchanted, but that was beside the point. I had my human face on, and my aura suppressed, but my face was not exactly unknown these days.

Boone took a deep breath, and I could see him visibly working to force down his wolf. I was sure his fight or flight instincts were going crazy, even with my suppressing the better part of my power. “Ah. Your Majesty. I, well, I’m not really used to this sort of thing. You already know what I am, so I guess there’s no point in hiding it. My wolf is making me want to be anywhere else right now.”

I nodded lightly, before moving to sit at one of the chairs in the small conference room, and motioned for him to take a seat, as well. “Yes, I have that effect on any animals with the least bit of sense or survival instinct, unless I make an extreme effort to suppress my aura, or I’m dealing with powerful monsters. No offense to you, but your wolf clearly understands the gap in power between us. However, the fact that the only sign of change I can see in you is a slight shift in the eyes means that you have exceptional self-control.”

Boone sat down across the table from me, and I could see him relax slightly. Only a little bit, since the table wasn’t really much of a barrier between us, but symbols mattered, especially when magic and instincts were involved. With there being at least some barrier between us, the wolf was not quite as on edge.

He took another long breath, and said, “Well, thank you, ma’am. Your Majesty. Sorry, never spoke to a queen before. But, to start, I should say that I am the Alpha of the New England werewolf pack. Not the largest in the country, and certainly not in the world, but still has over three hundred members.”

“I see,” I nodded, thoughtfully. The fact that the Alpha was wanting asylum meant that either he was about to get deposed, and this was his way of exiting without bloody confrontation, or he was hoping to bring a significant portion of his pack with him. “And how does lycanthropy work in this world? I’ve heard enough reports to know it is not limited to just wolves, of course, but few weres have ever volunteered to become research subjects, for reasons I’m sure you can guess.”

“Hah!” That got a laugh out of the man, but it wasn’t a happy one. “Nah, only the real stupid ones volunteer to be a government lab rat. But about fifteen years back, they got real serious about trying to find the ‘sup-nats’ in the community, ya know? Wanted to find out what we could do, and whether it could be used for the military boys and girls. They started trolling prisons looking for anyone who was ‘special’. Sometimes didn’t wait until they were in prison, just took them out of county lockup. Anyone who got picked up by the black vans never got seen again.”

“And the survivors, like you, made a point of keeping your head down, and out of the news. Which is why you didn’t do sports, or anything other than quietly building a construction company?”

“Right,” he nodded. “I’m big and strong, but most people on a job site don’t go thinking too hard about a big black man in construction being strong. And, once I started my company, I was able to hire on some of my pack, which made it even harder for people to notice anything ‘off’ about me and mine, unless they were already ‘special’ in some way, like you. Thaumaturges who can see the wolf without us changing are rare. Too rare to get sent out without reason.”

“So, what changed?”

“Dumbass-in-chief cracking down with tariffs, and looking to round up anyone who doesn’t look pasty enough for his tastes. With the economy in freefall, it is looking more and more like things are full-on heading to the shitter, and I want me and mine out before that happens. Figured the place with a Lich Queen in charge would be more willing to give the pack a chance than any of the places run by normies.”

“How many are you looking to bring over?”

“Including families? 658. We have 307 members, but there’s partners, kids, parents and the like.”

“Most of my territory is islands, you understand. Sure, there are forests, but not exactly a lot of land to run around on. Though, there is the possibility of making a pocket realm for your pack, and any others that care to join. Though even if the realm is created, it would still take time to grow trees and seed wild game and the like.”

“Just like that, huh? I’ll admit, I kindof expected you to try and throw me over a barrel. Lord knows I couldn’t have stopped you.”

“That is short-sighted, mortal thinking,” I gently corrected him. “I am a lich, which means that I can work plans that have little immediate benefit, but, twenty or thirty years down the line, will pay off splendidly, and still be in position to reap the rewards when it is time.”