The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 152

Chapter 152 – Reunion

After Cairo, I had sent my plane back to Japan, helpfully carting Koyama and the two young Corpse Lords back with them. I wouldn’t need the plane for this next part, and having it nearby offered a potential vulnerability that I could ill afford at this time. Instead, I simply teleported from Cairo to New York with my disciples and young Chihomi. I had been there before, after all. The only reason I had needed the plane in the first place was to transport myself to places I had not been before.

Well, there was something to be said for the relaxation of allowing someone else to do the work of flying for you. I still wanted to learn to fly a plane, myself, but I knew from whence that urge came. All undead have hallmarks and hungers that define them. A vampire thirsts for blood, while a ghoul craves flesh, and so on. For a lich, who did not need to feed, their craving was knowledge. Sometimes it was obsessively focused, and other times they learned everything they could. I knew myself well enough to say I was the latter.

At any rate, the US government seemed to be keeping their distance, so far. At the very least, there were no obvious issues while I had that pleasant little chat on Jack’s show. By now, the only people who thought a head-on attack would defeat me were idiots so dense that they risked collapsing into a black hole. Well, amongst the mortals, anyways. Onedeirth could give me a run for my money, no doubt, and I was under no illusions that I could stand up to Dagon’s power, but neither of them was likely to attack me unless I attacked them first.

That was something most people didn’t understand about the truly powerful. Other than some battle-mad warriors always seeking to find a new powerful foe to test themselves against, most truly powerful creatures lived in relative peace with each other, even if they did not particularly get along. Especially if they didn’t get along.

There were reasons for that, of course. Once you move past a mortal lifespan, you tend to look at the world with a long view, which means your plots and plans tend to take place over years, if not decades. Instead of a sudden clash between titans, it becomes more of a game of chess, slowly maneuvering everything into position, so that victory is inevitable. Moving too quickly or too soon leaves you vulnerable to counterattacks, and weakens you.

Simply put, any creature who rose to such heights was either a battle junkie eternally looking for a foe that could beat them, or a cunning, pragmatic coward who feared losing above all else, and ensured that they could not be defeated. Even the gods and Primordials were the same. Those who were battle-mad eventually grew bored fighting weak foes, and either journeyed to other worlds, or retreated someplace, waiting for a worthy challenger to find them. Those who were more circumspect did not move too openly, until there was no question about how the battle would end.

I was no different. In the other world, I had spent twenty years building my forces, and preparing for war. Then, I spent another twenty years campaigning, slowly pushing back the Demon King’s army from different lands, and accomplishing many goals at the same time. If I had been more of a battle junkie, then the war may have lasted only five or ten years, but I had been cautious, picking and choosing my engagements so that, when I attacked, I always had the upper hand, and when the Demon King tried to push against me, I had a counter waiting to draw off his forces, preventing him from mustering his full strength at once. It wasn’t until he was down to his last bastion that he could truly bring all his forces together, and by that point his army was far too weak to resist mine.

But now, I was being forced to move, and move comparatively quickly. The seals demanded it, after all. Fortunately, I was powerful enough to deal with such things.

“Well, you certainly made an impression last night, sister.”

That was how my sister, Eri, greeted me at the Seattle Teleportation Center. This world’s thaumaturges knew how to use teleportation magic, of course, but the formation of the spell was different to my own, relying on precise coordinates to bring down the mana cost, in return for losing a great deal of flexibility. I did not need to teleport to the Teleportation Center, naturally, but it was a convenient landmark, and I had no reason not to, especially when meeting someone.

I’d asked Eri to meet me, since I wasn’t convinced that the government wouldn’t try and do something stupid. Or, at least, elements of the government. There was always someone who believed their own hype, after all.

“Ah, Eri! It is good to see you again! Or should I say Doctor Akagawa? You completed your dissertation just last month, no?”

“Hehe. Yes, I had to rewrite much of it, after our discussions, and your presentation at the university, but I got it done, and it was accepted by the board! So, I can now call myself Akagawa Eri, ThD. But thank you, Kaori, for mentioning it. Though, I guess your guards have been giving you reports?”

As she spoke, Eri glanced over her shoulder at the pair of guards hovering behind her. After she was kidnapped by the Russians, I convinced her to accept bodyguards, as she was officially a VIP now, by association with me. The two guards looked almost human, except for their red eyes, and the fangs in their mouths, as one would expect of demi-vampires, or half-vampires, or dhampirs, depending on what terminology one wished to use.

Technically living, the dhampirs still had some of the vampire’s strengths, with their only weakness being a thirst for blood. During the war, they had served as spies and assassins, since they were able to penetrate any wards against the undead with ease, and the sunlight held no terror for them. Now, several of my former spies were working to guard the various members of my family.

And if they thought that only the dhampirs were guarding them, then that was a misconception I was happy to let them continue making. They did not need to know how I had wraiths stalking them from inside the walls of their homes, ready to intervene, if necessary. That would just upset them, and I wasn’t trying to cause them trouble.

I smiled at her, and shook my head. “Oh, just a bit. I get reports on your safety and health, of course, as well as when any strange individuals come calling. By the way, I had someone check into Dylan, and you were right. He was only after you to try and get around Phantomline’s ban on selling to Americans. His uncle works for MagiCorp, the third-place retailer of magic goods in the US.”

“That rat!” Eri said, before laughing. “I did figure it out for myself, that he just wanted to use me, but I didn’t know who for. Glad that I turned him down, along with the job offers I’ve gotten since my dissertation went through.”

“What plans do you have, now that you’re a fully accredited Doctor of Thaumaturgy?”

“Well, I was wondering what to do, when I saw the interview you gave in Australia, after dealing with the mess there. Obviously, when it came out where the last seal was, I knew you’d be coming this way, so I figured I’d wait here with you, and come along after you were done.”

“Oh? Does that mean you have plans back in Japan?”

“The guards really didn’t tell you?”

I smiled at her. “They are there for your protection, and they look into potential threats to you, or to the family as a whole. That is their duty, as Royal Guards safeguarding a Princess of Risen Athelia, and it is one they take extremely seriously. However, while they would answer me if I asked directly, they would not gossip to me about your day-to-day life and all of that, unless there was a growing concern for your wellbeing. They are there to protect you, preferably without you ever being in physical danger, not to spy on you for me.”

Eri shook her head, chuckling softly. “Suddenly being the Princess of a kingdom I’d never heard of a couple years ago is something I’m still getting used to. Not complaining, of course. I did grow up the daughter of a corporate magnate, after all, so I’m not entirely unused to VIP treatment, but there’s ‘corporate princess’ and ‘Princess princess’, you know?”

“Ah, don’t worry. You’re also ‘Doctor Princess’, now.” I laughed as Eri swatted me, “But truthfully, tell me about your plans as we walk to the car. Are you going into the family business?”

“Actually, yes,” Eri nodded, moving to keep side by side with me as we walked to the parking lot. “Phantomline is growing by leaps and bounds, thanks to you. I’m not as big on the hardware side of things, like Herr Oesau, but I believe I am more than capable on the software side. I’m hoping to figure out a way to translate the ‘coding’ of your spellwork into something CADs can use, and potentially the reverse. My goal is to design a focus which will have the functionality of a CAD. Or, at least, most of the functionality.”

“Bold indeed, sister. And a worthy goal. Last I checked, Oesau had managed to work on some CADs that almost barely worked a good portion of the time, not counting the mageblade weapon he made. Haven’t had a chance to use that in battle, yet, since any foe I fought since receiving it either needed my full power, or was too weak to bother with something like that, but the times I’ve tried it in testing were very promising indeed, and I made sure to send him a message telling him so.”

“Really!?” Eri shrieked, excitement lighting her face. “I helped write the initial programming for that! I mean, the specialists at Phantomline cleaned things up, and got it into a state where it was actually worth putting it on hardware for testing, but I was one of the ones involved with the initial design work!”

“Well, then, I believe your future, once the seals are undone, is well and truly secure, sister.” I smiled as we stepped up to one of the armored SUVs waiting for us. The drivers were, naturally, some of my undead, a further part of Eri’s security detail. As were the wraiths hiding under each car, waiting for anyone so foolish as to try and plant a device on the vehicles. Looking back at my entourage, I said, “Naya, Ya, Chihomi, please take the second vehicle. I wish to speak with my sister some more.”

No one complained. After all, I hadn’t seen my sister in some time, and they’d been with me for months, in the case of my disciples. They could hardly begrudge me a bit of private time with family.

“Now, Eri,” I said, more seriously once we were safely inside the vehicle, “I know that you don’t want me to try and dictate your life, or anything like that, and I promise that I will try not to interfere in your decisions as much as possible. However, if Papa gave you anything like the education that he ensured I had, then you should know that, as the daughter of a corporate overlord, there are considerations beyond your personal desires, and one must be careful to look out for ulterior motives in anyone you meet, especially those who attempt to get closer to you, or win your affection. As a Princess of Risen Athelia, you are more than just the daughter of a business mogul, you are someone who has the ear of the Lich Queen, and people know it.”

“I understand, Kaori. Seriously, I do. Daddy had this conversation with Tatsuo and me when it was announced, and Tatsuo talked with Hiroko and the kids before your bodyguards showed up to introduce themselves. I was the only one not using guards from the Akagawa Company already, since I didn’t think I needed them as a student in the US. You don’t have to worry about me slipping the leash or anything.”

“Good. Now, tell me, have you found a new partner, now that Dylan is out of the question?”

“Kaori!”

“What? I may be dead, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a bit of gossip. I still remember what it was like to be human, and have human needs.”

“I can’t believe I’m having this conversation with you.”

“If you haven’t found anyone, perhaps I could introduce you to a nice vampire? Trust me, the stories about their ‘prowess’ is well-deserved.”

“I thought you didn’t have those kinds of relations!”

“I don’t, but there is magic to live through another’s crystalized memories. I remember one time, where I got to feel what it was like to be a farm girl with three very attentive vampires as they kept her coming as they drank from her, until eventually she passed out in deepest bliss. Or there was the one from a girl that got caught by the tentacle bushes in the Evergreen Swamp.”

Eri looked at me as though I’d grown a new head. “You aren’t seriously suggesting magic porn to me, are you?”

“Perhaps that is something you could pioneer for Phantomline, sister? Think about the untapped market, there!” I couldn’t help but laugh at the face she gave me.