As the white whale left the Ice Blue system, Han Sen guided it towards where Night River King had been stationed. He was unable to find anything out of the ordinary there, however, and he couldn’t find a single trace of that weird purple stuff that Night River King had mentioned repeatedly.
Han Sen even went to see the Ice Blue Knight who had taken over Night River King’s position, but the knight hadn’t seen anything strange during his time stationed there.
“Weird. What was that purple thing Night River King was talking about? What about the journal entries he made in code?” Han Sen didn’t understand, but he didn’t plan on lingering in the system to figure it out, either.
Han Sen turned the white whale out of the system, plotting a course back to Narrow Moon. He didn’t see Under Overbearing again, and neither did he see the Black Hole Spider. They did encounter many more of those Galactic Shrimp. The attacks of the shrimp were unable to penetrate the defenses of the white whale, though. And added to that, none of the creatures were as fast as the white whale. Having a powerful ship like the white whale ensured their safety as they traveled, assuming that they only ran into ordinary xenogeneics like the Galactic Shrimp. If they got into trouble, it would be because they bumped into a creature like Under Overbearing or the Black Hole Spider. Of course, even if that happened, they had the deified elite Yisha on board.
They had good luck in their travels. Yisha and Han Sen were able to depart the systems of chaos with absolute safety. They would soon be back in Narrow Moon.
…
“Dude, what happened? Why has every noble across every planet been ordered to go to Full Moon Hall?”
“Haven’t you heard? Knife Queen is back!”
“Knife Queen is back? How is that possible? I thought she died in the systems of chaos.”
“That’s what all the nobles thought, too. That’s why they plundered her legacy inventory without fear. But she has really come back, and not just that; she’s come back deified.”
“What? Queen has become deified? This is awesome! We Rebate finally have a deified elite in our ranks. Who would dare underestimate us now? Queen is way too powerful.”
“Teehee! It might be good for us, but what about the nobles who divided up her things? They stole her legacy and crushed her student Han Sen under their feet. Now that she has come back deified, they must be shivering in their boots.”
“They had it coming. They think they’re so high and mighty, bullying a student.”
“I’m happy that those nobles are going to get told off. They always bully us, don’t they? And we can never fight back! Now that they are in trouble… Well, it’s what they deserve.”
As Narrow Moon’s people were discussing Knife Queen’s return, a serious discussion was being held in Full Moon Hall.
“No, absolutely not! Miss Knife… Han Sen is just an outsider! He does not have what it takes to be our Holy Child,” an elder said, shaking his head forcefully.
Flower King said, “Knife… Miss… Don’t you think that this is a little inappropriate? The Holy Child has always been the best and most promising of the Rebate. Han Sen isn’t even one of our kind. Even if we force him to become our Holy Child, the rest of our citizens will vehemently object to the selection.”
“Miss Knife, please think about this!” Black Moon King liked Han Sen, but even he did not think that this was right. They risked angering their entire race.
All the nobles were arguing against Yisha’s decision to elect Han Sen as the Holy Child. Full Moon Hall was filled with so many shouting voices that it was louder than a supermarket.
Moon Wheel King raised his hand to tell everyone to quiet down. Then, he looked at Yisha and said, “Knife, we were not considerate to you and Han Sen in your absence. We can give him whatever he deserves, but the position of Holy Child is something of gross importance. It affects the very legacy and glory of our race. Allowing an outsider to take this position is in no way appropriate. You must think about this decision some more.”
“Are you guys done?” Yisha sat at the head of the conference table. She coldly looked upon all of the nobles that had gathered there.
All of those nobles felt a massive chill as her eyes came to stare at each of them in turn. They fell utterly silent under the weight of her gaze. The same was true for Flower King, as it was all the others.
After everyone stopped talking, Yisha spoke in a slow, deliberate voice. “What if I insist that Han Sen becomes our Holy Child?”
“Knife Queen, if you… if you insist, then you’ll have to forgive us for being unreasonable. The elders will never agree to this notion, and I am sure none of the kings here in Full Moon Hall agree to it, either.” The members of the Council of Elders kept trying to convince her. “Knife Queen! We are objecting to your plan in order to preserve the legacy and glory of the Rebate. We cannot allow everything we have built for the Rebate to be destroyed.”
“Are you saying I am destroying the Rebate as a whole?” Yisha asked coldly.
“Knife Queen, that is not what we meant…” The elder wanted to say more, but Yisha cut him off.
Yisha swept her gaze across the nobles and stopped at Moon Wheel King. “I called you all here to tell you of the decision I have made. I did not call you here for you to voice your opinions on the matter. Starting from today, Han Sen is the Holy Child of the Rebate. If you have a problem with the decision, let me hear it now.”
Many of the nobles were frozen. Although they objected, no one wished to square-off against Yisha. They all looked at Moon Wheel King.
Moon Wheel King frowned and looked at Yisha. “What if we all object at once?”
Yisha laughed. She stood up, ignoring Moon Wheel King. She looked down upon all of the nobles and slowly said, “Listen up, people! From now on, Narrow Moon is my Narrow Moon. The Rebate have only one queen. Whoever follows me will live, but anyone who seeks to betray me will die. You can object, but if you directly disobey one of my commands, I will consider you an enemy. I do not mind an injection of fresh blood to fill up the ranks of Narrow Moon.”
…
Over the next few months, political instability swept through the Rebate. The people in power kept changing, and families rose and fell on a daily basis.
Han Sen really admired Yisha’s decisiveness. Once she made her mind up, she took sole control of Rebate society without looking back.
She’d lacked the strength to make such a bold power-grab before, but now that she was deified, she could suppress anyone who rose against her. She ruled single-handedly, which allowed complicated issues to get resolved much faster.
But other problems began to appear. There were many different factions within Rebate society, and no one could say for certain if Yisha would be able to unite the fragmented society while maintaining her dictatorship.
Some issues could not be solved through power alone. Claiming the throne had been Yisha’s first step, but there was a long road ahead of her.
Han Sen was confident in Yisha, but he honestly didn’t pay much attention to the political turmoil of the Rebate. He was busy investigating the information given to him by Mister White.
The techniques of the Xuan Men were very deep. There was a great deal of information to sift through, which included more than just a few geno arts. Some of what Han Sen read would take a few hundred years to truly comprehend.
