The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 4 - Chapter 30 - To Accept or Not (Patreon)

                                                           Wolf

I wonder what the werewolves of the universe would say if they knew that their empress was fiddling with her thumbs and avoiding my gaze out of nerves?

This thought is one of the first ones that crossed my mind as I stare at Diane with my arms crossed from in front of the couch she always sits on.

Meanwhile, Leo can be seen constantly glancing between us and the screen on the other side of the room while failing to hold in a smirk at her actions.

Glad he’s enjoying this.

I focus on Diane again as I pull the ring out of my inventory and hold it in the palm of my hand, making her tense up even more than she already was, before I ask, “Would you mind telling me all that this entails? Aside from the tracker, since I can understand that part.”

Both of the Administrators look surprised at my mention of the tracker, making me remember that the two might not have known about my Systems Favor skill.

I purse my lips at that before deciding that it isn’t all that important right now.

“I want to know everything that being your heir would entail,” I clarify myself, sparking a light of hope in Diane’s previously hopeless eyes.

She starts talking rather rapidly, as if in a hurry, “Well, you obviously wouldn’t have any responsibilities while you’re in the dungeon, outside of not ruining our empire’s image by acting stupid. But once you leave the dungeon, I’ll start you off by giving you a few small administrative jobs for the empire. And I won’t be giving you any major jobs until you’re used to it and are done with dealing with everything you have to do on Aegis.”

I narrow my eyes at that, only to widen them slightly as she adds, “I might also just have you lead the Aegis branch of the empire while you’re there.”

Lead the… interesting…

Leo seems to lose interest in our conversation and focuses entirely on the screen right as Ruth enters a boss area.

I ignore him and the screen to ask, “What about after Aegis is stabilized and everything there is safe for my family?”

Diane furrows her brows at that question and glances at Leo before focusing on me again and saying, “That won’t be for decades at the least, possibly even centuries at the latest, so it’s far too early to be asking about that.”

Centuries…?

“Would a war with the Technalogia faction really take that long?” I ask her out of confusion while crossing my arms. “I thought you Administrators were making mincemeat of them.”

I hear one of the Moderators sitting at the back of the room snort in amusement at that, making Diane turn away from me to look at them. And whatever look she sends them seems to shut them up rather quickly.

She then turns back to me again as if nothing had happened and ignores my raised eyebrow to answer, “If there’s one thing the Technalogia faction has, it’s persistence.”

“And no problems with sending millions of forces to their death in the name of ‘ridding the universe of the scourge of The Reaper’,” Leo adds while making quotation marks with his fingers and not looking away from the screen.

My mouth parts at that, only to close again a moment later.

That’s… cruel.

“Actually, that reminds me,” I mutter before focusing on Diane and asking, “What about me being a Reaper? Wouldn’t that affect the empire if I were to be your heir?”

Diane gets a serious look in her eye at my question before glancing at Leo, who gets the same look, and turning back to me again. She then says, after a few seconds of silence, “That’s the Council of Elder’s problem. So don’t worry about it.”

My jaw drops open at her blatant act of pushing the problem to someone else at the same time as one of the three Moderators in the room starts staring at Diane in a mixture of shock and dread.

I close my mouth again before focusing on the woman and nodding my head with a hint of pity in my eyes, to which she seems to notice and quickly turns away from us. Diane notices my actions and turns to them, only to see them focusing on each other. She then turns back to me with a hint of confusion on her face, just to be distracted by Leo saying, “Everyone already suspected that you’d be her heir, so if you being a reaper was a problem, then Diane would’ve likely already dealt with it.”

Diane smiles at that and nods in agreement, but my eyes can’t help but stray to the Moderator subordinate of Diane’s in the back of the room who seems to be shivering slightly.

Why do I get the feeling that they’re just pushing that problem entirely off on their subordinates? Because I’m pretty sure I also just saw a subordinate of Leo’s have the same reaction…

I look between their subordinates before looking between the two Administrators and shrugging.

Considering that I’m in the dungeon, it’s not really my problem to deal with.

Or to be more exact, it’s not really a problem I can deal with right now even if I wanted to. Which I don’t.

I glance down at the ground with my brows furrowed as I try to think of any other possible reasons to decline, only to find none.

The displeasure I had towards Diane about her original desire to turn me into a werewolf has long since left me, and she’s been nothing but nice since; constantly helping me out at every single turn. She’s helped out my family, sponsored me every time, and backed me in the Executives’ circle.

She even said that I’d be able to lead on Aegis so that I would be able to help my family.

Several seconds pass in silence, and I faintly notice Diane’s legs both growing tenser and tenser from my place staring at the ground, and her hands constantly fiddling around her knees for some reason.

Eventually, I let out a sigh, look up from the ground, and answer, “I’ll become your heir.”

And almost immediately, I’m shocked as Diane jumps up from her seat and pulls me into a hug – which I didn’t even know was possible.

“Thank you!!!” she shouts, and I can’t help but notice the small round of applause coming from both Leo and Diane’s subordinates, making me narrow my eyes slightly.

After a few seconds of her holding onto me – which I would push her away, but I decide to let her continue since she seems so happy – I eventually ask, “By the way, do you know why the devourer Administrator Talroth would sponsor me?”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discord Invite:

https://discord.gg/R7M6QNRm7y

Top Web Fiction Link:

http://topwebfiction.com/listings/the-rise-of-the-winter-wolf/

Table of Contents