New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Seeing as Phoenix was already in the room practically next door, it didn’t take her long to enter this smaller meeting room. When she saw all the people present, she put on a solemn face.

Sitting next to Astaroth, she waited for someone to speak up and tell her why her presence was necessary. Astaroth was the one to do so.

“The village chief has asked something from me, but I feel you would be a better judge of whether or not I should allow it.”

Phoenix looked at the village chief, waiting for him to repeat his request to her directly. Feeling her stare bore into his mind, the chief understood.

“Your Majesty, I came here to make a selfish request. I would like to be named as an ambassador for your great new kingdom and be the one to form the bridges with the Elven people in your name.”

Phoenix nodded her head, signalling she understood his request, but kept her lips shut tight. She thought for a moment, the only sound in the room, the echoes of Leon’s battle in the nearby forest.

When she opened her mouth again, she was looking at Astaroth.

“I think naming him ambassador would be a good thing. But I have only one issue that bothers me.”

“And what is that?” Astaroth replied, his face stoic.

Phoenix turned back to the village chief.

“Have you ever been in contact with other people that are not from your tribe? Aside from us, of course.”

The village chief hesitated for a moment before shaking his head no.

“I’m sorry, your majesty. Our tribe keeps to itself, and the only people we have interacted with in decades, maybe even centuries, are you people…”

“Good,” Phoenix said, a satisfied smile on her lips.”

“Excuse me?”

The village chief looked back at her, his face a mix of confusion and excitement.

“I wanted to make sure you haven’t been in any tribal conflicts, or maybe hunted on grounds of the nearby kingdoms without their consent. If you haven’t, I believe you can be an ambassador.”

“Even if I have no experience?”

“Chief. Do you think the first ambassador in history had prior training? The fact you have managed your tribe, all the while avoiding conflict, makes you a suitable candidate.”

His mouth agape, the village chief’s face morphed into joy. But Phoenix wasn’t done.

“As for training, I know someone who can help you. A native in Sunpeak, who owes me a favour. I’ll have him come here to give you proper training, and then you can be named ambassador.”

The village chief nodded his head vigorously.

Astaroth kept his mouth shut. People like Phoenix handled things like these best.

His brain functioned at its best during combat, but issues like these required more brain cells than he was willing to spare. And, in the end, whatever she chose would be ok with him, anyway.

Phoenix wrote a few things on a paper she pulled from her inventory, officializing her statement, and then tapped an option on her interface. The form flashed golden for a moment, before a stamp appeared on it.

Astaroth looked at the process with curiosity. He wondered what Phoenix had done and took a mental note to ask her later when no one could hear him.

But seeing his face, Phoenix already knew he would ask. She lightly shook her head in disappointment at him.

She sent him a private message through the interface.

‘You really need to explore your interface more often. There is a new tab, ever since we were marked.’ 𝘰𝑣𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Astaroth discreetly looked at his interface, keeping his face as still as he could. Opening up the interface, a new tab called Kingdom was slowly flashing at the bottom of his list.

He curiously opened it up and had to contain his shock when the menu rolled down for more than a few seconds.

‘So many new options!’ he thought, schooling his face to stay stoic.

He closed up the menu, not wanting to get lost in it just yet. He would look like he was disinterested if someone asked him a question, but he was too busy reading his interface to answer.

Phoenix handed the newly stamped document to the village chief, who smiled from ear to ear, before thanking her profusely.

“This will guarantee you can exercise your functions once my contact has approved of your completed training. I wish you the best of luck, chief. Oh, by the way, I would rather call you by your name.”

“Yes, your highness! My name is Elwin. I do not have a surname, as we have lost it to the ages.”

“A name is fine, Elwin. I wish you success in your training and must now take my leave. I also need to drag the king with me, so if you will excuse us.”

Phoenix got up, signalling the meeting was over, and Astaroth followed suit. Elwin stood up, and he and his following bowed as Astaroth and Phoenix left the room.

Once they were out of the small meeting room, Astaroth and Phoenix only had a small corridor to traverse to enter the throne room, where the officers were waiting for them.

Astaroth stopped the woman before she entered the room.

“Thank you. I did not know if making him an ambassador was a good idea or not. I’m sorry for dumping all these responsibilities on you.”

Phoenix gave him a soft smile.

“Don’t worry about it, love. This arrangement isn’t particularly rare. In ancient times, when the king was a warrior-king, and he was at war, the queen would rule the kingdom in his stead. We can consider our arrangement to be similar.”

Astaroth looked at Phoenix lovingly.

“Did I ever tell you how smart you are?”

“I don’t believe you have, but it is never too late to fix that.”

Phoenix gave him a small wink.

Astaroth grabbed her hips, bringing her in closer.

“You are the smartest woman I know, and I love you.”

“Oh, you charmer! Am I even smarter than Morticia, who has a Ph.D. in psychology?”

“By leaps and bounds!” he replied, leaning in to kiss her.

As the lovers kissed, they heard a cough through the door they were leaning on.

*muffled*

“Ahem! We can hear you guys, you know?”

Astaroth became beet red as he released Phoenix from his grasp, clearing his throat.

Phoenix entered the room, giggling softly.

“Then let us begin our debrief. Astaroth and I can get back to frolicking later.”

Complaints about too much information fused, as Astaroth was almost steaming in embarrassment. Only one person in the room smiled silently, Morticia.

“Alright, let’s get to it!”