The Dark Mage

Chapter 13: A Little Diplomacy

      After prince Darius had assumed his immediate victory over the Selenese Empire and Confederacy of South Selene, he made his way with his royal procession through the streets of New Lunsaro City in the province of Lunsaro. And in that city, he dressed his deformed body in traditional Valkyrie battle armor giving his speech saying, "I thank the gods that you have come to your senses and handed your queendom to me. And as your just king, I will show mercy and rebuild this kingdom that has been destroyed by war and conquest of your former age of superstition and continual vengeance. It will be a new age of brotherhood and progress for both Valkyries and Selenese, even to the Elves of Euphesia and the Nymphs of the south lands. All will know of the greatness of our new kingdom and of the ages to come."

     But despite prince Darius's grandiosity and pomp, the Selenese people neither cheered nor cared to listen to what he had to say. But they remained indifferent and many of them filled with hatred towards him and the Valkyries. Darius then continued his speech on the steps of Lunsaro palace, the palace of the empress herself, and spoke, "Though you may look at my rule with uncertainty, I will assure you, my resolve to rebuild our kingdom from the ashes of civil war and mistrust in our nobility has never been stronger. And my first act as king will be to rebuild the infrastructure that has been destroyed and build a new temple to the house of wisdom as a testament to our great future and a new age of reason."

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To the Tanuki Clan

     With the need for secrecy in diplomacy, queen Ariana asked that Buck Ringtail and Natalia Whitetail and Titania accompany the former diplomat of the Selenese queendom to the Tanuki clan as he took a civilian transport from New Lunsaro City to Sycamore City, Tanuki clan. And while on their way to the Tanuki clan, Natalia said, "Despite being a Tanuki going the place of my ancestry, I've never really considered my heritage all that much. What even is Tanuki culture like knowing you grew up there and me in Kansas?"

     However, the fur on his ringed, fluffy tail stood up remembering what he ran away from home with his siblings when he was 18 and remained silent. Natalia's beagle brown eyes then went empathetic and asked, "Buck, is something wrong?"

     Buck then answered, "It's Don Ringtail and the Ringtail crime syndicate I fled from. With what I know, I don't want to stay as much as I have to."

     Natalia's Tanuki ears then drooped. "Right. You're the son of Don Ringtail and fled the family business years ago."

     Buck then stood uneasy. "And that's why I'm scared to go back to my homeland. Either the law is going to want me for something I didn't do, the Ringtail syndicate will be after me, or one of the 5 prominent families will be after me. And believe me, although Don Ringtail was the worst and a public menace, you definitely don't want the Badgerton, Blacktail, Redtail, nor Goldtail family as your enemy. They may not destroy you with crime like the Ringtail syndicate, but they will find other ways to make your life a living hell. That's why I never went back to the Tanuki clan."

     Buck and Natalia then kept each other company until they arrived at the Tanuki clan customs agency for international travel. And even though both Natalia and Buck's passports were up to date and all correct, the customs agent looked at Natalia as if she were secretly a Kitsune disguised as a Tanuki because of her lean body proportions compared to most other Tanukis. But the customs agent stamped their passports with the seal of the Tanuki clan being the leaf and ringed tail and said, "Cause no trouble," before saying to the next travelers in line, "papers, please."

     However, when Natalia, Titania, and Buck grabbed their belongings, Natalia asked Buck, "Did you also get the vibe the passport agent was eyeing my body proportions?"

     Buck then responded plainly, "I did. Not sure if you noticed the Kitsunes were separated from the other travelers and sent to a different entry point. They also required Kitsunes have extra documentation as well as having the customs agents armed with blaster pistols while having a list of the most wanted criminals behind their desk. So, the person behind the glass probably thought you were secretly a Kitsune in disguise and not just a very athletically built Tanuki. But with what the Kitsunes put the Tanuki clan through, I can understand their hesitation to let any Kitsunes in without thorough inspection."

     "That makes sense with our friends Finnigan, friar Victor, and Zenko kind of being the exception to the rule of Kitsunes being greedy and arrogant pieces of garbage."

     Buck then nodded in agreement. "Sounds about right. I'm almost considering friar Victor's choice to return to his clan as either an act of martyrdom or cruel and unusual punishment. Seriously, who would want to be stuck with that slutty fox queen that literally decorates her palace with porn? Sure, friar Victor is basically a living saint, but why would someone as noble as him think he could save a society so totally depraved as the Kitsune clan?"

     Natalia then thought for a moment before looking Buck in the eye and answered, "I don't think we should judge him for caring about his old home. Maybe he sees something we don't, and there might be something going on that he knows about that we're unaware of. Besides, it's not every day we have a 1000-year-old friar enter our humble abode despite his enormous accomplishments. Although, I wonder if he has an imposter syndrome with his accomplishments that say he's much better than how he sees himself."

     Buck then remembered what they were doing in the Tanuki clan and accompanied the Selenese diplomat to his temporary residency at a local hotel in Sycamore city. In the meantime, Buck, Natalia, and Titania would get their own rooms while Titania got lonely and started to cuddle Natalia. And while spending time in the Tanuki clan, Natalia thought maybe she should learn about her own heritage.

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A Change in Plans

     When the dark mage Isis heard of prince Darius moving to mercy the Selenese people through an attempt to help rebuild it after their surrender, she realized the Dark magic harvested from bloodshed would be greatly reduced. So, rather than give up, she thought to herself, "If I can't get my way because of prince Darius's intellectualism, I can perhaps use that as a key to his mind. After all, I need him to use the dark magic artifact to awaken Solara, so I can retrieve the magical fusion core to bring my Jester to life, the ultimate Nightmare Monster. But in the meantime, I need to get Darius to do what I want without him realizing he is thinking my thoughts and not his."

     Isis then started to make her magical runes with the Staff of Darkness and began to summon the darkness inside her as she focused on Darius's mind, whispering thoughts and feelings into him, enticing him based on his own desires while mimicking his own voice. And unlike friar Victor and Edenthiel Enamour, prince Darius had no defense against Dark magic.

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Did you know this?

Papers Please: The phrase the passport agent says is a reference to the common dialog spoken in the indie game Papers Please by Lucas Pope.

Tanuki Motifs: Sometimes in folklore, Tanukis are mistaken for badgers, hence one of the 5 prominent Tanuki families is Badgerton. There are also various other animals that are associated with Tanukis in anthropomorphic characters such as red pandas, raccoon, actual tanukis, and badgers. This is referenced in the names of the 5 families. Ringtail is a raccoon. Redtail is a red panda. Blacktail is an actual tanuki. And Badgerton is a badger. Lore wise in this universe, they're all Tanukis and are just different ethnicities of Tanuki with different fur colors and markings.