Lilia's Tale: Freyja's Endeavor

Chapter 50: Wings

"...You have wings?" Sayuri suddenly innocently asked.

Sayuri somehow managed to stop my mind from spiralling out of control with a single comment. I looked at her in disbelief, still unable to process much of anything.

"Oh, right. My mistake, Lilia," Cassandra suddenly replied.

"Ah, uh, sure," I robotically followed with.

I certainly was unable to think, my mind left blank from the situation. However, that was quite preferable to the only other option.

"...What is she doing?" Sayuri asked.

"I believe she overworked her brain and ended up drawing a blank," Cassandra answered.

"...So, is she okay?"

"I believe not, but only time can tell."

It took an uncomfortable amount of time before I could finally gather my thoughts, surprisingly calmly. I retraced the recent events and found things to do and questions to ask.

"Cassandra. You said you told the empereor to let me use my wings. How did he react?"

"Poorly. I had to debate and argument for him to finally give his agreement and further the order down the chain. I sincerely hope he will hold his side of the agreement?"

"What agreement?"

"In exchange for the safety of his kind, under my protection, you are to be given full freedom in using your... yokai body as you see fit."

"So you did threaten him."

"I first did, especially considering he seemed unaccepting of my staying here. That has been resolved however, and I have been given the right to stay within city walls as we please."

"...So I'm probably still gonna get exiled and thrown out, aren't I?"

"I believe not, as he would himself both break his promise and lose valuable assets."

My mind went back on overdrive trying to make sense of the information I had just been given. Sayuri was lost in confusion, so Cassandra tried to talk her down whatever way she could.

As I was starting to feel myself failing to figure anything out, a knock on the door could be heard followed by a shout.

"Lilia-san, if you're here, we need to talk," the principal said.

I looked at Cassandra and Sayuri to ask for their agreement. Neither understood and simply stared back, so I let him in.

"I'm coming in. We have much to discuss. Sayuri, if you could please leave us alone."

"She can stay," I denied. "At this point, trying to hide anything from her will just make things worse."

"As you wish. So, I will be blunt," he said as he sat on the chair. "I receive a magiphone call from the Emperor himself just now. He ordered me to give you the right to do as you wish with your body. What happened and what did he mean?"

"The Emperor himself?" Sayuri repeated in disbelief.

"Let me explain," I said after a sigh and a facepalm. "This bird over here went and talked to the emperor while I was in town and made him promise to let me train flying with my wings or something."

"...You have wings?"

"Not you too... Anyways, yes, I do. No real reason to hide it anymore."

"Can I see them?" Sayuri asked, somewhat enthusiastic.

It was somewhat funny to me that when we first met, she was deeply scared of me merely due to being a yokai. Now, she's enthusiastically asking to see my wings, and is unafraid of Cassandra. I couldn't help but crack a smile.