Saki

  Anna spoke cheerfully and every word made me want to bolt even more. "Hi! I am Anna, the aforementioned DIVINE Water spirit Saki so rudely forgot to specify! I am level 87, I am a divine creature, and yes, right now I am Tama's gi. Also, Tama totally conquered that city, but she did forget to set up tithes! Don't worry though, I did it for herI set them to 8%!"

  I decided running might be my best bet right now. So I went to stand, but Tama moved before I could. She reached inside of Anna's little girl body, which was creepy as heck to watch. Then grabbed Anna's core and forced it into her own body before saying, "Bad Anna! This is important and we aren't supposed to interrupt Saki when she says smart things!"

  After a moment of silence, Tama's naked form was once again covered by Anna in gi form. She did not interrupt again. Talia was staring blankly at her desk, looking like she had reached the end of her patience. Alissa was looking at Anna and cooing at her. Tama was smiling blankly at me as she giggled. Honestly, it was going better than I had expected.

  I looked back to Talia and said quickly, "Anyways, we can go over the more prominent details later. For now I will just say we... negotiated control over a goblin city using their diplomatic system and we managed to scale a ravine and escape the underground before returning."

  Talia stared at me for a moment. She opened her mouth and started to speak. "What do you mean by... never mind. Thank you for your explanation. We can discuss this more later. Alone." I nodded fiercely and looked over to Tama. "Alright, looks like we are in the clearlet's go!"

  Tama went to stand but Talia held up a hand. It looked like she regretted it already. "Sadly no, we must handle the royalty issue on behalf of... sigh... Princess Tamaneko becoming the Queen of Trissaile." Even as she spoke, you could see the look in her eyes scream why. I felt the same way…

  Talia looked at Tama and said, "Tama, you need to become Queen for the sake of the kingdom." It was flat, blunt, and no nonsense.

  I knew instantly that wasn't going to work. "Tama will never become Queen! She is a stealthy ninja! She fights to protect!" she said with real anger in her voice.

  Alissa spoke up and said, "Why not both? You can be Queen and be a super stealthy ninja!" Alissa's tail wagged back and forth and her ears twitched in amusement. She was enjoying herself!

  Tama turned and glared at Alissa, who just giggled. "Tama is not Queen muhtarial!" she said angrily at Alissa.

  Both me and Talia spoke at once in sync. "It's material, Tama."

  Both Alissa and Tama looked puzzled. Alissa spoke up. "Are you sure? It seems like it would be muhtarial?"

  To which Tama replied instantly, "No, Saki is the smarterest person ever. If she said it's material, it's definitely material!"

  Alissa looked shocked and asked, "Is she really the smarterest person ever?! That is amazing! She must have ancient knowledge to be that smart!"

  I facepalmed as Tama replied, "Nya! Saki is the smarterest ever! She even led a goblin army against the Lich and won!"

  "That is impressive! I can clearly see why you made her your royal advisor! My advisors are smart too, but they aren't the smarterest ever!" Alissa replied seriously. She looked over at me and asked, "Would you be willing to be ruler instead?"

  Talia sighed at that and interjected, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news..." She looked at the two Nekojin before sighing again. "But it's the royal bloodline. Only Tama or you can lead. And only Tama can lead because she is a direct descendant."

  I nodded and they both frowned, then Tama snapped her fingers and said, "I have the greatest idea!"

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Alissa leaned in hopefully. "Tama becomes Queen, then she just goes and does ninja stuff while Saki, the smarterest, runs the country!"

  I facepalmed hard before speaking. "No, Tama, I will not run an entire country for you. I expect help!" Even as I spoke I realized that was a pipe dream. Then I considered what would happen if I just said no? I imagined Tama, sitting on a throne... standing on a throne, as she made declarations of war over cookies not being burnt enough.

  But then I considered that Alissa was a lot like Tama and she hadn't run the kingdom into the ground in the last twenty years. There must be some reason for that, right?

  I turned to Alissa and asked, "Alissa, out of curiosity, you have been in charge for the past twenty years. How come you haven't made any new policies or changes in governance?" I looked at her curiously.

  Her response came a moment later. "Oh, that's because I can't! As I am regent, I am not allowed to make new policies or shift things around. I am just there to cover and make sure everything runs right! I let my advisors do all that hard stuff. I spend most of my days doing important stuff, like making cookies!"

  Tama turned to her and asked, "Does that mean I can just leave the royal advisors to do important things and I can do what's important too?"

  Alissa smiled sadly at her and said, "No, as Queen you actually have to make new policies and decisions. The kingdom has been in decline or something."

  "Decline, Alissa," Talia said tiredly. Her wolf ears twitched again.

  "Oh, um... Tama doesn't know what a policy is?" Tama said and I began to fear where this was headed.

  "Oh that's easy!" Alissa said. "You just say things and they become the way the kingdom runs!" She leaned in and wagged her tail happily.

  I saw Tama's logic before she spoke and tried to cut her off... it didn't work. "Does... does that mean Tama can ban clothes!" Tama said ecstatically.

  I cried in frustration and Talia shook her head in disbelief.

  Alissa's eyes lit up and I knew where this was going. I shut it down instantly by talking over the regent. I didn't care anymore. "No, Tama! You are not allowed to ban clothes!" I said vehemently.

  Tama deflated and looked over to me. "But... Alissa said as Queen Tama can!" she said in a whiny tone.

  I shook my head. "No, Tama, no banning clothes!" I glared at her and she deflated further. Finally she sighed and looked back to Alissa sadly, who also looked distraught, like I had just told her it was a crime to exist. "Sorry, Saki knows best."

  I should have been shocked, but I wasn't. Alissa nodded as well and said, "If the smartest person in the kingdom says so, it has to be true!"

  Inwardly I screamed and tried not to just erase myself with my own void powers. Instead, I spoke quietly in defeat. "Tama, Alissa... smarterest is not a word. It's smartest." Before I stood up, walked over to the door, and walked out of the room.

  I wasn't dealing with this right now. I needed food, rest, and to be as far away from the twin royals as possible for just a few hours. Tama was my best friend, but sometimes... just... yeah.

  As I made my way out of the room I heard Tama say, "She gets like that sometimes, she will be fine. Tama knows where to find her if she needs her!"

  To which Alissa spoke up and said, "Oh? You know where she goes?! Are you psychic or is it a skill?"

  I sighed inwardly. Tama knew where I went because Tama knew me well enough to know where I'd go. I turned to walk down the hallway and made it three steps before Tera appeared in the doorway. She looked like she hadn't slept in days and like she was about to simply collapse. Which belied the speed at which she practically teleported past me into the room.

  "Empress Tama! You have returned! I have failed as your servant! Please punish me!"

  I heard awkward silence followed by Tristy saying, "You failed our Mistress!!!"

  I turned and walked faster down the hallway. I made it to the end of the hallway when I saw exactly what I expected. Tama appeared in front of me, opening the door. She looked at me for a split second with a sad smile before vanishing out the door.

  I smiled back as I reached the door and walked through it. I heard Talia even as the door shut: "Get out of this meeting, Tera, right now or so help me you will be a headstone!"

  Chapter 97: Meeting Lyran