Taking over the Abyss

56- Don't turn me into a marketable plushie

You let your forehead thump down against your stone desk and let out a groan of utter despair. You hated this. The biting cold of your desk stung your cheek, but you didn't care. As long as you didn't have to look at the papers on your desk for a few more minutes, you could deal with it. Pounding footsteps echoed through the hall before Leiptr practically swung himself half-inside, gripping the stone doorway so tight it was a miracle it didn't crack.

"Y- Your Majesty, is everything alright?!" He cried, having been alerted by the loud thump. Seeing you laying against your desk pathetically, he took it as a sign that something was amiss and approached you carefully, "Milady...?"

"I hate taxes," you whined, near tears.

Leiptr tried to think of a solution to the problem for you, "Then, shall I rectify this for you? You won't have taxes to fill out if the person they're paid to is dead."

You took a moment to think on that one, before shaking your head, "... sadly, I don't think that's how it works..."

You stared down at the forms, the bad vibes they gave off making you scowl at the blasted sheets of paper. Maybe...

Just in time to stop you from further considering homicide and tax evasion, another one of your people poked their head through the doorway, "Excuse me, Your Majesty. Is there anything I can assist you with?"

Leiptr turned around, the pleasant smile on his face replaced with his usual unfriendly scowl, "How dare you barge that big head of yours in and demand-"

You stood up suddenly, turning to face them with a bright smile, tax forms already neatly stacked into a pile and held outstretched in your hands, "Actually, could you handle this for me?"

Before Leiptr could intervene, they nodded their head quickly, expression hidden behind their thick Lector mask, "Of course!"

They took the blasted papers from you and hurried off with them. Leiptr shuffled closer to you, leaning down slightly and whispering to you, "Milady, I would never question your judgement, so I ask you to grant some of your knowledge to me... for what reason did you allow them to take that task? Are you not worried of their ability to complete it?"

"I barely know what I'm doing with it, so they can't do any worse than I was," you reasoned. Leiptr kept quiet, following you faithfully as you left the room. Right now, things were in a state of shaky peace. You still had the threat of the Abyss Order led by Lumine trying to stage an attack, but there was no indication of them planning anything. You couldn't make use of the artificial sun right now, since the cloaking technological hadn't been reversed engineered, and you still had limitations because of Enkanomiya's relatively small size.

Basically, you just had to deal with the same trivial matters as always. Not that you minded. You appreciated the free time, since it gave you more time to thinks things through with how you were going to try and help Nahida. Showing up and busting the doors down seemed like a good idea in theory, but you had little idea of what you were up against, and you'd probably have to deal with Dottore along the way. You doubted you could just convince them to accept you as a last-minute student, either.

Seeing how quiet you'd been, Leiptr eyed you carefully to see if you needed him for anything. Reminded of what you were supposed to be doing, you shook those thoughts away. You could get a better grip on that plan, but you still had some things to take care of here. Meeting Leiptr's eyes, you asked, "Where's Sindri?"

"Hmph..." Leiptr scowled in distaste at the thought of Sindri, "That scoundrel is probably off frolicking about when he should be doing something worthwhile."

You frowned in thought. Sindri was an extremely hard worker, and he had a schedule drawn out for when he was and wasn't on duty. You knew that part of it was mostly because Sindri had previously been of a lower position in the Abyss Order's hierarchy, so it was assumed by others that the dynamic would remain the same. It was not.