Munetsuchi

[Apollymi]

"I don't think you can take blame for that Charlie," mentioned Anais. "In truth, I only realized I was avoiding him a little while ago. And by the time I did, I was leaving on that mission with you. And it isn't like he's a topic of conversation," she summarized. It was an oddity for her. She knew that her instincts were to be trusted, because it was the advice of her older and more experienced friends, but it'd taken her a while to understand the exact mechanisms that defined her instincts. And with that she was fine to leave the lad to this thoughts, besides, Solomon was speaking again and the young elafia lass was still reeling from that man's existence.

Miwa took note of this lass's reactions and realized she'd obviously collected this girl's fantasy harem. Whatever the case, there was the fact that Solomon had a bit of cheek to offer his wife about the nature of his complex cryptic words. "Eh? Even I find that one a bit outside of normal thought. I was merely teasing~" Miwa mentioned as she found it a bit hilarious. According to Charles, he aimed a speech at Sakura that was also taken in by Anais. His plan was for them to visit the Holy Knight Headquarters in Chaldea and he was going to let someone know things were going to be alright. Anais was privy to the research that was done by Ivy, so she figured the lad was trying to find the Holy Maiden Jeanne d'Arc whose floor they'd recently moved into. Actually, thinking about that more, Anais didn't have any problems in their new living space, so the likelihood of Jeanne d'Arc being a bad person was kind of non-existent. "Oh? That sounds interesting," Sakura said. Her current knowledge of knights was these three people and that made her wonder if others were different in some way.

But before all of that would be expanded upon, Charles was making use of his power for something else. That kind of use of magic was unnecessary at this juncture and the collapse of Charles followed, with only one word shared: awesome. Anais caught the lad as he fell seeming to not know exactly what he'd done but knowing some sort of rule had been changed to make him or someone else happy. At the same time, Miwa seemed to be a bit stunned. She knew what he'd done, if for no other reason than simply because she was no longer restricted herself. "Ara ara, that's a sweet child for no reason... he definitely didn't have to go and do something like that," Miwa mused. Sakura watched all of this having her brows draw together, "That's just, Charlie. That's how he is..." she mused. "I am not sure what he did, but I assume it was good," she stated. This friend of hers was within her arms, but she'd had a bit of time to enhance her use of magic by now... so a tiny white flame appeared flickering in her hand to hover over the lad. Pulsing strangely and helping along his regeneration now that she understood the active use of such a thing from spending time in Ailen's room. "He adjusted the way Order applies around me, and removed a specific barrier I've been working around. Such an interesting thing to do... Saku-chan, take him to one of the nice rooms, choose somewhere he can relax," she stated. Sakura held out her arms for the lad, and managed to hold him with her own arms and those of her shadowy extensions. "Hai hai, Kaa-sama!~" she stated willing to look after the lad while he slept again.

[Bloodedge]

With Charlemagne unconscious, there was time for the goings-on to settle in other minds. A former human child had one of the ultimate powers belonging to this world. Ailen could hardly fathom such a development occurring, and had been rendered silent. Mugen could hardly fathom the possibilities this opened, and had been rendered silent. Of the men in this room, only Solomon seemed entirely unperturbed. He knew what had occurred. In fact, Solomon knew some things yet to be addressed about the changes. "I wouldn't say it was for no reason, Miwa," he said upon hearing the goddess's initial reaction. "In his mind, you and Sakura have helped him in his darkest hour. This is his subconscious way of repaying the favor. He was Japanese, after all," Solomon said, boasting something that resembled national pride.

Soon enough, Miwa was addressing what the lad did, all to explain things to the elafia girl. He did release a barrier Miwa had spent thousands of years working around, making many things possible in hers and Munetsuchi's future. Ah, but there was a bit more to it than that. "He's done more. On Gaia, we had different beliefs. His view of a god is something far more absolute than what they have always been here. The Goddess of Arcane Wisdom is now officially the person all arcane wisdom passes through," Solomon explained. In that very moment, Ailen stepped forward again. "What? Are you saying─" he started, only to be interrupted right away. "─That Order as it applies to Magic and Magecraft, now belongs to Miwa... yes. The last thing that boy desires is to become an old tyrant, or... anything uncool, as he would say. Miwa has been deemed trustworthy and wise. When one does not trust themselves to do something, one must rely on their elders. This is a prime example of that very notion. Iino-chan understands. Speaking of our newest scholar, it's about that time, isn't it?"

[Apollymi]

Oh well, Anais had done all she needed to do. That little flame would help her friend along his recovery and she could use the rest of the time doing something else. Ah... but there was more to it than that. Solomon was once again talking and given this Anais's mind went completely quiet so she could listen. It was quite a strange occurrence but she was a big fan of ASMR in her own life. And this man had the sort of voice she could listen to all day. Miwa on the other hand was given a bit more information about the nature of Charles's upgrade to her power and why he committed to the action. Miwa heard that the lad thought to return the favor and in doing so did this thing, the lad had apparently been Japanese and such kindness was generally repaid by them according to Solomon. "I get that he has been through a lot, but to repay such a simple kindness in such an outlandish way is... unusual," she commented. She was right, but Charles was simply like that. Anais had known him most of her life on this planet and he'd always just been a standup kind of guy.

Ah but there was more... according to Solomon this lad had done much more than break the barrier around her use of magic. He'd made her a deity in the way he understood deities. She was the beginning and end of Arcane Knowledge now and all of it would pass through her. "HE DID WHAT?!" she demanded. It was outrageous. It was kind. It was... ridiculous. But apparently it was the truth. Perhaps, she would be meditating on that knowledge to see what it would be. Sakura had begun carrying the lad off, just the same she had a smile on her face as she wandered towards a nice room with a large window near a sakura tree. The rooms colors were a bit richer, reds, blacks, and whites but the outdoors was a quick contrast of light colors and fresh scents. "Kaa-sama seems happy. Nice job, Char-kun~" she said giggling about the situation. Yes, she was off, but there were other things being addressed.

For instance, the fact that Charles didn't want to become anything uncool was something Anais could have addressed rather quickly. Charles was rather extreme and wanted to be rendered unconscious or dead before he did something irreparably uncool. Of course, that notion would be lost and so would several other things as her surname was uttered in a rather affectionate way. She hadn't heard that in three hundred years, plus. And the fact that it'd been Solomon to say it, made the girl's face redden and her heart stop beating for just a second. By the time it started up again Miwa was looking at the girl and smirking. "Yeah, of course, I just became the realest goddess since the goddess of death and I don't know I think you might have overdone it, Solo-kun~" she mused as if this was a normal sort of reaction. "Iia, sorry. I just... I haven't heard my own name in three hundred years. I've also never heard a man say it like that in the first place... I'm sure my heart stopped beating," she explained. "Boxing that, congratulations," the girl said truly happy something good had come from Charles. But he had that sort of power anyway, now he simply had a power that matched it. "Anyway, what is it about time for?" she asked seeming to want to move completely past this weird reaction she'd just had.

[Bloodedge]

"It's no surprise you would say that. Many people from Gaia believe things are outlandish here. It does go in both directions, but rarely is it seen this way," said Solomon. "As I am both, I can explain. You see, it was never about the weight of what you did for him; it was always going to be about the impact he felt. That is the magic of humankind. Equivalent exchange is fulfilled by emotion."

It seemed Miwa hadn't realized the true development of Charlemagne's choice. The shock was palpable when she was told how far things had been taken. "It was always going to be like this. In this world, there is no better fit; even he realized that. The Phases will henceforth function as... well, I don't need to tell you that," he said to the goddess. Moving on from that topic, there was apparently an overstep on Solomon's part. In simply speaking the original surname of Anais, he had some sort of effect on the girl. Well, he was probably going to accomplish that anyway. "I've done no such thing. This was a necessary development," he insisted. Yes, Solomon knew the effects he had; he even knew which decisions would manifest what in this case. This 'turning point' as he previously called it, was a critical moment in the world's greater history. "Charles is unconscious. Astolfo has been taken away. The stars have aligned to your preference, haven't they? After all, this is something you fear discussing. I understand. I lived in Japan for several years."

With that said, Solomon lifted one hand littered with rings. Space itself began distorting in two places. One spiral produced the raven-haired man previously addressed as Qin. Upon his arrival, it took only one glance toward Solomon for him to know something was afoot. The other rift, however, produced a male yet to be seen. This man had long, wild blonde hair, sharp brown eyes. His clothes were of fine material, but seemed to be little more than an extravagant red loincloth paired with armor only on his shins, abdomen, forearms and right shoulder. "Yeah! And then we can─huh?!" It seemed this 'new' face had been in the middle of something when summoned. "Solomon?! Oi, I was in the middle of helping some kid get back on his feet!" he yelled. "I am aware. He will be fine wandering around by himself ─ even finding more entertainment in his own strange ways. However, Ailen has taken a new apprentice. Since we are all here, there is no better time for her path to be determined."

[Apollymi]

Solomon was speaking so once again Anais was rather quiet. He was right in his assertions. People from the same world as Anais had a hard time, rationalizing a lot of the things that happened here. She was no exception to that. In fact, all of today had been a rather strange exercise in pushing the limits of her understanding and allowing herself to immerse in the sheer madness it presented. Of course, the fact that people like Charles saw things differently and acted on that sort of difference because of his emotional quality was about as outlandish as the goddess had ever seen. 'Leave it to Charlie, to make a good first impression on behalf of us from the other world,' Anais thought. There were way worse people to meet and she knew this as a fact. "Impact and emotional equivalency? Sou ka, I guess that is fine..." Miwa muttered. Still it was quite beyond the realm of general belief. As far as she was concerned what he'd done was probably tantamount to sacrilege according to the old way.

"Oh I know how they'll function. The fact that he set it in motion without any real understanding is part of the outlandishness of this decision. I do appreciate it though... and then I think about all the things I can learn and know and it's exciting~" it seemed the goddess of Arcane Wisdom was quite pleased with her son-in-law. Ah, well... that would be something she dealt with at a later time. For now, apparently the heart stopping speech aimed at Anais was something that was necessary. Apparently this sort of privacy was of a great benefit to Anais, who given her own skittishness managed to tap her fingers together and had the grace to look embarrassed. "That part will take quite a while to get over... being outside of the public eye is more to my general preference to begin with... " she murmured, this was true enough when one considered her 'alternate' path to her school girl lifestyle. She lived with a certain amount of secrecy in her life previously just to avoid any public scrutiny. That part seemed to have stayed with her and influenced many of her likely 'odd' habits. Speaking oddities, a new face had appeared, and now with them all in the same place, Anais understood several things. This was a great looking assembly of men, first and foremost. And from her own understanding each of them gave off a sound that when addressed properly melded together. Like a perfectly timed and tuned orchestra, oh, that was rather nice to think about. "Wu-chan, Qin-sa... are the ones you haven't met yet, though they'd eventually find their way into your studies," mentioned Miwa. Apparently, Anais was to determine her path, she had information about that in her head, but first... there was something more pressing. This group was Miwa's Harem and each person in it, was someone she picked. It was well picked by her. "Wait wait wait.." ah there was a spark in the mind of Anais as she looked at the whole of the group and thought of what she knew of their names. "Wu-chan? Like Sun Wukong?! Is that Sun Wukong?! Like full battle, spars and fighting, flying on clouds, splitting himself into an army of hundred thousand, Sun Wukong?!" Her eyes flicked around and she remembered something important. "Qin? Like Qin Shi Huang? Like the King of Qin, superpower of law and order?! The first Emperor of China?" her eyes widened once more as her eyes set on Solomon properly. "Shishou said... Solomon-ou. Like King Solomon, Wise King Solomon?! First man to get magic? That King Solomon?" Anais's mind was blow. To hell with the path and any choices she needed to make. Someone needed to appreciate this star-studded cast with her, only three known names deep and this Harem was a nerd girl's fantasy, it was her fantasy. Well... she wouldn't be admitting that. "Oh? She knows them... interesting," mused Miwa. Ah well, she wouldn't stop anyone's fun.

[Bloodedge]

"In a way, yes," Solomon confirmed. The people of Gaia had very different moral codes that could scarcely be understood by those born to this world. He, however, was a slightly different case. Twenty-seven years he spent on Gaia, and most of that time was spent becoming what he was now. Solomon had a complete understanding of this world, enough to fit in perfectly. Anais would receive his insight soon enough. First though, there was Miwa and her excitement for the future. "Sometimes, humans don't need understanding. Sometimes, that feeling is enough," he said to the goddess.

With that, all five Myouou were brought to one place. Anais received a brief introduction of those she'd yet to meet officially, as well as the opportunity to choose her path. Instead, she got herself caught in a mental roller coaster upon realizing some name similarities to things she recalled. First came Wu, whom she wondered the identity of. Was he the alleged Sun Wukong? Well... "Wahahaha! I like this one!" the blonde shouted, standing proud and inflating his chest to slam one fist into it. "The Handsome Monkey King himself, yes! It is I!" he chanted. Alas, there was something about Anais's speech which made him curious. "What's that? Splitting into a hundred thousand? That ain't me. Oi, SoSo ─ can I do that?"

With a low chuckle, Solomon glanced toward Anais. His eyes belied a slight warning, though no disappointment showed in his visage. "I'm sure you could if you applied the right mindset to it," he said. Ah, but Anais was still going. She next addressed Qin by his full proper name, to which he seemed indifferent. Those titles were not among the list of usual preferred, but they would suffice. "The conqueror who transcended the Three Sovereigns and exceeded the Five Emperors...that is who Qin Shi Huang is. In other words...that is us!" he confirmed in a roundabout way. Meanwhile, Mugen sighed. "The two most swollen heads in the empire, and she blows air up their asses," said the demon. On the more positive side, she next recognized Solomon. At least that one had never shown an annoying amount of arrogance. He met Anais's acknowledgement with a gentle, oddly glowing smile and a fair amount of humility. "That is the story, yes. Though you may know me by a different name. I was the Director of Operations working under the Ashikaga Consulting Agency's Nobunaga branch," Solomon explained while holding two fingers against his own temple.

[Apollymi]

"Really?" this was the question of Miwa. She didn't fully get the 'feeling' aspect of the human side of things, but she assumed it would make sense as they dabbled in mankind a bit more thoroughly than they had previously. Moving on from this though, there was some marked excitement about meeting a couple of these people. Sun Wukong seemed to have a pretty lively reaction to being recognized. At the same time he posed a question to Solomon which caused the man to answer a bit indirectly. A positive association with Anais was pretty par for the course, but that added look from Solomon made the girl blush sheepishly. "Woops. There should be a support group so I can fangirl with other people who get why this is cool..." she said softly. Ah, well that wasn't something that'd be happening anytime soon. But a confirmed set of identities meant that she was indeed standing in a pretty high tier group of people whether they knew of their own popularity or not. Qin as he was called had a very similar kind of reaction, though admittedly a bit high strung it wasn't as off-putting as he might have initially seemed.

At the same time, Mugen expressed discontent at Anais's recognition of that pair. There was a pretty reasonable explanation for recognizing those two with their obvious names and all. "Iia, it isn't like that. They're super popular. Sun Wukong is like super cool for action adventure stories, I did a lot of reading back then. And Otou-san was a Supreme Court Judge so he's a huge law nerd, so Qin Shi Huang is one of the first people I learned about as a kid, it's a core memory..." she murmured sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. It wasn't often that the topics of stories of one's youth appeared before them. Much less was it ideal that she'd get to see, question and spend time with them. Truly his harem was shaping up to be a nerd girl's fever dream. What was more there was a softness to Solomon as he acknowledged his own existence as that one, but gave an alternate listing that she may have understood. That one came up a bit, the Nobunaga Branch of the Ashikaga Consulting Agency did a lot of humanitarian donations so her mother was always mentioning them. The Director of Operations was a foreigner, young who had according to the press either earned the heiress's trust or had duped his way into the position. Actually, when she thought about it, everyone connected directly to that girl was praised as being young, brilliant (in their own ways) and filthy rich. "Animusphere-san, I know that one too. Not personally, but that whole branch makes a lot of waves in papers. Your PR person has to be awesome, keeping all that mostly positive. Does Ashikaga-san's dad know she's out for his head as that branch name implies?" she asked as a point of sheer curiosity. She assumed the best because the man was married to a wisdom goddess, even if it wasn't this one. That being said and given the dynamic she'd witnessed here, she figured the man might actually be looking forward to such an eventuality.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course. The sixth sense manifests very differently in those who have no understanding of it. It's why our elafia friend here still has little grasp on her additional senses, including her internal voice," Solomon explained with ease. Knowing both sides of the equation was a boon for the man, always granting him additional insight even beyond his knowledge of this world's future. Having Anais around and creating a link to the 12 Peers of Charlemagne would surely provide that same boon to Munetsuchi. As for the spoiler she'd given Wukong, it seemed she wanted a group of people who could safely and effectively gush over the historical and mythological figures in this world. Solomon could understand that. "It is only just beginning. You'll find that all of the Myouou are recognizable names from Gaia, even if they do not currently have those monikers," he added.

With his mention of a former life, Anais recognized the person Solomon once was as well. That was of little importance, but it would do her well to know she had a kinsman of sorts within this harem. On the topic of their PR person, Solomon chuckled. "Olga, yes. She was my sister. At present, she's not too far from here in this world. Well... that is subjective," he mused. "And yes, I'm sure he relishes in the idea of being overtaken by his daughter. That man wants nothing more than her growth," he added.

With that, Qin had something to say. "This is wasting our time. You called us, the Emperor, here for a purpose. What is the path?" he asked in a demanding fashion. "I think the path for you should be calming the hell down, man! Let the girl admire my greatness all she wants! Go on, tell me more about a thousand copies of me taking on the universe! Wahahaha!" said Wukong. Meanwhile, the likes of Ailen could only sigh. There was only sheer chaos to be found the longer these five were in the same room. It was always entertaining, though... for a while.

[Apollymi]

According to Solomon the sixth sense manifested differently in the humans who didn't naturally have the ability to sense mana, because of this they were prone to showing differences in understanding. That was an idea worthy of study, if the young elafia was one who had issues reconciling her internal voice and her understanding of this world, she could be good for explaining things to them as they came to understand them. "Sou ka, it will be an interesting study. I can't say I understand this 'feeling' aspect and I am sure I am not the only one," mentioned Miwa. She wondered if Ailen had more insight to offer given his experiences thorough the girl. Beyond that Solomon claimed that all five of these men had names recognizable from her home world, even if they didn't currently have them. Ah, if they were recognizable to her then they would be in the past for her, but it was also likely the other two hadn't made it yet or had already and had bad associations with them. "Hm..." the girl's eyes flickered to Ailen and Mugen. Of the two...Ailen would be the harder to figure out. Mugen was interesting, if he was actually Japanese as his name and understanding of the language implied, perhaps he was someone from lore she could recognize too. There were a lot of potentials, she'd have to categorize what she knew about him. Forbidden Knowledge, strange magic, insightful but unorthodox advice, hm there was someone like that mentioned a lot. Who was it? 'Box it...' she mused, thinking to figure out exactly what historical or mythological entities Mugen and Ailen were later.

According to Solomon the PR person in that branch was also his little sister. That must have been nice. Anais had no siblings in either of her lives so she couldn't really imagine the fun of it. But maybe it was truly interesting. Moreover he claimed that Ashikaga Tokiomi did indeed know his daughter's intentions and that he simply wanted to watch her grow. "Ah, that's cool. I don't have siblings but it sounds like it was reasonable," she said noting the slight change in the way he addressed the speech about his sister. "That's good. He always gave off elegant dad vibes and something else... I'm happy that works the way I thought it did," she mused, hinting that maybe her instinct wasn't just limited to this world's understanding of her skills. Ah, and beyond that Qin spoke up again this time to sound a bit demanding of the understanding of her path. 'Waah, why is he so demanding?' she thought, giving an odd look to Miwa. The fact that she managed to balance a group of history's mightiest mythological and historical men was well, extraordinary truly. 'I can't explain how awesome this is, either. No one will get it,' she seemed to be going on a rollercoaster of emotion. Ah, right she knew why she was here but she'd gotten a bit distracted by the coolness of the situation. Anais had the grace to look embarrassed and flustered as thought about it. Ah, but Sun Wukong rescued her a bit and she managed to look sheepish about her odd revelation. "Eto... I probably shouldn't tell you about stuff like that..." she murmured. Technically speaking such things were left to more derivative stories, but... "I'd still like t hear some cool stuff you've done here later. I've always wondered how truthful that sort of stuff was..." she added.

Miwa chuckled. "I do respect this amount of inqusitive nature. You have an understanding though right? Of the paths and how they work?" she asked of the girl who nodded. "Hai... I got a quick understanding of it a bit ago," she said, while Miwa produced a strange graphic for her continued development. She made a circle of five magical things which aligned to their places on the Circle of Creation or Star of Destruction. And added arrows which magically began bouncing between them. Those arrows were black in one and white in the other... and they took different movements for each one. The image itself was in four dimensions and also showed the strange white and black markers for Solomon and Mugen where they belonged on the map.

[Bloodedge]

Sadly for Wukong, he would be hearing nothing more of his own exploits today. The blonde huffed, sitting in the floor with his legs and arms both crossed. "No fun! You sound like Solomon now! I want spoilers!" he griped. Of the group, Wukong had always been the most... childish, so to speak. Ailen watched as he huffed and puffed, only to look as if nothing was wrong mere seconds later. Ah, but perhaps that had to do with the importance of current topics. A student was among them, and her learning took precedence over all other matters. Besides, Wukong seemed satisfied by the idea of telling the girl his exploits later.

With a full diagram produced before her, Anais confirmed her base understanding of the paths. Miwa's display could easily fill in the rest, but it was Ailen's duty as her mentor to further explain. "This is the part where you complete the lesson. The cycles you see before you are four in number... or currently five in a special case. Your starting point is currently my position of Earth, from which you may go the path of promotion, weakening, regulation or overacting, or counteracting. The path you choose will dictate the order of your teaching, which will in-turn affect the way you learn and grow," Ailen explained while Solomon added to Miwa's display. "This is the placement of the Myouou," he added. Solomon produced an image of Ailen over the space marked Earth, Mugen over Metal, Qin over Water, himself over Wood, and lastly Wukong over Fire along the path of inter-promotion. "I assume you've figured out what it means to begin your lessons with Mugen or myself. There are only four visible paths here, though Metal and Wood have been connected to Yin and Yang respectively. To choose Metal in this case, would mean also choosing a natural leaning toward Overacting, which is the extreme of Regulation that moves as such," he continued, creating an inward spiral path in the diagram. "That is the nature of the Forbidden, tainting all future knowledge if not tempered preemptively. However, the Divine is no different and flows in an outward spiral instead. It would be the sixth path, but it has not yet been discovered."