20. A new oath & a thousand years' plan

We decided to stay there on vacation together for a few more days.

The nanites confirmed that Aster was indeed carrying now. My child. That felt odd. We’d have to think of a good name together.

But more importantly, we began talking about the future.

C - It will be easy to cancel the wedding as soon as Aster begins showing signs, but what should we do meanwhile?

J - Our commercial company will need me and Cécile to be regularly on the road, but we’re also eager to help you both.

C - Yeah, the priority will always be our bond and partnership.

A - Thank you... I can start prepare what I’ll say to my parents, and to the king... But, Silvia?

S - Yeah, yeah... I have a few ideas already to make everything right, but I’ll need the help of a few people smarter than all of ourselves combined this time, to build a solid plan.

C - You mean these three?

S - Yes. If we want to change the world for the better, we definitely need Trinity's help! It was a Radiant Firebond related matter to help Aster so far, but if we want to make the world a better place, period, we need them in as well.

A - I agree.

J - Well, as long as we can make reasonable agreements with Dominika, it should work.

S - Don’t say that. You two should become partners! You’d create the strongest commercial empire!

J - P... Partners?

C - She doesn’t mean like that... Or do you?

S - I don’t!

Why did they keep mocking me? At least they were laughing.

It felt like a nice normal day.

~

I put invitations in the mail box for Orea, Dominika and Felicia, to discuss something very important, in a luxurious winter holidays resort away from the crowds, for a few days maybe.

All three of them replied quite rapidly that they agreed, enquiring for the exact location.

A Robot-Silvia will come to pick you up I replied, don’t sweat the details.

That’s what I sent to our friends.

By the time they could ask, what did I mean about these robot-Silvia? (I forgot to explain!), their replicant escort already had arrived at their respective locations, and snatched them.

Loud shrieks ripped the sky as the flying Robots brought one by one our friends, holding them at their waist.

After landing, the legs of Trinity were shaky, it took them a while to recover. The Robots thanked them for choosing Silvias-Airways (although they wouldn’t be accumulating any Silvia points), and went into sleep mode in the back of the room.

After a good scolding from Felicia, whom resembled Cécile in these moments? We went to sit near a round table I had prepared for the occasion.

O - What’s that table and seven thrones for? Why don’t we sit there?

C - It’s Silvias idea... It’s complicated...

S - You need to be made knights of the round table first!

A - I’m already your knight...

S - This and that are completely different things!

I stood on the table to give them my speech.

Don’t you think there’s enough injustice in the world?

Enough risks of wars? Criminality? Societal bias? To add on top of difficult lives the rules of intolerant states to impose how to live your life? How, when and how you should marry? Have children? Retire from adventuring?

Step by step, their eyes began to gleam, I could tell you that.

Trinity felt gradually inclined to listen to my proposal.

Not so long ago, my first friends were crying too about their inborn fate, and how the magical power I gave them liberated them.

We never forgot these tears.

And for years, they’ve ran after me, because they loved me, but also because they had a taste of that freedom I brought them.

They never forgot. What they were supposed to become, and what broader liberty I offered them by multiplying their power.

They longed for that happiness to last as long as possible... Before the reality of this society would catch up with them. Just a few years more of happiness, freely on the roads or at homes...

And now... I was asking them, if they would like to help me, help us, making that feeling become a reality, for all of us. For all of humankind...

So that no one ever has to feel like crying as they and Aster did over their own fate. So that no child has to suffer what Cécile and Josephine went through as orphans. The bigger threat was behind, but the world wasn't heading for peace any faster. Political enmities remained, and discriminations were wide and high.

I was not asking for payback over what I already gave everyone.

It was an open door. Better, a blank page!

Would you like to write the next book of history with me?

All seven of us, together? As equally as can be, thanks to this round table?

To create the holy grail of history and stories, together...

To peacefully turn the world into a utopia!

Because if the seven of us were together...

I believed, we could achieve it.

~

Orea, Dominika and Felicia, with tearing eyes, put a knee down before me. I was embarrassed.

S - Ah no... I want your agreement as equal partners. That’s why all the chairs are the same and the table is round. The knighthood part for this plan was just a joke...

F - Miss Siline... I’m willing to swear an oath to you in front of my friends, the Radiant Firebond, and you. I will devote my life to make your dream come true.

O - I too. I swear on my life, I will do all that it takes to make your path to utopia come true.

D - I too, swear that I will do everything I can to help this... As long as it means we can all stay together and friends.

S - Of course! I don’t want to be separated from any of you!

Hugs intermission.

Aster whom liked a good chivalrous story, was eager to add some formality and decorum to our combined oath. Everyone promised allegiance, not to me, but to the ideal we would now work to build.

Like seven sages long before us wanted to prepare the world for the worst and longer safety.

Now that it was, we seven new sages wanted to turn it into the best world it could ever be.

I kneeled down as well, and Aster knighted me as a member of that new oath just like them.

The seven wise sages congregation was created.

And we would change the world, carefully, for the better.

~

The table ronde was open. There were seven chairs, and mine was no different than the six others my friends sat on. Although there were a few sleeping Robot-Silvias in the back of the room at the time.

S - The first council of the seven magical-girls is now open!

C - I said seven wise sages, not seven whatyacallit!

F - Your Attention please. We’ve exchanged a few preliminary ideas already, but the main purpose is to lay out and organise a proper plan of action, right? Some grand plan to change without wars or casualties the way the world and countries function, in a more utopian way? Because the last thing we want, is to create more strife and war, we have to plan things in a way that won’t cause resentments anywhere, nor sacrifices. That’s the core challenge.

S - Exactly. I knew I could count on you!

J - I will coordinate with Dominika what the commercial and fiduciary implications will become, but where should we start? Because this project is so ambitious, we can’t just rush blindly into one objective if other aspects of society won’t support it in the long term.

S - That is a good question...

C - Well, we know to a better extent the power that Silvia has available to make things happen, so the hard part is more about figuring out what to do?

S - Well yes. I need your help to figure out what to do. I have some... Extra knowledge, granted from the nanites and their management that I will share as we go, but I’m not that wise on how to use it on my own.

A - The idea is not to use armies though... That’s one thing clear for all of us. We won’t force anyone or anything.

Aster was feeling a little off, as the only frontline fighter in what became a congregation of the minds to outsmart the rules of a society where weapons still held a central value. She felt a little left aside.

S - Aster... You’re a mage just as wise and potent as any of us. You're not just my holy knight. You are my magical knight.

A - I’m... a magical knight?

S - You are yes. You’ve been for a long while already.

Wow, that was one hell of a cheerful smile Aster had now. She was beaming. There was a sun sitting at the table now, illuminating the room.

We’d have opportunities to discuss that later. But I had to tell her, and looking at her face right now, I was glad I just did. Nothing pleased her more than me calling her my knight one way or another.

C - Look at her, you two really are the perfect couple...

S - Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you I got married. With Aster.

F - WHAT!

D - WHAT?

O - Congratulations miss Siline!

S - And she’s expecting my child...

Felicia fainted for a few seconds.

~

That first assembly of the seven sages, far from the solemnity it arguably started with, continued to slip into nonsense.

J - I want to keep a Robot-Silvia for... personal usage.

S - Lewd!

C - Me too!

S - Sinful!

A - Could I...?

S - Nooo! You already have me. Don’t fall into the same depravity as them!

D - .... Now I’m curious about what a Silvia can do behind the curtains...

RS0008 - Happy to serve!

RS0009 - Happy to serve!

The worst part was they really meant it a 100%... Nanites were ecstatic at the prospect, since I began keeping a few Robots active.

S - Would you raise my authority level if I created enough Robot-Silvias for your amusement?

N - ! No... It’s not authorised!

N - LET HER SPEAK.

N - No, we can’t!

N - WAIT! THERE’S THIS LOGICAL LOOPHOLE I KNOW WE COULD USE!

N - SHUT THAT ONE UP!

S - Erh, sorry I asked that nanites, forget it, okay?

The yelling continued painfully in my ears for a while though. I think I stepped too far...

I’d let them recover and forget I mentioned that for a while. Seemed I could really wreck the world if I was not careful... Soft touches Silvias from now on. Soft touches!

S - Let’s... get back to discussing the plan, shall we?

Orea, a little flushed, approved with a nod.

Felicia wad hiding her face from embarrassment and Dominika seemed a little excited about something.

What path of depravity wad actually upon us?

We needed to refocus before I ended up stuck for good in the path for the Harem ending!

~

F - We could start more simply. Since our goal is not to take over the world Maou style, nor to rule from the shadows as a secret society... What do we need to do to make the world rapidly become a better place?

C - Decrease criminality...

J - Increase wealth, worldwide.

A - Pacify the international relationships between countries to prevent wars.

O - Increasing healthiness... Sanitation, plenty of food and health.

D - Open the knowledge of the academies to every child regardless of status? Education is key to endorsement on wide scales and time.

S - Good, good! I would go even further for that Dominika. Develop science, knowledge, and technology. Develop worldwide education grounds.

F - We have a few good starting points. I’ll keep track of them, then we can address them one by one to find what’s easy to do, what’s hard to do is where miss Siline will take priority of tasks. And what we should be careful of, to avoid destabilising anything.

I nodded repeatedly.

S - You’re worthy of being the first sage lady Felicia!

F - Do I get a Robot-Silvia too then?

S - Eh?

F - Just kidding!

We’d have to keep vigilant no sages fall into temptation...

~