"There's nothing on the moon!"
"There will be. It's rich in Honkai energy, so we can totally build a new Moon Capital."
"I heard you."
"Heard what?"
"You insulted me again. Your voice was super loud in the Imaginary Space, I heard it!"
Noldrei looked at Kiana in shock, not expecting that she'd actually figured out he was calling her an idiot.
Kiana was extremely hurt; she had no idea why she was being insulted. After all, getting chewed out for no reason and having it broadcast for everyone to hear was just too humiliating.
She knew she hadn't been trying hard enough to adapt to her leadership role, but it wasn't a job you could master overnight. It wasn't like everyone had future experience like Noldrei that they could just apply directly. And besides, Kiana thought she had been studying very hard already.
To get yelled at on top of all that... she felt pretty wronged.
"Fine, I apologize for that!" Noldrei wasn't too bothered by Kiana's little tantrum. He changed the subject, "How about this? Once everything is settled, I'll take you out to have some fun."
"Really?!" Kiana's eyes lit up, and she instantly forgot she'd been insulted.
"Really. And Sirin is now the complete Herrscher of the Void. With her help, we can build a new Moon Capital in no time. Plus, we have the powers of the Herrscher of Ice and the Herrscher of Wind. Adjusting the moon's climate will be a piece of cake."
"Once we've dealt with the Herrscher of Finality, we'll build a huge hanging garden on the moon. I've even thought of a name for it. Let's call it Yuanmingyuan!"
(Yuanmingyuan (圆明园), or the Old Summer Palace, was a vast and magnificent complex of imperial palaces and gardens in Beijing, considered the pinnacle of Chinese architectural achievement. However, its name is now associated with tragedy and national humiliation in China because it was looted and completely burned down by Anglo-French forces in 1860.)
Kiana gave him a look of subtle disgust. "I don't know, that name feels a bit unlucky. How about we call it Luna Palace instead?"
"You've been reading Roman mythology?" Noldrei was slightly surprised by Kiana's "erudition."
Kiana said proudly, "While you were away, I was already thinking about what my palace would look like after my ascension. I'm all prepared with the plans and ideas!"
You're a real talent.
Noldrei felt his heir apparent was turning out to be a bit of a dud, spending all her time dreaming about building herself a palace. But then he reconsidered. Since Sirin would be doing all the heavy lifting, it was basically Kiana building her own palace. A little civil engineering project like this was no big deal.
"Oh, right. Ever since Sirin and Otto fought in Siberia, the Russians have gone completely silent. They've become much more compliant and have even been urging us to build a new city in Siberia as soon as possible."
There was a bit of dark humor in what Kiana said.
In reality, it wasn't just Siberia. Every nation, including those in Shenzhou, Europe, and the Americas, had fallen silent.
The world changes in unpredictable ways. Whether you have the ability to destroy a superpower isn't what matters; whether you actually do it is what's important.
Russia was made an example of, a piece of meat carved up for the whole world to see.
This naturally made everyone realize the most crucial point.
Whoever controlled Honkai energy was the God-Emperor of Earth, the true deity ruling the planet.
Kiana had long been ready to inherit the power of the Herrscher of Finality. Her current body, that of a person from the future, was practically designed for this job.
But now, Kiana was a little curious. She didn't understand why Noldrei wasn't taking on the power of the Herrscher of Finality himself. Based on his usual methods of consolidating power, holding everything in his own hands was his normal M.O.
With this thought, Kiana voiced her question to him.
"Because it's no longer necessary..." Noldrei glanced at Sirin, who was sleeping nearby, exhausted from the battle. "There's no need to centralize power anymore. Centralization and decentralization are just means to an end. The goal isn't to centralize power for its own sake. The mistake of hoping a single method can solve all of humanity's internal problems is one that has been repeated more than once in the future."
Kiana didn't find Noldrei's words strange. She realized that he already held nearly all of Earth's energy and resources in his hands. He was already the de facto emperor of the planet.
"It's not necessary anymore? You have a point. Even if you did centralize power further, I don't know what else you could possibly take." At this point, Kiana couldn't imagine what other powers Noldrei could strip from humanity and hoard for himself.
"Exactly. So, I'm thinking about how to get you to take on the duties of an heir apparent." Noldrei was very pleased with Kiana's current level of understanding. He was already planning to delegate authority to his Crown Princess and put her to work.
The thought was amusing. The idea of Kiana embarking on a tens-of-thousands-of-years-long career as Crown Princess made Noldrei feel she had an obligation to lead humanity.
"What? This is what you call delegating power?"
To Kiana, it sounded a lot like Noldrei was just trying to find someone to do his work for free.
It was like fooling the common people, telling them "the world is yours," but by the time they died of old age, they still had no idea how it was supposed to be theirs.
The white-haired Tuna felt like a total sucker. She complained, "This isn't the kind of emperor I wanted to be! Even if I can't do whatever I want, shouldn't I at least get to find some underlings to work for me?"
Noldrei patted her head in disappointment. "I set so many examples for you. If you had learned even a little bit from them, you wouldn't be in a position where you have no one to call on."
Kiana looked at him, equally shocked. "That's not right! You're the emperor, shouldn't you prepare a team for me in advance? Isn't that how it's written in the history books? The emperor always prepares a team of talented people for the crown prince's future."
Noldrei didn't know what to say to her. He retorted, "Then do you remember what happened to all those crown princes whose staff were handpicked by the emperor?"
"Those ones... Hiss..." Kiana thought about it carefully and finally saw the problem. Most of the crown princes whose staff were chosen by the emperor ended up being deposed.
"Alright, go find your own people to work for you. Don't even think about poaching anyone from me at a time like this. I'm still planning to go check out the situation in the parallel worlds."
Noldrei had already laid out his plans for the new humanity and the new world. As for the Herrscher of Finality problem, he would just leave it to the folks from the Previous Era to help handle it. No one understood the Herrscher of Finality's situation better than them.
And as for him? He had much more to do. Noldrei still needed to see if there was anything useful in the parallel worlds.
The next step was to use the Herrscher of Finality's power, which could pierce through the Imaginary and the Real, to build a bridge for traversing the cosmos.
Hearing Noldrei's words, Kiana suddenly had a bad feeling.
Was this guy planning to bail?