Franka Aglaia, who had admirably cut off her master’s head, as the Witch of the West’s disciple had naturally succeeded her position.
She had been spending very, very busy and fulfilling days recently.
“You’ve gathered all the monkeys within the barrier again? Very well done! Here, have some fruit while you rest!”
Seeing the fruit basket Franka held out, her two homunculi began to savor it with apparent joy.
After watching them contentedly for a moment, Franka turned her attention to one of her “work tools”.
An item made to easily write and erase various contents using writing implements made by mixing materials such as plaster on a wide plate made of processed high-grade black iron slate.
If the Tin Knight had seen it, he would have exclaimed in admiration that this was here too, but in this continent, it was a “blackboard” that was rarely used outside of certain classes like alchemists. The one Franka used was particularly high-grade among them.
The blackboard had various phrases written in quite pretty handwriting, and Franka drew a line through the item that said, [Identify and recover the whereabouts of the homunculi left by the Witch of the West].
“Huhu, huhuhu, huhuhuhuhuh!”
Joyful laughter flowed from Franka’s mouth.
Somehow that appearance was unmistakably that of a villainous young lady, and one with a bit of comic attributes attached at that, but her familiars, who had become accustomed to it enough to be familiar, didn’t particularly mind.
In fact, even if there were other people besides the familiars, it was questionable whether Franka would have stopped laughing.
That was how much Franka had been shining recently.
After the subjugation of the Witch of the West, the vast treasures she possessed went to Dorothea’s hands, but in other words, that was all that went.
The numerous research materials, homunculi, and workshop left by Elphaba passed directly into Franka’s hands, and this was truly an incomparable treasure among treasures for an alchemist.
So much so that if the Alchemists’ Association knew, they would have wanted to receive it even if they had to pay an enormous sum that could buy a country.
Golden monkeys, each comparable to a skilled knight, of which hundreds still remained even though many were culled during the subjugation of the Witch of the West.
A vast alternate space that, while not reaching the entire Locrian Federation, could sufficiently handle about a fourth of it.
Know-how for creating various types of homunculi that had been researched and improved over an immeasurable period of time.
Add to this the social influence and various commercial rights held by the name of the Witch of the West.
When one added the power of the Aglaia family, which originally had wealth ranking in the top five within the Locrian Federation, it was truly an enormous power that made one wonder if they could grasp hegemony over the entire Locrian Federation.
“Huhuhu…. Foolish Dorothea Aschengard. To throw away these vast rights and only obtain physical assets. I almost feel pity for such short-sightedness. What’s the big deal about recovering sacred treasures?”
Franka mocked the foolishness of the black witch who had left without regret, saying, “There’s no time to leisurely absorb such things.”
It was absolutely not that she had entered self-suggestion saying, “Those are sour grapes!” because she had essentially dropped out of the sacred treasure recovery competition. At least according to Franka’s claim.
“It’s troublesome if you misunderstood that we became close just by fighting together briefly. Once I inherit all the power of the Witch of the Witch , then it will be time for revenge, yes, revenge…”
Franka’s voice gradually became smaller.
The image of the Tin Knight literally grinding up the Witch of the West’s enormous army passed through her mind like a panorama.
Franka’s eyes glanced towards the familiars beside her.
The familiars were each crossing their wings and arms to form an X.
“…Hmph! Such a cowardly witch. If it weren’t for that cowardly Blood Oath, I could take revenge as much as I want, but it can’t be hel—”
She, who had been muttering words that were unclear who she was making excuses to, jumped in place as if having a fit at the sudden vibration sound.
After a moment of silence.
Realizing that the identity of that sound was not the witch and knight coming to hear her cursing them, but the vibration of a magic tool announcing the arrival of a guest, she hurriedly fanned her face that was somehow flushed, and while pretending to be as nonchalant as possible, activated the magic tool.
《All the guests you invited have arrived.》
Hearing the voice of one of the golden monkeys inherited from the Witch of the West, Franka nodded.
“I’ll be there soon, wait.”
At Franka’s signal, the two familiars who had been engrossed in their meal followed behind her.
Walking down the corridor with the sound of heels, the golden monkeys serving as servants in the castle all bowed their heads to Franka in unison, showing respect.
It was reverence for the new master who had defeated the Witch of the West and succeeded her position.
At the end of this progress was a huge flower bed in the front garden.
Although there was a plausible banquet hall in the witch’s castle that was being remodeled to Franka’s taste, among today’s “guests” were some who would be difficult to properly entertain unless it was an open place .
《Lady Franka Aglaia is entering!》
At the shout of a golden monkey dressed like a butler, the guests who were each seated in the prepared seats in the front garden all turned their gazes.
Boldly meeting the gazes that were evenly mixed with exploration, vigilance, fear, and indifference, Franka took the highest seat as if it were natural.
The appearances of the participants were diverse.
It wasn’t a matter of age or gender, but entirely at the species level.
There were little people the size of an ordinary person’s palm, and conversely, there were giants who could grasp an ordinary person in one hand.
There were those with human bodies but wings on their backs and crow heads, and those with appearances somewhere between a wolf and a human.
The Witch of the West.
Homunculi recreated by Elphaba, the Golden Alchemist, based on old traditions.
The current situation was the result of Franka gathering all the representatives of those who had formed independent cultures on islands throughout the workshop.
“Now, thank you all for responding to the invitation ‘in full’ today.”
When Franka emphasized the words “in full,” several of those at the banquet visibly flinched or turned pale.
They were all leaders of forces that had resisted Franka’s succession as the Witch of the West, ignoring or even being hostile to her.
Of course, this was also natural in a sense.
Elphaba had isolated each island to create a model garden to her liking, and the perception the island residents had of Elphaba was all arbitrary.
On some islands, she was worshipped like a god, on some islands, she was regarded merely as a queen of another country, and on some islands, they didn’t even know of her existence.
Those favorable to Elphaba naturally found the “usurper” unpleasant, and those who weren’t were displeased by an unfamiliar person suddenly demanding obedience.
Franka did not accommodate such circumstances.
If she couldn’t properly coordinate even one workshop and its residents, succeeding the position of the Witch of the West would be a far-off dream.
Politely attempting to “advise” was only for the first couple of times, and those who still didn’t listen were directly suppressed by force.
As she was working on identifying and absorbing other legacies concurrently, she had so much to do that she had hardly gone outside the barrier since Dorothea’s party left.
But that would improve considerably after receiving today’s oath of loyalty.
With a satisfied feeling, Franka opened her mouth, “As you’ve probably heard from the monkeys beforehand, I don’t particularly intend to use you like slaves. Unlike Elphaba, I won’t confine you to each island, so you can interact with other islands as much as you want if you desire.”
Reasonable levels of tribute and provision of labor when necessary.
If the conditions Franka presented were to be summarized simply, it would be .
Treating the homunculi within the workshop like toys or consumables like Elphaba wasn’t to Franka’s taste, and if she, who was still inferior in ability compared to Elphaba, went about recklessly like that, it was clear that there would be ominous backlash.
“So, do you have any questions?” Franka asked towards the leaders of each country who were whispering with complicated expressions.
The first to react was the king of the little people’s country.
“New ruler, I acknowledge that you are the most noble and great among us, given the ability you’ve shown so far. However, it’s difficult to easily accept that all others here are on par with me.”
“The mouse-sized one speaks carelessly!”
“Ha! If you have complaints, come at me! I’ll show you how useless that unnecessarily large lump of flesh is! Ruler! Permission for a duel!”
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