Tedious Above Return

(the ambassador is the senior diplomat. ambassador is his official position)

"I will be returning back to the ambassador." I said. "I'll be sure to tell him about your deal."

"go to the royal palace and send a letter, or ask for an audience, if you get an answer from him within ten days."

I didn't answer him, and took the moment to leave. I wanted to be out of the west as soon as possible, and this was the way. As long as I take an ancestral shrine from here, to the capital, in thirty hours, at most, I will be able to go back to the inn, and come back here, the very next day.

Traveling to the rural areas of another Plane like the north and south would be too risky, since I am here to become allies with the west, and the east is at odds with the south, which are allied with the north. Using eastern shrine is impossible, unless it is the one at the capital. Going to the east is too risky. If someone recognizes me, my life will be over.

And unlike other Planes, that use their ancestral shrines as the building grounds for major cities, the west used an ancestral shrine right next to the ocean, just to build a palace. It's especially wasteful, because with a major city next to the sea, because this was ocean products won't be monopolized by the north. Unfortunate, but convenient.

Anyways, I used the ancestral shrine inside the summer palace to travel to the northern capital shrine, as it was the only avaliable shrine in the capital. You might wonder why I didn't use the shrine to get to the vacation palace, but I did it because your first visit to the palace without any letters or friends is a one-way.

If you arrive at the shrine, and the guards don't recognize you, you're dead. However, since the guards saw me going from the inside of the palace to the shrine, they'll remember me the next time I go there, so it now became a two-way lane. Still, that system is flawed. If an assassin comes and kills the king without anyone knowing, they can use the shrine to escape without leaving a trace, or even having to confront any guards. They'll just remember the assassin as a guest.

Anyways, I visited all the other shrines in the capital, and found out that the southern and western shrines both refreshed in two hours, whereas the eastern shrine was in three hours. The western shrine wasn't an option, since you can't travel to the same Plane using an ancestral shrine, so the only options are the south and the east. The worst part about the shrine's ten hour cooldown would be that even if the sending shrine is active, if the receiving shrine is inactive, and their refreshing time doesn't meet up, then you cannot travel between the two points.

I camped the southern capital shrine, until it was ready. I thought about the destination, being the western capital, and fortunately, I teleported. The other people on the shrine with me teleported to where ever they were going, and the people whose destinations were blocked had to wait till another shrine was open. The thing about the shrines is, even though it transports things in groups, that is only because the group wants to go to the same place. In a group of three, if two want to go southern capital, whereas one wants to go northern capital, the two going south will be together, whereas the one going north will be alone. Of course, this is timed, so everyone goes and comes at the same time. Of course, someone coming at the exact same time has a very low chance of happening, and even if it did happen, you wouldn't know.

I went back to the inn, and unfortunately, the ambassador wasn't there. The only other place he could've been would be the palace, which was my next destination. When I arrived at the palace, I asked the guards at the gate whether he left or not. They said he did, but with a bunch of other people, meaning I could assume he is either (a), kissing ass, or (b), hanging out with friends. As much as I want to say it is the latter, the former seems more logical.

I then went to the only place in the world where ass kissers would go — the red light district. I'm already considered an adult, so there's no reason for me to be ashamed of going to such places. In fact, the one that should really be ashamed is the ambassador, openly bringing 'those' kind of books on this trip.

I went into the red light district, and asked a nearby woman if she had seen the ambassador. She clearly saw him, but didn't want to say, so I offered incentive, and she spilled immediately. I then went into the 'house' he was in, and after confirming his location, I started screaming.

"father! What are you doing here? Mother is looking everywhere for you! Come on! I see you over there!" I said, pointing at him.

"a-ah..? S-Son... follow me outside." he said, gesturing to me.

Luckily, he was quick on the uptake, and didn't make a fuss.

"work for the western 'king'." I declared, once we were out.

"... negotiations?"

"better. Allies."

"ok, but I expect a generous stipend. You even interrupted my fun."

"you'll get your money, and you can have fun somewhere else, I won't bother you about anything more. Who knows when your nonexistent wife will find you."

"I see. Well, bye."