God of Systems: Maker of Heroes and Villains

[Well… not surprising that you can hear me…]

"Can you bring back my papa? I don't want him gone…" Miya said as she trotted over to Clara and sat on her lap.

She then looked at Amelia and hesitated slightly before stammering, "M-mama… you should not fight with mama? No." she said as she tried to make the sentence make sense.

"It's weird to call you both my mama." she declared as she looked up at Clara first and then turned her head sideways to look at Amelia, who gave her an awkward smile.

It was Keith who had insisted on getting Miya to call her "mama" but Amelia was just not used to it and even now, after weeks, it was still the same.

"You can call me big sister Amelia like you used to before…" Amelia offered but the kid shook her head before poking her own chin.

"First Mama and second mama? Noooo I don't like it!"

Seeing Miya struggle with what to call both of them, Clara hugged her and placed her chin on her daughter's head, "You can just call us Mama Clara and Mama Amelia. Easy right?" she said and glance at Amelia who gave her a slight nod.

Miya seemed to have liked the new names as she responded with a satisfied smile before she leaned back onto Clara's bosom and looked up at the ceiling.

"What should I call you then Aunty? Yeah, aunty is enough right?"

[Ouch…]

Clara finally let out a genuine chuckle, which made Amelia let out a sigh of relief while Miya pouted, "But I don't want to call you mama too…. I think two mamas are enough for me and you are a bad person who wants to send my papa somewhere else."

She then paused as a frown appeared on her face and then added, "Give me back my papa, he played with me yesterday and I should marry him off to a handsome prince!"

[…. Yeah I saw. I won't lie, he's pretty cute when he does all that stuff for you. But anyways, your papa has to go because no one other than him can stop the real bad guy. Your papa is a hero whose feats this world won't know about.]

Miya pouted in response but a few seconds later, nodded.

"Okay but when will he come back?"

This time, Emma took her time to respond, which was slightly more than a minute.

[I will send him back as soon as I can, once he reaches an island halfway though the path he's taking. As soon as I can, I promise.]

"Okay then…" Miya muttered and then looked at Amelia, "Mama, come play house with me. I'm the prince and," she said and grabbed a book that was on the bedside table before giving it to Amelia.

"You'll be my brother who wants to steal my knight from me. And…" she continued speaking as she looked up at Clara, "Mama Clara will be my knight!"

**********

A few weeks later.

Mathew ran over to Leora's room and knocked hard, "Hey Leora, open up."

The door opened almost instantly and Mathew saw a maid standing at the entrance as she bowed deeply.

He gave her a slight nod as he glanced at her and then looked at his sister, "I got information that… wait." he said and walked in while the maid closed the door behind him.

"Baroma Kingdom experienced theft. Their treasuries were looted, warehouses filled with iron were emptied in a single night… I feel like this will be a huge reason to initiate a war and hit them when they're down. My information network is better than Father's when it comes to inside our empire but he's team is better if we take the whole continent into account."

Just as he finished speaking, they heard a knock on the door and Leora gave her maid a nod.

The maid opened the door and standing outside, was one of the royal guards.

"Oh you're here too, prince Mathew." he said as he bowed respectfully. With his head still bowed, he extended his hands forward to offer a scroll.

"A letter from his majesty. Would you like me to read it for you?"

Mathew shook his head and took the scroll, "That's alright, feel free to get back to your regular duties." he said and watched the knight leave.

The door closed once again and he unrolled the scroll before he began to read the contents.

A minute later, he chuckled and shook his head, "Well, looks like I was right. We're going out for war." he said and gave the scroll to Leora.

She read it too and then smiled, "Well, this should work in our favour but Keith said he needed time to prepare. We should inform him about this since he did mention that he wanted five thousand of our soldiers to train."

"Yeah, I'll send someone to call him here." Mathew said and then paused, "Ah he's back in Arthur's mansion so it'll take some time to deliver the message."

Leora smiled softly, "I believe he'll just appear out of nowhere like he usually does. It's like he's got eyes everywhere."

"Yeah, he's a weird guy." Mathew said and sighed, "He actually… fought Baruo and won against him while holding back. We have a powerhouse who has the capability to take over the empire."

"I understand your worries, but his goals are mostly catered towards wealth so I feel like we'll be fine. He doesn't have too much of an interest in managing a huge empire." Leora said as she placed her leather bound book on the table in front of her..

Her brother then nodded in relief, "I'm kinda glad that you can sense stuff while interacting with people."

"The key to my wealth and success." Leora said proudly before letting out a soft sigh, "It's a pity that I'm useless when it comes to combat."

Mathew shrugged, "It's fine, we have Keith on our side. Not just him… we also have his teammates on our side too and imagine this. If he's so strong that he can beat Barou while holding back, then how strong do you think his teammates would be?"

"That's not how things work, Mathew." Leora said and shook her head, "Take Barou for example. He's extremely strong but his team of men are just well trained but loyal soldiers. They don't even come close to him. Putting his entire team so high up will mostly just make us disappointed.

Keep your expectations low and this way, if they aren't as strong as you currently think they are, then you won't feel disappointed. But if they really are as strong as you say, then that'll be a pleasant surprise."

"Well, you're not wrong. Anyways, Zander still has an advantage over us. With the help of all the nobles on his side, his army is really huge. Based on the information that my men gathered, it should be around 400,000 men in total."

Hearing this, Leora raised her eyebrows at him, "Four hundred thousand? And we're trying to get recognised with just twenty five thousand? This is madness Mathew… this is… complete madness. That's way too many!"

Mathew hesitated as he muttered, "We have Keith…"

Just then, he heard shouts coming from the corridors outside.

It was a familiar voice, his mother's.

He frowned slightly as he moved towards the door and eavesdropped.

"You WILL fight for the throne Barou! Why are you going against my wishes all of a sudden? Did some vixen try to brainwash you?"

"But mother… I don't wish to fight my brothers and sisters. I want them to see me as a family instead of an enemy who wants to steal the throne from them. A-and, I don't really have an interest in ruling this empire mother… please." Barou's voice sounded, uncharacteristically meek and soft.

The sound of a loud slap echoed next before silence fell.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Mathew felt like his heart was beating so hard that he felt the pulse in his head.

"So you do not care about me now, do you Barou? I gave birth to you! You are my son, so you do what I say! Is this how you repay your love? Is this how you treat your own blood, your own kin?"

Hearing this, Mathew felt something snap in his head. Before he could think, the door had been flung open and he stomped out.

"Blood and kin, you say mother?" he spat as he glared at her, "You tossed me away right after my birth. My nanny was the one who took care of me and what did you do? You accused her of straying me away from my duties and got her executed for treason! She was more of a mother to me than you.

The only reason you personally looked over Barou is because he's not father's real son right? BECAUSE HE WAS BORN DUE TO YOU SLEEPING WITH UNCLE ISN'T IT? THE MAN YOU ACTUALLY LOVED?" he screamed.

Barou looked at him with a look of confusion and shock as Mathew stomped over towards him and his mother.

"You, are a damn witch. Even if I am father's son. Even if I was a product of you and a man you absolutely hated, I was still your son wan't I? And yet, you treated me like a damn plaything you could just play around with. To take away the ones I truly cared about!

You. Have. No. Right! You have no right to talk about blood and kin. You're just using Barou as a puppet to reach your goal. He's your son but you just want to use him as a weapon. You're a heartless wench!"

The queen was now shaking as she looked at Mathew, "The disrespect… the disrespect to the empress!"