"I'm sorry, love, but there's no sugarcoating it," Erik says strictly when he pushes me onto the hospital bed. "I know you have Celestial metabolism so you don't have to go as often, but you haven't been to the toilet in DAYS."
"I don't feel any urge," I fight with him, but he's much stronger than me so I remain seated.
"There's no way you wouldn't even need to pee," Erik insists. "Let Noage check you and Julia will give you some laxative, no shame in that."
"It will be over before you know it, Your Majesty," Noage approaches me with a kind smile while Julia is already analysing the scans of my digestive system she took just a minute ago. Even with amazing Earthborn abilities, it would do us no good to abandon modern science.
Noage connects to my left arm with his rooty tentacles and is thoroughly analysing me with his eyes closed. At one point, he starts frowning. I get restless, but I don't dare to pry into his mind because I don't want to distract him.
"Is something wrong with our beloved?" Gotrid gets pale when he notices Noage's and Julia's concerned expressions.
"Give us a few more minutes," Julia says, also frowning.
Erik and Gotrid start caressing my wings, more to calm themselves than me. They both hope it's nothing either human medical science or Earthborn healing powers wouldn't solve, but they are nervous nonetheless.
Noage releases his tentacles after twenty long minutes of silent concentration and he relocates to Julia to discuss his findings. I don't think there's anything wrong with me, I feel more than fine, but I do realise that I haven't visited the toilet for several days now and that's certainly unnatural.
"So? Is Ryuu okay?" Erik loses patience when the doctors have been whispering with each other for several minutes.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, we wanted to be sure before telling you," Julia apologises. "We compared our findings and we're pretty sure that you're perfectly healthy. Healthy as someone as unique as you can be."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I don't understand.
"It seems your transformation hasn't quite ended five months ago," Noage explains. "It was very subtle so I overlooked it, but your body kept slightly adapting even after your wings grew to their full size. It's probably the case for all Draconians, but even slower, so it will take months to take effect."
"Long story short, His Majesty's digestive system can transform everything into mana now," Julia summarises. "Everything is getting digested without a trace."
"So... Ryuuto simply doesn't have to go to the toilet anymore? Never again?" Erik widens his eyes.
"It might be the case for all Celestials in a few months," Noage speculates. "Your bodies can't afford to waste even a calorie if you're flying every day and casting spells. It was thought to be impossible for an organism not to excrete, yet living evidence is sitting in this very room. And it's all thanks to your mysterious mana circuit, there's no other explanation."
"That's good news," Gotrid realises. "If we do build Assiath in the real world one day, most of our import will be food. We eat a lot, despite our thin bodies. It would be beneficial if every calorie eaten was transformed into mana and nothing got wasted."
I caress my underbelly. It's a bit weird to imagine that my intestines work differently now and my mana circuit is dissolving everything without a trace there. But I'm healthy according to Celestial standards and that's all that matters in the end.
"So we're going to use the toilet less and less frequently over time until we won't need it at all?" Gotrid concludes, happy about the prospect.
"Probably, still too early to say," Noage shrugs. "As always, your Emperor is first at everything."
"If I'm okay, I can go, right?" I demand to be released.
"Still afraid of hospitals, Your Majesty?" Julia raises her eyebrows, a bit sad. "Even if you have us as your private physicians and no one else can touch you?"
"I trust both of you," I assure them. "It's the environment that makes me uneasy. And almost every time I end up here, you discover something strange about me so don't blame me for being nervous in advance."
"The fact that Ryuu can come here without being dragged is a huge improvement," Erik compliments my efforts. "Besides, who feels relaxed when being examined?"
"Okay, you can go, Your Majesty, but we want to keep you under closer watch from now on," Julia makes a condition. "If Draconian bodies are still slightly adjusting, we should keep track and document everything. Since Your Majesty's transformation is the quickest, it can help us predict future development."
"I don't have time for more frequent visits," I refuse.
"Which is an ongoing problem, I know," Julia clicks her tongue. "I keep telling Her Excellency that she can't be overworking you like this. She assures me that she will make changes, but it's back to frantic workaholism almost immediately."
"Too much to do, too little time," I stand up.
"So soon I'll have the toilet all for myself?" Erik realises in a sudden epiphany and his expression brightens. He starts grinning. "Sweet!"
Good for Erik I guess, no more sharing one toilet between the three of us, especially in the morning.
*****
I'm staring at the date and it takes me a moment to fully comprehend it. I'm leaving for Japan in just ten days. It's not a hypothetical future anymore, I'm going to visit my homeland and there's no talking my way out of it now. It's really happening.
"Your Majesty, we are perfectly prepared for your arrival," Gavreel, our Celestial ambassador for Japan, assures me because he notices the concern written on my face.
"Gavreel is right, they did everything we asked them to do," Liana goes through a long list of security procedures and everything is shining green. "Damn, their mansion might be even safer than our headquarters."
"Only because we're not in the city centre and we can easily secure the premises around," Gavreel says seemingly humbly, but he's beaming with pride. "We even managed to duplicate the shield technology thanks to Rina's research team."
"Well done, really," Liana praises him and she's not easy to impress. "The Czech Prime Minister promised to lend us her private jet, so there's finally nothing standing in our way."
"I've always wanted to visit Japan," Erik puts his hand on my shoulder.
"The homeland of our beloved," Gotrid is moved.
"Bohemia is my homeland as well, I'm half Czech," I have to remind them.
"Sure, but these are your roots you never had a chance to properly discover," Gotrid insists. "Gavreel, will we be able to go sightseeing? It would be a shame to visit Japan and be locked in the mansion the whole time."
"We're currently working on that," Gavreel nods with a smile. "Prime Minister Ichikawa allowed us to vacate some of the most famous sites across Osaka for our visit. They are very helpful and cooperative."
"Naturally, they don't want Celestials to leave Japan," Liana comments realistically. "Seeing how effective we are at eradicating monsters, they would be fools to let us go."
"I beg Your Majesty to consider Japan a special case," Gavreel says slowly. "Sunako's family offered us to use their mansion as our headquarters and, with the security we put in place, we hope Your Majesty will treat it as his second home and will be visiting Japan regularly from now on."
"Regularly?" I'm taken aback by his suggestion and so is Liana. It's obvious Gavreel didn't consult it with her beforehand. On purpose, I bet.
"Draconia Online was originally a Japanese game, so many Draconians live here," Gavreel tries to explain. "More Draconians are living in Asia than in Europe so it would be beneficial if you were visiting regularly. I'm sure it would prevent Asian Celestials from desperately trying to immigrate to Europe just to be closer to our embodiment of magic."
"That's...," I get silent for a moment, thinking frantically.
Gavreel's argument makes perfect sense, so I can't just disregard it. Why does it make me so anxious, though? Because my father is probably in Japan and he might do something to me? Or because I feel comfortable with my current life in Prague?
"We will see about that after our visit," Liana answers for me because she can see I'm hesitant. "Your arguments are sound, we won't deny it, but this is about the safety of our Emperor."
"Of course, I'm not saying that you have to decide right away," Gavreel says amicably. "We want to convince you with our hard work. All we ask is that Your Majesty stays open to this possibility."
"I will stay open," I nod. I can promise that much at least.
When the call ends, I have to take a deep breath. I don't know why it affected me so much. I'm strong enough to take on a heligorr, I can create a mega shield around the whole skyscraper, human governments fear me. Yet, I feel panicky about visiting my homeland. Erik and Gotrid, sensing my inner turmoil, hug me in comfort and I finally calm down. Because I can count on them being there with me.