Kyuden Shika

"Now, now, the Akodo do the planning..."

"Indeed and our new Emerald Champion is an Akodo how wonderful."

"Eh, by all accounts he's... calmer than his brother was. Admittedly, I've never met the man, but the daughter of the Master of the Void is to be his wife..."

He paused.

"If she isn't already, that is. News is slow to reach my unit."

"I just hope he doesn't try to overly militarize the magistrates and turn them into a personal army but the Master of Void is far wiser then I will ever be so I put my faith in the new champion."

"Well, never mind the magistrates, he has the Imperial Legions to handle army duties..."

"Yes and my concern is that he try to merge the two, in the name of efficiency or the like and suddenly having control of a massive standing army. Generations of Crane Emerald Champions have worked to keep the two distinct and storage and many have tried to reign in the size and scope of the legions, making them more neutral peacekeepers than a standing army. But like I said the chances of the Master of Void being wrong about his character are probably zero not to mention those of the Blessed Emperor so I will cast my Crane prejudices aside."

"I should perhaps point out that no one Clan is meant to have a stranglehold on any Imperial office... to what extent might those magistrates put in plac eby those generations of Crane magistrates be inclined to favor the Crane unduly, hm?"

"That is all true but the record speaks for itself, none of those Crane Emerald Champions abused that power, warmongered, tried to make themselves a Shogun. But as I said, the Blessed Emperor would never suffer a fool to be his champion no matter what a tournament or duel dictated so I will trust in this champion as I would any Crane. Though it should have been Toshimoko-sensei." He said with a grin.

Raizo seemed... amused.

"It's almost as if the office has restrictions to go with the power it carries."

"True. I bet the Emerald Champion doesn't struggle to find good tako, man do I miss fresh octopus." The sound of his stomach could be heard from the next table.