Emperor Rinoz snorted delicately after Fenrir left. Two streams of steam were ejected out of her nose.
"What an old coot set in his ways." She muttered to herself.
She is powerful and proud. She has the right to be. It is not baseless confidence or delusional arrogance. She is truly a force to be reckoned with. But she lied when she said she didn't care about the opinions of others. She doesn't care about the opinion of most people but she cares about those of two people. One of them is Fenrir.
The other person she admires is the fountain of life who gave her access to such a powerful energy and helped her to grow up faster. She is just a little over 200 years but she was able to become a transcendent while those born at the same time as her are mostly dead or dying because they have reached the end of their lifespan.
The best of her age mates are mana entities. That is nothing compared to her. This is thanks to the fountain of life. Fenrir may not have had such a large impact on her life but she admires him for what little he has done.
She is a child of the plane. But she is first and foremost, an Emperor of Warrogs. She grew up hearing about the tales and exploits of Emperors. It was Fenrir who raised her. He told her about the good old days of the Warrogs. He told her about how the plane belonged to them and about how they could trample anywhere.
The stories she heard were not diluted fairy tales. She heard them from someone who witnessed them firsthand. She also heard them from someone who is arguably the greatest Emperor of all time. Fenrir's feats are still being told to this day. The Warrogs still believe in him. She better than anyone knows that what he told her is true.
Fenrir is so great that he has not been forgotten even though he has not been seen in millions of years. That's partly due to the fact that he is still alive. Somehow, the Warrogs know deep down that he is still alive and that he will come to liberate them.
He failed them with his absence all these years. But then he trained her to be his protege. So all that expectation has now fallen onto her.
His feats might not be enough for her to respect and adore him. But the fact that he managed to acquire 8 tails certainly cemented her respect for him. She has had the best things possible just for her to have the maximum amount of tails. Fenrir didn't have the luxury she is enjoying but he still turned out extraordinary. So she cares a lot about what Fenrir thinks about her.
It might be the fact that she is still a young Warrog. She has not lived up to 300 years and she has spent most of that time hiding. The person she has met most of the time is Fenrir who trained and raised her. So her life experiences can be called lacking. It will certainly explain why she wants to make Fenrir proud of her.
And more than that, she wants the Warrogs to be proud of her. She wants to be renowned with tales of her feats being told across several generations. But she can't prioritize that wish. She is not only an Emperor. She can't just go about doing whatever she wants just for the sake of the Warrogs and their adoration for her.
The plane is in danger and the hope of the plane rests upon her shoulders. She has to think about the bigger picture. And that means prioritizing her life above everyone else. If she doesn't, then she will be risking the loss of hope for the liberation of the plane.
Her life is precious. It is certainly more precious than any Warrog, no matter how many years they spend looking for her and no matter how desperate they are in their search for her. She definitely can't let them find her. That will lead the Vampires to her.
It is true that she could have done nothing. She could have just watched as the vampires followed the clueless Warrogs searching for her. But she decided to take advantage of the situation. Rather than watch Lamplard waste his life away on a wild goose chase, she used him and the other Warrogs looking for her to lead the Vampires around. It is all so that there won't be any chance of her exposure right now.
Things have to be considered carefully before she can expose herself to the world. As things are right now, the wood elves have to be placated or they will turn on her if she reveals herself to the world.
Vampires consider Warrogs food and they consider her an enemy to their subjugation of the plane. Those are non-personal and logical reasons for their enmity. But Wood elves hate Warrogs with a passion.
Her enemies will be both the Vampires and the wood elves if she is exposed now. So the other representatives of the fountain of life have been working to convince the wood elves through the council of Sovereigns about the benefit of having an ally in a Warrog Emperor.
It might seem like a good idea to accept any help that they can get. But help from a hated enemy who is also strong enough to threaten them and make the Warrogs rise up is a very bitter pill for the wood elves to swallow.
The Heralds of the Fountain of Life have held a conclave to allow her to reveal herself. This conclave started when Fenrir escaped from his prison over a hundred years ago. The Vampires failed to catch him because they underestimated his strength. The wood elves that were in pursuit of the vampires also saw him and they failed to apprehend him. But his appearance revealed to them the existence of a hidden force of Warrogs.