He roamed from planet to planet all year round, occasionally joining his followers to watch the fun and egging on groups that opposed him to stir up trouble. He had the time of his life.
Of course, what he enjoyed most was dropping in on other Aeons to see if he could find some amusement.
Take that blockhead, Preservation. Aha was rather curious about him. He wanted to know which was harder: his own head or the walls Preservation built.
If the two collided, which would come out on top?
Then there was Remembrance. Aha wanted to know whether he had recorded any amusing moments involving the other Aeons.
Unfortunately, the moment Fuli opened his mouth, Aha got a headache.
Fuli always made languages Aha knew perfectly well sound like riddles.
Were they even speaking the same language? Or had Fuli invented his own?
Aha couldn't be bothered to guess. In time, he couldn't be bothered to visit Fuli, either.
As a cosmic layabout, he was forever on the road to making trouble.
When he learned that his followers had repeatedly run into trouble on Yaoqing, and that one had even lost their life, Aha was delighted.
He had granted his followers his power. How could they have failed?
He rushed to Yaoqing, assumed the identity of one of his followers, and set out to discover just who had managed to stump his battle-hardened followers, who had stirred up conflicts on countless planets.
Aha soon sensed the man's location.
His followers had already inflicted the power of Elation on the man, but it seemed to have done little good.
When he saw the Yaoqing General leading the charge, dragging along a broken body that looked ready to die at any moment, his interest waned.
By conventional human standards, this general's character was beyond reproach.
But to Aha, he was far too boring.
Since I'm already here, I might as well stay a while and see how my follower died.
As it turned out, his follower had immediately begun advocating relocation to other planets, winning support from some of the locals.
Those people had been badly frightened by the war. Their thoughts were in disarray, and they wanted nothing more than to flee at once.
The very next day, his follower and everyone who had joined in stirring up trouble were thrown out of Yaoqing.
Seems this general has quite a temper...
Intrigued, Aha began keeping an ear out for news of him.
Reports of him going without sleep or rest for a month, for instance, or dragging his ailing body into battle.
He was either fighting Golems or handling official business. Yaoqing's medical staff stayed by his side at all times, terrified that a delay in emergency treatment would cost him his life.
People said, "It's incredible. Doesn't the general ever get tired?"
"The general sees everything coming! Even on the battlefield, he can solve problems for the residents back home!"
"This is the lowest casualty rate Yaoqing has ever had..."
"With the general here, what does Yaoqing have to worry about?"
They lavished praise on him, extolling him to the skies.
Through the power of Elation lingering in the general's body, Aha could feel his fury at the deaths of his subordinates with perfect clarity.
Then what would this general do if, after witnessing devastating casualties among his subordinates, he discovered that the people he risked his life to protect weren't worth protecting at all...?
Aha deliberately displayed the greediest side of humanity, instantly attracting plenty of like-minded people.
So when someone came knocking, he wasn't surprised in the least. He obligingly wept, begged for mercy, and spilled everything about the Masked Fools.
Aha turned his gaze to the cold iron implements hanging on the prison wall and waited for the general's wrath.
Then the Chief Strategist released him.
With pity in their eyes and an unsteady voice, the Chief Strategist told Aha, "The general said he would grant the wish of every person on Yaoqing."
Aha said, "Hm?"
The Chief Strategist continued, "You'll understand when we get there."
Aha felt thoroughly unenthused.
How did that human saying go? Lust is a blade hanging over your head?
So what if he worked himself to the bone for his subordinates? However good his character, he would ultimately succumb to humanity's baser instincts and lose himself in Elation.
When they arrived, the Chief Strategist said, "The general has made your dream come true."
Through the glass, Aha looked at the female insect inside the room. She stood three meters tall, her entire body covered in black armored scales, with mouthparts wider than a human head. For once, he fell silent.
He asked, "What dream?"
The Aeon quickly caught on.
"...Your general calls this making my dream come true?"
The Chief Strategist said, "Doesn't this profession give you ample opportunity to indulge yourself and let your pleasure run free?"
After delivering the culprit to his destination, the Chief Strategist turned and left.
Something stuck in Aha's chest, refusing to go up or down.
The sensation was so unfamiliar that he didn't even know how to describe what he felt.
Oh no. I've become the joke.
Just as he was about to seek out the Yaoqing General, time seemed to freeze, and a lotus sculpted from ice suddenly appeared in the air.
A humanoid figure resembling an ice sculpture, crowned with a beaded curtain, appeared beside Aha.
The ice sculpture raised a hand, a dazzling Light Cone hovering above his palm.
This was none other than Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance, with whom Aha could never hold a proper conversation. He turned his featureless head toward Aha.
"I shall name it-Elation of the Pleasure House."
Abandoning his usual riddling manner, Fuli had, for once, said something plain enough for even a paramecium to understand.
Aha said, "..."
What kind of Light Cone requires the Aeon of Remembrance to show up and capture it in person?
What? It's my own embarrassing history? Never mind, then.
As the Aeon of Elation, he had seen every sort of spectacle. But this was one spectacle he truly had never seen.
Fuli deliberately slowed his speech, a trace of gloating in his words. "Elation, continue to walk your Path."
Aha said, "..."
Which of us is supposed to be the god of amusement?!
Soon, he let out another piercing laugh, reveling in the joy of having been toyed with by a human and made into a joke.
Using the power his followers had left in the general's body, he spoke to him across the distance. "The one watching the joke became the joke instead! Hilarious. You're such an interesting fellow-"
With those words, the lingering power dissipated.
"No, I have to make him my Emanator so he can bring me more amusement!"
Aha clutched his belly and laughed.
"But before that, I have to share this with my followers-"
Aha first concealed one of his avatars and tossed it into the General's Residence on Yaoqing. Then he devoted himself wholeheartedly to sharing the joke with his followers.
He traveled all over the universe, sharing his own amusing predicament with his followers on different planets. Once he was done, he projected his consciousness to the general's side.
But after seeing his avatar's appearance, the general wore an indescribable expression and immediately hit him with, "Are you looking for someone to help you hit your quota?"
That single sentence left him speechless.
Although Aha was an Aeon, his aesthetic tastes still had something in common with those of humans.
He had never paid much attention to his avatars' appearances.
Sometimes, he was quite pleased with an avatar. When he took it out for a stroll, it would frighten passersby, earning him shrill screams and terrified looks.
But the general's remark dealt the Aeon quite a shock.
Aha didn't answer the question. Instead, he asked, "Do you like the power of an Emanator of Elation?"
Before you continue