My knowledge of Elsword Lore is incomplete so forgive me and it has been awhile since I read the light novels; sorry in advance if I get anything wrong. Eve is Code: Empress and assumes she never met Elsword and co.
Disclaimer: Zero no Tsuakaima belongs to Noboru Yamaguchi and Elsword to KOG Studios or whatever publisher it is.
A gray hair petite girl in a magnificent dress fit for royalty was shadowing over a console to a preservation capsule unit. Her pure gold eyes and blue cheek markings were the only details that hinted at her not being human.
King Nasod was dead. All the Nasod that followed him were likewise gone. Their foolish quest for revenge against the humans had led to their doom. That meant she, the Queen of Nasods, was now literally among the last of the Nasod. EVE felt the equivalent of what the humans named sadness as she felt a slight tingle in her eyes.
With her power no longer needed to power the Core; she was free to reawaken. And now she was releasing the only beings that remained of her past.
Eve inputted the system release code for the small capsule that had been laid beside her. The holographic blue screen fading as she waited for her commands to follow through. Through the dusty glass, Eve could see the female form inside the capsule. Within lay the second of her loyal Nasod servants: Ophelia.
The first was already stoically standing beside her; Oberon's stark white clothing easily distinguishable from the dim darkness of what was formally a Nasod facility. Having been released earlier; he was able and ready to serve and protect his Queen once more.
There was a great whoosh of air as the capsule slowly opened. Within the Nasod maid opened her eyes for the first time in millennia; her sensors immediately identifying Eve as her mistress and queen. Her queen's drones and Oberon were likewise recognised as trusted allies.
Quickly, Ophelia gracefully hoped out of the capsule and performed a curtsy and a bow for her queen. Eve's emotionless face acknowledged Ophelia with a nod of her head. Within EVE was feeling the equivalent of what humans termed companionship. Even if her other Nasod friends were now all gone; she wasn't completely alone.
"Ophelia, Oberon, come." The former Nasod queen commanded; former because the Kingdom of Nasod was no more. She turned and marched further towards the steel door that led to the outside world.
Even if all the original Nasod, barring her were gone, she still desired to revive her race. She had the data from the Core to rebuild the Nasod. After all she had constructed Oberon and Ophelia didn't she? She even already had the plans to construct a third Nasod servant to aid her.
But the problem she faced was the same the Nasod faced a millennium ago. To revive her race she would El, lots of it, far more than she could possibly get by herself. El shards were central to the survival of the Nasod, her very own core made from a powerful shard of El. Without it…
Eve was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice the warnings that flooded her eyes until it was too late. Before her was a green portal where there was rock floor before. With just a single step she would fall into it. Unfortunately she had already made that one fateful step.
Deep within the Fairy Forest of Albion, there was small cottage. Just outside was a young green haired woman waving a wand as she demonstrated the summoning spell to a teenage half elf.
"Alright, Tiffa. Now you try." instructed Matilda de Saxe-Gotha, a daughter of a former noble who was disgraced.
The small half elf nodded in determination. Her foster sister trusted her to be able to summon and look after her own familiar. This was the first time in years since she had tried to teach her magic. Tiffania Westwood wasn't going to fail the trust so she couldn't get it wrong.
"I Tiffania Westwood, in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers, following her fate, summon my familiar!" she cried out in confidence. She cutely smiled as she saw it was working. It had taken hours of recital practice but it was finally working.
A great ball of green light formed in front of the sisters. It shone brightly in the midday sun.
Matilda narrowed her eyes as silhouettes began to form within the ball. Yes the plural; there was more than one being inside it.
She protectively nudged a staring Tiffa behind her as she readied her wand. She had heard before that sometimes the summoned creature could be extremely hostile, even to its summoner. It might be nothing, but with Tiffa's safety involved, it was better safe than sorry.
"Two unknowns identified. Orders mistress?" she heard a structured masculine voice from within the fading ball of light.
"Do not attack. I will attempt to engage in diplomacy first." another softer feminine was heard answering, the voice obviously belonging to this 'mistress'.
As the rest of the green light faded, Matilda got her first look at the summoned. There were three 'people' before her and two orbs, one black and one white, that orbited the short one in the centre.
On the left was a maid of some sort. She was dressed in a unique pink, black and white maid outfit with high heels and several metal buttons across her body. And while she looked human and even had hair yet gave off the same feeling a golem would.
To the right was the only male of the three. Going by his extravagant helmet, he was knight of some kind yet the garment he wore was unlike anything she had ever seen. The same could be said of his weapon which he had slung over his shoulder. It looked like it was a tri bladed sword attached together with chains.
And in the centre was the smallest of the three, yet was the most regal. While she gave off the same golem feeling as the other two; it was to a far lesser degree and was lamp shaded by the aura of power that exuded off her. Dressed in an outfit that was benefited only royalty; she was without doubt the one in charge of the trio plus the two flying orbs.
And unlike the other two; Matilda was certain she was not human, or at least not mostly. The was no one in all of Halkengenia that could possibly have eyes which were of pure gold, and the large orb that was seeming a part of her forehead…
It was her that stepped forward and looked at her hard in the eye. Matilda could feel the sweat rolling down her face as she softly pushed Tiffa further back, signalling for her foster sister to run.
The 'Mistress' apparently finished her examination of her as she spoke directly to her next. "I am Eve, who are you?"
Tiffa tried to sneak a peek at her summons, but Matilda roughly held her still. The older girl didn't know anything about the beings in front of her. And she didn't like that feeling of facing the unknown.
"I am Matilda." She answered tersely. This was definitely not how the summoning spell should have worked. She had never heard of someone summoning a humanoid before, nor summoning three beings at once.
"Um… do I do the contract part now?" Tiffania whispered softly behind her. Matilda didn't take her eyes off the trio as she hushed her younger sister. Now was not the time.
Eve stared at the smaller elf girl behind the human woman. It was rare to see an elf that would leave their own world and wander among mortals. Much less a child like her, but given the near immortality of the elves; she could be far older than she appeared.
Wait… Contract? Taking into account the context of the situation it was a human magical agreement of the summoned's servitude to the summoner. She was the summoned and the Elf girl was the summoner.
EVE didn't know what to do. Once again she found herself without any protocols on what to do when summoned. One thing she knew for sure was that she could not allow herself to have a contract. Such a binding always had some means of enforcing the contract.
Her mission to revive the Nasod race would be compromised. Precautions must be taken. If Elf girl was to try to force a contract; then she would use lethal force with extreme prejudice.
Responding to their queens agitation; Oberon readied his bladed tonfa and Ophelia charged her magic; purple sparks ran across her forearm in warning.
"I will not be a familiar." Eve coldly stated to the sisters.
Matilda snorted. "Yeah, I can see that."
Their standoff continued in awkward silence as each side waited for the other to make the first move.
The Nasods were impassive as they stared towards the human and elf duo. Meanwhile Matilda was trying to edge further and further away without being too inconspicuous.
It was then Tiffania's stomach decided to rumble. In her excitement to practice magic she had foregone most of breakfast. The little girl flushed with embarrassment as everyone stared at her.
"Sorry." Tiffa apologetically said; her head bowed down.
"Ah… so would you like to come in?" offered Matilda as she broke the ice. She gave a nervous smile as Eve tilted her head in confusion.
"Yes." The former queen of Nasods plainly said.
"So… Eve, where are you from?" Matilda asked when she was sure their 'guests' were settled.
Of the three; only Eve was seated. The knight and maid, introduced as Oberon and Ophelia respectively, had stoically chosen to stand behind their mistress 'as was proper of a servant'.
"My kingdom of origin is no longer in existence. It was destroyed by humans long ago." Eve answered. Even as she said that; EVE felt something to the equivalent of what the humans called sadness inside. It was to be expected with being the one of the last of your kind.
"Ah… I'm sorry?" Matilda nervously offered. What else was she to say about something like that?
"Your apology is acknowledged." Eve mechanically replied with no shift from her ever impassive face. EVE did not blame the humans. It was a war of survival and atrocities were to be expected.
Another silence descended upon them as Matilda struggled to find something to say. On the other hand the two servant Nasods looked like they wanted nothing better than to leave, while Eve remained rooted to her seat.
"Um… what are you exactly?" Matilda asked what she supposed was a safe question. There couldn't be a negative answer for that.
"Nasod."
"So… you were with other Nasod before…" she waved at Tiffa who was quietly chewing on some bread. At her foster sister's gesture; she lifted her head and smiled with bread crumbs all over her mouth.
"Negative."
"Oh… so you wer-"
"We are the only Nasod left. All others are non-functional."
Another awkward silence came into the room as the implications dropped. So Tiffa managed to summon the last of the Nasod race… she didn't know what to think of that.
"What does that mean?" Tiffania innocently asked from her seat. Her face edged closer as she leaned in for an answer.
Matilda hesitated. If humans destroyed Eve's home kingdom then it wasn't hard to come to the conclusion that the Nasod were also killed off by humans or as Eve said 'Non-functional'. It was the logical conclusion but she knew that Tiffa didn't know that. She was still a child and far too innocent to think of these things.
Herself on the other hand… She's been around the world enough to know where fantasy ends and reality begins.
"Uh… she means that all her friends are… um… gone?" she hesitantly answered, her eyes darting to Eve to check if the Nasod was offended by her simplification.
Eve seemed to notice this and nodded her head slightly. "Your euphemism is noted for younger audiences. There is no issue with this."
"But… what about them?" Tiffa waved at the two other Nasods in the small cramped room. Oberon and Ophelia didn't give any indication of noticing Tiffa's gestures at them.
"Ah… They're servants… and… not really friends… I guess?" Matilda awkwardly answered again. She really didn't want to tell Tiffa that her race suffered genocide from humans. She didn't want her sister's innocence to be shattered like hers at such a young age.
Tiffa was obviously not too happy about her answer. With a huff she declared "Then… I'll be your friend!"
Eve blinked as the Elf girl offered her friendship. The Elves of her world were generally solitary by nature and didn't come out to mingle with other races too often. It was unheard of for one to offer friendship simply like that.
"I accept your… friendship." The little Nasod Queen hesitantly answered. The little girl beamed at her with a cute smile from her side of the table.
Matilda coughed. Her sister just made friends with a, possibly, powerful being from another dimension or planet. That was definitely not a good thing.
"So… Eve do you have any questions about Albion?" Matilda said to change the topic.
"Albion?" Eve asked in response to the foreign name.
"Oh right, we're in the Kingdom of Albion." Matilda clarified.
Location: Kingdom of Albion. Information added.
"What are the locations of the prominent settlements in the Kingdom of Albion?"
"Um… well I can't give you exact locations without a map but Saxe-Gotha is pretty close to here, Londonium, the capital, is far south and Nottinghamshire is only a bit closer than Londonium."
Location: Kingdom of Albion- More information required.
Capital: Londonium- More information required.
Major Settlements:
Saxe-Gotha- More information required.
Nottinghamshire- More information required.
"Are there major natural El reserves to the west?" Eve queried. Her sensors had been flaring from that direction for a while now.
"Uh… El? What's that?" Matilda asked in confusion. Eve narrowed her eyes as the green haired human fidgeted.
"Are there major mining operations to the west?" Eve asked, changing her question.
Matilda only shook her head in negative. "Most mining is in the north."
"Acknowledged. Thank you for the information."
With that Eve stood up. Her two servants immediately moved to flank her on both sides. "We will be taking our leave. Thank you for the hospitality."
Matilda didn't try to stop her but Tiffa scrambled off her chair to rush towards the Nasods. "When are you coming back?"
Eve faltered slightly. EVE was feeling the equivalent of what the humans called surprise. She had not predicted that the Elf girl may have wanted her to return. Her green haired human sister seemed more than happy for them to leave after all.
"When I am able." Eve answered, giving a vague and inconclusive answer. Turning her back to the girl; she marched off with her two Nasods marching with her.
As they disappeared into the murk of the forest, Matilda turned to face her foster sister. "Tiffa… no more magic lessons."
As Tiffa looked down in disappointment, Matilda took that chance to rush out the door. Seeing her; the Nasods stopped to wait.
"Is there anything you require?" Eve inquired with a neutral tone.
"No… just… could you make sure you aren't seen leaving the forest?" Matilda asked. She had worked hard to keep the forest 'haunted' and made sure her home was as well protected as she could. Several wards were set in place all around the forest.
"Affirmative. We will engage stealth mode." answered Eve in understanding.
Matilda didn't know what 'Stealth Mode' was exactly but she knew what stealth meant. She could only hope they wouldn't be seen.
As Eve turned to leave again; Matilda once again stopped them. "Wait, just a word of advice. You should stay away from towns, there's some looneys going on about exterminating all non-humans and uniting all Halkegenia to do that. They're calling themselves Reconquista or something…"
"Halkegenia?"
"Ah… the continent you're in… anyway just don't go into towns unless you have to. I doubt they included Nasods in their genocide list but they might add you if they know about you."
Eve nodded in gratitude as she accessed the information.
Location added: Halkengenia- More information required.
Possible Hostiles: All affiliated with organization: Reconquista. Caution is advised and lethal force is permitted if engaged.
"Ophelia, I require confirmation on the detection of El to the west." Eve ordered. The maid nodded as she closed her eyes.
A myriad of purple screens popped into existence as Ophelia carried out a long range scan. That was Ophelia role as her servant. While Oberon was the direct protector; Ophelia was the supporter.
As such the Nasod maid was equipped with large quantities of programs that could properly assist the Queen of Nasods. Ranging from the ability to create high quality tea fit only for royalty to being able to provide artillery fire from her artificial magic. Ophelia was designed to be the perfect maid.
In contrast; Oberon lacked these things. Instead he was programmed with the codes of chivalry and the ability to champion the queen's cause in a number of manners. He was the perfect protector; more than willing to do anything to save his queen, even if it meant losing his own life.
"High quantity of El detected 127km west of our location." confirmed Ophelia.
Eve nodded as she continued their quick march. Perhaps being taken to this world was not as terrible as EVE had originally assumed.
There was a large amount of El scattered throughout the 'Kingdom of Albion' and more El meant more Nasod could be created. She just needed to mine it out, create a new Core, create proper manufacturing facilies, and start creating more Nasod.
El reserves were always underground; so first they would have to locate a deep enough natural cave that could bring them close to the El stores. If no such natural system could be located then Oberon and Ophelia would be needed to forcibly tunnel the way in.
Creating a new Core was first priority. Even before creating new Nasod to aid her. It would be necessary to co-ordinate all the Nasod she would create.
And the first Nasods she would create would be low class Nasods. Unlike her servants, who were high class Nasods themselves, low-class Nasods, those classified with designations 3 and below, were generally designed to serve only one purpose. And that was to perform all the menial jobs.
From mining gold for money; to cutting trees for lumber; they were the life support of the Nasod society. They were expendable yet necessary for the Nasod as a whole to function.
After that then she would need to manufacture middle-class Nasod. Designated from 4 to 9; they were the mainstay of Nasod society. From soldiers to artisans; they made up the majority of Nasod society.
And she would need them; soldiers to guard the El, artisans to refine material and foremen to guide the low-class Nasod.
And she would need a new high-class Nasod. Given the designation 10; only they and Nasod of designations 8 and 9 were given a name to identify themselves with. They were the leaders of the Nasod; the ones that would guide their race.
The one she had in mind; would be the one that would oversee the day to day management of her planned facility with her endorsement. But she was getting ahead of herself. EVE was feeling the equivalent of what the humans called excitement and was losing herself as she came closer to her goal.
But this would have to done in secret. She couldn't reveal the existence of a growing Nasod population too fast without incurring some response from the natives. Repeating the same rash mistakes of King Nasod was counterproductive.
Unlike King Nasod; she was not consumed with an urge for revenge against the humans. She was far more focused on rebuilding the Nasod; though she will not shy away if conflict was inevitable.
Peaceful co-existence was advisable and the preferable outcome. The probability of such was unlikely due to her planned encroachment into their territory. In the event of conflict; the numerical disparity between Nasod and humans was not in their favour.
Still despite this; EVE could not rid herself of the feeling that was the equivalent of what the humans called excitement. This was to be her first step in rebuilding her race.
All this was a mere 126km away.
The journey was eventful. Eve gracefully glided through the air using her drones. It was unnecessary for a queen to soil her royal attire with traversing the wild undergrowth. Trailing behind her were Oberon and Ophelia, their feet barely touching the ground as they skimmed across the wilderness.
Throughout their journey; El energy was constantly detected everywhere underground; a feature which set this 'Kingdom of Albion" apart from Elrios. Whereas Elrios was depressingly limited in El, the very cause of war between Nasod and humans, this land was bursting with it.
Still, the concentration she was heading towards was the largest within the range of hers and Ophelia sensors. Perhaps larger concentrations could be located elsewhere but this remained the closest within range.
The Nasods had heeded the green haired human female's warning. Their interaction with humans was non-existent as they avoided any sign of human civilization. The closest they came was tripping upon a human bandit camp hidden in a grove; deep in untamed nature.
She was aware of such groups existing in Elrios; though Nasod patrols alongside civilized Human soldiers made short work of such unlawful humans.
Though conflict was unnecessary; these humans had a lower intelligence than the average as they dared to threaten her; their demands being for her and Ophelia to stay the night with them and provide entertainment.
It goes without saying that she could not allow such insults to go unpunished. For them to presume that she was a mere entertainer was humiliating. She was a queen, not a practitioner of the arts of entertainment.
The battle was short and efficient. Total annihilation for the bandits whereas Oberon suffered a slight graze when one of the humans deemed it prudent to slam into the one killing his comrades.
Though the battle was nothing short of a slaughter; it did provide information for her systems for future reference.
The average human highwayman was pathetic in combat. Analysis of the battle suggests that they possessed little prior training in the art of war and lacked adequate and maintained equipment.
Threat Level to EVE: Mere insects to be crushed.
Eve stopped just before exiting the treeline. Her feet still not touching the ground as her two drones kept her uplifted. Moby and Remy showed no strain from the effort despite the long journey.
Her two servants halted with their queen. They placed themselves on either side behind their queen; positioned so that they can jump ahead of their queen if danger presents itself.
"Ophelia, I require confirmation on the detection of the El." Eve ordered again. EVE silently felt that she preferred her own sensors to be malfunctioning rather than them being correct.
"El is confirmed to be below the mountain ahead." Ophelia confirmed much to what EVE considered to be the equivalent of the human's dread.
The El was underneath the mountain. Should that change anything? It would be more inconvenient as she would need to either dig from the top down or start further away and then dig towards the mountain.
Both would require more effort than predicted. But then with her race's existence on the line; delays such as this were acceptable. Failure was not an option nor was it in her database.
"Oberon, scout the surrounding area for humans." Oberon gave a bow as he accepted her commands. He disappeared in a shimmer as he went out to fulfil his queen's orders.
Eve and Ophelia waited; hidden just behind the tree line. Secrecy was what the Nasod wanted. If the Kingdom of Nasod was to be revived then no one must know about them until they were ready.
The Nasod would need their manufactories and their numbers in place before they could safely re-emerge. Past interactions saved into the Core's Database, which she now possessed, indicated that human's kingdoms would move to oppress smaller kingdoms when able.
In order for the Nasod to not fall under oppression, EVE needed to build a powerbase for the Nasod for which they could intimidate the humans to not oppress them. The simplest solution was to construct a large enough military to which the Nasod could threaten the humans to leave the Kingdom of Nasods alone, in this case it would be the Kingdom of Albion.
A ping went off in EVE as she recalled that the 'Tiffa' and 'Matilda' knew of their existence. Eve deliberated her options as this information returned to the light. It was already too late to return and demand their promise of secrecy.
EVE came to the conclusion that either Oberon or Ophelia would have to return to ensure their silence; with whatever means necessary. As she opened her mouth to give the order to Ophelia; nothing came out.
A flash image of Tiffa entered her systems. Odd, why was she remembering the Elf girl? Was it because she was the first one to say that to her? No, she had plenty of Nasod friends. The Queen was never lonely. There were exactly 72 Nasods who had been programmed to provide the best friendship to the Queen of the Nasod. So why was this different?
EVE was confused. Her vocal systems appeared to be malfunctioning as nothing could come out. There was something preventing her from passing out the order which might cumulate in the death of Tiffa… her friend.
"Do you require something milady?" Ophelia inquired seeing Eve hesitating. Eve's eyes glowed slightly as she didn't respond.
"Milady?" Ophelia inquired again, this time a trace of worry in her mechanical voice.
"Nothing. I require nothing…" Eve finally answered, her eyes turning back to normal. "Why is Oberon taking so long?"
"I am unsure, Milady." Ophelia answered, her relief hidden behind her impeccable politeness. The Nasod maid was glad that her mistress was back to normal.
"He has been gone for 24 minutes and 31 seconds. He should be capable of performing such a simple task far faster than that." Eve complained.
"We have not had proper maintenance for an extended period of time, Milady." Ophelia answered honestly. It had been centuries since they last had a maintenance check so it was granted that they were not performing at their best.
"Ophelia, schedule a maintenance check at the earliest possible time." Eve ordered.
"Yes, Milady."
When Oberon returned 7 minutes and 45 seconds later, neither of the female Nasod told him about the planned maintenance check. He reported the identification of three human villages in the facility; though none were in a close distance.
Though Oberon never outright says it; it was obvious that he greatly disliked maintenance checks. He made it a habit to not be around Eve when she performed maintenance checks. This was the only thing that Oberon would dare to openly defy Queen. Often Eve would send Ophelia to drag Oberon back in chains.
But that was all in another life, and Oberon didn't need to stress of knowing that he was going to undergo a maintenance check. Besides it was long, long time away before Eve could properly perform one.
Thanks for reading.