(Recommended Song List for chapter: Tut Tut Child – Dance To It, Daft Punk – The Game Has Changed, Zayde Wølf – Live Life, Monoman – Meditation)

Early Morning, 26th, December

Selene woke up suddenly and looked around, with the reason why she just came out of a deep slumber a mystery. Something felt odd, something she had never experienced before. As she got out of bed and put on her slippers, the doors to her master chambers slowly opened to allow her to leave, with the wolves wondering what was wrong. The empress walked down the hallway and stopped at the end with her pack in tow, right in front of Eve's bedroom.

Why am I here right now? I just get this gut feeling something is about to happen, I just don't know yet…

Suddenly, there was screaming coming from inside, baffled heavily by the soundproofing in each room. The dev stormed in to find it pitch dark, with nothing around that could be the cause of the princess wailing… in her sleep. The young girl's eyes were closed, with what looked like tears building up. Her mother quickly sat down on the bed and gently woke her up, seeing that it was a nightmare. "Easy, easy. It's ok, it was just a bad dream, it's alright now…" she cooed as Eve woke up and clutched to her immediately. Dahlia and the other maids came immediately, along with two honor guards checking the whole room for anything that might cause night terrors externally. Security throughout the castle went on semi-high alert, tracking whatever could be within a ten-mile radius. All of this… because of a child's crying from a bad dream. There was no guarantee it wasn't some magic somewhere being used; they couldn't take any chances.

"I don't like the dark… it's scary… I don't want to be in it anymore…" Eve cried with her head on her mother's chest, her back being rubbed. Within seconds, the empress's rear felt soaked, noting immediately that the six-year-old had wet the bed.

Poor thing.

"It's alright, it's going to be ok… shhh… don't worry, it was just a nightmare…" the dev gently told her as she lifted her daughter out of the bed while the maids quickly got to work cleaning. A quick [Scrub] spell and the sheets were devoid of any urine, including on both the empress's and her daughter's pajamas. The woman looked around and noted that there were no night lights added to the sockets on the walls, no special illumination features installed into the area for a warm glow in the middle of the night beyond the night sky through the windows… that showed a cloudy overcast. Before she could check her inventory to craft some new lights, Jeeves was already plugging two in along with a glowing unicorn light that rotated, showing all sorts of cute magical creatures on the ceiling. "There, is that ok?"

Eve shook her head and sniffled, then looked up at her mother, tears still at the corner of her eyes. "You want to sleep in my room tonight?" Selene asked. The six-year-old nodded immediately. "Alright, I guess there's going to be a change of plans." With that, the empress carefully carried the child to her own chambers, thanking the servants for their quick responsiveness, while also checking in with Nikola and Robert through an open coms channel involving a rather nagging suspicion in the back of her mind. "Nikola, are we sure there are no memories that have come through?"

"Are we referring to player abilities or her previous life?" Robert replied.

"Actually… neither honestly."

"What are you thinking, empress?" Nikola chimed in.

"My daughter just had a nightmare involving the dark. She hates it in fact; I'm wondering if maybe it… well, maybe if…" the auburn-haired woman stopped communicating over her coms as she tried to create a cohesive sentence to relay what she was thinking, while also bringing Eve to her bed. The wolves moved a little out of the way to accommodate the new arrival, with Luna doing the opposite, lying close to the white-haired child and almost blending in, making the girl look bald.

"You're wondering if there is a residual effect from the soulstone." The matter of fact response from Nikola hit the nail on the head.

"Yes."

There was a sigh from the other side that the empress heard. That was not a good sign until explained. "It… may be possible… that she has an intense fear of not necessarily the darkness, but more being alone in the said dark area. However… we still do not know what happens to souls contained in something other than a body. No data suggests they can be traumatized necessarily, though many religious texts both on Earth and this world have told of torment. After running tests on the journals, the date in which the previous vessel expired was over four hundred years ago."

Please don't talk about her old life like that… she wasn't just a vessel…

"So, it's possible she has trauma?" Selene questioned, looking down at Eve as she made sure her daughter was comfortable, the doors being closed by Adesha to let them sleep again. The lights were dimmed down enough to at least allow the empress to try and get a little rest without being annoyed.

Given that she normally woke up and started her day now at 4 am, there were only two hours left to get some shut-eye. That was only if she could extricate herself from the child's grip around her chest, with the massive white wolf acting as an extra pillow protecting both. Ash slept closest to Eve's back, yet still provided ample space to stretch out, while Blue stayed where he always did at the foot of the bed watching everything. The dev gently brushed her daughter's bangs back as she watched the girl slowly fall back to sleep, the antenna hair still standing at attention.

"Possible, yes. A psychological evaluation would be needed to ascertain –"

"Damn it! I was worried about that…" Selene snapped as she interrupted Nikola's explanation.

"There was always the risk of something, empress; count your blessings that she is physically healthy, with no abnormalities. She has no diseases, no syndromes, her genetics are perfectly fine, every organ is working as intended. The mind is… well, we already expected her to have some difficulties given reincarnation and not having any memory of growing up. I believe either your Bronze Team member Orlo would be able to assist with that, or mayhap provide a team of psychologists and psychiatrists. However, we believe that –"

"I knew it, I should get them built immediately to –"

" –HOWEVER, empress, we believe that jumping to conclusions may hamper her psychological growth, not to mention… she may just be afraid of the dark. Children tend to be that way." Nikola was quick to regain control of the conversation and calm his creator.

The dev sighed and settled down. They were right, her first night being a mother, and she was overreacting to a nightmare. There was no evidence to say that Eve had residual effects from the stone. The mind was able to play tricks on many levels, especially during REM.

They're right, they're right… it was just a bad dream for her… first night jitters worrying about my kid. I shouldn't be one of those overprotective mothers needing hundreds of doctors telling me that she has an equal number of mental disorders, then it turns out everything was blown out of proportion.

"Alright. I… agree. Sorry… I'm just… I'm worried about her health, for obvious reasons."

"We understand, but we can assure you, there are no physical complications. Bar an in-depth explanation of her dream, with specific facts while tracking her brain waves… it's just being afraid of the dark." On the other side, Nikola was checking through data next to his compatriot at a desk, filtering through the reincarnation process.

Selene took a deep breath as Eve slowly drifted off while holding onto her mother. "Right."

"Good. Now, we do have some reports to provide if you are interested in some new breakthroughs we've made after you left," Nikola replied.

"Some of them could revolutionize how to create cities; we would not even have them attached to the ground anymore, floating through the sky. We know you said a proof of concept might not be useful right now, but maybe turning Paldos into a project to show the people what they could work towards, say, if they prove they have the will to gain a higher education? It would leave plenty of habitat for –" Robert started to explain.

"I'll read the reports once I have at least another hour of rest, thank you. I did say before that it would be odd to move citizens into high tech cities when they barely understand arithmetic or read and write properly. I… may… reconsider, once I know they are at least at elementary levels. If you can work on universal Hypno training to speed the process up, or create some incredible brain enhancer tower that quickly beams all that information to their heads, that could sway me."

"Even with that program in the works, it will still take a good year to educate the people on the basics. Still, much faster than going through grades K – 5, let alone stage two training for 6th – 8th middle school. I believe the experiment was with hypnotic sleep therapy, not the tower. That thing just doesn't function correctly."

"Blows the brains up for the rats?"

"More like causes insomnia. Not every project we conceive works as intended. However, one other breakthrough, in particular, could explain a very limited defense against faith siphoning; it only lasts 24 hours, but it could allow not just protection against Fides Vorare, also known as Faith Eaters. We are getting somewhere in that department, slowly but surely."

The empress smirked at hearing that. They were brilliant and capable in many ways, but some ideas just didn't pan out, at least with current technology. "Understood. The defense against faith siphoning sounds interesting. Tell me later after another hour… hopefully."

"Very well, empress. Sleep well," Nikola added with a nonchalant tone. The com line ended right after as the dev leaned her head back to get into a better position, her arm crooked while holding Eve. Her Hud showed her clock, a rather annoying feature at the moment that every human could attest has aggravated them in one form or another. She was going to do her best to get some shut-eye, up until her daughter was awake again; hopefully, it was due to being hungry for breakfast instead of another night terror.

Meanwhile

(Recommended Song: Tut Tut Child – Dance To It)

Ainz, disguised as Momon, walked slowly through the rocky terrain to the east of his kingdom with both swords held in hand. Narberal Gamma was a short distance from him, finishing up with three straggler wizards that were almost pitiful in capability compared to her incredible power. Within a few seconds, each was killed by a separate spell, a different element used per body; the first was incinerated, the second frozen solid, and then shattered to pieces; the third was melted into goo by acid. These were not the only enemies to fight; a good two hundred foes were in the area, with an extra contingent of shadowy creatures summoned to aid them. This group calling themselves the Silent Cabal was still quite vocal when being cut down. The sign language they used to cast spells without alerting others didn't stop them from screaming in death.

I haven't had a good chance to just gain some coin for some time. This quest doesn't mean much to me beyond the fact they are killing citizens of my kingdom to send a message… my property. I don't like it when someone does that. Momon's duty is to stop those who try and defy Ainz, which fits what I'm doing right now, just fine.

Momon's second sword tilted and shot forward, impaling through a shadow knight and cutting upward; with a two-step dance forward and shift of his weight, that same sword came back down on another head while spiraling left, splitting two humanoid enemies in half with one swing of his first blade. He had gotten used to performing now as a warrior, with very few able to even keep up with his skills provided by [Perfect Warrior]. Given that most combatants that ever tried to attack him in this form so far were weak, that wasn't saying much. One tried to catch his gauntlet, in which he dropped his second sword and caught it with the other, impaling the knight and spinning around while arcing the second blade upwards to deftly catch it again due to the help of gravity. The whole thing looked choreographed.

"An excellent strike, Momon," Narberal commented as she cast [Napalm] that five enemies were stupid enough to use as the flank point to charge at her; her spell list was increasing slowly with the help of some training and some equipment provided by her master. There was almost nothing they could do against either of them as Momon cleaved the legs out from under three foes in his way, coming in with a jump and slamming his swords down through another two, dividing their body mass in half… vertically. Both of them were walking forces of nature, a team of adventurers that shouldn't exist… they technically didn't, at least on paper. The company of magical foes was being cleaned through quickly, Momon a ball of spinning blades and Narberal a moving wall of spells that the wizards just couldn't match.

"They cannot possibly stand before my might!" He shouted out, striking an awesome pose with both swords out and one leg pulled up as if mid-dance, lightning happening to strike in the far distance right behind him at that very moment. It made him look as if he was about to pull another multi-target attack that would devastate another chunk of the rebel wizard's now dwindling forces, creating an intimidating visage of an unstoppable hero of dark justice.

It was so cool! I mean, I don't think I've ever been able to get the footwork down well enough to do something like that before, I've been working so hard on making such an impressive entrance into a battle! Now, if I can just practice a little more without being watched and get a few more intimidating poses ready… wait a minute… NO! No no no, I remember trying to do this before! I am not going to fall back into those horrible days of performing like a… stupid… Chunibyo… seeing Pandora's Actor make all those moves for the past few days might have had an effect… I need to wash this away somehow… I'm not going to use those horrible lines again!

He hadn't realized that two swordsmen were jumping at his back, roaring as they tried to fall onto him and pin his body to the ground. They never got the chance, as Narberal acting as Nabe yanked them back into a pre-built spike pit with a simple pull spell. Ainz quickly got his wits about him and charged forward, dicing through dozens of rogue wizards and their minions before the last few ran like cowards. Nabe leapt into the air and cast [Flight], moving from one target to the next as a floating wisp of death. Unfortunately for the Cabalists, spare undead soldiers were waiting for them as they tried crossing the river nearby while running in terror, popping up from the water and not needing to breathe. "Momon-sama… er…"

"It is alright, Narberal, none of them have survived to hear us speak now. We will leave a marker here for the bodies to be retrieved. We'll need to collect proof for the payment to be provided." It seemed so simple for Ainz to say that. Another night out dealing with a quest provided by the explorer's guild, away from the hubbub of his kingdom for just a few hours. The night sky was surprisingly clear, with stars twinkling high above. Though emotions were difficult if nigh impossible for him to feel, the view should have been enjoyable to the caster cloaked in a warrior's armor. The land was at peace beyond the battle that had just taken place, quiet and still.

"As you wish, Ainz-sama."

This is how it felt back then… old memories of when I was with… my guildmates… just running around doing things and gathering materials. I'm not allowed to feel that depression anymore of not finding even one here in the new world…

The overlord stood there for a moment, lost in thought as he looked up at the stars, with his guardian informing him about the next part of the quest while he remained silent. All explorers were now outside of his borders, finding new lands and selling the information or interesting tools found. They rarely traveled far, though they always seemed to stay away for long periods to get as much as they could to bring back for payment. The caster, disguised as a warrior, lamented on his choice to make them no longer hunt monsters, even when there were still small incursions every once in a while from some imbecilic leader trying to gain a reputation.

"I understand. We'll move on to find the empty hideout, then bring everything back so that the other explorer groups can see just what they need to do to earn my… my…" Ainz shut up immediately as he saw a glow over the hill in the far distance… that turned into a long line of soft illumination. He knew he was just barely outside of the Sorcerer Kingdom and had to only teleport away to remove themselves from any threat, but this piqued his interest. Hardly ever did he see anyone travel in the night, let alone an entire convoy. He slowly crouched and steadily jogged over to the ramped mound of earth between him and the light. As they both peeked over the top, multiple boulders in the way, his eyes landed on something he wished he hadn't.

(Recommended Song: Daft Punk – The Game Has Changed)

"An army Ainz-sama… we should alert the tomb, prepare for another –"

"No. They are not heading towards my kingdom…" he interrupted, watching the massive lines march forward. There were hundreds of thousands, just over a million, heading onward towards an as yet unknown destination. Siege weapons were trailing behind, with archers in the middle. None of them looked to be poorly equipped, the same gear and weapons for each soldier off to make war, all of it high quality… most of it divine mass-produced. Every man or woman in the ranks had the same symbol from the north, the same enemy he had been fighting intermittently… along with everyone else. This world wasn't so easy to take over as Demiurge, and the rest of the guardians had at first planned once they received vital information about what lay outside the maps they had. How this single ruler of Europe could amass such armies so trivially, sending them off to conquer one kingdom after another or be held back for months on end only to send even more, was… troubling.

Five… six… seven… eight… nine… one million heading down to fight… whom? Please don't be us, please don't be us…

"It seems they are attacking BrawlerSage's Kingdom… at least they are not trying to break our right borderline…" Narberal whispered, watching the direction they were headed. The man she had just named, the rule of a nearby nation… Ainz was sure had to be a player. No one else would choose to be called that. There was even another nation further south owned by a Bustamove, which was most likely a play on bust a move; others were not so easy to figure out if they were similar to him, and acted out their character extremely well. None of them seemed to know the name of who was sending these armies, though, only knowing of them. It was a universal acceptance that whoever was leading these forces was not friendly in the slightest.

Some were a breath of fresh air to speak to, even if they looked at me in disgust… at least they didn't immediately attack, unlike in Yggdrasil…

"Hmmm… that does not bode well for them then…" Ainz replied to her, watching with what concern he could muster, given his emotional block. He knew what that meant. These were not just some low-end army that he had wiped away with his magic, charged towards and broken with his undead troops that were all but unstoppable by most, excluding the elves and their nature summons. This was a very well trained fighting force… he already had experience with defending against them the first time, and the second, and the third…

He had used [Create Fortress] many times while expanding his borders and had worked hard to defend his kingdom, expending critical mana for summoning spells to protect those forts. Though they were strong fortifications, some eventually did fall to incursion from the north and east. Ainz learned very quickly to adapt his defenses against sieges, eventually having crypts and cemeteries dug up in secret to supply more troops as cannon-fodder, with new projects in the works to replenish his forces. The Sorcerer Kingdom was fairing far better than most due in no small part to his guardians leading counters and gaining the upper hand with new research bearing fruit; just the ability to have gunpowder, even if inaccurate, has made firing lines invaluable to hold off swordsmen.

However, this overarching enemy from the European front was hammering against everyone, for reasons unknown. There were only so many spells he could cast every day before being whittled down, and he couldn't be everywhere at once using super tier casts. This was why they were scrambling to expand the kingdom to other continents, gaining new recruits and resources to not only make a name for themselves but also to get the edge they needed. It was working for the most part, with many other nations giving grim respect to Ainz… even if they didn't like him or some of the actions his guardians took to gain control. The ends justified the means in many cases, given just how hostile the world really was without someone keeping order, regardless of if it was being provided by the undead.

"Perhaps Cocytus can intercept at the mountains with the 92nd army, keep them occupied until –"

"There is no reason to weaken our other lines for one that does not wish to communicate in the first place. Taking my forces out of position would be a waste of valuable resources I will not waste on another nation without proper reward given. It is more important to return with what we have."

Narberal, despite believing humans were absolute filth and beneath her in every way, still worried about the effect it would have on their eastern flank. A very serious enemy was tromping through the lands nearby, not directly coming for them… yet. That could very well change right after unless their numbers are diminished enough. Ainz couldn't quite figure out where this conquerer to the north was getting his, or her, recruits or military gear. There just couldn't be that much of a population up there of humans after not just the Sorcerer Kingdom, but also others, broke their lines constantly with incredible ingenuity and tactics. This at least told them that while well equipped, they weren't tactical geniuses… just smart and damned telepathic with near hive-mind capability. However… there were the champions that came once in a while, equal to his strongest guardians. Albedo had a run-in with one before, and while it was a harsh battle, she came out on top. Then, of course… it was one on one.

Many traps set up just didn't work, with a few military blunders even attributed to the Sorcerer Kingdom. Ainz had to, on a few occasions, calm down Cocytus and the others when they were all too willing to execute themselves for failing to defend his nation, even if the small chunks of land lost were either eventually retaken or became worthless with a ring of defenses surrounding it. Also, having so many divine tier pieces of equipment just didn't seem possible. They must have had the ability to manufacture it, even if Ainz's troops couldn't collect any of it to understand the concept. The corpses evaporated after being slain, all weapons and armor disappearing before being examined. Someone was producing this, with ways he couldn't figure out just yet.

"As you wish, supreme one," Narberal replied, touching her hand on her chest and closing her eyes while bowing.

"Do not be alarmed, I have a plan for every occasion. There is no need to address such a pitiful military."

I'm lying, I'm lying, I'm lying, I'm lying, I'm lying! Holy shit, this is not good if they decide to turn right and come for us… they were the only ones to understand how to stop [Fallen Down]. I've never seen anyone cancel the effect. Not one single player should be able to do that. It might have been a concerted effort by many to weaken the spell, but it also might not…

"Of course. I never doubted for a second that you can cast aside such an enemy before the might of your presence. Please, forgive me."

"There was no slight here, Narberal. Let us take our leave."

He's going to lose his kingdom to that force. Though I feel nothing, even I know that this will have an impact on the controlling powers here. There's going to be a convention for many to speak on how to address them again, I can tell. Whether I will be allowed to join is another matter… at least it always ends with not just words, but actions taken to combat such a foe…

His vision rose as he saw barely a point of movement in the far distance, near the top of a mountain range that split the valley they were in off from a nation further away… one that he had worked with recently. There, crouched on an outcropping, was the elven woman watching the army as well, with her eyes suddenly locking onto his form. She seemed to stare right through his helmet, sensing that he was someone that was just playing around and wasn't actually an adventurer. She slowly stood up, not breaking eye contact; she knew what was happening as well, and did nothing to stop it. This would lead to another kingdom falling to the enemy in the north, one that both of them just couldn't find a way to counter for long.

The only thing they could do was defend as best they can and sometimes work together along with others to hold the line. Reckless expansion in the past had alerted the man who controlled all of Europe to both of their locations, as well as everyone else further to the south and to the far east. To Ainz, it almost felt like a medieval world war. The problem was… the allies here didn't know if they were winning or losing.

At least Ainz was able to take home one big achievement compared to other nations. The Sorcerer Kingdom, as well as the Silver Spire Kingdom that the elven druid watching from afar ruled over, were able to barely hold their own by themselves. Two others also could perform in the same way. Others were not so lucky, and that could eventually spell the end of them once they were completely surrounded. A message was sent by Demiurge while he watched, almost lulled by the lights moving past in the distance. Demiurge appeared from nowhere nearby, more than likely teleporting a good distance and walking to his master's position. Ainz couldn't cast anything while he was wearing his noble visage. "There is a problem," he said quietly to his subordinate while the demon stopped and bowed.

"I agree, Ainz-sama. This does not bode well for those who are to our eastern flank. Still, this could provide an opportunity to gain something while both of them are fighting. However, that plan may have to wait, unfortunately. There is another issue I bring to your attention. Mare and Aura have both reported there was indeed a fleet sent from the north towards the far off continent that you have sent Yuri Alpha and Entoma Vasilissa Zeta to survey. They, too, are not the only ones sending ships."

Ainz turned away and walked back down towards the corpses, having his skeletons pick them up after checking for the respective trophies to bring back as proof. "Then many have noticed that teleportation does not work in that area of the world. We need to harness that. Hmm…" the warrior said as he took his helmet off, showing his skull of a head as he cupped his chin for a moment. "Gather another fleet, this one much larger."

"We are having difficulties with keeping up production, though I'm sure we can –"

"Send the fleet from the newly conquered kingdom in the southwest; their ships may not be as well designed for battle, but they can come up right behind those I have already sent in a line."

Demiurge looked up, giving a small guffaw. "That… that's brilliant, Ainz-sama!"

"Is it?" the supreme one answered.

I'm hoping to get each ship to have a lich on board to create fake copies around each, make one vessel look as if they are a fleet. That should cause our enemies to pause in their actions if they suddenly notice hundreds of ships ready to fight. We can use that to blockade any other fleets from reinforcing the scout flotillas.

"Yes, it is! Oh, you can use each ship in a supply chain, with the end vessel finally sailing quickly to the shores and dropping off troops; the chain will act as teleportation waypoints! Brilliant!"

What. I swear that it didn't occur to me. How would that even work? We'd have to measure how far we could teleport! That could take… uh… too long! Our enemies and even sometimes allies would notice, wouldn't they? From a distance, it might be possible… no way, no one could be that stupid, right?

"The ending point would have to have nothing but mana engines installed," Narberal commented, suddenly realizing she was speaking out of turn and went silent.

"Which is why there would be a second chain to support it and replace equipment. This would require fewer forces needed, allowing us to focus more on what is happening elsewhere while sending what is required to assist our scouts. Incredible," Demiurge informed.

"Ah… yes… that is… exactly what I had envisioned… start with the planning immediately," Ainz responded.

Crap. I have no idea if that plan will work. Uh… damn it. Please don't let this be a blunder.

Meanwhile

Dragolas walked through the hall of the wizard's academy and up a spiral staircase, carrying two tomes under his arm as he tried to stay quiet while many slept in their chambers. He, and the headmaster, were both very dutiful now, as they were given a new lease on life by the empress. Their research was constantly bearing fruit, with many new acolytes taught how to help the people as opposed to working for the nobles. The funding provided was incredible, seeming to be nigh bottomless. Whatever artifacts they sought out, traders and merchants could be easily contracted to act as research caravans, moving throughout the continent or even seas to find long lost treasures. While most were fascinating, almost every one of them, bar the dangerous ones, were allowed to be kept in the academy. This was completely different from how Artinia dealt with them, as nobles would be given choice pickings from any new magical items that appeared.

Interestingly, the empress didn't seem to care about most of it, compared to the old king. He didn't know if this was because she had far stronger… or just didn't need them at all. While not ever daring to oppose her, given everything they now had and the freedom to work towards impressive magical research, there was a theory now building up amongst the highest ranked wizards there. It involved the religion surrounding the woman that was their ruler, that she was, in fact, a goddess made flesh coming down to right wrongs from all the corruption Artinia had brought. Unlike the main volume of worshipers in The Church of the Clockwork Empress, most of the wizards or apprentices in the academy had an advanced education, reaching as high in mathematics as trigonometry and fluent in many languages despite the universal translation. Now, with the addition of calculus, they were broadening their horizons, mixing science with Tier magic, or even with runecraft, to make the empire stronger than ever.

As the man walked up the spiral stone steps towards the library, his eyes fell on a dimly lit table encircled by bookshelves with only one opening. Standing nearby and leaning over a table was a person that belonged in the empress's inner circle, an amulet draped around his neck telling anyone who talked to him not to mess with the caster. Gabriel looked up from the book he was reading and smirked. "Sorry to bother you so late, I didn't think that others would be night owls," Dragolas told him.

"It's alright, I'm just visiting to look at some of the research. It looks like your name is on quite a few of these books. Variable Cost Tier Magic. This is interesting."

"Is that all you came here for? Just to check on us? It seems that would be a waste of your time, given even I have heard of your skill, Gabriel Turkano."

The purple-haired man stood up and offered his hand to shake. "I didn't think my name really carried that far in any direction out here. You are Dragolas?" he asked.

"Of Morsaelden. I'm the assistant headmaster. A pleasure." He shook hands with the envoy of the empress as they both sat down at the table, the quiet of the library so soothing with one magical lantern brightening their corner of the large circular room. "I didn't come up with that alone. There were… many… that offered up their time and put in much effort for that research to come to light. So few are alive today to see it…"

"I'm sorry to hear that. Having spells that could be dialed down or up depending on the concentration of the caster would help when mana is sparse or abundant. The effect could be –"

"Could be impressive for those traveling through villages and towns without a local wizard guild, I know. It never was worth the king's time to have this training done, never… worth the funds as it were. He wanted skilled wizards to go to war, not use their magic to help build up a strong kingdom." Dragolas put out his hand in the air, waiting for something as his fingers grasped outwards. It took a minute, but a pint of some fizzy drink floated over to him, slightly purple with a hint of green. It looked somewhat similar to the carbonated liquid that the empress had at one time sipped, once called 'soda.'

"Is uh… that carbonated?" Gabriel asked, glancing down at the mug.

"You want some? Where are my manners." Another mug eventually made its way to the man, with the dimensional magic caster watching it float just above the table for a moment then drop quickly with a thump. The liquid inside swirled and rocked around inside, nearly spilling out from the impact, causing both men to become startled as it very nearly toppled onto both of their books with them shooting their hands out to stop it wide-eyed. "Gig-gwah! A-Apologies, the spell expects you to reach out and grab it before it lands. It's not exactly created for finesse to be used; we might need to work on fine-tuning it for future research. At least it allows the item to go around corners and find its way to the caster... it just doesn't open doors."

Gabriel laughed at that. "It's alright, I'm not exactly used to some of the new spells the academy had created. I… well, I've learned a different way of casting after all."

"I have heard of this… you were imbued with the same magic that her majesty uses. I'll admit… it is quite powerful," Dragolas replied, taking a sip of the drink. The flavor was little more than multiple special fruit juices mixed together and watered down with a recuperative tea, but he liked it all the same. It was the closest thing anyone had gotten to speeding up the regeneration of mana. They still didn't know about the invention of mana potions, or the fact the empress had thousands of them stored away.

"Yet difficult to comprehend. So few it seems can ever grasp its capabilities."

"How did you manage to learn to control it?" The assistant director of magical sciences rubbed his chin, waiting for a response.

"Very carefully, with a lot of mistakes in my youth. Some… were very big mistakes I would not want to repeat."

"Hmm, well, you've learned from experience, I would hope."

"More than you know." They both sat quietly for a moment as they sipped their drinks, the lantern never swaying in its illumination of the surroundings. Both men were just going to accept another magical peer beside them and simply read. At one point, the second in command at the academy looked at what Gabriel was checking on, old research involving a magical ID footprint. "You won't get much from that tome."

"Mmhm, it seems you stopped delving into it. This is my reason for coming here really, the capability to have an imprint of the user onto their spells, to track down rogue wizards…"

"It could revolutionize catching magical criminals, I know. We didn't get far, having to divert to other avenues for the king… also, the cost in mana from many acolytes was too much," Dragolas replied.

"Too many spells for the experiments would be taxing on the students involved. If this could get anywhere, though… the effect would be incredible." Gabriel sat back and mused on the idea; no spell caster could do anything without the police knowing about the actions, knowing who caused a fire or assassinated an official. Spell forensics alongside the sciences. "What would it take to get back to this?"

"Well, first off… funding. Most of what we've been given has been for educating new students and providing for the faculties; the remainder has gone into artifact research. While it has been more than ample, we'd need more than what is given right now to continue."

The purple-haired caster rubbed his short goatee, wondering if he had enough sway with the empress to ask for an extension of the funds. "I'll see what I can do, she's very understanding when it comes to ways of protecting the empire. Next would be a large volume of mana, correct?"

Dragolas sighed and nodded, flipping a page from his own book. "The problem is that straining concentration for the acolytes over and over could cause health issues. Many decided to abandon the research simply because of this, casting the same spells over and over just to see if we could determine who was doing what. While it made them quite proficient in that particular type of magic… it got boring fast."

Gabriel looked up at the ceiling in contemplation, wondering if the empress could somehow fix that. She had shown on many occasions that there was technology that could overpower even the strongest magic, and her grasp of dimensional magic was, to the say the least, well beyond his. He was still learning what he could from the tomes his master had left him; the young man wondered if there might be a chance to have a study session with her as a tutor. Her way of thinking baffled him to no end; his comprehension of dimensional magic was nothing compared to hers, let alone her near omniscience right now.

"I'll see if her majesty has an answer to that." The discussion on those projects ended with two notes written down by the purple-haired young man, jotting in a few words on a pad of paper. They both resumed the calming silence between them, reading their respective books.

"May I ask you a question?" Dragolas queried.

"Depends on the question. I may not have the answer."

The older spell caster put his tome down and crossed his legs, then propped up his chin, gazing at Gabriel curiously. "Do you believe she is a goddess?" he asked, gesturing out towards the window with one hand and squinting slightly.

Gabriel looked up from the page he was on, smirking a little. "What I believe and what she is are two things that may or may not coincide. All I know is… what I've seen… no human, no demi-human or heteromorph or, well, anyone mortal… they can't do what she's done. At least… I'm fairly sure they can't. Even the tales of the Evil Deities, the Six Great Gods, or Eight Greed Kings that have traveled overseas… none of them compare to what I've seen."

"A respectable answer." That was all that was said for that night, both men continuing with their reading next to the lantern, knowing that they should be in bed.

8 am, 26th, December

Hrist and her sisters finished stuffing the last of the books into the transference gem attached to the auto turret, doing one last sweep of the area to make sure they didn't miss anything. The shelves seemed so empty without all of that knowledge, everything that had been gathered during the time the pantheon had been a powerful force in all the realms. The furniture in the library was all still intact due to the wards, though even those were now fading away. The chairs were left without anyone to sit in them, waiting to eventually rot and fall apart, along with the rest of the temple.

The raven-haired woman didn't think she was very sentimental when it came to material possessions, bar her plushie collection. This, however, hit a nerve that she didn't know how to address, a feeling of sadness that she had only felt twice before in the past; both times, it was losing something, the gods themselves during Ragnarok, and the rest of the Valkyrja. Now, excluding the tomes stuffed away somewhere that the empress could touch them, the battle maidens were losing another connection to their history. Skuld had remarked that it was similar to the feeling of humans moving from one house to another, leaving all the memories they had behind. While they had never been to the temple until their trip, the twang of regret Hrist had now almost hurt.

She ran her gloved finger slowly along a shelf as she walked by, then another, until she reached one that creaked. Brynhildr was packing their things while Skuld helped look for anything they were missing. As they both walked by a stone wall, Hrist stopped as she could see out of the corner of her eye, something wedged in a small opening near the edge. She tried to push her fingers in, attempting to get whatever was stuck inside. What fell out was not some hidden book, but a lever that dropped on the ground.

"Does that connect to anything here? I haven't seen any spots that could be installed into to unlock some hidden -whoa! Hang on!" Skuld said as she immediately tried to stop her sister from breaking the wall down with a quick kick. She wasn't fast enough, as the six-foot four-inch warrior rammed her foot through the stone then pulled back out, bending over and peering inside. There was a pedestal hidden within, though nothing could be seen on top. "Great, whatever was there might be damaged or destroyed." What they weren't expecting was the ruckus to cause another hidey-hole to let go of its contents above them, a simple leather-bound journal. As the brunette picked it up and unwound the small strap, she immediately put it down on a nearby table as if it had burned her. The symbol on the first page was that of the eye. This belonged to Odin at one point, though why he had something made of such poor material was beyond them.

"We shouldn't read that…" the brunette muttered out, standing a few feet away, worried that some divine punishment would be meted out unto her. Hrist looked at her then back at the journal, took a deep breath, and read from it. Most of what was written seemed to be gibberish, talk of painting the sky to allow the races of mortals to live amongst the stars. Each day seemed short and almost inconsequential, with no real rhyme or reason about them; there was mention of Thor, Loki, Ragnarok, his wife, as well as Asgard and Valhalla. One tiny bit of information gleaned from one page involved a tome that 'held the names of all Valkyrja, past, present, future.'

"That might have been meant for the eyes of the fates…" Hrist whispered out, now realizing with a shock that the remainder of books were all stored… somewhere. They would have to ask the empress to get their hands on it once they returned… nicely. There was no guarantee she would agree. "Our mistake for shoving all of them into the gem so quickly…"

"Damn it… so our names are in the tome as well? That's… that's incredible…" Skuld remarked, pushing up her bangs and blowing air out of her mouth. "There has to be more than just our names; no bound pile of papers was ever owned by the fates. To have anything written by them held immense power."

"We don't know if it was actually owned by any of them; we'll just have to wait and see once we get back." Hrist continued to read through the remainder of pages, doing her best to interpret what was scribbled down. Eventually, she gave up and closed the journal. It might have been written in code, to stop anyone but other gods from understanding his meaning every day. "Enough… we'll have time to read through more than this later. Let's check the rest of the library before we leave, one last time for anything else hidden."

Both sisters inspected every crevice, every nook for other hidden locations to stash written knowledge. Unfortunately, there was nothing left; with one final look back from the entranceway, all three of them said their goodbyes to a once-proud temple, crumbling slowly and forgotten to history. Storing all of their gear on the backs of their Pegasus, they left quickly in search of the amazon tribe that was somewhere out there on the island. If time allowed, they'd figure out the reason behind the attacks; if not, raising the entire tribe to the last woman would be a simple task for the likes of three bringers of the slain. First, they needed to drop off any spare equipment at the frigate waiting for them.

Four Hours Later

"Would you look at that…" Brynhildr commented as all three walked out of the trees and vines into the open ground of a small city-based around a mixture of Byzantine and Mayan architecture. There were hundreds of amazons standing and staring at them, with absolutely none of them attacking on sight. They just watched, concern etched on their faces. Almost all of them somehow knew of the strength that even one Valkyrja could bring to a battlefield, let alone three. Skuld by herself would have been considered a cataclysmic event falling upon the city; with the trio, the island would be devastated.

"None of them are running," Skuld mentioned as they looked around, completely armored and carrying their weapons.

"None of them are taking a defensive stance either. Looks like we might have been correct in thinking the ones that assaulted us the other day were teenagers," Bryn replied. Not all of the amazons had weapons; many had fishing spears, pottery, skinning knives, even a mortar and pestle. There were only a few men seen anywhere.

I had nearly forgotten; Skuld and Bryn might not remember it either. Amazons have a high female offspring birthrate. Which means… new blood is sometimes stolen from others who cannot defend themselves well enough. Their lifestyle does not sit well with me.

Warriors came running up to stand in formation, blocking their path. All three in their feathered helmets and heavy armor stopped immediately, with Bryn moving her left arm back a little, ready to drop her shield from her back and into position. "Hold! Make a path!" was shouted from behind, with an older woman walking carefully towards them as the guards split down the middle. Salt and pepper hair was pulled back in a dreadlock ponytail, a large scar running over her left eye and curling down to her chin. Multiple amulets were adorning her chest, also covered by a multi-layered leather bra. It was clear that another scar, running from her neck down through the bra and to her navel, was not for decoration; the fur pants she wore may have also hidden many more sealed up wounds that were etched along her legs. She had seen battle before, much of it in fact, and always came back. Her silver-grey eyes locked onto Hrist's green, the battle maiden staring almost through her. "Valkyrja. Bringers of the slain. You honor us by arriving."

"Was the previous encounter with your kind a message? If so, it was poorly thought out. Had we not decided to go easy on your younglings, they'd be in a shallow grave, or left to be eaten by crows," Hrist responded. The older woman sighed and shook her head.

"Impulsive as ever… that was not our doing. Please, follow me. I must apologize for what has happened, I had not sent those weak-minded children to scout out the temple, instead of having a party stay further away. We knew of someone entering as soon as you approached the library; the wards have a telltale shimmer and song that travels far. The daughter of a rival of mine decided to go anyways, took control of the scouting party. The rest… you already know."

Skuld scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Children. I take it she was trying to prove her strength in battle? Attempting to try her hand against one of us was very, very foolish." They continued walking towards a ziggurat, passing through a district with many women, and even a few brutish looking men, moving about. Despite the myths that some had about Amazons, they were not man-haters, at least most tribes anyway. Even Hrist knew of stories involving warrior-women as secret lovers to powerful heroes.

"She has not the brains to surpass me; it is why my younger son will be taking on the mantle of leadership, something that is not a regular occurrence in our society as you may know." The woman stopped, her guards leaving her side and standing at their posts near the bottom steps. "I have realized now that I failed to introduce myself to three battle maidens. I do not know if you even know my name just yet."

We… well, despite what many might claim, we don't have the names of all warriors… that was left to the fates and Odin to shout out when they arrived in Valhalla…

"Tell it, all the same; it is still practice for when you meet others," Skuld interjected, looking up at her sisters for agreement.

"I am Alsara, Chieftess of the Amazons, and some barbarians, of the Red Scarves Tribe." She flipped around and smashed her fist against her chest, just over her heart, staring each of them in the eye without turning away. It was a sign of respect towards another woman who fought in countless bloody battles. "Now that we have seen who it was that entered that holy ground, may I ask… have you come to claim your spoils?"

All three sisters seemed confused at the notion. "What is it that you think we have come here for?" Bryn queried.

"Why, Einherjar, of course. Many have done what they can to prove themselves, crossing the waters in hopes of bringing back tales of their prowess or buried in the mausoleum. All so that one day, they will be noticed, brought back to the god's and goddess's sides." Brynhildr opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Skuld was also silent. They didn't know what to say. Alsara looked at each of their faces. "You… have not come here to do this, it seems…"

"Our reasons are our own, though it is acknowledged by a higher power," Hrist responded for the group. Both her sisters looked at her, wondering what she was thinking.

"Freyja?" the chieftess asked.

"No. Ragnarok has befallen them. We serve one who is growing, building a new future." That response let the fox into the hen house, with the chieftess now curious. Skuld sucked air through her teeth, annoyed that her sister had just blurted that out. Lying and dancing around a question wasn't yet mastered by the general. While she had now learned how to speak to those outside of the empress's inner circle, there were some things that she sometimes said that should have been kept secret.

"A god? One that survived?" Alsara questioned.

The raven-haired woman couldn't answer, her mouth opening and nothing but a barely audible squeak popped out.

Choose. Others believe the same.

"Yes. You would do well to mind her." Alsara laughed with her hands on her hips.

"Take a look around you, Valkyrja. Yes, we respect you, we follow the path, but we will not sway to another unless they are already one we know. What we have here is because of what was taught before, honed into us for countless centuries. Why would we decide to suddenly choose to follow another deity that may alter our balance?"

"Because the ones you follow now are dead," Skuld remarked.

"Gods cannot die," Alsara scoffed. She brought her hand up to her forehead and averted her gaze, feeling there was tension growing between all of them. While Valkyrja were powerful creatures, Amazons and barbarians did not bow to anyone unless there was a rite of leadership. Their stubbornness sometimes got them in trouble, while other times, it was admired.

"They are certainly not coming back, no matter how much it is wished," Bryn remarked. Those words somehow felt as if they were sucked back into her throat, stuck there for a moment as she swallowed hard. It still wasn't easy admitting that.

"So you decide to follow another? Where is your faith? Fallen to the wayside?" Alsara questioned.

"Do not test us, Amazon. Our faith is stronger than anything you mere mortals could hope to achieve, bound to Odin as his choosers of the slain; we know more of what transpires beyond this realm than your little mind could possibly imagine," Hrist growled out through gritted teeth and white-knuckled fists trembling. Alsara held her position, not once taking a step back in the face of an annoyed Valkyrja.

"Then why did you not die by his side? Why do you serve another if your faith is so strong? If they are truly dead, then why were you not lying beside them?" the chieftess asked, raising an eyebrow. Guards nearby turned their heads, wondering the same thing. All three battle maidens were silent as the woman walked around them in a circle. "If you were not there to fall during Ragnarok, then… cowards. You ran." Hrist stomped towards her, a few inches away from her face; the fifty-year-old stared into her eyes, unflinching. Amazons were just as tall as the battle maidens, with one guard, in particular, reaching Brynhildr's height. "Tell me otherwise, then, if it is wrong. Tell us of the truth, and I will correct myself."

"I do not know why he does what he does, but an order by his mouth is one we follow without question. Odin sent us away, many of us. What we do now is just. Our sisters are… that is not for you to know." Alsara studied the frustration in Hrist's eyes, the fuming anger of being called a coward. The raven-haired woman was at least able to hold off from telling everyone how few Valkyrja there were now.

"Maybe he thought you would not make a difference. Perhaps he believed there was other need of you, somewhere else." At first, the battle maiden was about to impale her hand straight through the chieftess's abdomen due to the first sentence; however, the anger faded quickly with the second. This woman somehow got the gist of what had happened, piecing together what needed to be said. The leader turned around and headed towards her small chair, barely considered a throne. It was not meant to be sat in for very long, an Amazon was expected to constantly be active or considered incapable of pulling her own weight. "That need… is not here. If you are not requiring Einherjar, then there are no expectations of my tribe. Unless you wish to wait for the next day of bloodshed on the shores of our neighbors, which won't be for another week, or watch a trial of combat invited by anyone wishing to rule the tribe in my place… your time would be better spent elsewhere, Valkyrja. There is no need to waste your effort sitting around. Swift travels, glory in battle."

Alsara did not intend to be insulting, her voice not wavering once, no smile seen on her face in maliciousness. "The trial by combat… who would attempt it?" Skuld seemed curious. The chieftess tilted her head for a moment and gazed at her with curiosity.

"Valkyrja are not allowed to enter, that is for certain. It is simply not allowed, laws handed down since the beginning. Many mortals have tried to defeat me, many have failed. One day, someone will succeed, and I am getting on with my years. It is not to the death if that is what you are wondering; it is simply to cause the other to yield."

"Outsiders are not allowed?" Bryn asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I never said that; that would discount any effort from those who decided to join the tribe, adding their blood to make us stronger. Your kind cannot participate, the rule was passed down for generations. No one would follow your command. Your lives would extend well beyond ours, potentially stagnating any change for the tribe." Alsara leaned against a small pedestal to her right, as the chair she was sitting on had no back support.

"That information had value. We will take our leave," the brunette battle maiden replied, looking at the other two. Her two sisters followed Skuld down the steps of the ziggurat and towards the edge of the city, the civilians watching them leave… with no one in tow. A few were tanning hides or farming, providing for the community instead of running off to war.

"So we're just going to ignore that they did, in fact, attack us?" Bryn asked.

"You heard her; impulsive teenagers thinking they are invincible, started a fight with someone much stronger, against the wishes of an elder. Amazons don't exactly like having weak or the inept in their tribes. Nature is fierce when it comes to sorting out the mentally challenged and infirm from those who can stand to protect their city. I'd like to know who it is that they've been skirmishing with, though," Skuld replied.

"Should I believe they will be more… open to conversation?" Hrist added in.

"She has a tribe to run, with others vying for a chance to knock her off the pedestal. You saw how Alsara stood up to us, unphased by our strength. She's been in multiple positions where there might not have been a way out, yet always survived. I'm a little worried about what happens after she steps down. Not only will it be difficult for her son to take her place due to the stigma, but an increased likelihood of someone challenging him for the title." The brunette stopped for a moment and rubbed her chin a little. "That could mean too much volatility for the tribe; it could give the empress a chance to… wait… she's not Valkyrja."

All three of them looked at each other, realizing what could then happen. They opened a request to talk with Selene, wondering why it took a few minutes for the woman to respond; there had been a few audible clicks heard over their earpieces, as if being transferred multiple times through filter points, up through the chain of command and through her cabinet. "Hello?" the dev answered on the other side.

"Selene?" Skuld asked.

"Well, who else would it be? You have a priority channel, after all. What do you need? Is there trouble?"

"Not exactly. We… we've explored the temple completely and taken all the books out of the library. They should be in… well, the place you have for all storage that the automatons use."

"Wait… you what? Ohhhhh… don't tell me… so that's what you sent through…" the empress groaned out, checking her inventory immediately. There was a massive list of undocumented tomes and other reading material available… all thankfully not translated, stuck in a separate tab that didn't enforce that feature. "That's… please don't tell me any of that was magical…"

"… Maybe. Why?"

There was a sound of the dev groaning again, then a sigh of relief. "Ok, good, so… where you just stashed all of this didn't automatically translate everything there into my language, English… glad it didn't get put into that other tab, or half of this would be gibberish right now…"

The three sisters looked worried. Sometimes the meaning of a magical ritual was lost in translation. It wasn't that the spells stopped working; it simply meant that some languages didn't have certain words to convert to. This made copies of the books just as valuable and untouched, with whole libraries being emptied from a shop on occasion and focused on by auto professors sitting around in the castle reading and writing new updated versions of the tomes. "Did we do something wrong?" Hrist asked her.

"No, well, not really. Don't worry about it, it just caught me by surprise. Wow, there are a lot of them, aren't there… I thought what you were sending was just a missive or a map or something… nevermind. So everything is fine? You're heading home?"

"We… may. Is it possible to continue with the extra days we said we would be gone?"

Selene sounded curious at the end of the com channel. "You… want to stay there even though the temple was explored? Uh… okay, I mean, the trip was planned for another week, I think."

"We actually left the temple." Hrist quickly explained the event with the amazon teenagers, the finding of the Red Scarves, the old city, and potentially for allies. There was a hard cut off from the empress as soon as they mentioned 'neighbors.'

"They aren't sending a raid party to the west, are they?" Selene queried quickly.

"Yes?" Bryn responded for the trio. There was silence for a moment on the other side.

"Morlan is heading there right now, he has friends on that island. I checked through some more up to date Artinian maps in the White Palace; it turns out I own it… sort of. The people there don't exactly like being under the old rule. Luckily, I'm now in charge."

"You… know about it? Wait, should we intervene if they're going to attack the empire?" Hrist asked slowly, dumbfounded at how the empress knew what was going on before they even explained the situation.

"I've got surveillance already there, along with patrol boats hidden. I haven't been warned of any imminent attack yet, so I guess they don't have the fleet of… whatever they use (longboats or something?)… to get across the water right now. Even so, any aggressive actions will be swiftly dealt with. It'll be like paddling into a meat grinder if they don't surrender," Selene replied, adding in a question to herself mid-sentence.

"Amazons do not surrender," Brynhildr huffed out.

"They're loss of life then."

"How would you like to end the chance for them to even strike at those villages, and gain a powerful force?" Bryn asked her. Setting the amazons under the rule of the empress made sense. Even a small group of them, while not as powerful as the monks in Tal Salunbal, were still quite a bit more dangerous than even the minotaurs.

"…Later. As much as that might be an interesting concept, that might create a bit of a political dichotomy between the people on the western island and these amazons you're referring to. Suddenly showing that I have their enemy within my borders isn't going to go over well; people jump to conclusions fast, becoming stubborn to resist any acceptance of my rule. That could lead to needless deaths for no reason other than they hate each other. Sheesh, I haven't even talked to the Kaersians yet… still need to go see if the heads of the Seong Neow Republic are willing to break bread, but that will be in the spring it looks like. Things are going so fast I almost lose track of time; I expected all of this to take a lot longer. Anyways, you can stay if you really want to, but the culture of Kaer Danel is a little more to your liking, I'm pretty sure."

"Perhaps you could try and stop them nonlethally?" Skuld requested.

"Maybe, no guarantees on that. Interning them in a POW camp nearby is an option. We'll see, I've got a few other events happening within the next week obviously, can't be everywhere at once."

That we have seen. That could change.

Hrist's thought process of just where and when Selene could appear with her magic, technology, and special powers she couldn't quite understand might allow events like that. Odin and the other Norse gods had, on occasion, performed such feats.

"What did you mean about the culture of Kaer Danel being a little more to our liking?" Bryn asked, looking between both of her sisters as if hoping they were questioning the same thing. The Valkyrja listened intently, very curious as to why the western island would pique their interest. What they soon found out shocked them. It was all but guaranteed that they would visit those people very soon, meeting up with Morlan on his trip. The Kaersians were incredibly similar… to Vikings.

Meanwhile

Morlan left the ship that carried him to Kaer Danel, stepping onto the long dock from the transport ship that the empress let them use. There was no reason to have them ride on a warship, or it might worry the locals. The young warrior slowly made his way up multiple small flights of stairs, passing many fishermen along the way as they watched him. It had been some time since he visited this village, Selfungr. Even though it was to the south of the main continent, there was frost covering most of the plants, with steam and smoke seen from the longhouses arrayed evenly near each other in the distance. Quite a few buildings had large struts sticking out of the water to prop them up, expanding the village's area of control without cutting down the nearby forest that enclosed half of the eastern border.

The sound of hammers clanging against metal and wood chopping told of the past before Artinia tried to take over. Elsei had remarked on the ship that the dock wasn't torn down in defiance this time, even with no fleets arriving to make them pay homage and allow port entry. Animals in pens bayed and clucked as the two-man team passed through two streets, coming up to a house that was owned by the local carpenter. Morlan stopped in front of the home and looked around, remembering the first time he had arrived here. It was to subjugate the people, but instead, he befriended a fair amount. That barely allowed them to stay alive; even though the Kaersians could easily defend against a ground incursion, the cannons on the Artinian battleships would have reduced the village to rubble from the safety of the harbor.

Unfortunately, there was no one around at the moment; both headed towards where they knew the owner had to be at this time of the day, the tavern. As they headed towards the front door, they stumbled back a little as a man was kicked out and flopped on the floor. He was not the person they were looking for, but the man who walked out and unzipped his pants to relieve himself on the drunk that couldn't get up. A friend of the drunk tried to hit him over the head with a mug, which he dodged easily and let him roll over his lifted knee, right on top of his colleague in the dirt; the man looked up from the two on the ground at Elsei and Morlan and smiled.

"You still mucking about with that whore of yours?" he said as he belched. Both of them grimaced as he slowly walked towards them with no shirt on, a ragged towel on his shoulder half-covering a blue tattoo intricately added to the left side of his face and running down to his hip, disappearing into his trousers. His haircut was a short mohawk, looking more like a light brown scrub brush glued to his scalp; a somewhat pointed brown beard hung with braids interwoven with red and blue beads on the sides of his mouth. The man was all muscle, no fat to be seen, with plenty of scars covering his chest and arms, two on his right cheek and near his right ear that was missing a small piece of the earlobe. He had twelve earrings in an asymmetrical placement along the tops, leather wrap gloves, and dirty brown fur boots. Two of his fingers on his left hand, the thumb and pointer, had small bandages from daily work and shaping wood.

"I'd reciprocate the name to your wife, Boltar," Elsei responded.

"You again," Morlan grumbled out, noting the slight smirk appearing on Boltar's face.

"Yes, me again. Glad you remember the arse-kicking you got last time."

"I remember you getting thrown through the air and being hoisted up by your pants on a tree branch. Still a little tender down there?" Morlan growled out. Both men just stared at each other, a glare in their eyes, before suddenly… they both broke into laughter. Boltar stomped towards the man, and both embraced in a bear hug before the Kaersian turned and looked at Elsei.

"I wasn't the one who gave you that arse-kicking, and we dealt out ten times as much to the arse-lickers. If I remember correctly, I got hoisted by my britches by that explosion, launching me through the air, not thrown by any living creature. I was a little tender after that… ah, Elsei, don't take it too badly with the slander, I –" she socked him lightly on the jaw, making him turn his head for a moment as he shut up. As he rubbed his mouth, a chuckle left his lips. "Good, that means you didn't take it to heart. I was afraid I'd hurt your elfie feelings." He clapped her on the shoulder as a small smirk curled on her face, the awkward welcome now over. They gently hugged as the Kaersian chuckled. "Haven't seen either of you for a long time; don't tell me you're here to do the bidding of the fucking king again?" Boltar asked as he turned and rummaged through a pile of bags to the side of the tavern, the owner asleep nearby. Inside were all manner of tools and equipment for him to use in carpentry. Once he fished out what he needed and put it on the small loop belt he was wearing, he looked up and waited for a response while hefting the sack over his shoulder.

"Artinia is gone, Boltar. It's been conquered. The king is dead." There was a scoff from the man as he licked a canine, looking around as if he had just heard a joke and was wondering if anyone was laughing. He walked by them and headed back towards the house they just visited.

"The best news I've heard in forever. Come to lay low from whoever did the conquering?"

"We work for the new empress, Selene. Can… we head in? To speak in private obviously," Morlan told him, glancing around to see other pairs of eyes on them from afar. Boltar blinked for a moment as he looked at the ground, finally nodding as he opened the front door and patted his old friend on the shoulder. The home was sparse, though well put together. The beds were on the upper floor, ladders reaching them along with storage. The outhouse was just through the back door, ventilation cut above the height of the roof to make sure no smells came wafting back in.

"So, the king… what… finally married, got stabbed in the back by this empress?" Boltar questioned as he sat down on a small stool and leaned against a wobbling table.

"Boltar, you have no idea. Her empire took on an army of demons rampaging across Artinia that the king unleashed." Morlan explained what was happening on the mainland, informing him about just how much it had changed in such a short time. The Kaersian raised his eyebrows in disbelief, blinking for a moment as all of it sunk in while letting out a low whistle in response.

"Huh, so does this mean she'll leave us alone? We never wanted to be a part of some kingdom, let alone an empire."

"You'll change your tune fairly quickly once I've had a chance to let her know she does rule Kaer Danel." Boltar stood up and looked Morlan straight in the eye. The warrior knew that was a touchy subject.

"We're just trying to live, Morlan. We never wanted to be part of something bigger, especially a kingdom that didn't want to let us follow our own religion. Hell, they even tried to kill those who –"

"She has Valkyrja as her generals." That shut Boltar up right quick as his eyes widened. The man blinked and sized the warrior up, thinking he was lying, then glanced at Elsei as if asking her if he was telling the truth.

"Hrist, Brynhildr, Skuld. I don't know the details of why there are only three, that seems to be a hidden story that they will not share" Elsei replied to his look. The carpenter just kept blinking at both of them, his hands on his hips. All of this information, everything that had happened, was within a few months. He could still remember the last time he had to pay taxes, something that should be going to the old chief of the village to keep everything working. Now it usually went to him instead. Now he was being told there were bringers of the slain walking around and accepting this empress's commands.

"She's willing to allow anyone to worship freely, as long as it doesn't interfere with the daily lives of others or cause harm to the empire," Morlan informed him. "Come on, Boltar, why else would we show up?"

Boltar started to waggle a finger at him with his mouth pursed. "No, I know what you are thinking –"

"Boltar –"

"No! Morlan! I just had a child! A son! I'm not leaving! Especially with those bitches out there assaulting us every other month! They need every able body out there when that time comes, you've seen what happened!" The noble warrior did know what happened, he was there years ago, fighting alongside his friend. Amazons were fearsome foes to go against; however, Kaersians were just as deadly. Women were not allowed to have children unless they had slain three of their enemies. That had let Morlan know just how strong Boltar's wife was when protecting their village, now that they had a son.

"And I'm sure she'll have ships keeping them from coming back if I just talk to her majesty! Boltar, think. You could be richly rewarded for following royalty that isn't the king. She's very reasonable, and I need more to back me up."

"Why? Why do you need more? It's always been just you and Elsei in the past; why not get someone from the mainland?" Boltar asked, clearly annoyed. This was his home, he'd lived there all his life; now, he was being asked to leave it by an old friend to serve an empress he'd never met, who very well could be just another corrupt noble using them.

"Because she's letting me choose who will be in my teams, and most mainlanders can't even hold a candle to you or Lornali, let alone the others."

Boltar averted his gaze and slowly shook his head, figuring out the words to say as he licked his lips. "What can she even offer? I'm not about to swear fealty to someone I've never met and hasn't done anything for us yet, Mor! You know us; our oath is our very blood put on the table. We will never put it up for trade unless we're damn sure it's worth it, same as if we need to spill it for the protection of our loved ones. What can she offer? Don't tell me just keeping the loincloths away from us, there's got to be something more."

Morlan sighed and walked over to the only window of the longhouse, looking outside. "I'll call her right now."

"What? You have one of those communication stones or some – the hell?!" the carpenter was astonished as the warrior pulled from his ear a device that had multiple small lights on it glowing.

"Empress Selene? Are you there?" No response came just yet. "She… might be busy at the moment…" Morlan looked sheepish as Boltar crossed his arms and looked at him as if he went nuts. "I'm serious! She's an empress for crying out loud!"

"What do you need, Morlan?" Will answered on the other side. It threw the warrior completely off as he didn't realize there would be a filter now while he was off continent.

"I… was hoping her majesty was available to speak…"

Boltar shifted in his seat and leaned back against the wall, looking at the small tool in his friend's hand. "Ha."

"The empress is currently quite busy, is there an issue with your trip?" the chief of staff questioned.

"I'm… trying to get an old friend to join the agency I'm supposed to head and… he needs a… what was it that Ethan had called it… a signing on package."

There was a long pause on the other side. "What does he want?"

"I want safety for Selfungr, not just battleships sailing about in the waters. Also, a decent wage and no fucking taxes! We're sick of taxes!" Boltar shouted out towards the device.

"… Is that all?" Will replied. The man was taken aback by the response, his mouth curled up in a catty grin.

"Alright, alright; I want a sack of gold for my family to get, I want a bigger house with everything the rich cocksuckers from the mainland have, oh, and I want the same armor that Morlan has."

"… Is that all?" That seemed to make him grind his teeth together. Boltar remained silent for a moment, wondering if he should be asking for a castle.

"Oh shut it Boltar, half of that isn't going to be given anyways," Morlan snapped.

"I gotta see how far your new empress will go to win me."

"We can provide adequate payment as salary; Selfungr needs to have a meeting with a sent governor to negotiate the needs of the people; no taxes for an agent is possible, but not likely for the village due to the funds needed to be used in the maintenance of the infrastructure. An allowance can be given to your family every month. If you wish for a house, you'll have to move to the mainland. We can provide affordable housing that is better than what you have now. As far as armor goes, any equipment is on a case by case basis. That is up to the empress to decide," Will informed him.

Boltar scoffed and sat down, leaning back against a large pillow made of straw. "Some empress."

"Failure to take the offer will result in replacement from other recruits scouted by the intelligence division. We've already found nineteen candidates that may interest you, Morlan, once you come back," Will said through coms. The warrior had a shit-eating grin on his face as he gazed at his friend, with the carpenter gawking at the communication device. He was willing to admit he was wrong in finding able-bodied agents for what he needed. Rumors of up and coming heroes were slow to travel in Artinia; the empire, on the other hand, had a nationwide mail service and young magicians on paid internships running missives everywhere. It still took a few days, but it was so much faster than before.

"What… what the… fucking hell… Odin's flaming beard, alright… what's it like on the fairyland?" his friend replied, stumbling through the words as he rubbed his neck.

"An information package will be sent to the transport, you can pick it up there. Is this all you needed, Morlan?" Will explained.

"Yes, Will, uh… thank you."

"Safe travels." The line ended. Morlan just looked at Boltar, a half-smirk on his mouth and a raised eyebrow.

"You can't be serious… I haven't taken the offer yet. That was all just… just… I was testing the waters, that's all."

"Uhuh." Morlan crossed his arms and cocked his head, unimpressed with his friend's response. Boltar was annoyed he was being overshadowed by new recruits that his friend hadn't even interviewed yet. The kids needed the older generation to show them how it was done.

"I haven't met your empress! Why would I just walk in?"

"Because you know your wife and child would be taken care of, this village will be taken care of. You do realize she does own this island, right? It is a part of the Clockwork Empire now. They actually watch out for their citizens," the young warrior told him. Boltar rubbed his beard and looked away, clearly fidgeting and slightly rocking in the chair as if he was coming up with a decision. "Look, are you really that afraid to –"

Boltar got up and pointed at him, which made Morlan put his hands up in surrender. "I'm not afraid, never have been. You know me. I'm just worried… about swearing an oath to some far off ruler who –" he hesitated as he noticed Elsei tracking his words, wondering if he would use a stereotype on the empress, "– who may not care about what goes on out here."

"You want to visit?" Morlan questioned, crossing his arms. "There's a ball in about a week that is supposed to have – oh, don't give me that look, I know what you're thinking. Yes, there will be quite a bit of the aristocracy there, but the titles are just that now, titles. They have no authority over anything anymore. Look, just come for the party, relax and hopefully I can have a meeting with the empress about you. Then, you can ask whatever questions you still have."

"Why do you want me so badly on this team, Mor? I just asked for so much, and chances are, those 'candidates' are all too willing to do what they can to prove themselves for less."

"Because I've already seen what you can do, Boltar. You don't have to prove yourself." The Kaersian licked his lips and slowly nodded, accepting that response just as the warrior put his hand on the carpenter's shoulder. His preferred weapons were two hand axes perfectly balanced, handed down to him through generations; they looked like large woodcutting axes but were actually as light as a feather. They were most assuredly magical in creation, coming back to his hands even if thrown with just a gesture. While it was peaceful, he would work the wood; when it was wartime, he would work on his foe's flesh and necks. His tracking skills nearly rivaled Elsei's, with his nose being especially sensitive to compete against the elf's long ears. His gut feelings, when he shared them, also tended to be right.

"Fine… I'll come to this damned party, and I'll be on my best behavior, but if they start anything… you know the outcome."

"Good. You won't be disappointed. I'm glad to have you on the team. Now, I need to go find Lornali."

Three Days Later, 29th, December

Gabriel came back to the castle, tired and a little hungry from all of his studying. He had a pretty long laundry list of things to ask the empress, whether she could spare some more funding for the wizard's academy or point them in the right direction. What he saw was the help moving about and getting everything set up for a big party, one that he wondered was about. Donovan and Melsia put on their coats at the door and walked right by him, giving the man a nod in acknowledgment and a smile. "Welcome back. I take it your trip to the academy showed a lot of what Artinia was doing in the magical department?" Donovan asked.

"It… did… hey, uh… what's… what's going on? It looks like everyone is getting ready for some dignitaries coming. Is there a king arriving at some point or…?" Gabriel replied, raising his eyebrow and looking through an open door.

"The princess is having her birthday today," Melsia informed him with a catty grin on her face.

"Oh, the princess… w-wait, what?! Princess?!" the mage exclaimed as he gawked at both of them. No child was living here when he left. Somehow, the empress just conjured a daughter from nowhere. "Wait… adopted?"

"They are related by flesh and blood, so no. She even shares facial features with her mother, though she seems to have white hair," Donovan told him, scratching at the side of his mustache as he put on his hat.

"Eve is absolutely adorable, really she is," Melsia told him with a giant smile. "Reminds me of our daughter when she was younger."

"But… if she's… she… her majesty has to be a… I mean, there's no other answer then…"

"I'm not going to start confirming that without a response from her. We mere… humans… doubtfully could understand any choice she makes these days" Donovan chuckled out, grabbing his gilded cane. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we're going to see about getting a gift for the child."

"I'm positive she'll enjoy what we talked about, Donovan," his wife said as she gently touched his chest. "We'll be back for the party."

"Yeah… bye…" Gabriel gave them a half-wave as they departed, a very dumbfounded look on his face as he blinked for a minute, trying to understand what was going on. He made his way to the kitchen to try and get a quick bite to eat, not even using the dining room as he wanted to get to his office in time to not only drop off an artifact to study but also to try and conjure up a gift now that he knew what was happening in a few hours. Adesha was standing near a stove, cooking up a storm. To the far left, sitting in the corner, was a seven-layer white cake designed as a magical forest, complete with sugar unicorns grazing and swans in the small lake; there were even doves held up by an incantation. Several smaller cakes were also made as backups, with Jeeves checking over the measurements.

Gabriel, still half asleep and not quite having royal etiquette, didn't exactly realize the cake couldn't be touched just yet and started walking towards it for a slice. "Please don't touch the cake; that is for the princess once the party starts," Adesha told him calmly as she continued cooking, not once looking up from the stove. The confusion on his face for a moment told everything: which cake was for her? It looked like some of them were experiments to see which one the princess would like the most. His eyes landed on a few simpler ones, with the main attraction looking more like just something to put in the middle of the table for scenery.

He took a tentative step forward again… and received a frying pan impaled in the wall right in front of his nose, bypassing the armor that was installed as the shields were not activated, no threats detected nearby. He had no idea how strong the metal was that made up the plating, just that the speed Adesha had most likely thrown the pan must have been incredible; there was no shockwave from her movement though, as his eyes blinked back to her, still cooking and disinterested in his location… or so he thought. All cooking equipment was accounted for in front of the maid, which didn't make sense. The pan had to come from somewhere."Last warning."

"Right, sorry, I'll uh… wait till the party… can I… can I grab something from the… I have no idea what that thing is…" Gabriel pointed at the metal boxes attached to the wall keeping most foods refrigerated. He still didn't know that what was inside were usually backup meals ready for on the go trips, either there to be eaten while the empress was flying or thrown in the incredible converter systems to be altered into other materials. Nothing was wasted at the higher levels of The Clockwork Empire it seemed, with leftovers nonexistent inside the castle. The walk-in freezers and refrigerators were just there to carry a few spare ingredients in the event of actual dignitaries arriving without the empress being there.

"I'll have a maid make you a sandwich, Mr. Turkano. However, please mind the time; the party will be happening at 3 pm sharp. There will be a full buffet available if you intend to show up," Jeeves said as he rapidly cut through salami and arrayed crackers. The butler's movement was almost faster than Gabriel's eyes could follow, turning meats and cheeses into appetizers in as little as a few seconds, all the time still looking at him with green optics. It looked like there was enough food to feed an army being prepared… all of this for one little girl. Just how much of a supply of food did the empress have, to easily be so wasteful without a care?

(Recommended Song: Zayde Wølf – Live Life)

Meanwhile, Selene had spent the last two days with her daughter and Dahlia, going on two field trips for an incredibly varied education. The child had a chance to go to the aquarium and zoo, with a planned visit to the high elven forest to the east. Each time, pictures were being taken by the empress, as if she was a tourist with Eve smiling in most of them; it was in hopes of building up a picture portfolio for the princess to look back on. As far as her mother could tell, her daughter was happy. Queen Ynshael was already preparing for their visit, with her daughter and son, Mladris and Ralyf, both surprisingly accommodating after being able to visit the ocean on their vacation to see dolphins.

The six-year old's belated birthday was still being taken care of by the maids back at the castle, with a massive cake along with dishes they were sure she'd like. In the aquarium, Eve especially enjoyed learning about all of the sea creatures, touching the mantas and starfish, and making a fish face each time she got near a new exhibit. Luckily, the grand opening hadn't yet happened, with the empress getting a chance to show her around without closing it up for the special day.

"The bright-colored ones change! Look!" Eve exclaimed as she pointed to one school of fish swarming and spinning, shooting through the transplanted coral and altering their scale patterns to mimic the surroundings where they could. Her tutor was always at her side, explaining the reasons behind why they were shimmering and refracting light near the top of the water. For that moment, the little girl didn't seem to care at first; she just wanted to watch the fish move as she leaned against the railing, separating her from the glass. Eventually, she heard something interesting and tuned in immediately. Dahlia was a natural at getting her to listen, using keywords to pry the child away from whatever she was distracted by.

"Which ones are your favorite?" Selene asked her daughter. The child thought for a moment as she tried to remember each exhibit.

"The… the glowing ones. They make their own light."

"Ah, those… we have more of them back at the castle."

"We do?! Where?" Eve asked, a soft, airy squeak of a voice escaping her lips. She was all smiles with sparkles in her eyes, learning that her favorite animals so far were at home. Luna had immediately taken a liking to her, sharing the same color in hair as her fur. It also helped that the little girl gave the huge wolf plenty of attention for the past few days, to the envy of Ash and Blue.

"Yup. There's a cave that leads to an underground cavern. I'm pretty sure we aren't mining in there anymore, turning the place into protected habitation. I'll show you later, it's really very peaceful. Other fish live in the lake nearby too; once winter passes, there's this big friendly one that comes along and swims nearby you."

"Really? Okay!" the girl said while jumping up and down. Her mother beamed at her as the child scurried around through a darker part of the aquarium, acting as a pinball bouncing between windows to look at whatever was living inside. At the moment, there were only mostly basic fish with some recovering dolphins and whales waiting to eventually be let back into the oceans; one orca, in particular, had a newly transplanted fin and going through rehabilitation, watching her through the glass and rolling playfully through the water to her delight. A few exotic creatures were kept on display as well, such as the remains of a giant squid and a Lion's Mane Jellyfish attached with fake tendrils. There were skeletons from other aquatic animals, with a few sea monsters hidden away for the time being. This was to warn anyone visiting that the oceans weren't all friendly waters; they had very real ways of killing most who were unprepared.

At one exhibit, a seal swam towards the window and bonked its head against it, almost turning into a pancake with how much fat was on its body as it bounced off. It made Eve break out laughing as it swam away, watching her with curiosity. Dahlia explained what the creature was and why it came over to see them, which caused the little girl to get closer to the window in fascination while she learned. There were quite a few scars on its back and side, on a few occasions getting into a scuffle with some predators out in the ocean and escaping. Sea otters sat around in a habitat squeaking when they realized it was feeding time, with the ladies watching them eat and swim for close to an hour; at one point, Eve was allowed to give them a treat. It was cuteness overload for the empress.

Selene just watched her daughter get to explore, even poking at one bubble holding seahorses inside, enjoying the beginning of the day. There was no desk to sit behind, for the time being, no math courses or history lessons. There would be at least one field trip every week, eventually turning into every other week, then every three weeks. While there was a little mathematics on the helibot taking them to the aquarium, it was mostly addition and subtraction so that she knew how large some creatures were. It was already planned to have her learn both the imperial system as well as metric soon. Just from initial observation from her tutor, Eve was exceptionally smart, soaking up knowledge like a sponge.

At one point, two dolphins were swimming around that made Eve copy them, her mother joining in along with the battle maid, wiggling back and forth without a care in the world of how embarrassing the scene looked. No one was around to lay eyes on them anyways, only the auto assistants maintaining the area. Both members of the royal family ate a small lunch brought with them, though the food court was built to allow general recipes that most citizens would know. "Ready to go, munchkin?"

"Can't we stay for a little longer?" Eve whined, hoping to get her mother to agree.

"Well, we've seen most of the exhibits. If you don't want to celebrate your birthday, we could stay here and –"

"Birthday?" the princess asked. She looked confused, wondering what that was.

"Yup. You were born on that day. It's very special. Technically, it's a little belated, but next year it'll be on the 25th of December, okay?"

"What's 'belated' mean?"

"Uh, delayed, not happening when it should have. Next time your birthday will be earlier."

"I… don't remember last year's birthday," her daughter replied, looking a little disheartened as if something was missing. Her eyes dropped as she tried to focus, with nothing coming to mind, just a blank spot in her life. That look was very similar to someone with Alzheimer's, searching for something in their own head that was out of reach… or just not there. Those words seemed to hit like a brick for the empress for a moment, a heartfelt twang that needed to go away. She brushed back a stray lock of white hair over her daughter's left ear and gave her a pat.

"You were too young, don't worry. Come on, kiddo, let's get you home to enjoy your party. Did you learn a lot today?" Selene said, reassuring her and bringing the child out of her confused state.

There would be no memories, they didn't exist until three days ago… she didn't exist until three days ago. Poor thing, I'm going to fix that by making sure there are thousands of good memories to wash away all of that blank space.

"Yeah. I got to see dolphins and starfish and a whale too! I wanna see the fishies at the castle!" Eve exclaimed.

The dev hugged the child to her left hip and gently ran her fingers through her hair. "Good. New exhibits will be built eventually, so there will be return visits. I'll show the underground pools to you later."

"Okay." The helibot spun up its engines as they left through a side door, heading towards the rooftop pad.

"Ma'am, sorry to disturb you when you're with your daughter. Morlan called," Will informed the empress through coms. She now realized it was better to use her cabinet as a filter for more important conversations, with governors regularly speaking with Queen Ynshael and King Weren.

"Oh? Did he find the colleagues he wanted to work with?" she asked.

"In a way. There was a signing package that needed to be addressed, and he's still not convinced." The dev made a sighing sound in the channel, learning how to not show the same emotion visibly as she felt while talking silently through her {Communication Is Key} ability.

"Is there a dossier?"

"Grey is building one on Boltar, the man Morlan wishes to bring into his agency. You… still haven't thought of a name for it, have you?"

"Working on it." The dev watched as Eve sat down in her seat and had her belt attached by Dahlia, the girl staring out the window as soft piano music played in the background. The princess waved goodbye to the auto workers outside, which responded with their own wave. They were automatically verifying the child as the next of kin to their creator.

"Ma'am, there has been an internal discussion through your administration. We were wondering if we could ask you a question?" she heard her chief of staff say.

The transport lifted off and headed back to the castle as a book was read on basic spelling, complete with pictures of cute animals. A side company was opened by Delfie alongside her newspaper for printing books, both for children and adults, to help with education in schools and academies. The woman was effectively printing money now, with everyone now understanding the incredible effect of being able to read and write. The empress felt they would be amazed once they got the chance to use an extranet system.

"What's the question?"

"…" There was a pause on the other side, almost as if Will was gathering the courage. This seemed to tell her it was a big discussion. "Many people believe you are a goddess, yet you continue to ignore filling that role and have stated you will never call yourself one. You continue to respond like a human ruler in front of dignitaries. The question we had was… why not embrace the position of a deity in their eyes? The benefits would be major, with everyone fearing your wrath or standing in your way."

Selene took a deep breath and leaned back in her seat, staring up at the ceiling of the transport. "I don't know if I'm actually on par with a deity for one thing. Elesia, at least when I met her, felt… strong, yes, but disconnected. I'm still me, at least I think I am. Why? Why are you all asking this? We had this discussion. I made my choice."

"Nikola and Robert would like to have a word with you involving your strength. Hrist, by their simulations, is more than likely capable of taking down Elesia or even this Solon, the brother of Xaxara. You defeated her… technically. Three Valkyrja are very much capable of defeating a god, with stories told of Hrist beating Thor in duels. You lead them. While we don't know the circumstances of why the deity at the abbey was so weak, with faith energy not quite understood yet, there is the universal opinion that you are… on par or better."

Selene smirked and rubbed her daughter's shoulder next to her, Eve looking up and smiling at her as she got to sing her ABCs. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, but it takes more than brute strength."

"That was only the first reason. You created us. We number thirteen million and growing now; most are drone units for combat or construction, but you now have advanced cores alongside many personalities such as myself. Frankly, that's creating a new race in many ways."

"Mechanical life? I… okay, yes, I guess..."

"The closest being analogous to us seem to be warforged from pen and paper games. However, I'm fairly certain our strength and capability is… much higher than that race. Back to the question and answers. You have built an empire that technically does not require the citizens inside of it. Would you not consider that a realm? A domain?"

"I didn't make the continent or the planet. We're also currently sharing it with other nations, and we had to go to war with the main kingdom that had control of the dirt we walked on."

"You're technology tier is still not past Late Intersolar. Perhaps that is a feature with more advancements?"

"Possibly. What, you think I should make my own planet eventually? Why not a Dyson Sphere? Hell, just make a new sun while I'm at it. By the way, that was sarcasm."

"I noticed. Next, you have a child that you did not have to go into labor for. Ma'am, what we're trying to explain is… maybe you should accept that designation."

"I'm mortal, Will."

"That could change quickly, ma'am. A simple process in many ways."

Selene let out a dry chuckle, shaking her head a little. Telomere repair and gene therapy was a thing, after all. Genetic enhancement for Morlan was one of the plans to further his training. Cybernetic augmentation could be done on her body as well, or even nanite swarms to create her form. Loading her mind up to a server was also a very real possibility, ignoring the handicaps of the flesh. The main concern… was Eve. Her daughter was getting used to her mother being there without those enhancements; a mechanical arm could distance her from the girl. Being a disembodied voice could utterly crush her. The child had seen her both with makeup on and without; she was noticing that when she didn't wear any, it meant she'd spend the day with her daughter and not meeting with one of her subjects.

"That… may come into play later, just not now. We'll keep it on the back burner for another time, once Eve is grown up. It's not like we couldn't reverse the aging process…"

"Understood. Ah, it looks like you're almost here. I'll let you enjoy the party. Just think about what we've brought up, alright? That is all we are asking."

"I know that. Your concerns are being listened to; thank you, Will. On the same note, you are coming to the party, right?"

"You… want us there?"

"You are all coming to the ball, correct? Come to her birthday party too. She should see who the good guys and girls are in the empire. Ah, Morlan and Elsei are still back at Kaer Danel, aren't they?" The empress needed her daughter to know who she could turn to if her mother wasn't around. There had to be a feeling of safety for the princess no matter where she went; the understanding that if her eyes fell on an automaton anywhere, that it would do everything it could to assist the child was crucial.

"They are. Well, we'll collect and be at the dining hall shortly. Our support for your daughter will be there, ma'am."

"Eat some cake."

"Bad for my digestion."

"You don't have a digestive system," she replied, noting the micro incinerators they had for stomachs. It could be used to destroy small weapons or even hazardous materials to safeguard an area.

"Caught me. Alright… it isn't pink, is it?"

"The color doesn't change the flavor. Besides, I'm pretty sure all of them are white or chocolate. You don't like pink?"

"Doesn't go with my suit." The coms line ended with the empress having a grin on her face, and her eyes closed. Her band of misfits were showing signs of amusing quirkiness. She didn't know what she'd do without them.

Four Hours Later

(Recommended Song: Monoman – Meditation)

The dev carried her daughter to one of the many living rooms while she lay slumped against her mother's shoulder fast asleep, unable to show off the child's newly improved bedroom now altered completely for a young girl to stay in. Juliet had the wallpaper added with a fairytale landscape, glowing stars on the ceiling with some dangling, and running lights on the walls to provide ambient illumination. The carpet was torn out with a new high pile added for softness; a toy chest and desk were thrown into the corner, with a balcony that had protective magic added on the border edge. If the princess ever decided to try and climb over the railing, and fell, a slow fall effect would immediately activate and carry her to the front doors, where security would escort her back inside. This was to prevent both her injury… as well as teenage rebellion in the future. They were planning well ahead of her first year.

A secondary closet was added with random outfits to be hung up, ready to be used in any make-believe game she thought up, along with props and small hologram emitters that could be programmed with assorted creatures. If she wanted to LARP, nothing was stopping her, especially with the playground being added into the backyard with a small fort. It was like having a portable holodeck from star trek, excluding the environment.

"Do you need help, your majesty?" Dahlia asked.

"No, no, I've got this. That was a lot of sugar she ingested, caused burnout. Eh, it was her big day, she can pig out on cake once in a while." The dev had made sure there were plenty of presents for her to open, one of which was a music box shaped like a small palace. Depending on which nob was wound, a different song would play along with the movement from small figures inside.

"Should she have a bath before bed?"

"Mmm, a little later, don't want to wake her up." Eve just had her head pushed into the crook of her mother's arm as Selene sat down on a couch, the six-year-old receiving a gentle kiss on her forehead as newly recorded guitar music was played at low volume in the background. That was barely enough to softly wake her up.

"Mommy?"

"Hey, sorry that woke you. You were tuckered out. Did you enjoy your party?"

"Uhuh."

"Still feel like sleeping?" The child nodded and yawned. "Ok, you just go back to sleep."

"Okay." Selene brushed some hair from the girl's face and gave her another kiss on her forehead as she expected to settle in for another couple of hours. "Mommy? I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart." The lights were softly dimmed down, a fireplace crackling away in the far wall. They had tried to have her sleep in her own bed the last two days, and each time she had the same nightmare involving darkness and being alone, wet the bed, and had to stay with her mother to calm down. Luna padded in and flopped in front of them, her fur covering the empress's feet; in response, she got some scritches with the dev's toes through her socks.

Gala slipped in and noticed the princess closing her eyes once again. "She only seems to sleep soundly when you are nearby. Hopefully, what Juliet added in will help," the mechanical woman said gently, receiving a nod in response as a holographic datapad was pulled out to show off the dress designs being offered up for the empress to wear to the ball. Gala looked almost Indian in her design, with darker metal skin and long black wiry hair in a large braid hanging over her shoulder. Her form was an intricate rune-covered green lehenga dress with a lighter green choli over her shoulders; her midriff was showing, with flourished runic etching running down her metal abdomen. A red light sat in the middle of her forehead, glowing along with her green optics.

"Yeah, it makes getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom a struggle, but still… an absolute angel right now. She had enough food to make dinner pointless too. I might have to dial down her sugar intake for the next few days, just like Gazi does for Tariq."

The secretary of state quietly sat down next to her creator and just watched the child for a moment on the other side, breathing softly."Alright, so this is the dress that was made by Jeeves, it's the generic form right here," she told the dev. The design was somewhat extravagant, with gold and silver covering most of her body. There was very little that could be seen of her skin wearing that, bar the hands and head. Jeeve's would continue to create most of the clothing along with the auto maids, while Gala would, once in a while, craft something for special occasions when she wasn't dealing with other nations. "The next one is a piece I wasn't expecting you to wear in front of those people. It's set up like a cocktail dress for a night out on the town."

With a swipe of her fingers, the holoprojection pad flipped to a two-piece showing midriff, and her shoulders, all held up simply by her bust in a 3D model with a thin cloth, almost painted on in look. There would definitely be some tape involved to keep things from ever falling out or off. The movement of the cloth was supposed to be like liquid metal flowing and ebbing on her skin. While it still left enough for the imagination, Selene frowned. "Uh… no thanks. I'm not interested in showing a lot of my body."

"Afraid they wouldn't like it?"

"I'm afraid it might give the wrong impression, actually."

"That's what I thought. Now, the third design is a bit more simple, more business, and less show." Gala swiped to a figure that had features that screamed steampunk, with thin gears rotating inside the fabric running in a line down the sleeves, completely visible to anyone. The color had changed from gold and silver to marbled bronze and green. A matching shoulder cloak was added that clasped on her chest, with a pocket watch attached with a chain on her left hip. The skirt was replaced with dress pants and black heels. While not flashy, the whole thing was created with comfort in mind… as well as authority. "It's not going to win any awards, but then again, I didn't make it for that."

"It works, it gets the point across that I'm there to watch the party. Honestly, I'm fine with business suits and blouses in front of the ex nobles. Ugh, I need to stop calling them that… the… t-the rich and well to do… eh, aristocracy fits."

"Alright. This will be what you wear, but don't expect it to draw eyes from the men or women."

"Not interested in them anyway." With a few minor adjustments, particularly in the cloak so that the clasp was easier to open with two locks instead of five, Selene was run through the alterations to the initial design, with how her hair would be done up, whether to wear gloves or not and if she would put her tiara on. There was the potential for a monocle, but it was considered a bit too intimidating as if she would be scrutinizing everyone. A knock on the door was heard, receiving an acknowledgment to enter.

Will opened the door, a concerned look on his face. "Ma'am, we have some news for you."

"What happened?" she asked.

"First off, the tournament in Aureos has ended."

"Who won?"

"In the solo trials, many up and coming adventurers; in the team combat, a select few groups… because we are sure the whole thing was rigged."

"Hmm, did the Orc Destroyers sign up for the team trials?"

"At the last minute, yes. However, they didn't even place in third."

The dev seemed confused a little. "Did they not figure they would be paired against a higher rank party?" she questioned.

"There was information reported by Morlan before he left for his trip to Kaer Danel that he was partially training the team. Ranger Dina, in particular, had doubts as to her reasons behind signing up for the tournament."

"Ok, so, she found out firsthand that there are better fighters out there. It happens."

"The adventurer's guild, receptionist Tilly specifically, provided the rules of combat for the tournament. The Orc Destroyers were gold ranked, which meant they were not allowed to fight any teams beyond platinum. Oddly enough, they held their own, but were ignored for third place due to a minor altercation with the brother of an Adamantite ranked adventurer, even if they were best in rank."

The empress exhaled loudly and looked up at the ceiling, then immediately down to her daughter, still asleep. "Let me guess, unprofessional actions?"

"Possibly. No police were involved, though it seemed clear the aristocracy were looking for fresh meat, and they were not viable."

"That must be a blow to the ego. Well, at least they weren't hurt. I guess now they can finally settle down and get back to quests, raise up the ranks?"

"No ma'am, that's not the case. Morlan submitted a report about his interaction with the group. One, named Pops, is going to retire somehow. He's been saving up for some time, hoping to eventually have enough for a small cottage."

Selene noted the retirement fund set aside for those who fought alongside the soldiers in Silvinholm, answering the call of duty to defend the people. "Well, I wouldn't say it would be a small cottage given the amount provided by us. He'll be able to live a comfortable life. Huh, that will hamper the team, given he was the tank."

Will raised an eyebrow. "Except it won't. They appear to have a paladin by the name of Piper now joining the party."

Selene didn't answer, mulling over the response in her head. "Huh, I was hoping to somehow coerce Dina into leaving that life and go enter the academy. Eh, the option is still there, she'll get that out of her system eventually. A paladin, huh? Interesting."

"They'll have to perform some tricky quests to speed up the process of raising Piper up to a comfortable rank, given she is a copper plate at the moment."

Selene scoffed. "That will slow them down. Eh, if she's already proved herself, why not… then again, I don't know why anyone wants to become an adventurer anymore."

"You believe the adventurer job should be removed?"

"Not right now. The thing is, they are still a useful, very mobile, force that can quickly move around and bolster police forces right now without having my government intervene. They can also act outside the empire without us accepting the blame, or even acknowledging it ever happened. I just see far too many options available now for everyone to go."

"That would give us more leeway in acting towards other nations without actually doing anything."

The dev nodded at him. "I expect the position of adventurer to be phased out within the next decade or turned into something new, like gladiators in nonlethal combat for sports events; the same goes for the mercenaries. It'd go alongside regular sports, at least if we can somehow manage to introduce some of them into society like football or baseball. Can't do it just yet and cause twenty percent of the population to become unemployed with no other skills, which also includes the ex Artinian soldiers. They'd have to be on government aid until they could learn a new trade; meanwhile, police would be strained without backup that we'd have to suddenly provide more of, breaking my policy of keeping auto soldiers out of view most of the time."

"We do have the funds to do so."

"Oh, I know that; technically, the entire bill to have everyone in the empire just go straight to class and not even work is minuscule. The problem is coverage for every occupation that involves keeping them fed and taken care of, which would ultimately fall on us. That's more intervention than I'd like at the moment, what with us footing the bill for everything. I'm hoping the adults can keep working while going through classes; elementary school educations would get them corporate positions with the infrastructure they had before, and we're already offering college-level degrees free of charge. There's no reason for anyone to not have a job right now and still have some time to learn when there are so many avenues to alter their lifestyle. Dina could easily become something else better suited than proficient with a bow; the only reason I haven't outright stopped her is… is…"

"Not a friend, huh?" Will remarked, a slight smirk rising on his metal lips.

The empress rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine, I do have some affinity for her, but it's something to do with feeling sorry for the kid, not actually being buddy-buddy."

"A surrogate mother, perhaps?"

Selene eyed Will with an annoyed look. "I have a daughter already, thank you. I don't need a second, older, rebellious one."

"Then, an older sister instead."

"Enough with the psyche questions, you aren't very good at being a shrink; leave that to Orlo or Gala. My point is, given that crime is kept to an all-time low, there shouldn't be a reason for them to get the chance to read a book in the background while on break, eventually putting the sword or bow away for good. Even while escorting caravans and checking in with patrolling security drones, they have the option to sit in a wagon and read, getting ready to pass certification exams. That'd at least get them in the door for a better job, allowing more time to sit back and submit coursework from a long-distance via the postage. Anyways, any other situations I need to be aware of?"

"Yes, ma'am. With the expansion of the satellite network, we've been able to watch over roughly 50% of the world now. Three reconnaissance fleets were detected on a course for the southern shores of the continent."

"Not merchants?"

"Take a look." He handed her a holo pad to watch the footage provided while Gala finished her alterations on the suit. Something about having the equipment in hand instead of fed to her Hud made it a little easier to talk with someone right next to her. Three fleets coming from different directions were heading towards the continent, along with what looked like a bump of ships slowly starting to uncoil and building up from South America. "I take it your next question will be ETA?"

"You know me too well."

"A little after the ball, two days to be exact. If our calculations are correct, and they always are, that pod of vessels to the southwest could eventually expand out in a supply chain in a month."

"At least they won't ruin the festivities," Gala quipped.

"And you're sure they're aiming for the southern border of the republic?" the dev replied.

"At different trajectories, yes. None of them seem to be aligned, at least on initial analysis. This is of interest, however," Will zoomed in on the middle fleet, comprised of three corvette type ships, two frigates, and one battleship. The design looked like it was made by the undead, the aesthetics seemed as if pulled from someone's idea for a lich lord crossing the ocean, royalty. Impressively, they were the fastest of the three fleets, with mana engines being used to reach about on par with a steamliner. The second fleet, coming from Europe, seemed a bit more menacing, with red and black coloring and heavy armor plating. It was quite a bit slower than the other two fleets, the ETA registered was a week after the others arrived. The problem was… it looked far more capable of causing war and attempting to conquer.

"What about the third one? It looks like a mishmash of designs," Selene questioned, zooming in via satellite view.

"Ah, that's the oddity here, surprisingly. Human, elven, dwarven, and what looks to be… perhaps an aquatic race's aesthetics; that could mean they have sub-surface escorts. It's a coalition of some sort that is heading out, though it would arrive a few days after the undead."

The mortally challenged seem to have some upgrades in maritime tech, colonial maybe? No, Renaissance more likely. Whoever is in charge has been trying to improve beyond what others have, probably advancing his or her kingdom. Wait, why am I being impressed by the undead? They're probably the quickest to be hostile here…

"Suddenly, our corner of the world became quite popular… do we know where they came from? Origin ports?" the empress questioned, glancing for a moment up at her chief of staff with her eyebrows raised a little.

The small screen expanded out in a holographic display before them, hovering in the air like a three-dimensional painting, predicting the starting locations in neon marks and lines. One was the Middle East for the undead, the second from what appeared to be Germany, just behind Denmark at Kiel. The coalition fleet seemed to have collected at one port before heading out just at the northeastern tip of the African continent, their origin kingdoms were unknown just yet. "It doesn't seem to be a coincidence that they are all coming at the same time," Will advised.

"Any merchant fleets nearby that they're trying to shadow, maybe escaped from that direction? Any warnings from Grey about exotic magical artifacts showing up on the market?"

"That would be zero. All trade vessels are in dock, waiting out the winter. The cold is not friendly on open Atlantic waters in a season that is quite punishing, especially if they can't always afford wizards to cast constant spells to keep everything warm and restrict icebergs. This may also be the same for the fleets coming towards us, though given the build-up, that seems doubtful. There are no artifacts on the market that the wizard academy hasn't collected or in the ARC, at least powerful enough to warrant this response."

That means they're going to spot our naval ships immediately if they get close. Magic that removes bad weather may be in their bag of tricks. Anything we have is going to be considered combat capable just by getting eyes on… which they technically are…

"Dominic should have all patrol ships stay clear or in stealth as much as possible with long-range surveillance, potentially with subs or planes. We don't know why they're coming here, but they aren't heading directly towards my empire. Could be attempting communication with the Seong Neow Republic… that nation is starting to look quite interesting to investigate now…"

"Thinking of renewing your trip there to speak with the leaders?"

"Yep, all six of them. I was going to schedule it in the spring, but now… hmm, we'll see."

"I'll have an ambassador get them ready ahead of time for a more in-depth meeting," Gala interjected, finishing up with the suit and prepping a diplomatic team. "If they do their job well, that should at least open some doors and not step on any toes. If not, then at least we'll know where outsiders stand in their eyes, allowing us to focus on other nations to talk to and not waste time."

Will nodded in agreement, cupping his bearded chin with his left hand. "It must make it interesting with five shoguns controlling different parts of the republic. There is an emperor of sorts, though he carries a ceremonial role, and –"

The empress cut him off quietly with one hand to stop him. "I've already read those reports, that is why I said six. I never did fully understand the old Japanese government all that well, which I'm sure this is based on somehow, though I did read up about some of their emperors and the shogunates; then, of course, U.S. history had some weird politics too. Pretty much all civilizations have had governments that confuse everyone else that didn't live there. When you stay in one place with such and such resources, with a religion dictating how to act or holding some of the power over the land, leadership tends to be… complicated… or unusual… to those looking in. Hmmm…"

"Ma'am?"

Selene sat there in deep thought as magnification showed two figures on the deck of the undead battleship. Her Hud scanner didn't get names, but it did show two things that piqued her interest. Those were the ID nameplates of NPCs for a guild… and the guild placard, unnamed as well. While the names didn't mean much at all to her as Yggdrasil was just a contract and another pip on her resume, the fact that her scanner gave the placeholders meant plenty already.

How the hell did NPCs transport here? I thought only players could be thrown onto this dirtball… wow, if they really are walking around or traveling, do they have personalities? Lives? The bigger question I should be asking myself is: are they even friendly? Sitting on undead ships, one of them has a karma level of -100, arachnoid… the other is a Dullahan with a karma level of +150 from the orbital scans. There's a bit of a balancing act going on there; someone thought that through, maybe for keeping the other restricted?

"Do you want those two collected at some point?" Will questioned.

The empress blew air out of her mouth, mulling the answer over. "No. Don't communicate, don't get near them. I'd like it if they never found out about the empire actually. Get a report to me by tomorrow morning on if the Hidden Empire Project is ready to become a reality. We've already got the space elevator cloaked so far, with no one able to see military bases unless we want them to. Granted, most of them are built underground, but still…"

"We should have a quiet diversion plan in place in the event they get near our borders then."

"I agree, decoys and false points of interest should be ready to place if they get too nosy, nudge them in a different direction. I want intel before anything further happens, and I want to see the owner of those NPCs before any interaction. They might be negotiating trade with the animal folk, but… something tells me otherwise. They're blocked from long-range communication via magic?"

"Yes, ECM systems were designed for both technological communication and magical from the start. It might be a good idea to allow some messages to go through until we're sure they've seen us. Grey should be able to come up with quite a few wild goose chases to keep them occupied if they decide to 'see the sights across the lands' as it were, get them to stay in the south; he at one point told me of a 'white rabbit' protocol to enact to discourage the curious. I'll check with sci div and have the report ready by tomorrow on advancements, should give you something to read with your coffee while you take care of the princess. You know, they might be traveling by sea due to no teleportation capability here. Might have dodged a bullet with our tech."

"Or caught it in the mouth by restricting travel via magic, forcing them to use physical transports; for all we know, they're wondering why they can't get here via other means. We'll just have to wait and see. Alright… the others, on the other hand… are those level 100s on the European fleet?" she asked as the dev checked on the armored warships again. There was a difference in how they were moving compared to the other two, with a synchronized parade line instead of real naval vessels surrounding their flagship. That required a large amount of coordination with little gain other than looking good, especially when they were still heading towards their destination. The high tier soldiers she was referring to were also in peculiar positions, arrayed in a line, shoulder to shoulder on the deck… almost like furniture or chess pieces rather than people. There was no sign of an officer they would normally be escorting in such a formation.

"There are three on the alliance fleet as well, at least high level interspersed; one elf, one human, one very old dwarf. All three are below 60. Analysis suggests they may be descendants of an Earth transfer rather than players themselves."

Selene raised an eyebrow at that. "I didn't see a player notice pop up, just an unknown; that tells me, given we haven't met yet, that they are natives. Could be ambassadors, though I'm pretty sure that thought process can be shot down immediately given what we're seeing, or just explorers like Christopher Columbus."

"You do realize that he was traveling for riches and spices, not to meet a new civilization, right?"

The dev rolled her eyes. "Yes, I remember at least some of my world history, thank you. He treated natives as objects, not living beings. The same goes for the Spanish conquistadors. That… does bring up some concerning facts if two of those fleets look like they have humans on board… then again, the overlord fleet are… well… I'm not getting my hopes up that they wouldn't be against the living."

"Thinking of interfering if they show hostility towards the Seong Neow Republic?" Will questioned, raising a metal eyebrow in curiosity.

"Their government is fairly isolation focused nationalists, while common folk are all too eager to expand and mingle with others. The merchants are proof of that. This means us intervening is all too dependent on them playing nice, or us just cleaning up the mess after and laying claim to the land. Did you hear that they, the merchants I mean, are asking for softer coins to meltdown so that they can recast the metal without the clockwork symbol? Too afraid to have it circulate in their nation supposedly, a penalty of death or something."

"I have read that report. The request went to the mayor of Aureos, which then brought it up to Duncan. He obviously had no answer, even acted insulted on behalf of you." The dev facepalmed. She was about to say something in annoyance about the semi advisor, with a question offered up on whether to fire him or not, only for Will to continue. "He did mean well with his response and has been studying diligently the laws. He's also been keeping the aristocracy at bay from trying to speak with you. Damaging a symbol of the empire is illegal; it can give counterfeiters a chance to launder money in other countries, removing funds from the people's hands that we have to replace. That's why most coins in our nation are now alloys instead of pure gold or silver, soon to become paper currency, and eventually… digital credits."

"And also why we would like everyone to use banks and start using paper currency in the future. At least we control the financial institutions with an iron fist, compared to Earth. Hedge funds are completely impossible here." The dev remembered just how not just twice, but three times since living in the U.S. that a fund collapsed a much-loved company that was doing well. She considered them evil.

"Given that we started the banks in the first place, that seems doubtful anything like that would appear. Now, where was I… ah yes, moving forward, we have sent an invite to Sultan Gazi and his son Tariq for the winter ball. Even Aldemir is offered a chance to come."

The empress smirked. She already knew Aldemir would ask how she created what he now used, what he followed. There were going to be so many questions on why she decided to not use woad mastery herself."Good, they can be guests of honor. They'll get the chance to see the empire not as a neighbor, but hopefully, a friend outside their borders. Are they already sending that dust?"

"Yes, and we are sending the requested runestones for their hot air balloons. We have also sent invites to the mayors of each town and city. This will have an enormous impact when the aristocracy sees that they have power only over their companies, not over the government. Next on the report is something minor, quite so actually. Wrox has been verified as planning a break away from the Kohar Confederacy assault on Caerel City in the next month."

The empress looked up at the ceiling and smirked. "He's going to attack our borders, isn't he? Great, that's going to scare the other chieftains."

"We've done what we can to settle things with those tribes. What he does is entirely on his head now, there's no negotiating anymore," Gala told her as she closed the app for the dress.

"What happens… happens," Selene remarked. "Next?"

Will crossed his legs and put a hand on his mechanical knee. "An interesting note circulating around right now beyond that bonehead ready to start a war is that the Church of the Clockwork Empress is spreading a false story of how you came to be."

The auburn-haired woman leaned back a little and slightly adjusted her arm. Her daughter didn't notice. "Great… I need to figure out a counter to what they're saying."

The chief of staff cocked his head a little. "Like your origin?"

Selene dropped her head, chin pressed against her chest with her hands on her hips as she exhaled. "Yeah…"

"Ma'am… it may be a good idea to either have a cover story written for you to follow… or…" Will hesitated, remembering the response from last time, "we've already had this discussion, so I'll just end it by saying you should start getting good at lying or accepting some things as truth when anyone asks about your life… if you decide to share any information about it, that is. They're trying to fill in gaps in their faith. That's difficult to do when their head priest is making things up as he goes."

Selene looked at him for a long second before averting her gaze, nodding finally in agreement and stifling a laugh. That was what they were doing from the beginning anyway, why should it change now? There would have to be an explanation as to where she came from, her past, and what she does now, which was intentionally designed to be vague. "Was there anything else?"

"Sadly, yes. Our laws did not quite account for the loop found in attempting to create a monopoly in a sector of the economy."

"Fuck… er… I mean…" the woman looked down at her daughter, her little eyes not opening once.

"She's still asleep," Gala reported softly.

The dev sighed in relief and nodded, swapping to a com channel to speak. "Who is doing it?"

"The very same aristocrats you are meeting with during the ball. While we made it illegal to attempt hostile takeovers and luring another corporation into selling out for a lopsided merger or acquisition, they've found a way to somehow continue by buying up any unrelated companies that sell key resources for research or advancement of their product, locking anyone else out of the respective market. This causes their competitor to go through only them involuntarily, eventually finding that they can no longer support themselves without raw materials or with those overpriced contracts and get bought up when at their weakest. The other rich and wealthy are not going this route, intending to try and follow your laws; this has allowed them to build up comfortably at a slow pace, without having to worry about backhanded actions being taken."

"What? How the heck do they have those kinds of funds… oh, the liquidations! Probably their little bunkers had a pile of gold hidden away as well. Oh, damn it… you'd think they've had this kind of stuff happen before…" Selene's view of the top .01% was quite low right now. Most of the movers and shakers were fine, adapting to her rule and making a profit right now. The select few causing disturbances were the ones she hadn't had executed after the demon war.

"Indeed." The chief of staff watched his creator facepalm with her right hand, shaking her head slowly. They had done what they could to set laws, regulations, and policies to keep things like this from happening, but nothing was perfect. There were always going to be people who would think outside the box to get ahead without working like everyone else. This was what the constant recommendations from the citizens sent to the governors were for, to update the laws regularly to protect against these things, to protect against those who would step on others to get ahead quickly.

The empress rolled her eyes. "I'll work with Donovan on getting a new law in place to put an end to that once I review any information from our governors, monopolies tend to stifle advancement and hold back the future. If it works, maybe we can use incentives to push them towards never attempting such a thing again. I swear, I didn't let them get lynched with their antics after the war, and this has emboldened them…"

"… … Do you want to –" Will shut up over the channel as she looked up at him with one wide eye popping out of her fingers, surprised he'd offer that option up; he visibly jumped for a split second as he put his hands up in surrender. That should be a last resort, one where she knew there was just no working with them. They were greedy, yes, and willing to do whatever it took to earn a little more precious coin that they couldn't take to their graves. That didn't always necessarily mean they needed to die just because of their drive to become even wealthier; the silver lining right now was that they had shown a fault in her laws, which they would now address. That at least told her that her government was doing its job and catching whatever could negatively impact the economy. In essence, these corrupt aristocrats were unknowing guinea pigs banging their heads against a wall while they were being observed. There was going to be more stress for them trying to weasel around the laws than Donovan gleefully helping his empress patch the holes in less than a day.

"Alright, send the report tomorrow, and I'll review it. I'll… figure out something with Morlan's father, Eve can stick with Dahlia in the library for the day and go on a reading spree. Um, get something prepared for the Orc Destroyers as a participation reward. Although we didn't sponsor the tournament and the whole thing was rigged, at least they can get something for their effort. Common quality tier could be an upgrade for a few pieces of gear that have been falling apart." Her inventory was opened with a flick of her eye, a few full suits of common quality equipment crafted within a few seconds. Uncommon was crafted right after, along with professional. She had not given much thought to their gear after the abbey crisis.

"Very well. Have a good rest of the night, ma'am. Oh, one last thing, there should be a census report recently taken. You should take a look at the races now living. A vampire apparently has decided to somehow immigrate and is working as a receptionist in Silvinholm." Selene gawked at him, opening the census report immediately. Will stood up and gave her a slight nod, his optics swapping over to the sleeping princess for a moment. How a vampire decided to live amongst humans and elves, with some half-orcs, was anyone's guess. There were quite a few other races that were definite minorities slowly sifting in as well, some considered evil by stereotype and just trying to survive like everyone else. Snow slowly started to fall outside the windows as he left, with Gala following behind to finish the work on the dress.

That was when Morlan, Elsei, and the Valkyrja finally came home, walking through the hallways and reaching the living room. "Hey, guys. How was your trip?" All of them had their eyes on the little girl holding onto Selene. None of them knew how to respond as Eve woke up, curious as to what was causing noise and looking back at them with her blue eyes. The resemblance was there. The group just wondered what the explanation was going to be.

Meanwhile

"Put out the fire! Quickly!" a guard shouted to others at the royal palace, two figures slipping away during the chaos towards the north. The distraction had worked, with no one noticing the hoods or movement.

"Was this really necessary?" the second figure asked in a feminine voice as they jumped just over a pipe and continued onward, following her charge and her three tails.

"It was the only way to run away, and those assassins gave the perfect opportunity! What, did you expect us to go through the front door? They'd never let me pass without a full escort!" the smaller figure replied back, zipping to a corner and staying pressed against the wall as more guards ran to help. Once they were gone, the two partners dove under a small breach in the wall that was protecting the city from outside monsters. They were finally free.

"Your highness, why? There's no reason to –"

The smaller figure stopped for a moment and looked up at the clear night sky, removing her hood for a moment and breathed deep, her hime haircut of platinum blonde with white highlights shifting with the removal of her cover, two fox ears popping up and wiggling slightly. The guardian to her back removed her hood to reveal blood-red hair pulled tightly back in a small bun held together with chopsticks, a single black lock hanging over her forehead and pointing towards an eyepatch. Her left wolf ear was missing a section gouged out from the back, two gold earrings dangling below it. They were closer to humans in form than an animal, what the Artinians called catgirls as if all of them were related to felines. Their kind were considered 'high birth' in their language, being anthropomorphic as compared to zoomorphic like many others living as commoners in the nation. The cast system was something else that the princess wanted to get away from. There were too many friends she had made that she could no longer be near anymore due to her father and the shogunate.

The princess looked around carefully, sensing movement around the corner of the walls. "We have to continue, I'm not sticking around in this damned country to be married off. Every one of those bastards thinks they can just have me sit pretty on a pillow due to my ancestry, a trophy wife. I'm not here to be a prize for them to grant their wishes. My mother would have never stood for them pressuring my father if she was still alive…"

"Your highness, where are we to go? We have limited funds that will not last forever!" Her escort responded.

"I've heard rumors of some merchants returning from the north; supposedly, the empire there has vanquished the kingdom of Artinia. It's just a rumor, but even then, we can still head towards the forest at the edge of our lands and slip away. Thankfully, the guards have not punished those caravans."

"Princess Miyuki, that is a good three day's travel. You aren't up for that kind of adventure."

"I'll manage. I have to. The alternative… if I stay here, I might as well slit my own throat. Help me get there, Luko. Please. We can catch a ride from one of the convoys, slip past the patrols." The young teenager's golden-green eyes locked onto the royal protector's, pleading for her to stick with her for this. The only thing the warrior could do was sigh and nod, then immediately start growling, pull her katana, and charge straight towards the princess. It startled Miyuki, believing her bodyguard and friend was going to betray her; that was quickly found out to be false as she cut down two assassins still skulking in the weeds, noticing them before they could pounce.

"We need to leave now!" Luko shouted as three others jumped from the nearby tree to the ground, heading towards them. The wolf woman's bag of tricks was filled for this endeavor, with a flash bomb used to blind them for the assault she unleashed. Once they were dealt with by Luko involving swift strikes that seemed as fast as lightning, the princess's bodyguard grabbed her hand and ran. Their destination was away from their home, straight into a land far from familiar to the north… right into the middle of the Clockwork Empire. Luckily, the city guard was all too busy searching for more assassins inside the walls than outside to notice the flash of light in the distance.

Luko stopped running with her charge and let her rest, looking over both of their bodies as the princess sat. "We're going to need new clothes and ways to somehow change your hair color; There's got to be a way to somehow hide your tails as well, we'll need to find one who is knowledgeable in the ways of magic for that. Come on." While their reasoning to leave seemed odd, their choice was now made. What they didn't understand was the trouble they were about to create for those they would eventually meet.