The sounds of filolials and her demi-human children playing filled the training yard. Oh, they were meant to be training, but despite the age they appeared to be at their minds were that of children and they're training exercises had devolved into a game of dodgeball. The main difference was that the 'ball' was whatever elemental attacks they could use and teams were fluid and ever-changing.
Of course, she wasn't truly watching them. It was amazing to use her Soul affinity to see how even something as simple as a game seemed to change something within their souls.
Jessica had no idea what it was. The affinity and the strange sight it granted didn't exactly have a guidebook, but the colours were associated with the elements they favoured and whether or not they were using it aggressively or defensively. Their joy was also clear to see.
The despair and fear that Eclair and the other prisoners had been very different. Jessica hoped that with a larger mental database of what the colours in her Soul Sight meant, she could read emotion and maybe even predict actions.
Still, she was glad the kids were having some fun, even if it was not for the incredible defence their levels, equipment and enhancement that the Weapons offered them combined with the attack debuff she'd placed on all of them the game would have been a lethal battle which would have ended in seconds.
Instead, Jessica couldn't stop smiling at their clear, unrestrained joy.
The shocked looks of her Knights and the nobleman who had been acting as their trainer as they showed incredible skill and power with every move was simply a joyful addition.
It was unfortunate that Jessica couldn't keep her full attention on the training yard inside the castle grounds. Her senses and the powerful extrasensory skills that let her see magic for several kilometres, even through walls, was instead used to confirm that the modifications she'd made to her castle were complete. Her Soul Sight let her see that even something inanimate like her home had a soul of some type and each enchantment she added warped it somehow.
It was amazing and eerie and tempted her to keep adding to the already beautiful looking castle.
Dozens of different types of magics, rare catalysts acting as foci and storage devices combined with the enchantments that the Cane gave her access to made the entire castle a massive trap under her complete control. Even if the Cane rejected her as it did her father it would still serve her well. It had been a difficult project, but two weeks after her arrival within this world, she finally started to feel like this castle was truly safe.
No teleportation, except for specific locations of her choice that she could change on a whim. Powerful traps that could even cripple Motoyasu despite his high level and the three power-up methods he could use and best of all, it gave her near-perfect clairvoyance over the entire castle now that she had infused the area with her magic.
She couldn't wait to do the same to the entire city.
It would protect her people from the Waves to come and ensure that Mirellia's spies would be helpless to run and hide from her.
Jessica would never let Mirellia take something from her again-No, she thought. Took a deep breath and cut off that thought.
It wasn't the first time she'd been forced to do this.
Mirellia was not a monster. She was a ruler in a difficult situation. Malty hated her mother. Jessica only considered her an obstacle to securing control over Melromarc.
Oh, Jessica would kill her, but it wasn't personal.
Thing was, Jessica had badly underestimated how much Malty was influencing her. Every thought, every memory that Jessica had of her previous life was crystal clear, but the fact was that her brain had once belonged to Malty. Her studies of Soul Magic made her suspect that the brain of the body she was in would warp according to Jessica's soul, but what that meant was uncertain.
"Princess," said Raphtalia. Shattering Jessica's reverie, "I wanted to speak to you about something."
Jessica closed her mind's eye. Turned her attention solely to the young lady she'd chosen as the leader of her demi-human army and studied her carefully. She seemed okay, dressed in her training leathers, with messed up hair and a couple of small bruises.
"What is it?" she asked gently as she led them to a small table hidden within a shade. A maid served them two glasses of water.
Raphtalia looked down at her feet, but a smile from Jessica allowed her to gather the courage needed to speak. "Rifana was with me," she said haltingly. The name sparking a memory within Jessica's mind. "The man who tortured me before selling me to the Slave Trader hurt her as well. I-I don't know his name, but…" The racoon demi-human trailed off and took a large sip of water.
She was shaking.
Jessica's fury multiplied as the hold Idol Rabier had on one of her's became clear. The Princess' fingers began to tap the marble table. Each impact cracking the stone before she caught herself and deliberately moved her hand away.
Her mind was clear. Rabier couldn't die. Not yet. He was still hunting for Naofumi and some of his Vassals were as well. Losing them could be problematic in the long run if Naofumi escaped because she decided to annihilate them. To be certain, she'd managed to set more and more people who were reliable on the search and inserted trustworthy allies into the search parties, but losing out of Naofumi because of Raphtalia wasn't an acceptable exchange. Plus, she had no control over the Church's search. Adding more variables to that mess was not acceptable.
That didn't mean she could do nothing, "Tell me all that you can," she said firmly, "I will track this bastard down. The Bow Hero and some of my Knights are already cutting down the slavers," and the defiant who dared to oppose her, "It's possible that the scum who tormented you is already dead...and if he isn't he will die soon."
She promised nothing about Rifana. A strange sort of cowardice stopped her from stating the obvious. The girl was likely to be dead.
Raphtalia, young as she was despite her maturity and intelligence, beamed. "Thank you," she said.
Jessica chuckled lightly, careful to keep her thoughts hidden, "It's my duty, Raphtalia." she said, "I have to fix what my mother and her ancestors have ruined and honestly, it isn't enough. I'll have to work for a lifetime to even start to help my country recover."
"You'll do it," she said firmly, "I'll help. Priam and the others are already pretty strong and the Spear Hero is nice as well."
"And I'm grateful for that," said Jessica with a nod, a sense of exhaustion filling her, "but it will cost us blood, time, money and a great deal of effort to even start. Worse, we will weaken ourselves and the other nations will smell blood. War is almost inevitable and my mother, the Church and the many foolish nobles in my domain will not make it easy."
It was disturbing to look back and see that she'd killed hundreds of people and thousands of monsters during the last two weeks. She wasn't sure why, but even now, there was no guilt and the idea of killing her enemies brought nothing more than a brief feeling of satisfaction.
She had never imagined that killing people could be so easy. Ruthlessness was one thing, but being so lethal was another.
Another example of how Malty had distorted her.
It was something she appreciated. This cesspit of a world wasn't survivable without extreme actions. Still, it unnerved her to realize how much she had changed. Jessica was glad that she'd caught it early, sheer coincidence had permitted her study of Soul Magic to teach her of the after-effects of a successful possession. How the host inevitable affected the spirit.
The book had been ancient, incomplete and difficult to obtain. House Tenik had probably failed to even start using it, but it had been the greatest treasure she'd plundered from their home.
