Ch.3 The Crimson Empress, Justina Bloodfallen
A couple of days have passed since the negotiations, and Justina's face has cleared of the black spots. Currently, Justina is in the company of her mother. Shalltear has a time each day to enjoy a chat with her daughter. Usually over tea and snacks in a room that overlooks the empire. Looking out the window, Justina happily watches as Aura is training some new dragons for her armed forces. Aura's appearance hasn't changed much, but she has grown a few inches and has modified her clothes accordingly, same goes for Mare.
A bat flutters into the room next to Shalltear and she looks at it "Thank you for telling me." She says to the bat as it disappears. She gets her daughter's attention and informs her "It looks like another group of assassins have come for you. Shall I deal with them, Justina?" Shalltear begins to file her nails to both groom herself and prepare.
Justina faces her mother and answers "No, I think I'll deal with them, personally. They were cowardly enough to use the back entrance and even more tactless to try to drug us. I think a nightmare is what they deserve, so I'll give it to them." She holds up her cup and Shalltear smirks at its stupidity. Justina finishes her drink and then proceeds to leave for her throne while ordering her servants to back off.
The group of assassins is actually a small group of warriors from the Slane Theocracy sent to assassinate Justina, a common occurrence and Flamel experiences the same from time to time. Shalltear looks at a nearby servant and orders her "Look for the traitor, who added this junk to our tea, and bring her to me."
Justina passes the throne room where her black knight stands guard. The black knight watches as the empress equips herself with several rings, a necklace, a few hairpins, bracelets, and a belt of varying colors and gems. Seeing her getting prepared for the intruders, the black knight asks "Wouldn't you rather have me take them? I feel like you're wasting your valuable time, Lady Justina."
Justina looks at her knight and replies "No, I've taking a liking to a young lady in their group. I plan on making her one of us."
The black knight looks to the side "Just like me…" she says to herself.
Justina sits in her throne and orders her knight to leave because the intruders are almost here. Without any further word, the black knight leaves the throne room. Justina sits and then closes her eyes and looks like she's sleeping. The intruders enter the room, all but one where armor giving the impression of angels.
There are six in total, two men and four women. The sixth, the one not wearing armor, is a priestess with brown hair like that of sweet chocolate, and Justina can smell the perfume from the priestess and smiles a little.
The priestess speaks up "Guys, this isn't right. I thought we were here to overthrow the empress by using honorable tactics. Not to drug and slit her throat while she can't even fight back."
One of the warriors rebukes "Not this garbage again. We were picked to handle this tyrant because they knew knew we'd handle it. All YOU have to do is heal and support us. Your role isn't to kill, just support."
Another assures her "Yeah, so don't feel too bad about this. She's an evil oppressor to begin with. Using these underhanded methods is just going to make the lives of everyone easier."
The priestess nods a little and the other five hold out their weapons. Another warrior states "I can't believe we're going to end over 200 years of fear with this one attack." She says while charging at the seemingly asleep Justina with a spear that she plunges towards the empress. However, the spear head somehow reverses on the warrior and her head is run through by her own weapon as her blood spills all over the area and even some lands on Justina's cheek.
One warrior screams "She's supposed to be drugged…(Justina's red eyes open and glow with power) she's waking up!"
Justina stands and a small vortex is shown around her body "A simple trick, but one I wanted to practice." She used a very easy magical portal so small with the entrance being where the spear entered, and the exit being in front of the warrior's head.
The other warriors try to scramble, but Justina simply jumps in the way of their exit and has a smile on her face while licks the spattered blood off her cheek "Hmm….she needed more sugar in her diet."
The warriors quickly try to get their footing back and pull their silver weapons "Quick, cast a speed enhac…." One warrior tries to say before he's grabbed swiftly by Justina, who pulls off his helmet and plunges her fingers into his head as his body quickly shrivels up and the veins in her hand bulge. She pulls out her fingers, which are now coated in the warrior's blood and smiles while the blood is soaked into her skin.
One warrior drops her weapon "She can drink blood with her fingers? What kind of vampire is she!?" this warrior manages to flee through another door that she barely sees. Justina ignores this and looks at the remaining three intruders.
The priestess looks determined and glows while she casts multiple buffing spells on her two remaining comrades, who both try to use martial artes which causes their swords to glow with bright lights and they appear to connect with something but the they simply find their swords embedded into the floor, and that they feel like their hands between each other are gripped to something tightly.
"You can let me go." One says in a slight desperation since Justina's body isn't anywhere.
"I'm not doing anything. You let ME go." She replies until they both raises their arms and see something horrifying, their hands have been fused together and they can't separate as they become fearful when they see Justina approach them in the shadow.
The priestess can only watch in horror as the crimson empress plunges her index finger into the forehead of one of the warriors, piercing her helmet, and then, without seeing it, her body along with her ally is sucked dry of all their blood and their bodies become like empty sausage casings. Horrified by her comrades being slaughtered so easily, the priestess looks at the empress and appears a little more angry than afraid "You're a monster." She says.
Justina looks at her index finger and licks it "Oh, am I now?" she replies. Justina approaches the priestess and asks "If I'm such a monster, then why was it YOUR people that sent you to the slaughter?"
The priestess rebukes "You know nothing! I'm a holy priestess sent to…." Her words cut off by Justina getting very close to her with a dark intention.
"They sent you to test my power. Just like all the rest." Justina says to the confusion of the priestess. Justina explains "The slane theocracy is actually jealous of me and the Philosophers Empire because we have superior power, agriculture, and people. In my empire, I have abolished slavery, all races are welcomed, and I've shown zero tolerance for lawbreaking of any sort. In light of this, my people obey me and work themselves to serve this nation. Whereas the YOUR people simply discriminate and do whatever they please as long as it's for their gods." Then Justina looks at the priestess and tells her "I can smell the elf blood in you."
The priestess looks at the ground sadly and then begins crying because apparently Justina's recognition of her heritage has caused some painful memories to come back.
However, the Crimson Empress then sweetly says "But I could tell that you were different from those five pigs that intruded in my sacred chambers. I can see the beauty of your character in mind and body. I can tell that you're worth far more than they could have ever seen." The priestess looks at the empress with slight astonishment and a blush, Justina then blushes herself and asks "Would you like to become one my Vampire Brides?" She then takes a chalice, places it in front of the priestess, slits her wrist with her nail, and lets her blood flow into it. After a moment, Justina says "Drink every drop, and I promise that you'll only know happiness for as long as you exist."
The priestess hesitates for a moment, but then looks at the empress and thinks to herself "She's…a force of nature…so glorious, so powerful…so wise…and so beautiful. I can't believe my eyes, its like…looking at her gives me hope." Then, the holy maiden drinks from the cup.
While the maiden drinks, much to Justina's pleasure, Aura enters the room with her hands casually behind her head "Hey, Lady Justina, I think one got away." She says to her empress.
Justina doesn't look at Aura and reminds her "Yes, but that unfortunate soul made a fatal error."
Aura, confused for a moment, looks at the alternate path, the one the last intruder used, and smiles "Oh yeah, that place. I keep forgetting that you had the nursery built near your throne room."
Justina sighs a little around her friend "What am I to do? The vampires I rule have a strange habit of breeding behind my back."
The two share a slight laugh but then Justina asks "Oh yes, Aura, would you please ask some of the maids to prepare for a cleaning job in the nursery it'll probably need one soon."
Aura simply nods and walks away with zeal in her face. Happy as always to see Aura, Justina returns to the priestess, who has finished drinking the blood from the chalice and now her skin has become pale and her eyes now glow red and are black. She looks at herself with a smile and her new empress commands "Now then, I'll have you go to my chambers, and I'll see you tonight." As the new vampire bride walks past the throne like she already knows where the chamber is.
The last intruder is running down a dimly lit corridor and enters a door to a dark room. She breathes heavily and her heart is beating so rapidly she can almost hear it. She sits down on the floor and removes her helmet "I can't believe how powerful she actually is. I have to get back and warn the others." She says through her panic.
She then hears a childish voice asking "Is it time for lunch?" and then she looks and sees a small child in front of her holding a teddy bear. Because of the room, she believes the child to be a prisoner.
Slightly relieved, the warrior kneels down to tell the child "Yes, I'll help you get out of here and then…" she gasps when she looks at the child's glowing red eyes and then panics when she sees a bunch of red eyes begin to glow in the room. She turns to the door and tries to open it "It won't open!" she screams and she turns to see a bunch of child vampires looking at her with their mouths opened.
Outside the door, Mare is the one who sealed the door with magic, but he rather offhandedly mentions "I hope I don't get in trouble if they spoil their meal." He then walks off to inform the cooks of this little mid-afternoon snack.
In Ainz's point, he has arrived in a forest outside the tomb and has already dawned his armor as Momon, but has changed the color to be a dark green with silver trim in the event that he could be recognized.
The great ruler of the tomb then makes his journey by going to the place where his conquest began, Carne Village, but things are a bit different. The once small and otherwise defenseless village has fallen under the rule of Justina as evident by a statue of herself near another statue of Ainz and the village has been transformed into a small city with fortified housing, a sizable stone wall, and many crops full of flourishing crops. The newly crafted town, now named "Carne City" has apparently grown exponentially over the centuries, much to Ainz's delight.
"That girl must have really done fine job guiding her people here. It does me proud, I must admit." Ainz looks and sees something that may challenge this notion, a vampire in red armor in the town who appears to be arguing with a woman wearing very fine clothing, most likely a high ranking official.
"We're working as fast as we can, but these vegetables need time to grow." The woman states to the vampire.
The vampire looks mad as he replies "Lady Justina is losing her patience with this town. She has been gracious enough to give you an important task, and you're doing nothing but disappointing her."
The woman waves her arm and explains "We're a small town, we can't sustain the agriculture of the entire Crimson Empire alone, and exporting labor and wares hurts our economy."
The vampire turns and gives her a warning "Do not cross the empress. I will return in three weeks, and I'd better hear of increased product output." And then he warps away causing the woman to kick a nearby well out of frustration.
Upon getting closer, Ainz does see a familiar face in the woman. She sees him approaching and adjusts herself a little to be a little more cheery and happily greets him "Welcome to our quant little town, sir adventurer. I'm the mayor of this fine little place, Mayor Bareare." When getting closer, Ainz does indeed recognize her as someone descended from Enri Emmot as the mayor has her face but her hair is quite different as its long but tied into a single spiral on the back of her head and a bang covers part of her face and her hair is blond. She is most likely the great-granddaughter of Enri and Nfirea.
Mayor Bareare sees the awkward situation asks "Did you see that?" and Ainz nods which causes her to become bummed out.
Being considerate in this situation, he asks "What was that? Were you being extorted, perhaps?"
The mayor sighs and answers "No, it's just that our town has been facing a little bit of trouble lately, that's all. But it's nothing an adventurer needs to worry about."
Not wanting to stir anything up, (Ainz will now be referred now as Momon) Momon simply says "Very well then, but I am an adventurer, so I'm willing to take any job as long as I can be paid. If my help is needed, I'll be in town for a little while."
The mayor smiles and tells him "If its work you're looking for, we have a guild in town with some jobs ready to be go." Momon leaves the mayor after she tells him about the work ready to be accepted and decides that taking a job may be the easiest way of finding the empire's capital.
However, while exploring the town, Momon sees a small group of young adults dressed as farmers carrying a young man with an arrow sticking from his back, and he walks over to investigate. The young adults are tugging at the arrow but it's in there good.
Momon tells them "Don't pull out the arrow yet. It'll only cause the bleeding to worsen." He makes his way to help out the young townsfolk and notices that the arrow sticking out of their friend looks like it was crafted for a soldier's bow. After inspecting the arrow, he asks "Where were you when he was struck?"
One of the young adults informs Momon that they were traveling back from the capital when they were assaulted by bandits who stole their supplies. After sharing their info, he gives them a potion to help their friend recover. Seeing something of interest, Momon decides to investigate it. He has a feeling that history is going repeat itself very soon.
