Re:Ring Ascending in Another World

by Ubimarv

Defeated, his army destroyed and scattered around Middle-Earth, now the Dark Lord could only wander in the Void waiting for the Dagor Dagorath where he would be summoned to fight in the Battle of all Battles...or so he thought, as an admirer of him gave him a second chance to restart in another world...

2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Mairon was sitting in the room prepared for him. It was not quite to his liking, but it would do for now. A few hours ago, he and Emilia had arrived from the capital. The journey was rather uneventful due to the fact that Emilia had fallen asleep on the road.

To his immense surprise, the ground dragons that had pulled the carriages were incredibly fast, having some sort of blessing that allowed them to negate wind resistance and run at nearly ninety-six an hour for a few hours each day before it ran out. Mairon was already considering how to utilize this for other uses, but it had shortened a journey that would normally be several days if not a week, to four hours.

Still, that had left him with a lot of time to consider his future plans. If he was going to become the Eru of this new world he will need knowledge, power, and influence. He was not sure where to get the first but that might come on its own while looking for the third. The second was already there but he needed the knowledge to make it grow exponentially in this new world. In his current state he was very strong, perhaps even the strongest being in this new world but nowhere near Melkor or Eru.

Gaining influence was likely to be the easiest one since he already acquired some of that by allying himself with Emilia. Now he just needs to make her Queen and from there he will have all the influence he needs to gather the knowledge he needed. He had briefly thought of becoming King himself but had ultimately decided it was not worth the hassle. After all, what was a king in the eyes of a God?

He marched towards the entrance of his room; he didn't need to sleep so staying there was unproductive. He started to walk down the corridor before noticing that he was in a loop. Now isn't that curious? Of course, he could just break it and go on but he was quite interested in seeing who was doing this and why was he being kept in such a spell. He analysed his surroundings, feeling magic energy coming from a nearby door and opened it only to find a library with a humanoid spirit in the middle, reading a book.

'It would seem that knowledge was not too far away after all,' the Dark Lord thought stepping in noticing the look that the spirit gave him.

Many would have thought that the spirit was a human child but he of all people knew better than to judge a book by its cover. He could feel her magical presence and power with ease, giving away her true nature.

"Greetings," he saluted her with a small bow. "I am deeply sorry for my intrusion. I did not mean to disturb you."

The girl threw him another look, "Well at least you have some manners, I suppose."

"My name is Mairon Annatar. I arrived here only recently so please, do forgive me if I do not know your name yet," he continued, raising his head.

The girl returned to reading her book. "Beatrice"

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Beatrice, are you the spirit keeper of this library?" he asked smiling.

It was for but a brief moment but he saw a glint of disappointment in the girl's eyes soon followed by annoyance. It would seem he had made a mistake...of what kind he wondered? This was a magical library no doubt. He could feel it all around him and the keeper was a spirit, perhaps it was the spirit's job to determine who should have access to its knowledge? And by showing an interest he already failed the trial?

"Your eye is quite observant, I suppose. Are you an Elf or perhaps an Artificial Spirit that looks like one?" Beatrice replied calmly, flipping a page of her book. "Indeed, I am the guardian of this library and you can now return to your master."

Mairon's raised an eyebrow at being called an artificial spirit...but he couldn't really deny it, he was made by Eru after all but that could be said for all of Arda since it was the fruit of Eru and the Valar's work. Yet in a godless world such as this one, it probably was more fitting. For a second he considered the idea that the spirit in front of her knew about Melkor but he shut down that thought instantly.

Beatrice, on the other hand, was quite shocked when the man's presence washed over her, the sheer power emanating from him was almost overwhelming her. She was ready to spring into action to defend the library if need be, yet she doubted she could keep him from taking her mother's knowledge by force. Hopefully, the master of the spirit in front of her wasn't interested in bloodshed...though she wondered how strong his master was if the spirit he created was this powerful.

"You are mistaken," he replied, firmly correcting her. "I have no master. I was created yes, just like every single being in the world and like everyone else, I am not chained to anyone," he said calmly slowly walking towards her. "I am free."

Beatrice found the concept of a completely free artificial spirit weird, why would anyone create a spirit without giving them a purpose or a task?

"Good for you I suppose," Beatrice said still not looking at him. "So you are a wanderer without any purpose."

"I give myself purpose, I choose my own path and goals," he explained to her. "Just as I chose to help Lady Emilia."

"With what goal in mind? Gaining trivial things like power and reputation?" Beatrice asked shaking her head.

"Having a nice story to tell when my final journey comes. I explore, learn, document, and adventure, all in the pursuit of greater knowledge and wisdom."

"There is nothing for you here to learn, I suppose, you may leave." she replied

"Do you have empty books?" he asked, an idea forming in his mind.

Beatrice stared at him wide-eyed for a second but she then calmed down. "What do you mean by that I suppose?"

"Books that I can write on, I wish to add my contribution to this wonderful library," he said, gesturing to the shelves around them.

Betty huffed. "As if you would be able to fill up a book," she said, shaking her head as she got up and grabbed a few books with no title nor content. "But I'll amuse you, if you manage to fill up this one with something I don't already know of I might take you seriously...that is unless it's all just fantasy, I suppose."

Mairon grabbed the book and smiled "It will be a nice distraction from work," he said, looking genuinely pleased. "One last thing, can you please remove the barrier? I wish to go outside and bask in the sun a little."

Beatrice sat down and returned to her book waving him away. "Shoo Shoo."

The Dark Lord turned around and left the library, looking at the empty books in his hands before walking down the corridor, finally seeing his surroundings changing. The place was silent, after all, it was very early in the morning. He walked out of the mansion and stepped into the courtyard. He needed to map out and understand his surroundings and so he observed the entire area just like he did back in the city, casting his mind and sight out into the lands around him. There wasn't much to see; aside from the mansion, there was a small village, mountains, and a thick forest where many beasts lived.

Mairon then noticed that he was surrounded by countless little lights of many colours. Intrigued, he moved away and found that the lights followed him. "Spirits?" he thought aloud.

The lights started flickering and his ears heard many voices saying yes. He found the situation interesting although expected as at that moment his being was emanating the aura of the gentle and pure Mairon, Son of Eru. He sat down, his legs crossed as he formulated a plan of action in his mind.

He needed power, and to gain that power, he needed much knowledge and resources and the easiest way to attain those things in his mind was to make Emilia Queen. From his understanding, Emilia should be the least favoured candidate due to her appearance resembling the Witch but he knew that it didn't mean much. He briefly considered joining the other members of the Royal Selection that he had learned about from Elsa's mind, but he was certain that the others would be wary of him while Emilia trusted him already. No, it would be too much work to start again, and it would be a betrayal of his image as an honourable knight to foreswear an oath of service.

What he needed now were soldiers. This world did not have orcs, not that he would use them anyway. They were far too unseemly for the purpose of being his and Emilia's dashing and knightly army. No, he soldiers... like the Elves. That thought was not entirely strange, he had once sought to deceive the Elves into his service after all, but after millennia of the Elves being the chief obstacles to his order it almost disgusted him now but that was what he needed...but how? He could gather normal people and subjugate them to his will...but it was risky, the orcs were made for the job, he needed something like them...

'Help. Help. Help,'the little lights said, flickering.

Mairon looked at the small lights...they were offering their help, he almost felt bad for them, but how could he use them?

"My Master," the Witch-king called suddenly, emerging from Mairon's shadow scaring off the spirits. "You gave us bodies...you can give them one also..."

Mairon brought his hand to his chin, thoughtful. "I need a forge..."

"A forge?" Emilia asked suddenly, coming out of the mansion as the Witch-king returned to the shadow at the wave of Mairon's hand dismissing him.

Mairon turned around to greet her "Yes indeed, I am a craftsman, I was thinking about making a fine suit of armour for you."

"Armour?" Emilia asked tilting her head. "But…Why?"

"A queen must have armour for when she goes to war with her knights," he explained, his amber eyes upon her amethyst, staring at her. "A silver armour for a silver queen."

Emilia started squirming a bit, "Umm...but silver is..."

"You must turn your weakness into strength," Mairon cut her off, "if you take away their ability to insult you they will be harmless."

"I-I see," Emilia slowly nodded. "But...I don't plan to go to war..."

"Good," he replied confusing the half-elf. "A queen must strive for peace but be prepared for war at all times and when that time comes she must look splendid, to inspire her followers. Your armour will be perfect, functional and effective, and also beautiful, just like you."

Emilia blushed. "Alright then," she replied before noticing the many lights that were surrounding him. "The spirits like you a lot huh?"

Mairon nodded, "It appears to be so, they follow me everywhere. May I ask my lady, why you are awake this early?"

"Oh that is because it is my morning routine, at this hour I usually talk to the spirits a bit and then go to study how to manage a nation for the rest of the day," Emilia explained excitedly.

"What about combat practice?" Mairon asked, raising an eyebrow

"Combat practice?" Emilia repeated blinking a few times.

"Swordsmanship, archery, martial arts," Mairon continued only to be stared at by Emilia. "Do you at least study wars to learn about the strategies and tactics used to achieve victory...?" he asked as Emilia shook her head.

'This...is going to be harder than I have first foreseen' the Dark Lord thought.

"I am a spirit user so I don't see why those matter..." Emilia muttered.

"That's not good," Mairon replied shaking his head. "Puck isn't always with you, is he? What if his magic fails or is countered in some way? You must be able to defend yourself by any means necessary. You are going to be a Queen and you need to be independent and an example for all your subjects," he said getting up. "It is a good thing you have told me this, now we can start working on correcting it."

"Eh?" Emilia asked confused.

"Do you remember? I am a knight and us knights are trained in those things and I have spent much time in the company of Elf Kings and Queens and even those of Men," he replied with a wistful gaze. "In addition, I will give you many of the books of my land so that you may study them and learn from the great monarchs of the past."

"Eh?! Are you serious?" the half-elf asked.

"I am more than serious, I am determined to make you Queen and so I will everything in my power to make you the best one this country ever had," Mairon answered.

"I... I don't think that is possible," Emilia muttered looking away.

"Nonsense, I see everything needed to make that kind of queen in you," he replied placing his hand on her chin and raising her head so that she met his eyes. "First lesson, never turn your gaze away no matter what, you are a queen, you represent your kingdom. You stare at others right in the eyes and make them understand that you are in charge."

Emilia reddened a bit but nodded, "I understand. I... I kind of have to talk to the spirits now..."

He retracted his hand, "Go on then, I don't want to keep you from your duties."

The half-elf nodded and went to the gazebo in the middle of the garden, Mairon was about to leave for the forest when Puck flew to him.

"Oi!" the spirit called.

The dark lord turned around and bowed his head a bit, "Good morning Sir Puck."

"Drop the formalities! Just call me Puck! That 'sir' makes me feel old," the spirits said. "I wanted to thank you for yesterday, without you, things could have turned out really ugly real quick!"

"There is no need for that I-"

"I am not done," Puck cut him off. "I also want to thank you for what you did just now...Emilia needs someone to push her like that, she has a lot of self-doubts..."

"Why is that? Is it caused by something that has happened? Maybe from that Elior Forest she spoke about when we first met?" the Dark Lord inquired frowning a bit.

"We are just as clueless as you, neither her nor I can remember our past...it's like those memories are sealed," the feline spirit explained.

Mairon nodded, "I could try to pry them open...but if there's something terrible in them, she could react badly..." he muttered under his breath. "No, it's too risky, I have to improve her self-esteem first."

Puck was wondering if Mairon was speaking to him or with himself. "Well...you do that."

"One last thing, who's in charge of Emilia's education?"

"Mostly herself," Puck replied.

Mairon resisted the urge to press his face into his palm, "So no instructor?"

"Sometimes Roswaal helps her," Puck said. "But he's the court magician so he can't always teach her...and I don't trust him much."

"I see." Roswaal...the man who is helping Emilia and at the same time trying to sink her. The one who was behind the theft of the insignia and what could easily have been Emilia's murder at the hands of Elsa Grainhiert. "I'll talk to him about her studies and tell him that I want to take over the role of Emilia's teacher."

"That would be nice! Thanks!" Puck replied nodding.

Mairon nodded and returned to his thoughts. He needed to forge, teach, train, and also gain the knowledge of the library...speaking of which…

He grabbed the books he was given and placed his hands on them. The empty pages started to fill with the history of Arda and the customs of its populations...of course, he made sure to remove anything that could cause him problems in the future. What he had was barely enough to write about the history from the Ainulindalë to the beginning of the First Age and to make copies of said books for Emilia. He got up and walked back into the mansion. He was almost amused, the little spirit's spell was ingenious, but not enough to fool him, he thought, as he found the entrance on the first try.

Beatrice stared at him with annoyance at first, but it was soon replaced by amusement. "Back to give up, I suppose?"

He smirked and handed her the books back.

She grabbed and opened one, at first seeing only blank pages. "It would seem that I was rig-" she started before words appeared on the blank pages, words she didn't recognize, names that she had never heard of, lands she had never seen. At first she thought it was all fictional, but it was too detailed, even someone with a lot of imagination wouldn't be able to fantasize about something like this.

"Unfortunately, that's just the making of our lands, there wasn't enough space for the Three Ages of the Sun. "

The spirit looked at him in shock, he had filled books with only the mythology of his lands, her mother would have gone crazy for this kind of knowledge...

She got up and gave him more blank books. "I have to analyse your books more to tell if it's actual history or fiction...have these ones in the meantime, I suppose," she said having regained her composure.

"Thank you Lady Beatrice," he said grabbing the books and leaving. "I will see you tonight then."

With that he left, from the windows, he saw the noon sun in the sky; it had been quite an eventful morning. He was about to return to the garden when he met Emilia escorted by the two maids on the way.

"Oh, there you are Mairon!" Emilia said walking towards him. "Lord Roswaal has returned so we are going to the dining room to meet him."

"I understand, we should not tarry any longer then," he replied nodding as he walked alongside her.

The group walked to the dining room and waited for the master of the mansion to show up. The dark lord was most interested to meet such a person with… curious actions.

The bizarre man finally entered the room after a few minutes and his appearance and mannerisms stunned Mairon. If he hadn't read Elsa's mind he would have thought that a jester had just entered.

Mairon bowed his head a bit in faked respect, "Greetings Lord Roswaal."

"Oooooh myyyyy you must be the heeeeeero I was told about!"

What an annoying way to talk,' the Dark Lord thought but smiled and nodded outwardly to maintain his guise. "Hero is a lofty word, I just did what I thought was right."

"And he is even huuuumble!" the clown remarked as he sat down and the two maids placed themselves at his sides. Everyone else then sat, even Beatrice who had come out of the library. She had a strange reaction to Puck but he paid no attention to it.

The maids served the meal and everyone save Mairon began to eat. "Lord Roswaal, if I am right you are the court magician, is that correct?"

"Indeeeeed I am," Roswaal replied nodding.

"Which means that you are one of the judges of the Royal Selection, am I wrong?" Mairon asked as the others began to stare at him, wondering what he was getting.

"Yeeeees I am," Roswaal replied once again.

Mairon looked at him and crossed his arms, "Then who is Emilia's knight?"

Roswaal narrowed his eyes at him. "You know quite a lot of the inner workings of the kingdom it would seem."

"I did not, until I looked inside the mind of the Bowel Hunter to try and find out who hired her," Mairon said, causing everyone to frown. "Unfortunately I could not find out why she attacked us. There was a spell placed on those memories and I did not have the time to remove it," he lied. Of course... he knew that Roswaal understood he lied, it was his intention to let the mage know that the game was up.

"You can do that?" Emilia asked amazed.

"Sometimes I can but it is very taxing, I hope this will remain private between those of us here only," Mairon requested.

"But of course, anything for Emilia's saviour," Roswaal said seriously. "Speaking of which...what reward do you want? You can ask for anything."

"First, please answer my question," Mairon replied getting a glare from one of the maids.

"Well, I am technically her knight as of now but as you pointed out I am also the Court Magician so I can't also be her knight officially."

Mairon brought his hand to his chin, as if he was troubled. "Then these are my requests..."

Everyone stared at him. Emilia was quite anxious, while the others didn't move an inch, seeming to be frozen with suspense.

"I will be Emilia's knight. From now on her education and training will be under my supervision. I want free use of any mineral and caves of this land and lastly...I need someone who can inform me about the political and economic situation in the kingdom," he declared.

Roswaal burst into laughter. "What interesting requests! But I wonder… how can you teach Emilia without knowing the key figures and details of this kingdom?"

"You will find that I am a very fast learner. I would like to use the library but Lady Beatrice will not allow it so I need someone to help guide me. Furthermore, I have experience serving in the courts of many kings and queens before my arrival here and I have ruled some lands of my own as a lord in the past," he explained calmly.

"Well, I don't have someone like that aside from one of my maids. Would one of them be satisfactory?" Roswaal asked

"If they know everything I have asked, then yes, that would be perfectly acceptable to me," Mairon replied.

"I believe that you will find both of them very capable of that then Sir Mairon. They have they served me for a long time after all!" he said extravagantly. "Soooooo Which one do yooooou want?"

Mairon looked at the two in seeming contemplation, but in his mind, there was little doubt on who he will choose. The pink one, Ram, had a deep hatred for the mage and upon looking deeper into her mind he discovered that besides being the person to hire Elsa, Roswaal was also the person responsible for killing her tribe through the Witch Cult and was now holding her sister as a hostage for her loyalty. To his slight surprise, there were also feelings of affection for her captor intermixed with her hatred. Likely having developed due to her proximity to him for so long.

On the other hand, the blue one, Rem, had a deep hatred for himself that he had to nip in the bud. It was from what she defined as the 'Witch's scent'. More even then her hatred for him due to his apparent scent was a deep hatred for herself...for what he considered the stupidest pathetic reason there was.

Rem during her childhood had lived under her sister's shadow and when their village was attacked Ram had lost her horn and the young Rem had felt relief...and since then she felt guilt for it...for that stupid pathetic second of relief. He wanted to laugh at her and tell her that was divine providence at work but he couldn't for obvious reasons but, in the end, it didn't matter, what really mattered was the fact that she could be manipulated easily and he could use her to manipulate her sister. Unlike Roswaal, he would be their saviour in truth, already having plans for how both sisters could fit into his world order.

The dark lord pointed at the blue-haired maid, having made his decision, and Roswaal nodded. "Veeeeeery weeeell, Rem here will assist yoooooou from now on." Roswaal gestured Rem to stand behind Mairon and she dutifully obeyed. "Sheeeee knoooows where the caves with the minerals areeeee and of course knows all the political figures and details you will need to know wiiiill be haaaaard to maintain the mansioooon without her but we'll maaaanageeee."

"She can still do the housework, she only needs to be available when I need her," Mairon interjected.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you going to do with the minerals?" Emilia asked tilting her head.

"A craftsman needs raw materials in order to make his craft. There are many things that I will need minerals, stone, and ores for. Among which, is the armour that I promised you, and more besides."

Emilia nodded in understanding and turned back to her meal, soon followed by the rest of the table.

"The meal was delicious, my compliments to the chef," he said calmly getting up, once everyone had finished eating. "Maid Rem, if you are not busy right now, I would like to be accompanied to the caves immediately. I have much work to do and every second is important."

The blue-haired maid looked at Roswaal and her sister before walking in front of Mairon and leading him out of the mansion toward the forest.

"Lord Mairon, it is dangerous to walk into this forest alone, there are many demon beasts roaming around. Both the mansion and the village use magical barriers to keep them away but we didn't plan for your cave," Rem advised the Dark Lord.

"I see, fortunately for me, I have an oni accompanying along with my spirit companions," Mairon replied calm and utterly unconcerned by the maid's warning. "When I will find some free time I'll deal with those mabeasts accordingly. We should not continue to keep them alive. Same for anyone or anything that has to do with the Witch Cult. Do you have experience with them?"

Rem slowly nodded, "I do."

"I see, is that why you can't stand my presence?" he suddenly asked causing the maid to stop and stare at him narrowing her eyes. "I am proficient at reading people, I don't need to look inside their heads to tell what they are thinking and from the moment we met, you have harboured nothing but a strong desire to kill me where I stand."

Rem remained silent for a few moments. "Then why did you choose me instead of my sister?"

"A wise man once said 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' I have no desire to be on bad terms with you so I would rather resolve our dispute as soon as possible, especially when the real enemy is so close to us."

Rem raised an eyebrow, "The scent of the witch is on you...that is enough for me to tell friend from foe."

'How irritating,' the Dark Lord thought sighing mentally. He had become aware of this 'scent' when looking inside the maid's mind when they first met. Of course, it would be a trivial matter for him to remove it with a spell, but it was too late to do that now, in relation to the feisty maid at least. He couldn't suddenly remove it now without looking even more suspicious in her blue eyes.

"Then strike me down with all of your might!" he declared boldly, spreading his arms wide. "If that will make you feel better for that single moment that chains you down with guilt so be it."

Rem widened her eyes in rage. "How dare you?!" she roared as she pulled out a morningstar.

Mairon had a pitiful expression on his face. "I cannot stand idle as injustices happen before my very eyes," he said in a sympathetic tone before sidestepping the maid's flail. "You said that you can tell friend from foe and yet you are not aware of the truth," he said pityingly.

"I don't want to hear another word from a follower of the Witch!" Rem screamed stretching her arm towards him. "El Huma!"

A barrage of spears of ice formed around her and launched against the Dark Lord who simply swished his hand and destroyed the ice. "I am no follower of the Witch."

"Then why does her scent lie so thickly upon you?" she demanded, launching her morningstar at him, the spiked metal ball flying straight for his head.

The Dark Lord opened his mouth to answer and tell Rem a half-truth, that he had encountered and fought the Witch before.

No.

The voice spoke in the Dark Lord's head and he immediately understood what that meant and was immensely disturbed by it. Satella may have brought him back to life and he was grateful, but that did not give her the authority nor power to dictate what he could and could not say. He was obviously not going to tell anyone the true story of his connection to Satella but he was bothered by the idea that someone else had a say in his actions. He could simply ignore her and speak anyway of course but he would rather avoid a needless fallout with Satella, not when he was still unsure of what and who she truly was and what she was capable of.

"Because I have met her followers before, in the capital," he finally answered, choosing his story. "They tried to steal Emilia's insignia and when I looked inside their mind their scent passed onto me," he explained grabbing the chain of Rem's weapon and holding it firm before disappearing from sight.

Rem looked around in her blind rage, frantically launching spears of ice in all directions and throwing her flail around to no avail.

"If I wished to harm any of you I would have already done so," Mairon's voice echoed into her mind before he appeared again next to her and placed his hand on her face before she could react. "But you don't have to believe my words...I have proof."

As he said that he forced Elsa's memories and the memories he cherry-picked from Ram into Rem's mind. She saw Roswaal hire Elsa and give her a cloak to fight Puck, and then saw Ram confronting him about the attack on their village and how she knew that he was the one who gave the order to the Witch Cult.

Rem fell to her knees in despair, her rage had dissipated, leaving her only with grief and shame.

Mairon decided to show her one more memory, the last thing he needed to break her completely. In her mind, Rem saw Roswaal threatening Rem's wellbeing and forcing Ram into a contract for her safety.

Rem's world broke, tears started falling from her eyes as the guilt of her mistake became even more unbearable now knowing that Ram had made a pact with the devil out of her love for her.

The Dark Lord was more than satisfied with the result, now that the girl was in an abyss of despair, he could offer her salvation and attain her loyalty forevermore.

Mairon knelt in front of her and offered her his hand, "I took you away from his grasp. Now that you are under my protection, he cannot use you to manipulate Ram. But I need your help if we want to stop his machinations and free your sister. Roswaal is dangerously close to controlling a Royal Candidate, imagine what he could do if Emilia is crowned and he uses her as a puppet. I want to stop him, help me and I will amend the second that haunts you to this day."

Rem stared at him in shock, "How?"

"I have lived for thousands of years...regrowing a horn is not something out of my capabilities," he smiled. "Do you accept my offer?"

Rem nodded hesitantly and took his hand.

"It's safe to say that this conversation never took place," he said as he pulled Rem up to her feet. "As infuriating as it may be, you must keep treating Roswaal like you always did...for now, at least."

"Ram might have seen us though...she can use the animals to hear..." the maid mumbled.

"She did not. I am no fool, no one saw or heard our conversation," he reassured her. "Not without my permission, now let us return to the matter at hand," he gestured to the maid to continue leading him forth "Once we start walking again, she will be able to see us."

Rem nodded and started leading the way towards their destination, the maid occasionally threw a couple of glances at Mairon who returned them with his usual charming smile. It didn't take long for them to reach the entrance of a large cave which she pointed out to him. "This is the place, my lord. There are more of them but this is the biggest."

Mairon crossed his arms and brought his hand to his chin. "It is perfect. Please do inform Emilia that I will be waiting for her tomorrow, early in the morning before her usual talk to the spirits. I will not be joining you for dinner. I will make a room for you so that you may serve me better but you are still free to help with the housework at the mansion. If you happen to see Lady Beatrice tell her that I will be bringing her new books soon enough."

Rem looked a bit puzzled but nodded nonetheless and began walking back to the mansion.

Mairon started forming a barrier at the entrance of the cave which kept those without permission from entering or sensing anything from it, be it by magic, sight, smell, or sound. He would not have Roswaal or Ram prying into his business.

Speaking of business, the Dark Lord was quite eager to start working...but first of all, he needed to make the cave worthy of him. it was very spacious indeed, Rem had not exaggerated when she said it was large, and it will become bigger still given enough time under his care. He was about to begin when the small spirits surrounded him once more, still enthusiastic to see him.

The Dark Lord smirked at them as he raised his hands. At his command, the earth around them began to shake and rumble, and the walls of the cave itself started changing as if the earth was being turned inside out in order to bring out better stones that Mairon desired, marble in particular. The irregular and jagged surfaces smoothened into a grand wall and flooring. Earthen stone partitions surfaced from the ground creating several rooms and his workshop. Inside of the latter, the very earth as Mairon reached deep into the ground to pull a small pool of magma.

With a thought, the Nine appeared around him and kneeled on their left knees before their master.

"My lord" the Witch-king called from his knelt position. "What are your orders?"

"My forge will sing again...It is my will that I have more servants, servants that will need weapons and armour," he said looking at the spirits hiding behind him scared of the Nazgul. "And the volunteers are not missing..."

The next day, Rem and Emilia walked to Mairon's cave. It was very early in the morning, even Emilia was still sleepy but she raised an eyebrow when she saw two knights in armour guarding the entrance to the cave. She had never seen them before, neither at the capital nor in her books.

They were taller than the average man, their body covered in silver plates and white chainmail armour. A cape flowed down from the back of their shoulder pauldrons. But what really caught the attention of the two girls were the knights' helms which had two horns and a Y-shaped opening for sight...yet there was no face behind the helmet, only an empty darkness.

Rem seemed a bit worried by this but Emilia widened her eyes as she felt a familiar presence from the knights. She approached them and they bowed to her in respect.

"You are… spirits." Emilia whispered in shock as the knights raised their helms to stare at her with their empty visors.

"Yes, Your Majesty," one of the knights said in a raspy ethereal voice. "Lord Mairon waits inside…"

Emilia wanted to ask more but chose not to. She knew that Mairon was responsible for the two strange knights and so decided to ask him directly. Once she calmed herself, Emilia noticed what she was standing in front of didn't look like the entrance of a cave at all. Rather, it looked more like the entrance of a palace built within the stone with two massive doors. Just by looking at them she could tell they were very heavy, she wondered how they could even move.

Before she could attempt to open them, the knights placed their metal hands upon the doors, one on each door, and suddenly, glowing markings and embossed art appeared on the door before the giant doors swung themselves open inward. A long hall revealed itself then, all white with smooth polished marble. One might have expected a cave to be dark, but it was brightly lit by bright torches along the walls that seemed to be burning with no wood and never running out. Several columns rose from the floor to the ceiling at least twelve yards above. In front of each great marble column were several more knights standing guard in absolute silence.

It was curious because not all of them bore the same appearance. Some were even larger, with different armour. They were bulkier and had a different type of helmet that made it hard to tell where the eyes were supposed to be. They noticed that as an ornament they bore a small metal dragon on top of their helmets

They seemed to be lost. The girls looked around seeing many doors at each side of the hall but they did not know where to go.

"Lord Mairon is this way," a deep ethereal voice said causing the two turn around.

Emilia recognized the voice as that of the leader of Mairon's spirits, someone he had introduced as Lord Er-Mûrazôr of Angmar. Yet he looked completely different now. Embodied and no longer just a formless spirit, Lord Mûrazôr was dressed in a suit of armour, one unique to him, silver with golden trims and accents. His helm was also silver with a crown of spikes adorning it, making it intimidating and impressive. It bore a large visor, Y-shaped like the other knights, and similarly it showed only an empty darkness.

The two didn't utter a word, only nodding obediently. Lord Mûrazôr was no Mairon, but his presence was impressive just the same. They followed him to a doorway that led into a spiral staircase that descended deeper into the cave and the deeper they went, the louder the the sounds of hammers hitting steel became until they finally reached Mairon's forge.

The golden-haired elf was standing in front of a large desk which had several designs and tools all over it while one of the armours worn by the spirit knights from earlier stood lifeless next to him. Behind him, some sort of stone golems were busy melting and refining the ores they had extracted from the earth.

Emilia slowly approached Mairon but before she could say a word he turned around and smiled at her "Lady Emilia, good morning," he greeted warmly.

"Good morning..." Emilia replied sheepishly. "What is going on here?"

Mairon gestured their surroundings, "I am making the things you need to become a queen." As he said that a small yellow light started flying around him, buzzing with excitement. "Yes yes, it's ready."

Emilia remained silent as Mairon led the small spirit inside the armour beside him. He then placed his hand on the chest plate and started chanting in a tongue that neither Emilia nor Rem recognized. Glowing symbols appeared on the armour, similarly unrecognizable to Emilia and Rem. The symbols soon disappeared and the armour started moving on its own, Mairon handed it a shield and a straight sword from the rack nearby which the knight immediately grabbed before it bowed to them and walked away.

"You… you gave a lesser spirit a body?" Emilia was in sheer shock.

Mairon nodded, as if his accomplishment was as unsurprising as the sun rising each morn. "Yes, they insisted with wanting to help and so I asked them to be the knights of your army. I created their armour with the ores in these caves and embedded magic stones in them along with engraved runes and glyphs to make them as strong as I could. I must say, despite my apprehensions when I began, I am very pleased with the end result and exceedingly proud to present them before our future queen."

Emilia was lost for words. She didn't know what to say or do. She just knew that seeing Mairon going to such lengths to help her was...touching.

The Dark Lord was smirking at her reaction in his mind unbeknownst to her. He gestured to the staircase "Shall we go to your room? I still have much more to show you."

Emilia looked at him confused by his words. "My room? You want to go back to the mansion?"

"No," he shook his head. "From now on, I will be teaching you everything you need but I also have to make sure that everything goes smoothly in the forge so I took the liberty of building a room for both you and Rem."

"Eh?" Emilia was flabbergasted. "But you came here last morning! You did all of this in a day?!" she exclaimed, astounded.

Mairon smiled. "There is much more for you to learn about me my lady," he said, gesturing for them to follow him back upstairs to the main hall.

He gestured toward a door on the left side of the hall. "Rem, that is your room. I suggest you bring your belongings here as soon as possible. And let me know if it is to your taste, I can remake it for you if need be."

"Understood Lord Mairon, I will," Rem bowed before she went into her room.

Mairon and Emilia then headed inside the room opposite of Rem's. It was surprisingly spacious although besides some basic furnishings it was empty, no one had lived in the room before after all. In fact, it hadn't even existed before yesterday!

To Emilia's surprise though, her room had windows despite being deep in a cave, or at least something that resembled windows. According to Mairon, the 'windows' were an idea of his that he had been testing. They were sheets of metal that had been enchanted to show her the scenery outside the cave and it was a truly fascinating work of magic and craftsmanship.

What drew her attention the most however was the stand, covered by a blanket. It was right in the middle of the room, almost like Mairon had intended entirely for it to grab her attention.

Mairon stood next to it then, and with a dramatic motion, he removed the blanket revealing a beautiful set of armour, a design reminiscent of their race in Mairon's homeland apparently. Unlike the golden armour of those Elves, this armour was silver, seeming to glow with the pure light of the stars. White chainmail seamlessly fitted under the plates and on a bench before the armour was a tunic and a set of weapons.

Emilia widened her eyes as she cautiously approached the armour as if fearing that it could jump on her at any time. She traced the artistic runes and symbols engraved on each piece with her finger. One of the symbols stood out to her the most, a flower engraved right in the middle of the chestplate. It seemed to be where most of the light was coming from.

"What's that?" she asked, curious.

Mairon smiled. "Your symbol of course, the white rose. Pure and elegant, just like you," he said pointing at the white rose that was on her hairband. "I modeled it after that one, if you don't like it I can change it."

"I love it!" she immediately said but her expression soon turned pensive. "But… why didn't you use the hawk of the Mathers family?"

"That's Roswaal's family symbol not yours," Mairon explained calmly. "He may be your sponsor but you need something that represents you and only you."

"I see..." she muttered as Mairon began to circle around the armour.

"This armour," he said, with pride in his voice, "is as light as a feather but as hard as dragon scales. It is made of a rare metal of my homeland… of a sort, since I could not find anything like it here. Where I come from, we call it silver-steel or mithril; one of the rarest materials anyone could find. I had to use the most ancient of spells and all my knowledge in alchemy but, in the end, I achieved the result I wanted."

The girl admired Mairon's work, amazed that he had gone to such effort simply to give her the best armour he could. Soon she eyed the weapons on the nearby bench and picked up the closest to her. A curved sabre sword attached to the back of a shield. She looked over to Mairon, curiosity on her face.

"Ah yes. The sword and shield, a common choice for the warriors of our race. The particular designs for those you hold in your hands were inspired by the weapons borne by our lords and royals. Fitting for a Queen-to-be like you."

She nodded and turned her eyes onto the other items, a bow almost longer than she was tall, with an ornate white horn quiver, with the usual symbols carved onto it, along with a pair of twin swords. She picked up the bow first and was surprised when she felt the strength in its bowstring.

"The string is always on tension allowing each arrow to fire with incredible power. The wood can bend as much as you want but will not break," he said before picking up an arrow. "The arrows can pierce through steel armour and, depending on the archer's skill, can easily hit a target from very, very far away. All are made of the finest materials I could find."

Emilia nodded in amazement and placed the bow down, picking up the twin swords in its place. She admired how they were decorated with elegant cutouts and cursive glyphs. The two were mirror images of each other, twin sisters, designed to be wielded simultaneously. They had a similar style to the earlier sabre that was paired with a shield, but they were no doubt different in design.

"These are replicas of the twin blades of the King of the Woodland Realm of Mirkwood, the Elvenking Thranduil. Of course, I customized them to fit your hands."

Once again, Emilia put them away before bringing her hand to her chest "I can't accept them" she almost forced to say

Mairon knew that she was holding back tears, he could feel her emotions, she was scared and confused by his actions and he was… puzzled. "Why?"

"Why? Because I am not worthy of something like this! All these...beautiful, gorgeous, and well-crafted items used by Elven-kings and lords! How can someone like me...someone who looks like the Witch be worthy of such things?!" she finally snapped gritting her teeth. "I am not even an elf...I am a half-elf! Why do you think I am worthy of these things? Why are you so insistent with helping me?"

Mairon listened, his expression gentle before he simply pulled her to him and embraced her. "Emilia," he gently stroked her head, "the fact that despite thinking all of this, you still decided to participate in the Royal Selection because you wanted to help people makes you worthy of wearing and wielding these gifts. For so long you have been alone in a world that hates you just because of how you look but that stops now," he said as he ran his hands through her silver hair comfortingly.

"Now I am with you and through me, all the kings and queens of our race are with you. Through this armour, they will give you their protection. Through these weapons, they will give you their strength. And through my teachings, they will give you their wisdom. It does not matter that you're a half-elf my Lady Emilia because, as of now, you will be the last Elven Queen to grace this world and I have all the intentions to make you shine so bright that the stars will pale in front of your light and that the shadow that the Witch has cast on these lands will disappear," he said, softly, but with surety.

"Do...do you really think...I can be like that?" Emilia muttered.

"No I don't think so," he replied suddenly, causing her to tense up but he soon continued. "I know it and I see it whenever I look into your eyes. As of now, you are a rough stone but given the proper care and attention, you will become the finest and brightest diamond. I will be there for you, every step of the way. No matter how much people dislike you or insult you, I will never leave your side and I will make those people realize how wrong they are...no… You will make them realize that."

Emilia nodded and Mairon finally let her go. She immediately rubbed her sleeves on her eyes to wipe away the tears she had shed. "Then..." she bowed her head, "I will graciously accept these gifts."

Mairon nodded and handed her the tunic. "Put this on, I will look away. Once you are done, I will help you fit the armour on."

"You want me to put them on immediately?" she asked surprised.

He nodded, "Of course, I need to know if everything fits you and in order to be able to fight properly you willl have to get used to the armour."

She nodded and grabbed the tunic as Mairon turned around in order to let her change.

The Dark Lord couldn't describe how good it felt to be able to talk like that to someone. Being able to make them trust him and depend on him just through his words. He was very, very pleased that he could once more take fair form. Sure, conquering his way through Middle-earth with his orc army had been somewhat enjoyable but this way was far more effective, efficient, and enjoyable.

"I am done," Emilia said making him turn around to see her.

She was wearing the combat tunic he had crafted. Befitting the girl who wore it, white and purple were its main colours. It was no surprise that it fit her perfectly, after all, Mairon was known for his sight and craftsmanship.

"You are a vision, my queen. Beautiful beyond compare," he praised as he approached her, fitting the armour onto her, piece by piece.

There was a solemn feeling that came upon Emilia. The process of the armour being fitted onto her felt almost holy, like she was enthralled by it. So much so that she didn't even comment on Mairon's compliment, so distracted was she.

It took a few minutes but in the end, Emilia was completely clad in armour. Mairon placed a mirror in front of her and she almost didn't recognize herself. The armour made her look like some angelic being out of this world...the personification of a star that had descended from the endless heavens. She felt her tears returning, she felt the need to thank Mairon for this incredible gift but no words came out of her mouth.

Once again, Mairon could tell how Emilia was feeling and that was because he did not only use his magic to help him forge the armour, he had also used it to make it extremely captivating. Every piece and weapon were sealed in powerful spells that caused everyone who looked at them to feel awe and be moved by their magnificence. The Dark Lord had placed these spells to facilitate Emilia's rising to power because he knew how hated she was. With these spells, it would take someone with an iron will to say anything bad of or to her in her presence without moving to tears. He now had but one last gift for her, the greatest and most important of them all.

Emilia was a little surprised when Mairon suddenly kneeled and presented his right hand to her, his balled fist slowly opened to reveal… a white and silvery ring. Just like every other piece he had made, the ring was perfect and beautiful.

"This is my final gift for you," Mairon said as he kneeled before her, "It was inspired by Nenya, the ring I crafted for Lady Galadriel, and I infused it with my magic. It is a Ring of Power, it will strengthen you, in any way that you can imagine. With this ring, you will succeed at all that you turn your thoughts to. Your magic will strengthen, you will become stronger physically, and come to possess greater charisma, eloquence, wisdom, and intelligence. And so too will Puck to an extent, bonded as he is to you. It will light up the darkest of places and it will connect you to me so that no matter how far apart we are, we'll be able to speak like we are now."

Emilia stared at the ring, enchanted by its immense beauty, and smiled as she offered her hand to Mairon who, delicately, slid the ring on her finger. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me my lady...it is an honour to be able to make all of this for one as wondrous and beautiful as you," he said as he rose, hiding his smirk.

It was done. With that ring, the Dark Lord had made another step in his plan. With a Ring of Power on her hand, Emilia would learn more and faster, which was essential because he wanted as much time as possible to work on his forge and not have to spend it all coddling her. And, if for any reason his plan fails or there was some need or emergency, he would be able to control Emilia's mind and thoughts, and he doubted she would even notice. She was no Galadriel.

Emilia looked at the ring and smiled. "I'll treasure it," she said before grabbing the twin blades he had made her. "Can I use these?"

"You may use whatever weapon you see fit my lady. If none of these do, then I'll simply make more forge more," Mairon replied.

Emilia shook her head, "No no, it's not that, it's just...I'm a spirit arts wielder I don't know much about using weapons."

He brought his hand to his chin and nodded in understanding. "I see. I will explain it to you a little then. Mastering the use of two swords at the same time is indeed more complicated than learning about using a single blade or sword and shield but at the same time, if you master it completely, you'll be able to dance across the battlefield just like King Thranduil. Your agility will be put to the test, you can't simply block an attack, especially if it's sent by an enemy with a certain prowess. You'll have to deflect it and at the same time attack."

He then looked at the sword and shield. "With those you'll be more on the defensive, your shield will not break and it will be your main means to defend yourself. With the shield, you'll be able to block incoming attacks and immediately retaliate with the sword."

He then picked up the sabre and swished it around effortlessly like it was an extension of his arm. "By grabbing this with two hands, your attacks will become stronger since they have more momentum around them, and thanks to being supported by both arms you'll be able to block more powerful attacks, not like a shield but you'll have the mobility to dodge the attacks you can't block."

Emilia listened carefully to his explanation before noticing he had left the bow out, "What about the bow?"

"The bow cannot be your main means of attack," he explained calmly. "It can be one of your means of attack. Most of our race are extremely adept with bows and can even shoot arrows if the enemy is within melee range but that requires years of training and practice which you lack as of now. You will learn archery in due time but for now, I will teach you about swordsmanship and while I will forbid you from using it during training at first, you will still be able to use your spirit arts to attack enemies from afar when you are in battle."

Emilia nodded. "Then...I choose these," she said looking at the twin blades.

"Very well then," Mairon replied nodding. "Any questions before we start?"

Emilia nodded, "Training in combat is fine but...when do I learn about how to rule a kingdom?"

"In the morning, from dawn to midday you shall practice your combat abilities. After lunch, I will give you an hour and a half of free time so that you may follow any passion of yours. Once that break is over, I shall be tutoring you on how to be the ideal queen until dinner. After that, you will be free to do as you please," Mairon explained.

"I have some obligations with Puck's contract though...will that be a problem?" she asked.

He shook his head, "No, it should not be. I will change the itinerary if it is."

With that, the two headed out of the room and saw Rem standing in the hall waiting for them. She opened her mouth in surprise a little at seeing Emilia's armour and then bowed gracefully.

"You look splendid, Lady Emilia."

The half-elf smiled, "Thank you Rem."

"If I may ask, where are you going?" the maid asked, frowning a bit.

"Outside, to test Lady Emilia's capabilities," Mairon replied. "Would you like to observe?"

Rem nodded and followed the two outside. Mairon placed himself in a clearing in front of the cave and gestured Emilia to the opposite side.

"The rules are simple" he explained. "You win if you land a hit on me, I win if I do. No magic or weapons are allowed," he said placing his hands behind his back and closing his eyes. "To make it fair, I will not be able to see and you shall have the first move."

Emilia looked at Puck with a puzzled expression but the small spirit just shrugged as he flew away. Steeling herself, Emilia suddenly ran at Mairon, throwing an uppercut at his head but he effortlessly dodged, unbalancing her momentarily. Emilia followed with a series of blows aimed at his chest which he still avoided rather easily before launching his counter-attack.

To the dark lord's amusement, Emilia was capable of dodging his attacks. It did not however slip him that it was with no small difficulty, nor did she yet have the usual elegance of an elf. Judging by her movements, Emilia was acting on pure instinct. That was impressive, her instincts were well-honed and they would make Emilia a talented warrior once she was trained with her weapons. Instinct alone however was not nearly enough against a skilled warrior for one reason...

Mairon brought back his arm to ready a powerful punch aimed at Emilia's abdomen. The half-elf narrowed her eyes as she saw an opening right at Mairon's neck and immediately moved to take it...but before she could process what happened next, she was on the ground looking at the sky, feeling the pain from her back hitting the dirt.

"Well, now I know what you're capable of," Mairon said with a smirk as he offered her his hand.

Emilia stared at him. "What happened?" she asked as she grabbed his hand.

Mairon smiled, pulling her up to her feet, "Your instincts are very well developed but instincts alone can only take you so far. Against mindless beasts, instinct might allow you to deal with them without too much worry but they can be used against you when fighting against a skilled warrior. I let you see that opening on purpose and you immediately tried to seize the opportunity, falling into my trap."

"Oh..." Emilia muttered understanding what he meant. "So I'm no good as a fighter?" she asked, feeling down.

He playfully hit her head, "Never said that. Now that we know what you are capable of, I know exactly what I need to teach you. Your instincts are already well refined so there is little doubt in my mind you will be an incredible fighter with proper training, a true Elven Warrior." He then looked at Rem, "By any chance, do you happen to know what time it is?"

"It's close to midday Sir Mairon," Rem answered.

Mairon smiled, "Just in time for lunch then...Oh I almost forgot to ask, how does your armour feel now that you've fought in it?"

Emilia blinked a few times before realizing that she was actually still wearing her armour, "Ah! I had forgotten I was even wearing it!"

"Then it is serving exactly as I intended it to," Mairon replied as he turned to Rem "You two can go to the mansion for lunch."

"You will not be joining us Sir Mairon?" Rem asked, tilting her head.

"I would if I could, but I still have much work that had to be done," Mairon said heading back toward his cave. Though 'cave' might be a poor word to use for it now after what Mairon had done with it.

"Very well then," Rem said bowing her head.

Mairon stopped in his tracks, "Before I forget Rem, I would like to see the village soon. When will you be free to take me there?"

Rem blinked, "By the end of the week I should go to resupply the kitchen. Perhaps Sir Mairon can come with me?"

"Excellent. An efficient use of time, two birds with one stone. I will see you later then Rem, Lady Emilia," Mairon said before he turned back and returned to his forge, passing through the spirit knights who closed the doors behind him. Emilia and Rem stared at his departing figure for a while before returning to the mansion.

The Dark Lord groaned as he entered his lair, taking care that he was out of earshot. Singing the praises of the Elven Royalty was sickening, but alas, necessary for his plan to make Emilia his puppet elf queen. He'll get used to it… eventually.

The Witch-king of Angmar walked up to him to report, bowing his head as he walked alongside his master. "My lord," his eerie voice rasped.

"How many have been produced?" Mairon asked as he continued walking toward his forge.

"Seventy-six knights and twenty-three horses," the Lord of the Nazgul replied dutifully.

"We are slow then...I will have to make more constructor golems," Mairon growled, displeased at the slow progress as he walked into the barracks.

The Silver Knights stood in attention, saluting him as he passed in front of them. The spirits inside of them didn't even realize that he had effectively taken their free will away the moment he had contracted them and bound them to his armours. They were even happy about it, in their mind they were serving the pure being Mairon, Maia of Eru, and his chosen queen, Lady Emilia.

He walked over to the horses next. Of course, they were not true horses, those beasts did not exist in this world, but they remained in Mairon's memories as inspiration. He had crafted pieces of armour that assembled together to form a mechanical horse powered and operated by the spirit inside of them.

They were stronger, faster, and smarter than any true creature. They did not tire, they did not hunger, they did not thirst, so long as the spirit that operated them could continue to draw upon the mana of the world. Truly worthy mounts for his army. The Dark Lord eagerly envisioned a future where his armies rode to war upon thousands of these horses.

He had even been able to somewhat reproduce the blessing that allowed the earth dragons to travel at their incredible speeds for a few hours a day and enchanted his metal horses with them and they were easily more then a match for the normal unblessed speed of the earth dragons. Wind spirits and their unique mana had been instrumental for this, and Mairon had made sure to save the wind spirits for the horses. The metal horses could quite literally run like the wind.

Upon each and every horse and knight was engraved Emilia's white rose, a proud symbol of their 'allegiance' to the Silver Queen. The Dark Lord finished his inspection and nodded at last. "These are acceptable," he said looking back at the Witch-king who bowed in acknowledgement.

"I am glad the results satisfy you my lord."

"But the numbers do not," Sauron replied darkly as the Witch King's ring began to glow. "Bring me more spirits. With your ring returned to you and your aura of fear cloaked, they will see you as a friend. Sway them to join us and put them inside the armours with the others," he ordered.

The Witch-king nodded, "It shall be done as you command my lord," and with that, he raised his head and left to fulfil his task.

With the One once more upon his finger, the Dark Lord had returned the Nine Rings to his Nazgul, and with his strength greater than ever, so too had his Nazgul's power waxed. All that remained was to utilize them efficiently.

Sauron returned to the forge where his stone constructor golems were working, smelting and refining the metal ores he had gathered as he had instructed them. He had made them with some of the earth spirits he had found while remodelling the cave. They were also extracting the various magic stones present in the Mathers Domain which then were sealed and embedded into the Silver Knights' armour so that they could use magic of their own.

It didn't take long for the various earth spirits to gather at his feet joyous to see him back in the earth's depths. He crouched down and helped one of them onto his hand. "Your support has been truly helpful," he smiled, causing the spirit to sing happily, "But, I am sorry to ask you this...but can more of you work like your companions are already doing?"

At that the various spirits began to jump up and down excitedly.

"Thank you, with your help, the Queen's army will be ready in no time," he said turning toward the pile of stone the golems had quarried at his command.

Mairon raised his hand and the various cut rocks began to float towards each other and fuse into shape until they formed a figure similar to the Silver Knights. The Dark Lord was tired of hideous orcs serving him for so long and he wanted his new servants to have a fair form pleasant to look upon, just like him. The first golems he had created were a misshapen pile of rocks held together solely by magic. They had been made to test if he could actually place spirits into metal or stone bodies. Now that his hypothesis had been proven, he wanted to perfect them even more. His second batch of golems was sleek and imposing, looking much like the Silver Knights, though they were much larger and had greater strength for mining and working metal.

He continued to create more stone golems, engraving them with runes for his enchantments to work. One after another, the earth spirits took their new bodies and rushed to join their brethren in the long work building Sauron's army of Silver Knights. Satisfied, the Dark Lord began to work on the bodies that his Nazgul will use. He would not be giving all of them these bodies yet, so far only the Witch-king had been embodied, he still had uses for the undetectable invisible nature of his bodiless Nazgul. Just like Emilia's armour, their armour would be completely wrapped in spells meant to inspire awe on those who laid eyes on their forms. Of course, the colour was no longer pitch black like in Mordor but instead pure white with blue doublets and golden trims, to make them seem more 'knightly' and less like the harbingers of fear and death they truly were.

The Dark Lord didn't care for how much time had passed as he forged but he did care to greet the person that came to his lair. He was expecting Beatrice to come in but instead, he found himself looking at Roswaal who was looking around amused.

"You are truly a man of many talents," the Margrave said looking at the spirit knights guarding the forge and the golems working it.

Mairon smirked, always flattered to receive a compliment, even from one as questionable as Roswaal. "Indeed I am, now what can I do for you Lord Roswaal?"

"I wish to talk about the person who assaulted Lady Emilia back at the capital," Roswaal said returning the smirk.

Mairon nodded and gestured him to follow. The two went upstairs inside Mairon's study and sat down beside a fireplace that the dark lord had built purely for his ego and enjoyment.

"Quite an elegant study you have here," Roswaal remarked, looking around the room before he narrowed his eyes. "You know don't you?"

"Know that you are the one who sent Elsa? Or the fact that you are the one who directed the Witch-Cult onto Ram and Rem's village?" Mairon asked with a glint of amusement in his amber eyes.

Roswaal burst into laughter, "My, my, my! You just arrived and you already know two of my biggest secrets!" he said before calming down. "So what will you do with them? Tell Lady Emilia and kill me?"

This time it was Mairon who let out a chuckle, "Killing Emilia's sponsor and exposing his involvement with the Witch Cult would grind any chance she ever had of becoming Queen to dust."

"I guess you are right. If you expose or kill me, any chance of Emilia's ascension is forever lost," he said nodding. "So?"

"I want to ask...Why do you do this? Do you worship Satella and that's why you support Emilia, because she resembles her? But then why hire Elsa to steal the insignia that gives her the right to rule?"

"Why don't you find out yourself?" he said tapping his temple. "It would be faster than telling you."

Mairon smirked and did just that, looking inside the sorcerer's mind to find the answers himself. Soon he was the one laughing.

"So now that you know, what will you do?" Roswaal asked.

"I want to strike a deal with you."

"Oh?" Roswaal hummed raising an eyebrow. "Go on."

"I want you to continue what you are doing, call the Witch Cult, Elsa, whoever you want and send them to threaten us," Mairon said. "And I will foil your plan each and every time even the final one which would bring who you love the most back...and then, I will bring her back myself and after that, you will forever be a loyal servant of Lady Emilia in truth, using your power and influence to help me put her."

"Oh? You think you can bring a witch back to life just like that? You are truly arrogant," Roswaal said amused.

"It is not my ego that speaks...simply my experience," he replied offering the ring to Roswaal. "If I fail, your plan will succeed and your lady will be brought back to life. If I succeed however, and I will, you will have her back anyways. You have nothing to lose. "

Roswaal crossed his arms, "And what exactly would you want from me?"

"I want complete access to the library and before you say anything, we both know that you can convince Beatrice to be… cooperative," Mairon said with a drawl. "More than that, I require your complete loyalty to me and Lady Emilia once Echidna is brought back to life. The attacks against Lady Emilia by the Witch Cult will help redeem and strengthen her reputation and image when the cultists hang from the forest's trees and you will be the undercover agent who had bravely helped us eliminate the filth."

Roswaal laughed again, "I had thought of you as the typical white knight helping a damsel in distress...instead you turned out to be just like me."

Mairon simply shrugged, "I am no fool, I've seen and experienced politics many times before in my homeland and I know that optimism and virtues can take you so far. Pacts with the devil are what truly pushes you forward and as long as Emilia remains the pure, untainted Queen of Lugnica, I have no problem getting my hands dirty."

Roswall smirked "I think this is the start of a long and prosperous friendship," he said as he extended his hand toward him. "I will keep going with my plans and cause problems to Emilia that you will resolve, strengthening her reputation and I will convince Beatrice to give you access to the library."

Sauron shook his hand "And I will foil those plans of yours but achieve what you want the most in exchange for your loyalty to me and Emilia."

"The trespasser of this pact will have their soul destroyed," Roswaal declared.

Sauron's magic acted then, flickering to reveal a ring in his hand. "Take this, it will make things easier for the both of us."

Roswaal grabbed it and looked at it, "Oh myyyyyyy, quite a powerful object, I will cherish iiiiiiiit," he said returning to his usual annoying way of speaking as he put on the ring before leaving Sauron's lair.

With that settled, Mairon sat down and began writing the books he had promised Beatrice, knowing very well that she would soon show up.

"Rem," he called out, waiting for the maid to appear. "Prepare some tea and sweets," he ordered her once she arrived. Nodding her head, she turned and left to do as she was bid.

It took less than hour for Beatrice to show up, she looked mortified but she tried to hide it under a mask of annoyance, "I had to walk all the way here!" she complained.

He faked ignorance, "Why?"

"You put up some spells that didn't allow me to open up a portal here!" she said.

He bowed his head a bit, "I apologize perhaps we can arrange something to fix that."

She simply turned around and touched the door, "There, now you can come to the library and read whenever you want."

"I thought I wasn't allowed to read those books," he said playing dumb.

Her eyes were pained for a second, "You have contributed to the library...it's only fair for you to have access to it, I suppose."

"I see," he said getting up and walking to her patting her head "Would you like to stay for tea?"

She sighed and nodded and the two went to the dining room where Rem had prepared everything. Beatrice sat down and narrowed her eyes when she noticed the food and drinks. "You knew I would come?"

"Yes," he answered, putting his newly written books on the table. "I asked Rem to tell you I would bring you more books but I forgot about them in the midst of all my work and I knew you would come here angry because of that."

"That makes sense, I suppose," she said sipping her tea. "I heard from the young lady that you have lived for a long time,"

"Indeed," he nodded, taking a sip from his own tea. He didn't truly need to eat nor drink, but it was an enjoyable pastime nonetheless.

"Are you not tired?" she asked staring down at her tea. "Tired of seeing everything and everyone you knew crumble to dust? Tired of the atrocities and cruelties done to good people? Your books are full of death, of destruction, of the ends of entire civilizations...and you witnessed them all," her voice was breaking a little, despite her attempts.

He adjusted himself in his seat. "Time makes the moments you pass with those you love valuable, it enriches them. Without the ineluctable passage of time, everything would turn bland. A world without change, where stagnation dominated and entropy would rule over everything," he said solemnly. "I have seen so much death and destruction yes, so much evil that at times I questioned why the world had such reckless hate. Yet I also beheld and experienced the best that world had to offer in equal measure."

"For you the world is already in entropy, isn't it? Living that long...seeing it all," Beatrice muttered.

"Only a fool can claim to have seen everything there is to see," he immediately replied. "As time goes on, more and new exciting events will take place, new discoveries will be made, new traditions will form, and so on."

Beatrice remained silent.

"Tell me...have you seen the world? Outside of your books that is?" he asked, knowing what buttons to push.

She bit her lip and got up. "I've matters to I attend to, I suppose," she said heading towards the door.

"Lady Beatrice," he called out, causing her to stare back at him, "I hope we can have tea again like this in the future."

"We'll see about that, I suppose," she said with a strange look in her eyes before disappearing through the door.

Mairon looked at Rem who had remained silent during the whole exchange. Ever since he had called her earlier, she had been staring at him when she thought he wouldn't notice. It was starting to get annoying very annoying so he decided to address it.

"You may voice your thoughts Rem," he said calmly, putting down the teacup. "Your constant gaze upon me has not slipped my notice. If you have something to bring up, do so now or hold your gaze and peace forevermore."

"You spoke with Roswaal," Rem said narrowing her eyes with hatred of the sorcerer. "Why are you willing to deal with him?"

Mairon sighed, "Because he is the Court Mage, we cannot hope to win the Selection without him and killing him would cause us more trouble than anything. No, as unfortunate as it may be, we will have to deal with Roswaal. But worry not, he answers to me now, and will follow as I direct."

Rem slowly nodded, though he could tell he wasn't wholly satisfied with his answer. "There is something else..."

"Speak then," he said getting up.

"I wish to join your army," Rem said with a determined expression.

He raised an eyebrow, "May I ask you why?"

"This army is to eradicate the Witch Cult, is it not?" she asked getting a nod as answer. "If I can't have Roswaal's blood, I want theirs."

He nodded in understanding. "I see," he said as he walked to her. "Revenge is a powerful and worthy motivator to drive you, but do not let it consume you, I've seen many turn into someone else because of it."

Rem nodded as before she followed him down the stairs into his forge. The blue-haired maid watched as he gathered many tools and raw materials before he began to shape and bend the metal to his will. At first, she could not tell what it was he was making but as he kept beating the metal, she began to recognize the signature shape of armour pieces.

She did not know how long she stood there, unable to turn her gaze from the spectacle before her eyes. The greatest smith in the world at his craft. Soon Mairon had produced a fine suit of armour that Rem could look upon with only awe. Unlike Emilia's silver, this armour was an ebony black. It was not the armour of a knight or queen, no it was the armour of an avenger, of a hunter. A dark warrior that would stalk the scum of the earth and reap their souls for their crimes.

With the basic shape of the armour complete, Mairon grabbed more precise tools. He carved intricate patterns of runes and glyphs on the armour as he chanted in the dark tongue of Mordor, infusing the metal with countless spells. As a finisher, he gilded the armour's trims with a gold lining and after a few more adjustments, the armour was ready. Mairon however, was not done yet.

"May I have your weapon?" he asked suddenly, turning back to Rem. The oni hesitated for a while before she brought her morningstar out from under her skirt and handed it to Mairon.

To her shock, he snapped the chain connecting the spiked ball to the grip with his bare hands. Placing the chain on the table, he began to analyse the weapon's handle and grip before shaking his head and scrapping it entirely. He then turned back to his forge and created a new handle, a grip as black as her amour, in order to fit the idea he had in his mind, though what that was, Rem still did not know. Once the grip had been forged and cooled, Mairon placed it onto the workbench and reassembled it with the spiked head, which had been similarly upgraded.

"A weapon like yours takes a lot of skill to master, I admire your dedication," he said calmly, swinging the weapon around. The chained ball was being thrown around the room by the swings with seeming reckless abandon, but the elf's own skills were nothing to scoff at. The morningstar did not go anywhere he did not want it to. "Although it comes with its fair share of shortcomings," he said as he suddenly pulled the chain back toward the grip which he oriented in a vertical position and pressed a button, "one of which is being harder to operate in enclosed tight spaces."

The chain seemed to collapse on itself, pulling into the grip and sealed when the spiked head fell into place on top of it, interlocking firmly with the grip. Mairon made a few test swings with the now mace-like weapon before pressing the button on the grip again, releasing the chain to turn the weapon back into the usual flail Rem always used.

Swinging the weapon again for one last test, Mairon then handed the weapon back to the maid and she mimicked his previous movements, still in awe at the craftsmanship of her upgraded weapon "Thank you Sir Mairon."

"Do not thank me yet," he said grabbing the first piece of the armour and moving towards her.

Rem frowned, "Should I not change?"

"I designed the armour to fit over both your maid uniform also a more combat appropriate undershirt," he shook his head and explained. "Let's start with the breastplate," he said, strapping the armour onto her chest to fit neatly above her maid uniform. He then strapped two bracers to her arms, along with more plates to protect her forearms and gauntlet glovers before helping her put a belt around her waist which turned out to be the support for the plates that rested atop her skirt. Finally, he put on some greaves, shins, and sabatons to protect her legs and feet below her skirt and knees.

He took a few steps back to look at her, "How does it feel?"

Rem moved around a bit. "It's light," she commented flexing her arms to test the joints of the armour, "And flexible,"

"Do not mistake the armour's lightness for a lack of protection," he warned circling around her more to inspect how it fit her. "It may be light, but it will protect you more than the heaviest and thickest armour worn by any knight. Did you notice anything else?"

Rem frowned before she noticed that all of her senses had greatly improved, including her ability to smell the Witch's scent.

"The markings on your armour are not aesthetic. Everything I create has some function," he said smirking. "Just like Lady Emilia's armour, your armour is infused with spells from top to bottom to strengthen and enhance all of your abilities, including your ability to detect the Witch's scent."

She nodded in understanding.

"Now, while functional, this particular configuration of your armour is for emergencies, in which you do not have time to properly prepare for battle but do not want to shirk protection. However, obviously, you would be equipped differently if you were well prepared for battle. Would you like to try your battle configuration?" he asked, getting a nod.

"Excellent, go to your room and return wearing something... plainer and without a skirt," he said as he unstrapped her armour.

Rem nodded and left to change and after a few minutes, she returned in her nightshirt. "I am afraid I do not possess a more...fitting outfit for the armour."

"Worry not, I will make you one," he said calmly. "For now this will do," he said, putting the armour back on her.

The pieces that had previously fit atop her skirt now wrapped around her thighs and knee, protecting her legs fully. The rest of the armour was more tightly strapped on, but otherwise was not much different. When he was done, he took a few steps back like he had earlier, nodding in approval this time.

"Could use some chain mail...along with a leather combat vest and breeches over the undershirt," he muttered to himself. "But those are the easiest to make, you are ready Inquisitor Rem"

She frowned, "Inquisitor?"

He nodded, "One of the main objectives for Emilia's election is the eradication of the Witch Cult; your ability to smell the Witch's scent makes you a perfect candidate for the special order I intend to create. The sole objective of this group is to hunt the cultists down and bring them to justice. You have the abilities and the motivation to be the first member of the Queen's Inquisition."

Rem knelt immediately, placing her left knee on the floor, "It would be an honour Lord Mairon!"

He smiled and placed his hands on her shoulders. "No need to kneel Rem, I have great plans in mind for you." he said. "But for now, those will have to wait until the day of the Selection...now tell me...are there children at the village?"

Rem frowned and nodded, confused by the question.

"Very well, I shall return to my duties," and with that, he left, leaving Rem to ponder why he asked such a strange question.

It had been five days since her promotion to Inquisitor and Rem had noticed that things were mostly quiet. Sir Mairon was working nonstop, day and night, without rest except the occasional tea parties with Beatrice.

She had observed how the nine spirits that served Lord Mairon were constantly moving in and out of the mountain bringing in new spirits, lesser, quasi, and even fully-fledged spirits, to join the army. The number of Silver Knights had exponentially increased, now reaching three thousand.

The stone golems had also increased in number due to the need for renovating the entire area. A paved road had been built so that the carriages could directly ride to their base in the mountain. The golems and the knights had also cut down part of the forest to build a fort for the army to inhabit as well as a field for Lady Emilia to train and the army to drill.

Speaking of which, the young half-elf seemed to be in a brighter mood due to the almost constant tutoring by Lord Mairon who never leaves her side except in her free time which she usually used to talk to Puck or the spirits inhabiting the armours of the Silver Knights.

Rem was also training hard, mainly to master the new upgraded form of her weapon as well as learning how to more easily read body language and detect lies for her new role as Inquisitor. She couldn't help but admire Mairon's dedication to his work, always looking to maximize efficiency, attain the best results with the least wastage of resources.

Today was the day they would go to the village and Lord Mairon had been looking forward to it. She was waiting for him outside with a smile on her face which turned into a slight frown when she saw that Lady Emilia was with him.

"Lady Emilia will also come with us," he said calmly as he walked past her.

Rem bowed, "Very well, I shall go fetch..."

"No hood," Mairon interrupted shaking his head and looking at Emilia. "She must show herself for what she is, hiding will not help her."

Emilia hesitantly nodded and with that, the three of them set off. The journey was a silent one, Mairon seemed to be enjoying the forest's view while Emilia was lost in her thoughts, likely mentally preparing herself for the villagers' reactions. Rem on the other hand was be focused on the bag that Mairon was carrying.

It was quite big and by the looks of it quite heavy. Of course that wasn't a problem for Lord Mairon but it still tickled Rem's interest. After a half hour of walking they finally reached their destination and as expected everyone's attention was immediately on Emilia.

It was at this moment that Mairon took a step forward, "Greetings good people of Irlam Village, my name is Lord Mairon Annatar, Lady Emilia's knight. I am here with gifts," he said placing the bag on the ground and opening it.

The villagers were cautious...but their children were not. They slowly but eagerly approached the man curious to see what was inside his bag of gifts.

"WOAH!" one of them shouted as he pulled out a wooden sword. "It's so cool! It looks like a real one!"

At that point, the kids lost all their hesitation and began to dig into the bag pulling out various wooden toys and even a ball to kick around. The villagers sighed at the display and approached the trio with cautious respect.

"Greetings milord," an old man greeted Mairon. "It is good to see new faces around," he said as his wife, a similarly old lady approached.

"And for me, it is good to meet new people," Mairon replied excitedly before looking at the old lady. "You must be the village's head."

"Oh my, what a keen eye you have young man," The old lady praised, nodding her head. "Yes I am, Milde Irlam, a pleasure to meet you my lord."

"After thousands of years serving around people of power, I can tell figures of authority just by looking at them," Lord Mairon replied with a disarming smile.

The old lady noticed his elf ears then. "Oh I see, it seems like I am the youngster here," she joked.

Mairon chuckled, "Indeed and in my opinion, you carry your age gracefully Mrs Irlam."

"Oh my, milord you'll make me blush like this!" she said cackling. "Anyway, may I ask why you are here?"

Mairon looked at Emilia, "I am here because Lady Emilia wanted to ensure your safety and make sure that you were all living a good life."

The old couple stared at Emilia who steeled herself under their gaze. "Is this true milady?"

Emilia walked closer to them and nodded "Yes...I know that with the barrier I placed before, you should be safe but I could still do more."

"I see, I see." Mrs Irlam nodded. "That's very kind of you milady but I am afraid not everyone will see it like this..." she said eying the various villagers who were glaring at Emilia and pointing at her ears.

"I am...aware of that," the Half-Elf nodded, "but it does not matter. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

The old lady shook her head, "We live a simple life, we have all we need."

"If I may ask, where are Lord Roswaal's guards?" Mairon interjected looking around.

"There aren't any, there is no need for them, after all, Lady Emilia put a barrier to keep the dangerous beasts of the forest away from here," Milde Irlam replied.

"It is still quite dangerous though...would you mind if we placed a dozen of our knights as guards?" Mairon asked.

The lady shook her head, "Thank you, but there really is no need."

Emilia noticed that Mairon was eyeing her. Suddenly remembering, the girl took out a small amulet and offered it to the elder. "But still, better safe than sorry. If you ever need help, please don't hesitate to contact us with this and we'll come running."

The village elder took the item and nodded, "Let's hope it will never come to that."

'Oh it will happen soon enough,' the Dark Lord thought as he looked at the rabble of brats, spotting the very reason he had come to this pathetic little village...Elsa's little sister.

"I shall go see if the children like my gifts," he excused himself, leaving Emilia to continue talking to the village elders. "Are the gifts to your liking?" he asked as he approached the children.

"HELL YEAH!" one of the boys said as he swung his wooden sword around happy accidentally hitting one of the girls who was busy trying to make her kite fly. "AH! PETRA!"

The girl fell to the ground, her forehead bleeding where the sword hit her. Her face turned crimson as she held in her tears, trying not to look weak.

"Oh dear," Mairon said, faking his concern, as he crouched in front of the girl smiling as he extended his hand to her forehead and healed her effortlessly. "There, better?"

The girl sheepishly nodded and he looked at the kite. He wondered how hard it could be to get a simple kite to fly, but suppressed that thought, he was here to make himself look good. He raised his hand and the wind began blowing stronger than before allowing the kite to take off. Petra smiled as she immediately returned to play with the others as if nothing had happened.

All the annoying children sans Mairon's target left to play with their toys, the seemingly innocent little girl stayed near the edge of the forest holding her puppy between her arms. To everyone, she looked like a normal little girl but he could feel the dark aura that surrounded her, connecting her to the beasts in the forest and the one she was carrying in her arms. He could tell that Rem had noticed it too, having chosen to wear her new armour on her maid uniform.

The girl stared at him pretending to be shy but he did not need Elsa's memories to tell it was an act. He crouched before her and smiled charmingly, hiding his sadistic pleasure. "Hello Meili," he said as her expression turned into shock. "How's your sister? Did you manage to meet up with her before coming here?" He then looked at the beast in her arms. "I already dispelled the pesky curses of that sad little thing," he said gesturing at the toys in the hands of the other children, "Leave at once before you end up as one of those."

With that he got up and walked away, leaving Meili to stare hate-filled daggers at his back. He caught up with Rem who immediately eyed him with a silent question.

"We'll talk once we get back" he said before smiling at Emilia who was still talking to the elders. "Shall we head back my lady?"

Emilia turned around and nodded, excusing herself and returning to walk alongside the two back to the mountain. "Did I do well?"

"You were excellent. You talked to those elders and changed their opinion of you in a single conversation, without me at all," Mairon praised. It seemed Emilia was taking to her ring more than even she herself realized.

Emilia seemed satisfied. "Shall we head back then? I want to continue our lesson on the Downfall of Numenòr."

Mairon chuckled, "Of course," and with that the three returned to their dwelling in the mountain.

Mairon was in his office later that night, having just finished his daily lessons with Emilia. The trip to the village had been fruitful, more than he anticipated in fact. He was pleasantly surprised that Emilia herself managed to have a conversation with the ones that most feared her, without him having to directly boost her self-confidence or charisma through her ring. The girl had either adjusted to it well enough to subconsciously call upon its power or influence or had accomplished her feat without even using it. Either would be impressive, and promising for his plans for her. Despite that most of the village was still hostile towards her...but that would change in a matter of hours.

Provoking Meili had been enjoyable, and now he had gotten exactly the kind of violent reaction he had been hoping for. With his enhanced mental sight, he could see the little girl rallying many demonic mabeasts against the village. Roswaal was away at the capital, the girl should be more than willing to launch her attack with little fear, or so she thought…

Rem entered the room, her gaze inquisitive, "Lord Mairon, may I ask to inquire why you did not have the girl dealt with immediately?"

Mairon's expression did not change. "You expected me to draw out my mace, accuse a little girl of being a member of being either a criminal or a cultist with no proof in front of the entire village? That would have caused unnecessary problems to Emilia," he lectured, his face impassive.

Rem nodded in understanding. "So what do we do now my lord?" she asked.

"Ready 300 knights to depart immediately," he ordered. "Hopefully they will not be needed."

Rem bowed and left Mairon waiting patiently. Soon enough, his patience was rewarded. Emilia stormed in, already fitting her armour on. "Mairon! The village is under attack! That little girl you talked to today...she's controlling the beasts!"

"As I feared," he said, getting up. "That was indeed Elsa's little sister"

Emilia looked at him dumbfounded, "You knew her?"

"I had caught glimpses of her in Elsa's mind. I had hoped that I was mistaken...but that was a fool's hope it seems," he explained with a grim expression as he left the room with Emilia.

Rem immediately fell into place by their side, having herself changed from her maid uniform to her battle armour, now complete with a chainmail shirt and gambeson.

"The village is under attack by the girl from earlier," Mairon explained to Rem as he led the two outside. "She is capable of controlling the demon beasts and forced the villagers to barricade themselves in the elder's house," he said as they reached the field where three hundred proud Silver Knights stood in formation.

Leading Emilia into the stables, Mairon continued, "I had hoped to give this to you on a better occasion but that no longer matters now," he said opening a giant door.

A massive artificial elk made of several pieces of armour held together by several spirits was waiting inside. Mairon had spared no expense for this particular mount, sealing fully-fledged spirits of all six elements inside the armour elk to strengthen and broaden its abilities.

Emilia pressed her hand on the metal elk's head and smiled as she started speaking to the spirits inside, before she fluidly climbed atop her new mount and acclimatised herself to it.

Mairon opened the other two doors in the stables. "That one is yours Rem," he said, pointing out a large black and gold metal horse in the left stall before mounting his own horse in the right stall. Befitting the mount of Mairon the Admirable, it was white, and silver-gold, and as large, if not larger then Emilia's elk, with the same range of special enhanced capabilities.

At his command, Mairon's spirit metal horse reared its head as if to neigh before charging out of the stables for the village. Emilia and Rem were not far behind him, and with a speed that belied their heavy metal bodies, the Silver Knights rode in formation behind further still, their Silver Queen at the head of their formation.

At the village, Meili was on top of her wagpig, guiding the waves of demon Beasts through the village and destroying everything in her path knowing full well that the poor villagers were all gathered in the elder's house looking at her actions through the windows. She now had the house surrounded, and soon her beasts would make their way through the barricade and feast on the villagers' flesh.

Her eyes lit up when she saw Mairon riding his horse alone towards her and smirked, "You've finally arrived! Now we can get this party going!" At those words, her beasts were at her side, ready to tear him to pieces for what he had done to her sister.

The villagers looked at him and began to whisper to themselves, praying for his success.

Mairon remained unfazed, "Your destruction ends here Meili. I will make sure of that."

She chuckled spreading her arms, "You and what army?"

Mairon did not reply, simply dispelling the illusion he had cast on his legion of followers.

The little girl widened her eyes as Emilia, Rem, and a platoon of armoured silver knights began to move.

"Build a wall around the house! Do not let any of the mabeasts near the villagers!" Emilia ordered the knights, riding to the elders' house. As she rode, her elk swung its head through the horde, impaling countless beasts on its horns that Emilia promptly decapitated with her blades. Soon, Emilia was carving up the mabeasts around her, even as she and Puck launched spears of ice toward those in the distance. The knights followed without any hesitation using their spears and longswords to kill the beasts before using their mounts to build a wall around the house.

"Destroy her army," Mairon ordered Rem as he looked at Meili. "I will deal with the girl myself."

Rem nodded and took the remaining knights with her to destroy Meili's main horde.

Of course, the girl did not want Rem to threaten her beasts and moved to intercept the inquisitor. She did not however, have much of a choice. The moment she took her eyes off Mairon, she found herself flying through the air with her massive mount.

She crashed into the trees, landing on the forest floor with a hard thud. She herself was unharmed, save for a painful bruise, but her wagpig was wailing in pain, bleeding profusely from a massive gaping hole in its side. The wagpig's cries were torture to her ears. Meili made to help it but before she could reach it, she sensed an evil presence. She lifted her gaze to see Mairon slowly approaching her with his horse holding his mace completely covered in the blood of Meili's beasts.

Meili called another pack of Wolfgrams to help her and ordered them to attack Mairon from the back but the Nazgul slaughtered them on the spot. As Mairon entered the tree line, his armour turned pitch black and so did his horse. A sense of absolute terror washed over Meili causing her to tremble in an irrational fear to the point that tears started falling down her eyes without her even noticing. She wanted to scream but she couldn't get a single sound out of her mouth. Desperately calling for more aid, she called forward one last resort.

A guiltylowe jumped in front of Sauron and the little girl then, growling at him.

"Lat hur u oppose izish lat ul staz? dorzog latob olkurz u izish agh lat slaium," the Dark Lord said in the black speech of order stretching out his hand towards the beast.

The guiltylowe whimpered in shock before bowing its head and letting Sauron run his hands through is fur.

"Thrak to u izish," he ordered the beast.

Meili did not understand the language the evil man spoke, but she knew well enough that she had lost control of the guiltylowe. Desperately, she called her wagpig to get up and she got mounted it, hoping to escape before it was too late but the guiltylowe immediately dashed below the injured wagpig and used the teeth of its snake tail to rip open its stomach causing the poor beast to wail in pain as its intestines uncoiled on the ground. In the next instant, the guiltylowe jumped again, dragging Meili off her mount.

Sauron approached the dying wagpig and raised his mace before smashing it against its head causing it to explode in a rain of blood and gore. At his command, the guiltylowe dragged Meili by her arm to him. The girl cried out in immense pain as the beast's razor-sharp teeth dug into her flesh and pulled.

Sauron silenced her with a spell before using his magic to forcibly turn her head to watch the battle in the village.

Emilia had built a wall of ice around the elder's house and had joined Rem in battling the horde of Demon Beasts. Her elk was crushing and impaling its enemies with its feet and horns while Emilia swung her twin blades cutting deep into the beasts around her. Whenever Emilia was about to be attacked by an unseen enemy, Rem would come around with her mace-flail and take care of it, her fighting style was more brutal compared to Emilia's elegant form it was just as efficient. She had learned to alternate her weapons' form on the fly allowing her to engage the enemy without mistakenly hitting her allies, switching between the two forms as easily as breathing.

The Silver Knights were performing admirably. Their thick metal armour made them almost impervious to the beasts' attacks with no fleshy bodies, even the attacks that made it through were useless. The metal knights would simply shrug off the beasts' bites and claws and kill them. The flying beasts were eliminated by either archers or by the quasi-spirit knights which through the use of the magic stones embedded in their armour were able to launch spells on their own or enhance themselves and their weapons with magic.

The battle lasted a half-hour and Meili was forced to watch the whole time as her beloved beasts were slaughtered. In the end, Emilia and Rem stood victorious on the piles of mabeast bodies. Sauron watched as the villagers left the elder's house to thank them in tears.

Satisfied with the outcome, Sauron looked at Meili. At his command, the guiltylowe released her from its jaws, only for Sauron to dismount from his mount and pick her up by the neck, dragging her up to be level with his eyes.

"Just kill me already you monster!" she snarled as she banged against his fingers, trying her best to look intimidating despite her small injured figure.

"I will kill you..." he said as he tightened his grip on her neck, as if to choke her. But the expected strangulation never came, she wished it had, instead the Dark Lord placed his hand on her face and did something worse. "Meili Portroute dies today...and Meili Annatar takes her place."

The girl widened her eyes in shock and fear. Her mind was torn through and destroyed, and then rebuilt in Sauron's image. Her happy memories with Elsa and her loved ones were turned into memories of being abused and tortured into doing what she did...Sauron sadistically made her conscious of the change that was happening to her right up until the very last moment. She could feel herself fading away being replaced by someone else. Someone who hated Elsa, who hated Mama. Tears fell from her eyes until her consciousness faded entirely. Meili Portroute no longer existed.

The Dark Lord was satisfied. He had torn into the girl's memories and though he had found some of them inaccessible, he was not too concerned. Should those hidden memories reveal themselves, he would simply repeat the process. To go further now would be to risk losing his prize and shattering the girl's mind entirely and that he would not do, not when he still had a use for her.

Changing his armour back to its more knightly colours, he healed the unconscious Meili and ordered the guiltylowe into hiding in the forest before riding back to the village.

The villagers upon spotting him cheered but everyone grew grim when they saw Meili in his arms.

"Mairon that is..." Emilia muttered.

"Yes indeed," he replied looking at the little girl.

"That child attacked us!" one of the villagers said angrily, looking at the destruction Meili had wrought. "She destroyed our homes, our village, it's a miracle that we are all still alive!"

"She did not do it out of her own malice," he rebuked calmly. "She's a victim as you are, born with a misunderstood gift, taken in by the wrong people and tortured and twisted to do their bidding. I will not raise my weapon to kill a girl whose only true crime was being born with a gift considered to be cursed. I know that you are angry and that is why I will personally make so that you are all compensated for your losses, you have my word. In a week, you'll be able to return to your new homes, surrounded by high stone walls and a magical barrier and guarded by the same soldiers that protected you today." He looked at Emilia, "If my lady doesn't mind."

"Of course I don't," she said nodding, looking at Meili "Are you going to bring her back with us?"

"If Her Grace doesn't object to it of course," Mairon said bowing his head.

"A good monarch must know when to wage war and when the time has come to give mercy to their enemies," she said with a thoughtful look in her eyes. "War has been waged and it has been won, now it is time for mercy," she smiled.

"My lady has learned well," Mairon praised. "You have my gratitude for your permission," he said raising his head and looking at the villagers. "Gather your things and come with us, I shall make sure that you will be all treated with a hot meal and a pleasant sleep."

---

Author's notes: Welp, looks like I like this story enough to continue it though I have to come clean on this, I am absolute shiet at describing clothing so for the knights built by Sauron just look up the Dark Souls Silver Knights and the Banished Knights from Elden Ring. I want to thank my beta reader Tertius711 who helped me with proof reading and his suggestions to make the story more immersive