《Reincarnated! A Tale of the Sorceress Amaya》 Chapter 1: Reincarnation I have no idea how I died. While my lifestyle might not have been the healthiest, there were no real signs of trouble. At 42 years I was not that old, but somehow it happened. I found myself in a white room, at a desk, looking at a screen. The message said: ¡°Sorry you died. You are the first one to use our self reincarnation service! Enjoy your new life.¡± Sounds absurd. I never believed in anything after death. Yet somehow I just knew this was real. Clearly something was messing with my mind, keeping me calm. At least I was not leaving anyone behind. My parents died of a disease 6 years ago. I had no close friends, only colleagues at work. Most of my free time was spent playing video games or reading fantasy novels. Anyway, back to the screen. Apparently I was getting reincarnated in a fantasy world. It looked like a video game interface to create a level 1 character. Was this going to be a game world? There really was not an awful lot of information available. I would not consider myself very brave. In the 42 years of my life there was not even a single fight. Maybe I should go with a bard? Travelling, music and a way to make money without fighting. Then I spotted a small icon on the top. ¡°Import Character¡±. Hm. Clicking on it gave me options¡­ of video game characters I played in the past. Not of every game mind you, but the system seemed to accept some. Well there was this one character¡­ where I might have cheated a little. Or a lot. I gave myself 2 classes instead of the one you could normally have. A level 20 Elemental Sorceress, level 20 Fey Trickster (something rogue like) with all stats a lot higher than they should be. A very specialised character could max out one attribute, like strength, but it would require sacrifices. A dedicated defender would have a lot of toughness but lacked the strength to do damage. My character had it all. The strength of a barbarian, the speed and flexibility of a rogue, the toughness of a defender, the intelligence of a wizard and the charisma of a bard. Intelligence did not make you a genius though. It gave you the ability to think faster, make difficult calculations and multitask. While the game did not care about that, in reality there would be a lot of synergy between attributes. Moving fast is pointless if your brain cannot keep up with it. Having insane strength will be meaningless if your punches break your bones. Having all attributes that high would be amazing. And op. Now let''s talk about my classes. Elemental Sorceress was a spellcaster focusing on elemental damage. It offered a passive resistance to the elements and immunity to the prime element you picked. For me that was lightning. It also gave your special element piercing attacks to overcome enemy resistance. While the class offered little utility in theory, I did add a few more spells than one should have. Because I cheated. So I had a low tier heal among other things. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Now the Fey Trickster was sort of a magical rogue with a fey bloodline. There were no actual spells but some nice passives and abilities. It provided a high resistance to poison and disease, reduction from non magical damage and I even had the ability to turn into a black panther at will. I always liked cats. I could also grow claws in my elf form, not sure how useful that would be. Further I had the Eyes of the Fey, a passive that let me see magic and pierce illusions. The class also included the ability to better spot and disarm traps and came with a stealth skill. Speaking of skills, there were a couple I had invested in. I had arcane knowledge, which covered all things magical. Traps, stealth, lockpicking, persuasion, athletics, perception and deception were also maxed out. Additionally I had some points in survival to help with hunting and tracking. Neither of my classes was focused on martial combat but with the abilities of both combined I rivalled a lvl 20 warrior in melee. Although I was missing any special attacks, I did have ridiculous stats to compensate. There was also a precision attack passive. In game terms it gave me additional damage when attacking a distracted enemy. The game lore explained the ability with keen eyes, that allowed you to spot weaknesses in the enemies armour. So overall my character was ridiculously op in game terms. I was basically a full adventures party in one person. Completing the game gave me further loot and additional power. There was a quest in the game, that changed your body through alchemy, giving you health regeneration. I could even regrow a limb in a week. My character had more spells than should have been possible, a lot of skills, items, gold¡­ I could be rich, overpowered and just retire? That does sound rather nice. Also a bit broken. Then again, I had no idea what kind of world I would enter. Of course there was a slight¡­ issue. Well maybe not really an issue but at least a concern. This character was a female dark elf named Amaya. Ebony skin, shoulder length white hair, purple eyes, 1,64m tall, and a moderate bust. The thing is, I used to be a man. I just liked playing female characters. Honestly, I have wondered in the past what it would be like to change my gender. But I would have never seriously expected it to happen. Also, how would dark elves be treated in this world? Would they be common? Would they be feared? Dark elves had a resistance to magic. It was not as strong as that sounds. A fireball would still burn you, it only helped against magic targeting you directly. So mind control, polymorph, petrification,¡­ anything that targeted your body or mind directly. Beneficial effects, like buffs and heals, still worked. I wondered if that would create a loophole in this new world. Also, a strong enough spellcaster might overpower your resistance. Still a nice defence for a world of magic. Further, dark elves could see in the dark. It was even more powerful than the low light vision of normal elves. In the end, the power was just too tempting to ignore. A world with magic might be harsh to the powerless. Let¡¯s go with it, and hope for the best. I pressed accept and the world went dark¡­ Chapter 2: Magic (optional) Information flooded my brain and I felt myself changing. My character did have some skills, like arcane knowledge. Now this knowledge came flooding in. The world I was going to did not have levels, or a system, or video game features. Nevertheless I could use the levels from my game to roughly describe the strength that people had. The world was filled with magic. During their lives people were able to draw this magic into their bodies, strengthening it. This happened naturally. How much magic a body could absorb depended on the person. You could say that everyone had a different maximum level in game terms. In theory this could be raised by alchemically, or magically, altering the body. Most people would never be more than a regular earth human. How the magic affected your body was determined by your actions. If you fought with a sword a lot you would get stronger and faster. Although one thing was universal, the more magic you absorbed the harder you were to kill. Let¡¯s have a look at humans. Now while there are no real levels I am going to use them here for a comparison. In the end the lvls mentioned here are simply an approximation of someone''s abilities compared to a game character. Most people would never be more than a level 3. In the army you would consider normal soldiers 1-3. 4-6 would be specialists, people excelling at a certain role in combat. 7-9 would be elites. Maybe a chapter of royal knights. 10-12 would be champions, like commander of an elite unit. 13-16 would be notable individuals. At this level people were often dragged into politics. A lot of famous adventures were offered noble titles. 17-20 were walking armies. Those people had a lot of influence in their nations and were vital in any war. You could almost see them as nuclear bombs. Of course there were even more scary things. Like one of the ancient dragons, or the demon lords in the abyss. Aside from humans the world had a large number of species. Elves, dwarves, orcs, beastkin and many more. Generally, longer lived races had more high level people. And a lvl 1 orc would simply be stronger than a lvl 1 human. And what about classes? There were none in that sense. You got stronger in what you trained. Somebody fighting in melee combat would generally grow more proficient in their weapon. You could call somebody like that a fighter. The mana would strengthen their muscles to make them more efficient. A high level fighter could also learn special techniques. Like using the mana in their body to further empower their strikes. A max level fighter might even be able to throw an elephant! Ok maybe not throw, but at least lift them. Aside from getting better at your craft, the infusion of mana led to more durable bodies. Their skin, muscles and bones were a lot tougher. Further, the body became a lot more resistant to poison and disease. If you wanted to kill a high level fighter in their sleep you were in for a rough surprise. A normal knife would not be enough to slit their throat. If you had enough time you could saw through it. But people tend to wake up if you try that. While mages were less durable, even their bodies were no joke. So I mentioned mages. Let''s talk about how magic works in this world. In order to become a mage you needed training. Either from a personal tutor or by visiting an academy. The first step was to get a feel for the magic in your body, visualise it in your head and mould it into the desired shape. This usually took about 1-2 years of studying. After that you were able to cast simple spells. Those could be used to chill a beverage or start a fire. Simple spells could be deadly against a normal human, but their damage potential was rather limited. Casting simple spells would tire a mage, but other than that there was no limit on their use. True magic was divided in spell circles. After a mage learned simple spells they had to construct the first spell circle in their head. This took a lot of studying and concentration. They used the mana of the world to strengthen their mind while tracing the runes over and over until they settled. Once that was completed they formed spell slots. Every spell circle had a number of spell slots. Once they unlocked them all they started tracing the next spell circle in their mind. The highest was the 9th spell circle which would make a mage about lvl 17. At the maximum level a mage''s spell slots would look like this:
Spell Circle Spell Slots
1 6
2 If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. 6
3 6
4 5
5 5
6 5
7 4
8 4
9 4
Now how do spell slots work? After a at least somewhat restful sleep all spell slots were restored. Humans usually needed between 6-8h to regain all their slots. Sleeping less, or having a restless sleep, would only partially restore the slots. Instead of sleeping one could enter a deep meditation for the same time. That ability was rather rare for humans but more common for elves. A mage could fill those slots with a spell that they learned. All learned spells were stored in the mage''s spell book. This was a magical item, bound to the mage and created by a ritual. A spell book was expensive but needed in order to become a mage. It could also be resummoned with a ritual if it was lost. Spells were learned either through intensive study, or with a magical one time use scroll. In order to cast a spell it had to be in a spell slot. After a spell was put into a slot, it took about 15 min to settle before it could be used. So a mage could always keep a spell slot open and fill it later during the day. But it would be impractical to fill a slot during battle. To cast a spell a mage needed to concentrate on the slot for about 5 seconds. Spells usually did not need incantations or special gestures, though a lot of spells were called forth from one''s hand. If the concentration was interrupted during those 5 seconds the caster had to start over. There was also ritual magic. In a ritual, a spell circle was drawn on the ground, certain material components were placed in the centre and multiple casters (optional) combined their power. The runes in the spell circle determined the effect. Everyone participating used some of their spell slots (no matter which or if a spell was prepared). Rituals could also be performed by a single person, if they had the required amount of slots. More powerful rituals would need more and higher spell slots as fuel. Rituals were also used for crafting. While spells had a fixed effect, rituals could be modified easily, assuming you had sufficient knowledge of the runes. The biggest downside of ritual magic was the preparation time and the material cost. It also required vast amounts of knowledge. But how powerful was magic? Well a popular 3rd circle spell was a fireball. It was comparable to a modern hand grenade. While all fireballs were kind of the same, the overall power of the caster influenced the temperature. Meaning a high lvl mage would also have more impressive lower circle spells. At the top¡­ magic was truly frightening. A 9th circle spell could call meteors from the sky, laying waste to a castle. They could drown cities and summon earthquakes. Thankfully there were also defensive spells to protect against such might. But it would be safe to say that a high level magic user was more powerful than a high level fighter. That said, mages had to sleep and were somewhat vulnerable when caught unprepared. An important task of a warrior was often to protect a mage. But becoming a mage capable of such wonders was hard. Most people lacked the talent, or the money to afford a magical tutor/school. And you still needed a body capable of absorbing enough magic. You might remember that I was a sorceress, not a mage. So what is the difference? Sorcerers drew power from their blood. Magic was part of them. They did not learn spells. As they grew in power, mostly by just using their magic a lot, their mind unlocked further spells and circles. They had no control over what spells they had. It was all tied to their bloodline. Someone with the blood of a red dragon would have mostly fire based spells. Additionally, they might grow scales and eventually even become immune against fire. There was also no need to prepare a spell. They could use a spell slot for any spell they knew at that tier. Sorcerers had two more spell slots per circle than a mage. Personally, I had 3 more slots than a normal sorcerer, because I cheated. That meant 9 slots for the 9th circle. Also, sorcerers could modify their spells with enough training. Making a fireball bigger or smaller, adjusting the heat, or even casting instantaneously was possible. Depending on the modifications a spell would need a higher circle slot. It was not possible to use a lower tier one, even if you reduced the effect of a spell. For a mage to adjust a fireball they would have to create a new spell. Most mage spells were actually copied from sorcerers. By studying what they did naturally and recreate it, mages were born. One should also add that sorcerers could use ritual magic. Sorcerer was not a profession you could choose. Either you were born as one, or not. How powerful you became was determined by the strength of your bloodline. Most sorcerers never reached the 9th circle. There was something similar though, called a warlock. A warlock forged a contract with a powerful being, something like the lords of the fey, and gained power. They permanently changed their bodies and gained magic like a sorcerer. They had 2 spell slots less than a mage, per circle. A warlock''s body became a lot more magical and they gained traits from their patron. This could lead to a change in appearance, like growing horns, claws or even the ability to change shape. The real downside was the contract. A powerful being could only bestow their power about once a year. The process required a part of their soul. This part needed to regenerate before they could do it again. So the power of a warlock came with a price. A demon lord might ask for your soul after death, a queen of the fey might demand a lifetime of service. A warlock contract could not be broken. Once forged, not even the gods could break it. So it was really important to read the fine print. Speaking of the gods, there was also divine magic. A priest did not need to study. If they were accepted by their god, they got access to divine power. Through prayer and the use of their gods'' magic, they gained access to additional spell circles. They had the same number of spells as a mage, but there was no need to learn a spell. They prayed to access their spellbook, which contained all the spells offered by their deity. If they displeased their god they lost access to their spells. Chapter 3: The Adventure Begins While all this information and more was flooding my brain, I was lying on a dirt path through a forest. Slowly opening my eyes I looked around. I still had a major headache from all the things I learned. It was strange to suddenly have all this knowledge. I could picture an enemy, like a wolf, and I just knew where I would have to strike it. My mind was filled with knowledge of fighting, yet there was no real memory of an actual battle. My body felt strange yet familiar. My senses were so much better. I enjoyed the smell of the forest, listened to the sounds of animals but I was not overwhelmed. Slowly I stood up and began to check my gear. I had my elven blade from the game. It had the blade of a katana but the hilt and crossguard of a western longsword. The blade was black, forged from adamantium and covered in silver runes. The blade would never need sharpening, repair itself and was able to pierce even the hardest materials. I could also use it as an extension of my body to channel spells through it. The armour I had was a breastplate of hardened leather. Of course not from a cow but made from the hide of a magical beast. There were silver runes covering the armour. It was tougher than steel, would also repair itself and provided amazing protection. Unfortunately this was not a game. So in reality it only protected my torso. No matter how tough it was, it would be useless if someone stabbed me in the leg. I also had a pair of bracers from the same material. My clothes consisted of black woollen pants, a black short sleeve woollen shirt and black leather boots. The boots were magical and allowed for increased stability to prevent slipping on a slick surface. They were also magically comfortable. I had a ring to empower my illusion magic, a necklace with a magical storage and a hooded cape. The cape was black with a purple cat on the back. It magically repaired itself, looked stylish and could summon a shadow demon to fight at my side for 10 minutes. The ability took 24 hours to recharge. The shadow demon had the shape of a large purple cat. I had a modern bra and panties and while I was curious about my new female body the current situation did not really make me horny. Thankfully my storage amulet contained a lot of things from the game. Food and drink that I looted, some weapons and armour that I collected, many potions, scrolls, herbs and other things that games throw at you. What I did not have was a change of clothes. In games you just tend to always wear the same thing, clothes wise. You just upgrade your armour when something better comes along. There were no camping supplies. In the game you did not need anything to rest, just click a button. So I did not have a tent or sleeping bag with me. Also no cooking gear. The already prepared food in my amulet would last a while, assuming it did not go bad. Thinking about it, my magical knowledge confirmed a spatial item would preserve food. Unfortunately I had no idea where I was. Well there was a dirt path and I was in a forest. But I had no idea about the geography or politics of this world. The path was wide enough for a wagon and it should lead me to some form of settlement. I seriously hoped I could buy some more clothes and gear there. I did have money from the game. But it was all gold coins. Roughly one million gold coins were in my amulet. That was a lot in the game but could I use them here? Let¡¯s hope so. And now for some magic! At first I tried to use a simple spell to summon water. I could create a small flow, enough to have something to drink. Being a simple spell it was not that impressive but it was magic! I stared at it in awe. Let¡¯s try something bigger! Destroying the forest would probably not be a good idea so¡­ a shield spell. Maybe a fist circle magic shield. It would provide a floating disk with a diameter of 80 cm. It should automatically intercept an attack but could be manually controlled as well. I focused on the spell in my head, forming a clear picture of it and after 5 seconds it completed. I could feel the spell slot being consumed and saw the shield form. It looked like it was made from blue glass. Really pretty. I played around a bit with my shield. Turns out it could be no further than 2 m from me. Hm. Could I bash things with it? That was not possible in the game but what would stop me now? Let¡¯s try it with a tree. Focus on moving the shield¡­ *crash* Yeah that works. I wondered how effective that would be? Anyway I dismissed the shield for now. Time to become a cat! I mean a black panther. Focusing on the ability my body started to shift and within 2 seconds I was in my new form. Thankfully it came with an understanding on how to move on 4 legs. Also the gear I was wearing got transported into my storage amulet. The pendant itself turned into a collar that I was still wearing. Curious. The amulet was the only soul bound item I had. A soul bond meant that no one else could use it without my permission, as long as I lived. The amulet was a teardrop amethyst attached to a mithril chain. In my animal form the chain changed into a collar. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. I really want to have a look at myself now. Wait a minute¡­ I did have a mirror. Now why would there be such a thing in my necklace? In many video games you just loot everything you can. So I carried things like paintings and even a 2m tall mirror with a timber frame. I went next to a tree and summoned the mirror so it would lean against it. The silver collar looked nice on my black panther form. The amethyst was now embedded in the front of the collar. I preened in front of the mirror a bit. Time to change back. After 2 seconds I was an elf again. A naked elf. I looked in the mirror and blushed. Also I did admire my new form. Gently touching my skin and tracing my pointy ears. Elves are cool. But I should put on some clothes. Could I do that from my storage? Let¡¯s imagine wearing my clothes while I pull them from my storage. And it worked! Oh wait.. I am wearing the shirt the wrong way around. After 10 minutes of practising I got the hang of equipping items from my storage. Ok how about a quick meal before I continue my explorations. Grabbing some bread, cheese and an ale from my necklace I enjoyed a nice picnic. Also, I did not feel any of the alcohol. Was I immune? In the game your character could still get drunk, even with a high poison resistance. Let¡¯s experiment. I did grab some whisky from my amulet. Ahhh¡­ a nice smokey flavour. Also I did feel a bit of the alcohol. Apparently I could still get drunk, I just needed to drink more. Time to start my adventure! I stored the mirror again and transformed into a black panther. In my animal shape I was faster, stronger and had a tough hide. I still had access to all my abilities and magic. Even talking was possible in this form. The real downside would be the lack of gear. That also meant no dirty clothing though. I really did not want to travel for days with only one set of underwear. So cat form it was. I ran through the forest parallel to the road. I had no idea how a traveller would react to my form. At least the collar might make them pause before attacking me. Not that I worried too much considering my ridiculous strength. Very few beings should be a threat to me. I was running at the speed of a car and barely making any sound. Probably due to my high stealth skill. I ran for hours while the day came to an end. Unfortunately I had no clock or any way of tracking the time. Somehow I knew that the world had a 24h day, just like my original one. A year consisted of 13 months with 30 days each. So what should I do for dinner? While I still carried food in my storage, maybe I should give hunting a try. Still in my black panther form I went deeper into the forest. After a short while I found a deer. Time for more experiments. I focused on my 4th circle teleportation spell. It would transport me to any place that I could see with a maximum range of 500m. Envisioning myself right next to the deer I concentrated on the spell in my mind. *blink* Suddenly I found myself right next to a startled deer. With my superior reflexes I unsheathed my claws and swung at its head. Before the deer had any chance to react my paw connected¡­ and the deers head exploded. I probably should have attacked with less strength. Now my magnificent fur was covered in deer bits. *sigh* That would take a lot of grooming. Maybe I should be more horrified with what just happened. It was the first time I killed anything. Well aside from bugs I suppose. Yet I seemed perfectly fine. Once again I wondered how the whole transformation affected my mind. My mental abilities certainly changed. All the knowledge about fighting I now had might have desensitised me to violence. Then there is fear. A game would treat that as a mental status effect and it could be resisted. Did that mean I was now brave because of my stats? Was I still myself? I think the core me was still the same, I just looked at the world through different eyes. I suppose I was fine with that. Anyway, time for food! In my feline form raw deer tasted surprisingly good. Afterwards I used create water in my paw and licked it to quench my thirst. Having successfully concluded my hunting trip I went back towards the road. I chose a spot that would not be easily seen from the path and started grooming myself. It¡¯s important to have nice shiny fur before I go to sleep! Should I be concerned about being attacked at night? Probably. I guess I could summon an elemental to stand guard. There was an elemental summoning spell every 2 circles. They were small, medium, large, elder and lord. So elemental lord would be a 9th circle spell. They all had a base duration of 2h. That would not do for a whole night. By pushing a spell in a higher slot I could extend the duration by 2h. So a medium elemental, a 3rd circle spell, could last 8h by using a 6th circle slot. That should do it. After concentrating on the spell for 5 seconds, while focusing on the increased duration, a water elemental appeared. Why water? I wanted to know if I could also use it for a shower. The elemental looked like a swirling tornado of water. It was about the size of a human and hovered slightly above the ground. There was a quiet sound of running water coming from the elemental. Like a gentle stream. It was quite soothing. I could command the elemental with my thoughts. While it did not talk it was able to understand my commands. I wondered if an elemental lord would have a personality? Something to test another time. I was delighted to find out that I could get a shower. The elemental summoned a gentle stream of water on top of me. The water was not really warm but I did not mind. With my cold resistance even an ice bath would be ok. After I moved to a dry spot I curled up on top of some leaves. My elemental was commanded to wake me in 7,5 hours. What a crazy day. I quickly fell asleep. Chapter 4: Encounter When I woke up the sun had already risen. Of my elemental there was no sight. Hm. I did command it to wake me, what happened? Oh right¡­ there was no clock. My elemental had no idea when 7,5h passed. So apparently it disappeared before it thought it should wake me. Lesson learned. I lazily stretched and was surprised how comfortable I felt in my black panther form. I went hunting for breakfast and enjoyed a nice rabbit. Time to continue my journey! After running next to the path for a while I heard the sound of combat. The clash of weapons and the cries of pain. I increased my pace and quickly came upon the sight of fighting. There were 3 wagons on the road blocked by a fallen tree. Kind of a classic but I suppose it works. The wagons were defended by people in chain mail, carrying spears and round shields. They also had a short sword strapped to their side. One of them (maybe the commander) was using a two handed sword instead. Of the originally 9 defenders 2 had already died. The attacking force consisted of 23 people with mixed weapons and armour. From leather to chain, armed with clubs, spears, axes and swords. Curiously I did not see any archers. One of the attackers was wearing a robe, probably a spellcaster. Still in my feline form I charged towards the bandits. Well I presumed they were bandits. For all I know there could be a war going on. This would be the first time of me ever attacking a human. While I felt conflicted I did want to help the guards. Maybe I did not have to kill though. How about incapacitating the attackers? A lot of spells would simply hit everyone in an area. Then again, was that a problem? I could end my own effects at will with a touch. So I could trap everyone and then release the defenders. Ok I had a plan. With my mental stats I could think relatively quickly, so barely a second had passed. There was a 7th circle spell called winter''s grasp, that froze everyone in a 50m radius. They would be unable to move or cast spells for up to 1h. People with great strength might be able to break out a lot sooner. There were also various items that could protect you from the effect. But nobody here looked very powerful to me. I kept sprinting towards the battle. Nobody seemed to notice the black panther charging them. I focused on my spell, mentally placed it in the middle of the fighting and it activated. A wave of chilling air was released from the centre. Snowflakes drifted through the air and people froze. It almost felt as if time had stopped. Everyone was covered in a thin layer of frost and nothing was moving. Great success! Now let¡¯s unfreeze the defenders and find out what is happening. As I walked in front of the person I assumed to be the commander, I realised I was still a black panther. There were 3 bandits in front of him. Ah, probably better to use my elf form. So I changed back. And I was naked. I forgot to focus on equipping my clothes after the change. I was mortified, my face becoming extremely red. Well more like purple since I had black skin. In my panic, it took me at least 20 seconds to focus enough to equip my gear. I considered summoning a giant hole in the earth to swallow me. After some calming breaths I finally touched the commander and dispelled the effect holding him. ¡°Uhh¡­ greetings?¡± ¡ª---------------------------------------------------- John (Guard Captain) This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Today was a bad day. I was a captain in the guard, tasked with the protection of some merchants, who traded with the small villages outside of Iron Rock. Iron Rock was a powerful city state. The small villages in the area swore fealty to the city and in return they got protection. This included a guard for the traders. Usually it was rather safe, but the occasional monster did wander through the forest. Worst case a beast came down from the mountains. Bandits were rather rare in the area. Iron Rock was a major trade city but most of that trade happened by boat, or through the mountain with the dwarfs. So overall the escort should be a boring job. While I was a seasoned commander, my team were mostly recruits getting a bit of field experience. When I saw the tree blocking the road I had a bad feeling. Unfortunately there was not much I could do. Turning the wagons around would be difficult, the road was too narrow. It would take a long time so they would be attacked regardless, if it was an ambush. So I ordered the men to be vigilant. They readied their spears and shields while I approached the tree with 2 of them. Suddenly a bolt made of acid hit the man next to me. Dammit, they had a mage! An acid bolt was a 2nd circle spell and our armour would not provide much protection. While I had a magical sword, my proudest possession, nobody else had magical equipment. Our armour and weapons were high quality steel but a mage would not care about that. The acid bolt was followed by the screams of charging warriors. They appeared out of nowhere. That could only mean more magic, illusions. This kept getting worse. We were too heavily outnumbered for a shield wall. 3 people were coming right at me. While I desperately defended myself the soldier next to me fell to another acid bolt. The attackers were surprisingly skilled for bandits. But I had no time for speculation. While I wasn¡¯t a master swordsman I could easily fend off 5 regular soldiers. Yet those 3 bandits were pressing me hard. Suddenly, the world was covered in ice. The sound of fighting just stopped. I was frozen solid but so were my attackers. I was desperate to know what was going on but I could not turn my head. I could only stare ahead into the equally shocked expressions of my attackers. I strained against the ice holding me but it was no use. Strangely I only felt a light chill despite my frozen state. Suddenly a black panther walked into my vision. It was wearing a collar? Was it someone''s pet? Some powerful people did manage to tame certain monsters or animals. Then the black panther transformed¡­ into a beautiful night elf. A naked female night elf. Her form was partially obstructed by the 3 bandits frozen in front of me. Also did she blush? I am probably just imagining things. This terrifying being was certainly far beyond mortal concerns. The magic demonstrated implied a very powerful spellcaster. While night elves had a long natural lifespan, those who became truly powerful lived for thousands of years. Some say they might even be immortal. The Elven Dominion was a superpower beyond the mountains. The high queen had been in power for almost 2000 years. She was rumoured to be a powerful mage capable of 9th circle magic. Iron Rock had no direct route to the elves. The massive mountain range separating Iron Rock from the Dominion was inhabited by dwarfs. Iron Rock was a massive town built partially into the mountains. The city was bordered by a huge lake to the east and a big river to the south. So the town was protected all around either by the mountains, the lake, or the river. The river flowed through the mountains into the Beravis kingdom. The Elven Dominion was north of Beravis. On the other side of the lake was the Empire. Beravis and the Empire were both ruled by humans. Just like Iron Rock. Sitting in between the Empire, Beravis and the dwarves lead to a lot of profit due to trade. And the natural defences kept the Empire at check, for now. So what was a powerful night elf doing here? There was a sun elf, a wood elf and a night elf queen. All three served the high queen. Night elves had a reputation to be the Dominion''s spies and enforcers. The bandits! They clearly were more than they seemed. And somehow the elves were involved. The night elf was now equipped with beautiful armour. Clearly expensive magical equipment. No doubt this was an important noble, an elite sent from the Dominion. She stepped by the frozen bandits and touched my chest, suddenly I could move again. I did not understand what she said, it might have been elvish. I offered a small bow and quickly apologised. ¡°I am sorry my lady, I only speak imperial.¡± Chapter 5: Caravan ¡ª---------------------------------------------------- Amaya Hearing that I almost facepalmed. Languages! Yes they were a thing. After some thought I realised that I actually knew 4 languages from this world. Elvish, imperial, draconic and high fey. So I switched to imperial. ¡°Greetings, my name is Amaya.¡± I also noticed that I did not have a last name. In video games you often just have one name. Maybe I should make one up? ¡°It seems you had some trouble with bandits. Don¡¯t worry, your men are fine and I can release them shortly,¡± I assured him. The man I was talking to had short blond hair and a neatly trimmed moustache. There was a scar on his forehead. He was also a bit taller than me. ¡°Thank you for your intervention my lady. I am captain John Sterros from the Iron Rock guard. We owe you our lives. I would deeply appreciate it if you freed my comrades, some of them might need medical assistance.¡± I could see some sweat forming on the man''s head. Was that from the spell? No matter. ¡°Sure, I might even be able to provide some healing.¡± I answered. After that I quickly went from soldier to soldier and ended the effect. I also used a first circle healing spell on 3 of them. I even checked the wagons and freed the terrified drivers. ¡°Captain, what is a night elf doing here?¡± I heard somebody whisper. Night elf? I suppose that is how my species is called around here. Good thing I heard that. Getting the name of your own species wrong would have been embarrassing. Appearing naked was already embarrassing enough. Oh god, just thinking about it made me want to bury myself. Thankfully only the captain saw me. The bandits had their backs to me. They might have even covered some of my naughty bits. Meanwhile the captain talked with his soldiers. ¡°I have no idea, but that was a powerful spell. I don¡¯t know which circle but surely at least the 5th. She also used some healing magic. And she seems to carry a sword. Whatever she is, she has a lot of power. But the bandits were too well trained and equipped. While they had a wide assortment of weapons and armour they were all of good quality. They also had some training and a mage. The night elf was probably here for those bandits.¡± Thanks to my elven hearing I listened to the entire conversation. They thought I am here for a greater purpose? They would never believe that I am just looking for a city to buy clothes. Maybe I just act mysterious? This would never go wrong, right? I approached the captain, who was now standing with his soldiers. I already healed the ones who were wounded badly. The others only had some minor cuts. But they were currently bandaging those. ¡°Captain Sterros, what do you want to do with those bandits?¡± I asked. ¡°The punishment for their crime would be death. But I would like to question them. The problem is we do not have any restraints. There is some rope, but not enough to tie up 23 prisoners. We also don¡¯t have enough men to properly guard them at night. Provisions might also be an issue unless we find their camp. Although we should reach the city tomorrow evening. Further, there is no way for us to restrain a mage.¡± Sterros replied. The death punishment slightly shocked me. But mediaeval worlds were not known for their prison systems I suppose. Sterros made some good points about the prisoners. Could I help? Well it so happens I had 30 manacles in my inventory. Why? Well, there was this quest to free prisoners and I kept the manacles. Why did I loot those? Because I could. If something is lootable you just take it. That left the mage problem. How would we stop him from casting? Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. I did have a polymorph spell. Usually one was unable to cast magic while in a different form. I had a special talent that allowed me to use magic while being polymorphed. The same talent also allowed me to speak. And yes, I got that talent by cheating. Which means there should be no way for the mage we captured to have it. ¡°I might be able to help with that captain. I will provide the manacles, help guard the prisoners and I do have a solution for the mage.¡± I said smiling. ¡ª---------------------------------------------------- John Damn it. As if I needed more confirmation that the elf was here for those bandits. Nobody travelled around with that many restraints by accident. And since she hadn¡¯t said anything specific that meant politics. This was way above my paygrade. ¡°We gratefully accept your help lady Amaya.¡± ¡ª--------------------------------------------------- Amaya He did not question me on the manacles. Maybe it¡¯s not that odd in this world? Good. After that short exchange I went from bandit to bandit, stopped the spell, disarmed them and put on the manacles. My strength was far superior so their resistance was rather futile. I didn''t even have to put any effort into it. The wide eyed guards collected the restrained prisoners and gathered them behind the wagons. Now only the mage was left. I did not want to give him any opportunity to cast so I decided to polymorph him while he was still frozen. I decided to transform him into a goat. The 5th circle polymorph worked like a charm, I unfroze the surprised goat and put a leash on it with some rope. While I was handling the mage I heard John giving a speech. ¡°Two of us gave our lives today. We will honour their deaths and bring the bodies with us for a burial. I know you are wondering how we will manage those prisoners. Lady Amaya has offered to escort us back to the city. Treat her with the utmost respect. Don¡¯t ask her any questions. The prisoners will have to walk behind the wagons. If they fail to comply, pain can be a great motivator. I want to move out in 10 minutes. Store all the gear from the bandits in the last wagon.¡± As I walked towards John with the goat I saw his eyes widen. I suppose he did not expect the polymorph. It was one of the few spells that had unlimited duration. If you failed to resist the spell you were stuck until someone dispelled it. I handed over the goat and started moving towards the tree still blocking the road. I grabbed it and moved it to the side. I loved my new body. When I turned back toward the wagons the people looked strangely at me. At least the bandits were properly terrified. I hoped that stopped them from escaping. The drivers of the wagons were trying hard to be unnoticeable. They were clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation. I waited until everyone was ready to get moving and followed behind the prisoners. That way I could keep an eye on them. That helped to keep them moving. They seemed to be terrified of getting close to me. Nobody tried to start a conversation with me. Everyone was strangely quiet. So we continued our journey till the evening. We were still inside the forest but stopped when there was a small clearing next to the road. While the soldiers were busy building tents the prisoners would have to sleep in the open. At least I could provide them with some food though. I pulled bread and a barrel of ale out of my inventory. While I was lacking cooking gear I did have a bunch of mugs. Hm I also had a table. Don¡¯t ask. So I set up a table with mugs, bread and the barrel next to it. I welcomed the soldiers to it and told them to also feed the prisoners. Was it a good idea to have ale while on duty? Probably not. Although it might be normal for a mediaeval society. Depending on how clean their water was, the added alcohol made for a safer beverage. Then again, this world had magic. Nobody seemed to complain. The guards started to enjoy the food and drink. The captain thanked me for the supplies and made sure the prisoners got something as well. I just watched from the sides eating a sandwich. I wondered if I could use a water elemental to clean the mugs when they were done? Speaking of elementals. This time I had the soldiers to wake me. I had no idea how they keep track of time. But whoever was on watch would be able to wake me when the elementals disappeared. There were 6 soldiers left and their captain. With me that would be 8 people. So we had 4 groups of 2 for the night watch. I would have the last shift together with the captain. Before we went to sleep I decided to summon 4 medium elementals with an 8h duration. I went for 2 earth and 2 water elementals. That should stop the bandits from getting any ideas while I slept. I wondered if the 6 h would be enough to recharge all my slots? Elves often needed less sleep than humans. Should I sleep in my elf form? Damn my lack of camping supplies and clothes. I could have asked the soldiers for a blanket but that would be embarrassing. The temperature would not bother me with my resistance but the ground was not very comfortable. And I would have to sleep in my clothes. I also just realised that all the soldiers and bandits were male. Was that a coincidence? Magic should be a great equaliser when it comes to the strength of both genders. I suppose I would learn more in the city. Anyway, I decided to go with my black panther form. I did not mind curling up on the forest floor. The fur did make it a lot more comfortable. And so my second day in this new world came to an end. Chapter 6: City I woke up when John approached me. I suppose it was time for our shift. The previous watch was probably too scared to wake me, so they woke only John. No matter, I got up and stretched. Nothing like a good stretch when you are a feline. I debated grooming myself a bit but decided to go back to my elf form. The black panther seemed to make people nervous. Even more nervous, considering that they were also uncomfortable if I was a night elf. This time I managed to change back with my clothes on. I gave John a nod and he went back to the other side of the camp. My elementals were still vigilant and the prisoners were all accounted for. I was happy to see that all my spell slots recovered. The night passed without an incident and soon the sun started to rise. Before my elementals disappeared I decided to try a shower. I commanded a water elemental to blast me. I have to say elementals have a good water pressure. I moved behind a bush for some privacy. There were still 3 elementals keeping watch. After my quick shower I realised I had no towel. Hm. Just how much heat resistance did I have? But playing with fire in the woods was a terrible idea. Oh well, I put on my clothes while still wet. It would have to do until I could buy things in the city. My shower seemed to have woken up the camp. I collected the table, the mugs and the empty barrel from yesterday. The soldiers were eating their own provisions while I provided some bread and water for the prisoners. My own meal was a slice of chocolate cake and some milk. At least I had some good food from the game. Soon we were on our way again. People were still unwilling to start a conversation with me and I spent the day silently following after the prisoners. It was already evening when we finally left the forest and I saw Iron Rock for the first time. We were slightly higher than the city on a hill. There was a giant wall surrounding the city connected to the mountains. I could see a port at the lake and a massive bridge covering the river. The bridge was high enough to let boats pass beneath it. It was truly a breathtaking sight. We arrived at the gates as the sun began to set. The guards looked concerned when they saw the prisoners. But captain Sterros was part of the city guard, he simply explained they caught some bandits. I used the opportunity to say goodbye to the captain. ¡°It has been a pleasure travelling with you John.¡± ¡°Thank you again for your assistance lady Amaya,¡± he replied. We shook hands and I left. ¡ª---------------------------------------------------- John Captain Sterros watched the night elf leave. Should he have stopped her? There is no way he would try that. He was not looking forward to delivering his report on the mess. At least they were back in the city. The mage was still a goat but the city mages should be able to reverse that. Ah well, it was good to be home. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡ª--------------------------------------------------- Amaya Time to explore a city! Or not. It was getting late so shops would be closing. The buildings were a mixture of stone and wood. I wondered if they would have indoor plumbing. It did not stink so there was probably a sewer system. People liked comfort and with magic at their disposal I sure hoped they came up with some modern conveniences. My plan was to just follow the biggest road. It should lead me to an inn eventually, or so I hoped. While it was getting dark I noticed that the town had magical street lights. They looked like large blue crystals on metal poles. Eventually I found an establishment called The Weary Traveller. Upon entering I found myself in a large common room. There were 8 tables of varying sizes. There was one group consisting of 3 dwarves and a light skinned elf. The other patrons seemed to be human. Behind the bar was a middle aged man with a full brown beard. He had a bit of a belly and was busy pouring drinks. I saw two young women expertly navigating the room with trays. They had a certain resemblance to the man behind the bar. Possibly daughters? Could be a family run establishment. I made my way to the bar. ¡°Greetings. Would it be possible to rent a room for the night?¡± ¡°Sure. That would be 2 silver. That includes breakfast. Other meals cost extra.¡± ¡°Sounds good.¡± I pulled a gold coin from my storage and placed it on the bar. Now came the moment of truth. Would my money be accepted? He looked at the coin. ¡°Uh, did you want to stay longer than one night? Damn it. I have no idea how much silver a gold coin is worth. 10? 100? Should I book the room for a week? Do I even want to stay a week? ¡°Yes, I would like to stay for a while. Just open a tab with the gold and tell me when it runs out.¡± I said smiling. ¡°Certainly my lady.¡± He picked up a key. ¡°It¡¯s room number 8 on the 2nd floor. The baths are on the ground floor in the back. Would you like dinner?¡± ¡°Yes, that sounds lovely. I would like some wine and whatever you recommend.¡± I took the key and went to an empty table. A lot of the patrons glanced my way. I suppose my gear did look rather expensive. Soon a young lady appeared with a glass of wine, a bowl of stew and some freshly baked bread. ¡°Enjoy.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± I replied. I was uncertain what meat the stew contained but it was delicious. The fresh bread complimented it nicely. The wine was pretty decent too. Not that I had much knowledge of wine. Other than some curious glances nothing happened while I enjoyed my meal. Afterwards I decided to check out the baths. There was a separate area for men and women. I almost walked into the wrong one. I was also pleasantly surprised to find a toilet. It was made of stone and seemed to have a magical flushing system. The bath itself offered two showers and a basin that could fit 4 people. It was currently empty. I took a surprisingly fluffy towel from a rack at the entrance and disrobed. Well I just put all my clothes into my amulet which I kept on. I don¡¯t think I would ever take that off. It held all my possessions. After a quick shower I relaxed in the hot bath. It looked like this world had some luxury. As I was stroking my smooth skin I realised how comfortable my new body felt. So far I really enjoyed my new life. After the bath I went to my room. It held a large bed that could sleep two, a small table with a chair and a wardrobe. It looked rather clean which was nice. I wondered if I should get my own home. Could I even do that? I had a lot of gold but how did citizenship work? Was I allowed to buy property? Tomorrow was time for some research. And shopping. I drifted off to sleep. Chapter 7: Exploring the City Breakfast consisted of eggs, bacon, fresh bread and coffee. Yes, this world had coffee. Praise the gods! Hmmm. I should probably find out more about the gods of this world. I am also not sure who, or what, was responsible for my reincarnation. Maybe an overgod? Anyway, the serving woman was happy to point me towards a clothes shop. I also found out that the city had a large library and a famous magical academy. I bought 10 sets of underwear and 4 travelling outfits, similar to what I had. While shopping I discovered that 1 gold converts to 100 silver. 1 silver equals 100 copper. All nations seemed to use the same currency. There was even a bank run by the dwarfs. I debated if I should make an account. My storage was pretty safe but it could help with big transactions. Also the whole bank thing had me curious. The building was a nice solid stone structure. It was covered in nice looking runes that served as decoration, as well as protection. There were three counters in the main room, all staffed by dwarfs. I went to the first one. The clerk had short blond hair and a truly massive beard. ¡°Greetings. I would like to open an account,¡± I said. ¡°Welcome dear customer! It¡¯s nice to see an elf around here. Way too many humans I tell you,¡± he responded. ¡°Opening an account is simple. You will need to place your hand on the runic formation on the counter. We will record your magical signature and link your finances to it. You can withdraw your funds at any branch up to 1000 gold per day. For a larger amount we will need a one week notice. You can transfer any amount from one account to another though. Opening an account will cost you 1 gold. There is also a 1 gold charge per year for maintaining your account.¡± That seemed rather expensive. I looked at street vendor prices while shopping earlier. From what I gathered 1 copper was roughly 0,5$. That would make a silver 50$ and a gold 5000$. Banking was for the rich it seemed. But I had the money, so I might as well go for it. ¡°Yes, that sounds fine. I would also like to make a large deposit into the account.¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. The dwarfs'' eyes lit up at the word large. ¡°Certainly my lady!¡± He seemed to press a button somewhere and a small hole opened in the desk. ¡°Just put your hand on the formation, I will open the account and then you can deposit any amount in the hole. It will automatically count the coins and safely transport them to our vault.¡± I also noticed that the dwarf seemed to be typing on something. I wondered if they had magic computers? I did not see any screens. Anyway, I placed my hand on the formation. After getting the ok from the dwarf I sent a trail of coins into the hole from my necklace. The dwarfs'' eyes seemed to grow larger and larger as the coins kept going for a while. When I was finished I had deposited 200156 gold into my new account. Suddenly a thought occurred to me. ¡°So you never asked for my name. Is that information not needed for my account?¡± I wondered. ¡°Of course not my lady! We value privacy here. Your magic signature can not be forged I assure you! That is all we need.¡± The dwarf reassured me. ¡°I see you deposited 200156 gold with us. We will deduct the fee of 1g for the opening of the account and another 1g for the first year. That leaves your balance at 200154 gold. Is there anything else I can help you with?¡± He asked, smiling. ¡°No, that would be all. Thank you for your help.¡± I left the bank satisfied. Afterwards I went looking for lunch. There were several stalls selling street food at the market square. I bought some grilled fish on a stick. I was uncertain what spices they used to season the fish but there were hints of garlic. It was delicious and went well with the ale I purchased. Afterwards I continued my exploration of the city. The lower part was focused on trade. There was the port on the east side, the gate in the south and the entrance to the mountain in the west. A giant road connected the port with the mountain. This was the main trading route. At the centre was a giant market square. You could see many stalls where vendors advertised their goods. My inn was located not too far from the square toward the southern gate. The further north you went in the city the richer people became. Also the northern part was higher. At the tallest point stood the palace of the duke. It was surrounded by mansions of the local nobility and rich merchants. Slightly lower you had the academy in the east and the temple district in the west. The library was close to the academy. They charged me 1 silver for a day at the library. Knowledge sure was expensive. I spent the entire afternoon going over books. I learned that Iron Rock was ruled by a duke called William Shields. I also read up on the surrounding nations and checked the local laws. For example, I was happy to find out that slavery was banned on the whole continent, except for the Empire. There were still a lot of things about this world I did not know. But today was a good start. I returned to my inn satisfied. Chapter 8: Meeting While I was having dinner at the inn a well dressed courier showed up. ¡°Lady Amaya, the duke invites you to a meeting tomorrow at 10 in the morning.¡° I wondered what the duke wanted. Were those bandits that big of a deal? Maybe he wanted to reward me for saving his men? ¡°I would be delighted to attend¡±, I responded. ¡°Very good, we will provide a carriage.¡± The man bowed and left. The carriage was good news. I still had no way of tracking time. I should really look into buying a watch. After dinner I relaxed in the bath with a bottle of wine. Tomorrow would be interesting. Thanks to my shopping I could dress in fresh clothes. I still wore my armour and weapons. Would that be appropriate? No idea, but it made me look more regal. I did not have any formal wear yet. But I should come up with a family name. Eventually people would press me on it. What name should I choose? Something mythological? Astrological? Something connected to my main element? Or maybe a flower? Might be fitting for an elf. Maybe Delphinium? The name of a beautiful and toxic flower. It existed in the same shade of purple as my eyes. Amaya Delphinium. I like it. I was waiting in the common room of my Inn with a coffee until the carriage arrived. The driver did not comment on my weapon or armour. So far so good. I was pleasantly surprised to see that someone had already invented suspension. I watched the city roll by while we made our way to the duke''s palace. I should probably visit the magic academy at some point. I wonder if they offered tours? The palace was surrounded by an ornate metal fence. There were 2 guards at the gate. It looked like the duke''s residence was not meant to be defensible though. There was a wide driveway through a beautiful garden. In front of the entrance was a large square that could hold multiple carriages. I noticed that there was a coach with the imperial coat of arms, a golden shield with a black dragon in the centre, already parked there. Curious. When I exited the coach a butler was waiting for me. He gave me a short bow. ¡°Lady Amaya, please follow me.¡± The entrance hall had a marble floor, 6 pillars and a grand staircase. We stayed at the bottom floor though. We followed a short corridor on the left and arrived at a cosy looking room. The walls were filled with bookshelves. There was a lovely stone fireplace and 4 big chairs surrounding a small coffee table. Two men were seated. One was large and muscular with short red hair and a moustache, the other one had a slight belly, short black hair and was clean shaven. When I entered the room the butler bowed once more and left. There were 2 guards in the room and a stunning woman. She was wearing a black suit. The remarkable thing though were her ears. White fluffy fox ears. She also had a fox tail. Her eyes were blue, she had a moderate chest and was slightly smaller than me. She had beautiful long hair and looked like she was in her 20s. Not that I had any idea about the lifespan of her people. The age of my character was 127 in the game. But elves would stay in their prime for a very long time. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. I realised I was staring at her. I might have blushed had I not spotted the metal collar. My embarrassment was overwritten by annoyance. I had a bad feeling about this. Meanwhile the man with the glorious moustache was approaching me. ¡°Greetings Lady Amaya, I am duke William Shields. It¡¯s my pleasure to welcome you to Iron Rock. May I introduce the imperial ambassador sir Frederick Meisler. He is here to discuss the bandits you apprehended. They seem to be imperial deserters.¡± ¡°It¡¯s my pleasure.¡± I replied while shaking the duke''s hand. ¡°Who is the stunning young lady, if I may ask?¡± I just could not help myself. Frederick looked smug while he answered. ¡°That is my slave Lucy.¡± Now I was seething. A slave? Slavery was illegal in Iron Rock and there was a slave inside the mansion of the ruler. This was most likely just politics. A reminder from the Empire how much power they had. They were daring the duke to make a scene. Maybe they wanted to distract from the captured soldiers. Of course the duke was responsible for his people. Maybe he genuinely feared a war. Maybe he did not care. But I did. I was not a politician. I was a powerful being staring at injustice. Something I could fix. A city state like Iron Rock did not really have the power to defeat me, thanks to my cheating. I could not take on the whole Empire but they would not have a major force nearby. It was also debatable how much they would do against an individual. Freeing this slave would have consequences. It might be rash, but what good was my power, if I refused to use it? I approached the woman and took a closer look at her collar. One of my video game classes was a rogue, which meant I was a master at lockpicking. I also had a magic lockpick, a high level item from the game. The woman was startled as I grabbed her collar and quickly opened it. Frederick was shocked. He fumbled with a stone in his hand and suddenly the collar electrified. But he was too slow to hurt the woman. I already had the collar in my hand and I was immune to lightning. I smiled and put the collar in my amulet. ¡°As you are certainly aware slavery is illegal in Iron Rock. So this woman is free. I just helped her to remove a necklace that seemed stuck. Now, I do not know your name but I would like to offer you employment.¡± I said to the former slave. The face of the duke had gone pretty pale by now. The guards were nervously touching their swords. Frederick was livid. ¡°THAT IS AN OUTRAGE. I DEMAND AN APOLOGY. RETURN MY PROPERTY!¡± ¡°Your property? Since the only object here is the collar you can have that back.¡± I removed the collar from my necklace and threw it at him. Unfortunately it was still electrified. He started to scream as it touched him. I am unsure if it was by accident, or conscious, but he did manage to turn the collar off. He was still convulsing on the floor though. I ignored him and looked at the woman again. ¡ª---------------------------------------------------- Lucy Frederick was in a bad mood yesterday. Something did not go the way he wanted. He shouted a lot. He said he was going to remind the duke of his place by bringing her to a meeting. The meeting started out normal enough. There was some small talk while they were waiting for someone. And then she entered. A night elf. The Dominion was supposed to be a nice place. They had no slavery there. I wondered if they actually enforced that. It was always easier to look the other way. The elf stared at me. I wondered if Frederick would shock me just to annoy the Dominion. He liked to play games like that. The elf was now right next to me. She grabbed the collar and somehow removed it. How was that possible? Those locks might not be magical but they were rather complex. I was in a daze. I did not hear what she was saying. Only the screams of Frederick broke my trance. The elf gently put a hand on my shoulder. ¡°I am Amaya, what is your name?¡± ¡°I¡­ I am Lucy, my lady.¡± I said with a trembling voice. What was happening. Could this be real? ¡°Would you like to work for me? The pay is quite generous.¡± Please let this be real. ¡°Yes¡­¡± Chapter 9: Leaving ¡ª---------------------------------------------------- Amaya I hugged the trembling Lucy. She looked like she needed one. I was serious about hiring her. That should hopefully give her some protection. I was not sure what skills she had. Maybe she could be my butler? Frederick was still suffering the effects of his electrocution. The duke was just standing there speechless. There would definitely be consequences. I had a feeling my powers would soon be tested. Finally William recovered. ¡°Lady Amaya, you have gone too far. Return the slave to sir Meisler immediately. Your behaviour is unacceptable.¡± I looked at William and laughed. ¡°Unacceptable? You ignore your own laws and dare to lecture me? Pathetic. Lucy accepted my offer. As long as she is willing to work for me I will consider her a member of my house. Any attack on her will be treated as an attack on house Delphinium.¡± Of course there was no house Delphinium. Since I only invented my name earlier that day. I also had no idea if that would match with elven society. I just sort of improvised my speech based on books and tv shows. But my game character did have a high persuasion skill. I think that helped me deliver my speech. In my old life I would have been a nervous wreck in that situation. I definitely had more confidence now. Was it the change in my mental stats? Who knows. Suddenly the door burst open and more guards entered the room. Two of them were wearing mage robes. I could see outside through the window. That means I could use my teleport. If I used a higher tier slot it would be possible to bring Lucy with me. But something told me fleeing would make this worse. I wanted to make a show of strength. What could I use that would be intimidating without killing anyone. Winter¡¯s Grasp would certainly be an option. Or¡­ maybe it was time for an elemental lord. A 9th tier summoning. While I still stared at the guards I started my spell. 5s is an eternity in battle. But currently nobody had any idea what to do. During this standoff I completed my magic and I called forth the lady of storms. Unlike a normal wind elemental she was not in the form of a tornado. She looked like an elf with a skin made of wind. You could see clouds moving along her body. Her eyes sparkled with electricity. ¡°What is your command?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you accompany me and my friend Lucy here. We were just about to leave.¡±, I said. Lucy was still in a state of shock. I just took her hand and started to leave. The elemental lord projected a powerful aura. The guards were trembling and unable to move or act. The duke just stared. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! When we left the palace an old man was standing on the road. He was bald with a long grey beard. He was wearing an ornate robe and a staff with a giant emerald on top. ¡°I am archmage Nicholas Earthbreaker, headmaster of the Iron Rock academy.¡± ¡°Amaya Delphinium, archsorceress.¡±, I replied. I had no idea if archsorceress was a title. But it felt like I deserved a fancy title too. My elemental was still floating next to me. Nicholas stared at the elemental. The elemental stared back, then she winked. Nicholas raised an eyebrow. ¡°Fascinating. If you are not here to harm the city I would be delighted to offer you a tour of the academy.¡± ¡°Thank you for the invitation. I will see what I can do. Have a nice day.¡±, and with that I walked past him. Lucy still did not say anything. So I started a conversation with the elemental. ¡°So what do you do when you are not summoned?¡± I knew that lower elementals were not really self aware. They were magical constructs, more like machines. They could follow orders but they were not truly alive. This lady seemed different though. ¡°Aww you noticed. It is so rare that someone uses the elemental lord spell. It is more like an invitation, we can decline if we are busy. Or don¡¯t like the caster. If we accept the summon we have to follow orders. So a lot of us just always decline. There are several lords in the elemental plane of wind. You got suuuuuper lucky to get a cute one like me!¡± ¡°So is it lord or lady? Do elementals have genders?¡±, I wondered. ¡°Both works. Our official title is lord. We do not really have genders but most have a preferred form. We are not really born. If an elemental is around for long enough they can start to form a consciousness. Eventually they get powerful enough to become a lord. At that point you can be summoned. Lower tier summoning spells just form a body and stuff some energy into it. Only the 9th circle is powerful enough to actually bring a being from another plane into this world.¡± That was incredible information. It also meant that the spell could fail if the summon refused. Good to know. ¡°I hope you are not too bored. There probably won¡¯t be any fighting. Or would you like to return to your own plane?¡± ¡°No fighting? Well it¡¯s still more fun than the plane of air. Nothing ever happens, it¡¯s soooo boring! I will happily stick around until the spell runs out!¡± ¡°Perfect. Also please do not scare the people around too badly.¡± ¡°Fine¡­ I will retract my fear aura. Next time can we kill things please?¡± ¡°I will see what I can do.¡± Now what should I do next? I doubted that the duke would attack me. Fighting at my level of power would threaten the city. The Empire might retaliate but they would not have the resources nearby in the short term. Maybe it would be a good idea to leave the city for a few days. I also needed to make sure Lucy was ok. ¡°Lucy, I think we should buy some supplies and leave the city for a few days. What do you think?¡± ¡°Certainly my lady¡±, she answered. I would need to have a long talk with her later. While I did free her she probably felt obligated to follow me now. That would not be true freedom. I would love a travel companion but only if it was her choice. I bought two tents, two bedrolls and some clothes for Lucy. My storage still contained more than enough food. With that taken care of it was time to leave. My summon was no longer around when we approached the gate. I was not worried about myself but Lucy would be vulnerable. To avoid any risk I used an invisibility spell to get us past the gate. It was early afternoon as we made our way into the forest. Chapter 10: Offer We did not follow the road for long. Instead we headed deeper into the forest, towards the mountain. ¡°Why did you help me?¡± Lucy asked suddenly. ¡°There is a saying, all that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing. Now I would not consider myself a hero, but I do detest slavery and I had the means to free you. What good is the power I wield if I do not use it?¡± ¡°This was the only reason? You did not need information on the Empire? You just wanted to help?¡± ¡°Yes. Speaking of helping, I was serious about the job offer. I have no idea what qualifications you have but I am willing to hire you regardless. If you don¡¯t want to travel with me I can also help you to start a new life. I will not abandon you.¡± Lucy took some time to think about it before she answered: ¡°Could you teach me magic? I have always dreamed about that. Fox kin have an affinity for magic. I joined the army in the hopes of qualifying for their mage program¡­¡± ¡°So you were a soldier? How did you end up being a slave?¡± I asked. ¡°An officer took a liking to me. When I refused his advances he made up charges and had me tried for insubordination. I was sentenced to slavery and bought by the ambassador.¡± ¡°That is horrible! I am so sorry!¡± I stopped and gave her a hug. And I started thinking, how could I help her? I was a sorceress, my type of magic could not be taught. But I had the money to pay for her education. There were several magic academies. We continued in silence while I was lost in thought. There was a way to grant someone powers by creating a warlock. But it should be beyond the power of an elf. I was not normal though. I sifted through all the magical knowledge in my head. To create a warlock I had to use a part of my soul. That would not harm me permanently but it could only be done about once a year. We would be bound by a contract for all eternity. The whole process involved a ritual that required eight 9th circle spell slots from one person. I had nine, thanks to my cheating. You also needed a gem as a catalyst but I had plenty of those. All warlocks had magic but the spells they gained differed based on their patron. Their bodies changed too. In what way depended heavily on their benefactor. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Would I be willing to do that for Lucy? Giving her power would truly make her free. I barely knew her. I had no idea if she would use it for good. But I liked her and she was my responsibility now. We stopped in the evening in a small clearing. I set up the tent while Lucy started a fire. For dinner we had hot dogs. Instead of traditional soft buns we used a baguette. The sausages were grilled on a stick over the fire. Our only condiment was a spicy mustard but they were delicious regardless. Thanks to my magic we also enjoyed a nice cold beer. During the meal I made Lucy an offer: ¡°You said you wanted to learn magic, I can help you with that. If you want I will pay for an academy. But there is something else I can offer. You could become my warlock.¡± Lucy stared at me. ¡°My lady even I know that is not possible. No elf can create a warlock. Are you something else? A lady of the fey in disguise?¡± ¡°No, I am an elf. But I assure you it would be possible.¡± I tried to convince her but Lucy was still sceptical. ¡°What would you ask for such a boon then? Eternal servitude?¡± ¡°No. I do not wish to take your freedom. All I would ask is that you do not betray me. That would include keeping my secrets. There would be no need to serve me.¡± ¡°Who are you Amaya? No being of power would offer a deal like that. What are your plans?¡± ¡°Plans? I do not have a great plan. I just want to explore the world and enjoy life. You would be welcome to join me. Now who am I? I am an elf but I am not from this world.¡± ¡°I see. I will think about your offer.¡±, Lucy answered. After our conversation we went to bed. ¡ª---------------------------------------------------- Lucy I was lying awake in my new comfy bedroll contemplating Amaya¡¯s offer. In one day I went from a lowly slave to being offered the power of a warlock. With no real strings attached. Was she lying to me? Was she truly just an elf? But why me? There was nothing special about me. Was she really just that kind? In the past years I had given up hope. I had given up on my dreams. I just lived with no purpose. Amaya offered me a future, a new life. I decided I would accept her offer. I craved the power it promised. After so long I finally felt hope and not fear thinking about my future. Chapter 11: Ritual ¡ª---------------------------------------------------- Amaya The next day Lucy agreed to the ritual. We decided to travel a bit further from the city and perform it in the evening. In my short time in this new world I came to a realisation. I was alone in this new world. I had no friends, no allies, only summons to watch my back. My old life was rather boring but it was safe. It was routine. I had the occasional beer with a colleague but no close friends. I never craved human contact that much. But this new world was full of excitement. Magic, monsters, other races,... there was so much to explore and experience! And I had nobody to share it with. I was hoping Lucy would travel with me. The power I offered would make her a valuable companion. The contract would make her a safe option. She would not be able to betray me. I was also looking forward to the magic itself. Creating a warlock as an elf would probably go down in history. We engaged in some small talk as we travelled. She told me more about her childhood as a fox kin and the farm she grew up on. We reached the foot of the mountain in the evening. I started to prepare for the ritual while Lucy set up our camp. A few elementals would act as guards to ensure we were not disturbed. I used a shape earth spell to create a flat surface. Then I carefully carved the runes needed into the ground. The contract itself would be written in my blood and signed with her blood. The parchment formed the centre together with a precious stone. The stone would be consumed in the ritual. I needed a gem of at least the size of my fist. Thankfully I had a lovely amethyst in my collection of precious stones. Video games love to throw gems at you. Then I tried to use a knife to get some of my blood. I realised I could not pierce my skin. Ah, I did have a certain resistance to non magical dmg. I used a magic dagger next and it worked. It also healed immediately thanks to my health regeneration. Damn. Well, I just need a big enough cut. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I slashed at my wrist and was able to get enough blood before it healed. I was also surprised how little it hurt. The contract was a simple line: ¡°Amaya Delphinium will grant you a gift of power and in return you will no longer be able to betray her.¡± That was embarrassingly short for a contract but it should do the trick. Now all I needed was her signature and we could start. ¡°Before you sign this I will give you a deeper explanation. To turn you into a warlock I will offer you a part of my soul. It will change your body but you will remain the same person, just stronger and with access to magic. You will be bound by the contract and unable to betray me. Of course there is a certain room for interpretation there. The magic cares about what I would consider a betrayal. You would not be required to follow my orders. You could still argue with me, contradict me or slap me. Betrayal would be something more significant, like selling my secrets or stabbing me in the back. I am offering you the power to protect yourself. The choice is yours. All you need to do is sign the contract with your blood. Then place it in the centre of the circle and touch the amethyst.¡± Lucy looked determined. She took the knife I offered and pricked her finger, then signed her name in blood. We were ready to start. Activating the ritual worked perfectly. I fed it the 8 9th circle spell slots it required and the magic activated. I felt a small prick inside of me. The piece of my soul that would be gifted to Lucy. My eyes could see the magic around us flowing into her. Changing her body. It was beautiful. But there was so much magic. The amethyst we were touching dissolved into a purple light. Power kept being drawn into the area. Lucy¡¯s body absorbed it at an alarming rate. The spell was finished but she kept changing. I caught her body when she was about to fall over. A tattoo of a purple lightning bolt appeared on her forehead. Her body became hot. I could hear her bones changing, I could feel her skin hardening. Becoming a warlock changed your body. It gave you a certain amount of power immediately but you still needed to grow into all your gifts. In theory at least. I could feel the magic of the surrounding area being sucked into Lucy. The elementals disappeared. There was not enough magic to sustain them anymore. I was growing concerned. What have I done? Was it the amethyst? Was it the origin of my power? At least it happened in the wilderness. Magic failing could be disastrous in a city. I was still trying to figure out what to do when I became drowsy. I could not stay awake any longer and darkness engulfed me. Chapter 12: Aftermath I woke up with a headache. Lucy was lying beneath me. Her body had cooled and she was breathing normally. Good. I stood up and looked around. All the plants, even the trees, were wilted. Everything around us was dead. I was horrified looking at the destruction I caused. This was not supposed to happen. When I heard Lucy stir I knelt next to her. ¡°Are you alright?¡±, I asked. ¡°Everything hurts.¡±, Lucy groaned. Her eyes widened in shock while she noticed her surroundings. ¡°What happened?¡± Looking into her eyes I realised they were purple with a slit pupil. ¡°The ritual did not go as planned.¡±, I admitted. ¡°Somehow you absorbed a lot more mana than expected. Even the plants around us were drained. While I fell unconscious I did not suffer any permanent harm. Also my gear seems fine. I assume it was only deadly for weaker lifeforms. How do you feel?¡± ¡°The pain is getting better. My body feels¡­ lighter, stronger. I can feel magic inside of me. I know spells! I can cast magic!¡±, Lucy exclaimed with joy. ¡°Wait¡­ I know 9th circle spells?!? How is that possible?¡± How indeed? It seemed that the ritual consumed a lifetime''s worth of magic and pumped it all into Lucy. I am still not sure why or how. It was probably a miracle that she survived in the first place. It was also the kind of information people would kill for. As far as I knew, what we did here was believed to be impossible. ¡°Lucy, we need to keep this a secret. Every nation would kill for that information. If people figured out a way to replicate what we did they could create an unstoppable army.¡± Lucy was still shaken. ¡°You are right Amaya. What¡­ what will we tell people? Should I hide my powers?¡± I thought about that. ¡°You do look slightly different. There is the tattoo on your forehead, the change in your eyes, your skin is smoother, you gained some muscles and I think your hair is¡­ fluffier. We could always pretend that you are a different person. In the end the truth is rather unbelievable. So people will make up their own stories in their mind. We can just act mysterious. With the power we wield, people can¡¯t put too much pressure on us.¡±, I reasoned. ¡°Ok. So we just say my name is Lucy and don¡¯t answer any questions related to the old Lucy?¡± ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go with that. We should also consider travelling elsewhere. Maybe we should visit the Dominion?¡±, I pondered. ¡°The fastest way would take us through Iron Rock to enter the dwarven roads beneath the mountains. Do you think the duke will cause us trouble?¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°I am not sure. I doubt he would start a fight after my show of power. And people still believe I am part of the Dominion. Actually, I might have started a diplomatic incident with the Empire. Does the Dominion have an ambassador in Iron Rock?¡± ¡°No. The elves have no direct border so they don¡¯t care too much. Before we went to the meeting Sir Meissler was pretty concerned about your presence. I have no idea what the Empire has planned but there is something going on.¡± ¡°Hm. Ok let¡¯s go back to Iron Rock. With your new strength we should not have to worry about the Empire targeting you. Assuming you wish to travel with me. And you need some gear. I am afraid I do not have any armour that fits you. I might be able to help with a weapon though. You said you were in the army?¡± Lucy looked around, then she looked at her body. She gently stroked the skin on her hand. ¡°You have given me more than I could ever repay. I will follow you.¡± Then she stood up and stretched. ¡°The army mainly trained me to fight with a spear.¡± I looked through my storage amulet. I did have a nice adamantium spear. Adamantium was black and the strongest known metal. It was heavier than mithril and had a similar weight to steel. For a normal human a full metal spear might be too heavy but Lucy should be more than strong enough. The spear was covered in golden runes. It could be used to channel spells just like my sword. It also carried a sharpness and self repair enchantment. I handed the spear to Lucy. ¡°Take that. We need to buy a spatial storage for you so you don¡¯t have to carry it in your hands all the time. Give it a try. I will pack up our camping supplies. We should probably leave this area before someone investigates. It¡¯s also rather creepy.¡± Lucy took the spear and stared at it in awe. ¡°I¡­ I can¡¯t take that. This must be worth a fortune!¡± Lucy complained. ¡°You need a strong weapon and I have no use for it.¡± I shrugged and left to pack up the tents. When I had everything stored and came back Lucy was going through a combat routine. A thought struck me. ¡°So we don¡¯t know all the powers you got from becoming a warlock. I assume we are going to discover them in time when you get used to your new body. But there is one thing I am curious about. Can you turn into a fox?¡± I asked. Lucy stopped and looked at me. ¡°I might be a fox kin but we cannot shapeshift. There are magical beasts called kitsune, who can take the shape of a human or a fox. While it is theorised that our species are related there is no proof.¡± ¡°Maybe you should give it a try. Go into your mind and picture yourself becoming a fox.¡±, I suggested. Lucy stared at me. Then she sighed and closed her eyes. Suddenly magic engulfed her and she changed into a beautiful white fox. A fox the size of a wolf. Her spear dropped to the ground and she was standing on her clothes. ¡°What¡­How? Why? This¡­¡± A bewildered Lucy was twisting her head around looking at her new body. ¡°I can speak. Why can I speak? Why am I a fox?!?¡± I just laughed. Then I transformed into a black panther. ¡°I suppose I never mentioned my transformation ability.¡± I said, looking smug. Looking smug was a core ability of any feline creature. ¡°I was hoping you would inherit something similar. This will make travelling more fun!¡± I went over to her and collected the spear and clothing with my amulet. Lucy¡¯s eyes narrowed. Suddenly she pounced at me. I ran away laughing. It was a surprising amount of fun to play in my cat form. After the initial shock Lucy seemed quite pleased with the transformation. We finally left the area and started travelling back to the city, still in our animal forms. I was happy to see living trees again. The area that my ritual killed was not that big thankfully. Since we had not eaten yet we used our animal forms to hunt. Then we continued to travel at a rather fast pace. I was still processing what happened yesterday. Lucy got a lot more power than I thought she would. I wondered how she would use her strength. For now she was willing to follow me it seemed. While the pact stopped her from betraying me, it would not hinder her if she decided to slaughter a city. I suppose I did get the powerful companion I wanted. I liked Lucy and I think we started a friendship. Our return to Iron Rock would be interesting. I wondered what the future would have in store for us. Chapter 13: Back to the City ¡ª---------------------------------------------------- Lucy I still could not believe how much my life had changed in such a short time. I knew magic! I was running through a forest in the shape of a fox. It was the stuff of legends. My body had changed as well. It still did not seem real. I looked at the black panther running next to me. There were many things I did not know about Amaya. But I felt secure in her presence. Whatever our future held, I was looking forward to it. ¡ª---------------------------------------------------- Amaya With the speed in our animal form we could have reached the city in one day. But we decided to camp outside for a night and approach in the morning. We were both tired and wanted a good night¡¯s sleep before facing the city. I laughed as Lucy transformed back and stood there naked. Her clothes were still in my storage. She blasted some water in my face as retaliation. We had a quick meal and went to bed early. The next day we approached the gate. The guards seemed to recognize us but made no hostile moves. Once we were in speaking distance they addressed me: ¡°Lady Amaya, the duke would like to meet with you.¡± ¡°I see. Did he mention a reason for this?¡± I was curious what the guards were told about the situation. ¡°No, my lady. We were only told to show you the utmost courtesy.¡± Interesting. My show of force might have worked better than intended. I suppose it could be a trap by the empire but I was confident in our strength. ¡°Then we shall head to the palace immediately.¡±, I stated. It would be good to get this over with. We made our way to the palace without any trouble. While the guards seemed a bit nervous they were very polite and led us to a meeting room. We were told the duke would be with us shortly. Meanwhile a servant brought us some coffee. After about 10 minutes the duke arrived. He actually bowed to us. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Lady Amaya, I am in your debt. My sincerest apologies for our last meeting.¡± Now I was confused. ¡°What do you mean my lord? Also, you can just call me Amaya.¡±, I responded. ¡°Certainly, in that case just call me William. After you left our healers took care of sir Meiser. The electrocution combined with the fear aura left him in a bad state. Imagine my surprise when our healers discover a vial of poison on him. Afterwards the healers checked me and discovered the same poison in my body. It was a nasty thing. A complex magical concoction that would have triggered during the night and caused a heart attack.¡± The duke stared at me while telling his story. He was probably looking for my reaction. I kept my face neutral to hide my surprise. What was going on here? The duke paused to look at Lucy before he continued. ¡°It is now clear to me that you engineered the incident so we would find the poison. Your fellow agent infiltrated the embassy posing as a slave. I assume that is also why you knew about that attack on our caravan. Thank you for protecting my people, by the way. Unfortunately the captured bandits haven''t told us much. They all pretend to be deserters from the Empire. Sir Meisler hasn¡¯t talked yet. I am afraid the Empire will send their inquisition to investigate the matter. I am hoping you can add some more information. I am prepared to cooperate fully with the Dominion.¡± This was getting out of hand. ¡°William, I am not representing the Dominion.¡± It was time I made that clear. William looked at me, thinking. Then he nodded. ¡°I completely understand. Officially you are simply a travelling adventurer. So the Empire cannot claim that their diplomat was attacked by a foreign nation.¡± What? No! That was not what I tried to say! William continued: ¡°I would like to officially hire you to investigate the matter. That gives you a lot of leeway to poke around in the city. Some of the nobles were already getting upset about the presence of the Dominion. They will have a hard time to argue against an independent investigator though. While they will all know the truth, that is rather meaningless in politics. They won¡¯t be able to prove your allegiance.¡± The duke seemed rather pleased with the situation. I did not know what to think. The duke was probably a man looking for hidden plots everywhere. He would never believe the truth. It was time to use the age old tactic of delegating responsibility. ¡°Lucy, what do you think?¡±, I asked. ¡°What William says makes sense. We should start with questioning the prisoners, especially sir Meisler, before the inquisition arrives.¡± Lucy¡¯s smile was slightly disturbing. Maybe I should have expected that. I was hoping she would be uninterested in this mess. But it was an opportunity for revenge. It looked like we would be investigating this mess after all. ¡°William, I dislike politics. We will be rather direct in this investigation.¡±, I warned him. ¡°That is fine. Just try to make sure that nobody can prove you broke any laws.¡±, he answered. ¡°I will inform my men to fully cooperate with you.¡± Afterwards we said our goodbyes and left. The whole situation was rather overwhelming. Thankfully I was not alone, I had Lucy by my side. Chapter 14: Investigation ¡°So we are investigators now.¡±, I said as we were walking down the street. ¡°Do you have any experience in such matters?¡± ¡°No. I was trained as a butler after becoming a slave.¡±, Lucy answered. ¡°Is there anything you know from your time in the embassy?¡± ¡°Not much. I was aware that something big was happening. Sir Meisler was very excited but never mentioned any details. He did have a lot of meetings though. Baron George Spencer, who is part of the city council, visited often.¡± ¡°We should probably interview Spencer in that case. You know, it will take the duke a few hours to spread the word that we are investigating. We should go and buy a storage artefact for you first. So you can carry your own weapon. Afterwards I would suggest we interrogate the prisoners. Even if they don¡¯t know much we might get something we can use. The more we know the better questions we can ask Meisler.¡±, I reasoned. ¡°I admit I am looking forward to interrogating that bastard. We won''t have to be gentle, right?¡± ¡°I understand that you want some revenge. Just don¡¯t go too far Lucy.¡± ¡°Thank you Amaya.¡± Lucy said smiling. We now had a plan and the first step was shopping. Personal storage artefacts were really popular amongst anyone who could afford them. I spent 1000 gold on a sapphire pendant for Lucy, with a much smaller storage than my own necklace. But I did have the money and it would be worth it. Now Lucy could store her own weapons, supplies and clothing. She did not have armour yet. But her body was durable enough that I did not consider it a priority. We would need to look for a crafter and some personalised armour later. I also gave her 100 gold to spend on anything she wanted. While Lucy was shocked by my wealth, after everything that happened so far she took it in stride. It was already afternoon by the time we made it to the prison. I was surprised to find out that Meisler was not kept here. Apparently, no matter the crime he was important enough for special treatment. The city had a special mansion for such people. Instead of a cell they were confined to comfortable quarters. The plan was to question the bandits first anyway. And the mage was kept here in a special cell that prevented spells from the 4th circle or lower to be cast. I assumed he was the leader and would know more than the others. When I approached the cell the mage¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°You¡­ it¡¯s you! Please, I don¡¯t want to be a goat again. Never again.¡± He looked shaken. I was a bit surprised. I did not consider the mental implications of becoming a goat against your will. I liked my black panther form but it was voluntary. And I still had access to all my abilities and magic. I started to feel guilty. He was trying to kill people but I never wanted to torture him. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°I won¡¯t cast any spells. Just tell me what you were doing in the woods. Why did you attack the caravan?¡± ¡°We are just simple bandits.¡± He was sitting on the floor looking at us. Lucy moved towards the man and crouched next to him. ¡°It¡¯s ok. Nobody will hurt you. Just tell me what you know.¡± She smiled reassuringly. ¡°Sir Meisler was captured trying to assassinate the duke. Did you know about that?¡±, Lucy asked. ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about.¡±, he said, sweating. ¡°If you won''t talk to me, maybe you would like Amaya to question you instead?¡± Lucy suggested while pointing at me. The man grew even paler. ¡°No no no, I will talk.I will talk! We are soldiers of the Empire. We were supposed to create some unrest. The plan is to destabilise the city, make the duke look weak. We are funding some criminal organisations as well. There are more cells operating in the city. But I don¡¯t know where they are. This is all I know, I swear!¡± ¡°See, that was not so hard.¡± Lucy patted him on the shoulder and we left. ¡°Good job Lucy.¡±, I praised her. We did not get much information but it was a start. ¡°Thank you Amaya.¡± She looked happy with my compliment. ¡°But why would the Empire undermine the duke and try to kill him?¡±, she wondered. ¡°That is a good question. Maybe they are trying to make Iron Rock itself look weak? Does the duke have an heir? What would happen if William died?¡± ¡°He does have a daughter but she is only 6 years old. The duke¡¯s wife is dead. There would be a regent, appointed by the city council, until she comes of age.¡± ¡°So the Empire might try to make certain candidates look incompetent, to ensure they get the regent they want.¡± As I was thinking more about the situation there was still one big question. ¡°Lucy, why does the Empire not simply invade? If they want Iron Rock they could just take it.¡± ¡°Ah. Let me tell you a bit about the history.¡±, Lucy answered. ¡°After their last expansion, about 500 years ago, the Empire tried to subjugate the Dwarven Kingdom. While they were not able to invade the mountains they tried to cut off the food supply. Dwarfs have magic lights that allow farming beneath the earth. But they only have a few farmers and rely heavily on imports. With the Empire no longer providing food they had to turn to the elves. Elves and dwarfs never got along but in desperation the dwarfs struck a deal. They sold a lot of precious metals and opened up their craftsmanship to the elves. But something unexpected happened. The dwarfs realised that elven crops made far better ale. Also elven oak was amazing for ageing whisky. They even experimented with an elven wine barrel finish. It was a great success. Meanwhile the elves enjoyed the dwarven craftsmanship. With more trade came more contact and a friendship formed. By the time the Empire realised their mistake it was too late. The dwarfs are now happy to trade with elves and no longer need food from the Empire. They trade other goods though. Iron Rock has no alliance with the dwarfs but they are on good terms. And there is a large entrance to the mountains in the city.¡±, Lucy explained. ¡°So if the Empire invades Iron Rock the dwarfs will be angry. Trade would stop and the Empire would lose access to dwarven craftsmanship. That is the best case scenario. Iron Rock would surely plead for help. If the dwarves got involved in the fighting it would turn ugly. Especially since the elves might help the dwarves.¡±, Lucy concluded. ¡°I see. So an invasion could turn into a massive war. Instead they are going for a diplomatic route. Maybe the Empire will try to have someone marry the duke¡¯s daughter.¡±, I speculated. So we had a theory but no real evidence. Meisler had a lot of questions to answer. I was looking forward to the interrogation. Chapter 15: Investigation 2 It was evening by the time we reached the mansion that held Meisler. The guards escorted us to his suite. Despite being a prisoner he had a sitting room, a bedroom and a bathroom for himself. The guards stayed outside of the room. Meisler looked angry when we entered. ¡°Hello Frederick.¡± I saw no reason to be formal with a prisoner. ¡°That is Sir Meiser for you, you will show me respect!¡±, he insisted. ¡°No, I don¡¯t think I will. You will tell us about your little plot here or I will cast a privacy spell on this room and let Lucy have some fun.¡±, I answered. Meisler looked at Lucy and paled. ¡°You would not dare. The Empire would not let this slide!¡± ¡°You truly think the Empire will care for you? After you failed?¡± Meisler seemed uncertain now. I started to cast a privacy spell. It stopped any sound from leaving a certain radius. I wanted to be prepared if he started screaming for the guards. I had no idea how far we were actually allowed to go. ¡°Lucy, he is all yours.¡± I took a step back and gestured towards Meisler. ¡°Finally.¡±, Lucy said. Electricity sparkled on her fingertips. ¡°What? Lucy doesn¡¯t know magic. Who are you? Get away from me!¡± Lucy started zapping him and he screamed. ¡°AHHHHH. STOP! HELP! HELP!¡± Of course nobody was coming. My privacy spell was in place. I watched the scene with mixed feelings. Hurting a prisoner was wrong. But he likely did worse to Lucy in the past. She was wearing a shock collar when I first met her. ¡°I WILL TALK! I WILL TALK!¡±, Meisler shouted. Lucy stopped her magic and stepped back. I approached Meiser and used my healing spell. I even handed him a mug of water. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. He started talking: ¡°I am not a noble, nor am I strong. That limits how far I can go in the Empire. But¡­ I was promised a title. All I needed to do was kill the duke and lay some political groundwork. There are people in the city that would love to join the Empire.¡± ¡°Like George Spencer?¡±, I asked. ¡°Yes. Like Spencer. He is the leader of their faction. I promised him he would keep his noble title. And he would get more influence in the city. The Empire has been shipping in weapons and drugs for the crimson lotus gang. I never had any direct contact with them. I just file fake paperwork for shipments to the embassy. Oliver, my secretary, is the one pulling the strings. He works for imperial intelligence. He told me that you captured the soldiers attacking the caravan and decided to accelerate the timetable.¡± ¡°And what would you have done after killing the duke?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know all the details. There was supposed to be a big event. Something to let us take control. I don¡¯t know any details, I swear!¡±, he pleaded. ¡°What about other soldiers operating in the city? We heard you have multiple groups.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know any details, Oliver refused to tell me. He said it¡¯s all on a need to know basis.¡± Meisler was sweating. I was wondering if he was lying. But we could always come back for more questions. He did give us some important information. We would have to question Oliver next. ¡°That should be enough for now. If you were lying or holding back Lucy will have another conversation with you.¡± I stopped my privacy spell and we left. I still had a room at the Weary Traveller so we went there. It only had one bed but Lucy said she did not mind. After a meal we relaxed in the bath. We were the only ones there. I pulled a bottle of elven wine and 2 glasses from my storage. I always enjoyed a drink in a hot bath. I handed Lucy a glass. ¡°What can you tell me about Oliver?¡±, I asked her. ¡°He seemed like a quiet person and a hard worker. I never saw anything suspicious.¡± ¡°I doubt he is going to give us the truth. We probably need some more evidence. Do you think we should just break into the embassy?¡±, I wondered. ¡°They have wards. Could you bypass them?¡± ¡°I have no idea. It might be worth a look.¡± I was thinking about wards when someone else entered the bath. A dwarven woman with short red hair. She was rather muscular but well proportioned. She took a quick shower and joined us in the bath. ¡°Good evening, my name is Hilda.¡± ¡°Hi, I am Lucy¡± ¡°I am Amaya, pleased to meet you.¡± I pulled another glass out of my storage. ¡°Would you like some wine?¡±, I asked. ¡°Oh yes, I would love to! You two are women after my own heart. A good bath needs a good drink!¡± She accepted the glass. ¡°What brings you ladies to Iron Rock?¡± ¡°We are adventurers, we like to travel. What about you?¡± ¡°I am a caravan guard. I came here protecting a shipment of dwarven light stones. If you ever buy a house, get yourself some dwarven lights! It¡¯s worth the money I tell you. But now I have some vacation time.¡± She emptied her glass. ¡°That is some good wine you got there!¡± I poured her some more. ¡°I have heard good things about dwarven whisky. Is there anything you can recommend?¡± ¡°Oh yes. I need to take you shopping! There should be a great store here near the market square.¡±, she replied enthusiastically. Hilda seemed like a nice person. We kept drinking in the bath for a while. She wanted us to tell her stories of our adventures, unfortunately we did not have any. In the end I just described some fights from a video game and pretended they were real. An hour and 5 bottles of wine later we said our goodbyes and went to our room. Thanks to our high constitution we were only slightly tipsy. It had been a long day. I went to bed and quickly fell asleep. Chapter 16: Inquisition The next morning I was contemplating the strange turn my life had taken. I didn''t really have any long term plans in this new world. Originally I just wanted to enjoy my time here, maybe travel a bit and see the world. Now I was in the middle of a political plot between nations. It was intimidating on the one hand but oddly exciting as well. I was looking forward to solving the case, possibly due to my curious nature. It also gave my current life a purpose, a goal. I had breakfast with Lucy at the inn. We did not see Hilda, she might have been sleeping in. I wanted to take her up on the offer to go shopping at some point but for now we had a job to do. ¡°What do you think we should do next Lucy? We could confront Oliver, or look for some more information first. Maybe we could investigate the crimson lotus gang?¡± ¡°The gang might be promising. Even if we don¡¯t get much information, stopping them would hinder the Empire¡¯s plans. We should ask the guards what they know about them.¡±, Lucy suggested. ¡°Good idea.¡±, I agreed. So after breakfast we made our way to the guards headquarters. The small square in front of the building was filled with two carriages. 11 soldiers in the Empire¡¯s colours were standing around. I frowned. ¡°What do you think is happening here?¡± ¡°That looks like the imperial inquisition.¡±, Lucy answered. ¡°But why are they already here? This is too fast.¡± ¡°What exactly is the inquisition? Are they followers of a god?¡±, I inquired. ¡°No. Their job is to keep the peace within the Empire and enforce the laws. When the local guards are out of their depth, or if the nobility is involved, they handle it. They are led by three high inquisitors who answer to the emperor directly. They are supposed to be rather powerful and capable of 9th level magic.¡±, Lucy explained. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°If they are supposed to police inside the Empire, why are they in Iron Rock?¡± ¡°Officially they might argue that a crime by their ambassador is an internal matter. If the duke denies them access they will claim it was all planted. Of course they might still try to do that now.¡± ¡°I see. That is also why the duke wanted us to investigate. By working for him we can poke around in the name of the city. And the inquisition can¡¯t bully us easily.¡± When we approached the door two imperial soldiers tried to stop us. ¡°HALT IN THE NAME OF THE INQUISITION! What is your purpose?¡± ¡°You do realise that you have no power here, right? Actually, you are trying to stop the investigators the duke hired. Maybe we should arrest you.¡± I stared at the man who spoke to us. He snorted. ¡°Go home, you are not needed here. This is an imperial matter.¡± I smiled. Then I started to cast a 5th circle spell. It was called winter¡¯s breath and would freeze anything in a cone in front of me. The spell did not do any dmg, it simply froze them, just like winter¡¯s grasp. But it affected a smaller area, so I could target the soldiers in front of me without hitting anyone else. I took a deep breath and exhaled a slightly blue mist. The soldiers had no time to react. The two directly in front of us and three more, who were standing further behind, were frozen. That left 6 soldiers. They drew their swords and attacked. Apparently, my demonstration of power did not intimidate them. Lucy summoned her spear. ¡°Don¡¯t kill them.¡±, I told her. Lucy nodded and engaged. I just stood there watching. While the soldiers were trained well, the gap in power was simply too big. Lucy danced between their attacks effortlessly. She used her spear like a staff to hit their arms and legs. With every hit, bones broke and soon all the soldiers were lying on the floor unable to fight. While I was admiring Lucy¡¯s work the doors of the building opened and a man in a fancy robe stormed out. ¡°WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?¡±, he shouted. Two people in ornate plate armour followed behind him. I looked at them calmly. ¡°Some bandits attacked the official investigators of the duke. Don¡¯t worry, we have them subdued.¡± The man¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Official investigators?¡± He looked at me, then at Lucy. ¡°I only see the Dominion''s pet and a slave who needs to learn her place.¡± He pointed his finger at Lucy. Suddenly a lighting bolt appeared and struck her in the chest. Lucy did not even twitch. Apparently she inherited my lightning immunity. The man stared at her in disbelief. ¡°Oh my, now you have attacked us as well. The Empire tried to kill the duke and now they attacked the investigators. In broad daylight. I am sure there will be plenty of witnesses too.¡±, I smiled. The man seemed uncertain now. He looked at his men lying around Lucy. He looked at the spear. Maybe he finally realised that Lucy was a threat. ¡°You will regret this.¡±, he said and stormed off. The two people in armour followed silently. While I would have loved to attack the man in retaliation, a city was a bad place for a magical battle. Also, he did not actually hurt her. Now that the inquisition was no longer blocking the door several guards came out of the building. They looked around uncomfortably. A muscular woman with short black hair approached us. Instead of armour she wore a uniform and I assumed she was in charge. ¡°What have you done?¡± Chapter 17: Conversation ¡°What have we done? We apprehended some criminals for you, you are welcome. But where are my manners? I am Amaya and this is Lucy.¡± I said pointing at Lucy, who gave a small nod. ¡°And who might you be?¡± ¡°I am Jessica Evans, leader of the guard. And the man you picked a fight with is Elias Richter, a high inquisitor!¡± She seemed rather upset. ¡°High inquisitor?¡±, Lucy inquired. ¡°That makes no sense. It has only been a few days since the assassination attempt. High inquisitors don¡¯t just sit around idle, it should have taken weeks for one of them to arrive.¡± ¡°Unless he was already on his way, or waiting nearby.¡±, I theorised. ¡°The idea might have been for him to investigate the murder of the duke. Although that would have looked suspicious.¡± We were still missing some information. Who did they intend to blame? And how would they convince the people? ¡°STOP ACCUSING THE HIGH INQUISITOR! You have already caused enough of a mess.¡± Jessica was getting rather angry. ¡°Stop pretending you don¡¯t know what is happening. The Empire is making a move and the duke hired us to stop it.¡± I was getting annoyed by her attitude. ¡°You are here provoking the Empire, then you will leave us with the mess. Our relationship with them is good. The high inquisitor deserves your respect! You don¡¯t know who hired sir Meiser. We will cooperate with them and find out what really happened!¡±, she insisted. ¡°The only thing this Elias deserves is a good beating.¡± This conversation was going nowhere. I had a feeling that Jessica did not get her job because she was skilled. And she seemed rather pro Empire. ¡°Come on Lucy, let¡¯s go.¡± We walked away leaving a fuming Jessica behind. ¡°Do you think she is just incompetent or part of the plot?¡±, I asked Lucy. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°I assume she got the job through politics. While the duke is in charge, in theory, the city council holds a lot of power too. So she might be an appointment to appease someone. The real work is done at the lower ranks anyway.¡± ¡°So she might tell the inquisition everything we do to look good in their eyes.¡± I sighed. ¡°You know we could check out the docks. Goods from the Empire arrive by ship through the lake. So everything they smuggled into Iron Rock would have arrived at the port.¡±, Lucy suggested. ¡°That is a good idea.¡± We started walking towards the harbour. ¡°Lucy about that fight, are you alright?¡± ¡°Yes. I was a bit confused but I did not even feel his spell. I am not sure why to be honest. Did you protect me with magic?¡±, she asked. ¡°Oh. I never told you but I am immune to lightning and you seem to be as well. I meant mentally, are you alright? He did try to kill you.¡± ¡°Wait¡­ we are immune to lightning?!? That¡­ that is huge. Very few creatures have a trait like that!¡± I chuckled. ¡°Welcome to the realm of mythical creatures.¡± Lucy recovered quickly from her shock. ¡°Why am I still surprised with you?¡± She sighed. ¡°Now Elias was less surprising. The Empire is very human centric. Humans can still be slaves, and non humans can be normal citizens, but there is a wide belief that humans are better. A lot of them look down on others. They are also very fond of ranks and a clear social hierarchy. The beastkin tribes were conquered by the Empire long ago. A lot of people still think of us as savages though. Many beast kin still worship Goreath, the god of the hunt. While humans tend to worship Imperius. He is the god of rulers, the god of nobility. Seeing a former fox kin slave challenge his people must have really enraged the high inquisitor. He probably saw me as nothing more than a pet. My death was meant to be an insult to you and the Dominion. Now that he has seen some of my power he will think I am a different person though. Just like the duke. After today most people will believe that I was your fellow agent and infiltrated the embassy with a magical disguise.¡± ¡°While that is fascinating you haven¡¯t actually told me how you feel about it.¡± ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t know. I have always considered people like him untouchable. More like a force of nature. It is still sinking in that I am now at the same level. That there might even be a chance for some payback. But I can tell you this, electricity is the main element used to punish slaves.¡± She looked at me and smiled. ¡°And you gave me my immunity to it, thank you.¡± ¡°You are welcome.¡± I smiled back. We continued our way to the harbour. With the amount of gold I had we should be able to loosen some tongues. Tavern keepers might be able to tell us something. We could also use magic to sneak into some warehouses the Empire used. The sight when we arrived was breathtaking. It was only the harbour of a lake but the lake was massive. Besides sailing ships I also saw what appeared to be a steam powered vessel. I wondered if they had magical steam engines. I stood there staring at everything like a tourist. I suppose I was a tourist, in a way. Lucy seemed amused by my behaviour. Chapter 18: Discovery ¡°I think we should start our investigation over there.¡± I pointed at a food stall. ¡°You just want to eat some grilled fish.¡±, Lucy teased. ¡°Food is important for morale!¡±, I said as I walked towards the vendor. I ordered some grilled trout with a potato salad. It was served on a paper tray with a small wooden fork. Lucy did not want anything and just watched me eat. ¡°Amaya! Lucy!¡± I heard someone call our names. It was Hilda approaching us. ¡°Hilda, nice to meet you.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Hello.¡± I kept my greeting short since I was still eating. ¡°What are you ladies doing at the docks?¡± Hilda asked. ¡°Just looking around. Actually, you said you are a caravan guard, right? Did you hear about any problems around Iron Rock recently?¡±, Lucy inquired. ¡°Problems? I heard some gangs are getting bolder. Apparently a warehouse got broken into recently. Why?¡± ¡°We were hired to look into some trouble.¡±, Lucy admitted. ¡°Do you know which warehouse? Or who got robbed?¡± ¡°Hm. It was a wine merchant. Warehouse 3, if my memory serves me right. All the warehouses are numbered.¡± I finished my meal by now. ¡°Thank you Hilda, that might be helpful.¡± We said our goodbyes and left to investigate the warehouse. There was no guarantee that this was connected to our case. But it could be part of the Empire¡¯s plan to cause trouble. The warehouse was easy to find. A bored looking city guard was standing in front of it. We approached him. ¡°Hello. I am Amaya and this is Lucy. We are currently working for the duke and would like to investigate the warehouse.¡± We really should have asked for some form of identification. We did not have any proof of our claim. The guard took one look at us and waved us through. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Sure, go ahead.¡± I suppose the guard was informed about us. And I have not seen another night elf since my arrival. Still, the security seemed a bit lacking. The warehouse was built out of stone with a giant metal gate at the front. There was also a smaller door next to it. The gate was locked from the inside, by a metal bar, while the small entrance used a lock with a key. All the windows had metal bars. The building was mostly empty but there were some crates in the back. Thanks to my Eyes of the Fey I could see magic. There was a glow coming from within those crates. We cautiously approached them for a better look. Thanks to our strength it was easy to pry one open. The inside was filled with runes and components for a ritual. Upon closer inspection I realised the spells were already active. There was simply delay built into the magic. The break-in could have been a cover to sneak in those crates. Everybody would focus on the missing goods and nobody would look too closely at the things left behind. Especially if the manifest said they held nothing worth robbing. ¡°Lucy, those rituals will summon demons. As far as I can tell, they are supposed to activate tomorrow.¡± ¡°Demons? Why would someone want to summon demons in a warehouse? Without anyone controlling them they would just run around and rampage.¡± ¡°Exactly, they would cause quite a bit of chaos. The population might get scared. Surely the inquisition, that just so happens to be in the city right now, would offer to help.¡± Lucy frowned. ¡°Possible, but we don¡¯t have any proof. Although demon summonings are very rare, this could still be a coincidence.¡± ¡°True.¡±, I admitted. ¡°But we do know that the Empire wants some chaos. Imagine if the duke would have died. Afterwards demons emerge in the city. The inquisition arrives just in time to help. The people would look to them for safety. Whoever opposes them might be branded as a demon worshipper.¡±, I theorised. ¡°It would make sense. If it isn¡¯t the Empire, it would mean there is a second large plot happening in the city. But how do we find out? Even if we track down who those crates belong to, they might have been switched in the break-in. How do we find those responsible? Also, what do we do with those crates? Can you stop the ritual?¡± ¡°Yes. Dispel magic should take care of that. You can do it too, if you have the spell.¡± ¡°Oh. Yes, please let me try!¡±, Lucy answered eagerly. I watched her as she focused. The spell competed and the rituals stopped glowing. Of course someone could still reactivate them. We could destroy the runes but they were evidence. ¡°Lucy, I was hoping you could transform into a fox and use your nose. That was my original plan for tracking the culprits.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Lucy transformed and began sniffing around. Meanwhile I walked back to the entrance to inform the guard. ¡°Hello again, we found something that needs your attention. There were some rituals prepared inside.¡±, I told the guard. ¡°Uh¡­ rituals you say? Are they dangerous?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we deactivated them. We can show them to you and afterwards you should call for reinforcements. They were supposed to summon demons.¡± ¡°Demons?¡± The guard paled. Nevertheless, he followed me when I showed him the crates. Lucy had already transformed back. After one look he hastily left to get some help. We assured him we would guard the scene until then. ¡°Did you find a trail?¡±, I asked Lucy once the guard left. ¡°I think I found something. Should I go after it?¡±, she asked. ¡°I think it¡¯s best if we both wait until more guards arrive. We will follow the trail afterwards.¡±, I suggested. Even though we were both powerful, splitting up seemed like a bad idea. So we just waited together. Chapter 19: Trail The first person to arrive was not a guard. Instead the archmage Nicholas entered the building and walked towards us. ¡°Greetings. I heard you found a demonic ritual?¡± ¡°Hello Nicholas. Yes we found something, how did you know?¡± While I encountered the archmage briefly before I did not know him. His arrival was rather suspicious. I had no idea how to address him formally so I simply used his name. ¡°Ah. I was at the guard headquarters dispelling some ice magic. Seemed like some inquisition folks did get into a bit of trouble.¡± He chuckled. ¡°The guard did not have anyone powerful enough to free them so they called the academy. It got me curious so I went personally. I was still there when a panicked guard stormed in shouting about demons. It seemed like a serious matter so I came immediately. The guards will probably arrive in a few minutes.¡± That did make sense, if it was true. But it would be easy to verify. ¡°I see. Well, have a look at what we found.¡± I pointed at the crates. Nicholas walked over to them and studied the ritual while stroking his beard. ¡°You are right, that is a demon summoning.¡± He frowned. ¡°A delayed summoning. It was activated and you dispelled it I suppose?¡± ¡°Yes I did.¡± Lucy said proudly. Nicholas looked at her closely. ¡°I see. You look different than last time we met.¡± Lucy just smiled. ¡°Anyway, this is concerning.¡±, Nicholas said. ¡°Demons are not something to take lightly. It also means an experienced magic user is involved. The academy will cooperate fully with your investigation. After a short pause he continued: ¡°I am a friend of William by the way. Thank you for saving his life.¡± Our conversation was interrupted when more people arrived. Unfortunately Jessica was one of them. ¡°Master Earthbreaker, you should not have rushed ahead. While we welcome your assistance this is a guard matter. As for you¡­¡± She pointed at me. ¡°You are probably responsible for this! You were in here alone and suddenly there is a ritual.¡± This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Nicholas sighed. ¡°Nonsense. If Amaya placed the ritual, why would she report it?¡± ¡°She is probably trying to frame someone! I sent word to the inquisition, they will help us find the true culprits!¡± Jessica insisted. Nicholas just shook his head. ¡°Those ritual circles are inactive but we need to destroy them. I can confirm Amaya and Lucy¡¯s assessment.¡± ¡°Master Nicholas, I am not going to destroy evidence. The inquisition will handle them. They have centuries of experience in dealing with evil forces.¡±, Jessica said. Yeah, how could that possibly go wrong? It was good that Nicholas did the talking. I had no patience left for Jessica. We did our duty, it was time to leave and look for the trail Lucy found. ¡°It¡¯s been nice meeting you Nicholas. We will be on our way then.¡± Nobody stopped us as we left. ¡°Lucy, what do you think about Nicholas?¡±, I asked. ¡±I think we can trust him. He is not a fan of the Empire. Frederick often complained about him.¡± ¡°That is good to know. He could be a powerful ally.¡± I looked around. We had moved to an alley nearby. Nobody seemed to be watching us. ¡°We should follow the trail you caught.¡± Lucy nodded and turned into a fox again. I used a spell to turn us invisible. We needed to go back to the warehouse to pick up the trail. I did not want the guards to spot us. Thanks to my magical eyes I could still see Lucy. Otherwise following her would have been difficult. It was not a power Lucy inherited though, at least not fully. She could only see some distortions where an invisible person was. That problem was solved with magic. Thanks to the spell See the Unseen. With our preparation complete we started the hunt! The trail led us to a tavern in the seedier part of the docks. Lucy transformed back and I cancelled our invisibility. We entered the establishment and took a look around. While the patrons wore cheap clothing, and did not look clean, they were all in remarkably good shape. Everyone watched us as we entered. The bartender seemed tense as we approached. He was a big man. I decided to not be subtle about this. I wanted to see his reaction. ¡°Hello. Have you seen any demons around here?¡± Interestingly, the bartender seemed to relax. ¡°Demons? What sort of nonsense is that? Do I look like some fancy magician to you?¡± He shook his head. ¡°This is a respectable tavern. Lot¡¯s of hard working folk around here.¡± While the man was talking I noticed something on his forehand. There was a rune there. And it was starting to glow. I could not quite figure out what sort of rune it was. ¡°You certainly start to look like a fancy magician now. Care to explain that rune?¡± I asked, while taking a step back. He frowned. ¡°I am not sure wh¡­ wha¡­¡± He could not finish his sentence and started coughing. Something was very wrong here. I started to cast dispel magic on him. While the rune disappeared, I heard screams from all around me. I watched in horror as 6 out of the 8 patrons in the tavern burst into flame. The flames shifted and took the form of large dogs, with horns. The monsters hide looked ashen with crimson streaks, their eyes glowed red. I started to cast chain lightning. I could mentally select the targets it would jump to. I even pushed the spell from the 5th to 7th circle to make it instantaneous. Lightning sprang from my fingertips. The smell of ozone filled the air as it arced from target to target. 4 of the hounds collapsed. The last two still stood, slightly dazed. Lucy did not give them a chance to recover. She summoned her spear and stabbed both in the throat. It was all over so quickly, the surviving patrons were still frozen in shock. I looked back at the bartender. He appeared a bit sickly but alive. The floor of the tavern was charred where the monsters appeared. There was also ash. It looked like the people did not transform into hounds. No, they were sacrificed, burned alive to summon the hounds. Someone put a spell on these people. Hopefully the bartender could tell us more. Chapter 20: Gang I used a healing spell on the bartender. Meanwhile Lucy checked all the hounds to make sure they were dead. The two surviving patrons finally gathered their wits and ran away. ¡°Should I stop them?¡±, Lucy asked. ¡°No. Considering their reaction they had no idea about those runes. There is a good chance that they will spread the word of what happened here. In the best case that leads to a bunch of panicked gang members begging us for help. The bartender should be enough for questioning.¡±, I reasoned. ¡°Amaya, those runes¡­ who would do something like this?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s find out.¡± I grabbed a chair and went behind the bar. I offered it to the shaking man and poured him a drink. ¡°What is your name?¡± ¡°I¡­ I am Jack.¡± He took the shot I offered and downed it in one go. ¡°So Jack, what can you tell us? Any idea who put that spell on you?¡± He looked around. He stared at the dead hounds, at the ash that used to be his comrades. ¡°There is someone who we regularly do business with. He supplies us mostly with drugs. He came to us with an offer. Rob a warehouse.¡± He paused, and took another shot. ¡°The deal was simple, we could keep everything but needed to replace some crates in the back. No idea why. Those crates only contained low grade iron ore. The replacements we used were light. They did not tell us what was inside. I figured they might want to frame someone for smuggling or something. The crates we did not replace had a lot of expensive wine. It was a good haul for us.¡± He paused again. Steeling himself he continued: ¡°Our employer sent three mages to help us. They were responsible for making sure nobody detected us, keeping the noise down and eyes away. They said they would put a strengthening spell on us to help move the crates. The magic, it hurt, it burned. A normal side effect, they said. It did make us stronger though, for a bit. So we did not question it.¡± ¡°How many of you were there?¡±, I asked. ¡°Nine. The others¡­ are they all dead now?¡± ¡°Not necessarily. The two who were not here could still be alive. We don¡¯t know what triggered the magic. If you can lead us to them we might be able to save them.¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Yes. Yes, I can do that.¡± ¡°What should we do with the demon hound corpses?¡±, Lucy asked. ¡°Hm. I will store them for now.¡± I put the corpses in my necklace. Certain demon parts could be useful ingredients for alchemy and enchanting. Jack led us outside of the taverns to a sewer entrance nearby. The sewer tunnels were rather big and had a walkway on the side. While that allowed us to stay clean it did not help with the stench. After about 15 minutes of walking he stopped next to a wall. He pressed a brick that looked noticeably darker than the others. A door slid open in the wall. I was really impressed that a gang would have such a sophisticated hideout. How would you even build something like that into a sewer tunnel without anyone noticing? We entered a large room filled with tables and chairs, most of them smashed. There was a bar counter on the left side. The floor was filled with bodies. Some of them were burned, others torn apart by claws and teeth. While I was still taking in the scene I heard growling. It came from a corridor on the right. Two hounds emerged. One was slightly limping, the other seemed covered in minor cuts. The gang went down fighting it seemed. I drew my sword and charged, Lucy was right next to me. A hound pounced, I sidestepped and beheaded it in one strike. Meanwhile Lucy finished off the limping one. ¡°I am sorry Jack, it looks like we are too late.¡± Those people were criminals. I had no idea what evil they had committed. But they probably did not deserve to be torn apart by a demonic hound. ¡°Lucy, stay with Jack. I will look around.¡± I made my way deeper into the corridor. There were multiple rooms with bunk beds. There was a common bathroom. I also found a storage area. At the end of the corridor was a more luxurious apartment. It had a large bedroom, a sitting room, a small office and a private bathroom. This was definitely the leader''s place. Said leader was dead. Judging by the bloodied dagger he might have been the one who wounded the hound. I did not find anything useful on his body so I searched the office. There were a lot of documents. It would take a while to go through all of them. I stored them for now. What I did find was the name of the gang, crimson lotus. I went back to the entrance. ¡°This seems to be the gang Frederick told us about. The one he said was supplied by the Empire. I hope the documents I found will give us something.¡± I informed Lucy. ¡°So those marks were meant to get rid of witnesses? Jack, did you even know that you were working with the Empire?¡±, Lucy asked. Jack looked at us. ¡°Those bastards. I am not sure what the boss knew. For us it was simply someone who supplied the drugs we sold. We have been working with them for five years now. The drugs came from the Empire but I assumed it was just one of their criminal syndicates.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± I thought about the whole situation. I stepped away from Jack, so he could not hear us, and signalled Lucy to follow me. ¡°Let¡¯s assume the Empire had killed the duke. Then the inquisition shows up, offering help. They could even say that they are tracking a cult. Suddenly demons burst from a warehouse. The Empire helps in fighting them, then tracks them to a gang. The runes trigger and it looks like the gang summoned demons as defence. It would look like a demonic cult was operating in the city. Now they would just need to frame any opponent as a cult member. They could make sure a regent is appointed who works with them. Then marry the duke''s daughter to an imperial noble.¡±, I theorised. ¡°But why did the runes trigger now? And why is the inquisition here? With the duke alive the plan does not work. Or do you think they have another way of assassinating him? Or are they just here to clean up their mess?¡±, Lusy asked. ¡°All good questions. We could still be missing something. I think we should report to the duke what we have found so far. And bring Jack directly to him, we should not hand him over to Jessica. We can also discuss the inquisition with him.¡± ¡°Sounds good.¡±, Lucy said. Chapter 21: Report We made our way to the duke¡¯s palace. Jack followed us without a fight. After he saw us take down the hounds he might have realised that any resistance would be futile. It was evening when we arrived. We handed Jack over to the guards at the palace. The duke was happy to see us. We met in a cosy study and he offered us drinks. We told him everything we had discovered so far and our theory about the Empire¡¯s plan. ¡°You have done a lot of work in very little time. I am grateful.¡±, WIlliam said. ¡°I heard that the current emperor wants to expand. He is building a huge navy. Rumours say he is planning to sail around the south of the continent, to bypass the wastes, and invade Beravis. If the Empire controlled Iron Rock they could use the river to open up a second front. Considering the amount of resources they put into this plot, I am afraid this might be even bigger than just Iron Rock.¡± He sighed. ¡°That would also mean they won¡¯t just go away after their setbacks. They must have another attempt on my life planned. I will make sure to only have the most loyal guards at my palace.¡± ¡°You will also have to check your guards and servants for magic tampering. They could try to put those runes on them.¡±, I reminded him. William paled. ¡°That would be terrifying.¡± ¡°You will need a mage to check everyone with detect magic. The runes can be dispelled if you find them in time.¡±, I suggested. ¡°Yes. I will contact Nicholas. I might need his help.¡± ¡°So what are your plans regarding the inquisition? They will cause more trouble. And Jessica lets them run wild.¡±, I asked. ¡°I would like a bit more evidence before I act. We only have sir Meisler¡¯s word so far. There is no other evidence connecting crimson lotus to the Empire. The bandits you caught still claim to be deserters. It¡¯s all rather circumstantial. They will just claim sir Meisler is part of an independent demonic cult. If I replace Jessica now, and kick the Inquisition from the city, it will be a political nightmare. Baron Spencer will accuse me of being a Dominion puppet. The Empire will impose trade sanctions¡­¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°How much power does the city council actually have?¡±, I asked. ¡°In theory I can just overrule them. But they are a sizable part of the economy. They would try to cause financial troubles. Delay tax payments, arguing that I am not fulfilling my duty as a liege lord. They would call me a tyrant. They would try to turn the public against me. On the other hand, if I wait until we can show that the Empire is behind everything, I can clean house. In a way Jessica is digging her own grave right now. If we let the inquisition be part of the investigation that exposes them, it will make them look even worse. Nobody can accuse us of shutting them out and just planting the evidence. Their credibility is going to be destroyed for a generation. ¡± He smiled. Lucy frowned. ¡°That assumes you live long enough though. And that the Empire will not be successful at framing someone else. Seems like a rather risky plan. And they could cause a lot of devastation if they unleash more demons in the city.¡± ¡°Kicking them out would not stop them from operating in the shadows. And I have a lot of trust in you two. You have been a step ahead of the Empire so far. You seem to know more about what is going on in my city than I do! I heard rumours about the exceptional intelligence network of the Dominion. I never thought I would experience it firsthand. You know, I reached out to the dwarfs. They were rather vague about the situation but did not seem that concerned. I would not be surprised if they are already working with you.¡± He smiled. I kept my face expressionless. That¡¯s just what we needed, dwarfs who also expected us to work for the Dominion. How long would it take for some angry elves to show up? ¡°We will leave the documents we found at the crimson lotus hideout with you. Your people can go through them and tell us if they find anything.¡± I had considered keeping them but it would take a lot of work. And it might take specialised knowledge, like accounting, to make sense of some of them. We said our goodbyes and returned to the inn. While having dinner we discussed our plan for the next day. ¡°Lucy, do you think it is time to question Oliver? Just see how he reacts. Maybe we can also use the opportunity to look around the embassy a bit.¡±, I suggested. ¡°Hm. The inquisition is probably staying there. It might lead to another confrontation.¡± Lucy thought for a bit. Then she smiled. ¡°I like the idea. Maybe we get to punch some of them again.¡± Tomorrow would be interesting. Chapter 22: Incident The next day we made our way to the embassy. It was a big mansion guarded by a lot of inquisition soldiers. They looked nervous when we approached. One of them sprinted into the building, probably to inform someone of our arrival. Another soldier stepped into our path. ¡°HALT IN THE NAME OF THE INQUISITION!¡± Ah, here we go again. I think I even recognized that soldier. ¡°Should you not be in prison? You know, for illegally attacking the duke¡¯s investigators in broad daylight. In front of the guard headquarters no less.¡± The soldier''s face turned red from fury. He did not seem pleased with the situation. ¡°HOW DARE YOU! THIS BUILDING HERE IS EMPIRE PROPERTY! ONE MORE STEP AND I WILL THROW YOU IN PRISON!¡±, he screamed. I laughed. After the last encounter it was clear he did not stand a chance. So he was either very brave or very stupid. Although legally he might have a point. I never inquired how it worked in this world but in my old one an embassy counted as foreign soil. While I thought about our next move the door opened and Elias emerged. He had his two guards in full plate armour with him again. ¡°What do you want?¡±, Elias asked. ¡°We are here to question Oliver, Frederick¡¯s secretary.¡±, I answered. ¡°No. We have already determined that he knows nothing. Sir Meisler was working with a demonic cult. They have infiltrated this city. Go home elf. None of this concerns you.¡± ¡°Demonic cult? That is an interesting way of describing the inquisition. You should put that on your business cards.¡±, I said smiling. He looked at me with fury in his eyes. ¡°You think you are so clever, eh? YOU KNOW NOTHING! WE WILL SHOW THE PEOPLE THE GLORY OF THE EMPIRE!¡± Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°It¡¯s called depravity, not glory. You got your words mixed up there.¡±, Lucy helpfully pointed out. Elias had his hands balled into fists. It looked like he was seething with rage. I wondered if it would come to a fight here. I had an ominous feeling, something strange was happening. Suddenly the sky turned red. At first I suspected an attack from Elias but he seemed shocked. A giant black pillar appeared in the distance. ¡°Lucy, we should see if we can get a better look from above.¡±, I suggested. She nodded and we both cast a flight spell. Elias had the same idea and we all rose into the sky. It was now clear that the pillar originated inside the forest. In my estimation it was about a day¡¯s travel on foot away from the city. The pillar did not last long. It faded away and the sky turned back to normal. ¡°What was that?¡±, Lucy asked. I searched the magical knowledge in my brain. ¡°I am not certain. But my best guess would be a major summoning, most likely fueled by a large sacrifice.¡± Elias was whispering: ¡°No no no¡­ it can¡¯t be. It¡¯s not possible¡­ that should not have happened.¡± It was clear that he knew something. ¡°What is it Elias? What do you know?¡±, I asked. Clearly he underestimated my hearing. Now he was cursing under his breath. ¡°None of your concern. The inquisition is leaving.¡± After that he landed and started barking orders. I was confused. Whatever happened in that forest spooked Elias. A man capable of casting 9th ranked spells was running? Clearly he knew something. Was this a part of their plan? A part gone wrong? ¡°Amaya, you said a large sacrifice? How large are we talking about?¡±, Lucy asked. ¡°For the summoning to be felt right here you would need hundreds of people.¡± ¡°There are three villages in the forest but they are not very large. Do you think they took all those people?¡± ¡°Hm. It¡¯s possible. But surely abducting three villages and marching them to a ritual site would take time. That risks someone finding those empty villages.¡± ¡°Why are you sure it¡¯s a sacrifice? You can just summon demons with spells or normal rituals.¡±, Lucy wondered. ¡°In theory, yes. A normal ritual is fuelled by spell slots. But what we saw, what I felt, was so big it would have taken a lot of archmages combined. In some rituals you can use sacrifices to reduce the spell slots you need. It does not work for everything but it is very effective for a demon summoning.¡±, I explained. ¡°Should we question Elias? Demand some more information?¡±, Lucy asked. ¡°I doubt he will answer. And I would rather not fight him inside a populated city. Too much collateral damage. We could stop him after he leaves Iron Rock. But even if we forced him he could still lie. Maybe we should investigate the forest. Flying is pretty fast.¡± Lucy looked at the forest again. ¡°Let¡¯s fly there. If there is a demon army coming this way we need to find it, so we can warn the city.¡± We took off in the direction of the incident. Chapter 23: Revelation We were rapidly approaching our target. I focused on the forest trying to spot anything suspicious. After a while I saw something that looked like a person. ¡°Lucy, I found something. Let¡¯s land and have a look.¡±, I said. Lucy nodded and pulled out her spear. As we got closer it became clear that we were dealing with a woman. A wounded woman. Dried blood covered her face, her robe was slashed in several places and she favoured her right leg. When she saw us she shouted: ¡°HELP! Please help!¡± She staggered in our direction but tripped and fell on the ground. While it could be a trap I did not see anything suspicious nearby. So I approached the woman to cast a healing spell. ¡°It¡¯s alright. You are safe.¡±, I said. She looked at me and whispered: ¡°Safe? Nobody is safe¡­¡± I crouched next to her working my healing magic. It was not powerful enough to mend broken bones but it would deal with cuts, bruises or a sprained ankle. I also pulled out a flask of water and handed it to her. ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell us what happened?¡± She accepted the water and quickly drank it. ¡°Thank you. But we need to leave!¡± She looked behind her nervously. They might be tracking me, we need to go!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We are quite powerful. I am Amaya and Lucy over there is keeping watch. Why don¡¯t we start with your name?¡± The woman looked at us, stared at my gear and calmed down a bit. ¡°I am Emily. I am¡­ I was part of the inquisition. I am a mage focusing on illusions. That''s how I escaped.¡± Emily was still on the floor but she moved into a sitting position. ¡°The others¡­ they are all dead.¡± ¡°Who is dead?¡±, I asked. ¡°The entire battalion¡­ a thousand people¡­ sacrificed.¡±, she muttered. ¡°Who sacrificed them?¡± ¡°The demons. To summon their lord.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Lord? They summoned a demon lord? Let¡¯s start at the beginning. How did this happen?¡± ¡°For months the inquisition has summoned demons and bound them. We kept them in caves at the edge of the forest. The inquisition built a base there with earth magic. Everything was concealed with powerful wards and illusions.¡± She paused, took a deep breath and continued: ¡°I was a high ranking officer. So I knew most of the plan. The regular soldiers were kept in the dark. They never saw the demons. They were only told this was an important mission. The Empire wanted to spread the idea of a demonic cult. The plan was to stage various attacks and incidents, then the duke would die and the inquisition would appear. But that was not enough. The high inquisitor wanted to be a hero. He planned a demonic invasion. Not a real one. The demons we summoned would be on the front fighting actual imperial soldiers. In the back he would battle an illusion. He wanted to unleash some big 9th rank magic, make it look like he vaporised an army. The soldiers were told the cult is real. Elias was even hoping some of our soldiers would fall in battle. It would make the Empire look even better. Real soldiers, fighting real demons. Bleeding and dying for the city. Meanwhile he would unleash his magic on an illusion. With the destructive power of 9th ranked magic nobody would question the missing remains. There would simply be a huge crater in the forest.¡± ¡°Wait, he wanted to stage a demonic invasion to make him look good?¡±, I asked. ¡°Yes. He wanted the people to worship him as saviour. Then establish a permanent base for the inquisition in Iron Rock. He wanted to marry the duke''s daughter and take over the city.¡± ¡°But¡­ she is only 6 years old!¡± ¡°Oh, he would have only been betrothed until she came of age.¡± That did not make it any less disgusting. I shuddered at the thought. ¡°So what went wrong? How did the demons break free?¡±, I inquired. ¡°Several days ago something happened. It was an unfamiliar attack. It felt almost as if magic was draining from the area. Some of our wards failed. We thought we kept all the demons contained. But¡­ we were wrong.¡± Magic drained from an area? Several days ago? Pictures of wilted trees flashed through my mind. Was this my fault? Emily continued: ¡°We suspected an outside attack at first, somebody trying to scry us. Now¡­ I am afraid it was internal sabotage. Maybe there was a cult within our ranks. Soon after the incident Elias left for the city. With him gone they made their move. The escaped demons overwhelmed the guards and freed their brethren. They¡­ they captured the battalion while they were sleeping. I narrowly escaped thanks to my magic. I could only watch while hiding with my illusions.¡± She paused again. Tears were running down her face. ¡°They sacrificed them all. They used the soldiers'' lives to summon their lord and his army. And now Mantus walks this world.¡± ¡°Mantus?¡±, I asked. ¡°He is a demon lord. One of the weaker ones but still a lord. We need reinforcements. You need to contact the Dominion!¡± This was bad. A demon lord with an army and I might have helped unleash them. Was my ritual truly responsible? If they were close enough, would they not have found the dead vegetation? Did the demons have help from someone within the inquisition? Whatever the cause, we needed to deal with this problem. ¡°Lucy, did you hear all that?¡±, I asked. She was standing a bit further away keeping watch. But her hearing was excellent. ¡°Yes. We need to find a way to stop them Amaya!¡± ¡°I agree. Let¡¯s get back to the city, I think we found out enough. We can plan our next steps from there.¡± I picked up Emily and we flew towards Iron Rock. I could not call for reinforcements. I had no connection to the Dominion, but I possessed more power than any elf. And I had Lucy by my side. Chapter 24: Preparation The guards seemed on edge when we returned to the city. We slowed our speed and flew close to the wall. They were relieved once they recognized us. We continued our flight directly to the palace. There was a lot more security than last time. A small crowd had formed at the gates, demanding an audience with the duke. All of them seemed to be rather wealthy looking. I suspected those were important people, scared by the sky turning red earlier, that now wanted reassurances. Of course with the fear of another assassination the guards denied them entry. We flew right over the gate to the front entrance. There were several shouts of outrage from the crowd. The guards on the other hand just motioned for us to continue. I was still carrying Emily, she fell asleep on the way back. I handed her to a guard and told them to keep an eye on her. The duke wanted to see us immediately. He threw everyone else out of his office. ¡°Amaya, Lucy I am so glad you are here. Please tell me you have some information on what happened!¡± We told him everything we discovered. He became paler and paler during the story. ¡°How much time do we have?¡±, he asked. ¡°Hard to say. We don¡¯t know what the demon lord is going to do. Technically he could ignore Iron Rock but I doubt it. He will probably strike quickly to prevent reinforcements from arriving. The city would provide him with a lot of sacrifices so it¡¯s a tempting target. If he is marching his army through the forest straight to Iron Rock he should be here tomorrow.¡± , I reasoned. ¡°Tomorrow?¡± He looked lost. ¡°I am not sure what to do. We have some powerful enchantments on the outer wall, but they won¡¯t withstand a demon lord. Even with Nicholas powering them it will not buy us a lot of time¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we are here to help. We will not abandon you, I have a plan¡±, I assured him. ¡°A plan? Are there reinforcements? Has the Dominion sent help?¡± ¡°No. Lucy and myself are going to engage the demon lord. All you have to deal with are his troops.¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He looked at me with disbelief. ¡°But¡­ but two people cannot fight a demon lord! That is not a plan, that is madness! We need to gather a group of archmages!¡± I smiled at him. ¡°We have our ways. Once Mantus arrives we will attack him at the edge of the forest. I will unleash a large storm in the area. It is likely that his normal troops will be driven towards the city. Your job is to make sure those demons are taken care of. Everything inside the storm will be dealt with by us.¡± ¡°I see. I will not pry into your secrets. You have done a lot for us and if Iron Rock survives it will be thanks to you. Our soldiers will be ready for the emerging demons. If Nicholas won¡¯t be needed to power the wards he might be able to welcome them with his own magic.¡± He poured himself a drink. ¡°I never thought it would come to this. The Empire unleashing a demon lord? And Elias the coward is running!¡± He took a big sip from his glass. I feared he might go on a rant so it was time to excuse ourselves. ¡°We will leave the city¡¯s defence in your hands. Lucy and I are going to prepare for the attack.¡± He nodded and we left. Once outside Lucy asked: ¡°Is that really the plan? We just attack the demon lord? Are you that powerful?¡± ¡°Yes. Also don¡¯t underestimate your own power. You are lacking proper armour but we can compensate with some magic. In the battle I will engage Mantus with my sword and keep him occupied. Don¡¯t worry, that will not stop me from using my magic. If you see a good opportunity strike at his back. I will also summon the elemental lord again. Let¡¯s hope she answers. We can let her run wild in the storm to keep our backs clear.¡± Lucy looked at me. ¡°I trust you. How do we prepare for the battle?¡± ¡°We are going to look for some information on Mantus. If we can learn more about his strengths and weaknesses it would be helpful. Other than that? Just a good night¡¯s sleep to have all spells ready.¡± We spent the remaining day doing research in the library. I also discussed spells with Lucy and made it clear she should prioritise her survival over dealing damage. We debated several ways we could fight him. Meanwhile the town criers informed the people of an approaching danger. The duke assured everyone the city would be safe. The presence of a demon lord was kept quiet. Although all sorts of rumours were already spreading. We were at breakfast the next day when the bells started to ring. We left the inn and flew straight to the wall. A large number of demons emerged from the forest. Some walked on two legs, others on four. Horns, scales, tails and wings were present. Their colours ranged from an ashen grey to a dark crimson. And standing on the forest''s edge was their master, Mantus. The demon looked like a massive man, probably 2 metres high, broad shoulders and packed with muscles. Two black horns sprouted from his head. He had blood red skin, two batlike wings and was wearing black plate armour. There was no helmet, possibly because of the horns. He was wielding a sword just as large as his body. I looked at the scene with a bit of fear and a lot of determination. Today I would show the world my power. Chapter 25: Battle Part 1 The guards around us were all terrified. I was wondering if they would hold the wall. Hopefully once we engaged the enemy they would find their courage. It was time to start. I focused my power to summon an elemental lord and she answered. ¡°Helloooooooo! Are we going to kill things today?¡± It looked like I managed to summon the same one as last time. She seemed rather enthusiastic. ¡°Yes. By the way, do you have a name? I forgot to ask last time.¡± ¡°Yes! I am Shani.¡±, she said. ¡°So we do have some demons to kill. I will summon a storm that will help. I would like you to keep our backs clear while we engage the demon lord.¡± Shani looked towards the forest. By now thousands of demons emerged and marched towards the city. ¡°Yay! That looks like a lot of fun! Try not to die horribly. I would like to be summoned again in the future!¡± She sounded giddy. Next Lucy and myself used Storm¡¯s Embrace, a 9th circle spell. It creates an armour of wind that offers protection from attacks. It also allows one to fly. A serious consideration in any magical battle would be dispel magic. A 9th rank spell is very hard to counter. Flying with lower tier magic had the serious risk of an enemy removing the spell while airborne. While we were preparing Nicholas arrived and landed next to us. ¡°Amaya, Lucy.¡± He said in greeting. ¡°William told me you would engage Mantus on your own. I wish you luck. I will do my best to hold the wall.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I looked at Nicholas and nodded. I was already preparing my next 9th circle spell, Storm¡¯s Wrath. When I said I would cover the area in a storm that is what I was talking about. The spell affected a circle with a 500 metre radius. I aimed the centre at the edge of the forest. That meant it would cover most of the open field in front of the city. Black clouds formed in the sky. First came the wind and the rain. Then lightning bolts fell from the sky, hundreds of them. They would strike randomly in the area. I had no control of who or what they hit. The storm would last for 15 minutes. Each individual lightning bolt was not strong enough to outright kill a demon but it would weaken them. And many would be hit by more than one. ¡°Lucy, Shani, let¡¯s go!¡± I flew straight into the storm. Shani, being a storm elemental, was immune to lightning, just like Lucy and myself. With black clouds covering the sun it was dark inside the storm. Or it would have been if it were not for the constant lightning striking around us. Screams filled the air as demons were electrocuted, accompanied by the insane laughter of Shani. The elemental lord engaged the enemy with glee. I flew straight towards Mantus. The lightning bolts hitting him were deflected by a shimmering red shield. He was still just standing there looking at me. He seemed comfortable waiting for my arrival. ¡°YOU SEEK TO CHALLENGE ME? FOOLISH MORTAL. I SHALL¡­¡± I saw no reason to let him talk. Once I was close I teleported straight behind him and swung my sword at his neck. Unfortunately he managed to dodge most of the strike and I only grazed him. ¡°INSOLENCE. HOW DARE¡­¡± He seemed to really like talking. Meanwhile, I just tried to stab him. This time he used his sword to parry. Mantus was a lot quicker than he looked. We exchanged a series of blows. It became clear that he was stronger than me but I was faster. For the first time since I entered this world I used the ability of my cloak. While he was focusing on me, a giant purple cat appeared behind the demon. It pounced immediately. The cat¡¯s claws connected with his shoulder and sparks flew. The demon lord answered with magic. Fire erupted from his body in a sphere. I was swallowed by a wall of flame. I had a certain resistance to fire, I had Storm¡¯s Embrace protecting me and still it was not enough. My skin started to blister and I felt pain. The purple cat was gone. That was the power of a demon lord. While my magical equipment was unharmed my clothes turned to ash. I was now only wearing a breastplate, bracers, boots and a cloak. That was not important though. A giant sword was coming for my head. I used my teleportation spell to get some distance. By pushing it 2 circles higher I was able to make it instant. The blisters on my skin were already healing thanks to my regeneration. I needed to pin him down and allow Lucy to strike. She was lurking in the area, hiding. Another lightning bolt struck him, blocked by the shimmering shield. Maybe it was time to deal with his magical protections. And I had just the spell for that. Chapter 26: Battle Part 2 Devour Magic, a 9th circle spell targeting one individual and destroying any magic, good or bad, on that person. Sufficiently powerful spells had a chance to resist the effect but it was unlikely. The spell was not something an elf should know but thankfully I cheated. There was a look of utter disbelief on Mantus as his body was covered in black smoke. His magic shield briefly flared to life before the spell consumed it. Technically he could just use his protection spell again. But spell slots were a limited resource even for a demon lord. I was quite confident in fighting a battle of attrition. Also, I had no intention of simply watching while he renewed his protections. While Mantus was still shocked and vulnerable I prepared my next move. Small portals opened up all around the demon lord. Black chains shot out of them and wrapped around his arms, legs and neck. His muscles immediately strained to break free. Chains of Torment was a 7th circle spell but it would not hold long against his strength. It did not have to. As soon as he was immobilised Lucy appeared behind him and struck. With the demon lord''s arms being stretched by the chains she aimed for a weak spot in his armpits. Her spear met flesh. But Lucy was not done. The runes covering her spear lit up as she used it to channel her magic. A powerful bolt of lightning emerged from the tip that was still inside Mantus. His body lit up from the inside. The chains still holding him amplified the damage. That was a part of their design, they increased all elemental damage done to whatever they were holding. Mantus screamed. His body began to glow red. Lucy pulled back her spear and retreated just in time to escape a fiery tornado. A giant rotating pillar for flame engulfed the demon lord. Once it was over he stood there, panting. His left arm hung limply and dripped blood. The chains holding him were gone. Mantus was not defeated yet. Shadow tendrils emerged from his body. I was readying myself to dodge but they did not come for us. Instead they shot into the distance piercing some of his minions. Those demons were consumed and sucked into the tendrils. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°HEY! THOSE WERE MINE.¡± An angry Shani shouted from somewhere on the battlefield. The shadows retreated back into Mantus and he looked healthier again. I charged him with my sword. After a brief exchange of blows it became clear that he had not fully recovered. But we did not know what else he had up his sleeve. Lucy attacked him as well. Together we were able to land several hits, unfortunately his armour was formidable. We would need to immobilise him again to hit a weak spot. I used Chains of Torment. Once he was restrained I moved in to strike at his head. But he was expecting the move. Before my sword connected another pillar of flame surrounded him. I charged through the inferno determined to strike. I managed a deep cut into his cheek but the chains were already gone. His own sword connected with my torso and I went flying. I crashed into a giant tree. My breastplate held but a few of my ribs were broken. My skin was burnt from the tornado. Thankfully my regeneration was already doing its job. I took a moment to look around. The entire area was drenched from the rain. Lighting continued to strike everywhere illuminating the darkness. It was an eerie sight. I had no time to be idle though. Lucy was still fighting Mantus. As I made my way back I saw his blade glow. A giant wave of energy erupted from it. Lucy teleported out of the way. The blade sliced through trees like butter. I engaged with my sword again, looking for an opportunity. When he aimed an overhead strike at my face I did not dodge. Instead I used my bracer to block. Since my breastplate managed to withstand his sword my bracer should as well. Of course it only prevented his blade from slicing me. The physical impact was still enormous. I heard my bones break from his strike. But he did not expect the move and it left him open. My counterattack pierced the weak point in his armpit. The runes in my sword lit up as I unleashed the same lighting Lucy did earlier. As I stared into Mantus'' face I saw a spear pierce his throat from behind. As Lucy unleashed her own spell the world turned white. Storm¡¯s Judgement was a 9th circle spell and the most powerful lightning strike. You could either summon a bolt from the sky, from your fingers or from your weapon. Electricity arced between the three of us. Of course Lucy and myself did not even feel a thing, we were immune. Mantus screams stopped and he went limp. When we withdrew our weapons his body fell to the ground. I was not sure if he was dead so I decided to cut off his head. It took a few strikes to get through his neck. I looked at Lucy and smiled. We won. Chapter 27: Aftermath Around us the storm was still raging. The ground was soaked from all the rain. The lightning bolts did not just hit demons, they also electrified all the puddles that had formed. The grass, the trees, everything was charred by now. Shani was still laughing madly. Somehow she had conjured a giant scythe made of lightning. While I was taking in our surroundings Lucy approached and hugged me. ¡°Amaya, we did it! Are you alright?¡± ¡°My arm and a few ribs are broken but they should be fine by tomorrow with my regeneration. By the way, I noticed you used three 9th circle spells. You know, even the most powerful warlock should only have two slots.¡± ¡°I am just a normal fox kin I assure you.¡±, She said while trying to imitate my voice. We both laughed. ¡°But three is my limit.¡±, she added. We stopped hugging and I looked towards the city walls. The demons who escaped the storm were still attacking Iron Rock. A lot of them were pierced by stone spikes coming from the ground. I suppose there was a reason why Nicholas was named Earthbreaker. The guards were winning but we might as well help. ¡°Lucy, we should go and help with the remaining enemies.¡±, I suggested. Lucy looked at me and raised an eyebrow. ¡°You should put on some clothes first.¡± I had completely forgotten that I was only wearing my armour. ¡°Ah yes, good point.¡± I blushed and used my storage to equip another set of clothes. I also collected the corpse of the demon lord and his gear. My storm disappeared as we made our way back to the walls to help with the cleanup. It did not take long. Shani joined us as we finished. ¡°That was a lot of fun! Did you see my scythe? What are we killing next?¡± There was a crazy gleam in her eye. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Uh thanks for your help Shani. I think we have fought enough for now but I will summon you again in the future I am sure.¡± ¡°Ok. Call me when there is more fun!¡± While the spell would have been active for some time longer I cancelled it and dismissed Shani. Her presence was no longer needed and would make a lot of people uncomfortable. I spotted Nicholas and William on the wall so we flew towards them. ¡°Amaya, Lucy, you are back! Is it¡­ is it over?¡± William asked. I pulled out Mantus'' head and smiled. ¡°We won.¡± A lot of cheering erupted around us. William stared at the head. ¡°You have actually done it. You defeated a demon lord.¡± ¡°That was some impressive magic my ladies. You are welcome at the academy at any time if you want a tour. I would also be delighted to discuss spells with you.¡± Nicholas said. ¡°Thank you, we might do that.¡±, I answered. William looked towards the battlefield. From the wall you could clearly see the vast destruction my spell had caused. ¡°Impressive magic indeed.¡±, He murmured. ¡°I will send a few squads to ensure all the demons are dead. We will also need to clear the battlefield of bodies and weapons. But tonight we will celebrate! I will hold a speech at the marketplace. Afterwards there will be a party at my palace. I would be honoured if you joined me.¡± I looked at Lucy, she nodded. ¡°Sure, we will be there.¡±, I answered. ¡°For now we will clean up and rest.¡± We left towards the inn. By now the word was spreading that the city won. People started leaving their homes again. It probably would not take long until people started celebrating in the streets. When we arrived we went straight to the bath. Soaking in the hot water was exactly what I needed right now. ¡°How is the arm?¡±, Lucy asked. ¡°Still hurts but not too badly.¡± ¡°Do you need a cast?¡± ¡°No. My magical regeneration will ensure it heals the right way.¡± ¡°That is good.¡±, Lucy said. After a pause she continued: ¡°So... what do we do next? Any plans?¡± I took a moment to think. ¡°Hmm. This mess is not entirely over. I am sure William will reveal the Empire¡¯s plot to the public. We shall see how they react. It will also cause a stir among the other nations. A demon lord appearing is not something that can be ignored.¡± I mused. ¡°That means there will soon be delegations from all the nations. Uhm how are we going to deal with the Dominion? Should we just disappear?¡±, Lucy wondered. ¡°I am hoping we can come to an understanding with them. We are very powerful and we made them look good. They might be interested in keeping the lie going.¡± ¡°You make a good point. We slew a demon lord, we are now famous!¡±, Lucy grinned. I pulled a bottle of whisky from my storage. ¡°I think that calls for a drink.¡± I filled two glasses and passed on to Lucy. ¡°To victory!¡± Chapter 28: Party In the evening the streets were filled with happy people. The whole city was throwing a party it seemed. We made our way to the market square to hear the duke¡¯s speech. I was curious what he would say. The duke was wearing some fine clothing and stood on a stage. He was flanked by his guards. A mage was busy amplifying his voice. ¡°Citizens of Iron Rock, I know you have many questions and today I shall give you answers! Our city was attacked by demons, a whole army of them. BUT WE WERE VICTORIOUS!¡± ¡°YEAHHHHHHHHH¡± the crowd shouted. ¡°Now you wonder, how did it come to this? The answer is the treacherous Empire! Several days ago they tried to have me assassinated in my very home! They unleashed demons in our city!¡± The crowd gasped. ¡°They played with forces they could not control. They summoned a demon lord upon this world!¡± There were cries of outrage but a lot of people suddenly looked frightened. ¡°Worry not, the demon lord Mantus was vanquished! While the inquisitor cowardly fled from the disaster he unleashed, the Dominion stood with us! Their agents risked their lives for our city and emerged victorious! Many brave people died today and they will not be forgotten. I have called the leaders of the other nations to discuss our future. We shall hold a summit in our city! But tonight¡­ tonight we drink! Tonight we eat! Tonight we dance! TO IRON ROCK¡± He grabbed a big mug and started to drink. The crowd cheered and the party continued. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°That was bold.¡± Lucy said. ¡°He openly accused the Empire. They will be furious.¡± ¡°He wants to make sure that there is no sympathy for them left. William will use this to increase his own power. I would not be surprised if he arrests some nobles. And the summit will give him some international protection.¡± ¡°True. The charred landscape in front of the city should make quite the impression. Also he thinks he does have the Dominion on his side already¡­¡± I sighed. ¡°This will be interesting. Oh well, let¡¯s go to the palace and enjoy his party. Politics can wait.¡± We both wore simple travelling clothes which made us stand out. Everybody at the party was dressed up. It was a gathering for the wealthy elite. Of course nobody dared to criticise our attire. Defeating a demon lord gave us quite the reputation. It also meant most people were too scared to talk to us. Which allowed us to enjoy the nice buffet in peace. ¡°Amaya, Lucy, nice to meet you again!¡± A female dwarf I did not recognize approached us. I tried to remember the face but I was sure I had never seen that person before. The only female dwarf I had a longer interaction with was Hilda. While the hair was the same, the facial features were wrong. This lady looked a lot more delicate. ¡°Sorry, do we know you?¡±, Lucy asked. ¡°Hilda?¡±, I said, frowning. It made little sense, yet she was the only dwarf I knew. So either this person was messing with us or it was Hilda in disguise. ¡°HA! You saw right through me didn''t you? Even with this polymorph potion.¡± She grinned. ¡°Let me properly introduce myself. Hilda Bloodforge, dwarven intelligence.¡± Lucy just stared. I was equally perplexed but tried to keep my expression neutral. ¡°So¡­ why are you telling us this now?¡±, I asked. ¡°I wanted to work closer with you from the start. But my superiors were sceptical. They sent me to check you out. Said there was no way the Dominion had a big operation here without their knowledge. Bunch of fools.¡± She shook her head. ¡°We knew the Empire was up to something but we had no idea it was this big. While you were out there stopping them, I had to look into our elven friends. I hope this mess will teach our nations to work closer together.¡± I felt sorry for her superiors. I hoped I did not cause too many problems for them. Meanwhile Hilda continued: ¡°After you defeated Mantus nobody doubted your affiliation anymore. That was a magnificent display of power. Our people are still wondering how you pulled it off.¡± ¡°But why are you here, polymorphed?¡±, Lucy interjected. ¡°Ah. I am currently a wealthy merchant, a caravan guard would not fit into such a gathering. I am just keeping an eye on things here. And I revealed myself because dwarven intelligence wants to work with you concerning the security of the summit. Nobody expected the Empire to be that bold so we are extra cautious.¡±, Hilda explained. I really did not want to make any commitments on the Dominion¡¯s behalf. ¡°I can''t promise anything¡­¡± ¡°No problem, I did not expect you to. Just let your handlers know.¡±, Hilda replied. Great. The dwarfs expected me to be their liaison with the Dominion. I needed a drink. Maybe lot¡¯s of drinks. Thankfully we were at a party. Chapter 29: Shopping The remainder of the evening was unremarkable. We did learn that the summit was planned in two weeks though. The next day we decided it was time for some new gear. We needed some more resistant clothing and Lucy could use some armour. The shop we ended up in was called the Silken Emporium. It was small but beautifully decorated. The man behind the counter was a sun elf wearing a black suit. He looked a bit pale and had long red hair. ¡°Greetings ladies, how can I help you?¡± He greeted us with a small bow. ¡°We would like some custom clothing. It needs to be rather durable and capable of holding enchantments.¡±, I answered. ¡°Certainly, you have come to the right place! We can also offer the ritual for several enchantments.¡± ¡°Perfect! I would like two sets of black travelling clothes, one set of formal wear and five sets of underwear. What sort of materials do you offer?¡± ¡°And you would like all of them to be magical? Even the underwear?¡±, he inquired. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I see.¡± He seemed slightly surprised but stayed professional. ¡°We can combine different materials to achieve the texture you want while increasing the durability and allowing the item to be enchanted. Spidersilk would be ideal. It can be woven into cotton or wool to strengthen the fabric. Unfortunately it is rather hard to come by outside of the Dominion. So it will take me some time to acquire enough for an order that large.¡± ¡°I think I can help with that.¡± I did have a large amount of spidersilk in my amulet. Of course that was from the game. There was a big nasty spider dungeon so I still had quite a lot of it. I just hoped it would be the same material he was talking about. ¡°Marvellous!¡± He did not look surprised. I suppose being an elf made it credible that I was carrying resources from my home. ¡°In that case I would recommend snow sheep wool for your travelling outfits. It insulates very well and is rather durable. Combined with spidersilk it will offer quite a bit of protection! For your formal outfit it depends on the style you prefer. Underwear we could do in silk. Regular silk with just a few threads of spidersilk.¡±, he suggested. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Before we went any further I needed to know if I had the right stuff. As I filled the counter with spidersilk the tailor''s eyes widened. He touched the material and examined it. ¡°That¡­ how¡­?¡± Having that much of a valuable resource seemed to be a big deal. ¡°You¡­ of course! You are her majesty''s agents who defeated the demon lord! It is an honour to meet you.¡± He bowed again, a lot lower this time. ¡°This is amazing quality, perfectly harvested. It is rare to see that outside of the royal court. I am honoured that you chose me as your tailor and I will not disappoint.¡± He looked very determined. I was unsure how to react so I just smiled and tried to get back to the topic. ¡°I think we could go full spidersilk on the underwear. As for the formal dress¡­ Lucy, what do you think would suit me? A gown? Or something with pants? Maybe a dress uniform?¡± I frowned. I had no idea what I should get. I was not great with womens clothing. Lucy looked at me thinking. ¡°I have never seen you in a dress. I think you would look cute but maybe something more militaristic is a better fit. Something that goes well with a sword. Maybe something black and purple with silver trims?¡±, she suggested. I liked the idea. ¡°Sure, let¡¯s go with that.¡± ¡°I will try my best to come up with a satisfactory design.¡±, the tailor assured us. ¡°We have some great midnight cotton that should work well.¡± ¡°Great. Oh, we have never properly introduced ourselves. I am Amaya Delphinium and this is Lucy Delphinium.¡± ¡°I am Alfred Orchalis.¡± He bowed again. ¡°Lucy, what do you want? I am paying.¡± ¡°Hm. I will take the same except for the formal wear. I would like a black suit with silver trims and a purple tie. And I do need holes for my tail.¡± The tailor eyed the mountain of spidersilk again. ¡°That should be no problem. I think I won''t even need all the material you provided¡­¡± I actually had more but it might be better to not mention that. ¡°Great. How long will that take? What is the price? And what enchantments can you offer?¡± ¡°With the amount of spidersilk we could go for some high level magic. You would need to power the ritual yourself though. What properties are you interested in?¡± ¡°Hm. Mostly durability, possibly self repair. We are rather resistant to the elements so we should be fine in most weathers anyway. But something to make it more comfortable would be nice.¡± He stared. I suppose he expected a bit more combat oriented magic. But we were doing pretty good in that regard. I already had decent armour and I was hoping we could repurpose Mantus¡¯ plate for Lucy. We really were just here so I would not end naked in the next fight. Also I liked comfort. ¡°We ah¡­ can certainly do that. I will look into it and have an offer for you once the clothing is ready. It will take at least a week. As for the price, it depends on which enchantments you pick in the end. But it would be around 1000 gold for everything.¡± ¡°That is fine.¡± Afterwards he took our measurements and told us he would send a message to our inn once the order was ready. We left the shop in a good mood. Next we bought shoes. I already had my magical boots but we got a similar pair for Lucy. Additionally we both bought a more formal pair as well. As we left the shop we found a night elf waiting for us. ¡°Amaya Delphinium? We need to talk.¡± Chapter 30: Conversation The woman was dressed in high quality leather armour. She had a small dagger on her hip. Her white hair was put in a ponytail. She was looking at us with her piercing blue eyes. ¡°Who are you?¡±, I asked. ¡°You can call me Elnora. Would you join me in my carriage? So we can talk in private.¡± The great thing about being powerful is you can follow suspicious people without too much concern. I looked at Lucy and she nodded. ¡°Sure, lead the way.¡± The carriage looked well made, the driver was human. When we entered I noticed certain runes on the inside. I was able to identify them as a privacy spell. Lucy and I were sitting on a bench next to each other. We were both facing Elnora. She pulled out a fist sized black sphere with golden engravings. ¡°This is a divine artefact from Sylphania, the goddess of nature. It reveals the true shape of any being. Would you be willing to touch it?¡± I considered it for a moment. I had no way of knowing if she told the truth. But with my defences I doubted that touching this orb could seriously harm me. I laid my hand on it and nothing happened. Elnora did not look surprised. She offered it to Lucy as well with the same result. Satisfied Elnora put the orb away again and started to talk: ¡°Thank you for your cooperation. I am working for the intelligence division of the Dominion. Both of you have caused me quite the headache in recent days. See, none of our special agents are supposed to be here Amaya. And you Lucy¡­ we simply have no fox kin of your power in our employ. One theory was that you would be some powerful beings in disguise, that is why I brought the orb. It was considered unlikely but I had to check. Which brings us to the next theory, you might be working for a different nation. We can safely rule out the Empire. Iron Rock would not have the resources to keep someone of your power hidden. Beravis would take credit and parade you around, they try to look as powerful as possible to deter an invasion. The dwarves would have no reason to hide their involvement. If you were from a different continent you would not be interested in Iron Rock.¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. I had a feeling she really liked to hear herself talk. But I was intrigued where she was going with this. Elnora continued: ¡°So next I looked into your name. The house of Delphinium stopped existing about 500 years ago. It was a small but loyal house that fell to a monster incursion. Their main residence was attacked during a family gathering. There were no survivors. It sounds rather suspicious to me but after 500 years our records of the event are not very thorough.¡± She paused and stared at me. I could tell her that I simply made up the name and just picked a nice plant. Somehow I doubted that she would believe the truth though. ¡°Look, have you considered that we might have just randomly stumbled into this mess? That we simply kept a low profile before?¡± I tried to explain. Elnora looked irritated. ¡°Don¡¯t insult my intelligence! Lucy infiltrated the imperial embassy! You don¡¯t do that accidentally. Clearly this was a long and carefully planned operation. And you took down a demon lord! That should not be possible for only two people. There must have been a lot of preparation and powerful artefacts involved. I also looked at the spidersilk you gave to the tailor. The quality clearly indicates it¡¯s from the black forest. It should be impossible to get that much without the night elf queen¡¯s approval.¡± ¡°And what did the queen say to your theory? Did you ask her?¡± ¡°Queen Loriel denies any knowledge of you. So I think you were working for her mother. She was in charge when your house fell. Considering your power you must be very old. Clearly you were alive back then. I have sent my theory to the high queen but there has been no answer yet.¡± ¡°So what is the point of our little chat here?¡±, I wondered. ¡°Well¡­ I was ordered to check if you were actually an elf and invite you to a meeting with queen Loriel. You have been rather helpful to the Dominion, I think she wants to recruit you. But there are way too many unanswered questions! I was hoping you would be more forthcoming about your past.¡± ¡°Ah, I see. You distrust us but you were overruled by the queen. So you sent everything to the high queen who ignored you. Have you considered that there is no conspiracy?¡± Elnora glared at me. ¡°I am watching you. I will find the truth!¡± ¡°You do that. Meanwhile, we will be happy to meet the queen.¡±, I said smiling. ¡°She is going to represent the Dominion at the summit. The queen will arrive in 10 days.¡± ¡°The summit?¡±, Lucy said. ¡°You know the dwarves wanted to work with us considering security. I think they want a closer relationship with the Dominion.¡± ¡°Although the queen will be delighted to hear that you improved our diplomatic relationships, I have to ask you to stop impersonating the Dominion.¡± Elnora replied stiffly. ¡°But we are getting a job offer, right? That means we will be working with you soon anyway.¡±, Lucy teased. ¡°This was fun but I think it¡¯s time to go. Thanks for the chat.¡±, I said. Then I just opened the door and left the carriage. Lucy waved goodbye to Elnora and followed. Chapter 31: Hideout ¡°Wow, we are going to meet an elven queen! I hope our new clothes will be ready before then.¡±, Lucy said. I frowned. ¡°You were never that excited when we met the duke. What makes the queen different?¡± ¡°The duke rules over a city state, that is nothing compared to the power of an elven queen. I have always admired them. Strong, beautiful women. While the Empire does not stop women from getting power it does favour men.¡± Lucy explained. ¡°I see. So in a way we are meeting one of your childhood heroes?¡± ¡°You could say that, yes.¡± ¡°So what can you tell me about queen Loriel?¡± ¡°It¡¯s said that she is a sorceress but I don¡¯t know anything about her bloodline. She is 427 years old and came to power 219 years ago when her mother died. While the Empire tries to paint her as ruthless and barbaric she seems quite popular with her subjects.¡± ¡°That does not sound too bad. I wonder what kind of job she will offer us?¡± ¡°It¡¯s likely that she wants us tied to the Dominion somehow. Maybe we can get paid to cause more trouble for the Empire.¡± Lucy smiled at the thought. ¡°Speaking of the Empire, are you concerned about your parents? The inquisition is rather angry with us I imagine. Should we try to get your relatives out of the Empire?¡± ¡°The Empire thinks I am a different person who just impersonated their slave. It is unlikely that they will go after them. And I am not sure if they would want to leave their village. I would like to see them again though. Maybe we can sneak into the Empire in a year or so when the heat dies down.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Alright.¡± While we were talking we started looking for a suitable blacksmith without much success. Adjusting the amour of a demon lord was beyond anyone living in Iron Rock. It would require a combination of forging and magic to make it fit Lucy. After the summit we might have to look for a dwarven master smith. I did finally buy a watch though. The next day we decided to look into the ritual site where Mantus was summoned. Iron Rock had already sent investigators but I was still curious. We left in the morning. The battlefield outside the walls was mostly cleared of bodies by now, but the damage to the environment would be around for some time. The once green field of grass was black. Instead of looking at a lush forest in the distance you only saw charred husks of trees. Of course the forest was massive and only the edge was damaged. If you kept walking for a few minutes you would find life again. We transformed into our animal forms to travel. We were a lot faster that way. Flying would have been another option but running through the forest was kind of fun. We played around a bit, chasing each other. We also went hunting. We never asked Emily where exactly the Empire had their base. But it was rather easy to follow the trail of the demonic army. It led us to a spot where the forest bordered the mountains. We saw a small camp of guards and transformed back. ¡°Greetings, we are Amaya and Lucy. We came to have a look at the imperial hideout.¡±, I said. The guards immediately bowed to us. Since the battle we were rather famous in Iron Rock. ¡°Of course my ladies, we are honoured by your presence. The entrance is that way, it looks like a natural cave.¡± He pointed towards the mountain. ¡°Would you like a guide?¡±, he asked. ¡°Thanks, lead the way please.¡± The cave did look rather natural at first. A bit further in there were stairs leading down though. I assumed that part was covered by an illusion during the Empire¡¯s use of the base. The first room was a pretty big hall with several corridors leading further into the hideout. The floor was covered in ash, it was all that remained of the sacrifices. Our guide explained that the base contained rather large barracks, a mess hall, officers quarters and the prison for the demons. Currently they were searching for any records that survived. While demons trashed most of the place they had no reason to specifically target any letters. We thanked the guard for his help and continued to explore on our own. The prison was massive. There were many large cages, all covered in protective wards. I still wanted to know if my warlock ritual was responsible for the escape of the demons. While the entrance of the base was about 30 minutes on foot from our site, the prison was quite a bit closer. I started my investigation at the edge of the room. This place should have been the nearest and most affected. When I examined the runes of one cage I found certain flaws. The wards would have still worked but severely weakened. Further investigation showed that only one cage was affected. Was it an honest mistake, or deliberate sabotage? Was there really a demonic cult inside the inquisition? Maybe we would find more clues in the officers quarters. Chapter 32: Village There was a small group of guards searching the officers quarters as we arrived. They were filling a crate with any documents that survived the demons. I browsed through their discoveries but found nothing too noteworthy. There were certain books on demons, not surprising considering what the Empire had planned. ¡°I am not sure if we can find any clues here.¡±, Lucy said. ¡°Anything linking an officer to the demons might have just been part of their job. I doubt that any cult would carry an easily identifiable mark while infiltrating the inquisition.¡± ¡°That is true.¡±, I had to admit. ¡°At least this base confirms what Emily told us. Her testimony combined with the documents from here should make quite the impression at the summit. Still, it would be nice to know if the Empire failed due to incompetence or sabotage.¡± ¡°If we meet Elias again we should ask him.¡± Lucy suggested. I laughed. ¡°Do you think the Empire will punish him for this mess?¡± ¡°Being able to cast 9th circle spells gives you a lot of leeway. He will probably lose favour with the emperor but I don¡¯t expect much else. In the end they will pin the blame on some mid level officers. They will also start a witch hunt for dominion spies in their ranks.¡± ¡°It''s a shame we can¡¯t listen to their meetings. There should be a lot of shouting, accusations and paranoia. Anyway, I think we are done here. The guards can sort through all that stuff and inform us if they find anything.¡± ¡°Before we head back to Iron Rock we could check the surrounding area for any surviving demons. Maybe we should visit the closest village as well.¡± Lucy suggested. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°I am sure the duke has sent guards to the villages already. But we don¡¯t have anything important to do in the next few days so, why not?¡± We said goodbye to the guards and left the hideout. Lucy was confident she could find the village so I followed her. We travelled in our animal forms again. Shortly before we made camp for the evening we ran into a single demon. It had a human torso with the lower body of a scorpion. Before it knew what was happening, Lucy was on it. She easily ripped out its throat in her fox form. I sat there and watched while casually licking my paw. ¡°Good job, Lucy. We should take the body with us. Maybe we can harvest some poison from it. Although the market might be flooded with demonic corpses right now.¡± Lucy stored the dead demon in her amulet and we continued. Instead of using our tents we just curled up next to each other for the night. Being an animal made travel a lot more comfortable. The next day we reached the village. We transformed before entering to avoid scaring the people. The village was bordered by the lake. There was a small pier, probably for fishing boats. Overall there might have been about 20 buildings. The biggest was the local inn, most likely to accommodate traders. There was no wall, or any sort of defence. In a world filled with monsters that seemed a bit questionable. On the other hand, it meant the area was patrolled enough to be considered safe. The people looked at us curiously but did not approach. A few children were running around chasing each other and waving sticks. Overall it seemed rather peaceful. I would have expected a lot more concern. There was not even a guard visible. I approached an older woman who was carrying a bucket of water from the local well. ¡°Greetings. We have just arrived in your village and I am wondering about your safety. Are you aware that there might be demons in the area? We actually encountered one yesterday not too far from here.¡± I said. The woman frowned. ¡°Some guards came yesterday telling us about the big battle. Spent the entire evening drinking and telling stories. They said it¡¯s all over now and there is no need to worry. Are you sure you found a demon?¡± Lucy dumped the demon corpse on the ground. ¡°Does look like a demon to me.¡± The woman¡¯s eyes unfocused then she blinked. ¡°That is just a big bug my dear, nothing to worry about.¡± Clearly something was wrong with that woman. So I used dispel magic on her. Suddenly her eyes widened and she shrieked: ¡°MONSTER! THERE IS MONSTER!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s dead. There is no need to panic.¡± I said in a soothing voice. The people in the village looked in our direction briefly, then continued with their day like nothing was wrong. Somebody, or something, must have enchanted the villagers to ignore certain things. Chapter 33: Mystery Lucy stored the corpse again. The woman had dropped her bucket and was breathing heavily, but she started to calm down a bit. ¡°It¡¯s ok. You are safe now.¡± Lucy said. The woman looked at us. ¡°What¡­ what is going on?¡± ¡°Somebody put a spell on you. Can you remember what happened?¡± I asked. ¡°A spell?¡± she frowned. ¡°My¡­ my memory is hazy.¡± ¡°What is the last thing that you remember clearly?¡± ¡°I am not sure.¡± ¡°It¡¯s ok, take your time.¡± I looked around. Clearly the magic was affecting everyone. Who did that and how was it done? As I was contemplating the situation the woman''s eyes glazed over. ¡°What were we talking about again? Oh no, I dropped my bucket.¡± She picked it up. ¡°I need to get some water, have a nice day!¡± Lucy looked confused. ¡°Amaya, what happened?¡± ¡°I broke the magic on that woman but it was reapplied. I suspect something is putting everyone in this village under a spell. You could keep a ritual active by regularly fueling it somehow, or you could create permanent enchantments, which is a lot harder to do though.¡±, I explained. ¡°Why would somebody do that? Do you think it¡¯s an escaped demon?¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Possibly. But that seems like a lot of work to simply hide. Also, magic like that requires some preparation. A demon fleeing a battlefield would not carry the ingredients for such a ritual.¡± ¡°Could it be the Empire?¡±, Lucy pondered. ¡°The Empire? I suppose they somehow snuck a lot of soldiers into this region. If the spell makes the people dismiss anything out of the ordinary it might have been meant to cover their operations. But it would have been far simpler for them to just use illusions.¡± ¡°I guess we just have to look for the source. Nobody seems to be in immediate danger at least. Speaking of danger, could the spell affect us too?¡±, Lucy wondered. ¡°Very unlikely. It¡¯s hard to affect the mind of a powerful magic user. And night elves are more resistant to magic in general. You might have inherited some of that too as a warlock.¡±, I reassured her. ¡°Good to know. So, where do we start? If the spell is effecting a sphere they would want it in the centre, right? So maybe the inn? It could have a storage cellar.¡±, Lucy reasoned. ¡°Good thinking, let¡¯s go to the inn.¡±, I agreed. The inn¡¯s common room was empty except for the innkeeper. The guards were probably still sleeping after having a party yesterday. With the spell on the village it made sense that they ignored their duty and got drunk instead. At least I hoped the spell was the reason for that. ¡°Ah travellers! How can I help you ladies?¡± The man greeted us enthusiastically. ¡°I know it sounds strange, but could we have a look at your cellar? We will pay you for your inconvenience.¡± I could have just used magic to sneak past him but it would be simpler if he just let us look around. ¡°The cellar? Oh, no reason to go down there! Why don¡¯t you stay here and I''ll bring you a free meal instead?¡± Yeah that did not sound suspicious at all. ¡°We would really like to see the cellar. How about I give you one gold?¡± ¡°Nonsense! You don¡¯t want to go down there. Let me just bring you free drinks!¡± he said and walked into the kitchen. ¡°Obviously there is something in the cellar.¡±, Lucy stated. ¡°We found something on the first try, that is somewhat suspicious.¡± ¡°Hm. The inn is simply the most logical place for a spherical spell. It¡¯s also the first place a traveller would stop and you would want any strangers to be affected as quickly as possible. It would simply be logical to be here.¡±, I reasoned. ¡°Shall we have a look?¡± Lucy suggested while summoning her spear. ¡°Yes.¡± We walked into the back where the innkeeper was busy grabbing some wine. I used a sleep spell on him while he was starting to complain. I caught him when he fell and arranged him in a comfortable position on the floor. I even managed to catch the wine he dropped, thanks to my speed. No reason to waste a good drink. At the back of the kitchen were some stairs leading downwards. The cellar was one surprisingly large room. There were shelves filled with food, barrels of ale and quite a bit of wine. Oh, and there was a big shining ritual circle in the centre. Behind it, sitting in a lotus position, was a demon. She was clearly female. Her two horns were as black as her hair. She had pointed ears and a very pale skin. I also saw a tail behind her. She stared at us with black eyes. ¡°Please, let us talk.¡± Chapter 34: Interrogation I did have some questions about the situation and I was confident in our power. Still, I did not want this demon to flee. So I used Chains of Torment. The demon gasped in surprise as the small portals surrounded her. There was nothing she could do as the chains emerged and bound her. Meanwhile, Lucy was eying the demon warily but did not engage. She relaxed slightly once it was bound. ¡°What do we do with her?¡± she asked. ¡°I am curious what she has to say. Why are you here, demon?¡± I asked. ¡°Rude! That is no way to treat a lady!¡± the demon complained. ¡°I don¡¯t see a lady so I think we are fine. Now either you start talking or we start stabbing.¡± The demon sighed. ¡°Mortals, always so cruel. I am naught but a slave, a plaything, used by the inquisition. Bound to this place to do their bidding.¡± ¡°And why would the inquisition bind a demon here? That ritual seems like a lot of work for a small village.¡± ¡°Ah, but the duke has one of his people stationed here. The lake is too big to keep an eye on everything from Iron Rock. So the local baker is actually an agent who reports anything suspicious. Unfortunately the Empire knew of him. So they moved into the village and put it under a spell. It allowed the Empire to bring their forces through here. They also used the village to ship in supplies. Meanwhile Iron Rock gets regular reports that everything is normal. Any caravan stopping by will be under the same spell while they are here.¡± ¡°I see. So the Empire was mostly interested in controlling the agent and feeding false information to Iron Rock. But how do you come in? Why did they bind a demon? And why can you talk so openly with us if you are bound?¡± ¡°Subtle mental manipulation is not really the inquisition''s strength. They have plenty of people to crack open a mind for interrogation but delicate work like this is beyond them. So they brought in an expert.¡± She said smiling. Lucy looked doubtful. ¡°Really? So the inquisition just happened to know the right spell to summon a demon with mind magic? Normally they are more into purging than summoning. This also seems like a rather important part of their plan. Why would they trust you?¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°I cannot tell you why the Empire decided to use demons. But surely after your battle you have seen the truth of it. And the magic they used forced me to obey. Only after my summoner died did I regain my freedom.¡± I pondered that. ¡°So you have been in this village the whole time? How much do you know about what happened? And when did your summoner die?¡± ¡°He died a few days ago when the pillar appeared. I was not sure what was happening so I decided to stay hidden for now. Most of my information is from the guards that came yesterday. Influenced by my magic they were convinced all is normal again. They told the villagers how there was no danger after the great victory in Iron Rock.¡± ¡°Why did you not investigate the pillar? Surely you recognized the magic?¡± I wondered. ¡°Not all demons are friends you know. We have different lords and I felt that it was not my mistress that appeared.¡± ¡°Who is your mistress?¡± ¡°Lady Lilith¡± ¡°Have you harmed anyone since you appeared?¡± ¡°I do not harm people, unless they ask.¡± She winked. ¡°I only want to bring pleasure¡­¡± I wondered how many people survived that pleasure. ¡°Can you tell us anything else about the Empire`s operation?¡± ¡°I am afraid I can¡¯t. But I have been very helpful, have I not? Will you free me? I would be very grateful¡­¡± ¡°Should I stab her?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Hm. I think we will give her a choice. Tell us your true name and we will simply banish you. Otherwise we will kill you.¡± A true name would not directly give us power over her. But with it we could summon and bind her in the future. It would still require the right ritual and enough power but we had that. ¡°My true name? Surely we can come to a different arrangement¡­¡± ¡°Stab away Lucy¡± The demon was struggling against the chains but she was too weak. It finally dawned on her that we were rather immune to her seduction attempts. I was sure she tried to enchant us with her voice while talking but we were too powerful for that. ¡°STOP! I SUBMIT!¡± she shouted. ¡°My name is Lilastheria, please don¡¯t kill me!¡± I walked closer and grabbed the demon''s face. I looked directly into her eyes. ¡°Lilastheria¡± The demon shuddered when I said her name. I felt a spark of magic. ¡°Looks like you told the truth. I hope you did not lie about the other things. Now off you go.¡± I used the banishment spell. It was 8th circle magic that forced a being from a different dimension back to their home plane. More powerful creatures had a chance to resist the magic. It would never work on a demon lord. Lilastheria was unable to resist and faded away. ¡°Why did we not simply kill her?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°This way we can question her more in the future, if needed. Also it did not look like she hurt anyone in the village. If we are really lucky the Empire will use her again and she could become our spy.¡± I reasoned. ¡°Good thinking,¡± Lucy replied. ¡°What now?¡± ¡°Now we destroy this ritual and make sure everyone is fine.¡± Chapter 35: Village 2 I used dispel magic to shut down the ritual. We left the runes intact as evidence for the guards. Afterwards Lucy went outside to check the villagers while I woke up the innkeeper. He was confused at first and shocked once I showed him the ritual in the basement. After that he decided to have a drink. His memories were still hazy but I assumed it would get better with time. While I was explaining the situation to the innkeeper, the guards finally emerged. The men in charge approached our table. ¡°Good morning. We eh¡­ might have been a little too careless yesterday. There is some potential danger from roaming demons. Please be careful. We will immediately start patrolling the area.¡± The poor guy seemed rather embarrassed. Before he could leave I said: ¡°Good morning. Your carelessness was due to the influence of a demon. Do not worry, we dealt with it. You can find the evidence in the cellar. The ritual is inactive now but you might want to destroy the runes. We left them as evidence for you.¡± The man looked confused. ¡°Excuse me? You said you dealt with a demon here? You and the innkeeper?¡± ¡°Ah no, it was Lucy and myself. I am Amaya, by the way.¡± The man suddenly stood straighter. ¡°Lady Amaya, it is an honour. Thank you for your help. We will check the cellar immediately.¡± The innkeeper frowned. ¡°Are you famous?¡± he asked me. ¡°Lucy and myself have been working with the duke recently. We fought the demon lord.¡± He was speechless at first, his mouth hanging open. Once he recovered he said: ¡°My lady I had no idea! And now you also saved our village. Can I offer you anything?¡± ¡°No no, it is fine. You just had a major shock. Relax.¡± I smiled reassuringly. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°My lady you are too kind.¡± He still looked uncertain how to behave in my presence. So I excused myself and wandered outside. I saw Lucy at the pier and walked towards her. ¡°How are the people?¡± I asked her. ¡°So far they seem fine. I only told a few of them to be careful of demons. They reacted a bit surprised but concerned. I did not want to spread the full story yet. Maybe we should let the guard do that. We are strangers here with no real authority after all.¡± ¡°Good thinking. Have you found where the baker lives? Maybe we should have a talk with him.¡± ¡°As a matter of fact I did.¡± She said smiling. ¡°Lead the way.¡± I followed her to a small house. There was a shop on the ground floor and presumably a living space on the 2nd floor. The smell of fresh bread welcomed us as we entered. The man was clean shaven, bald and wearing an apron. He was a bit on the heavier side. ¡°Good day travellers! What can I do for you?¡± He greeted us enthusiastically. ¡°We would like to talk to you about your work for the duke.¡± I said. I saw a brief flash of concern on his face. ¡°I am not sure what you mean. I have not sold any bread to the duke, as far as I know.¡± Lucy responded: ¡°There was a demon in the cellar of the inn. It put a spell on the whole village to prevent you from reporting anything suspicious. I know we are not from here but we are helping William with this whole mess. You might have received a report about us? Although the spell might have made you ignore it.¡± The poor man looked rather uncomfortable. ¡°I assure you I am a simple baker. I have no idea what you''re talking about. It is certainly a wild tale.¡± Thinking about it, we had no real way to prove our identity. Even most of the guards from Iron Rock did not know how we looked. They only knew our names and that we were a night elf and a fox kin. We really needed some form of identification. ¡°I understand your caution.¡± I said. ¡°You don¡¯t need to confirm anything, we just wanted you to know that you were under a spell. And that the demon was summoned by the Empire. They used this village to get troops and supplies into the surrounding area, where they had a base. They were also aware of your true identity. We will make a similar report back in Iron Rock. You can still see the ritual in the basement of the inn although the guards might be destroying it right now.¡± He looked a bit pale but he did not admit anything. I admired his professionalism. So we just left. ¡°What now?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I think we could stay another day. Maybe we patrol the forest a bit, spend the night at the inn and go back to Iron Rock tomorrow.¡± ¡°You also want to try the local food.¡± Lucy teased. ¡°That too.¡± I said smiling. Chapter 36: Back to the City We spent the day patrolling the surrounding area in our animal forms. We did not find any demons but it was fun to run around. In the evening we returned to the village. The inn was rather crowded. The story about the demon had spread and a lot of people were in need of a drink. The innkeeper had a small table reserved for us and offered free food and drink. I overheard several conversations, apparently people knew we fought the demon lord. Everyone looked at us with respect and maybe some amount of fear. Nobody approached us. The food was great though. I enjoyed a lovely fish pie with some ale. The next day we left. The people seemed ok and the guards were now doing their job. It was time to return to Iron Rock. Once we were back we reported our findings to the guard. After that we took it easy for a few days. One morning a message arrived that our clothes were finished and the tailor invited us back to discuss enchantments. It had been 8 days since we placed our order. We excitedly made our way to the shop. ¡°Greetings Alfred, how are you? I heard our clothes are ready.¡± I said as we entered. ¡°Ah, lady Amaya and lady Lucy.¡± He said bowing. ¡°Welcome back to my shop! Yes your orders are ready, only the enchantments are missing. It was a true pleasure to work with the spidersilk you provided. If you will follow me, the clothes are in the basement in the enchantment room.¡± We followed him into a cosy chamber. The floor had a huge empty metal circle. I spotted a rack with our clothes and various cabinets. ¡°This is where the magic happens!¡± He said pointing at the circle. I held back my laughter. I assumed this world did not have the same expressions as my old one. And he obviously meant magic literally. ¡°How does this work?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°This is a reusable circle. We have several metal plates with runes that we place inside. They all fit together forming a ritual. That allows for a lot of different combinations and ensures that there are no errors drawing the runes. Of course you still need to know what combinations work, how much magic an item can hold and you need additional components and the spell slots to power the ritual.¡± He explained. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. I was rather impressed. That was a great system and made a lot of sense. It would save tons of work since most people wanted the same things on their clothes. ¡°Before we do any enchanting you should try the clothes to ensure the measurements are correct. There is a screen in the corner where you can change.¡± First I had a closer look at my clothes. The underwear consisted of modern panties and bras. Mine were black with a purple trim. Even without magic they already felt rather soft. The travelling clothes were a simple black shirt and pants. They felt somewhat rough but the magic would change that. My formal outfit looked stunning. The jacket was hip length, on the front were two rows of silver buttons. There were shoulder marks featuring a purple delphinium. They had a silver trim and reminded me of an officer''s rank insignia. The jacket¡¯s collar and cuffs were decorated with purple and silver. The pants were black with a purple line on the side. A black shirt and a black belt with a purple clasp were included too. I tried it on and admired myself in the mirror. It was formal with a militaristic style. Meanwhile Lucy was in her black suit. We were both happy. After trying on the other clothes and finding them satisfactory it was time to discuss enchantments. ¡°Amazing work Alfred!¡± I said. ¡°So, what enchantments have you found for us?¡± ¡°I do have a high level durability enhancement, it will stop non magical weapons from cutting your clothing. It will even resist some magical ones. I have also added a fire and acid resistance. There is a limited self repair function. The clothes can fix minor holes and cuts but you need to power that with your spell slots. There is also an option to dry them which works the same way. Further I have an enhancement which will make them softer on the inside and a lot more comfortable to wear. The snow sheep wool in your travelling clothes will keep you warm in rather icy temperatures without any enhancements. The midnight cotton in your formal wear offers some protection from shadow magic. The spidersilk present in all your clothes will offer a certain resistance to magic in general.¡± ¡°Sounds great! We will take all of that if possible.¡± ¡°Certainly. Thanks to your royal spidersilk we can fit everything. We can enchant all of them at once but it would take five 9th circle spell slots.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± His eyes widened slightly. ¡°Ah yes, then we can get started. The final price will be 1023 gold. There is also some spidersilk left. I would be willing to offer you 800 gold for that.¡± I had no idea how much was left or what it was worth. But Alfred offered great work so far so it was ok by me. ¡°Sure. You keep the silk and I will pay you 250 gold.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure if I was supposed to haggle that down but I just wanted to give a tip for a good service. He looked really shocked so I might have given him a great deal. Fine by me. ¡°Ah certainly yes, thank you my lady.¡± He bowed again. Afterwards Alfred assembled the ritual with his metal plates. He double checked the arrangement and then placed a bunch of gems and the clothes in the centre. Afterwards I activated the magic. The gems dissolved into smoke which was absorbed by the clothing. It was rather pretty to watch and only took about 5 minutes. We immediately changed into the newly enchanted clothing. It was heavenly. After paying Alfred we left satisfied. Chapter 37: Conversation Part 1 With our shopping complete we had nothing to do again until the queen arrived, which should be soon. I was rather curious about that meeting. Would she be paranoid like the agent? And what would she offer us? Two days later my questions were answered. We were enjoying breakfast at the inn when Elnora entered. She immediately approached our table. ¡°Amaya, Lucy the queen would like to meet you.¡± ¡°Morning Elnora. When and where is that supposed to happen?¡± I asked. ¡°Right now, she is in the carriage outside.¡± Elnora replied. ¡°Uh, we are still eating. But the queen can join us if she wants.¡± I was not going to abandon my breakfast. Especially my morning coffee. I was rather surprised that the queen just showed up like that. Elnora¡¯s eyes widened at my response. ¡°But¡­ you can¡¯t¡­ it¡¯s the queen! She requested your presence!¡± Lucy looked a bit uncertain. I think she was ready to just drop everything and go outside. But we could just talk in here as far as I was concerned. I could easily use a spell for privacy. Elnora looked angry but she had no way to force us. After some thinking she left. Shortly afterwards a new night elf entered. She had beautiful long white hair. Her features were rather delicate yet she radiated power. Most interestingly were her eyes. She had cat-like golden pupils. She was dressed in a black blouse and pants. The woman went straight for our table and smiled while approaching. Elnora followed her. Once she was next to us I felt the magic of a privacy spell. The other patrons at the inn looked a bit curious. Most of them suspected who we were. Thanks to the lack of modern technology very few people knew how we actually looked. They only knew that a night elf and a fox kin fought the demon lord. The arrival of more night elves had them curious. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Hello, I am Loriel Nightshade. It¡¯s a pleasure to finally meet you.¡± She introduced herself to us. ¡°I am Lucy, it¡¯s an honour to meet you.¡± ¡°I am Amaya, nice to meet you. Would you like to join us for breakfast?¡± ¡°Certainly.¡± She took a seat while Elnora stood behind her. I waved to the waitress to order more food. She seemed unsurprised when she encountered the privacy spell. I assume we were not the first people who had a business discussion in an inn. Loriel ordered eggs, bacon, toast and coffee. Once the waitress left I talked again. ¡°I am curious why you came here. Why not an official invitation?¡± I wondered. Loriel smiled. ¡°Formal affairs can be rather boring and I really wanted to meet you. It¡¯s unlikely that anyone in Iron Rock recognizes me by sight. It is rather refreshing. I was hoping you would invite me for breakfast.¡± Elnora stiffened at those words. Clearly that was not what she had expected. Loriel continued: ¡°You see me as an equal. Which adds to your mysteriousness. It also makes this conversation far more pleasant.¡± ¡°I see. And you are not concerned? Meeting with powerful strangers like that?¡± I asked. ¡°I am very hard to kill. And I would not need to win a fight, just escape. I also consider hostilities as a very unlikely outcome. Both of you have done the Dominion a great service. News is spreading rather quickly at home about our victory. The population is rather happy. Meanwhile the Empire has internal issues. There is unrest in the population and the military. They are also looking for spies everywhere. While it made it somewhat more difficult for our operatives, they seem to be looking at higher ranks than we infiltrated.¡± She paused as the food arrived. After the waitress left she continued: ¡°Our nation has been somewhat lax in dealing with the Empire. Since we do not share a border a lot of people did not care, high queen Maeve was among them. The appearance of a demon lord has changed things. Imagine if he was left to wreak havoc. Iron Rock would have fallen. All the death would have further empowered him and the dwarves would be in trouble. We would have been caught fully unaware. By the time we sent help a lot of dwarves would have died.¡± ¡°Instead of us looking incompetent we are seen as heroes, thanks to you. An official alliance with the dwarves is almost certain now. Queen Solana is currently visiting king Dalroc to negotiate the terms. Everybody is rather happy and I can tell Maeve ¡°I told you so¡± with a smile since nobody got hurt.¡± Loriel said smiling. ¡°I see. Basically you were warning people that the Empire was a problem but were ignored. Now you were proven right and you can claim it were your own agents that prevented disaster. I assume your own popularity in the Dominion rose significantly?¡± I concluded. Loriel¡¯s smile widened even more. ¡°Indeed. I look like a genius within the Dominion. Only the other queens and the high queen know the real truth.¡± After a moment she added: ¡°And Elnora. But keeping secrets is part of her job.¡± ¡°And the high queen is ok with you taking credit?¡± ¡°I have known Maeve for all my life. We are good friends even if we don¡¯t always agree on politics.¡± ¡°So, what do you want from us?¡± Lucy asked. She had been quietly listening so far. ¡°I want to ensure the people keep believing it was all the Dominion. I also want to work with you in the future. And I would really like to know more about who you are.¡± Chapter 38: Conversation Part 2 I thought about that statement. ¡°Everybody drew their own conclusions about our involvement. We never actually said we were working for the Dominion. But I have no problem with keeping that lie alive. I have no intention to talk to you about my past, sorry. At least not now, maybe in time. As for working together, what did you have in mind?¡± Loriel looked a bit disappointed. ¡°You are going to remain a mystery? Such a shame.¡± She shook her head. ¡°I suppose I will have to tease the information out of you, in time. As for working together, for a start I would like you to appear at the summit. I presume the duke would ask the same of you but it would help our image if you are there on my behalf. I would like you to present your findings. I would also like your opinion beforehand, on everything you encountered.¡± She took a short break to sip her coffee. ¡°Afterwards maybe you could help against the Empire. I have no idea how you collected information but anything you can give us would be appreciated. We know they had plans to invade Beravis. I have no idea if those will continue now.¡± ¡°Both of you are a powerful force and I would like you on our side. I know that the Empire is conducting research into enhancing people. Personally I suspected the emperor of working with some powerful being for a time. I am afraid if left unchecked the Empire will become a threat to the Dominion.¡° Loriel said. ¡°But the demons sacrificed the imperial soldiers.¡± Lucy argued. ¡°It did not seem like they were working together.¡± ¡°I am not sure it is a demon that the Empire is working with.¡± Loriel answered. ¡°It could be, there are several demon lords and they have their own fights. But I suspect it might be something else.¡± ¡°What makes you think that?¡± I wondered. ¡°What evidence do you have of them working with something?¡± ¡°We have discovered people that were experimented on. The magic was strange and had similarities to a warlock pact. It would be impossible to create an army of warlocks, powerful beings cannot bestow their gifts that frequently. But I think they have been studying the process and are trying to use it differently. I think they are summoning creatures, like demons, and try to transfer their powers to mortals, killing the demon in the process.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°What?¡± I was shocked. I knew that the creation of a warlock required you to place a part of your soul into the recipient of your power. Not many beings were capable of doing that. You needed a strong soul. ¡°To achieve what you described they would likely have to tear the soul of a demon apart and then stuff what they ripped off into a human. That would kill the demon in a cruel way and twist the human into¡­ something.¡± I said. Loriel¡¯s eyes widened. She looked really surprised. ¡°But¡­ how do you know that? The creation of warlocks is generally a secret. Only very powerful beings seem to know the details. That is why I figured they have to be working with something¡­¡± Lucy smiled. ¡°I am a warlock actually.¡± Loriel looked uncertain now. ¡°Who is your patron, if I might ask?¡± Then she glanced at me. ¡°Are you¡­? No. The orb showed that you are not disguised. You are an elf. And you seem to be a sorceress. Do you carry the same blood as her patron? Are you a descendant of the creature she pacted with?¡± ¡°You could say that I share blood with her patron, yes.¡± I said. ¡°But that is all we can say.¡± Loriel thought about that for a moment. ¡°I see. I suppose I did learn something about you after all. That would explain a lot about your mysteries. I assume your patron is opposed to what happens in the Empire?¡± Lucy answered: ¡°Yes. I can safely say my patron is not a fan of the Empire. I can also say that we are acting freely here, without orders.¡± I was amazed she managed that with a straight face. It was also the truth. Loriel was digesting all the information. Meanwhile Elnora looked rather pale. I was wondering what theories she came up with in her head. A thought occurred to me. ¡°Loriel, are you a warlock yourself? Or a sorceress? Your eyes are unusual for an elf. So you must have either changed due to a pact or you carry the blood of a different creature.¡± ¡°I am a sorceress.¡± She replied. ¡°The blood of a shadow beast runs in the royal family.¡± ¡°Oh, can you transform into an animal? We need to play some time!¡± Lucy said enthusiastically. Then she blushed a little, probably remembering that she was talking to a queen. ¡°You can transform into animals? I don¡¯t think I saw that in a report¡­¡± Loriel said. ¡°I can become a black panther and Lucy turns into a fox, unsurprisingly.¡± I answered. Loriel seemed a bit overwhelmed with all the information. I assumed she was desperately trying to figure out where our power came from. How many lightning aligned beasts were there that would offer a warlock pact? Finally Loriel said: ¡°You have given me a lot to think about. I would still like to work with you. Can we meet again soon? I might have to contact the high queen with a messenger stone¡­¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I said. ¡°You know where to find us.¡± Chapter 39: Musings After Loriel left we finished our breakfast. The queen did not even eat all the food she ordered. I wondered what theory they would come up with for Lucy¡¯s patron. The thought made me smile. ¡°Who do you think is working with the Empire?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I have no idea. The whole situation seems complicated. We still don¡¯t know if there is a demonic cult within the inquisition. If the Empire has started to experiment on demons it would draw the attention of the demon lords. So I could see them trying to intervene.¡± ¡°Do you think a demon lord would offer their servants willingly for experiments?¡± ¡°Maybe. They are not known for their morals but I can¡¯t see why they would sacrifice their troops. More likely they would encourage the use of their rivals'' forces.¡± ¡°So Lilith could be working with the Empire. They were using Mantu¡¯s troops for their scheme. Then Mantus¡¯s cult infiltrated the operation and turned it around?¡± Lucy theorised. ¡°Certainly a possibility. We just don¡¯t have enough information. There could be other demon lords involved. It could also be something different. Certain undead can become powerful enough to create warlocks, like an ancient lich. There are dragons on that power level. There are the lords of the fey. I don¡¯t really know enough about the Empire to speculate.¡± ¡°It¡¯s weird. Not too long ago I was a slave. I was powerless with no control of my future. Now I am here with you, talking about fighting beings of power. We even defeated a demon lord! It¡¯s still a bit unreal at times.¡± ¡°Do you want a more normal life? We could still just leave. Explore the world. Originally I just wanted to travel a bit and relax. I never imagined I would end up in a big conflict. Strangely, I am fine with it. Even the fighting was¡­ exhilarating. I always considered myself a coward in my last life. Now? Fighting has become an interesting mixture of fear and excitement.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Travel sounds fun. But we can always do that later. We have some very long lives ahead of us. I want to help against the Empire. Maybe we can somehow stop the rot? Turn it into a better nation? That might be a bit too ambitious though.¡± ¡°You would probably need an uprising for that. But if the Empire is experimenting on its people¡­ who knows what will happen? It could lead to a civil war.¡± ¡°We shall see. By the way, what payment do we want from the Dominion? What do you think they will offer? A handsome prince?¡± Lucy teased. ¡°No thanks, I don¡¯t want a prince. I also don¡¯t need money, I have enough. They might give us a title and some land. I am not really sure if I would want that. Having a home to settle could be nice though. Items maybe? Something rare? Maybe a special mount or pet?¡± I shrugged. ¡°We shall see what they offer. Maybe just a favour from them in the future could be useful. What do you want?¡± ¡°No prince for me either. I am not sure myself. You have already fulfilled my dream of learning magic.¡± ¡°Speaking of rewards, maybe we should go shopping. Hilda mentioned something about whisky when we first met her. We should go and search for a dwarven liquor store!¡± I said enthusiastically. Lucy frowned. ¡°I am surprised Hilda has not contacted us again. We haven¡¯t seen her since the party.¡± ¡°We did tell Elnora. I would not be surprised if the actual Dominion is handling that. Anyway, let¡¯s find some booze!¡± I proclaimed. Finding a fancy dwarven liquor store was surprisingly easy. The shop had a large selection of whisky. The enthusiastic dwarf running the place seemed very knowledgeable. He not only described the flavours but even knew the history of certain distilleries. He explained the different woods used for ageing and finishes. There also seemed to be a lot more grain variations in this world. Magically infused plants did not only change the taste but could make the whisky a lot more potent. I bought a lovely peated whisky made from a special barley. There was some fire magic infused into it to complement the smokiness. I also got something milder, a corn based whisky with an elven wine barrel finish. Lucy kept teasing me but she enjoyed the drinks as well. Overall it was a pleasant experience. The summit was happening soon and I had a feeling that our lives would get a lot busier. I really wondered what the different nations would do and how the Empire would react. I was not even sure if they would have any representation at this summit. Would they have a chance to explain themselves? Not that there was a good excuse for their behaviour. I just hoped the whole thing would not be too boring. Chapter 40: Plan The next day our breakfast was interrupted again. Once more Elnora entered and approached us while we were eating. I just raised an eyebrow as she approached. ¡°Good morning Amaya and Lucy.¡± She even inclined her head a little. It seemed that she was giving us more respect after yesterday''s revelation. ¡°Morning Elnora.¡± I said. Lucy was busy chewing and just nodded as a greeting. ¡°Queen Loriel invites you to join her at the duke¡¯s palace. She is staying in a guest suite during the summit and would like you to be there as well.¡± ¡°Sounds good. We shall go there after we have eaten. Do you want to join us for breakfast?¡± I asked. ¡°No thank you.¡± Elnora said and left. Lucy watched her leave. ¡°She has become a bit more respectful but she is way too tense. Maybe we should invite her to join us in a hot bath with a drink.¡± I imagined the scenario and laughed. ¡°I don¡¯t think she would accept the invitation. The idea that we have a powerful patron made her evaluate us I think. Instead of some powerful people with a shady past she now sees us more like foreign dignitaries.¡± ¡°Uhhh I should totally tell her that she has actually met my patron! I would like to see her face then.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t torture the poor girl Lucy.¡± ¡°Awww spoilsport.¡± Lucy pouted. We might tell Loriel and Elnora the truth at some point. But first we needed to know them a lot better. After our meal we made our way to the palace. We were not even stopped, the guards actually saluted us as we entered. I suppose they kind of adopted us at this point. Still, especially with the summit so close the security was somewhat lacking. Inside we were greeted by a butler. ¡°My ladies.¡± He said bowing. ¡°We have been expecting you. If you will follow me I shall escort you to queen Loriel.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. He led us to the guest wing on the east side of the palace. I wondered if all diplomats were housed here, or if the Dominion received special treatment because of us. We ended up in front of a white double door decorated with gold. Two wood elves stood guard. They had bronze skin and green hair. I was surprised at first but there was no reason for Loriel to only have night elves with her. She was representing the whole Dominion. Thinking about it, the Dominion did not seem to have any strife between the three kinds of elves. I wondered if there were any hybrids. What would a child between two kinds of elves look like? Continuing that train of thought, what would a child between a human and an elf look like? Were half-elves a thing? From a biology standpoint two species having children would be unlikely. Mules did exist though. They were a hybrid of a donkey and a horse. But in a magical universe biology might be a bit more complicated. Magic could do many things after all. Then again, a human and an elf having a child might just result in either a full human or a full elf. My musings were interrupted when the guards opened the doors and let us enter. The butler left and we stood alone in a big room. We were on the first floor and there was a huge glass door to a balcony overlooking the courtyard. The room also contained four plush chairs and a coffee table. There was a cabinet with bottles of liquor on top. The walls were decorated with paintings. We were exploring the room when a door on the right side opened and Loriel came in. ¡°Amaya, Lucy thanks for coming!¡± She said, ¡°Please have a seat!¡± ¡°Greetings queen Loriel¡± Lucy said. ¡°Morning,¡± was my simple greeting. After we all sat down Loriel started talking. ¡°I contacted Maeve. While she would like to know more about your patron she has no objections to working with you. So I can now officially enlist your help. I would like you to stay here in this suite with me. It helps appearances and it will increase my safety.¡± That was a lot of trust. We did help the Dominion quite a bit I suppose. And I had no idea what precautions, if any, they had. Maybe it was also a test? Or maybe I was overthinking this. ¡°It¡¯s a lot nicer than our hotel room.¡± Lucy said. ¡°I think we should stay here Amaya.¡± ¡°I agree. Now, what do you want us to do Loriel? And what do you offer?¡± ¡°Aside from the summit I want you to help us unravel the mystery of the Empire¡¯s plan. We need to find out who or what they are working with and put a stop to it. Hopefully this will not lead to an open war, but it might.¡± ¡°You want us to disguise ourselves and infiltrate the Empire?¡± I asked. ¡°No. I am actually hoping that we will be invited to visit.¡± ¡°Why would they do that?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°This summit will go poorly for the Empire. They are not ready to face the entire continent. I am sure there will be an invitation from the Emperor where he tries to calm everything. They might even prepare a nice scapegoat.¡± Now I understood. ¡°So you believe the emperor will invite everyone from the summit?¡± ¡°Precisely. He will send someone here to apologise and invite everyone so he can explain in person. It will delay any decision here and give them more time to create a cover story. It will also allow us to visit the capital and look around.¡± ¡°Or they could ambush the delegates and kill everyone.¡± I pointed out. ¡°That would lead to a war. While I can not rule out the possibility I think it¡¯s very unlikely. And I would have you to help keep me safe.¡± I was not that trusting. It would be an opportunity though. And we were rather powerful. Combined with Loriel, her guards and other delegates it would take a lot of resources to defeat us. Chapter 41: More Planning ¡°I would be willing to help. What do you think Lucy?¡± ¡°I like the idea. I doubt they would risk a fight inside the capital. We would have no reason to hold back and it would devastate the city.¡± Lucy said with a mischievous smile. ¡°There are a lot of civilians there, let¡¯s try to not flatten the city.¡± I replied with a smirk. Loriel looked a little uncertain. ¡°In the worst case scenario we should retreat and not blow up the city.¡± ¡°It¡¯s ok, we are only joking, mostly.¡± I teased. ¡°So what are you offering for our help?¡± ¡°Ah yes. While you did not claim any relations with the old house of Delphinium I would be willing to give you their lands, they are currently under my control. No heir has emerged in all this time and with you sharing the name nobody will question it.¡± ¡°What duties and obligations would come with that honour? Also, there are two of us.¡± I pointed out. ¡°Ah. I have to admit I am uncertain about the nature of your relationship. I also assumed you wanted to stay together. The idea would be to make you a countess Amaya. I am sure we could also find an appropriate title for Lucy. As for obligations, you would have to pay taxes and lend aid in times of war. That is basically it. And follow the laws, obviously.¡± ¡°Where exactly are those lands? What does the local economy look like?¡± I wondered. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°They are located near the black forest. The area is somewhat dangerous but controls part of the access to the forest and its riches. As you know, the spidersilk is highly sought after and there are plenty of adventurers seeking entry. Aside from that, there is some farming. But most of the wealth in the region comes from the hunting of beasts. Considering your power you would be excellent in managing the region and you could easily make a lot of profit.¡± Loriel reasoned. I suppose that explained why the old family fell to a monster incursion. So the land was in a dangerous region but all those monsters had a certain value. By giving us the area the queen would destroy her monopoly on the spidersilk, now we would have access too. I would not be surprised if there was pressure for that to happen anyway. And the queen wanted to install a noble who was not involved with any other political faction. Also the region would need someone who understood fighting and took monsters seriously. So in essence the queen''s reward would bind us to the Dominion. It would also put us in a remote region where we could not cause too many problems. Loriel would profit politically from the move as well. At the same time, it would be rather profitable if handled correctly. There was certainly a lot of potential in that offer. ¡°Lucy, what do you think?¡± ¡°The title sounds nice. I don¡¯t think I would need my own lands. I am happy sticking with you Amaya, as your aide or some other position. I could see us exploring a monster infested wilderness together.¡± Accepting this would come with a lot of responsibility. But I did have a lot of money to help develop the land and hire the necessary staff. ¡°We will need some time to think about it but it does sound reasonable to me.¡± I would have to discuss it with Lucy some more. ¡°Great¡± Loriel said. ¡°As long as you are interested in general I am sure we can come to an arrangement. Until the summit starts there is not much to do. I would like you to tell me what you intend to say there. Maybe I can help you with the speech. We should not mention the Empire¡¯s experiments though. I want everyone to worry about the demons. That is a concerning matter but something the emperor can still try to blame on someone else.¡± ¡°Makes sense. So we focus on the demons and the inquisition. Maybe imply they have been infiltrated by a cult. We make a lot of noise about this and investigate the experiments quietly.¡± After that we started discussing the details about our presentation. I finally told Loriel the events from my perspective. Obviously I did not mention my origins. Neither did I include turning Lucy into a warlock. But I filled her in on everything we discovered so far. It was a long but productive discussion. When it was over Loriel excused herself. With the meeting concluded we went to explore our new accommodations. Chapter 42: Summit Part 1 ¡°What do you think about all of this Lucy?¡± I asked while we were inspecting our new room. ¡°I assume you are asking about the Dominion¡¯s offer and not our accommodations. Personally I think we should go for it. It gives us a nice future in a decent country. And if the Empire is meddling with souls they need to be stopped anyway. I just wonder if they will make a fuss about our presence?¡± she replied. ¡°We stopped Mantus, officially they might even have to thank us for fixing their mistake. I just wonder if they will try anything underhanded. They might hold a grudge.¡± Lucy shrugged. ¡°Maybe they will try to provoke us in some way. Or embarrass us.¡± ¡°Provoke us, huh? I did not think about that. They could mistreat some slaves in front of us.¡± I sighed. ¡°We will deal with whatever they throw at us. Together we will manage.¡± ¡°So what do you think about the reward? Looking forward to being a countess? Any great plans for your land?¡± ¡°Our land. It might be officially mine but we will manage it together. We will probably have to train soldiers to keep it safe. Maybe hire some adventures. Also, we need a manager. I have no intention of letting myself get chained to a desk.¡± No, that would be too much like my old life. ¡°But that is in the future. First we need to deal with the Empire.¡± The following days passed quickly. We explored the palace a little, had some chats with Loriel and experienced the amazing cuisine on offer. The other delegates arrived. Henry Brooks was a noble from Beravis and leader of their group. He was in his 60s but still looked rather fit. I suspected that he was a capable fighter. His short hair had turned grey and he had a goatee. The Dwarven Kingdom''s delegation was led by Freyja Steelbender. She was a well proportioned and rather muscular woman. I would not be surprised if she was actually able to bend steel. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. All delegations brought a small number of guards. There was no word from the Empire yet but Loriel seemed certain they would appear. The summit began with a long speech from the duke, followed by a lavish meal and plenty to drink. I had a feeling this whole summit would involve a lot of eating. I did not mind. Surprisingly Lucy and myself were considered part of the delegation. We were not just guards or witnesses. The second day we held our presentation. We included a visit to the destroyed area in front of Iron Rock. Hearing about a demon lord and seeing the devastation of the fight are different things. I even showed them the body of Mantus, which I still had in my storage. There was a lot more drinking on the second evening. On the third day a representative from the Empire arrived. Coincidentally it was the day when the discussion about possible sanctions were to start. We were meeting in a large hall. There were five people from Bervis, five from the dwarven kingdom, the duke had one aide and Loriel only brought us. The messenger addressed the room: ¡°Greetings ladies and gentleman. I came on behalf of emperor Maximilian himself! He is shocked by the unfortunate events that occurred in Iron Rock. He is also deeply concerned about the possible conclusions drawn from this. When the vile treachery was discovered the honourable high inquisitor immediately rushed home to get reinforcements, to provide aid.¡± Freyja snorted. ¡°Seemed more like he was running from his own mess.¡± ¡°I assure you the Empire is not responsible for this. Our ranks were infiltrated and our people used to push an outside agenda.¡± He looked at Loriel. ¡°The Empire was a victim in this plot.¡± Henry spoke up: ¡°And do you bring any evidence of this? Duke William has presented a lot of documents from the inquisitions base.¡± ¡°Ah yes. Surely Iron Rock has a lot of documents. Mostly things that were so conveniently acquired by the Dominion¡¯s agents. Who also infiltrated the Empire¡¯s embassy. An act bordering on war!¡± the messenger said. Loriel raised an eyebrow: ¡°Really? You are trying to convince people that the Dominion is behind it?¡± ¡°I am not accusing anyone.¡± the man said. ¡°I am just pointing out who seems to profit and who was involved from the start. But I am not here to convince you. I am here to offer an invitation from the emperor himself! He is willing to discuss such an important topic in person. At a place truly worthy of a summit, Unitera our capital!¡± Just like Loriel said. I suppose her spies were right. Chapter 43: Summit Part 2 I observed the reactions from the delegates. Many looked surprised. The people from Beravis did not seem too upset as they were discussing things among themselves. The dwarves were hard to read. Duke William looked rather angry. ¡°You tried to have me killed and now you invite me to your capital?¡± William asked. ¡°I assure you the Empire had nothing to do with that. It was a demonic cult. The emperor wants to apologise to you in person.¡± the messenger answered. ¡°He could have travelled here.¡± William pointed out. ¡°The emperor wishes to make amends and so he is offering his hospitality. Be assured that he has prepared countless luxuries for his guests. This invite is part of the apology.¡± This was basically an insult to Iron Rock, implying that it was a backwater and mere visit to Unitera counted as a reward. Maybe it was time for me to speak up: ¡°If this summit travels to Unitera, maybe we should come to an agreement on how we handle treachery first. How about a limited alliance between the delegations for the duration of our visit? Any attack from the Empire against one of us would be answered with a war, from all of us.¡± Loriel did not object to my proposal. ¡°What? You can¡¯t be serious!¡± The messenger was outraged. ¡°If the Empire is sincere that should not be a problem now, should it?¡± I said with a smile. ¡°That is an insult!¡± ¡°You know what an insult is? Trying to have someone killed, smuggling troops into their country and then have a demon lord summoned due to incompetence. Meanwhile your high inquisitor did not even have the balls to own his mistake and ran like the useless coward he is.¡± Clearly I was great at this whole diplomacy thing. Lucy snickered next to me. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. The messenger seemed rather speechless. ¡°How¡­ you¡­ that¡­¡± ¡°She does have a point.¡± Freyja said. ¡°We are willing to hear what the emperor has to say but the defensive clause sounds reasonable. Our trust only goes so far given the past.¡± The dwarves might still have a slight grudge. It appears that they never forgot when the Empire tried to starve them into compliance. Beravis¡¯ delegation seemed a bit torn. Supposedly the Empire had plans to invade them at some point. They should have been very interested in having some friends. I wondered if they had a pro Empire faction amongst them. Henry spoke after a bit: ¡°Beravis does not want to be dragged into a conflict between the Empire and the Dominion. This entire scenario does look slightly suspicious. We will hear out the emperor before any judgement is made. We do not believe a formal agreement is necessary. Beravis is confident enough in our ability to defend ourselves. If another delegation is attacked we shall decide based on the circumstances.¡± An interesting stance. I wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that Bervais was run by humans, just like the Empire. ¡°THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?¡± the messenger screamed at me. It looked like he found his voice again. ¡°I am countess Amaya Delphinium, archsorceress and slayer of Mantus.¡± It never hurts to throw a few titles around. ¡°And who are you?¡± I asked. The man slightly paled as he might have been reminded of my power. I suspected power was worth a lot in the Empire. He straightened a bit before he answered. ¡°I am Sir Edward, messenger of the emperor himself.¡± Sir might imply a noble title. Probably not a high ranking one or he would have mentioned it. I suspected he was simply a knight. William had watched the exchange carefully. He did look rather grateful when I mentioned the alliance. He was the weakest here and needed the help of the other nations. Travelling to the Empire after they tried to kill him was probably not an enjoyable thought. William addressed the room: ¡°I have called this summit because the Empire¡¯s actions, intended or not, brought a great danger into this world. I would have gladly listened to an explanation but the inquisition fled. But even now I am willing to hear what answers the emperor has to offer. Of course I will also accept the proposed alliance from the Dominion. Only a fool would venture into the lion¡¯s den unprepared.¡± Edward looked unhappy. Iron Rock, the Dominion and the Dwarven Kingdom would be travelling as allies. While I still doubted they would try an assassination I suspected they were going for bribery or intimidation. I assumed they had plans to divide the nations somehow. I was also relatively certain that they were unaware of the full extent of my power. Even Lucy was likely stronger than they expected. This trip would be interesting. Chapter 44: Powers The meeting was wrapped up quickly after that. It was decided that we would leave for the Empire the day after tomorrow. While the delegations did not need a lot of time to prepare, William had not expected to leave Iron Rock. I wondered who he would choose to accompany him. My musings ended when we arrived at our quarters. There we could talk without too much worry of someone listening in. ¡°You did not object to the temporary alliance, I assume that means you approve?¡± I asked Loriel. ¡°It was a good idea. It never hurts to have a formal agreement. Since we are already negotiating with the dwarfs it does not benefit us that much. Mostly Iron Rock needs the protection.¡± ¡°How strong is the Empire?¡± Possibly a question I should have asked before. ¡°That is hard to answer. As far as we know there are at least 12 people capable of 9th circle magic. There could be more though. A few who have mastered 8th tier magic might have advanced without our knowledge. One should not underestimate mages in general. Even the lower tiers hold a lot of power. Further there is an archcleric of Imperius. The church is loyal to their god first and the Empire second. They might even be on our side if we expose experiments on humans.¡± Loriel shrugged then continued. ¡°The Empire also has a number of powerful warriors. Usually each high level mage is protected by at least two fighters in combat. There are also several orders of knights with varying strengths and about 300 000 soldiers in the regular army. Some of them are needed to keep the peace, in case of an offensive war they might use about 200 000.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget their mysterious backer.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Whatever creature they have helping them is not only going to be powerful but also might have their own army.¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°Speaking of powerful creatures, how would the Dominion have handled Mantus? What sort of force is used for such beings?¡± I wondered. Loriel looked at me curiously. ¡°While Mantus was not the most powerful demon lord I would have sent at least a group of six. Two fighters to keep him occupied, a priest for healing and magical enhancements and three spellcasters capable of 9th ranked magic. Of course they would all need powerful equipment as well. And the spellcasters should have at least three 9th circle slots unlocked. Otherwise I would send more. Which really highlights the question of how the two of you defeated Mantus? Since you have agreed to work with me would you be willing to tell me more?¡± ¡°We are rather powerful and a lot more well rounded than the average spellcaster.¡± I said smiling. Loriel frowned. ¡°The divine orb confirmed that you are an elf Amaya and you seem to be a sorceress. Lucy admitted to being a warlock. Warlocks tend to have some physical powers, depending on her patron she might be able to fight a demon lord in close quarters. But she would still need healing and magical enhancements. As a sorceress you would need to keep your distance. You seem to have some training with your sword Amaya, that might help against mortals but no sorceress could match Mantus in melee.¡± She paused, thinking. ¡°You both are most likely at the peak of your power with an exceptionally strong bloodline. I assume you had some sort of anti demon artefact prepared. Possibly a way to slow and weaken him. And you would have needed high quality potions for healing. Honestly, even with a lot of resources and preparation it was quite the feat that you have accomplished.¡± It was interesting to hear Loriel¡¯s assessment. It also confirmed that the world still underestimated us. Of course our powers were thought to be impossible for mere mortal races. That helped. ¡°How strong are you Loriel?¡± She did not immediately answer. It was a rather personal question. I assumed that while powerful people wanted others to know about their might the exact strength was a secret. Eventually she came to a decision and answered. ¡°I have not reached my full potential yet, but I am close. I have access to five 9th circle spell slots. I will not tell you the actual spells I possess unless it is relevant though. My bloodline is considered a strong one. I do have the power to transform, which is an exceptionally rare ability.¡± She glared at us. ¡°It is not generally used to play around with.¡± I suppose she remembered Lucy¡¯s comment, who perked up at the mention of a transformation. ¡°Being an animal can be a lot of fun, you should really try that more!¡± Lucy said. ¡°It also makes travel a lot faster and more convenient. What does a shadow beast look like?¡± Loriel sighed. ¡°It looks like a black tiger with purple stripes¡­¡± ¡°Awww that¡¯s cute! You have to show us!¡± Lucy said. Chapter 45: Politics I smiled at the exchange. Loriel seemed slightly embarrassed. I had a feeling she did not have a lot of people who talked to her as equals. Teasing a transformation out of Loriel was something for later though. I had more questions first. ¡°What do you know about the dwarves who will accompany us?¡± Loriel seemed relieved with the change of topic. ¡°I would consider the dwarfs to be trustworthy. They will stand by us if things go poorly. While I do expect the Empire to try to weaken our relationship I doubt they will succeed. As for their powers, the delegates are not warriors, except for Freyja. She could hold her own against any knight. In case of a conflict she would keep enemies away and allow us to focus on our magic. There is also Hilda among their guards. I am not sure how familiar you are with her but she is among the dwarven champions. Her exact powers are unknown but Bloodforge is more than her name. She can manipulate blood to a degree and use it to create weapons and armour.¡± ¡°That sounds good. Anyone else who could compete on our level? What about Elnora or any of your other guards?¡± ¡°They are more like our guards now, countess.¡± Loriel said with a smile. ¡°None of them could compete with us. Elnora is stronger than most but not good enough for our league of power. She is also more focused on covert operations and not direct fighting. The guards will perform well against any normal soldiers but once again, we are out of their league.¡± ¡°What about Beravis?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°They seemed rather confident on their own. What force did they bring?¡± ¡°Interestingly they did not bring anyone noteworthy. No, I should rephrase that. They did not bring anyone noteworthy that we can identify. Which likely means they have someone hidden. Their delegates are just diplomats and politicians. I would assume they brought one strong person who is hiding among their normal guards. Most likely someone capable of escaping in the worst case. Beravis has a complicated relationship with the Empire.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Complicated?¡± I asked. ¡°The Empire wants to invade them, should they not be hostile in some way?¡± ¡°There are people in Beravis who dream of joining the Empire. One unified human nation. There are also people who fear the Dominion. We have a border and are stronger than they are. Despite the fact that we haven¡¯t shown any aggression towards them, some people think it¡¯s only a matter of time. Beravis has three major factions. The mercantiles want to trade peacefully with everyone. They think nobody would start a war if there is more profit in peace. Then there are the militarists. They believe Beravis needs to be strong to avoid conflicts. They also think everyone is out to get them, including the Dominion. Lastly we have the royalists. Despite the name they mostly care about power and not their own royal family. Some of them would gladly join the Empire to increase their influence.¡± I pondered that. ¡°So the militarists are aware that the Empire might invade them but distrust others too much to contemplate an alliance. They are interested in weakening the Empire though. The mercantiles will try to leverage the situation for better trade deals but will oppose any sanctions, probably. What will the royalists do?¡± ¡°That is hard to predict.¡± Loriel answered. ¡°It will depend on what the Empire offers most likely. No matter how much some people in Beravis delude themselves the Empire wants to invade. The current situation will only delay the inevitable.¡± ¡°So the Empire will try to keep Beravis isolated. Offer a sweet deal to the merchants and bribe some royalists in the background. Then invade when their guard is down. It does seem rather predictable though.¡± ¡°People often act foolishly with little foresight. Or simply blinded by greed. Beravis would not be the first nation to fall like that.¡± Loriel shrugged. ¡°Take our own people, most consider the Dominion untouchable. They don¡¯t care what happens to Beravis since it¡¯s not our problem. But once the Empire swallows our neighbour they will be at our doorstep. And much stronger.¡± Ah, that was probably why Loriel was so invested in stopping the Empire. She realised that they would be a problem if left alone. And once they were big enough to be a direct threat it might be too late to stop it. Especially if they were working on a secret weapon. Chapter 46: Journey Part 1 We talked a bit more after that and discussed our travel arrangements. An imperial ship would get us across the lake, then we would be using a carriage fitting for our noble status. Thanks to some magical gear the horses could move faster and would not tire as quickly. Still, the journey would take us five days. We could probably cover the same distance in two days with our animal forms. Our party included Loriel, Elnora, Lucy, myself, 2 maids and 5 guards. I wondered if the maids would be agents in disguise. The next day we had little to do. With a magical storage there was no need to pack things. We did wander the markets and stocked up on some tasty food though. One can never have enough snacks. Lucy disappeared for a while and came back with a big grin on her face. She refused to tell me what she bought though. Aside from that mystery she also got brushes. That reminded me that I had not brushed my hair since I arrived in this world. Interestingly it still looked good. I wondered if my hair was magical. Still, a brush could not hurt. It might even feel nice. We left early the next morning. Crossing the lake was really enjoyable. The mountains surrounding the lake made for great scenery and the soothing noise of the water put me in a relaxed mood. The city we arrived at was far less impressive than Iron Rock. They did have an imposing honour guard waiting for us though. About a hundred knights in shining armour. Some of them even had banners. I had to admit it looked really cool. I suspected they were meant to impress and intimidate. Since we did not bring our own carriages across the lake we now used what the Empire provided. I had to admit they looked rather comfortable. When I inspected our ride I found some runes that looked like a listening spell. They were hidden underneath the cushions, but thanks to my eyes I spotted the faint glow of active magic. I briefly pondered if we should use it to feed the Empire false information. In the end I wanted privacy though. Having to watch my tongue for days sounded tedious. I removed the cushions and showed the rune to Loriel and Lucy, then I dispelled it. Loriel was impressed that I found it but not surprised that it existed. Afterwards Lucy went to Iron Rock¡¯s delegation to inform them, while I walked over to the dwarves. ¡°Hi. We just found a listening rune in our ride, do you want me to check yours? I can also remove it for you.¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. It was Hilda who answered. ¡°Amaya! It¡¯s good to see you again. I have been rather busy the last couple of days. We appreciate the offer.¡± The dwarfs looked angry once I showed them the hidden rune and were rather grateful that I removed it. While I cleansed all dwarven carriages Lucy took care of Iron Rock. Loriel was in a conversation with an imperial who tried to apologise. He called it a misunderstanding and tried to explain that those were meant for communication between carriages. I doubt anyone believed him. After that bit of excitement we were on our way again. Loriel, Lucy and myself shared a carriage. Elnora was in a different one with the maids. ¡°Do you think they have more hidden listening runes?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Possibly, but they would be hard to hide from my eyes when active.¡± I answered. ¡°Would a privacy spell stop them?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°Not if they are close enough. A privacy spell stops sound from leaving an area. If the listening rune is inside the area of the spell it still works. That is probably why it was under the cushions. They need it hidden, close and still keep an easy access for maintenance.¡± ¡°Your magical knowledge is impressive.¡± Loriel said. ¡°A lot of sorcerers lack formal education since their magic is intuitive.¡± ¡°Rituals are rather useful.¡± I answered. I was not ready to reveal my magical origins yet. Not that I could really explain why or how my reincarnation happened anyway. ¡°So we can talk freely here?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Loriel answered. ¡°But be wary once we arrive at the capital. Elnora has tools to check for listening runes. We will make sure that our quarters are safe but be careful in other rooms and hallways.¡± ¡°Why would the Empire put runes in our ride in the first place? Did they not expect us to have a way of finding them?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°It could be arrogance, or incompetence.¡± Loriel said. ¡°Those carriages are usually used for imperial nobles. I am sure that the inquisition likes to listen to them. Especially the lower nobility won¡¯t have the resources to find or counter them. So they might have forgotten to remove them for us. It also could have been a test, or a calculated insult. They certainly had an excuse ready very quickly.¡± I suppose a listening rune was rather due but also tame. I wondered what else the Empire had in store for us. Chapter 47: Journey Part 2 In the evening we stopped at a roadside inn. The Empire had well maintained roads and along the major ones there were places where you could spend the night. Instead of being forced to camp, or having to make it to a village, travellers could enjoy safety and comfort, for a price. Generally travel within the Empire was rather safe, I was told. Frequent patrols held the monsters in check and bandits were dealt with rather swiftly and brutally. I suspected that was slightly different in the more rural areas though. While we enjoyed the night at the inn our honour guard was camped outside. 100 knights were too many for the establishment. There was a relatively large space nearby where they put their tents. I wondered if that was intended. Maybe higher nobility frequently travelled with a large house guard? When it was time for bed we had to decide just how paranoid we were. Of course we had our own guards with us. They would keep watch inside the inn. We also checked for any listening runes or other magic but it was clean. Lucy suggested we should use our animal forms during the night, since their senses were better. I suspected she just wanted to see Loriel transform. In the end the queen remained an elf and used a bed, but Lucy and myself slept as animals on the floor of the same room. I woke up in the morning smelling something strange. It was somewhat intoxicating. Still in my panther form I began sniffing the floor. I somehow felt rather happy and playful. Not sensing any danger I rubbed my head on the carpet and began rolling around. That is when the laughter started. Lucy clearly found the situation rather funny. Loriel sat in her bed looking confused. That is when it dawned on me: ¡°Lucy, you put catnip on the floor! That is what you bought yesterday!¡± Lucy laughed even harder. I stopped rolling around and gave her my best annoyed cat look. I was not really upset. I had to admit it was a rather nice prank. I also wondered if there was a similar substance that worked on foxes. My musings were interrupted when Loriel spoke: ¡°Wait! Did you just talk as a panther? Only certain magical beasts have that ability. That is not an ordinary animal transformation!¡± This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about.¡± I answered. Then I began licking my paw. ¡°That is a big deal! Even becoming an animal is rare but magical beasts are a lot more powerful! That makes my bloodline so special. As a shadow beast I might lose access to my magic but I gain certain abilities instead. It compensates for the weakness of sorcerers in close combat and it makes me dangerous even if I run out of spell slots!¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Lucy said. She had finally stopped laughing ¡°We can still use spells as animals.¡± While Loriel¡¯s mouth hung open Lucy summoned a brush from her storage and approached me. It was a nice sensation and I started purring. I still expected that it was all part of Lucy¡¯s plan to see Loriel transform. Loriel sighed. ¡°You two are strange but at least you are on our side.¡± After we stopped playing around we went for breakfast. The knights were already dismantling their camp outside and soon we were on the road again. We did not plan to stop in any city on the way to Unitera. I wondered why that was the case. Maybe they did not want the delegates to interact with the local nobles. Maybe it would just delay the journey too much. The ruler of any city would likely throw a party and invite the delegations. While the scenery was nice to look at, just sitting in a carriage got somewhat boring after a while. I did have some cards in my storage though. So I taught Lucy and Loriel a game from my world: Skat. It is a game for three people played with a deck of 32 cards. We had a lot of fun and Loriel was intrigued about the game''s origins. I just told her I grew up with it. The days passed uneventfully until we finally arrived at Unitera. The city was on a slight hill surrounded by a massive wall, about 20 metres high. It was covered in runes which made it look beautiful. There was no river or any other visible body of water close by. At least none that I could see. I wondered how they handled the water supply. Maybe they had aqueducts? Magic might also offer solutions. Part of me was looking forward to exploring the city. It really looked impressive. Unfortunately we were not here for a vacation. Chapter 48: Arrival Our carriages rolled down a wide street. The impressive escort we had cleared the road rather effectively. I could see some curious onlookers on the side. I wondered if the Empire had announced that foreign delegations were arriving. The buildings we passed were made of bricks, wood and stone. They looked relatively nice but our route took us through the wealthier parts of the city. It was late afternoon when we arrived at the palace. We passed through a gate and a small garden before arriving at a massive square. There was a lovely fountain in front of a truly magnificent building. The looks reminded me of gothic style architecture. It was very ornate with pointed arches and featured gargoyles as decorations. I wondered if those were magical. They could be golems used for defence. I could also see large stained glass windows. A lot of staff and guards were assembled in front of the palace. Even some trumpets sounded as we arrived. It looked like they had gone all out for our arrival. They had a personal butler for each carriage. I watched as a man approached our ride and opened the door. He bowed and welcomed us to the palace. Behind him were three maids who were introduced as our personal servants during our stay. I could see the ornate slave collars they wore. Unfortunately I would not be able to free them. In the Empire my power was just not big enough to get away with that. We were led to our quarters through a large hallway. Pictures decorated the walls showing scenes of battles. I wondered if they told the tale of the Empire¡¯s past conquest. An interesting choice of decoration for a guest wing. Our quarters were rather massive. We had a section for our guards, a section for our maids and of course private rooms for Lucy, Loriel, Elnora and myself. They even came with their own bathrooms. There was a living room with a fireplace and bar area. We had a kitchen with a dinner table for ten and a balcony overseeing one of the palace gardens. Our quarters were on the first floor. We started by thoroughly searching our accommodations for any surprises. Elnora pulled several tools from her storage and went to work. Meanwhile I used the spell true sight, it should be even more powerful then my Eyes of the Fey. Interestingly we did not find anything. Loriel, Lucy and myself met in the living room after our search. ¡°Do you think they found a way to listen to us that we can¡¯t detect?¡± I asked Loriel. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Doubtful. We can pierce the illusions of an archmage. I think the carriage might have been a test. They had an easy excuse ready, calling it a messaging spell. They could have also blamed it on a local official being nosy. Since they did not get away with it they did not bother with our rooms. But the maids and butler they offered us are certainly going to report everything they hear. That is also why their maids share quarters with our maids I assume.¡± ¡°But the maids are slaves.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°They might be forced to report things but most likely they won¡¯t be in favour of the Empire. That makes them somewhat unreliable as spies, does it not?¡± ¡°It depends on how much they fear punishment. Or how much they have been brainwashed. If they were enslaved young they might have been raised under the impression that their masters are superior beings and must be obeyed.¡± Loriel explained. That was a valid point unfortunately. One should never underestimate the power of brainwashing. After some thought I covered us in a privacy spell. ¡°How soundproof are the walls? Aside from magic they could still spy the old fashioned way. They could even have secret passages behind the walls to listen in. There are ways to magically enhance your hearing too.¡± ¡°You make an excellent point.¡± Loriel said. ¡°Good thinking with the privacy spell. We should try to not discuss anything too vital without it. Elnora will lead the true investigation. You two can be a distraction. Walk around openly, ask annoying questions and stick your noses into everything without causing a true incident. I expect that we will be here for at least a week. They will start with a welcoming party tonight. The Emperor is unlikely to even show up today. They will also try to meet with the delegations separately before any real talks start. Playing politics is my role so you can send them to me.¡± ¡°So we are the loud distraction, you are the diplomat and Elnora is handling the sneaky stuff.¡± Lucy confirmed. Loriel looked thoughtful. ¡°Try not to be too loud¡­¡± I smiled. ¡°No worries, we got this.¡± Now Loriel looked a bit concerned. I had no intention of starting a true fight. I wondered if the Empire would try to provoke us though. ¡°Shall we explore the palace? Or wait till tomorrow?¡± I wondered. ¡°I expect that they will invite us to a welcoming party soon. You should have more time for exploration tomorrow.¡± Loriel said. ¡°Let¡¯s wait for the party then. Meanwhile, I will search this kitchen for snacks.¡± I noticed earlier that our kitchen came stocked. It even had a magical fridge. ¡°You are supposed to have the maids bring the food to you.¡± Loriel pointed out. She still followed me though. So the three of us ended up in the kitchen with me preparing sandwiches. I dropped the privacy spell and we had a more mundane conversation. We were still in the kitchen when the invite to the party arrived. Chapter 49: Party Part 1 We were led to an imposing hall featuring different kinds of marble. The blue ceiling was held by black pillars on a white floor. Golden accents were added to the natural stone at certain parts. While there were large windows on the side, the sun had already begun to set. So the hall was illuminated by chandeliers, formed from magic crystals, which produced artificial sunlight. It was a room meant to impress and it certainly did. Small tables were placed around the room where one could stand and consume food or drink. Two large buffets were visible and a lot of finely dressed staff was walking around to offer or refill beverages. We had a snack before coming here but I was always up for more food. From our delegation only Loriel, Lucy and myself were here. Elnora was likely busy with some planning and our guards and maid stayed at the guest accommodations. ¡°I see some interesting food, so I will be over there.¡± I pointed at the left buffet. ¡°Enjoy yourself and try not to destroy anything.¡± Loriel said. ¡°I will be chatting to some of the Empire¡¯s nobility.¡± Lucy looked around. ¡°I will catch up with Hilda and then I will join you Amaya.¡± I considered making a joke about splitting your party but they would not understand the reference. Also, we were not in a horror movie. No, this was something far more sinister. A gathering of politicians. Or more accurately, nobles with political ambitions. While I distracted myself with those idle thoughts I was already filling a plate with delicious looking pastries. There was a variety of miniature savoury pies. I hoped they had a nice beer somewhere to go with it. While I was hunting for said beverage a young man approached me. He was wearing a military style dress uniform with a lot of ribbons on it. I did not have any knowledge about the imperial military but he definitely looked highly ranked. Which did not match his youthful face. Stolen story; please report. It was hard to judge the age but I would have guessed 17 or 18. He was clean shaven, or maybe he did not grow a beard. His short hair was black and he had a rather smooth face. Of course this was a magical world. He could have been hundreds of years old. There was a sabre on his belt, the hilt was highly decorated in jewels. It looked more like a decoration than a weapon. Or maybe they were magical? While I was studying him he started talking. ¡°You must be countess Amaya! I heard you fought a demon lord.¡± While his words could be taken as admiration his tone was more sceptical. His eyes wandered all over my body. I did not like his eyes. I had a feeling he was mentally undressing me and not evaluating my powers. ¡°That I am, and who might you be?¡± I asked. He looked surprised that I did not know. ¡°I am Alexander, 3rd prince of the Empire!¡± I realised that I did not know anything about the imperial family. How old was emperor Maximilian? How many children did he have? One thing I was fairly certain of though, in front of me was a spoiled brat and not an ancient being. ¡°Do they serve any beer or ale here?¡± I asked. I had no idea what reaction the prince expected, but this did not seem to be it. He mostly looked confused. Suddenly he smiled. ¡°Oh I can certainly offer you something to drink. Why don¡¯t you follow me somewhere more private¡­¡± ¡°No thanks. I will just use my own I suppose.¡± I placed my food on a nearby table and summoned a nice dark ale from my storage. The prince looked rather shocked while I enjoyed my pastry. Alexander raised his voice: ¡°I am a prince of the Empire, show some respect!¡± I stared at his red face while I slowly chewed my food. I wondered what would happen if he attacked me. I had a feeling he was too weak to even harm me in my sleep. But it would make a scene. Of course, a prince of the Empire attacking an emissary from the Dominion would give us a lot of political capital. I highly doubted that the Empire would escalate this to an actual fight. People nearby were now staring at us. I stayed calm and continued to eat. The prince looked around for support but found none. I wondered how popular he was. After a moment he just turned and stormed away. I was fine with that. I made an enemy but nothing was destroyed, so it was a win in my eyes. Chapter 50: Party Part 2 I continued to eat and looked around. The encounter drew some attention but nobody was approaching me yet. The whole party was rather informal. There had been no introductions or announcements so far. Which meant I had no clue who all the people from the Empire were. As my gaze wandered I noticed a striking woman. She had hair as white as snow. Not a natural colour for humans, at least not in my old world. It could have been dyed but I suspected magic. Her skin was rather pale as well, it contrasted nicely with the black side slit gown, which allowed me a peek at her long legs. As she noticed my attention she split off from her group and walked towards me. While she approached I studied her face. She had striking blue eyes, a small nose and wide cheeks. I would have judged her to be about 30 years old from her looks. But something in her eyes made her feel ancient. Once she arrived at my table she gave me a small nod. ¡°Greetings, I am Beira.¡± ¡°I am Amaya, it is a pleasure to meet you.¡± I replied. It was curious that she did not use a title. ¡°I saw Alexander leaving, without being on fire, I admire your restraint.¡± I raised an eyebrow. ¡°That is not the reaction I expected. I assume he is known for his questionable behaviour?¡± ¡°That he is. But being a prince he mostly gets away with it.¡± ¡°You are rather open about this. I doubt the Empire tolerates criticism of their prince. And since this is a diplomatic gathering I am sure the inquisition is listening to every word we say.¡° ¡°You are right about that, but I am special.¡± She smiled. There was something predatory about the smile. ¡°By special you mean powerful? Basically, they put up with you because you are useful.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Very perceptive. The Empire does value power a lot.¡± ¡°So what are you doing at this party? With your attitude you are an odd choice to mingle with diplomats.¡± ¡°Ah, don¡¯t mistake my dislike for the 3rd prince as a sign of disloyalty to the Empire.¡± I was unsure what to make of Beira. It could also just be an act. The whole encounter with Alexander could have been staged. ¡°I see. You still haven¡¯t told me why you are at this party though. Are you a noble?¡± ¡°I am a court mage. I am the magical advisor for the emperor. I am also responsible for the magical defences of the palace.¡± Curious. That meant she was rather important. It was also an opportunity to ask some interesting questions. ¡°So what are your thoughts on the demon lord summoning? Has the Empire been infiltrated by a cult?¡± She almost looked pleased at my question. ¡°While the high inquisitors answer to the emperor, there is not much oversight. It is clear that there are problems we need to investigate. I feel like they have lost sight of their true purpose and succumbed to the lust for power.¡± Oh. That sounded like an internal power struggle. So she was hoping this disaster could be used to weaken the inquisition. ¡°Are you saying that the emperor was not aware that Elias invaded a neighbouring country? That seems rather strange.¡± ¡°I do not know what the emperor was told about this operation. I am afraid you will have to ask him.¡± She shrugged. Our conversation was interrupted when Lucy arrived. ¡°Hi, I am Lucy.¡± ¡°My pleasure, I am Beira. It was nice meeting you Amaya, I am sure we will speak again.¡± Beira used the opportunity to flee. Or maybe she had achieved what she wanted. ¡°Who was that?¡± Lucy asked. She looked a bit confused by Beira¡¯s sudden departure. ¡°A court mage. Probably the head court mage, if there is something like that. I have a feeling she is rather powerful.¡± ¡°What did she want?¡± ¡°I have no idea. Maybe just small talk? Evaluate the threat I pose? Or maybe she just wanted to see if she could use me in a political game?¡± I shrugged. ¡°But she definitely wants to blame the whole mess on the inquisition. More importantly though, you should try the pastries.¡± Lucy laughed. ¡°I see you have your priorities straight.¡± She teased. ¡°Maybe we should just loot the buffet and escape. I have successfully avoided conversations with imperials so far. I would like to keep it that way.¡± ¡°That actually sounds delightful. We made our token appearance. Maybe we can withdraw now and walk around the palace a bit.¡± The good thing about a magical storage is that you can just grab things from a buffet for later. We gathered some snacks and looked for an exit. It was time to explore a bit. Chapter 51: Exploring When we left the hall I approached a guard. ¡°Excuse me, we are looking for some fresh air. I heard the palace features some magnificent gardens. Could you tell us where we can find one?¡± The guard gave us a polite bow. ¡°Certainly my lady. If you follow this hallway and then turn left you will reach the midnight gardens. They have magical lights and special flowers that bloom at night.¡± We thanked the guard and followed his directions. I was intrigued by the idea of a magical garden. The entrance was a big glass door with a metal frame. We could already see a blue glow from outside. While there was magical illumination, they kept it at a dim level. Enough to see and walk around while keeping the nightly atmosphere. Looking around, the area reminded me of a japanese garden. There was a lovely pond with arms stretching through the vegetation. Stone bridges connected the different areas. I could even hear a small waterfall in the distance. Carefully crafted stone lanterns housed the blue crystals providing the light. The plants were interesting. I could see shades of blue, pink and white amidst the green. Some of the plants faintly glowed in the dark. It was a beautiful sight. We followed the path, enjoying the silence as we walked. The peaceful atmosphere was exactly what I needed after that party. No one ambushed us. After a while we returned inside. ¡°That was nice. Any idea what we should do now?¡± I asked Lucy. ¡°Good question. What sort of things are inside a palace? This whole thing is huge. Do you think there is a dungeon? A laboratory? Is there a mage tower in here?¡± ¡°I have no idea. Maybe we should have asked someone. I have never really been to a palace before, except the one in Iron Rock. And there really is no comparison between the two.¡± Stolen story; please report. ¡°Should we just walk around randomly?¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Sure, let¡¯s see where we end up. We have enough food from the buffet to survive even if we get lost.¡± I joked. We wandered around aimlessly, choosing corridors at random. We stayed at the ground floor though. Maybe we could find a way into a basement. Surely any evil lair would be underground. Our exploration was cut short when a door opened that we passed. A woman in a somewhat military uniform stepped out. She bowed to us. ¡°Good evening, honoured guests. You seem to have wandered far away from the party. Might I help you somehow? Are you looking to retire for the night?¡± ¡°What¡¯s behind that door?¡± Lucy asked while pointing behind the lady. ¡°Just servants quarters.¡± She replied. ¡°I suppose it is getting late. Maybe you could show us to our quarters.¡± I said. It was clear tonight¡¯s exploration was coming to an end. We should probably remember where we were though. Maybe Elnora could do something with this information. Of course, it could also be that we just stumbled upon actual servants quarters. The sudden appearance of the woman suggested that we were watched though. Or at least that corridor was. ¡°Certainly, please follow me.¡± We were swiftly escorted back to our rooms. Loriel had not returned and was still at the party. After I used another privacy spell I told Elnora everything that happened. I also shared some of my spoils from the buffet with her. Afterwards we turned in for the night. Our first day went quite well all things considered. The next morning we had breakfast with Loriel. ¡°How was your evening?¡± I asked. ¡°Boring mostly. It¡¯s not my first time visiting the Empire. And courts in general have certain similarities. Some people always try to seduce me, others just want favours. And of course some just gather information and hope that I let something slip.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Those things are part of being a queen.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the plan for today?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I am not entirely sure.¡± Loriel said. ¡°I expect a more official welcome. Probably some grand announcement including an unfortunate delay concerning the talks. They will come up with some excuse and tell us to enjoy the time here. They want to impress and intimidate us and influence our perception of the Empire.¡± ¡°So they want the delegates to forget the scorched field in front of Iron Rock. They want them to think of good food, a spa, maybe a concert¡­¡± Lucy concluded. ¡°Exactly. The Empire needs to convince them that it¡¯s a centre of civilisation. A place of art, beauty, commerce,... Not a place of war. Then they will roll out the convenient scapegoat who is to blame.¡± Loriel said. ¡°Do you think they will blame the inquisition?¡± I wondered. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. They are a major political player. But the Emperor could use this to reduce their power. We don¡¯t know how much he controls them. They are supposed to be his tools but maybe they have grown too independent.¡± Chapter 52: Breakfast Talk ¡°Beira certainly seemed very happy to blame the inquisition.¡± I noted. ¡°Ah, you met the highest court mage. Not surprising, she is fascinated by sorcerers.¡± Loriel said. ¡°What do you mean by that? Can you tell us more about her?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Beira is a mage who loves magic. And power. She almost worships it. Sorcerers have magic in their blood. A power that is inherited. She dreams of an improved human race with vast magical abilities. She is hoping that sorcerers are the key to finding out how magic is inherited. Then she can start a dynasty of mages. She also wants magic to be a requirement for nobility.¡± Loriel explained. ¡°Does not great magic power already guarantee a lot of political power?¡± I wondered. ¡°Yes. But so does your heritage. Beira feels that only the powerful should have positions of power.¡± ¡°And the inquisition is an organisation that maintains the current status.¡± I reasoned. ¡°While they do keep an eye on the nobles, to ensure they stay loyal to the Empire, they also enforce the nobility''s power.¡± ¡°What would she want instead?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°A similar organisation but with different priorities. They could dispose of the weaker nobles and replace them with people who wield magic to some degree.¡± ¡°What about the emperor? Does he have magic? Surely Beira would not serve someone weak.¡± I pointed out. ¡°You would think so. Unfortunately we do not really know. The Empire was founded by a demigod, according to legend. And the imperial bloodline is unbroken, or so they say. But even if that is true, each generation should have less of the original power. That does not mean they can¡¯t become powerful mages mind you. Maximilian has never been part of a battle. There has never been a true demonstration of power. So we don¡¯t actually know what he is capable of. But the Empire does possess a lot of magical artefacts. So he certainly has power through items, if nothing else.¡± Stolen story; please report. ¡°A demigod? Could you not simply ask the priest of the god in question? Surely they would not allow an Emperor to pretend to have divine blood.¡± Loriel looked at me strangely. Maybe what I asked was common knowledge in this world. ¡°The gods rarely interfere with the world. They grant power to those willing to worship them and follow their ideals. We don¡¯t even know what the gods receive in return. Possibly power. Anyway, the god in question would be Imperius. He is the god of nobility. As long as the Empire follows his ideals he is happy. If Maximilian claimed a divine connection and went against his wishes, then his priesthood would certainly act.¡± ¡°So what is Beira¡¯s relationship with the church?¡± ¡°Complicated. Her plan to depose weak nobles is against their ideals. But her ultimate goal of creating magical bloodlines that rule is compatible with the church.¡± ¡°Speaking of bloodlines, what do you know about Alexander?¡± I asked. ¡°Ah, I heard about your encounter. Alexander did not inherit a lot of power. Or he is just too lazy to develop it. Being the 3rd prince he is not expected to inherit so he was sent to a military academy. He is rather spoiled and often abuses his position. Despite his excellent education he seems rather incompetent. Alexander is also known for his views that humans are better than others and should rule the continent. Interestingly, while he preaches human superiority he seems quite fond of elves.¡± ¡°Do you think he will try something because I rejected him?¡± ¡°He is arrogant enough that he might want to. But he should not have the resources to do much. You are a diplomatic guest, a noble and quite powerful. Any action against you would need approval from the Emperor. Anyone powerful enough to pose a threat would be aware of that. So I would not worry too much.¡± ¡°That also explains Beira¡¯s distaste for him.¡± I realised. ¡°He is weak but was granted a lot of power. He is everything that she wants to get rid of.¡± ¡°Could Beira be connected to the experiments you suspect? Lucy wondered. ¡°If she wants to improve humans that sounds like what we are looking for.¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible.¡± Loriel said. ¡°But not entirely fitting. Beira has shown no interest in warlocks. I don¡¯t think the idea of entering an unbreakable contract with some creature appeals to her. She is focusing on more traditional ways to improve people, like alchemy.¡± ¡°Maybe she got frustrated and is trying something new?¡± I suggested. ¡°It is possible. I am sure she will approach you about her research at some point. You could feign interest and see if she invites you to her lab. I denied her in the past so she would be suspicious of me.¡± Loriel admitted. ¡°Hm. I will have to think about that.¡± I was not sure if I wanted to follow a power hungry mage into their lab. At least not alone. Chapter 53: Announcement After breakfast a servant informed us about an official announcement at noon. Speaking of servants, we used our own maids to prepare and serve breakfast. The ones the Empire provided did the cleaning and other tasks that kept them away from our conversations. It was still disturbing that they were slaves but unfortunately I could do nothing about it. For the announcement we were escorted to the throne room. It used similar marble to the event hall where the welcome party had taken place. The room was rather long with a throne at the end. A line of statues was placed at the left and the right side. They looked like metal soldiers and I assumed they were part of the defence. The throne itself featured very comfortable looking black cushions with golden accents. It was like an armchair with an oversized and decorated backrest. The chair itself was made of dark wood. It looked elegant, imposing but not overly threatening. The man on the chair was probably the emperor. I studied him while we approached. He had short black hair and a full beard. His eyes had a golden shimmer. Maximilian looked to be in his forties. While not overly muscular his body was in good shape. A silver crown sat on his head. Actually, it was probably mithril. There was a big sapphire in the front. The emperor was dressed in ornate robes. It occurred to me that I was never told how to act in this situation. Was I supposed to bow? He might not be my emperor, but nobility was often respected across borders. I could observe Loriel but she was a queen, so there might be different standards. Oh well. All the delegates were with us and we stopped maybe 20 metres in front of the throne. I simply inclined my head as a greeting. Maximilian was watching me with a slight frown. The other delegates were mostly bowing. I did not see anyone curtsy. Maybe that was not a thing in this world. Loriel only inclined her head, just like me. So did Lucy, she might have been following our lead. While she was raised in the Empire I doubt she ever learned too much about court etiquette. At least not as a free person. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Maximilian stood and addressed the crowd: ¡°Honoured guests, I welcome you! I am glad that you accepted my invitation so we can discuss the tragedy that has befallen our neighbour. The events in Iron Rock have been truly disturbing and I was horrified by what transpired.¡± I bet he was. Horrified how wrong his plan went. Disturbed by the fact that he had to deal with the aftermath. ¡°I can assure all of you that I will find the ones responsible for this mess, and make them pay.¡± He briefly looked at us during that statement. Curious. ¡°I will also pay reparations to Iron Rock. Imperial resources were used to harm them so it is only proper. I have also ordered the high inquisitors to come to the capital. We will have a proper hearing and investigation into their conduct! And I want all of you to bear witness as justice is done!¡± He raised his voice at the last part. And really emphasised the word justice. ¡°Unfortunately, it will take a few days for them to arrive. Meanwhile, my people are already going over records to discover how our forces were compromised. Please enjoy our hospitality for now. No expense will be spared for your enjoyment!¡± After that he took one more look around, then he left. There were two knights in armour that stood next to the throne who followed him. He did not even let us ask any questions. Just a little speech and he left. On the bright side, it meant I did not have the opportunity to offend him. Aside from me not bowing. After the Emperor left a finely dressed gentleman stepped in front of the delegations. ¡°The personal maids assigned to you will have a lot of information about the services we offer. Anything you desire, just ask.¡± He sounded kind of sleazy. I was not sure if I wanted to know what all those services included. ¡°So, what do we do now?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°No clue. Maybe explore the city? I am sure there are lots of things to see.¡± I answered. ¡°You two have fun, I have people to meet.¡± Loriel said. ¡°So how do we even get out of the palace?¡± I wondered. ¡°I think we should ask a guard for directions.¡± Lucy suggested. Chapter 54: Invitation When we left the throne room we found a servant waiting for us. ¡°Lady Amaya, Lady Lucy.¡± He bowed. ¡°Archmage Beira invites you to have lunch with her.¡± So much for us visiting the city. It was also curious that we were both invited. Maybe Beira thought it would increase the chance that I said yes. Or it was just polite. Then again, maybe she did want to discuss things with Lucy as well. ¡°What do you think, Lucy?¡± I asked. ¡°We both know she got you with the offer of food. Let¡¯s go.¡± She teased. She was also not wrong. Food was a great lure. Especially considering what I had experienced so far in the palace. ¡°We accept, please lead the way.¡± I told the servant. As we followed the nicely dressed man I wondered if this could be a trap. But it would take a lot of power to overwhelm us both. That the invitation included Lucy made me think it really was an offer to have some food and a conversation. We were led through nicely decorated hallways deeper into the palace. I wondered if Beira had a tower. I saw several from the outside. Why did mages like towers so much in stories? Maybe they just enjoyed the view. We were certainly going to the upper floors. We ended up in front of a nice arched door. It was made from dark wood and decorated in various runes. The servant knocked and a maid opened. She wore a long black dress with a white apron. She also had red hair and some freckles. Interestingly, I did not see a slave collar on her. Was that a deliberate decision to sway us? ¡°Welcome to mistress Beira¡¯s home. Please follow me. The chef has prepared some appetisers.¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. We were led to a nice balcony overlooking one of the gardens. We were on the 3rd floor and the view reminded me again just how massive this palace was. There was a round table big enough for six people but it was only set for three. ¡°Please take a seat, mistress Beira will be here shortly.¡± We sat down and I wasted no time inspecting the offerings. There were several types of small sandwiches. I also saw some dates wrapped in crispy bacon. Several fried balls were also present but I had no idea what they contained. I decided to try one and was greeted with melted cheese and pieces of chilli. Delicious. While I tried various items, Beira arrived. ¡°Greetings, I am happy that you both accepted my invitation.¡± I shrugged. ¡°We had no real plans for today and I was curious.¡± ¡°Hello Beira, we did not have a chance to talk at the party.¡± Lucy said. It was a not so subtle reminder at her hasty retreat. ¡°Apologies. It was not because of you, lady Lucy. The area was simply not suitable for a proper discussion.¡± I raised an eyebrow. ¡°So you were uncomfortable talking about the emperor with the inquisition listening in? And your quarters are more secure I assume?¡± Beira smiled. ¡°Exactly. The advantage of being the court mage is that I can ward my own area to prevent others from listening. I am not allowed to do that for official functions.¡± ¡°So what did you want to talk about?¡± I wondered. ¡°Ah, first a question. Lady Lucy, might I inquire about your power? I heard that you are proficient in the arcane arts. Are you a mage? Or a sorceress, like Amaya?¡± ¡°Just Lucy is fine. I don¡¯t care about titles. And I am a warlock actually.¡± Beira looked surprised. ¡°A warlock? Is your patron allied with the Dominion?¡± Lucy smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about my patron, I make my own decisions.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Beira looked thoughtful and a bit sceptical. ¡°You must be very fortunate. Not many creatures give their agents free rein.¡± ¡°So you want to discuss magic with us?¡± I asked. ¡°In a way, yes.¡± Beira answered. ¡°One thing I have always admired about the Dominion is how you embrace magic. You have a lot more academies and a truly impressive collection of spells.¡± ¡°If you are looking for access to the elven libraries you are talking to the wrong person.¡± I said. ¡°It is not about that. Night elves have a long line of queens that all possess a lot of magical power. Usually a bloodline weakens over time, unless it is reinforced by both parents having it. And as far as I can tell that has not been the case concerning the night elf monarchy. I would love to study Loriel¡¯s blood but she has denied me.¡± No sane person would give power hungry mage their blood. Of course Loriel denied that request. ¡°You are not asking us to get her blood, are you?¡± I asked. ¡°No, that would be wrong.¡± Beira answered. Chapter 55: Proposal ¡°Of course if you could manage to convince her I would not say no.¡± Beira continued. ¡°But I was thinking about something else. You defeated Mantus and I heard you took possession of the body. Demons carry a lot of power and they can mix with humans. His body and blood would be very interesting to study. Of course, your own blood would be welcome too.¡± She added with a smile. I had a feeling she did not seriously expect anyone to agree to give her their own blood. Or maybe she wanted to build a connection first before she really tried. ¡°That is an interesting proposal. What would you offer for some of Mantus'' blood? Also, what exactly are you working on?¡± Her eyes light up at the question. ¡°The world is filled with magical creatures. Take a dragon, for example. All of them have magic and all of them grow more powerful in time. Yes, there are differences in strength. But they are not limited, like humans. There is no ordinary dragon.¡± After a short pause she continued. ¡°Most humans are weak and yet some of us wield incredible power. Clearly there is potential that just needs to be unlocked. With power also comes a longer life. Imagine if we could have an Empire ruled by ancient wizards! All the wonders we could build, the discoveries we would make¡­¡± And all the nations they could conquer. All the people they would enslave. ¡°So what would happen if you found a way to make humans more magical? Who would have access to it?¡± I asked. ¡°That is of course an important question. If you were willing to help I would share my research with you. While I focus on humans there would be nothing stopping you from adapting my work to elves, or beastkin. Personally I would use it to strengthen the imperial bloodline, ensure power in my own children and share the work with my allies. I can not disclose which nobles support me, you understand.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°And how would this whole empowerment work?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Well, most likely it would be in the form of a potion, possibly combined with a ritual. There are essentially two things that I am working on. One, to increase the power of an existing individual. And two, to make sure that the power is passed onto future generations. The second part is the more important one. I have no illusions of turning a regular person into an archmage. I am mostly looking to make sure that proper dynasties of magic exist.¡± I assumed that this was not the pitch most of her investors got. She was probably telling some rich people she could give them powers. ¡°Simply put, you are trying to find out why two dragons will always have a child with magic. But two human wizards might have an ordinary child.¡± Lucy stated. ¡°Yes! Also, why is sorcerous power inherited and not a wizard''s power? It is frustrating how much the nobility values their lineage, yet they don¡¯t seem to care what is actually passed on.¡± She shook her head. I had a feeling this world did not know much about genetics. And I had no intention of sharing that information with Beira. Then again, was magical power even genetic? Was it tied to the soul? How did a soul work anyway? ¡°So back to your proposal. You will share your findings in exchange for Mantus¡¯ remains? What if your research fails? That sounds like a gamble to me.¡± I was not really interested in furthering her plans. But maybe we could use this to get more information on what was happening in the Empire. She looked a bit irritated. ¡°My research will not fail. It might take some time but I will succeed. I am also proposing a long term partnership, not a simple exchange. You see, between my research and the duties of a court mage I am very busy. I have little time to travel. You are strong. You could easily procure more samples for me. Any powerful magical creature that can procreate with humans would be helpful.¡± That caught me off guard. If she really wanted a long term partnership she would need peace between the Empire and the Dominion. I also hoped she was not breeding sorcerers. The procreate part might just be because it meant their powers were compatible with humans. ¡°You know, I think we really need to talk about recent events first. You seem to be no friend of the inquisition. But your research sounds like demons would be good subjects to study. Have you used them?¡± I asked. Beira hesitated. ¡°Yes, I have summoned demons. But only weak ones. The problem is, if you summon them to experiment on the demon lords take notice. While they might not be able to enter our world easily they also do not forget. I do not wish for me and my dynasty to be hunted. If there is any connection to the inquisition¡­ I do not know. My work might have given them ideas.¡± Chapter 56: Contemplation ¡°Does the inquisition have access to your work?¡± I wondered. ¡°Not officially but I have no illusions. They do have spies. I am certain of my inner circle''s allegiance, so the inquisition will not get their hands on my results though.¡± This entire situation was a mess. The Empire itself seemed like a mess. I suppose any large nation would have its politics and factions. But it seemed everyone here had their own agenda. And everyone was crazy. ¡°What do you think will happen? You know the Emperor. Will he take action against them?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. He needs them to keep order. It will also depend on how much backing Elias has from the other high inquisitors.¡± ¡°You have certainly given us a lot to think about. We will need some time to make a decision about your proposal.¡± ¡°Certainly. If you want to get in contact with me just ask the palace staff.¡± She smiled. After that we started the actual lunch. The chef served a lovely three course meal and we kept the conversation light. It was already mid afternoon when we got back to our quarters. Everyone else seemed busy so it was just Lucy and me. The first thing I did was get a drink. ¡°What are we going to do Amaya?¡± Lucy asked. She looked depressed. ¡°Beira should be stopped but we have no power here. We can¡¯t just attack a court mage.¡± I sighed. ¡°It¡¯s a bad situation. I expect that she is experimenting on humans. Probably slaves. I was hoping we could pretend to be interested to find out more. But I don¡¯t think I could stomach it for long. If she showed us a lab¡­ I would just blow it up.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Can we sabotage her? Expose her?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°Expose her? I am sure everyone important is fully aware of what she is doing. And since they control the news we could never really inform the people. Sabotage¡­¡± I paused and contemplated the issue. ¡°If we sold her tainted material¡­ I am not sure how we could taint blood to screw her, without it being obvious though. Maybe we could track samples we offer? And then sneak in and blow up the lab¡­ We need to talk with Loriel about this.¡± ¡°Why did she tell us anyway?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°We represent a different nation. We are not human¡­¡± ¡°We are just tools for her. She requires someone with power. But also someone who isn''t using this against her in politics. Every powerful human in the Empire is already part of a faction. She might also fear that they will steal her results. As elf and beastkin we would have to adapt any potion she comes up with. She probably also thinks we would need her help with that. Further, she could betray us with few consequences.¡± I reasoned. ¡°Would it not destroy her reputation, if it came out that she is working with people from the Dominion?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°It would depend on how much we could prove. She could always just deny it and claim it¡¯s a smear campaign. And considering that her goal is improving humans she could hardly be called a traitor anyway. She might even threaten to release the information to blackmail us. We would look far worse.¡± ¡°But why would anyone agree to this in the first place?¡± ¡°Beira is so obsessed with her legacy, and her magical humans, she just thinks this is something everyone would want. She simply assumes that we crave the same things for elves or beastkin.¡± I shrugged. ¡°People are weird.¡± Lucy stared into her drink. We both sat in silence for a bit. ¡°I wonder how involved the Emperor is in all of this.¡± I said after a bit. ¡°Good question.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Growing up in the Empire I was always told he is the absolute authority. He does as he pleases and has absolute power. All the intrigue and politics are kept from the public.¡± ¡°Maybe the emperor is losing control so he made a deal with something.¡± I suggested. ¡°Could be. Maybe Loriel¡¯s intel is wrong. Maybe they mistook Beira¡¯s experiments for someone messing with souls. Or maybe Beira is doing it and not admitting to it.¡± ¡°I am not really trained as an investigator. We should talk with Elnora.¡± ¡°Or we just blow up the palace.¡± Lucy suggested with a smile. ¡°Now that is a nice thought. Maybe we should look into something that we can blow up, just to vent. Where is a random monster attack when you need one?¡± I looked around. No monsters or assassins appeared. What a shame. Hm... Monsters. Neither my black panther, nor Lucy¡¯s fox form were common knowledge. We transformed briefly on the way here but that was in our room. Maybe we could use that. Chapter 57: A Plan ¡°Lucy, I have an idea. We give Beira something that we can track. Once we find out where she does her research we attack in our animal forms. We have to make it look like a monster attack. Maybe we stage it in a way that it looks like her research attracted monsters.¡± ¡°That is a great idea.¡± Lucy said. Now we just had to wait for Loriel and Elnora to discuss it with them. ¡°That is a terrible idea.¡± Those were the first words out of Loriels mouth after I explained my plan. It was evening now. Loriel and Elnora had returned and we were sitting together with drinks while discussing things. ¡°The Empire might not be aware of your transformations now, but that might change. If they discover that you can do this a month from now it will still cause a political incident. You are still a big unknown. The Empire will devote a lot of resources to research both of you. If you have been seen in your other forms by anyone in the past, they might find them and get this information.¡± Loriel explained. ¡°But even if they learned about our transformations they could hardly prove it was us. While it might be easy to remember a face, people can''t really tell two foxes apart.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°They don¡¯t need proof. This is politics. All they need to do is show that you could have done it and spin it the right way. Even if they actually believed it was just a monster they would still blame you and get away with it.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Elnora said. She was deep in thought. Loriel groaned. ¡°Not you too. Please tell me you don¡¯t support their madness.¡± ¡°Our spies are having trouble. We are not making a lot of progress. This could help. We would just have to make sure they can prove their innocence. Also we can use some illusions to change how their beasts look.¡± Elnora suggested. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Good thinking.¡± I nodded. ¡°So we just disguise someone as us, have them be at a public place with witnesses. Maybe at a bar drinking. We leave the palace in the evening for some fun and switch at a tavern. They will have people watching us. So we just have to change where they can¡¯t see us, like at a toilet. Then we are free to attack the lab and change back afterwards.¡± ¡°I should be able to arrange that.¡± Elnora said. ¡°Additionally, you should try to disguise your beasts a bit. Maybe change the colour of your fur, make them blurry with magic, change your size,... Anything like that helps. So we have a beast attacking that does not quite fit and you are being seen in the public while it happens.¡± Loriel glared at us. ¡°I have not yet given my approval.¡± ¡°My queen, they are powerful enough to pull off an attack. I will have trained agents in place to cover for them. Nobody here knows them close enough to spot the difference. It is highly unlikely that someone would waste magic strong enough to pierce their disguises for a simple observation. We should use this opportunity.¡± I was impressed with Elnora. She did not like us at first. I suppose the warlock revelation and our willingness to work for the Dominion changed her opinion of us. Or she just recognized us as useful tools. Loriel sighed. ¡°Ok, so how are you going to track the blood that you give Beira? Are you sure you can put a spell on it she won¡¯t find? Something you can track through whatever wards she will have in place? Also, it will be suspicious timing. Even if they don''t think you attacked they might blame you for causing a monster attack.¡± I thought about that for a moment and said: ¡°Lilastheria.¡± ¡°Who is that?¡± Loriel asked. ¡°Wait, isn¡¯t that the demon we found at the village?¡± Lucy inquired. ¡°Yes. She is a succubus the Empire used. We were able to get her true name so we can summon and bind her. Beira has confirmed that she uses demons. Maybe Lilastheria even knows something about the lab. But if not, we can still go with the trapped blood sample. Lilastheria will be part of our cover. If a demon is seen with us they might think we are demonic beasts. We can magically bind her to not reveal us. It¡¯s perfect. If Beira is messing with demons and is attacked by demons nobody will question it.¡± I explained. ¡°So you are suggesting that we should use demons. I don¡¯t like it.¡± Loriel said. Ok, so she had a point. Using demons ourselves would be a slippery slope. It¡¯s said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. On the other hand, Lilastheria did not kill anyone in that village. Was every demon that bad? Elnora looked thoughtful. ¡°Using a demon that the Empire has associated with in the past is not a bad plan. As long as you can ensure that she is unable to betray us.¡± Chapter 58: Planning Continues ¡°If they discover that we are responsible it might start a war. It would also allow the Empire to blame the Iron Rock incident on us, if we are caught using demons. The risk is too high. Right now we are in a decent political situation.¡± Loriel said. ¡°But we know the Empire is gearing for war behind the scenes. We are here to stop them before they become a threat. While Beira¡¯s experiments might not be our true goal, raiding her lab might provide valuable info. And if her work succeeds it poses a danger to the Dominion as well. A raid would also disrupt the Empire as a whole.¡± Elnora argued. Loriel said nothing for a bit. She seemed to think about all the arguments. We just waited in silence. ¡°It¡¯s too early in our trip for such a risk.¡± She said after a while. ¡°But we can start with some preparations in case we deem it necessary to take drastic actions later. Elnora, have your agents prepare disguises. We will see if we can fool our imperial watchers. Amaya and Lucy will do something harmless at first. Maybe even stay close to their doubles and try to identify the watchers. If everything works out we will do it again, but this time you will summon your succubus. Not for any infiltration, just for a conversation. We will find out if she knows something useful. After that we can make further plans.¡± I was a bit disappointed but Loriel made a lot of sense. We could trigger a war if we were not careful. While I really wanted to stop Beira there would be consequences if we were discovered. ¡°Alright. So for now we stall Beira. And I will think about ways to add a tracking spell to the blood that she can¡¯t detect.¡± I did have a lot of arcane knowledge. So I was hopeful that I could develop an appropriate ritual. ¡°Should we involve the dwarves?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°They are our allies, are they not? Or at least you said an alliance is currently being negotiated.¡± ¡°That is an excellent question.¡± Loriel responded. ¡°I will have to think about that.¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I shall make preparations for our agents to take Lucy and Amaya¡¯s place.¡± Elnora gave a short bow to Loriel and left. I wondered how she communicated with her operatives. Probably magic. ¡°Is there anything else for us to prepare?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Not really. Elnora will need at least a day to make preparations. Then we try the switch. You could go out tomorrow and look for a place to drink. Something that suits your taste. It could also establish a habit if you go there on several occasions.¡± ¡°Will there be any official function we need to attend in the coming days?¡± I asked. ¡°None that I know about. It really depends how much the Empire drags their feet though. Once the high inquisitors arrive things will get more interesting again.¡± Loriel answered. ¡°What shall we do now? It¡¯s too early for bed.¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°I could use a relaxing bath. Is that something the palace offers? Something bigger than our bathrooms in this suite. A sauna or a steam room could be nice too.¡± ¡°Yes, the palace has something like that for guests.¡± Loriel said. ¡°Are you coming with us?¡± Lucy inquired. ¡°Sure, why not. After this conversation I could do with some relaxation as well.¡± After a moment Loriel added: ¡°We should take the imperial maids with us. That makes it easier for Elnora to work. And it gives them something to report to the Empire. If we are seen relaxing it will help avoid suspicion.¡± I tried to avoid the maids so far. They were happy to show us to the public baths and also brought towels for us. It occurred to me that I didn''t even know their names. ¡°I apologise for not asking sooner, but what are your names?¡± It sounded awkward. But the time when I should have asked that question was long gone. They seemed surprised. ¡°My lady, there is no need to apologise. You may address us however you wish. We would be honoured to tell you our names but there is no need to use them. I am Anya.¡± She had long black hair. They all did. I wondered if that was part of the dress code. All their eyes were green. The facial features were slightly different but I suddenly realised they must be sisters. Anya had rather smooth features and intelligent looking eyes. They all looked fit, slim and had flawless skin. ¡°We are happy that you finally called on us, my lady. We are here to serve in any way we can. I am Alena.¡± She was slightly taller than Anya. ¡°I am Selene, my lady.¡± The final maid said. ¡°Are you sisters?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Yes.¡± They said at the same time. Chapter 59: Bathing Incident We continued our way to the baths. Like everything in the place they were spectacular. There was an area to undress and store your clothes. It was made obsolete by our storage artefacts though. After that was a room with marble showers, followed by the actual bath area. I was surprised to see that there was a large outdoor section. Steam rose from the hot water in what looked like a big natural stone pool. Blue crystals illuminated the area. While it was not dark yet the sun had begun to set. A wooden wall on the outside stopped people from peeking. The bathing area we were in was for females only. I wondered if there was a natural hot spring here or if it was a magical construction. The inside bath featured a lot of marble and golden decorations. It looked rather luxurious but I preferred the more natural outdoor area. It reminded me of a japanese onsen. We all agreed to use the outdoor bath. We undressed, used the shower and slipped into the nice hot water. While the maids brought us towels they had little to do while we were relaxing in the bath. Still, they stood nearby in case we wanted something, like a drink. Having a cold beer would be nice actually. The maids also offered massages or to scrub our backs. I declined but did ask them to get me a drink. While I always had something in my storage device I wanted to try more local beverages. Se we just relaxed, mostly in silence. There were some stones you could sit on while being in the pool. A deeper area allowed you to swim if you wanted to. But we just enjoyed the hot water, the fresh air and a lovely ale. I was sitting on a stone, leaning against the wall of the pool. My eyes were closed. Loriel and Lucy were next to me in a similar position. Suddenly, I had a strange feeling. It was hard to identify. The air felt charged. I opened my eyes and looked around. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Do you feel that?¡± I asked. ¡°Something is wrong.¡± ¡°I feel it too.¡± Lucy said. Loriel looked at us. ¡°What is it? I haven¡¯t noticed anything.¡± ¡°The air. Something is changing. It feels like it is charging¡­¡± My eyes widened. I was not sure how I knew but I was certain an electrical attack was coming. Maybe it had something to do with my class being lightning focused. There was no time for a spell. I grabbed Loriel and threw her out of the water. She yelped in surprise. Not even a second later a giant lighting bolt hit our bath. For a moment the world was filled with light. Then it was gone. I blinked my eyes as I slowly recovered from being briefly blinded. Lucy and myself were immune to lightning. That attack did nothing to us and thankfully I got Loriel out of the water in time. She would have likely survived but it would have hurt. As I was recovering my vision I noticed a black sphere in the water. ¡°It¡¯s not over yet!¡± I yelled. We were all naked in the bath, except for our storage artefacts. So we could equip our gear instantly. I was glad that I was wearing clothing now when a tentacle emerged from the water. It was about as thick as my arm, black and looked slimy. I easily cut it with my sword. Lucy¡¯s spear was not ideal for slicing but she managed to stab another tentacle and make it retreat. Loriel had recovered from her shock and equipped some chainmail and a staff. ¡°Any idea what we are fighting?¡± I shouted. There was definitely some magic happening under the water. Were those tentacles coming from a portal? ¡°No idea.¡± Loriel responded. She also cast a spell. It looked like a 7th circle Ray of Destruction. A beam of red light emerged from her hand towards the black sphere. The water evaporated in the path of the spell but nothing happened when it hit its target. It looked like it was absorbed. Meanwhile Lucy was busy intercepting all the tentacles coming for Loriel. There were 9 of them. The one that I sliced seemed to have fully regrown. I was the only person still in the water so I jumped out of it. While the enemy attacked with lighting first the monster seemed to appear afterwards. So I decided to give electricity a try. It was a usually rather good choice for a target in water. I used my sword to cut any tentacles coming too close while I focused on Storm¡¯s Judgement. My free hand pointed at the water and I unleashed my spell. Once again the world lit up. Electricity surged through the water. The tentacles spasmed and began to smoke. Then they fell limply into the water. The black sphere was gone. Chapter 60: Many Questions I looked around for any additional threats but none were visible. ¡°Is everyone alright?¡± I asked. ¡°I am fine.¡± Lucy answered. ¡°I am ok, thanks to your fast reaction.¡± Loriel said. She did not comment on our lightning immunity. Probably because it was not the right place to discuss such things. The enemy might think we used magic to protect ourselves. ¡°Anya, Alena, Selene are you alright as well?¡± I shouted. I did not see the maids, I suspected they fled inside while we were fighting. Anya¡¯s head poked out of the building. ¡°Is it over my lady? We were so worried! Selene went to alert the guards!¡± That was quick thinking. The whole battle did not take very long. ¡°Do you think anyone else got attacked? What if this was just a distraction?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I doubt it was a distraction.¡± I answered. ¡°That was a high level lightning spell and electricity will often stun it¡¯s targets. We were basically naked in the bath. That means no protective items. The idea was to wound us and make us vulnerable to the monster. I am not sure if they attacked anyone else though.¡± ¡°Unlikely.¡± Loriel said. ¡°This attack was tailored for our situation. It¡¯s disturbing. Think about it, if we had stayed in our quarters none of that would have worked. They needed us defenceless and in the water. As you said, the first attack was to disable us and give the monster an opportunity to devour us. We were in that bath for less than an hour. Someone was watching us and saw an opportunity.¡± Loriel pointed out. ¡°Unless they wanted to hit us anyway and just modified the plan to fit the circumstances.¡± I theorised. ¡°Possible, but unlikely.¡± Loriel responded. ¡°If they had a detailed plan to strike us in our quarters prepared, they would have stuck to it and not improvised.¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. I suppose that made sense. A professional would not throw away a carefully crafted plan that easily. ¡°So, what happens now?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Politically it¡¯s a bad look for the Empire but if it was a demon or monster attack we can only blame them for bad security. We would have to find the mage and determine their allegiance to accuse anyone.¡± Loriel answered. I heard the sound of armoured boots running towards us. While I expected it to be the guards, I still prepared for another fight. Soon after the Empire¡¯s soldiers burst out of the building. ¡°Secure the area, protect our guests!¡± I heard someone shout. I relaxed. ¡°My ladies, our deepest apologies.¡± One of the soldiers said. He bowed deeply. ¡°Please let me escort you back to your quarters. It might not be safe out here. We shall investigate this attack immediately.¡± ¡°What about the other delegations?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Rest assured, we are on full alert now and will immediately dispatch more soldiers to keep everyone safe.¡± ¡°Lead the way.¡± Loriel said. We did not know the plans of the other delegations for tonight. While it would be nice to check on our dwarven allies we did not actually know their current location. We also needed to ensure that our own people were safe. Actually, Elnora or Loriel might have a way to communicate with the other delegations. I never asked. We arrived at our quarters safely. Our room had not been attacked. There were a lot of guards now to stand watch outside but we declined their offer to guard the inside as well. After a quick spell to ensure privacy we told Elnora what happened. ¡°This makes no sense.¡± She said, shaking her head. ¡°Even if they blame demons it could lead to a war if the three of you get killed in the palace. They would need a bigger disaster to get away with that. Like half the palace getting destroyed and imperials dying as well.¡± ¡°Could that have been the goal? To start a war?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I doubt that the Emperor wants a war right now. That is the whole reason for the invitation. But maybe a different faction¡­¡± Loriel pondered. ¡°Beravis?¡± I asked. ¡°They would profit the most if we had a war with the Empire. It would keep them secure for a long time. They also did not sign the mutual defence agreement before we came here.¡± ¡°Sadly, that does make a lot of sense.¡± Loriel admitted. ¡°It could also be an imperial faction. If the inquisition attacked foreign diplomats it would have to be dismantled. Somebody might try to frame them.¡± Elnora said. ¡°What if this was not an assassination attempt?¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°What if they wanted to capture us? We don¡¯t know what creature that was. We never saw anything but a black orb in the water and tentacles. If we were briefly incapacitated by lightning they could have grabbed us. Those things were slimy. If they could have wrapped themselves around our bare skin maybe it would have paralysed us?¡± I shuddered at the thought. The last thing I wanted was to be abducted by a tentacle monster. ¡°Did you loot a part of the monster so we can analyse it?¡± Elnora asked. ¡°Uh¡­ no.¡± Damn. I really should have done that. Chapter 61: Theories Thinking back on it, the guards arrived awfully quickly. We did not have any time to investigate the scene. I still wondered what happened in the water. I did not see any magic circle before the monster appeared. Was it just a normal spell cast by someone hidden nearby? Where did the mage hide? ¡°You know, that battle did not last very long. And yet, in that short amount of time a maid managed to get help and the guards arrived really quickly. There were also a lot of them. So either they were stationed just a room away or they were prepared for what happened.¡± Loriel frowned. ¡°It would make sense for the Empire to have people nearby. To ensure our safety while we are here but also to stop us from doing anything. But they were so fast it really seemed like they were expecting something.¡± ¡°Now does that mean they were alerted somehow and came to help? Maybe someone breached their wards and they reacted? Or does it mean they were in on it?¡± Elnora pondered. ¡°Do you think they could have engineered an attack and then meant to rescue us so we are more grateful?¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Hm. I feel like it would still look rather bad for the Empire if an attack happens in their palace.¡± I said. ¡°But what if one faction planned the attack and another one decided to use it to improve their relations with us?¡± Elnora countered. I shrugged. ¡°Honestly, we just don¡¯t have enough information. A lot of theories but no evidence either way.¡± We really should have examined the scene. But there was also some concern about our people. Checking up on them was not a bad choice. And refusing to go with the guard might have created further problems anyway. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°What do we do next? Have we heard from the other delegations?¡± I asked. ¡°The dwarves should be fine. They haven¡¯t used their emergency communications crystal. But we will definitely have a talk with them tomorrow to discuss the situation and our response.¡± Loriel said. ¡°We will also have to see what the Empire says. Who are they going to blame? Will they present any evidence?¡± ¡°What does this mean for our own plans? Will we go ahead with them?¡± I wondered. ¡°We might have to make some modifications depending on how close the Empire will watch us. After that incident they will undoubtedly insist on more guards. But it has also given us more leeway. Somebody else has made the first move now. And our plans for framing demons will look even more convincing now.¡± Loriel responded. ¡°You sound a lot more comfortable with the plan now.¡± I pointed out. Loriel nodded. ¡°Indeed. Now that we have been attacked we have some leverage in case we are discovered. I am also really curious about your demon now. Maybe she can help us identify what attacked us.¡± ¡°Do you think they will try again?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Probably, the question is when.¡± I responded. ¡°They could have achieved their goal already, if they only wanted to make the Empire look bad. Otherwise they will be watching for more opportunities. Unless our power scared them off, which I doubt.¡± ¡°Keep in mind that direct attacks are not the only threat.¡± Loriel warned. ¡°Since that failed they might try poison, seduction, blackmail,...¡± ¡°We should definitely not go anywhere alone.¡± I said while looking at Loriel. She sighed. ¡°True. It will make Elnora¡¯s work a lot harder if I have to drag her with me all the time though. Or are you volunteering to accompany me to political meetings with the local nobles?¡± ¡°If you want Amaya with you, lure her with food.¡± Lucy suggested helpfully. I groaned. ¡°Maybe you should use this as an excuse to stop meeting boring nobles.¡± After a moment I thought of something else. ¡°So who will investigate this incident? The inquisition is basically a suspect and this would normally be their job. Is Beira going to have a look? Considering she is responsible for the palace wards, which presumably failed, is she a suspect too?¡± ¡°I am sure the Empire will let us know. They will send someone to question us.¡± Loriel answered. ¡°Why haven¡¯t they asked us anything yet?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°The cynic in me thinks they are still debating what made up story they will use as an excuse. But they could also be busy securing the scene, chasing a suspect or just simply searching the palace ground for any other intruder. The first priority might be the safety of everyone.¡± ¡°You know what¡¯s really sad? I could use a relaxing bath right now after all this excitement.¡± Lucy said. ¡°The bath might be closed right now but what about room service? Having a nice meal and a drink can be relaxing too!¡± I suggested. Chapter 62: Unitera Nobody disturbed us that evening. Elnora got in touch with the delegations of Iron Rock and the dwarves via magic, both were fine. The Empire only sent someone to talk with us the next day. They apologised for the lack of security and asked us about the attack. We told them that we detected the magic attack and could protect ourselves in time. I was not going to tell them about Lucy and myself being immune to lightning. In the end they had no information for us. They did not catch an intruder, nor did they know how their wards were breached. At least that is what they told us. They also mentioned an increase in security and that they would send guards with us if we left the palace. That would make it much more challenging for Lucy and myself to disappear. Still, we wanted to go forward with the plan. Loriel and Elnora were meeting with the other delegations during the day. Meanwhile Lucy and myself would explore the city. The idea was to just stroll around, let the guards get comfortable, and then in the evening Elnora¡¯s people would switch with us. The Empire¡¯s soldiers were not very happy with our decision to leave the palace. But we were guests and not prisoners. So they sent a squad of six people to guard us. They all looked rather tense while Lucy and myself were quite relaxed. I doubted another attack would happen so soon and in public. We also were quite capable of defending ourselves. Honestly, we were likely a lot stronger than our protectors. They were more of a formality really. We strolled out of the palace and had a carriage waiting for us. Our guards would be mounted. The driver was an older gentleman who bowed to us. ¡°Where will you be going my ladies?¡± ¡°Are there any places you can recommend? Any sights one must see?¡± I inquired. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°I would recommend the imperial plaza. It is a beautiful square with several statues and a magnificent fountain. Right next to it is the central garden which is nice for a walk. There are a lot of high quality shops in the area and excellent restaurants.¡± ¡°Sounds good, what do you think Lucy?¡± ¡°I like it. I loved the garden in the palace, let¡¯s go.¡± The driver bowed to us once more. He even opened the door for us. I checked for any listening magic but found nothing. The carriage was moving slowly through the streets while I took in the sight. Unitera reminded me of a modern european city. Sure, people were dressed differently and there were no cars. Horses and carriages were a common sight. But the houses seemed well constructed, at least in this area. The streets seemed clean. I also spotted some small cafes, where people enjoyed a late breakfast. ¡°The city looks lovely.¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s a shame that the Empire itself seems so rotten.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Lucy sighed. ¡°When I was little I dreamed about visiting the capital. I never imagined I would be here as a foreign diplomat.¡± She touched her throat while she looked at someone wearing a slave collar. I took her hand and squeezed it. ¡°We can¡¯t change the nation. But maybe we can at least stop Beira. I also wonder how stable the Empire really is. Who knows what will happen with the inquisition.¡± I decided to change the topic. ¡°Let¡¯s enjoy our day. What do you want to do Lucy?¡± ¡°I can see you drooling when you look at those cafes. So I suspect we might end up in one. Other than that, why don¡¯t we check out some shops? And of course I want to see the park.¡± ¡°I am not drooling!¡± Ok so I was fantasising about some coffee. I only had two cups for breakfast. That was over an hour ago! I wondered if they would have something like viennese iced coffee. That is basically vanilla ice cream with coffee and whipped cream on top. It is more of a dessert than a drink but really delicious. The perfect food to consume in a little cafe on a nice day. And it was a beautiful day. A nice pastry would go perfectly with that. Maybe we should also look for a bakery. Lucy snipped her fingers in front of my face. ¡°Are you back from your food fantasy?¡± I blushed a bit while she laughed. ¡°Food is a great thing. It¡¯s the best thing about travelling, trust me!¡± I said confidently. Lucy patted me on the head. At least I got her in a good mood now. Chapter 63: A Nice Day We arrived at the imperial plaza and disembarked our carriage. There was a parking spot next to the park where the driver would wait. While we told him it was unnecessary he insisted he could not simply return to the palace. I hoped he brought a book or something to keep him occupied. He also took care of the horses of our guards. It felt odd walking around with the soldiers following us but I tried to ignore them. We started by exploring the imperial plaza. The most notable thing was the fountain in the centre. A ten metre long dragon statue stood on a pedestal. Its mouth was open and aimed at the sky, a stream of water emerged from it. The water then fell into the large basin surrounding the dragon. The statue itself was covered in scales made from blue gems. The eyes were golden. The other parts of the fountain were made from black marble with white streaks. The gems sparkled nicely in the sun. The plaza also held statues from former emperors but I found them less impressive. There were a few trees and benches next to them. On one side of the square you could see the park. It looked nice and inviting but we would go there later. First we decided to explore some shops in the area. This was a rather expensive part of the city and the stores reflected that. They were lavishly decorated and the staff wore designer clothing. Most things on offer were magical in some way. Why buy a simple diamond ring when you could put an enchantment on it? I looked at an expensive ring on display and shook my head. ¡°Why would anyone pay this much money for a smoother skin enchantment? It¡¯s just an illusion anyway. You would not feel a difference.¡± ¡°Most people¡¯s skin is not as nice as yours.¡± Lucy answered. ¡°I have never seen you use makeup because you don¡¯t need it. That is not the case for most women. They spend a lot of time to make themselves look pretty and a lot of money as well. Good cosmetics are not that cheap either. Further, with an illusion you have the option to change your looks quickly. You can easily match your day time dress and simply switch your ring for the evening gown.¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I never really thought about that. Lucy made a good point. It would even allow you to change your hair or skin colour. While I had not seen anyone with unnatural colours what would stop people from becoming blue or green? Or was that socially not acceptable? Then it hit me, my eyes could see through illusions. It was possible that people used all sorts of crazy illusions and I just never noticed them. While there might be magic powerful enough to fool me, or simply outright shapeshifting, I doubted people used that for cosmetics. ¡°You know, we should make glasses that see through illusions and sell them outside a fancy ball.¡± I suggested with a smirk. ¡°I doubt you would be the first one with that idea. I would not be surprised if the highest nobility went back to simply using makeup just to avoid that.¡± I sighed. ¡°I suppose you are right.¡± So much for my fantasies about a prank. Oh well. We continued our walk and looked at more shops. Besides jewellery, clothes and bags were also popular products. I wondered how many bags people would buy in a world with storage artefacts. Then again, a bag might just look cute. And nothing stopped it from being a magical storage as well. We did not buy anything in the end but it was an interesting trip. Also something rather mundane compared to fighting and politics. Our guards drew less attention than I expected but we were not the only ladies with an escort. I suppose it might be normal for the rich to have protection. ¡°This looks nice, why don¡¯t we have a coffee?¡± Lucy said while pointing. The place she suggested had some lovely outside seating next to the plaza. They had small round tables made of coloured glass with metal legs. Each table was surrounded by four metal chairs with plush cushions. My eyes lit up. ¡°Excellent idea Lucy!¡± She laughed at my enthusiasm. I ignored her amusement and chose a table. The place was not very full so we could sit without any direct neighbours. Despite the sun the metal on the chair was cool to the touch. I had no idea if it was a special metal or simply magic. While the question was somewhat interesting, coffee was more important. A waitress brought us the menu and I browsed the selection. Lucy was still smirking. While there was no iced coffee on offer they did have ice cream desserts. I decided to order a chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and regular coffee. Lucy asked for a strawberry milkshake. I looked around as we waited for our orders. It was a lovely day. I hoped it would stay like that. Chapter 64: Encounter The cake was delicious and the coffee was pretty good as well. Lucy seemed to enjoy her shake. ¡°So, what do you want to do next? Check out the park?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes! It¡¯s rather large and has a small lake in the centre. There are also several canals extending from the lake throughout the area.¡± ¡°Are you allowed to swim in the lake? Should we have brought a bathing suit?¡± Not that I owned a bathing suit. I had not gone for a swim since I entered this world. Maybe something I should consider buying. Lucy shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s rather big, so I would assume you can swim if you want to.¡± We left the cafe satisfied and walked into the park. There was a mixture of stone and dirt paths leading through it. Different areas had different vegetation. We were walking through a small forest and entered a field of grass with some shrubs and decorative stones. Water was a popular feature with small artificial streams and rivers. All of them were connected to the lake in the centre. I assumed they used magic to create a current. The sound of running water made for a pleasant experience. We met a few other people but the park seemed rather empty. Of course it was close to midday. Probably not the busiest time. I wondered if picnics were a thing in this world. We arrived at the central lake after walking for an hour. There was a meadow next to it where some people enjoyed the sun. I also saw someone swimming. Suddenly I heard a voice I recognized behind us. ¡°Well well, what do we have here?¡± It was Alexander, the 3rd prince. I sighed and turned around. He was dressed in military uniform and had his hand around an uncomfortable looking woman. She was also in uniform but clearly of a lower rank. He had several guards with him, all male. Our own escort looked pale. The prince was part of the imperial family and probably their superior officer. Even if they were not part of his chain of command there might be consequences if they opposed him. So if we started a fight our guards had no good options. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Who is that?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°That is Alexander, the 3rd prince. I met him briefly at the welcome party.¡± I answered. I was not sure what Alexander expected. Maybe some bowing? Clearly our uninterested attitude was not it. ¡°Know your place dog! You are in the presence of royalty!¡± he shouted. ¡°Dog?¡± Lucy looked at me. ¡°Do you think he does not know the difference between a dog and a fox?¡± ¡°Clearly the imperial education system leaves a lot to be desired.¡± I answered. ¡°I shall teach you your place! Men, I want them kneeling in front of me!¡± ¡°If he wants to teach us our place would it not imply that he does it himself? Instead of ordering others?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I guess talking might just be too complicated for him. Poor guy. Maybe they dropped him on the head a lot as a baby?¡± Alexander¡¯s face was getting red. But he made no move to actually draw his own weapon. One of our guards spoke up. ¡°I am sorry your highness but we are under orders to protect those ladies. Attacking them would mean defying the Emperor.¡± ¡°DEFYING ME IS TREASON!¡± Alexander shouted. This time he drew his sword and tried to stab our guard. But I was a lot faster than the prince. I ran between them and caught the blade, with my hand. The blade actually cut me, so it was magical. Somewhat unsurprising for a member of the imperial family. But I still had pretty tough skin and a lot of strength. My hand was wrapped around his sword and he could no longer move it. Blood dripped slowly through my fingers. I stared into Alexander¡¯s eyes. He started to sweat. None of his soldiers had moved yet. ¡°This has gone far enough. Leave before I teach you a lesson in manners.¡± I said. My voice was calm and cold. ¡°You threatened me! You can¡¯t threaten a prince! Arrest her!¡± Alexander was sweating more and more. He still gripped his sword but he could not move it. One of Alexander¡¯s soldiers stepped forward. He was a big guy with a big sword on this back. I briefly wondered if the sheath was magical to allow him to draw it. Maybe I would find out. ¡°Unhand the prince. You are under arrest for attacking the imperial family.¡± This whole thing sounded like a setup. Probably not by the prince, he seemed to stupid for that. But I suspected someone was using him. And someone was probably watching us. ¡°We have not attacked anyone¡­ yet.¡± Lucy said. She stood there grinning, with her spear in hand. Chapter 65: Warm Up The situation was certainly escalating. But what did I want to do about it? Alexander had neither the power, nor the authority to arrest me. Whoever set this up was probably hoping for a confrontation. To what end, I did not know. I was not even sure if we were the target. Maybe someone saw us as a convenient tool to get rid of the prince and engineered that encounter? ¡°Lucy, let¡¯s try to keep them alive.¡± I suggested. The big man frowned, then tried to draw his sword. Before he could reach it Lucy hit him with the back of her spear. He went flying into a tree. That left four guards and the woman, who was probably coerced to be here. The prince really was a pig, maybe it was time that his form reflected that. I smiled as I started a polymorph spell. Our own escorts simply stood there, uncertain what to do. Alexander¡¯s soldiers overcame their shock and drew their weapons to engage us. I did not even bother to use my own sword. I just dodged an attack and unleashed my spell on the prince. *Oink* I turned him into a pig. He tried running but his clothes, now no longer fitting him, tangled his legs. The soldiers stared in horror. While I was performing my magic, Lucy knocked out another one. So only three enemies were still standing. They were not nearly strong enough for this fight. Which just showed how stupid it was for them to start it. Alexander, the pig, finally managed to free himself and started running. I pointed at him and addressed the soldiers: ¡°Maybe you should catch your prince before he gets hurt. Would be a shame if someone turned him into bacon.¡± They looked torn. After a short moment of consideration they ran after him, leaving their two knocked out comrades behind. The woman who was with them also fled, but in a different direction. She was probably a junior officer coerced by Alexander. I would have offered her help but that could make her a target. At least Alexander had other problems right now. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°What shall we do with the unconscious ones?¡± Lucy asked. I shrugged. ¡°Leave them for a garbage collector?¡± I suggested. ¡°Sure. You know, after this warm up a swim does sound nice.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have a bathing suit.¡± I reminded her. ¡°It¡¯s not like you need one.¡± ¡°Really?¡± I pointed at our guards. ¡°I am not going to give them a show. Also, there are other people in the lake.¡± ¡°There are not that many, we could find a quiet place. And I am sure our guards will offer us privacy if we ask nicely.¡± They were currently talking with each other while pointing at the knocked out soldiers. Maybe we could use this situation. I approached them. ¡°Lucy and myself are going for a swim. You are not invited.¡± The commander stiffened. I never bother to learn his name. ¡°We can¡¯t do that my lady. Our instructions are to guard you.¡± ¡°You already failed spectacularly at that. Why don¡¯t you do something useful and take care of those soldiers. We will be fine.¡± ¡°I cannot disobey my orders,¡± he insisted. ¡°So you intend to watch two naked women going for a swim? Maybe I should turn you into a pig as well¡­¡± I felt a little bad about the threat. In the end he was in a bad situation. ¡°Naked? I would never¡­ I mean¡­¡± He seemed rather embarrassed. ¡°You know what? Why don¡¯t we compromise? Any fight with our strength is going to be loud. So you just stay out of sight and assist if you hear explosions.¡± ¡°We¡­ we could do that.¡± He did not seem happy but he agreed in the end. Perfect. I walked back towards Lucy. ¡°They will stay out of sight. We can look for a quiet place.¡± ¡°Excellent. A swim will be wonderful.¡± We started walking again. ¡°What do you think about our encounter with Alexander?¡± I asked. ¡°I think he is an idiot and hotheaded. We were in the park for some time. He would have struck a lot sooner if he planned an ambush. Someone steered him in our direction I suspect.¡± ¡°I had a similar thought. Alexander is dumb enough that it was clear he would provoke us in some way, given the chance. But for what? That did not achieve anything.¡± ¡°Who knows?¡± Lucy shrugged. ¡°We will deal with it when it happens.¡± ¡°I suppose. You know, if someone is watching us magically they could see us going for a swim.¡± ¡°Can you ward us against scrying?¡± ¡°Yes. That is actually the perfect excuse why we are shielded. We would need that anyway if we switch with our doubles later.¡± ¡°See? Not having a bathing suit turned out great. Now you can skinny-dip to further our mission!¡± Lucy teased. I blushed. Chapter 66: At the Lake Walking around the lake we found a nice secluded space. There was no direct path to our spot. It was only a small area of grass surrounded by trees, next to the water. It would serve us just fine. I used a tier 7 spell, arcane invisibility, that should make us immune to magical tracking and observation. It would last for 6 hours. Considering that it was early afternoon I would need to refresh it in the evening. The spell did not stop anyone from observing the area we were in, we simply would not show up. We were now invisible for any magical sight but people could still see us with their eyes. With the precautions in place Lucy immediately disrobed and ran into the water. I watched her fluffy tail until it disappeared beneath the surface. I put my clothes away and followed. The water was a nice cool temperature. It was rather refreshing. While I swam, I noticed some fishes in the water. Was it legal to catch them? How would they taste? Lucy¡¯s voice interrupted my musings. ¡°This is nice. We should do this more often.¡± ¡°Yes, I do like swimming. Water is just very relaxing.¡± ¡°True. At least until tentacles show up in your bath.¡± I shuddered and quickly looked around. But there was nothing out of the ordinary. ¡°Hopefully they won¡¯t try the same thing again¡­¡± ¡°Do you think someone will use this opportunity though? We are in a somewhat remote location.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°It did not go so well for them last time. I am more curious if someone will physically show up to spy on us. It could be an opportunity to catch and interrogate someone.¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°If they do, we are totally justified in beating them a little, for peeping.¡± Lucy said, grinning. We continued to swim for a bit longer. When we returned to land Lucy grabbed a large towel from her storage. She placed it on the grass and flopped down on it. ¡°You are not drying yourself?¡± I asked. ¡°Nah, the sun will do that. It¡¯s just us here anyway.¡± She did have a point. Still, somebody might show up. I dried myself and put on some clothes. Lucy closed her eyes and enjoyed the sun. Meanwhile, my thoughts went towards important things. Like food. I dismissed my earlier idea about fishing. Cleaning and preparing a fresh catch sounded like a hassle. Thankfully my storage contained more than enough other things. While Lucy enjoyed her sun I built a small camping fire. We were pretty close to the trees but with our magic we would be able to contain any fire, if needed. Wood was plentiful and with a simple spell it burned nicely. Lucy opened one eye to look at my fire and then closed it again. She also gave me a thumbs up. So, I was thinking about hot dogs. They would be really simple. I had buns in my storage and several different kinds of sausage. I also had mustard. What more could you need? I chose some sausages with cheese inside. After some thought I decided to wrap them in bacon. For a bit of variety I grabbed some chilli sausages as well. I used a couple of arrows from my inventory as skewers. They worked rather well. Of course I made sure that they were clean first. When the smell of food reached Lucy she finally got up and joined me at the fire. She also put on some clothes. Meanwhile I pulled a barrel of ale and two mugs from my storage. Lucy raised an eyebrow at that. But a girl needs to be prepared. I acquired that from our guest accommodation in the palace. It truly came fully stocked. If they did not want me to loot it they should not have put it there. Thanks to our magic we could keep the ale in our mugs nicely chilled. ¡°You know, I am starting to understand your obsession with food.¡± Lucy said while enjoying a hot dog. ¡°See! Good food makes life a lot better!¡± I said smugly. It also helped that my magical body did not gain any weight. At least so far. No longer did I have to watch my calories, or worry about a healthy diet. After we finished our meal I doused the fire. So far I did not notice anybody watching us. That meant our guards were true to their word and kept out of sight. Actually, considering my high perception they must have stayed really far back. ¡°Shall we go back? What do you want to do next?¡± I asked. ¡°Hm. Let¡¯s go back to the imperial plaza. I bet that fountain is somehow illuminated in the evening and looks even better. Maybe we can sit outside a bar. Then we just wait for Elnora¡¯s people to show up.¡± My eyes lit up at the mention of a bar. ¡°I like your idea.¡± Chapter 67: Change of Plans I would have expected to run into our guards on the way back. Surprisingly we did not see them. Since they could not track or observe us with magic that was disturbing. Did something happen to them? Were they recalled? The park was rather big and it would take us over an hour to get back to the entrance. At least at the pace of a normal human going for a walk. We could get there quite quickly if we actually ran, or used magic. Maybe they were somewhere on the way? ¡°Did you see our guards anywhere? I asked Lucy. ¡°No. They have been absent since we went for a swim. Do you think they are simply waiting by the carriage?¡± ¡°Maybe. They seemed rather insistent to guard us though. I expected them to be close enough to react to any fighting.¡± ¡°I would not be surprised if they were detained by the prince, or his people.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Good point. It would be rather fitting for Alexander. Assuming they found someone close by to remove the polymorph.¡± ¡°Should we still go along with the plan to use doubles and snoop around? With today¡¯s incident someone might want to question us later. And it would be a problem if they approach our doubles. Maybe we should wait a day?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°Sadly that is a valid concern. We should have grabbed a communications device to talk with Elnora. Things have been escalating quickly since our bath yesterday.¡± ¡°Should we just sneak away now? The park is big. We can always claim we were just enjoying it. Tonight was only meant for some recon anyway. We could find a quiet place, summon and question the succubus and then return to the carriage.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Hm. We have to make sure nobody is watching though. Let¡¯s search the area a bit. Maybe we can find a trace of our guards. If we are really confident about our privacy we try the summon. If we find out where the lab is we will need an alibi for the attack. But gathering information should be fine.¡± I reasoned. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. We headed into a wooded area of the park and searched our surroundings. It was a park so other people were using it. Which meant we wanted an area with limited visibility. We also left the obvious path. Despite our enhanced senses we could not detect anyone observing us. ¡°Either our watchers are really good or there is nobody here.¡± I said. ¡°How are we going to do this? Use invisibility, then transform?¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Does not hurt to be extra careful, let¡¯s do it.¡± We both used the invisibility spell and then transformed. Afterwards Lucy casted See the Unseen, to ensure she could still see me. Meanwhile I started to stretch. Somehow that just felt good in my feline form. ¡°I think I smell something¡­¡± Lucy said. Her nose was a lot better than mine in her animal form. She started sniffing around. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked. ¡°Blood.¡± We did see smaller animals in the park. There were also a lot of birds. There should not be anything dangerous, like a wolf. But a dog or a cat could have killed a smaller creature. Would that be enough for Lucy to pick it up? We should have seen something if it were close. One way to find out. ¡°Lead the way.¡± I said. We tried to stay quiet as Lucy followed the trail. We were invisible but that did not stop any noise we made. The trail led a bit deeper into the woods. As we got closer to our target I could smell it as well. It smelled like death. Surrounded by trees we found six corpses. Our guards were dead. ¡°I think they were killed shortly after we went swimming.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Do you smell anything that could identify the attacker?¡± I asked. ¡°No. There is no trail here. I think whoever killed them used magic to hide their presence.¡± ¡°It looks like they did not fight back. They have wounds that might come from a spear, a sword and lightning magic. Exactly what we used in the bath.¡± I pointed out. ¡°You think they are framing us for this?¡± ¡°Yes. They make it look like we walked into a remote place and then killed our guards. After the encounter with Alexander. Maybe they disposed of him as well. Maybe they wanted to get rid of witnesses. I did not really care for our guards but they deserved better than this.¡± They did their job and were killed for the political games of someone. What a waste of life. ¡°I hate the Empire.¡± I said. ¡°What do we do now?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Hm. If someone is trying to frame us, maybe we frame someone else instead.¡± ¡°The demon!¡± Lucy exclaimed. ¡°Exactly. We are going to summon our succubus here. We make sure there are traces of a demonic ritual. It will look like we were attacked again by the same enemies.¡± Chapter 68: Binding While Lucy patrolled the area, to make sure we were not disturbed, I prepared the ritual. I stayed in my black panther form. Claws were perfectly fine for carving the runes into the soil. In the end I placed a nice ruby in the centre with a drop of my blood. With that I could bind the demon to me. That would mean she would have to follow my commands. One could simply summon a demon and then enter a bargain. That was by far the most popular method, since it did not require the true name of said demon. Binding was more advanced and came with certain risks. Mostly because there was a lot of misinformation about the process. If you used the wrong runes you would end up enslaved to your summon. You also needed enough power, or the ritual would fail. If you tried to bind a creature more powerful than you, by using mass sacrifices as fuel, the bond might work at first but it would degrade over time. Even if you did everything right and forced the demon into your service you had to be careful. Orders could be misinterpreted and a bound demon would likely try to somehow break free again. A demon could only have one binding at a time. So you had to overpower any previous bindings in the process. That also meant someone more powerful could break your magic. While I prepared the ritual a thought struck me. I knew more about magic than most people, thanks to my arcana knowledge. With my information I could change the ritual slightly. ¡°Lucy, come here for a moment please.¡± I called. Shortly afterwards I saw a fox head pop out of a nearby bush. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± she asked. ¡°I have an idea to modify the binding spell so we can both control Lilastheria. That should be more effective than me being her mistress and simply commanding her to follow you as well.¡± ¡°That is possible?¡± Lucy wondered. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Yes. A demon can only have one binding. So it will be one spell connecting the three of us, with you and me sharing control of her. It will even make the spell harder to break.¡± I explained. ¡°What are the downsides?¡± ¡°Well, the bond is harder to break as long as we are alive. If one of us dies it will snap. Also, there would be a magical connection between us. While the servant in such a bond cannot influence the master, since we would both be masters it would weaken us against mind affecting spells from each other. Most people who summon demons might not be so trusting of their fellow mages.¡± ¡°So this could be an upside for us? Like for magical communication? Would it make it harder for other people to listen in?¡± ¡°You might be onto something. That bond could have some other uses.¡± I had not thought about that. While I possessed vast magical knowledge I still had to think about something specific to recall the details. ¡°So why are we doing this whole binding thing in the first place? Could we not just summon her and ask for information?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°The binding will ensure that Lilastheria can¡¯t lie and betray our secrets. It will also ensure that she does not have any other masters. It¡¯s going to be more reliable than forcing her to give us information with other means. Further, it will make it easier to summon her in the future.¡± ¡°Ok, how do we do this?¡± ¡°I need a drop of your blood on the ruby in the centre. We will activate the ritual together and both use a 9th circle slot. That might be overkill but it will ensure a rather tight binding that is unlikely to be broken by someone else.¡± With all the preparations made we activated the ritual. The runes began to glow and the ruby turned into mist. The mist took the form of Lilastheria and solidified. There was a gasp and the succubus appeared, in all her naked glory. She was breathing heavily and holding her head. ¡°Hello Lilastheria.¡± I said. ¡°Wha¡­ who¡­ I¡­ I am bound to you? To you both? How¡­¡± ¡°The most important things first. You are not allowed to share any of our secrets. Do not admit that we bound or summoned you. Tell no one that we are able to transform.¡± I commanded her. She looked confused. ¡°Transform?¡± ¡°Don''t you remember us?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°We met in a small village near Iron Rock.¡± ¡°Uh yes I remember that. Sorry mistresses for not recognizing you in your current forms. I am disoriented from the binding.¡± Lilastheria looked rather spooked. Her tail was nervously flicking behind her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we have nothing bad planned for you. We need information. And we need to make it look like demons were involved in the death of those soldiers.¡± Chapter 69: Change of Plans Lilastheria looked around. ¡°Those people were stabbed with ordinary weapons, by the looks of it. Do you want me to incinerate the bodies with demonic magic?¡± she asked. ¡°Not necessarily. It just has to look like demons were present and involved. The ritual circle will help with that. We might just want a few more signs of demonic presence. It could help if any investigators found traces of mind magic being involved, for example.¡± ¡°Mistress, what exactly happened here and what is the goal? Who are you trying to fool?¡± ¡°Those soldiers were killed to frame us. Now we are going to frame demons instead. We are trying to mislead imperial investigators. Who may or may not be responsible for this in the first place. There has been a demonic attack yesterday so it is fitting. We don¡¯t have a specific narrative. The soldiers did not fight back so they were either paralysed with magic, or taken by surprise. Instead of covering up their wounds, or inflicting new ones, I think we should add to the scene.¡± I explained. ¡°We could remove one of the bodies. Make it look like a guard was part of it. A demon could have shapeshifted and taken their place. Then surprised them and performed a summoning.¡± Lilastheria suggested. ¡°That would make the person we removed look guilty. That could have repercussions for their family.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°True. Unless we planted that body elsewhere. In which case it would look like the person had been replaced earlier.¡± I proposed. ¡°Where would we plant it though? We would have to make sure it was found as well.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Hm. Maybe near the fight with Alexander? That would even connect the incidents. He makes a scene as a distraction. Then one of the guards gets replaced.¡± I suggested. ¡°What would have been the demon''s end goal though?¡± Lucy asked. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°I am sure the paranoid investigators will have plenty of theories. If someone wanted us framed for the murder of our guards they might have something else planned anyway. So it would look like we removed our guards to do something else.¡± Lucy nodded. ¡°Ok. Let¡¯s take one of the bodies and move it. We should do it quickly before someone discovers the scene. We can put the body in our storage for transport.¡± ¡°Lilastheria follow us¡­ wait. How can you see us anyway? We are using an invisibility spell¡­¡± ¡°A combination of demonic sight and our bond mistress.¡± Lilastheria explained. Before we left I modified the ritual circle we used to bind her. The spell was already done, this was just to stop other people from duplicating my magic. The last thing I wanted was to teach the Empire magic. Afterwards we moved to the scene of our previous fight and hid the body behind a nearby bush. We also hid our tracks. To further increase our deception Lilastheria used some fire magic on the guard''s wound. Otherwise the missing blood would have looked suspicious. Although, in a magic world there were plenty of creatures who might drain blood. Once we were done we moved away. So far nobody had seen us. ¡°Ok. With that done we need some information.¡± I said. ¡°Yes, mistress. What would you like to know?¡± ¡°Do you have any knowledge about Beira? She is an imperial court mage and uses demons for her research to empower humans.¡± ¡°I am familiar with her, yes. She summoned me before the inquisition used me. I suspected she might have handed my name over to them, after she did not need me any longer.¡± ¡°You did not mention any of that last time.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Apologies, but you were not my mistress back then. And there was no reason for me to provide more information than necessary. It also had no connection to the Iron Rock incident.¡± ¡°Ok, what did Beira need you for?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Originally she wanted me to have children with humans. But after some thought she figured it would be easier to summon an incubus and have him impregnate human females instead. She collected some of my blood and asked me a lot of questions. I briefly helped with the newborn half demons. That was about five years ago. She did not have any further use of me, so when the inquisition summoned me I thought she might have handed me over to them.¡± While not surprising, hearing that still made my stomach churn. ¡°We need to shut down that lab and rescue those children and their mothers.¡± ¡°The mothers seemed to be willing.¡± Lilastheria said. ¡°Possibly brainwashed.¡± Lucy theorised. ¡°Do you know where that lab is?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes. Assuming it has not been moved since then. It is inside the city. Shall I guide you there now?¡± ¡°Hm. That would not be in line with our plan. We wanted to only gather information for now. Maybe we should discuss it with Loriel and strike tomorrow.¡± ¡°It might be hard to sneak away tomorrow with another demonic incident. Maybe we should just go now.¡± Lucy said. She did have a point. Maybe it was time to burn down a lab. Chapter 70: Infiltration We used the invisibility spell on Lilastheria. Then she led us towards the lab. Thankfully we could all move pretty fast, if we wanted to. The lab was located mostly underground. The entrance was a warehouse. That allowed them to transport supplies without raising any suspicion. Then again, the whole thing might have been legal anyway. Beira probably hid it mostly from political rivals and not the authorities themselves. ¡°What defences do they have?¡± I asked Lilastheria. ¡°There are wards against scrying and teleportation. There are also magical alarms for unregistered people. Guests would usually get a token that allows them inside. I do not know where those tokens are.¡± She paused, thinking. ¡°I have to add that my information might be out of date. They used to have some guards inside the warehouse. The true entrances to the lab are either the freight elevator or the stairs in the back. Once you go down, there is a checkpoint with much stronger guards. From that point on there are much more serious wards. The guards there will also check for illusions and such.¡± ¡°Hm. I presume they have an easy way to raise the alarm? Is anyone monitoring them from inside? Could we just take them out quickly?¡± ¡°I do not know if they are monitored. Nobody ever explained the whole defensive measures they have to me. I only know what I witnessed in my time there. It might be possible for you to overwhelm them. But I would expect them to have items that counter the most common spells, like sleep.¡± While I contemplated our options Lilastheria spoke again: ¡°Mistress, how can you use magic in that form? That¡­ is not common.¡± Lucy grinned at her. Of course grinning as a fox involves showing a lot of teeth. Lilastheria shuddered a bit. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°We are simply awesome!¡± Lucy proclaimed. Meanwhile, I was still pondering our entry. ¡°Do you think freezing the guards would work?¡± ¡°Possibly.¡± Lilastheria answered. ¡°Ice is not the most common element. They might not have too many defences against it.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t we just overpower their protections anyway?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Yes. But they don¡¯t need to completely resist our magic, just delay it long enough to trigger an alarm. Or worse, they could have an item that automatically triggers an alarm when a guard is affected by a spell.¡± I explained. ¡°How are we going to escape if the empire¡¯s soldiers show up?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Thanks to our animal forms they won¡¯t recognize us but we still need to get away to transform back.¡± ¡°I have been pondering that for some time to be honest.¡± I said. ¡°They will have people who can see through illusions and invisibility. I have a ring that will make it harder for them though. Combined with my power we might be able to fool them. Additionally I have large scale obscuring spells. I could summon magical darkness, or a fog. We are also quite fast. Further, they won¡¯t send all their powerful people to investigate. They still have to protect the palace, the emperor and the guests. I am confident we can disable whoever they send long enough to slip away, if needed.¡± There were certain risks involved with our plan. I had planned to discuss this some more with Loriel and Elnora after scouting the base. But the opportunity right now might just be too good to pass up. In the end, we did have a lot of power and a few surprises for the empire. When we arrived at the warehouse it was already closed for the day. No workers were around and no guards were visible. As we moved to the side entrance I realised that my lockpicking skill was of little use with paws. Thankfully Lilastheria was proficient as well and opened the door for us. We carefully snuck inside. The warehouse was mostly empty but we saw a few crates and barrels. There was also a table where four guards were playing a card game. They did not pay attention to anything. Maybe they did not care because of the true security downstairs? We decided to simply bypass them for now. At the back of the warehouse we found the way downstairs. We descended and found ourselves in a square room with a big metal door. Next to the door was a table where two people sat. They were equipped with chainmail and swords. Behind them was another door. It was only wood and did not look very secure. I assumed it was for the guards, possible with a bed and a bathroom. Maybe there was someone else inside, like a guard captain. We were currently still on the stairs peeking into the room. The guards had neither seen nor heard us yet. It would be easy to freeze them both. The question was, would that alert someone nearby? Well, there was one way to find out. Chapter 71: Infiltration 2 I contemplated using Winter¡¯s Grasp. But the area of effect was unnecessarily large. It would increase the risk of setting off an alarm. Instead I decided on Ice Coffin. It was a 5th circle spell that would freeze a single target. It was powerful enough that I hoped it would break through any defensive items they wore. Being a sorceress I could modify the spell and target both by using a higher spell slot. I unleashed my magic on the unsuspecting guards. I could see the ice forming on their skin. They looked at their hands with surprised faces. They tried opening their mouths, presumably to shout something, but they were too slow. The spell had already frozen them solid. In the course of 3 seconds they were encased in a 10 cm layer of ice. I listened intently but heard no alarm. Of course that did not mean much. Guards could have been alerted silently. ¡°It looks like that worked but keep alert.¡± I cautioned. ¡°We should check that side door.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Lilastheria can open it quietly and you can freeze anyone who is in there.¡± I nodded. Lilastheria carefully moved to the door and opened it. It was not locked. I snuck inside. There was a small room with a few cabinets and two doors. One led to a bathroom and the other one to a small chamber with a bed inside. Somebody was sleeping on it. That made me hesitate. The problem with freezing a person was it would be impossible to inspect their gear. If he carried a key for the door we would not be able to get to it under the ice. The person was sleeping in full uniform, there were no clothes lying around to loot. In the end, I decided to go for the Ice Coffin spell again. There was no reason to risk anything else yet. After he was turned into a nice popsicle we were free to search the area. I looked at my paws. Ok, maybe I would not do a lot of searching. ¡°Lilastheria, you are the only one with hands currently. Look through the cabinets for anything useful to infiltrate the lab.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Yes mistress.¡± I walked back outside to inspect the metal door. There were a lot of runes on it. While I did see a keyhole there was clearly magic involved in securing the entrance. On further examination I discovered that the key had a double purpose. It would open the physical lock and disable the magical wards at the same time. If I could remove, or disable the magic we should be able to simply pick the lock. Devour Magic was designed to target a person, could I target a door with it? It worked against magical constructs, so why not a door? While I contemplated this Lilastheria emerged from the cabin. ¡°There was nothing of interest, mistress. Only some snacks for the guards.¡± ¡°Ok then, I will try to disable the magic on the door. If it works as planned Lilastheria can pick the lock and we can sneak inside. My spell should get rid of the locking magic and all other defences and alarms.¡± I explained. Lilastheria and Lucy watched as I completed the spell. Thankfully I had a lot of spell slots so I would be fine if we had to fight later. Black smoke appeared around the door and I saw the runes being consumed. They did not just lose their magic, the runes just dissolved entirely. Lilastheria looked a bit shocked at the display. ¡°You can open the door now.¡± I told her. ¡°Yes, mistress. Um, what was that if I may ask?¡± ¡°Devour Magic, it¡¯s a 9th circle spell.¡± Lilastheria just nodded and went to work on the door. While I watched her, a simple question came to mind: ¡°So, why are you naked? Is that a succubus thing?¡± Maybe I should have asked that sooner but I was used to naked, or almost naked, succubi in video games. It was also fascinating, and somewhat scary, how quickly I had adapted to my female body. With all this time spent around Lucy it did not feel strange anymore to be in the presence of a naked female. I even started to think of myself as being a woman. But it was probably the wrong time for some self-reflection. ¡°Most summoners prefer it that way. While I am capable in a fight most people don¡¯t call me for that. I also presumed you enjoyed the sight.¡± She explained. Thankfully I was not able to blush in my panther form. She was not wrong though. She did have a nice body. And I liked the tail. Although Lucy¡¯s fluffy tail was better. I shook my head. This was not the time for such thoughts! ¡°Um you can wear clothes if you want. Or armour. I presume you have a magical storage on you somewhere.¡± I said. Lucy was staring intently on the floor. I had a feeling she was also embarrassed. Lilastheria smirked at us. Then she was covered in black leather armour. She continued picking the lock and soon we heard a click. ¡°It¡¯s open mistresses.¡± Chapter 72: Lab Since I was the most durable I took the lead. The door simply led to a rather wide corridor which was surprisingly dark. I wondered if my magic disabled the lights by accident. Or maybe there was simply a switch we did not know about. At least it should help us stay hidden. ¡°Lilastheria, you have been here before. Where can we find the research data? We would like to destroy that. And any samples they keep. Afterwards we will free any prisoners or research subjects.¡± ¡°I never had access to any data. Beira does have an office here which might hold the information you seek. I can also show you to the lab area. Keep in mind that she could have expanded since then. My information is old.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s start with her office then.¡± We took a few turns and went down one level. The whole place looked deserted. It was evening, so maybe everyone was done for the day? Would a secret lab have normal office hours? Who knew? Lilastheria led us to a more ornate door. It even had gold accents. Apparently even a secret lab needed some bling. Of course the decorations helped to mask the functioning runes. Beira had additional security in her office which was unsurprising. ¡°Um, do we know if Beira is here?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I mean, the corridors are all dark but that does not guarantee that the office is empty. What if she stays late to work?¡± ¡°I did not think of that¡­¡± I admitted. ¡°Maybe we should have checked her schedule or lured her away to make sure. But it¡¯s too late now.¡± I used Devour Magic once again. At some point I might have to be more conservative with my 9th circle slots but I still had six remaining for today. I wanted to have at least three left if it came to a fight. The dark smoke greedily ate the wards leaving a mundane door. There was not even a physical lock. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. The room we entered was lavishly decorated. Artwork covered the walls and even the ceiling. The walls were smooth and painted. The only thing missing was natural light. Although the giant crystal at the ceiling might have provided that. I had a feeling my spell ate any enchantment on it though. I had only targeted the door but the spell might have affected the whole room. Ooops? There was a big desk in the centre with a few drawers. A large and comfy chair was behind it. There was a bookcase on the left wall and two doors were visible at the back. One led to a splendid marble bathroom with a tub and shower, the other led to a sitting room with a nice liquor cabinet. I suspected the office in the front was for more formal business deals and the back room was used to impress guests and entertain friends. ¡°Let¡¯s look around and¡­¡± I looked at my paws. ¡°Ok, Lilastheria looks around and we keep watch.¡± ¡°I will just take everything from that bookshelf.¡± Lucy said while pointing at it with a paw. ¡°I cant open anything without hands but I can put it into my storage just fine.¡± ¡°I suppose that works. Actually, you are on to something. Let¡¯s loot everything.¡± I decided. The desk, the chair, the liquor cabinet, even the artwork. Lucy wanted to just take the books but I took the entire bookshelf. Maybe my old video game tendencies resurfaced. Of course I would not be able to just sell the stuff, it was evidence that would tie me to the break in after all. But with a magical storage device I could just keep it hidden for as long as I liked. And it would surely annoy Beira. Lilastheria just stared as I cleaned out the place. I suppose my storage might be a lot bigger than what most people had. Soon we were standing in an empty room. Unfortunately we did not find a hidden safe. So we moved on to the lab area. Lilastheria led us down another floor and we found ourselves in front of a sturdy metal door. I did not see any magic on it. I mentally steeled myself for the horrors we might find. Then we entered. The lab area seemed fairly large. There were multiple workstations with cauldrons and other alchemical supplies. I could see bottles and all sorts of different glassware. There were also two large empty desks with some surgical equipment nearby. I was still busy looking around the room when the lights came on. I tensed but technically we were still invisible. Maybe whoever entered would not see us? The door at the back opened and Beira walked in, flanked by two knights in black plate armour. They both carried halberds. Beira looked around the room and sneered. ¡°Show yourselves you inquisition bastards! I knew you would come sniffing around.¡± What? Chapter 73: Confrontation Apparently she thought we were working for the inquisition. Did she see us through the invisibility, or was she simply alerted by us opening the door? The three of us did not move and just stared at her. She did not look directly at anyone. We were probably still unseen. Should we just run? Hm. I had an idea. Masterful Illusion. A 7th circle spell that allowed me to craft and attach an illusion to something. By pushing it to the 8th circle I was able to select two targets. The spell did not only allow for visuals to be created, but also sound and smell could be added. And it was very hard to dispel or see through. That was the main reason for its high level. I was hoping that Beira would pierce our invisibility but not the illusion. My plan was to make myself and Lucy more demonic. We would stay close to our animal forms but I would alter the fur, the eyes and add a smell of sulphur. I also gave us horns. I was quite pleased with the result. Our fur looked less soft, it was now a mixture of red and orange with some black streaks. Our eyes were glowing red and we had black horns. I even added a bit of black smoke swirling around us. Not enough to totally obscure us, just to make us a little bit blurry. My work finished just in time. Beira unleashed her own magic and our invisibility was dispelled. My illusion remained though. Beira looked shocked, her guards tensed. Lilastheria mostly looked confused when she saw our transformation. Lucy stared at her own paw. I think she might have felt the magic through my bond. She did not resist when I attached the illusion to her. But she seemed curious about her new looks. For an outside observer it might have looked like she was simply bored. ¡°Demons¡­¡± Beira said. ¡°And I recognize that slut. You are the succubus the inquisition stole from me. Where are your masters hiding? It was foolish of them to send you.¡± The problem we had was that neither Lucy nor myself wanted to show our ability to speak. That left Lilastheria to talk. And we did not have a plan for what she would say. I really should have looked into a telepathic connection. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Uh¡­ I haven no idea what you are talking about.¡± Lilastheria said. Beira snorted. ¡°I know Elias is back in town. And he is desperate. What are your orders? Looking for dirt on me? Does he want to claim I sabotaged his efforts? No matter. I will just bind you and have my answers. I don¡¯t know what attack dogs you brought with you but they won''t stop me.¡± It sounded like it was time for a retreat. We could kill Beira here but I did not want to go that far. Maybe her lab would take a beating though. Pretending to be a demonic beast meant I could not just throw my normal magic around. But maybe a fire breath would look natural? Elemental Breath was only a 3rd tier spell. You damaged everything in a cone and you could choose the element. Her guards should be strong enough to survive that. I concentrated on the spell, then I felt the fire form in my throat. I exhaled and bathed the area in front of me in flames. Beira was standing close to her guards so I hit all of them. Metal armour is not a very good defence against heat. Unless magic is involved. The guards stepped in front of Beira and their armour seemed to absorb the heat to some extent. Afterwards they charged. One came for me and the other one attacked Lucy. They were fast, compared to a normal human in plate armour. They were still rather slow compared to me. I easily just danced around the person trying to hit me with his polearm. Then I hit him in the back with my paw. I did not use any claws, even though I was curious how they would fare against the plate. My opponent flew through two tables and crashed into a wall. Ouch. He was still moving though, although he seemed a bit dazed. I looked towards Lucy, who was sitting on the guard that came for her. Somehow he had been disarmed and was lying on his back. I could not see his expression because of the helmet but I assumed that person was terrified as Lucy stared at him. Beira¡¯s face was a mixture of shock and determination. Apparently she did not think that her guards would be overpowered that easily. Did we go too far? Should we have pretended to be weaker? Of course Beira herself was a powerful wizard. She answered with some sort of ice spell. A white sphere was launched from her hands then flew to the centre of the room and exploded. The temperature dropped significantly and shards of ice flew everywhere. I only took some minor damage, my fur and hide offered a lot of protection. Lucy seemed fine as well but the guard she was sitting on had several dents in his armour. Lilastheria cried out in pain. Maybe it was time to send her home. Dismissing a bound demon was relatively simple and soon Lilastheria dissolved into smoke. Now it was time for Lucy and myself to get out of here. Chapter 74: Retreat I ran towards Lucy and motioned with my head towards the door. She seemed to get the idea and followed me. We left the room before Beira could unleash another spell. I was unsure if they would give chase but I doubted that they were fast enough, even if they tried. With us disguised as some form of hound, Beira hopefully assumed we had no way of talking. So catching us for information would be pointless. And if we caused havoc in the city it would give her more ammunition against the inquisition. There was no one waiting for us as we left the base. ¡°We should go invisible again.¡± I told Lucy. She nodded and soon we both disappeared from sight once more. ¡°Back to the park?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Yes. I think it¡¯s best if we pretend we went swimming for most of the time. We will see if there are any search parties or if we need a different excuse when we get there.¡± I answered. ¡°What happened to Lilastheria?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I sent her back after she was injured by the spell. She should be fine.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t Beira just resummon her? She knows her name after all.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Um. That is true unfortunately. I doubt that she can break our bond though.¡± ¡°But she could torture her for information.¡± ¡°That is a good point.¡± Damn, I had not thought of that. We could not allow Lilastheria to suffer because we involved her in our schemes. ¡°We can summon her ourselves. She can¡¯t be summoned while is already in this world. We just have to find a way to keep her hidden.¡± ¡°She can shapeshift into a human, right?¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Yes. That means spells piercing illusions won¡¯t detect her but I assume the palace might have other safeguards against shapeshifters. There could also be wards against demons.¡± ¡°Is it really that easy to detect them? Did the Dominion not use a divine artefact in order to test us at our first meeting?¡± Lucy wondered. I took a moment and thought about my magical knowledge and what wards the Empire might be using. ¡°You know, you might be right. There are two versions of shapeshifting. One would be with a spell, like polymorph. It is an ongoing effect that can be dispelled. The other one is natural shapeshifting. That is what we are using currently. We are not under a spell, our forms are part of us. I think succubi are natural shapeshifters.¡± ¡°So we might be able to hide her, as long as she is not getting too much attention. Maybe we can pretend she is a maid?¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°How would we explain an additional maid suddenly appearing?¡± I wondered. ¡°What if we decide to hire one? Not tonight, but maybe in a few days. We can ask Loriel to help us with that. Maybe Lilastheria can hide in the city in the meantime?¡± ¡°It is worth considering. And if she is detected we could always blame the inquisition as having planted her as a spy.¡± We arrived back at the park without incident. We deliberately avoided the imperial plaza and the area we had been to before. Midnight was an hour away by the time we found a nice spot to summon Lilastheria again. With the bond active it was a much smaller thing. Despite that we made sure it was a secluded spot at the other end of the park. Soon Lilastheria stood before us again, she still wore her amour. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Yes mistress, thank you for your concern.¡± ¡°We have some worries.¡± I said. ¡°Beira might try to summon you to get information.¡± ¡°Our bond prevents me from talking! I cannot betray you! Please spare me! I can be useful!¡± She pleaded. ¡°We wanted to hide you, not kill you¡­¡± Lucy explained. ¡°I see, I apologise for my outburst. I thank you for your kindness.¡± Lilastheria said and bowed to us. I felt awkward. ¡°Um yes. We were thinking you could shapeshift into a human. Or any other humanoid that does not draw too much attention. We could hire you as a maid, or a guard, and hide you in plain sight. That is, assuming you feel confident that your shapeshifting won¡¯t be detected.¡± ¡°I believe that would be possible. Being a part of your group should give me enough protection to avoid close scrutiny from the royal guards.¡± ¡°Great! Now we need a way for you to join us that does not look suspicious. We might have to talk to Loriel about that. Would you have a way of hiding in the city for a bit? I think I can figure out how to track you down through our bond if I need to find you. But be careful, the Empire is going to look for demons.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a big city, I should be fine hiding here mistress. I could also pretend to be a courtesan. It is not unheard of for the nobility to have their entertainment with them. You could pretend to buy me from the slave market.¡± Being in my animal form was the only thing that prevented me from blushing heavily. ¡°Um I don¡¯t think we need a courtesan and we are also not into slavery¡­¡± And then it hit me. We had enslaved Lilastheria with our bond. Chapter 75: A Beautiful Night Lilastheria looked slightly confused. I would need some time to think about all of this, but not now. ¡°I will give you some money.¡± I said. ¡°And you can stay in the city for now. Just don¡¯t kill anyone, unless it is in self defence. Would you be ok with that?¡± I asked. ¡°Sure mistress.¡± She answered. While she transformed into a gorgeous human with fiery red hair and blue eyes, I took 100 gold from my storage. Her eyes got wide when I dropped it in front of her. She quickly collected the coins and stored them. ¡°We will contact you once we have a plan. You can also return to your own plane if you prefer, we don¡¯t want to force you to stay here.¡± I said. ¡°I would rather not be tortured by Beira, so I will stay. Thank you mistresses.¡± She bowed to us and left. We watched her go. ¡°I feel ashamed.¡± Lucy said. ¡°I never thought about it like that. We took her freedom¡­¡± ¡°Yes, we need to fix this. We can dissolve the binding once this mess is over. Until then we just have to make sure not to abuse our power.¡± It was not an ideal solution but it had to do, for now. We started running in the opposite direction from Lilastheria. We also made sure to cover our trail. Once we were some distance away we turned back to our humanoid forms and stopped our invisibility. We walked in silence for a bit. ¡°We should get some food.¡± I suggested. Lucy giggled. ¡°Of course you are hungry. Maybe we grill something again? It¡¯s a beautiful night. Let¡¯s enjoy more time at the lake.¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. While the park had some lights along the paths, it was really dark if you just strolled around through the woods. Although we did have a bright moon tonight. Not that we needed it, unlike humans we could see just fine at night. I looked at the stars, they were beautiful. We found a nice place again. As we were pretty much alone in the park now, at least I assumed so, we stayed at a rather open field of grass. Lucy jumped into the water while I built a fire pit. Once it was burning nicely I followed her into the water. My mind was still in turmoil over today''s events. But for now I decided to just relax a bit. Water was simply calming. ¡°So what will you serve us for dinner?¡± Lucy asked while she floated next to me. ¡°Hm. Maybe some skewers. I have some meat and vegetables with me. We could just season them with salt and pepper.¡± ¡°You have skewers with you?¡± ¡°I have long, thin needles¡­¡± ¡°Why do you have long needles with you?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I just do.¡± I shrugged. While I told her that I was from a different world I never explained the details of my new life. It would be hard to explain a video game and the tendency to loot everything. We returned to land and I assembled the skewers. Lucy just stayed naked so I decided to do the same for now. I pulled a barrel of ale from my storage and we started to drink. We sat next to the fire, Lucy leaning on me as we enjoyed our food. We were both silent and content, lost in our thoughts. It was a bit more normalcy after a draining day. We were still enjoying our food when we heard people coming nearer. They carried torches and looked like guards. We put our clothes back on but otherwise remained seated. Our food was gone by now but we still enjoyed some ale. When the guards approached our fire one of them stepped forward and started to speak: ¡°Ladies Amaya and Lucy, would you please follow us back to the palace? We have questions about today¡¯s events.¡± ¡°You mean our encounter with Alexander? Sure. Did our guards not brief you?¡± ¡°Your guards are dead.¡± He answered while staring at us. ¡°How did that happen?¡± I managed to look surprised while I asked. ¡°Demons might have been involved. We would rather have that conversation elsewhere though.¡± I looked around. ¡°It¡¯s not like anyone is here to listen. Honestly, there are probably a lot more people eavesdropping in the palace.¡± I pointed out. He sighed. ¡°We would still like you to follow us to the palace. We need an official statement from you. And far more senior people than me will lead that interview.¡± ¡°Oh well, it is getting late anyway.¡± Lucy said. She stood up and started to stretch. We followed the guards out of the park. Our carriage was still waiting. I hoped the driver had a pleasant day at least. I watched the city roll by as we drove back. While the streets were illuminated there was almost no other light. It seemed that even with the magic technology around nobody had invented neon signs yet. Soon we arrived back at the palace. Chapter 76: Breakfast It was getting really late. While my body did not need that much sleep I was looking forward to a cosy bed. They wanted to ask us some questions though. Maybe I could just act like a typical noble and delay that. As we left the carriage the guards dismounted. Their captain approached us. ¡°Ladies, please follow me.¡± ¡°No.¡± I answered. ¡°It¡¯s been a long day, we will retire for the night. You can seek an audience tomorrow if you have questions.¡± He looked a bit worried. ¡°My ladies, I apologise, but I have to insist. My orders are to bring you to the royal inquisitor.¡± Lucy snorted. ¡°Good luck.¡± I just stared at the soldier in charge. ¡°We are foreign nobles and here on a diplomatic mission. So far we have been attacked in the bath and our guards'' fate suggests they tried again. Only us wanting privacy for a swim spared us another fight. We even were harassed by Alexander.¡± I waited a moment to let that sink in and continued: ¡°We are going to bed now. Tomorrow we will lodge a formal complaint about our treatment so far, and might discuss with the other delegations if the Empire¡¯s actions can be seen as an attack. Now go to your royal inquisitor and tell him to actually be useful and find some criminals.¡± Then I turned and walked away. Lucy followed while laughing. The guards did not dare to try anything. Not that they could have. I knew the way to our quarters but after a while a butler came running to guide us. As we entered our quarters we found Loriel and Elnora still awake enjoying a glass of wine. After we ensured some privacy with a spell we recounted today¡¯s events. ¡°What a mess.¡± Loriel said. ¡°At least it looks like you got away clean. Get some sleep, we will talk tomorrow.¡± While I had a lot to think about I managed to fall asleep rather quickly. The next day I got up, had a quick shower and walked into our kitchen for breakfast. Lucy was sitting at the large table with a large buffet in front of her. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Morning. You are just in time for food. I ordered room service for us.¡± She said, The table could normally seat ten people but right now half of it was filled with food. I saw sausages, bacon, cheeses, cured meats, eggs, a variety of bread, butter,... Besides the savoury part we had things like sweet pastries, honey and fresh fruit. And of course there was coffee. I stared at the feast for a moment and said: ¡°I love you.¡± It was a casual remark to show gratitude for her ordering breakfast. After a moment it dawned on me what I said and started blushing. Lucy just smiled. ¡°You are welcome.¡± I took a seat and started filling my plate. The palace had excellent cooks. While I enjoyed the food Lucy said: ¡°Loriel and Elnora are filing that complaint you threatened yesterday. Also, some imperial showed up to interview us but our elven guards told him to come back later.¡± ¡°Huh. They are up early. Wasn¡¯t it like 3 or 4 in the morning when we went to bed?¡± I wondered while I grabbed a nice looking pastry. ¡°Yes, but elves require less sleep.¡± She looked at me while pointing that out. I shrugged. ¡°I might not need it but I enjoy sleeping. I blame the cat part in me.¡± My attention returned to the treat in my hand. It was shaped like a football with some decorative glazing on top. As I bit into it I experienced a buttery flakiness, like a croissant. Then I reached the filling, a rich chocolate cream with pieces of fresh strawberry. It paired really well with the bitterness of my black coffee. ¡°Is it also the cat part in you that is always hungry? Should I start carrying treats?¡± Lucy teased. ¡°One should always carry treats! We should raid their kitchen. I bet I could fit it into my storage.¡± ¡°That would only last for a bit. You need to kidnap their cook as well.¡± ¡°Hm¡­ You know, we should hire a cook.¡± I suggested. ¡°We would need a combat cook with the amount of trouble we get into.¡± ¡°Maybe I should just take cooking classes instead? Something to figure out later I suppose.¡± My storage allowed me to just stock up on cooked food in a city and then eat it later. So we did not really need a private cook. Still, the idea appealed to me. ¡°So, what are our plans for today? Besides eating.¡± Lucy asked. ¡°We will probably have to talk to some imperial and answer a few questions about yesterday. I don¡¯t think giving a statement will take too long. Other than that, I will work on our bond to contact Lilastheria. That should also help us with a telepathic connection. We really need a good, secure way to talk in combat.¡± ¡°Yes, that would be useful.¡± Lucy agreed. Our conversation was interrupted as we heard the door open. Loriel was back. Chapter 77: Morning When she saw us having breakfast she took a seat and grabbed some coffee. ¡°Morning. I see you have finally awoken.¡± She teased. ¡°Morning.¡± I responded. Lucy just nodded at her. ¡°Any news?¡± She asked. After ensuring our privacy Loriel responded: ¡°Things are becoming interesting. Apparently high inquisitor Elias arrived yesterday. Beira is complaining to the emperor about his attack, or so the rumours say. There are a lot of interesting tales being whispered around the palace.¡± ¡°News travels fast I suppose.¡± I mused. ¡°This is an imperial court.¡± Loriel said. ¡°Gossiping is almost a profession around here. So is coming up with wild theories. I liked the one where you dismissed your guard because you needed privacy for an orgy in the park.¡± ¡°What?¡± I just stared at her confused. ¡°Orgy? With whom? Why?¡± ¡°You see, there are quite a few people who like the look of elves. But they don¡¯t want to admit it because they think humans are superior. So they paint elves as some uncivilised creatures of debauchery. Meanwhile they secretly wish they were part of something like that.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t get it. There was nobody else but us. Who are they claiming was participating in that? Why would anyone believe it? It makes no sense!¡± Thankfully I was too confused to blush at the thought of attending an orgy with Lucy. Loriel shrugged. ¡°Apparently there was a girl with Alexander that ran off and nobody has seen her since. Some people think you fought him over a woman and led her on the path of sin. You probably seduced random strangers in the park too.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I groaned and buried my face in my hands. ¡°Did you also hear any more useful rumours?¡± Lucy asked. She seemed to take this tale in stride. ¡°People talk about demons and some disturbance in the city last night. Alexander is demanding retribution for an unprovoked attack. There is a lot of tension between the different factions. I have a feeling this will be an interesting day.¡± ¡°Lucy said you also lodged a complaint on our behalf.¡± I mentioned. ¡°Yes. It will help sell our story and give them another headache.¡± ¡°Do you think there could be a civil war? What would happen if there is too much pressure on the inquisition?¡± I wondered. ¡°I doubt it will go that far. But I expected the empire to be a lot more stable than it seems. Our spies were not aware of how much strife there is between the factions. If things really escalate we have arrangements with Iron Rock and the dwarves to retreat together. Not that they could spare the resources to go after us anyway, if a civil war breaks out.¡± ¡°What about Lilastheria?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Any idea on how to bring her into the palace?¡± ¡°I am not as convinced as you are that it would be a good idea. But we could keep an eye on her and ensure the empire does not find her at least. Maybe we lean into the rumour and just say you found a local for your orgy?¡± Loriel said with a smirk. I groaned. ¡°Not you too. Although Lilastheria would probably love that idea.¡± Lucy patted me on the head. ¡°There, there.¡± I glared at her. ¡°Those rumours are about you as well.¡± She shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t mind. Who cares what those people think? It also distracts them from the truth.¡± I was not happy but she had a point. It would work as a cover in the future even. Maybe we could sneak away more easily like this. ¡°Anyway, I will leave you to your breakfast. I expect the Empire will send someone to try and question you again before lunch.¡± Loriel stood up and left, taking some coffee with her. I consoled myself with more tasty food. After I had my fill I relaxed on a couch and focused on our bond, trying to get a feel for it. There was a regular tier three telepathy spell that I knew. But it was short range and rather unsecure in the presence of other mages. As a sorceress I was able to modify spells. Usually that meant adjusting the duration, boosting its range, or other things like that. But could I attach it to our bond? Use that to increase the range and make it more secure? It was a path worth exploring. I was making progress when Lucy interrupted me. The Empire had sent someone again to inquire if we were available for an interview. I stood up and stretched, I had been sitting on that couch for at least an hour. Then we followed the guard they sent. It was time to meet the royal inquisitor. Chapter 78: Interview We were escorted down a guarded corridor and ended up in a lavish office. It was well organised. Papers were neatly stacked on the large desk in the centre of the room. There was a couch for two people on the right side of the office, with a coffee table and small liquor cabinet beside it. The room also featured some bookshelves, and portraits of people I did not know covered the walls. Presumably they were famous. The human man behind the desk looked like he was in his 60s. His face had some wrinkles showing his age, he was bald and had a long grey beard. Two chairs were on our side of the desk, they looked far less comfortable then the massive one the royal inquisitor was using. Two guards had followed us into the room and took positions next to the doors. ¡°Greetings, you must be the royal inquisitor.¡± I said and offered my hand. There was no reason to be impolite so far. He took my hand with a surprisingly firm grip. Not that his strength could match mine. I just smiled and squeezed a little. He frowned a bit but did not say anything. He also shook Lucy¡¯s hand. ¡°Ladies Amaya and Lucy, a pleasure. My name is Logan, please have a seat.¡± He said. I sat down and opened the conversation. ¡°I have a question. You are a royal inquisitor, right? How are you connected to the normal inquisition? Is it just a title because you are stationed at the palace?¡± It was something that I had wondered for a bit now. ¡°Ah, I understand your confusion. We report directly to the emperor. We are a separate unit that handles the most delicate tasks. Everyone is under an oath to not betray imperial secrets.¡± It sounded like the emperor did not fully trust the inquisition. I suppose they were a really powerful faction. So this unit existed to handle information he did not want in the hands of the high inquisitors. He could have chosen a better name though. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Thank you for clarifying that.¡± I said. ¡°You are welcome. Now, I do have some questions for you.¡± He talked in a grandfatherly tone of voice. ¡°Yesterday you had an unfortunate encounter with prince Alexander, is that correct?¡± Lucy snorted. ¡°You could say that. He insulted us, ordered his followers to attack us and even tried to get our own guards to arrest us.¡± She summarised. ¡°I turned him into the pig he is, in self-defence. He should be happy that he is alive.¡± I added. ¡°I see.¡± Logan answered. ¡°Unfortunately your guards will not be able to confirm that.¡± ¡°What exactly happened to them?¡± I asked. ¡°It is somewhat concerning what is going on in your city. It seems like a rather unsafe place. We are only unharmed because of our own powers.¡± He briefly lost his friendly face but quickly recovered. ¡°You should not have dismissed your guards in the park. You should have immediately reported the incident. Your behaviour was highly improper.¡± He sounded like he was chastising naughty children. My night elf body might have looked like it was in the 20s but I could have been hundreds of years old. Was this deliberate? A man in his position should be competent enough to realise that we were powerful and could be ancient. I stared at him. My face was cold. I put some menace into my voice. ¡°I have enough of this farce. We are here as guests. It seems that the Empire has forgotten what that means. Your nation is rotting from the inside. Demons freely walk your palace, a cult is operating in the inquisition and you guards are being murdered in the park. Clean up your mess. We are here as a courtesy. If you have nothing meaningful to say we will leave.¡± His eyes widened a bit at that. I also saw some sweat on his face. Was my demeanour that intimidating? Had I misjudged Logan? Maybe he was not competent. Maybe his main job was to deal with brats? Did he get his position simply because he was loyal? I was slightly confused but on guard. Maybe this was a test of some sort. Lucy watched slightly amused. ¡°I suppose we are leaving?¡± She asked. Logan was still silent. He was breathing hard now. I nodded at Lucy and stood up. The guards at the door looked very uncertain. Their hands were on the hilts of their swords. We just walked past them. They trembled slightly. Once we were out of earshot I asked Lucy: ¡°Was I really that scary?¡± ¡°Your eyes were kind of glowing. You had a certain¡­ presence. It felt like you regarded Logan as a simple bug. A thing far beneath your notice. It was sort of cool.¡± Lucy explained. ¡°But... I did not use any magic?¡± I should not have any aura powers that I was aware of. I knew several high level creatures, like dragons, possessed such abilities. Was I developing new powers? How? Chapter 79: Feelings I was contemplating the situation all the way back to our chambers. My arcane knowledge was of some use but I did not have a definitive answer. Besides spells there were inborn magical abilities, like my transformation into a black panther, or my Eyes of the Fey. It seemed my earlier display was such an ability that I developed. So far I had been under the assumption that the powers I got when entering this world were at their peak. I was already more powerful than a night elf should be. Maybe the fey ancestry of elves, combined with the fey themed class I had in the game, made some difference? My knowledge of the fairy realms was rather limited. They never played a major role in the game. Fairies were most certainly real in the world I was in now. Lords and ladies of the fey were supposed to be as powerful as demon lords and lived in a different dimension. A lot of their powers were elemental in nature, just like my own. I also had a warlock¡­ Back in our rooms I poured myself a nice glass of wine and settled back onto the couch. I wanted to get back to the power I was actually trying to develop. There was enough time to worry about my aura later. I still wanted to understand the bond and use it for telepathy. I closed my eyes and focused inward. I tried to visualise the bond between Lilastheria, Lucy and myself. It was easy to differentiate the two. I felt a lot of warmth and familiarity from Lucy. Partly because of our travels together but also because she was my warlock. I had gifted her a part of my soul and that still resonated with me. I poked and prodded the bond. I got a feeling of curiosity from Lucy in return. Having identified our connection I now tried to attach the telepathy spell to it. As I shaped the magic to adhere to the bond the spell jumped from a simple 3rd level all the way to 6th. As the spell completed Lucy¡¯s mind offered no resistance. She embraced the magic eagerly. ¡°Hello?¡± I thought at her. ¡°AMAYA! THIS IS GREAT!¡± she sort of shouted back. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Um, maybe think¡­ quieter thoughts? That was a bit loud.¡± I responded. ¡°Sorry! I am excited! I did not think you would come up with a solution this quickly. I felt something strange earlier. Like a warm, comforting embrace.¡± ¡°I apologise. I should have warned you what I was doing. But we should be able to communicate like this in the future. The spell lasts for one hour. It might also transmit some stray thoughts if we are not careful. Making proper use of it will need some training.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see how easily we can switch between talking and thinking.¡± I said out loud and opened my eyes. I was staring straight at Lucy who had sat down next to me. I was so focused on the magic I had not noticed. Her beautiful purple eyes looked at me in excitement. I briefly wondered what It would feel like to kiss her lips¡­ ¡°What was that?¡± She asked with a raised eyebrow. ¡°I felt something from the connection but I can''t quite identify it.¡± I blushed furiously. ¡°It was nothing!¡± I thought back at her. I did not quite trust my voice. I really needed to train using this spell properly. I stared down at the floor. Suddenly I felt her hand on my chin slowly lifting my face. My eyes widened in panic as I saw her mouth getting closer. Then she kissed me. My brain briefly stopped. It felt¡­ amazing. Way too quickly it was over. ¡°You know, I liked you for a long time. What you did for me I can never repay. And yet you have asked for nothing. Originally you said you would offer me a job. Yet you treated me like an equal. You don¡¯t order me around. We have become partners in this adventure.¡± She briefly paused and then continued in our minds: ¡°I noticed your looks when we went swimming. I have seen the desire in your eyes. Yet you never made a move. I appreciate that you did not want to pressure me. But it is ok, I like you too.¡± My heart was racing. But I gathered all the courage I had. This time I initiated our kiss. We were both breathing hard afterwards. Despite the confidence in her voice she was also blushing. ¡°I really like you Lucy. I have been hesitant about facing my feelings. I did not want to lose you.¡± I thought at her. She smiled and hugged me. I leaned into her embrace. I forgot about all of our troubles. Life was good. Chapter 80: Date We stayed on the couch for a while and cuddled in silence. ¡°What are we doing for lunch?¡± I asked after a while. ¡°It feels like we should celebrate.¡± ¡°Sure. Should we go into the city? I mean, screw the politics. We can just let Loriel and Elnora deal with it.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Tempting. I suppose they can take care of themselves. Let¡¯s make today about us.¡± After a moment I added: ¡°That means we do have to leave this couch though.¡± ¡°A terrible flaw in our plan.¡± Lucy agreed. After lounging for a little longer we finally got up. I stretched. ¡°You know, a walk might actually be nice after all this sitting.¡± ¡°Do you think they will send guards with us again?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°This time we just refuse them. If they insist we simply slip away. We don¡¯t need any company today.¡± We informed our elven guards that we would be out for the day. Then we left. We managed to get all the way to the front entrance before we were accosted. A butler approached us. ¡°My ladies, can I help you?¡± ¡°We are fine, just exploring your fine city for a day.¡± I answered. ¡°Shall I get you a carriage?¡± ¡°No, we enjoy walking.¡± Lucy answered. His left eyebrow twitched at that. ¡°That would be unbecoming for ladies of your statue.¡± Lucy snorted. I stared at the man and put some menace in my voice: ¡°Leave¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The man fled. Lucy moved her head towards my ear. I could feel her warm breath. My entire body tingled. She whispered: ¡°I like it when you show your power.¡± I blushed. ¡°Uhhh¡­¡± was my very coherent answer. With a little bit more glaring on my part we passed the guards and ventured into the city. We could easily match the speed of a carriage with some jogging. We followed the main road for a while. ¡°Any idea where we are going?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Not a clue. We could stay in the richer parts and find a nice restaurante. Maybe something really expensive to celebrate. I am sure this city has some renowned chefs. I guess we should have asked someone¡­¡± Lucy approached a patrol and simply asked: ¡°Excuse me, what would be the best restaurant in the city?¡± The guard was not sure what to make of us. ¡°My ladies, that would be the Smiling Dragon. But it has a very¡­ exclusive clientele and is rather pricey.¡± ¡°That is fine.¡± Lucy said, smiling. He still looked sceptical but gave us directions anyway. It led us to a mansion in the noble district. It was surrounded by a metal fence with golden tips. A stone path led from the gate to the front door. A nice garden surrounded the two story building. It seemed rather big for a restaurant but maybe the owner lived there as well. The door was guarded by a man in a suit. I approached him. ¡°Greetings. We heard of your fine establishment and wanted to inquire about dining here.¡± I was really hoping that a lot of gold and the foreign diplomat status would be enough to get us inside. While I was not that optimistic, trying would not hurt. ¡°So the ladies wish to make a reservation? Do you have a recommendation from someone?¡± ¡°No we have not. We are part of the delegation from the Dominion. It¡¯s our first time in your lovely city. We were also wondering if you had a table free today? Money is not an issue.¡± The man frowned. ¡°Do you have any proof of your standing?¡± I considered that for a moment. Maybe I could try my aura thing? Not to frighten the man, just to show some of my power. I closed my eyes and focused inward. I wanted to project nobility, authority, power,... I wanted the man to be in awe. When I opened my eyes they glowed in a purple light. I could almost feel the magic in the air around me. I spoke calmly. ¡°I am countess Amaya Delphinium, archsorceress of the Dominion. My word is my proof.¡± I got at least something right because the man did not run away in fear. He did look rather shocked though, his mouth hanging open. The way Lucy looked at me, combined with her earlier statement, almost made me blush. I closed my eyes again and focused on appearing normal. When I opened them someone came running through the front door. A wide eyed woman with red hair and fiery red eyes. Her dress matched her hair in colour. She quickly arrived next to us. ¡°What happened?¡± The man was still unresponsive and simply staring at me. I addressed the woman: ¡°We simply inquired about eating in your fine establishment. The man asked for proof of our standing so I provided one.¡± She gulped. ¡°I apologise for any offence. I can show you to a vip table immediately.¡± So maybe I did terrify someone. But if they had a free table we would gladly take it. This was my first official date with Lucy. I would just leave a big tip as an apology for frightening the lady. ¡°I am not offended. The man was doing his job, I respect that. I apologise for causing trouble. But we will gladly accept that vip table.¡± I said smiling. The lady still seemed nervous. ¡°Ah yes, no trouble, please follow me.¡± Chapter 81: Restaurant Once we entered the building we were led upstairs. The lady showed us to a private room with a round table, large enough for six people. The furniture was made of wood and had some decorative carvings. The chairs had red cushions that were soft and comfortable. The room had a marble floor and exposed wooden beams on the ceiling. The walls were decorated with several pictures of dragons. A large window offered plenty of natural light. I even spied some runes on the walls to keep conversations private. Once we took our seats, right next to each other, the lady gained some confidence. ¡°Welcome to the Smiling Dragon! My name is Miri and I will be your server today. The private dining rooms are a special service for our most esteemed customers. While there is one available most of the time I would still recommend making a reservation.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you, my name is Amaya and this Lucy.¡± I introduced ourselves. ¡°This is our first time in Unitera and we are new to your establishment.¡± ¡°I see. Based on your¡­ standing I could offer you our diamond membership! It is our highest tier and means you will have priority when booking. We also try to keep at least one private room free, to have it available for diamond guests on short notice. We currently have five locations within the Empire and are looking to expand. Soon you will even find us across the borders!¡± She paused and continued a bit uncertainly. ¡°And uh we have a special deal with the dwarven banks. The membership card is connected to your account and used to pay¡­¡± ¡°I do have an account, that would be fine.¡± ¡°Splendid! I shall send our accountant to set it up. Meanwhile, can I offer you any refreshments?¡± ¡°What do you recommend?¡± I asked. ¡°Perhaps some sparkling wine from elven sun grapes?¡± Miri suggested. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. I looked at Lucy, she nodded. ¡°Sounds good.¡± Miri bowed and left. Soon afterwards a dwarf in a black suit showed up. ¡°My ladies, I am Bjorn. I heard you are both joining our diamond membership?¡± ¡°Yes, can we have both cards connected to one account?¡± I asked. While I had given Lucy some money early on, it was nothing compared to my wealth. I was more than happy to share my account with her now. ¡°Certainly. What names do you want on your cards?¡± ¡°Amaya Delphinium.¡± ¡°Lucy Delphinium.¡± I blushed a bit at that. It¡¯s not like we were married. But when we first met I proclaimed her a part of my house. I was a bit proud though that she decided to use the name. The dwarf produced a special pen that was clearly magical. I assumed it came from a storage device. Then he withdrew a metal card. It looked like it was made from mithril with a diamond dragon in the top right corner. He carefully inscribed my name. Afterwards he pulled out a big metal plate. He slotted the now inscribed card on the top right. Then he placed his hand below that. The entire plate lit up, then he offered it to me. ¡°I will need a drop of your blood on the card and your hand on the plate. It will link the card to you and your account.¡± He also offered me a needle to prick my finger. Of course that would not pierce my skin, so instead I withdrew a much better knife from my storage. He did not look too surprised. Once I completed the process it was Lucy¡¯s turn. I had to touch the device as well, so her card could be connected to my account. Once the dwarf was done he bowed to us and left. It occurred to me that my restaurant membership was my only form of id in this world. I giggled. ¡°What made you laugh?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I just realised that I never had a way to identify myself. Back in Iron Rock everyone just accepted our word, probably because night elves were rare. Now I finally have something. And it¡¯s from a food place.¡± ¡°That fact alone proves your identity.¡± Lucy teased. I stuck out my tongue at her. I briefly saw a mischievous glint in her eyes and then my tongue was in her mouth, as she kissed me. She looked really smug afterwards. Before I could formulate a response Miri returned. She brought us our drinks and the menu. I grabbed the glass of sparkling wine and raised it. ¡°To our future! Whatever it holds, we shall face it together!¡± ¡°To our future!¡± Lucy responded and our glasses clinked. Then I took a sip of our drink. It was surprisingly fruity and delicious. It created a tingling sensation in my mouth. Somehow the flavour was magically enhanced. I also felt the alcohol, slightly. Maybe we could even get drunk here. Once I took a look at the menu I noticed the diamond section. There were a lot of labels next to the food. But instead of telling me which item might contain fish, peanuts, milk or such things it listed more dangerous substances. Like poisons or acids. Apparently this menu was meant for powerful people whose bodies could handle certain things. I was intrigued. Chapter 82: Meal There were a large number of interesting options. I enjoyed spicy food in my old life but I never went for the really crazy stuff. What could my new body handle? ¡°What do you think about the death scorpion curry? It sounds a bit scary but also delicious. My body should be able to handle spice, I hope.¡± ¡°I am not sure. It¡¯s not a dish I could have survived eating in the past. I think people would be more concerned with the toxin than the spice level. Somehow I doubt anything on this menu could scratch us though. It will only pose a danger to your funds, they don¡¯t even list prices!¡± ¡°I think that is a rich people thing. But we do have enough money, no worries. Order anything you like! I certainly will.¡± When Miri returned we both ordered our food. We chose the same starter, a blood vine salad. The dish looked rather pretty when it arrived. The vine was about the thickness of a cucumber. It was sliced into disks, which lay on a bed of sweet corn and carrot shavings. The vine itself was mostly green with some red lines within. A white sauce covered the dish. ¡°This tastes surprisingly meaty.¡± I said after trying it. ¡°Quite the rich flavour and a real enjoyable aftertaste.¡± ¡°I have heard about those vines. They latch onto animals, or people, and sedate them. Then they drain their blood. The meaty taste comes from that.¡± Lucy explained. Maybe I should have been horrified. But humans eat animals who eat other animals. So why not eat a plant that eats animals? I was quite happy with the taste and it certainly was something exotic. A little later the main dish arrived. I did go for the curry. It was served in a large bowl. I could see pieces of vegetables and some white meat (presumably scorpion) in the green sauce. It came with some flat bread as a side. Lucy had a wyvern steak with roasted potatoes. We both ordered some dwarven ale as well. I had a spoon for the curry but first I took a piece of bread and dunked it into the sauce. I was slightly nervous as I took my first bit. Flavour exploded in my mouth. I could definitely feel the heat. But it was not overwhelming. A deep and rich flavour was underneath. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°This is amazing!¡± I proclaimed. ¡°Do you want to try?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Lucy took a piece of bread and used it as a spoon. She also made sure to get some of the scorpion meat. ¡°Quite tasty, although not something I would want every day.¡± Lucy concluded. ¡°Probably really nice in the winter to warm you up.¡± I started devouring my dish. While it made me sweat a little I enjoyed every bite. ¡°Want to try some wyvern?¡± Lucy asked. She had a piece on her fork and held it in front of me. I took the offering. ¡°Interesting taste. Very tender. Kind of melts in your mouth.¡± ¡°Apparently they softened the meat with some acid. Wyvern is usually too tough to eat but like this it becomes rather delicious.¡± Lucy said. We finished our meal in silence. Simply enjoying the food, the ale and each other¡¯s company. ¡°Was everything to your liking? Would you be interested in some dessert?¡± Miri asked when she returned. ¡°It was excellent! You know, you should open a restaurant in my county. It¡¯s close to the black forest, so there should be some decently strong people around who might appreciate the menu.¡± It was just a random thought but Miri looked thoughtful. ¡°That is a generous offer, I will relay that to the owner.¡± Oops. I had never even set foot into my lands. But I am sure we would figure this out. I definitely wanted a restaurant like this nearby if I ever retired. Back to more important matters! ¡°I would like some ice cream and some coffee please. Anything you can recommend?¡± I asked. ¡°We have an iced coffee special. We roast the beans ourselves with magic to enhance the flavour. The coffee is served in a tall glass with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream on top. It comes with some biscuits as well.¡± Yes! This is what I have been looking for. ¡°I will have that!¡± ¡°For me as well.¡± Lucy said. Miri left and I quickly finished my ale. The dessert arrived soon and it was everything I wanted. ¡°We have to come here more often.¡± I stated. ¡°I hope we will find the time for that. Who knows how much longer we will be in the Empire.¡± ¡°True I suppose. But now that I know such cuisine exists I definitely want more of it.¡± We left the restaurant in a good mood. I paid 15 gold in total, including a tip. It was an insane amount of money for food but well worth it. The man at the entrance bowed deeply as we left. It was good to see that he recovered from the earlier encounter. ¡°What shall we do next?¡± I asked Lucy. Chapter 83: Interruption ¡°Hm. Let¡¯s just walk towards the city centre. Maybe we will find some interesting shops.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Sure.¡± I replied. We walked for a while until we heard an explosion. It was not next to us. Based on the sound, I would have guessed something happened a few streets away. ¡°Do you think this is an attack or an accident? Should we investigate?¡± I asked. This was supposed to be a day with Lucy. With no drama, or politics. But people could be in danger. ¡°We should go. Maybe someone needs help.¡± I concentrated on the spell to establish our mental communication again. ¡°I really hope this is just an accident.¡± I said mentally. ¡°I bet it¡¯s demons.¡± Lucy thought back. ¡°It¡¯s too far away to target us. I suppose they could be after a different delegation.¡± I suggested. ¡°There seems to be a lot of infighting in the Empire. Remember that Beira thinks the inquisition trashed her lab and stole her research. Maybe she is retaliating.¡± ¡°If they resort to open warfare in the streets the emperor is surely going to intervene.¡± ¡°Who knows? Maybe he is waiting for the other factions to weaken themselves before he steps in?¡± Lucy had a point there. Maybe the Emperor was using this whole mess to clean his house. While we had our mental talk we both used a flight spell. Once we were in the air we saw smoke coming from a building. It looked like a guard station. I could also see people running in the streets. They were being chased by demonic hounds. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Do you see that? It looks like there are demons coming from the guard station.¡± ¡°They look a lot like those we encountered in Iron Rock.¡± Lucy pointed out. I had a bad feeling about this. ¡°Can you help the people being chased in the streets? I will go inside the building.¡± ¡°Is it wise to split up? We don¡¯t know what is inside. And we also don¡¯t know how the Empire will respond. They might think we are involved because we are here.¡± ¡°Hm. You make a good point. I will summon Shani to clean up the streets and we will both enter the building and look for the source.¡± We landed in front of the compromised building. The metal sign on top was half melted but you could still read the word ¡°Guard¡±. The station was built from solid stone, it was two stories high and smoke was coming from a hole in the wall on the 2nd floor. Before we entered I used my spell to call Shani, the elemental lord. The air crackled and a small cyclone formed in front of me. It took the form of a female elf. Shani appeared. ¡°Hi! It¡¯s been a long time, what are we killing today?¡± After that first statement she looked at me and frowned. She floated a little closer, sniffed me and then peered into my eyes. I just let it happen, she did not seem hostile. ¡°HA! I knew it! You are one of the ladies!¡± She proclaimed. I had no idea what she meant. ¡°Um sure. It¡¯s nice to see you again Shani. We currently have some demons chasing people in the streets. I would like you to protect the people and stop the demons.¡± An unnaturally large grin formed in her face. Lightning shot from her hand and slowly took the form of an oversized scythe. ¡°As the lady wishes.¡± She gave me a short bow, then she was off. Now was not the time to reflect on her behaviour though, we had a building to investigate. I had already equipped my armour on the way here. But looking at Lucy I remembered that I was still carrying the demon lord¡¯s plate. I really should find a smith to adjust it for her. All she had was magical clothing. And her natural defence. Her body was quite durable, thankfully. ¡°We should enter through that hole.¡± Lucy suggested while pointing. I nodded. It was big enough that we could easily use it to get inside. The room we found was in shambles. The stone walls were scorched, the floor was charred and had a man sized hole in the centre. A lot of ash was covering the floor. A large cabinet was burning in the corner. I saw no people, dead or alive. I used a tier two spell to summon a ball of water. It took care of the fire. We made our way downstairs. I could hear noises coming from below. We followed them to the basement. The guard station had a few holding cells. Those were not meant for long term prisoners, mostly they were used for drunks. Only one cell was occupied. It held a young man who was crying. A hound was trying to get to him. The bars were already bent, it would only be a matter of time until they broke. I unsheathed my sword and decapitated the monster with one stroke. He looked at us with surprise and confusion. It quickly turned into relief. ¡°What happened here?¡± I asked. Chapter 84: Concerns ¡°It¡­ it was horrible! The guard¡­ he started screaming, clawing at his face. Then.. then he burst into flames and this thing emerged!¡± The man explained. This sounded just like what we saw in Iron Rock. A guard transforming was really concerning. Was that imperial infighting or something else? Was there truly a cult operating within the Empire? ¡°If they managed to put those runes on the guards this could happen everywhere in the city¡­¡± Lucy said. ¡°That is a horrifying thought. But we don¡¯t know when they were placed. I assume the victims were not aware, or willing. It could have been somewhere in their free time. A club, a bar,...¡± ¡°Or it could have been at a larger gathering of the guards. Imagine if they infiltrated the army barracks.¡± ¡°Surely they would notice¡­¡± ¡°They did not in Iron Rock.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°True, but that was a hidden base. Surely a permanent structure would have better defences. Not that we can do anything about it anyway.¡± The man we saved stared at us in confusion. I suppose we could have just talked telepathically. Then again, if we simply stood there in silence it might have been creepy. ¡°Shall we free him?¡± Lucy asked, pointing at the man. ¡°I don¡¯t know. He is probably in prison for a reason. And he should be safe now, we haven¡¯t seen any other demons in here. The streets might even be more dangerous.¡± While I disliked the Empire that did not mean I presumed anyone imprisoned by them to be innocent. I would not let the man die, but there was no reason to free him. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Lucy shrugged. The man opened his mouth a few times but no words emerged. He might have been too confused, or scared, to say anything. We left. Nobody else was alive inside the building. The streets outside were deserted. I saw a few bodies lying around. People that did not get away in time. I also saw a few dead hounds, Shani¡¯s work presumably. Since she was not around there were most likely more things to hunt. Oh no¡­ I suddenly went pale. Lucy noticed. ¡°Amaya, what is wrong?¡± She asked telepathically. ¡°I told Shani to stop the demons. But we don¡¯t know how many are inside the city. She might be bursting into secret labs. Maybe she is not just going after the obvious ones. I have no idea what powers she has to find them.¡± Lucy just laughed. ¡°That is not a problem, that would be amazing! They could never blame you for that! You gave a perfectly valid order. If the Empire just happened to have demons stashed everywhere that is not our problem.¡± I was not convinced the Empire would see it that way. But she did have a point and I relaxed a bit. They would not be happy but in the end they could not officially blame me. ¡°We should check for survivors.¡± Lucy said. She was right. I was capable of casting a low level healing spell. It would be enough to stabilise wounded citizens. Unfortunately the hounds were rather deadly. We only found a person I could save. There were no traces of surviving hounds. Shani did a good job. While we inspected the nearby streets a response from the Empire arrived. Four heavily armoured people with plate armour and one mage with a robe. They came by air and landed next to us. Two of them had a sword and shield, two had halberds, and the wizard was unarmed. He was the one who spoke. ¡°What happened here?¡± They looked tense but the swords remained sheathed, for now. ¡°I am Countess Amaya Delphinium of the Dominion. We heard an explosion and came to investigate. Someone unleashed demons in your guard station nearby. We were able to save one prisoner and were looking for survivors right now. I have also summoned an elemental and tasked it with hunting those demons.¡± I stated. They clearly recognized my name. This looked like an elite unit, it would make sense if they were informed of visiting diplomats. ¡°Ladies, your help is appreciated. Our job is to secure the area and deal with threats so the investigators can find out what happened. Since I cannot confirm your identity I am afraid I will have to ask you to wait for them.¡± I simply pulled out my diamond membership card. It did not have a picture but it was magically linked to me. Channelling some magic into it made the name light up. The wizard''s eyes widened as he saw the card. ¡°Uh¡­ that is enough, yes. I apologise for doubting you.¡± He bowed. I did not blame the man. I could have been an imposter. He was just doing his job. ¡°No problem, I understand. Also, I have to warn you that there is a chance this is happening elsewhere in the city as well. We have seen similar magic in Iron Rock and a lot of people could be compromised and used to summon demons. With magic sight you should be able to see the runes on them. They can be dispelled if you discover them before they activate.¡± The man turned rather pale at my explanation. Chapter 85: Calm before the Storm With the guard handling the aftermath we took flight and left. ¡°So what do we do now? Should we look for Shani? Or go back to the palace?¡± Lucy asked mentally. ¡°Hm. We could check up on Loriel back at the palace. But she can handle herself. This does not seem to be aimed at the delegations. Unless it is a distraction for a bigger strike¡­¡± ¡°It does look more like imperial infighting, true. Also, it interrupted our date. Could they not have done that tomorrow?¡± Lucy complained. ¡°It is terribly rude of them, yes. Now I almost hope Shani ruins someone''s day.¡± ¡°You know what? Maybe we should get coffee. Let the Empire deal with this, for now.¡± While our dinner was not that long ago the time was always right for some coffee. ¡°You truly know the way to my heart. Let¡¯s go.¡± I expected to see more explosions. Shani was not subtle in the past. But the city seemed quiet. Maybe this was an isolated incident? Just a warning? Maybe someone simply wanted to spread fear? Thankfully it was not really my problem to solve. Lucy took the lead and landed next to a small cafe. It was located in a small street and had a few tables outside. The area looked decent but not overly fancy. After landing we settled down at a small table. There were not too many people around but we got some stares. I suppose someone arriving by flight was not the most common occurrence. A waitress immediately hurried over to us. ¡°Greetings my ladies, what can I get you?¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Two black coffees and a big chocolate sundae to share.¡± Lucy ordered. I had no idea how she knew the menu. Maybe she just guessed. She knew my tastes so I just relaxed and allowed her to treat me. As we were sitting something occurred to me: ¡°Lucy, is it normal that places have chairs that work with tails? I don¡¯t remember it ever being an issue so far.¡± The backrest on our current chairs was not completely closed so her tail could poke through it. ¡°While the Empire is rather human centric, high class establishments tend to pride themselves on accommodating everyone. Well, everyone who has money and power. I have also heard that some dragons keep their tails when shifting to a humanoid form.¡± She paused, as our order arrived, to thank the waitress. Then she continued. ¡°When it comes to middle and lower class establishments it depends. Certain chair designs have bars as a backrest. So there are natural holes anyway. They might not be designed for tails but work just fine. Often the decor of a tavern depends on the people they want to attract. Thankfully my tail is rather fluffy and it does not hurt to lean against it, or sit on it. While I prefer to have a hole for it I can manage either way.¡± While I digested that information Lucy took a big spoon full of ice cream covered in chocolate sauce. Her tail swished contentedly. ¡°I could help you brush it in the future¡­¡± I offered. Lucy smiled. ¡°I would love that. Where does this sudden interest come from? You have never paid much attention to it until recently.¡± I blushed slightly. ¡°Um¡­ I always loved your tail. I just felt it would be inappropriate to stare¡­¡± ¡°I like the thought of you doing inappropriate things with me.¡± Lucy teased telepathically. My cheeks burned as my imagination went wild. I quickly tried to distract myself with ice cream. Lucy¡¯s knowing smirk was not helpful. I had to admit I enjoyed her teasing though. We spent some more time at the cafe. I was beginning to think today¡¯s excitement was over when I heard a siren. Lucy sighed. ¡°If there is an alarm going off in the city that means something really big is happening. We might have to get involved, again.¡± She said, ¡°Shani should be around for another 30 minutes, if she did not get defeated. Somehow I think she will be in the middle of this.¡± ¡°I am not betting against that.¡± We both got up and Lucy placed some coins on the table. At least we had already finished. We flew straight up to get a better look. Smoke rose from several parts of the city. But one location looked really bad. Black clouds started to gather on top of it. ¡°Is that a military compound?¡± I wondered. ¡°Uh¡­ I think that is the main garrison of the city, yes.¡± Lucy said. ¡°And with all that lightning Shani is probably there¡­¡± ¡°Eh sure, but clearly there is more going on in the city.¡± Lucy pointed at all the places where smoke was visible. ¡°True, but we might have to take this more seriously.¡± Lucy nodded. Her spear was already in her hand as we flew towards the gathering storm. Chapter 86: Storm As we got closer I noticed the wind getting stronger. There was also some rain visible underneath the localised storm cloud. While most of the city still enjoyed sunshine, dark clouds covered the barracks. There was no lightning coming from the sky though. Hopefully that meant Shani did not cause too much collateral damage. At least the rain would deal with some fires the demons might have started. As we got closer I could hear the sound of combat. Weapons clashing, people screaming and the roars from the beasts of hell. Also there was a familiar laughter¡­ ¡°AHAHAHAHAHAH¡± ¡°Is that Shani?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°It does sound like her¡­¡± I answered. The barracks were a rectangular compound. It started with a wall and a gate, which led to a square. The square had buildings on three sides, the one in the back was the largest. They were all three stories high. I saw multiple smashed windows, scorch marks on the walls and even some holes. The real fighting happened in the square though. The huge open area looked like a war zone. Hundreds of soldiers engaged demons of all forms and sizes. Not only hounds were present. A three metre tall fiend was battling Shani. It used a naginata and was wearing black plate armour blazing with crimson runes. Two black horns poked through the helmet. The armour even covered its tail, only the big ashen wings were unprotected. Despite the impressive appearance of the enemy Shani seemed to enjoy herself. She expertly dodged any strikes while slicing away with her scythe. The demon¡¯s armour was dented in several places. Shani¡¯s hits also electrocuted the target, and it became clear that the fiend was lacking a proper defence against it. The Empire¡¯s regular soldiers formed shield walls to deal with the physically superior demons. Meanwhile, more elite troops hunted the bigger enemies. I saw a surprising lack of magic on the Empire¡¯s side. Where was their mage corps? ¡°The Empire¡¯s resistance seems weak. I would have expected more from the garrison in the capital city. What do you make of this?¡± I asked Lucy. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Hm. Do you think they lured most of them away? How did so many demons appear here anyway? We only saw hounds emerge from those runes so far.¡± ¡°Lured them away? That is a good point. I suspect they unleashed those hounds all over their city. They could have compromised a lot of people and created emergencies everywhere. I am not sure how they got all the demons here though. That would take a lot of preparation and probably some traitors higher up in the military.¡± ¡°We should go and help, we can solve the mystery later.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s go.¡± While Lucy engaged the enemies with her spear I looked around the battlefield. The rain made everyone wet but only small puddles had formed so far. That was good, I did not want to electrocute any soldiers by accident. I had a 3rd level spell that would call three bolts of lightning from the sky. It only worked outdoors, needed clouds and was called Storm Bolts. It was fairly powerful but also situational. I focused on my sorcerous power and began to modify the spell. By pushing it into a higher tier I could add additional bolts. I settled on a 7th tier slot giving me 15 bolts. Mentally I selected all the targets I wanted, mostly demons that the soldiers had troubles with. When I unleashed the spell the sky lit up. 15 bright bolts appeared simultaneously. The entire area lit up briefly, blinding most people. The whole square was filled with the screams of dying demons, followed by deafening thunder. The fighting stopped briefly as most combatants were stunned. Shani used that distraction to decapitate her prey. Somehow she got her scythe in between the armour and the helmet. Lucy did not hesitate either and began stabbing the closest enemies. I unsheathed my sword and got to work. Slicing and stabbing I charged through the demons. They had no defence that could withstand my sword. Lucy was a whirlwind of death on the other side and Shani was gleefully cleaving demons in half. Soon it was over. The rain had stopped and the clouds started to clear. Our magical clothing was durable enough that it withstood the fighting. But we were covered in blood. While the rain earlier helped a bit we were still rather dirty. Lucy, Shani and myself met in the centre of the square. The elemental lord was grinning. ¡°What happened here Shani?¡± I asked. ¡°A lot of fun happened! When you said I should stop the demons I started slicing some hounds. But I soon ran out so I kept looking for more. There were quite a few in the sewers! I ended up in this big room down there full of glowing circles. There was a lot of screaming when I showed up! And a lot of slicing.¡± ¡°How did you end up in the garrison?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I saw the big guy come through a circle and followed it. Seemed like he would be fun.¡± Shani grinned, showing a lot of teeth. ¡°And he was.¡± While we were talking a tall woman emerged from the largest building. Based on her uniform she was an officer. Her clothing had several cuts and the glaive in her hand was bloody, that meant she had participated in the battle. The woman¡¯s eyes were a deep red, as was her hair. She looked human otherwise. The woman was limping slightly as she approached us. Chapter 87: Garrison ¡°I am vice captain Iris, thank you for your help.¡± She introduced herself. ¡°I am Amaya, these are Lucy and the elemental lord is Shani.¡± I responded while pointing at my companions. She only looked surprised at the mention of the elemental lord. I suspected she already knew about Lucy and myself without any introduction. ¡°While I am grateful for the assistance I was hoping you could tell me what is going on.¡± Iris said. ¡°We don¡¯t really know and can only speculate. There are runes that have been placed on people. When activated they are consumed as a sacrifice that summons a demon. We saw those back in Iron Rock as part of the inquisition''s plan to cause unrest.¡± She frowned at that accusation but did not comment. I continued: ¡°Today we saw the same thing at a guard station, and with the disturbances all over the city it might have happened elsewhere as well. Shani found some rituals in the sewers and followed the demons here. That is all we know.¡± ¡°That is disturbing.¡± She answered. ¡°It is hard to believe that the inquisition is involved. But they might have been infiltrated.¡± She looked around the devastation. ¡°We certainly have been. Pulling that off can only work if the guards help to cover it up. This attack took some long term planning. After the guard tower incident a meeting was called and the captain left for the palace. Just after that a lot of smaller things happened. We kept sending out units and started mobilising the garrison. I was in my office when the fighting started. I did not have enough time to put on my armour. All I could do was grab my weapon and fight when they burst through the door.¡± ¡°Where are your mages?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Some are out there investigating the disturbances but there should be a lot still here¡­¡± Iris frowned and looked around. ¡°SERGEANT HARPER, WHERE ARE MY MAGES?¡± She shouted. A man hurried over and saluted. ¡°They eh¡­ they left, vice captain.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°What do you mean, left?¡± She replied. ¡°They deployed before the demons arrived.¡± ¡°You are telling me, that a hundred mages walked out the front door and nobody informed me? Who ordered that?¡± The sergeant became visibly paler. ¡°I have no idea what orders they had ma¡¯am. You would need to ask the guards at the gate. I assumed you were the one who gave the order.¡± They both looked towards the gate. I saw a few dead bodies there. We would find no answers that way. Iris stared at her sergeant again. She seemed to lack the power to kill someone with her gaze, but she gave it a pretty good try. She was cold and calm. ¡°Find out where my mages are. And the next time a vital part of this garrison walks out the door you better tell me.¡± That she was not screaming made it even more menacing. The man saluted and ran away. ¡°So your elite units are deployed all over the city. Your only way of communicating with them is magic but your mages are missing. They are also the only ones who could investigate the summonings in the sewer.¡± I summarised. Iris winced. ¡°You forgot that the captain is away so I will get the blame for everything¡­¡± ¡°We won''t be able to finish our date it seems.¡± Lucy said telepathically. ¡°I am afraid so. This has gotten too big to ignore. As much as I want the Empire to suffer the consequences of their folly we can¡¯t just walk away. There are still a lot of innocents in this city.¡± ¡°While I agree in principle, Unitera is big. We can¡¯t be everywhere. Our options are basically to investigate the summoning in the sewers or go back to the palace. I have to say I am a bit worried about Loriel.¡± I looked into the direction of the palace. ¡°There is no visible fighting so far. Obviously we don¡¯t know what is happening inside. I would not be surprised if there was a large boring meeting with a lot of shouting. A lot of people in charge like to talk about doing things instead of doing things. With Unitera under attack the last thing the Empire would want is to provoke other nations. The delegations should be fine.¡± I concluded. ¡°I trust your judgement.¡± Lucy answered. ¡°Iris, we are going to investigate the sewers.¡± I said. ¡°While I appreciate the help you are guests in our city. Diplomats even. Your involvement will cause a lot of issues for me¡­ Not that I could stop you.¡± She sighed. ¡°What is more important to you anyway, your career or your people?¡± Lucy asked. Iris looked around. She took a deep breath. ¡°You are right. Screw politics. I will send someone with you and tell them to follow your lead.¡± Chapter 88: Sewers Iris started to limp away and shout more orders. I looked at Shani. ¡°The summoning spell will soon end, I will have to cast it again so you can stay around and show us where you found the ritual.¡± I said. ¡°Yaaay! More slaughter!¡± Shani cheered. Could I simply extend the spell instead of dismissing her and casting it again? I focused on her and my magic. Modifying spells was a natural thing for sorcerers. But usually one would do it before the casting. Also I was dealing with a 9th level spell. That meant it could not be pushed into a higher tier to extend the duration anyway. I started to truly ponder the problem. What was a summoning anyway? Shani once told me that a lower level spell just created a body. Those elementals were not real beings, they were not self aware, just temporary magical constructs. Once their power ran out they disappeared. But lords were real, they existed in another dimension and answered the call. Why would Shani return after the spell ran out? I examined the summoning spell in my head. It was a curious thing. The elemental lord spell sent a call to a different plane. There an interested creature could answer. They would enter in a short term two hour contract to serve the caster. The magic would then bring them to their new master. The reason for the duration was the contract that protected the summoner. It would be possible to summon a lord forever, just like with demons. They would reside in this world until slain or banished. They also would have no reason to follow one''s commands¡­ I eyed Shani. She looked like a beautiful elf made of wind. With a creepy smile that showed way too many teeth. Unleashing her upon the world might be a bad idea. Musings aside I felt the contract between us. I found a way to feed it another 9th circle slot to extend the duration. Any other ideas would have to wait. ¡°Huh? Oh¡­ that tickles.¡± Shani giggled. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. It seemed to have worked. While I was lost in thought a soldier had arrived and was standing next to Lucy. When I looked at them the woman introduced herself. ¡°My name is Alexis, I have been assigned under your command.¡± She had a bow in her hand, a quiver on her back, was wearing chainmail and had a short sword strapped to her side. There was a scar on Alexis left cheek, her eyes were green and her short hair was black. ¡°She has been ordered to follow us and make it clear we are working with the guard, in case we meet others.¡± Lucy said. It seemed that they already talked while I was lost in thought. I nodded. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s follow Shani and see what we find. In battle, focus on survival and let us handle the bigger threats.¡± I said. We started moving. Just outside the garrison there was a big hole in the street. It was a curious location for the demons to emerge. I suppose they were fast enough to rush through the gate before the soldiers could close it. The smell coming from the sewer was terrible but not really worse than the battlefield. There were walkways on both sides with the dirty water in the middle. At least we did not need to get our boots wet. Shani floated down into the hole and I jumped after her. Lucy had the foresight to grab Alexis and carry her. It was a small jump for our enhanced bodies but a normal person would injure their legs. We kept following Shani deeper into the sewers. As we moved away from the hole it got a lot darker. ¡°Um excuse me, but do you have some light?¡± Alexis asked. She was the only one of our small group who could not see in the dark. I could use a simple spell to conjure a ball of light. But it would make us all easily visible from far away. Instead I chose a different solution. I placed my hand on top of her head. The spell I used would grant her 8 hours of darkvision. Alexis gasped. ¡°That should do the trick.¡± I said smiling. ¡°Thank you.¡± She responded. As we continued I saw a few demon corpses. It looked like Shani¡¯s work. It took us about 15 minutes of walking to reach the source of the invasion. There was a big hole in the sewer walls that led into a large chamber. Going by the surprised look of our escort, the existence of said room was not common knowledge. I suspected that the entrance was secret, before someone blew up the wall. I could see traces of magic in the room. There were multiple ritual circles on the floor. And a lot of corpses. Demons, cultists and victims by the looks of it. Shani certainly interrupted something down here. The biggest circle still had unused ingredients in its centre. It was not quite finished but when I looked closer I could see magic flowing into it. Something was still feeding the spell. Suddenly a door on the far wall opened and a man emerged. He was wearing a black robe covered in red runes. His staff looked like charred wood with a ruby on top. While his head was bald he did have a full black beard. ¡°Oh my, what do we have here?¡± He said. Chapter 89: Unexpected Encounter The man seemed awfully relaxed. He was either really powerful or simply overconfident. I pointed at the magic circles. ¡°Is this your doing?¡± I asked. ¡°Indeed. Your elemental almost ruined my hard work. Thankfully it was dumb and easily distracted.¡± He smiled. ¡°RUDE!¡± Shani shouted. ¡°So what is your goal here? Even if we would not have shown up, the Empire has more than enough people to deal with this. You are doing some damage, embarrassing them in front of some diplomats, but in the greater scheme of things you haven¡¯t achieved anything.¡± I said. ¡°The Empire is weak! Led by foolish children! We will forge it anew in the fires of hell! ¡°He sounds really excited.¡± Lucy commented. ¡°But what does his circle actually do? Just summon more demons?¡± ¡°Hm.¡± I studied the ritual. Lucy and Shani would have my back in case the man tried anything. ¡°Ah, you are interested in my magic.¡± The man noticed my examinations. ¡°It is beyond your understanding! But fear not, soon you will become part of it!¡± I ignored him and explained to Lucy: ¡°He is trying to create a portal to hell. Looking at the magic flow it probably feeds off the deaths caused by the demons. But he is not getting anywhere with this. I can only assume he vastly overestimated the damage his forces would do, or he planned on a mass sacrifice that has not happened. At least not yet.¡± ¡°A portal to hell?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°A permanent one? Could demons just come and go as they please?¡± ¡°No. It would require a constant flow of magic just to remain open. Further, you have no control over who uses it. That is why most people prefer summoning to portals.¡± ¡°So he is just an idiot?¡± Lucy asked. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°HA. WHO IS THE DUMMY NOW?¡± Shani shouted. ¡°Oh you foolish children¡­ BEHOLD MY POWER! YOUR BLOOD SHALL FEED THIS CIRCLE! LET THE EMPIRE BE REBORN!¡± The man shouted louder and louder. Red lightning covered his skin. He raised his hand and pointed a finger at me. I raised an eyebrow in return. ¡°DIE!¡± Lightning shot from his fingertips. A crimson glow illuminated the room. The bolt went straight into me¡­ and did nothing. ¡°Interesting.¡± I said. ¡°That was a 3rd tier lightning bolt but infused with something¡­¡± The man stared. ¡°Impossible¡­ that¡­ that was blood lightning! It bypasses normal magical defences!¡± I was not sure what he considered normal. But electricity could not harm my body. And a low tier spell like that would not kill us anyway. Meanwhile Lucy raised her own hand. A normal bolt of lightning shot forth and hit the man. He screamed as the electricity wreaked havoc in his body. Then he collapsed. It looked like he was no longer breathing. ¡°Ooops. Maybe that was too much¡­¡± Lucy said. ¡°I think he was just some mid level management.¡± I commented. It would have been nice to have someone to interrogate. Maybe we could find others. Surely this madman had help. As I approached the downed man, runes lit up all over his body and he dissolved into ash. The circle on the floor glowed brighter. It was not enough to complete the spell, yet. ¡°Amaya, can you stop the ritual?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Should be easy enough. I just need a little bit of time to make sure the energy already collected does not explode in my face.¡± Of course that is when we heard footsteps. A door in the back burst open and a lot of soldiers emerged. ¡°IN THE NAME OF THE INQUISITION, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!¡± Someone shouted. The soldiers parted and a familiar figure emerged. Elias. ¡°I knew the Dominion¡¯s pets were involved. We caught you red handed!¡± He said. ¡°Um, excuse me high inquisitor but they helped defend the garrison. They are working with us and have the full permission of vice captain Iris to investigate.¡± Alexis said, standing straight but looking rather nervous. ¡°Ah, so we have a traitor then. We shall investigate this after we have dealt with those foreign spies.¡± Elias responded. ¡°Really? Are you going to attack foreign diplomats? Don¡¯t you have enough problems already?¡± I asked. ¡°Attack? Only if you resist arrest¡­¡± He said with a smirk. ¡°Let¡¯s just kill him, he is asking for it.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Great idea!¡± Shani agreed. ¡°I am all for beating him up, but maybe we should keep him alive¡­¡± I said. Technically, nobody could blame us for self defence. But it would certainly help if we did not kill a high inquisitor. ¡°So we can torture him afterwards!¡± Shani exclaimed. Alexis turned rather pale. I looked at her. ¡°You can report back to your captain and tell her what is going on. It does not look like they have people in the sewers, they all came from one direction.¡± There was a chance that someone would intercept her. But staying would be far more dangerous for Alexis. Protecting her in a battle could be tricky. She nodded and ran. A few soldiers tried to give chase but I was prepared. As she left through the hole into the sewers I sealed the passage with a stone wall. Lucy cracked her knuckles. ¡°I am going to enjoy this.¡± Chapter 90: Escalation I looked around the enemy soldiers. It was hard to tell how many there were but probably over 100. If we got into a real fight some of them would die. But they made their choice. Although I might try for non lethal blows when possible. Still, I gave them one last chance to walk away. ¡°Your leader has betrayed the Empire and is about to attack foreign diplomats to further his own schemes. This is my only warning. Attack and suffer the consequences of your actions.¡± I said. Some of them looked nervous and uncertain, others determined. Lucy twirled her spear looking eager. She still had a score to settle with Elias. ¡°Kill them.¡± Elias said. And so it began. Several arrows and low tier spells were unleashed in our direction. While we had our little standoff Lucy and myself were not idle. Both of us used Storm¡¯s Embrace. Arrows shattered when they met our armour of wind. Bolts of fire and ice tried to pierce out protection, and failed. The inquisition followed their opening salvo with a charge. I admired their courage, or stupidity, but I doubted their swords and spears would fare well against a 9th circle spell. Elias stood at the back, two knights standing protectively in front of him. They certainly had magical equipment. Encased in plate armour and equipped with sword and shield they looked far more dangerous than the normal soldiers. The main force was only wearing chainmail for protection. Shani met the enemy charge with her own. People went flying as the elemental unleashed blasts of wind with her swings. Lucy was right behind her and used the opening to strike at Elias. Her spear was deflected by a shield as the knights tried to stop her. I drew my sword and entered the fray. The normal soldiers had no hope of stopping me. The few that dared to enter my path were quickly disabled. Lucy was fending off the two knights, who seemed to be actually competent. They bought Elias enough time to unleash a spell. Flame left his outstretched hand and raced towards Lucy. The knights, no doubt expecting the move, stepped out of the way. There was no scream as fire engulfed her. Instead a spear stabbed out of the inferno, nearly catching a knight off guard. Lucy reappeared, slightly singed but not seriously hurt, and resumed her assault. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Her second opponent saw me close in on Elias and moved to intercept. I was curious how their skill with the sword would compare to my own. Using a shield and heavy armour gave them a distinct advantage. In theory at least. The knight could not compete with my speed. I effortlessly danced around my enemies sword, while poking weak points in his armour, drawing blood. Suddenly I felt a pulse of magic underneath my feet. With my fast reflexes I easily avoided the stone spikes trying to impale me. As the spell concluded a ten metre wide circle was filled with spikes. Two of the normal soldiers were caught in the spell, impaled by their own commander. Elias did not seem to care. As the enemy knight charged me again I unleashed a bolt of lightning. The enemy''s shield glowed and my magic encountered a golden barrier. While cracks formed in the translucent dome, protecting the knight, it held. The tier three magic I used was not strong enough. My opponent dismissed his barrier and we engaged once more in melee combat. For my next move I went with something stronger. While we exchanged blows I was concentrating on another spell. Portals opened around the knight and black chains emerged. The barrier he tried to summon shattered as the chains wrapped around his arms and legs. There was a panicked cry as the knight desperately fought to break free. He failed. The knight hung helplessly in the air, spreadeagled, as his sword fell to the ground. While I had disabled my opponent, Lucy was not that merciful. Her spear had penetrated a weak point around the enemy''s knee. There was a short scream as she released a spell directly into the knight. Smoke rose from underneath the armour as electricity surged through the victim. He fell to the floor, unmoving. It was hard to tell if he was alive. As I looked around, I saw that all regular soldiers were defeated as well. While some had fled most were lying on the floor. Some dead, some incapacitated. It looked like Shani had contained her murderous urges to some degree. She was whistling a happy tune while she casually strolled towards Elias. ¡°YOU HAVE BROUGHT THIS UPON YOURSELF!¡± He shouted. Suddenly the world was filled with flame. An intense heat washed over me. Even covered by the protective air from Storms Embrace the heat was too much. My skin started to blister and while my armour was fine, my magical clothing was charred in a few places. A wave of force followed, the ground underneath my feet fell away and debris impacted my shield of air. Thanks to my spell I floated instead of falling. As the fire disappeared I could see once more. At first it was mostly dust but soon it settled and I saw Lucy float beside me. She was protected by the same spell. Her skin looked worse than mine but she was still in fighting shape. Our enhanced healing was already at work, fixing our injuries. ¡°THE LEAST I WILL DO TO YOU IS TORTURE YOU BASTARD!¡± I heard Shani shout. The elemental was covered in dark spots. As I looked around it became clear that we were no longer in a room underneath the city. We were floating on top of a crater. The ceiling, the building on top, it was all destroyed. Elias was lying in the centre, groggily getting to his feet. The surrounding buildings looked like warehouses. At least we were not in a residential area. But people might have been working here. How many innocents did he blow up together with his own soldiers? The knight I had captured hung limply in the chains. I ended the spell and he fell to the ground. All three of us converged on Elias. Chapter 91: Fury I was still shocked about all the senseless destruction. I had seen death and cruelty since entering this world. But against your own people? How could any leader blow up his loyal soldiers? As Elias was getting to his feet, sewage flowed into the crater. I used Chains of Torment on him, so he would not have a chance to escape. He managed to stumble one step before the portals opened. ¡°You¡­ you ruined EVERYTHING!¡± Elias shouted as he hung there, immobilised. Then he coughed. It looked like the spell hurt him too. Suddenly I remembered. The ritual circle! Elias blew it up with his spell. All the energy already collected was detonated. It caused a secondary explosion. I studied Elias with my Eyes of the Fey. There was some demonic energy coursing through him. Was the entire area tainted now? I felt fine, aside from some burns. I studied Lucy, thankfully I did not see any corruption. Shani looked the worst between us. ¡°Do you want to return home Shani?¡± I asked. ¡°What? No, I want to peel his skin off!¡± She responded. Torture. Did he deserve it? Did anyone? I looked around at the destruction. Anger rose inside of me. ¡°We could let him drown in sewage.¡± Lucy suggested. The crater was slowly filling and Elias was held securely at the bottom. We were floating a bit above him. ¡°Are you ok Lucy?¡± I asked. I should have done so sooner. She smiled. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I have endured worse. And my skin is already healing. Even the clothes will make it once I push magic into the enchantment for repairs.¡± Lucy looked at Elias again. ¡°What do we do with him? Are those chains stopping him from using magic?¡± She asked. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°They will stop him from moving, teleporting or changing his shape. Unfortunately, it¡¯s not easy to stop someone from using magic entirely. But he is in pain, which will make it hard to concentrate. The demonic energy in him should also interfere with his magic. This seemed like his trump card. I doubt that he has anything left we need to fear.¡± I looked around once more. ¡°And there is nobody else that he could harm¡­¡± Elias screamed. Shani was slowly dragging her scythe across his skin. She did not cut deep but she was channelling some electricity. ¡°Just keeping him from using magic.¡± She said with a deranged grin. The chains amplified the lighting even further. His skin was smoking at the points where he was restrained. ¡°People are coming.¡± Lucy said and pointed towards several flying figures approaching at high speed. It looked like the Empire¡¯s response was arriving. I did not recognize any of them. I briefly debated killing Elias before they arrived. But before I could make up my mind they were here. Twenty-One people in total. Sixteen royal knights in shining armour, four mages in elaborate robes and a clear leader. The person in charge was covered completely in plate armour. It might have been mithril. His impressive shoulder pads were more for form than function. The cape could have been magical but I suspected it was mostly for style. ¡°I am knight captain Theo of the royal guard, explain yourselves!¡± I sighed. ¡°As you might have noticed, demons were summoned in your city. We helped the garrison fend off an attack and then investigated. We found the source in the sewers. As I was about to safely disable the last ritual the inquisition barged in. We had a liaison from the garrison to vouch for us. The inquisition attacked anyway. Elias blew everything up, including his people. And the ritual. The area might be contaminated with demonic energy now.¡± I summarised. ¡°LIES,¡± Elias shouted. Then he screamed as Shani shocked him, again. ¡°STOP¡± Theo shouted. ¡°UNHAND THE HIGH INQUISITOR. We shall take everyone into custody and will take your formal statements. If your story is true he shall be punished by the Emperor, you have my word.¡± ¡°No.¡± I said, closing my eyes. I would not let him get away. I would not watch as he walked free. I did not trust the Emperor¡¯s judgement. I embraced my anger, my frustration and when my eyes opened again, they glowed. I felt my power stir, awaken. Dark clouds formed above us. Rain began to fall and lightning flashed in the sky. I did not raise my voice and yet it seemed to cover a large area. I spoke calmly. ¡°Elias Richter, you killed your people, you killed the soldiers sworn to you. For the crimes you have committed here, you will die.¡± Shani¡¯s eyes sparkled. ¡°MY LADY HAS SPOKEN!¡± In a swift motion she used her scythe to cut off his head. It fell into the sewage. I dismissed my chains and his body followed. A fitting grave. I turned my eyes towards Theo and his men. ¡°Leave.¡± I said. My words were followed by thunder. I could not see his face underneath the helmet but his mages looked properly frightened. After some brief hesitation he turned around and they all flew away. Chapter 92: Just an Elf I looked around the city. Slowly my emotions calmed. The wind blew softly, it almost felt like a gentle embrace. The stench of the battlefield was replaced by the smell of rain. All the blood and dirt covering me was slowly washed away. My magical armour of wind did not stop the water. It almost welcomed it as a friend. While I hovered there, contemplating the situation, I felt arms reaching around my body. Lucy snuck up on me from behind and was hugging me. I relaxed in her embrace. We simply floated for a bit. After a while she asked: ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± ¡°We should probably go back to the palace. I think this incursion is over, for now.¡± ¡°There will be a lot of questions. I don¡¯t think your ¡®I am just an elf¡¯ line is going to cut it.¡± She said, sounding amused. I sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not like anyone is going to believe the truth. But I might have to admit that I am not just a normal sorceress.¡± ¡°And I can admit to being your warlock.¡± ¡°I suppose. I wonder how everyone is going to react.¡± ¡°Elnora¡¯s face will be priceless. I still remember our first meeting.¡± ¡°Mhm. The Empire¡¯s reaction will be more interesting. The Dominion''s power is greater than anyone expected with us being part of them. Some might even accuse us of manipulating or controlling them.¡± ¡°I will gladly slaughter them all in your name!¡± Shani interjected. I had not noticed that she came closer. ¡°You should probably return home and heal.¡± I said. ¡°Awww. But call me once you start stabbing, or slicing, or roasting,...¡± I dismissed the spell and she slowly faded away. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°We also have to talk about Lilastheria.¡± Lucy said. ¡°True. We need to find a way to free her without making her vulnerable to Beira. That also reminds me, I still have all the research we stole from her lab. We need to give that to Elnora at some point.¡± ¡°Do you know if Lilastheria is ok?¡± ¡°Focus on the bond. It connects us all. You can still feel her. I sense no dread or pain. She should be fine.¡± ¡°Good. We are responsible for her.¡± ¡°That we are.¡± We fell into a comfortable silence again. The clouds above slowly dispersed. The rain stopped and the late afternoon sun shone down on us. Eventually we decided it was time to leave. We started flying towards the palace. Shortly after landing a servant found us. ¡°My ladies, there is an emergency meeting of the delegations in progress. Please follow me!¡± We nodded and went along with the man. He led us to a meeting room with a large U-shaped table in the centre. Very few people were using it. There were buffet tables along the walls. Most people were mingling and eating. ¡°Huh. Yeah, it really looks like an emergency.¡± I said. We spotted Loriel and walked towards her. She noticed us as well and left her group to approach us. ¡°Where have you been?¡± She asked. ¡°You can¡¯t just disappear!¡± I shrugged. ¡°We got tired of politics and went on a date.¡± Loriel¡¯s mouth opened and closed for a bit, lost for words. Then she just sighed. ¡°So what sort of emergency conference is this? Looks more like a social gathering.¡± Loriel took a deep breath. ¡°As you might have noticed, there were attacks in the city. So they called all the diplomats together, gave us a little speech about them handling it, and then served food. It¡¯s not really a meeting, more a ¡®keep the diplomats busy and out of the way¡¯ event. We haven¡¯t heard any updates about the situation. Elnora is trying to find out more but they don¡¯t want us snooping around or involved in any fighting.¡± Her eyes narrowed as she said the last part. She stared at us, then sniffed. ¡°You were totally involved in the fighting.¡± The rain had washed away most of the evidence. Our wounds were gone by now, thanks to our regeneration. We even changed into our 2nd set of travelling clothes on the way. Maybe we should have taken a full shower though. ¡°We simply helped the Empire.¡± Lucy said. ¡°You know, killing some demons, killing a high inquisitor¡­¡± ¡°You¡­ WHAT?¡± Loriel¡¯s outburst attracted some attention. She calmed herself and spoke in a more quiet voice: ¡°Tell me everything.¡± I told her about today¡¯s event. But I kind of glanced over the storm I might have summoned. After I finished, Lucy decided to add that part. ¡°You left out the best part Amaya! In the end you got so worked up, your emotions became a literal storm. Your eyes glowed purple and your aura made those imperial¡¯s squirm. I am proud to be your Warlock.¡± Loriel¡¯s face became pale as the words registered. ¡°You¡­ you are her patron? But¡­ how? What are you? Elnora tested you with the divine orb!¡± I shrugged. ¡°I am just an elf.¡± Lucy burst out laughing. Chapter 93: Meeting Loriel just stared. A lot of emotions were visible on her face. She was not sure what to make of the situation. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± I said. ¡°Nothing really changed. We are simply a bit more powerful than you were aware of. Look at the bright side, now you no longer have to worry about how we managed to defeat Mantus.¡± ¡°And you can stop speculating who my patron is.¡± Lucy added, helpfully. ¡°Are you both just messing with me?¡± Loriel said, sounding doubtful. ¡°Is this a prank?¡± ¡°No, we are quite serious.¡± I answered. ¡°I am sure the Empire will send someone soon. Once the people in charge realise we are back. It¡¯s going to be an interesting conversation, you should join us.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°You should definitely join us. We also need to consider just packing our things and leaving. Although I do feel sorry for a lot of the people here. The Empire is mostly just a threat to itself so far. We haven¡¯t seen any evidence of this soul manipulation research. Maybe your spies were wrong?¡± ¡°Not here!¡± Loriel said. ¡°You don¡¯t know who is listening. We can discuss that in private.¡± I shrugged. At this point I was a lot less concerned. The Empire seemed unstable and suffering from serious internal issues. I wondered if that was the reason for their aggression in the first place. It would not be the first nation to start a war to distract people. If they had succeeded in conquering Iron Rock it would have been a boost to morale. Afterwards they would have prepared to invade Beravis. The Emperor could have weakened the factions by throwing them into the war. And they would compete by trying to earn more glory, instead of fighting in Unitera. Of course it was just a theory, but it somewhat matched what we knew. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s loot the buffet.¡± I walked towards the offered treats. After all the fighting I earned myself something tasty. I heard Lucy snicker behind me. Looking over my shoulder I saw Loriel still standing there, lost in thought. As expected from the Empire, the food looked great. There were small slices of toasted bread with a variety of toppings. I tried one with pieces of salmon in a creamy sauce. It was delicious. I also found small sandwiches. They were filled with different meats and sauces. Further, I found a classic egg sandwich. I rapidly filled a plate and went looking for something to drink. The bar was stocked nicely. I settled for a dark ale that went well with the food. Then I made myself comfortable at the big table in the centre. Just as Lucy sat down next to me we were interrupted by a servant. ¡°My ladies, excuse the interruption but your presence has been requested by the Emperor.¡± I raised an eyebrow at that. Would Maximilian himself talk to us? Or were we just summoned on his authority? I guess we would soon find out. I eyed my food. ¡°Sure, I will just bring this with me.¡± I put my drink inside my storage. Magic made things so much more convenient. The plate I carried with my hand, that way I could easily continue snacking. The servant¡¯s gaze did not approve of me bringing my treats but he might have been too scared to say something. I did not care. Loriel similarly frowned at me. Or more likely us. Lucy munched happily on a sandwich but she did not bring a whole plate. We followed the servant through the palace. As we neared our destination the hallways were guarded. Two knights with halberds stood outside the door of the meeting room. Despite their impressive plate armour they wore no helmets. I wondered if that was a safety measure. A helmet covering their face would make it easier for a spy, or an assassin, to take their place. Of course there were plenty of helmet designs that did not obscure the face. Maybe the armour was more for looks anyway. The guards frowned at us. Lucy was still busy with her sandwich and I had my plate. ¡°My ladies, we could¡­ uh hold that food for you if you like?¡± They seemed slightly uncertain how to handle the situation. ¡°No, we are good.¡± I said. ¡°Uh¡­ it would be rather¡­ impolite to bring food to the meeting.¡± The servant added. ¡°After today, I really don¡¯t care.¡± I responded. They seemed uncertain how they should handle the situation. ¡°We can just leave,¡± I offered. ¡°Uh no no¡­ I mean¡­ It¡¯s fine. Eh¡­ please enter.¡± They let us pass. The room we entered had a round table in the centre. The back wall held a throne which was empty. People were pointing at a map on the table and discussing things. They all looked towards us as we entered. I recognized Logan, the royal inquisitor. Interestingly Iris was here as well. The other faces were unfamiliar. There was no sight of the Emperor. Chapter 94: Emperor I waved at Iris as we approached the table. It held a map of the city and had several marks on it, presumably where incidents happened. Interestingly the marks were placed with magic. It would allow them to easily change and remove them. I took a moment to study the five people present. I already knew Logan and Iris. Her presence was surprising. Who was taking care of the garrison? The others included an old but fit man with grey hair. He had a scar on his right cheek. Next to him was a woman with long black hair wearing a robe. The last person looked relatively young and cocky. He had short blond hair and a smooth face. ¡°So, what is this about?¡± I asked. They summoned us after all. ¡°I am general Heinrich.¡± The old man introduced himself. ¡°This is captain Gunther.¡± He pointed at the young man. ¡°You already know his vice captain, Iris. I believe you are also familiar with Logan, the royal inquisitor. And this lady here is my adjutant, major Clara.¡± ¡°I am Amaya Delphinium, with me are Lucy Delphinium and Loriel Nightshade.¡± I skipped our titles. I suspected they knew them anyway. ¡°You have been summoned because of your involvement in today¡¯s events.¡± The general said. ¡°The Emperor himself will join us in a bit. This situation is¡­ unusual. Foreign agents operating in our city is not something we welcome, yet you have saved some of our troops.¡± Gunther sneered. Heinrich ignored him and continued: ¡°And afterwards you ended in a confrontation with the inquisition. We have heard¡­ worrying testimony about your power. There have been questions about your identity.¡± He left it at that and stared. I picked a small slice of toast, covered with a paste I could not identify, from my plate and bit into it. The taste reminded me somewhat of tuna. It was hard to identify the flavours but I liked it. I ignored all the staring. They did not ask a question after all. The room descended into an uncomfortable silence. Well, not for me. I was enjoying my food. ¡°My lady, this is no way to behave!¡± Logan added. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Oh, you found your voice again since our last encounter?¡± Lucy responded. ¡°Also, are those new pants you are wearing?¡± I did not really pay attention to his clothing. So I had no idea if Lucy was being serious. But I suppose I sort of intimated him with my aura in our last meeting. ¡°This is ridiculous!¡± Gunter complained. ¡°Why are we dealing with this trash? Just lock them up!¡± Iris stiffened. ¡°Sir, they saved the garrison. They have helped defend the city.¡± Gunther turned to her, a sneer on his face. ¡°Your incompetence has cost us enough! Be silent.¡± ¡°See, that is why you are in this mess.¡± I said while pointing at Gunther. ¡°You have too many inbred idiots in positions of power.¡± While Gunther seemed speechless Heinrich responded. ¡°That was uncalled for. Let us be civilised.¡± ¡°Civilized?¡± I snorted. ¡°Look around you. Your capital is under attack by a cult. Demons kill your people. Everywhere we look incompetence is in charge. Nobody is trying to solve an issue. It¡¯s all just politics while your people die in the streets. Not to mention, that a slaving nation can hardly be called civilised in the first place.¡± At least the general had the decency to look slightly ashamed. Or was it resigned? I continued: ¡°Even now you are just looking for someone to blame. Who is even managing the garrison? Have you found your mages yet?¡± ¡°ENOUGH¡± I heard a strong voice from the back. There was a secret door next to the throne that opened and Maximilan emerged. Beira followed him. The emperor was not wearing a crown this time. He was dressed in a fancy suit and had a sword attached to his belt. ¡°You have made your point lady Amaya. And unfortunately you are not entirely wrong.¡± The people all bowed to the emperor. Well, not our group. We just inclined our heads in greeting. ¡°There is a lot of rot in my nation. It might be time for me to take a more active approach in cleansing it. But I cannot help to notice that you are speaking for the Dominion. Have you usurped Maeve? Is she your pet?¡± Loriel answered: ¡°Your majesty, countess Amaya is part of the Dominion and not in charge.¡± Maximilian looked at me. ¡°Really?¡± He sounded unconvinced. ¡°Anyway, that is not the reason for this meeting. Amaya, you have slain my high inquisitor. You prevented my knights from bringing him before me to face my justice.¡± He stated. I shrugged. ¡°He sealed his fate when he attacked us. Especially after he decided to blow everything up. You had your chance to deliver justice after Iron Rock. You failed.¡± I heard several gasps in the room. I suppose people were not used to someone judging their Emperor. Especially not a foreign countess. Chapter 95: Archfey ¡°You forget yourself! You are in my palace, you are my guest!¡± The emperor said, raising his voice. ¡°Ah yes, your guest. And you failed spectacularly as our host. We were attacked in the palace bath, in your seat of power. We were attacked in the park, by your blood. We were attacked in the city, by your people.¡± My voice got colder as I kept speaking. A familiar power stirred inside of me. ¡°Thrice you have failed.¡± The emperor stared silently. Was there a hint of fear in his eyes? Or was it respect? ¡°She¡­ she is using magic! Kill her!¡± Gunther stammered, fumbling with the sword on his belt. ¡°STAND DOWN YOU FOOL!¡± Henrich shouted. ¡°You are disgracing the Empire! If you cannot stand in the presence of power without soiling yourself, leave!¡± Gunther just froze, breathing heavily. The emperor looked at his own captain in disgust. ¡°I¡­ made some mistakes.¡± Maximilian admitted with a steady voice. ¡°I had my doubts, hearing the reports about you. But there is no denying your¡­ presence. Why have you come to Unitera?¡± ¡°You invited us.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°So I did.¡± The emperor sighed. ¡°So I did¡­ I would have never suspected an archfey among the Dominion delegation. I know the old tales. That the elves made a deal with the Lady of the Forest. But¡­ that is not you. I have heard no rumour, not even a whisper about your existence. That there is more than one archfey in the Dominion is concerning. And that you left your domain.¡± ¡°What is concerning is your demon problem. Without us there might be a portal to hell in the middle of your city right now. Unfortunately, Elias stopped me from properly shutting it down. He even blew it up afterwards.¡± I pointed out. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°If you had not been there I am sure Elias would have dealt with the situation.¡± Maximilian insisted. ¡°Your majesty, he did attack my lab with demons! His troops were probably involved in the incident and he tried to cover it up!¡± Beira interjected. ¡°Enough. You have made your point Beira. Elias is gone. That should also satisfy Iron Rock.¡± He looked at me again. ¡°Back to you, how did you discover the demons in the first place? You killed Mantus, but whoever is in charge of their cult is still working towards something. So there must be other Demon Lords involved. What can you tell me about their plot?¡± My aura had settled down again after I scared Gunther. Apparently that was a mistake. Maximilian seemed under the impression that I answered to him in some form. ¡°You still don¡¯t understand.¡± I said, shaking my head. ¡°I am not your servant. I am not your ally. You want to be a ruler? You call yourself an emperor? Show it. Take responsibility. You allowed this to happen. It¡¯s is your job to fix it.¡± He pointed a finger at me. ¡°You started meddling. You cannot just walk away!¡± I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. They glowed as I opened them. A gentle wind began to flow inside the room. ¡°You are telling me what I can and cannot do? You?¡± I laughed as the sound of thunder filled the room. I looked directly into Maximilan¡¯s eyes. ¡°Thrice you failed your promise of hospitality. Your own blood attacked your guests and you did nothing. You brought shame upon your Empire! We are done here.¡± As I looked around the room I saw fear in their eyes. I wondered how fast it would turn to anger after we left. I calmed myself and took a deep breath. As I walked towards the door I grabbed another sandwich and started eating. Lucy and Loriel followed. The guards in front of the room were lying on the floor. It seemed like my presence was too much for them. ¡°See, we were not joking.¡± Lucy said to Loriel. ¡°I am her warlock and proud of it!¡± ¡°An archfey¡­¡± Loriel whispered. ¡°I am an elf.¡± I clarified. Loriel ignored my remark. ¡°Maximilian was right¡­ the Lady of the Forest is real. We do have an agreement with her. Is she your ally? Did she send you?¡± ¡°Never met her.¡± I answered truthfully. ¡°Then... why are you here? Why get involved?¡± ¡°It really was just a coincidence. Anyway, we should probably pack our things and leave. Honestly, this summit seems pretty pointless now. Elias is dead and the Empire seems in no shape to start a war. I suggest we look for a hotel tonight and arrange for transportation away from here tomorrow.¡± ¡°Do you think they will just let us leave?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°I am not sure if they are stupid enough to attack us. We shall see. Let¡¯s tell the other delegations about our plan. We should convince them to leave as well. I have a feeling the Empire is heading towards a large crisis.¡± ¡°Should we help? If something really bad happens?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Maybe. But if so, we do it on our terms.¡± Chapter 96: Enjoyable Distraction Interestingly, Loriel seemed to follow my orders. Or maybe I should call it advice? Anyway, she was technically in charge since we had accepted to join the Dominion and I had no intention of breaking my word. Once we returned to our quarters we informed our people that we would be leaving and they started packing. Loriel left to inform Elnora and tell the other delegations. Lucy and myself mostly just stood around making sure nothing bad happened. While we were waiting my mind wandered. People called me an archfey. What was I? I was supposed to be a night elf. They did have fey ancestry, according to the game, but they were a different race. One of my classes was fey themed and further leaned into that power. Did I evolve somehow? My knowledge of the fey in general was rather limited. There were a bunch that dwelled in the mortal world but most lived in their own realm. They supposedly held great powers over nature. Also, they were known for charms and illusions. Hm. My powers certainly fit that. Archfey were supposed to be like demon lords, or celestial lords, power wise. In the most basic terms, you had the evil demons in hell, the good celestials in heaven and the neutral fey in¡­ whatever their realm was called. Although reality was rarely that black and white. There was also an elemental plane, the home of Shani. I was uncertain what their relationship with the fey was. But Shani seemed to know something. Maybe I should talk to her? I rubbed my head and sighed. Maybe I could meet with the Lady of the Forest at some point. Would she welcome me, or think of me as a rival? Fey could be rather backstabby and territorial in many stories. Lucy approached me from behind and laid a hand on my shoulder. ¡°Are you alright?¡± She asked. I turned towards her. ¡°Yes. Just lost in thought. Do you think I am a fey?¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Who knows? Who cares? You are yourself, no matter what kind of creature you are. Don¡¯t overthink it.¡± ¡°Do you believe the Empire will attack us? Will they descend into civil war? What happened to mages that disapp¡­?¡± Lucy suddenly kissed me and my thoughts stopped. ¡°Better.¡± She said smiling. ¡°You are thinking too much. The Empire isn¡¯t your responsibility. It¡¯s not your job to solve their problems. Let¡¯s find a nice hotel, have some good food and relax. Tonight I will make sure you are suitably distracted.¡± Lucy walked away, her tail swishing behind her. I blushed as my mind wandered in a much more enjoyable direction. I returned to reality when I was informed that we were ready to leave. I simply followed our elven guards, who seemed to know the plan. I had no idea who chose our accommodations, or organised transport, but carriages were waiting. The inn we stayed at was close to the western gate. It was a grand structure with a parking space for carriages and a stable for horses. The square stone building was three stories high with a courtyard. A giant tree was visible in the centre. I saw no sign of the other delegations as we arrived so I approached Loriel. ¡°Are the other delegations staying at the palace?¡± ¡°No. The dwarves and Iron Rock will join us in a bit. They needed more time to gather their people. I have no idea what Beravis has planned. They had no intention of joining us, but that does not mean they will stay at the palace.¡± I nodded and Loriel walked into the building, following Elnora. The latter had been avoiding us since she discovered my power. I decided to give her some time and then tease her mercilessly. Probably. Lucy told me to wait while she disappeared into the building. It was getting late and would be a nice time for dinner. I wondered what she had planned. At first I was confused when she led me directly to our room, then I saw a table on our balcony. Our accommodation turned out to be rather luxurious. It came with a private bath, a small living room, a bedroom and the balcony. We had a nice view into the courtyard. Lucy revealed her plan: ¡°I ordered us some room service. First we will eat, then we bathe, then I will drag you into this nice big bed.¡± ¡°Uhhh¡­¡± Was my reply. She took my hand and led me towards the table. Which was good, since my brain stopped functioning. The food was great and we talked about inconsequential things. I forgot all about the Empire, fey, demons,... I just relaxed. Afterwards we went into the bath together. We tumbled into the bed soon after, without even properly drying ourselves. It was a great night. Chapter 97: Lilastheria I awoke the next morning when Lucy slipped out of the bed. I lazily opened one eye to look at her and mumbled: ¡°What time is it?¡± ¡°About seven in the morning.¡± ¡°That is way too early.¡± ¡°Elves don¡¯t need that much sleep. Supposedly because they are part fey, so you don¡¯t have an excuse there either.¡± ¡°Clearly, I am part cat.¡± ¡°Mhm, sure you are.¡± I watched her disappear into the bathroom. She left the door open and soon I heard the shower. It was a rather large shower. Maybe getting up was not such a bad idea after all. It was an hour later when we arrived at breakfast. I noticed that they had tables outside, next to the tree. We decided to enjoy the morning sun while eating. I got a giant portion of pancakes with some type of syrup. It was fruity but not a flavour I could identify. Of course no breakfast was complete without coffee. ¡°What are our plans for today?¡± Lucy asked. I shrugged. ¡°Deal with the next problem this city throws at us?¡± ¡°We should try to find Lilastheria. Now that you are a mighty archfey nobody would question servants just appearing.¡± Lucy suggested. I considered that for a moment. ¡°You have a point. I wonder if we could even break the bond now? With Elias gone there is no longer a reason for Beira to come after her.¡± ¡°I am not sure. The inquisition still exists and there are two more high inquisitors. She might still try to use her as a witness for the theft. Or to try to find out where the stuff is that we stole. I would not be surprised if Beira would go after her simply for some petty revenge either. But we can let her decide.¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Yeah, it should be her choice. Ok, let¡¯s go look for her after breakfast.¡± Once we finished our meal I headed back to our room. My task was to find Lilastheria through the bond. Meanwhile, Lucy was informing Loriel of our plans. As I closed my eyes, and focused inward on the bond, I reflected on my recent powers. The magic system of this world was based on spell slots, except for some simple spells. Yet there were significant powers that did not use them. Like my panther form. In the game those were often racial abilities. Like a dragon''s breath. Something clearly magical, yet bypassing the magic system. Could I develop more abilities like that? My aura was something of the sort. Certain creatures could use their presence to instil fear. But what else was possible? Also, could I break through? Get past 9th level spells? Was there even a 10th level in this world? Even my arcane knowledge did not know. But I was getting sidetracked. My goal was to find Lilastheria. After focusing on my task once more I found the connection. I managed to visualise a cord that showed me the direction she was in. Satisfied I opened my eyes again, stood up and stretched. Lucy was standing in the room, watching me. ¡°I am ready.¡± I declared. ¡°Me too, let¡¯s go.¡± She answered. We headed out into the streets. We could move fast enough that a horse, or carriage, was unnecessary. I would have expected Lilastheria to hide in a more run down part of the city. But we found ourselves in a relatively high class area. The bond pointed me towards a cafe. Once we entered I spotted her immediately. She was still using the same human form, sitting alone at a table and enjoying a coffee. She was dressed in a nice blue blouse and a black skirt. She froze when she saw us. We approached the table and took a seat. ¡°Hi.¡± I said. ¡°Mistresses, forgive me for not noticing you sooner!¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, relax.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Please, you don¡¯t have to treat us like that. We¡­ made a mistake simply binding you. It was not fair. Nobody should be enslaved.¡± I admitted. Lucy nodded. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s us who should apologise. And we are willing to break the bond. Elias is dead. We are not sure if Beira is still looking for you but it¡¯s your choice to make.¡± ¡°Um¡­ what happened? Does it have something to do with the demon attack?¡± Lilastheria asked. We told her what had happened since our last meeting. She listened attentively, her eyes going wide at times. ¡°I¡­ I felt your power. When you summoned that storm, when you killed him¡­ I felt your rage. But somehow I knew it was not directed at me.¡± She paused, then looked me in the eyes. ¡°What are you?¡± ¡°I am just¡­¡± I started. ¡°An archfey, probably.¡± Lucy answered. ¡°Probably?¡± Lilastheria asked, confused. I sighed. ¡°I am not entirely sure, it¡¯s a long story. But it is close enough anyway, so let¡¯s go with it. Also, Lucy is my warlock.¡± While Lilastheria sat there thinking a waitress appeared. I ordered some coffee and a slice of strawberry cake. Lucy just smiled at my gluttonous nature, breakfast was not that long ago. Chapter 98: Maid ¡°So¡­ you are offering me freedom? You would just break the bond without asking for anything?¡± Lilastheria asked. ¡°Yes.¡± I answered. ¡°You know, nobody in hell is really free. Ultimately I serve the succubus queen Lilith. Once you have a certain amount of power there is a pretty strict hierarchy. Demons that are truly bound to a mortal are rare. Most people fail when they try, and become the servant instead of the master. The demon lords monitor every demon that is bound and sometimes they even intervene, if they feel it is bad for their plans.¡± I thought about that for a moment. It made sense. The demon lords had their own kingdoms, sort of. They did not want their subjects serving another master. But they also wanted to entice mortals. To claim their souls or get better access to the mortal realm. So they allowed some of their demons to be claimed, but ensured that most remained free. A thought occurred to me. ¡°So, do demon lords have bonds with their subjects? It should be impossible to have two bonds at the same time. Can theirs go dormant instead of being broken? Or is it a different kind?¡± I wondered. ¡°There is a connection. But I lack the magical knowledge to know how it works, my apologies.¡± ¡°No worries. So, shall we break our bond?¡± I asked. ¡°No. I would like to serve you instead.¡± Lilastheria answered. ¡°Um, what?¡± Lucy responded. ¡°As I said, I would never be truly free. You have treated me well so far. You were concerned about me. And you gave me a choice. I would like to be your servant. And if you are an archfey, even Lilith will have trouble reclaiming me.¡± She smiled at us. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I scratched my head. ¡°You know, keeping the bond for a bit longer to ensure you are safe is something we considered. You actually wanting to stay with us in the future is a bit of a surprise. I am also not comfortable keeping you enslaved forever. Even if we don¡¯t abuse it, I don¡¯t like it.¡± ¡°Could you alter the bond? Allow her more freedom? Make her more equal?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I am not sure. The binding we used sort of needs a master and a servant. Then again, I did change it to include us both. I need some time to study it and see what is possible.¡± ¡°You would truly go that far? I¡­ I really wish to serve you mistresses!¡± ¡°Um, ok yeah sure.¡± I said. ¡°So you could pretend to be our maid? We could tell people you are an otherworldly creature, which is true. We just don''t specify what. They will assume you are a fey instead of a demon.¡± ¡°Why pretend? Why wouldn¡¯t I be your maid in truth? Do you already have enough servants?¡± She asked, confused. ¡°We don¡¯t have servants. I suppose you could be our maid. Is that a job you would like?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Lilastheria responded enthusiastically. ¡°I even have a proper uniform! I have a room rented nearby, I could quickly grab my things and come right back.¡± ¡°Go for it.¡± Lucy said. Lilastheria left just when my coffee and cake arrived. While I started eating, Lucy pointed something out: ¡°You know, Lilith is probably not going to be happy. I don¡¯t claim to have much knowledge about demon lords but you are poaching her servant. If she sees you as a peer, another immortal, that is something entirely different than a normal person binding a demon.¡± ¡°That is true, I did not think about that.¡± I admitted. ¡°But it¡¯s not like we are recruiting someone from her inner circle. How much would she truly care? Unless this entire demon mess in the Empire is her doing. In which case she would not like us anyway.¡± I sighed. ¡°She also could take it as an insult. Whatever, Lilastheria made her choice to follow us.¡± ¡°Yes, I am not suggesting we send her away. But succubi are natural shapeshifters, so we need to be careful in case Lilith sends someone.¡± ¡°Hm. At least with our bond they won¡¯t be able to fool us with our forms. Anyone else might be different. Maybe I should study Lilastheria¡¯s shapeshifting and see if I find a counter.¡± ¡°Good idea. Just don¡¯t study her body too closely.¡± I looked into her eyes. ¡°I am yours, and yours alone.¡± The next moment I felt her lips on mine. In an instant she had leaped from her chair, closed the distance and was kissing me. It was long and passionate. Afterwards she returned to her seat. I blushed slightly when I remembered that we were in a cafe. There were not too many customers, thankfully. I distracted myself with the delicious cake as we waited for Lilastheria to return. Chapter 99: An Idea Our time at the cafe passed pleasantly without any interruptions. I almost expected another disaster but so far it remained peaceful. Lilastheria returned carrying a suitcase. I wondered if she had a magical storage and this was just for show? I saw her summon armour when we raided the lab. But that could have been a special feature. ¡°I am ready, my ladies.¡± She said with a small bow. ¡°There is no need for that.¡± I said. ¡°Apologies, but I have to disagree. As your maid, a certain decorum is expected.¡± ¡°Ok, just don¡¯t overdo it. Anyway, what do you need in terms of supply? Should we get some clothing? Armour? Weapons? I suspect being our maid comes with a certain amount of combat.¡± I was working hard to suppress a grin. A combat maid. The anime lover inside me was really looking forward to that. ¡°I could need more uniforms, especially if we go into combat. My armour is decent but not visually fitting for my role. A weapon that I could hide in my uniform might be good but I do have magic to fight. Also, what form would my ladies prefer? I can shapeshift into many things.¡± ¡°Oh, you could be a dragon kin!¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°They can have horns and a tail, so you would be closer to your natural form. They also tend to have magic. It would be quite fitting.¡± ¡°We should probably go to a more private area before you shapeshift.¡± I pointed out. I liked the idea though. ¡°An excellent suggestion, my lady. I would love to have a tail again.¡± ¡°How about storage?¡± I asked. ¡°I know you have a way to summon your armour, but you really need something to store your clothes and other things as well.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°I can only summon my infernal gear, but carrying things is no hardship my lady. I have a lot of strength compared to most people.¡± ¡°No no, that won¡¯t do. We need to go shopping!¡± I declared. ¡°Hm.¡± Was Lucy¡¯s response. She stared at me with a mischievous smile. ¡°Why don¡¯t you wait here and work on the bond. Maybe have some more cake. I will take her shopping.¡± I was simultaneously concerned, excited and curious about the idea. What had Lucy planned? I did remember the catnip incident. Was she planning another prank? Then again, we were a lot closer now. And she would go shopping with a succubus. Wait! Did she want Lilastheria¡¯s advice on things to buy for herself? Or for me? I started blushing as my mind conjured all sorts of things that Lucy could acquire. ¡°Uh yeah sure.¡± I managed to say. I also gave her 50000 gold. Way too much for her shopping trip but I wanted to share my wealth with her anyway. She gave me a quick kiss and then left. Lilastheria watched the exchange curiously. She gave me a respectful nod and followed Lucy. I sat there wondering what I got myself into. But I had no doubt that I would enjoy whatever Lucy had planned. There was a slight concern about our safety. Splitting the party was usually a bad idea. But this was not a movie. And we could not stick together all the time. Also, not many things could defeat Lucy. So I settled down and ordered some dwarven coffee. It was a strong black brew with a dash of whisky. I calmed myself once more and explored the bond we shared. My idea was to compare my connection with Lucy to that of Lilastheria. Maybe it would give me some insight into the differences, and how to change them. Lucy was like a bright star. I felt a lot of warmth and love. A lot of familiarity. Lilastheria felt different. I could sense uncertainty, respect and a hint of¡­ hope? I also realised that I would have to somehow not only change my connection, but that between Lucy and Lilastheria as well. We were a triangle, the masters at the top and the servant at the bottom. Maybe¡­ I could create a ritual? Hm. With the right runes I could change the bond. But I needed a good mental image. I needed something the original construct would accept, without shattering it. What if I looked at her like a sworn knight? Swearing an oath to a liege lord was a possibility. It would not result in magical slavery. People could break their vows. A mental image formed in my head. Lucy and myself standing there, each of us with a sword in our hand, gently placing it on Lilastheria¡¯s shoulders as she was kneeling before us. Yeah, that would work. I still had a lot of weapons from the game in my inventory, I could use two swords as material components. If things worked as intended, it would leave Lilastheria in a position where she could disobey us. Where she could choose to break the bond herself, although it would give her a giant headache. But nothing permanent. She would swear herself to our service willingly, her oath would be her bond. It was a new and experimental ritual. A demon binding was never meant to be twisted like that. But I felt rather confident. I decided I had done well coming up with the idea and deserved a treat. So I ordered some chocolate cake. Chapter 100: An Idea 2 It was around noon when they returned. Lilastheria now looked like a dragon kin. She had two small black horns on her head. A few red scales were visible on her forehead. Her eyes were golden with a slit pupil. Her scaly tail was crimson, just like her hair. She wore a long black dress and a white apron, a proper french maid uniform. ¡°I got her a storage amulet and a few sets of clothes. But we need to find a way to enchant them. They don¡¯t offer any protection and they won¡¯t survive a fight.¡± Lucy said. I nodded. I did not expect them to find an enchanted uniform and a custom order would take time. We had no idea how long we would stay in Unitera. Lucy continued: ¡°I also stopped her from buying a bunch of mini skirts. Lilastheria has an¡­ interesting view on maid uniforms.¡± The succubus pouted and mumbled. ¡°They would have looked good on me.¡± ¡°So, what did you buy for yourself?¡± I asked. ¡°Maybe you will find out tonight.¡± Lucy said with a wink. With magical storage there was no way for me to tell what she bought. Bags might have given me a clue, or allowed me to peek. I was still curious but I would be patient, for now. ¡°Any progress on your part?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Yes, I think so.¡± I briefly explained my plan to conduct a ritual and alter the bond. Lilastheria listened with wide eyes. ¡°I¡­ I would be honoured to swear myself into your service my ladies.¡± I looked into her eyes. ¡°Tell us truthfully, what are your intentions after you gain your freedom?¡± Right now she could not disobey. So I decided to make sure we were not headed for a disaster. Of course, the problem with forcing the truth out of someone was asking the right questions. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. She stiffened. ¡°I intend to serve you faithfully. You are offering me more than Lilith ever did. I hope to join your inner circle. I want to gain more power. I want to be part of your court.¡± ¡°Good enough, I think.¡± Lucy answered. I thought for a moment, then added: ¡°Do you intend to betray us at any point?¡± ¡°No.¡± I nodded. ¡°I am satisfied.¡± Of course her intentions might change over time. Someone could bribe her, for example. By giving her free will she could do whatever she wanted. I was fine with a desire for power. It did not really surprise me from a demon. Joining us was a promotion for her, of sorts. She was nothing special under Lilith. Now she was working directly for an archfey. ¡°An unrelated question, but how powerful are you?¡± I asked. It would be good to know if we ended up in a fight. ¡°I have mastered 4th circle spells. My magic is similar to a sorcerer. Further, I have my demonic abilities. As a succubus I can enchant most people and influence their decisions. It¡¯s easier if they are naturally attracted to my form, but that is not a requirement. I can shapeshift, I am resistant to fire, I am stronger than an orc and I regenerate faster than most mortals. Not fast enough to make a difference in a battle but I need less time to recover afterwards.¡± She was nowhere near our level, but strong enough that normal bandits or thugs should pose no threat. ¡°How soon can you perform your ritual?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Hm. We would need to find a good place for it. I would like at least a few hours to make sure I get the runes right. I have all the components we need.¡± ¡°How about the park? It¡¯s big. We should find a secluded spot there.¡± ¡°I am sure the Empire will have people watching us. Maybe even all the delegations, if they have someone skilled to spare. In the park there will be an audience. They probably are even aware that Lilastheria changed her shape today. Right now they might just assume she was always a dragon kin and pretended to be human to spy for us.¡± ¡°Does it matter? How much would they see when you do the ritual? Could they gain any useful information from it?¡± ¡°Hm. It would not be demonic in nature. I doubt they could make sense of my runes and if they copied it, it would be pointless. Without the existing bond it would not do anything. It¡¯s also tailored for our specific situation. The biggest concern might be an attack.¡± ¡°You could summon Shani to defend us. She is strong enough to hold most things at bay. The ritual won¡¯t take that long, right?¡± ¡°It should be quick, yes. And if it is interrupted it won¡¯t explode¡­ I think. Yeah, we should be fine.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go to the park then.¡± Lucy said. After I paid we left the cafe. Performing the ritual today was a bit rushed. But was there much point in waiting? I had to admit I was mostly driven by guilt. I did not consider what bonding a demon meant before doing it. Lilastheria was a person and deserved her freedom. Today we would make things right. Chapter 101: Knightly Maid Despite the nice temperature the park was relatively empty. Possibly because of the demon attack. The park was less patrolled than the streets and a surviving monster could be hiding in there. I decided to use an open area next to the lake. Since I suspected that we were watched anyway, why bother hiding? At least we should see an attack coming. I started my preparations by drawing the ritual on paper. I had an idea, an intent. Now I needed to translate it into a ritual, decide on the exact runes and their placement in the circle. While I worked Lilastheria began to cook. I wasn¡¯t entirely certain what a maids duties included, but she prepared and served food and drink, while I worked. I could get used to that. I was so focused that I barely noticed the passage of time. When I was satisfied with my creation it was already late in the afternoon. I stood up and stretched. Then I took my sword and carved my creation into the soil. ¡°Lucy, Lilastheria, it is ready!¡± I shouted. Then I summoned Shani to stand guard. ¡°Who are we slaughtering today?¡± She asked as a greeting. ¡°Um no slaughter, for now. We just need your help with a ritual. Please stop anyone from attacking us. Also, I hope you have recovered from the last battle.¡± ¡°Of course! I regenerate fast.¡± Shani¡¯s gaze fell upon Lilastheria. The demon froze as the elemental approached. Shani floated around the succubus inspecting her. Then she started sniffing her. ¡°I like her, you should keep her!¡± ¡°Eh, yes that is the plan. We are changing her bond and she will be our loyal maid.¡± I explained. Shani nodded. ¡°A lady like yourself needs proper servants! I shall slay any who intrude on this ceremony!¡± She summoned her scythe and rested it on her shoulder. ¡°Perfect. Now, Lilastheria is going to kneel here.¡± I pointed at a spot in the circle. ¡°Lucy and myself will stand there. Both of us will have a sword and place it on your shoulder. Kind of like a knighting ceremony. Meanwhile you will give us an oath of fealty. At this point the circle should glow, then Lucy and myself will feed a 9th circle slot into the ritual. The swords will be consumed and that should be it.¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Are those special swords?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Not really. They are magical but nothing too significant.¡± They were good steel swords with heightened durability and a sharper edge. Basic loot for a high level character in a game. Lilastheria looked determined and proud as she knelt before us. I gently placed the sword on her shoulder, Lucy did the same. I mentally activated the ritual. ¡°I, Lilastheria, pledge myself to serve you faithfully.¡± ¡°WILL YOU BE THEIR MAID?¡± Shani suddenly shouted. That was not part of the plan. What was going on? I could also feel the air changing. The sky was darkening as black clouds appeared. I considered stopping her, but somehow this felt¡­ right? ¡°Yes.¡± Lilastheria answered. ¡°WILL YOU BE THEIR SWORD?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°WILL YOU SERVE THEM UNTIL THE FINAL DAWN?¡± ¡°YES!¡± ¡°THEN BATHE IN THEIR ENEMIES BLOOD AS THEY ACCEPT YOUR OATH!¡± Blood? Where did she get blood? I was concentrating hard on the ritual and not totally aware of our surroundings. There was a reason why Shani was here as a watcher. Said elemental levitated a bunch of blood and dumped it on the succubus. The circle glowed in a bright purple, as did the swords, and I fed my spell slot into the ritual. I heard the sound of thunder as lightning flashed in the sky. The swords dissolved into smoke. The world lit up as a bolt of lightning struck the kneeling Lilastheria, yet she seemed unharmed. The electricity coursing through her touched our bond and it changed. Our control over her was burned away. The connection looked like a storm but it was gentle, comforting. Rain began to fall. As the water washed away the blood, I could see changes in the succubus. She still looked like a dragon kin but her hair was now black, as were her scales and tail. The white part in her eyes had turned black as well, her iris was purple, as were the tips of her horns. ¡°THE HEAVENS HAVE ACCEPTED YOUR OATH. ARISE KNIGHT OF THE STORM!¡± Shani shouted. The ritual was over and I looked around. Behind me were husks of masked people. Corpses drained of blood. As I stared at them Shani explained: ¡°They attacked as soon as you started. I was so relieved, I had no idea how to get blood otherwise! I am sure you had some stored but fresh is better! This is my first time making an elemental knight!¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°It¡¯s an archfey thing. They always name someone their knight and bestow elemental power on them. I met an ice elemental lord once who endlessly bragged about this ceremony. How he helped establish the connection to this famous winter knight. Forgot the name though.¡± ¡°What does this mean?¡± Lilastheria asked. I focused inward and examined the bond. What I found was rather surprising. ¡°Shani has opened a connection to the plane of air inside of you.¡± I said. ¡°The bond is an anchor for that connection and a filter. Normally the power would electrocute your body. But the harmful energy is absorbed by Lucy and myself. If we weren¡¯t immune to electricity the three of us would currently be lying on the floor, dying in agony.¡± Shani nodded. ¡°Yes! That¡¯s why you need an archfey! Hm. Or maybe an ancient dragon? Do they have knights? Eh, who cares! I am so happy you invited me. I always wanted to do this!¡± I still needed to process what happened. When I told Shani to help I only meant by defending us. But I did not specify. ¡°Is she now our knight, or our maid?¡± Lucy asked, sounding confused. ¡°Both!¡± I declared. ¡°We are now establishing a new knightly order of maids!¡± Chapter 102: A Fitting Weapon ¡°Yaaaaay!¡± Shani cheered. ¡°We should celebrate with a slaughter!¡± ¡°Eh no, no slaughtering for now. We should check those assassins for any clues.¡± I said. ¡°As you command my lady.¡± Lilastheria bowed and approached the husks with surprising speed. ¡°We should give her a weapon.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°If she is a knight she kind of needs one.¡± ¡°True. And from the way she moved I think she got faster. I wonder what other powers she got? And what weapon would be fitting?¡± ¡°Maid knights were your idea.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°What do you think is suitable?¡± ¡°Since she has a magical storage amulet, it does not need to be concealed on her body. I should have a look at what I have left in my own device. There are a lot of weapons still in there.¡± Swords were pretty common and I had quite a few. But did I have anything truly special? I still had Manus¡¯ sword¡­ but would it be too big? Lilastheria did have more strength than a human but it might still be too much. Hm. I never really inspected that sword. I just stored it, like the armour and the body. One day I would find a smith to adjust the armour for Lucy. One day¡­ I was getting sidetracked again. I pulled out Mantus¡¯ sword and swung it around a bit. It was easy to wield with my strength but it was rather heavy for a weapon. Clearly it was forged from adamantium. While it was the strongest known metal, it was unfortunately as heavy as steel. If I gave Lilastheria an oversized weapon, mithril would be a better choice. A metal that was slightly stronger than steel but lighter. Both adamantium and mithril were good for enchantments. While looking through my inventory, focusing on mithril weapons, I found something. An event naginata. It was made purely from mithril. Normally you would have a wooden shaft, but the metal was light enough that weight was no concern, even for a regular human. The weapon was enchanted for increased durability and sharpness. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The most abnormal thing was the look. The silver shaft was decorated with a few sakura petals and the handguard looked like a cherry blossom. The blade itself was similar to the shaft but the density of the petals was higher. The naginata had a magical ability you could activate. When used the blade would conjure a trail of illusionary petals whenever you swung it. Well, it was a sakura event weapon. Designed to be useful while not being quite as powerful as the end game items. ¡°I think I found something.¡± I announced while holding the naginata. Lucy stepped closer and inspected the weapon. I handed it to her for a better look. ¡°That is a curious design. It looks kind of cute.¡± ¡°Um, you can have it if you want to. I can give her something different.¡± ¡°Oh no, I love the spear you gave me. This will be excellent for Lilastheria.¡± Lucy called our maid and she appeared almost instantaneously. ¡°You called, my lady.¡± ¡°Amaya has found a weapon for you. Do you know how to handle this? Actually, how good are you with weapons anyway?¡± Lucy inquired. Lilastheria took the weapon with wide eyes. She stepped back and gave it a few swings. ¡°I am honoured. I have training in similar weapons but I am no expert. I shall wield this blade in your name and master it!¡± ¡°Great.¡± I said. ¡°There is a magical effect you can activate but it¡¯s purely visual.¡± Lilastheria focused on the weapon again. Then swung it some more. The illusionary petals floating through the air looked great. They glowed in a soft pink. After floating for a few seconds they faded away. Certainly not an ability that worked with stealth. But maybe they could distract someone in a straight fight. ¡°They are beautiful, my lady. I thank you for this gracious gift.¡± ¡°So, what powers did you get from this knight thing?¡± Lucy inquired. ¡°My speed has increased and I can wrap myself in protective winds. It will take more time and training to figure out everything I can do, and master it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s also great for cleaning!¡± Shani added. ¡°Wind allows you to blow all the dust away. And with enough electricity you can reduce most organic things to dust! You might need some water for bloodstains though. Water is an interesting element. It kind of is it¡¯s own domain but air can summon storms which include rain. I suppose the water element focuses a lot on ice. The plane of water has waaaaay too much ice!¡± I never really contemplated that. My main element was lightning. Or maybe I should say, my main damage type. Electricity was considered part of the air element. But I was an elemental sorceress anyway, simply with a lightning focus. I had plenty of earth, water and fire spells too. And other magic, like illusions. Shani was an elemental lord of the plain of air. But she was a storm elemental. Were there different air elementals? Lords were an evolution of a regular elemental that was around long enough. Since they had their own personalities they might all have unique powers as well. Lucy interrupted my thoughts. ¡°Is that why you wanted maid knights? So they could clean up after their kills? I guess it would help, especially in a mansion. They stab the intruder and make the corpse disappear. The ultimate servant.¡± The reason was more like I watched a lot of anime. But Lucy¡¯s interpretation sounded convenient. ¡°She will need a lot of training.¡± Shani stated. ¡°Let¡¯s go make more corpses! I think there are more people hiding in the trees!¡± Chapter 103: Spies I sighed. ¡°I am not surprised that our show attracted more spectators. But they could be friendly. Have you found anything about those assassins?¡± ¡°No, my lady. There is nothing identifying their allegiance.¡± Lilastheria answered. ¡°They were all human?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, or at least they look the part. They carried poison and magical blades, although not very powerful ones.¡± ¡°Hm. I did not notice them before the ritual. They must have been well hidden, waiting to attack the moment our backs were turned. How would you evaluate them Shani?¡± ¡°Very sliceable, barely any resistance!¡± ¡°So no real armour or magical protection. They focused on offence. They must have been rather fast, right? Did they try to engage you or go around you?¡± Shani scratched her head. ¡°Not sure. I was faster! But I think one of them wanted to intercept me.¡± ¡°Maybe they mistook her for a normal elemental. Most people have never seen one. So a single enemy was going to distract her while the other four came after us.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Possible. So they thought they could get past her and strike us quickly. I assume the magic on the weapons was just to make sure they could pierce our skin. You would not attack an archfey with a normal weapon. We should see if we can identify the poison. Is there an assassins guild?¡± I wondered. ¡°Not that I know.¡± Lucy answered. ¡°Would that not be weird? Who would tolerate such an organisation? Usually powerful people train their own. They would not trust something sensitive to anyone outside of their control.¡± Even if there was no guild, there were probably certain organisations in the underworld that offered similar services. Hm. ¡°You know, we could look for local criminals and see what they know. They must have a lot of information about what is going on in the city.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Do you want to investigate? I thought we would simply leave the Empire now and let them deal with everything.¡± Lucy said. ¡°True. A part of me is simply curious. There are so many unanswered questions.¡± ¡°Like, who is spying on us in the woods? Maybe we should answer that first.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°My ladies, I will gladly apprehend them.¡± Lilastheria offered. ¡°I will help!¡± Shani added. ¡°We would like them alive, Shani.¡± I pointed out. ¡°I can do that!¡± I watched the succubus and the elemental speed into the forest. ¡°Should we help?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Only if they run into someone truly powerful. This is her first assignment as our maid. We should show some trust.¡± ¡°More like her first mission as a knight. Hunting people is not really that maid like¡­¡± ¡°Well, she is taking out the trash. Cleaning up the woods¡­¡± Lucy groaned. ¡°Ok, I get it.¡± I smirked. ¡°Since we have started this whole maid thing now, we should consider recruiting more. Might as well have an actual knight order. That also means we need an income to pay them. I do have a lot of money but even that will eventually run out. Should we start a business?¡± ¡°We do have a county in the Dominion. Was it not near a dangerous but lucrative area? We could hunt there, or send our knights to collect materials. Once we have seen the land we can plan.¡± ¡°True. Assuming, me being an archfey won¡¯t ruin the deal. We will certainly have to meet the high queen. And probably the Lady of the Forest.¡± Our conversation was briefly interrupted by screams. We both looked towards the trees. ¡°Do you think Shani is getting carried away?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I only said alive, maybe I should have been more specific about their condition¡­¡± I admitted. ¡°Do you think they are friendly?¡± ¡°Hm. I don¡¯t think Loriel is going to send spies. We are allies and she wants to stay on our good side. I don¡¯t think she has enough people in the area to waste some on watching us. The other delegations might be a lot more curious, or concerned. The Empire is almost certainly watching. The question is, who attacked us?¡± ¡°I suspect the Emperor. He certainly is not happy with us. If it were the cult they would have involved demons, surely.¡± ¡°The demons might still be coming. Or maybe the assassins would have transformed if given enough time.¡± We were once again interrupted, this time by people coming from the trees. Most of them looked wounded, some were limping, but all were capable of walking. They followed an uninjured Lilastheria who marched in the front. Shani was bringing up the rear, whistling and twirling her scythe. It looks like they managed to capture the spies. ¡°They all look human so far.¡± I noticed. ¡°Looks can be deceiving. It just makes sense to look like a human in the Empire.¡± Lucy pointed out. They arrived in front of us and stood in a line. ¡°My ladies, we have captured the intruders.¡± Lilastheria said. Chapter 104: Captives Nine people had been captured. None of them had any visible markings on their clothing. ¡°Are you all working together?¡± I asked. Only silence was the answer. ¡°Do we torture them now?¡± Shani asked enthusiastically. I ignored the remark and instead turned to Lilastheria. ¡°Did you find them as a group? Did they use any skills that would point towards their affiliation? Did they communicate with each other while you captured them?¡± ¡°I believe eight are from the same group. The ninth is suspicious and possibly still dangerous.¡± ¡°Dangerous?¡± I asked, raising an eyebrow. ¡°Not to you, my ladies. But I suspect she is hiding her true powers and just now waiting to strike. I found it better to accept her ruse and subdue her in front of you. To ultimately crush her spirit.¡± That took me by surprise. I looked back at the captives. They were not in any way restrained. Five were male and four were female. I tried sensing something from them when one made her move. The prisoner had short red hair and blue eyes filled with determination. Her regular clothes were suddenly replaced by ominous black leather and a sword was in her hand. She was fast, but slower than me. And slower than Lilastheria. Petals filled my vision as the naginata parried the incoming sword. Our succubus was putting on a show. I decided to trust her and not intervene. I also kept alert to make sure this was not a distraction. Shani and Lucy were also just watching the duel. The frustrated attacker could not get past Lilastheria and was pushed back. It almost looked like a beautiful dance as sakura petals filled the air. New ones constantly appeared as old ones faded away. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. The other prisoners watched, frozen. Some were sweating, all looked afraid. But none of them made a move. Meanwhile, the attacker was bleeding from several cuts. She had not used any spells, but her blade was now glowing. It was either an enchantment or a battle technique. Unfortunately for her, Lilastheria was simply too agile and she failed to land a hit. I saw gentle winds enveloping our maid as she toyed with her opponent. ¡°Surrender, you cannot win.¡± Lilastheria said. The attacker remained silent. I wondered if she was waiting for something and just buying time. So far she did not stand a chance. Was it pride that kept her going? Duty? Or a hidden trump card? Neither my enhanced senses, nor my Eyes of the Fey could spot anything. But I remained alert. The battle ended when the assassin was no longer able to hold her sword. She was lying on the grass, breathing heavily. Her armour was badly damaged and blood dripped from a lot of wounds. None of them seemed too deep. Lilastheria collected the dropped weapon and dragged the groaning captive in front of us. ¡°My ladies, I have subdued her.¡± ¡°Good job!¡± I said. ¡°While she catches her breath, why don¡¯t we ask the other captives some questions. Who hired you? What was your mission?¡± ¡°We¡­ we had nothing to do with the attack! We were hired to observe, I swear!¡± One of them answered. ¡°Please, don¡¯t kill us!¡± Another one pleaded. ¡°Don¡¯t let the elemental eat me!¡± A third one sobbed. I looked at Shani. ¡°Do you eat humanoids? What do elementals eat anyway?¡± I wondered. ¡°Mostly we absorb magic from our surroundings. But we can also get it from consuming things that have magic, like people! But I don''t do that. They taste terrible!¡± ¡°Uh, ok. See? Nobody gets eaten. Now, who hired you?¡± I asked the captives again. ¡°We don¡¯t know! We are adventures and were hired through the guild.¡± A woman answered. I never really looked into adventurers in this world. I knew they existed, I claimed to be on in the past, but I never bothered with the actual organisation. Maybe it was time for a visit. ¡°I see. We should probably visit the guild tomorrow. Are all of you from one party? What about the attackers?¡± I pointed at the husks. ¡°And what about that one?¡± I pointed at Lilastheria¡¯s captive. ¡°We eight are one group, we don¡¯t know about the others! We¡­ we saw the assassins getting into position but we had nothing to do with them! The woman over there was also not part of our group. She just appeared in the confusion, when the elemental arrived!¡± It was the same woman as before who answered. Maybe she was their leader? ¡°What is your group called?¡± Lucy asked. The woman swallowed. ¡°We are the midnight fangs. I am Katherine, the leader.¡± I studied the woman. She had short black hair and brown eyes. She looked like she was in her mid twenties. But looks could be deceiving in a magical world. ¡°I am satisfied, I think we can let them go. Any objections?¡± I asked, looking at Lucy. ¡°Fine by me. They were only watching after all. And they learned their lesson, right?¡± ¡°Yes, we are very grateful for your mercy!¡± Katherine said while prostrating herself. Now it was time for the real catch. I looked at Lilastheria¡¯s captive. Chapter 105: Interrogation Our maid noticed my attention and poked the woman with her weapon. ¡°Be a good girl and answer any questions my ladies have.¡± I nodded approvingly and started asking: ¡°Who are you? Who do you work for?¡± I stared at the silent captive. I would have judged her to be in her thirties. There was a small scar on her right cheek. Her eyes were filled with defiance. I did not want to torture her. What options did we have to get some information? ¡°Do we torture her now? Can I? Can I?¡± Shani pleaded. ¡°No, that feels a bit extreme¡­¡± I said. ¡°She tried to kill you! Let¡¯s just zap her a bit. Or a lot!¡± The elemental grinned and started playing with some electricity in her hand. ¡°Well, she was not very good at it.¡± Not the best argument, I had to admit, but I felt a certain amount of pity. The assassin never got a single blow to connect and now she was lying there, bleeding. Torturing her would just be wrong. ¡°My ladies, I could charm her into talking.¡± Lilastheria offered. Mind manipulation was a slippery slope. But it would give us some answers without permanent harm. I looked at Lucy, she nodded. ¡°Ok, do it.¡± I said. The captives'' eyes widened. She did not react when we discussed torture but suddenly there was fear visable on her face. She tried to stand up but Lilasthera put her foot on her back and smashed her into the ground. ¡°Nooooooo please, no.¡± The assassin started sobbing. I was confused. Why would she be so afraid of being charmed? Did she think it was permanent? That would make sense. I just saw it as mentally nudging her to answer our questions. If the woman feared a more permanent mind control¡­ maybe we could use that. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°You can always start talking¡­¡± I said. ¡°I am Minerva, I was ordered to kill you!¡± ¡°We kind of noticed the attempt. We are more interested in why. And who ordered it.¡± ¡°The Empire, it was the Empire!¡± ¡°Now we are getting somewhere. So they hired you? Who exactly? Or are you part of the army? Inquisition?¡± ¡°I¡­ I am from the inquisition.¡± ¡°Interesting. So probably not sanctioned by the Emperor. I assume someone wanted payback for Elias.¡± I theorised. ¡°Isn¡¯t she a bit too weak?¡± Lucy said. ¡°Who would expect her to avenge a high inquisitor? And her gear seems a bit¡­ cheap.¡± ¡°If they still thought I am a regular sorceress, a surprise attack from up close could work. She did have a sword ability. I guess she is all about delivering one strong blow and then running.¡± ¡°My ladies, please let me charm her to ensure the authenticity of her story.¡± Lilastheria said. ¡°I am not lying! Please, do not do this!¡± Minerva pleaded. Was she truly that afraid? Or was she feeding us false information and wanted to stop us from hearing the truth? Would charming her be that bad? I thought about it for a while and made my decision. ¡°Do it.¡± I said. Lilastheria grabbed the captive by her hair and started whispering in her ear. I was not sure how the power of succubus worked but I did not expect the screaming. ¡°Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.¡± Minerva was no longer pleading but seemed to be in pain. Our maid stopped and frowned. ¡°My ladies, there is something fighting me. I think the woman is already being controlled by someone.¡± I approached the captive and looked at her. There was now blood running from her eyes. I quickly used my low level healing magic. It was only for simple wounds but I hoped it would be enough. After the soothing magic flowed into her the bleeding stopped. She was alive but unconscious. ¡°I deeply apologise for not noticing it earlier, my blunder almost killed the captive.¡± Lilastheria said with a bow. ¡°Not your fault.¡± I said reassuringly. ¡°None of us noticed.¡± ¡°Can we figure out who controls her?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I answered. ¡°Mind control is not really my speciality. I can try to break the magic. The question is, will she remember who did this? Or we could try to track the spell¡­¡± ¡°But they might notice and kill her.¡± Lucy finished my thought. ¡°Please break it, she might be innocent. We should not risk her.¡± I nodded, having similar thoughts. Now, how would I break the spell? I had no idea what magic was at work. But bigger level spells were more resistant to dispel magic. So I decided to use my trump card, devour magic. Black smoke enveloped Minerva¡¯s body. It lingered for a while, then it seemed to seep into her body. She remained unconscious but started shaking. I used my heal spell once more. ¡°Is she going to make it?¡± Lucy asked. The shaking stopped and Minerva was still breathing. ¡°I think so. We won¡¯t know anything about her mind until she wakes up though.¡± Chapter 106: Names ¡°Is she just asleep? Or in a coma?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Unfortunately, healing is not a speciality of mine. Maybe we need to find a priest, if she does not wake up.¡± Healing was mostly the domain of the gods. So far I had stayed away from any religion. I had no idea how my presence in this world was even possible. My theory was that something more powerful than the local gods handled reincarnation. Would the deities of this world hate my presence? At least they did not act so far. ¡°We can also see if the adventurers guild has a healer. Assuming she is still sleeping tomorrow.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Great idea.¡± I paused, thinking for a moment. ¡°You know, maybe we should not use your full name in public Lilastheria. You were bound by Beira and the inquisition in the past. I really should have thought about this sooner.¡± I looked in the direction of the midnight fangs. They had retreated once we focused on Minerva and I could still see them walking away. ¡°Should I dispose of any witnesses?¡± Shani asked. ¡°No. I don¡¯t think they will talk about anything they heard tonight. But if we are at the guild tomorrow we could remind them.¡± ¡°Maybe I can remind them now? Pleeeeeease?¡± Shani tried a puppy face. Not literally, I should add. Could she morph her face into a puppy as an elemental? No idea. Anyway, her pleading look almost worked. But there was still some madness left in her eyes. ¡°Well, as long as she does not hurt them¡­¡± Lucy said. I sighed. ¡°Ok, but don¡¯t scare them too badly.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± And Shani was off. ¡°What name shall I use, my ladies?¡± Lilastheria inquired. ¡°What would you like?¡± I asked. ¡°Maybe Lily!¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°It¡¯s nice and fits with your original name.¡± Lilastheria gave it some thought. ¡°I like your idea, my lady. Today I stopped serving hell, I am now a knight of the fey! It is only fitting that I change my name as well.¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. She kneeled before us. ¡°From this day forth I shall be Lily, your maid and knight!¡± I just wanted to hide her real name. But it looked like she saw this as a big deal. She also looked really happy. I smiled. ¡°Wonderful. Now rise Lily, it¡¯s time for us to go back to the hotel. I think we are done for today.¡± ¡°A moment, my lady. You have gifted me a beautiful weapon earlier. What is its name?¡± I looked at her and scratched my head. ¡°Uh¡­¡± I am sure that naginata had a name in the game. But I could not remember it. And there was no way for me to look it up. Thinking about it, my personal weapon did not have a name either. Neither did Lucy¡¯s spear. Of course our weapons were mostly functional and not flashy. Should I name my sword? I was getting distracted. ¡°It does not have a name¡­ feel free to give it one.¡± I finally said. Lily looked thoughtful. She examined her naginata, gently tracing it with her fingers. Shani suddenly appeared. ¡°Uh, something with blood! Or something sinister! Maybe¡­ bloody slaughterer? Hm¡­¡± ¡°This fine blade should not have such a crude name.¡± Lily answered, still examining the weapon. ¡°So how did it go Shani?¡± I asked. ¡°Two soiled their pants, it was a great success!¡± I briefly considered a follow up question but decided against it. This was more than enough information. I did not hear any screaming and I saw that all of the midnight fangs were still alive, although they were moving away a lot faster now. ¡°I shall call you Storm¡¯s Blossom.¡± ¡°A fine name.¡± I said approvingly. ¡°Not bloody enough¡­¡± Shani mumbled. ¡°Well then, it¡¯s time to go back to the hotel.¡± I suggested. ¡°I am surprised you did not suggest a restaurant.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Well¡­ getting some food there was sort of implied¡­¡± ¡°Do not worry, my ladies. I shall organise a feast and have it brought to your quarters. What cuisine would you like?¡± I perked up when I heard that. Getting a maid was such a great idea! ¡°Hm. How about curry?¡± I suggested. ¡°Sure.¡± Lucy agreed. ¡°What about you Shani? There is still some time left until the summoning spell runs out. Do you want to join us, or return home?¡± I asked. ¡°Hm¡­ I think I will pass on the food. Maybe some other time. I have to tell the other elemental lords how I helped create a knight! Call me if there is slaughter to be done!¡± I nodded and dismissed her. She waved goodbye as she disappeared into her home dimension. After that we were on our way. Lily was carrying the sleeping Minerva. The sun was going down as we arrived at our accommodation. We met Loriel at the entrance, the timing made me assume someone alerted her of our return. She looked tired. ¡°Did anything interesting happen today?¡± I asked. ¡°Interesting? You mean, like a sudden storm over the park? Accompanied by a burst of power?¡± Loriel asked while staring at me. ¡°Oh that, meet our maid, Lily. That storm was just a knighting ceremony. Ah, we killed some assassins, by the way. We will look into it further tomorrow. Oh, and this lady here was mind controlled, I broke it and now she is sleeping. We might have to look into finding a healer if she does not wake up naturally.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.¡± Lily said and inclined her head. She was still carrying Minerva. Loriel just stared, lost for words. Chapter 107: Adventurers Guild ¡°We will leave you to your thoughts.¡± I said and we moved past her. Lily rented a room that she would share with Minerva. Lucy and myself went to our quarters. Then we got comfortable and waited for our food. It took about an hour but our maid provided excellent service. She brought us food and drink, she even included a dessert we had not asked for. Bananas covered in chocolate. Simple, but very tasty. After the meal Lily retired for the evening. Lucy briefly disappeared into the bedroom, when she returned her outfit had changed. It was a slutty maid costume! I was not sure what to expect, when she went shopping with our succubus, but I was pleased with the result. I did not waste any time and approached her. We had a great night. The next day started uneventfully. Lucy dragged me out of bed and we left our room to get breakfast. We found Lily at a table with Loriel and Elnora, probably describing yesterday''s events in more detail. I also saw some dwarven delegates but Hilda was not among them. Maybe we should meet her and catch up at some point. We settled at a table for two. Lily approached us soon after for a short report. ¡°My ladies, Minerva is still sleeping. She seems fine physically but we might need to consult a healer. Do you have any orders for me?¡± ¡°I was afraid of that. We will visit the adventurers guild and ask for help. If that does not work we shall visit a temple. You can accompany us, until then just enjoy breakfast. Unless you need something Lucy?¡± ¡°No, I am fine. But shouldn''t we leave someone to watch Minerva?¡± ¡°I thought we could ask Loriel to spare one of the elven guards for that. I doubt that anyone will attack her here. With three delegations this would be a challenging target.¡± I replied. ¡°Only two, my lady. The people from Iron Rock left yesterday. The duke felt his presence here was of no further use and he had to look after his city. The dwarves are still here. I have no information about Beravis since they are not staying at this hotel.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Ah. I hope we can wrap up our business here quickly and leave as well. It would be nice to visit the Dominion and have a look at our county.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hope Minerva will have some information when she wakes up.¡± Lucy said. ¡°I shall inform Loriel of your request for a guard.¡± Lily bowed and left. Afterwards we enjoyed our breakfast. Coffee is simply required to get a day started. Good food doesn''t hurt either. Once we were done we made our way to the adventurers guild. Lily knew the way so we followed her. The building looked sturdy and functional. There was no marble, no golden decorations, just normal stone and wood. The guilds headquarters were fairly large. I assumed they offered certain services to their members, like a room to stay. Maybe even training? ¡°You know, I expected something more regal.¡± I commented. ¡°Adventurers are less respected in the Empire.¡° Lucy explained. ¡°Soldiers keep the major roads protected and nobles have their own guards. Of course, the more rural regions rely on adventurers. And nobles still use them, just not that openly.¡± ¡°I see. Well, let¡¯s enter!¡± I was kind of excited. Once inside I saw a bar to the left. There were several tables where a few people lounged. To the right were the counters. Straight ahead was a corridor leading deeper into the building. I took a closer look at the patrons. One person was nursing a drink at the bar while two groups were sitting at a table each. Most looked human but the person at the bar was clearly a cat kin. Having satisfied my curiosity, I turned towards the neatly labelled counters. Two were for members and three for customers. Only one of each was open though. The receptionist smiled as we approached. Her gaze briefly lingered on Lily, having a maid made us look rich. The smile grew even wider. The young woman was dressed in a grey suit and had fiery red hair. ¡°Welcome to the guild! What can I do for you?¡± ¡°Greetings. I am Amaya Delphinium and we would like to talk to the guildmaster.¡± Her smile became a bit strained. ¡°Might I ask why?¡± ¡°Some of your people stalked us yesterday.¡± Lucy added: ¡°They were called the midnight fangs. Said they were hired to do so. We would like to know by whom.¡± The receptionist''s smile vanished. ¡°I am sorry but client information is confidential. If you think they acted illegally you should report them to the guard.¡± Lily retrieved Storm¡¯s Blossom from her storage. She did not make a threatening move, just held it casually in one hand. Then she smacked the but of her weapon on the floor. The noise was heard by everyone in the room. ¡°My ladies have not asked for your opinion. Fetch your master.¡± The receptionist paled. I heard chairs moving and saw that one group was getting up and grabbing their weapons. ¡°Is there a problem?¡± One of them shouted. Chapter 108: A Lesson I sighed. I did not want this to escalate. ¡°We are simply here to have a chat with the guildmaster. There is no problem.¡± I said with a smile. It seemed that getting an audience with the local leader was harder than I thought. Maybe I should have mentioned my title? ¡°I think it would be better if you just left.¡± The receptionist replied. ¡°I am afraid that is not an option.¡± I responded. ¡°You are inside the property of the adventurers guild. We have a legal right to remove you.¡± She said with a stern voice. Lucy smirked. ¡°Good for you. But that is rather meaningless if you are lacking the power to do so. Also, you haven¡¯t even asked your boss if he would be interested in this meeting.¡± ¡°I do not know who you are, but the rules are quite clear. We do not divulge client information. Your titles are meaningless here! Somebody watched you and found an embarrassing secret? That is your problem!¡± My eyes went to the adventurer that interrupted us. He was a big guy. Bald, clean shaven and carrying a two handed axe. He wore chainmail of reasonable quality. His party consisted of a female mage and two more men. One with a bow and the other with a spear. The second party was still watching from their table. The cat kin at the bar did not even look our way. Meanwhile, Lucy leaned over the counter and stared the receptionist in the eye. ¡°You either call the guildmaster or we will break down every door in this establishment until we find him.¡± ¡°I will teach you girls some manners!¡± The guy with the axe shouted and charged. His eyes widened as Lily appeared in his path. She clearly moved faster than he could follow. Her naginata connected with his axe. Normal steel and wood were no match for Storm¡¯s Blossom, wielded with demonic strength. The naginata tore through the shaft and the langets. The axe head went flying. Lily followed with a strike, using the butt of her weapon. She hit the man in the chest. I heard his ribs crack and he went down, surrounded by illusionary cherry blossoms. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. While the man crumbled the axe head impacted a wall. I had considered catching it, but there was nobody in its path so I did not bother. Lily was not done yet. After having finished their leader she continued towards the other members of his party. The bowman went down before he could knock an arrow. The spearman managed to stab the air, once, before he was knocked out by a strike to his head. Not with the bladed end, Lily had not killed any of them so far. It took five seconds to cast a spell. While the mage might have been paralysed by shock, at first, she eventually remembered to use her magic. Her spell finished just as the spearmen went down. The air around Lily shimmered¡­ and nothing happened. While the mage stared, dumbfounded, I laughed. ¡°What was that?¡± Lucy asked, sounding curious. ¡°She tried a hold spell. It is 3rd tier and stops anyone from taking any action, besides breathing. Unfortunately for her, it does not work on someone with sufficient magic inside them. Even if it works, people can break free with a strong enough will. But Lily here is far too powerful to be restrained by that.¡± Our maid could have easily incapacitated the mage after the failed spell. But she stopped and watched as the woman grew pale. ¡°I¡­ I surrender.¡± The mage pleaded. ¡°Please don¡¯t hurt me!¡± ¡°Apologise to the ladies for the disrespect you have shown. They shall decide your fate.¡± Lily said, her voice cold. The second party just watched with wide eyes and open mouths. They made no move to intervene. ¡°ENOUGH!¡± A man shouted as he emerged from the corridor. He looked to be in his 50s. There were scars on his face, telling the tales of many battles. His short black hair started to grey but his body still seemed well trained. His brown eyes stared at us with disdain. ¡°I am guildmaster Greyson. I have heard of you, countess Delphinium. You might be someone in the Dominion but your title won¡¯t protect you here. You have left the palace, but not the Empire. You are no longer a diplomat. Now you are just a visitor. And you have attacked my establishment unprovoked.¡± Lucy snorted. I was pondering my answer when Lily spoke. ¡°You mortal fool! You stand before the queen of thunder! The lady of storms! Show her proper respect or face my wrath!¡± Lucy whispered in my ear: ¡°She is intense, I like it. We should get more maids like her.¡± Greyson seemed unimpressed. He studied our maid. ¡°Girl, your lady might be an elemental sorceress, so what? I heard rumours about her power, but frankly I doubt them. I would have heard about her a long time ago if she were that special. Let me teach you your place.¡± I pondered his words. Was his intel truly that bad? Then again, the Empire likely spread wrong information about Iron Rock. And they would never admit that I killed Elias. Their whole culture was based on telling everyone how great the Empire was. Maybe it was time for a little demonstration. I closed my eyes and focused inward, towards my power. I had used my aura a few times now and it was getting easier. When I opened my eyes again, they glowed. Chapter 109: A Show of Force My power expanded. The air became charged. I looked at Greyson with cold eyes. ¡°You wish to challenge me?¡± I did not shout, yet my voice filled the entire room. It carried power, magic. I heard a thump behind me as the receptionist collapsed. ¡°Come then, draw your weapon. Face my lightning, endure my thunder, embrace the storm!¡± I opened my hands wide. A cloud formed inside the building. Rain began to fall as lightning danced around me. I heard a cry from the tables as the sound of thunder filled the room. Greyson still stood, but there was no more arrogance on his face. He trembled slightly and started to kneel. ¡°My deepest apologies, my lady. I submit to your judgement and beg of you to spare my people.¡± Huh? I was surprised. His apology looked genuine. There was respect in his eyes. I looked around the room. The group at the table was visibly shaking. The mage was openly crying. The cat kin at the bar was finally looking our way. I noticed she was female. Her eyes were wide with shock but she seemed less frightened than the others. Having made my point I withdrew my power. I felt bad for scaring the people that did not confront us, but I did not have the ability to exclude someone from the effect. At least Lucy seemed to enjoy my aura. Probably because she was my warlock. Lily did not seem to mind either. Maybe because of the bond? Something to investigate later. As my power receded the cloud disappeared and the room returned to normal. Well, it was drenched in water now. I checked on the receptionist who collapsed earlier. While I still thought she should have simply called her boss, she was just doing the job she was hired for. And I did not want her to be injured from the fall. She had a small bump on her head so I used my healing spell. Wait¡­ wasn¡¯t there another person here earlier? One counter for members was open too, but the person there disappeared at some point. No matter. I did not heal any of the adventurers Lily had incapacitated. They were fighters and should be used to taking a few hits. Also, it might teach them a lesson to not draw their weapons so quickly in the future. Greyson was still kneeling. ¡°Rise, guildmaster. Why don¡¯t we discuss this in your office?¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°As you wish, follow me.¡± He stood and walked deeper into the building. The three of us followed him. His office was quite cosy and very organised. A lot of shelving held books and records. There were neatly stacked papers on his large desk. Lucy and myself took the chairs meant for guests. Lily stood behind us. ¡°Again, let me apologise.¡± Greyson started. ¡°The reports I received mentioned a demon incursion near Iron Rock that was defeated by the Dominion. It also implied that a small unknown sorceress took the credit and hinted to a foreign plot. I know that the Emperor called a summit afterwards.¡± I just stared. Wasn¡¯t the adventurers guild kind of big? Did they not have offices in multiple countries? How could they be so misinformed? Then again, this world had no phones, no internet. There were messaging spells, but those were out of reach for ordinary people. And one should never underestimate the power of a nation to restrict information. ¡°Where did you get this information?¡± Lucy asked, while I was still trying to make sense of everything. ¡°The inquisition, mostly. The Empire is very cautious when it comes to independent organisations. We can only operate here under their supervision. We are too useful to be banned but too dangerous to be free.¡± ¡°Why are you so open now?¡± I wondered. ¡°I have spent 50 years as an adventurer before I retired to a desk job.¡± 50 years? He must be older than he looks. It was really hard to judge people in a magical world. ¡°I have seen many things in my life, faced countless monsters in battle¡­ but I have never encountered such power. Staring at you made me feel small¡­ insignificant. It was like staring at nature itself. I would be a fool to oppose you.¡± The man seemed a lot more reasonable than I expected. That was good news. And I was sure he would spread the information across the guild to leave us alone. But it was time to address the real reason we were here. ¡°So, who hired you to watch us? And was that the only mission? We were attacked by assassins as well, but were unable to identify them. Additionally, there was a mind controlled woman that tried to kill us.¡± ¡°Mind control? That¡­ is very concerning.¡± He looked genuinely shocked. ¡°As for who hired the observation, I will have to look into it. People can hire us without proof of their identity. Some people are sending servants, or using fake names. Especially if they want us to spy on nobles. But I can assure you, we did not send any assassins. At least not officially.¡± ¡°Does this mean it could have been adventurers, but the job was not approved by the guild?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes. We are mercenaries and attract a large variety of people. Some have questionable morals and could have been hired directly.¡± That made sense, unfortunately. ¡°Another thing, the attacker we captured and freed is called Minerva. While I was able to break the magic controlling her, she has been asleep since then. Do you have a healer that could check on her?¡± He pondered that. ¡°I am afraid we don¡¯t have anyone here right now. With the recent demon incursion most of our people are deployed somewhere. You might have to go to a temple. Mind control is high level magic and very illegal. It''s also hard to detect. That someone is using it in the city is very worrying. Do you think it¡¯s connected to the demons?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Maybe.¡± Chapter 110: Acquaintance Greyson assured us he was looking into it. There was not much else we could do here, for now. That the inquisition had its claws so deep into the guild was concerning. If they controlled the information they certainly had spies here. Also, if they were behind the mind control people could be compromised. What if Greyson was actually controlled? I could use devour magic on him. But I had limited uses per day. And he seemed pretty open in the conversation. I decided to wait for now. A veteran adventurer should be hard to control anyway. We said our goodbyes and left. The hall was still wet but someone tried to clean it with a mop. All the adventurers were gone. They either fled or hid somewhere else in the building. Then again, maybe they simply changed into dry clothes. Once we left the building, we found a group of guards waiting for us. I recognized vice captain Iris. ¡°Iris! Nice to see you. How are you doing? Fully recovered from the battle?¡± She looked at me, resigned. ¡°Countess Amaya, lady Lucy, it''s a pleasure. I am afraid I don¡¯t know your maid.¡± ¡°This is Lily.¡± I introduced her. Iris inclined her head as a greeting. Lily did the same. ¡°You don¡¯t look very happy.¡± I pointed out. ¡°Unfortunately, we had news of a disturbance and I was sent to investigate. I have no desire to stand in your way. But could you inform me what happened?¡± ¡°Just a disagreement with some adventurers. It''s all sorted out. You can talk with the guildmaster, he will confirm everything is fine.¡± The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Why is the vice captain of the garrison leading a patrol?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°I am no longer of that rank. I am a sergeant now.¡± ¡°So you were demoted. I am sorry to hear that.¡± Before Iris could respond I stated: ¡°She committed the highest crime in the Empire¡­ she was competent at her job.¡± I could see a smile on Iris¡¯ lips but she quickly got it under control. ¡°Your captain Gunther did seem rather angry at the meeting in the palace.¡± Lucy recalled. ¡°He screwed up badly and needed a scapegoat, I assume?¡± ¡°It might even be worse than that.¡± I said. ¡°He looked like the type who actually believes his own lies. If he truly convinced himself she is at fault he will keep punishing her.¡± ¡°I appreciate your concern but I am fine.¡± Iris said. ¡°If they fire you we could offer you a job.¡± I suggested. ¡°I don¡¯t think that will be necessary. Have a nice day.¡± She responded. We continued our way towards the temple district. Once we were out of hearing range Lucy said with a sad voice: ¡°You know, they won¡¯t fire her. If he really has a grudge she will end up as a slave.¡± ¡°You think so? I know something like that happened to you. But you were a soldier with no connections. Could they do that with a former vice captain in the capital?¡± ¡°That is why she only got demoted. I assume the general stopped anything more from happening. The captain is probably from an influential house. She is low nobility at best, if even that. They made her take the fall for the mess. But now she is only a sergeant. Not too many people will even read a report of what is happening to her. All Gunther needs is another excuse.¡± I pondered that. Would she be blamed for not arresting us? If the guild had no complaint that would be hard to do. And to enslave her she would need to truly break the rules. That was a punishment for deserters. ¡°If that happens we could still free her. Assuming we even know it¡¯s happening.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I like her but we don¡¯t really know her that well.¡± ¡°My ladies, if you are going to recruit her she would make a good maid knight. If I am to lead an order we will need more people.¡± Lily suggested. I tried imagining Iris in a maid uniform with her glaive. It would look good¡­ ¡°Hm. I am not sure if she would want to be a maid.¡± ¡°Lily makes a good point though.¡± Lucy said. ¡°If we want an order of knights we need to recruit people.¡± ¡°True.¡± I admitted. ¡°But I am not sure if we are at the right place for that. Maybe we will wait until we are in our county. Unless there is a good opportunity I suppose.¡± ¡°Excellent, my lady! I shall keep my eyes open for suitable candidates. And I will stock up on spare uniforms in varying sizes! Maybe we should recruit a tailor¡­¡± Her eyes gleamed. Should I be concerned? No. We would have to approve any new hire anyway. We kept walking until we arrived at the temple district. Chapter 111: Temple We found ourselves at a large square with multiple buildings. All rather different in style. One dominated over all, the temple of Imperius, the most worshipped god of the Empire. Standing there I realised how little I knew about the gods of this world. ¡°Uh¡­ What temple would you recommend? Is there any god you worship?¡± I asked my companions. ¡°I am not very devout.¡± Lucy admitted. ¡°In the village I grew up in, some people worshipped Sylphania. As the goddess of nature they hoped her blessing would help their crops. Others followed Goreath. A lot of beastkin think we were created by him. And of course the Empire pushed the worship of Imperius. I never understood why normal citizens would worship the god of nobles. A god that tells them they have to obey.¡± ¡°Good propaganda I suppose. And maybe they see him as a divine justification for having slaves?¡± I wondered. ¡°Perhaps.¡± Lucy admitted. ¡°Lilith encouraged the worship of Amoria, the goddess of pleasure.¡± Lily said. ¡°Demons worship gods?¡± I was surprised. ¡°Not all of them. Some demon lords want their followers only devoted to them, others are fine with certain gods. Priests can be useful. Not every god accepts demon worshippers, I should add. Some gods are picky about the race of their followers.¡± ¡°Are you following Amoria?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Not really.¡± Lily admitted. ¡°So, none of us are religious. Ok then, what gods would make sense to visit?¡± I asked. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Well, Astra is the goddess of magic. That would fit. Sylphania could work since you have a certain connection to the elements. As a countess Imperius would fit too, I suppose.¡± Lucy said. I was not a fan of Imperius. But he did have the largest presence and therefore likely the best healers. I was not sure what his stance on mind control was. He was all about nobility and a strict hierarchy. Anyway, he would be a last resort. So, nature or magic? How did that work anyway? Did elemental magic not touch upon both? Was Astra focused on wizards, on studied magic? Also, what about Goreath? God of the hunt seemed rather vague. Would that not also be a part of nature? I looked around the square. One of the temples was not built, but grown. At first I mistook it for a garden. But I realised the trees were too dense. They formed a circle with an opening. The ring of trees was surrounded by some grass, bushes and flowers. Clearly this was the temple of Sylphania. ¡°I think we shall visit the goddess of nature. Well, her temple.¡± I corrected myself. There were no objections so we approached the curious building. Hm, that did not seem like the right word. How did one call a tree circle that served at a temple? Maybe I should ask. We used the dirt path leading into the curious structure. Branches and leaves formed the ceiling. In addition to the circle, one giant tree was in the centre. There were no visible doors, just open pathways. As we stepped into the first room an elf emerged. He had bronze skin and green hair, marking him as a wood elf. ¡°Greetings. What can the temple of Sylphania do for you?¡± ¡°Greeting priest.¡± I hoped that was the correct way of addressing him. ¡°I am Amaya and those are Lucy and Lily. We are looking for a healer.¡± ¡°I see. I am Elandru. I can see no visible injuries. What kind of healing do you seek?¡± ¡°It is not for us. We freed a person from mind control. Now she is sleeping and will not wake. We hope to find someone who can help at your temple.¡± He looked shocked. ¡°Mind control? That is serious. You will need to talk to the high priestess. Please follow me.¡± He led us deeper into the temple. I noticed that they had regular furniture inside. Desks, chairs, cabinets,... It seemed that only the building was special. Our destination was the tree in the centre. A tall hedge formed the wall of the surprisingly cosy room. There was a lovely couch, some comfy chairs, even a liquor cabinet. ¡°She will be with you shortly.¡± Elandru said and left. As we explored the room I noticed something odd about the tree. My eyes could see magic in it. And it was moving. The magic flowed to a certain part of the trunk. Suddenly a hand emerged from the tree. But it was not only a hand. An entire person stepped out of the trunk. She looked like an elf with a skin made of wood. Her hair was made from leaves and twigs. She opened her green eyes and regarded me curiously. Was the high priestess a dryad? ¡°You smell of wind and rain. I can feel your power. Who are you?¡± ¡°Amaya Delphinium, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± I introduced myself. Chapter 112: Dryad ¡°Greetings. I am Thessia, high priestess of Sylphania and in charge of this temple.¡± She looked around and studied my companions. ¡°Those are your friends¡­ servants? You are all connected, somehow.¡± ¡°Hi, I am Lucy.¡± She said and waved. Lily nodded her head in greeting and said: ¡°I am Lily, the ladies knight and maid.¡± Thessia blinked. ¡°Knight and maid? What a curious combination. And you serve both?¡± ¡°I do.¡± I scratched my head, thinking how I wanted to explain the situation. ¡°Well, Lucy is my warlock and we are in a relationship.¡± We were in the temple of a goddess and I was publicly known as an archfey. Admitting that I created a warlock seemed fine. Thessia studied Lucy with interest. ¡°You seem powerful. You must have pacted a long time ago.¡± Her eyes travelled to Lily. ¡°And you are a true knight. You do not simply bear the name, you have been granted power.¡± I wondered how she knew so much. Was that the power of a dryad or a high priestess? Or did her goddess tell her? At least she seemed unaware that Lucy gained her power in an instant. That was one secret I did want to keep. ¡°With the introductions out of the way, we came here seeking help.¡± I said. ¡°Oh? That is rare for someone of your power. What service do you require?¡± ¡°We have been attacked by a woman named Minerva. She was being controlled with magic. After I broke the spell she fell into a coma. She seems stable but has shown no signs of waking. We were hoping you could help her.¡± ¡°Mind control? That is concerning. Not something many are capable of. I assume it was a total domination? Was it permanent or timed? Did she carry an item the spell was bound to? Did she have any visible runes on her body?¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Uh¡­ we did not strip her¡­¡± Damn. That was an oversight. We simply healed her of obvious wounds and brought her to the hotel. What a basic mistake, I should have known better. I was no doctor, I wasn¡¯t able to do a proper examination. But I should have at least looked if there was something obvious on her body. ¡°How long ago was this? And what did you do after you broke the spell? How did you break the spell specifically? And how did you find out she was controlled?¡± ¡°It was yesterday evening. I used my healing magic on her but it is low tier. It was sufficient to keep her alive but she did not wake so far. We let her sleep through the night to see if she awoke naturally. We have no way to feed her in her current state so I thought it important to seek a proper healer today.¡± ¡°You know healing magic? Curious. But you haven¡¯t told me how you became aware of the mind control or how you broke it.¡± How much did I want to admit here? Lily tried to use her succubus powers to charm Minerva when we discovered it. Despite Thessia¡¯s observations so far, she did not seem to be aware that our maid was a demon. Or did she simply not mention it? ¡°We discovered something was wrong during our interrogation. I broke the magic with my own.¡± I kept it simple and vague. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Are you willing to help?¡± ¡°Yes. I can send Elandru to bring her here, if that is alright? My magic is stronger next to my tree.¡± ¡°Sure. Lily, please help him bring her here.¡± I thought an escort and some help might be good. ¡°Yes, my lady.¡± Our maid left to inform the priest and get the patient. ¡°We have some time till they return, would you like some tea?¡± Thessia offered. ¡°Do dryads consume normal food?¡± Lucy asked. I had similar thoughts. My knowledge about them was rather limited. ¡°If I am inside my tree I share what it consumes. When I am using this body I have to eat in some form. Although the sun does provide nourishment, there is pleasure in consuming regular food.¡± She moved towards a cabinet and retrieved a tea set. Water and heat were provided by magic. Meanwhile, I wondered if a dryad could get fat from sunbathing. Maybe she could convert any excess into magic or give it to the tree. ¡°Please, have a seat.¡± Thessia gestured towards the couch. I made myself comfortable and Lucy joined me. Soon the tea was ready. It was served in clay cups that looked like tulips. The tea reminded me of green tea with a hint of lemon. It was quite delicious. ¡°So, what brings an archfey to this city?¡± Thessia asked. ¡°We are part of a delegation from the Dominion.¡± I answered. ¡°I do not pay much attention to politics. The Empire is not a fan of dryads. If I wasn¡¯t a priestess they would have enslaved me long ago. Sometimes I think my goddess is mocking them by stationing me here.¡± ¡°But surely you have at least heard about the demons. The whole city was attacked! There was a lot of fighting.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°I did sense them but the temple did not get involved. My goddess has no quarrel with demons in general and nobody asked for our help.¡± She shrugged. Then she tilted her head and looked at me. ¡°You know, I do remember an unnatural storm and you certainly feel similar.¡± Chapter 113: Mythical Creatures ¡°Are you not concerned about this?¡± I wondered. ¡°The gods don¡¯t normally intervene in mortal business.¡± At least that was what I had been told so far. ¡°What would happen if the demons attacked your temple?¡± ¡°You are right. We are granted power in exchange for worship. We can use this power as we see fit, as long as we do not go against our goddesses doctrine. But the church is powerful and not an enemy many would like. The building does have some formidable defences too. As long as I don¡¯t take a side in this conflict very few would dare attack the temple.¡± ¡°Is helping us with Minerva considered taking a side? The inquisition is likely involved. Demons might be as well. We don¡¯t know what is really going on but it involves politics.¡± ¡°Yes. Normally I would stay clear of that. If our church worked against the Empire they would remove the temple and Sylphania would accept that. If we get involved, the consequences are ours to bear. But it is not every day that an archfey walks through my door. Earning your favour might be worth more than keeping the Empire happy.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have a door.¡± Lucy joked. Thessia laughed. ¡°I suppose. Although I could grow something to close the entrance very quickly.¡± ¡°Grow something?¡± I asked. ¡°Would it not be simpler to move a root from your tree? Certainly you could have some big ones prepared and it would be less resource intensive. Although it would expose your roots¡­¡± Just some random thoughts that I had. Mostly from watching anime where dryads used their roots to attack. ¡°That is some surprising insight.¡± Thessia admitted. ¡°Then again, I am probably not the first dryad you have met.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. I sipped my tea, thinking. Of course nobody expected an archfey to just appear from thin air. If I actually was one, although by now I somewhat accepted that part. People assumed I had lived a long life and had the experiences and connections of an ancient being. I did have some knowledge that came with my reincarnation. I did know a lot about magic, or how to fight. But I was somewhat clueless in other areas. Should I try to come up with a cover story? And what did the gods know? If I was transported by an overgod, or something like that, the local gods might not know anything about me. Clearly they were not all-powerful and I suspected they were not all-knowing, or all-seeing, either. Were they confused where I came from? Was Thessia helping us for personal reasons, or was she influenced by her goddess? Then again, did it matter? ¡°Dwelling on old memories?¡± Thessia asked. Oh, she thought I was thinking about a dryad I met in the past. She thought her words had triggered memories of old acquaintances. ¡°No, just about the current situation.¡± I clarified. ¡°What is it like to be a dryad? I have never met one before.¡± Lucy asked. Thessia looked amused by the question. ¡°I assume you are interested in the tree part? In my current form, I am like most bipedal creatures. It¡¯s hard to describe the sensation when I merge with my tree. It¡¯s comfortable, like under a cosy blanket on a cold winter day. I cannot see, but I can perceive my surroundings with magic. I cannot hear, yet I understand the vibrations in the air when people speak. Being a tree is as natural as walking around in this body for me.¡± Lucy pondered that. ¡°So both of your forms are just natural for you? I guess it¡¯s the same when I turn into a fox. It feels right, despite having a different body.¡± ¡°Oh? You can turn into a fox? Are you a kitsune?¡± Thessia sounded surprised. Was it wise for Lucy to reveal her shapeshifting? We wanted to keep that hidden because we used it to infiltrate the lab. Then again, we used illusions as well. Nobody should have seen through them. Our animal forms had no real connection to the demonic beast illusions we wore, besides the general body shape. And a lot had happened since then anyway. I still had all the documents we stole too. A thought for another time. Anyway, maybe it was fine to reveal our beast forms. Being known as an archfey changed a lot. We could get away with showing more exotic powers. ¡°No, I am just a fox kin.¡± Lucy answered. I laughed. Lucy elbowed me, I kept laughing. It was nice that she was now mistaken as a mythical creature. Then again, maybe she was a kitsune? If I was an archfey, instead of an elf, maybe she changed too? Kitsune were magical beasts, like dragons, who could shapeshift into a humanoid form. Lucy did mention that kitsune were rumoured to be the ancestors of the fox kin. Like fey where the ancestors of the elves. But my knowledge was limited. In the end, there was one important question: Could Lucy grow more tails? Chapter 114: Disturbing Discovery I looked at her. The couch had no openings for tails so Lucy¡¯s was curled around her. How inconvenient would more of them be for her? And how fluffy? I placed her tail in my lap and started stroking it. She did not seem to mind. Thessia watched our antics, clearly amused. Lucy rested her head against my shoulder. We fell into a comfortable silence. At some point Lily returned with Minerva. ¡°My ladies, I have returned.¡± She placed the woman on the floor in front of the tree. We stood up and approached her. ¡°Good job, any problems?¡± ¡°Some inquiries from the guards but Elandru handled them. He is monitoring the entrance to the temple to make sure we are not disturbed.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± I pondered that. ¡°It makes sense that they look into an unconscious person being carried around. Let¡¯s hope that they won¡¯t cause any trouble.¡± Meanwhile, Thessia had started to examine Minerva. She was disrobing the woman to further inspect her body. At first I could not see anything out of the ordinary. Until the dryad cast a spell. Suddenly black runes appeared around Minerva''s navel. Even with my Eye¡¯s of the Fey I was unable to see them before. ¡°What did you do? I could not detect those runes before.¡± I asked. ¡°They have been crafted into the body. Those are not simply drawn on her. I am not sure how. It¡¯s like she is permanently shapeshifted into a body with runes¡­¡± Thessia looked startled. So, they altered her DNA? They programmed certain cells to have a different pigmentation? It would mean we could not remove those runes. Even if we cut them out they would regrow. At least they were not powered at the moment. I studied those runes with my arcane knowledge. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. After a while I could make sense of them. ¡°This is disgusting.¡± I said, shaking my head. ¡°What have you figured out?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°The spell puts a person under the control of the caster. But magic like that would not last forever. In order to keep the spell going it uses the mana of the victim. It would kill a normal person and weaken a strong one. That is also why those runes are hard to detect with magic. The enslavement is essentially like a racial ability. It becomes a natural part of the body, not an external force. What I don¡¯t know is why we could not see them with our normal eyes. How did you reveal them, Thessia?¡± ¡°I cast a cleaning spell. They were simply hidden with paint. But your discoveries are disturbing indeed. I have never heard of such a thing.¡± ¡°Why is she in a coma? You broke the spell, right? Can they reactivate it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like a daemon binding. I can¡¯t see anything here that creates a bond. Maybe they were afraid it could be used to track the caster. Or maybe they did not know how to create a bond. I assume she received her orders in person, or with a communications crystal.¡± I paused, studying the runes again. ¡°I am afraid the enslavement has a failsafe. If the magic is being overwhelmed it uses everything to fight back. It¡¯s designed to kill the person before it fails¡­.¡± Then, why was she still alive? Because I did not use a normal dispel? Devour magic was one of my cheat skills. It was a spell that was only available to certain bosses in the game. I thought back to the times I had used it in this world. It was literally devouring magic, not just breaking a spell. So, the failsafe never triggered? Wait¡­ ¡°I think Lily¡¯s interrogation triggered the failsafe. Minerva was screaming because her own magic was hurting her to fight back against Lily. Devour magic should have safely disabled the runes but there was some damage before that. Let¡¯s hope it¡¯s not permanent.¡± I theorised. Thessia looked at me. ¡°Your knowledge about magic is far superior to mine. I will trust your analysis. Do you have an idea how they changed her body? This is a natural shapeshift, not a temporary one.¡± ¡°Powerful alchemy?¡± I guessed. Maybe someone created a magical DNA changing potion? They did not transform her race, at least I did not think so, they only added those runes. ¡°How do we change her back?¡± Lucy asked. I sighed. ¡°I have no idea. And that is a huge problem. Those runes are part of her. And they can be reactivated. Thankfully, it¡¯s something you can only do in person. So they would have to get close to her first.¡± ¡°At least I can heal her, I think.¡± Thessia said. ¡°Is there any danger of me reactivating those runes? Can I safely use spells on her?¡± ¡°Yes. Binding her requires a ritual. You would need to use a small gem, put some blood on it and insert it into her navel. Then activate the magic. The gem would fuse with her in the process.¡± ¡°I see. Thank you for trusting me with that knowledge. I will heal her now.¡± Chapter 115: Minerva It was the first time I saw a priest heal someone. The holy magic did not feel that different to the arcane magic of a sorcerer. But it was a lot shinier. Green light enveloped Minerva. I could hear faint sounds of nature. Birds chirping, leaves rustling in the wind and the soothing sound of a gentle stream. Did¡­ did holy spells come with a soundtrack? Did the gods actually pimp their spells? Could I do the same? Or maybe it was simply a reflection of their nature? Was I reading too much into it? Minerva gasped, her eyes opened. ¡°NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.¡± She screamed and started thrashing. Vines shot from the ground, keeping her immobilised. ¡°LET ME GO! Please, just let me go¡­¡± She started sobbing. ¡°Easy, we are not here to harm you. You are inside Slyphanias temple. I will release you if you stop fighting.¡± Thessia said in a soothing voice. I was not sure if the restraints were necessary but we did not know what Minerva would do. She might have hurt herself. Slowly the woman calmed down. Her breathing slowed and she looked around. ¡°What happened? Who are you?¡± The roots retreated into the ground, freeing Minerva. ¡°I am Thessia, high priestess of Sylphania. You were brought here by Amaya, Lucy and Lily because you needed healing.¡± I approached the naked woman and offered her a robe from my inventory. ¡°Here, put that on. We can offer you some tea to calm down.¡± She looked at me, and suddenly her eyes widened. She glanced around and found Lucy and Lily. She started trembling. ¡°We mean you no harm.¡± I said. ¡°We did not know about the magic controlling you before. I have removed its effects.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°You¡­ you are not going to kill me for attacking you? Aren¡¯t you a monster?¡± I scratched my head. ¡°Uh, no?¡± Lily approached the frightened woman. ¡°I am not sure what you were told but my lady is an honourable woman. She gave you back your freedom. The true monsters are those who enslaved you.¡± ¡°Am I truly free?¡± She looked at her exposed navel. The robe I had offered her was still in my hand. She had been too frightened to accept it. ¡°But the runes are still there¡­¡± She touched them with her finger. ¡°I¡­ I am free of any commands. How can that be?¡± ¡°I have disabled the spell. It could be reactivated if someone captured you and completed the ritual again. But for now you are free and we will do our best to keep it that way. We hope you can provide us with some information on how they transformed you, so we can reverse it.¡± I offered her the robe again, this time she took it. ¡°Why don¡¯t we go to the couch.¡± Lucy suggested. Thessia brewed more tea while we sat down. We gave Minerva some time to calm herself and collect her thoughts. We waited patiently until she was ready to talk. ¡°This is so¡­ weird. I have always been told other races are evil. That humans must stick together. And now you saved me and we are having tea¡­¡± ¡°Who enslaved you?¡± I asked. ¡°Was it demons?¡± ¡°No¡­ they were human.¡± ¡°Can you tell us how it happened?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I¡­ I was part of the inquisition. I grew up near the wastes. One day orcs raided our village and abducted or killed almost everyone. I escaped by hiding in a collapsed building.¡± Her hand touched the scar on her face. ¡°Soldiers found me and the inquisition trained me from a young age. I blamed non-humans for what happened and they happily encouraged that behaviour.¡± She still regarded us warily. But we did not lash out. We did not offer judgement. We just listened. Minerva continued. ¡°I was very eager. And one day they offered me part in a special project. It was overseen by one of the high inquisitors, Elias Richter. I felt honoured. They told me it would help humanity. It would bring peace and safety to the Empire. They¡­ they did things to me.¡± She shuddered. ¡°They fed me potions, used magic,... I was willing. At first. But it hurt. And it kept hurting. When I asked them to stop they just told me it was for the greater good¡­¡± I walked over to her and gave her a hug. At first she grew tense. But I kept holding her and she relaxed, then the tears started flowing. I just held her. Lucy approached as well. She put her hand on Minerva¡¯s shoulder. ¡°We will make them pay.¡± After a bit we all sat down again. Minerva regained her composure and drank some more tea. ¡°My memory is a bit hazy but one day the runes were there. They made me weaker and I could not refuse commands anymore. After that I returned to my duties. I was tasked with reporting anyone whose loyalty was not absolute. People I named disappeared for a while. I assume they were enslaved as well. Our methods also turned more questionable. We started using demons¡­¡± ¡°Is the inquisition responsible for those demon attacks?¡± I asked. ¡°Indirectly. I am not sure where the inquisition got their information about demons. But things often went wrong. They escaped their bindings and killed our people. I think Elias wanted to enslave them too.¡± Chapter 116: Planning I considered that. It made a certain amount of sense. ¡°Elias wanted to enslave demons and use them as a private army. But not with a normal bond. He wanted those slave runes. That might have drawn the attention of a demon lord, or several. So a cult started infiltrating his operation.¡± I reasoned. ¡°What about the other two high inquisitors?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I am not sure. I never saw Peter or Carolin. But I was just a pawn.¡± Minerva said. ¡°Who bound you? Who exactly was your master?¡± I asked. ¡°We killed Elias so you should have been free if it was him.¡± ¡°I do not know. I had orders to follow my superiors without question. I am not sure who gave the original order. My memories directly after the enslavement are blurry.¡± ¡°Could Elias have been controlled as well?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°I doubt it. The enslavement weakens you. I don¡¯t think he could have unleashed that last spell in our fight while being controlled. What I don¡¯t understand is why he attacked Iron Rock before he managed to properly enslave the demons.¡± ¡°Politics.¡± Lily suggested. ¡°Remember he had dealings with Beira. The emperor also likely knew that he was meddling with demons. Maybe he needed an excuse for his summoning and proposed an invasion? He could use the attack as a cover-up for his experiments. It even allowed him to have troops outside of the country, where he could easily hide his own plans from rivals.¡± Lily¡¯s theory sounded plausible. If Elias was working in secret he needed something to keep the emperor distracted. Something to make sure his true plan remained hidden. But what if he wasn¡¯t working alone? Who was running things now? ¡°Were any non-humans enslaved?¡± I asked. We knew it did not work on demons. Maybe they needed a different formula for every race? ¡°I do not know, sorry.¡± Minerva answered. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°I can see why this drew your attention.¡± Thessia addressed me. She had been quiet for a while. ¡°And I can see why you came to my temple. Enslaving people with their own mana, their own body, is very unnatural. Sylphania is not happy about this and her clergy will help you.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I said. ¡°We can send a representative to your court to coordinate.¡± Thessia offered. I looked at her, confused. ¡°Uh, I don¡¯t have a court.¡± Thessia stared at me. ¡°You are telling me an archfey,¡± Minerva gasped. The dryad ignored her and pointed at Lucy. ¡°Accompanied by the most powerful warlock I have ever seen.¡± Minerva gasped, again. Thessia pointed at Lily. ¡°And a fully bonded knight, something that needs an elemental lord''s assistance, has no court?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I suppose I had a county in the Dominion. I might even have staff there, somewhere. But nothing resembling a court. I assumed she was talking about the faerie realm anyway. Thessia opened her mouth but said nothing. She kept staring at me. Her eyes became unfocused. It looked as if her mind was suddenly busy with something. Was she having a mental conversation? Doing something with her tree? It only lasted a moment and she was back. ¡°I¡­ I see.¡± She said, ¡°Forgive my inquisitive nature. I am more than happy to be your contact with the church, if that is acceptable.¡± I had no idea what just happened but I had no objections. ¡°Sure.¡± Minerva seemed shocked by the revelation. ¡°You are an archfey? Not just a powerful sorceress? I¡­ I fought with a fey knight?¡± ¡°They did not tell you who your target was?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Who gave the order anyway?¡± ¡°Prince Alexander. He ordered me to kill you. I was only told you are a sorceress from the Dominion.¡± ¡°What?¡± I was surprised. And confused. ¡°But he is not part of the inquisition?¡± ¡°He is not but the enslavement compelled me to follow his orders. I do not know why.¡± ¡°He is too dumb to be part of any plot.¡± Lucy said. ¡°I would agree. Unless he is a very good actor. It¡¯s more likely that someone used him for his influence. Or money. I assume a 3rd prince has access to a lot of resources. Maybe someone wanted him as a puppet? They could have bribed him with slaves. Gave him control over a few of their people. And maybe they planned to control him as well in the end. Put a slave on the throne and rule from the shadows.¡± I suggested. ¡°Could be.¡± Lucy admitted. ¡°All the speculation aside, we need a way to identify anyone who is controlled. And we need a way to make sure they are not captured again.¡± Unfortunately I did not have a great idea so far. ¡°Any suggestions?¡± ¡°Could they complete the ritual themselves? Be their own master?¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°That¡­ maybe? I think there could be some problems though. A random thought might command their body to do something. Thinking ¡®I would like to punch that person¡¯ might be seen as a command by their body. That is assuming the ritual would even work.¡± ¡°What about a bond?¡± Lily suggested. ¡°It could work, depending on the bond. But I am unsure if I could easily replicate yours. It was built upon an existing one that I can¡¯t just form with a human. I would have to give it some more thought. But if the problem is on a large scale we need something different.¡± ¡°If they were changed by alchemy we should consult an alchemist.¡± Thessia said. ¡°I know one that we can trust.¡± Chapter 117: Alchemist ¡°Who is this alchemist? And where does he live?¡± I asked. ¡°He lives inside the city, but not that close. It would take half an hour with a carriage. He is fascinated by dryads.¡± She said with a smile. ¡°To be fair, he is very interested in most magical creatures. And he tends to make potions for them. I helped him design some that work for my tree. His name is Josef.¡± ¡°If he is a specialist on magical creatures the inquisition might be interested in him, to make their runes work on demons.¡± Lucy looked at Minerva. ¡°Did you ever hear his name mentioned?¡± ¡°No. Unfortunately I only know about the people who gave me direct orders. And the ones I was forced to report. Who are now being controlled as well.¡± Minerva answered. I considered the situation. ¡°The guards certainly saw Lily carrying a woman towards the temple. If the inquisition knows that we captured Minerva they will suspect that we are attempting to heal her. Hopefully they will assume that the failsafe is enough. I fear once they learn of her recovery they will strike. And if they were not interested in Josef before, they certainly will be once we make contact.¡± ¡°I would be happy to escort the man here.¡± Lily volunteered. ¡°How much opposition do we expect?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°No offence Lily, but you might be outmatched. Especially if you are forced to protect a civilian.¡± ¡°I should probably go anyway.¡± I said. ¡°My title and reputation are a good shield against a lot of things. They will be far more reluctant to arrest me than our maid. And the temple should be safe enough with Thessia. So I suggest Lucy, Lily and myself go and escort Josef. Minerva stays here, if that is alright?¡± Thessia nodded. ¡°Minerva is welcome to stay here. I will grant her protection from the inquisition. Now let me fetch a map and I will show you where Josef¡¯s shop is.¡± Minerva was happy to stay. She was still a bit overwhelmed with the situation and Sylphania¡¯s temple was a good place to relax. Lily, Lucy and myself left on foot. We were fast enough to rival any carriage. It took only 20 minutes to arrive at the shop, which was located in the merchants quarter. The building seemed old but solid. The entrance was in a small alley with a sign above the door: ¡°Josef¡¯s Mystical Concoctions¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. We entered and found a chaotic storefront. There were shelves filled with bottles, some even labelled, but the floor held a lot of¡­ stuff. Boxes, tools,... maybe even ingredients. A little bell had announced our arrival and soon we heard a voice. ¡°One moment, I will be right there!¡± We carefully made our way to the counter, without stepping on anything important. After waiting for a few minutes a man emerged from the door in the back. His robe had a few holes and was slightly singed. His round face looked almost elven but he had human ears. Maybe a mixed heritage? His pristine skin was rather pale and his hair was long and black. His blue eyes widened in surprise as he saw us. ¡°Oh my! What a blessed day to have such lovely customers! Excuse my attire, I was busy experimenting.¡± Hew bowed to us. ¡°I am Josef, the owner of this shop. What can I do for you?¡± He eyed Lucy. ¡°I have a special shampoo for your tail! It will become even softer and smoother!¡± That did sound interesting. But it was not a priority right now. I held up my hand to stop his sales pitch. ¡°Greetings, we are not here to buy but to request your aid. My name is Amaya and with me are Lucy and Lily.¡± I pointed at them. ¡°Thessia sent us, we were hoping you could come back to the temple with us. We are dealing with a serious problem and require your expertise.¡± He looked intrigued but suspicious. ¡°Thessia you say? I do love working with her. But I have never seen any of you. Why send three messengers? And one of you looks like a maid. People with servants usually don¡¯t deliver messages themselves.¡± He pointed at Lily. ¡°She is our maid.¡± Lucy said. ¡°But she is also a knight. We are here to escort you. There is a chance that the inquisition is going to attack.¡± Josef frowned. ¡°Really? You are telling me, the high priestess is picking a fight with the Empire? I find that hard to believe. What do you really want? What serious problem are we talking about?¡± I had to admit, it did sound rather far fetched. How could we convince him? While I pondered that, Lily stepped forward. ¡°I understand your suspicion, but my ladies speak the truth. They have no need to mislead you. Lady Amaya Delphinium is an archfey. If she had any nefarious intentions you would be powerless to stop her.¡± I sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t think that helps Lily.¡± I looked at Josef. ¡°Look, we are not asking you to follow us anywhere suspicious. We don¡¯t need a carriage. We can just walk in the open streets. You can even lead the way. The problem is serious. Someone¡¯s body was changed against their will and we are trying to help.¡± I did not want to talk about the full details. Josef could be controlled himself. He could alert someone. I thought it would be best to get him to the temple first. We would have to check his body for runes. That would require disrobing. If Thessia, a priestess and healer, did that it would be less awkward. Josef stood there, thinking. He ignored the archfey comment, most likely he did not believe it. After a while he spoke. ¡°Alright, let me grab some things and then we can go. But I will require one gold in advance. Just to make sure you are not wasting my time. I will return it if Thessia¡¯s need is genuine.¡± Chapter 118: Interference We waited while Josef grabbed his things. He returned wearing a black robe, decorated with blue accents and a few sapphires. It looked rather expensive. Curious. The shop gave the impression that he was just getting by. Maybe his products were so good, he did not need to impress customers? Or he sold things in bulk and not from his store. ¡°I am ready.¡± He said. He was not carrying a bag but in a world with magical storage artefacts that meant little. For all I knew he had an arsenal of weapons at his fingertips. Alchemists were not known for direct combat but they could create bombs and other nasty things. I handed him one gold and we were on our way. It would take us a while on foot. His body was just that of a normal human. He was rather fit but he could not move at the speed of a horse. Josef was in the lead and we simply followed. He was a bit tense at first, but relaxed after a while. The busy street seemed to put him at ease. ¡°You are an interesting group.¡± Josef said. ¡°A night elf and a foxkin. You clearly have some standing considering the maid. Since she is a dragonkin, I am even inclined to believe she is also a knight. Or at least, that she is security.¡± So he ignored the archfey thing. I was curious where his observations would lead him and gestured for him to continue. ¡°You are either rich merchants or nobility. Of course, as a non-human you would not get a title here. But if you are from the Dominion, why come to Unitera? Unless you are here to meet Thessia.¡± He pondered his own words. ¡°In that case, maybe the priesthood sent a message? Sylphania has a much bigger presence in the Dominion. Did the temple request aid? But then, why not send any of their own priesthood? None of you look like clerics.¡± It was Lucy that answered. ¡°We were here for the summit. We only met Thessia yesterday, when we required her help. But don¡¯t worry, you learn everything once we are inside the temple. And Amaya is an archfey, not an elf.¡± She added with a smirk. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. That remark gave me an idea. ¡°And Lucy is not a foxkin, she is a kitsune.¡± If I was a mythical being, clearly she was one as well. Lucy was more powerful than a warlock should be. I still did not know why. I guess it came down to my own oddness and the process of creating a warlock. I had shared a part of my soul with her. Josef stopped and turned towards us. I just stood there looking smug as Lucy was glaring at me. ¡°I am not a kitsune!¡± She protested. I stepped closer and patted her on the head. The alchemist frowned. ¡°I have no idea what game you''re playing. Is this a prank from Thessia? I know I told her about my fascination with magical creatures. Actually meeting an archfey and a kitsune¡­ It would be a dream come true.¡± He smiled. Then he looked at Lily. ¡°I guess you are a dragon in disguise?¡± He chuckled, clearly not taking us seriously. ¡°I am not.¡± Lily said. ¡°But I am my ladies'' sworn knight and maid! I was granted the blessings of the storm, in a ritual guided by an elemental lord!¡± She proclaimed proudly. Of course, she was also a succubus in disguise. But thankfully she did not mention that part. I wondered if she could become something else. If I was an archfey, Lucy a kitsune, what could a succubus become? Could demons evolve? ¡°Sure.¡± Josef said, nodding. He seemed quite relaxed now. I suppose he had convinced himself it was all a prank. I shrugged. He would learn the truth in time. Maybe Thessia would educate him. Or the seriousness of the problem we were facing. Josef, seemingly satisfied, continued walking. It took us over an hour to reach the temple district. There seemed to be a lot of activity. I had a bad feeling¡­ One that was confirmed as the temple came into view. About 50 soldiers were present. They were blocking the entrance to Sylphania¡¯s temple. There was no damage visible, nor was there any sound of fighting. At least we were in time. As we approached, I noticed that the uniforms were a mixture of the inquisition and the normal army. Was this a joint operation? Who was in charge? As we got closer a soldier stepped forward. ¡°Halt! The temple is currently closed, please move along.¡± Lily took the initiative. ¡°Stand aside and make way for the Ladies Amaya and Lucy Delphinium! You have no right to block the passage to Sylphania¡¯s temple!¡± Storm¡¯s Blossom appeared in her hand. ¡°If you do not open a path, I shall carve one.¡± I sighed. Were there any courses in de escalation? I think Lily might need one. I had no intention of letting the soldiers stop us. But this man was part of the regular army, not the inquisition. And he was not the one in charge, he was just doing his job. The soldier stared at Storm¡¯s Blossom. Then at each of us. He started sweating. I guess he finally realised who we were. At this point, surely the entire army knew of our existence. Before he could formulate a response I said: ¡°Fetch whoever is in charge here.¡± Chapter 119: Intimidation The soldier scurried off to get his superior. I glanced at Josef, who seemed shocked by the situation. Maybe it finally dawned on him that this was not an elaborate prank. And now that he was seen in our company he would have no easy way out. Soon an officer approached us. He was a tall and muscular man. I would have been intimidated in my old world. But here? His size was meaningless, I was sure I was a lot stronger, despite my smaller frame. He wore the uniform of the inquisition. Rather unsurprising that they were in charge. But was this man controlled, or working of his own free will? ¡°So you are the infamous Amaya.¡± He said as a greeting. What a splendid start. His eyes scanned our group, briefly lingering on Josef. ¡°We are here because the temple is holding one of our members hostage. It is closed until the situation is resolved.¡± ¡°Ah. And what proof do you have of this accusation?¡± I asked. ¡°That is none of your business.¡± He replied. ¡°Oh but it is. We brought a patient to the temple earlier and we are here to meet her again. We were just out to get some help from alchemist Josef.¡± I said while smiling sweetly. ¡°A patient? We can escort the esteemed alchemist into the temple. You will have to remain here though. I will ensure that your injured friend receives excellent care.¡± Lucy interrupted him: ¡°How are you escorting him inside the temple, when you claim they have a hostage? How can you accuse them of holding someone against their will and then promise us to keep Josef safe? This makes no sense. At least put some effort into your lies.¡± I nodded in agreement. That lie was at best a two out of ten. Very sloppy. The man looked angry. ¡°I cannot let you enter and I will have to ask Josef to stay with us.¡± I did not want to use violence. Some people might have been controlled and the regular soldiers were probably innocent. So how about some good old intimidation? I closed my eyes and summoned my power. Using this aura thing was getting easier. I tried to put some intent behind it, not just my emotions. I wanted them to feel some fear but mostly I wanted to demonstrate power. I wanted them to look upon a force of nature. To see a raging storm. Not a person, not an enemy coming for them, simply an unstoppable force. Who would be foolish enough to step into the path of a tsunami? To walk into a hurricane? This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. My eyes glowed when opened, the skies darkened and rain began to fall. Part of me wondered, what the general population thought about all the storms I had been conjuring recently. But I had no time for idle contemplation. I focused hard on my intent. And my power complied. What I did not expect was the effect I had on my companions. The power moved through our bond. Lucy¡¯s eyes started glowing as well. Her tail rose and small lightning bolts surrounded it. Lily was covered in an armour of wind and sparks. She raised her voice: ¡°STAND ASIDE FOR THE LADIES DELPHINIUM!¡± Her words were accompanied by the butt of her naginata smashing into the ground. Somehow it sounded a lot louder than should be possible. Suddenly I felt a tug on my mind. A familiar presence was reaching out to me through the power I channelled. My actions had opened a link to the plane of wind. And through it came a message. ¡°What are you doing? Is it slaughter? I bet it involves slaughter! Why didn¡¯t you invite me? Please invite me!¡± Shani pleaded. Actually summoning her might not be the best idea. But her pleading was very effective and I gave in. I used the spell summon elemental lord. Shani formed right in front of me. The storm made her look rather sinister. Especially since her appearance was accompanied by thunder and lightning. ¡°MUAHAHAHAHAHAH!¡± Oh, and the evil laugh. That certainly helped to sell the sinister part. As did the giant scythe forming in her hand. ¡°TREMBLE MORTALS, FOR I HAVE ARRIVED!¡± While it certainly increased the intimidation factor of my display I was doubting the wisdom of my actions. ¡°Hi Shani.¡± Lucy said while waving. ¡°We are not here to kill anyone. We are just here to visit Sylphania¡¯s temple.¡± The power I was channelling infused my voice. It travelled far and wide. The soldiers were mostly frozen by now. Not with ice, just paralysed by fear. A few managed to take some steps, opening a path towards the temple. Shani peered at the temple. ¡°Uhh that looks nice. I bet they have an elemental I can bully¡­ I mean educate. Being their senior and all.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know any elemental but the high priestess is a dryad.¡± This time I managed to keep my voice normal. ¡°Dryads are fun! Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°It is nice to meet you again Shani.¡± Lily said with a small bow, while carrying Josef, who had fainted at some point. ¡°Ah, my proudest creation!¡± Shani said with a huge smile. ¡°We should go kill something together!¡± ¡°It would be an honour to fight at your side. But it will have to wait until my ladies have a target for us.¡± Lily replied. While Lily and Shani chatted Lucy was busy examining her tail. She seemed fascinated with the lightning it produced. It certainly was an interesting effect. But it was time to get moving. ¡°I am sure there will be some killing in the future, for now let¡¯s just enter the temple.¡± I took the lead and walked towards the entrance. Since it was no longer needed I retracted my aura. The clouds dispersed and the sun was shining again, as we entered the temple. Chapter 120: A Problem Roots had been blocking the door to prevent the inquisition from entering. As we approached they opened a path. It closed again behind us. We made our way to the central chamber. Minerva was on the couch looking nervous. Thessia approached us, concern was visible on her face. ¡°Welcome back. I see you are carrying Josef, is he alright?¡± ¡°He fainted when he witnessed the power of my lady. He is unharmed and should awaken soon.¡± Lily explained. ¡°I see. The inquisition¡¯s fast response is concerning. So far I have sealed the temple and requested that the Empire send someone with more authority to negotiate. As a temple of Sylphania we have a certain amount of autonomy, and serious accusations against us have to be handled by a high ranking official.¡± That could be an opportunity. ¡°What are the odds that they send someone outside of the inquisition? Someone we could show proof of the mind control?¡± I asked. ¡°Hard to say. We do not know how deep the infiltration goes. And I am not that familiar with imperial politics.¡± Thessia answered. ¡°We could just kill everyone! Blow up the palace!¡± Shani suggested. Thessia studied the elemental lord. ¡°Greetings, we have not been introduced yet.¡± ¡°Hi, I am Shani! Cutest elemental on the plane of wind!¡± She pondered her own statement. ¡°Cutest elemental on any plane!¡± She corrected herself while nodding. Thessia looked slightly lost. So I decided to butt in. ¡°I summoned Shani outside, since she wanted to join us. By the way, sorry for raining on your tree and blocking the sun for a bit.¡± I had no idea if that was something good or bad for a dryad. Or if she did not care either way. ¡°Ah. The storm was¡­ enlightening. Knowing you are an archfey and experiencing your might are two different things. Despite being a high priestess, and having lived for a while, I do not often interact with beings of such power.¡± She gave me a slight nod. ¡°I appreciate you not hitting my tree with lightning. The rain was welcome and had a pleasant spiciness.¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Huh. I thought my magic produced normal water. Rain is pretty pure, except for what it picks up from the air on the way down. Then again, maybe magic rain contained minerals? Or is there some magic clinging to the water? I had never noticed any. But it could be so little that my eyes were unable to perceive it. Meanwhile, Shani was poking the ground. ¡°There is a lazy earth elemental down there. Even with soldiers outside it is sleeping! That is why you should change to air! We are so much better!¡± ¡°It is a guardian gifted to us by our goddess. It only awakens when the situation is dire. Please do not poke it.¡± Thessia said. ¡°Pfft. Guardian. That thing is useless! Get a nice air elemental! Or water. Water is ok¡­¡± Shani was from the plane of wind but through her storms she had some control over water. Also, lightning was great against wet targets. I wondered if she disliked earth because it was strong against her? Did rivalries exist between the elemental planes? ¡°Maybe we should wake Josef?¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°If we can find out more before the Empire sends a negotiator it would be good.¡± She had a point. ¡°Sure. Lily, place him near the tree please. Thessia, could you wake him please? And explain the situation. He was sceptical of our claims. Oh, and could you check him for any runes as well?¡± The dryad nodded and approached the alchemist. I looked away as she removed his clothing and checked the body. Once she was satisfied that he was not controlled, she put his clothes back on and used a spell to wake him. ¡°What¡­¡± He stared at Thessia, then he looked around. His eyes found me. ¡°This¡­ this is real. Your claims¡­ your power¡­¡± ¡°Take a deep breath.¡± Thessia said. ¡°I know this is overwhelming and I apologise for dragging you into this. But we are facing a situation that needs your expertise.¡± After he calmed down we offered him tea. We moved to the seating area and explained the situation. Minerva showed him the runes that were part of her body. He studied them with a mixture of fascination and disgust. ¡°This is¡­ sad. That people would use alchemy for such evil pains me. Being able to permanently transform someone has so much potential! You could give people tails, wings¡­¡± I suspected those transformations would be a bit harder. Changing the pigmentation on the body was a lot easier than growing something. Then again, he was the alchemist. While I had some knowledge of biology, how much of that did actually apply in a magical world? ¡°Can you reverse it?¡± I asked. ¡°Not without a lot of research. To permanently change one''s form like this means manipulating the soul. There is a lot of magical shapeshifting. Magic that is temporary, that can be dispelled. But your true form, your true being is recorded in your soul. That is why true shapeshifting is rare. It can not be done with normal magic. It is an ability within your soul. I am unsure where to even start¡­¡± Hm. I had created a warlock, which involved the soul. The animal forms of Lucy and myself were natural shapeshifting. Lily, as a succubus, was a natural shapeshifter. Maybe we could help his research somehow? Chapter 121: Plans ¡°What would you need to research this?¡± I asked. I did have a lot of money and we could get the Dominion to help us. ¡°Aside from any resources, a big problem is time. Research is usually not fast. Especially if I am doing this by myself. It could take years!¡± ¡°Surely there are ways to speed this up? We do have Minerva here, does that not help? Is there no way to figure out how she was changed?¡± He scratched his head. ¡°It would have helped a lot if I had also seen her before she was transformed. Now? I have nothing to compare it to. Further, I have no ability to inspect souls. And the fundamental change happened there. I might be able to figure something out about the body¡­¡± ¡°Could you change her body temporarily?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Even if she needs to drink a potion regularly, that would be better than being vulnerable.¡± Josef considered that. ¡°Perhaps. I have created potions that change the skin. Usually they are beauty products. Often to make the skin smoother and hide blemishes. But most of my products are for non humans¡­. Hm. I think I can do something in a reasonable time.¡± Meanwhile, I was still pondering the soul issue. Was there a way to inspect one? Creating a warlock worked through a ritual and that involved souls. Were rituals the answer? Could I create one to examine a soul? ¡°Josef will need protection.¡± Thessia said. ¡°Now that he is involved, the Empire will certainly try to arrest him. They might ransack his shop even now.¡± Josef paled at the thought. I put my hand on his shoulder. ¡°I have enough money to replace what you lost. Don¡¯t worry, we will help you rebuild. You could even settle down in my county if you want to.¡± Recruiting an alchemist might not be a bad idea. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Should we just retreat to the Dominion?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°If it takes a while to figure out how to reverse those alterations we could do it safely in our county.¡± I considered that. ¡°Unfortunately there are some problems. I doubt Thessia can easily move, having her tree here. And if we leave, the mind control will spread. I have no idea how many they control now, but surely they will take over the Empire in time. And from there they will expand until they have the whole continent. We don¡¯t know if they can already affect dwarves or elves. But even if they are not able to dominate them yet, it¡¯s only a matter of time.¡± ¡°We should include Loriel in this, after checking her for runes of course.¡± Lucy said. ¡°I agree. But first we will need to deal with the soldiers outside the temple. Let¡¯s wait for their negotiator.¡± ¡°It is possible to move my tree.¡± Thessia said. ¡°Not easily, but if you would lend me aid it can be done. Shutting down Sylphania¡¯s temple in Unitera would be a big deal. But it might be necessary and would show the world just how dangerous the situation is.¡± ¡°You think we should abandon the Empire?¡± I was surprised. ¡°We do not have the resources to run around and check people for control. And you can only free a few people per day before you run out of spell slots. That is assuming the Empire would let us in the first place. While leaving them time to spread is bad, I am not sure if we have another option. I am afraid this will end in war.¡± ¡°YAY! WAR!¡± Shani cheered. I sighed. ¡°It could be a civil war. If we expose the inquisition''s plan to the Emperor. At least if he is not involved.¡± ¡°Mind control on that scale is not something other nations can ignore. Even if there is a civil war they might get involved.¡± Thessia said. ¡°How would we move your tree?¡± I wondered. ¡°There is a ritual. But it does require 9th circle spell slots. And that is beyond me.¡± ¡°What does the ritual do? Your tree is rather massive. Will it shrink?¡± ¡°Not exactly. It will be in stasis and storable in an item. Assuming one has enough space¡­ Usually it gets carried with levitation magic, or by elementals, though. The tree has to be replanted within a week or I will start to weaken. It can be prolonged with more magic but a month is the limit, even with that.¡± Oh. Normal storage items did have some limits. Lucy¡¯s was fairly expensive, but still only offered the space of a small room. Which was enough for food, clothing, camping supplies and such things. But not a tree. Especially not one as massive as this. But mine? I never found its true limit. It seemed really massive. Considering how much stuff I had in there, a big tree should fit. ¡°Moving the tree should be doable.¡± I said. ¡°I am still not convinced that leaving is the best idea but if there is truly a war¡­¡± ¡°At least a war might clarify who is in control. Once we have a target we can attack them directly.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Or just kill them all! We could level the city!¡± Shani suggested. Elandru entered the room. ¡°Excuse the interruption but a negotiator has arrived.¡± ¡°Show them in.¡± Thessia said. Chapter 122: Surprise The man who entered was unfamiliar to me. He was finely dressed and perfectly groomed. He was an older gentleman, with grey hair and a moustache. He did not look like a fighter, or a mage. He might just be a normal person. Unthreatening. Gentle. Something that was rather uncommon for people in power. Back in my old world, power was transferable. Meaning a minister, for example, had authority as part of their position. If they were replaced, a new person held that power. In a world with magic that was a bit more complicated. A mage, or a fighter, has their own strength. Who would want to accept orders from someone they could kill with a thought? That mostly led to people in charge having a certain amount of strength. I suspected it also led to quite a bit of inbreeding within the nobility, who all held some measure of power, in order to keep the bloodlines strong. And it would explain a lot of the stupidity. Or maybe this man was hiding his strength? Or maybe I was simply overthinking things. ¡°Greetings. I am Lord Aiden Hall. I am the minister of worship in the Empire.¡± Thessia frowned. ¡°Greetings. I am Thessia, high priestess of Sylphania. I have never heard of you, how is that?¡± He had a grandfatherly smile. ¡°While I oversee religious matters in the Empire, every city has someone in charge of local matters. For Unitera that would be lady Alice. I assume you are familiar with her?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then why are you here?¡± I asked. Aiden turned towards me. ¡°We haven¡¯t been introduced but I can only assume you are the esteemed countess Amaya. It''s a pleasure to meet you.¡± He offered his hand, but I ignored it. Aiden had a friendly tone but I did not trust it. Sending him might mean the Empire was serious about the negotiations though. That was good. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°So, are you going to apologise for falsely accusing the temple and blocking it¡¯s entrance?¡± I asked. He looked shocked for a moment, but covered it quickly with his smile. ¡°I am sad if you feel that way, but abducting a member of the inquisition is a serious crime. Something that I am personally here to resolve.¡± ¡°Minerva, are you here against your will?¡± I asked. ¡°No. I would like to stay here.¡± She answered. ¡°A statement that cannot be trusted. You might have threatened her. She will need to come with me and answer questions in private. If she confirms your story I will apologise and personally escort her back.¡± Lucy snorted. ¡°The moment you get your hands on Minerva, you would just mind control her again.¡± ¡°That is a serious accusation! The Empire would never do such a thing!¡± ¡°I was mind controlled by the inquisition.¡± Minerva said. ¡°I will not consent to go anywhere with you. Thessia has granted me protection.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Thessia said. ¡°She is here with my blessing. Sylphania herself is not happy with the situation and her church offers refuge to the victims.¡± ¡°Maybe you should discuss the situation with your Emperor.¡± I suggested. ¡°In the end, this is a serious threat to his reign. Unless he is part of this. You could tell him to come here in person. We could ensure he is free and even present the evidence we have.¡± Lord Aiden looked very unhappy with the suggestion. His smile had faded by now. ¡°Would you consent to being checked for any control runes on your body?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°As far as we know you are just a puppet. It¡¯s a simple and painless process.¡± Of course, even if he was clean, he could be one of the people in charge. So it would only ensure that his actions were his own. It would not help to figure out his allegiance. ¡°This is outrageous! I will not consent to any of this! I do not know what games you play but you are forcing me to take drastic measures. I will have to ban the church of Sylphania from the Empire.¡± ¡°My ladies, shall I perform an examination?¡± Lily asked. ¡°I am sure Shani would also be eager to assist.¡± ¡°I could cut him a little if he does not cooperate!¡± Shani suggested. The old man did not look quite as panicked as I would have expected. Maybe he thought we were not serious. Or he was not actually that bothered by the idea of being searched. ¡°Excuse me.¡± Elandru had returned. The priest looked rather confused. ¡°There is a man outside who claims to be the negotiator for the Empire¡­¡± What? I looked at Aiden. He looked worried. ¡°Preposterous! An impostor, clearly! I will deal with him.¡± When he tried to leave I stepped into his path. ¡°Maybe we should invite this man to our conversation. I am very curious about this.¡± ¡°You cannot stop me from leaving!¡± Aiden protested. ¡°Oh, I most certainly can.¡± I said with a smile. ¡°I can too! Let me, let me!¡± Shani pleaded. ¡°Please show the man in.¡± Thessia said. ¡°Wait!¡± Aiden shouted. ¡°Before you do that, please¡­ let me explain. I do not work for the Empire or the inquisition.¡± Then he transformed. What used to be an old man became a woman. Or should I say a demon? Judging by the horns, tail and even wings. Chapter 123: Demons I inspected the demon who stood before us. She had a slightly reddish skin, deep red eyes and her horns were black. Her clothing changed with the transformation. Possibly due to a storage device. She now wore a very form fitting black leather armour. It certainly highlighted her big bust. The demon looked rather seductive. Maybe she was a succubus? There were obvious differences to Lilastheria¡¯s form. Like the wings. But I had no idea how many types of succubi existed. While I simply studied the demon Lucy had summoned her spear and was twirling it. Shani grinned, possibly contemplating a slaughter. Lily looked annoyed. Oh, and Josef started drooling. Maybe a passive effect from the demon? Minerva looked flushed. At least Thessia only frowned. ¡°Maybe you should introduce yourself, again.¡± I suggested with a firm voice. ¡°My name is Marry, I am a succubus in service of Lilith.¡± She said with a bow. ¡°She is lying. Her name is Eshantri.¡± Lily corrected the demon. The expression of pure shock on the succubus was amusing. ¡°We are off to a great start. Lying about your name really helps with trust.¡± I said chuckling. ¡°I¡­ That¡­ How did you know?!?¡± Eshantri seemed slightly panicked. ¡°She is also a high succubus. They tend to be slightly stronger but the most defining feature are the wings. Keep in mind that the exact power depends a lot on the individual and their age. She is mostly an infiltration specialist. She is in charge of several normal succubi and her showing up personally means this is something she considers important.¡± Lily explained. ¡°How high does she rank in Lilith¡¯s court?¡± I asked. ¡°Somewhere in the middle, definitely not part of the inner circle. But considering the situation she might be in contact with people rather high up.¡± ¡°Stop! How do you know all this? WHO ARE YOU?¡± Eshantri was really panicking now. ¡°She is our loyal maid knight!¡± Lucy helpfully explained. I addressed the distressed succubus. ¡°Well hello, Eshantri. Now that we got the lying out of the way, please tell us what you are doing here. I would also advise you not to try anything.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Eshantri was trembling now. She was not prepared for the insight we had. ¡°I¡­ I was trying to get more information on the mind control runes. I hoped that we could get Minerva and examine her. You¡­ you probably know that they are experimenting on demons. They used some of Lilith¡¯s subordinates and she is not amused. Our spies in the inquisition noticed a commotion. Anything that has the inquisition worried is something worth investigating. I hoped I could finish here before the real negotiator showed up. My agents should have delayed him.¡± ¡°So Aiden is real?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes. I doubt he would actually appear in person but he has a lot of authority. I needed a cover that could overrule anyone on the scene to abduct Minerva.¡± ¡°Are you responsible for the demonic cult?¡± ¡°No! That is Ashmedai. He is more into brute force, blood sacrifice and things like that. Lilith is a civilised demon lord!¡± ¡°Uhu. Lily?¡± ¡°The cult certainly fits Ashmedai. I have no knowledge if he is really involved but he was an associate of Mantus. They worked together in the past. It could be true. He is ancient and quite a bit stronger than Mantus was. As for Lilith being civilised¡­ to a degree. She is more into manipulation than outright conflict. But she is still a demon lord. Most beings of power are not as kind as you are my lady.¡± Eshantri¡¯s tail stiffened at the mention of beings of power. Had she forgotten that I was an archfey? Or did she not believe the reports? ¡°Are there any more demon lords involved?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know of any others.¡± ¡°What can you tell us about the inquisition and the runes?¡± ¡°A human mage named Beira was experimenting on creating better human bloodlines. At some point, for reasons I don¡¯t know, she cooperated with the inquisition. She provided them with the information to summon them. That is when they started using demons. After a while, Lilith noticed something strange happening with some of her succubi. They were killed, but in a disturbing way. I do not know any details. But I was among the demons ordered to figure out what was going on. We encountered the mind control runes when trying to charm a human. Since the person died in the process, we did not get any information. We know that they are working on demons but we do not know how far they have come. And we were unable to free any human affected. Minerva was too tempting to ignore.¡± ¡°My lady, there is something to add.¡± Lily said. ¡°Most likely Lilith has multiple groups working on this. Eshantri is not high enough to be informed about all the progress that has been made. So her knowledge might be incomplete.¡± Eshantri glanced nervously at Lily. Her insight into Lilith¡¯s operations clearly bothered her. I pondered her words. ¡°Do you know who is in charge? The remaining high inquisitors?¡± ¡°We believe someone else might be pulling the strings. But we don¡¯t know who.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know very much, do you?¡± Lucy said. ¡°I can get in touch with my superiors though! I am certain they would like to work with you against the inquisition!¡± ¡°Thoughts?¡± I asked my companions. ¡°Whatever, let''s kill more things!¡± Shani said. Lucy shrugged. ¡°Lily is the expert, I am fine either way.¡± I looked at Lily. ¡°Lilith might not be pleased with your past actions, my ladies.¡± She was clearly referring to us freeing her. ¡°But I think she would consider this important enough to overlook that. Also, Lilith would honour a deal with an archfey. You are powerful enough that she would treat you with respect. Working with a demon lord will hurt your reputation with the Empire. I am not sure what the Dominion will think about that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like the Empire can hate us any more.¡± Lucy pointed out. I nodded. ¡°What does Sylphania say about working with a demon lord?¡± I asked. ¡°She would not punish me for it.¡± Thessia said. ¡°Lilith is not one of the cruel ones. While I am uncomfortable with her manipulative nature, her more sexual aspects are nothing the church objects to. If it can help us solve the problem I would consider working with her the lesser evil.¡± ¡°I see. I suppose it can¡¯t hurt to hear her out. Of course we can¡¯t let you slip away Eshantri. You will have to stay with us until we make contact with your superior. Now, what do we do with the actual negotiator?¡± Chapter 124: Escalation ¡°Just hide Eshantri and talk with him?¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°You are going to behave, right?¡± I addressed the demon. ¡°Yes.¡± She said meekly. ¡°I shall keep an eye on her, my ladies.¡± Lily volunteered. ¡°I will help!¡± Shani offered. Eshantri morphed into an elf. Probably a reasonable choice. We could always pretend she was someone in my service. Once more Elandru escorted someone in. This negotiator did not look like a diplomat. He was built like a tank. He was big, bulky and covered in armour. His face looked hard, his eyes were cold. A big sword was slung over his back. ¡°I am Inquisitor Raymond. You are all under arrest for crimes against the Empire. Surrender now, or face the consequences!¡± Just how stupid could you be? Or did they want this to escalate? Did someone send this idiot to start a war? ¡°Are the consequences slaughter? Can we? Can we really?¡± Shani looked at me with puppy eyes. ¡°You are overstepping your authority!¡± Thessia said, addressing Raymond. ¡°You are inside my temple!¡± ¡°Your temple is soon going to be firewood.¡± Raymond sneered. ¡°So much for negotiations.¡± I sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s pack our stuff and leave the Empire, for now. What do we need to start your ritual Thessia?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear? You are under arrest! You are going nowhere!¡± Raymond insisted. ¡°Can I kill him now?¡± Shani asked. ¡°Eh, just throw him out.¡± I said. Raymond tried to draw his sword, but Shani was faster. Her massive scythe appeared and hit his armour. Instead of slicing through it, the tip simply touched the metal. Lighting erupted and surged through the inquisitor. While he looked like a hardened fighter, he certainly screamed like a little girl. Then again, electrocution was painful I suppose. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°You¡­ you attacked him. They will think we started it!¡± Josef said, panicking. ¡°Do you really think this could have ended differently? You know they can¡¯t afford for us to reveal the mind control. I was hoping the negotiator would be someone working for the Emperor, not the inquisition. The moment this person was chosen to talk with us the outcome was decided.¡± I said. ¡°Thessia was right, this is going to end in war. Maybe I was naive for not noticing that sooner.¡± ¡°I shall prepare the ritual to move my tree but it will take me a few hours.¡± Thessia said. ¡°Elandru, pack everything that is needed. We shall abandon Unitera.¡± Meanwhile, Shani was whistling as she dragged the inquisitor outside. Would the soldiers attack when they saw the elemental? ¡°I will take a look outside, to see what happens.¡± I wondered what the priests of the nearby temples would do. Probably nothing, unless someone used magic destructive enough to hit them as well. What I did not expect was the chaos I found. A familiar face was struggling against the inquisition. ¡°Stop, you can¡¯t attack a temple!¡± Iris shouted. She was currently being subdued by the inquisition. While we were inside, more soldiers had arrived. They awkwardly watched as she was being overwhelmed, not daring to interfere. The inquisition itself brought more troops as well. A small army was assembled before me. Shani just threw the inquisitor towards the soldiers. That certainly got their attention. What I did not expect was Captain Gunther to emerge. Then again, he was in charge of the garrison. Unfortunately he hated me, and Iris, and probably everyone with at least two brain cells. Because that was more than he had. ¡°Ah. The foreign slut. This time you will get what is coming to you.¡± He said. ¡°Really? Did you forget the meeting already? Would you like to experience my aura again?¡± ¡°Your magic tricks won¡¯t help you this time. The cleansing has begun. And the Empire will rise to new glory!¡± I saw magic shoot into the air. It was not an attack, more like a flare. It was answered by explosions in the distance. Did they start a coup? It looked like Gunther was working with the inquisition. Wait¡­ did they demote Iris to ensure she could not rally the guards? And the missing mages¡­ when the demons attacked all the mages were gone from the garrison. What if they did not just lure them away to create an opening for the demon attack? What if the inquisition abducted them to enslave them with their mind control? Maybe the demons simply used the opportunity to strike. No matter. I could contemplate all that later. ¡°Shani, get Iris.¡± It was time to show them who they were messing with. I summoned my power. And I did not hold back. The sky darkened as the familiar clouds formed. My rage, my hatred for the inquisition was answered with lightning and thunder. I had to be careful about any actual magic I unleashed. I did not want to attack the temples, or innocent bystanders. But I would deal with this army. ¡°You want to challenge me? So be it.¡± I decided to start small. Storm Bolts, a third tier spell. Three lightning bolts descended from the angry clouds and hit Gunther. An amulet he was wearing flared to live¡­ and shattered. Then he screamed. It looked like he came prepared with an item to resist electricity. Too bad that my magic had a piercing attribute. Shani moved like the wind, in the blink of an eye she reached Iris. Her scythe effortlessly cut through the soldiers holding her. A moment later she was back and dumped the surprised woman behind me. ¡°Finally! Finally we can cut loose!¡± Shani danced a little. Lucy appeared from inside the temple, spear in hand. Her tail was once more covered in tiny bolts of lightning. I guess Lily stayed inside to keep an eye on Eshantri. Lucy gave me a nod and we both used Storm¡¯s Embrace. Protective winds enveloped us. A lot of our enemies were lying on the ground, trembling in fear, crying or even passed out. My aura was too much for them to handle. But the ones still standing looked determined. They all wore expensive, likely magical, gear. In the front a shield wall formed as mages in the back raised their arms. Chapter 125: Fight A volley of spells erupted from our enemies. Lighting bolts, fire balls and spears of ice flew our way. That they still tried lightning showed a lack of research on their part. Then again, other elements had failed to take us down as well. Iris was still behind me so I positioned myself in the path of the incoming magic. None of it looked too concerning. But how would I retaliate? I needed to attack an area without destroying nearby buildings. I decided to go for a 5th circle spell called Lightning Sphere. It launched a ball of electricity that flew to a specified point. There it would remain for two minutes and shock everything in a 25 metre radius. It was hard to judge how many soldiers we faced, but there were hundreds. My spell would only clear a moderate area, but it should not cause any collateral damage. While I focused on my magic our enemies'' attacks started hitting me. I ignored the mild discomfort and unleashed my response. By now it had become quite dark due to the black clouds. The heavy rain led to several puddles on the floor. People became drenched. Occasionally, lightning in the sky offered brief periods of illumination. The heavy wind was howling, accompanied by thunder. And then my spell was completed. The sphere was about the size of a ball you could sit on. It was white with purple lines on top that kept shifting. My sphere brought new illumination as it zipped to its designated position. Then it started zapping. Screams filled the air as lighting bolts covered the area. They were not overly strong, but they kept coming. The enemies caught in its radius desperately tried to flee, only a few managed. But the battle was larger than that. Shani turned into a cyclone of death. Swinging her scythe while laughing maniacally. Blades of wind randomly appeared in her vicinity, slicing through flesh and armour alike. As my eyes scanned the battlefield I spotted Lucy. And I froze, my mouth hanging opon. For whatever reason, she had decided to turn into a fox. Instead of her usual size she was as big as a horse. Her fur was sheathed in lighting, her eyes glowed purple and she roared. It was deep, filled with power, and not a sound you would associate with a fox. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Then she charged. Her teeth tore through armour as if it were paper. Her paws sent people flying, or simply crushed them. And the lightning surrounding her struck anything that came close. While I was distracted by her display the ground rumbled. Stone spikes emerged, trying to impale me. Thanks to my speed I danced through them without getting hit. While they were not a threat to my life, it would be rather unpleasant to get hit. I could have chosen to fly but it would make me an easier target for other spells. So far, there was no one truly powerful among the enemy ranks. That seemed suspicious. Even the inquisition had to know how futile that would be. Or was that meant to waste our resources? While high tier magic was insanely powerful, it was also limited. Once your spell slots were used you would need to rest. If you had enough troops to throw away you could overwhelm a mage with numbers. Of course, I was no normal sorceress. While still limited, I had more spells per day than any mortal magic user. And I had the body of a warrior. Even without magic I was dangerous. But the time for reflection would come later. Now, there was more fighting to do! Iris was wisely retreating into the temple. She had been disarmed by her former comrades, before we freed her. And she was not immune to lightning. The entire battlefield was filled with it. The water on the ground was a great conductor, turning the entire area into a hazard. A few soldiers tried to attack the temple itself. Due to the rain they could not set the trees on fire. They managed some burn marks but nothing more. The brave, or foolish ones, who tried to attack with axes were impaled by roots. I drew my sword and broke through the enemy fighters. My targets were the mages in the back. I had almost reached them when I saw an ominous black portal appear on my left. Tentacles about as thick as my arm appeared. They looked rather similar to those we had encountered in the bath. I shuddered and sliced those that tried to grab me. There was only one answer to this. Storm¡¯s Judgement. Instead of unleashing the magic from my fingers I called it from the sky. I felt the storm respond. A massive bolt of lightning hit the portal. There was no way to see through the black opening but the liquid-like surface started to bubble. Then it exploded. The blast threw me away. I used the flight magic from Storm¡¯s Embrace to stop in the air. My whole body was covered in bits of tentacle. At least the rain would help with that. On the bright side, the explosion disabled a few enemy mages. The remaining ones were currently being crushed by Lucy. My Lightning Sphere had already disappeared but the job was done. As I looked around I saw only a few fighters left standing, and Shani was descending on them. I had lost track of Gunther. Did he flee or was he among the bodies on the ground? While our fight seemed over, the entire situation was only beginning. The entire world was bathed in orange light and it came from the palace. A pillar of flame fell from the sky and engulfed the entire building. Since I was flying I had a good view of the spectacle. When it was over the palace stood undamaged. It was covered in a golden shield. Chapter 126: Break I should feel bad. I killed humans. Some of them might have been innocent. Controlled, coerced or simply brainwashed. But this was a war and I could not save everyone. I had to accept that. Our fight was over but my storm was still going. It felt comforting. There was something soothing about the rain. I landed next to Lucy, who was transforming back to her humanoid form. ¡°Since when is your fox shape this big?¡± I asked. ¡°No idea. When the fight started it just felt right to transform. I think it¡¯s connected to the energy you unleashed through the bond. As I changed shape, I realised I could make it bigger.¡± ¡°Just bigger? Not any other options?¡± I stared at her tail. Her eyes narrowed. ¡°What are you thinking?¡± ¡°Where I come from kitsune are often known for multiple tails. Of course, they were just a myth. Still, the tails were a sign of power in a lot of books.¡± ¡°You are hoping I will grow more tails?¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡± I admitted. She pondered that for a moment. ¡°Well, I suppose my tail is awesome. I am not sure how practical more of them would be though¡­¡± ¡°THIS WAS AWESOME! Let¡¯s go find some more!¡± Shani shouted. ¡°There are battles all over the city, but it¡¯s none of our business. Considering the attack on the palace, someone is trying a coup. So you have the emperor, the Inquisition and likely the cult all fighting each other.¡± ¡°But¡­ but¡­ so much potential slaughter¡­¡± Shani looked like a kicked puppy. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. I sighed. ¡°I am sure someone will attack us sooner or later. For now we need to protect Thessia so she can prepare her tree for transport. Then we need to escort her out of here. The biggest question is: What do we do about Loriel? And the dwarves.¡± ¡°They should not be targets, right? And they are strong.¡± Lucy reasoned. ¡°Hard to say with all of this insanity. The Inquisition could grab them to have some elves for experimentation. Assuming they have the resources. Loriel is a powerful sorceress but if she is caught unprepared¡­¡± We could split up but that sounded like a horrible idea. Loriel knew that we were looking for a way to heal Minerva. She would either try to reach us, or just take everyone and evacuate. ¡°Shani, go and find Loriel. Tell her that we are going to be here until Thessia is ready. Afterwards we will leave Unitera. If she is in trouble, help her. If the situation is hopeless, come back and inform us.¡± Being a summoned elemental lord she should be safe. There was over an hour left until the spell ran out. Enough time to find Loriel, hopefully. ¡°Feel free to help some people in need on the way but please focus on your objective. It¡¯s ok to fight but don¡¯t get distracted.¡± ¡°More fighting! Yay!¡± Shani perked up at the thought of more fighting. She left with a wide grin. Watching her go Lucy said: ¡°Wasn¡¯t there an earth elemental beneath the temple? Did it really sleep through the whole fight? Shani might be a bit bloodthirsty but at least she is motivated.¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s not just laziness and there is a certain condition needed to trigger all the defences.¡± I shrugged. ¡°We did not need it anyway.¡± ¡°Speaking of defences, are you keeping the storm going? Does it tire you?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Good question. I am not using spell slots for it. Maybe I will get tired faster but I haven¡¯t noticed anything yet. For now I just find it soothing. And it should keep people away. Does it bother you?¡± ¡°No. I like it. I really like it when you unleash your power.¡± She leaned in closer, then stopped and sniffed. ¡°Why do you smell like fish?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I exploded some tentacles. Well¡­ a portal with tentacles. I am still not entirely sure what that was.¡± ¡°Ah, I noticed the explosion but missed the tentacles. Have you considered fighting as a panther? My fox seems really powerful. And I did not even use any offensive magic.¡± ¡°It would be interesting how it performs against stronger enemies. I doubt you could bite through adamantium. And how much can your hide tank? You are an easy target with your size. Hm. Can you change that during combat?¡± ¡°That is an interesting thought. I will have to try. I really liked the electricity covering me. I am not sure if I can do that without you unleashing your aura though.¡± I looked around the square. My storm covered the whole area. Yet nobody emerged from any of the temples. I would have expected at least a cleric of Imperius to investigate. They were rather close to the Empire. Or were they busy elsewhere? ¡°We should check on the others inside.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°You are right. Let¡¯s see if Eshantri behaved herself. And figure out what to do with Iris.¡± We left the square and entered the temple. Chapter 127: Maid Knights Inside I saw Elandru preparing for the evacuation. It occurred to me that I never asked how many employees the temple had. Was he the only priest, besides Thessia? I suppose we would find out. We got back to the central chamber. Thessia was busy drawing runes around her tree. I noticed that Eshantri was back in her demonic form. She looked¡­ cowed? Hm. ¡°We dealt with the army besieging us but there is fighting in the whole city. It looks like a coup. We even saw an attack on the palace.¡± I said. ¡°Welcome back my ladies. Your triumph was never in doubt. I had to discipline Eshantri in your absence. She tried to seduce people.¡± Lily reported. Josef blushed at those words. ¡°I see. I trust you in handling her. Take whatever measures you think are needed.¡± Eshantri looked like a child that got scolded and stared at the floor. The situation seemed resolved so I moved on. ¡°Iris, are you alright?¡± The woman was standing near Minerva. I wondered if they were bonding. Both had been betrayed by their superiors. ¡°Yes, thank you. Although I am unsure what to do next¡­¡± ¡°We can still offer you work. But we are no friends of the Empire. Keep that in mind.¡± I said. Iris sighed. ¡°I know that there are a lot of things wrong here. But mind control runes? I would have never imagined that.¡± She paused and looked at us. ¡°You know, I was a commoner. I joined the military because it offered steady pay. And I was good at it. I climbed the ranks through hard work. Captain Gunther never liked me. He was an idiot but he had connections. He did everything he could to make me look bad. Maybe he felt threatened.¡± ¡°There is no excuse for his behaviour.¡± Lucy said. ¡°You are right. But I was hoping if I endured long enough I could get past him. Be promoted again. Lead my own garrison¡­ You have experienced the worst from the army but there are a lot of good people there too. Especially in more rural areas. The soldiers hunt monsters and keep the people safe. Unitera is filled with politics. I was hoping I could be transferred somewhere to do some good. And now a lot of innocent people are going to die because of the Inquisition.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°We plan to retreat for now.¡± I said. ¡°The idea is to fall back to the Dominion.¡± ¡°I am not sure if I could abandon all the people here¡­¡± ¡°Without a way to combat the mind control, what are you going to do? We don¡¯t even know who is behind it all. Just the remaining high inquisitors? Do they have help? Is there someone backing them? How much of the army is compromised? Clearly Gunther was on their side.¡± ¡°I know, I know¡­ The Inquisition is a huge organisation with multiple strongholds. And certainly some hidden ones. And I am not important enough to influence any army decisions. They might even think I am compromised and imprison me if I return.¡± ¡°You should serve the ladies.¡± Lily suggested. ¡°I am the leader of their new order of maid knights. You would be treated fairly and could make use of your skills.¡± ¡°Maid knight?¡± She asked, looking confused. ¡°Yes. I serve as their maid and knight, as needed.¡± Lily confirmed. ¡°Do not worry, you will look great in a maid uniform. As for proper armour, we are still working on that. Once I have time I hope to hire a smith to design something appropriate. Our headquarters will be in the ladies¡¯ county.¡± The uniform part made Iris blush. ¡°Would you give her additional powers as well?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Lily was sort of a special case.¡± ¡°I thought about that. And I could not do the same thing because the initial bond is missing. But we could do an oath swearing. Future knights would pledge themselves to us and to Lily. The connection would be much weaker though. The benefits would be smaller as well. Although, I think the bond could become stronger over time.¡± I shrugged. ¡°It requires testing. But in theory the more devoted they are, the more benefits they could receive.¡± ¡°Bond? Powers?¡± Iris asked. ¡°Allow me.¡± Josef said. He had been listening intently so far. ¡°I doubted it at first, but it is now clear that Lady Amaya is an archfey. They are beings of immense power, with a special connection to the elements. The lords and ladies of the fey have a tradition of choosing knights. They are regarded as fey nobility and often serve as enforcers, executioners, envoys,... Essentially they are their most trusted servants.¡± Iris listened, eyes wide. Lily stood straighter and looked really proud. Josef continued: ¡°They are granted power through a special ritual. Sometimes their element is used as a title. The first among the knights of an ice aligned archfey might be called the winter knight, for example. Since there might be multiple ice aligned fey, their liege lord is often added as clarification. Lily would be the Storm Knight of Amaya. Any other knights under Lily might be referred to as a storm knight.¡± I nodded along, pretending I knew all that. Maybe I should get a book on fey traditions. ¡°What about the maid part?¡± Iris asked. ¡°We tend to find ourselves in a lot of dangerous situations. Our maids need to be able to defend themselves. And keep up with us when we travel.¡± I explained. Of course, in truth I just really liked the idea of battle maids. ¡°This is a lot to take in¡­¡± Iris said. ¡°Take your time. Talk with Lily and think it through.¡± I said. ¡°What about me?¡± Minerva asked. ¡°If you want to, you could join as well. We have to be careful with your runes. I am not sure if the bond would be strong enough to protect you if someone tried to reactivate them.¡± I left the woman to discuss their future and sat down. I had to figure out how exactly I would perform the ritual if they wanted to join. Chapter 128: Decisions How could I connect new knights? The current bond was a triangle, with Lucy and myself at the top and Lily at the bottom. Could I connect new bonds under Lily? She would be our knight general. From her the bond would extend to her officers, and from them to the normal knights. Or something like that. Meaning the further down the chain of command they were, the less power they got. First, I would need to create a bond from nothing. With only an oath of fealty. Hm. I could use swords as a ritual focus again. I had enough of those. It would certainly be a weaker ritual. We would connect them to an existing system, not create a new one. My thoughts were interrupted by a tug on my mind. After a bit of confusion I realised it was Shani. The summoning spell was almost running out. That meant I had spent quite some time contemplating the ritual. So Shani was still around but had not returned. Sadly, there was no way to talk to her. Has she found Loriel? Was she still looking? I had used three 9th tier spells today. I would need one more to move Thessia¡¯s tree. If I extended Shani¡¯s summon, that would leave me with four slots for any upcoming fights. Obviously, I had plenty of lower tier spells left. And other abilities. But I had no idea when I could rest again. Hopefully tonight. Loriel might be in danger though. So I decided to keep Shani around and extended the spell. Maybe I could search for a less costly way to keep her around at some point. I stood up and stretched. Then I looked around the room. Thessia was still busy. Josef was talking with Minerva and Iris. Lily was lounging on a chair with Eshantri kneeling on the floor next to her. ¡°Where is Lucy?¡± I asked. ¡°She is outside keeping watch, my lady.¡± Lily answered. I nodded and left. My storm was still here but it had calmed. There was barely any wind. Mostly just dark clouds and rain, with the occasional flash of lightning, followed by thunder. Lucy was standing in front of the temple. I embraced her from behind. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Enjoying the rain?¡± I asked. She leaned into me. ¡°Mhm. It¡¯s beautiful.¡± ¡°Any sign of trouble?¡± I asked. ¡°No. No friends. No enemies. It¡¯s rather peaceful. If you ignore all the smoke and explosions you see in the distance.¡± ¡°What do you think about Iris and Minerva?¡± ¡°We know very little about them. But they have the training and experience to be useful to us. We could have Minerva train any new recruits. Keep her in our county, away from the fighting, until we are certain she is not going to be controlled again. Iris has command experience. A perfect advisor for Lily.¡± ¡°You have given that much thought. Are you already imagining our glorious maid army?¡± ¡±I admit that I like the idea.¡± ¡°Minerva was betrayed by the Inquisition, Iris was betrayed by the army. Or at least her captain. We saved both. I hope that has built enough trust for the knight bond, if they want it.¡± ¡°So you figured something out?¡± ¡°Yes. They need to trust us enough to willingly enter the ritual. And then they need to swear an oath. We inscribe it in blood on a sword, which serves as the ritual focus. They will swear to serve us under Lily¡¯s command and we route the bond through her. And an 8th circle spell slot should be enough to power it.¡± ¡°Good. I think they will accept the offer. But there is something else. I... have a favour to ask you.¡± ¡°Anything for you.¡± I replied. ¡°My parents. They are still in the Empire. With the civil war going on they might be in danger. I want to take them with us to the Dominion.¡± ¡°Of course we will get them. How far away is your village?¡± ¡°We can get there in a week, maybe faster. Depends on our speed. In my huge fox form I could carry some people. Or pull a cart.¡± ¡°Excuse us.¡± I heard Iris say from behind. ¡°Are we interrupting?¡± I let go of Lucy and turned around. Minerva was here as well. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. Have you come to a decision?¡± ¡°Yes. We would like to join you.¡± ¡°So you are willing to swear fealty to us?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Knowing that you will need to leave the Empire?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Iris said. ¡°We had a long talk. There is no future for me here. And if the Inquisition is not stopped there is no future for anyone. That is not something I can do alone. So far you have been honourable. You saved me. You saved Minerva. And while Lily was vague you seem to have freed her from something. I am willing to follow you.¡± ¡°I am willing to follow you as well.¡± Minerva said. ¡°I tried to kill you and you spared me. You freed me from the mind control. You are offering me a new life and a chance for revenge.¡± I nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s set up the ritual. We should be able to get it done before Thessia is ready.¡± Chapter 129: Ceremony Thankfully we did not need Shani this time. She was still busy finding Loriel. Or protecting her. Or¡­ Maybe I should not think too much about that. Anyway, this time we would not open a new connection to the plane of air. We would simply connect our future maids to the existing bond network. I decided to hold the ceremony outside under the storm. Partly because it was fitting and partly because I did not want to mess with bonds inside a temple. There was always the chance of an attack but this time the ritual was less complex and an interruption would not be disastrous. We assembled outside the temple in a patch of dirt. I carved the runes into the soil. The rain from my storm left them untouched. I was not entirely sure why, but it was helpful. Lily, Lucy and myself were in the centre. This time Lily would hold the swords to knight them. We used the blood of everyone involved to write an oath of fealty onto the blades. Josef watched from the temple entrance. He was standing under some leaves to stop the rain and held a notebook. He looked rather excited. Eshantri stood close to him looking nervous. She might try to use our distraction to flee. We told Elandru to keep an eye on her but I was unsure how powerful the priest was. ¡°Lily, you are going to lead the ceremony.¡± I announced. While I was confident in my magic I had no idea what to say. Shani made it sound rather dramatic. Was that what people expected? I decided it was easier to delegate the task. ¡°Yes my lady.¡± Lily said. She looked rather happy with the responsibility. The weather seemed to respond to the ceremony as well. My aura reacted to my emotions. And to my subconscious thoughts. Creating the latest ritual had me examine our bonds, and souls, some more. I had formed quite a few theories about myself by now. In this world there was a limit on how powerful a mortal could become. Like the level cap back in the game. But because I cheated I had two classes. So my body contained more power than my race should be able to acquire. Which brings me to the soul. In this world it is like a magical version of DNA. It defines your limits. It defines your powers and your natural physical form. If someone turns a human''s body into a pig, the soul remembers that it is human. It still remembers the exact body. I arrived in this world as a night elf. With more power than such a soul should be able to handle. So it evolved. When I created a warlock and gave Lucy a part of myself it contained more power than normal. Lucy should have been a low level warlock, in game terms. Instead she not only reached her limit, she surpassed it. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Lucy was turning into a kitsune, I was pretty sure about that now. Just as I became an archfey. My aura was a product of my soul transcending mortality. I was no god, nor was I unkillable. But I was pretty sure that my natural lifespan was infinite now. My aura was a natural part of me. Like an additional limb. I had a feeling there were still a lot of things I could do with it that I had not figured out yet. But right now my aura was happy to provide an appropriate atmosphere. Thunder wind and rain set a dramatic scene. Iris and Minerva were kneeling. Lily stood in front of them holding two swords. One to knight each woman. ¡°We have assembled here today to accept two new maid knights into our order. This is not a step one should take lightly. You are expected to serve them, fight for them and bleed for them. You will accept them as your sovereigns, you will accept me as their captain. Is that clear?¡± Lily asked. ¡°Yes.¡± Both women replied. Lily raised the swords towards the sky, lighting hit both of them. It coursed through the blades making them glow. ¡°DO NOT FEAR THE STORM! IF YOUR HEART IS TRUE IT WILL NOT HARM YOU!¡± Lily placed the swords on their shoulders. They did not flinch. ¡°DO YOU SWEAR TO SERVE FAITHFULLY?¡± ¡°YES!¡± The blades dissolved into smoke that entered the women. I did not see any physical changes but I could feel the bond forming. It was new and weak but hopefully it would grow stronger in time. ¡°DAMN, I am too late!¡± Shani suddenly appeared, levitating a sphere of blood. ¡°Welcome back Shani. Why do you carry blood? And what happened to Loriel?¡± I asked. ¡°She decided to leave together with the dwarves. They are on their way back to the Dominion. Loriel said she would like you to meet them there to discuss the future.¡± ¡°I see. What about the blood?¡± ¡°I felt the ritual. I wanted to welcome the new knights¡­¡± ¡°You wanted to dump blood on them?¡± ¡°Blood makes every ceremony better!¡± Shani insisted. ¡°I think we don¡¯t need it.¡± ¡°A shame. Well, at least I got to collect it! There are so many things to kill around. Demons, soldiers, it''s a party!¡± ¡°Are any of them coming here?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Not anymore!¡± I eyed the blood again. ¡°You know, when the garrison was attacked they tried to create a portal through mass sacrifice. What are the odds that the cult is using all those deaths for something?¡± Chapter 130: Packing Up ¡°It depends.¡± Lily said. ¡°Their last plan was foiled and it does take some time to arrange a ritual that could feed off so many deaths. Today¡¯s events were triggered by Minerva¡¯s capture. It¡¯s clear that a coup was planned but we likely accelerated their timetable.¡± ¡°So we might have dodged a bullet and the cult won¡¯t be able to use this. Or at least not to its full potential.¡± I said. I eyed the blood again. ¡°Shani, why is your blob slowly moving towards our new maids?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ is it? Must be the wind.¡± Shani did not sound very convincing. ¡°Just¡­ dispose of it please. And do not throw it on a person.¡± ¡°Fine¡­¡± ¡°My lady¡­¡± Iris addressed me. ¡°Now that we are your knights, do you have a spare weapon for us?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± She made a good point. Not only that, she did not have any additional clothing with her. Or a storage artefact. Minerva did not have anything either. And I doubted any shop was open today. ¡°I do have weapons but not a fitting armour. We will have to buy something in the next city.¡± In the game you could just equip armour and it would always fit. Sadly that was not the case in this world. All the armors in my storage would be a bad fit. Maybe we could find a smith on our way to the Dominion. Then I remembered something. ¡°Minerva, when you attacked us you pulled your weapon from a storage, right? Do you still have that?¡± ¡°Sorry, I have no idea where it is. Or where my armour and weapons are.¡± Minerva said. ¡°Everything she was carrying was left at the hotel.¡± Lily informed us. ¡°Oh well. The Inquisition likely looted the place after Loriel left. I am not sure if it¡¯s worth going back. Anyway Iris was using a glaive, right? And you want a sword, Minerva?¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°My preferred weapon would be a rapier.¡± Minerva answered. ¡°Yes, a glaive would be excellent.¡± Iris said. Now, did I have anything fancy? I would not be able to top Lily¡¯s naginata. Still, I did have some mithril weapons with basic enchantments. They were quite nice for this world I suppose. As I handed them their new weapons I announced our plan: ¡°Once Thessia is ready we will leave. Before we go to the Dominion we will make a small detour to a village in the Empire. Afterwards we will likely pass through the Dwarven Kingdom on our way home. Our final destination is the county we were granted. It should be a great place for Josef to do some research. From there we will come up with a strategy to deal with this mess.¡± I did not mention Lucy¡¯s parents. They would learn that part once we arrived. It might lead to some interesting questions. Especially since Lucy was turning into a kitsune. ¡°What shall we do with Eshantri?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Do we still want to contact Lilith? Should we wait until we are somewhere else?¡± All heads turned towards the demon. ¡°You¡­ you could let me leave. I will tell my superiors that you desire an audience. I am sure we would be able to contact you at an appropriate time¡­¡± Dragging an unwilling succubus with us sounded like trouble. And Lilith would have no problem sending someone to our county once we were there. ¡°If nobody objects you may leave. But when you report, tell your superiors that I do not look kindly on spies among my people. If we catch another demon trying to fool us¡­ there will be consequences.¡± Eshantri swallowed and nodded. Nobody complained so she used her wings and flew away. We all returned inside and waited for Thessia to finish. It did not take too long and the ritual was prepared. I activated and watched in amazement as her tree changed. It looked like it was covered in a thin sheet of ice. Yet it was not cool to the touch. I stored the entire tree in my amulet. There was a massive hole left behind. And it occurred to me that with all the roots gone there would be tunnels left. Would they collapse with us on top? The earth rumbled¡­ ¡°Lazy is waking up!¡± Shani commented. Oh. There was an earth elemental. I forgot about that. ¡°Who disturbs my slumber?¡± A deep voice asked. ¡°I should have kept the blood. I could have dumped it on lazy!¡± Shani complained. ¡°Why is there a storm elemental buzzing around?¡± The question was asked in a normal voice that sounded slightly annoyed. ¡°The temple is being relocated.¡± Thessia explained. ¡°A civil war has started in the Empire and there is fighting all over Unitera. The Inquisition is using mind control and I got involved by helping a victim. Do you wish to accompany us to the Dominion?¡± ¡°WHAT?¡± Shani exclaimed. ¡°You want to take lazy with you? He is useless!¡± ¡°My name is not lazy! I am a great lord of the earth! I am the great protector of this place, chosen by Sylphania herself! I am Terath.¡± I scratched my head. ¡°You sure failed in the whole protecting part earlier.¡± I said. ¡°HAH!¡± Shani exclaimed. ¡°I bet he is not chosen by anything! He just liked sleeping under a giant tree! Unlike myself. I am helping one of the greatest ladies of the fey! I helped create a knight and slaughtered countless enemies in her name!¡± Shani paused, looking around. ¡°Damn, this would have been so much cooler if I still had the blood¡­¡± ¡°Sylphania¡¯s blessing has allowed Terath to remain in this world for an infinite amount of time. In exchange he is helping us.¡± Thessia clarified. Chapter 131: Leaving ¡°So it is a mutually beneficial relationship. He is not bound to serve you but he does it in exchange for Sylphania¡¯s blessing.¡± I reasoned. ¡°He is a hired thug!¡± Shani insisted. ¡°Why is this airhead still around?¡± Terath asked. I ignored their antics. ¡°Is Terath going to join us?¡± ¡°He does have a contract to protect the temple. But we just dismantled that. There is no clause forcing him to help us relocate. And we might have to enter a new contract for a new temple. We will need a location first. It is up to him how he wants to proceed.¡± Thessia said. ¡°But he failed to protect you. Was that not a breach of the contract?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°There was no real damage done to the temple.¡± Terath insisted. ¡°I would have intervened otherwise.¡± ¡°An excuse! He did not even notice because he was sleeping!¡± Shani added. ¡°I am not a lawyer. In the end no harm was done. Thank you Amaya, Lucy and Shani for protecting us.¡± Thessia said. Shani locked smug as she stared into the hole. The earth elemental was still down there and had not surfaced yet. That was about to change. The earth rumbled and a big hand emerged, then another. Terath pulled his body out of the hole. Thankfully nothing collapsed. Maybe he was keeping the tunnels intact with his powers. Terath had a body made of rocks. He had two bulky arms and two thick feet. His torso was almost a triangle resulting in wide shoulders. His head looked relatively human, except for the stony skin. And the spikes on his head formed a crown. He was probably around three metres tall and made for an imposing figure. His eyes roamed over all of us. ¡°What a curious group you have here. I was not expecting a lady of the fey to visit Unitera. It has been a long time since I have met one of your peers.¡± Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Ok. So, are you joining us or not? We are kind of in the middle of leaving¡­¡± I said. I had a feeling that this giant rock was in no hurry to do anything. ¡°Hm.¡± Terath replied. ¡°Just leave him! Let¡¯s go!¡± Shani said. The spell summoning her would run out soon. I really needed to find a way to keep her in this world. I could not justify using all my spell slots for her. And I was sure Terath¡¯s presence would make her jealous. Another problem for the list. ¡°Well, you stay here and think. We will be on our way.¡± I announced. We had already wasted too much time. I calmed down my storm so we would not constantly be rained on. I imagined my companions would not enjoy the experience. ¡°Lucy, lead the way.¡± I did not know where her village was. Only that it should be somewhere north of here. We simply left, leaving a confused earth elemental behind. He caught up to us with long strides a short time later. ¡°I shall accompany you for now, while I debate my future.¡± He said. ¡°He is just looking for a new place to nap!¡± Shani commented. I had a feeling she was not entirely wrong. Our group was certainly a curious one. We had Elandru, a wood elf priest. Thessia, a dryad and high priestess. Lucy the kitsune, Lily the succubus, disguised as a dragon kin, Josef, Minerva and Iris were humans and I was an archfey. Terath and Shani were both elemental lords. Iris approached me as we walked. ¡°Amaya.. My lady¡­ How shall I address you?¡± ¡°I don''t really care to be honest. I have never really been that interested in titles. They have their uses in some situations but in private I am fine with Amaya.¡± ¡°I see. I wanted to ask you about your county and how we fit in. You want to establish a knight order.. Maid knight order.¡± She corrected herself. ¡°What about your normal troops? How is your force organised?¡± ¡°Ah. You see¡­ I have never been to my county. I got that title recently for helping the Dominion. I should say we got the title since I am sharing it with Lucy. I only know that our county is close to the black forest.¡± Iris looked surprised. ¡°I¡­ I see. And¡­ you are an archfey, in a relationship with your warlock Lucy, who is a kitsune.¡± ¡°Correct. By the way, it might be time to let you in on a little secret. Lily is not really a dragon kin. She is a succubus.¡± ¡°A¡­ demon. Lily is a demon?¡± ¡°Indeed I am.¡± Lily confirmed. Since we were a small group and ours was the only conversation everyone was listening. ¡°Let me tell you the whole story¡­¡± And so I explained how we met her near Iron Rock and summoned her in Unitera. I even mentioned our raid on Beira¡¯s lab. I still had the research we stole. Something to look into perhaps, once we were in our county. I skipped over the part where I improvised the ritual. Shani was happy to tell everyone about her contribution. She made it sound very dramatic. ¡°You¡­ you bestowed one of the greatest honours of the fey on a succubus? One that you did not know that well?¡± Thessia said, sounding rather disturbed. ¡°Lily has served us well so far. Her oath is strong, I can feel the bond. She has given us no reason to doubt her.¡± I said, shrugging. In the end we gave her power and status. Something a lot of demons craved. Sticking with us was in her own best interest. And by treating her well we had earned her loyalty. Lily looked really proud as I praised her. Chapter 132: Journey What followed was a bit of quiet contemplation. Our new companions had to digest this information. I kept an eye on our surroundings. We could still hear the sound of fighting in the distance but nobody engaged our group. Eventually Shani¡¯s spell came to an end and she returned to her home plane. She seemed annoyed that Terath was here permanently. I would have to summon her frequently in the coming days. The earth elemental smiled as Shani disappeared. Watching him made me think. ¡°Could we use Terath as a mount? Lucy, Lily and myself can move rather quickly. I am not sure about everyone else. I suspect Minerva and Iris will do fine. How about you Josef? Alchemy is not a very physical profession.¡± ¡°Ah. I have done my share of travelling, but usually I use a horse. And if I am on foot it is certainly at a human pace.¡± ¡°I am not a mount.¡± Terath said. ¡°So Shani was right, you are lazy.¡± I responded. ¡°Outrageous! I am an elemental lord! I am a being worthy of respect, not a beast of burden!¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, I can carry someone.¡± Lucy offered. ¡°What about Thessia and Elandru? Are you fine with walking? Or running I guess. We would like to travel at a faster pace.¡± ¡°Do not worry about me.¡± Elandru said. ¡°With the power of our goddess I can transform into a better shape for travelling. I can take the form of a stag. I will not be able to communicate easily in that form but I can carry Thessia.¡± ¡°Perfect. So if Lucy carries Josef we are good.¡± I would not have minded someone riding on my panther form. But it was a bit small for Josef. If Lucy could turn into a horse sized fox that would be perfect. It was her first time using her increased size since the battle. This time my aura was restrained and not boosting her. But it worked nicely. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Josef admired the beautiful fox and carefully approached. I chuckled. ¡°It is still Lucy, not a wild beast. No reason to be that cautious.¡± ¡°Who says I am not a wild beast?¡± Lucy responded. ¡°Good point. But you are my wild beast.¡± I approached to give her some headpats. She even lowered her head so I could reach it. Her fur in this form was very soft. ¡°You can still talk normally while transformed?¡± Josef asked. He was clearly in awe. ¡°Sure. I am awesome.¡± Lucy responded. After that Elandru transformed and I took my animal form as well. Then we increased our pace. Soon we reached the gates of the city. They were open and manned by two scared looking soldiers. When they saw our group approach they fled. ¡°I am surprised that we don¡¯t see any refugees.¡± I said. I could understand that a lot of people were hiding in their homes. But I would have expected some to leave. Especially anyone who was only visiting. ¡°There will be plenty after the fighting.¡± Iris said. ¡°Once the people realise what is going on. And do not forget the recent demon attack. A lot of travellers have already left after that incident.¡± ¡°There will be a draft.¡± Minerva added. ¡°A lot of the poor will end up with a spear in hand on the frontline. And then they get torn apart by some magic they have no hope of countering.¡± ¡°How quickly will it spread?¡± I asked. ¡°Major garrisons have a magical communication stone. Of course the system could be compromised with traitors. There will be a lot of confusion. Any noble not directly involved will have to choose a side.¡± Iris explained. ¡°I suspect within a week every big city will at least know about the coup. It will take longer for small villages to hear the news. They might be unaware until the local lord shows up to draft people.¡± ¡°We have no reason to visit a big city. Maybe a stop at a small town to get some clothes for our new maids. Other than that we can go straight to my village.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Your village?¡± Josef asked. ¡°You will see when we arrive.¡± Lucy answered. ¡°Maybe we should visit more villages and try to recruit people.¡± Iris suggested. ¡°Why?¡± I asked. ¡°I highly doubt that the Dominion gave you a fully staffed county. You will likely need more personnel. And if you want a maid knight order we will need recruits. Since it is an elite position not everyone would qualify. We will need a large pool of candidates to find some that are suitable. I would suggest training them as regular soldiers and making an offer to anyone who is talented.¡± ¡°It would slow us down considerably if we moved with a larger group. And I doubt the locals would want to come with us.¡± ¡°It depends on how bad the war will become.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see what happens.¡± Lucy said. ¡°I doubt they will believe us. For now I want to get to my village quickly.¡± ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go there first.¡± I said. And so we left Unitera. Maybe we would be back, with an army. Chapter 133: Camping It looked like my earlier concerns about running out of spells were unfounded. The Empire was more interested in their infighting than engaging us. Since we did not have any wagons we avoided the roads and went through the wilderness. In the evening we stopped at a clearing to settle down for the night. Lucy, Elandru and myself turned back into our normal forms. I quickly discovered that having maids was awesome. It allowed Lucy and myself to just sit back and relax. I pulled a table, chairs and cooking supplies from my storage. I also had a tent for the maids and one for Lucy and myself. Josef would use a tent with Elandru and Thessia said she did not need anything. While Iris and Minerva had no training as maids they certainly knew how to set up a camp. Their military training showed. Despite her previous position in command Iris had no problem getting her hands dirty. But we should get her some recruits. Terath was being lazy, as usual. ¡°So, you have never told me much about your village.¡± I said to Lucy, who was sitting next to me. While I had furniture in my storage we were currently leaning on a big tree, enjoying a bit of nature. ¡°True. It¡¯s been a long time since I was there. I hope they are alright.¡± ¡°Do you have any other family, besides your parents?¡± ¡°Nobody close. I was young when I became a soldier. I had a lot of hope back then. When I was sentenced to slavery¡­ I lost all contact with my parents. I am not sure what they know.¡± ¡°We will need to answer some questions. Like how you became a strong warlock, a kitsune even in such a short time. I suppose we just smile mysteriously a lot.¡± I suggested. Lucy smiled. ¡°A good plan. I would like to see some faces when they realise I am the real Lucy. Not an agent who took over her identity to infiltrate the embassy.¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Our current companions were not around for that. But we will have to tell them at least something. Especially our loyal maid knights. We should be vague about the ritual though. And the area we drained of mana¡­¡± ¡°A wise choice.¡± Lucy said while leaning into me. I put an arm around her. ¡°Are you going to recruit more people in your village? Should we just take everyone? Assuming they want to. How big is this place anyway?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s a farming village. Of course the people don¡¯t own their land, it¡¯s property of the local lord. We have a small shop, a bakery, a smith and most importantly a tavern. And a bunch of farmers. Maybe around 100 people. Mostly beastkin. Not all are foxes. We have cats, wolves and some bears as well.¡± ¡°Hm. That would be a large caravan to take with us. What is our plan for crossing the mountains? Going through Iron Rock is an option but getting a ship to cross the lake could be an issue.¡± ¡°There are entrances to the Dwarven Kingdom in the north. They are mostly closed these days, since all trade flows through Iron Rock. The dwarves are still holding a grudge because the Empire tried to starve them 500 years ago. But I think a certain archfey could easily convince them to let us through.¡± ¡°Do you actually know where those are? Or just that they exist?¡± ¡°There are signs on the road, you know. One can follow them. And we can always buy a map. But I have never travelled there in person. I am sure with our combined powers we shall defeat this dangerous foe, called navigation.¡± She teased. ¡°And we have servants. We can always delegate the task.¡± I added. ¡°Mhm, now you are thinking like a proper archfey.¡± ¡°Speaking about nobility, what about the local lord? I can¡¯t imagine he will be thrilled with us taking his people.¡± ¡°Assuming he is still in charge he is an old man. Baron Nathan Aspey. He is neither generous nor cruel. As long as you pay your taxes and don¡¯t break the law you are fine. I have no idea about his political leanings. Or his children. But he is intelligent enough to not pick a fight with us if we show our power.¡± Lily approached us. ¡°Food is ready, my ladies.¡± ¡°Neat. What have you prepared?¡± I asked while getting up. ¡°Honey glazed dire boar with roast potatoes.¡± ¡°That sounds nice.¡± Lucy said. We were in a clearing, surrounded by nature. Yet we had a banquet table, chairs and cutlery. A nicely prepared meal awaited us next to a fire and our tents. I pulled a lovely barrel of beer out of my inventory. Clearly that was missing. We all ate together. I did not need our maids to just stand there and serve. They should enjoy their hard work as well. It was a nice peaceful evening. Not the way I had expected this day to go. We lingered around the fire after the meal until it was time for bed. Chapter 134: Reunion We made good time on our journey. Predators avoided us, maybe they sensed that we were on the top of the food chain. On the sixth day we left the wilderness and returned to the road. We should arrive at the village around noon. We did not see any other travellers. But I suppose that was normal. I doubted that the civil war had spread here already. As we left the forest we found rolling hills covered in lush green grass. I could already see the village in the distance. It was surrounded by fields and a small stream was visible nearby. I could also see a small castle in the distance. It was not part of the village but located on a hill further away. ¡°You never told us the name of your village.¡± I said as we walked. ¡°Oh. You are right. It¡¯s called Mervil. In the distance you can see the residence of Baron Aspey.¡± Lucy sounded a bit nervous. It had been years since she saw her parents. We did not even know if they still lived here, or if something happened to them. I was nervous as well. I was about to meet the parents of my girlfriend. Of course, being insanely powerful and rich might help to impress them. Or the fact that I rescued their daughter from slavery. As we came closer we saw people working in the fields, but not that much movement in the streets. When our group was spotted people seemed to hurry away. We were a rather curious party, I suppose. Terath was intimidating. The village did not have a wall. Generally a good sign, it meant the area was considered secure enough. I did not see any guards either. As we closed in on the first buildings a small group barred our way. It was led by an old female foxkin with brown fur. The woman was dressed in slightly finer clothing. The two men with her were big and had bear ears on their heads. They carried pitchforks but no visible armour. All three of them looked nervous and not very confident. ¡°Welcome to Mervil, travellers. We are a small village and do not have an inn, only a tavern. We apologise for that. We can sell you food and provisions though, or direct you to a larger town. We can also offer a guide to the residence of the baron if that is your destination.¡± ¡°Hello Emma.¡± Lucy said, stepping forward. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The old woman frowned. ¡°Do I know you?¡± ¡°I have changed a bit.¡± She touched the tattoo on her forehead. ¡°My eyes used to be blue. And I was a bit smaller when we last met. I am Lucy, daughter of Alister and Lynn.¡± Emma¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°But¡­ but we heard they made you a slave¡­ And sent you to Iron Rock. It has been seven years since you left.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a long story. Are my parents still here?¡± Lucy looked hopeful. Emma eyed our group warily. ¡°They are all friendly. They mean no harm.¡± Lucy assured the woman. ¡°Your parents are still on their farm. But your group will draw attention. The baron might send some people. He is¡­ not a good person.¡± ¡°Oh? I remember Nathan as a reasonable lord.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Nathan died two years ago. His son Blake has a fondness for female beastkin¡­¡± Lucy¡¯s eyes hardened. I put a hand on her shoulder. ¡°Maybe we need to visit this baron. We could introduce him to Shani.¡± That put a smile on her face. A dangerous one. ¡°What a good idea. But first I want to see my parents. I will lead you to our farm.¡± I addressed Emma. ¡°It was a pleasure to meet you. Maybe we can talk more later. I am Amaya.¡± I offered my hand which the woman shook. ¡°Sorry for leaving so quickly but Lucy wants to meet her parents.¡± Emma nodded. She looked a lot more at ease now. The bearkin on her side also relaxed. They nodded at us and mumbled something that could have been a greeting. We left the three of them and walked to Lucy¡¯s farm. It was a small building on the edge of the village. Unsurprisingly it had fields next to it. There was a small barn and a main building. It consisted of one floor and was made out of wood. A male foxkin was working in the field. He had orange fur and hurried towards the building as we approached. ¡°Hello travellers. I am Alister, a simple farmer. What brings you to my home?¡± He looked scared, unsure what to do. He had the same blue eyes as Lucy, before she became a warlock. Lucy just stood there, staring at him. Not saying anything. The man did not know what to do. I stepped forward. ¡°Hello Alister. It is a pleasure to meet you. The speechless foxkin at my side is Lucy, your daughter.¡± The man frowned and looked at her. Tears formed in her eyes. ¡°Papa!¡± She grabbed the man and hugged him. He looked lost. ¡°Lucy? But¡­¡± ¡°It is her.¡± I assured him. ¡°Her eyes have changed but it is still her. She is back.¡± I heard the door open and a head peeked out. The woman was a foxkin with white fur and brown eyes. ¡°Alister?¡± She stared at the man who awkwardly hugged Lucy back. Tears were now running from his eyes as well. I approached the woman. ¡°Hello. I am Amaya. Lucy is home.¡± ¡°Lucy? LUCY!¡± The woman charged out and joined the hug. All three of them were crying now. ¡°Who are you?¡± I heard another voice. A child was standing in the doorway. A small foxkin boy. He had inherited the orange hair from his father and the brown eyes from his mother. It looked like Lucy¡¯s family had grown in her absence. He did not look afraid, just curious. I crouched to be at the same height as him. ¡°I am Amaya. I brought your sister home.¡± Chapter 135: Catching Up The boy looked at me, then examined my companions. They all looked surprised and shocked. Except for Terath. He looked like he was sleeping, while standing. ¡°Shall we go meet your sister?¡± I asked the boy and offered him my hand. He took it and we walked towards the others. Lucy noticed our approach. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at us curiously. ¡°Lucy, this is your little brother Ben.¡± Her mother said. ¡°I am not little, I am six years old!¡± The boy protested and let go of my hand. Lucy grabbed Ben and lifted him into a hug. ¡°Hello little brother!¡± ¡°Welcome home!¡± He said and snuggled into her. ¡°Thank you for returning our daughter, I am Lynn.¡± Her mother said to me, then she glanced at our companions. I guess introductions were in order. ¡°I am Amaya Delphinium. With us are Lily, Iris and Minerva, our loyal maid knights.¡± They all bowed. ¡°Then we have Thessia, a dryad and high priestess of Sylphania. With her is Elandru, a priest. And the elemental is Terath. He is just tagging along.¡± I pointed at each person while mentioning them. ¡°And the last one is Josef, an alchemist who is helping us.¡± ¡°What is a maid knight?¡± Ben asked. ¡°They are special people taking care of us and protecting us.¡± Lucy explained. ¡°I am gonna be your maid knight too, when I grow up! Then nobody will steal you again!¡± Ben declared. I chuckled. ¡°Your maid knights?¡± Lynn asked and looked between me and Lucy. ¡°Amaya is my girlfriend! And we uh¡­ we are countesses¡­¡± Lucy said while blushing. ¡°Oh?¡± Her father said. ¡°I remember you being fascinated by stories of the night elf queen.¡± ¡°That is not the point!¡± Lynn said while gently smacking her husband on the head. ¡°How are you a countess? Where? How were you freed? What happened to your eyes?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a long story mom, maybe we should sit down¡­¡± Lucy suggested. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°I am afraid we don¡¯t have a big enough table.¡± Lynn said, looking at our group again. ¡°Oh, we could stay outside.¡± I suggested and pulled a table from my inventory. ¡°Allow us, my ladies.¡± Lily said while rushing forward. Lucy¡¯s parents stared while our maids set a table and chairs. Lily began brewing some tea, using a simple fire spell as a heat source. We must have been a curious sight. Lucy, her parents, Thessia and myself sat at the table. Our maids were standing behind us, ready to serve. Josef and Elandru had wandered off. Terath was taking a nap. Ben had decided to sit in Lucy¡¯s lap and was enjoying some headpats. Lucy began her story: ¡°I am not sure how much you know, or what you were told. They made up some charges in the military because I refused an officer and sentenced me to slavery. I never tried writing because I felt ashamed¡­¡± ¡°Oh Lucy¡­¡± Lynn said and touched her hand. ¡°We got a letter telling us your sentence. They said you were a deserter. We wanted to visit you but were told you are now in Iron Rock. And that we had no right to see you.¡± Alister said. ¡°Lynn was pregnant at that point. They threatened to take our unborn child if we kept complaining¡­¡± ¡°There was nothing you could have done.¡± Lucy reassured him. ¡°I was serving Ambassador Frederick. He was¡­ not a nice man.¡± Her hand went to her neck, where the collar used to be. ¡°He enjoyed parading a slave around Iron Rock. Nobody stopped him because they feared the Empire too much. Until Amaya arrived.¡± All eyes turned to me. ¡°The Empire had a plot involving demons. I stumbled into it and met Lucy. I decided to help her.¡± ¡°How?¡± Lynn asked. ¡°I am sort of powerful¡­ so is Lucy by the way!¡± I tried to deflect the question. ¡°Amaya made me her warlock.¡± Lucy said. Everyone stared at me, again. I was a bit embarrassed. ¡°What is a warlock?¡± Ben asked. ¡°It means she granted me power. Usually it comes at a great price but Amaya only demanded that I would not betray her.¡± ¡°How can she grant power? What power?¡± Ben asked. ¡°She is an archfey. The pact changed me a bit. That is why my eyes look so different.¡± I heard gasps. Ben just frowned. ¡°What is an archfey? She looks like an elf.¡± ¡°The fey are from a different world. And the archfey are their nobility. They are really strong. Amaya can control lightning and storms.¡± Lucy explained. Ben¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Storms are scary.¡± ¡°My storms won¡¯t hurt you. Since I am together with Lucy you are now my little brother too.¡± I told him. His eyes lit up. ¡°I have two sisters now!¡± ¡°I think we need to talk more about you being a warlock.¡± Lynn said. She seemed slightly nervous. ¡°And that you are in a relationship with your patron.¡± ¡°She started it.¡± I said, quickly blaming it all on Lucy. ¡°I did. Becoming a warlock was my choice, as was starting a relationship. Amaya has offered me much and asked for nothing in return. I am no longer weak. I fought a demon lord at her side.¡± ¡°You¡­ WHAT?¡± Lynn said. Alister looked partly shocked, partly impressed. ¡°The Empire summoned one near Iron Rock. We killed him, together.¡± Lucy declared proudly. Ben looked awed. ¡°Wow. This is cool! I want to defeat a demon lord too when I grow up!¡± ¡°Absolutely not!¡± Lynn said. ¡°And how could you drag our girl into this?¡± Lynn glared at me. ¡°To be fair, she was already in the middle of it when I arrived. And you should trust your daughter. She is strong. She is evolving into a kitsune even.¡± Now they were speechless. Staring at Lucy who looked a bit embarrassed. ¡°So uh¡­ I¡­ I might be a bit more powerful than a normal foxkin. Amaya is rather unique and¡­ and I inherited some of those things with the pact. I can even turn into a big fox!¡± ¡°I want to ride a big fluffy fox!¡± Ben announced. ¡°This is a lot to take in.¡± Alister said. ¡°What are your intentions with our daughter?¡± He tried to give me a stern father glare. But he also looked a bit nervous. ¡°Uh, I do love her. Our relationship is still new but we might marry at some point. Then we can build up our county together. Maybe travel some, see the world. And stop a mind control plot somewhere along the way.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Mind control plot?¡± Lynn asked weakly. It was all a bit much for them. Chapter 136: Plans ¡°If I may?¡± Thessia said. So far the dryad had listened quietly. All eyes turned to her. ¡°This is the part where I entered the story. Amaya and Lucy came to me with Minerva, who had been affected by mind control magic. We discovered a larger plot where the Inquisition is altering bodies to permanently enslave people. Josef is an alchemist who is helping us. Hopefully we will find a better solution. Amaya can break the spell, but it needs high tier magic and the binding could be reactivated if Minerva was captured again.¡± Alister and Lynn listened intently. I was unsure how much of this they were processing. There was just too much information coming in and it was all rather insane. ¡°As a high priestess of Sylphania I decided to offer help. As will our church, this is not something our goddess takes lightly. The Inquisition confronted us and we retreated from the capital. We are on our way to the Dominion and will try to find a solution from there.¡± ¡°This led to a civil war.¡± I added. ¡°The Inquisition was exposed and they are now trying to overthrow the Emperor, as far as we can tell. There is also a demonic cult in there creating some havoc.¡± ¡°So you can slay another demon lord! Can I come with you?¡± Ben asked. ¡°No. No demon lord slaying.¡± Lynn responded sternly. ¡°This is a lot to take in¡­¡± Alister said. ¡°Mom, dad, would you come with us?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I am not just here to visit you. The civil war is coming. Soon they will start conscriptions in the village. We have some land. We have a lot of money. We can even take the entire village.¡± ¡°Hold on a moment. You mentioned being a countess before. You are now a noble? With land?¡± Alister asked. ¡°Yes. We helped the Dominion and got a county and a title. I am now Lucy Delphinium, by the way.¡± ¡°It would be best if we left the Empire soon but we can certainly spend a day or two here. You can sleep on it tonight. In the meantime, we will invite the villagers to come with us. We will make sure they get a place to stay and an opportunity for work in our county.¡± I said. ¡°I am not going to lose Lucy again! If we have to leave here, so be it.¡± Lynn responded. ¡°The village has not been the same since the old baron died. I am more than happy to move. But I think Lord Blake will not just let us go¡­¡± Alister added. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Lucy smiled viciously. ¡°Oh, that won¡¯t be a problem. Emma mentioned something about Blake. It sounded like he is causing trouble. We should have a word with him.¡± ¡°You should not go, everyone says he is mean to girls.¡± Ben sounded concerned. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, your big sister will teach him a lesson. I even have a great friend to help with that. She is called Shani.¡± Should I introduce her? Since Terath had joined us I had summoned Shani at least once a day. And despite the absence of any slaughter she seemed to enjoy her time with us. ¡°Shani is an elemental lord and a friend. I will summon her.¡± I announced. Lucy¡¯s parents looked confused. I suspect that they had no idea what an elemental lord was. As I completed the spell Shani appeared, and looked around curiously. ¡°Ohhh¡­¡± Ben sounded awed. ¡°Oh? This is new. Who are you people?¡± She asked. ¡°Did you finally get rid of lazy? They are much cuter than lazy. Big upgrade.¡± ¡°Terath is still around. Probably napping somewhere nearby. But those are Alister and Lynn, Lucy¡¯s parents. And the little one is Ben, her brother.¡± I pointed at them as I made the introductions. ¡°Aw, you have such a cute family! We should celebrate! I could get some blood!¡± ¡°Why would you need blood?¡± Alister asked. ¡°It¡¯s a Shani thing, ignore it.¡± Lucy said. I ignored the elemental¡¯s comment. ¡°Anyway, this is Shani. She is rather powerful and¡­ enjoys combat a lot.¡± ¡°Are you going to spank the mean baron?¡± Ben asked. ¡°Mean baron?¡± Her scythe formed in her hands. A mean grin, showing way too many teeth formed. ¡°Show me the way.¡± Alister and Lynn looked alarmed by her change. Ben looked even more impressed. ¡°So cool! Can you summon other things? Can you do magic?¡± ¡°I certainly can do magic! Let me just¡­¡± ¡°Stop.¡± I intervened. ¡°Don¡¯t blow up the village, or anything important here. It¡¯s fine to show off a little but be careful.¡± ¡°Of course! I will pick a location where nothing important gets harmed!¡± A small cloud formed above. From it a lightning bolt appeared and struck the earth about 100 metres away. Then the earth moved. A head emerged from the ground. ¡°Hehehehe.¡± Shani was laughing. ¡°You hit Terath.¡± I pointed out. ¡°Nothing important was harmed.¡± Shani responded. The earth elemental looked at us, shook his head and sank into the soil again. I sighed and proposed a plan: ¡°Ok, back to the baron. We should split up. Maybe Iris can talk to the villagers and ask them to come with us. She wanted to recruit more people anyway. Josef, Thessia, Elandru and Terath should stay as well. Lucy, Shani and myself will go to the castle. That leaves Lily and Minerva.¡± ¡°I would like to accompany you, my ladies.¡± Lily said. ¡°And I would suggest Minerva stays here to help Iris and provide additional security.¡± ¡°I wanna come too!¡± Ben said. ¡°I want to see the mean baron get spanked!¡± ¡°Out of the question!¡± Lynn insisted. ¡°You are a bit too young.¡± Lucy said. Ben pouted. ¡°It would be a great experience for him! A family trip! We should bring everyone!¡± Shani suggested. I shook my head. ¡°No. This won¡¯t be a good place for a child.¡± ¡°Are you sure you have to go, Lucy? You only just arrived¡­¡± Lynn said, looking worried. ¡°It¡¯s ok mom. I will be back in time for dinner. And if you see the castle explode it¡¯s going to be our doing. I am really strong now, don¡¯t worry.¡± Lucy smiled reassuringly. Chapter 137: To the Castle ¡°That... that does not sound safe.¡± Lynn said. ¡°There really is not much that can hurt us.¡± I tried to reassure her. ¡°But we can hurt the baron! There are a lot of ways how we can hurt him! And slaughter his army! Burn down his castle!¡± Shani added. Ben frowned. ¡°Slaughtering people sounds evil.¡± ¡°No no no! Having a slaughter can be a fun bonding experience, or a family trip. It depends on your targets. If they are bad, or you just don¡¯t like them a lot, it¡¯s totally fine!¡± Shani explained while nodding her head. Ben listened intently. Alister and Lynn looked horrified. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to Shani, she is¡­ elementals might have different morals.¡± I concluded. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt innocent people. Only punish the bad ones. And the punishment should depend on how bad they are.¡± Thessia addressed the parents, who still looked disturbed: ¡°I have only known Amaya for a short time but she is a woman of honour. She is kind to her friends, protective of the weak and merciless to her enemies. Imagine Shani as the embodiment of her wrath.¡± I was not sure about that description. Shani was rather carefree, enjoyed fighting and had rather loose morals. She was reliable though, if you gave her proper instructions. ¡°I am also great for birthday parties!¡± Shani said. A party hat made out of wind formed on her head. ¡°But the whole wrath thing is certainly my speciality.¡± ¡°Anyway, we will be totally fine!¡± Lucy said. ¡°We will quickly show this baron and be right back!¡± Lucy lifted Ben from her lap and got up. I had a feeling that Lucy wanted to show off a little. To show her parents just how strong she had become. I was not sure if blowing up a castle was the proper way to achieve that. But if the baron deserved it, I had no objections. ¡°Alright.¡± I said and stood up as well. ¡°Alister, Lynn, it was a pleasure meeting you. We will be back soon. I will leave supplies with our maids. Tonight we shall have a proper feast!¡± Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Her parents were close to crying again, seeing their daughter leave. Ben looked disappointed that he was not allowed to come. I unloaded some food and drink from my storage and we left. ¡°Are you alright Lucy?¡± I asked her once we were on our way. ¡°Yes. It¡­ it has been a bit overwhelming. I am happy that they are fine. And I have a little brother! A brother I didn''t even know about, because of the Empire. I don''t know what that baron actually did but we are going to find out. And make sure no family in my village suffers because of him. And then we are going to celebrate!¡± ¡°We should have a pool of blood! I bet Ben would enjoy it!¡± Shani suggested. ¡°No.¡± I said. Shani seemed rather fond of Ben. I was a bit concerned about her influence. Then again, we were on our way to maybe blow up a castle. My or Lucy¡¯s influence might not be ideal either. I looked at Lily. Yeah, Ben would grow up surrounded by bad influences¡­ ¡°My lady, can I ask a question?¡± Lily asked Lucy. ¡°Uh, sure. You don¡¯t have to be so formal, you know.¡± Lucy answered. ¡°We just met your parents. That means you are young. How¡­ how are you so powerful? They seem to be normal foxkin. I have not felt any real magic from them. Amaya said you are becoming a kitsune. I can feel the power through the bond. Looking at you is¡­ inspiring. Warlocks are not common but I have never heard of a pact changing someone that much. I met one of Lilith¡¯s warlocks once. He was nothing like you.¡± Lucy looked at me, I nodded. She was free to share our secrets. ¡°Well, Amaya is rather special. The warlock bond gives you powers based on your patron. They share a part of their soul with you. It changed me more than either of us anticipated.¡± ¡°I am not from this world.¡± I added. ¡°I only arrived shortly before I met Lucy.¡± ¡°I see. Thank you for your trust. Do you think I will change as well?¡± Lily asked. That was a good question. We had a bond but that was entirely different from being a warlock. ¡°Of course!¡± Shani said. ¡°Becoming the Elemental Knight of an archfey is no small thing. The power of the plane of air flows through you. It will change your body and grant you gifts in time. There is a reason why this is a big deal you know!¡± We all looked at the elemental in surprise. It was easy to forget that behind the carefree personality was an ancient being. I had no idea how old she was, but evolving into an elemental lord should have taken a long time. ¡°I see. How did you meet them, Shani?¡± Lily asked. ¡°Ah, a great story! So, here I was bored¡­ I mean super busy doing lord things when I felt a summoning spell. It¡¯s rare that a random elemental lord is called. If the spell does not have a specific target it just sends a polite request through the plane, sort of. Despite my busy nature I decided to have a look. It felt rather intriguing. The spell just smelled right, you know? Like a lovely storm. I just knew this was not some wrinkly old wizard but a fine lady instead.¡± Shani pointed at me. Lily listened intently. ¡°So I appeared in this room with some fancy weaklings. Did not even have to lift a finger. They all cried for their mommies just looking at me. Then we all just strolled outside. Had a nice walk. Lucy was still normal back then. The next time Amaya called it was directed at me. And she had such a lovely battle prepared! Lucy was now a warlock and kicked some butt. I decided then to keep hanging out with them.¡± While Lily was contemplating this information we made good time towards the castle. It was located on a small hill and not overly big. Two guards stood next to the open gate. They looked at us curiously but unconcerned. ¡°I shall properly introduce you.¡± Lily said and stepped forward. Chapter 138: Castle ¡°What do you want?¡± A guard asked. ¡°The Countesses Amaya and Lucy Delphinium are here to meet Baron Aspey.¡± Lily said. ¡°Huh. Never heard that name.¡± He looked at the other guard. ¡°Me neither. We don¡¯t expect any visitors and you are clearly not local.¡± The other guy pointed out. ¡°You look more like some adventurers. Impersonating nobility is a crime you know. We will have to arrest you.¡± The guard leered at us. ¡°Can I slaughter them?¡± Shani asked. ¡°Huh. An elemental that can speak?¡± The other guard looked surprised. ¡°Nevermind, threatening us is a crime too. I guess you will all just end up as slaves.¡± He pointed his spear at us. ¡°Don¡¯t make this hard.¡± He said with a smirk and emphasis on hard. A trail of beautiful cherry blossoms appeared. The magical petals gently floated through the air. They were dancing with the drops of blood coming from the guard''s wound. Lily had drawn Storm¡¯s Blossom and stabbed the guard. ¡°Your behaviour towards my ladies is unacceptable. Your punishment is death.¡± She said with a cold voice. She withdrew the blade from his stomach and chopped his head off. The other guard froze. He was in shock. ¡°Boo!¡± Shani said, having moved behind him with incredible speed. ¡°Ahhhhhhh!¡± The guard screamed as he turned around and saw a smiling face with lots of teeth. Then a scythe descended and he was no more. ¡°That escalated quickly.¡± I remarked. I should have felt horrified. It was concerning how accustomed I had become to death. But this was a cruel world and I had a feeling those guards liked to arrest women. Their eyes, their tone, none of it sat right with me. Lucy shrugged. ¡°Let¡¯s find this baron.¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The scream of the guard did attract some attention. As we entered the courtyard, and moved towards the keep, a squad of soldiers appeared. They came from a building near the wall, maybe the barracks. All guards wore chainmail and carried spears. Except for their commander, who wore a breastplate and had a sword attached to his belt. ¡°What is the meaning of this? Who are you people?¡± I noticed that there were ten people moving towards us. And all were male, despite magic being a great equaliser, when it came to power. Lily approached the man. Her maid outfit was spotless, she had expertly avoided all the blood. Her Naginata¡¯s blade was a different story. It was coated in blood. ¡°Fetch your baron, my ladies are here to meet him. Or join the fools at the gate and feed my blade. Your choice.¡± Lily said. ¡°Wait! Your blade can¡¯t have them all, we need to share!¡± Shani shouted. I was about to enter the conversation when Lucy spoke: ¡°We have heard the baron likes beastkin. Why don¡¯t you tell me what is going on around here?¡± Her voice had changed, slightly. I could feel a certain power in it. But that was not all. Lucy¡¯s tail was actually pointing upwards. Lightning was coursing through it. And I could feel her presence. Was that an aura? ¡°There¡­ there are cages downstairs. We¡­ we just collect them.¡± The trembling commander said. One of the soldiers dropped their spear and tried to run towards the keep. He did not make it very far. Fire burst from his skin and he screamed. Fire? A man in an orange robe had emerged from the keep. ¡°We do not tolerate cowards here.¡± The new arrival said. ¡°Martin, why have you not dealt with those intruders yet?¡± ¡°Are you Blake Aspey?¡± I asked. ¡°I am not Lord Aspey. You can call me master.¡± He said with a smirk. ¡°I will enjoy training you. Now, Martin, do your job.¡± The commander tried to draw his sword. But he was way too slow. Lucy transformed into a giant fox, and squashed him with her paw. Then she roared. The remaining soldiers collapsed. The mage¡¯s confidence was replaced by fear. He did manage another spell though. A protective ring of fire surrounded him. I recognized it as a third tier spell. Not bad for a mage in a small barony. Against us? It was utterly pointless. Lucy¡¯s mouth opened and a bolt of lighting appeared. The mage was no more. I had not joined the battle yet. Calling it a battle was a stretch anyway. Nobody here stood a chance against us. But I decided to unleash my aura. I was curious how it would react to Lucy¡¯s. As our powers met¡­ they embraced each other. It felt really nice. The usual storm appeared above us. Shani disappeared into the barracks, looking for prey. Lily opened the door to the keep and held it for us. Lucy shrank to the size of a wolf so she could enter. Inside we searched for a way downstairs. The baron could wait, there was little chance of him escaping. We found the basement and the cages. 17 women were imprisoned here. All wore slave collars. ¡°He needs to suffer.¡± Lucy said. I nodded, then addressed the captives: ¡°We are here to help. We will free you and can even escort you out of the Empire, if you want.¡± I used a soothing voice and tried to comfort them with my aura. Considering the burning rage inside me it was not easy. A lot of frightened faces looked at us. But I could also see hope. We opened the cages with force. The steel bars were no match for our strength. Then I used my lockpicking skill to get rid of the collars. ¡°I will find that bastard.¡± Lucy announced and started her hunt. Meanwhile I escorted the frightened women outside. Chapter 139: Wrath ¡°Who are you?¡± One of them asked. She was a catkin and her tail flicked around nervously. ¡°I am Amaya, this is my maid Lily and the fox you saw is Lucy. She is from Mervil.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ your ladyship, we don¡¯t have giant foxes in Mervil.¡± ¡°No need to be formal. And Lucy normally looks like a foxkin. She can change shape. She is a kitsune.¡± I explained. The woman looked unconvinced. ¡°What is going to happen to us?¡± She asked. ¡°We will escort you back to the village. After that, it¡¯s up to you. I can offer you a job. We are also trying to evacuate the village. Hopefully plenty of people will join us.¡± She still seemed wary but a bit less frightened. Hopefully we would be able to recruit some of them. Iris could use some soldiers. She had seemed rather competent when we first met her. It would be nice to see her in command of a force again. I could picture it. Rows and rows of maid knights. It would be glorious. As we reached the courtyard I frowned. There were more corpses than before. ¡°What¡­ what happened here?¡± One of the women asked. The storm above us made the whole scene even more sinister. ¡°Looks like Shani was busy.¡± Lily remarked. ¡°She is very thorough.¡± Lightning flashed and illuminated the elemental. Her scythe dripped with blood. How could something made of lightning have blood on it? Then again, a blade made of electricity made no sense anyway. ¡°All who defied the lady shall tremble. I will hunt them down and bathe in their blood, FOR I AM HER WRATH!¡± Shani screamed. Lighting struck in a circle around her. The captives started to tremble and hide behind us. ¡°It¡¯s fine, she is with us.¡± I reassured them. ¡°Shani, you are frightening the hostages we rescued!¡± I shouted at her. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°Sorry!¡± Shani replied in her normal voice. She hurried over to us. ¡°I was practising for the whole wrath thing! What did you think? Did anyone pee themselves? Was it properly scary?¡± ¡°I liked the blood, maybe you should use more.¡± Lily replied. ¡°Like literally bathing in blood? Should I carry a tub?¡± ¡°No no. I don¡¯t think bathing works with your look. I was thinking more about your face. Maybe a bit around your mouth, slowly dripping down.¡± Lily suggested. ¡°Ohhh, I like it!¡± I simply stared at the two. At least their conversation was ridiculous enough to calm the women somewhat. ¡°Shani, what happened while we were inside?¡± I asked. ¡°I simply took care of all the guards. I spared the servants I found. I think they all ran away.¡± ¡°Are there any horses? Or carriages? We should take them.¡± ¡°I think I saw something like that.¡± Shani pondered. That was when a wall in the upper part of the keep exploded. A smoking body followed and hit the ground in the distance. A fox''s head poked out of the hole. ¡°I got him!¡± Lucy said. ¡°There are a few more slaves here. I am going to escort them down.¡± ¡°Lily, please help her. I am not sure if her current form is ideal for the job.¡± ¡°Yes, my lady.¡± Lily ran into the building. I escorted the freed women out of the castle, to get them away from the bodies. Then I sat up a table with drinks and snacks. I was hoping it would help them relax. Maybe it just made me look weird. I debated if I should look for horses we could use. But then I would have to leave them with Shani. Probably not the best idea. I also retracted my aura, the storm was not helping. Then I simply waited. Some of the women tried the offered food after a slight hesitation. They started talking with each other. I tried not to listen, it was none of my business. Soon more slaves arrived. Three men and two women. I unlocked their collars and tried to reassure them. Shani had ventured back inside to look for horses. At least I hoped that was what she did. I had to extend her summoning because the spell was running out. And she clearly wanted to stay a bit longer. Lucy arrived as well, still in her fox form. ¡°I want to destroy the keep.¡± She announced. ¡°Getting that bastard was not enough, I want to cleanse this place.¡± ¡°Sure, but wait until Lily is finished. She is still looting I think. We certainly want all the horses and carriages they have. Especially if we are trying to evacuate the village.¡± ¡°Good point, I will help her.¡± Lucy said and went back inside. Lily did good work and retrieved one carriage and two wagons. She even managed to calm the horses. Soon we had a little caravan prepared and were ready to leave. Lily also found other useful things, like clothing that could fit Iris and Minerva. Lucy jumped on top of the wall. She still had a castle to destroy. Well, more like the keep. I watched in awe as lightning surrounded her body. Her eyes glowed, her tail was raised and a second one formed, made out of purple electricity. Then she unleashed the biggest bolt of lightning I had ever seen from her mouth. The keep exploded, violently. I summoned a barrier of wind to protect our caravan from any debris. Lucy looked smug as she jumped down from the wall. ¡°Was that a spell?¡± I asked. ¡°It was a version of Storm¡¯s Judgement.¡± She confirmed. ¡°Using magic while transformed feels a bit different.¡± ¡°You briefly had a second tail.¡± I said. ¡°Really?¡± She turned her head and looked at her rear. ¡°A shame I did not see it myself. Maybe I can do that consciously somehow?¡± She wondered. While Lucy contemplated her newest discovery, we left the smoking ruin behind and started our journey back to the village. Chapter 140: Return The former captives slowly started to open up and talk about their situation. About half of them were from the village, the others had diverse backgrounds. Some were travellers who were arrested and enslaved with made up charges. Two were adventurers who were invited, drugged and then captured. Lucy transformed back to her humanoid form. She knew some of the captives and told them her story. It helped put everyone at ease. I still had snacks and drinks on offer making the journey a lot more pleasant. We had reached the castle rather quickly with our powerful bodies. The return trip was a lot slower. It took over an hour. I would need to extend Shani¡¯s summoning again soon. The elemental seemed to have a lot of fun and showed no sign of wanting to leave. It was late afternoon when we came back to the village. Emma and Iris greeted us. Interestingly, there were three young women following our maid. ¡°Attention!¡± Iris called. I looked curiously at the three women who tried to stand straight. Two seemed to be catkin and the third was a wolfkin. ¡°My lady, I found some recruits. They agreed to enter your guard and if they show promise they could become maid knights in the future!¡± ¡°Good job!¡± I praised her. ¡°Introduce yourselves!¡± She ordered. First was the catkin with black hair and fur. ¡°I am Myla, my lady.¡± Next came the second catkin. Her hair was white and her fur had black stripes, like a white tiger. ¡°I am Kade, my lady.¡± The wolfkin had white fur and black hair. ¡°I am Arlie, my lady.¡± Interestingly, all of them had yellow eyes. Their clothing was a bit ragged, something we could fix in the next city. Most importantly, they all sounded determined. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Welcome! Iris has a lot of experience, she will teach you well.¡± I said. ¡°Now introduce yourself to Lucy.¡± I pointed at my girlfriend who was still conversing with some of the freed captives. ¡°Yes my lady!¡± They all replied. Iris looked pleased, nodded at me and led them towards Lucy. I turned towards Emma. ¡°We dealt with the baron. I have no idea how the Empire will react. With the civil war it¡¯s hard to say. But you are all still welcome to join us. We are not just looking for soldiers. People can keep their jobs and just work in my county. Also, I have a large storage to help transport goods. And we just liberated some wagons.¡± I pointed at them. ¡°You freed the captives, that will convince a lot of them. And Lucy¡¯s presence will help too. I suspect most will accept. How soon would you leave?¡± Emma asked. ¡°Maybe in a day or two. We would not want to linger too long.¡± Emma nodded and moved on towards the freed prisoners. There would be quite a few happy family reunions soon. I stood there and watched until Lucy joined me. ¡°Ready to go home?¡± I asked her. ¡°I am sure your parents are worried.¡± ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go!¡± Back at Lucy¡¯s parents home we found that Minerva had been busy. Somehow she had assembled a big outdoor grill made of stone. Preparations for a feast were clearly underway. ¡°We should have gone hunting. That grill is big enough for a bear.¡± I said. ¡°Wait, there is something you don¡¯t have in your amulet? I would have expected you to just pull out a monster corpse.¡± Lucy teased. Monster corpse? I had to admit that my storage was vast. I probably forgot about most of the things in there. Did I have a monster corpse from the game? And would that be edible? Hm. Was there a monster one could loot whole and later turn into a dish? I rummaged through my magical storage until I found something. I retrieved the corpse of a creature similar to a buffalo. It was a bit smaller, had orange fur and black horns. ¡°That should be edible. The meat is supposed to be spicy.¡± At least according to the description in the game, if I remembered it correctly. ¡°You know, I totally forgot about that. Good thing you reminded me.¡± I smiled at her. She rolled her eyes. ¡°Big sis is back! Did you punish the mean baron?¡± We heard Ben shout. Then he ran over to us. He stopped when he saw the flaming buffalo. ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°This is dinner!¡± I announced. ¡°And your sister punished the baron. He won¡¯t hurt anyone anymore.¡± Lynn and Alister followed Ben. They were relieved to see us return unharmed. ¡°I was worried when we saw the castle explode¡­¡± Lynn said. ¡°I told you I would blow it up mom!¡± Lucy complained. ¡°And nobody was hurt in the explosion! Because we slaughtered them all before! Muahahah.¡± Shani added, helpfully. We all stared at the elemental. ¡°Sooo¡­ I have a flaming buffalo for dinner!¡± I tried changing the topic. ¡°It¡¯s perfect for the large grill.¡± ¡°Where did you get that?¡± Ben asked. ¡°I do carry a lot of things around in my magical storage¡­¡± ¡°Can I have a magical storage too?¡± ¡°Once you are a bit older!¡± He pouted. ¡°It¡¯s good that you are back safely.¡± Alister said. He looked at Ben. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s best if you skip the details of your trip for now.¡± ¡°Yes. Let¡¯s focus on the feast!¡± Lynn agreed. Then she looked at the buffalo. ¡°I will need help preparing that.¡± Chapter 141: Feast Minerva, after welcoming us back, was more than happy to help with the cooking. It turned out she really enjoyed her maidly duties. She also had the strength to drag the corpse of a buffalo around. Minerva and Lynn seemed in a good mood as they worked. Alister had wandered off to get some wood for the grill. But what was I going to do? Just standing here felt kind of awkward. ¡°Should we help somehow?¡± I asked Lucy. ¡°You can play with me!¡± Ben suggested. He was still here. ¡°I know some great games!¡± Shani announced. ¡°How many of those involve blood?¡± I asked. ¡°Blood is fun¡­¡± Shani muttered. ¡°Amaya and myself can turn into animals! You can ride on our backs!¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Yay!¡± Ben cheered. I liked the idea so I transformed. ¡°Kitty!¡± Ben seemed to approve. Lucy changed as well and soon we were running around. Shani was surprisingly helpful and gentle with Ben. She placed him on our backs and made sure he did not fall off. Of course she occasionally suggested we should kill things. And she theorised about good weapons for Ben that would work while mounted. But we all had a great time and I extended her summoning once more. Meanwhile other people were busy doing actual work. The flaming buffalo was expertly butchered and cut into steaks. Josef had joined the preparations and was mixing sauces. Thessia was preparing side dishes with Elandru. Lily was working on a dessert. Ben got tired after a while but did not want to stop playing. Despite his protest he eventually took a nap. Iris returned with her new recruits who joined the preparations. Lucy and myself were back to our humanoid forms. ¡°With Ben sleeping we lost our excuse to not help.¡± I admitted. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°We don¡¯t need an excuse. We are in charge here. Embrace being the lazy noble.¡± Lucy countered. We were lying in the grass next to each other. ¡°I guess. You know, this all feels so normal. People preparing a feast and having fun. No demons, no conspiracies. It¡¯s kind of nice.¡± ¡°We did blow up a castle earlier.¡± Lucy reminded me. ¡°Not we, that was you alone.¡± I pointed out. ¡°True. You can have the next one. And there is a demon.¡± Lucy pointed at Lily. I sighed. ¡°Fine. Our normal just includes demons and explosions. Anyway, how big is this party going to be?¡± I wondered. ¡°The village does have a reason to celebrate. Will they join? Or throw their own party?¡± ¡°No clue. But there will be enough buffalo for everyone, that is for sure.¡± ¡°We should hunt more monsters. Do you remember the fancy restaurant from Unitera? They had so many interesting things. Oh, we need to hire a true chef.¡± ¡°Either that or train one of our maids. I think both Lily and Minerva enjoy cooking.¡± We continued to laze around a bit more before we joined the others. Part of the buffalo was shared with the remaining village. It looked like there were a few different celebrations all over the place. We would simply have a feast with Lucy¡¯s family. I suppose they were my family now as well. Of course we also had our maids, recruits, Thessia,... We certainly were a big group now. Since the preparations were mostly done, Iris started to do spear drills with her recruits. I walked over to the big grill when Minerva started to throw some meat on it. I handed her a mug of beer. ¡°You can¡¯t grill without beer. That is just wrong.¡± I told her. ¡°Uh, thank you. I shall remember that.¡± She answered. ¡°What do you think of the new recruits?¡± I asked. ¡°They look promising but it¡¯s too early to tell. They did not object to maidly chores and they have not stabbed themselves with their spears yet. That is a good start. But we need proper armour and weapons for them.¡± ¡°Hopefully we can recruit a smith and a tailor.¡± I said. ¡°We are going to travel through the dwarven kingdom. It should be easy to recruit a smith. Well, depending on your standards.¡± She added. I nodded. I was thinking the same thing. The meat sizzled and smelled heavenly. I was very curious about it. Soon the first pieces were ready and the feast truly began. We had an entire table filled with dishes. Fried vegetables, salads, roasted potatoes, bread... I was impressed. We also had several condiments. And I spied something like brownies for dessert. Of course we also had plenty of beer and wine. The whole feast was possible because I had a lot of things in my storage. Lynn and Alister provided some fresh produce but the village was rather poor. Ben was awake again and especially excited. ¡°Wow, so much food!¡± He exclaimed. While he was running around excitedly I tried the flaming buffalo. Obviously I had to make sure it was actually tasty. So I grabbed a wooden plate and claimed a steak. The meat was tender, reminded me somewhat of beef and had a rather peppery spiciness. I quite enjoyed it. After my first bite I put the steak between two slices of sourdough bread and added some mustard. Did that count as a burger? Sandwich? How cares, it was delicious! People started filling their plates and grabbing drinks. Lucy was telling the new recruits stories of our adventures. They all looked starstruck. Ben loved the steak and declared his goal of becoming a hunter of tasty things. Alister walked over to me. ¡°Thank you again for saving Lucy. I still can¡¯t believe that she is finally home.¡± Home. Something I had not thought about for a while. I came alone to this world. But I found friends here. Even more than that, I found love. ¡°I might have saved her but I don¡¯t know what I would do without her.¡± I said with a smile. Chapter 142: Party After that I had a lighter conversation with Alister. He told me a bit about their life in the village. Farming was hard work. While the Empire used mages to prevent droughts and eradicate pests, the fields were still tended to by people. And nobody provided them with any magical tools either. In my own county I would need to look into ways to change that. I continued to eat my way through the buffet and eventually reached the dessert. Lily made something like chocolate brownies. They were less sweet than I expected but had a glaze that tasted like oranges. I liked them. People kept drinking and were in a good mood. Normal beer had very little effect on me, because of my high constitution. But I did have some dwarven whisky. I shared it with Lucy and both of us got slightly drunk. At some point Myla, one of the new recruits, approached us. She seemed a bit tipsy. ¡°Um¡­ could you give us a fighting demonstration?¡± She asked. ¡°RECRUIT! That is not the way you address your superiors!¡± Iris shouted. ¡°Yes ma¡¯am! Sorry Ma¡¯am!¡± She squeaked. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Lucy said. ¡°What do you say, shall we spar?¡± She asked me. ¡°Sure, it could be fun.¡± We decided to use our proper weapons but no magic. ¡°Go big sis!¡± Ben cheered. ¡°Wait, you are both big sis now. Who do I cheer for?¡± Ben scratched his head. ¡°You cheer for blood!¡± Shani suggested. ¡°No. There won¡¯t be any blood, right?¡± Lynn asked. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°We heal quickly.¡± I shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s fine mom!¡± Lucy said. We chose a spot slightly away from the festivities. My sword had less reach than Lucy¡¯s spear but I was a lot better. With the fighting knowledge I had gained when entering this world I was essentially a sword master. Lucy only had the training of a normal soldier. In most fights her sheer physical power and speed made all the difference. But now she was fighting an equal. Our strength and speed were surprisingly close. We might have caused a slight bit of destruction when we clashed. But we made sure that neither the farm, nor the feast, got damaged. In the end my skill prevailed. I scored multiple hits on Lucy. Nothing that really hurt her of course. This was just a friendly spar. When we stopped I realised that two trees were cut down and we were standing in a small crater. ¡°Did we overdo it?¡± I wondered. ¡°Nah. Nothing important got hit.¡± Lucy said. ¡°You are way too good with a sword. Next time I need to try fighting as a fox. I am stronger that way I think.¡± A lot of stares and open mouths greeted us. The recruits were really impressed. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Lynn asked, concerned. ¡°Just scratches that are already healed.¡± Lucy assured her. ¡°But I could go for more food now.¡± ¡°That is the spirit! How is the grill? Do we have more meat?¡± I asked. ¡°There is plenty of meat left.¡± Minerva said and went to the grill. By now it was already getting dark. Everyone had finished eating a while ago, but there was no reason to not start again! ¡°You were so fast! And so strong! Dad is so slow at felling trees. Can I do that too when I grow up?¡± Ben asked. ¡°If you train hard!¡± Lucy said. That was not really the truth though. Lucy¡¯s power and transformation into a kitsune came from her pact. I suppose I could make Ben a warlock too when he grew up. Or maybe we could give him power another way? He was still young. ¡°Yay! We will slaughter so many things together when I am big!¡± Ben announced. He picked up a stick and stabbed some imaginary enemies. ¡°He is sooo adorable!¡± Shani said. ¡°He certainly has a lot of energy.¡± I observed. Lily picked up a stick herself and was now fencing with Ben. Lynn was fussing over Lucy. My girlfriend tried to prove her durability by cutting herself with a magical dagger and showcasing the increased healing. I was not sure if that was a great way to convince your mother. ¡°That was a great demonstration.¡± Iris said. ¡°Your swordsmanship is impressive, my lady. I am sure it will inspire the recruits.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± It was nice to be praised by someone with a lot of combat experience. The party continued and I enjoyed some more flaming buffalo. Lily conjured small balls of fire and was juggling them. Ben loved it. We all had a good time. Eventually people started getting tired. Ben was the first to sleep and soon his parents followed. Slowly the feast was coming to an end. We did not want to crowd Alister and Lynn¡¯s home so we simply camped outside. It also provided us with more privacy. I snuggled with Lucy and fell asleep in her arms. Life was good and I was happy. Chapter 143: On the Road I awoke the next morning when Lucy got up. While I liked sleeping in, it was not that great in a tent. Thankfully my body did not need much sleep, I just enjoyed it. So I decided to get up and stretched. It was a nice morning with good weather. While I considered 8 am early, it was rather late for farmers. Alister and Lynn were already up. They offered us breakfast which we accepted. Lynn had baked some fresh bread just for us. We discussed our plans for today. I would have to talk to Emma about the village. Hopefully most people would join us. We would probably need a few more wagons. And things to pull them. I suppose I could summon low tier elementals for that. Could we build a wagon? Maybe. I was no expert on engineering but I could help with physical labour. After we finished breakfast I went to the village to talk to Emma. Lucy stayed with her parents to help them pack. As I walked towards the village from the farm I saw a lot of activity. Hopefully people were preparing to leave. It did not take long to find Emma. ¡°Morning. I see everyone is busy.¡± I said. ¡°Yes. It seems your actions convinced everyone to leave.¡± She answered. ¡°Everyone? Nice, I did not expect that.¡± ¡°Well¡­ not everyone thinks it¡¯s a good idea but they have been talked into it by relatives or friends. That you helped the abducted women made a big difference. Also that you killed the baron. Some are simply afraid of retribution.¡± Ah. So some believed that my offer was good for them, others simply saw it as the only way to survive. Maybe they would leave us along the journey and settle elsewhere in the Empire. Which was fine. ¡°Let me know how we can help. The sooner we can leave the better. Our plan is to use an old entrance to the dwarven kingdom.¡± ¡°I see. If you can get us into the dwarven kingdom that would be best. The path to Iron Rock is likely guarded and they would not let people leave during a civil war.¡± Emma paused for a bit, then she said: ¡°Your maids are already helping us prepare. But there is something else¡­¡± She hesitated. ¡°Yes?¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°So, you offered people jobs in your county. But they are losing a lot in the move. They can¡¯t bring their homes. They don¡¯t have a lot of savings. Even paying for the trip would be impossible for some.¡± Emma explained. ¡°I am not gonna charge you money for the trip! All expenses will be paid for by me. Not just food, also clothes and such. And I will find homes for them once we arrive. I am not just going to abandon them.¡± I assured her. ¡°Thank you.¡± She said, After that I walked around. I had few conversations with the villagers. Some of the women we rescued came to thank me. Our maids were busy helping and organising. Iris¡¯ military experience helped in setting up the caravan. Elandru and Thessia offered some healing to ensure people were in good health. We used the carriage we had acquired from the late baron for Lucy¡¯s family. A lot of their stuff ended up inside my necklace but they needed a ride. It was quite luxurious. It took a day to get everyone ready. The transport problem was solved by using oxen in addition to the horses. We also were able to construct two simple wagons. Thessia was very good at manipulating wood. The next day we left. Some people were rather emotional about abandoning their home. Hopefully we would be able to give them a better one. Two days later we ran into a storm. We were on a dirt road going through a forest. This led to an interesting discovery. My aura could be used to keep it at bay. We could see the lightning and hear the thunder. Our caravan was encircled by rain. But our wagons stayed dry. The clouds on top parted for us as we moved. It was an interesting sight. Even the wind calmed around us. We could see the trees sway while only experiencing a gentle breeze ourselves. ¡°Ohhh¡­¡± Ben was impressed. His head was poking out of the carriage window. ¡°It¡¯s amazing what you can do with your aura.¡± Lucy said. ¡°I wonder if I could learn that as well.¡± ¡°Maybe we can find some more information on kitsune in the Dominion.¡± I stared at her tail while I said that. ¡°You are imagining me growing more tails again.¡± She said, ¡°Or are you admiring my ass?¡± She teased. ¡°Uh¡­ both.¡± I admitted. I managed to not blush, or well maybe I did, but only slightly. We were at the front of the caravan. Minerva and Lily protected the rear. Iris was training her recruits. Currently they were forced to jog around the wagons. She was also teaching them a marching song. At first there was a lot of confusion and some fear about the storm¡¯s unusual behaviour. After I announced it was my protection they calmed down. The storm was still going strong an hour later and everyone had simply accepted it. The road was rather muddy. While we were protected from the storm the road ahead was still getting drenched. ¡°If this keeps up the wagons might get stuck.¡± I said. ¡°We can easily pull them out, but it would slow us down. Do you think we should just stop? Or ask Terath for help?¡± Lucy pondered. ¡°He is probably too busy sleepwalking.¡± I countered. I was considering using magic. But anything that would turn the muddy road more solid would be in a limited range. And we were travelling. As we were considering the problem I spotted something in the trees. ¡°Did you also see some blue lights?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes. Something is in there. Looks small.¡± She said, ¡°Unfortunately, it¡¯s hard to hear anything with the storm going on.¡± So far monsters had avoided us. Maybe they had good instincts and noticed that we were strong. Or maybe it was because we were a large group. But now we had the attention of something. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s hostile?¡± I wondered. ¡°I think we will find out.¡± She said as the blue light was getting closer. Chapter 144: Adhira What approached us was a shimmering ball of light. It slowed as it got closer. It did not feel like an attack. No, there was something within it. I walked towards it. The ball stopped and the glow faded, revealing a tiny person with butterfly wings. The creature looked feminine. Her ears were pointy, like an elf. She wore simple pants and a shirt. Her hair was long and light blue, as were her eyes. Interestingly, she had some very pointy teeth. ¡°I am the storm sprite, Adhira! You are trespassing in my domain!¡± She was clearly changing her voice with magic, trying to sound intimidating. But she was looking cute, which was not helping her cause. Intimidation was tough when you were about 20 centimetres tall. ¡°Hi, I am Amaya.¡± I said. ¡°I am Lucy.¡± My girlfriend introduced herself. ¡°Your feeble magic will not save you! Your powers will run out. Lightning shall burn your flesh as the wind tears it from your bones! For I am am am¡­ uhm.¡± She stared at me. Then she blinked and rubbed her eyes. ¡°I am so sorry!¡± She squeaked. ¡°I apologise for not recognizing you, my lady! I would never dare to attack you! Please spare me!¡± She started trembling. ¡°I think she figured out that you are an archfey.¡± Lucy observed. ¡°Probably. What do you think gave it away? My aura? My smell?¡± I wondered, while scratching my head. Lucy pointed at the sky. ¡°You are keeping a storm at bay. That might have been a clue.¡± Adhira watched us closely. She was still trembling. ¡°I am not gonna hurt you, relax.¡± I said. ¡°So, is this storm your doing?¡± Lucy asked. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Um¡­ it¡¯s mostly natural. I just encouraged it a tiny bit.¡± She admitted. ¡°Please stop. It¡¯s making our journey harder.¡± I said. ¡°Yes! Of course.¡± She nodded vigorously. ¡°It might take a bit to disperse though.¡± ¡°That is fine.¡± I said. Lily approached us. ¡°My ladies, the people are wondering why we have stopped.¡± She looked at Adhira. ¡°Is it because of her?¡± ¡°Yes. This is Adhira, a storm sprite. And this is our maid knight, Lily.¡± I introduced them to each other. ¡°Oh? Welcome little fey. You are here to pay your respects to Lady Amaya?¡± Lily inquired. ¡°You are a storm knight, you are a real storm knight!¡± She squealed. ¡°This is so cool! I ah¡­ I uh¡­¡± She seemed embarrassed to admit that she had threatened us. I was surprised that Lily had not heard her entrance. Maybe her voice did not carry that far after all. Our caravan was quite long I suppose. ¡°Who is the little lady?¡± Ben asked. His head was poking out of the carriage. ¡°Ben, stay inside! It might not be safe out there!¡± Lynn said. ¡°Big sis is out there! She can slaughter all mean things! Shani said both big sis are good at slaughter!¡± Ben protested. Adhira¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Please don¡¯t slaughter me!¡± She squeaked. ¡°We mean you no harm. Just don¡¯t attack anyone here and you will be fine.¡± I assured her. ¡°So, this is your domain?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I live in this forest! And collect donations from travellers.¡± She said, I assume that meant she robbed them. ¡°A storm sprite?¡± Josef had emerged from the wagons and joined us. ¡°Greetings, I am Josef, an alchemist.¡± ¡°What is a storm sprite?¡± Ben asked. He had somehow left the carriage and joined us. Lynn was hurrying after him. ¡°Sprites are fey. They are magical creatures attuned to an element. Despite their small size they can be rather dangerous. While physically weak, their magic is rather potent. Sprites are often capable of tier three magic. They can also fly and are small targets. That makes them able to take out entire groups of adventurers. They are often mischievous and seen as tricksters. What many fail to understand is that they can be rather bloodthirsty too.¡± ¡°Are we in danger?¡± Lynn asked. She was holding Ben so he could not get closer to Adhira. ¡°We? No. Fey society in general is rather brutal. Their morals are often quite different. But they have a hierarchy. The archfey are the unquestioned rulers. They certainly have a lot of intrigue, but a sprite would never openly challenge Lady Amaya. Especially since they are of the same element. As long as she protects us we are perfectly safe.¡± He looked at Lucy. ¡°And your daughter could easily defeat a sprite as well. Actually, considering that we have Lily, Thessia, Terath, Minerva, Iris,... Our party is unusually strong.¡± He chuckled. ¡°Mom, can I play with her? Pleeease.¡± Ben whined. ¡°You don¡¯t even know if she wants to play with you. You have to ask people first!¡± I told him. ¡°That is right, but more importantly it¡¯s about safety! Ben, you can¡¯t just approach magical creatures! A lot of them will do bad things to you!¡± Lynn explained to him. He scratched his head. ¡°But mom, they are all so nice! I know storms are scary but all the storm people are nice.¡± ¡°That is because we are your friends. But not everyone is.¡± Lily explained. ¡°You have to be careful around strangers.¡± Ben took some time to ponder that. Then he nodded. ¡°Strangers can be scary.¡± He concluded. Chapter 145: On the Road Adhira watched our exchange curiously. ¡°They are right, you know.¡± She said, ¡°Sometimes strangers want to harvest your wings for potions! Or put you into a cage. That is why you approach them in the cover of a storm. And always have a spell ready to strike them!¡± That prompted an explanation from Josef. ¡°Sprite wings are not really needed for potions. It is a sad misconception. The dust they are coated with has some uses but it can be obtained without hurting the creature. You can trade for it if you can find a willing sprite. Of course, if you are weak the sprite is likely to steal whatever you offer for trade. It¡¯s important to have a certain strength while negotiating.¡± Adhira was nodding. ¡°If they are weak they will need to pay tribute first. But I am a nice sprite! I would not take everything and allow them to bargain with the remaining things they have!¡± ¡°Mom says it¡¯s mean to take other people¡¯s things.¡± Ben said. ¡°Not if you are a magnificent sprite! People worshipping us is normal.¡± She waved his concerns away. ¡°Your mom is right, you can¡¯t just take other people''s things.¡± Ben seemed to think for a bit. ¡°But big sis took the mean baron''s carriage after slaughtering him. So if you want someone''s stuff you just slaughter them first.¡± He concluded. Lynn looked shocked. ¡°Ben! You can¡¯t say things like that!¡± ¡°You have a lot to learn young foxkin!¡± Adhira said. ¡°You see, if you slaughter them you get all their stuff. But then they are gone. It¡¯s better to just take a bit when they cross your forest. So you can keep getting stuff from the same person! You only slaughter hunters.¡± I put my hand on my face and sighed. Maybe we needed to hire an ethics teacher. Then again, what were the common ethics of this world? ¡°Anyway, what are your plans, Adhira? Now that the storm is receding we will continue our journey.¡± I asked. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Um¡­ About those maid knights¡­ Can¡­ can anyone join?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t really know you but you could become a recruit.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Sure. Lily is in charge of our maid knights and Iris currently handles the training.¡± I said. ¡°I shall introduce you to Iris and the other recruits, follow me.¡± Lily said. Adhira looked really excited as she followed the demon. Ben¡¯s ears slumped as he saw a potential playmate leave. He had been inside the carriage for a while and was likely hoping for something fun. Especially since his parents used the ride to teach him writing. ¡°It looks like she will stick around. Maybe you will have someone to play with later.¡± I told him. ¡°She has to stop teaching him bad things though. Shani is already bad enough.¡± Lynn said. ¡°But Shani is nice!¡± Ben protested. ¡°Can you summon her? Can I play with her? Pleeease!¡± I looked at Lynn. ¡°Fine.¡± She agreed. ¡°The wagons are going to move slowly because of the mud. But you are not allowed to go far! And she will be responsible for his safety!¡± I was surprised that she agreed. Shani was a terrible influence when it came to ethics. But she seemed to genuinely care. Ben did not have any playmates in the village. I was confused about that at first. But it turned out that there used to be two girls his age. The parents fled one night because they feared the baron. The other children were either too young to play, or too old to be interested. Too old meant ten, so four years older. Apparently that made them already too mature to hang out with Ben. Anyway, I summoned Shani. ¡°Your DOOOOOM has arrived!¡± She shouted as she materialised, while waving her big scythe around. Shani had started to appear in more dramatic ways during the last days. ¡°Yay!¡± Ben cheered. ¡°We met a tiny storm person!¡± He told her. ¡°She is even smaller than me and has wings!¡± ¡°She is a storm sprite called Adhira and wants to join our maid knights.¡± I added. ¡°Storm sprite huh? Cute little things. They have really sharp teeth to tear meat easily. A joy to watch. We should give her a welcoming gift. How about blood! A tiny pool of blood!¡± ¡°No.¡± I said. ¡°Booo! Well, we will think of something! Onwards Ben, to the new maid!¡± Shani announced. Both of them ran off. ¡°When you see Shani like that it¡¯s hard to imagine that she is an ancient and powerful creature.¡± I observed. ¡°Ehm, no offence but she is much more normal than you are.¡± Josef said. ¡°She is a storm elemental, which is a subtype of wind. They are known to be rather impulsive and¡­ let¡¯s just say unconstrained. They enjoy their existence and are rather carefree.¡± He paused and looked at me. ¡°Archfey¡­ they are known to be ruthless, manipulative and prideful. They take hierarchy very seriously. The casual way you interact with people? That is truly unheard of.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. I am ok with being weird.¡± I said. ¡°I am sure Lucy is not a normal kitsune either.¡± She looked at me and stuck out her tongue. ¡°See?¡± I said, pointing at her. ¡°Clearly very immature behaviour for such a refined creature.¡± I concluded. Lucy playfully punched me in the arm and we both laughed. Chapter 146: Border The storm dispersed and we continued our journey. Adhira lived alone in the forest and did not have a lot of things. She collected her few belongings and happily joined us, in hopes of becoming a maid knight. The villagers mostly accepted her presence. A storm sprite was not that worrying when you already had an archfey, a kitsune, a dryad, elementals,... We truly were an interesting group. We avoided big cities as we travelled. Despite that we encountered a few patrols. Iris was the one dealing with them. Her military history was rather helpful, combined with our intimidating presence. The civil war became more and more visible. We found a village that had been burned down. If there were any survivors they had already left. A week later our caravan neared the mountains. The wide road was a remainder of the once flourishing trade, before the Empire tried to conquer the dwarven kingdom. While the sides of the road were partly overgrown, it still worked fine for our wagons. ¡°There will be a small border outpost.¡± Iris said. ¡°The dwarves have shut their gates a long time ago. Some say they have been permanently sealed and can no longer be opened. Regardless, the Empire keeps a watch there. It¡¯s not a prestigious post and you will mostly find people with little influence. That means no big nobles and many regular people. Please do not kill them.¡± ¡°We will try talking. If that fails we add some intimidation. If combat breaks out our main goal will be to protect the villagers.¡± I responded. ¡°Hopefully they will see reason, may I accompany you?¡± She asked. ¡°Certainly! Maybe Lucy, you and I will go to the outpost. That should be enough and there will be plenty of protection for the caravan.¡± The outpost was on a small hill next to the road. It clearly had been bigger at some point. The outer walls were in disrepair. One could almost think it was abandoned. Our caravan was clearly visible but no one came to greet us, or ask any questions. ¡°Is that normal?¡± I asked Iris. ¡°No. Protocol would dictate to send a patrol if they spotted a caravan. There could be something wrong here.¡± ¡°Ok, it will take the wagons another 30 min to get there. Let¡¯s go ahead. Lily, keep the villagers safe.¡± I thought for a moment, then summoned Shani too. ¡°The cutest incarnation of wrath has arrived!¡± Somehow Shani had bunny ears made of wind this time. Which did not really scream wrath to me. ¡°Hi Shani, please protect the people. We are going to investigate this border outpost. Something seems wrong.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Sure. If you find something sliceable herd it this way!¡± That should be enough protection. Iris, Lucy and myself began running towards the outpost. The gate was wide open and we could see some movement inside. What we found was unexpected. Iris was shocked. ¡°Are they¡­ drunk?¡± Lucy asked. I sniffed. ¡°It reeks of booze and vomit.¡± The three of us were standing in the courtyard, prepared for battle. Yet there was no enemy. There was nobody guarding the entrance. Soldiers were lying around, playing cards, having drinks. ¡°Huh? Who are you guys?¡± One of them asked. ¡°You lost?¡± ¡°SOLDIER, GET ME YOUR COMMANDER!¡± Iris shouted. The man stiffened and somehow tried to straighten. It was interesting because Iris was not wearing a uniform. She wore a maid outfit we had acquired from the late baron¡¯s castle. ¡°NOW, SOLDIER!¡± Her tone had an effect. He scrambled away, almost tripping. The other people in the courtyard looked at us. ¡°BEING VISIBLY DRUNK ON DUTY IS A CLEAR VIOLATION OF IMPERIAL LAW. YOU ARE SOLDIERS, ACT LIKE IT!¡± A few of them had the decency to look ashamed. ¡°I can¡¯t believe this.¡± Iris said to us in a normal voice. ¡°And I was concerned for their safety. We should have brought Shani with us.¡± An unshaven man who looked tired emerged from the keep. His uniform had seen better days, but it was clearly that of an officer. ¡°Lieutenant, explain yourself!¡± Iris demanded. ¡°Huh? Who are you? What¡¯s with all the shouting?¡± ¡°Your garrison is a disgrace! The gate is unguarded, there is no one keeping an eye on the road, the soldiers are not ready for combat, your uniform is in an unacceptable state, considering you are not in the field¡­¡± Iris admonished him. ¡°Hey, have you seen this place? Nobody comes here. Even food only gets delivered once a month!¡± ¡°That is no excuse for failing your duties! You should be court-martialed!¡± He looked at her. ¡°You are just some rich person''s maid. In service of what?¡± He looked at us. ¡°A noble from the Dominion? You are some sort of tourist? Think it¡¯s funny shouting at a soldier? I can have you arrested.¡± ¡°This is Iris, the former vice-captain of the imperial garrison in Unitera. Now she is our loyal maid knight.¡± I pointed out. ¡°And yes, I am Countess Amaya Delphinium, this is Countess Lucy Delphinium, we are nobles from the Dominion.¡± The man blinked, then laughed. ¡°Maid knight? Former vice captain?¡± His laughter turned into a gurgling sound as Iris grabbed him by the throat. ¡°MY PATIENCE IS AT AN END! I MIGHT BE NO LONGER PART OF THE IMPERIAL MILITARY, BUT I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS! WHO IS THE SECOND IN COMMAND?¡± ¡°Hey, easy there lady. We would not want to turn this into a fight.¡± One of the soldiers said. The ones who actually had weapons nearby were now armed and looked at us, warily. Lucy snorted. ¡°Fight? I am surprised you even know the word.¡± ¡°Look, you are all scary fighters, super important people. We get it. Now let the lieutenant down.¡± The man tried again. Iris threw the lieutenant in his face. Both landed on the floor. ¡°My ladies, I will teach them some manners.¡± Iris said. Then she charged the soldiers with her glaive. She did not try to kill them, but she gave them a beating. About 15 soldiers were around. None stood a chance. One of them tried to take Lucy hostage. She grabbed his sword with her bare hand, then punched him in the face. Soon they were all lying on the ground, moaning in pain. ¡°BE GRATEFUL THAT I AM NOT ASKING SHANI TO PAY YOU A VISIT. SHE WOULD LITERALLY BATHE IN YOUR BLOOD!¡± Iris shouted. ¡°I am not sure if that threat works if you don¡¯t know Shani.¡± Lucy commented. ¡°Iris is just venting. I doubt many of them are capable of listening right now anyway.¡± I responded. ¡°I am sorry for my outbursts, my ladies.¡± Iris apologised. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I can understand your frustrations.¡± I said. We left the outpost behind and returned to our caravan. Chapter 147: Gate The villagers were happy to learn that nothing dangerous was ahead. Meanwhile, Iris drilled into her recruits how unacceptable the behaviour of the local garrison was. Shani was thrilled that she was used as a threat and disappointed that there would not be any actual slaughter. Our caravan followed the road into the mountain. We had just entered a tunnel when we reached a massive gate. It was wide enough to accommodate four wagons next to each other, and high enough that a giraffe could walk through it without hitting its head. The door was made from metal and beautifully decorated. Blue crystals illuminated the area around it. It was also closed with no visible way to open it. ¡°It¡¯s pretty impressive.¡± I said, as we were standing in front of it. ¡°Indeed. It is heavily enchanted as well. A true testament to the dwarven skill in artificing.¡± Thessia said. ¡°It is said that those gates can withstand a dragon. I am curious how you are going to get us past it.¡± ¡°Could a dragon not just go around it? You would have to blow a hole into the mountain, but that is just normal rock, right?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡­ I have never considered that.¡± Thessia admitted. ¡°I assume the dwarves would have strengthened the stone but it might still be weaker than the gate.¡± ¡°Is that our plan? Blow up the mountain?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°No. We are not here to invade. I would like to do as little damage as possible. I think we shall try knocking first.¡± I hoped that the dwarves had people on the other side. Simply to ensure nobody forced their way through. And as an elven noble I might be able to negotiate. I also had devour magic, which, so far, had worked just fine against magical defences. I was confident that we could go through with force, if needed. I approached the gate, then I punched it. Even my high strength failed to make a dent. But that was not the goal anyway. It did create a noise like a gong and should get the attention of anyone on the other side. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°HELLO?¡± I called, after the noise faded. ¡°WE ARE NOT PART OF THE EMPIRE AND WOULD LIKE TO NEGOTIATE ENTRY INTO THE DWARVEN KINGDOM.¡± I used my aura to enhance my voice, hoping it would penetrate the gate. ¡°WHAT? THAT AIN¡¯T HOW THIS WORKS!¡± I heard a faint voice shouting back. Soon afterwards a rune on the door flared to life. ¡°Ha, the old speaker system is still working! So, what are you doing here? This road is closed.¡± A gruff voice said. ¡°Greetings sir or madam. I am Countess Amaya Delphinium of the Dominion. I am escorting refugees from the Empire. We even have a high priestess of Sylphania with us. She was in charge of the temple in Unitera, but had to flee when the civil war broke out.¡± ¡°I am no sir, I am Ruvan. And you ain¡¯t going through this gate missy. A nice tale you got there but this road is closed by the order of the king.¡± ¡°Look, the only official way would be through Iron Rock. But that is a long detour from here and would lead to a fight. There is no way that the Empire lets us board a boat to cross the lake. We have a lot of civilians who could get hurt in a conflict. I am willing to go before your king and explain the situation personally. I will take the blame if he is truly dissatisfied.¡± I was confident that my connections with Loriel would allow me to negotiate with the king. ¡°Lady, I can talk with ya but I can¡¯t see a thing. That was a mighty knock you had there. One could even think it was a battering ram. All I got are your pretty words. But the whole thing is pointless anyway. I got no key for those runes. This gate is staying closed.¡± ¡°I can take care of the magic. I am not sure how easy it would be to reactivate it afterwards though¡­¡± At least I had a lot of money. Quite a bit in a dwarven bank too. So I should be able to pay for any repairs. ¡°HAHAHAHA. You go ahead missy. Take care of the magic.¡± He might regret those words, but technically he did give his consent. So I cast devour magic. Runes flared to life everywhere as black smoke coated the door. Slowly they were devoured. The spell was chewing its way through the magical protections. ¡°WHAT ARE YE DOING? STOP! ALARM!¡± I heard a panicked shout from the other side. But it was too late anyway. The magic was unleashed. ¡°Your power is truly frightening.¡± Thessia said. I saw her shudder as she watched the magic being consumed. ¡°Her magic is awesome! I really like it when she goes full archfey.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Should I transform? Howl a little bit?¡± She asked. ¡°Uhm, we are not really here to cause trouble. I don¡¯t want to hurt the dwarves. They are our allies and just doing their job.¡± ¡°No slaughter?¡± Shani¡¯s bunny ears dropped. Yes, she still had those. ¡°Maybe we can find you some monsters. I don¡¯t actually know much about the dwarven kingdom. Are there any dangerous creatures underground?¡± While I was pondering potential targets for Shani¡¯s bloodlust the spell finished its job. The last of the runes lost its glow and became inert. The gate was no longer sealed. With magic, at least. Chapter 148: Dwarves The communication system was no longer working, since it had used the runes on the door. That meant we could no longer hear the dwarves clearly. But hopefully we would meet them in person soon. I pushed the gate¡­ It was still locked. In the game I had used my lockpicking skill to open doors and chests. But this gate had no keyhole. There was a fourth tier spell though, that opened mechanical locks. Would that work on a drawbar? Assuming they had one. Let¡¯s see. I cast the unlock spell. It was followed by a rumbling sound of something moving. Gears maybe? Once the noise was finished I pushed.. And it opened! ¡°BREACH! PREPARE FOR BATTLE!!¡± I heard someone shout. Before us were four dwarfs. They had round shields, chainmail and either an axe or a hammer. Considering the massive tunnel we were in, they could easily be surrounded. They looked grim but determined. ¡°Hi. We come in peace.¡± I said and waved. I also smiled. ¡°Wait, ye¡¯re actually an elf?¡± Ruvan said. ¡°Looks can be deceiving. That magic was not something I have ever seen!¡± A dwarven woman cautioned. Lily stepped forward. ¡°May I introduce Lady Amaya Delphinium. Countess of the Dominion, Ruler of Storms, Lady of the Fey.¡± Then she pointed at Lucy. ¡°And her lover, Lady Lucy Delphinium, Countess of the Dominion, Kitsune of Storms.¡± I scratched my head. Sure, we were nobles. But the storm titles were totally made up. Right? ¡°They are accompanied by Thessia, a priestess of Sylphania, their noble maid knights and Shani. Elemental Lord of Storms and the Incarnation of Wrath.¡± That title was just made up recently! Shani fully embraced it though and tried to look menacing with her scythe. Small lighting bolts appeared between her bunny ears. ¡°My ladies are escorting refugees from the Empire to their home.¡± Lily finished. The dwarfs just looked confused. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I am just a friendly archfey passing through. Sorry about your door. I can pay for repairs.¡± I offered. ¡°An archfey? And what is a kitsune?¡± One of them asked. ¡°I heard they have those in the Dominion.¡± Another said. ¡°Ain¡¯t that door dragon proof? Are archfey that strong?¡± Ruvan asked. ¡°Mind your manners you oafs! We haven¡¯t even introduced ourselves!¡± The woman admonished them. ¡°I am Frida. Ruvan is the idiot who you were talking to. Then we have Aric and Erik.¡± She pointed at each of them. ¡°Who ya callin an idiot?¡± Ruvan complained. ¡°How was I supposed to know it wasn¡¯t a prank! Who expects an archfey wandering around?!?¡± ¡°Ah yes, we are an unusual group.¡± I admitted. ¡°Regardless, we need to travel through the Dwarven Kingdom. As you can see, Thessia is a dryad. We have about two weeks left before we need to replant her tree. There is simply no time for a longer route. But I am certainly willing to talk to an official about our unusual entry. I also have an account with the dwarven bank. I can authorise you to collect the funds needed for repairs to your door.¡± ¡°Well¡­ that sounds good but we can¡¯t just take your word for it. Having a priestess with you gives you a lot of credibility but it is our job to¡­ you know, stop people from entering.¡± Frida said. ¡°What if one of you escorts us back to your nearest garrison? Or to whoever is closest with the authority to grant us entry.¡± I proposed. ¡°Technically you would have to wait here with your caravan but I suppose we could make an exception¡­¡± Frida said. ¡°Not like we can stop ya anyway.¡± Ruvan muttered. ¡°I am sorry for your troubles. Maybe I can offer a barrel of ale as an apology?¡± I suggested. ¡°Are ye trying to bribe us? Cause I am ok with that.¡± Ruvan said. Frida hit him on the head. ¡°We are not accepting bribes! We are not saying no to ale though. The Dominion are our valuable allies after all! And I will personally escort you to the next fortress.¡± ¡°You just want more of their booze!¡± Ruvan protested. ¡°Those ladies need a proper escort! I will do it.¡± She said, I suppose she was in charge since Ruvan relented. The other two dwarves just watched the exchange in silence. I gave them a barrel as promised. They wasted no time sampling the goods. Our caravan moved into the tunnel and I closed the gate behind us. Soon we were on our way again. I offered Frida some whisky I still had from the game. She seemed to enjoy it. I told her a bit about the civil war in the Empire. I did not mention the mind control runes though. That was a topic for someone higher up. ¡°Nasty business.¡± She said, shaking her head. ¡°I am not surprised though. That Empire is rotten. It was only a matter of time before it imploded. I wonder if the king will open the old gates to accept more refugees.¡± ¡°Has that ever happened?¡± Lucy asked. The three of us walked in front of the caravan. ¡°Nope. Since they were sealed not a single one was reopened. If someone tries to enter it¡¯s usually a prank. We are just here guarding against a breach. Well¡­ nobody expects us to win against something that can force their way through. We are just here to sound the alarm.¡± ¡°Uhm, does that mean you activated an alarm?¡± I asked. ¡°Eh¡­ yes. They probably won¡¯t take it seriously. Nobody actually expects anything to breach those gates.¡± She said and took another swig of whisky. ¡°Can¡¯t you inform them that everything is ok?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°No. It¡¯s a one way system. Anything coming through that door is considered powerful enough to compromise the defenders.¡± She said, shrugging. ¡°And you don¡¯t consider this a problem?¡± I asked. ¡°Nah. Don¡¯t worry. We will get that sorted.¡± She reassured us. Chapter 149: Fortress The tunnel we walked through was perfectly carved. I highly suspected that magic was involved in its creation. The ceiling and walls had magical lights to keep it illuminated. They certainly made sure that even humans, who had trouble seeing in the dark, would be fine. The dwarves had an entire network of roads and cities under the mountains. But we did not see an intersection yet. ¡°There are further defences ahead, right?¡± I asked. ¡°Why do you think that?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°This used to be a major trade route. Surely the road will split and lead to different cities. Keeping it straight this long feels like they created a deliberate choke point. It gives them time to muster troops and organise a defence, if the gate is breached.¡± ¡°Well, there is a fortress ahead. That is where I am taking you.¡± Frida said. ¡°And they heard the alarm¡­¡± I said. ¡°Eh. You worry too much!¡± She took another sip of the whisky. ¡°It will all be fine.¡± We kept walking until we saw the fortress. And it certainly deserved that name. The tunnel opened into a big dome. Inside was a castle with thick walls, towers and heavy defences. I could see ballistae pointing our way. The fortress sat in the middle of the dome, with the road leading around it. While it would not outright block an army, it would force them to march right beneath the walls. ¡°There seem to be a lot of people on the wall.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Yes. And those ballistae are manned.¡± I added. ¡°Huh?¡± Frida scratched her head. ¡°They took that alarm seriously? Why would they do that?¡± ¡°Because that is what an alarm is for.¡± I pointed out. ¡°Eh.¡± Frida shrugged and took another sip. ¡°What are the odds that something powerful really breaks through that door?¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°That is exactly what happened!¡± I said. ¡°I suppose. But it¡¯s not like you are evil.¡± ¡°I think the dwarves did not station their best at this gate.¡± Lucy whispered into my ear. I had to agree. It was a lost cause. ¡°Do you think they will attack if we get closer? Or talk first?¡± I asked Lucy. ¡°Surely they will talk, right? But we should keep the wagons back, to be safe.¡± ¡°Ok, Frida, Lucy, Lily and myself will approach them.¡± ¡°And me! Please pick me!¡± Shani hopped around. Well, did it count as hopping, since she was kind of floating? Also¡­ ¡°Why do you have those bunny ears?¡± I asked. ¡°They are cute! Ben likes them.¡± ¡°But¡­ you have elven ears too. I mean, it¡¯s not like you need ears as an elemental, I suppose. It just¡­ looks weird.¡± ¡°Weird is good!¡± Shani said, nodding. ¡°They would be even better made of blood! Maybe we can get some?¡± ¡°We should take Shani with us.¡± Lucy said with a mischievous smile. Shani¡¯s eyes grew comically large and she gave me her best puppy look. I sighed. ¡°Sure, sure. But we do not attack or hurt them. They are our allies, remember.¡± The wagons stopped and we approached the fortress. The ballista seemed to track our movements. ¡°Hello! We are friendly!¡± I called out to them while waving. ¡°Friendly, eh?¡± We heard a dwarf reply from the wall. ¡°So those wagons back there are not carrying soldiers? And our gate¡­ it just happened to open for you?¡± ¡°Captain Ironbeard, those folks are alright!¡± Frida replied, waving the whisky in her hand around. ¡°Really? So they did not break through our gate?¡± ¡°Oh, sure they did that. Weird magic, rather creepy. But they are just passing through. Nice folks.¡± There was a moment of silence as the captain digested her words. I wondered if he was trying to control his emotions. ¡°YOU ARE BLOODY USELESS FRIDA!¡± He shouted. ¡°Oy! That is uncalled for!¡± She responded. ¡°So, mysterious stranger. What do you have to say to this?¡± Lily stepped forward. ¡°May I present the Ladies Amaya and Lucy Delphinium and their loyal companion Shani!¡± Before she could follow up with a bunch of titles I said: ¡°We are nobles from the Dominion and escorting refugees from the Empire. Sadly, I had to disable the magic on your gate but I am willing to pay for repairs. We have Thessia with us, the high priestess of Sylphania who used to run the temple in Unitera. She is a dryad and we need to replant her tree.¡± Maybe we should have taken her with us to talk with the garrison. She was a great excuse for our hurry. Then again, it¡¯s not like she was far away. ¡°Amaya you say? One moment.¡± There was some discussion on the wall. We waited patiently. Well¡­ Shani was humming and twirling her scythe. We saw a dwarf looking down at us from the wall. He was studying us while holding some piece of parchment with one hand. The other was stroking his beard. The dwarf was male, had grey hair and wore a full plate armour with an open-faced helmet. ¡°Hm. Archfey looking like a night elf. A foxkin with slit pupils and lightning bolt on her forehead. Crazy elemental with a large scythe. Combat maid. No mention of a dryad or a bunch of refugees.¡± ¡°They are a recent addition.¡± I added. ¡°It also says here you are a countess. And we recently formalised our alliance with the Dominion. Still, I will have to contact the palace. Could you wait here while I use the messenger stone?¡± ¡°Sure, no problem.¡± Chapter 150: Court Elemental I had no idea how long it would take the dwarves to contact their superiors. Should I grab some snacks from my storage? ¡°Well, I am off.¡± Frida said and turned back the way we came from. ¡°Wait, shouldn''t you report to your superior?¡± I asked. ¡°Nah. He is just gonna yell a lot. Thanks for the whisky, stop by when you are in the area!¡± She said, waved goodbye and left. ¡°Not our problem.¡± Lucy commented while watching her go. ¡°True.¡± I agreed. ¡°No worries my ladies, Iris will make sure that all your soldiers are going to be better than that. Any such behaviour will not be tolerated. Troublemakers will be fed to Shani.¡± Lily assured us. ¡°Hey, I don¡¯t eat people!¡± Shani protested. ¡°But I would happily slaughter the unworthy!¡± ¡°Killing our own soldiers is a big no. There are more appropriate punishments.¡± I told them. ¡°Like donating blood.¡± Shani said with a grin. ¡°While Shani is a great deterrent for bad behaviour, keep in mind she is not always around. Most recruits will hardly ever interact with her.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Could you summon her on a more permanent basis?¡± Lily asked. I scratched my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. She would need an anchor to stay in this plane, without a spell keeping her here. Also, would Shani even want to stay here?¡± ¡°I am pretty busy doing lording stuff back home! But I could spend a few hundred years here I suppose¡­¡± Shani looked rather excited. ¡°You do need a court elemental after all.¡± Was that a real title? I had a feeling people just really liked to make up titles. ¡°My ladies should build a proper court, yes. Lilith has many powerful beings in her service. Guards, servants, generals, diplomats, spies, assassins,...¡± ¡°I like the idea, let¡¯s make her our court elemental.¡± Lucy proposed. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°We still need to find a way to anchor her.¡± I reminded them. Then I pulled some cookies from my storage. This seemed to take long enough to warrant some food. I offered them to Lucy and Lily as well. ¡°What about the bond? Can she be included?¡± Lucy asked while grabbing a cookie. ¡°Hm. She did open a connection to the plane of wind inside Lily during the maid knight ceremony. Maybe we can attach her to that somehow? I am just not sure how.¡± Shani¡¯s mouth formed a disturbingly large grin. ¡°Blood! The answer is blood!¡± ¡°Really?¡± I asked, raising an eyebrow. ¡°You need to feed me the blood of a powerful magical creature from this plane!¡± ¡°Like, myself? Or Lucy?¡± ¡°No, you are from the realm of the fey! Lucy could work.¡± I munched on a cookie while thinking. Was I really from the realm of the fey? I was born¡­ created in this dimension. I was certainly not a normal archfey, I sort of evolved into one. ¡°I suspect I count as a being of this dimension. But we could use mine and Lucy¡¯s blood. We are sharing a bond and she is my warlock. You know, what if I cast the summoning spell as a ritual? And we use our blood as a component.¡± It was somewhat improvised but I had a good feeling about the idea. The magical knowledge in my head found no fault with my theory. Shani watched eagerly as I began to draw runes on the stone floor with a piece of chalk. Lucy and Lily watched while munching on cookies. ¡°Uhm. Excuse me ladies, but what are you doing?¡± I heard someone from the wall ask. ¡°Oh. We are just conducting a ceremony to appoint a court elemental.¡± I answered. ¡°I have no idea what that means.¡± He answered. ¡°It¡¯s nothing dangerous. We are just using the time while we wait for your captain to return.¡± He had left to use his messenger stone. I had no idea how long that would take. ¡°Ma¡¯am, if you summon something that threatens the fortress we will use the beast slaying ballistae.¡± ¡°I have already summoned something dangerous, we are trying to keep her here.¡± I pointed at Shani. The elemental waved. ¡°I see. Hm. I suppose she was on the list.¡± He pondered the situation. ¡°Ok, carry on. But you will be held responsible for any damage you cause to this area.¡± ¡°Fair enough.¡± I continued drawing the runes. ¡°Is this a game?¡± Ben asked. I looked up. Ben was here, with his parents. ¡°Why are you not back at the wagons?¡± ¡°Frida said it was all sorted and she would return to the gate. Ben wanted to see the fortress.¡± Lynn explained. ¡°We are conducting a ritual to allow Shani to stay with us, without me spending a lot of spell slots. It should be harmless but please stand back.¡± I said. ¡°Yay, more Shani!¡± Ben cheered. ¡°Big sis has cookies, can I have a cookie?¡± He asked while running towards Lucy. I continued drawing the runes. Once finished, I collected some blood from Lucy and myself. Shani was in the centre of the circle with the blood, which she consumed. I activated the ritual. A tiny storm cloud formed above and rained on us. Lightning arced between myself, Lucy and Shani. Soon, it was over. I was pleasantly surprised to see drains at the side of the road. The dwarves were prepared for any water magic. ¡°Foolish mortals! You have given me access to this plane. Feel my true power! Muahahah.¡± Shani was laughing. ¡°Does Amaya count as a mortal? Aren''t archfey technically immortal? Sure, they can be killed, but I don¡¯t think they die naturally. Wait, if I am a kitsune, am I mortal?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°If the dwarves hit you with their ballistae it''s your fault, Shani.¡± I told her. ¡°Why is Shani speaking in a scary voice?¡± Ben asked. ¡°It¡¯s her way of telling us the ritual worked.¡± I explained. ¡°Indeed! I am now the official court elemental!¡± Shani said proudly. Chapter 151: Undermountain ¡°What is a court elemental?¡± Ben asked. It was a great question. And one I had no answer to. ¡°It is a very important and prestigious job! It will involve a lot of blood and slaughter. It also allows me to bully other elementals in Amaya¡¯s name. Hehehe.¡± What? ¡°Ohhh.¡± Ben was clearly impressed. ¡°Anyway, Shani will now be around more often.¡± I said. She could actually still return to her home plane if she wanted to. What we created was a way for her to stay indefinitely, after being summoned. It also meant she no longer had to obey any commands. Although, I could banish her in the worst case, I suppose. ¡°My ladies'' court and fame grows!¡± Lily said with a smile. At this point, the gate opened and the commander returned. ¡°Welcome to the dwarven kingdom!¡± Leif said. ¡°I have contacted my superiors and they have granted you all entry. King Dalroc would like to meet you personally and has invited you to the capital. Queen Solana and Queen Loriel are there as well.¡± Interesting. Solana was the sun queen and negotiated the alliance between the Dwarven Kingdom and the Dominion. With Loriel there as well they might be discussing the threat of the Empire and the mind control. ¡°Sure. But we only have two weeks to replant Thessia¡¯s tree.¡± ¡°I am sure the king can find a place for the tree, if needed.¡± Leif said. I suppose she could temporarily plant her tree there. Or permanently even, if she wanted to. ¡°How far away is the capital?¡± I asked. ¡°With your caravan? About five days until you reach Mountainheart.¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°I am looking forward to a proper city.¡± Lucy said. ¡°With real showers and baths.¡± ¡°We do have great baths! Our water has special minerals that are amazing for the skin.¡± Leif boasted. ¡°Sounds great! Now, how do we get there?¡± ¡°Just follow the signs, they will lead you to Mountainheart. Also, the big roads are patrolled and should be safe. There are larger caverns in regular intervals where you can rest for the night. They will have access to water. We do have drains along the roads so you can use water magic safely. Our kingdom is a mixture of natural caverns, connected by tunnels we created. A number of creatures live down here. Quite a few of them are dangerous.¡± He paused and looked at us. Then he chuckled. ¡°Maybe not dangerous to you.¡± ¡°Things to slaughter? Yay!¡± Shani cheered. The whole area sounded like the underdark I knew from games. There might be a whole ecosystem down here. Would there be light? I could see in the dark but not everyone had that ability. The dwarves placed lights on their roads but I wondered how the natural parts looked. Also¡­ ¡°Are there any creatures down here that taste good? Anything we should keep an eye out for?¡± I asked. The question caught Leif off guard. ¡°Uh¡­ Hm. Lot¡¯s of poisonous things down here. You might be ok eating that but don¡¯t feed it to those refugees. The undermountain is a relatively hostile place for those not used to it.¡± That sounded like it could be fun. ¡°I shall happily cook anything you slay.¡± Lily offered. ¡°Can you slay some cookies?¡± Ben asked. ¡°Ben, you know cookies are made from flour, eggs, sugar... We have made cookies before.¡± Lynn said. Ben seemed to consider that statement. ¡°Flour! That is from the wheat we grow! We need to slay plants!¡± Were there any plant monsters you could turn into flour? Actually, would it be possible to make cookies from a monster? He raised some interesting questions. ¡°We call that harvesting, not slaying.¡± Alister explained. ¡°Why didn''t we have cookies more often? We grew flour.¡± Ben asked. ¡°Sugar is rather expensive and you need that too.¡± Lynn said. ¡°Can you slay sugar?¡± He asked. Alister chuckled. ¡°No son, that is grown too. But we did not have the right weather for that.¡± Suddenly Ben¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Big sis can control weather! She can grow sugar!¡± ¡°We can also buy sugar,¡± Lucy said. ¡°Money is no longer a problem.¡± ¡°We can buy all the sugar! We can have sooo many cookies!¡± Ben celebrated. ¡°No. Too much sugar is bad for you.¡± Lynn said. ¡°Yes, you need to eat them responsibly.¡± I added. ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t be like Amaya, who constantly stuffs her face with food.¡± Lucy teased. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you are an archfey.¡± I replied smugly. ¡°Ehrm.¡± Leif drew our attention. ¡°I wish you a good journey. I must go back to my job and organise a bigger guard for the gate until the runes are fixed. Have a nice day.¡± After Leif left we went back to the wagons. We informed the people that all was fine and we would be travelling to Mountainheart. Thessia was ok with the possibility of having her tree in the dwarven capital for a while. ¡°Once it¡¯s replanted it has to stay for at least a month until I can move it again.¡± She warned us. ¡°But you would not need to wait. I can make my own arrangements and follow you.¡± ¡°Can your tree grow without sunlight?¡± I asked. ¡°The artificial light the dwarves create is enough. And mages can provide the rain. I would not want to live here forever but it''s not going to hurt me.¡± That meant we did not need to hurry. Maybe we could even explore a bit on the way. Chapter 152: Exploring Our caravan passed the fortress and followed the lovely signs towards Mountainheart. Being underground felt odd, but not uncomfortable. Interestingly, night elves lived on the surface in this world. Unlike the game, where they dwelled in the deep. Then again, I was an archfey now anyway. The villagers seemed surprisingly undisturbed by the absence of sunlight. Perhaps it was due to the dwarven lights, which were pretty good. And the tunnels were rather large. After a while we came to a natural cavern. It was breathtaking and not something that existed in my old world. I could see different kinds of plants and mushrooms. Some glowed in a soft blue light. There was even a bit of a breeze. If I concentrated, I could hear a stream somewhere below us. The road was on the left side of the cavern. It was about three quarters to the top of the open area we were in. I could see stone paths, like massive branches, connecting the different plateaus. A bit further ahead was a nice area next to the road. It was at the edge of the cavern and the ground was covered with dirt. It seemed like a good place to camp. ¡°It¡¯s still a bit early but I think we should stop there.¡± I said. ¡°You just want to explore this cavern.¡± Lucy accused me. ¡°Which I approve of, I want that too.¡± She added with a smile. ¡°It''s a good thing that we are in charge.¡± I answered. ¡°Lily, take care of the caravan. We are going to ensure the surrounding area is safe.¡± ¡°Yes, my lady.¡± I tried and failed to hide my eagerness as I approached the edge of the road and stared at the area below. This was so cool, exploring the undermountain! We could take the winding paths, or we could just fly. ¡°Shall we take the long path, or the short one?¡± I asked Lucy. ¡°The short one!¡± We both used the fly spell. Then we jumped. This cavern must have been at least 200 metres high. On the bottom was a small lake, well¡­ more like a pond, fed by a waterfall. The water emerged about 10 metres above the surface from a hole in the rock. A small stream left the pond and led into a dark tunnel. The area was surrounded by a sort of blue-purplish grass. It was good that both of us could see in the dark. Only a few glowing mushrooms provided a bit of light. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°This looks nice.¡± I said. ¡°So, you have lured me towards an isolated pond. What are you going to do now?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Seduce you, obviously.¡± I answered. ¡°Mhm. And how are you going to do that?¡± I stored my clothes in my amulet. Then I walked into the water, naked. The pond was not that deep. The water was only shoulder height. Slightly cold, but I did not mind. The water was very clear, you could see the bottom easily. It was stone, but surprisingly smooth. Lucy watched me from the shore. I turned around and unveiled my secret weapon. ¡°Join me, I have cookies!¡± I announced, while holding a cookie. Lucy laughed. She did join me afterwards though. Some time later we were both lying in the grass, cuddling. It was nice and peaceful. Until we saw a flash of lightning, followed by thunder. It was above us somewhere. Immediately we got up and equipped our gear. ¡°Do you think the caravan is in trouble?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°We have a lot of strong people there. And the fighting is coming from somewhere else. I can hear combat. Hm, no screaming though. Wait¡­ is that laughter?¡± I wondered. We used our flight magic to find the source. It was on a higher level, about half way towards the camp. The battle happened at the edge of the cavern, where a tunnel led deeper into the mountain. ¡°AHAHAHAH. BLEED FOR ME! BLEED FOR THE COURT!¡± Shani was slaughtering worms. They were about six metres long and maybe half a metre wide. Their head was just a hole with teeth. She used lightning to stun them, then chopped their heads off. Afterwards she used magic to gather the blood from their bodies into a hovering sphere. ¡°What is she doing?¡± Lucy asked. I shrugged. ¡°Shani, what is going on?¡± I shouted. ¡°Oh, hi! I am exterminating potential threats to the camp.¡± She replied, cheerfully. ¡°And the blood?¡± I pointed at the sphere. ¡°It¡¯s for my bath!¡± ¡°Ok¡­ carry on.¡± I said. ¡°We should have stayed at the pond.¡± Lucy concluded. ¡°She does seem to have things under control.¡± The worms did not make much noise. They were likely incapable of verbal communication. They also stood no chance against the elemental. Shani switched from laughing maniacally to humming a cheerful tune. ¡°Why is a storm elemental so obsessed with blood?¡± Lucy asked, as we flew away from the slaughter. ¡°No idea.¡± I answered. ¡°You could ask her.¡± ¡°I have actually, her answer was: it¡¯s awesome!¡± Lucy stated. ¡°See, a perfectly reasonable explanation.¡± Lucy hit me in the shoulder. ¡°Ok, so I am no expert on elementals.¡± I admitted. ¡°I know that storm is a subtype of wind. And Shani is from the plane of wind. Sometimes wind is also called air. I don¡¯t know much about the place. It could be that not much lives there, except elementals. So blood could be something rather new for her. It also contains water, something she has limited control over, as a storm elemental. Or maybe there is no logic here, it''s just something she likes.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s do some more exploring!¡± Chapter 153: A bit of Fun We found no other animals, or monsters. Well, except for smaller things, like insects. It appeared that Shani¡¯s fight caused everything else to flee. But the plants were interesting. We stood before a fist sized mushroom that emitted a soft blue light. ¡°Do you think they are edible?¡± I asked Lucy. ¡°I have no idea. Maybe Thessia knows?¡± She replied. ¡°Good idea. Let¡¯s bring some.¡± I was always looking for new tasty things. We limited our exploration to the cavern we were in. A lot of tunnels led deeper into the mountain, but we were escorting the caravan. Maybe we would explore further in the future. We ended up near the small pond again. I saw what looked like a root stick from the ground, with a purple fruit on it. It was shaped like a mango. ¡°That looks potentially edible, let¡¯s take that too.¡± I said. ¡°Never seen anything like it.¡± Lucy said. We did not find anything else and returned to the camp. People had erected tents, made fires and were currently cooking. Ben seemed to be arguing with his parents. ¡°Mom, why can¡¯t I explore?¡± ¡°The undermountain is dangerous! We don¡¯t know what lives here. Shani just returned with a huge amount of blood. Who knows what she fought!¡± ¡°But big sis is down there! She can kill all scary things!¡± ¡°If your sister, or Shani, agrees to watch you, you can go.¡± Alister said. ¡°But Shani said she is going to bathe and big sis is not here.¡± Ben complained, then he saw us approaching. He started to run towards us. ¡°Big sis! Can we explore? Please!¡± He begged. Ben certainly was very good at making a sad puppy face. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. I looked at Lucy. ¡°Your choice. We can accompany him together, if you want.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ Sure. But where do we go?¡± She responded. ¡°Yay!¡± Ben cheered. ¡°Back to the pond I guess, it was the most interesting thing. Would you like to play in a pond? Wait, can you swim?¡± I asked. ¡°No. Is swimming fun?¡± He asked. ¡°Yes, swimming can be a lot of fun!¡± And the pond would be ideal. No waves, or current, to worry about. And it was deep enough for a child to swim. ¡°Let¡¯s go swimming!¡± He announced while jumping. Alister and Lynn smiled at us. ¡°Have fun and don¡¯t spoil him too much.¡± Lynn said. Ben pouted. ¡°I have some cookies, don¡¯t tell your mom.¡± I whispered into his ear. He immediately perked up. ¡°I will give you a ride!¡± Lucy offered and transformed into a fox. I lifted Ben on top of her and off we went. ¡°Weeeeeee¡± Ben was having fun as we raced down to the pond. ¡°Woah.¡± He said as we arrived. I helped him dismount. He examined the grass. ¡°Look, it¡¯s the wrong colour!¡± He declared. Then he poked it. ¡°It does feel like grass. Why is the colour wrong?¡± ¡°No idea. That''s just how the undermountain is.¡± ¡°Hm¡­¡± He seemed to think about that. ¡°I like it.¡± He concluded. After an initial round of exploring, and poking things, I started to teach him. Of course, a short lesson would not be enough to learn how to swim. But it was a start. Lucy lounged in the pond as a fox while I handled Ben. We stopped after half an hour and I rewarded him with a cookie. He sat in the grass and happily munched on it. Meanwhile, I retrieved the purple mango looking thing I had looted earlier from my storage. ¡°Are you just going to eat that?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Well, I am really resistant to poison, my body heals incredibly fast, I doubt any random fruit can really harm me. The question is more, will it taste horrible?¡± ¡°If you eat random things and then puke I will tease you about it.¡± Lucy warned. I looked at the smirking fox. ¡°I will take that risk.¡± I bit into the thing that was probably a fruit. While it looked like a purple mango, the inside had the consistency of a honeydew melon. It was rather juicy and the taste was really sweet with some sourness. It reminded me of candy. ¡°That is actually good.¡± I said. Lucy looked intrigued. Some of the juice from the fruit dropped to the ground. I heard a sizzling sound. The liquid seemed to melt the grass. I looked back at Lucy and shrugged. ¡°Still tastes good.¡± I broke a piece from the fruit and offered it to her. She sniffed it, then ate it in one bite. ¡°Hm. Interesting flavour. Never had anything like that. But it is nice, I agree.¡± She concluded. ¡°Can I have something too?¡± Ben asked. I looked at the grass. ¡°No, sorry. That would hurt you. You have to grow a lot stronger for that. But I can offer you another cookie.¡± The bribe worked and he was satisfied. We ate the remaining fruit and then washed ourselves at the pond. It would be bad to accidentally get any juice on Ben. Afterwards we decided to return. It was getting late. Lucy carried Ben in her fox shape again. He was asleep when we arrived at the camp. Chapter 154: Arrival After we put Ben to bed I approached Thessia. ¡°Hey, could you tell me if certain plants are edible?¡± I asked. ¡°You do realise that I am a plant?¡± Thessia responded, smiling. ¡°Yes. But I have no intention of eating dryads. Also, are you a pure plant? Or more like a half plant? I have never really considered that. What is your body made of?¡± ¡°It is made of plant material. There is no flesh or blood involved. Dryads are sentient plants and we are not the only ones. There are alraunes, for example.¡± Hm. I did know that from a game. ¡°They are sort of flower ladies, right? A big blossom that can walk with a humanoid body inside the petals.¡± ¡°Yes. They often lure people towards them with their body, and then they eat them.¡± ¡°Interesting. They could be useful guards. Anyway, I am here about other things, like this mushroom.¡± I pulled the glowing thing out of my storage. ¡°An azure shroom. They are rather bitter and not very nutritious. They lead to dehydration but only kill the old and weak.¡± I eyed the thing. I did not mind bitterness in general. But Thessia¡¯s description did not sound very enticing. ¡°I see. We also found a purple fruit whose juice dissolved the grass.¡± ¡°They are called night melons. Most people die a horrible death when they eat them.¡± ¡°Shame. They do taste like sour candy.¡± ¡°I heard the dwarves have some way of processing them. You could inquire in the capital.¡± ¡°Ok, thanks!¡± Having satisfied my curiosity I returned to Lucy. Lily prepared a nice dinner. Afterwards we relaxed at the campfire until it was time for bed. The next day we continued our journey. The road remained monster free and switched between tunnels and caverns. While I remained with the wagons, Shani made numerous trips exploring nearby tunnels. She was a lot faster than the wagons, meaning she could catch up easily. She also laughed a lot. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. It was late afternoon and Shani had just charged into a tunnel. We could still hear her cackling. ¡°Hehehe.¡± ¡°Is it me, or is Shani¡¯s colour changing?¡± I asked Lucy. ¡°Hm. I do think there is some red in her bunny ears. I suspect it is a design choice?¡± Her usual body was light green or turquoise. Her skin looked like wind with clouds moving along her body. Red was certainly a new addition. If it came from our bond I would have expected it to be purple. ¡°I suppose we could ask her. She does seem rather happy with her new job though. She is constantly removing threats, or playing with Ben.¡± I said. ¡°Well, they are not really threats. Nothing comes close to the caravan. She just likes killing new things.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Everyone needs a hobby.¡± I said, shrugging. Our journey continued rather uneventfully. Shani¡¯s ears became more red but the colour change remained local. She seemed pleased with it. I collected some more night melons but failed to find anything else tasty. It was around lunch time on the fifth day when we reached Mountainheart. Traffic increased steadily as we got closer. Merchants with carts or simply travellers became more common. When we left the final tunnel the dwarven capital came into sight. It was breathtaking. The cavern we were in was enormous. And in the middle was a city, a large city. Underground. There was a river going through it, with a dock. The ceiling had a massive crystal that served as a miniature sun. ¡°Do they simulate a day and night cycle in here?¡± I wondered. ¡°They do.¡± Lily answered. ¡°The Dwarven Kingdom is impressive and a testament to their crafting skill. They made the undermountain not just liveable but in many ways rather luxurious.¡± ¡°Have you ever been here?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, about a hundred years ago. I suspect quite a bit has changed since then.¡± The entrance to the city had two lanes. One for travellers with carriages or wagons, the other one was for people on foot, or with only a mount. We had to wait for about 20 minutes until it was our turn. The dwarven guard looked at us curiously. ¡°That is quite the caravan you have got there. What is your purpose for visiting Mountainheart?¡± ¡°We have been invited to visit the King. I am Amaya Delphinium. Most people in this caravan are refugees and they will settle in the Dominion.¡± ¡°I see.¡± The dwarf opened a pouch he carried and retrieved a notebook. He flipped through it. Then he looked at me and my companions. ¡°Amaya and Lucy Delphinium with an entourage. You are expected. Please follow the road towards the palace.¡± The building was big and rather easy to find. The largest road led towards it. The palace was surrounded by a metal fence. The architectural style of the dwarfs reminded me of the romans. It was not a perfect fit but they certainly liked columns. A friendly dwarf greeted us at the gate. He was dressed in a suit and standing next to a guard. ¡°Ah, you must be the Delphiniums! Greetings, we are expecting you. We have room in the barracks for the refugees and more luxurious quarters for you personally.¡± He said. ¡°I hope my family is included.¡± Lucy said. ¡°My parents and my brother are here too.¡± ¡°Certainly, certainly. There is room for your maids as well. I am Magnus and I am at your service during your stay. If you need anything, let me know. A guard will escort your people to their accommodations and I will show you personally to your residence. Do you need any help with your luggage?¡± ¡°No, we are good.¡± I answered. ¡°I will go and get my family.¡± Lucy said and walked towards the carriage. Chapter 155: Palace Iris and Minerva took care of the villagers and our recruits. They would make sure everyone settled in. They also had a lot of shopping to do. This was our first stop in a major city. We could get supplies, clothing, weapons, armour¡­ ¡°Hey, maybe we can finally get Mantus¡¯ armour adjusted for you.¡± I said to Lucy as she returned with her family. ¡°Cool. Although I have been fighting a lot in my fox form recently. Maybe we should give it to Lily?¡± ¡°My lady, that is too generous! I could never accept that!¡± Lily complained. ¡°Lucy does have a point. Since she seems to turn into a kitsune, and was already rather strong before, armour seems less of an issue for her. And it would allow you to better fight beside us, Lily.¡± ¡°Besides, you are our Storm Knight¡­ Storm Maid Knight.¡± Lucy corrected herself. ¡°Proper armour would suit you.¡± ¡°True. We should ask the king if he knows a smith.¡± Despite Lily¡¯s objections there was a certain longing in her gaze. I was sure she would really love that armour. Alister, Lynn and Ben paid no attention to our conversation. They were busy looking around with open mouths. I suspected it was their first time at a palace. Magnus was listening, but did not comment. He led us into the palace. Almost everything seemed to be made of stone, metal and glass. It was rare to see wood. Even the doors were mostly made of stone. Interestingly, everything seemed rather large. High ceilings, big doors,... Dwarves were shorter than humans, so I would have expected things to be smaller. Then again, maybe that was a rich person thing. Even in my old world palaces were often oversized. And rich people seemed to like high ceilings, according to the videos I had seen. ¡°Is it¡­ is it really alright for us to be here?¡± Lynn asked, looking around nervously. ¡°Sure mom! We are nobility now!¡± Lucy said. ¡°But¡­ how do we behave? I don¡¯t know how to curtsey! I need a new dress!¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine dear.¡± Alister said. ¡°I am sure no one expects us to meet with important people.¡± ¡°The king will hold a banquet soon and you will certainly be invited.¡± Magnus said. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Oh no!¡± Lynn answered, looking terrified. ¡°We get to meet a king! Does he have a court elemental too?¡± Ben asked. ¡°I am not sure what a court elemental is.¡± Magnus answered. ¡°A nice lady that can be scary and slaughter things for you! She plays with me a lot! Unlike lazy. He would never get an important job like that! He never slaughters anything.¡± Ben explained. Terath had been really lazy the entire trip. He barely ever did anything. Most of the time, I even forgot that he was here. Magnus seemed rather confused by Ben¡¯s explanation. ¡°Where is Shani anyway?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I¡­ I have no idea.¡± Was she with Iris? Or maybe Thessia? ¡°I last saw her when we passed through the palace gate. Maybe she went with Thessia? I think she is currently inquiring about a place for her tree. Josef and Elandru were with her¡­¡± ¡°Who is this court elemental?¡± Magnus asked, looking at me. ¡°Oh, she is an elemental lord called Shani. She joined our court. It¡¯s an archfey thing.¡± Which was a great excuse. ¡°Ah. I am not familiar with archfey courts. But I can help with the dress situation. If you want, I can send a seamstress to your quarters.¡± Magnus suggested. ¡°Perfect! We are looking forward to it.¡± Lucy said, smiling. ¡°But¡­ that sounds expensive!¡± Lynn protested. ¡°I told you mom, we do have money. Besides, we want them properly tailored anyway, for our tails. You don¡¯t just cut a hole in a fancy dress.¡± ¡°We? Are you getting a dress as well?¡± I asked Lucy. ¡°We are getting dresses. So far all of our outfits have pants. While they are practical, I don¡¯t think we will end up in a fight here. We can go for something different.¡± I looked down at my pants. I was still using the outfits I had purchased in Iron Rock. While I had considered a dress back then, I had never actually worn one. ¡°Hm. Ok, I will give it a try. Can we have them enchanted?¡± I asked. ¡°That can be arranged.¡± Magnus said. ¡°Enchanted! Why would we need magical clothing?¡± Lynn asked. ¡°Because it''s super comfortable! And it helps keep them clean.¡± Lucy explained. ¡°Can I get magical clothes? Pleeease!¡± Ben begged. ¡°Sure!¡± Lucy promised. ¡°He is still growing! We can¡¯t spend that much money on clothes that will soon be too small.¡± Lynn protested. ¡°Maybe they can be enchanted to grow with him? Anyway, you don¡¯t have to worry about money.¡± I assured her. Eventually we arrived at our residence. It felt slightly absurd but we had five maid quarters, each sleeping two, and four VIP bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. There was a small lounge in the entryway, with a small bar, a dining room and a small kitchen. We took some time to get cleaned. Magnus returned a bit later to deliver an invitation. The king wanted to have dinner with us. ¡°It¡¯s just a small private meal with some trusted people.¡± He assured us. ¡°You do not have to worry about your wardrobe tonight and I will send a seamstress tomorrow. Will your court elemental be joining us? I am still not entirely sure about her function. Is she a noble? You called her a lord?¡± ¡°Ah, that is just a classification. Elemental lords are essentially the most powerful elementals. They evolve from their base forms after they have been around for a long time. They are fully sentient and rather powerful.¡± I looked at his widening face. ¡°Wait¡­ did you think we were talking about an elementalist? Like a humanoid mage?¡± ¡°I¡­ I might have misunderstood.¡± He admitted. ¡°No worries. She is a bit unusual. She might also call herself my wrath and talk about slaughtering in my name. But she won¡¯t harm innocents.¡± I assured him. ¡°Oh, and she likes to carry this big scythe made of lightning. And her laugh can be disturbing if you are not used to it, especially when shows her teeth.¡± Despite my reassuring smile Magnus looked slightly alarmed. Chapter 156: Dinner After Magnus left, Lynn started panicking again. The invitation included Lucy¡¯s family. Alister tried to calm her down but he looked rather terrified himself. Ben was excited. ¡°Is there a princess? Or a prince?¡± He asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I admitted. ¡°Is the king married?¡± I knew that his name was Dalroc. I didn''t even know his last name. Maybe I should have asked someone? ¡°Hey, are we supposed to bring a gift?¡± I wondered. In my old world, bringing a bottle of wine, when someone invited you to dinner, was rather common. Or bringing some beer to a barbecue. ¡°I don¡¯t know much about dwarves, or their customs.¡± Lucy admitted. ¡°Do you have something fancy in your storage?¡± She asked. Did I? Hm. What could make a good gift? I had so many things I looted, like furniture, or paintings. Gifting someone a chair seemed odd. A painting maybe? ¡°My ladies, maybe I can help.¡± Lily said. ¡°As a visiting noble of lower status it would be appropriate to bring a gift. Especially if you are publicly received. But you are more than dominion nobles, you are an archfey and a kitsune. As such you are of higher status. You have no obligation to bring anything.¡± ¡°I see. So it would be a nice gesture but it¡¯s not required.¡± I concluded. Lily nodded. ¡°Oh, I still have Mantus¡¯ sword! We only want the armour for Lily. Should we gift him the weapon?¡± I suggested. ¡°Good idea!¡± Lucy agreed. ¡°My ladies! That¡­ that is a weapon from a demon lord! It''s not just valuable, it¡¯s a rare trophy! That would be way too much!¡± Lily protested. ¡°But we don¡¯t need it.¡± I countered. ¡°And with such a gift he will surely help us find the best smith to resize the armour! Also, you still owe them a door.¡± Lucy added. She had a point. I offered to pay for it, but a nice gift would certainly help with any bad feelings. As the time for dinner arrived Magnus came to fetch us. Lynn, Alister and Ben were in their best clothes, which meant all the holes were patched. They looked like the farmers they were. That was nothing to be ashamed of though. They were honest hard working people. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Mom, it¡¯s fine. If anyone makes fun of you, I can just eat them.¡± Lucy offered. ¡°Lucy! I don¡¯t care if you turn into a mythical monster, you will not eat people! Is that clear?¡± ¡°Yes mom.¡± She said, ¡°But I could chew them a little¡­¡± ¡°See, that is why we have a court elemental now. Just point out who you want gone and she will happily slaughter them.¡± I said with a smile. Was there sweat forming on Magnus¡¯ face? ¡°Shani said she makes mean people go away!¡± Ben confirmed. The so-called private dinner took place in a rather large room. It was nicely decorated. The stone walls were painted with scenes of battles. Maybe they were historical? They featured dragons, which would make sense in this world. The table was long and could seat about 24. Lily had accompanied us, she stated it was proper to have your maid with you. She intended to just stand behind us, ready to serve. I had no idea why. The food would be handled by the palace staff anyway. The head of the table was set for the king and presumably his wife. It was wide enough to seat two comfortably. We were the first guests to arrive in the hall. The host was not here yet either. ¡°The king and his other guests will arrive shortly.¡± Magnus informed us. ¡°Let me show you your seats.¡± We were all on one side of the table. I was closest to the king, followed by Lucy, Lynn, Ben and Alister. Butlers and maids were standing around but I could see no guards. Maybe they had trained their servants in combat too? Or maybe they decided the area was safe enough. The next to arrive were Loriel and a female sun elf. She was slightly taller than the night elf, had golden hair and pale skin. Her eyes were golden, just like the hair. ¡°Ah, you must be Amaya! Loriel told me a lot about you.¡± She said smiling. ¡°And you are Lucy, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Solana.¡± ¡°Hi. Let me introduce my family.¡± Lucy said. ¡°These are Lynn and Alister, my parents. And the small one is my brother Ben.¡± ¡°I am not small! I am already six!¡± Ben proclaimed proudly. ¡°Solana and Loriel are the Sun Queen and the Night Queen of the Dominion.¡± I finished the introduction. ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you.¡± I greeted them. Lynn and Alister were too shocked to talk. Ben was not. ¡°Why do they have two queens?¡± He asked. ¡°They have four actually. There is the High Queen, who is in charge of the entire nation, and the three other queens manage certain territories.¡± I explained. While Ben pondered that Loriel spoke: ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again, Amaya and Lucy. I was not aware you had family nearby¡­¡± ¡°We kept them hidden until we could ensure their safety.¡± I explained. Loriel looked like she had a lot of questions. Which was understandable. She knew that Lucy was my warlock, but not the story of how it happened. She likely thought us both ancient. That Lucy had relatively young parents, who looked like farmers, made no sense to her. ¡°Welcome to my hall!¡± I heard a deep voice. The king had arrived. He had black hair and a mighty beard. Like most dwarves, he was burly. So was his wife. While she had some softer features I had no doubt she could lift the table, with one hand. Her hair was red and short. She had green eyes and a welcoming smile. ¡°I am Dalroc and this is my wife, Ingrid.¡± Alister and Lynn were about to faint. They still had not managed to say a word. ¡°Greetings and thank you for the invitation.¡± I said. ¡°Hello.¡± Lucy waved in greeting. ¡°This is my family, they are a bit overwhelmed.¡± ¡°No worries, we are all friends here! A bit of ale will make them more comfortable. Let¡¯s start with a drink!¡± Ingrid proposed. Suddenly there was a yelp from a maid. I looked towards the noise and saw a mist coming from underneath the door. ¡°What? An attack!¡± Dalroc exclaimed. ¡°No. This is fine. There is no danger.¡± I assured him. Lucy started laughing. Everyone looked at us in confusion. ¡°Can you explain what this is?¡± Ingrid inquired. ¡°Not what, who¡­¡± I said. ¡°Tremble before me, for I am the wrath!¡± The mist coming through the door formed into an elf made out of wind. With bright red bunny ears on her head. ¡°This is our court elemental, Shani.¡± I said. Chapter 157: Conversation ¡°Why does she have bunny ears?¡± Loriel wondered. ¡°And why are they red? They look more like a liquid and less like her normal wind body¡­¡± ¡°Ehrm, greetings, Court Elemental Shani.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°We do not entertain elementals usually, do you eat normal food?¡± Ingrid inquired. They took her sudden appearance really well. I guess it helped that we were all allies. A stunt like that in the Empire might have led to violence. ¡°Hi! I don¡¯t really eat food. Although, I suppose I could¡­¡± Shani mused. ¡°They don¡¯t have a court elemental here!¡± Ben told her. ¡°Of course.¡± Shani responded, while nodding. ¡°They are not archfey. The fey have a special connection with the elements. Even a Storm Knight, like Lily, is not something most creatures could create. It requires the help of a willing elemental lord, like myself.¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°We rarely deal with fey. There are dragons in the mountains though. Some of the old and powerful ones create dragon knights. Is that similar?¡± ¡°How is a dragon knight created?¡± I asked, curious. ¡°From what we know, it involves an exchange of blood and likely some sort of bond. Not quite as strong as a warlock but they undergo some physical changes.¡± Dalroc explained. ¡°Ah. Fey empower their knights with a connection to the elemental plane, filtered through a personal bond.¡± I explained. ¡°Intriguing. And you have such a knight with you? Shani mentioned a Lily?¡± Ingrid asked. ¡°She is right there.¡± Lucy pointed at her. ¡°I thought she was your maid.¡± Ingrid looked confused. ¡°She is our maid knight.¡± I clarified. ¡°Is this also an archfey thing?¡± Dalroc asked. ¡°No, this is more of an Amaya thing.¡± Lucy explained. ¡°Speaking of Lily, we are looking for a smith who can reforge Mantus¡¯ old armour for her.¡± I said. ¡°You have the armour of a demon lord? Ha, of course you do! You slew one!¡± Daloc grinned. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Oh, I have a gift for you.¡± I pulled out the sword. ¡°This was his blade.¡± Dalroc¡¯s eyes widened. Ingrid¡¯s hand reached out and gently touched the blade. They were both in awe. ¡°This is very generous of you.¡± Ingrid said. ¡°We gladly accept this gift.¡± Dalroc added, as his wife took the sword. Despite its size and weight, she had no trouble wielding it. ¡°I can help you with the armour.¡± Ingrid said with a smile. ¡°My wife is one of our finest smiths!¡± Dalroc boasted. ¡°Nice! Can we drop by tomorrow? Do you have a smithy in the palace?¡± I asked. ¡°Certainly. I will send Magnus with the details.¡± Ingrid said. ¡°Now, have a seat everyone and grab a drink!¡± Dalroc said. His wife handed the sword to a butler, who managed the weight just fine. Clearly they had some training. As I took my seat at the table, a maid offered me a mug of ale, which I gladly accepted. ¡°To our alliance!¡± Dalroc raised his mug. ¡°To our alliance!¡± We echoed. Then I took a sip, the ale was delicious. Ben had some juice and Shani declined all beverages. Lucy¡¯s parents welcomed the drink. They were in need of some liquid encouragement. Maybe they would even start talking later. ¡°Now with the pleasantries out of the way, we need to talk about more serious matters.¡± Solana said. ¡°After the Iron Rock incident I was sent by High Queen Maeve to negotiate a formal alliance with the Dwarven Kingdom.¡± ¡°We have been friends for a long time.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°So we signed that deal rather quickly. Unlike that backstabbing Empire the Dominion has some honour!¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Solana smiled. ¡°And it seems we are now facing our first true crisis together. Amaya, could you tell us about your discovery?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I took some time to tell them everything we had discovered about the mind control. I even added the encounter with Lilith¡¯s servant. She had not contacted us since but it would happen in time. ¡°So we have at least two demon lords involved. The inquisition, who not only uses mind control, but could be led by someone, or something, we do not know. And the Empire itself. There is a civil war raging too.¡± Dalroc grimaced. ¡°We might have to consider opening one of the old gates to accept some refugees.¡± ¡°Amaya has opened one of those for you!¡± Lucy pointed out with a smirk. ¡°A remarkable feat.¡± Ingrid said. ¡°But we could use it I suppose. We should send more troops to the fortress.¡± ¡°We need to be careful. Anyone could be controlled. And if they make it work for elves or dwarves¡­¡± Solana cautioned. ¡°We need to recall all spies and have them examined.¡± Loriel said. ¡°That is going to be a problem. We can¡¯t trust any information they send us.¡± ¡°Do we know anything about Beravis? If they can control humans, they might have infiltrated them already.¡± Dalroc asked. ¡°Their delegation seemed uninterested in working with us.¡± I said. ¡°That is rather normal for them. But they could have been captured when leaving¡­¡± Loriel suggested. ¡°Speaking of leaving, has Loriel been checked? And her guards and servants? We don¡¯t know if they have figured out how to control elves. We just think they can¡¯t, yet.¡± Lucy said. We all looked at Loriel. ¡°Are you suggesting they could control someone of my power?¡± She asked. ¡°They do have a point.¡± Solana admitted. ¡°The situation is too dangerous to assume anything. Amaya, being an archfey, is the only I am reasonably certain is free. She exposed the plot. And if she were controlled we would be doomed anyway.¡± ¡°And Lucy is a kitsune.¡± I added. ¡°What?¡± Loriel asked. ¡°Are you telling me, they are all kitsune?¡± She pointed at Lucy¡¯s family. ¡°No, they are foxkin. I am turning into a kitsune.¡± Lucy explained. Loriel sighed. ¡°Nothing ever makes sense with you. Ok fine, examine me.¡± She stood up and walked towards a door. Probably a bathroom. Lucy, Solana, Ingrid and myself followed her. The good thing about a palace was, the rooms were large. Even the bathrooms. So we all fit comfortably. We examined Loriel for any hidden runes, she was clean. Afterwards Solana volunteered as well, as did Ingrid. Lucy offered to have herself checked too. In the end, I offered too. It was only fair. Nobody was controlled. Not a big surprise, but it was good to make sure. We returned to the table. ¡°We need a better way to deal with the runes.¡± Loriel said. ¡°Yes. Detection needs to become easier and we need a permanent treatment.¡± I said. ¡°We can set up the alchemist here, if you want.¡± Dalroc offered. Hm. He could at least start while we were here. I was not sure if I could provide any direct help. Then again, he might need Minerva. ¡°We can talk with him tomorrow.¡± I concluded. Chapter 158: Meal ¡°Time for some food!¡± Dalroc announced. The door opened and a bunch of servants entered. They had several carts with them. It looked like dwarves did not serve a bunch of small courses one after another. Instead they just filled the table with dishes. There were a lot of grilled meats, vegetables, sauces,... ¡°Dig in! This is just a friendly meal between friends.¡± Dalroc said while already loading up his plate. ¡°Woahhhh¡± Ben was impressed. He looked at a roasted bird that somewhat resembled a turkey. It was slightly too big and the meat had a shade of purple. ¡°Is the food safe to eat for normal people?¡± I asked. ¡°Certainly!¡± Dalroc assured us. Suddenly Shani summoned her scythe. Then she used it to slice a part of the bird. She expertly manoeuvred it onto Ben¡¯s plate. He immediately started eating it. ¡°Ben! Manners!¡± Lynn reprimanded him. ¡°Thank you Shani!¡± Ben said, then continued eating. Everyone started filling their plate at that point. I was excited to eat new things. The undermountain seemed to have a large variety of creatures. I wondered what sort of farm animals were common here. ¡°So, is there anything we can offer you, Shani?¡± Ingrid asked. The elemental was the only one who did not eat anything. ¡°Hm¡­ do you have anything that needs slaughtering?¡± Shani asked. ¡°Um¡­ no.¡± Ingrid answered. ¡°Shame.¡± Shani said. ¡°What does a court elemental do?¡± Solana wondered. ¡°Mostly kill things! But I also do ceremonies and play with kids. And I collect blood, that is more of a hobby though.¡± ¡°Ah, taking trophies!¡± Dalroc said. ¡°I like to collect heads, horns,... things you can mount on your wall. Never considered blood. Do you keep it in a flask?¡± I looked at the dwarven king. That was not a reaction I had expected. ¡°I keep it on my head!¡± Shani wiggled her bunny ears. ¡°Well, some of it. Blood has many uses, like baths!¡± Dalroc nodded, like this was normal somehow. ¡°Creating headwear out of a trophy is not uncommon. I am not sure about the bathing.¡± ¡°As exciting as this is, should not we discuss the Empire some more?¡± Loriel suggested. Stolen story; please report. ¡°I have already given orders to prepare the army.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°Not much else we can do. We need ways to protect against the runes before we can employ more spies. And we can¡¯t do anything without more information. Until that civil war ends we should be fine. Hopefully by then we will have something.¡± ¡°Are you planning to attack the Empire?¡± I asked. ¡°Depends.¡± Dalroc answered. ¡°Once a victor emerges we will demand a meeting. Then we check them for mind control and free them if necessary. Afterwards we work with them to get rid of this plot. If they refuse a meeting, we consider them compromised and attack.¡± ¡°Any such plan still needs Maeve¡¯s approval.¡± Solana said. ¡°But I suspect the High Queen would agree given the circumstances. We will need to crush this threat before it becomes bigger.¡± ¡°What about the Lady of the Forest? Your other archfey?¡± Ingrid inquired. ¡°She is not really our archfey. She has a deal with the Dominion and would only act if we are attacked.¡± Solana said. Oh right. I had almost forgotten about her. It would be interesting to meet a peer. ¡°Amaya¡¯s willingness to get directly involved is rather unusual.¡± Loriel added, while looking at me. I shrugged while enjoying some steak that melted in my mouth. It was glorious. ¡°You can just bribe her with food.¡± Lucy teased. ¡°Ha, food we have plenty!¡± Dalroc said. ¡°And great ale to wash it down!¡± He lifted his mug. The servants were rather attentive and refilled every empty mug quickly. It was strange. While we just grabbed the food ourselves from the table, drinks were handled by the staff. ¡°It is rather refreshing to see a powerful being act instead of watch. Slightly frightening too, I have to admit. If all the dragons stopped sleeping and started to act we would be in trouble.¡± Ingrid said. ¡°Are they like lazy?¡± Ben asked. ¡°They are very lazy, yes.¡± Ingrid said, smiling. ¡°No. I mean lazy the elemental. He is a big rock that sleeps a lot.¡± Ben clarified. ¡°You have another court elemental?¡± Dalroc asked. ¡°Ha! Never. Lazy would never get that job. He failed badly at his old one. All he had to do was protect a temple. Could not even do that!¡± Shani said. ¡°He is called Terath and was meant to protect Sylphania¡¯s temple in Unitera. He is accompanying Thessia, the high priestess. He has been rather useless.¡± I clarified. ¡°Ah, the dryad. She is currently preparing to set up her tree in our garden I believe.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°We would have invited her but she seemed busy.¡± Ingrid added. I would check on her in the morning. I still had her tree in my inventory. Maybe she was setting up a ritual for planting it. ¡°We will have to meet her another time. I hope you will all stay a while and enjoy our fine city!¡± Dalroc said. ¡°I am planning a true feast in a few days. We will celebrate our new alliance properly!¡± ¡°We should slaughter something to celebrate!¡° Shani suggested. Dalroc seemed to think. ¡°You know, not a bad idea. We could do a hunt before. Slay something exotic and eat it.¡± Eat it? ¡°I like the idea.¡± I said. Lucy laughed. As the meal continued Lynn and Alister started to relax a bit. Loriel had been watching them carefully for a while. Then she finally asked a question: ¡°So, Alister and Lynn, right? You are Lucy¡¯s parents? You seem rather young.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ you ah¡­ flatter us.¡± Lynn said. Ben frowned. ¡°They are old!¡± He declared. ¡°I am too, I am six!¡± He added. ¡°Is that so? How old is your sister?¡± She was trying to milk Ben for information. At this point I did not really mind. ¡°Big sis is big!¡± He declared. ¡°Bad people took her away but Amaya brought her back. Now I have two big sisters!¡± ¡°He only met his sister recently. Lucy was gone for a long time.¡± Alister said. ¡°You know, she actually loved stories about you. She was quite fond of elven queens.¡± Alister sounded slightly drunk. It might have been the reason he was more comfortable talking now. That was clearly not the information Loriel had expected. She looked quite shocked. ¡°I always thought those were silly dreams. Now she is marrying an archfey. And she has become a creature of legend herself.¡± He chuckled and took another sip of his drink. ¡°She really has made us proud.¡± Lynn added with a warm smile. Lucy was currently talking with Ingrid and Dalroc. So she did not hear the conversation her parents had. Loriel digested what she had learned. Which was not that much to be honest. Once we stopped eating, the servants cleared the table. Shortly afterwards they returned with dessert. Dwarves loved food as much as I did. Cakes, pastries, pudding, mousse¡­ there were a lot of options. They also brought a selection of whiskies. In the end we were all full and most people were drunk. Even I was tipsy after Dalroc brought the really strong stuff. He boasted that dwarves could get anyone drunk, even the gods. By the time we returned to our quarters it was quite late. Chapter 159: Armour The next morning a seamstress arrived to take our measures. I had no idea what sort of gown or dress would look good. I left any decision in Lucy¡¯s capable hands. I still had some spidersilk which could be used and once the clothes were finished we would enchant them. Afterwards Magnus escorted us to Ingrid¡¯s smithy. It was time to finally make use of Mantus¡¯ armour. ¡°Ah, welcome to my workplace!¡± Ingrid greeted us. She wore an apron and was dressed like a regular smith. She seemed really excited about working on the armour. I looked around her smithy. ¡°Wow, everything is covered in runes.¡± I said. ¡°Good eyes! Yes, working with adamantium requires special equipment. And resizing an armour requires quite a bit of magic. Please place it on that table.¡± I placed the armour where she pointed. Ingrid immediately started to study it. Then she turned towards Lily. ¡°Where are my manners, hello Lily! We did not get to talk yesterday.¡± Ingrid said. ¡°Greetings and thank you for your help.¡± Lily said and bowed. ¡°You are welcome. I am rather excited to work on this!¡± Ingrid turned back to the armour. She put on some magical goggles and continued her examination. ¡°Hm. Oh. Marvellous work.¡± She said, Then she frowned. ¡°There might be a problem.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Those enchantments are supposed to work with a demon. The armour will be bound by blood. It does not even require resizing, it can shapeshift, to a degree, with the owner. Ideally we would have some of Mantus¡¯ blood to break the previous connection and establish a new one¡­¡± ¡°Blood is very useful.¡± Shani said, nodding. She had joined Lucy, Lily and myself. I was not sure if she was bored, or actually interested in seeing the armour adjusted. ¡°I still have his body.¡± I said. ¡°Really? Perfect!¡± Ingrid said. ¡°Now we just need to find a way to make it work for a dragonkin¡­¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Uhm, Lily is actually a demon.¡± I said. ¡°We don¡¯t really advertise the fact because they do have a reputation. And she was bound by the Empire in the past¡­¡± ¡°I am Lilastheria, a succubus. But I have become Lily, my ladies¡¯ maid knight.¡± Lily said. Then she assumed her natural form. Ingrid stared. ¡°You made a demon into your Storm Knight?¡± ¡°Storm Maid Knight.¡± Shani corrected her. ¡°You intend to bestow the armour of a demon lord to a demon?¡± Ingrid asked. ¡°I can assure you, my ladies have broken any connection I had to my former mistress, Lilith. I serve them willingly and loyally.¡± Lily said. ¡°You served Lilith? The demon lord who contacted you in Unitera?¡± Ingrid turned to me. ¡°Does she know that you stole her servant?¡± ¡°I would not say stole. We just recruited her.¡± I pointed out. ¡°If Lilith has a problem with us we''ll deal with her.¡± Lucy said, shrugging. ¡°My ladies are an archfey and a kitsune. Do not underestimate their power.¡± Lily said with pride. ¡°And slaughtering demonic armies is fun!¡± Shani added. ¡°We should pick more fights with demon lords!¡± ¡°Well, we do have Ashmedai as an enemy. There is a good chance we will fight more demons in the future.¡± I said. Shani grinned. And showed a lot of teeth. More than one should have. Ingrid looked thoughtful. ¡°I suppose you are powerful. It¡¯s easy to forget that you are an archfey. You do not behave like one would expect. Very well, I shall help you bind the armour to your servant.¡± ¡°Nice, what do you need?¡± I asked. ¡°A bit of blood from Mantus¡¯ corpse and some blood from Lily. Also, It would be best if you powered the ritual. It will require a high tier spell slot. It will take me about 20 minutes to set everything up.¡± ¡°Would it be possible to add some clothing to the armour?¡± Lily asked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Ingrid inquired. ¡°Would it be possible to add some fabric to it? Make it part of the armour? Like a skirt covering the plate legs? Maybe something adjustable, since the armour can shapeshift.¡± Lily explained her request. ¡°You want a maid-like skirt and apron covering your plate armour?¡± Ingrid raised an eyebrow. ¡°Indeed. I would like them to be a part of it. Sharing the enchantments, like repairing itself.¡± ¡°Would it not be more comfortable to just wear a normal outfit and simply switch to your armour when in battle?¡± I asked. ¡°My lady, I wish to fully embrace my status as a maid knight. And I am sure that armour will be comfortable to wear.¡± ¡°It is enchanted to regulate the temperature.¡± Ingrid added. ¡°Most magical plate is surprisingly comfortable to wear.¡± ¡°If you want to.¡± I shrugged. It was her decision. ¡°We would need some good fabric but it might be possible. It would require a bit more magic¡­¡± Ingrid mused. ¡°Amaya has more spider silk and we have a lot of magic. I really like the idea¡±. Lucy said. ¡°If that works we should requisition something similar for all our maid knights!¡± ¡°We should soak the silk in blood!¡± Shani added. ¡°What would that do?¡± I asked. ¡°It would look great! Uh, can it be enchanted to always look wet and drip a bit?¡± Shani asked. I stared at her. ¡°I don¡¯t think we need that.¡± I said. ¡°But if it works, could we requisition similar armour for Iris and Minerva?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t make anything quite as powerful. But I could make something similar. It would be rather expensive and you might need to help me get some ingredients.¡± Ingrid said. ¡°Sure. We are here for a few days at least anyway.¡± It was time to properly outfit our maid knights. Chapter 160: Tree While Ingrid prepared to bind the armour to Lily, I inspected her smithy. It looked like a well cared for place that was heavily used. Some weapons were on display, which I admired. She seemed to be a capable smith. The additional request to include some fabric delayed the ritual. Ingrid got a bunch of books and started discussing details with Lily. While they were talking someone knocked on the door. Magnus entered. ¡°Excuse me, the lady Thessia asks if you could join her in the garden. She would like to plant her tree.¡± He said. ¡°Sure.¡± I said, then walked over to Ingrid. ¡°We will be back. How long do you think it will take until you are ready?¡± ¡°I am not sure. Maybe two hours? I can send someone once we are ready.¡± I nodded, then we followed Magnus to the garden. Lily stayed behind but Shani joined us. The garden was rather magnificent. I had no idea what I expected but they had a pond, a small stream and plants in all sorts of colours. There was a flower whose petals looked like crystals. They were glowing in a faint purple light. A large circular area was being prepared for Thessia. It looked like they had uprooted a few things to create space for her. ¡°Amaya, Lucy, Shani, it¡¯s nice to see you! I am looking forward to feeling my tree again. I long for my roots to bury into the soil.¡± She said, ¡°Hey. So, how are we doing this? Do I just put the tree in the centre?¡± I asked. ¡°Indeed. Terath will help to get it settled.¡± ¡°What? Lazy is doing work?¡± Shani said. ¡°I am right here, you know.¡± Terath said from beneath us. ¡°Already napping in the ground!¡± Shani countered. ¡°Why is this airhead here?¡± Terath asked. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Because I am court elemental! I have an actual job, you know!¡± ¡°Anyway.¡± I ignored the two. ¡°Are you ready?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I pulled the tree from my storage and placed it into the centre. The earth started moving as the massive roots sunk into the ground. As the stasis lifted it almost seemed like the tree started stretching its branches. ¡°I have a gift for you!¡± Shani announced. ¡°I was busy yesterday and collected something.¡± We looked at the elemental, who was grinning. A ball formed above the bunny ears and a liquid streamed from them into the sphere. This was blood. Surely this was blood. Then the elemental launched the ball at the tree. It made a big splat and coloured the soil red. Thessia¡¯s roots seemed to drink it. ¡°Oh my. What a lovely gift.¡± Thessia responded looking quite pleased. ¡°Dryads eat blood?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°My tree can consume living things. They are rich in nutrients. And blood can hold some magic. Just the right meal to recover from a stasis.¡± Maybe I had misjudged dryads. Thessia seemed rather helpful. A priestess, a healer,... But her goddess was representing nature. And nature was not really kind. Also¡­ ¡°Shani, where did you get this blood?¡± It seemed like a rather important question. Her smile grew really wide. ¡°I harvested it in the city!¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°So¡­ I borrowed some refugees and had them walk in dark shady places. Then I slaughtered everyone who tried to rob them!¡± ¡°I do apologise on behalf of the kingdom that someone tried to rob your people, Countess Amaya.¡± Magnus said, bowing. ¡°Sadly, crime is something that can never be completely eradicated in a big city.¡± He was just fine with that? Shani admitted to slaughtering people and he apologised to us? I looked at Lucy. ¡°Huh. That was a great idea, Shani.¡± She praised the elemental. ¡°I know! Next I need to find a good bait for some demons. How would you bait a demon army? I should ask Lily.¡± ¡°No. We are not baiting a demon army.¡± I said. ¡°Booo! Ok, no army. Hey, Magnus! Do you have any crazy cults in the area?¡± ¡°If we were aware of such a thing it would be eradicated. But you may inquire with the local guard about any ongoing cases.¡± He replied. Was Shani now a vigilante? Fighting crime at night? Well, more like looking for an excuse to kill things. Well, if the locals were fine with it¡­ ¡°Tell us if you find anything troublesome and don¡¯t endanger innocents.¡± I told her. ¡°Of course! It¡¯s important to keep our people and allies safe!¡± ¡°Hey, maybe Shani will uncover something.¡± Lucy said. ¡°I doubt that there is a major demon infestation inside the Dwarven Kingdom.¡± It seemed relatively stable so far. What we saw from the city so far people seemed to be doing well and were mostly happy. ¡°One would hope so.¡± Magnus said. ¡°Our King is a kind and wise ruler.¡± Maybe. He seemed nice at least. The problem was the Empire though. It was reasonable to assume they had some spies here. Now would those meddle with demons? Actually, would those be mind controlled? ¡°Hey, do you know of any imperial spies? Maybe some you have identified but keep around to monitor them and control the information they get?¡± I wondered. ¡°This is not something I could help you with. You would need to ask the king for access to such data.¡± ¡°What are you planning?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Well, Shani¡¯s hunts have given me an idea. Maybe we should go on a hunt of our own. Look for some imperial spies and see how many of them are mind controlled. Or if they know anything about the plot. This is the dwarven capital, the Empire must have someone here.¡± ¡°Ohhhh, I love a good hunt.¡± Shani said. Chapter 161: Black Barrel Our court elemental left while laughing maniacally. Magnus watched her go. His face was unreadable. ¡°Is she going to ask the king if he knows about spies?¡± I wondered. ¡°Maybe. I am sure she has a plan.¡± Lucy answered. With the tree planted we had nothing to do. So we relaxed in the garden until Ingrid was ready. Then we returned to bind the armour. The whole ritual was not very flashy. Lucy helped to power it. We both used an 8th tier spell slot. The result was pretty neat though. Lily looked rather menacing in the black plate armour. There was no helmet, but otherwise it covered her entirely, including the tail. It was also very form fitting. I guess I should have expected a succubus to make sure her bust was represented. It was not that different from a codpiece in that regard. Interestingly, I saw some purple accents on the metal. That was new. ¡°It suits you.¡± I said. ¡°Thank you, my lady.¡± She responded. Then the armour shifted and the maid part appeared. The uniform covered most of the metal. Only on the arms and the feet was the plate still visible. She seemed to concentrate and the visible plate disappeared entirely. ¡°Neat.¡± Lucy responded. ¡°So you can disguise the armour completely as a uniform.¡± ¡°With a storage item one could simply switch between a uniform and an armour and get the same effect. It¡¯s still nice though.¡± I said. ¡°It is better than that.¡± Lily said with a smile. ¡°It can automatically deploy when I am injured.¡± ¡°Now that is a nice feature.¡± That was pretty cool. My armour did nothing fancy like that. Not that I truly needed armour most of the time. ¡°It is the plate of a demon lord after all.¡± Ingrid pointed out. ¡°This is a powerful piece of equipment.¡± ¡°Indeed. Now, could you make something similar for Iris and Minerva? And could you recommend a smith I can hire for our county?¡± I inquired. Ingrid pondered that. ¡°First the armour, you will need to get me some resources. I still have some of your silk left but we need metal. Possibly some magical catalysts. I can give you a list. As for the smith¡­ maybe. Tyrell is officially retired but he is one of the greatest smiths we have. As an archfey you might be interesting enough that he will work for you. If you can convince him he could equip your knights. He is an even better smith than I am.¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Retired? How old is he?¡± I wondered. ¡°Less than 1000 I think. He does not like to talk about it.¡± She responded. That was a good reminder how old people could become. Dwarves lived longer than humans but to reach such an age he must have a certain amount of power. ¡°Great, we shall pay him a visit! I wanted to go into the city anyway.¡± I said. ¡°You are looking for food, we all know it.¡± Lucy teased. ¡°Exactly! Is there a specialty restaurant you could recommend?¡± I asked Ingrid. ¡°Try the Black Barrel. I think you will like it.¡± We said our goodbyes and made our way towards the city. It was almost lunch time anyway. Lily followed us. ¡°You know, you don¡¯t have to come with us.¡± I told her. ¡°It is only appropriate for nobles to have a servant with them.¡± She responded. Lily did take her maidly duties rather seriously. ¡°She just hopes you get into trouble so she can use her new armour.¡± Lucy teased. ¡°My lady, I would never wish for you to get into trouble!¡± She protested. ¡°We could spar, you know. Not right now, but later. I am rather curious about your armour too.¡± I admitted. Mountainheart was a lovely city and I enjoyed our stroll to the Black Barrel. The restaurant was a rectangle, two stories high and made from stone. They had a metal sign above the door and a guard in a suit was standing in front of it. ¡°Greetings, we would like to visit your restaurant. Do we need a reservation?¡± I asked the dwarf. Ingrid did not say anything so I assumed we could just show up. ¡°Ladies, welcome to the Black Barrel! We have free tables, all you need is coin and an appetite! We require a bank account or a cash deposit as insurance first. And I have to warn you that some of our dishes can be dangerous. The special menu requires you to sign a waiver.¡± ¡°That sounds promising!¡± I was excited. He glanced at Lily. ¡°Would that be a table for two? We offer a staff room for servants.¡± ¡°No, a table for three.¡± I glared at Lily to make sure she did not protest. ¡°Certainly.¡± He pulled out a tablet. ¡°If you have an account with the dwarven bank you can simply place your hand here.¡± I did as instructed. He nodded, satisfied. ¡°Everything seems to be in order ma¡¯am. A server will show you to your table shortly.¡± A small woman appeared. She did not look like a dwarf but had a similar height. Maybe a gnome? ¡°Greetings! I am Hannah and will be your server. Would you like to sit outside?¡± Outside was relative, considering that we were underground. But I did like the look of the ceiling with the artificial sun. I looked at Lucy. ¡°Sure.¡± She said, ¡°Follow me!¡± The building had a nice courtyard filled with tables. It reminded me of a beer garden but with more comfortable looking furniture. The benches had backrests and were covered in fur. We took our seats and Hannah left to fetch some menus. When she returned she had three mugs of ale with her. She placed them in front of us. ¡°Um. We have not ordered anything yet.¡± I pointed out. ¡°Ah, that is customary so you have something to drink while you decide what to order!¡± She said with a smile. ¡°Here is the menu and the waiver if you want to order the specials. As for drinks, if you order a barrel it will be brought to your table!¡± You could order a whole barrel? I smiled. What a great place! Chapter 162: Metal The special menu was rather intriguing. They had all sorts of exotic dishes. ¡°Served in a mithril pot due to high acidity.¡± I read the description of one dish. ¡°That sounds interesting. Does that mean it would dissolve normal tableware?¡± ¡°That is slightly concerning. Are we more durable than steel?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°It is possible that it would only destroy ceramic and steel would be seen as not luxurious enough.¡± Lily suggested. ¡°Maybe I will stick to poisonous things instead.¡± Lucy said. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Those fruits we had on the way here were also acidic and rather delicious.¡± I mused. ¡°Hm. True.¡± Lucy agreed. ¡°I think I will have a scorching salamander curry.¡± Lily said. ¡°Fire attuned creatures have a nice taste.¡± ¡°Oh, I think I will have some deep fried thunderbird.¡± Lucy said. I looked at the dish on the menu. It said the breading was made from some blood drinking wheat. ¡°There is blood drinking wheat? We should not tell Shani about this. She would totally start growing it in our county.¡± I said. ¡°Who knows what grows there? It¡¯s a dangerous area on the edge of the Black Forest. Maybe we need exotic crops. And let¡¯s be honest, if it tastes good you would help her collect the blood.¡± Lucy teased. ¡°You may have a point¡­¡± I conceded. ¡°I think I will have the thunderbird as well. And let¡¯s have a barrel of knockout ale.¡± When Hannah returned we ordered our food and signed the waiver. ¡°I have to warn you, the food you have chosen can be lethal. A lot of people underestimate the danger.¡± ¡°Oh, I think we are fine.¡± I said with a smile. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Having a barrel brought to your table was interesting and very convenient. The ale was even strong enough to affect me a little, which was nice. The food looked rather delicious when it arrived. I noticed that Hanna was wearing gloves and her amulet was magical. Possible some form of protection. ¡°Oh, they have magical tableware.¡± I saw runes on the forks, knives and plates. ¡°Not a bad idea, if you can afford it. Maybe it even self cleans?¡± Lucy speculated. ¡°That would be convenient for a restaurant.¡± I agreed. ¡°Some nobles have experimented with mugs that purge poisons. But they soon found out that it ruins their wine. So it fell out of fashion quickly.¡± Lily said. I tried the deep-fried thunderbird. It felt a bit like pop rocks in my mouth. Was there still some electricity coursing through the meat? The taste was spectacular though. ¡°We need to hire a chef.¡± I said. ¡°Or maybe multiple. Maybe one from each nation so we get all sorts of different dishes!¡± ¡°I think one would be enough for now.¡± Lucy said. ¡°I shall look into it, my ladies.¡± Lily promised. After the main course we had regular chocolate cake for dessert. Of course with some coffee. We left the restaurant in a good mood. ¡°We need to find Tyrell and we need to buy some materials for our maids armour. What shall we do first?¡± I asked my companions. ¡°If he works for us and takes the job it might change what we need. He could have different methods or ideas.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°That is true.¡± I agreed. ¡°The metal would remain the same so we could purchase that.¡± Lily said. ¡°Can you easily buy large quantities of good metal? I think we should use mithril. It¡¯s lighter than adamantium and should still be durable enough.¡± ¡°Enchanted steel armour would already be a luxury my lady, you are too kind.¡± Lily said. ¡°If they work for us we are responsible for them. Being a maid knight can be dangerous. We expect them to fight for us. We have to make sure they are adequately protected.¡± I had a lot of money. I would certainly make sure our servants were properly equipped. ¡°I think we should go to the dwarven mining guild. If you want to buy in bulk they might sell us directly.¡± Lily suggested. We followed her plan and visited the headquarters of the mining guild. It was a rather nice building, clearly business was going well. I was not entirely sure what the guild actually did. Did they own all the mines? They did have a reception so I approached it. ¡°Greetings. I would like to purchase a large amount of mithril.¡± I told the dwarf behind the counter. ¡°Greetings! For the purchase of rare metals I will need to direct you to my supervisor. What trading company do you represent?¡± He asked. ¡°None. I am just buying for myself." I responded. The dwarf frowned. ¡°I see. Wait a moment please, I will contact my supervisor.¡± The dwarf left and hurried up the stairs. ¡°What was that about?¡± I wondered. ¡°It is possible that one needs a licence to trade in large quantities.¡± Lily explained. ¡°Especially when it comes to metals used in armour and weapons.¡± ¡°Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. They would not want someone to supply the Empire with mithril.¡± When the clerk returned he was accompanied by an older dwarf. He was bald, his long beard was grey and he had several wrinkles on his face. His green eyes were sharp. ¡°Greetings, I am Gronir.¡± ¡°Greetings. I am Countess Amaya Delphinium, this is Countess Lucy Delphinium and our maid knight Lily.¡± I introduced ourselves. ¡°We would like to purchase mithril.¡± ¡°Countess you say?¡± He stroked his beard. ¡°From the Dominion?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I confirmed. ¡°We might be able to do business then. Follow me please.¡± Chapter 163: Discovery We moved to Gronir¡¯s office. ¡°Can I offer you a drink? Whisky perhaps?¡± He asked. ¡°Sure.¡± I responded. After he handed us our drinks we all sat down. ¡°So, you would like some mithril? Is this to supply the Dominion?¡± He asked. ¡°It¡¯s for our personal force.¡± I responded. ¡°I see. I will need a confirmation from the palace about your identity. And the amount I can sell to a private person is limited.¡± ¡°How limited? If we wanted to forge armour, how many could be produced?¡± I asked. ¡°Hm.¡± He stroked his beard. ¡°Perhaps about twenty.¡± ¡°And how often could we purchase from you? Is this a yearly limitation?¡± I asked. Gronir smiled. ¡°Indeed it is. Although the crown might ask questions if a private person keeps buying mithril.¡± ¡°We are on good terms with the dwarven king and the elven queens.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Splendid! I will send my secretary to the palace to get an official confirmation about your identity. Meanwhile, we can talk about the price.¡± He looked excited. Maybe he enjoyed haggling. The door opened and a young dwarven woman entered. Her bronze skin was flawless. She had short black hair and light blue eyes. She smiled at us. Then her eyes widened in shock. Lily had pulled her naginata and had deployed her full armour. The blade of her weapon rested on the woman''s throat. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± Gronir shouted. ¡°She is a demon.¡± Lily responded. ¡°Demon? Outrageous!¡± Gronir protested. ¡°Please, help me! She is insane!¡± The woman pleaded. I felt a slight tingle in my mind. ¡°I think she is trying to use mind magic.¡± I said. ¡°Stop.¡± Lily told the woman, her blade pressing closer. Two armoured dwarves came running. Probably guards. ¡°Unhand Brita immediately!¡± One of them shouted. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Tears were now running down her face. ¡°She is a pretty good actor.¡± Lucy commented while sipping her whisky. We were both still sitting in our chairs. ¡°Is she a succubus?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, my lady. I felt her magic trying to influence us when she entered.¡± Lily said. ¡°Now now, let¡¯s all calm down!¡± Gronir said. ¡°This is all a misunderstanding!¡± He was sweating and clearly uncomfortable. ¡°Miss, remove your weapon.¡± A guard told Lily. Lily smiled. ¡°I am Lily, Storm Maid Knight of house Delphinium. Do not challenge me.¡± The dwarves hesitated. They were clearly intimidated. ¡°Now, Brita was it?¡± I addressed the captive. ¡°Why don¡¯t you take your true form. Otherwise I will have to let Lily loose on you. She is a bit of an expert when it comes to succubi.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a shame we don¡¯t have Shani with us¡­¡± Lucy said. ¡°Please, I am just a dwarf!¡± Brita sobbed. Lucy snickered, the line clearly reminded her of my past remarks. Lily grabbed the demon by the throat and lifted her. Then she looked into her eyes. ¡°Stop playing.¡± There was fear in Brita¡¯s eyes as she looked at Lily. Then she transformed. The dwarf was replaced by succubus. She had short black horns, crimson skin and a pointy tail. ¡°He made me do it!¡± She said and pointed at Gronir. ¡°What? I had no idea! I was deceived!¡± Gronir protested. The guards looked shocked and uncertain. ¡°Do you recognize her?¡± Lucy asked while pointing at Brita. ¡°No, my lady. She seems like a young succubus.¡± Lily replied. ¡°I am not young!¡± Brita protested. Lily looked at her. ¡°Ok, I am only fifty.¡± She admitted. ¡°Are you spying for Lilith?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes! I am a servant of the demon queen! You must release me or face her wrath!¡± She said, Lily snorted. ¡°She is way too inexperienced.¡± ¡°Didn''t you just say Gronir made you do it?¡± I asked. ¡°Uh¡­ um¡­¡± Brita was squirming in Lily¡¯s grip. ¡°I believe she might have been working with the guild to cheat their customers.¡± Lily theorised. That would make a lot of sense. Mind magic and seduction were some effective tools to influence people. But we could not rule out something more nefarious. ¡°I can see how she might have helped them make more money. But metal is used for weapons. She could have also made sure that the guild sells to the wrong people. She could have helped supply the Empire, for example.¡± I said. ¡°You are right, my lady.¡± Lily said. ¡°It will require a thorough investigation. I volunteer to question this fledgling.¡± Lily was having way too much fun with her captive. ¡°You are the expert.¡± Lucy said. ¡°You can also call on Shani if needed.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we need the Wrath for this.¡± The way Lily pronounced the title made her captive shudder. ¡°We also need to question Gronir.¡± I said looking at the dwarf. He looked really uncomfortable. ¡°I¡­ I do not have to justify myself! You have no authority here!¡± He said. ¡°Ah, maybe I should introduce myself again. I am Countess Amaya Delphinium. I am the Lady of Storms.¡± My eyes began to glow as I unleashed my aura. The guards dropped their weapons. The succubus in Lily¡¯s hand started trembling. Gronir¡¯s face went pale. ¡°I will tell you everything! I will serve you eternally! Please, do not kill me!¡± The succubus pleaded. I retracted my aura. ¡°I was summoned to help them with sales! I never killed anyone! I am only manipulating people! I don¡¯t work for Lilith. I am independent, trying to gain experience.¡± She pleaded. ¡°Did you help the Empire?¡± I asked. ¡°Um. I¡­ I also manipulated officials checking our records and helped some merchants get certifications¡­¡± She admitted. I looked at Gronir. ¡°I¡­ I will not say anything without a lawyer.¡± He tried to speak firmly but he was trembling. ¡°We could have Lily question him.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°No, we are inside the dwarven kingdom. They are our allies. We should let the proper authorities handle that.¡± I said. Then I looked at one of the guards. ¡°Please inform the city watch that they should send someone.¡± They nodded and both ran away, leaving their dropped weapons behind. Chapter 164: Succubus ¡°So, what is your actual name?¡± I asked the succubus. She looked panicked. I suppose the real name would allow me to summon her in the future. Or bind her. Actually, was she bound? ¡°Are you bound, or do you simply have a deal?¡± I asked. She seemed relieved that I dropped the name question. ¡°It is a deal. It helps me grow.¡± She answered. ¡°I can offer some more information.¡± Lily said. ¡°Demons are not that different from mortals. Well, succubi at least. They have parents, grow up and look for a job. Some of the more feral demons just go and hunt. They prey on weaker demons. Succubi tend to grow stronger through manipulation and seduction. Not something that you can train easily in hell.¡± ¡°But there are rather strong succubi. Isn''t Lilith one as well?¡± I asked. ¡°Oh, they can grow powerful. But they are weak initially and have a tough time improving in their environment. That is why they are often forced to serve other demons. Succubi are desired as concubines. But they are also feared once their mental powers develop. That means most are enslaved when young and their growth is limited. Lilith, being a succubus that became a demon lord, is the one exception. Of course she still demands loyalty, but she allows them to grow.¡± ¡°I see. So our fledgeling here managed to stay independent and got a deal to help her grow. So she can avoid the normal fate of her kind.¡± I concluded. ¡°Yes.¡± Lily confirmed. ¡°Of course, most young succubi who escape to the mortal plane end up being enslaved by a mortal instead.¡± Having insider information about hell was rather useful. ¡°So we should not be too hard on her.¡± Lucy said. ¡°But we still need more information from her.¡± ¡°Like her name.¡± I added. Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the city watch. A group of five dwarves appeared. ¡°Sir, those foreigners are trying to frame me!¡± Gronir shouted. ¡°I am an upstanding citizen, you need to protect me!¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. The guard who was in charge looked at Gronir, then he looked at us. He pulled out a piece of paper and studied it. ¡°Are you Amaya and Lucy Delphinium?¡± He asked. ¡°Yes.¡± We responded. He nodded, then he looked at Gronir. ¡°They are honoured guests of the palace. We have also received a note to not engage them for any reason. I will have to place you under arrest and report the incident to our superiors.¡± I was pleasantly surprised. The dwarves were rather organised. They even distributed proper descriptions of us to the city watch. ¡°Dwarves are smart, they expected you to cause trouble and were prepared.¡± Lucy said. ¡°What? That is surely just a standard procedure for visiting dignitaries.¡± I protested. ¡°A bit of both ma¡¯am.¡± The dwarf said. ¡°It¡¯s either for someone politically important, or someone powerful enough to cause problems. We can¡¯t have a city guard engage an archmage.¡± ¡°Sir, how do we handle the demon?¡± One of the guards asked their superior. ¡°Normally we just slay demons¡­¡± He said. ¡°You don¡¯t interrogate them?¡± I asked. ¡°Well, they are hard to contain and known for lying. It¡¯s usually not worth the risk.¡± ¡°No! Don¡¯t slay me! I can be useful! I can work for you!¡± She pleaded. Tears were streaming down her face. ¡°See, she is pretending to be all innocent. A lot of people would fall for it. If I arrest her she will likely disappear and we end up with a bunch of dead or heartbroken guards.¡± He said. ¡°She does have some important information. And she is young and weak.¡± I pointed out. ¡°I will have to take your word for it. I am not an expert on demons. I could leave her in your custody. We were told you are rather powerful.¡± ¡°I can take care of her, my ladies.¡± Lily offered. ¡°I know how to handle her kind.¡± ¡°Go for it.¡± Lucy said. ¡°She is our demon expert.¡± I told the guards. Two of them were busy arresting Gronir, who stopped his protests, for now. The dwarf in charge was writing something down on a piece of paper. Then he offered it to me. ¡°I will need you to sign this, ma¡¯am.¡± I looked at it. Essentially it stated that I took responsibility for the demon and would be liable if she escaped and caused further damage. Also, it made me realise that it was in imperial. I did not actually know dwarvish. ¡°How come everyone is speaking imperial?¡± I wondered while signing the document. ¡°All guards are required to learn imperial ma¡¯am. It is the international language of trade. Most learn elvish as well.¡± He explained as I handed him the paper. I had never asked Lucy what languages she spoke. So far everyone was talking in imperial. Would that be a problem in our county? Should I teach her elvish? ¡°That would be all, thank you for your cooperation.¡± The dwarf said. Then the guards left with Gronir. ¡°I guess we are not buying any mithril today.¡± Lucy said. It was a minor setback. But I was sure we could arrange something if we asked the king. ¡°I would like to thank you for sparing me.¡± The succubus said. ¡°Maybe I can serve as your concubine¡­¡± Lily laughed, then she transformed. We were alone in the office now. ¡°Even if they were interested, you are a few centuries too young, little one. Lady Amaya is an archfey. Lady Lucy is a Kitsune. And I¡­ Once a servant of Lilith, I am now their Storm Maid Knight. I have witnessed their power. They are a force of nature. They are the eternal storm. Now, tell us your name.¡± The succubus watched us with a mixture of fear and awe. ¡°I¡­ I am Niralesthana," she said. Chapter 165: Merchant ¡°Ah, we are getting somewhere.¡± I said. ¡°Hello there, Nira. Is it fine if I shorten your name?¡± ¡°Yes, my lady.¡± She said, ¡°Perfect! Now, what can you tell us about the Empire? I do care less about local corruption.¡± ¡°As far as I know, Gronir was only interested in money. But the Empire was willing to pay a lot. I¡­ I was sent to influence an official. I made them grant a licence to a merchant who supplies the Empire.¡± Nira admitted. ¡°I see. I guess we need to visit that merchant.¡± I said. ¡°We could confiscate their wares.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°I don¡¯t think we have that kind of authority in the Dwarven Kingdom.¡± I pointed out. ¡°Nobody would dare stop you, my lady.¡± Lily said. ¡°Just because we can get away with it, does not mean we should do it.¡± I responded. Lucy shrugged. ¡°We exposed some major corruption. A reward for us seems justified.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s locate that merchant first.¡± I said. ¡°I can lead you to her headquarters.¡± Nira offered. ¡°Perfect! You should disguise yourself as a dwarf again. We don¡¯t want to draw too much attention.¡± Lily transformed into her well known dragonkin shape. Nira became Brita once more. That should help us. We left the guild and made our way towards the merchant. ¡°What will happen to me, once this is over?¡± Nira asked. ¡°My ladies, I would like to make use of her.¡± Lily said. ¡°Make use? You want her as a maid knight?¡± I asked. ¡°Indeed. She is young and untrained. I think I can mould her into a useful tool.¡± ¡°If she agrees. Otherwise we should just banish her.¡± Lucy said. ¡°We don¡¯t want to force anyone into working for us.¡± I nodded. ¡°Lucy is right. Nira needs to agree.¡± ¡°What is a maid knight?¡± Nira asked, hesitantly. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Lady Amaya is an archfey. She has granted me the powers of an elemental knight. I have become her Storm Maid Knight. I am the leader of this knightly order. It is our duty to serve our ladies as maids and knights. We care for them, we fight for them, we die for them.¡± Lily explained. The dying part sounded a bit dramatic but I guess it was expected of a soldier to risk their lives. ¡°You will be paid for your services. Your loyalty will be expected and rewarded. If you betray us, you will be fed to the court elemental.¡± Lily continued. ¡°She will probably bathe in your blood, literally.¡± Lucy added. ¡°Court elemental?¡± Nira asked. ¡°Shani. She is an elemental lord from the plane of wind.¡± I explained. ¡°May I think about it?¡± Nira asked. ¡°Sure.¡± I responded. ¡°You can talk to our other recruits and maid knights before you make a decision.¡± We arrived at the merchant''s home, which also served as an office. The building had two stories. It looked nice, business must be good. ¡°What is the name of this merchant?¡± I asked before entering. ¡°Her name is Sandra.¡± Nira said. We were greeted by a receptionist who recognized Brita. She told us to go straight to the office, Sandra would be happy to see us. The office was lavishly decorated. Sandra was a middle aged woman with blond hair and brown eyes. Her body was in good shape, it looked like she exercised regularly. She greeted us with a warm smile. ¡°Ah, Brita! And you brought friends! Is this a new business opportunity? Maybe with the Dominion? I would love to expand my trade.¡± ¡°Hello Sandra. These are my¡­ friends. Countess Amaya and Lucy Delphinium.¡± Nira introduced us. ¡°Friends? I see. I would like to be their friend as well. Perhaps we can all get to know each other more closely?¡± Sandra¡¯s tone was clearly suggesting a more intimate way of getting to know each other. ¡°Is she also a succubus?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Succubus? Brita, what are they talking about? ¡± Sandra asked, sounding confused but also intrigued. ¡°No, she is just¡­ I might have brought some people in the past for entertainment.¡± She confessed. ¡°Maybe I should teach the lady some manners.¡± Lily suggested. ¡°Uhhh, I see. Yes, I have been naughty.¡± Sandra said. I sighed. ¡°We know you are supplying the Empire. We are here to ask some questions and then hand you over to the authorities.¡± ¡°She is a human, we should check her for mind control runes.¡± Lucy pointed out. Sandra¡¯s eyes widened. Was she controlled? Would she have orders to resist arrest? Better not to take any risks, I decided. I started casting devour magic. The spell completed and black fog appeared around Sandra. She screamed as the spell did its job. It seemed to eat away at something. ¡°What is happening?¡± Nira asked. ¡°It looks like she was mind controlled. I am breaking the spell.¡± I answered. Then I moved closer to Sandra and used my healing spell. The woman was now on the floor, she had fallen off her chair. She was sweating and breathing hard. ¡°Are you alright?¡± I asked. She stared at me. ¡°You¡­ you freed me. You actually broke the spell.¡± Then she started crying. I gave her a hug. After a while she calmed down. ¡°Can you answer a few questions?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes. Yes I can.¡± She said. ¡°Are there more people being controlled here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I had strict orders to never talk about them.¡± ¡°Why control a merchant?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Because everyone outside the country is a lot harder to control.¡± Sandra answered. ¡°In the old days they kept families hostage, but this is safer. We can¡¯t become double agents like this. Securing more metal for the army was considered a high priority.¡± ¡°The Empire is large. Surely they have a lot of mines themselves.¡± I said. ¡°Mithril and adamantium are hard to mine. They are often found in dangerous locations. The Empire does not have that much. But more importantly, the Inquisition needed supplies that the Emperor did not know about.¡± ¡°So the Inquisition was gathering high quality materials. I wonder if they have a secret strike force somewhere to deal with high level threats.¡± I said. ¡°Surely they would have sent them after us by now.¡± Lucy argued. ¡°I don¡¯t know. The demon incident in Unitera was not planned by them. Elias might have acted on his own when he engaged us. Maybe their force was not in position yet. Or they wanted to keep their main strength hidden to surprise the Emperor.¡± ¡°I will secure the receptionist and ensure she is not controlled.¡± Lily said. ¡°Good. I think we need to report this to the king.¡± I said. Chapter 166: Report The receptionist was not controlled, that was good news. We still took her with us. Other agents from the Empire might target her, now that her boss had been freed. Then we returned to the palace. We would have to come back to the city another time. Reporting our findings to the king was more important than recruiting a smith. King Dalroc met with us in his office. ¡°I heard there was an incident and you found something important.¡± He said, after greeting us. ¡°Yes, this is Sandra. She is a merchant who was controlled. And this is Nira, a succubus who was employed by the mining guild to cheat their customers.¡± ¡°She is really a succubus?¡± Sandra asked. Oh, right. We mentioned that fact to her but then got distracted. ¡°Yes.¡± I confirmed. ¡°Show them.¡± I told Nira. She discarded her disguise and turned into a succubus. Sandra looked intrigued. ¡°Wait, let¡¯s start from the beginning. What happened?¡± Dalroc asked. I described our encounter with the guild and the following discovery of the merchant. Dalroc did not look happy. ¡°I knew that the guild was ruthless. I just thought they were exceptionally good negotiators. I even had them investigated. Nothing was found.¡± He said. ¡°Um, sir¡­ I¡­ I might have influenced the investigator.¡± Nira admitted. ¡°I see.¡± The king said. ¡°They had charms to protect their minds from being influenced.¡± ¡°I¡­ I convinced them to take them off.¡± Nira said. ¡°I did not need magic for that.¡± Dalroc sighed. ¡°That is rather disturbing to hear. I wonder what else the Empire, or the Inquisition, have infiltrated.¡± ¡°We should try to catch more spies. Are there any you know of? Or suspect?¡± I asked. ¡°I will need to talk with my spymaster. And my generals. I need to accelerate our preparations for war.¡± He said. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Why?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°That the Inquisition had a secret supply of metal is bad news. I don¡¯t know how much they acquired. We need to check a lot of mining guild records. But I doubt that they would mind control a merchant if it was not a substantial amount. It also shows their reach. What I am truly concerned about is Beravis. It¡¯s a human nation.¡± ¡°We already know that the Inquisition has used demons. If they have succubi in Beravis to lure people in, then capture and brand them with runes¡­¡± Nira was not even very experienced, or powerful. Yet she was able to cause a lot of damage. ¡°You think their government has already been infiltrated?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Hard to say. But it is an obvious target. I had assumed the Inquisition¡¯s discovery of mind control runes was more recent. But¡­ How long have you been enslaved, Sandra?¡± ¡°Two years, your majesty.¡± ¡°Two years¡­ Imagine how many people they could have compromised in a human nation during that time.¡± ¡°How did they capture you?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I had family in the Empire but grew up mostly in Iron Rock. My father was a merchant and I became his apprentice. We had a good relationship with the dwarves, but still had ties to the Empire. That made our family interesting. I took over the business ten years ago. My parents retired in the Empire. Soon afterwards, I was asked to move my business to Mountainheart. Mostly they just wanted information, or some harmless deals. They made it clear that my parents would be fine, as long as I obeyed.¡± She paused for a moment. ¡°Two years ago I got a message that my parents were ill. I travelled to the Empire to see them. But they were already dead. Instead, I was captured and¡­ I don¡¯t know what they did. I remember a lot of pain. In the end, I became their slave. They gave me orders and sent me off. Afterwards they demanded metal. As much as I could get. I was lucky that the guild was so interested in profits¡­¡± It was a strange coincidence that the mining guild was already using a succubus to get around regulations. Then again, maybe the Empire was aware of that and decided to make use of the situation. Or one of their agents talked Gronir into using demons to increase his profits. ¡°We need to crush those bastards.¡± Lucy said. There was a lot of anger in her voice. ¡°Yes.¡± The King agreed. ¡°But we might have to fight on two fronts. Even if they don¡¯t control the government in Beravis, they might influence politics enough to get them involved. If the Dominion sends troops to the Empire¡­¡± ¡°Beravis might attack the Dominion.¡± I finished his sentence. ¡°Maybe I need to cancel the feast.¡± Dalroc mused. ¡°We need to act more quickly.¡± ¡°But we are still missing a counter to the runes.¡± I said. ¡°Yes. We might just have to try and capture anyone who is controlled. Maybe we can put them into a coma until we find a cure. Can the Lady of the Forest provide any help?¡± Dalroc asked. ¡°I don¡¯t really know her¡­¡± I admitted. ¡°I see. Well, at least we have one archfey on our side.¡± He said with a smile. ¡°That does give me confidence.¡± ¡°Maybe we should try to contact Lilith?¡± Lily suggested. ¡°She wanted to talk after all. She might know more about Beravis.¡± ¡°I would normally reject the idea of working with a demon lord. They only respect power and will never offer a fair deal to mortals. But as an archfey¡­¡± He shrugged. ¡°She will take you seriously. And you seem to know how to handle succubi.¡± ¡°How would we contact Lilith?¡± Lucy asked Lily. ¡°She has minions everywhere. I am sure I could find one, if you give me a day or so.¡± She said, ¡°Let me guess, she will have agents in a brothel.¡± I said. ¡°That¡­ that is likely the case. The natural shapeshifting of succubi makes them hard to detect. And brothels are a good place for information gathering. It would be an establishment that serves nobles.¡± ¡°I¡­ uh¡­ I might know a place.¡± Sandra admitted. Chapter 167: Old Acquaintance While Dalroc called a meeting with his generals and advisors, we left to visit the brothel. It was time to establish contact with Lilith. The place Sandra led us to was called Exotic Pleasures. It was a rather fancy place. The building was made from marble and I could see golden trims along the windows. They had a dwarven bouncer outside the door. He studied us as we approached. ¡°Lady Sandra, welcome back.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± She said with a smile. ¡°Are you a frequent customer?¡± I wondered. ¡°Yes. It was always a nice distraction from my situation. I could not escape the runes, but at least I could forget them, for a while.¡± Sandra answered. We entered a nice lounge. There were plush chairs and couches with small tables next to them. Of course, they had a bar. It was manned by an elf in a suit who smiled at us. Sandra walked towards the reception area. Behind it was a catkin woman dressed in a pink maid outfit. ¡°Sandra! And you brought friends! Do you want them to join you?¡± The enthusiastic woman asked. ¡°Hello Kathy! I was hoping to talk to the madam.¡± Sandra said. ¡°For you, sure! You know the way to her office, go ahead. She should be available.¡± I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Are you some sort of VIP customer?¡± I asked. ¡°Um. The merchant business paid well. And¡­ I don¡¯t know. Somehow the madam here took a liking to me.¡± She shrugged. ¡°You know, I have received a lot of preferential treatment here¡­¡± Sandra led us to the office and knocked. ¡°Come in!¡± A voice said. The madam was a beautiful night elf. She had snow white hair and flawless obsidian skin. She smiled at us. ¡°Sandra, what a pleasure!¡± Then she spotted Lucy and myself. Her eyes grew wide. ¡°Oh? Do you recognize us?¡± I asked. ¡°No, but your beauty caught me off guard.¡± She responded. It only took her a second to get her face under control. ¡°I am Erin, welcome to my establishment! What can I do for you?¡± ¡°She is a succubus, my lady.¡± Lily said. ¡°Probably a high succubus.¡± Erin sighed. ¡°I have heard about you. I guess we can skip my denial. Eshantri had some interesting things to say. I was waiting for orders to contact you.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Your admission does make things simpler.¡± I said. ¡°Is there a way to speak with Lilith directly?¡± Lucy asked. I looked at her. ¡°What? Why waste time with her minions. Let¡¯s just get it over with.¡± She reasoned. ¡°You make a good point.¡± I admitted. ¡°You¡­ you want to talk with Lilith? Directly?¡± Erin stared at us. Then she looked at Nira, who was currently in her dwarven form but looked rather panicked. ¡°Who is she? One of ours?¡± Erin asked. ¡°How do succubi recognize each other? Don¡¯t you have pretty undetectable shapeshifting?¡± I wondered. ¡°For the most part, yes. But succubi often employ mind magic that can be detected. Especially those with less experience might do it unconsciously. There is also the mannerism and sometimes the form they take. A lot of them shapeshift into bodies that are slightly too perfect. While magic might do similar things to a normal humanoid, succubi often just take a step too far. Look at Erin. Anyone with enhanced eyesight, who looks at her skin, will realise something is off. It could be an illusion but those can be countered.¡± Lily explained. ¡°So, if you can see through normal magic and something still looks too perfect it¡¯s likely a shapeshifter.¡± I concluded. ¡°It is a strong indication, yes.¡± She confirmed. ¡°Or at least a magical being of some kind.¡± Erin studied Lily. ¡°You know way too much. Who are you really?¡± ¡°Go ahead.¡± I told her. Maybe it was time to stop hiding her. At least from Lilith, if we wanted to work with her. Lily transformed into a succubus. Not just that. She had only been wearing the maid outfit part but now she deployed her plate underneath. ¡°Lilastheria¡­¡± Erin said. ¡°And¡­ that armour¡­ it is demonic!¡± Nira had transformed as well. Erin paid her no mind though. She stood up and approached our maid knight. Once she stood before her, she turned into a succubus as well. Her skin was ash grey and her horns were black, as was her hair. Erin¡¯s eyes were golden. And she had wings. ¡°Erinastha.¡± Lily said with a nod. ¡°You know each other?¡± I asked. ¡°We worked together in the past.¡± Lily confirmed. ¡°So, she is a high succubus?¡± Lucy asked, while pointing at the wings. ¡°Yes, and she is stronger than Eshantri.¡± Lily said. ¡°How strong?¡± I asked. Lily smirked. ¡°I could spank her, if she misbehaves.¡± Erin frowned. ¡°Really? You think you have grown that much? You know, Lilith was quite concerned that you suddenly disappeared. How was your bond broken?¡± Lily snorted. ¡°Yeah, that is likely the only part that concerned Lilith.¡± ¡°You were kept out of the loop ever since the Inquisition started using you! We did not stop caring!¡± Erin protested. ¡°You know how it is, you have been around long enough!¡± ¡°I was likely just bait, right? You hoped the inquisition would experiment on me at some point? And that you could use me as a beacon to find their researchers?¡± Lily asked. ¡°After we noticed succubi disappearing, we kept a closer look on the remaining ones¡­¡± Erin said. ¡°Really? And nobody noticed us capturing her?¡± I wondered. ¡°Well¡­¡± Erin looked a bit embarrassed now. ¡°Iron Rock was complicated. Mantus'' appearance and defeat were a bit of a surprise. Our information about the event was limited, but it pointed towards the Dominion. Lilastheria did not seem to be in any immediate danger and we focused on others¡­¡± ¡°So someone classified her as being at low risk and not in the most useful position, then she was abandoned.¡± I concluded. ¡°Not abandoned! It was simply decided that we had to focus our resources elsewhere¡­¡± Erin protested. ¡°Let me guess, the decision was from Arianasthera?¡± Lily said. ¡°I guess you never got along¡­¡± Erin admitted. ¡°Succubi politics are fascinating.¡± Lucy said. ¡°You never really told us much about your life, Lily.¡± ¡°Apologies, my lady. I had no intention of hiding anything. I just did not consider it relevant. I was not that important. I was just a disposable tool. One of many.¡± Lily said. ¡°You were much more than that!¡± Erin said. ¡°You had a lot of potential! Despite not being a high succubus!¡± ¡°Most did not see it that way.¡± Lily countered. ¡°We really need to have a longer conversation about this. But first, I assume you are aware that Sandra is controlled?¡± Erin said. ¡°Was. I freed her.¡± I said. Sandra gasped. ¡°YOU KNEW?¡± She shouted. ¡°Of course. That is why I seduced you personally. And offered discounts. I wanted to study the runes. When we captured mind controlled people in the past it never ended well. I tried a new approach.¡± Erin explained. Chapter 168: Succubi Sandra was not happy about that revelation. It was understandable. But in the end, Erin did not harm her and had no ability to actually help her. ¡°Are you aware of other people who are controlled?¡± I asked. ¡°I do not have the authority to share such information. You will need to ask Lilith.¡± Erin said. ¡°How can we contact her?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I can set up a communication ritual. If you are willing to provide some magic to power it¡­¡± Erin said. ¡°I think we can handle that.¡± It was interesting that she asked us to do it. Was she not powerful enough herself? How did they communicate normally? Or was it a social convention? Was I expected to provide the magic because I sought an audience? ¡°Make sure to mention to Lilith that her servants were too cheap to fuel the ritual.¡± Lily said. Erin glared at her. Lily smiled. ¡°The spell they use is quite tricky. She is too weak to do it herself. It will need a 7th tier spell slot. But you can lower the cost with expensive ingredients down to tier four.¡± ¡°Oh. So this is just about money?¡± I asked. ¡°That, and she wants to hide how weak she is. Well, compared to you.¡± Lily explained. ¡°Stop giving away our secrets!¡± Erin complained. ¡°Our? Dear Erin, you still don¡¯t understand. I serve a new lady. Well, two ladies even. I gave them my oath. I am theirs until the end of time.¡± Lily said. Erin did not look happy about that. I guess she was still hoping that Lily would return. How close were they in the past? ¡°So, when can we contact Lilith?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Do I¡­ do I have to be part of this?¡± Nira asked. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°What is with the fledgling? Where did you find her?¡± Erin asked. ¡°She was working for the mining guild.¡± I explained. ¡°Curious. I can take good care of her.¡± She offered. ¡°No!¡± Nira squeaked. ¡°I think she does not want to.¡± I pointed out. ¡°She is young. Succubi tend to be rebellious until they reach 100 or so. If you leave her, she is likely going to be captured by a different demon lord.¡± Erin said. ¡°We offered her a job.¡± Lucy said. ¡°But it is her decision. She can join you, or us, or just go her own path.¡± ¡°How fast do succubi grow up?¡± I asked. ¡°Physically? About 16 years. Mentally? I would say about twenty. Power wise? That depends. We have some abilities from birth but it takes until about 10 till we learn some control. I would say with 16 most have first circle spells mastered. At around forty to fifty we break into the 2nd circle and around 100 we unlock the 3rd. In rare cases some succubi are stuck at the 2nd.¡± Erin glared at Lily, but remained silent. Our maid knight continued: ¡°As you know, I have reached the 4th circle. That is considered talented, many remain at the 3rd. High succubi regularly reach the 4th circle and often go to the 5th. In rare cases they unlock even higher circles. We also have our mental powers. We can enhance them temporarily with spells but they are always available. Like your aura. They are the true reason we are feared.¡± ¡°Why is everyone treating Nira like a child, if she is fully grown?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°It¡¯s our society. Part of it has to do with power and your ability to survive in hell. But mostly it¡¯s that younger ones are more impulsive. More impatient. Once you have lived for a while, you start to see the world differently. It¡¯s not that different from how elves treat their young.¡± Lily explained. I suppose humans were not that different. In my old world, we called people adults when they turned 18. Then we refused to take them seriously. We dismissed all their concerns and problems as inexperience. ¡°I see. Well, she can make her own choices. We are not going to force her, and neither are you.¡± I stared at Erin. To truly make my point I released my aura. Erin gasped, her feet trembled. Then she fell to the floor. I retraced my power. Did I overdo it? ¡°That was awesome.¡± Lucy said. I looked around the room. Lily smiled. Sandra was breathing heavily, but still standing. Nira¡¯s eyes were wide. She did experience my aura before. Maybe it was Erin¡¯s behaviour that surprised her. Actually, why was she hit harder? Did I manage to focus most of my power on her? ¡°You¡­ you have made your point.¡± Erin said. Then she stood up and straightened her clothes. She tried to look professional but she still looked shaken. ¡°Shall we move to the ritual circle?¡± She said, ¡°You have a permanent one?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes. It is hidden in plain sight. Some people like to pretend they are part of a dark ritual while they use our services.¡± Erin explained. ¡°And are they part of a dark ritual?¡± I asked. ¡°Of course not!¡± Erin said. ¡°Isn''t that inconvenient?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°It means you can only call your boss when the room is empty.¡± ¡°It is not booked that often.¡± Erin said. ¡°I would not be surprised if they simply charmed whoever is in there in an emergency. Also, they likely get some benefit from the room. Maybe they collect and store energy for later use.¡± I theorised. We were talking about succubi after all. The expression on Erin¡¯s face indicated that I was onto something. So I smiled at her. ¡°We do not harm anyone here.¡± She simply said. ¡°How many people who work here know that you are a succubus?¡± Lucy asked. That was an interesting point. ¡°Three are aware, out of the ten people I employ. Of course, I am only talking about this establishment. I won¡¯t talk about Lilith¡¯s operations in the city.¡± Fair enough. I respected her loyalty. Chapter 169: Lilith We arrived at the room with the ritual circle. It reminded me a bit of some whacky love hotel rooms I had seen online. There were plenty of plush cushions on the floor. The circle was in the centre. It was red but clearly not made from blood. Nira decided to wait outside. I was curious if she would try to run away. I would not stop her. I was honest about my offer. If she wanted to leave, she was free to do so. By now she had given us the most important information. Interestingly, Sandra joined us. ¡°How does this work? How will we communicate?¡± Lucy asked, while looking at the circle. ¡°A projection of Lady Lilith will appear in the centre. You can talk to her as if she was personally here.¡± Erin explained. Interesting. I made sure to study the runes for later use. Although my arcane knowledge would likely allow me to construct something similar. Erin placed a ruby in the centre. It was magical. I could see faint runes on the surface. ¡°This gem will not be consumed but it is vital.¡± Erin said. ¡°It tells Lilith who is calling her. Otherwise she might not bother to answer.¡± Lily explained. Erin sighed but completed her preparations. ¡°Just power the circle when you are ready¡­¡± She said, I took another minute to study the runes. Not just for further reference, but to make sure there was nothing dangerous in there. There was part that was weirdly glowing. ¡°Huh. They have an invisible part there. You could use this to actually summon Lilith. It would need a lot more power though. Hm. I think this connects to some storage crystal downstairs.¡± Erin¡¯s eyes grew wide. ¡°Clever. They are actually using this brothel in a long term plan to allow Lilith to be summoned at some point. Why would she want to come here though?¡± I wondered. ¡°We could ask her directly. There is no harm in activating the talking part, right?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Well, actually a bit of the power get¡¯s syphoned away. Hm. I think I can fix this.¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°NO!¡± Erin shouted. ¡°Don¡¯t modify the circle!¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing permanent. You see, I can just feed this rune here with a sixth level spell slot and it all works.¡± I said with a smile while pointing at the rune. Then I activated it. As the circle glowed, red smoke formed in the centre. It took the shape of a succubus, then solidified. The demon¡¯s skin was crimson, her eyes were golden with a slit pupil. Her horns were black and covered in golden runes. Lilth¡¯s beautiful hair reached her shoulder blades. It was black. Interestingly, I saw no wings but she did have a pointy tail. She also had a very generous bust. Lilith was dressed in black pants and a leather corset that would likely be a top tier armour in a video game. Then again, maybe it could transform into actual armour. Also, she was not actually here. As real as it looked, it was only a projection. ¡°What is this?¡± A smooth voice asked. There was confusion on her face. ¡°Erinastha, what have you done?¡± Erin kneeled before the demon lord. ¡°Mistress, I brought Amaya. She wanted to contact you. But she¡­ she might have done something to the runes! I could not stop her!¡± ¡°Hey, I only bypassed your energy syphon. I am not donating my power to your summoning.¡± I said. Lilith looked at me. ¡°Who told you about the summoning?¡± ¡°It was sort of obvious when I studied your circle.¡± I said. ¡°This is just a projection, right? She is not really here?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Yes.¡± I confirmed. Lucy poked the projection with her finger. ¡°Huh. It¡¯s sort of solid.¡± ¡°Stop that!¡± Lilith complained. ¡°How dare you treat me with such disrespect!¡± The demon lord unleashed her aura. But she was not truly here, so it was rather weak. Before I could unleash my own Lucy acted. She had an aura as well. And it looked like she had been practising. Lilith¡¯s influence shattered. Erin gasped. Sandra retreated to the far wall. ¡°What? Why do you have an aura?¡± Lilith asked. ¡°She is a kitsune.¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s do some introductions. I am Amaya Delphinium, archfey. This is my lover Lucy Delphinium, a kitsune. And you might know Lily here, our maid knight. And over there is Sandra. Your rude behaviour has scared her away.¡± ¡°An archfey and a kitsune?¡± Lilith studied us. There was a lot more respect in her eyes now. ¡°I am Lilith, demon lord. It¡¯s rare that I meet any peers. And the whole situation has caught me off guard. Apologies.¡± Then her eyes fell on Lily. ¡°Lilastheria?¡± ¡°Lady Lilith, I have willingly sworn myself to house Delphinium. I am their loyal Storm Maid Knight.¡± She said, Her voice was firm as she looked directly in the eyes of her former boss. Lilith looked at me. ¡°You have stolen one of mine.¡± ¡°No. We have offered her a job and she accepted.¡± I said. ¡°While we originally bonded her, she was given a choice and decided to serve us.¡± Lilith snorted. ¡°A choice? Yes. I am sure you did. What do you want for her?¡± ¡°Lady Lilith, I have made my choice. I swore an oath and I accepted their power. I am not coming back.¡± Lily said. ¡°Our servant is standing here, proudly. Yours is trembling on the floor. That could be a clue why she is working for us.¡± Lucy said. I laughed. Lilith was less amused. ¡°What do you want, other than to mock me?¡± ¡°We want to stop the Inquisition and their mind control runes. We have not found an easy fix so far, but I can break the control. Unfortunately, it still leaves them vulnerable and requires high level magic. While we work on a solution we are trying to find out who is actually leading them. And how far their plot has spread.¡± I said. ¡°If you want an alliance you will have to give me something in return¡­¡± Lilith said. ¡°Why?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°We can do this without you. We have killed the last demon lord we met. Amaya even has a way to free some people. If they manage to control succubi¡­ You don¡¯t have a way to free anyone, do you? You should be paying us.¡± Lucy did have a point. And she looked really cool staring down a demon lord. Maybe I should let her do the talking and grab some popcorn. That would be kind of rude though. Chapter 170: Negotiations Lilith took a moment to think. Then she smiled. ¡°So, who is in charge between you two? I was under the impression that Amaya, the archfey, was leading your group. But are you the real power, Lucy?¡± ¡°Uhhh, a classic.¡± I said. ¡°Trying to cast a rift between us. You are hoping to create friction that you can exploit.¡± Screw it, this called for a snack. I did not have popcorn. Did this world even know about them? I did have crisps though¡­ The locals had figured them out. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Lilith asked as I started munching. ¡°Those are crisps. Thinly sliced potatoes, fried in oil, covered in salt. Don¡¯t you have them in hell?¡± I asked. ¡°I think she is confused that you are eating snacks during a negotiation.¡± Lucy said. She was clearly amused. ¡°Obviously her spies are lacking.¡± ¡°So, Lucy, maybe we can negotiate a deal.¡± Lilith said, ignoring me. Ah, she was sticking to her tactic. This was getting amusing. While I did make most of the decisions, and Lucy was my warlock, I considered us partners. We did not even have a true fight yet, despite being in a relationship. ¡°Sure. So you need our help. You are stuck in hell, your minions are not that effective and an unknown power is closing in. It seems that the only other demon lord involved is Ashmedai.¡± Lucy said. ¡°And it looks like you are not friends. Seems to me that he is making your work more difficult with his own machinations.¡± I added. ¡°Indeed.¡± Lucy said. ¡°So you have no allies at home. And I doubt many people in this world are offering to work with you.¡± ¡°Oh, another thing.¡± I had a thought. ¡°Demons can be bound, or simply summoned. A bound demon has to obey their master. That means some of your servants can¡¯t report back to you. Now, as a demon lord, you should have the power to break those bonds. But that would be noticeable.¡± Lilith looked between us. Then she sighed. ¡°Yes. If I free them too early they might not have useful information, yet. Also, a lot of mortals seem unaware that I can override those bonds with my power. I don¡¯t want to educate them. But most of my minions are only summoned anyway. Binding a demon is not easy.¡± What she did not mention was that many people screwed up the demon bindings. A lot of misinformation was spread to ensure that the resulting bond could be taken over by the demon, in time. Then the summoner became the slave. Demon lords in general were playing an interesting game. They allowed some to be controlled to entice humans. They also ensured that a lot of the information on bonds was compromised. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Hey, Lily once mentioned that demon lords have a connection to their subjects, right? But she did not quite understand how it worked. Could the mind control runes on succubi be used to influence Lilith?¡± Lucy asked. Lucy might be a genius. I had not even thought about that. ¡°I have always looked at bonds as a protection against the mind control. But if the connection is weak¡­ Maybe they could be used to influence her in large enough numbers. But they would likely need hundreds of succubi, or more.¡± I theorised. ¡°Without knowing more about the connection I can¡¯t say anything for sure.¡± Was the Inquisition ambitious enough to try and control a demon lord? What was their end goal? Control of the continent? Control of the world? ¡°Mistress?¡± Erin said, looking frightened. ¡°Is this true?¡± ¡°You were not supposed to hear that. We shall discuss this later.¡± Lilith said. Then she looked at Lucy. ¡°Yes. This is a concern. Although it is simply a hypothesis. And they have not even succeeded in making their runes work on a demon. But I have no idea which of my enemies could be behind it. I have suspected for a while that the Inquisition has a powerful backer. Some entity pulling the strings.¡± ¡°Is this why you are preparing a summoning? You want to enter this world to fight the threat personally?¡± I asked. Maybe she was more worried than she looked. It was not merely concern about her minions being enslaved, she feared that they could ultimately control her too. Lilith ignored the question. Instead she said: ¡°I assume your maid knights are a similar concern for you.¡± ¡°My ladies¡­ could they¡­ could they get to you? Through the maid knights?¡± Lily asked, looking frightened. I considered that. ¡°No. Our bond is based on an oath of loyalty. Either the bond would win, or it would break.¡± There were other parts too. Shani had opened a permanent connection to the plane of wind during the storm knight ceremony. That power circulated through our bond and it would destroy foreign magic. Our whole construction was rather solid. Lucy smiled. ¡°See, our way of doing things has a lot of benefits.¡± ¡°Oath of loyalty?¡± Lilith snorted. ¡°Loyal to who? Would that bond break if you both gave contradicting orders?¡± There was a loud crunching sound as I munched on more crisps. It seemed to really annoy Lilith. The amusing truth was that having two people on the top strengthened the bond. Lucy could not betray me, because she was my warlock. That was why any oath to both of us was so solid. ¡°It would lead to a discussion and a clarification of the orders. You see, we have a functioning relationship. I guess you have never experienced something like that.¡± Lucy said. Nice burn. I ate more crisps. ¡°Ok. I admit that I could use your help. But do not underestimate my agents. I am sure that my information network among the mortals is bigger than yours. And I am among the oldest demon lords in existence. Once we figure out who our true enemy is, you might want me fighting by your side.¡± Lilith said. Ah. Maybe she was finally taking this seriously. I stored my crisps, for now. ¡°Fighting by our side? So you want us to summon you?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes. I fully intend to personally tear the fools apart who dared to challenge me. The Inquisition shall burn.¡± Her face showed a lot of hatred. ¡°What about Ashmedai and his cult?¡± I asked. ¡°I care little about the fool. If he stands in our way we shall crush him too.¡± She responded. ¡°We want to stop the mind control and save the enslaved people. Not just burn everything to the ground.¡± Lucy clarified. ¡°I am willing to spare them, if possible.¡± Lilith said. ¡°And I do have some succubi who have studied magic and might help with finding a cure.¡± ¡°We have not agreed to summon you.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Indeed. We would need an agreement first.¡± And probably a discussion with our allies. The king would certainly want to know about a demon lord appearing in his capital. Chapter 171: A Deal? ¡°Of course. I would not expect you to summon me without clear terms.¡± Lilith said. ¡°I will have one of my servants create a draft for you to look over.¡± Damn. We did not have a lawyer on our team. Who was good with contracts? Then again, did we need something complicated? In the end, we were the stronger party if it came to a straight fight. Lilith wouldn''t want to escalate things. Lilith stretched. ¡°It¡¯s been a long time since I have entered the mortal plane. A shame that it has to be under such circumstances. Maybe I should take a vacation afterwards.¡± ¡°You have been here before?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Sure. I have even visited the realm of the fey. Staying in hell for millenia can get a bit boring. I assume you are a rather young kitsune? Maybe I know your parents?¡± ¡°I doubt that.¡± I said with a smirk. ¡°I can assure you that you have never met my parents.¡± Lucy said. ¡°What about yours?¡± ¡°Oh, you are interested in my origins?¡± Lilith smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t bother.¡± I said. ¡°No powerful ancient being is going to tell you the truth. She likely has more than one story, all carefully crafted.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°To confuse her enemies. You can create a story with a fake weakness. You can have contradicting stories to keep people guessing. You can have a heroic origin to inspire your followers. Maybe she was a young succubus once, abused by bigger demons. She led a revolution and brought freedom to her kind. Maybe she is ancient, made by the gods themselves. Maybe she found an artefact that transformed her¡­¡± I explained. Lilith looked at Erin, who was still kneeling. Then she looked at me. ¡°You talk surprisingly freely about such things.¡± I shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not like this is a huge secret.¡± Then again, cults believed all sorts of things without questioning it. Did Lilith have a cult? ¡°You need to trust your servants more. Or change your hiring standards.¡± Lucy said. ¡°We even gave ours the armour of a demon lord!¡± ¡°What?¡± Lilith sounded confused. ¡°Lily does wear Mantus¡¯ former armour.¡± I clarified. ¡°We did not need it ourselves.¡± The last statement was mostly to make Lilith contemplate the gear we had access to. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Come here, girl.¡± Lilith said. To her annoyance Lily did not comply, instead she looked at us. We nodded. Then Lily approached her former mistress. Lilith frowned as she studied the armour. Her eyes glowed yellow. ¡°The maid outfit is part of the armour? You¡­ you modified a demonic masterpiece¡­ Why?¡± ¡°Because I am a maid knight!¡± Lily declared proudly. ¡°I am the leader of a new order.¡± ¡°Most people train their servants as assassins. You want them silent and stealthy. Not in a straight fight. Also, most knights would consider it demeaning to serve as a maid.¡± Lilith said. ¡°Most people don¡¯t give maids the respect they deserve. But as you can see, we greatly value ours. Who cares what other people think?¡± I said. ¡°Indeed. I am proud to be a maid knight!¡± Lily confirmed. Then she summoned Storm¡¯s Blossom. Lilith raised an eyebrow as she saw the weapon but did not look alarmed. Lily performed a series of practice swings to show off the illusionary blossoms. Lilith tried to touch one. Her finger went straight through the illusion. ¡°I admit that is impressive. You truly seem to value your maid knight.¡± Lilith looked thoughtful. Then she looked at her own servant. ¡°Erin.¡± ¡°Yes, mistress.¡± The kneeling succubus trembled slightly. ¡°You have heard way too much.¡± Lilith said. ¡°I swear I will keep your secrets!¡± Erin assured her. ¡°Of course you will. Still, I will have to do something. Why don¡¯t we try an experiment? My peers here are telling me that I should put more trust into my subordinates. You will serve as my personal liaison to house Delphinium. And once I am summoned, you will be my maid and personal assistant. If you perform your duties well, you will be rewarded.¡± ¡°Yes, I will not disappoint you!¡± Erin promised. ¡°We still have not agreed to summon you.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Come now, we are past that part in our negotiations. Clearly our interests align and it¡¯s only a matter of figuring out the details. Speaking of details, why did you bring a human? She has not said anything so far.¡± ¡°Sandra was controlled by the Inquisition. We freed her.¡± I explained. ¡°Interesting. I suspect you have offered her a job?¡± ¡°Of course she is welcome to work for us. And we are hoping she can assist in creating a cure.¡± Lucy said. ¡°I will send my best researchers to help with that. Once I have been summoned, of course.¡± Lilith said. ¡°We should return to the palace and discuss this with our allies.¡± I said. I would also like their input on any agreement Lilith proposed. ¡°Ah, your allies. Will the Lady of the Forest be part of our agreement?¡± Lilith asked. Damn. Everyone just assumed I knew her because I was an archfey. ¡°No. We have no deal with her and I do not know her position on the matter.¡± I responded. ¡°She is a bit of a recluse. And lazy, if you ask me.¡± Lilith said. ¡°No matter, I will look forward to meeting you in person. I will inform Erin as soon as I have a proposal for our agreement. It was a pleasure meeting you.¡± Then she turned towards Erin. ¡°Rise, you are now representing me.¡± The succubus shot up and stood straight. ¡°Yes mistress!¡± ¡°Hm. Maybe call me queen, or lady. Something more regal. Mortals are usually more impressed by that.¡± ¡°Yes, my queen.¡± Erin said. ¡°Perfect. Do not disappoint me.¡± Lilith dissolved into a cloud of smoke and disappeared. ¡°That¡­ that was intense.¡± Sandra said. ¡°You could have waited outside.¡± I pointed out. ¡°True. But I wanted to see the queen of succubi.¡± She responded. ¡°Fair enough. Let¡¯s see if Nira has run away.¡± I said. The young succubus was still here. She was pacing in front of the door and yelped as we opened it. ¡°You... you did not sell me, right?¡± She asked. ¡°Of course not. We do not own you.¡± Lucy said. ¡°You were not even part of the conversation.¡± ¡°Yes. Now let¡¯s get back to the palace. I can¡¯t wait to see their faces when we propose to summon Lilith.¡± Nira looked like she was about to faint. I smiled and started walking towards the palace. Chapter 172: Discussion We reported our findings and the king called for a meeting in the evening. Solana and Loriel were attending to represent the Dominion. Of course, Dalroc was there with Ingrid. They were the hosts. Thessia attended as well. Then we had Josef to represent our ongoing work in finding a cure. Not that he had made much progress yet. Our group was the largest. Besides Lucy and myself we had Shani, Lily, Iris, Minerva and Sandra. Erin was here as well to represent Lilith. Nira stayed with the recruits. I had a feeling she was really considering joining us. The meeting room was interesting. It had a bunch of small round tables in close proximity. Each had three taps labelled normal, strong and dwarven. Magnus, who led us to the meeting, explained that drink was needed when people talked a lot. Dwarven meetings were rarely done without beer or ale. Once everyone arrived I introduced Erin and told everyone about Lilith¡¯s proposal. There was a lot of murmuring. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious.¡± Solana said once I had finished. ¡°The succubus queen cannot be trusted. We should not even talk here with Erin present.¡± ¡°So, I am not entirely familiar with her history. What has Lilith done that makes you think she is not trustworthy?¡± I asked. My knowledge here was truly lacking. If it turned out that the demon lord was known for treachery we would have to rethink things. Solana looked surprised. ¡°I¡­ I do not have a specific example. But she is known for her manipulations. She will control people with her mind magic, like the Inquisition.¡± ¡°Apologies, Queen Solana but that is not entirely correct.¡± Lily said. ¡°Succubi manipulate people with mind magic and seduction, that is true. But it is not real mind control. It is also not permanent and far easier to break. The runes the Inquisition uses manipulate the very soul itself.¡± ¡°You may have a point but she still manipulates. You just apprehended a succubus that helped supply the Inquisition. Surely that shows the danger.¡± Solana countered. ¡°Magic is powerful.¡± I stated. ¡°Any high ranking mage could learn a spell to manipulate others. Succubi are powerful but I fail to see how they would be worse than mages. And the Dominion has plenty of those. We would simply need to police them.¡± ¡°I suppose that is the problem.¡± Loriel said. ¡°The only one who could police Lilith herself is you, Amaya. And possibly Lucy. You have proven to be great allies so far but it would make us even more dependent on you.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°Can¡¯t say I am that fond of succubi after your discovery. Although I admit that they rarely kill and are often just used to manipulate people. A demon lord would strengthen our cause but having one in our city would be dangerous.¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°There would certainly have to be a strict contract limiting her behaviour. And we would need to be certain that the contract can be enforced.¡± Ingrid added. ¡°My queen would never break her word!¡± Erin insisted. She sounded quite offended by the way everyone talked. ¡°You can break the spirit without breaking the letter of a contract. It¡¯s hard to design anything without loopholes.¡± Ingrid pointed out. ¡°I also fear that some of her minions might test the boundaries to see how much they can get away with. There will likely be incidents.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°I will happily slaughter misbehaving succubi!¡± Shani offered. ¡°I could use some succubus blood.¡± I was tempted to ask why but Lucy was faster. ¡°Why?¡± She asked. ¡°I think I could make a tail out of it! It would go well with my ears. And it would allow me to store more blood!¡± There was definitely something happening with Shani and her obsession. Originally I simply assumed she liked fighting but there was more to it. Could an elemental lord evolve? During the demon incursion in Unitera a mage attacked us with blood lightning. I never paid it any attention. Was there a different version of the storm element? Maybe a more demonic one? Shani had certainly slain plenty of demons since I had first summoned her. Could she absorb some of their power? ¡°Who is she?¡± Erin asked. I suppose we never did any extensive introductions. ¡°I am the court elemental! And Amya¡¯s wrath.¡± She answered cheerfully. Erin looked confused. ¡°You get used to her.¡± I said. ¡°Anyway, Shani can help to police the succubi while Lucy and myself keep Lilith in line. We would need to see her terms first anyway. In the end, we can offer her a lot. She would not want to endanger the deal.¡± ¡°We could summon her only when we are ready to attack the Empire. Then she would not be able to cause much trouble here.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°My queen would certainly want to be part of any plans for an attack. Also, she could far easier share her knowledge if she were here. Further, she would bring researchers with her. She might be powerful but she is honourable. Your concerns are unfounded.¡± Erin said. ¡°The help of succubi scientists would be appreciated.¡± Josef said. He looked rather eager. He did have a thing for magical creatures, I suppose. ¡°My work has been going rather slowly. While alchemy was used to create those runes I would like the help of other specialisations.¡± ¡°Sylphania has no problem with succubi.¡± Thessia said. ¡°My goddess would not object to a cooperation with Lilith.¡± ¡°How big is the threat that we are facing? Do you truly believe that the Dominion and the Dwarven Kingdom, supported by an archfey and a kitsune, are not enough?¡± Solana asked. ¡°We don¡¯t know.¡± I said. ¡°We don¡¯t know how the Inquisition acquired that much power. We don¡¯t know how far they have spread. And we don¡¯t know who is truly leading them.¡± ¡°They have started a civil war within the Empire. They have attacked an archfey. They have declared war on a demon lord. Keep that in mind.¡± Erin said. ¡°I would suspect that at least one creature of our power level is supporting them.¡± I concluded. ¡°The knowledge about soul manipulation points towards that.¡± ¡°And the patience needed to enact such a plan. Whoever is behind this carefully positioned loyalists all over the Inquisition. They have recruited nobles, kept their experiments hidden¡­ We are dealing with an old and powerful being.¡± Erin said. ¡°Or multiple. Like a clan of dragons.¡± ¡°Not really the style of dragons.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°It was simply an example.¡± Erin responded. Then she eyed me. ¡°The behaviour would be more in line with the fey.¡± ¡°Fey are often known for intrigue and tricks.¡± I admitted. ¡°But I have no insight if any are involved.¡± Because I did not know any fey. Well, Adhira I suppose. So I knew one fey. Chapter 173: Conclusion ¡°We should probably discuss what we expect of Lilith and what our boundaries are. Instead of just waiting for her proposal we should have our own terms.¡± Ingrid said. ¡°We need access to her spy network and all information she can give us on the Inquisition, the Empire, Beravis and Ashmedai¡¯s cult.¡± I said. Information was the reason we contacted her originally after all. Also, I used the tap to fill my mug with beer. I liked this setup. ¡°You might need to phrase that differently. If you only request information on the Inquisition she could hold back anything on the creatures behind it.¡± Dalroc added. Were demons in this world fond of contracts? Was this one of the situations where she would be designing loopholes? She wanted to work with us. She needed help. ¡°I am not sure if that is truly necessary. It¡¯s not like this contract would be magically binding, right? Cooperation is in her best interest, I doubt that she will deliberately break her word.¡± I concluded. ¡°Demons will always try to get the better of you.¡± Solana said. ¡°I understand where you are coming from. But you are looking at this the wrong way. This is not a deal between a weak mortal begging for power, this is an alliance of equals. If Lilith betrays us we will crush her.¡± It was time to remind anyone that Lilith was not the only scary thing around. Lucy nodded. ¡°Worst case we kill her and reward another maid knight with a cool armour. Lilith does have a fancy one, right?¡± Lily smiled. ¡°I do believe so, my lady.¡± Erin looked unhappy about the direction of our conversation but she remained silent. ¡°While I appreciate your confidence we would be entirely reliant on your help.¡± Solana said. ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you already? We stopped the invasion of Iron Rock. Otherwise you would have Mantus rampaging around. He would have likely sacrificed the entire city and probably summoned Ashmedai in the process. You did not even have a formal alliance with the Dwarven Kingdom back then. You certainly have the resources to deal with a demon lord, maybe even two at once, but it would cost you. And how much would they have destroyed before you could have stopped them?¡± I took another sip of my beer. We did this world a huge favour back then. I suppose they rewarded us with a county. But that was also a move to make sure we were loyal to their nation. I should have asked for a personal chef to come with the county¡­ Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°We are all grateful for your help.¡± Loriel said. ¡°And we appreciate you joining the Dominion.¡± ¡°Back to the terms.¡± Ingrid said. ¡°Since the summoning would happen in our nation we need assurances that none of our citizens are harmed.¡± ¡°What about traitors? Citizens would be a bit limiting. We have to be able to deal with enemy agents.¡± Erin pointed out. ¡°Hm.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°We can allow the apprehension of criminals but no lasting harm can be done without a trial, and any action against our people would have to be reported to us. Further, there can be no seduction of married people. Unless both consent.¡± ¡°Breaking the law would result in a trial. They can have a lawyer but we would be the judges.¡± Ingrid added. I had a feeling dwarves were the ones who liked contracts a lot. ¡°You can handle those details. As long as Lilith shares her information, helps with the cure and fights alongside us, I am fine.¡± It would mean less work for me. Ah, the joy of delegation. ¡°We can have our lawyers write a draft and then present it to all of you.¡± Dalroc proposed. ¡°Perfect!¡± I agreed. ¡°So, how would this summoning be performed?¡± Solana asked. ¡°From what I have seen they have a ritual prepared but are missing the power. They have collected some but likely Lucy and myself would have to provide the missing magic.¡± I explained. ¡°Would that not weaken you? You would be vulnerable the moment she appears.¡± Solana pointed out. ¡°Yes and no. Assuming we would use all of our high tier spellslots we would be at a disadvantage. But a kitsune has more than just spells. And I have my own tricks.¡± I tried to smile mysteriously. I did have a high natural regeneration combined with a lot of strength. And technically I also had my panther form. Most importantly, Lilith would have to be mad to attack her allies. ¡°What about other threats? If the Inquisition learns of our plan they could ambush you. We should certainly make sure there is a lot of security.¡± Loriel said. ¡°I would like to be there anyway.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°Our kingdom is our responsibility, after all.¡± Ingrid nodded. The meeting ended soon afterwards. The dwarves would come up with a contract and discuss it with Erin. Once the two parties had something acceptable they would show it to us. If no one had any concerns we would go ahead with the summoning. Dalroc also wanted to hold a feast for the demon lord to celebrate the new alliance. Well, he simply wanted to repurpose the feast that was already planned. I was curious how the nation would react to a deal with Lilith. Once we were back in our quarters Lucy updated her parents on what was happening. They looked concerned about the demon lord. ¡°This Lilith sounds like bad news. Don¡¯t fall for her charms!¡± Lynn warned. ¡°Mom, I am in a happy relationship. Lilith has no chance against Amaya.¡± Lucy said. I blushed but remained quiet. ¡°And succubi are not that bad, look at Lily!¡± Lucy added. ¡°Lily is a fine young woman.¡± Lynn agreed. ¡°She is pretty old, she just looks young.¡± Lucy clarified. ¡°Can I meet a demon lord?¡± Ben asked. ¡°Absolutely not!¡± Lynn said. ¡°If Lilith is around us they will probably meet at some point. But Shani volunteered to keep any succubi in line.¡± Lucy said. ¡°She likes slaughtering demons.¡± Ben helpfully added. ¡°You should not be around any slaughter¡­¡± Alister said. ¡°But it¡¯s a fun bonding activity, Shani said so!¡± Ben protested. ¡°No slaughtering for you!¡± Lynn said. Ben pouted. Chapter 174: Smith The next day we had nothing to do. The lawyers were still working on the contract, something I was happy not to be involved in. I lazily stretched in bed, enjoying a late morning. ¡°Get up! We have things to do.¡± Lucy said. She was already fully dressed and stood next to the bed. ¡°Like what? Breakfast?¡± I asked. ¡°We never managed to meet the smith Tyrell. We should do that today.¡± She had a point. The whole demon thing got in the way last time. But I was in no hurry. My eyes widened as a blob of water formed above my head. Then it hit me in the face. ¡°Ok, ok I am getting up.¡± I said. ¡°Was that necessary? Now the bed is wet.¡± Lucy shrugged. ¡°It will dry. And most of the water is on you.¡± She smirked. I was not actually that tired. Being an elf, or rather an archfey, meant I needed little sleep. But lying in bed was just cosy. Then again, getting up meant breakfast. And I loved breakfast. Our accommodation at the palace had great service. We could simply order breakfast whenever we wanted. And dwarves knew their food. And their drink. Although it was too early for that. I feasted on eggs, bacon and bread. Then I had some sort of pancakes to satisfy my craving for sweetness. When we left to find the smith Lily accompanied us. She also brought Adhira. ¡°Why is she joining us? Does she have some knowledge about smithing? I asked. ¡°No, my lady. I think forging armour for a storm sprite might be rather challenging, because she is so small. I think it is a good idea to bring her. You are planning on having her outfitted as well, right?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± I said. ¡°I am getting maid armour? Yes!¡± Adhira cheered while flying around in circles. Then she stopped. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I mean, thank you kindly my ladies.¡± She bowed. ¡°It¡¯s ok. We are not that formal.¡± Lucy said. We had not spent a lot of time with our recruits. Mostly it was Iris who was taking care of them. There were not even that many. Just the three girls from the village, Adhira and possibly Nira. Maybe I should talk with them some more. ¡°How are you enjoying your training?¡± I asked Adhira. ¡°It¡¯s great! I always wanted to be in a fey court! We even have a court elemental! Now I can make fun of any other sprites we encounter.¡± She said. ¡°Are court elementals so prestigious?¡± Lucy asked. Personally, I was still uncertain if Shani invented that title or not. ¡°Well, you do need an elemental lord to create a true elemental knight.¡± Adhira said. ¡°And they can be rather tricky to convince, at least that is what I have heard. Most are not as nice and amazing as Shani. Being an elemental knight is the dream of most fey.¡± ¡°Do you know many elementals, or fey?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Not many. I lack the power to summon an intelligent elemental. And if you are a lone fey it is better to stay away from the stronger ones. Unless you are part of a court, there is nothing protecting you. That is the great thing about humans! They are kind of weak and you can easily convince them to part with their things!¡± ¡°You mean, rob them.¡± I clarified. ¡°No, no. I only collected donations for protection! That forest was a scary place.¡± She said while nodding her head. ¡°And you have stopped collecting donations since you joined us, right?¡± I asked. ¡°Of course! Because it would be¡­ wrong?¡± Why did that sound like a question? Did all fey have questionable morals? Or was I simply attracting them? We arrived at the residence of Tyrell after a short walk. It was a nice house but not overly fancy. I knocked at the door and waited patiently. It took some time until it opened. The dwarf looking at us was bald but he still had a full beard. It was snow white. His skin was bronze and while he had some wrinkles he was still in great shape. Interestingly, his eyes were red. He studied us in silence for a while. ¡°What do you want?¡± He asked. ¡°Are you Tyrell?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, and I am retired. How did you even get my address?¡± He asked. ¡°Queen Ingrid gave it to us.¡± I responded. ¡°Huh? That brat should know better than to send people to bother me.¡± ¡°Did you call the queen a brat?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Yes. You got a problem with that?¡± He responded. ¡°No, just curious.¡± Lucy said with a smile. ¡°Are you some fancy noble folks? With big titles to impress me?¡± He asked. ¡°Indeed, let me introduce¡­¡± Lily started but I put up my hand to stop her. ¡°We do have some titles but I am Amaya and this is Lucy. Then we have our maid knight Lily and maid knight in training Adhira.¡± ¡°Maid knight? Is that a new thing? And why would you recruit a sprite as a maid or a knight?¡± Tyrell asked. ¡°The magic of sprite compensates for their size.¡± I answered. ¡°Lady this ain¡¯t about their size. You know they are tricksters, right? You think any of them is going to follow an elf? That thing is fooling you.¡± ¡°How dare you!¡± Adhira protested. ¡°I am an honourable sprite!¡± Tyrell snorted. ¡°Because Lady Amaya is an archfey and no sprite would dare betray their lady.¡± Lily said. Tyrell¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°She is a what now?¡± Lily smiled. ¡°Let me introduce Lady Amaya Delphinium, archfey and Lady of Storms, and her lover Lucy Delphinium, a kitsune.¡± Chapter 175: Tyrell ¡°Hm.¡± Tyrell said. He stroked his beard while studying us. While he looked surprised at first, he did not seem overly concerned. ¡°Have you met any archfey before?¡± I wondered. ¡°Nah. Met a dragon though. They like mountains.¡± He said. ¡°Ok, I will hear ya out. What do you want from me?¡± ¡°We would like to hire you to forge armour for our maid knights. Something similar to what Lily is wearing. If possible, we would like to employ you long term to outfit our servants.¡± I said. Lily stepped forward and deployed the plate armour underneath her maid outfit. Tyrell looked intrigued. He circled around Lily, studying the armour. ¡°Is this demonic? You put demonic armour on your maid?¡± He asked. Lily was currently in her dragonkin form. ¡°Yes.¡± Lucy confirmed. ¡°We took it from Mantus.¡± ¡°Oh? You are the ones who slew him? I have heard about that. Anyway, you realise that armour can only be bound to a demon, right? Your maid is a demon.¡± ¡°Maid knight, and yes, we are aware. Her natural form attracts a bit too much attention. Although I suppose that might change soon, considering our new alliance.¡± I said. ¡°New alliance?¡± He asked. ¡°A deal with the demon lord Lilith is considered. It would be an alliance between her, the Dwarven Kingdom and the Dominion, against the threat of the Inquisition.¡± I explained. Tyrell shook his head. ¡°I ought to hammer some sense into the king. This sounds crazy.¡± ¡°The situation is somewhat dire. Of course we could explain everything, if you were willing to join us.¡± Lucy said with a smile. He looked at Adhira. Then he looked at Lucy. ¡°So you tempt me with the challenge of making a shapeshifting armour for a tiny sprite and tease me with dire information.¡± The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Yes.¡± She said, He stroked his beard again. ¡°I ain¡¯t cheap.¡± ¡°Money should not be an issue.¡± I said. ¡°I also expect proper provisions.¡± Tyrell added. ¡°No worries, Amaya is a glutton. There is always food around. And drink.¡± Lucy teased. ¡°Good. Let me grab some things. Then I will follow you to the palace. I will have a word with Ingrid. Then we can discuss details.¡± Tyrell turned around and disappeared into his home. ¡°That went well.¡± Lucy said. ¡°I am getting armour, I am getting armour!¡± Adhira cheered. Tyrell returned after a while with a big backpack. It looked heavy but he did not seem to notice the weight. As an ancient smith he likely had a good amount of strength. ¡°Does your smithing use magic?¡± I wondered as we walked back to the palace. ¡°Obviously.¡± He said. ¡°You can¡¯t really forge adamantium without it. Mithril is just about doable with a proper furnace but adamantium needs some magic. Also, I like to forge the enchantments into the gear itself. It¡¯s a far superior method to adding them afterwards.¡± ¡°So you do have spell slots?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I do have some magic. But I require the help of a powerful mage for certain creations. The best items are always made through collaboration.¡± I liked his attitude. Despite being a master of his craft he knew his limitations and did not object to working with others. ¡°We can provide magic, if you need it for your work.¡± I said. ¡°Eh. You would be a pretty sorry archfey if you could not.¡± He chuckled. The man did have a point. ¡°Tyrell, I also have a personal request.¡± Lucy said. I looked at her, surprised. She had not mentioned anything before. ¡°Oh? You said you are a kitsune? You need something that transforms with you? Or simply armour that covers a fox?¡± He stroked his beard. ¡°Could be an interesting challenge¡­¡± ¡°No, my fur and hide are quite durable. This is not about me. It¡¯s about my brother.¡± She clarified. ¡°Well, same thing, right?¡± He asked. ¡°Um, he is just a normal foxkin. And he is a six year old child. I would like the armour to grow with him though. He¡­ He sometimes gets into dangerous situations with his friend.¡± Lucy said. ¡°You are kitsune with a foxkin brother? I guess there are stranger things. What sort of trouble are we talking about? Usually boys don¡¯t need armour at that age.¡± ¡°Uh. The trouble might include demonic incursions or magic beasts.¡± Lucy said. ¡°What? That is no place for a child. What sort of friend do you have?¡± He asked. ¡°Shani, she is our court elemental.¡± Lucy answered. ¡°She is an elemental lord. A storm elemental from the plane of wind.¡± I added. ¡°Oh. Yeah. They can be a bit crazy. I suppose I could make armour for your brother.¡± Tyrell said. ¡°Thank you!¡± Lucy said. It was a great idea. While Shani had kept Ben safe so far, additional protection was always useful. I just hoped it would not encourage her to put him in more dangerous situations. As we returned to the palace the guards seemed to know Tyrell. It was clear that he was not here for the first time. ¡°Ok, I am gonna find Ingrid. Then I am gonna have a conversation with her husband.¡± I wondered what exactly his relation was with the royal family. Was he related to Ingrid? We watched him walk away. ¡°So, what now?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Food. We should eat while we wait.¡± I suggested. Lucy laughed. Chapter 176: Incident Tyrell eventually returned and we finalised the deal. He would work for us but with the option of quitting at any time. He even had a fancy contract written out. Dwarves really seemed to like those. What we were still missing was the necessary material. The solution? Delegation! I hired Sandra to deal with it. Problem solved. Well, it would take her some time but I had confidence she would manage. Especially since she could use my name. Buying something for House Delphinium certainly opened some doors. A day later we got the first version of a contract with Lilith. I had my friends look it over. Personally I thought it seemed fine. Mostly it stated that Lilith would have to behave, but she had the status of visiting royalty. Of course it was all written in fancy legal speak. While there were still some arguments about minor changes we already started preparing the ritual. It would take a total of eight level nine spell slots. We decided that I would provide seven and Lucy would add the last. I could have done it all myself, but by doing it together we could keep certain details about our power hidden. The ceremony was held where the circle was located, inside the brothel. It did create a bit of a fuss as soldiers secured the area. I wondered what the rumours would say. Inside the chamber we had Dalroc, Ingrid, Solana and Loriel. All were dressed in regal combat gear, in case of a disturbance. Erin was here to welcome her mistress. Lucy was here with me, as were Lily and Shani. Our court elemental loved ceremonies. As we started the summoning, the circle lit up. Red flames formed in the centre and took the shape of a succubus. As Lilith emerged she wore black plate armour. It was perfectly moulded to her body and showed off her curves, but it looked rather functional as well. It was clearly made from adamantium. Maybe I should look into getting fancier armour too¡­ Anyway, her head was uncovered but she wore an ornate silver crown with a giant ruby on the front. The item was obviously magic and I would not be surprised if it could transform into a helmet, or at least provided a magical shield around the head. ¡°My queen.¡± Erin said and went down on her knees. ¡°Ah, the mortal realm. It has been so long¡­¡± Lilith looked around. Our mortal allies seemed slightly on edge. I was more relaxed. I did not expect any betrayal. We were weakened after spending so many spell slots, but we were far from defenceless. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Greetings.¡± I said. I had not quite thought about a proper way of welcoming her. ¡°Hi.¡± Lucy just waved. ¡°Welcome to our kingdom.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°We hope your stay is pleasant and our alliance will benefit us all.¡± ¡°The Dominion welcomes you, queen of the succubi.¡± Loriel said. ¡°This ceremony really needs more blood!¡± Shani criticised. ¡°You should try manifesting from a pool of it. Would be way better than flames. Every demon does flames.¡± We all ignored her, although Lilith seemed thoughtful. But ultimately she did not comment. Instead a pile of clothes appeared in her hand. ¡°Rise, Erin. You shall now be my personal maid during my stay. I have ordered a new uniform for you.¡± Ha! We were setting a trend! Although, our maid knights were clearly superior. ¡°It is an honour, my queen.¡± Erin accepted the gift. Then she used a storage device to instantly change her clothing and put the old outfit away. Her new uniform was the classic maid outfit but decorated with a red rune on either shoulder. Presumably it was Lilith¡¯s crest. The demon lord examined her servant. She looked pleased. Then Lilith turned her attention back to us. ¡°Thank you for summoning me. I am pleased to work with you.¡± At that point the door opened and a distressed guard entered. ¡°Sir, the palace is under attack!¡± ¡°What? Who is attacking?¡± Dalroc asked. ¡°It looks like humans. But strong ones. I was sent as soon as the assault started!¡± He reported. Realisation hit me. We had been concerned about someone interrupting the ritual. Some people were concerned about Lilith betraying us. But essentially we had created an opening for our true enemy. With all of us here, who was defending the palace? There were Iris and Minerva. Adhira could fight too, our other recruits were still rather weak. Thessia was there and some palace guards. But the elite was here. How did they organise this on short notice? Who knew about the summoning? But those were questions for later. ¡°My family is at the palace!¡± Lucy exclaimed. Her face showed shock, then anger. She unleashed her aura and transformed. She turned into a large fox and roared, then she ran straight through the wall. Whatever reinforcements they might have been using, they were nothing in front of an enraged kitsune. I immediately ran after her. If someone touched our people they would pay. Lily and Shani were right behind me. I did not cast my usual defensive spell. I only had two tier nine slots left. But I unleashed my aura. Despite being underground, dark clouds formed on the ceiling of the cave. They blocked the light of the artificial illumination. Thunder and lightning appeared as rain started to fall. We could see explosions coming from the palace. We heard the sound of fighting. Steel meeting steel. The front gate protecting the estate was destroyed. Bodies were lying on the floor. Lucy charged straight through it towards the courtyard. We were right behind her. There was fighting going on here but the doors to the actual palace were still intact. It was unclear if they had breached them elsewhere. We saw the palace guards trying to hold off an invading force covered in plate armour. They were not the normal inquisition soldiers we had seen so far. They seemed far better trained and equipped. And there were at least one hundred of them. ¡°HOLD THE LINE!¡± We heard Iris shout. It looked like she had taken charge of the defenders covering the door. But their situation looked dire. Lucy roared, her entire body was covered in lightning. The enemy advance halted as they realised a new threat had emerged behind them. Then Lucy charged. Chapter 177: Wrath Enemies went flying as Lucy hit them with her paws. Lightning shot from her body, electrocuting the soldiers who were too close. They seemed to have some magical protection on their armour but a few succumbed to the electricity. The storm above was eager to help. Some bolts of lightning hit Lucy herself. They did not harm her, no, they enhanced the electricity surrounding her. The enemy tried to fight her with longer weapons, like spears and polearms. But they were meaningless against the enraged kitsune. The few hits that landed healed quickly. Meanwhile, Lily had deployed her full plate armour and was wreaking havoc with Storm¡¯s Blossom. A trail of beautiful petals followed her as she danced through the enemy, cutting them down without mercy. After briefly surveying the battle I started with some Storm Bolts. Technically it was a spell that only worked outdoors, because it needed clouds. But it seemed that the clouds my aura had summoned counted. Which was interesting. The lightning I had called hit the enemy near the palace doors. I tried to take some pressure off the defenders. Shani charged straight towards the palace. It looked like she was determined to ensure that our people inside were safe. Her large scythe reaped through the enemy. The protections they had shattered quickly. While I was still surveying the field I noticed that some enemies were definitely stronger. Every enemy on the field had some enchantments on their gear, but some had more than that. They seemed rather skilled, relatively durable and their gear might even be mithril, rather than steel. One enemy in the back, who was protected by two elites, was carrying a staff. A staff that started glowing. And he was pointing at Lucy. Not wasting any time I used teleport. I even pushed it into a higher tier to make it instantaneous. The guards were shocked as I appeared before the mage. My blade went straight for his throat. While they reacted quickly I was simply too fast. My victory was short lived as the now dead enemy before me started to glow. Then he exploded. Fire filled my vision and I went flying. A helpful piece of metal fence stopped my movement. I could feel blisters on my face. My skin hurt. But it was already healing. The area where I had been was now a huge crater. There was no sign of the guards. Only some molten metal was left. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. As I stood up I noticed that multiple explosions filled the area. Some of the fallen enemies were the source. It seemed that some soldiers exploded on death. Also, more glowing staffs appeared. I had a feeling that we were not dealing with high level mages, but with magical tools instead. One enemy unleashed a stream of flame from his staff towards Lucy. She roared. A second tail made out of lightning formed. Her eyes blazed purple and electricity gathered in her mouth. Then answered with a beam of lightning from her mouth. It was rather effective. The enemy soldier screamed and dropped his staff. Smoke came from his armour as he fell. ¡°YOU DARE CHALLENGE THE STORM?¡± Shani shouted. She was near the palace doors now. Blood and dead enemies surrounded her. She gathered the liquid in a ball above her head. I could feel something through the bond. Shani was a part of it as our court elemental. And she interacted with the connection we had to the plane of wind. Power surged into the bond network. I could feel my aura grow. I channelled some of the power into my voice: ¡°You attacked my people. Now you shall meet my wrath.¡± I did not shout. I spoke in a cold and calm voice that penetrated the whole area. Heavy rain was falling. Lightning illuminated the cave. For a moment the battle seemed frozen. I could feel a request over the bond. I was not entirely sure what was happening but someone wanted me to use a ninth circle spell slot. I obliged. I was not the only one. I felt a similar power coming from Lucy. It raced through the bond towards the connection to the plane of wind. Meanwhile, in the real world, the orb of blood above Shani changed. It became a portal. And out of it flew an army of small elementals. They were tiny and winged, like Adhira. They wielded small scythes formed of red lightning. As the elementals formed up behind Shani, the lightning forming her scythe turned red as well. ¡°Hi. I am the WRATH.¡± She said, with a huge smile. Then she charged while laughing maniacally. The elemental army was with her. And they were surprisingly effective. Size did not matter when you were a being of magic it seemed. And being small made it easy for them to target weak spots in the armour. Thunder and screams filled the battlefield as the enemy was slaughtered. Some of the elementals were taken out by explosions. But it did not even slow the assault. Soon no enemies were left standing. At least in the courtyard. Iris was still holding the entrance so nobody should have entered through the front door. But we had to ensure that Lucy¡¯s family was safe. She transformed back, because she was too large to easily enter the building. Then she raced inside, I followed. Iris saluted as we passed and I gave her a nod. There were some signs of battle inside. The door to our accommodations was damaged. I could see blood¡­ I sighed in relief as we entered the room. Lucy¡¯s family was ok. Minerva was there, bleeding, but not too badly wounded. The recruits were with her. Myla, Kade, Arlie, Adhira and even Nira. They were all wounded but alive. I could see the bodies of five intruders. Thankfully, they had not exploded. They did not wear plate armour either. They were dressed in black leather instead. ¡°You are ok!¡± Lucy shouted and hugged her family. Meanwhile I addressed our maid knights. ¡°Thank you for protecting them.¡± Then I used my heal to treat their wounds. ¡°Sis, why do you have a second tail?¡± I heard Ben ask. I turned around and stared at my lover. She now had two fluffy tails. Chapter 178: Questions Lucy turned around and stared at her tails. ¡°Huh.¡± She said. While the additional tail was interesting, and I really wanted to touch it, I had some other things to focus on first. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked Minerva. ¡°Iris and myself were running drills with the recruits when we heard an explosion at the gate. Iris went to investigate, while I made sure to protect our people. I took the recruits to lady Lucy¡¯s family. Those intruders showed up shortly afterwards. I am not certain if they had a specific target. It is possible that they expected your residence to be empty and were looking for something.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s examine those bodies.¡± I proposed. ¡°Some of the attackers outside exploded after death. We have to make sure nothing like that happens here.¡± Lucy was between her family and any possible danger. In the worst case she might be able to shield them. Still, there was no reason to take any risks. The building was not necessarily free of intruders either. The palace was big. But we did not hear any fighting nearby. Shani, Lily and Iris were still out there, probably looking for any stragglers. I had no idea if Lilith had followed us, I had not seen her in the fight at least. But I expected the king to arrive soon, with more troops. After a closer examination we found that the attackers had runes underneath their leather armour. They were not even concealed. They looked slightly different than the ones Minerva had. ¡°Something is off about those runes. I will need to study them.¡± I said. My arcane knowledge gave me some ideas, none of them good. Clearly the Inquisition was making some sort of progress in their endeavours. ¡°But I can¡¯t see anything that would trigger an explosion.¡± I added. ¡°Still, let¡¯s take them outside.¡± ¡°I will stay with my family.¡± Lucy announced. I nodded. I stored the corpses inside my storage and left the palace. Minerva and the recruits stayed behind with Lucy. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Outside I saw that more troops had arrived. They were securing the area and gathering the dead. I spotted Lilith and walked towards her. ¡°Well fought.¡± She said. ¡°Those small elementals were impressive. And you managed all of that after my summoning.¡± There was respect in her eyes. It was curious that she knew I had something to do with it. Shani was the one who called them. It also meant that she was there, at the end of the fight. Maybe she had arrived when we charged into the building. I deposited the bodies from my storage onto the ground. ¡°Some attackers were inside. They have runes but slightly different ones. Have you examined the ones here?¡± ¡°No.¡± She looked around the courtyard. It was filled with holes from several explosions. ¡°Exploding people are concerning. As is this attack. What was their goal? Was it Lucy¡¯s family?¡± ¡°Doubtful. They could have done that smarter. Like including some of their exploding troops. It¡¯s hard to say for certain though. Did we capture someone alive? I have to admit, I did not consider that during the fighting.¡± I admitted. ¡°Understandable. They challenged you. They dared to touch what is yours.¡± Lilith said. ¡°We share that. They are trying to enslave my people. They will pay the price.¡± There was a lot of fury in her eyes. I surveyed the area once more. There was a lot of destruction. But the attackers had not achieved anything. And they had used a sizable force. ¡°How did they get so many soldiers in here?¡± I wondered. ¡°Entering the dwarven kingdom is not that easy. You can¡¯t just cross a river, or a forest, or something like that. You enter through a tunnel, since we are underground. And they should all be guarded.¡± ¡°If you can take care of the monsters there are other tunnels to get into the undermountain.¡± Lilith pointed out. ¡°But you would think a force of this size would be noticed. Likely they bribed someone to look the other way. I find it more interesting that they had the resources to commit to such an attack. With the civil war, surely there were better uses. We are missing something.¡± ¡°Who was inside the palace? Do you think they went for the spymaster? Or some documents?¡± I wondered. ¡°A loud and visible attack at the front when security is low. Some weaponry clearly aimed at delaying high level threats. And then a small force which infiltrates the palace.¡± She pointed at the bodies I had brought. ¡°I suspect the frontal assault was a diversion. Some of them explode because they were never meant to succeed. The true mission was for the infiltrators. Maybe we should have a word with our dwarven allies. They might be able to tell us what is so important inside that palace.¡± We both walked over to Dalroc. He was in the courtyard, giving commands. I did not see Ingrid. Maybe she was inside. Actually, there were quite a few people I had not checked on. The refugees we had with us, for example. But there should have been no reason to attack them. Thessia and Josef, they could have been targets. But they had lazy, I mean Terath, as a guard. And Thessia would be hard to kill. For now I trusted Lily to make sure everyone was safe. I would check on them later. The king noticed our approach. ¡°Thank you for your help in defending the palace.¡± He bowed to me. ¡°Certainly, we are allies.¡± I replied. ¡°And we were also defending our own people.¡± ¡°Which makes this even worse. I failed not only at protecting my own people, the lives of our honoured guests were endangered as well.¡± ¡°Which brings us the question: Why?¡± Lilith said, while staring at Dalroc. ¡°Why did they attack the place when the important people were gone?¡± Chapter 179: Looking for Answers Dalroc looked at us. ¡°They could have been after the vault. But it has some serious defences. I can¡¯t see them breaking in there quickly. Maybe they underestimated how fast we would respond.¡± ¡°What is in the vault?¡± I asked. ¡°All sorts of things. Every nation has a certain amount of valuable artefacts.¡± Dalroc answered. He seemed evasive though. I suppose you would expect a big nation to accumulate things over the years. And if you had something, like a dragon slaying sword, you would not carry it around all day. But was the vault interesting enough for such an attack? ¡°Have you made sure that the vault is secure?¡± Lilith asked. ¡°We have not detected a breach.¡± He answered. ¡°It will take time to find out what the attackers were after.¡± Fair enough, I suppose. A proper investigation would take some time. ¡°Have you looked at the bodies of the attackers who did not explode?¡± I asked. ¡°No. But I am not an expert on runes. My people are careful, we don¡¯t know if there will be more explosions.¡± He said. I nodded. I was pretty durable so I decided to investigate. I stripped one of the armoured intruders and inspected the body. They had runes, but they neither matched Minerva¡¯s nor the ones from the people who attacked Lucy¡¯s parents. ¡°There is demonic energy in this corpse.¡± Lilith said. She was standing behind me. ¡°The original version of the mind control runes uses the person''s own magic to power the spell. That means it runs forever but it weakens the victim. I think they might have tried to get around that for their soldiers¡­¡± I theorised. ¡°You mean they wanted absolute loyalty in their soldiers but without sacrificing their strength? So they powered the runes with something else?¡± Lilith asked. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°You see this here?¡± I pointed at a part of the runes. ¡°This looks to me like they were storing energy. I think they might have performed some ritual to keep those runes powered.¡± ¡°Would that not mean those soldiers could break free? If the energy ran out. Seems like a rather risky way of controlling your troops.¡± Lilith observed. ¡°Yes and no. I think I have figured out why some have exploded. If the energy ran out, the runes tried to consume the life force of the host. But they were meant to use demonic energy. This resulted in an explosive malfunction. It¡¯s hard to say if that was a bug or a feature.¡± ¡°A bug?¡± Lilith frowned. ¡°It¡¯s an expression. It means that something is not working the way it should. It comes from machines malfunctioning because there were bugs inside.¡± At least I thought that was the origin of the phrase. Anyway, it should provide an explanation that people of this world would understand. ¡°Why would they want their soldiers to explode when running out of power?¡± Lilith asked. ¡°It would make more sense to trigger it if they are slain. That way it would provide additional value in battle.¡± ¡°True. But what if they are captured? With those runes it would mean they explode, if the power is not replenished. Those soldiers are a trap if they are caught alive. But that was not the original intention. It looks to me like they wanted the host to be consumed to keep the runes working. The explosions are an accident, but it¡¯s possible they liked it and kept it that way.¡± ¡°Might that be a defence against your magic? You have freed two people now. Maybe they wanted the runes to fight off any tempering and then consume the host if their power was not enough.¡± Lilith proposed. I considered that. ¡°Possible. It would not work, because my magic eats magic. It does not overpower it in the traditional sense. But I doubt they are aware of that.¡± Lilith¡¯s eyes certainly widened at my description. ¡°This person was part of the Inquisition¡± Iris said. I had not noticed her approach. ¡°You allow your servants to talk so casually?¡± Lilith asked. ¡°Yes.¡± I answered. ¡°Do you know this person?¡± I asked Iris. ¡°No. But there is a tattoo here.¡± She pointed at the left shoulder. I had ignored it, since it did not seem magical. ¡°It is not mandatory. It¡¯s¡­ a sign of dedication. Some would even call them fanatics.¡± Iris explained. ¡°So you think they are not like Minerva. They could have volunteered for such a procedure?¡± I asked. ¡°It is possible.¡± Iris said. ¡°Minerva is a normal person. She would not have gone along with many of their actual activities. They needed the runes to keep her in line. Those fanatics? They would have followed orders anyway. It¡¯s hard to imagine them needing to be controlled.¡± ¡°Unless the Inquisition is run by someone, or something, not from the Empire.¡± Lilith said. ¡°Maybe they found out the truth?¡± ¡°We would need to capture someone to get more information.¡± I said. ¡°Speaking of information, do you have anything to add from your spies?¡± ¡°Nothing relevant to this conversation. But I will brief everyone once we have some time. I do have news about Beravis.¡± Lilith said. ¡°Ok. Well since I am already investigating runes, let¡¯s look at one of the attackers from inside.¡± I went to one of the corpses I had brought from inside. ¡°There is no demonic energy here.¡± Lilith said. ¡°Indeed. We now have a third set of runes. They are truly experimenting.¡± ¡°They do have the same tattoo.¡± Iris pointed out. Something had felt off about those invaders when I first looked at the runes. Suddenly I noticed why. ¡°There is fey magic involved!¡± Chapter 180: More Runes ¡°Fey magic?¡± Iris asked. ¡°There are certain¡­ flavours of magic. Mages are an invention of the less magical races, in a way. As you know, sorcerers are simply born with power. They cannot choose their spells, it depends on their bloodline. Magical races, like demons, fey, dragons,... tend to be the same. Mages have studied the spells of sorcerers and replicated them. Mages have a large versatility because they copied the magic from all sorts of different creatures.¡± I explained. ¡°Of course there is some overlap. There are dragons, demons and fey that use fire. And all of them have versions of a fireball. But a lot of illusion magic will have a fey origin, for example. Besides normal spells, which are powered by spell slots, magical creatures tend to have abilities. Like my aura. This is where the magical flavour is rather dominant.¡± ¡°So if you feel an aura, you could tell if it is a fey, or a dragon?¡± Iris asked. ¡°If you have experience, yes.¡± Lilith said. ¡°Most mortals do not have enough contact with magical creatures to distinguish flavours.¡± ¡°Were those people powered by fey magic? Did they switch because the demon version exploded?¡± Iris wondered. ¡°No, this is different. I don¡¯t think they were really controlled. Fey¡­ can be manipulative. Those runes suggest to me that they tried to alter people more subtly. Make them more loyal. Essentially, it¡¯s a permanent change in their way of thinking. It would work best on someone who is a fanatic and just locks in that belief. Instead of forcing them to serve, they make them want to serve even more.¡± ¡°They altered people''s souls to make them more loyal minions?¡± Iris asked, she sounded horrified. ¡°Yes.¡± I confirmed. ¡°I think they also tried to boost those people a little. We will need an autopsy but I would not be surprised if those humans are modified to be more effective.¡± Our enemies had mind control runes for infiltration. And now they experimented with various ways of getting loyal super soldiers. That was rather concerning. ¡°Do you think a fey is behind this? An archfey, perhaps?¡± Lilith asked. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. I contemplated that. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. They could be working with a fey, they could have abducted some. I would not be surprised if we found even more versions of runes on people. Maybe there will be a draconic version next.¡± Lilith stared at me. ¡°You know, your involvement did come out of nowhere. And your overall motivations are still not quite clear to me. If, let¡¯s say, you were hunting one of your own¡­ Another archfey. You would share this, right?¡± I stared back at her. ¡°I have no idea who is behind this.¡± It was the truth. ¡°Fine. I do certainly believe that we share the same goal. Stopping this.¡± She pointed at the runes on the dead body in front of me. ¡°Yes. I think all the bodies are safe and we can hand them over to others for examination. Maybe they will help Josef to find a way to counter them.¡± I said. ¡°I will send some of my succubi to help.¡± Lilith offered. ¡°Maybe we should look for Josef? And ensure that he is alright. He could have been a target, since he is working on a counter.¡± Iris suggested. And she did have a good point. I had not thought about that. ¡°Do we know where he is?¡± I asked. ¡°No. But I suggest we visit Thessia¡¯s tree. She might know and we can check on her.¡± Iris suggested. I nodded and started walking. Lilith followed us. On the way to the palace garden, Lucy joined us. Ben was following her. ¡°Hey, are your parents alright?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah. They are still inside. Minerva is keeping watch. Ben was getting restless so I thought I would take him to the garden.¡± ¡°Are you not concerned that there could be bodies?¡± I asked. She shrugged. ¡°He has seen plenty of those. And we are not going to the courtyard. I am sure the area around Thessia¡¯s tree is fine.¡± ¡°So, this is your brother?¡± Lilith asked. ¡°Ohhh another demon! Are you a maid too?¡± Ben asked. ¡°No. I am Lilith. Queen of the succubi. A demon lord.¡± She introduced herself. ¡°Mom says demon lords are a bad influence.¡± Ben said. ¡°But I know some nice succubi!¡± ¡°Sis, is she bad?¡± Ben asked. I held back my laughter. ¡°She is an ally. But you should still be careful around her.¡± Lucy said. ¡°That makes no sense.¡± Ben said, shaking his head. ¡°You should all slaughter something together. So you can be better friends!¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Lilith said. ¡°He is getting a warrior''s education and your parents are concerned because I am more known for subtler methods.¡± I laughed. Lilith looked offended. ¡°I can assure you, I have fought my share of battles.¡± ¡°Sorry, sorry!¡± I said, as I managed to compose myself. ¡°I was not making fun of you, but Ben is supposed to get a normal, less violent, education.¡± ¡°Then why was he taught the value of shedding blood together? It is not a bad lesson. Fighting side by side does form bonds.¡± Lilith said. ¡°That was Shani¡¯s teaching.¡± Lucy clarified. ¡°Ah. You have an elemental lord educating him. A good choice. They are strong in battle and unburdened by the moral concerns of mortals. It will properly prepare him for a fey court.¡± Lilith said. ¡°I like you. When I grow up, you can be my maid!¡± Ben announced. I laughed, again. Chapter 181: Culinary Ethics ¡°You know, most people would not dare to say something like that.¡± Lilith replied. Her eyes sparkled with amusement. Even a powerful ancient being, like her, had a soft spot for children. Or maybe it was because she saw Lucy as a peer, and he was her brother. Ben looked confused. He did not seem to understand why asking her to be a maid was a big deal. Being a maid was likely an honour in his mind. In the end, Ben settled on just taking it as a compliment. ¡°I am very daring!¡± He said. ¡°I used to be afraid of storms but they are actually my friends! A lot of scary things are!¡± We arrived at Thessia¡¯s tree, which looked unharmed. I saw a few trampled flowers but overall it did not look like a big fight had happened here. The dryad emerged from behind her tree and walked towards us. ¡°It is good to see you, my friends!¡± Then she looked at Lilith. ¡°Greetings, queen of the succubi.¡± ¡°Greetings, high priestess.¡± Lilith replied. I was surprised how cordial they were. Thessia did say that her goddess was not opposed to working with Lilith. Maybe I was still thinking too much in terms of my old world. I was not sure what I had expected. ¡°Did you encounter any attackers?¡± I asked. ¡°My tree gained some nourishment.¡± She smiled predatorily. ¡°Shani says you should not eat people. Just harvest their blood.¡± Ben remarked. ¡°Eating your prey is natural. Why would I waste their bodies?¡± Thessia responded. An understandable stance from someone serving the goddess of nature. But not the best advice for a small foxkin. ¡°Don¡¯t eat people, it¡¯s wrong.¡± I said, then added: ¡°Well, it¡¯s wrong to eat your species or anything close to it.¡± A magical word complicates things. ¡°So, if a big sis turns into a fluffy fox she should not eat fluffy things.¡± Ben concluded. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. He actually made an interesting point. What if you were a magical creature and could turn into a humanoid? ¡°I guess you should mostly avoid eating intelligent creatures.¡± I said. Ben scratched his head. ¡°So we can eat stupid people?¡± ¡°Uh, no. That is not how I meant intelligent. More like, self-aware.¡± I clarified. ¡°What does self-aware mean?¡± Ben asked. ¡°Lucy, help me here!¡± I pleaded. ¡°You know, I did bite a few of the attackers in my fox form. I did not quite eat them but I certainly did taste some blood. It did not feel wrong¡­¡± Lucy pondered. Ok, Ben was doomed. ¡°Well Ben, just don¡¯t eat people. Listen to Shani.¡± That I recommended Shani as a moral guideline was probably not ideal. But hey, at least she did not teach him to eat someone. ¡°A fascinating discussion.¡± I heard Josef say. I had not seen him before. He must have been on the other side of the tree when we arrived. ¡°It is very interesting how different creatures and cultures deal with such a topic.¡± Then he looked at Lilith and bowed. ¡°I greet you, queen of the succubi.¡± ¡°Greetings, mortal.¡± ¡°This is Josef, the alchemist working on a cure.¡± I said. ¡°I shall send you some of my servants to help.¡± Lilith announced. ¡°That is most generous.¡± Josef said. He was much more formal in her presence than in ours. I guess he was already used to us. ¡°Do you know why they attacked?¡± I asked Thessia. ¡°They were looking for something, or someone.¡± Thessia replied. ¡°As far as I can tell, quite a few small teams were inside the palace. They were strong enough to overpower most normal guards but they did not strike me as elite assassins.¡± ¡°So if they were after someone it would be a normal person, not a warrior.¡± I concluded. ¡°Indeed. They might have sought knowledge. Maybe they were hoping to disrupt any progress we are making on countering them.¡± Thessia theorised. ¡°Do you think the dwarves are hiding something? Something the Inquisition wants?¡± I asked. ¡°Maybe. Any nation has plans to deal with calamities.¡± Thessia replied. ¡°Indeed. There is a reason why this world has not been overrun by demon lords. And it is not just because we are hard to summon. A well equipped group wielding tier nine spells can be dangerous. There are powerful artefacts, some even forged by the gods themselves. One should not underestimate mortals.¡± Lilith said. ¡°And it¡¯s not like all powerful creatures are friends. If demon lords invaded, they would spend a lot of time fighting themselves. Archfey, dragons, kitsune, liches,... many other creatures would get involved.¡± I added. ¡°Yes, we do keep each other contained.¡± Lilith agreed. ¡°What is a lich?¡± Ben asked. ¡°They are mortals who became undead and wield powerful magic.¡± I explained. ¡°I bet they stink! I hope we don¡¯t meet one.¡± Ben declared. ¡°But I would like to meet a dragon. Do you think we will meet a dragon?¡± ¡°There are ancient dragons in those mountains but I do not think they care about this situation.¡± Thessia said. ¡°Unless someone tries to experiment on them. If a large number of dragonkin is abducted¡­¡± ¡°Oh, I just remembered something.¡± I said. ¡°We still have a lot of things from Beira¡¯s lab. I am not sure if any of her research is important but it can¡¯t hurt.¡± We had taken everything, including the furniture. I just placed it on the ground. It was time for someone to make some use of it. Chapter 182: Mortals ¡°You even took their furniture?¡± Josef asked, while looking at a desk. ¡°We did not have much time and I have a large storage space.¡± I answered. ¡°She has a hoard, almost like a dragon. She just loots everything. Especially food.¡± Lucy said. ¡°She doesn''t even remember half of the things she carries around.¡± Lucy did have a point. So I just shrugged. ¡°One tends to accumulate things over time.¡± Lilith confirmed. Maybe she was a hoarder too. ¡°Anyway, maybe it has some helpful information. Speaking of information, we discovered different runes on the invaders. They are experimenting with demonic and fey magic. You should look at some of the bodies.¡± ¡°Interesting. Have you heard of any fey abductions?¡± Thessia asked. ¡°No.¡± I answered. ¡°Maybe they wanted to capture a young kitsune?¡± Lilith suggested while looking at Ben. ¡°I am not a kitsune, I am foxkin! But maybe I will grow into one, like big sis!¡± Ben said. Lilith frowned. ¡°That is not how this normally works. How did your sister become a kitsune?¡± Ben pondered that. I was curious how he would respond. While Lilith was gathering information, it was not really a secret that Lucy¡¯s family was normal. And the warlock pact was known by quite a few people as well. ¡°I am not sure.¡± Ben admitted. ¡°It has something to do with Amaya, who is also big sis now. Because she snuggles with Lucy a lot!¡± Lucy smirked at me but I avoided blushing, mostly. ¡°Shani tells me you just grow by slaughtering things.¡± Ben added. ¡°I think Amya and big sis slaughtered like a whole army! With a demon lord! And they bonded over that!¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Ben paused, thinking. ¡°Oh!¡± he exclaimed. ¡°Sis just grew a new tail from slaughtering things!¡± My guess was her protective instincts triggered the transformation. But I was not sure. She had been training her aura recently. It could have just been a result of practising and using her power. Further research was needed. ¡°And I will happily slaughter many more, if they come after my family. We will need to respond to that.¡± Lucy said. ¡°You mean, we should go on the offensive?¡± I asked. ¡°They dared to touch my family! I don¡¯t care what their plan was. I will crush them!¡± Lucy¡¯s eyes started to glow. ¡°That is so cool.¡± Ben said. ¡°Can you make your tails sparky again too?¡± ¡°Um¡­¡± Lucy¡¯s grim mood evaporated and she looked at her brother. ¡°I think I need to practise that. Also, I would not want to hurt you¡­¡± Ben was rather vulnerable. Maybe we could get him a nice armour soon. Unfortunately I did not know of a way to really improve his strength. There was the warlock pact, but that was essentially still on cooldown. And after what happened with Lucy¡­ It would be way too much power in the hands of a child. I suppose from that perspective, it was good that he was not strong. Finding a babysitter for an actual kitsune might be problematic. ¡°Maybe we should enter the palace again and seek more information on this incident?¡± Lilith suggested, suddenly. ¡°Sure.¡± I agreed. I had only wanted to check on Thessia and she was fine, as was Josef. ¡°Will you accompany us, Lucy?¡± Lilith asked. ¡°Huh?¡± She sounded surprised, then she looked at Ben. ¡°Let¡¯s go with them, they are fun!¡± Ben said. As we walked away from the tree Lilith turned serious. ¡°I wanted to talk with you two in private.¡± ¡°Well, Ben is here too.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Even if I do not fully understand the circumstances, he is your family and enjoys your trust, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She confirmed. ¡°This is about mortals in general.¡± Lilith began. ¡°I do not trust them. They fear our power and lust after it. Many offered me their allegiance in the past. All of them betrayed me in the end.¡± ¡°I do not doubt your words, but I suspect that only a certain type of mortal was willing to deal with you. It takes a lot of ambition and likely a lot of greed to interact with a demon lord.¡± I pointed out. ¡°And you do have a reputation.¡± Lucy added. ¡°Demons in general, I mean. They are avoided by normal people.¡± ¡°While you are not wrong, there are plenty of honourable mortals who give in to temptation. I do not know what precautions you have but I do hope you are ready. Once we win this war they will not take kindly to our presence.¡± I could see her point. But I did not think that Loriel would act against us. I had every intention of settling down in our county at some point. I had Lucy by my side and we were building an army of maid knights. Anyone coming for us would pay a steep price. ¡°You are not worried about us betraying you?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°No. Kitsune are known to be playful, my interactions with them have been limited. But they are not known for treachery. Archfey are manipulative but tend to take their word seriously. I trust you more than most demon lords. And I do believe that you gain little from betraying me.¡± It was hard to tell but she sounded honest. ¡°If you are our friend we will help you. If you betray us we will crush you. It matters little if you are mortal, or not.¡± Lucy stated. ¡°Is Lilith going to be a big sis too?¡± Ben asked. ¡°No.¡± Lucy and myself answered simultaneously. Chapter 183: Council The palace was busy with guards running around everywhere. People were trying to discover if something was taken and if someone was missing. The refugees we had escorted were fine if a bit shaken. Thankfully the intruders had no interest in simple villagers. A few hours after the incident the king called a meeting. Ben was back with his parents and Minerva was keeping watch with the recruits. Lily, Iris, Shani and Lucy were with me. Solana and Loriel represented the Dominion. A lot of dwarves were around who I did not know. And Lilith was here with Erin. ¡°Let me start by thanking all of you for your help.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°This attack was a surprise and exposed a weakness in our defences. Mostly our lack of information. It is also an act we cannot tolerate.¡± He paused and looked around the room. ¡°We had already begun with plans to move against the Empire. But now? Now we won''t wait any longer. This attack means WAR!¡± ¡°WAR!¡± The other dwarves shouted. ¡°SLAUGHTER! MORE SLAUGHTER!¡± Shani cheered. Dalroc continued: ¡°We will assemble our army and march towards the Empire. We will attack the Inquisition and everyone who stands with them. If the Emperor wants to help? So be it. If not? We shall crush him along the way!¡± Loriel looked thoughtful while Solana did not seem entirely happy. ¡°What do our allies say?¡± Dalroc asked. I guess our trip to our county was delayed, again. One day I would see it. ¡°House Delphinium does not have a sizable army but we will certainly stand by you. Our personal strength is yours.¡± I declared. Dalroc nodded, he looked relieved. ¡°I shall join my peers.¡± Lilith said. ¡°I can provide intel, a few elite squads and will personally take the field. It¡¯s time to remind them who they picked a fight with.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°The Dominion stands by its treaty.¡± Solana said. ¡°Although, is an immediate attack the right thing? Do we know what they were after?¡± This time Ingrid stepped forward. ¡°Our spymaster is missing.¡± Gasps were heard from the crowd. The queen continued: ¡°So are a number of documents. We are still completing our inventory. It appears that at least part of this raid was to gather information. I cannot say, at this point, if they were looking for something specific. I also cannot say if the spymaster was abducted, or killed.¡± Lilith voiced her opinion: ¡°What if he defected? Maybe he was the inside man who provided them with the information about this opportunity. Not too many people knew about my summoning.¡± ¡°I am rather certain about his loyalty.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°But one can never rule out magical manipulation. He could have been forced to betray us.¡± ¡°Also, we visibly emptied the palace of our elite troops when we marched towards the summoning.¡± Ingird added. ¡°All they needed was someone watching and a strikeforce waiting for such an opportunity.¡± ¡°Do we know how they got their force into the city?¡± I asked. ¡°No.¡± Ingrid said. ¡°If they have your spymaster, they might be prepared for an attack. Shouldn¡¯t we spend more time coming up with a proper plan?¡± Solana cautioned. ¡°That would give them time to question the spymaster and come up with a plan too.¡± I argued. ¡°Sure, we have to assess vulnerabilities. Maybe rotate some commanders. Shake things up a little. But striking quickly sounds reasonable. Gives them less time to prepare for our army.¡± Dalroc nodded. ¡°My thoughts exactly. Delays favour them, not us.¡± ¡°I have some other news to report.¡± Lilith said. ¡°As you know, I do have a bit of a spy network. And I promised to share. While my information about the Inquisition itself is somewhat lacking, I can tell you that they have infiltrated Beravis. I am afraid one of their champions, Erwin Iceheart, is working with the Inquisition. Willingly, as far as I can tell.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Loriel asked. ¡°He has always been very patriotic. Why would he betray Bervais?¡± ¡°I suspect he does not see it as betrayal.¡± Lilith theorised. ¡°But I do not know what they promised him. Beravis dislikes the Empire but they are also concerned about the Dominion. Once we start invading the Empire, they will use it to fearmonger. They will say Beravis is next.¡± ¡°You are saying that Bervais might attack the Dominion with the excuse of self-preservation.¡± I summarised. ¡°Yes.¡± Lilith confirmed. ¡°That means the Dominion will have to hold some troops back.¡± Solana stated. ¡°We cannot leave our border vulnerable.¡± ¡°If I may?¡± Iris stepped forward. I gave her a nod. ¡°Some of you might know that I served in the imperial army. There are plenty of good people left. If we can truly expose the rot within the Empire I am sure we can convince some of them to join us.¡± ¡°Sounds risky.¡± Loriel said. ¡°It would be an easy way for them to infiltrate our forces.¡± ¡°I trust Iris. I am willing to give some people a chance. They can serve house Delphinium.¡± I said. ¡°Thank you, my lady.¡± Iris answered. ¡°If you can convert their troops I won¡¯t reject them.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°This means we shall provide the main army. Bolstered by a kitsune, an archfey and a demon lord we should do fine, even if we get reduced support from the Dominion.¡± ¡°Our generals will gather the troops after this meeting. We will start marching in the next few days.¡± Ingrid said. Chapter 184: Personal Plans After the war council I had to conduct my own meeting with my people. There was planning to do. ¡°So, what are we going to do with the refugees?¡± I asked. ¡°They could stay here but I suspect a lot of them want to live under the open sky. We should let them settle in our county.¡± Lucy said. ¡°I agree. But we won¡¯t be there to manage anything. We don¡¯t have the time with the war starting now. We might have to send someone with them.¡± I argued. ¡°What about Thessia? She has that lazy earth elemental who can move her tree, now that she is not under pressure. She could move to our county and escort the refugees.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Hm. Could work. But I think we would need someone who actually represents us to manage things. I have no idea in what state our county is. And we promised them jobs.¡± I pointed out. ¡°I would like to be at your side but I will accept any task you give me.¡± Lily said. ¡°I think we should send the recruits to your county and someone to train them.¡± Iris added. ¡°Maybe even raise an army there. To protect your lands and possibly send reinforcements. Wars can take a long time.¡± ¡°You would be perfect for the job but I think we want you at the front against the Empire. Your knowledge would be useful.¡± I said. ¡°Minerva?¡± ¡°My lady, I would be honoured to take care of your estate. While part of me wants vengeance against the Inquisition, I am happy knowing that they face your wrath.¡± ¡°Yes! This wrath is going to do soooo much slaughtering!¡± Shani cheered. ¡°What about the runes? What if someone reactivates them?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Do you think they are going to get a strike force into the Dominion, powerful enough to overwhelm and capture Minerva? Activating the runes requires a ritual, it can¡¯t be done that quickly. They would need to actually capture her first.¡± I said. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I am confident in my ability to fight them off. As your maid knight I am stronger than I used to be. I will not fall easily.¡± Minerva reassured us. ¡°We should also send Sandra. She could help manage the estate.¡± Lily suggested. ¡°True. Then we should get Josef there to work on a cure. Lilith is going to send some succubi to help which grants them even more protection. I think I like this idea.¡± I said. ¡°It sounds good. You don¡¯t have any sort of teleportation item in your bag by chance?¡± Lucy inquired. ¡°Sadly no. I have no way to transport us across a long distance fast. Although with our shapeshifting we can run rather quickly. Or we can fly. Without anyone to protect we are quite fast.¡± I said. ¡°The smith should also go to your estate.¡± Minerva suggested. ¡°Yes. But maybe we can have him make some armour for Iris first. And Ben. Speaking of him, what about your family, Lucy?¡± I asked. ¡°Hm. I want them to be safe. Our estate should provide adequate protection. But having them close makes me worry less.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Keeping them safe at the front could be tough. While we are in battle someone could ambush them at camp.¡± I pointed out. ¡°True¡­¡± Lucy looked conflicted. I guess she did not want to be separated from them again. ¡°Of course you bring your family! Think about all the slaughter they would miss out on! And the relaxing bloodbaths afterwards.¡± Shani said. ¡°I don¡¯t think a battlefield is the ideal environment for a child. Ben should be going to school.¡± I suggested. ¡°The battlefield can teach a lot but he is a bit young.¡± Iris said. ¡°And I agree that keeping them at camp could be dangerous. Your family would need a proper bodyguard.¡± ¡°We could have Lily or Iris guard them. And only bring one of them to the battle.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Maybe back them up with some summoned elementals.¡± ¡°We could do that. But I feel like they might be safer in our county.¡± I really did not think that Ben needed to see a war. It would be brutal. ¡°Pfft safe. Ben is going to have a lot of fun with us!¡± Shani objected. Lucy looked thoughtful. ¡°Um, are you really considering Shani¡¯s advice?¡± I asked. ¡°Hey! I am the cutest court elemental! Professional slaughterer! I am an expert. Trust the expert.¡± Shani said while bobbing her head. ¡°I will talk to them.¡± Lucy concluded. ¡°Ok. I will support your decision but I would recommend sending them to safety.¡± I told her while placing my hand on her shoulder. ¡°Anything else we need to discuss?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°It is getting late. We can talk to Thessia and Josef tomorrow. The army will take a few days to mobilise anyway. Our group does not have anything to pack, Amaya can store all we need.¡± Iris pointed out. ¡°Indeed. There are advantages to being a small group. If lady Lucy¡¯s parents join us, we will need to make some arrangements. I will inquire tomorrow about carriages.¡± Lily offered. We ended the meeting and everyone left. Only Myself and Lucy remained. I looked at her. ¡°You know, I think it¡¯s time to investigate that second tail you grew. I think I should take a very close look at it. For science.¡± I managed to keep my face somewhat serious. I didn''t even blush. ¡°Science huh?¡± She smirked at me. ¡°Indeed. The pursuit of knowledge is important.¡± I assured her. ¡°Then join me in the shower.¡± Lucy said while walking towards the bathroom. I happily obliged. Chapter 185: Preparations The palace was busy the next day. People were running around and preparing for war. Our schedule was more relaxed. We met Lucy¡¯s parents for breakfast, where she discussed their future. ¡°Mom, dad, what do you want to do? We are going to war against the Empire. It will be dangerous. You could just go to our county. We are sending Minerva and the recruits, probably Thessia and Josef as well.¡± ¡°We have discussed such eventualities.¡± Alister said. ¡°It is clear that your life is dangerous. We would just be a burden. Stil¡­¡± ¡°We don¡¯t want to lose you again.¡± Lynn finished. ¡°We don¡¯t want to sit in a different part of the continent worrying.¡± ¡°What about Ben?¡± I asked. ¡°Would it not be better for him to be at school?¡± Lynn frowned. ¡°School? We could never afford a proper one. And we can teach him how to read or write ourselves.¡± I guess I had never really considered the school system of the Empire. Everyone seemed to be able to read and write. But maybe that was the extent of their education. Probably mixed with some propaganda about the Empire. ¡°Maybe we should hire a tutor for him? So far everyone speaks imperial. But it could help to teach him elvish.¡± ¡°Maybe we should hire a combat instructor?¡± Lucy mused. ¡°I guess it would not hurt if he could defend himself¡­¡± Lynn said. He is six! I guess people trained early for combat in this world. When did nobles start to train with a sword anyway? ¡°We could stay with the servants. Armies have cooks and other non-combatants.¡± Alister suggested. ¡°What? No.¡± Lucy answered. ¡°You get a plush tent, servants, guards¡­ You are my parents!¡± ¡°I think his point is that there are always non-combatants in an army. They would not be the only ones.¡± I said. ¡°Also, not every noble is a great fighter. Even in the army there are plenty of people who need protection from assassination.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°I wanna see a war!¡± Ben said. ¡°No. You would have to stay away from the battlefield. The fighting is no place for you!¡± Lynn said. ¡°You will have to stay in camp.¡± I still thought the whole idea was bad. But I could understand their desire to not be separated from Lucy again. Sitting in an unfamiliar place, worrying all day with no news, would be hard. While there were communication stones, sending messages long distance was not that easy. You could not just use your phone and start a video call. ¡°We need more maid knights.¡± I concluded. ¡°Should we keep Adhira with us? Maybe Nira too? As a storm sprite and a succubus they do have certain powers, even if they haven¡¯t been trained to Iris¡¯ standards in weaponry.¡± ¡°That is not a bad idea. Iris could continue to train them and they can guard my family.¡± Lucy said. ¡°We can have a small ceremony later, make them official maid knights in training instead of recruits.¡± I suggested. ¡°Damn, we will need armour for them. I hope Tyrell works fast.¡± Magic and the increased physical abilities of some people could certainly speed up production. Then again, adding runes to the armour might take additional time. Maybe Tyrell could ship the equipment to us if it was not finished in time. We still had a few days until we would march towards the Empire. After breakfast Lucy stayed with her family. They continued to talk and plan while I visited Josef and Thessia. They agreed to travel to our county and work on a cure. My next stop was Tyrell, who started cussing when I told him I needed armours quickly. I left while he was still complaining. I had just left the smith when Erin found me. She invited me to tea with Lilith. Curiously I accepted the invitation. Lilith had a nice suite in the palace where she welcomed me. She was at a small table and greeted me with a smile. ¡°Greetings Amaya. Is Lucy joining us too?¡± ¡°Good morning Lilith. Lucy is with her family. Is she needed for this conversation?¡± I asked. Erin was in her maid outfit and started serving some tea as I sat down. It smelled good. The scent reminded me of green tea with a hint of lemon. ¡°Lucy is not needed but she would have been welcome. I wanted to discuss the war with you.¡± Lilith said. I nodded. ¡°You see, the attack on the palace still poses a lot of questions. Abducting the spymaster? What sort of secrets would he know that the Inquisition needs? The dwarves were already gearing up for war but this certainly escalated things. We should try to get our hands on this spymaster, if possible. And ask our own questions.¡± Lilith suggested. I frowned. ¡°I am not in the habit of betraying my allies. I admit that there are unanswered questions but I will not act against an ally without cause.¡± ¡°You are surprisingly trusting, for a fey.¡± Lilith observed. ¡°But I can respect your loyalty. Just be careful. The three of us taking the field will have consequences. Mortals and immortals alike will watch this conflict. And once it is over many will look at you with fear and concern. Some might even try to steal the Inquisition¡¯s research and use it for their own gains.¡± ¡°I will keep that in mind.¡± She did have a point. We had to ensure that all research was destroyed and nobody would be able to copy their work. ¡°One other thing, how far are you prepared to go?¡± Lilith asked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Each of us could blow up a city. Combined? We can punch through a lot of defences. We can exterminate armies. But holding a city? That needs a lot of manpower. Destruction is so much simpler than conquering.¡± ¡°I will not kill a bunch of innocent citizens. We will give their armies a chance to surrender. If not¡­ I am prepared to do what must be done.¡± It would not be easy. But I had seen what happened when I hesitated. I still remembered the destruction Elias had unleashed. Chapter 186: Immortal Politics ¡°Since you intend to spare the citizens, are you going to claim some of the territory?¡± Lilith asked. ¡°I have no intention of creating my own nation.¡± I said. ¡°We will have to see how the war goes and what remains. I suspect the Empire will rebuild in some form. Or fracture into smaller kingdoms. To be honest, my knowledge is too limited to predict their future. It also depends on how many people are compromised by runes. What about you?¡± ¡°Ruling part of the mortal plane is not easy for a demon lord. I will need to watch my holdings back home, or others will get ideas. And sadly crossing over is not that easy.¡± Lilith said. ¡°Unless you created a permanent portal, using mass sacrifice during a war.¡± I pointed out. ¡°That is Ashemdai¡¯s plan, not mine. It is foolish. It will start a war in hell. Many would want such a portal. I am not sure if he has enough allies to hold that.¡± ¡°Maybe he wants to leverage it? Allow access for swearing allegiance? Set himself up as a ruler in hell? If he has enough support¡­¡± I wondered. ¡°Hm. He is not the smart type. He might be encouraged by someone else. His cult is certainly going to show up in the war. We will need to stop them from doing something too foolish. And watch if other demon lords are with him.¡± ¡°You said you don¡¯t want any territory. But I assume you are going to start a few local cults. Have succubi in important positions. Maybe influence some of the new rulers¡­¡± I said. Lilith smiled. ¡°Obviously. This whole situation has shown me that my intelligence network needs to grow.¡± ¡°And it allows you to influence their politics.¡± I added. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°Mortals are foolish. My guidance will help them.¡± She responded. I was not so sure about that. But so far Lilith was reasonable. Her cult was more about seduction and less about killing. I would have to keep an eye on her but I would not stop her from planting some succubi in the future Empire. ¡°How do you think this war will play out?¡± I asked. ¡°The Emperor is too proud to accept any help. I doubt that he will join our alliance even if he can¡¯t defeat the Inquisition. We might face armies from both sides of the civil war. I suspect they will try to wear us down with numbers and hit us with elites once our spells are depleted.¡± She said. ¡°What about artefacts? The Empire must have items to deal with demon lords. They have been around for a long time. Also, what will the church do?¡± I wondered. ¡°Sure. We can expect them to whip out some blades that can slay us. I do not know of anything truly problematic but we need to be prepared. I suspect once their elites show up they will carry something. We can send our own minions first to wear them down.¡± She suggested. I shook my head. ¡°I will not sacrifice my people. I will fight with them.¡± She ignored my comment and went on: ¡°As for the church, they are likely siding with the Emperor against the Inquisition. They might not stand against us. Imperius has no problem with a war between nations. But he dislikes rebellions.¡± ¡°The biggest issue is likely whoever leads the Inquisition. I suspect they will have power on our level. Either from an artefact, or because they are a peer.¡± I said. ¡°Whoever or whatever it is seems to hide pretty well. It would be nice if they confronted us directly but I doubt it. We will need to be vigilant though. Not knowing who we face means we do not know their abilities.¡± She cautioned. A fair point. We could be fighting someone who employed shapeshifting or illusions. ¡°Do you think some creature is pretending to be a high inquisitor? The Empire is rather human centric. Maybe something pretends to be one.¡± I wondered. ¡°Possible. It could also be a lich who was once human. But I have no doubt that the high inquisitors could simply be bribed by anyone. No matter how much they claim to fight for humans, they crave power. And they might still think that humans are the superior mortal race and just acknowledge that immortals are above them.¡± She responded. I had not thought about it like that. Mortals worshipping a god is a common thing. People could believe in their superiority while still having a higher power they serve. Was the Inquisition worshipping something? After a bit more small talk I decided to get on with my day. ¡°I have to say, I did enjoy our conversation. Next time Lucy should join us as well. It is nice to talk with a peer.¡± Lilith said as I got up. ¡°Likewise. And thank you for the tea.¡± I said. Erin had not said anything but she kept refilling my cup during the conversation. She gave me a short bow as I left. Chapter 187: On the March Three days later we left the capital. The dwarves were pulling forces from all over the kingdom. It would take a bit for them to reach the border. They decided to form three armies. The main one would lead the push, while the others would secure the flanks and hold important positions. We were with the main force. Tyrell managed to complete Iris¡¯ armour before we left. He took measures of Adhira, Nira and Ben and promised to send the others when they were finished. The army marched surprisingly quickly. Maybe it was the dwarven endurance, or simply the fact that people were stronger thanks to magic. We took the same route we used when we entered the Dwarven Kingdom. As we reached the border we camped for a day at the dwarven fortress. We were waiting for the last soldiers to arrive. In the evening Dalroc called for a strategy meeting. Interestingly enough the king and the queen were with the army. I would have expected at least one of them to stay behind and govern the nation. Solana had returned to the Dominion but Loriel was still with us. The Dominion agreed to send supplies and troops depending on Beravis¡¯ actions. ¡°Tomorrow we will enter the Empire.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°Our scouts have confirmed Amaya¡¯s report. The enemy troops guarding the border are a sad excuse for a soldier. There should be no resistance. The Emperor refused our offer to fight the Inquisition and has told us to stay away. As a result we have officially declared war. General Bodil.¡± He motioned towards a female dwarf. She had multiple scars on her face and was built like a tank. She had short white hair and silver eyes. ¡°The Emperor has managed to hold the capital but he has lost the southern half of the nation. Additional Inquisition forces are marching towards Unitera. He is focused on holding the city and pulling most of his troops there to make a stand. The northern part of the Empire still has a few imperial loyalists. The Inquisition¡¯s main force in the north is currently besieging Heliar.¡± She pointed at a city on the map. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°We could try to help them and see if they are willing to join our cause, or at least stay out of the way. It would secure our rear but it would also delay us and give the enemy more time to react to our invasion.¡± ¡°What is our goal? Do we know where the Inquisition¡¯s leaders are?¡± I asked. ¡°The high inquisitors are currently in the field leading their troops towards Unitera.¡± Bodil answered. ¡°So most notable people will be at the battle for the capital.¡± I concluded. ¡°Yes. If we arrive before one side wins we should be able to capture or eliminate most of the leaders on both sides.¡± ¡°Assuming the true leaders are there.¡± Lilith added. ¡°We are still missing a lot of information. What about your spymaster? Have you found him yet?¡± Bodil grimaced. ¡°Sadly there has been no trace. The investigation is still ongoing.¡± ¡°What do we know about the enemy''s elites?¡± I asked. ¡°Less than we would like. Two cities in the south have been destroyed by high level magic. Helios is defended by duke Witmore, who is a wizard capable of 7th tier spells. The Inquisition army besieging them is wielding some powerful magic but the mages have not been identified.¡± Bodil reported. ¡°What about Ashmedai and his cult?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°There are reports of demons in the south. But we lack any further information.¡± Bodil said. ¡°Sadly my spy network in the south has been compromised. Most of my succubi are missing.¡± Lilith reported. ¡°Can the 2nd and the 3rd army secure the north? So we can march towards Unitera?¡± I asked. ¡°Most of our own elites are with the primary army. We can use them to hold the area but we will need to deal with the main Inquisition force ourselves.¡± Bodil said. ¡°The 2nd and 3rd army are mostly to hold territory we have cleared.¡± ¡°Duke Witmore is reasonable.¡± Iris said. ¡°I think we can convince him to stand down. Maybe he will even work with us to secure the north. We should march towards Heliar and help him.¡± ¡°It might cost us the chance to participate in the battle for Unitera.¡± Loriel pointed out. ¡°Securing the north will stabilise part of the country and protect our rear. It will give refugees a place to flee to.¡± Iris countered. ¡°If we ignore the north the Inquisition might gain another foothold and spread their runes. Keep in mind that they will not simply occupy the territory, they will enslave all the powerful people there as well. We can¡¯t afford to ignore them.¡± I said. ¡°Amaya makes a good point.¡± King Dalroc said. ¡°The Inquisition is a tricky foe to fight. We will need to be thorough. We march towards Heliar and deal with the force there. If the battle for Unitera escalates we can always send an elite strike team to target some of the leaders. We don¡¯t necessarily need our main army there.¡± After the meeting I spent the evening with Lucy. Tomorrow we would cross the border. The first big fight was still a few days away. But tomorrow was the true beginning of the war. A lot of people would die before it was over. But the Inquisition had to be stopped. Thankfully I was not alone. Lucy was sleeping in my arms. Her presence gave me comfort. Eventually I fell asleep. Chapter 188: The Calm before the Storm The dwarven army did not raid or loot as we marched through the Empire. Thanks to storage artefacts we carried a lot of supplies with us. There would be no need to take any food from villagers. The soldiers guarding the border were still incompetent. They were utterly surprised by the army in front of them and simply surrendered. Iris spent a lot of time complaining about them and made no attempt to recruit them. We marched for four days until we saw the city of Heliar. It was in a grassy plain next to a river. A large Inquisition army was besieging it. The city had big stone walls, probably fortified by magic. I could see some damage but there was no breach, yet. Trebuchets were shooting glowing rocks at the wall. While they continued their siege it was obvious that our army had been spotted. The enemy was gathering their troops to meet us. I was standing on a small hill watching from a few kilometres away. Lucy and Iris were next to me. ¡°How will this battle work? Both armies form up in front of each other and then they charge?¡± I asked. ¡°Battles with powerful individuals such as yourself are messy.¡± Iris said. ¡°Sometimes the armies charge and the elites watch. They hope that their enemy wastes spells on regular soldiers giving them an advantage. Sometimes they immediately engage and try to overwhelm the enemy. There are no set rules, it comes down to the individuals. Most of the time the regular armies just fight normally and hope that their own elites are going to protect them.¡± ¡°Do you have any personal experience with such battles?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Not on that scale.¡± Iris said. ¡°I fought some raiding orks. They had shamans who wielded magic but the imperial mages were able to counter them. Really high level spells are rarely seen on the battlefield. There has not been a major war in my lifetime.¡± We watched a bit longer until we were called to the war council. A tent had been set up where the battle plan was crafted. ¡°This is going to be our first engagement.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°We are treating this like a normal imperial army but keep in mind the Inquisition might have some surprises for us. General Bodil.¡± He motioned for her to step forward. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°The attack on the palace showed modifications to their troops. We do not know how widespread they are. Further, we know they illegally acquired a lot of rare metals from our nation. Expect their elite warriors to be well equipped.¡± Bodil placed a hand drawn map on the table. ¡°We are going to come in from the south west. The Iron Legion will hold the centre while the Rangers protect our flanks. The mage division will focus on protection. We will not deploy any artillery this time. Since we are facing a lot of unknowns the Adamantium Guard will be held in reserve. Now for our heavy hitters¡­¡± He looked at me. ¡°I can summon a storm on top of the enemies. It will keep their mages busy defending them from lightning strikes. And I would be willing to join your troops at the front.¡± I said. ¡°I am going to be with Amaya.¡± Lucy announced. ¡°Me too! This will be amazing! So much slaughter!¡± Shani was clearly excited. ¡°I shall stay with the reserve, for now.¡± Lilith announced. ¡°It will allow me to observe the battle and react to where I am needed. It will also discourage an attack on our command tent. But I will provide a squad of succubi to bolster the mages.¡± ¡°Iris, stay with the commanders. You can give them advice if needed. I trust your judgement, if you think joining the fray is the right move go for it.¡± I told her. ¡°Yes, my lady.¡± ¡°Lily, I suspect you would like to be at the front?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, my lady. I would like to fight by your side.¡± Lily answered. ¡°Ok. The four of us can do a lot of damage. We will certainly soften them up and force their elites to act. Or run.¡± I said. ¡°Thank you.¡± Bodil said. ¡°That should minimise our losses. And we will still have lady Lilith in reserve if she is needed. That way we can react quickly if they have any surprises planned.¡± ¡°We do not have any contact with the defenders.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°They could hit the Inquisition from behind but it is more likely that they will watch and wait.¡± Once the meeting was over the army got into formation. The Iron Legion were heavily armoured dwarves. They wore a set of plate armour, a shield, a spear and an axe as a sidearm. There were twenty thousand of them. Behind them were the mages. About 500 of them. Most would only be capable of tier two spells. Their focus was protection. They might also work together on a ritual to empower the troops. On the flanks we had the rangers. They wore chainmail and carried two handed axes. We did not have any cavalry with us. I did not see any archers either. ¡°Why are there no archers?¡± I wondered. ¡°Dwarves use them rarely. They do have crossbow divisions but mostly to defend their keeps. In an open battle they are known for artillery. Dwarves have some frightening weapons.¡± Lily answered. ¡°Bodil said they are not using them here. Maybe I should have asked why.¡± I mused. ¡°I suspect because you are their artillery here. They will conserve their ammunition. This is only the opening battle and not the largest army we will face.¡± Lily said. ¡°Good! More for us!¡± Shani said with a huge grin. ¡°How many enemies are we facing?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Hard to say. There should be at least 50 000¡± Lily answered. ¡°I am gonna get sooo much blood! This is a great day!¡± Shani cheered. I was not sharing her enthusiasm. But the Inquisition had started this war. It was time to show them what an archfey could do. I closed my eyes and focused on my aura. I had to make certain it did not hurt our own troops. When I opened them again they were glowing purple. Dark clouds filled the sky but there was no rain yet. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± I said. Chapter 189: Storm I used Storm¡¯s Embrace, so did Lucy. Lily had a normal fly spell and Shani was floating anyway. It would allow us to reposition more easily and react to the flow of battle. We took our positions at the front of the army and started marching. The Inquisition had soldiers wearing mail and carrying spears at the front. I could see more heavily armoured troops in the back. Additionally they had some mages and archers. Hm. Could I use the wind of a conjured storm to blow away the arrows? It might be worth a try. ¡°I will cast Storm¡¯s Wrath on top of the enemy army.¡± I said. ¡°It will be interesting to see how it synergizes with my aura.¡± The spell created a large storm with a 500 metre radius. I had used it against Mantus and his army at Iron Rock. But I did not have my aura back then. Lucy transformed into a large fox. Her fur was covered in lightning as she unleashed her own aura. Meanwhile I cast my spell. Rain began to fall on the battlefield. The dark clouds rumbled. Thunder and lightning filled the sky. The first bolt hit a magical barrier. The enemy was trying to protect their troops. They answered with a volley of arrows. Magical shields sprang to life above our soldiers. I concentrated on my aura and encouraged it to provide more wind. The storm was on top of the Inquisition. Our own troops were at the edge. While I tried to protect them from the effects, my 9th circle storm might hit them if they charged in too far. Thankfully they held their positions and let us work. My wind did not stop all arrows but it blew most of them away. The dwarves formed a shield wall and awaited the enemy charge. They were happy to contain them in my spell. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Lighting strikes became more frequent and the battlefield was getting wetter. My clouds blocked out the sun. While I could see in the dark, humans were not that lucky. I wondered how it would look for them. They only had flashes of lightning for illumination. But the Inquisition was prepared. Magical lights appeared to give their troops some vision. It was not ideal for them, there just were not enough, but they would be able to see something. Then they started advancing. Lucy howled. Electricity gathered in her mouth and she unleashed a bolt of lightning. It caused a small explosion when it hit the enemy. I saw people flying around. The electricity spread through the water on the ground and electrocuted everyone who was too close. It halted the advance directly in front of us but the battle line was long. The Inquisition charged. I could hear the sound of horns. The cries of soldiers. The two armies clashed. Lucy charged straight into the enemy. Spears broke as they failed to penetrate her skin. Meanwhile, her teeth tore through the enemy''s armour with ease. My storm unleashed a bolt of lightning into Lucy. It seemed to charge her aura even more and caused a burst of electricity around her. ¡°YOU HAVE CHALLENGED THE LADY OF STORMS. NOW YOU FACE HER WRATH!¡± Shani shouted. Then she charged. Her huge scythe seemed to grow even bigger as she started cleaving. Lily followed after her. She was surrounded by the illusionary blossoms her weapon created. She did not bother with any disguise. She was in her succubus form and had a serene expression as she became a whirlwind of death. I drew my sword but did not charge yet. I was concentrating on my aura. It welcomed the spell I had used to create a storm. It gave me a certain control over it. I could direct the wind lightning to an extent. I floated up into the air to have a look. The bolts of lightning coming from the sky were not always blocked. Especially the enemy archers were getting devastated. Maybe the Inquisition decided they did not deserve protection because they were inefficient in this weather. It looked like the archers started to pull back. Maybe they were trying to find a position that worked. A group of enemy mages noticed me as well. Soon a volley of fire and acid came my way. They were learning. Nobody tried lightning. I dodged the projectiles easily. I was fast, flying and they were far away. I answered in kind and cast Storm Bolts. Lightning, enhanced by the weather, rained down on the enemy mages. It might have only been a tier three spell, but coming from me it was devastating. All of my lightning attacks were enhanced. They stopped attacking and desperately tried to shield themselves. Not all succeeded. Even better, their direct focus on me created holes in their armies defences. It allowed more of my storm¡¯s bolts to hit the army. Lucy, Shani and Lily were pushing hard. The normal soldiers had no way of stopping them. I could see some movement in the back. The Inquisition was bringing in better troops to slow them down. Heavily armoured knights with magical weapons. And behind them their true elites gathered. I could see them watching me. Seven people, clearly covered in expensive magical gear. Four fighters and three mages. Things were about to get interesting. Chapter 190: Confrontation I landed next to Lucy. The armoured knights were certainly more durable than their regular troops. But they still did not stand a chance against the kitsune. ¡°There is a more dangerous group ahead. We should face them together.¡± I said. Lucy grinned. A grinning fox covered in lightning. She looked sinister, I liked it. That was when I noticed some runes on the knights surrounding us. ¡°They are going to explode! They are a trap!¡± I shouted. Being a giant fox was irrelevant when it came to flight magic. Both of us took to the skies immediately. Below us the world exploded. I could feel the heat and braced against the shockwave. Shrapnel from the destroyed armour sliced my skin where it was unprotected. The cuts were not very deep and began healing immediately, but it was certainly unpleasant. I looked around, Shani had not been close to the explosion and was still happily cleaving through enemies. Lily had been blown backwards but she was already getting up. She did not look too badly hurt. As a demon she was resistant to fire, to an extent. As the dust settled the group of elites emerged. Lucy and myself landed in front of them. ¡°Tz. You could have just exploded and spared us the effort.¡± One man wearing a red robe said. ¡°But now we gotta have some fun.¡± The voice sounded like a man. But he was huge. Maybe he had some orcish blood. The man was covered in plate armour with a closed helmet and carried a huge hammer. Runes sprang to life all over his equipment. ¡°FUN? Did someone say fun? I want to join the slaughter!¡± Shani raced towards us. Somehow her body was covered in blood. Streams of it were pulled towards her bunny ears and absorbed. ¡°What is that?¡± A woman asked. She wore a pristine white robe with golden runes. The staff she carried was silver with a big sapphire on top. ¡°RUDE!¡± Shani complained. ¡°I am the court elemental! An expert in slaughter, babysitting and bloodbathing! Also, I am THE WRATH!¡± Her voice changed in the end and lightning surrounded her body. ¡°Animals. You are a bunch of animals.¡± The white robed woman said. ¡°She is not wrong.¡± Lucy said. I looked at Shani¡¯s bunny ears, then I looked at the giant fox next to me. She had a point. ¡°Should I transform into a panther?¡± I wondered. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. While I mentally debated changing my form Lily joined us. ¡°My ladies. Excuse my delay, the explosion took me off guard. Thankfully this armour is exceptionally sturdy.¡± She said while bowing to us. ¡°Shall I take care of this trash for you?¡± ¡°Why is this succubus wearing a maid uniform on top of her armour? What is wrong with you people? Did you bring your fetish to the battlefield?¡± A man shouted. He also wore plate armour. His finely decorated shield and sword made him look like a paladin from video games. ¡°I shall teach you the power of the maid knights.¡± Lily replied with a smile. The remaining two fighters were silent. Both wore plate as well. One was armed with a two handed sword, the other carried a halberd. The final member of their group was a man in a black robe. He had a black beard and cold eyes. I was not sure why but he struck me as the most dangerous of the group. Dangerous was relative, of course. They were all mortals as far as I could tell. ¡°You seem awfully relaxed for what you are facing.¡± I pointed out. The white robed woman snorted. ¡°We have trained our entire lives to protect humanity from your kind. We are not afraid of the likes of you.¡± I smiled. Then I focused on my aura and put some power into my voice. ¡°I am Amaya Delphinium. Lady of Storms.¡± I raised my hands and pointed at the weather around us. Rain was falling, the wind was howling, thunder and lightning filled the sky. ¡°You are in my domain. You have challenged me. Now face the consequences. Die.¡± My little speech ended with thunder. Lucy roared and a massive bolt of lightning hit the white robed woman. A shield sprang to life around her as she screamed. The big man charged while screaming. Lucy tried to hit him with her paw from above. He blocked it with his hammer. The ground beneath him cracked. Lily charged the man with the shield. The other two fighters were coming for me and Shani. ¡°I want them both!¡± The elemental screamed as she swung her scythe. The man with he halberd blocked and grunted as electricity hit him. But he did not seem harmed. Despite Shani¡¯s shout the other fighter rushed past her to take a swing at me. I parried with my sword, pushing his blade towards the left. I followed with a quick stab at his right shoulder joint. Sadly his armour held, I missed the gap. As I tried to attack again my enemy was hit. Lucy had sent her opponent flying and the big man crashed into the fighter before me. The kitsune followed it up with a pounce before the enemies could get up again. I used the moment to focus on the enemy mages. The woman was currently glowing brightly. She had taken some damage from the lightning and was currently healing her burns. The man in the red robe was conjuring fire in his hands. I had lost track of the last one. I charged the man with the fire. He threw the glowing ball towards my face. I went right through it. Heat surrounded me. Briefly my vision turned red and my skin began to hurt. But it was not nearly enough to stop me. The man¡¯s face was filled with shock as I emerged from the flames right in front of him. A barrier sprang to life as my sword hit his chest. It flared red and sent more flames towards my hand. But I kept pushing. I was strong. The barrier shattered and the man screamed. Disbelief was on his face as I pierced his heart. ¡°NOOOOO!¡± The women screamed. She abandoned her healing and threw a golden bolt of energy my way. I dodged. Then I charged her. It seemed to me that their mages relied too much on their fighters. With all of them busy right now, they had no idea how to react. She began to cast another spell, but she was too slow. One swing of my sword neatly severed her head from her body. ¡°I had hoped they would last longer.¡± I heard a voice say from behind me. I turned around and saw the man in the black robe. ¡°Their bodies would have been useful. No matter.¡° He shook his head. ¡°An interesting way to talk about your allies.¡± I said. ¡°Allies? They were tools.¡± He waved his hand around the battlefield. ¡°They all are. But you know that, don¡¯t you? My mistress does not appreciate your meddling, Lady of Storms. This is of no concern to you.¡± ¡°And your mistress is too afraid to tell me this to my face?¡± I asked. ¡°She is offering you a truce. You and your court. Think about it.¡± He said. Suddenly I heard a large number of screams. I looked around and saw a different kind of rune activating. Some soldiers were being sacrificed to summon demons. I looked back at the man in the black robe. He did not look particularly happy about it. ¡°Ashmedai. His cult is disgusting. As is their incompetence. No matter. We shall meet again.¡± The man dissolved into a cloud of smoke and disappeared. An interesting ability. Was that a long range teleport? Could people do that? Or did he simply retreat and was still in the area? Meanwhile the battle was still raging around me. The demons who appeared were trying to kill everyone. The Inquisition¡¯s ranks were broken by the attack from within. Chapter 191: Captive ¡°WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?¡± The paladin shouted. I turned towards him. His armour was no longer pristine. I could see scorch marks on it. He was down on one knee. Lily was standing before him. She was in a much better state. Lucy and Shani were still fighting. Or more like toying with their opponents. Since they did not need help I walked over to the paladin. ¡°This is Ashmedai¡¯s work. But I doubt that he is any worse than whoever you serve.¡± I said. The paladin stared at me. I could see his hate filled eyes through the slits in his helmet. ¡°You did this! This is your fault!¡± He pointed at the demons around us. ¡°No. Actually, we are enemies. You might have noticed that the dwarves, our army, are also fighting the demons.¡± I pointed out. He stared at Lily. ¡°Clearly she is a different kind of demon. She serves me, not Ashmedai.¡± We also had Lilith on our side. And some of her succubi were on the field. So I suppose technically we were only fighting some of the demons. ¡°They are all the same!¡± He protested. ¡°You are trying to take this world from us! You are here to rule, to corrupt! But the Inquisition will stop you! Even if I fall, humanity will prevail!¡± I scratched my head. ¡°A brainwashed zealot. You think interrogating him will get us some useful info?¡± I asked Lily. ¡°I shall certainly do my best, my lady. He could have valuable knowledge about the Inquisition. While it does seem unlikely that he knows the true force controlling them, he might know about some of their plans.¡± She said. ¡°I shall not surrender! Die you filth!¡± He grabbed his sword and charged me. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Lily stepped in his way. With a precise strike of her naginata she disarmed him, then used the butt of her weapon to trip him. He was surrounded by illusionary blossoms as he fell. ¡°I shall take care of him, my lady. I will ensure he stays alive for interrogation.¡± Lily said. ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH¡± There was a loud scream coming from behind me. It was followed by a crunching sound. I turned around and saw Lucy bite the leg of the big fighter. While she could not quite penetrate the armour she was crushing the bones of the man¡¯s leg with her teeth. While he was immobilised Shani¡¯s scythe descended on his head. She hit him in the throat, right under the helmet. The man was dead. His two companions had fallen as well. What followed surprised me. Shani jumped onto Lucy¡¯s back. ¡°LET¡¯S GOOOOOOO!¡± She shouted. Lucy roared. Then she charged towards more enemies. The lightning covering the kitsune seemed to flow into Shani. It empowered her scythe which grew even larger. The elemental cleaved everything that was not trampled by Lucy. The whole battle had become a slaughter. Demons were running rampant within the Inquisition¡¯s ranks. Some officers tried to rally their troops but they failed. With the darkness from the clouds, Lucy¡¯s lightning covered form was easily visible from afar. She became an avatar of death. Maniacal laughter could be heard from the elemental on top. They broke the enemy''s morale. The Inquisition¡¯s army ran. Small pockets of soldiers tried to fight. Maybe out of duty, maybe because they saw no way out. But most of them tried to flee. Some even dropped their weapons. The dwarves focused on the demons, who were still happily slaughtering everything they saw. We won. But there was still a lot of cleanup to do. I looked for the nearest group of demons and charged. Once the fighting was over I returned to the command tent. I had lost track of Lucy and Shani. The storm from my spell had ended a while ago but my aura was keeping the clouds in place. I took a moment to disperse them. The sun returned. Lilith was the first person I ran into. ¡°Did anyone try to attack the command tent?¡± I asked. She shook her head. ¡°No. Either they considered our defences too strong or they were caught unprepared and had no time to plan a proper ambush.¡± ¡°I met a mage on the battlefield. He fled but he said he was serving a mistress. Not a huge clue but he confirmed what we already suspected, the Inquisition serves someone. Unknowingly serves to be correct, a large part of them is likely deceived or controlled.¡± I said. ¡°Maybe your captive can provide more information. I saw your maid drag a captured paladin into the camp earlier. I sent Erin to help with the interrogation. It is a good catch. Do you have any plans for him?¡± Lilith asked. I frowned. ¡°Plans?¡± ¡°I like to turn zealots against their cause! It is a hobby of mine. Of course, he did not serve the cause he thought anyway. Still, he could be a useful tool.¡± Lilith explained. I had no plans for the man. I also had very little sympathy. Yes, he was tricked by whoever controlled the Inquisition these days. But his ideals were rotten. He seemed to hate non-humans. ¡°You can have him.¡± I said. Lilith smiled. ¡°Thank you. I appreciate the gift.¡± Chapter 192: Debrief While I was talking with Lilith, Lucy and Shani returned. ¡°That was awesome! Your fox form looks great with blood on it!¡± Shani said. ¡°I am not sure. It kind of sticks to the fur. I don¡¯t mind it during battle but I would not want it on me for too long. Amaya¡¯s rain helped a lot though. I don¡¯t want to know how I would look otherwise.¡± Lucy replied. ¡°We need a blood storm! Rain is cool and all that but imagine it raining blood! So much better.¡± Shani said. ¡°I am not sure. I have enough trouble with all the stuff that ends up in my mouth while biting. I don¡¯t want even more blood.¡± Lucy said. ¡°But¡­ but¡­ what if it is tasty blood? I am sure there is a flavour of blood you like! We should do a blood tasting!¡± Shani proposed. Was Shani corrupting my girlfriend? I suppose blood sausage was alright, but just drinking raw blood? If you summoned blood, what kind would it be anyway? Could you choose? I did not have a blood rain spell but I would not be surprised if it existed. I knew that there was blood lightning. I was getting distracted though. Lucy was still in her fox form. There were pieces of demons stuck in her fur. ¡°You need a bath.¡± I said. ¡°Hi to you too. Fighting as a fox is dirty business.¡± She replied. ¡°I can clearly see demonic flesh stuck to your fur.¡± I pointed at a piece. ¡°Huh. I did not notice. You know, as a fox I don¡¯t mind such things as much. It also helps with the taste in my mouth. I will need to brush my teeth when I transform otherwise I might gag.¡± She said. Stolen story; please report. ¡°Is that why you are still a fox?¡± I asked. ¡°Partially. I did not want to get my clothes dirty. I plan to transform in a place where I can wash up.¡± She explained. ¡°I could fill a tub with blood for you! So you can bathe!¡± Shani suggested. We both looked at her. ¡°She is trying to get rid of blood, and other things, sticking to her fur.¡± I pointed out. ¡°Boooooring!¡± Shani replied. ¡°I am gonna enjoy my bath!¡± Then she floated away. ¡°Maybe I should clean up too.¡± Lucy replied. Then she trotted off. I looked at my own clothing. Maybe I subconsciously directed more rain my way but I was fairly clean. I suppose it also helped that I fought with a sword and did not bite enemies. Lilith looked amused but did not comment. Both of us entered the command tent afterwards. ¡°Welcome back Amaya!¡± Dalroc greeted me. ¡°We had a glorious victory! There will be a lot of feasting tonight!¡± ¡°Thank you for your help.¡± General Bodil bowed. ¡°You saved a lot of lives. Our casualties were minimal.¡± ¡°That is why I am here.¡± I said. Then I reported my encounter on the battlefield. ¡°Disturbing.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°Do you know what kind of magic was used by him? How did he escape?¡± Bodil asked. I shrugged. ¡°I thought about it. Seemed like a shadow spell. Probably 5th tier or higher. Turning yourself into a smoke cloud can be done in a few ways. The question is, did he flee as smoke? Was the smoke part of teleportation? Did he use two different spells, like become smoke, then teleport? And did he move far away, or did he only leave the battlefield and then retreated normally?¡± ¡°Sadly I am not much help there. As Amaya has said there are a lot of different options. Besides normal magic, some creatures of the night have inherent abilities, like a gaseous form.¡± Lilith said. ¡°Creatures of the night? You mean undead?¡± Dalroc asked. ¡°Not all of them are undead. The world has many creatures dwelling in the shadows.¡± Lilith replied. ¡°I wonder what the paladin has to say about this. Certainly he has spent some time with the unknown mage and has seen some powers, right?¡± I wondered. ¡°Zealots have a way of ignoring evidence that contradicts their belief. He might have some way to justify anything he saw in his mind. But that does not mean he can¡¯t provide useful info. I will personally help with the interrogation. Amaya was kind enough to give him to me.¡± She said with a smile. It was certainly an evil kind of smile. ¡°What about the city? Has the duke reacted to the battle?¡± I asked. ¡°There has been movement on the walls but the duke has not contacted us. Or reacted in any visible way. The gates are still closed. I have sent a messenger. We will have to wait for their return.¡± Bodil reported. ¡°I suspect he will wait a bit and observe, then invite us to a meeting.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°I guess in that case I will clean up.¡± I decided. My sword could use some cleaning. And I could use some soap myself. Also, Lucy was likely using the tub in our tent right now. I could join her¡­ I smiled. Chapter 193: Meeting the Duke Some time later I was lounging in our tent with Lucy. We were clean and I told her about my encounter during the battle. ¡°How do you fight a cloud of smoke? Can you eat it? Inhale it? Capture it in a bottle?¡± She asked. ¡°I am not sure what would happen if you eat or inhale parts of it. I guess inhaling might be bad. Worst case the creature can damage your lungs or suffocate you. I would be less worried about the stomach. Capturing it in a container might work. As for damaging it¡­¡± I pondered that. ¡°You know, it really depends on what sort of magic is used. But some spells or magic weapons might still work. I think lightning could do a decent job. Hm. Maybe you could solidify it with ice.¡± ¡°What about dispersing it with wind? Could you harm the creature if you blow the smoke in different directions?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°You know, that could work. Depends on how far you blow it.¡± I said. ¡°My ladies, sorry for disturbing you.¡± Lily said as she entered the tent. ¡°King Dalroc sent word about a meeting with the duke who governs the city. He invites you to join him.¡± ¡°Sure. I am wondering how he will react.¡± I said as I got up. ¡°He should be thanking us. We saved the city after all.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°He might not see it that way. He might think of us as invaders.¡± Lily cautioned. ¡°But Iris says he is a reasonable man.¡± ¡°We should bring her. Did Dalroc mention something about the size of our group?¡± I asked. ¡°He did not.¡± Lily replied. ¡°Ok, fetch Iris. The four of us should be fine. Since this is about diplomacy we will leave Shani in the camp.¡± I reasoned. ¡°A little bit of slaughter can help you with diplomacy.¡± Lucy said. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I looked at her. ¡°Really?¡± She snickered. We met the king at the command tent. ¡°Ah, Amaya, Lucy, thank you for joining us! I have just informed queen Lilith of the invitation. Duke Witmore invited us to dine with him.¡± He said. ¡°Do you think it could be a trap?¡± I asked. ¡°Unlikely. While I would expect such moves from the Inquisition we are dealing with the actual Empire here. Their morals are questionable but they have never fallen so low as to ambush someone during a peaceful meal.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°I agree with his assessment.¡± Iris added. ¡°I have met the duke in the past. He is not the sort of man who would try to assassinate you during dinner.¡± ¡°He would be a fool to attack us.¡± Lilith said. ¡°You are joining us?¡± I asked. ¡°Indeed. I was considering dealing with the paladin but he can wait. Erin and I will join those negotiations.¡± She smiled. Clearly she had something planned. Maybe she wanted to establish her cult in the city. ¡°When are we going?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°We shall leave in half an hour.¡± Dalroc replied. It was a soldier who came to escort us into the city. His eyes grew wide when he saw the demons in our party. ¡°I¡­ Are¡­ Are those with you?¡± He stammered. ¡°This is lady Lilith, queen of the succubi. Her maid Erin. And this is Lily, the maid of the archfey Amaya and kitsune Lucy. Disrespect them at your own peril.¡± Dalroc said while pointing at the people he introduced. The soldier was smart enough to bow. ¡°My apologies! I meant no disrespect!¡± He was also sweating and clearly overwhelmed with the situation. ¡°My lady is merciful. You will be forgiven, this time.¡± Erin said. I did feel bad for the man. But I suppose Lilith had a reputation to maintain. For a demon lord she was pretty easy-going to be honest. The duke provided carriages for us. There was even a small honour guard. Certainly a nice gesture. As the wagon moved through the city I could see signs of the siege. Some projectiles were not stopped by the walls. A few buildings were ruined. The streets were mostly empty. The few people we saw looked scared. ¡°The true devastation will be in the fields.¡± Iris mentioned. ¡°They will have raided the villages, taken their food, conscripted the people¡­¡± ¡°At least we have stopped them from doing further damage.¡± I consoled her. ¡°True. But it is always the regular people who suffer the most. I became a soldier to protect them¡­¡± ¡°And you are now doing more for them than you did as a soldier. I know you had good intentions but the Empire was never worth protecting.¡± Lucy said. ¡°I know. Thank you, my lady.¡± Iris responded. We arrived at the duke¡¯s mansion. It was certainly big but did not compare to all the palaces I had been to in this world. A bunch of knights stood at attention to welcome us. Behind them was an older man. While he still had some muscles his short hair had turned grey. There was a scar over his left eye, which looked dull. The right eye was blue and watched us with interest. The man looked like he was a veteran who had seen combat. The pretty clothes he wore to greet us looked out of place. ¡°I am duke Witmore, welcome to my home.¡± He greeted us. His good eye studied the demons among us. He tensed. His right hand almost went towards his belt but he stopped himself. ¡°King Dalroc, why don¡¯t you introduce your¡­ companions.¡± He said. Chapter 194: A Reminder ¡°Duke Witmore, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you. My companions are Lilith, queen of the succubi, Amaya Delphinium, an archfey, Lucy Delphinium, a kitsune, and their servants. You probably know Loriel, the night queen.¡± Dalroc introduced us. ¡°So, you are in league with a demon lord.¡± Witmore stated. ¡°We are allies. The Inquisition is a threat we are facing together.¡± ¡°It is an insult that shall be eradicated.¡± Lilith said. ¡°What about humans? Are we an insult too?¡± He asked. Lilith snorted. ¡°Oh my, you overestimate your importance. Like so many. Humans are insignificant. Just one species among many. I don¡¯t see them differently than elves, dwarves, orcs,... Mortals are all the same.¡± The duke certainly did not like that judging by his face. But he was smart enough to not insult a demon lord. For now. ¡°I see.¡± He said. ¡°Are you expecting me to surrender?¡± He asked Dalroc. ¡°We are here to discuss the future of the Empire.¡± The king said. ¡°As you know, the Inquisition needs to be stopped. But we don¡¯t have to be enemies.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s discuss this inside. Please, follow me.¡± The duke said. He led us to a big dining hall. Maids were standing around, waiting to serve. We sat down and immediately a servant appeared offering us something to drink. ¡°Which wine has the best poison?¡± Lucy asked. The servant paled. ¡°I¡­ I assure you nothing here is poisoned!¡± ¡°She is just joking.¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t frighten the staff, Lucy.¡± ¡°It was funny!¡± She protested. ¡°Ok, I am sorry. Just give me some wine. Also, you remember the fancy place in the Empire? Some poison might have good flavour.¡± ¡°Oh, you must try demonic stingtail!¡± Lilith said. ¡°It¡¯s a delicacy. The poison has a deceptive sweetness at first, which soon turns into a nice burn. It dissolves its victims from the inside. Gives you a nice warm feeling.¡± ¡°Huh. I will have to remember that. Is it more of a dessert thing?¡± I asked. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°It is hard to work with. Most organic material gets destroyed when you mix it with the poison. But my chef does have a wonderful ice cream recipe¡­¡± Lilith said ¡°This is one of the most dangerous poisons.¡± Loriel pointed out. ¡°Is it? For mortals, maybe.¡± Lilith shrugged. ¡°Demonic food is quite tame compared to the fey courts. I do have to say I envy that debauchery. Most demon lords are all about fighting. Fey are so much more civilised.¡± ¡°I will take your word for it.¡± Loriel answered. Meanwhile Dalroc asked the duke: ¡°How much do you know about the Inquisition and their rebellion.¡± ¡°I have always considered them an important tool to keep the Empire functioning. A bit too zealous at times but I have never expected them to fall so low. Iron Rock was a big blow to their reputation. Demons¡­¡± He shook his head. ¡°They were foolish to think they could control them. They paid the price. I am surprised that so many are still loyal to those fools. Traitors, all of them.¡± ¡°Do you know about the runes?¡± Dalroc asked. ¡°Runes? Are you talking about that mind control nonsense?¡± He asked. ¡°It is true.¡± Iris said. ¡°Duke Witmore, I have seen those runes with my own eyes.¡± He eyed Iris. ¡°I know you. You have been responsible for the security a few times when I visited Unitera. Vice captain Iris, right? What are you doing here? Wearing a maid uniform.¡± ¡°Captain Gunther betrayed me, he betrayed the Empire. Ladies Amaya and Lucy stood by my side when no one else did. I serve them now.¡± ¡°As a maid?¡± ¡°A maid knight.¡± He snorted. ¡°Right. You left the Empire to serve its enemies. Maybe they put you under a spell? Maybe you never saw those runes, just think you did.¡± ¡°Sir, do not insult my ladies. They are honourable!¡± Iris insisted. ¡°Yes, we are here peacefully but we shall not take your insults lightly.¡± Lily added. Her gaze looked murderous. ¡°Another demon? You are not making a convincing case.¡± The duke said. Erin stepped forward, next to Lily. ¡°You have now insulted the three most powerful beings in this room. It might be a good time to start begging for your life.¡± ¡°You are here as guests. I do not take kindly to threats.¡± Heinrich said. Lilith sighed. ¡°You see Amaya, this happens when you treat mortals as equals. They forget their place. They forget the respect we are owed.¡± Then she looked at the duke. Her eyes became black. Her aura flooded the room. The duke screamed and fell from his chair. Dalroc and Loriel shuddered. I felt the aura brush on my own but it did not harm me. I looked at Iris and Lily. They seemed mostly fine. Interestingly enough, the bond we had shielded them to an extent. It seemed that my aura protected them through it. Well, mine and Lucy¡¯s. She had an aura too. But the servants in the room did not do so well. I extended my own aura and tried to cover them. It worked. They managed to stay upright on shaky legs. Guards ran into the room. They collapsed. After a minute the screaming stopped. The duke was breathing heavily. ¡°This is my only warning.¡± Lilith said. ¡°We are here as guests after all. If you keep up your insults I will leave. Then tomorrow, I will return. And I will show you the true power of a demon lord. Now, clean yourself up. Then come back and try again.¡± The duke had soiled himself. He was on the floor, trembling. Servants rushed to his side and helped him out of the room. Lilith picked up her glass and had a sip of wine. ¡°Mortals do have some decent beverages. But it really does not compare to the fey. Amaya, could you help me purchase some fey wine perhaps?¡± My mind was still thinking about what had happened. Lilith was a bit rough. I did not think that aura was necessary. But she had not permanently harmed anyone. Well, at least I did not think so. There was a possibility she broke his mind. In the end, it was not my responsibility to protect the duke from his foolishness. ¡°I want to try some fey wine too!¡± Lucy added. My inventory contained many things. Sadly, fey wine was not among them. ¡°I don¡¯t have any, sorry.¡± I said. Maybe I should ask Adhira about it. Chapter 195: Manipulations While we waited for the duke to return, Dalroc and Loriel remained silent. I wondered if this would change our relationship. The demon lord had reminded everyone of the difference in power between us. Duke Witmore returned after a while. He had changed his clothes and looked presentable again. His face was pale and showed a mixture of fear and anger. He bowed when he entered. ¡°I apologise, honourable queen. You made your point.¡± Lilith smiled. ¡°Good, then let us continue.¡± I decided to start by explaining the mind control: ¡°The Inquisition uses runes to control people. Those appear like tattoos on the skin and are often concealed with makeup, or illusions. What makes them problematic is that they are essentially added to the soul.¡± That certainly got a reaction from the duke. He looked genuinely shocked. ¡°Which makes it impossible for us to remove them. I can break their magic, in which case they are dormant until someone reactivates them. This requires a ritual and can¡¯t be done remotely. Still, anyone who has been freed could be captured and put back under their control again. We do not know exactly how they managed to alter the soul. Alchemy seems involved.¡± I let him ponder that for a bit, then I continued: ¡°Altering the soul is not something easily done. But it is part of creating a warlock. Something no mortal can do. We expect the Inquisition to work for a creature on our level.¡± ¡°Something that was further confirmed when Amaya encountered a wizard on the battlefield, who claimed to serve a mistress. Have you noticed anything suspicious during the siege?¡± Lilith asked. The duke was still staring. He needed a moment to process the information. We all waited patiently. ¡°I am sorry, this was a lot to take in. I can hardly believe it¡­¡± He swallowed. ¡°I am not accusing you of lying!¡± He added. ¡°It is fine.¡± I assured him. ¡°I know that is a lot to take in and hard to believe. But this is the reason why we are here. We will crush the Inquisition and whoever they work for.¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°And now you understand why we call a demon lord our ally.¡± Dalroc said. Then he pointed to Lilith, Lucy and me. ¡°They are here because we share an enemy. We are not here to conquer the Empire. We even offered to work with the emperor. He refused.¡± ¡°Maximilian is prideful.¡± The duke said. ¡°He is an old fool hiding behind ancient wards in his palace.¡± Lilith commented. ¡°He is making a stand in the capital. We are going there next to confront the main force of the Inquisition.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°And you want my soldiers?¡± Duke Witmore asked. ¡°Mostly we want the north secured. It is vital to feed the people and can provide a place for the refugees fleeing the south.¡± Loriel said. ¡°I can send the 3rd army to help keep the peace and rout any remaining Inquisition troops. We are here to help, if you let us.¡± Dalroc said. The duke looked thoughtful. ¡°Yes, it means you will have to disobey the emperor.¡± Lilith said with a smile. ¡°It also means an opportunity. The north will be relatively untouched. You can strengthen your position here. Have a friendly relationship with your neighbours, feed the people, become a hero¡­ Become a king.¡± ¡°I am loyal to my nation.¡± Witmore responded. Lilith¡¯s smile grew even wider. ¡°To the nation. Not the emperor. A man hiding in his palace while the world burns. What is a nation? The nobles? The land? The people? They will look for guidance. They will look for leadership. You can give them a future.¡± Lilith was good at this. She did not even lie. I did wonder though if it was only her words or if she used some of her powers as well. ¡°What¡­ What would be the price?¡± He asked. ¡°Price? Leadership has its own burdens. But there is no price. We have already liberated your city. All you need to do is go out to your people and declare victory. Tell them about the alliance you forged. Tell them how their emperor left them but you did not. Tell them how you secured their future.¡± She said. It looked like she had him. Some life was returning to the duke¡¯s face. ¡°Yes. I will do it. For my people.¡± ¡°Splendid! I suspect the Dominion and the Dwarven Kingdom will be delighted to enter trade negotiations. And maybe offer some help with rebuilding. If you excuse me, I have other business.¡± Lilith said and got up. Erin followed her. ¡°Hey, we could leave too.¡± Lucy suggested. She seemed bored with the politics. I suppose she had a point. An agreement was reached, sort of. And it did not look like there was any fighting. Also, I did have a question for Lilith. ¡°Sure.¡± I said to Lucy. ¡°We shall leave as well, it was a pleasure meeting you.¡± I said to the others. Iris decided to stay, which was fine by me. Lily came with us. Once we left the building I asked Lilith: ¡°What do you gain from this? What is your plan?¡± ¡°Oh? Why would I have a plan?¡± She smiled. ¡°First you broke the duke, then you built him back up. You talked him into seizing power. This is not just about the war. All we needed him to do was keep the peace while we fight in the south. No, you wanted him to rule.¡± I said. ¡°Of course my dear. He will make a useful puppet. He will deliver a speech using my words. He will get a cheering crowd looking at him with hope. He will get loyal followers. And he will want more. He will need advice. I already have a nice succubus in mind to become his advisor.¡± She explained. ¡°And likely his spymaster. You are making sure that you have a lot more information and control over the next Empire.¡± I mused. ¡°The Inquisition caught me off guard. I will not make the same mistake again.¡± Lilith said. Chapter 196: In the City Lilith said her goodbyes and returned to the camp. She had a paladin to interrogate. ¡°What are we going to do now?¡± I asked Lucy. We did not really have any duties, currently. ¡°Should we search the Inquisition''s camp? Maybe we can find something about their leader." I suggested. ¡°Eh. That sounds tedious. We could just let the army do the work. I am sure they will call us if something comes up. How about a stroll through the city?¡± She asked. I scratched my head. ¡°Hm. Technically we are just guests for the negotiations.¡± ¡°We are not harming anyone. And who is going to stop us? Come on, let¡¯s find a cafe. You know you want to.¡± She wiggled her eyebrows at me. I laughed. ¡°Ok, you win. Let¡¯s find some food. Lily, you can go back to the camp.¡± ¡°As you wish, my ladies.¡± She responded and left. We did not know the layout of the city. So we simply started walking. The guards at the duke¡¯s mansion did not stop us as we left. It took us a while to leave the noble district. Eventually we found an area with shops. The streets were relatively empty. It occurred to me that most people would not know that the siege was over. It¡¯s not like they had a phone, or tv, to watch the news. We found a nice cafe with some tables outside. The weather was a bit chilly for humans but it did not bother us. It did not take long for a nervous waitress to appear. ¡°Welcome! I¡­ I haven¡¯t seen you here before.¡± She said. Of course there were no travellers or tourists during a siege. You did not expect a stranger to simply show up. Night elves were likely rare in the city. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°Hello! You might see a lot more new faces soon. The siege is over.¡± I told her. ¡°It is? How?¡± She looked surprised. ¡°We are part of a friendly force fighting against the Inquisition.¡± I explained. Her eyes widened. ¡°Friendly force¡­¡± She muttered. ¡°I mean, welcome to our fine city and thank you for your help! Please, anything I can do for you let me know!¡± She handed us the menu and fled. I scratched my head. ¡°She probably thinks the Dominion invaded.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Oh. I suppose the Empire does not have any friends. Us coming to help seems unlikely to any resident here.¡± I would leave a large tip. Maybe that would help. For now, I studied the menu. The waitress returned, seeming even more nervous now. ¡°Have you decided?¡± ¡°I would like a black coffee and a strawberry tart.¡± I said. ¡°I am sorry! We are out of strawberries!¡± She apologised. ¡°Oh. Well, what do you recommend?¡± I asked. ¡°We¡­ we do have a pecan pie.¡± She stammered. ¡°Sure, I will take that.¡± ¡°For me too.¡± Lucy said. ¡°And some green tea please.¡± ¡°Certainly!¡± The waitress fled again. I sighed. ¡°I wish I could make her less nervous. But I think telling her we mean no harm will make things even worse.¡± ¡°You should tell her you are just an elf.¡± Lucy teased. ¡°And you are just a foxkin. We are just two normal mortals enjoying some food, clearly.¡± ¡°I wonder what they would have said if we brought Lily in her demon form.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Or Shani. She would probably try to order blood.¡± I smiled. ¡°Clearly we are normal people, with normal friends.¡± ¡°Speaking of normal people, do you think I should take my family to the city? How long are we going to stay here?¡± She wondered. ¡°I am not sure. I suspect we will soon march towards Unitera. Depends on how long it takes to search the enemy camp and if they still need to negotiate things with the duke. It will also depend on how the Inquisition reacts. Are they going to push for Unitera even harder?¡± I wondered. ¡°Depends on their plan, I guess. Do they have a way to breach the palace?¡± Lucy said. ¡°Hm. That shield we saw when the war started looked impressive. But I did not have a lot of time to inspect it. Anything will run out of power eventually though. Unless they have enough mages inside to refuel it. And we don¡¯t know how many defenders there are either. Surely the Emperor has quite a few loyal troops.¡± I mused. ¡°If the Inquisition got their hands on some of the generals though¡­¡± Lucy said. ¡°True. Mind control makes this all a bit more unpredictable.¡± Our food and drinks arrived. The poor waitress was almost shaking. I thanked her and dug in. ¡°This is a great pie.¡± I said. ¡°It does taste different than I had expected though. I wonder if this world has different pecans. Or maybe they add some sort of spice?¡± ¡°There is something really nice about it, true. It tastes a bit spicy, right?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Yes. We should ask for the recipe. It¡¯s a shame that the waitress is so nervous.¡± ¡°You could always go inside and see if there is someone else.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°I am not sure if I am that curious. It is a great pie though.¡± Then I frowned. ¡°Did the fork get darker?¡± Chapter 197: Waitress ¡°I think we are getting poisoned.¡± Lucy stated while continuing to eat. ¡°Now you really have to ask them for the recipe.¡± ¡°We walked here randomly. Do you think we were followed? How did they poison our food?¡± I wondered. ¡°You have to ask the waitress. I suspect she knew and that made her so nervous.¡± Lucy theorised. ¡°You know, the culprit might escape right this moment.¡± I looked at my dessert. Then I looked at Lucy. I narrowed my eyes. ¡°If I leave now you are going to steal my food.¡± I accused her. She smiled. ¡°Maybe.¡± I picked up the dessert and put it in my storage. Lucy pouted. Then I walked straight into the cafe. ¡°How¡­ how can I help you?¡± The waitress asked. ¡°There seems to be some poison in our food. You wouldn¡¯t know anything about that, would you?¡± I asked. ¡°No no no¡­ Of course not!¡± She stammered. ¡°Are you sure? Would you like to try a bite?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡­ I¡­¡± She started crying. ¡°I am sorry! Please don¡¯t kill me! I had no choice!¡± ¡°Ok. Tell me what happened.¡± I said. ¡°When you said you were a friendly force¡­ I¡­ I had concerns. I told my manager. He said it would be fine. He said he would take care of it. He told me to act normal and to serve you the pecan pie¡­¡± She stammered. ¡°And where is your manager?¡± I asked. ¡°I think he should join this conversation.¡± ¡°He left¡­¡± She said. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Did he now?¡± I retrieved the pie from my inventory. ¡°No, please!¡± She sobbed. ¡°What? Oh, the pie is for me. It¡¯s really good.¡± I said and took a bite. ¡°So, why would your manager have poison on hand?¡± She eyed the pie warily. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She answered. ¡°Really? And you did not question that? You just went along?¡± I asked. ¡°I was so scared!¡± She said. ¡°I feel like your story has some holes in it.¡± I concluded. ¡°Maybe you should come with us. Don¡¯t worry, if you are innocent, I will pay generously.¡± ¡°I¡­ I will comply, ma¡¯am.¡± She said. I finished my pie and walked back outside. Lucy had eaten hers too and was sipping her tea. ¡°Did you get the recipe?¡± She asked. ¡°No. But I have a waitress who claims to be innocent and blames a manager, who happens to have disappeared.¡± I said. The waitress looked rather uncomfortable as Lucy studied her. ¡°Are you going to give her to Lilith?¡± She asked. ¡°No. I think we will have Lily ask her some questions.¡± I answered. Our loyal succubus seemed like the right maid for the job. ¡°I guess we are going back to camp.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Indeed. Maybe we can come back another time.¡± A holiday would be nice. Once this war was over. Then again, there were likely better places to visit. As we escorted the nervous waitress I asked more questions: ¡°You said you had no choice. How exactly were you forced to serve the poison? How did your manager force you?¡± ¡°Eh¡­ eh¡­ I need the job!¡± She stammered. ¡°Seems a bit drastic to poison someone just to keep your job.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Resources are getting low because of the war¡­¡± She replied. ¡°Have you checked her for mind control?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Why would I¡­¡± Then I facepalmed. Of course it would make no sense to mind control a waitress. But what if she was simply posing as one? If someone had been following us they could have replaced the actual waitress. ¡°You are smart.¡± I told my girlfriend. The waitress did not react with confusion, or fear, to us mentioning mind control. She looked more¡­ curious. Stripping her in a public place to look for runes seemed like a bad idea so we returned towards the camp. Once we were inside a tent Lily joined us. We found the runes rather quickly, they were concealed by makeup. I used my spell devour magic. The woman was afraid at first, as the black smoke surrounded her. But she soon relaxed when it did not harm her. ¡°Thank you!¡± She said. I took some time to truly study the waitress. She had long black hair and deep blue eyes. Her skin was on the paler side. Considering it was early autumn, or at least it felt like it, I would have expected her to be more tanned from waiting outside. Then again, she might just have delicate skin. The woman looked to be in her thirties, she was relatively fit. ¡°So, maybe you can tell us something more now.¡± I said. ¡°Yes, of course! The manager was a lie. I had orders to make an excuse when caught. Their orders were not very specific. I was hoping to be captured so I would no longer have to serve my masters. That you can actually free me is a welcome surprise. Speaking of orders, I was tasked to observe the delegation that talked with the duke and to take out any important people if an opportunity presented itself. I followed you after you left and saw my chance when you entered the cafe. I bribed the real waitress to take her spot and used a poison known to work on fey.¡± She explained. ¡°I guess it does not work on archfey.¡± I said. ¡°The Inquisition was only able to test it on lesser fae.¡± She said. ¡°They have a research division trying to find better ways to kill non-humans.¡± ¡°Somehow I am not even surprised.¡± I said. Chapter 198: Martha ¡°Who was giving you orders?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°My direct superior was Sergeant Rudolph. He is part of the duke¡¯s guard.¡± She replied. ¡°Is he controlled as well?¡± I asked. ¡°I do not know.¡± She answered. ¡°We will have to tell the duke.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Yes. is there anyone else we should know about? Other agents or handlers?¡± I asked. ¡°There are other agents but I do not know them. There should be at least three inside the city.¡± She replied. I scratched my head. ¡°We need a better way to find them.¡± ¡°If I might ask, how did you free me?¡± The woman asked. ¡°She ate the magic, like the glutton she is. You should see her at a buffet.¡± Lucy teased. ¡°I did not eat the magic, my spell did.¡± I clarified. ¡°By the way, who are you?¡± ¡°Oh, I apologise! My name is Martha. I was an infiltrator. Unfortunately, I did a bit too well. I overheard a noble plotting a rebellion and reported it to my superior. They congratulated me. When I took the offered drink I passed out. The next thing I remember is pain. A lot of it. I am not sure how long I endured but in the end I was their slave. After that I received some training in assassination. Once the civil war started I was deployed in the field.¡± ¡°Do you know how many they control? Or who is behind it?¡± I asked. She frowned. ¡°What do you mean? It is the Inquisition who is responsible. There are two high inquisitors left, I am not sure if they have chosen a third again. And I do not know how many they control, my apologies.¡± ¡°There is someone else pulling the strings. Those mind control runes use soul magic. While you are now free they could reactivate those runes if they capture you.¡± I warned her. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Her eyes grew wide. ¡°That¡­ is disturbing. Is there a way to change that? A cure?¡± ¡°We are working on it.¡± Lucy replied. ¡°Sadly, only Amaya can free people, for now.¡± ¡°I am willing to help!¡± Martha offered. ¡°Thanks but the people working on it are not here. For now you can help with information. Anything you know about their hideouts, agents, abilities,...¡± I said. ¡°Did you see any succubi?¡± Lily asked. ¡°I do not think so, but they could have been shapeshifted.¡± She replied. ¡°What about demons in general?¡± I asked. ¡°The Inquisition has made more use of them recently. Ever since they started the plan to take over Iron Rock it became somewhat accepted. I know they use them as scouts, sometimes as assassins. They have also used them to frame people. They pretend someone is a demonologist and arrest them when in truth they placed the demons there.¡± ¡°Was there no objection? What about the more devout followers?¡± I wondered. ¡°They ranged from outraged to: The end justifies the means. Some told themselves demons were simply a tool. Or that the enemies of the Empire deserved to be devoured by them. Others objected. They either vanished or changed their mind.¡± She explained. ¡°They probably used them as test subjects.¡± Lucy mused. ¡°I wonder why that paladin was still loyal. If he was controlled there should have been no reason to keep him in the dark. And if not, how could he miss all of this?¡± I wondered. Martha¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Paladin? You mean Sir Francis? He is here?¡± ¡°Yes. We gave him to Lilith. She is gathering information.¡± I said. ¡°You¡­ you gave Sir Francis to a demon lord?¡± She asked. ¡°He did try to kill us.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°His companions died. Except for that mage, who became a cloud of smoke. Actually, do you know anything about him?¡± I asked. ¡°He was supposed to be the communications expert. He was relaying orders from the high inquisitors.¡± She replied. ¡°Has anyone seen those high inquisitors recently? Are they still around?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°I am not sure. They should be leading the army against Unitera. I would expect them to be there.¡± Martha said. ¡°Maybe Sergeant Rudolph knows more. Shall I apprehend him?¡± Lily asked. ¡°Go. You can take Shani, if you want backup.¡± I suggested. Lily nodded, then left. ¡°I¡­ Could I make a request?¡± Martha asked. ¡°What is it?¡± I inquired. ¡°I would like to see Sir Francis. If he has been deceived, maybe I can help. I am proof of those runes.¡± She said. ¡°I have no objection but you will need to ask Lilith. But I have my doubts that he was ever a decent person.¡± I replied. ¡°Why?¡± She asked. ¡°Because he seems to dislike non-humans.¡± Lucy replied. ¡°He might not be aware who he is serving but his real beliefs are not much better either.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Martha said but she sounded unconvinced. I was not sure what her personal beliefs were. So far she had not insulted Lily, or Lucy. At least she seemed to be ok around them. But the thought led me to a problematic question. What if we freed someone who was hostile? Eventually we would meet the true zealots. I suppose we could just set them free, as long as they behaved. I did not need them to agree with us, just to not cause problems. ¡°So, something occurred to me.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Dalroc and Loriel are still talking with the duke, right? What are the odds that they are getting attacked?¡± ¡°They have guards. And they are quite powerful. Iris is there too and Lily is on the way to arrest this sergeant. They should be fine.¡± I replied. ¡°They tried to poison us. How resistant are they to poison?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Damn, I have no idea.¡± I replied, getting worried. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s go back.¡± Chapter 199: A Problem We used our magic to cast a fly spell. Then we returned to the city. I was rather confident in our defences but the guards did not open fire. I had no idea what the protocol was when you encountered flying mages. One would think they would at least try to stop them to ask some questions. Then again, they would need a way to talk to us other than shouting and hoping we would land. We returned directly to the duke¡¯s mansion. Those guards were a bit more active. ¡°HALT!¡± Someone shouted. We landed in front of them. ¡°Wait, you are the delegates who left earlier. Why have you returned?¡± The man asked. ¡°We discovered a credible threat. Are the negotiations still happening?¡± He frowned. ¡°Yes. There has been no disturbance so far. Sergeant Rudolph is handling the security. You should inform him about your concerns.¡± ¡°Sergeant Rudolph? Wasn¡¯t that the traitor?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Traitor?¡± The man questioned. ¡°Crap.¡± I said. Then I just ran past the confused guard into the building. Lucy followed. I heard some shouting behind us and ignored it. We reached the conference room, the door was locked so I simply kicked it. My strength was enough to shatter the lock. The room was empty. Wine had been spilled on the table. There was still some food and drink left. A door in the back was open. ¡°They have been abducted.¡± Lucy concluded. ¡°Looks that way.¡± I agreed. ¡°We should look for the sergeant.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Lily should be doing that right now. I think we were faster because we flew, but she should arrive shortly. Let¡¯s search the mansion for now.¡± I proposed. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Maybe my fox shape can smell something.¡± She transformed and started sniffing. The guard we had met outside arrived and gasped. ¡°What happened?¡± He asked while pointing a spear at us. ¡°They were all abducted. We will start searching for them. You are welcome to help but clearly there are some traitors here. Anyone trying to stop us will be considered hostile.¡± I warned them. I also unleashed my aura a bit. He paled. I heard a licking sound behind me. Lucy was tasting the wine on the table. ¡°What are you doing?¡± I asked. ¡°Just testing something. They were poisoned, I think. Not as tasty as what they used for us though. Rather subtle.¡± She concluded. ¡°Who is the glutton now?¡± I teased. ¡°This is part of the investigation.¡± She insisted. ¡°Also, I think I smell something. Hop on.¡± I jumped onto Lucy''s back. I could have simply transformed into a panther. But riding allowed me to focus on other things. In truth, I was rather concerned and really angry. The banter was just an effort to hide that. They had not just taken our allies, they had taken Iris. She had stayed behind. I would not tolerate them harming my people. There would be no mercy, only punishment. And vengeance. I could feel similar concern over the bond. While we had bantered a bit inside the room Lucy was just as concerned as I was. Wait, the bond! Iris was not connected to us as closely as Lily but she was a maid knight. She was part of our bond. Maybe I could use this to locate her. ¡°I am trying to track her through the bond.¡± I said. ¡°Good. I am not sure if I am following the right trail. The scents are¡­ odd.¡± Lucy said. I trusted Lucy so I completely ignored our surroundings and focused inward. Getting a location from the bond was tricky. It seemed just a bit too weak. Could I boost it somehow? Hm. My frustration grew as I tried to figure out a solution. Then it hit me. My aura! I had already seen how some of the power seemed to help others through the bond. The lightning I had summoned in the storm had enhanced Lucy in the past, for example. My aura was fuelled by my emotions. And I felt a lot of rage. I leaned into that. How dare they take what is mine? How dare they take my people?!? I let go and my power erupted. A huge storm formed over the city. I still tried to stop it from harming innocent people but I poured a lot of my anger into it. ¡°I hope you can find her fast. They will know we are coming.¡± Lucy said. Admittedly that was a flaw. But they should have expected that anyway. My guess would be they had a plan to flee the city. I kept focusing on my aura. Lucy helped. She unleashed her own and tried to empower mine. Together we covered the entire city. I could feel Lily, she was coming this way and was filled with concern. I could feel Shani, she soaked up all the hatred and was eager to slaughter our foes. And I could feel¡­ Iris! ¡°I have her!¡± I announced. ¡°She is that way!¡± I pointed. By now we had left the mansion and were on some street. I had not been paying attention. But Lucy followed the direction I gave her. I focused once more on the bond. As Lucy had pointed out, there was a concern about Iris¡¯ safety. They might kill her if we came too close. But I had an idea. I tried to shove lightning down the bond, into Iris. Maybe I could shock her awake. Maybe I could cleanse her of the poison, somehow. I just needed her to be able to fight back and survive until we arrived. Maybe my plan worked. Or maybe it was the fact that iris was now inside my aura. But there was a response. A strengthening in the bond. I opened my eyes again. ¡°She is underneath that building.¡± I said while pointing at a church. Chapter 200: Shadows I had no idea which god was worshipped here. Likely Imperius, he had a large presence in the Empire. Then again, was that church even in use? The building looked fine but no one greeted us, despite the storm above and an angry archfey, riding a kitsune, in front of the door. I guess they could be afraid but you would expect some sort of reaction. Lucy was less concerned about such things and simply charged the door. It looked heavy but an angry kitsune was not easily stopped. She ploughed straight through it. The inside was a large hall with an altar at the back. There was a giant statute of someone I could not identify. It did not quite look like Imperius. While the outside had looked reasonably well cared for, the inside was clearly abandoned. ¡°You said underneath? I don¡¯t see a way down.¡± Lucy said while looking around. ¡°It might be hidden somehow. I don¡¯t see any illusions, or magic, maybe there is a mechanism? Or the church is not connected to it and the entrance is elsewhere. Could be the sewers?¡± I had to admit that my bond did not tell me anything about the building Iris was in. Just a direction. ¡°Screw it.¡± Lucy said and inhaled. Lightning formed in her mouth. My eyes widened, then lightning filled the room. Of course we were both immune to the element. Otherwise this would have ended badly as Lucy unleashed a massive attack against the floor. Hopefully she did not crush our allies in the process. Stone flew everywhere as she tore the ground apart. I drew my sword and deflected some of the debris. While Lucy¡¯s plan was not well thought through, and rather impulsive, it was effective. When the dust settled we had a hole. There was clearly a large room beneath us. Lucy wasted no time jumping down. I was still sitting on her back and held on to her fur. I looked around the room. It might have been a mess hall. There were clearly some tables, benches and chairs. There were also some strange looking soldiers. Their skin was grey, they were bald and their head was covered in runes. They looked human, mostly. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. They did not talk. They simply drew their weapons and attacked. ¡°Careful, those are magic weapons.¡± I warned her. Lightning started to cover her fur. I had seen that before but now I was sitting on her back. It was even more impressive up close. I felt connected to it. I pointed my hand at an enemy and unleashed a lightning bolt. Part of Lucy¡¯s aura reinforced my magic, just like my storm did. While she tore into the enemy with claws and teeth I provided magical support. I still had my sword to stab anyone coming too close but mostly I tried to keep her flanks clear with magic. The enemy soldiers were not heavily armoured but their skin seemed to be reinforced, somehow. But it was not enough to stop us. Then a cloud of smoke appeared and transformed into a man. Or at least, I thought he was a man. It was hard to tell with the hood he wore. ¡°Let¡¯s talk.¡± He said. ¡°No. You have taken one of mine. There shall be no talking, no forgiveness, only punishment.¡± I responded. ¡°What she said.¡± Lucy confirmed, then charged. Some of his minions tried to block the way and slowed us down. It allowed the man to hastily cast a spell. An angry black cloud shot towards us. I did not like the look of it, especially since it seemed to corrode the stone floor. I used devour magic on the cloud while Lucy dodged. My own black smoke rose hungrily. And it devoured the spell. Sadly the man did not hesitate and was already casting again. The corpses of our slain foes began to glow. Then their flesh dissolved and their bones began to rise. So we were fighting a necromancer. Maybe the mage was an undead himself. I did not have anything to specifically kill undead but lightning should do just fine. But it did keep us away from the mage. I formed a mental connection with Lucy and telepathically told her: ¡°Deal with the skeletons, I will teleport to the mage.¡± ¡°Ok. This should not take long.¡± She responded. I enacted my plan and appeared behind the caster. He almost dodged but I cut him in the shoulder. There was blood on my sword. I looked at the strange liquid and frowned. It was not red, it was dark blue. But the sight distracted me and allowed the mage to get another spell of. He summoned something. The creature looked like a female elf with a body made of shadows. Was this an elemental? Were there death elementals? Red glowing eyes stared at me. ¡°Oh my. Such a nice slaughter. You should have called me sooner.¡± She licked her lips and displayed a lot of teeth. ¡°I will enjoy your flesh.¡± ¡°My elemental is cuter.¡± I responded. ¡°YOU DARE? DIE!¡± She screeched and summoned a black scythe. Chapter 201: Battle While I had a lot of arcane knowledge, death magic was not something I had contemplated that much. My own spells were mostly elemental. In the game, some spells could instantly kill you. But those did not work so well against high level enemies. Death magic was great at killing weak opponents, debuffing and raising an army. I had never played a character like that. Also, death elementals did not exist in the game. So I was unsure what the powers of my opponent were. The enraged elemental charged me. I parried her overhead swing with my sword. A little bit of black smoke lingered on my blade but it had no noticeable effect. Maybe a weaker sword would have been damaged. Now that I knew my blade was going to work I attacked. We exchanged a few blows and I drove her backwards. Then I had to dodge a black bolt coming from behind. The mage had not fled but was helping his elemental. Lucy was still busy with the fighters and the undead. While I was exchanging blows with my weapon, I concentrated on a spell, and unleashed a tier three lightning bolt into the elemental. It shrieked. While I did hurt it, it was still in fighting shape. ¡°I SHALL CONSUME YOU! I WILL FEAST ON YOUR BONES!¡± The mad creature surrounded itself with an aura of black mist and charged. I could feel my skin itching as I made contact with the cloud. The magic tried to wither my body but it could not defeat my regeneration. I responded with more lightning, forcing the elemental to fall back. It was hard to evaluate the state of a creature made from smoke but it seemed damaged. The finely crafted body it had originally, was now distorted. Meanwhile, Lucy had reached the mage and kept him busy. Soon he would either flee, or be defeated. There was no way he could survive a kitsune in close combat for long. It was time to finish my own fight. As the elemental charged once more I prepared a lighting sphere in front of me. The creature screeched and tried to retreat, but I grabbed her. Lightning surrounded us both, but I was immune. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE! I WILL BE BACK!¡± The elemental disappeared as its body was torn apart by electricity. Holding onto the creature had been unpleasant. Having my skin constantly die and regenerate had hurt. But my plan had worked. I looked towards Lucy. The mage had been crushed by her paw. ¡°Is he dead? Like really dead, not undead dead.¡± I asked. ¡°Seems like it.¡± She responded. ¡°But I am no expert on undead.¡± ¡°Me neither.¡± I admitted. ¡°Well, I will store the body in my storage. If he is not really dead it should fail.¡± We both watched the corpse as I tried storing it. It disappeared into my inventory. ¡°Guess he was truly defeated, let¡¯s get Iris.¡± ¡°YOU HAVE CHALLENGED THE STORM! NOW MEET HER WRATH!¡± I looked upwards as I heard Shani¡¯s voice. She descended through the ceiling surrounded by lightning. A mad glee was in her eyes. Then she blinked. ¡°Uh¡­ Am I too late for the slaughter?¡± Shani asked. ¡°We still have to find the hostages. There could be guards. But Iris is awake, she might have resolved that issue.¡± I said. ¡°We need to go this way.¡± I pointed towards a hallway. ¡°NOOOOOO! I need more slaughter!¡± Shani complained and charged into the direction I had pointed. Lily jumped through the hole and bowed to us. ¡°My ladies, I apologise for being late. I failed to apprehend Sergeant Rudolph.¡± ¡°Not your fault. We were all a bit late. Let¡¯s get Iris.¡± I said. The three of us followed Shani towards the prisoners. ¡°Too late! I am too late!¡± We heard Shani complain as we entered the cell block. Iris was there, wounded, but alive. She had broken the bars on her cell and taken down the guards, unarmed. Dalroc and Loriel were still asleep in different cells. ¡°Iris, you are ok!¡± I said, relieved. ¡°My lady, I thank you for your help. Your aura has given me the power I needed.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°As the negotiations continued the duke called for some food and drink. It seemed fine. We had already decided to work together. Loriel even used a spell to check her wine. Somehow¡­¡± Iris shrugged. ¡°I just felt really sleepy. I remember trying to stand up, then nothing. I awoke in this cell, power raging through me. I felt your aura. I felt the storm and I embraced it. I managed to break through the cell. It was not easy fighting the guards unarmed but at least I still had my armour. And after the first went down I used his weapon.¡± The guards had the same grey skin. Certainly something to investigate. ¡°Where is the duke?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I do not know.¡± Iris said. There should have been more people. Dalroc and Loriel had their own guards at the meeting. ¡°Maybe there are more cells. Or a lab. Maybe they have started the process of mind controlling the duke? We should look around.¡± I said. ¡°Do you think the Inquisition has found a way to make the runes work on dwarves and elves? Why else would they abduct them, instead of killing them?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Maybe. It is a concerning thought.¡± I replied. Chapter 202: Fey Standing in the cell block would not provide us with any answers. I used my healing spell on Iris. She was strong enough that it did not completely heal her, but it helped somewhat. Then we freed Dalroc and Loriel, who were still unconscious. None of us was a healer, so we did not have the tools to wake them. ¡°I can protect them while you search this place.¡± Lily offered. ¡°Ok. Let¡¯s see what we can find. I don¡¯t hear any fighting. I guess Shani failed to locate more enemies.¡± I replied. We ventured deeper into the structure. I wondered if it was really part of the temple and who had been worshipped here in the past. Gods did not directly interfere in this world, as far as I could tell. But they granted power to their priests, who would not look kindly at someone stealing their temple. We found the barracks which held a lot of beds and trunks with personal belongings. They also had some private rooms, likely for officers. Searching all of it would take time, so we continued for now. We still did not see any sign of the duke, or other prisoners. ¡°Did they really think they could hide their captives here?¡± I wondered while we continued our exploration. ¡°We have an entire army outside the city. Sure, they did not know about the bond I used to track Iris. They might have assumed they have a few days. Still, they were sort of trapped here.¡± ¡°Maybe a few days would have been enough. Maybe they wanted them found, afterwards?¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°You think they wanted to enslave them here, then let them be rescued? I suppose that makes sense. But they know that I can free them by now, right?¡± ¡°Maybe they think they found a way to stop you? They did try to poison us.¡± Lucy reminded me. ¡°True. And they had some special fey poison. If they had managed to take me out, or at least incapacitate me for a while, they could have used their pawns freely. Actually, maybe they still can¡¯t enslave dwarves and elves. They only wanted the duke. He would be under less scrutiny than our own people. We would not notice if he behaved differently.¡± I theorised. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°That is possible. Having the duke on their side, after we leave, would allow them to hit us from the rear. Even better, if we send him support they could just keep everything for themselves. They could ambush any soldiers we send here to help.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Then again, if they only wanted the duke they could have waited until we left. Taking him then would be easier.¡± I said. ¡°Maybe they did want Iris too? They used a fey killing poison against us. They might have expected me to survive. I would have stayed with the army and Iris could have provided a lot of information.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Let¡¯s try to find the duke. Maybe we can get some answers.¡± I said. As we moved further into the building we heard the sound of fighting. We sped up and reached a heavy metal door, which had been destroyed. Inside we found a disturbing sight. Tables with restraints. Workbenches, alchemy stations, medical instruments¡­ And Shani, fighting a fey. Her opponent was a man with pointy ears, a perfectly sculpted face and blue skin. A white mist created a trail whenever he moved. He wielded a rapier made of ice and was busy blocking Shani¡¯s strikes. The man seemed annoyed at first, then concerned as he noticed our arrival. ¡°What is going on? Who are you?¡± I asked. ¡°He is a stupid frost knight!¡± Shani said. ¡°Made by some inferior elemental lord, of course!¡± ¡°Lady Delphinium, would you please leash your elemental?¡± The man asked. ¡°Currently I see no reason to stop my court elemental from slaughtering you. But feel free to provide me with one. If you are quick enough you might even survive.¡± I replied. I did not have any proof that this man was involved in those experiments. He could have been a captive who escaped. Or a third party. But he was inside a lab and seemed in good health. Him being an enemy was just more likely. And I did not like his tone. Of course, I wanted to capture and interrogate him, rather than kill him. But he seemed to hold his own, for now. ¡°Hehehehe, I have the best ladies!¡± Shani giggled, while trying to slice the man. ¡°I am indeed a winter knight! I demand some respect! I am not your enemy!¡± He insisted. ¡°Less arrogance, more explaining.¡± Lucy demanded. ¡°Right now, you are not making a great case for yourself. Why are you in this lab?¡± I asked. ¡°I caught him at the alchemy station! He was being suspicious!¡± Shani insisted. ¡°I was trying to find out what they did! I am not on their side.¡± He protested. ¡°Really? How did you find this place? Who are you working for? Who do you serve?¡± I asked. ¡°Stop trying to hit me and let me explain!¡± He complained. ¡°Ok, give him a minute to talk. You can slice some more if we don''t like his answers.¡± I said. Shani sighed. ¡°Fine¡­¡± Chapter 203: Sir Cedric After not being attacked anymore the man straightened his clothes, then he performed a small bow. ¡°I am Sir Cedric in the service of Lady Chione. I am investigating the disturbing rumours about this mind control scheme and potential fey involvement.¡± He said. ¡°Really? So, what evidence do you have? How did you find this lab?¡± I asked. He frowned. ¡°My Lady has her sources, obviously. And haven¡¯t you encountered fey magic yourself?¡± ¡°We have found a disturbing number of things. The Inquisition, or whoever is leading them, is certainly experimenting with any magical creature they can find. They want an army of super soldiers. I suspect once they had discovered a way to affect the soul, they used it in different ways. The slave runes consume a part of the person''s power. Maybe they wanted to compensate for that.¡± I theorised. ¡°I do not care for their motivations but those perversions have to be stopped. That said, I do not think you should involve the demons in this. I can appreciate your manipulation of the mortals but why invite Lady Lilith?¡± He asked. ¡°She seems much more trustworthy than you.¡± Lucy replied. ¡°Trustworthy? The queen of succubi? Master of mental manipulation? Ridiculous.¡± He replied. ¡°Fey are known for similar things.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Preposterous! We are honourable.¡± He protested. ¡°No, Lucy does have a point. Fey are known for their tricks, illusions,... Wait, are you jealous of Lilith? Because she is more famous for such things?¡± I wondered. ¡°WHAT?!? My Lady, this slander is uncalled for!¡± He protested. Shani snickered. ¡°Lady Delphinium, you have surrounded yourself with bad influences.¡± He said. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°I am a great influence! Amaya has slaughtered so many things since I joined her!¡± Shani protested. The man shook his head. ¡°Storm elementals.¡± He muttered. ¡°What was that?¡± Shani asked, raising her scythe. ¡°So far, you haven¡¯t told us much.¡± I said, hoping to move the conversation forward. ¡°I do not know Lady Chione. You have offered no helpful information and no real explanation for your presence.¡± ¡°Hm. I do admit I have very little knowledge about yourself, Lady Delphinium. I have only heard rumours among the fey courts. My Lady herself has not gifted me with more information. But surely you have heard of Lady Chione, even if you are not acquainted.¡± He said. ¡°You realise evoking the name of someone famous does not prove allegiance? Not that I have ever heard of her myself.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°I suggest we let Shani beat him up and drag him back to camp.¡± ¡°I am the personal knight of Lady Chione! Attacking me after declaring my allegiance would be an attack on her court!¡± He protested. Lucy shrugged. ¡°She should hire better people then.¡± ¡°Sir Cedric, so far you have not offered any useful information. You failed to explain your presence here to my satisfaction. Come with us peacefully, as our prisoner.¡± I demanded. He looked at us, maybe considering his chance of escaping. Then he pulled a blue crystal from his belt. ¡°Shani, take him.¡± I had no idea what he was up to, but it did not look like he was surrendering. Then the crystal in Cedric¡¯s hand shattered. A small sphere appeared. His body turned into blue mist and was sucked into the sphere. ¡°What is that?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°He fled into the fey realm! What a coward!¡± Shani protested. I sighed. ¡°This whole thing keeps getting more complicated. Let¡¯s search the lab. We still have a duke to find.¡± Besides the main room there were more chambers. Some were offices, others looked like a twisted version of an operating room. They certainly had a lot of surgery equipment. We also found the duke. He was chained to a table. His clothes were removed and they had started cutting into his torso. Empty potion bottles were around. Some liquids were spilled from smashed vials. I could see runes carved into the duke¡¯s flesh. I checked his pulse. ¡°He is dead.¡± I said. ¡°It looks like they were interrupted during their work. Maybe they fled when they heard fighting, or maybe Cedric stopped them.¡± ¡°Or maybe Cedric was doing those things and we interrupted him?¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Possible.¡± I admitted. I had not really known the duke. But seeing his dead body on the table made me sad, and angry. Nobody deserves that. The Inquisition had to be stopped. ¡°Why did the Inquisition bother with a siege? If they had this lab, all those soldiers, people inside the duke¡¯s ranks¡­¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°Good question. Maybe they needed it for appearances? They did not do a lot of damage to the city. Maybe the plan was to take the duke, enslave him, then have him surrender. He could have held a speech about how the emperor has abandoned them. How he negotiated a truce. Maybe pretend to be a neutral party after coming to an understanding with the Inquisition.¡± I paused, considering the scenario. ¡°Maybe they wanted to give him a good reason for abandoning the Empire and declaring independence, sort of. Then have a truce with the Inquisition and become a harbour for refugees. Take in anyone who flees from the south. It would give the Inquisition a secure base and a lot of people to experiment on.¡± Lucy looked around once more. ¡°Sick bastards.¡± She said. I collected the body in my storage and we left the room. I also gathered some samples of different liquids in the lab. Maybe I could send those to Josef. Once Loriel and Dalroc were awake again they could send their people to truly search the lab. Maybe it would help us find a cure. Chapter 204: Bath We returned to the camp where we handed Dalroc and Loriel to the healers. We also informed General Bodil about the situation. She was very concerned and immediately dispatched some troops. I had no idea what the city would do. We flew in and out so we did not use the gate. With their leader dead, who was in charge? Did the duke have any children? It was not really our problem though. I just wanted a relaxing bath now. Iris was safe and we had gained some knowledge. That was the important part. ¡°Hot bath?¡± I asked Lucy. ¡°Sure.¡± She replied. ¡°Mind if I join you?¡± I heard Lilith ask as she approached us. ¡°I can offer a private hot spring. I had it constructed here in the camp. It¡¯s just a small stone bath with a small waterfall. Demons are very good at conjuring the right water though. It feels like a natural hot spring.¡± ¡°You built a hot spring with magic? At a temporary war camp that we will leave soon?¡± I asked. ¡°Of course. I like my luxuries.¡± She replied. I could not really argue with that. ¡°Let¡¯s try her hot spring.¡± Lucy suggested. Lilith led us to a small circle of trees. A canvas between the trees stopped people from peaking. The centre held the bath, made from smooth stone and big enough to hold about 6 people. There was even a small waterfall, as promised. Lilith smiled. ¡°I asked the dwarves to conjure the stone, the elves to help with the trees and my demons provided the excellent water.¡± Ah, she misused military resources for her own benefit. This would likely be a scandal in my old world. But being a demon lord had its perks. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Uhh, why didn''t we think of that?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Because we are at war and building a nice bath does not seem helpful to our goals?¡± I answered. ¡°Pff. We should do this ourselves in the future. You could surely help with trees and stone, right? You have other elemental powers than lightning. Or maybe we need to recruit more dwarfs and elves. Do you think Lily can help with the water? She does not seem to have any water related powers, other than her being our storm knight. Actually, aren¡¯t succubi more into fire?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°Natural hot springs are connected to volcanic activity. It not only heats the water but also adds certain minerals. They are said to be good for your skin.¡± I responded. ¡°Exactly! Succubi are not really about conjuring water but we can mimic the volcanic heat. And we can add minerals to improve the water.¡± Lilith added. The bath felt heavenly after our battle. It was always nice to get clean and relax after a fight. Of course, Lilith wanted to hear all about it. Her main reason for inviting us was to have a conversation. ¡°Tz. I had plans for the duke.¡± Lilith complained. ¡°I took such care to place suggestions in his mind. All the effort, wasted.¡± ¡°A man got killed.¡± I pointed out. The loss of life was a lot more tragic than her wasted efforts, in my opinion. ¡°Yes. But now many more might die, if they don¡¯t find a new leader who will defend them. Also, the duke was hardly a saint. He had slaves, like most nobles. He certainly was not complaining about the direction of the Empire under Maximilian. Honestly, my suggestions would have been improvements for the people.¡± Lilith said. Of course she was a manipulator. I could not just trust her words. It was true that I did not know much about the duke though. Iris seemed to think he was a reasonable man, but she was human. He might have treated her differently than a beastkin. And she only knew him from official interactions, not privately. ¡°What do you know about Lady Chione?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Probably less than your girlfriend.¡± Lilith answered. ¡°She is one of the archfey. Her powers are mostly about frost and illusions. She is rather strong personally and has a lot of influence among the fey.¡± Lilith was watching me while she was talking. ¡°She mostly plays around on different continents, as far as I know. She prefers a colder environment.¡± ¡°Do you think the Inquisition has spread outside of our continent? Maybe even came from somewhere else?¡± I wondered. I had to admit, I had not really seen a map of the entire world, yet. I had only paid attention to our current continent. There were too many things going on here to worry about other places. ¡°My succubi have not reported anything unusual elsewhere.¡± Lilith replied. ¡°Maybe Chione worries about it spreading?¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Cedric seemed mostly worried about fey involvement. Maybe they abducted some of her people. She could be looking for revenge.¡± I theorised. Lilith looked at me. ¡°That would certainly fit her personality. But what are the odds that she is controlling the inquisition?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Fey are not usually into necromancy.¡± Of course my information was more based on the lore from my old world. That did not necessarily apply here. But we were sort of more into nature and undeath was not very natural. ¡°True.¡± Lilith agreed. ¡°Did you get anything from the paladin yet?¡± I asked. ¡°It takes time to make someone like him see things differently. But he is progressing nicely. Do you think I should put him into a maid uniform?¡± Lilith asked with a smile. Chapter 205: Speculation Loriel and Dalroc were thankfully unharmed and the healers were able to wake them. The last thing they remembered was their meeting with the duke. That they were taken out so easily had them concerned. Poison was a common enough tool that they had protections, yet they failed. The Inquisition must have created something new. Sergeant Rudolph was nowhere to be found. He must have escaped while we raided the lab. With the duke¡¯s death, the city¡¯s leadership fell to his son, who was nine years old. Thankfully he simply surrendered, allowing the dwarves to search the city. We also had the corpses of the grey soldiers to look at. It was clear they were alchemically changed but I had no idea how. I started to regret not bringing Josef to the frontlines. The dwarves had their own alchemists though, maybe they could find something. More interesting was the corpse of the mage we had encountered. Lucy had crushed him to a degree but the remains clearly looked withered. ¡°Do you think he was some kind of undead?¡± I asked Lucy. She was with me, as were Iris and Lily. Lucy shrugged. ¡°He certainly was not as squishy as a human. But that could have been magic. He smelled a bit rotten.¡± ¡°He could have been a warlock of a powerful undead.¡± Lily suggested. ¡°A warlock? Those are not easy to create. The process requires a part of your soul that needs time to regenerate. Would they really risk a warlock at the front like this?¡± I wondered. ¡°If we are dealing with an old timeless being it could have created numerous warlocks.¡± Lily pointed out. She had a point. It would take the soul about a year to regenerate. But if you were a thousand year old creature¡­ Of course, I did not expect anyone to create one warlock per year. And the warlocks themselves might die. Still, if we were dealing with something old, hundreds of warlocks were a possibility. So they might not be such a limited resource. Then again, a normal warlock would not have access to higher tier spells immediately. Lucy was a special case. The mage we had fought had been around for a while to acquire his power. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Do you think a lich is leading the Inquisition? We have only recently encountered undead.¡± Iris pointed out. ¡°There were no concerning reports about them during my time in the army.¡± ¡°What about necromancers? What is the Empire¡¯s policy?¡± I asked. ¡°The Inquisition dislikes them. Necromancy is not entirely illegal but adventurers need a permit. And you can¡¯t run around a city with a bunch of undead. If they step out of line, the Inquisition deals with them quickly.¡± Iris responded. ¡°Deals with them? They could be recruiting them.¡± I theorised. ¡°But why haven¡¯t they used undead before? Why the demons?¡± Iris asked. ¡°The demons certainly caught everyone¡¯s attention. Maybe they used them as a cover, or misdirection?¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Let¡¯s not forget that they were experimenting on them. Can you create an undead demon?¡± I wondered. ¡°Magical creatures are a lot harder to animate. There has never been a notable undead demon.¡± Lily explained. ¡°No demon lord liches?¡± I asked. ¡°Just like archfey, their powers don¡¯t mix. I am not an expert, mind you. But to my knowledge a demon trying to become a lich would lose a lot of their inherent magic.¡± Lily said. ¡°Hm.¡± I pondered that. ¡°Your race is tied to your soul. Changing into an undead would require some soul manipulation.¡± Sadly, my arcane knowledge did not cover the creation of a lich. But if lich was a template for your soul, it might override your previous racial powers. ¡°So we might have someone who is trying to create undead who retain their racial powers?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°What if we are dealing with multiple creatures, working together? What if a demon is working with a lich? Maybe they are trying to create a lich demon lord?¡± Iris suggested. ¡°Hm. A terrifying thought. Would a lich be willing to help someone else become more powerful though? What would their motivation be? Unless they think they could manipulate their own soul to add some powers as well.¡± I mused. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be a lich involved. A demon lord could study necromancy, or hire necromancers. It¡¯s not common. Most demon lords focus on demonic armies but it¡¯s not impossible.¡± Lily suggested. ¡°I think we will find more answers in Unitera. The battle there should be big enough that the Inquisition needs to deploy their strongest assets.¡± I said. Iris looked sad. ¡°Demons, undead¡­ How rotten was the Inquisition? How did all of this happen? Was the Emperor so blind? What about the generals?¡± ¡°I suspect a lot of them just crave power. They don¡¯t particularly care where it comes from. And the few idealists are easily manipulated. Especially if you can give them a target, like non-humans. Create an enemy they can focus on and sell some of the horrors as necessary for the greater good. That paladin seemed like a true believer. It will be interesting to hear his version once Lilith is done with him.¡± I said. ¡°Hopefully he will know something. All we have is speculation based on limited evidence.¡± Lily added. Chapter 206: Unitera A few days later we left for Unitera. Part of the army stayed behind to secure the area. More reinforcements were on the way but we did not want to risk the city and any further evidence it contained. Staying longer was not an option either, we needed to reach Unitera before the Inquisition took the palace. Assuming they would win, which seemed likely. Lilith was still working on her paladin. She also took a liking to Martha, the woman who tried to poison us. I was slightly concerned about that at first but I could not detect any mental influence. If a former agent of the Inquisition wanted to be friends with a demon lord it was none of my business. As we got closer to the capital we received reports of fighting. The Inquisition had already begun their assault. I decided it might be a good idea to take a look myself. Lucy accompanied me and we used a fly spell to scout ahead. What we found was disturbing. The city had fallen, sort of. A glowing shield surrounded the palace and we could see spells fly from the distance. The inquisition was sieging the palace, while holding the other parts of the city. At least the walls were damaged at places, which meant we would have an easier time attacking them. Some civilian areas were destroyed but most buildings looked intact. Would they survive the battle still raging in the city though? If the mages around the palace went all out it would be a massacre. And I had no idea how to prevent that. We returned to the army to report and plan. We assembled a war council and told them what we had found. ¡°This is bad.¡± General Bodil said. Dalroc sighed. ¡°Indeed. We are too late to save the city.¡± ¡°Are we?¡± Ingrid asked. ¡°A city is about the people. We can evacuate them, or at least some of them.¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°We would have to breach the city first and deal with the Inquisition, without their mages blowing everything up.¡± Loriel pointed out. ¡°The walls are damaged, at least our troops will have a way to get in.¡± I said. ¡°Aren''t their mages busy with the palace anyway?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°Yes. But they will likely engage our forces if we attack. I doubt that the Emperor would use the opportunity to hit their back. He will just sit behind his shield and wait, the coward.¡± Bodil said. ¡°What if we attack the mages at the shield directly? We would pull their strongest forces to the centre and allow the army to breach the walls, take care of the normal soldiers and get the civilians out.¡± I suggested. ¡°You are assuming you can engage their elites without blowing up the city.¡± Loriel said. ¡°There will be destruction in the noble quarters but I think we can limit the damage and allow ordinary people to flee.¡± At least I hoped so. I had no idea who or what we would be facing. ¡°We still do not know what we face. Are you willing to go in blind?¡± Bodil asked. ¡°I trust in our power.¡± I replied. Between me, Lucy, Lily, Shani and Iris we had a lot of strength. Actually, maybe Iris would be better suited elsewhere. ¡°Iris, you know the city and the people. If there are still imperial troops left, maybe you can rally them.¡± ¡°I will do my best.¡± She replied and looked slightly more hopeful. The news of the city¡¯s fall had hit her hard. ¡°Amaya, Lucy, I would like to accompany you.¡± Lilith said. So far she had supported our efforts with her succubi but she had not really taken the field yet. ¡°Excellent.¡± I replied. ¡°You don¡¯t have any news from your paladin that could help us, by chance?¡± ¡°Sadly no, but I am getting close. We shall have to find out for ourselves what we face. And then remind them that they have picked the wrong enemies.¡± A dangerous gleam was visible in her eyes. ¡°So, what sort of powers do you use?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°Ah, do not worry. I won¡¯t incinerate the city. And I have fought with others before. I know how to use any large scale magic without hindering your own efforts.¡± ¡°Do we have any information from the Emperor? Any contact at all?¡± I asked. Dalroc shook his head. ¡°He declined any aid before we started marching into his territory. He has not responded since. The Inquisition might be blocking his communication as well.¡± ¡°Do we know what weapons he has? What artefacts he might use? Once we deal with the Inquisition, I doubt he will welcome us.¡± I said. ¡°The Empire is old and they claim to have divine blood. I would expect at least some powerful divine artefacts. They certainly have a powerful magical sword. I suspect Maximilian will have matching armour. While his personal power is unclear, do not underestimate his equipment.¡± Loriel warned. ¡°Ohhh, those items would go nicely with my paladin, wouldn¡¯t they?¡± Lilith said with a sinister smile. Chapter 207: Confrontation After we concluded the meeting the army had to complete its preparations. It was a lot simpler for me, all I had to do was wear my armour. Lucy opted for an early transformation. The fly spell worked just fine in her fox form. Lilith wore a very form fitting plate armour that left her head exposed. Maybe it was because of the horns. She did have some runes on them. Maybe they served as a magical helmet? Her weapon of choice seemed to be a black spear covered in crimson runes. All of her equipment was made from adamantium. Erin was accompanying Lilith, she wore maid armour that looked surprisingly similar to Lily¡¯s. When the army was ready I used Storm¡¯s Embrace, as did Lucy. Lily used a fly spell and Shani just seemed to float naturally. Crimson wings erupted from Lilith¡¯s back. They almost looked like blood with burning edges. I had no idea if that was her ability, or built into the armour. ¡°That is so cool! I want blood wings!¡± Shani admired the sight. ¡°You don¡¯t need wings. You are a storm elemental.¡± I pointed out. ¡°But they look cool! What if I had electrified blood wings? There must be a way¡­¡± She muttered. While Shani contemplated her newest fantasies we started our assault. Flight was a difficult thing to defend against. Walls were meaningless. Hitting a flying person with an arrow was not easy either, unless they flew rather close. So we simply ignored their defences and flew straight to the palace. What awaited us was not what I had expected. Two rather big demons were hammering the shield. They were at least three metres tall, had two legs, a rather round belly, no head and two tentacles for arms. Their belly was covered in eyes. ¡°What are those?¡± Lucy asked, as we approached. ¡°Eye demons. They are not that bright but can be rather tough.¡± Lilith explained. Besides their demons, we saw a lot of soldiers in plate armour. It was hard to tell who was inside but I assumed they were modified humans of some sort. There were also a number of mages present. I could not see any undead, yet. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°They are still using demons, despite Ashmedai¡¯s cult? I wonder how many down there are cultists.¡± I mused. ¡°It¡¯s possible that they used their runes on some cultists and are now using them to summon demons.¡± Lilith said. ¡°They seem to use anything they can get their hands on.¡± We were floating above the palace and the Inquisition had noticed us. I could see some people down there pointing at us. So far no attacks came our way and the demons kept pounding the shield. Inside the shield we could see the palace, undamaged. No defenders were in sight. They might all be inside the building. A group of five mages gathered and started flying towards us. They all wore robes with hoods. I had no idea why they bothered to cover their faces. ¡°Ah, guests! Are you here to witness our mistress¡¯ victory?¡± A robed man inquired. ¡°And who exactly is your mistress? High Inquisitor Carolin?¡± I asked. He chuckled. ¡°Oh no, she is nothing more than a humble servant. You should have seen her face when she woke up with runes. Zealots make such wonderful slaves, don¡¯t you think?¡± Lilith snorted. ¡°A true master does not need your runes to create loyal followers. Your mistress must be rather weak.¡± ¡°Ah, the succubi queen. Surprising that you found your way out of your bed. Don¡¯t worry, my mistress has plans for you.¡± I expected more rage from Lilith. Instead I saw a smile. Erin tried to defend her queen but Lilith put up her hand. ¡°I think the world has forgotten who I am. It¡¯s time for a reminder.¡± And she unleashed her aura. It felt fiery, it felt wild and it turned the sky red. Then we heard screams. I looked down and some of the soldiers had collapsed. Blood poured out of their armour and streaked towards Lilith. ¡°She has blood powers? WHY DID NOT ANYONE TELL ME?!? THIS IS SO AWESOME!¡± Shani cheered. Meanwhile I looked at Lily. ¡°Do you have blood powers too? I thought you succubi were more into fire.¡± Lily shook her head. ¡°I do not possess such abilities. But I am no demon lord. She has earned that title.¡± ¡°You are young, my dear. You might grow into them.¡± Lilith said. ¡°Succubi are not known for their powers in battle. Mostly, because the world forgot.¡± I narrowed my eyes. ¡°How much have you helped the world forget?¡± Being underestimated was a great way to surprise your enemies. I would expect an immortal being to meddle in their history and create false tales about themselves. The enemy mages did not panic, nor did they seem overly concerned about some of their troops being bled. Maybe because most of them seemed to resist the magic. ¡°An impressive power. It¡¯s good that undead do not need blood.¡± The enemy mage said. And the fallen soldiers rose again. ¡°You know, those mages don¡¯t seem that impressive. Is that really the force who took the city and kept the Emperor contained?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°No, they are probably just stalling.¡± I replied. Which was ok, since we were stalling too. We hoped they would pull all their forces together to defeat us. That would allow the army to evacuate civilians. But maybe it was time to get a bit more serious. I unleashed my aura. Interestingly, it did not clash with Lilith¡¯s. Maybe because we considered each other allies. I could feel my aura brush on hers. The red sky darkened. Lucy¡¯s aura joined mine and empowered it. Soon we had our usual storm above. Rain, wind, thunder and lightning. But some red light shone through the clouds. ¡°No blood rain?¡± Shani¡¯s bunny ears drooped. ¡°Let¡¯s kill them until someone important appears.¡± I suggested. Shani perked up again. Chapter 208: Revelation Our enemies were smart enough to not wait around until we attacked. They turned tail and fled back to the ground, where their meat shields were waiting. We charged after them. A lot of chaos and destruction followed. Lightning began to rain from the sky. Lucy and Shani teamed up and started rampaging through the enemy knights. Lily and Erin fought side by side. They opened a path towards the enemy spellcasters. Lilith stood next to me, facing the mages. She was forming a red ball in her hand. Two of our opponents conjured shields of darkness. I threw a lightning bolt at them. Their defences held, for now. Then Lilith¡¯s ball hit. Blood splashed over the enemy shields and began to absorb them. It almost reminded me of my devour magic, just a lot weaker. Of course, the other mages were not idle. They completed their spells and covered the area in black smoke. It made my skin itch, so it was clearly a form of attack. Despite my ability to see at night, I had trouble inside this magic. I was not completely blind, but my sight was severely limited. My answer was simple, I flew. Leaving the cloud was easy but it obscured our opponents. Lilith had the same idea and joined me. ¡°Can you see them in there?¡± I asked. ¡°Sadly, no.¡± Lilith replied. ¡°But there is a simple solution.¡± ¡°Blast the entire area?¡± I suggested. She smiled. ¡°Yes.¡± A big ball of fire formed in her hand. I was contemplating how big I wanted to go. Maybe a tier 5 Lightning Sphere would be a good start. I completed my spell and threw the sphere into the darkness. Soon afterwards Lilith unleashed her own attack. Whatever she threw, exploded. She did not believe in half measures. Debris was flung everywhere as her attack tore the ground apart. The smoke dispersed and we saw a crater, with my lightning sphere still inside. One of the enemies was on the ground, screaming, as he got electrocuted. The other four still stood and retreated out of the sphere¡¯s reach. Meanwhile, Lucy was attacking one of the big demons. She was just biting through one of the tentacles. Judging by her face, she regretted that move. Biting things came with the serious downside of tasting things.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. My slight distraction cost me, as the lead mage unleashed a spell. A grim reaper formed of black smoke charged me with a scythe. I made the mistake of trying to block it with my sword. The scythe passed through it and hit me in the face. Well, it hit my soul. I gasped as I experienced immense pain. The spell had gone straight through my defences and tried to kill me. I could feel a cold darkness inside. The magic was trying to extinguish my soul. Thankfully, my aura seemed to protect me. My soul was too strong to succumb to the spell. I screamed with rage. My eyes blazed with purple light. I used my 9th circle spell, Storm¡¯s Judgement. A massive bolt of lightning erupted from my hand. It had streaks of purple in it and illuminated the entire area. The enemy mage tried to conjure a shield, but he failed. He did not even have enough time to scream before he was disintegrated. Only a pile of ash remained. But I was not done. Those fools would pay. I focused my aura on striking the foes nearby. I Used the Storm Bolts spell to reinforce my attack. The area was blasted with electricity. The thunder drowned out the screams of dying enemies. Soon I was surrounded by corpses. Some tried to raise once more, only to be blasted again. The smell of ozone filled the air. Lucy looked in my direction, some demon part hanging from her mouth. She seemed satisfied that I was ok and returned to mauling her enemy. Lilith landed next to me. ¡°Good work, that should get their leader''s attention.¡± What happened next was unexpected. The shield protecting the palace disappeared. It did not look like it was breached, just turned off. The fighting slowed as everyone turned their attention to the palace. Emperor Maximilian emerged. He wore a golden plate armour decorated with gems. Well, they likely held enchantments too. The golden colour made it hard to tell what material it was made of. Adamantium was black, mithril was silver and I highly doubted he used anything less than those. He probably had it painted. He held a glowing golden sword. ¡°ENOUGH!¡± He shouted. ¡°This is the Empire! I am a descendant of Imperius himself! Demons, traitors, archfey¡­ You will all perish!¡± To his right stood Beira. She held an interesting black staff. The top was golden and held a giant sphere, looking like a miniature sun. Next to her stood other mages, while the fighters were behind the Emperor. ¡°Beira, show them the power of the god of light!¡± Maximilian screamed. Beira smiled. Then the mages surrounding her started to scream. Runes blazed on their foreheads. The Emperor looked at them with confusion. The flesh on the mages withered, they all died. Only skeletons remind. Skeletons, who kept standing. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± Maximilian shouted. ¡°Gods you are annoying.¡± Beira said. ¡°And stupid. You don¡¯t know how often I wanted to strangle you. But I needed the staff. I thought I could use Alexander to open your vault, sadly that failed.¡± ¡°You¡­ you are working with the Inquisition.¡± Maximilian said, looking shocked. ¡°With them?¡± She snorted. ¡°I hate them. Taking them over was delicious though.¡± She licked her lips. Beira was our enemy? She was the one controlling the Inquisition? Hm¡­ We did steal a lot of her research but I never actually looked into it. Only recently did I hand it over to Josef. And she did introduce the Inquisition to the demons¡­ Lilith seemed the least surprised. ¡°Let me guess, the Inquisition was tasked with monitoring your experiments. So you infiltrated them. First you took over the watchers, then worked your way up. You pretended to be opposed to them publicly and engineered their uprising. Having the emperor backed into a corner he pulled out the artefacts you could not reach. And since you were the Inquisition''s vocal opponent and his loyal follower he trusted you.¡± Lilith shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a classic move, really.¡± Beira smiled. ¡°It is a classic tale, but mortals never learn.¡± Chapter 209: Archfey ¡°Wahw aaa¡± Lucy tried to talk but she still had a piece of demon in her mouth. She spit it out and tried again. ¡°What are you?¡± She asked. Beira looked at her and changed. Her ears became longer, her skin became a light blue and her nails sharpened. Wait¡­ ¡°You are a fey? An ice fey?¡± I asked. ¡°Archfey, obviously.¡± She corrected me. ¡°It¡¯s a shame you never chose to work with me. I really would have liked Mantus¡¯ corpse. It could have greatly helped my research.¡± ¡°YOU¡­ YOU WILL DIE FOR THIS!¡± Maximilian shouted and charged her with his sword. It was covered in golden flames. She pointed her shiny staff at him and unleashed a golden beam. It sent the emperor flying. Beria snorted. ¡°You are irrelevant, little human. It¡¯s so nice that I don¡¯t have to pretend anymore. Can you imagine? Telling people how great humans are all the time? It was hard not to start laughing by accident.¡± ¡°What¡¯s with all the undeath?¡± I asked. She seemed to be in a gloating mood. Maybe we could get some information. Undeath was not something fey were known for. ¡°I have long been looking for a way to grow my power. It¡¯s all about the soul, isn''t it? There are very few ways to change it. Undeath does fundamentally change a creature. I studied it. I hoped to use it to evolve. There are a lot of creatures of power. Archfey, demon lords, vampire lords, liches, dragons, kitsune,... What if you could combine those? What if you could become something more?¡± She sounded way too excited. ¡°You want to become a god?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I have no intention of leaving this realm. I don¡¯t need true godhood. But I think I will become the queen of the fey. It¡¯s about time that we were all united, under my rule. What do you say, Amaya? Want to join me? Swear allegiance and become my general.¡± I had no intention of joining this madwoman. But I hoped I could keep her talking. ¡°What¡¯s with the staff?¡± I asked.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Oh, this? Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± She smiled. Damn. She refused to brag about her plans. ¡°I am pretty sure it is the staff of dominion, a divine artefact of Imperius. The god of rulers.¡± Lilith said. Oh. The mind control runes that were not working for non humans, yet. Maybe she failed to find an arcane, or alchemical solution to her problem, so she was now trying the divine. We could not let her leave with this staff. Meanwhile, Lucy looked at me. ¡°You fey are more elemental, right? How does she have necromancy? Is she a mage, instead of a sorceress? Are there archfey mages?¡± ¡°I am not sure. She does look like an ice fey to me. She really should not be able to do all of this.¡± I pointed at the skeletons surrounding her. ¡°My dear, your thinking is so limited. With proper preparation, and rituals, you can do anything!¡± Beira said. ¡°Oh, there were runes on those mages. I suppose they trusted you, so you could trap their bodies somehow.¡± I concluded. ¡°Exactly! Too many people rely on their personal strength alone. Proper preparation can make all the difference! You know, you still confuse me, Amaya. I have never heard of you, which is kind of impressive. There are not that many archfey around. You don¡¯t behave like most of us either. You are either really young, or really old and good at keeping yourself hidden. You are far too powerful for someone young and you even have a two tailed kitsune with you. Something I failed to recognize when we met in the past. I must say, I really fell for the foxkin act.¡± Then she looked at Lily. ¡°And the succubus I had bonded in the past now works for you, Amaya. It does make me wonder how long you have been working with Lilith. I always knew I would get her attention, when I started my experiments. I hoped I could divert that attention to the Inquisition, while I conducted the more delicate experiments myself. You have been quite the wild card, and quite the mystery, Amaya.¡± ¡°Amaya is a proper archfey! With a court elemental! Far superior than you!¡± Shani said. ¡°Court elemental? That is not a title I have heard in a long time¡­¡± Beira said, looking thoughtful. ¡°That is because you lack style! Ice is just boring. It¡¯s the worse version of water! See, water properly conducts electricity. It¡¯s part of a nice storm. A hailstorm is just a bad excuse for a storm! Let¡¯s melt her!¡± Shani suggested. Beira shook her head. ¡°Storm elementals¡­¡± ¡°I think I have seen enough of that smug grin.¡± Lucy announced, then she pounced. Beira reacted quickly, she lifted her staff and it glowed. Golden chains emerged from the earth and caught Lucy in the air, then dragged her to the ground. The skeletons surrounding Beira shot black bolts at Lucy, who was trapped. She howled in a mixture of pain and rage. I quickly contemplated my options. I could go after Beira directly but I had no idea if her spell needed concentration. There was one way I should be able to free Lucy. I used devour magic. It would cost me another 9th tier spell slot, but freeing Lucy was worth it. The black smoke emerged and greedily ate the chains. Beira looked surprised. Lucy stood up, she looked angry, really angry. And she roared. Chapter 210: Devour Magic Beira unleashed her own aura. The rain turned to snow. The wind became cold and Beira¡¯s body was covered in a sheet of ice. Lucy unleashed a bolt of lightning from her mouth. It collided with a solid wall of ice that appeared in front of Beira. It exploded, raining shards of ice everywhere. Some of the enemy soldiers were impaled by them. Lilith¡¯s eyes blazed with fire, her wings folded around her and touched her outstretched hand. Then, she pointed at Beira. Lilith fired a laser. Well, it was an orange and red beam. I could feel the heat, despite standing several metres away. The beam came straight after Lucy broke the shield. Beira did not have enough time to cast another spell and was struck in the chest. She screamed, as the layer of ice protecting her body melted. Three skeletons jumped into the beam to absorb some of the damage. Sadly, they were successful. Only dust remained of those sacrifices, but Beira was mostly unhurt. Now it was my time. I used Storm¡¯s Judgement. A massive bolt of lightning struck Beira. She screamed again and fell to her knees. Lucy charged, but before she could reach our enemy, a giant white mist appeared. A massive wolf emerged from it. It was the size of an elephant, had snow white fur and turquoise eyes. The creature tackled Lucy and they rolled around on the floor, clawing and biting each other. Lucy¡¯s fur was covered in electricity, something the wolf did not seem to enjoy very much. The wolf was not the only thing that appeared. Someone had summoned the death elemental again. The same one I had faced when rescuing Iris. ¡°I SHALL HAVE MY REVENGE!¡± The elemental screamed. ¡°Hey, this one is MINE!¡± Shani shouted and charged the new arrival. ¡°I will show you who the cutest elemental is!¡± Lily and Erin were busy with the regular soldiers. The emperor was still alive as well. He even had some loyal knights left. They were currently engaged by the large demon with too many eyes.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Beira stood up again. She looked slightly singed from my lightning strike. ¡°Be wary of her staff.¡± Lilith warned. ¡°Your magic was able to counter those chains, make sure you have a spell slot remaining if she does that again. I have no idea how many charges this power has, or how long it takes to recharge.¡± I had used storm''s embrace before the fight, two storm¡¯s judgement and one devour magic. I had five 9th circle spells remaining. Sadly, I did not know how many Beira had. Did all archfey have nine 9th circle slots? How many had she used? Did she power the staff with her own magic, or did it have a battery of sorts? Beira started floating. Shards of ice circled around her. I braced for an attack and contemplated my defensive options. But she did not attack us directly, yet. The entire battlefield froze. We found ourselves standing in a field of ice and snow. I escaped into the air as frozen spikes erupted from the ground. Then I watched in horror. Her spell did not end at the battlefield. She was covering the whole city in ice. And I had a feeling, no normal human would survive that cold. The staff in her hand was glowing. ¡°She is using the staff to enhance her spell.¡± Lilith noted. She was flying next to me and sounded rather calm. I suppose she did not care much for the people. ¡°We have to stop her! She is going to kill everyone who has not been evacuated yet!¡± I said. ¡°That is what you are focusing on? She is using the staff of dominion to enhance an ice spell. That is far more concerning.¡± Lilith responded. I shrugged. ¡°I suspect it improves her control over the weather. If she can create an ice age I will be really concerned.¡± I considered hitting Beira with devour magic. It would strip her of any personal protections but she had summoned that ice wall before. Any spell not attached to her would still work. I could wait for her to use another ice wall, then devour it. Hm. Would devour magic interfere with her aura? That was more of a soul power. Could I hit the staff with it? Could it destroy the staff? I decided to try it. I focused on the staff and cast my spell. Black smoke appeared around the artifact. Sparks appeared around it. My spell seemed to be fighting the staff. The ice circling Beira disappeared. The frost on the ground stopped its expansion. Beira looked in horror as the staff began to form small cracks. Then the black smoke entered. The golden sphere was now covered in a black web. ¡°What¡­ WHAT DID YOU DO?¡± Beira shouted. She still held the staff. It had stopped changing. The black web remained. Underneath, the sphere still glowed. Lilith looked at me, questioningly. The problem was, I had no idea what just happened. ¡°I tried to destroy the magic inside the staff.¡± I said. ¡°You tried to dispel a divine artefact? You can¡¯t dispel a god''s power.¡± Lilith responded. ¡°Well, I did not use a dispel. Obviously. I am not undoing the magic, my spell is eating it.¡± ¡°Eating it? You summoned a creature that eats magic?¡± Lilith asked, looking concerned. ¡°No no, it¡¯s a spell that eats magic.¡± I had no idea what happened to that magic afterwards. Was I actually feeding some sort of creature with it? Could I use the devoured magic myself? And what exactly did I do to that divine artefact? Chapter 211: Consequences While I was contemplating the consequences of my spell, the battle raged on below us. Lightning exploded all around Lucy, something the wolf did not seem to appreciate. I still did not know what sort of creature it was, but it could hold its own against a kitsune, which was impressive. ¡°I don¡¯t like the look of the artefact.¡± Lilith said. Beira, Lilith and myself had stopped fighting while we watched the staff. Maybe we should have used the opportunity to strike but the unexpected reaction gave us pause. Our hesitation paid off, as the artefact began to crack. Beira stared at it in horror, then threw it away. But she was too late. The staff shattered. Briefly, a miniature golden sun appeared. Then the area was filled with golden light. And a lot of heat. I raised my arms in front of my face as the explosion hit me. I could feel my regeneration trying to replace my burning skin. I was flying, but I had lost my orientation. I could no longer tell up from down. Everything hurt¡­ Eventually the world returned to normal. Interestingly my aura was still going. Rain kept falling. Beira¡¯s influence was gone, there was no more ice. I blinked and looked around. I was still hovering in the air. My clothes were mostly burned but my armour survived. Below me was a crater. The palace was mostly gone. Fires were raging all over the city. I tried to reign in my lightning and expand my aura to simply rain on the fires. I could spot Lucy and Lily. They were alive! I looked for Shani and spotted a red orb. Was that blood? It opened and Shani emerged. I could also see the wolf running away. Lilith was floating nearby. She looked better than I did. I suppose she was more resistant to heat. I could not see Beira. Did she die? An archfey should be pretty sturdy. Maybe she was more vulnerable to heat as an ice fey, still¡­ Maybe she fled? I decided to land next to Lucy. My skin was still hurting.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°You look crispy. What happened?¡± My girlfriend asked. ¡°I¡­ I kind of devour magiced the divine artefact. Things didn''t turn out as planned.¡± I responded. ¡°Are you alright?¡± ¡°The explosion was not so bad down here.¡± She responded. I looked around. We were standing in a crater. Then I looked back at her. ¡°Being a kitsune helps, I suppose. My fur and hide are more resilient than your flesh.¡± She said. ¡°That wolf did draw blood though, but it has already healed. And I got some of him too. Tasted a lot better than demon.¡± She grinned. ¡°So much death. SO MUCH DEATH. MUAHAHAHAHA!¡± The death elemental was laughing like a maniac. I suppose she was still around. Unfortunately, for her, she did not seem to pay attention, while marvelling at the destruction. Because Shani¡¯s scythe came at her from behind. And Shani managed to cut the elemental¡¯s head off. ¡°RUDE!¡± The head shouted as it rolled away. ¡°I WILL BE BACK!¡± Then the elemental dissolved, returning to its home plane. How did one kill a death elemental? ¡°Stupid thing! Does not even bleed!¡± Shani complained. ¡°Next time, we should trap her in a bottle and place her on a shelf!¡± Lilith landed next to us. Erin stumbled in our direction, supported by Lily. She looked pretty beat and almost fell, as she tried to kneel in front of her queen. ¡°My queen, we have subdued the emperor.¡± Meanwhile, Lily addressed me and Lucy. ¡°My ladies, I thank you for this armour. It has been magnificent in this battle and majorly contributed to my success.¡± Erin looked slightly jealous. While she had gotten some new armour from Lilith, it did not compare to Lily¡¯s demon lord plate. ¡°I am happy that you are safe. And good work capturing the emperor.¡± I said. ¡°Unfortunately, Beira has escaped. I doubt that the explosion killed her.¡± Lilith said. ¡°At least she did not get the staff.¡± I pointed out. ¡°That should hinder her plans. And now we know who our opponent is.¡± ¡°An ice fey. What are the odds that she is related to Lady Chione?¡± Lilith mused. ¡°You think they are working together?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Or they were trying to cover up her actions. Maybe she is an embarrassment to her family?¡± I wondered. ¡°You should call for a fey council.¡± Lilith suggested. I had no idea what that was. I should ask Adhira about it. ¡°Perhaps.¡± I responded. The battle was over. We had won, sort of. Looking at the city, it did not feel like a win. Hopefully most people had been evacuated. The emperor was unconscious and Lily had stripped him of his armour. We put him on Lucy¡¯s back. She volunteered to transport our captive. Erin was on her back as well. The embarrassed succubus refused at first, but she was hurt. It made no sense for her to walk. We left the battlefield and returned to our camp. Chapter 212: Aftermath We saw a lot of scared people and grim looking soldiers on our way back. At least some people had been evacuated. I made sure that Iris was safe. She had been inside the city, trying to recruit imperial soldiers. She looked a bit singed but was unharmed overall. Good. We made our way directly to the command tent afterwards, to discuss our findings. Lily handled our prisoner, who was still unconscious. Dalroc, Ingrid, Bodil and Loriel were all inside the tent. They looked relieved that we were alive. I had no idea how the explosion looked from here. ¡°What happened in there?¡± Loriel asked. ¡°We saw a massive explosion.¡± I told them how the battle went and what we had discovered. ¡°We are dealing with an archfey? I need to report this to the high queen. She needs to talk with the lady of the forest.¡± Loriel said. Dalroc shrugged. ¡°We had suspected a being of power, now we know what we are dealing with.¡± ¡°Will she have a stronghold in the fairy realm?¡± Bodil asked. ¡°Possible. But I think most of her experimentation was done here.¡± I said. If she had a secure hideout in another plane, she wouldn''t have used labs all over the Empire. ¡°Traversing planes is not that simple. Unless she has a permanent gate somewhere, it would take too many spell slots to transport people all the time.¡± Lilith added. ¡°And the gate would be at one location. So you would need to transport all subjects there. Something that might draw attention.¡± I pointed out. ¡°We destroyed the staff. So her plan should be a lot harder now.¡± Lucy added. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°It is still impressive that you managed that¡­¡± Loriel said. ¡°About that plan of hers¡­¡± Dalroc began. ¡°Our spymaster, who was abducted, might know the location of another artefact belonging to Imperius.¡± Ingrid said. ¡°It is not in our possession.¡± Dalroc added, hastily. ¡°But the information is not something easily available.¡± ¡°So, where is this artefact? And what is it?¡± Lilith asked. ¡°It is called the Crown of Imperius. We don¡¯t know where it is. Our spymaster was tasked with looking for ways to combat immortals. He was excited about a lead, but he was not able to give us the full information. He was abducted before that.¡± Dalroc admitted. ¡°So you knew that he had important information and just happened to be abducted before he could report it? And you never mentioned that?¡± I pointed out. ¡°Well¡­¡± Ingrid said. ¡°He was looking for ways to contain you, if you became a problem.¡± Ingrid admitted. She did look slightly ashamed. ¡°There was nothing you could have done with this information. We have been doing everything in our power to recover him and reconstruct his finding.¡± Dalroc said, defensively. ¡°I am not really surprised. I always expected you to have something planned.¡± Lilith offhandedly commented with a shrug. ¡°It is fine to be prepared. I am not holding that against you. But if you try something, you will face the consequences.¡± ¡°We are all allies and I do trust you, Amaya. But we do have a kingdom to protect.¡± Dalroc said. It was an understandable position. But was it really intended as a contingency? So far, the dwarves were nice and welcoming. Was it fake? Hm. I still thought they meant well but maybe I should consider contingency plans of my own. ¡°I will tell my own agents to look for this crown. We dealt a blow to Beira and she might be wounded. She was very close to the explosion. But we have to find her and stop this madness.¡± Lilith said. I wondered if I should take a trip to the fairy realm and visit some of my peers. Not that I had any idea how to get there. Or that I knew any of my peers. I could always start by visiting the lady of the forest. Clearly the Dominion had a way of communicating with her. ¡°What are we going to do with the emperor?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Usually we would hold him in decent conditions and negotiate terms. With the current situation we could convince him to help with the Inquisition and pay reparations.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°But he is your prisoner and you have your own grievances. We shall abide by your decision.¡± ¡°We could give him to Shani.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Uh, she would just kill him and collect his blood.¡± I said. ¡°Exactly! So he would be useful, for once. And if he really has divine blood Shani might enjoy that.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°How about we start by interrogating him.¡± I proposed. ¡°The man did not even know that his court mage was an archfey.¡± Lucy countered. ¡°So he is a blind idiot, but he might still have important information.¡± I argued. ¡°I would be delighted to handle the interrogation.¡± Lilith purred. ¡°Also, could I have his armour? My paladin could use it.¡± I sighed. ¡°Fine. Although, would the armour not be better for Erin?¡± ¡°It is likely of good quality but I suspect wearing it would itch. Imperius is not the fondest of demons. Surprising, since we are all about ruling.¡± She said, with a smile. Chapter 213: Family After the meeting ended we returned to our tent. My skin was still itching but it was mostly healed by now. Lucy¡¯s family was waiting for us. ¡°Lucy, Amaya, I am so glad you are alright!¡± Lynn said, while hugging her daughter. ¡°The explosion was quite troublesome.¡± Alister added. ¡°It was cool! A bit scary, but cool.¡± Ben added. ¡°No Ben! Explosions are not cool. It was terrifying. Your sister could have been hurt!¡± Lynn said. ¡°Big sis is stronger than any explosion!¡± Ben insisted. ¡°It was not that bad. My fur was stronger than the explosion. Amaya got a bit crispy though.¡± Lucy said while pointing at me. I had replaced my burnt clothing by now. A storage item was very useful. ¡°You need to get yourself better armour dear. You are way too exposed!¡± Lynn pointed out. ¡°I do heal quickly. But maybe a set of full plate mail would be useful.¡± I could have used Mantus¡¯ armour myself. But it was better in Lily¡¯s hands. She needed the protection more. I could deal with a bit of pain, if my friends stayed safe. ¡°You should fight in your cat form.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°Being a fox is really helpful. You just have to carry something to rinse your mouth after turning back. Things taste different in your humanoid form.¡± Lynn¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°What have you been eating?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Lucy looked a bit embarrassed now. ¡°She was chewing demons.¡± I said.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°They were large! I had to bite their tentacles off.¡± Lucy defended herself. ¡°How does demon taste?¡± Ben asked. ¡°That is not relevant! We are not eating demons!¡± Lynn insisted. ¡°Can we bathe in their blood?¡± Ben asked. Lynn sighed. ¡°No, that is not something we do. Blood is filthy.¡± Then she looked at us. ¡°Is this war over now?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Sadly, no. But we found out who led the Inquisition. Let us clean up and we can tell you the whole story.¡± They agreed. We quickly rinsed ourselves with water. Battles were not very clean. Although the fire did get rid of a lot of other things, it also resulted in me smelling of burning flesh. Not the most pleasant odor. We settled down inside our tent after we were finished cleaning up. We had comfortable furs to sit on and I brought a plate of food. And a barrel of ale. Then we told the story of our battle. Ben was really excited about the fighting, his parents were more concerned about the politics. ¡°You carried the emperor on your back?¡± Alister looked shocked. ¡°And he is your prisoner?¡± ¡°Will he become a maid?¡± Ben asked. ¡°No. He will not become a maid.¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s hard to believe.¡± Lynn said. ¡°Our little girl defeated the emperor.¡± ¡°It was not really me. I think Lily beat him up, mostly. With the help of Erin.¡± Lucy clarified. ¡°He was mostly talk. Surprisingly weak for a ruler.¡± I mused. It was surprising that powerful mages would obey the man. Maybe they feared his artefacts. Or maybe nobody was aware of his lack of power and they were not willing to test him. Then again, he might have been a convenient puppet. Why did Beira not just put runes on him? Hopefully his interrogation would get us some information. Lynn and Alister looked overwhelmed. They clearly did not like their former ruler but they had lived in the Empire their entire lives. A certain amount of respect had likely been drilled into them from a young age. And the fear of repercussions for any criticism. ¡°What will happen now?¡± Alister asked. ¡°No idea.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Big sis can become emperor!¡± Ben suggested. ¡°No. I will settle with Amaya in her county.¡± Lucy said. ¡°This fight is not over. Beira is still out there, the Inquisition still has forces and holds territory. We won¡¯t know what will be left of the Empire when the war is over. We still don¡¯t know how much influence Beira has in Beravis. She could control an organisation there for all we know.¡± I pointed out. The future of the Empire was still uncertain. Would there even be an Empire? Would small kingdoms form instead? Maybe Beravis had plans to get some territory. It would be awkward, with no direct connection. The mountains were too dangerous, one would have to travel by boat. Or through the wastes, another inhospitable place. I did not think that the dwarves wanted a part of it but Maybe they would back a local ruler. ¡°Actually, what happened to Alexander? And he is the 3rd prince, what happened to the other two? Were they in the palace? Or elsewhere?¡± I wondered. Lucy shrugged. ¡°No idea. Not sure if I care.¡± She took a bite of her sandwich, then washed it down with ale. ¡°This is so much better than demon. Although I did sort of get used to the taste. There was a bad liquid in those tentacles. The other parts were sort of ok.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t talk about eating demons! Shani is already bad enough with her blood.¡± Lynn complained. I smiled at their antics. Chapter 214: Companions The next day was rather busy, for the army. They had to clear the city, handle the survivors, look for information about the Inquisition¡­ I, on the other hand, did not have much to do. So I checked in with Iris. We had only talked briefly after the fight. ¡°How is the recruitment going?¡± I asked her. ¡°Better than expected. It will take time to find any potential traitors. Today, I will start inspections to see if anyone is controlled. Then I will need to do a lot of interviews. I want to use those troops in the upcoming battles and then offer a few who stand out a job, if you agree.¡± She reported. ¡°You want to use them as guards for our county?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes. You have a lot of power, so does Lucy, but to patrol a territory and keep it safe, we will need soldiers. Not elites, just normal people with a bit of experience to keep the peace.¡± Iris said. ¡°I agree and I trust your judgement. Let me know if you need anything.¡± ¡°Yes, my lady.¡± With that handled, my next stop was Adhira. I needed more information about the fey. ¡°My lady, our new armour arrived this morning from Tyrell!¡± Adhira told me excitedly. She was buzzing around the tent while Nira was opening a crate. ¡°Nice! So for both of you and Ben? Did he send all three sets we have been waiting for?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, my lady.¡± Nira confirmed. ¡°Shall I fetch him?¡± ¡°No rush. You both seem excited to try out your new gear.¡± I said. ¡°Woohoo!¡± Adhira cheered and dove towards her things. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Both of them put on their new armour, then they played around with the maid uniform part. Just like Lily and Iris, they could summon a uniform on top of their plate and store part of the armour inside a storage artifact. Their looks varied from full knight, to plated maid to full maid. It was rather amusing to see the effect on a tiny storm sprite. ¡°Best lady ever!¡± Adhira celebrated. ¡°Indeed, thank you for this gift.¡± Nira bowed. ¡°You are welcome. Now, I did have something to discuss.¡± They already knew about yesterday''s battle and Beira¡¯s involvement. ¡°Are we going to war with a fey court? Actually, I suppose we already are at war. Ha, I am gonna show some frost sprites who is boss! I will have to consult with Shani about the best insults to taunt them¡­¡± Adhira mused. Actually, Shani did know a lot about fey. I should get her for this conversation. ¡°Wait a minute, we should involve Shani in this discussion.¡± I said, then I left to fetch my elemental. Shani stood out, which made her easy to track down. She was inside a tent humming. When I entered I found her in a tub, filled with blood. ¡°Hi Amaya! Do you want a bloodbath?¡± She asked. ¡°Um, no. Blood does not clean you, you know.¡± I pointed out. ¡°Pfft. Clean is overrated! Elementals don¡¯t have a body that can get sick, infected, or things like that. We are mostly just magic, you know.¡± Shani replied. ¡°But there are magical diseases and there can be magic in blood.¡± I said. ¡°Sure. That is the great part about blood! There is always a little bit of magic in it! Even the weakest creature has a tiny bit of mana. Of course, demons, or powerful mortals, are tastier. When you first summoned me to that giant battle I started to realise how much potential it holds! I have been working on extracting magic from it ever since. As a storm elemental, my main affinity is wind. But unlike the boring wind elementals I do have some control over water. That is what got me started on blood.¡± She explained. Hm. Originally I thought all wind elementals were the same. I had come to realize that storm elementals were a bit different. I was unsure if they were higher evolution but they did mix in a water affinity, mostly for rain. Back in the game my character¡¯s main element was lightning. But that always counted as part of the air domain, which was often called wind. This world seemed slightly more complex. I had never questioned a storm spell in the air domain causing rain. But I was getting sidetracked. ¡°I wanted you to join a discussion about the fey. We need to track down Beira and deal with her. Possibly in the fairy realm.¡± I said. ¡°Oh, that sounds like fun! I can bully a lot of elementals there! Other archfey are too boring to create court elementals!¡± She sounded excited. Then Shani started to absorb the blood in her tub into the bunny ears. But not all of the blood went there. I stared at Shani, who now had some red streaks on her skin. She stared too. ¡°Huh, neat.¡± She replied. ¡°Are you turning into a blood elemental?¡± I asked. ¡°What? No! Ew. I want to be a bloodstorm elemental! Make it rain blood, scythe made of blood lightning, electrocute people¡¯s blood while it is inside them,... ¡± She replied. I decided to stop my questions there and just nodded. I also wondered if that would have an effect on us, through the bond. Was Lucy getting more bloodthirsty? Then again, that might just be her kitsune part. While I contemplated the bloodthirstiness of my companions we walked back to the tent, where Adhira and Nira were waiting. Chapter 215: Fairy Realm We settled down in the tent and I started the discussion. ¡°Do you know how to get to the fairy realm?¡± I asked. ¡°Uh, I am not powerful enough to create a portal. I would need to find an existing one.¡± Adhira said. ¡°There are sometimes holes in the elemental planes where you can slip to the fairy plane. But we can¡¯t hang out there too long without an anchor, it''s exhausting! Mostly I have been there through summonings.¡± Shani said. ¡°I am not an expert on those things.¡± Nira said. ¡°I suspect it is similar to us demons. You would need powerful magic to create a portal. Or get summoned into the fairy plane.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit different than hell.¡± Adhira corrected her. ¡°The fairy plane has a much stronger connection, there are a few natural portals even. That is why you can find some fey roaming around in the mortal plane. Occasionally, an unstable portal appears for a short time. Some people accidentally end up in the fairy plane, or fey end up here. There are some permanent ones too, controlled by powerful archfey.¡± Then Adhira looked at me and buzzed around. ¡°Was that enough? Was this a test? Do I win anything?¡± I shook my head. ¡°It was a genuine question. My situation is a bit¡­ unique. I do not know much about the fairy realm, despite being an archfey.¡± ¡°Uhhh. Have you been lost? Wait, abducted? Raised among mortals? Are we going back for revenge?¡± Adhira asked, excitedly. ¡°No, nothing like that. But my knowledge about the fey is limited. That is why I am asking you for information.¡± I said. ¡°How hard would it be to create a portal?¡± ¡°Hm. Powerful fey can create portals between here and the fairy realm. Unlike hell, where they need to be summoned from here, fey can just come and go as they please. It might take some ritual though. And a permanent one might require mass sacrifice. Also, permanent ones attract other archfey, so you better be ready to fight for it.¡± Adhira explained. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Why would they fight for such a portal?¡± I asked. ¡°Easy trade, brings in a lot of money. We fey kind of like our food, drink, luxuries¡­¡± I nodded. I did like my food and drink. Adhira continued: ¡°It¡¯s a resource in the end, like an adamantium mine, or something. If an archfey thinks a rival is weak they take it.¡± I was certainly powerful enough for such a ritual. Sadly, I lacked the necessary runes. My arcane knowledge did not include runes for such a portal. I knew how to do a summoning and there was likely a certain overlap. But I didn''t really know the runes of the fairy realm. I only know how to summon demons, or elementals. ¡°What is the connection between fey and elementals, Shani?¡± I asked. ¡°Hm. Well, you are sort of fleshier versions of us. Fey are usually attuned to an element but lack the true connection to the elemental plane. We can bridge that gap for them. Hence the need for us to make proper knights! We also offer much better advice than most fleshy creatures.¡± She said, while nodding to herself. ¡°What about court elementals?¡± I was uncertain if she made them up. But she did indicate a few times that it was an old tradition, or something. ¡°Fey and elementals used to work together a lot more. But fey became boring. Who would not want a cute elemental hanging around their court? Seriously! These days, they often just summon us to perform a knighting ceremony or something. Some even try to enslave us!¡± Considering Shani¡¯s violent and erratic behaviour, or Terath¡¯s laziness, I had a theory why court elementals fell out of favour. ¡°Do any of you know Beira? Assuming that is her actual name.¡± I asked. ¡°Nope.¡± Shani said. Adhira pondered the question. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I have never been part of a court. As an independent fey you keep your head down and hope nobody chops it off for fun.¡± ¡°Ah, I can empathise with that.¡± Nira said. ¡°As an independent demon you lack protection. Only serving someone stronger can keep you safe. Or you are good at hiding. Ideally you manage to get summoned to the mortal plane. Here you have a much easier chance to grow.¡± ¡°Exactly! Finding a way to the mortal plane made it a lot safer! Just a bit lonely.¡± Adhira agreed. ¡°You came through a temporary portal?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes.¡± Adhira nodded. ¡°Who would have a permanent one? The lady of the forest?¡± I knew she had a deal with the Dominion. It would make sense if she controlled a permanent portal. ¡°Probably.¡± Adhira said. ¡°I tried to stay outside anyone¡¯s territory.¡± ¡°Do you know any notable storm fey?¡± I asked. ¡°I knew one once! Fulgora. Don¡¯t think she is around anymore.¡± Shani said. ¡°Notable? No. Approaching someone powerful is always a gamble. I am glad it worked out with you, my lady!¡± Adhira smiled and admired her armour some more. ¡°We might have to travel to the Dominion and meet the lady of the forest. She might be our best bet at finding Beira, if Beira fled to the fairy realm. We will have to see what happens to the remaining Inquisition forces over the next few weeks.¡± I mused. ¡°We should slaughter them!¡± Shani suggested. ¡°It might come to that. But if Beira fled, and took her strongest people with her, we might not be needed.¡± I said. ¡°But... but¡­ slaughter.¡± Shani¡¯s bunny ears drooped. Chapter 216: Plans While the conversation gave me some answers, I still lacked a lot of knowledge about other archfey. Especially how their courts and politics worked. Adhira had avoided the more powerful fey and Shani was uninterested in politics. What I did have was a good reason to visit the lady of the forest. I wondered what her actual name was, because everyone seemed to use her title. But for now we had to wait and see what information the Emperor revealed. Or what could be uncovered from the ruins. Later that day, Lilith invited me to her tent. Lucy and our maids were busy introducing Ben to his new armour, so I went alone. I hoped that Lilith had some new information on our enemies. ¡°Greetings, Amaya.¡± Lilith said as I entered the tent. ¡°Hello, Lilith. You asked for me?¡± I replied. ¡°Yes, I wanted to introduce you to my new servant.¡± Lilith pointed towards the knight standing besides her. He was wearing a familiar armour. One that had belonged to the emperor not long ago. ¡°Oh, are you the paladin?¡± I asked. The man bowed. ¡°I was. Now I am Sir Francis, loyal knight of Queen Lilith. I must thank you, Lady Amaya. You and your allies have defeated me and shown me the error of my ways. I was blind, but my queen has opened my eyes.¡± I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Sir Francis is now utterly devoted to my cause. He will personally lead strikes against our enemies. He had far more knowledge than I expected.¡± Lilith said. ¡°Really? And he was not controlled?¡± I wondered.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°I was controlled, by a corrupted faith. I was so certain that I was on the side of good, I committed many atrocities. I must atone for my sins. I know some of their laboratories. I know where I delivered people. Where I doomed them to a fate worse than death.¡± He sounded really remorseful. Of course, he was now serving a demon lord. He was simply a puppet with a different master now. Then again, Lilith was not as bad as the Inquisition. ¡°Do you have any other helpful information?¡± I asked. ¡°The mage, the necromancer, in my former party. He held a new rank, called overseer. They were deployed in a lot of groups. They had direct contact with the high inquisitors. They made everyone disappear who was not loyal enough. If you can capture one of them, they would know more. I also know where the high inquisitors reside, in theory. I do not know if they are still there.¡± He said. ¡°It would be good to take them out. They might only be puppets, but without them a lot of the regular soldiers might surrender.¡± I mused. ¡°Or fall to the cult.¡± Lilith said. ¡°Do not forget Ashmedai. Beria has used the demons as a distraction but his cult has spread. With our weakening of Beira, they will act. I would estimate the Inquisition itself will have a civil war, soon. I would not be surprised if most of the south gets overrun by demons.¡± I had not thought about the cult. If Beira did retreat to the fairy realm, and took her strongest people with her¡­ ¡°They will try to summon Ashmedai, won¡¯t they? With so much fighting and death everywhere, they will likely create another ritual.¡± I said. ¡°That seems probable. He is a brute and an idiot. We might be able to manipulate him. Or we could just deal with him.¡± Lilith suggested. ¡°He will cause a lot of people to die. Ideally we would stop his summoning.¡± I replied. ¡°Well, there will be a lot of battlefields and a lot of vulnerable cities. We can¡¯t be everywhere. We should just focus on dealing with him. Between Lucy, you and me he should be easy to defeat. Then we can force him to pay reparations. He should have an extensive knowledge of the cult. We can use that.¡± Lilith said. ¡°You want him to be summoned.¡± I stated. Lilith shrugged. ¡°I would not go that far. I would be entirely happy to not see his face again. I am just realistic. There are too many foolish mortals to stop them all. We should just make the best of it.¡± ¡°I think we should contact the lady of the forest.¡± I suggested. I was hoping that another archfey could help us track down Beira. Lilith nodded. ¡°With Beira being an archfey I expected something like that. Fey politics are even more complicated than demonic politics, or so I have heard. I hope you will stay here long enough to help deal with Ashmedai.¡± ¡°Of course. We have to secure the remaining part of the Empire first. But once the situation is under control, we can leave it to the dwarves. We have to find Beira before she finds another artefact. If you want, you can accompany us to the faerie realm. We are allies, after all.¡± I offered. ¡°I would be delighted.¡± Lilith answered with a smile. Chapter 217: Knights After our conversation I left. Lilith still had an Emperor to interrogate. I could have joined that, but I decided not to. She had far more experience in gathering information and could just fill me in afterwards. Instead I returned to Lucy and Ben. He was having fun with his new armour. Nira and Adhira were here too, as was Iris. She was giving tips on how to use it properly. It was a full plate mail made from mithril, which reduced its weight. It was also enchanted for increased durability and would be able to grow with Ben. The armour came with a dimensional storage where unused material was stored. All this information was provided by a handy manual which Tyrell had included. Of course I was the only one reading it. Ben had no interest in such boring things. ¡°I am knight now!¡± Ben declared. ¡°Should I be a maid knight?¡± He wondered. ¡°No. You are my brother, so you are noble. The knights serve you.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Aren¡¯t knights nobles too?¡± I wondered. ¡°Not necessarily.¡± Iris clarified. ¡°Anyone who is officially knighted counts as noble but there are knight orders which are not knighted by any nation. A lot of religions have knights. Of course they are mostly treated like nobility, even if they technically are not nobles. And adventurers often refer to heavily armoured fighters as knights.¡± Iris paused, contemplating. Then she continued: ¡°As a countess of the Dominion you likely have the power to knight people. But I do not know the details about the process inside the Dominion. Also, nobles do serve as knights at times. Some orders actually refuse to recruit commoners.¡± ¡°That sounds stupid. There are plenty of talented commoners. You would want the best in an elite unit.¡± I replied, shaking my head. ¡°The Empire was not built on logic.¡± Iris responded with a sad smile.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°As an archfey you are a noble anyway.¡± Adhira commented. ¡°And elemental knights are sort of a big deal among the fey. The main elemental knight, Lily in our case, is a really big deal. That title holds a lot of respect and power.¡± ¡°Do kitsune have something like elemental knights? Or demons?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I can answer the demons part.¡± Lily said, as she entered the tent. She had Alister and Lynn with her. ¡°Demonic knights are a thing but demons don¡¯t follow a naming convention. Demon lords name their servants however they like. Usually they are not granted special powers though. They are connected to their lords with a bond, as is any true servant of a demon lord. But the bond is there to control the servants, not empower them. I do not know anything about kitsune.¡± ¡°Kitsune are kind of rare.¡± Adhira added. Lucy looked smug. ¡°I am even rarer than you, Amaya.¡± I looked at her, especially at her happily swishing tails. ¡°You could grow even rarer with more tails. I wonder if you can have nine.¡± ¡°That is a lot of tails.¡± Ben stated. ¡°They would be great to snuggle with! I like snuggling with my tail. Can I grow more tails?¡± ¡°You are not a kitsune. Foxkin have only one tail.¡± Lynn explained. ¡°But big sis became a kitsune! I want to be a kitsune too!¡± Ben protested. ¡°If you grow bigger, you could become my warlock.¡± Lucy suggested. Hm. A kitsune should be on the level of an archfey, or demon lord. As such they should be able to create warlocks. But the ritual I used for Lucy required more spell slots than she had. More spell slots than any mortal could have. That is why a normal mage could not create a warlock. But what about more physically focused mythical creatures? Lucy¡¯s fox form had a lot of power, even if she did not have that many 9th tier spell slots. Actually, maybe she would get more with more tails. ¡°Did you get more spell slots when you grew a second tail?¡± I asked. Lucy thought about that. ¡°No. But my aura has improved. And I think I can empower my spells with my fox form. They feel stronger.¡± Empowering spells was something sorcerers could do. But it increased the spell level. Of course there were passive improvements, like my piercing lightning. Maybe each tail would provide different abilities, or improvements? I was certainly curious what all nine tails would unlock. And how fluffy they would be. ¡°You don¡¯t need to become a kitsune, or grow tails. You will become a fine young man! You can settle down and manage a farm.¡± Alister suggested. Ben pondered that. ¡°I would rather grow tails tough. And slaughter things. Shani says that is more fun.¡± Lynn sighed. She probably had this conversation many times in the past. ¡°First you have to grow up. Until then, maybe Iris can give you some basic training. At least you have some armour now for Shani¡¯s shenanigans¡­¡± ¡°I would be honoured to train the young lord. I am sure he will make a fine fighter one day.¡± Iris said. ¡°Magical fighter! I want to have magic too! And become a fox! A magical fox fighter!¡± Ben announced. I did not envy Lynn. Raising Ben was certainly a difficult task in our company. But I would do what I can to keep him safe. Chapter 218: Corruption We stayed near Unitera for a few more days. Interrogating the Emperor did not provide a lot of useful information. At least not concerning the Inquisition. The paladin had given us a possible location for the high inquisitors. It was our best lead so far. It was decided we would march there next. While the army prepared to depart, Iris was busy recruiting. Besides former imperial soldiers she was accepting refugees and freed slaves. Nira and Adhira became her drill sergeants. It was fun seeing the small storm sprite shout at people, and zap them if they misbehaved. Having a demon and a fey help to train the troops certainly made sure they respected non-humans. Our destination was called the Red Citadel. It was not the official seat of the Inquisition. It was a lone castle where a lot of shady things happened. It would take our army a week to arrive. While we were moving we heard more and more reports of demon outbreaks. Sadly, there was not much we could do. The Empire was large. Even if we left the army behind, Lucy and myself could not be everywhere. Nor could we search an entire city for runic formations or demonic plots. It seemed as if Lilith was right, we had no way of stopping the cult. As we approached the Red Citadel, the landscape changed. The grass looked grey, the trees were black and there was a distinct lack of animals. It stank of necromancy. I decided to ask the paladin about that. When I approached Sir Francis he was staring at the area in shock. ¡°This¡­ when did this happen?¡± He wondered. ¡°So, this is not normal? The forest was alive in the past?¡± I asked. ¡°Of course! No one would have accepted that! What happened here? Is this a ritual?¡± Sir Francis was clearly distressed. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Hm. It could be a ritual. I am not an expert in necromancy.¡± Lilith mused. ¡°I am not an expert either. But keep in mind that fey are good at illusions. They could have hidden this corruption for a while and stopped to bother now.¡± I pointed out. ¡°Impossible! We were trained to see through illusions! As a paladin hunting evil that was very important.¡± Sir Francis protested. ¡°Sure. What if they only trained you to see through some illusions? I would not be surprised if the Inquisition fooled some of their members even before Beira took over.¡± I theorised. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say.¡± Lilith commented. ¡°It would have been a gamble. People can learn to counter illusion on their own. Of course, with a healthy dose of brainwashing they would believe their leaders more than their eyes. That is why cults are so easy to corrupt. Since the members are taught not to think and only to obey.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you have your own cult?¡± I asked. Lilith smiled. ¡°Of course I do. Cults have their uses, if managed properly.¡± I looked at Sir Francis. ¡°What do you say about your queen having a cult?¡± ¡°She provides us with guidance. She saved me from corruption. I was not able to see the evil I served. She freed me. She opened my eyes. I shall be her loyal servant.¡± He replied. Lilith grinned evilly. ¡°I am very good at what I do. Would you like me to teach you?¡± I shook my head. ¡°No, I don¡¯t need a cult.¡± Our discussion was interrupted as Dalroc and Loriel approached. ¡°Queen Lilith, Lady Amaya, do you know about this corruption? Will it be dangerous for our troops?¡± Dalroc asked. I pondered that. ¡°Could be. If the magic drains the life of everything in the area, it might affect people. Since there are no animals I assume they either died or fled. The question is how fast the magic works and if it is still active, or if we see the result of previous rituals.¡± ¡°I agree with Amaya¡¯s assessment.¡± Lilith said. ¡°There are some corruption demons in hell who can create a similar effect. It will weaken anyone inside the area. Mostly weaker soldiers would be at risk.¡± ¡°Which means the support personnel, like servants or cooks, should definitely stay outside this place.¡± I added. ¡°I would suggest a small elite force should take a look. I could go, together with Lucy.¡± ¡°Sir Francis should be there, he knows the place.¡± Lilith added. ¡°I am willing to come as well. I want to see what is inside that castle.¡± ¡°Hm. I was thinking about some simple scouting first. But we could directly go in with a strike team. I would bring Lily and Shani as well, in that case.¡± I said. ¡°I think that is wise. It is unlikely we will get any meaningful information without entering. The army can stay here and intercept anything that tries to escape. It¡¯s possible we will unleash some undead.¡± Lilith said. She had a point. If we killed a bunch of necromancers, their minions would not necessarily disappear. We could be facing a zombie or skeleton horde. Considering the state of the Empire, an undead outbreak was the last thing the people needed. ¡°Let me gather my people, then we can go.¡± I said. Chapter 219: Auras and Bonds We met in the front of the army and I briefed my friends on the situation. ¡°Undead, huh? Not much blood in them¡­¡± Shani looked disappointed. I shrugged. ¡°Maybe there are vampires.¡± Shani perked up. ¡°Ohhh, that would be nice!¡± Lucy transformed into a fox. Then she sniffed. ¡°Smells bad. We should burn this place down.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see what we find inside first.¡± I said. ¡°There could be hostages.¡± Lily pointed out. ¡°Hey, paladin, do you have any cleansing magic, or something?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I do not possess divine magic any longer. I only serve Queen Lilith now.¡± He replied. ¡°Hey, you do still have powers, right?¡± I asked. ¡°He does indeed.¡± Lilith smirked. ¡°Wait¡­ did you make him your warlock?¡± I asked. Instead of answering she kept smirking. I had no idea what other ways she would have to grant him powers. I suppose he did have a certain amount of magic himself. And there was his new armour¡­ ¡°I have replay your orders to the other succubi, my queen.¡± Erin said to Lilith as she approached. ¡°Is Erin joining us?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, Erin will come along. I am getting quite fond of the idea of a maid knight.¡± She replied. ¡°Ok, this is everyone. Let¡¯s head out then.¡± I said.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. We approached the caste on foot. Flying would have been an option but there was no need for now. The castle itself was on a small hill. The walls were black, like obsidian. The castle looked like a square with a huge round tower in the corners. The gate was flanked by two smaller towers. ¡°Does anyone see any movement on the walls?¡± I asked. A combination of ¡°No¡± and shaking heads was the answer. ¡°Do we tear the gate down or do we fly over it?¡± Lucy asked. Her tails were wagging as she proposed going through it. ¡°You really want to blow it up, don¡¯t you?¡± I teased. ¡°Would that not not be a waste of spell slots, my lady?¡± Lily asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think she needs to use a high level one.¡± I mused. ¡°Hey, how much can you push a mid tier spell? How about regula tier 4 lightning bolt enhanced with your aura?¡± ¡°I liked the idea!¡± Lucy said. ¡°Actually, maybe I can boost you as well. I could try to enhance you further with my own aura.¡± ¡°You intend to experiment? In hostile territory?¡± Lilith asked. ¡°Yes.¡± Both Lucy and myself replied. Then we looked at each other and giggled. Then I began to draw upon my aura. I tried to not summon a big storm, instead I tried to keep the power close. Then I focused on stuffing it into the bond. ¡°Uh, that feels nice!¡± Shani said. Small lightning bolts appeared along her skin. We were all connected through the bind so what I did seemed to affect everyone. ¡°I do feel slightly stronger, I think.¡± Lily observed. ¡°Would not a more stealthy approach be better?¡± Erin asked, hesitantly. ¡°Stealth means to kill everyone so nobody saw a thing, right?¡± Shani asked. ¡°Uh, that is one way, I suppose.¡± I admitted. ¡°But we are just going to hit them hard and fast. Once we blow the gate, we charge. I am not sure if anyone is home but if they are, they won¡¯t have much time to react. For all we know they sensed our approach once we entered the forest.¡± ¡°Did you see any alarms with your Eyes of the Fey?¡± Lucy inquired. ¡°No. There is lingering necrotic magic, it could have hidden something I am not aware of.¡± I replied. Lucy nodded. ¡°Ok, I am feeling your aura and I am trying to add mine now.¡± Electricity started to cover her fur. Erin took a step back as small lightning bolts escaped from one of the tails. Shani tried to catch the stray lightning while giggling. Meanwhile, Lucy raised both of her tails and pointed them forwards. Then she opened her mouth and a white ball formed in front of it. That was not the 4th tier lightning bolt I knew, that much was certain. Lightning connected from her tails to the ball. A slightly purple bolt of lightning emerged from the ball and hit the gate. It exploded. ¡°That¡­ was very impressive, my lady.¡± Lily said. ¡°Is there a way for me to enhance my magic?¡± I pondered that. ¡°Our aura should help you. Fighting close to us will empower you. I am not sure how much you can pull from the plane of air. You are connected to it through the bond it is what makes you an elemental knight, after all.¡± I wondered how much we could pull from it. Or did it empower our auras? There were still a lot of things to figure out. ¡°Fascinating.¡± Lilith commented. Maybe we should not be experimenting in front of her¡­ ¡°I know that you bound Lily like a normal demon, originally. You managed to override my own bond. I was not aware that you could change, or build upon, that connection. Having an elemental plane connected to the bond is impressive. I am beginning to understand why you needed an elemental lord.¡± Lilith mused. Uh... Was I teaching a demon lord some ancient fey secrets by accident? Chapter 220: Exploring Any further contemplations had to wait. We had a castle to storm, after all. With the gate no longer existing we had an open path. Lucy took the lead and charged, we followed. Inside we found an empty courtyard. This whole place looked rather abandoned. There were a few different structures, like a stable. The biggest was the keep and it would most likely hold the answers. This time Lucy did not use her magic, she just rammed the door. Luckily for her, there were no fancy enchantments. Wood splintered, as it was softer than her head. Once inside she started sniffing. ¡°Do you smell anything?¡± I asked. ¡°Mostly death. The whole place stinks.¡± She replied. Nobody came to greet us or attack, so we began to search the structure. It was abandoned. There was some rotten food in the kitchen, there were clothes in some rooms, but there were neither people, nor monsters. As I was searching the basement my eyes spotted something strange. A part of the wall looked translucent. ¡°Are you seeing this?¡± I asked Lucy. ¡°What?¡± She asked. I pointed at the strange section. ¡°It¡¯s a wall.¡± She replied. ¡°I think there is an illusion.¡± I replied and walked towards it. My eyes were able to pierce the magic, to some degree. Once I was right in front of it, I could see stairs through the illusion. They led downwards, to another door. ¡°Huh.¡± I heard Lucy say, as I disappeared into the wall. She walked over and joined me. ¡°Cool, hidden stairs.¡± She commented.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Currently only the two of us were in the cellar. We had decided to split up and search the keep. There was some danger with such a tactic but no one was searching alone and we all had a certain amount of power. ¡°Should we call the others? Now that we have found something.¡± I wondered. ¡°I am curious what is down there.¡± Lucy said and walked forward. There was a click, followed by a volley of arrows coming from the wall. They hit Lucy¡¯s side but failed to penetrate her skin. ¡°That tickles.¡± She replied. ¡°Now I want to know even more what is down there¡­¡± ¡°Maybe we should call the others. There could be fighting ahead.¡± I reasoned. ¡°Sure. I will just wait here so nobody can escape.¡± Lucy told me. I narrowed my eyes. ¡°Don''t do anything foolish.¡± She grinned. I sighed and hurried back upstairs to find the others. It did not take long. When I returned Lucy was still sitting on the stairs, but she was chewing and the door was gone. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked. She swallowed, then responded: ¡°The door was trying to eat me, so I ate the door.¡± ¡°Mimics are hard to control but they can be very useful.¡± Lilith commented, while studying the arrows. ¡°I suspect the arrows were mostly a distraction. If anyone would have tried to dodge them, or focused on them too much, they wouldn¡¯t have noticed the door coming for them.¡± ¡°Uhhh, a trapped castle! You need traps in your own home!¡± Shani commented. ¡°Why would you want traps in your home? They could harm your servants. It¡¯s better to just have guards and sturdy doors.¡± I replied. ¡°The maid knights are better than any trap.¡± Lily declared, proudly. ¡°Traps have their uses.¡± Lilith commented. ¡°But I agree that strong and loyal minions are superior. Speaking of such, Francis, what do you know about this?¡± ¡°My queen, I was unaware that this secret passage exists. I have only been to the other parts of this castle.¡± He looked concerned. ¡°This facility has a rather large dungeon, which is not hidden. And it was empty when we searched it earlier. This place is meant to hold prisoners of the Inquisition¡­¡± ¡°So this castle was meant to be a prison?¡± I asked. Maybe I should have questioned Sir Francis a bit more before we entered. ¡°Yes.¡± He confirmed. ¡°The Red Citadel was mainly used to hold and interrogate dangerous criminals. I assumed the high inquisitors were hiding here because it had solid defences. Also, not a lot of people know about it. Officially, it is just a small barony.¡° ¡°Let¡¯s see what it is down there!¡± Lucy said and started walking. ¡°Be careful!¡± I warned. ¡°There might be more traps.¡± ¡°Maybe they have more guard monsters.¡± Lucy mused, then licked her lips. ¡°Do you think they could have a giant lobster monster, or something like that?¡± I opened my mouth to tease her but before I spoke I started to think. A giant lobster might be tasty. We did eat monsters at the fancy restaurant in Unitera. Maybe we should go monster hunting at some point¡­ ¡°My ladies, I would be honoured to prepare any monster we might find for you. I have been taking some classes.¡± Lily offered. ¡°You took classes? When?¡± I wondered. ¡°During this campaign. King Dalroc does have some chefs to prepare his meals.¡± Lily replied. ¡°Maybe we should focus on searching this place.¡± Lilith recommended. Lucy liked her lips again. ¡°Indeed.¡± Chapter 221: Undead As we ventured deeper into the castle we found some undead wandering the halls, but no organised resistance. There were some alchemy labs and cells, most likely for test subjects. Some of the undead we encountered had deformations, or runes cut into their bodies and bones. ¡°I think we won¡¯t find a high inquisitor here, at least not a living one.¡± I said as we kept exploring. ¡°They were a tool. Now that Beira has fled she likely took everything useful with her.¡± Lilith reasoned. ¡°It stinks. Why are there so many undead here?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°I think they conducted some sort of ritual. Hopefully we find the source and can identify its purpose.¡± I said. ¡°My lady, I think I found the source.¡± Lily said. She had just opened a door and was peeking through it. ¡°Guests¡­¡± A raspy voice said. We joined Lily as she opened the door wide. It led to a large room, a massive circle filled most of the floor. At the back was something that looked like a gate but it was inactive. In the centre of the circle were two skeletons, their eyes were filled with small green flames. ¡°So, you can talk?¡± I asked them. ¡°Yes¡­¡± One of them hissed. ¡°What happened here?¡± I asked. I was wary but they had not attacked yet. All of us entered the room and spread out, ready for combat. ¡°The pointy eared witch¡­¡± ¡°We were fools. We fell for her whispers.¡± ¡°So sweet were the promises.¡± ¡°Now we are doomed. Eternally.¡± It was hard to distinguish the skeletons. They looked rather similar and they were taking turns talking.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°I think those are, were, the high inquisitors.¡± Sir Francis said. ¡°Such a smart puppy.¡± One of them said, with a smile. ¡°Not smart enough to avoid a leash.¡± The other one hissed. While they talked I studied the circle. ¡°This is meant to power something, the gateway most likely.¡± I concluded. ¡°Yesss. Powered by death.¡± ¡°They killed everything here, even the forest to power that thing.¡± I realised. ¡°I suspect it leads to the fairy realm.¡± Lucy tilted her head. ¡°So, you are the guards? You are supposed to stop us if we want to use the gate?¡± ¡°Hahahaha¡­¡± ¡°Use the gate? Silly fox, you would need to bring a lot of sacrifices for that. Everything left is dead. No, we are here to kill intruders.¡± Both skeletons smiled. With a loud clang a portcullis dropped behind us, sealing the exit. ¡°I am not sure if I want to chew on those bones¡­¡± Lucy said. ¡°Are you afraid?¡± The skeleton asked, glee in its voice. ¡°I am concerned about the taste. I need more mouthwash if we keep fighting undead. You would not have any tasty gate guardians, perhaps? Can you summon something?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Huh?¡± The skeleton seemed confused. ¡°They don¡¯t have blood! Why doesn¡¯t anything here have blood! Arg.¡± Shani complained. I sighed. ¡°Before we destroy you, would you answer more questions? Like, where is Beira right now?¡± ¡°Destroy us? Do you know what you face?¡± ¡°Not a lich. You seem too weak for that and I doubt Beira could control liches. You were likely powerful mages into the 9th circle before she branded you with runes. Since those runes use part of your power to enslave you, you likely dropped to the 8th, or 7th circle even. Turning you into undead mages? I am not sure what that did. Worst case you are back to the 9th circle. Actually, since the runes are modifying your soul they might still be there. Then again, turning someone into an undead modifies the soul as well¡­.¡± I looked at my allies. ¡°Do you think we should capture and study them?¡± ¡°IMPUDENT MORTAL¡± One of the skeletons shouted. ¡°What made you think you were facing mortals?¡± Lilith said and unleashed her aura. I did the same and Lucy joined us as well. Power flooded the area. The skeleton¡¯s eyes widened. Clearly they had not been aware of our identities. Then again, Beira likely had them locked away for a while. ¡°Fear not, abominations! We can bring you salvation!¡± Sir Francis shouted. While I was preparing a lightning bolt, everyone was casting something. Fire and lightning, empowered, by our auras, rained on the two skeletons. They did not manage to cast any defences in time. The centre of the room exploded, shards of bones were flung around and parts of the floor cracked. The skeletons were destroyed, as was a part of the circle. ¡°Ooops¡­¡± I said, feeling slightly embarrassed. ¡°I did not think they would be this weak¡­¡± Lilith mumbled. ¡°That¡¯s what they get for not having blood!¡± Shani said. ¡°But you would have killed them for their blood, if they had blood.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°But it would have been a meaningful death!¡± Shani responded. I ignored the crazy elemental and studied the remaining runes. ¡°We won¡¯t be able to use this portal but I think we can get an idea about the destination. The fairy realm is big, this might help us narrow down the location of Beira¡¯s base.¡± I mused. The destruction of the circle and the skeletons was a setback but at least we found something. Chapter 222: Change of Plans I retrieved a notebook and copied some of the runes from the remaining circle. My memory was good but I wanted to make sure to get them right. Magic was not very forgiving. Then, I studied the gate. Most magical portals just appeared in thin air. They did not need a physical structure. The gate itself was connected to the ritual circle. Maybe it made the portal more stable? Maybe it reduced the amount of magic the ritual needed? Any ritual required fuel. Most of the time in the form of spell slots. But sacrifice was also an option. I looked at the gate again. If this device would simply reduce the cost of a portal, I might be able to use it. I could power it with my magic and the help of others. While I did not need a portal right now, it could come in handy in the future. And my magical storage was sort of big. ¡°Lucy, can you help me loot the gate?¡± I asked. ¡°What?¡± Lucy replied. ¡°I want to tear it out of the floor and store it.¡± I explained. ¡°Uh, sure.¡± Lucy walked over and examined the gate. She seemed to ponder how to tear it out of the ground as a fox. ¡°You can fit this into your storage?¡± Sir Francis inquired. The gate was an arch about three metres tall and five metres wide. I shrugged. ¡°It should fit, yes.¡± ¡°What are your plans for this gate? Are you going to use it to reach the fairy realm?¡± Lilith inquired. ¡°I don¡¯t have a specific plan. I think the lady of the forest is still our best bet. But the gate might come in handy at some point.¡± I answered.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°She is a hoarder! Maybe she is part dragon.¡± Lucy teased while starting to dig into the floor. Stone was no match for her paws. ¡°I am not a dragon but I would not mind meeting one. They are fascinating!¡± It was a shame that I had not run into a dragon yet. ¡°You are part cat though. Lazing around while I do the work.¡± Lucy teased. I nodded. ¡°True.¡± ¡°Come over here and help if you want your gate!¡± She shouted. I smiled and walked towards the gate. While she tore open the floor I pulled at the upper part. Lily joined us as well and soon I had one shiny¡­ slightly used and singed, gate. I stored it in my amulet without any problems. Afterwards we searched the remaining keep. We did not find anything useful. They were rather thorough with the evacuation. Then we returned to the army to plan our next steps. Dalroc, Ingrid, Bodil and Loriel were waiting for us. ¡°We found the high inquisitors, they were turned into skeletons and guarded a portal. We eliminated them. The portal is no longer working and was destroyed. All the death around here was used to power it.¡± I reported. ¡°That is disturbing. So Beria escaped into the fairy realm? Did you find any records, anything useful?¡± Dalroc asked. I shook my head. ¡°The place is trashed and abandoned. We only found a few undead, likely failed experiments.¡± Bodil unrolled a map and placed it on the table we were gathering around. ¡°I think we should focus on the demonic threat. The Inquisition and their rebellion is falling apart. We have demonic sightings near the wastes and¡­¡± While she talked I contemplated the situation. Should we really deal with Ashmedai next? He was ultimately a distraction. Beira was the true threat. The Dwarven Kingdom had their army here and so far they did not even deploy their most powerful mages or fighters. They relied on us for the hard work. ¡°I think we will ignore Ashmedai for now. We can¡¯t ignore Beira, she is the true threat. I trust that your forces can handle the remaining trouble in the Empire. I will take my people to the Dominion to meet the lady of the forest.¡± I declared. ¡°Ashmedai will be hard to contain¡­¡± Bodil said. Ingrid interrupted her. ¡°But we will manage. We are grateful for the help you have provided us so far. Ashmedai has not appeared yet and we don¡¯t even know where they will summon him. Deal with Beira, we shall stop the demon lord, or at least contain him.¡± ¡°My wife is right.¡± Dalroc said. ¡°You have done a lot for us and we will not forget it.¡± ¡°While I would love to accompany you, I will stay here with the dwarves. I am the liaison between our nations and my power might be needed.¡± Loriel said. ¡°I could send someone with you though¡­¡± ¡°I think we are fine.¡± I declared. ¡°Do you want to join us, Lilith?¡± ¡°It would be my pleasure.¡± She replied. The dwarves actually looked relieved. I guess they did not trust her without me and Lucy around. So far Lilith had been rather reasonable, for a demon lord. Anyway, it was time to finally travel to the Dominion! Chapter 223: Travelling Of course, we had some logistics to work out first. Who would come with us? Iris was recruiting people in the Empire and forming an army for us. If she stayed we would have some eyes on what was happening here, and she could continue growing our forces. But there was some risk involved. Also, we needed someone to escort Lucy¡¯s parents. With us gone there was no point in them staying with the army. The fey realm was an unknown, it would be best if they simply went to our county. While I wanted to see my lands, and castle, the Beira situation was sort of urgent. Which meant we would rush towards the Lady of the Forest. Iris, Nira and the new recruits would go to our county, while Shani, Lucy, Lily, Adhira and myself would go to the fairy realm. Of course, Lilith would accompany us as well. Lilith brought Sir Francis and Erin with her. Packing was simple, thanks to magical storage and off we went. Everyone in our group was strong enough that we could travel a lot faster than a regular human. It was still a long journey though. ¡°Are we going through Iron Rock?¡± Lucy asked, as we made camp in the evening. ¡°I think that is the fastest way.¡± I was wise enough to bring a map. ¡°We can reach the lake, fly over it and then enter the Dwarven Kingdom through Iron Rock. From there we will enter the Dominion in the south east. The Lady of the Forest should be in the territory of Aerin, she is the queen of the wood elves.¡± ¡°Where is her territory? Is it close to our county?¡± Lucy inquired. ¡°Hm. Not really. Our county is in the north east. The wood elves are further south. Her territory borders Beravis.¡± Lilith studied us with interest but did not comment. I had no idea how much she knew about the Dominion. Actually¡­ ¡°Lilith, do you have any cults inside the Dominion?¡± I asked. ¡°There are some succubi, but elves are usually more interested in dealing with fey than demons. It¡¯s hard to get a foothold there.¡± She replied.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. While we were talking, Lily pulled a small stove and pans out of her storage necklace. Then she started cooking. I was not even aware that she had acquired such equipment. ¡°Uhhh, what do we get for dinner?¡± I asked, getting distracted by the sight of food. ¡°Sadly, I was not able to acquire anything truly exotic. But I do have some rock bear, they are said to have an earthy flavour. I intend to grill some steaks and serve them with a creamy mushroom sauce. There will also be some freshly baked sourdough bread.¡± She said. Meanwhile, Lucy was examining the small stove. It was a rectangular thing with an oven at the bottom and two hobs at the top. ¡°How does this work?¡± She asked. ¡°It is a magical device, there are runes crafted into the stove. I need to power them with my magic. As a succubus, I have certain fire powers that are excellent for cooking!¡± Lily declared, proudly. ¡°You¡­ you are using your magic for cooking?¡± Erin asked. ¡°Obviously. I am a true maid knight. I shall perform all my duties to the best of my abilities!¡± Lily explained. Erin looked at her mistress, then back at Lily. ¡°Um¡­ could you teach me?¡± She asked. Lily smiled and summoned a cutting board. ¡°Of course! You can start by chopping mushrooms and onions.¡± Lilith watched the maids while they prepared the food. ¡°You know, I usually just carry already prepared food in my storage. I have never considered training my stronger subordinates in such mundane tasks.¡± ¡°But what if you encounter something delicious on your travels? Having someone with you to prepare anything you find or hunt has its advantages.¡± I pointed out. ¡°To be honest, I have considered hiring a proper chef but it seems like that is not needed. Lily is showing a lot of interest in cooking.¡± It was a recent development. Or more accurately, I had only recently become aware of it. Apparently Lily had been training for a while now. I didn''t even know that she had acquired a fancy stove. While I pondered that I pulled a barrel of dwarven ale from my own storage. Good food needed something appropriate to drink. Lucy joined me as I started filling mugs. ¡°Do we need to get Lily a bigger storage?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I am not sure how much space she has. I gave her access to my account a while ago, so she could outfit the other maid knights and buy whatever they needed. It looks like she made some excellent purchases!¡± Hm, thinking of purchases. Were there magical tents? We had a big one and some nice furnishings. But what about amenities? I could carry a tub and we could use magic to fill it with water, but it was not that luxurious. Could I come up with a ritual to create a hot spring? Lilith had her servants build a small one back in Heliar¡­ ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Lucy asked me. I suppose I had been lost in thought. ¡°I am just wondering how to make our travels more luxurious. Do you think I should work on a ritual that creates a small hot spring?¡± I wondered. ¡°That would make it very easy to follow your trail, unless you destroyed those hot springs after moving on.¡± Lilith sounded amused as she made her point. But her point was valid. Maybe I could create and store a hot spring instead? Chapter 224: Old Acquaintances We continued our travels the next day. Our journey was rather uneventful as we tried to avoid any settlements. A few days later we reached the lake bordering Iron Rock. Instead of taking a ship, we simply used our magic to fly across it. We arrived at the gates in the evening. The guards reacted quickly when they noticed us. ¡°ALARM! DEMONS!¡± One of them shouted. ¡°What a delightful welcome.¡± Lilith chuckled. I was confused at first, but it all made sense when I thought about it. Iron Rock had been attacked by demons. A demon lord even. Now Lilith, Lily and Erin were in front of their gates. No one here knew that they were friendly. The people in front of us ran inside and a portcullis came crashing down as they tried to seal the gate. You could hear people running inside as the defenders reacted. I was impressed by their professionalism. ¡°What is happening? Report!¡± I heard a familiar voice. ¡°JOHN? IS THAT YOU?¡± I shouted and walked a bit closer to the gate. ¡°Lady¡­ Lady Amaya?¡± He sounded uncertain. Then he peeked through the portcullis. He frowned at what he saw. ¡°I am not falling for your tricks, demon!¡± ¡°Uh, I am not a demon. I might travel with some but they are friendly.¡± I said. He snorted. ¡°A likely story. Even I know that succubi can shapeshift.¡± ¡°He does have a point.¡± Lucy added, unhelpfully. ¡°But we have three succubi out in the open, why would we only disguise some of us?¡± I pointed out. John shook his head. ¡°I have no idea what you are planning, but you are not getting in here. Men, prepare to fire.¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Hey, why didn¡¯t you shapeshift into humans before we arrived?¡± Lucy asked our companions. ¡°I am sorry, my lady.¡± Lily apologized. ¡°I have been getting used to showing my form openly. I have failed you.¡± I sighed. ¡°No, if anything this is my fault. I should have seen this coming.¡± ¡°I am not hiding.¡± Lilith said. ¡°Maybe someone should remind those mortals of their place¡­¡± ¡°My queen, allow me.¡± Erin volunteered. ¡°We are not going to attack them!¡± I insisted, while arrows started raining down on us. They were not magical and failed to pierce our skins. A shield of fire formed on top of us and burned the next volley of arrows. Then the sky started turning red, I could feel Lilith¡¯s aura. ¡°You are not going to burn down that city!¡± I told her, while poking her chest with my finger and staring into her eyes. ¡°Look, their reaction is understandable. We will get this sorted out.¡± Lilith¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°I expect compensation for their behaviour.¡± ¡°They have disrespected my queen. It is common to pay restitution in such cases.¡± Sir Francis said. ¡°I am very good at collecting donations from humans.¡± Adhira offered. I groaned. The worst part was, none of this was surprising. I should have seen this coming and planned for it. I could have approached alone, at first, and explained the situation. ¡°If we start slaughtering, I want their blood!¡± Shani said, while twirling her scythe. ¡°STOP.¡± A new voice shouted. I looked up and saw Nicholas Earthbreaker on top of the wall. He was the only mage capable of tier nine spells inside Iron Rock. At least, the only one who lived there. ¡°Nicholas, you recognize me, right? We first met outside the duke¡¯s residence. Shani was there too.¡± I said. ¡°Hi!¡± Shani waved. ¡°We indeed met as you described but a lot of people might have witnessed that. And you are in the presence of a dangerous demon. I can feel her power¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°So, this is Lilith, a demon lord. Then we have her servants, Erin and Sir Francis. I am travelling with my girlfriend, Lucy, who you might remember. She, eh, is a kitsune now. Then we have Shani, who has become my court elemental. Adhira and Lily are my maid knights. And¡­ uh, right, I am actually an archfey. A lot has happened since I was here¡­¡± Nicholas simply stared. It took a while until he responded. ¡°The duke did mention something about you being an archfey, when he returned from the Empire. But claiming to be travelling with a demon lord¡­¡± ¡°Are you doubting me?¡± Lilith said, raising an eyebrow. ¡°Would you like a demonstration?¡± ¡°NO! Stop trying to kill them.¡± I said. ¡°Actually, John? Are you still there? Do you remember when we first met? I saved your convoy and captured the attackers. I transformed one of them, he did not react so well to it. Hey, I think you still have my shackles.¡± ¡°That¡­ that did happen.¡± John admitted. I used my magic and flew on top of the wall. One nervous soldier fired an arrow, which I ignored. Then I recounted more stories of my first time in Iron Rock. Eventually they started believing me. ¡°So, you are indeed Amaya Delphinium. You are our ally and always welcome here but the demon lord complicates things¡­¡± Nicholas said. ¡°I will keep an eye on her.¡± I reassured them. ¡°Lucy and myself dealt with the last one, did we not?¡± ¡°I am willing to escort your group to the duke. Ultimately it will be his decision.¡± Nicholas offered. ¡°We are good!¡± I shouted to my friends, who were still in front of the wall. Instead of flying up to me, Lucy just walked to the portcullis and began lifting it, with her hands. The guards stared in disbelief as our group entered. Chapter 225: Dinner Walking through the streets of Iron Rock was almost nostalgic. A lot had happened since I was here. I saw this world as my home now. I had found love, made friends and owned a county, which I had yet to visit. While I still lacked any true long term goals, other than stopping Beira, life was good. As we arrived at the palace, the duke was there to greet us. Apparently someone had run ahead and informed him of our arrival. ¡°Amaya, Lucy, it is great to see you!¡± He greeted us warmly. ¡°I am not familiar with your¡­ friends.¡± ¡°Greetings. This is Lilith, queen of the succubi and a demon lord. With her are Erin and Sir Francis. Then we have Shani, you might remember her.¡± ¡°Hi!¡± Shani waved. ¡°She has become our court elemental.¡± I continued. ¡°Then there is Lily, captain of our maid knights and Adhira, one of our maid knights.¡± His eyes lingered on Lilith. ¡°Eh, greetings¡­ your highness.¡± ¡°Hello, Duke William. I have to say, your guards were quite rude at the gate.¡± Lilith said. The duke glanced at me, then back at Lilith. ¡°We had a problem with Mantus, as you might know. Your companions, Amaya and Lucy,...¡± ¡°And Shani!¡± Shani interrupted. ¡°...and Shani saved our city. But we still had problems with some cultists. I hope you can understand our caution. I can offer you a place in the palace to stay and my servants will happily provide you with a feast.¡± The duke offered. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± I said. ¡°We were never in danger. Your men reacted professionally.¡± I assured him. William looked relieved at my words. Meanwhile, I was staring at Lilith, hoping she would drop it. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°That is satisfactory, for now.¡± Lilith replied. Although I got the feeling she wanted to extort the duke some more. Maybe she would do it in private. As long as she did not start hurting people, I was fine. ¡°Offering food was a good move. It usually works on Amaya.¡± Lucy said with a smile. ¡°You are a glutton yourself.¡± I teased. ¡°I learned from the best.¡± She replied. I nodded. ¡°I can help with any preparations.¡± Lily offered. ¡°I could too.¡± Adhira offered. That was new. So far she had shown little interest in cooking. She seemed to be more into the stabbing part of being a maid knight. ¡°Splendid, follow me!¡± William said. Inside his servants were already busy. He likely gave orders before he even greeted us. We started eating, drinking and spent some time updating him about the Empire, the Inquisition and the war. ¡°I am hearing some concerning things from Beravis.¡± Duke William said. ¡°They might want a piece of the Empire. Their ambassador has asked for permission to sail troops past Iron Rock.¡± The river was certainly the fastest connection between Beravis and the Empire. And Iron Rock controlled it. ¡°Could they not just sail through the ocean?¡± I wondered. The duke nodded. ¡°They can but it takes considerably longer. If they wanted to acquire territory on this side of the mountains the river would be an important connection.¡± ¡°Are they making a play for Iron Rock?¡± I wondered. ¡°Not openly. I think they considered it but the Dominion and the Dwarven Kingdom are not as weakened as they hoped. If the Dominion would have sent more forces to the Empire they might have tried something.¡± The duke responded. Well, it was not really our problem. And the situation seemed handled, for now. Beira was still our goal. ¡°I could offer you some help, for a price.¡± Lilith proposed. The duke looked surprised. ¡°Help? How?¡± ¡°It¡¯s apparent that your city lacks mages. And a good information network. Succubi are good at both. We could help root out any lingering cultists and protect you from foreign spies.¡± Lilith explained. ¡°I do not think that working with a demon lord would be received well by the people.¡± He said. He also looked rather uncomfortable. ¡°Not even if the esteemed Amaya Delphinium would vouch for me?¡± Lilith asked, with a smile. What? I blinked. Would I actually vouch for Lilith? William glanced at me. Then he looked at Lilith. ¡°We value our independence and we are pursuing an alliance with the Dominion and the Dwarven Kingdom¡­¡± ¡°Yes, an alliance. I offer you the chance to protect yourself. I offer you agents who work for you.¡± Lilith countered. ¡°No offence, but would they not work for you? And what would be the price?¡± He asked. ¡°They are my people but I would loan them to you. My price? Easy, acceptance, in time. I understand that demons are not trusted. My people can operate disguised, for now. But I expect you to be more open, towards succubi. I could offer a teacher for your academy. In time, we could shift public opinion. Iron Rock could become a center of magic. A place to meet demons, fey and other creatures. I can offer you a better future, a more secure future.¡± ¡°I will consider your proposal.¡± The duke replied. He did not sound very enthusiastic. It was good pitch, I had to admit. But there was a good chance she would rule the place from the shadows. Also, was she influencing him mentally? I really should have a private conversation with her. Especially since she was using my reputation in her negotiations. Chapter 226: Long Term Plans After the meal I approached Lilith. ¡°Can we talk?¡± She did not look surprised. ¡°Certainly. Just the two of us?¡± ¡°This is about politics, right? I am not that interested. I will just head to our quarters. Don¡¯t take too long, Amaya.¡± Lucy said, then swished her tails as she walked away. I stared at them. After a few steps she stopped and looked back. Then she smirked as she caught me staring. I managed not to blush. I was getting better at this. ¡°We can talk in my study. The guest quarters I was given are pretty spacious.¡± Lilith¡¯s comment brought me back to reality and I nodded. The study was a small room with a table, two comfy chairs and a small bar. It was only the two of us. Lilith actually went to the bar and offered me a drink. I took the whisky. Then we sat down. ¡°So, I take it you have concerns about my plans for Iron Rock?¡± Lilith asked. I nodded. ¡°Did you use your powers on the duke?¡± ¡°No. I do not think that will be necessary. It might even be detrimental in the long run.¡± She replied. ¡°Why do you think that?¡± I wondered. ¡°Iron Rock is in a tricky spot. They only survived because the Empire antagonized the Dwarven Kingdom. But they were never truly safe. They have spent a lot of time and effort to keep the Empire away. Now everything has changed.¡± ¡°The Empire has fallen. If the old routes through the mountains are opened again, Iron Rock loses a lot of its value.¡± I concluded.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Precisely. But it is even worse. The dwarves can trade with Beravis through the Dominion. They are now official allies, not just friends. Iron Rock will still be important, because of the river, but that mostly concerns Beravis and whatever is left of the Empire.¡± ¡°So Iron Rock¡¯s biggest ally, the Dwarven Kingdom, wont need Iron Rock anymore. While they won¡¯t abandon them overnight, in time things might change.¡± I mused. ¡°Indeed. While the threat of the old Empire is gone, the new situation is not ideal. Even if Beravis does not make a move, the city will lose some of its trade. And trade is all they have. So they will either have to accept a loss in wealth, or find something new. What if they became a centre of magic?¡± I pondered that. ¡°They are in a very central location. A good place for all nations to send students to. And because they are small they would never become a true threat to anyone. They would make an ideal neutral location. But what is in it for you?¡± ¡°A lot of things, actually. As you know, demons, especially demon lords, have a hard time entering the mortal plane. It takes a lot of mana to summon us. There are no natural portals connecting the realms¡­¡± ¡°True.¡± I interrupted her. ¡°But why do demons come to the mortal plane anyway?¡± ¡°Depends. Demons grow in power in various ways. Consuming other creatures is an option. There is a reason why a lot of demons are feared and hated. Succubi have a more pleasurable way of gathering power, although it can be slow. Then there are cults who can empower you through worship rituals. Besides power, there are also resources. Hell does have quite a bit of metal but we do lack certain plants, for example.¡± She explained. ¡°What are your specific goals?¡± I asked. ¡°To secure my power and my future. I want easier access to the mortal plane. Long term, I would like to establish trade. I can also use this to train my servants. If I can convince people that succubi are not bad demons, more will be summoned. Of course, I would have to ensure that the summoned succubi are mine.¡± She smiled. My eyes widened. ¡°You want to establish a legal way to summon demons, but only for demons who serve you.¡± ¡°Yes. I can ensure that none of them are crazy maniacs, making it safer for mortals. My own demons would profit from the summonings, being able to train and increase their power here. That means more demons would swear allegiance to me, simply for the benefits.¡± She confirmed. ¡°Those are some ambitious goals. And it would make you a target for other demon lords.¡± I pointed out. ¡°True. Other beings might not approve either, like some of the dragons. Which is where you come in. And Lucy. A demon lord, an archfey and a kitsune working together. You already have the approval of several important mortals. Once we stop Beira we will be heroes, for some at least. Different immortals working together is rare. Imagine what we can achieve with our combined powers! Iron Rock could have fey, demons and mortals walking the streets together!¡± It was an interesting idea. Lilith continued: ¡°We would have to take it slow. I will simply point out the advantages to the duke. He knows that the future is uncertain. You and Lucy can assure him that I am not evil, maybe promise some protection. I have no intention to actually govern this place. My focus will be on the academy and spreading certain knowledge and ideas.¡± ¡°I will think about it.¡± I responded. I liked the idea in general. The question was, did I trust Lilith enough? It would give her a lot of power. I certainly had to talk with Lucy about it. Chapter 227: Long Term Project The next morning I had breakfast with Lucy. Our maids and Shani were also present. I told them about my conversation with Lilith and asked for opinions. ¡°I am fine with it. If Lilith does something sinister we can stop her.¡± Lucy said, confidently. ¡°My ladies, I believe Lilith sees you as a peer and will treat you fairly. After witnessing your power I doubt that she would outright betray you. But she might take advantage of the deal, if she is allowed.¡± Lily said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked. ¡°Well, she would certainly push Iron Rock more towards demons, than fey. She would also collect a lot of information. If the academy becomes famous, it will attract the rich and powerful from all nations. Her succubi will likely spy on them, possibly influence them as well. She would build a vast network. I doubt that she would use it against you but she would certainly prioritise her power and interests. You would need a deal with Lilith that requires her to share some of that. Or get involved yourself. You could station fey at the academy.¡± Lily said. I pondered that. ¡°I don¡¯t really have any fey serving me, other than Adhira. Considering Nira, I actually have more succubi in my service than fey.¡± ¡°We are on our way to the fairy realm, just recruit some.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°This plan would not be quick. You should have time to recruit more agents.¡± Lily agreed. ¡°I could regularly slaughter some people to keep them in line!¡± Shani suggested. ¡°No no, we are not slaughtering our allies.¡± I responded. ¡°But what about slaughtering people who disrespect our allies?¡± Shani asked. I shook my head. ¡°No slaughtering, for now.¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°Unless it¡¯s Ashmedai¡¯s cult. Aren¡¯t there still a few of those around here?¡± Lucy asked. Shani grinned. ¡°Maybe I should investigate!¡± ¡°Uh, we are not here to stay. We want to reach the fairy realm.¡± I reminded her. ¡°Anyway, back to the topic. So you think we should accept Lilith¡¯s proposal?¡± ¡°Yes, I think it would benefit my ladies.¡± Lily said. ¡°We should fill the city with storm sprites! We could collect donations from everyone here!¡± Adhira proposed. ¡°We are not extorting the population.¡± I replied. ¡°I am fine with it, but I don¡¯t think I have much to contribute.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Just tell me if I have to smack someone, or growl at someone. Hey, if this becomes a magical centre, do you think they could summon tasty monsters?¡± ¡°Maybe we could open a fancy restaurant¡­¡± I mused. ¡°I will happily slaughter things for you to eat!¡± Shani offered. ¡°Owning a popular restaurant might be a good way to gather information. You could train the servers to discreetly listen to conversations.¡± Lily proposed. ¡°Uh sure, that too. Anyway, I guess we will agree to Lilith¡¯s offer. And we will try to recruit some fey who would like to move to Iron Rock. But I do need people for my own county as well. Maybe we could establish a transport system of some kind.¡± I wondered. ¡°Do you mean long range teleportation? I think that would be too mana intensive.¡± Lily said. ¡°I was considering a train. Dwarves have pretty wide tunnels all over the mountains. Maybe we could create a connection to the Dominion.¡± I suggested. ¡°My apologies, my lady. I do not know what a train is.¡± Lily said. ¡°It¡¯s a metal carriage that you put on rails, so it can only travel a set path. It¡¯s not drawn by an animal but has an engine that moves the wheels. I think we should be able to design a magical engine. Maybe I need to talk to the dwarves. But it would be able to transport a lot of people quickly.¡± I explained. It was a rather basic description but it should suffice. ¡°What a marvellous idea! Establishing better transport would certainly benefit Iron Rock. It would improve trade. And it would certainly make you more popular.¡± Lily said. After breakfast I met Lilith again. ¡°I agree with your plans for Iron Rock, but we would have to decide on some details. I want to make sure that we share the information we collect and make decisions about its future together. I would also be willing to invest in a transportation project. I want to connect Iron Rock with my county.¡± I said, then I explained a train. Lilith looked impressed. ¡°You would improve trade between the Empire, the Dwarven Kingdom and Iron Rock with that invention. By investing your own money into it, all three nations would be in your debt and you would boost the value of your own county. It would make you popular with a lot of people as well. An intriguing offer like that would accelerate our plans.¡± ¡°So, how do we handle the duke?¡± I asked. ¡°I suggest you tell him about your train idea. Then offer him assurances that you keep me in line. After that, just give him time. We want him to accept without feeling pressured, from us. He likes you, make it sound like a friend who wants to help out. My succubi will already start with their preparations, hidden of course. I suspect in a few weeks the duke will agree to accept our help.¡± I nodded. I had a good feeling about this. Chapter 228: First Step My next stop was a meeting with the duke. ¡°Lady Amaya, is there anything I can do for you?¡± William greeted me. ¡°Greetings! I just wanted to talk to you about Lilith¡¯s proposal.¡± ¡°Ah, sure.¡± He sounded uncertain. ¡°Is¡­ is a demon lord truly trustworthy?¡± ¡°In a way, yes. She would not simply betray you, but she would use any deal to her advantage, if possible. As long as the deal is good for her you would be fine.¡± I answered. He grimaced. ¡°I am not confident in negotiating a deal with a succubus.¡± ¡°If you decide to enter an agreement I would be willing to help. I can ensure that she is not using her powers on you. I might be able to send some fey here as well. I think your academy has the potential to become something more.¡± I said. ¡°Oh? If you had some presence here that might change things.¡± He pondered that. ¡°Would Lilith even be needed then? I doubt our population would welcome demons any time soon.¡± ¡°I think their presence would be a benefit. Not every demon is evil. A better understanding of demons could prevent incursions in the future. They also have different abilities than fey and present more opportunities to study magic. And in time Iron Rock could attract other magical creatures as well. Essentially Lilith, Lucy and myself would be patrons of your academy. We might donate some books, items and send teachers.¡± ¡°Building up the academy would be beneficial.¡± William mused. ¡°Oh, I have another idea as well. I would like to build a rapid transportation system between Iron Rock and the Dominion. Essentially, we would use the dwarven tunnels to build a fast moving metal carriage on rails.¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. He blinked. ¡°What?¡± ¡°The dwarves have an extensive tunnel network and with earth magic it could easily be expanded. The carriage would be a metal tube moving on rails. That means it would be stable and could move with high speeds on a fixed route. It would only stop at a few designated stations and connect some cities. We would move that metal tube with a magical engine. The whole design is not finished yet, but I do have a lot of money and I think we could quickly create a prototype. We could even start construction on the tracks while we are working on the train itself.¡± I suggested. ¡°That¡­ you can do that?¡± He asked. I nodded. ¡°I think we can create a magical engine that turns the wheels and allows for fast travelling. We could likely power it through a ritual so we would need some mages to run the train. Thanks to magical storage devices it would be possible to transport passengers and cargo at the same time. I think we might be able to make travel at least ten times faster.¡± It was hard to estimate exactly how much faster it would be. This world did have enchantments to help horses move faster and reduce their exhaustion. And magical storages offered an easy way to transport goods. If you were rich you could even hire a fast moving adventurer. But all of that was really expensive. Most trade was simply conducted by wagons. Just having a storage device made you a target for bandits, which meant you needed more security. ¡°Ten times faster? That¡­ that would make Iron Rock the centre of the continent, if all lines went through the city¡­¡± ¡°Ah, at first we would connect all lines here, yes. I am on good terms with the dwarven king and I am a noble of the Dominion. So it should be simple to get their agreement. Regardless of what you decide with Lilith, I would like to get this project started, if you approve. I would be willing to invest 100 000 gold coins. Nicholas Earthbreaker is an archmage focusing on earth magic. I want to talk with him next and discuss the plans for a train. I am hoping I can work with the academy to develop it.¡± I proposed. ¡°100 000 gold coins¡­¡± He seemed rather speechless. It took him a moment to recover. ¡°I, I would welcome your investment and your project has my full support! I will contact the dwarven ambassador directly on your behalf and start negotiations for the route, if that is acceptable!¡± That would save me some time. And I did not really know the local geography anyway. ¡°Sure. I would like the first line to connect to my own county.¡± I added. ¡°Certainly!¡± He said. ¡°I will make sure to get the best deal possible, on your behalf. And I will make sure the people know about your investment. That you are actually an archfey is not public knowledge yet but you are seen as a hero in Iron Rock. I will ensure the people know who you truly are and will present the idea of fey visiting the city. I will¡­ I will consider Lilith''s proposal. I think demons need to be handled more sensitively.¡± ¡°You could start with some rumors about a demon lord helping against the Inquisition. Just lay some groundwork about not all of them being evil.¡± I suggested. ¡°Hm. Maybe. We need to introduce people to the idea that the hells are divided. I will think about it.¡± I nodded. Changing the opinion about demons would take time but also some work. I was hoping we could elevate Lilith¡¯s reputation a bit. Then I would need to send some fey here, get people used to magical creatures. And those fey could offer protection and make people more comfortable about demons. Of course, I needed to recruit some fey first. Chapter 229: Technology is Complicated My next stop was the academy. I had to get things started before we could leave for the Dominion. Hopefully it would not take too much time to explain my ideas. Coming up with an engine was the only part where I needed to be involved, the engineering would best be done by others. Now, how would I design an engine? Introducing a steam engine would be a possibility. The problem with non magical science was, I would need to spend a lot of time teaching people. This world heavily used magic. For lamps, showers and other modern conveniences that they managed to replicate. Going a magical route would be a lot easier. And using a ritual to power the engine would mean spell slots were the fuel. Of course, it meant hiring mages to run the train. For now, I simply wanted an engine that turned using magic. And I wanted it to be a ritual, so any mage could power the engine. Thankfully I had my arcane knowledge, which should help with finding the right runes. I met with Nicholas in his office and described my idea. ¡°An intriguing project. But you are not the first to propose a magical carriage. The rails and the design are new, but magically powering a horse carriage has been tried before.¡± He said. ¡°Really?¡± I asked, surprised. ¡°Why haven¡¯t I seen any so far?¡± ¡°They all had problems. Mages usually tried to put a spell on the wheels themselves. But they had trouble with the speed and steering. Your idea of having one engine that turns the wheels would certainly help. It means you only need to worry about one spell. The rails are probably a good idea as well. How would you manage the speed though?¡± He wondered. That was potentially a problem. A magical engine might always run at the same power level. A ritual with a controlled power output might be too complex. But there was a simple solution. ¡°We can disconnect the engine.¡± He blinked. ¡°What?¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°See, we have an engine that essentially turns a cog. That cog is connected to different cogs, which turn the wheels. That is how we transfer the power from the engine to the wheels. We would need to engineer a proper transmission system¡­¡± Having an engine run on one power level all the time might still be a problem. Maybe we could at least use multiple engines and connect, or disconnect, them to reach different levels of speed. Or we could take some of the power to turn something else, maybe. I came to the realization that my actual knowledge about cars, trains and engines was somewhat limited. I remembered a few things from school but I was never that interested. I had never worked on my own car. Actually, my knowledge about technology as a whole was limited. I did not know how a lot of things worked. It simply was not required in the modern world. And I always had Wikipedia to look things up, if needed. Replicating modern tech always sounded so easy. Maybe I was just bad at it. Sadly, Wikipedia was out of my reach. And funnily enough, thanks to my reincarnation, I actually knew more about magic than technology. Maybe I needed to focus more on that. How could I have different levels of power from my engine? What about a summoning? Shani had taught me that low level elementals were not sentient. Using them would be fine. A ritual to summon a fire elemental would be doable. Or maybe air? ¡°What about elementals?¡± I said. ¡°What about them?¡± Nicholas asked. ¡°We could summon some, have them power the engines. An elemental can be commanded. We can use fire, or lightning, to power something.¡± Could I replicate an electric motor? Damn, why did I not pay more attention in school. There was some electromagnetism involved¡­ right? Maybe I should try a steam engine with the help of fire and water elementals. ¡°How would fire turn a wheel?¡± Nicholas asked. Suddenly an idea hit me. I grinned. ¡°Ok, forget my previous ideas. We are going with a jet engine!¡± ¡°A jet engine?¡± He asked. At this point he looked really confused. ¡°Oh yeah. We are going to put a tube on the top of the train. It will suck in air at the front, compress it and blow it out the back with a lot of power.¡± Lightning was my element and it was part of the air domain. I was really confident I could create a magical jet. I would not even need to worry about a transmission. And with the rails, we would not need to worry too much about steering. I just needed good brakes and a way to adjust the power of the jet. Maybe I could use air elementals. The centre could be a container that magically compressed the air. We could feed it air from an elemental. And we could control how much we opened the container with the compressed air. We could decide how much air we fed into it. ¡°You are certain that would work?¡± He asked. ¡°Sure. I just need a good smith. Maybe we should make the engine with mithril, or adamantium. We probably want some enchantments. We certainly have to make sure it does not explode.¡± I felt smug. I really liked my jet engine idea. Nicholas, on the other hand, looked slightly terrified. Chapter 230: Project Jet Train Of course the biggest issue I had was time. Beira was still out there and likely working on her mind control runes. She was also searching for another artefact, but we had no clue where that was. I could not afford to spend weeks or months designing a train engine. And I would need help anyway. I understood runes but I was no smith, or engineer. On the bright side, it would take time to create the tracks anyway. So there was no rush to develop the train itself. But I needed to get started, at least. Nicholas promised to assemble some craftsmen and mages for a meeting tomorrow. I spent my remaining day working on the runes for my engine. Essentially, I wanted to design a magical artefact that was empowered by a reusable ritual. The mages would simply need to turn it on. Then a second set of runes would summon an air elemental. You would control the engine by giving orders to the elemental. The inside of the engine would magically compress the air and expel it at the back. The air elemental would regulate the air input and therefore the speed. That was my theory. It would be crucial to not go too fast, obviously. And we would need good brakes on the wheels. My idea was to put the engine on the top of the lead wagon. Since you had to direct an elemental the whole cockpit should be there as well. I started doodling several concepts on a piece of paper. An engineer could handle the exact design, and determine all the needed materials. I was investing a lot of money so we could certainly afford some mithril, or even adamantium. Not for the whole train but for certain parts. Which would make the train rather valuable, I needed guards. Actually, how dangerous would a train through the undermountain be? Would the noise and vibrations attract monsters? How would we handle an attack on the tracks? Small sections could likely be repaired by magic. Maybe trains would need to have a mage for maintenance¡­ The next day I held a meeting in front of a diverse group of people. I had no idea who Nicholas had invited but they all seemed rather interested. I did not have a projector but I had a bunch of drawings, and illusion magic. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. I started by explaining the basic concept of a train. I even created a helpful illusion, showing a train the way I imagined it. I also presented drawings and my first try at the runic formation needed. People seemed excited but uncertain. A mage raised her hand. ¡°Excuse me, but I do not recognize those runes¡­¡± She admitted. ¡°Oh. You see, this part here controls the air and compresses it. It just commands it to stream to the centre, then move on to this compartment. There we just release it out the back¡­¡± ¡°Um¡­ sorry, but how do you command air?¡± She interrupted. ¡°Ah. Those are just some fundamental elemental runes combined with a bit of domination.¡± I explained. ¡°I haven¡¯t tried this yet but I discussed the theory with an elemental storm lord.¡± The eyes of the mage widened at that. Shani had been helpful at coming up with the design. While I did not trust her when it came to engineering, or safety, I did respect her expertise on air magic in general. A dwarf asked the next question. ¡°How fast do you reckon this thing will move?¡± I shrugged. ¡°I have no idea. I suppose we should be able to travel at least 10 times as fast as a horse carriage. We need to see how much magic the ritual needs and what speeds are advisable. We need tracks that can handle the speed, we need straight lines and we need to consider potential threats that could emerge. Honestly I think we can go pretty fast in theory but will be limited by external factors.¡± There was a lot of exciting murmuring going on. ¡°I have another question.¡± One of the humans asked. I was not sure what his expertise was. ¡°Go ahead.¡± ¡°Why is there a fox looking out of the train in one of your drawings?¡± ¡°Oh. You can ignore that. It¡¯s uh, just decoration.¡± Ok, so I did imagine Lucy inside the train, as a fox, sticking her head out of the window. And I might have drawn that. I must have accidentally included that drawing. Another dwarf asked a question. ¡°So you plan to pay for the construction of those tracks? Before you have a workable prototype?¡± ¡°Yes. I am confident we can build something and I want construction on the tracks, and possibly a new tunnel, started as soon as we can. I will pay for that in advance.¡± The dwarf grinned. ¡°Then you got the right dwarf. We can do tracks, and tunnels.¡± I addressed the whole group: ¡°I am willing to pay anyone working on this project. I have my ideas for a train design and the basics of the engine. But I need help working out the details, materials and so on. I will be busy travelling in the near future. But I want this train to connect Iron Rock and my county. I am confident the Dominion and the Dwarven Kingdom will agree to the proposal, so we can start the tracks soon. Meanwhile a team here will work on the train design. You will have a generous budget to work with!¡± There were cheers at the mention of money. I smiled. Project jet train was a go. Chapter 231: Future There were some more administrative things to do, like creating an account with the money for the project. I handed the account to the duke. I trusted him to use the funds as needed. At this point it was becoming clear that he would accept Lilith¡¯s proposal, even though he had not officially agreed to it. The Dominion and the Dwarven Kingdom were rather enthusiastic about the project. Beravis was a bit furious. Their ambitions for Iron Rock would not survive our involvement. It took two more days to get everything sorted. I left some more notes and explained my drawings to Nicholas as best as I could. Then it was time to get moving again. We entered the undermountain and made our way to the Dominion. After a bit of walking Lilith approached me. ¡°Amaya, I have watched you the past few days in Iron Rock and I do have some questions. I take it you are fine with talking in front of your servants?¡± I nodded. ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°When I pitched my idea for Iron Rocks future you were rather quick to add your so called train. It is an impressive invention and really moved the plan along. Then, in just a few days, you got the project started, funded, and had early designs for your new transportation method. Was this something you had been working on for a while? Did you have plans for Iron Rock all along?¡± Lilith asked. Then, before I could answer, she added: ¡°Normally I would not be so blunt. I would expect you to have your own machinations. With any other archfey I would have assumed you had plans all along and were trying to trick me, somehow. But you are unusually direct, so I decided to simply ask, for a change.¡± ¡°I had no plans for Iron Rock.¡± I answered honestly. ¡°I never gave it much thought. But you made some excellent points. So I tried to add what I could to improve the idea. Trains are a known concept for me, but I had never really thought about implementing them here.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Lilith stared at me, studying my face. ¡°So¡­ you had this concept, that could revolutionise travel for normal people and change the economy, but you never considered using it? You never made plans to capitalise on it?¡± ¡°Uh, yes. I might have considered it once I have time to work on my county, I suppose. I certainly want to improve my own lands and make sure the people there are taken care of.¡± I said. ¡°Your own lands, that you have never visited, but got in a deal with the Dominion, right?¡± Lilith asked. ¡°Yes. Loriel gave us a title and some land to recruit us to the Dominion. She did not actually know that I was an archfey back then, she thought she was buying the allegiance of a powerful sorceress and¡­¡± I scratched my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know what she thought Lucy was.¡± Lilith¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Your kitsune girlfriend, who was not a kitsune.¡± I simply shrugged. ¡°They knew we were powerful and the deal worked out for them, I would say. If we take good care of the land it¡¯s going to work out even better.¡± ¡°And you have further plans, for your own lands? Any more concepts that will revolutionise things?¡± Lilith asked. ¡°Hm. Maybe. I am not sure.¡± I pondered the question. ¡°So we have created the maid knights. I want them to be an elite order. Our county borders the black forest, a dangerous area. Hopefully we can use it to train. It also has some nice resources, like spidersilk. That should boost our economy. Maybe we can get ingredients for alchemy as well. Josef might agree to settle there. He seemed fascinated with magical creatures.¡± Thinking about the alchemist gave me another idea. ¡°Thessia is currently travelling there as well. As a dryad and priestess of Sylphania she could help with growing crops. Or maybe growing some magical plants. We will have to see what is possible. I will also try to recruit some fey for my own lands, not just Iron Rock.¡± Lilith stared at me some more. ¡°So¡­ you were coincidentally offered some land for your help. This land just happens to be at a hostile place which is rich in resources, assuming one is powerful enough. You have since then started an elite unit, recruited crafters and are now creating a train to Iron Rock. You have a lot of magical resources, the means to collect them, the crafters to use them and a direct connection to the city we are trying to make into a magical centre¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°And all of this was a coincidence that you haven¡¯t given much thought? It was just a side project while dealing with the Inquisition and Beira?¡± I actually blushed, slightly. ¡°Uh, I mean¡­ I have given it some thought. Like when you eat in a great restaurant and think, hey we need one of those back home. Actually, we need to work on creating good food and drink. Does hell have anything really tasty?¡± I inquired, looking at Lilith. She just looked at me. Lucy approached her from the back and patted her on the back. ¡°You get used to it.¡± Chapter 232: The Dominion We made good time as we travelled through the Dwarven Kingdom. While I had an urge to go and explore the undermountain some more, we did not have time for such things. Eventually we arrived at the Dominion. Lily was in charge of the route. She had acquired a map and I left it to her to plan the trip. I was more than happy to delegate tasks. She also bought ingredients in every town we passed and worked hard on her cooking every night. I approved. As we left the mountains we saw a lush forest. Large trees which I could not identify surrounded the area. There was a border post manned by a mixture of elves. They watched the demons in our party warily. I approached them with a smile. Before I could talk Lily rushed ahead. ¡°May I present Countess Amaya Delphinium and Countess Lucy Delphinium and their servants.¡± She introduced us. Erin quickly followed Lily. ¡°May I present my lady, the esteemed queen of the succubi, Lilith.¡± A man studied us carefully. He was a wood elf wearing an ornate silver breastplate over some sort of robe. Then he consulted a piece of parchment. ¡°One moment, my ladies.¡± He said. Then he started conversing with his fellow guards. We waited patiently until he addressed us again. I even got a small bow. ¡°Lady Delphinium, welcome the Dominion. Lady Lilith will be considered your guest. Is that agreeable?¡± He asked. I had no idea what the laws were but I was already keeping Lilith in line. Not that she had tried anything too nefarious. ¡°That is fine.¡± I assured the man.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. We got a few more bows and entered without any trouble. ¡°That was easy.¡± I remarked. ¡°You are a Countess, my lady.¡± Lily pointed out. ¡°Nobility entering their own country should be easy.¡± ¡°I suppose.¡± I had not thought too much about it. But this was technically my country. So far I had been a powerful sorceress, an archfey, moving around in different nations. Nations I had no official allegiance to. I was a walking army, but I was the Dominion¡¯s army. ¡°Can I now officially demand tribute from people?¡± Adhira asked. ¡°Now, you are not going to extort people.¡± I told her. ¡°If everyone here is friendly, who are we going to slaughter?¡± Shani asked. ¡°Monsters. We might be able to hunt some monsters. It might be that you will have to wait with slaughtering until our next encounter with Beira¡¯s forces though.¡± I said. ¡°Booo. I need to collect more blood!¡± Shani complained. Then she looked at Lilith. ¡°Oh, could you summon demons? You have a lot of enemies, right? Maybe you can summon your enemies and I slaughter them?¡± Lilith stared at her but it seemed like she was actually thinking. ¡°Hm. That would cause some problems. We would have to make sure that the demons die permanently. So it would have to be a permanent summon, not a temporary one. And they could tie that too easily to me. But if you are willing to help me dispose of some enemies I would not say no, assuming Amaya agrees. In time you will likely be famous enough that your involvement will point to us. But as long as you are still unknown it might give me a chance to hide my involvement in certain actions.¡± I looked at Shani. ¡°We are not going to start a war with a demon lord. Well, a new war. We are already fighting Ashmedai.¡± Lilith gave me a nod. ¡°Very well. I will consider if there is something we could do.¡± ¡°If you summon something from hell, could you bring tasty monsters as well?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Great idea.¡± I agreed. Lilith smiled. ¡°I will see what I can do.¡± ¡°Ok, let¡¯s focus on our actual objective, the fairy realm.¡± I said, then looked at Lily. ¡°You are in charge of the route. Where do we go?¡± Lily was studying a map. ¡°We should follow the main road for now. We will need to head west. Our destination will be the palace of the wood queen. We could go faster if we moved straight through the land but I suppose the roads are more comfortable. It will allow us to sleep in inns instead of tents.¡± ¡°I do like a good sturdy bed.¡± Lucy said, while smirking at me. Looking at her face I decided to take some initiative. I embraced her with my arms and gave her a long kiss. Her tails swished approvingly. ¡°I shall ensure that any inn we stay at has a suitably sturdy and large bed for my ladies.¡± Lily said. ¡°I assume an archfey and a kitsune will need a reinforced bed.¡± Lilith teased. I blushed. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Lucy was still smirking. Adhira and Shani did not care. At least Sir Francis looked embarrassed as well. Despite serving a succubus he was not used to such conversations, it seemed. ¡°Uh, yes, eh¡­ let¡¯s be on our way.¡± I said. Then I confidently marched forward. Chapter 233: Guard Travelling through the Dominion was quite pleasant. Forests, lush fields and interesting architecture. People did not live in trees, or anything like that. The houses were mostly made of some white clay with straw roofs. At least in the countryside, we had not visited a large city yet. They did have indoor bathrooms, with magically heated water, and seemed fond of walk-in showers. Further, I spotted a lot of plants. Mostly for decoration, I presumed. The demons in our group caused some concern but my name carried a lot of weight, it seemed. And people simply accepted my claims. It¡¯s not like there was a common form of ID. I guess pretending to be a noble was punished harshly enough that not too many people tried it. It was late afternoon and the third day since we had entered the Dominion. We were walking next to some fields when we spotted a small town ahead. ¡°I have chosen this place for tonight''s stop.¡± Lily announced. ¡°This is our last night in Queen Solana¡¯s territory, tomorrow we enter Queen Aerin¡¯s lands.¡± ¡°How much difference is there anyway? It¡¯s all controlled by the High Queen, right?¡± Lucy asked. Lily perked up at the question. She had been reading a lot about the Dominion. ¡°A long time ago there were three elven nations, based on the three types of elves. Sun elves, night elves and wood elves. They have been united under the High Queen for quite some time now, but they still have slightly different cultures. While sun elves are more known for their wine, beer is quite common among wood elves!¡± ¡°Oh, so you are saying we might get different food and drink?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Yes, my lady! I am hoping to expand my knowledge about cooking and procure more ingredients. I have already purchased a few things from the sun elves.¡± I nodded. ¡°Travelling is a great way to experience different foods. A lot of places have amazing local dishes.¡± The town had one guard, armed with a spear and wearing some sort of leather armour. She looked slightly concerned as our group approached. She visibly paled as Lily greeted her. ¡°Greetings! We are travellers and intend to stay the night in your town.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The guard desperately looked in my direction. ¡°Eh¡­ are¡­ are those your demons?¡± ¡°I am no one''s demons, mortal.¡± Lilith said. ¡°Lilith, stop scaring the poor guard.¡± I intervened. ¡°I am Countess Amaya Delphinium. Lily is my maid, Lilith is my guest and Erin is her maid.¡± I pointed at the individuals as I introduced them. I saw a lot of relief in the guard''s face. Even more, I saw admiration.¡±Lady Amaya! It is such an honour to meet you!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I replied. ¡°I have read all the stories!¡± She seemed to have completely forgotten about the demons. ¡°Stories?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes! Your victory over the demon lord and the restoration of House Delphinium was big news! Oh, this must be Lucy, your loyal foxkin companion!¡± ¡°What about me?¡± Shani asked. ¡°Uh¡­ I am sorry, I don¡¯t know you¡­¡± The guard responded. ¡°Pfft! I am Shani, cutest elemental lord in all the lands! Slaughter of demons and Amaya¡¯s court elemental!¡± Shani proclaimed. The guard''s eyes widened, then she grabbed a small notebook and started writing. ¡°Are you writing down her titles?¡± I asked. The guard nodded while scribbling. ¡°Is this why we have been treated so well? Amaya is famous?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°You as well, lady Lucy! There were some news articles after the incident. How both of you stopped the demon lord, showing the world the might of the Dominion! There also have been some stories circulating since¡­¡± She blushed now. I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Stories?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ my lady, they might not be appropriate!¡± She stammered. ¡°I see.¡± I replied. It seemed that the Dominion had used me for their propaganda. They could sell me as a powerful sorceress, of a lost noble house, bringing glory to the nation. Obviously they did not know that I was an archfey back then. I wondered what they thought about this now. Then again, I was still part of the Dominion. Actually, I could use my popularity for recruitment. But that was an idea for later. While I had been lost in thought I saw Lucy was now reading something from a small book. She was standing next to the guard, who had turned into a tomato. Not literally, she was just very embarrassed. ¡°There are some interesting stories about us.¡± Lucy remarked. The guard was now trying to look at the floor. That was when she spotted something. ¡°Um¡­ Lady Lucy? You¡­ you have two tails?¡± She asked. Lucy closed the book and handed it back to the guard. ¡°Indeed, I am a kitsune. And Amaya is an archfey. And she does love my tails.¡± Lucy winked at the guard. Now it was my time to blush. ¡°Ah yes, we should go and get a room at the inn. Nice meeting you.¡± I told the guard and entered the town. The guard was still staring at us with wide eyes, digesting the latest revelations. ¡°She will likely spread the idea that you have a harem, my lady.¡± Lily remarked. ¡°Should I discourage her?¡± I sighed. ¡°I think the more we deny it, the more convinced she will be that there is something.¡± Lilith laughed. ¡°You know, there are a lot of stories like this about me. But this will be the first time that I am not the leader of the harem.¡± I sighed again, then I noticed that Shani was not following. ¡°What is Shani doing?¡± ¡°I believe she is telling the guard about all the things she has slaughtered, my lady.¡± Lily said. ¡°At least that should be less embarrassing.¡± I concluded. Chapter 234: Auras and Souls We spent a lovely evening in town and moved on the next day. If a map had not told us that we were now inside Queen Aerin¡¯s territory, I would not have noticed. I had to admit, I had no idea how much autonomy the queens had. There might be some local laws, I suppose. But the people were the same. Actually, that made me think. There had been plenty of wood and night elves inside Solana¡¯s territory. Sure, sun elves might have been the most common, but elves seemed to mingle a lot. How were there still three distinct types of elf? Should there not be a lot of mixed elves? This was a world of magic. I could not just assume normal biology, or physics, applied everywhere. I had already found out about souls. People could shapeshift. I could turn into a panther, but I would still be an archfey. Changing your body did not impact the soul. Were different kinds of elves essentially a soul thing? Or an arbitrary classification based on looks? I pondered this some more. Who said there were still three different kinds of elves anyway? Sure, night elves had dark skin, for example. But they came in different shades. Besides looks, was there a difference? Had certain elves more or less affinity for some magic? Actually, night elves did have better night vision. So there were differences. But how did children inherit powers? How was their soul created? This led me to another question: How did unions between different species work? There were certainly half dragons. If a dragon took a human form, and had a child with a human, it still passed on draconic powers. Meaning children were not just created with biology but the souls were involved. Suddenly I stopped, my eyes widening. Would it be possible to have kids with Lucy? Not that I had any plans to become a mother. But it was certainly an interesting consideration for the future. ¡°Why have you stopped?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Uh¡­ just thinking about things. Like¡­ souls.¡± I said. ¡°A fascinating topic.¡± Lilith commented. ¡°Souls are the key to power. While Beira¡¯s methods are despicable, her desire to empower herself is understandable. Have you made some breakthrough in countering her?¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Not really. I am just pondering souls in general. Since we have the power to create warlocks, we can manipulate them to some degree. And are not our aura¡¯s powered by our soul?¡± I asked. Actually, auras were a great topic to distract myself from some other thoughts. Lilith looked at me. ¡°All of our powers come from the soul. If you transformed into something else, you would still have your spell slots.¡± ¡°Sure. The spell slots are inside our soul. But they fill with ambient mana, I suspect. Or maybe our soul fills them with mana while we rest? Anyway, our aura works differently, right? Is it not just a projection of the power of our soul? I am not sure if projection is the right word, actually. Like¡­ maybe our soul is a fire and the aura is the heat it emits? The aura is a product of our existence. It¡¯s not a conscious effect we create, like a spell. It just is.¡± I theorized. ¡°But we can do stuff with our aura, right? Like the lightning covering my fur.¡± Lucy said. I nodded. ¡°Sure. My fire analogy is not perfect. We can learn to control our aura to an extent. We are all suppressing, or containing, our aura right now. And we can target certain individuals and try to spare others. But our aura is not a spell, it¡¯s a byproduct of our existence. Our souls. It is always there. We just suppress it when we don¡¯t need it.¡± Which was also a reason why my aura reacted to emotions. If I got too angry, my mind stopped suppressing it. While I did discover a few things about my aura, I should invest more time studying it. ¡°Ok. So is there anything useful we can do with our aura then? When we do not need it. Like, instead of suppressing it, can we make it do something useful?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°You know, we have shared power through the bond. Maybe we could just push it in there instead of suppressing it?¡± I wondered. Then I gave it a go. And so did Lucy. Lily gasped and stumbled. ¡°Weeeeee.¡± Adhira began zipping around like crazy. ¡°MUAHAHAHA!¡± Shani laughed like a maniac while lightning covered her skin. I scratched my head. ¡°Maybe it is not the greatest idea. In battle we want to use our aura differently anyway.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Lucy remarked. ¡°Our aura radiates in every direction, like heat from a fire, right? Would not a small part of it try to enter the bond? What if we just don¡¯t suppress that part?¡± I looked at her. She made an excellent point. ¡°You know, that is a great idea.¡± I examined my aura. Only suppressing most of it but leafing the area open that wanted to enter the bond was kind of tricky. But it should be doable. ¡°I will need a bit of practice to pull that off. But I think it could be worth it long term.¡± I mused. ¡°Yeah. I will need to practice that too.¡± Lucy said. Devoting a small part of our aura to the link should empower our servants, slightly. But I was hoping it would have long term effects as well. The mana could nurture them, helping them grow in general. I wanted our maid knights to be an elite unit, after all. Lilith was watching us closely. She did not have the same kind of bond with her subordinates. But she had a link. I had my doubts that she could replicate what we did. Unless she was willing to change some things. I looked at Erin, wearing maid armour. I guess there was a good chance Lilith would enquire about our bound at some point. Chapter 235: Fey As we neared our target, the city where Queen Aerin lived, I contemplated our approach. The good news was, we were kind of famous. But I had no idea how easy it would be to get an audience with the queen. We did not even have real business with her, we just wanted access to the lady of the forest. And I had no idea where that gate was. Was it rude to visit a queen and only ask for directions? Maybe I should bring a gift. Did I have something fitting? Or should I just offer a favour? I did not know much about etiquette. Also, I was a countess of the Dominion but I was also an archfey. Was there even a protocol for my situation? While I contemplated things, I noticed something in the trees. We were on a road through a forest. It was made from cobblestone, possibly because it led to Waldonia, the seat of Queen Aerin. Generally I was impressed by the local roads. And I was getting sidetracked again. Considering my current companions, an ambush was not very concerning. We did not have anyone who really needed protection. So I simply watched the trees with curiosity. I did not have to wait long until people emerged. Some of them stepped out of the trees themselves. Dryads! This group had dryads, among other things. I spotted two of them and four wood elves. No, there were only three wood elves. The fourth was a shade of green I had never seen on an elf and the pointy ears looked slightly different. Three wood elves, two dryads, and one fey. ¡°Weird ambush.¡± Lucy mused. ¡°Do we slaughter them? Can I slaughter them?¡± Shani asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think they are hostile.¡± I said. ¡°That is not a no¡­¡± Shani mused. ¡°That is a no, for now.¡± I replied. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. I studied the fey as he approached us. His skin was green, like grass and his long hair brown, like the earth. He studied us with his light blue eyes, then he bowed. ¡°Greetings, I am Delwyn, the keeper of this forest.¡± I had no idea what that was. Lily reacted quickly, as usual, and provided the introductions. ¡°Greetings. Let me introduce my Ladies Amaya Delphinium and Lucy Delphinium. With them is their honoured guest, Queen Lilith.¡± ¡°The presence of a demon lord is concerning. Might I inquire about your intentions?¡± He asked. I decided to be direct. ¡°We want to contact the lady of the forest. We are hunting the archfey Beira and are hoping to gather more information about her base in the fairy realm.¡± He nodded. ¡°I can relay your request to Lady Izanami. In the meantime, I could offer you our hospitality.¡± Lady Izanami? I assume that was the name of the lady of the forest. So far everyone had used her title. It was good to know her name, and likely less embarrassing. ¡°Sure.¡± I agreed. This would save us some time. And solved my Queen Aerin dilemma. Actually, would I be expected to bring a gift when visiting a fellow archfey? Meeting important people always caused headaches. ¡°So, where is this place you are leading us to?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°It is not far. We have a small settlement next to a lake in the forest. My presence is part of a deal between the Dominion and Lady Izanami. I am part diplomat and part guardian to ensure that this area remains safe.¡± ¡°Why is there no road towards this settlement?¡± I wondered as we were walking straight through the forest. ¡°There is, just not from here. My apologies but this is a faster path and your group did not seem bothered by the wilderness.¡± He explained. ¡°I do not mind. I enjoy your so-called wilderness.¡± Lilith replied. ¡°I assume hell is a lot wilder?¡± I asked. ¡°It depends on the region. We do have large areas filled with rock, ash, lava and such things. But we also have vegetation, even forests. Just with a lot more monsters. Demons are magical creatures, which is part of their strength, but mostly the weak do not survive long.¡± Lilith explained. Then she looked at Lucy and smiled. ¡°It is great for hunting though.¡± ¡°We should visit! And go slaughtering!¡± Shani suggested. ¡°Lady Shani, we could arrange a hunt for you, if you desire.¡± Delwyn suggested. ¡°Yay! Do you have something with blood? She asked. ¡°That can be arranged. Those woods house certain beasts that we keep in line. If Lady Izanami permits it, there is also the option of a true hunt in the fairy realm.¡± He added. I was genuinely surprised that he reacted so calmly. But it was Lucy who asked the question: ¡°Have you met many elementals before?¡± ¡°Not many elemental lords, and certainly even fewer who are part of a fey court. But I am well aware of their nature. You cannot cage a storm. Besides, hunting is a common pastime among the noble fey.¡± He explained. It was a good reminder of how little I actually knew about fey customs. I looked at Adhira, who was currently talking to one of the dryads, while buzzing around excitedly. It looked like she was showing off her armour. I guess we made a decent first impression. Chapter 236: Village I was unsure what to expect but the village caught me by surprise. It was inside a ring of trees, next to a small lake. The ring was not a complete wall, you could just walk inside. If you ignored the fact that those trees had magic. I suspected quite a few dryads lived there. The centre of the village held a giant tree. It might have been 100 metres tall, and it was most certainly magical. Maybe it held the portal to the fairy realm? Would they bring us this close? Taking another look at the village revealed a gate. Not a real gate, just a gap in the trees which would permit wagons to enter. There was even a dirt road. The houses themselves were the familiar white clay but with tiled roofs. I had no idea what the tiles were made of, but they had a dark blue-green color. ¡°How many people live here?¡± I asked, marvelling at the sight. ¡°About 100 permanent residents but we frequently have visitors. Our village can offer you great hospitality.¡± Delwyn said. ¡°Looks quite luxurious for a keeper of the forest. I would have expected something smaller.¡± Lucy observed. ¡°The diplomatic nature of the job requires an adequate base of operations. And we fey do enjoy our luxuries.¡± He said with a smile. Lucy looked at me. ¡°Point taken.¡± ¡°It¡¯s also a bit of a fortress.¡± I observed. ¡°I suspect there are a lot of roots covering the area, ready to impale anyone foolish enough to start trouble.¡± Delwyn nodded. ¡°The blood of our foes nourishes the trees.¡± ¡°Ah, the trees get it! Blood is awesome!¡± Shani commented. ¡°The stuff people carry is much more useful than their blood.¡± Adhira objected. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Pfft! It¡¯s the inner values that count! Like, the amount of blood inside them!¡± Shani insisted. ¡°There are plenty of nutrients in the body itself. Do not be wasteful by only taking the blood.¡± A dryad interjected. ¡°It¡¯s about the taste, not nutrients. The taste is important.¡± Lucy added. Yeah, it was just a completely normal conversation. One I decided to not get involved in. ¡°We do offer certain exotic treats. When we keep the monster population in check we do not waste anything. We currently have some dread vipers in stock. They go well with a variety of carnivorous plants, like the paralytic strangler vine.¡± Delwyn said. Ok, maybe I was back in the conversation. ¡°That sounds delicious. Do you have any special kinds of drink as well?¡± ¡°I cannot offer you any fey spirits, my apologies. But we do have a fine selection of elven wines and beers. In recent years the dwarven influence has led to a lot of small breweries opening up in the region.¡± Delwyn replied. ¡°I am looking forward to sampling some local delicacies.¡± Lilith commented. ¡°I hope you enjoy them. My experience with demons is a bit lacking, so I am unaware of your tastes.¡± He apologised. ¡°Maybe we can change that, in time. I am hoping to improve the relationship between succubi and the fey.¡± Lilith commented. ¡°Lady Izanami might be interested in that. Although it is my understanding that demons have trouble entering other realms.¡± Delwyn replied. ¡°We are working on that. We do have some plans for Iron Rock.¡± I said. ¡°Oh? So this is about more than just Beira?¡± He inquired. ¡°Well, it¡¯s mostly about Beira. But we do have some other plans for the future that Lady Izanami might be interested in.¡± I replied. While we did not need her directly, I wanted to have a good relationship with an archfey who controlled a portal. Especially since I had plans to recruit more fey. ¡°I see. I am sure Lady Izanami will be interested in such plans.¡± He said. We had entered the village by now and were led to a sizable building. It had two stories and was artfully decorated with golden accents. ¡°This is our residence for important guests. You are welcome to remain here while I contact Lady Izanami.¡± Delwyn said. Then he and the other guards left. ¡°Let¡¯s enjoy their food!¡± Lucy announced and entered. I followed enthusiastically. And was immediately surprised. The woman behind the counter was a catkin. She smiled at us. ¡°Welcome to the Sleepy Willow! We charge five gold per suite, which comes with two bedrooms and quarters for six servants. Breakfast is included. We do offer a premium dining service as well.¡± ¡°Delwyn said something about dread vipers¡­¡± Lucy said. ¡°Indeed! Would you like to dine right away?¡± The woman inquired. I was slightly surprised that she seemed so at ease in the presence of demons. But the town did have good defences. If we were hostile we would have never been able to march in here, I suppose. Well, it was time to enjoy their hospitality. ¡°Let¡¯s eat!¡± I said with a smile. Chapter 237: Hunt We had a lovely meal where we sampled the local dishes. Afterwards we went for a walk around the village, before retiring to our quarters. The next morning Delwyn returned. He bowed to us. ¡°Good morning, my ladies. I hope you are enjoying your stay.¡± ¡°We are. The food here is delicious.¡± I replied. ¡°I am happy to hear that. I bring news from Lady Izanami. She is eager to meet you tomorrow. For today I can offer you a hunt. There are a few monsters around. None of them will be a challenge for your party but your companion might enjoy the activity.¡± He offered. ¡°Could be fun.¡± Lucy mused. ¡°Hey Amaya, you should turn into your panther form and hunt with me! We haven¡¯t done that in a while.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I agreed. While Lucy really enjoyed her fox shape, I had not transformed in a while. Shani was especially enthusiastic. ¡°Slaughter! Let¡¯s go slaughter! Whooooo!¡± Delwyn led our group deeper into the forest. All of our companions were here, even Lilith, Erin and Sir Francis decided to come. ¡°Do you like to hunt?¡± I asked Lilith. ¡°It is a nice bit of exercise, although I would enjoy more dangerous creatures.¡± Lilith mused. ¡°And we can protect the innocent by removing threats. My lady is a true force for good.¡± Sir Francis added. I looked at the former paladin, he seemed sincere. Lilith smiled. ¡°I have brought refreshments and will be here to ensure that my queen does not lack anything.¡± Erin said. ¡°And I offered to show you how to cook some of the things we hunt.¡± Lily added. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°I¡­ I always strive to become a better servant.¡± Erin replied. Meanwhile Adhira was talking with a dryad, who had joined us as well. She was trying to talk the dryad into extorting people near her tree. ¡°You could totally charge people for using your shade! Or stepping on a root!¡± Adhira was suggesting. ¡°I am compensated for the protection I offer the village.¡± The dryad replied with a shrug. She seemed amused by the little sprite. Next to me Lucy transformed. ¡°I think we have walked long enough, I want to truly run! Catch me!¡± She said and took off. I smiled and turned into a panther. Then I sprinted after her. We raced through the forest, pounced at each other and rolled around in the dirt. It was a lot of fun! I had forgotten how nice it could be to play around as an animal. We were goofing around as the ground started shaking. Both of us stopped. We were right next to each other looking at the ground. ¡°What do you think is happening?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I think something is burrowing beneath us.¡± I replied. Then the earth beneath us disappeared. A giant mouth emerged and swallowed us. We could have dodged, most likely. But we did not really bother. ¡°Huh.¡± Lucy remarked. The inside of the creature was slimy. But it did not try to chew us, it simply swallowed us. Lucy tried licking the liquid that surrounded us. ¡°Spicey.¡± She replied. ¡°Eww. You are licking stomach acid.¡± I replied. ¡°So? I know you enjoy some acids and poisons in food. It could have been tasty.¡± She replied. ¡°Well¡­ it¡¯s different in a nicely prepared meal¡­¡± I argued. ¡°And my fur is getting sticky.¡± ¡°We should go for a swim afterwards. But I expect we are getting really dirty soon.¡± She grinned. ¡°I suppose blasting a hole to get out of here will be a mess.¡± I mused. ¡°This thing wanted to eat us, I say we return the favour.¡± Lucy replied, then she attacked the creature. Whatever had eaten us shuddered as Lucy started to claw it, bite it and¡­ ¡°You are eating it!¡± I realised. ¡°Itsch nod too bad.¡± She was answering, while chewing. The creature really started thrashing around now. It was getting uncomfortable. Also, the air in here sucked. I prepared a spell and unleashed a lightning strike against the monster. Electricity coursed through the liquid we were standing in. The smell changed and flesh burned. The creature shuddered and stopped moving. There was silence, except for some chewing noises. ¡°Hm. Bit overcooked but it''s better now.¡± Lucy said, this time she had swallowed first. I just stared at her. Then I walked over and looked at the dead beast. Lucy nudged me and I reluctantly took a bite. I had eaten dead animals before, while being a panther. I had hunted with Lucy before, it was just weird eating yourself out of the stomach of something. But it did taste ok. Actually, it was not too bad at all. ¡°See!¡± Lucy said, triumphantly. It did not take us long to emerge from the creature. It was a giant snake. The mouth of the creature alone must have been about 10 metres wide. It was hard to say how long it was, a part was still buried. Around us a lot of trees had been crushed. The area looked devastated. ¡°Weird place for a giant snake.¡± I observed. ¡°I am not an expert on snakes. Can you store something that big? It would be a waste to leave it here and it¡¯s too big to eat at once.¡± Lucy asked. I eyed the dead creature. It must have been the size of a multi story building. And I stored it. ¡°I guess that worked.¡± I replied. Chapter 238: Relaxing Having eaten quite a bit of snake I started feeling lazy. ¡°You know, a nap would feel really nice now.¡± I said. ¡°True.¡± Lucy agreed, then looked around. The forest was slightly destroyed from our encounter. On the bright side, it meant no trees were stopping the sun. ¡°What about over there?¡± Lucy pointed at a small patch of grass with her snout. ¡°It would be nice if we had water nearby. I want to clean my fur first.¡± I said. ¡°Hm. There was a lake next to the village. If we run we could reach it rather quickly.¡± She suggested. I contemplated the suggestion. Running at full speed after a big meal was not the most appealing thought. I sniffed myself. But it was better than being covered in snake bits. Sleeping in the sun would certainly not make the smell better. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s go to the lake.¡± I agreed. I had no idea where our companions were. After our transformation we had decided to do our own thing. But finding our way back to the lake was easy enough, even without a guide. We found a nice place not too close to the village to take a dip. There was a small patch of grass surrounded by bushes. It was a lovely secluded piece at the shore. We dove into the water and started swimming. Sadly, some parts really stuck to my fur, so I decided to transform into my human shape. That way I was able to scrub myself. Cleaning skin was simpler than cleaning fur. Lucy transformed as well and helped brush my hair. Then I did the same for her. After swimming, we settled down on the grass, Lucy¡¯s tails were in my lap and I started brushing them. They were incredibly soft. ¡°Do you think you will reach nine tails?¡± I asked. ¡°Nine? Why would I grow nine tails?¡± She responded. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°The strongest kitsune are supposed to have nine tails. I am still wondering if they will give you additional spell slots. Or other abilities.¡± I mused. ¡°I won¡¯t mind more power but nine tails sounds a bit impractical. Just with the second one I had to change my clothes so they fit.¡± Lucy complained. I shrugged. ¡°We can afford a personal tailor.¡± ¡°Sure. I suppose the added fluffiness can be nice.¡± She said. I grinned. ¡°Now imagine nine! You would have your own full mattress, sort of. Imagine snuggling with nine tails!¡± She turned her head around and looked at me. ¡°I am sure you are imagining that right now.¡± I nodded. ¡°Of course.¡± She leaned back and I stopped brushing her tails, then I put my arms around her. ¡°Can fey evolve?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Is there something beyond an archfey? Is there a more tail version?¡± ¡°Sadly, there are no tails for me. I don¡¯t think there is any physical change if my power grows. But I am not certain. Some archfey look a little less like elves. They can have sharper teeth, for example. But I have never heard of any physical signs being connected with a certain power.¡± Obviously I only knew video game lore and mythology. I did not have any actual experience. I thought a bit more about in-game descriptions. ¡°Fey are supposed to be the ancestors of the elves. A magical race with a lot of diversity. They can be beautiful or monstrous. They are also known for some trickery, illusions and their connection to nature. A lot of the higher fey do resemble elves but they are a bit more colorful.¡± I said. ¡°If the archfey all look more like elves, would that not suggest a connection between their body and power? Is there an archfey sprite? What are the odds of a powerful fey just hiding behind illusions?¡± Lucy asked. I pondered that. I just really lacked the real world experience to know for certain but she did make a good point. ¡°You know, they could use illusions. But it might just be that the more monstrous archfey interact less with civilization.¡± I mused. ¡°What can I expect at the fey courts?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Well¡­ I am not a typical fey.¡± I started. ¡°You are just an elf, I know.¡± She replied, with a smirk. ¡°Anyway, they are nobles, with etiquette, rules and a lot of respect for strength. Not just raw power, also the power to plan and manipulate.¡± I had talked with Adhira and tried to get some information. It was not all based on game lore. ¡°So you are saying anyone important is either smart, strong, or both. But there will be no completely useless fools.¡± Lucy concluded. ¡°There might still be some but I would expect a lot less fools. Archfey are on the top because they are powerful and they are immortal. Expect them to be more like Lilith. Scheming, clever and dangerous. Unlike demons, they do trust a bit more in their servants. Elemental knights are granted power through a ceremony. Meaning they have seen the wisdom to elevate some people. Either because of skill, or loyalty.¡± I said. ¡°Do you think we will meet any kitsune?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°I am not sure if there are any in the fairy realm. Kitsune come from a different continent, as far as I know. Maybe we can travel there one day. Of course, I am sure some of them travel. Powerful beings do have a lot of freedom and kitsune are known to be curious tricksters.¡± I replied. I was really curious about the fairy realm. Tomorrow I would meet another archfey. But for now, it was time to relax. We cuddled in the sun and finally took our nap. Chapter 239: Fairy Realm It was late when we returned to the village. The others had finished their hunt as well. Judging by Shani¡¯s grin she had found something with blood. I offered the massive snake to the village, which Delwyn accepted. I placed it outside the circle of trees. Some of the villagers started harvesting parts of the snake. What I had not expected were the roots emerging from the ground and piercing the dead body. A dryad walked up to us. ¡°We thank you for this generous meal.¡± She bowed. ¡°Uh, sure.¡± I replied. ¡°Dryads have good taste.¡± Lucy commented. Since the monster was so big, only small parts were harvested for cooking. The majority was devoured by the dryads and their trees. We dined on some expertly cooked snake this evening. The next day it was finally time to meet the lady of the forest. Delwyn escorted us to the massive tree in the centre of the village. The trunk opened as we approached and a shimmering blue portal appeared. I could see magic running towards it through a vast root network. It seemed like the dryads powered this portal. ¡°I shall remain here but you are expected on the other side.¡± Delwyn said. I nodded, still focused on the magic. A theory formed in my head. ¡°There is a natural connection to the fairy realm here. But it is not stable. So you grew a tree, a dryad grove, to turn it into a true portal. The dryads are not just here for protection, they are vital for it to work.¡± I mused. Delwyn looked at me, then he gave me a small nod. ¡°Very perceptive, my lady.¡± It was some interesting information and might help if I wanted my own portal in the future. Also, something else occurred to me. Were dryads fey? Or were they creatures of the mortal realm? Or maybe a bit of both? You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. While I contemplated things I stepped through the shimmering portal. In an instant the world changed. I arrived at a large plaza. There was no tree here, instead it was a massive stone arch, covered in vines. The plaza itself featured perfectly cut stone tiles. They looked like green marble. Looking around I spotted several buildings. The architecture reminded me of Japan, especially the roofs. ¡°Huh. I expected more of a forest.¡± Lucy said, as she appeared next to me. Indeed the area was rather civilised. I could see plenty of vegetation, like trees, but they were deliberately planted. Even the vines on the arch seemed to grow in an aesthetically pleasing pattern. Of course, we were not alone. A welcoming committee was here. There were about 50 soldiers with shining mithril breastplates. They were fey with various shades of green skin and pointy ears, which emerged from their helmets. They stood in formation wielding naginatas. In front of the soldiers was a woman. Her robe was black with green accents. She looked at us with emerald eyes. She had long blond hair and the familiar light green skin. ¡°I am Ivy, knight of Lady Izanami. I greet you in her name.¡± She said. I wondered if she was an elemental knight, and why she did not wear armour. Then again, she might have one ready inside a magical storage. ¡°Greetings, I am looking forward to meeting Lady Izanami.¡± I responded. ¡°Hi. Pretty nice place you have here.¡± Lucy commented. ¡°Eh, they have a lazy elemental sleeping below us. I hope you are charging it rent!¡± Shani said. ¡°I greet you, Ivy, knight of the forest.¡± Lilith said. Ivy was studying our group. ¡°Please follow me, I shall escort you to Lady Izanami. She has prepared some refreshments.¡± In my old world, there were stories warning you about food or drink from the fey. But I could not remember that being a thing in the game. Also, it might just be about the potency of magical food. I had eaten a lot of things in this world that would have killed my old body. ¡°Nice, food!¡± Lucy¡¯s tails wagged excitedly. ¡°And you always say I am the glutton.¡± I teased. ¡°You still are. I simply became one too, because of your bad influence.¡± She responded. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a good influence.¡± I countered. ¡°Enjoying food and drink is nothing to be ashamed of.¡± Ivy responded. ¡°Indeed. I am training myself as a chef to better serve my ladies.¡± Lily said. ¡°Oh?¡± Ivy looked at the succubus. ¡°You are¡­¡± Then her eyes widened. ¡°You are not a maid, you are a knight!¡° ¡°I am a maid knight.¡± Lily confirmed. ¡°She is the maid knight!¡± Adhira said. ¡°She is the knight of the storm!¡± Ivy looked at Lily again, then at Adhira. ¡°I see. I welcome you, fellow knights.¡± Lily smiled but Adhira was almost bursting from pride. She puffed out her chest and stood, or rather hovered in the air, straighter. Chapter 240: Archfey Ivy led us to a large building, probably the palace. On our way I caught glimpses of beautiful gardens. Maybe I could explore them later. Inside the building we were led to a throne room. Guards lined the wall and a few well dressed fey were mingling around small tables filled with refreshments. On the throne sat a woman, presumably Lady Izanami. She had long crimson hair, deep red eyes and flawless mint green skin. Her ears were pointed, like an elf. Being an immortal it was impossible to tell her age but she looked like she was in her thirties. She was certainly beautiful. As we entered she gracefully rose from her throne. A silver circlet adorned her head. She wore a sleeveless black gown, an interesting choice. Personally I preferred pants but it did look good on her. Everyone in the room stopped speaking and started looking at us. ¡°Welcome to my home!¡± Lady Izanami said with a rather melodic voice. ¡°Greetings.¡± I replied. ¡°Thank you for this invitation.¡± Lilith answered. ¡°Hi.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Nice place you have here.¡± ¡°Ah, you must be the kitsune. It has been a long time since I had the pleasure to meet one of your kind.¡± Izanami said, sounding amused. Then she looked at Lilith. ¡°It has also been a long time since I had dealings with the hells. Welcome to the fairy realm.¡± Then she addressed me: ¡°Lady Amaya. I have heard so much about, yet so little.¡± Her eyes swept over me, as if she was looking for something. I shrugged. ¡°I have no court in the fairy realm, in case you were wondering.¡± ¡°I see. Yet you have named a court elemental, a tradition even I consider old. Your chosen knight is a succubus, wearing expertly crafted demonic armour. Maybe your court is simply located elsewhere?¡± She wondered. ¡°We do have a county in the Dominion, does that count?¡± Lucy asked. Stolen story; please report. ¡°She is in league with hell. She is not even hiding it!¡± A woman said, rather loudly. I looked in the direction of the noise and found a surprise. A female fey with rather light blue skin and white hair. Her turquoise eyes were cold and she did not seem to like us very much. She was dressed in a white robe and wore a silver circlet as well, one with a nice sapphire in the front. ¡°And you are?¡± I asked. ¡°Lady Chione.¡± She replied. ¡°Oh, the lady whose knight ran away!¡± Shani commented. ¡°Maybe we can slaughter him this time?¡± ¡°Your court is an undisciplined mob. A disgrace.¡± Chione said. ¡°Now now, let¡¯s be calm.¡± Izanami said. ¡°You are all my guests and I will have no fighting here.¡± Interesting. Chione¡¯s knight Cedric had been inside the lab of the Inquisition. He had claimed to be investigating. I had contemplated the theory that he served Beira, once we discovered her identity, but his mistress was real. Why was she here though? ¡°I take it you are not fond of hell, Lady Chione?¡± Lilith inquired, in a neutral tone. ¡°It¡¯s a place of barbarians.¡± She replied. ¡°And fey are so civilised?¡± Lilith asked. Chione looked at me. ¡°Apart from your company, yes.¡± ¡°You seem rather rude, not very civilized in my opinion.¡± Lucy commented. Chione snorted. ¡°You only have two tails. Show your betters some respect.¡± Lucy¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Respect? Let¡¯s go outside and see about that.¡± ¡°No fighting in my home!¡± Izanami said, putting some magic in her voice. ¡°I did suggest outside.¡± Lucy pointed out. ¡°Why is Chione here anyway?¡± I asked. ¡°Lady Chione is here because she contacted me about Lady Beira. We were discussing the situation and what should be done about it.¡± Izanami said. ¡°This is a fey matter and should not involve demons.¡± Chione said. ¡°First, I am a fey and they are with me. Second, demons are involved, you might have noticed that. Third, this matter clearly involves the mortal realm.¡± I pointed out. Izanami nodded. ¡°Lady Amaya does have a point. I have dealings with the Dominion and Lady Beira has certainly caused trouble there. She has interfered with my business. She has also brought the hells into this mess. We should work together to contain Lady Beira.¡± ¡°Contain? She is experimenting on souls. She needs to be neutralized.¡± Lilith said. ¡°A demon shall not be her judge!¡± Chione protested. It might have been a breach of protocol but I unleashed my aura. My eyes started glowing. ¡°Beira has unleashed countless horrors upon the world. She has killed, enslaved and tortured innocents. Even now she seeks dominion over everyone, not just mortals. She seeks the power to rule the fey, all the fey. I will hunt her, I will find her and I will kill her. If you stand in my way, you will face my wrath.¡± ¡°Uh, that¡¯s me! I am the wrath!¡± Shani started jumping around, waving with the scythe which appeared in her hand. Chione stared, her eyes wide. Izanami seemed wary as well. The guards in the room gripped their weapons tighter, not sure how to react. Ivy was next to her lady now. She did not draw a weapon but was clearly preparing for a fight. Lucy looked at me with a grin. ¡°I like it when you go all archfey.¡± I blinked and reigned in my aura. The room returned to normal. But I certainly made an impression. ¡°Who are you? You are not a lost child. You are not a new archfey, that power felt ancient.¡± Izanami asked. She did not look afraid, but she was certainly wary now. Chapter 241: Ladies ¡°I am just an archfey.¡± I responded. Lucy snickered. Izanami was still watching me, contemplating things. Then her eyes started glowing. I felt a soft breeze, I smelled flowers and it felt like the warm sun was shining on me. All around me I could feel nature, I could feel the forest. That was her aura. It was so gentle but I could feel the power. ¡°The forest greets you, Lady of Storms.¡± Izanami said. ¡°Feels kind of nice but I prefer your aura, Amaya.¡± Lucy mused. She did not seem alarmed despite the power on display. Lilith¡¯s face was unreadable but she was studying Izanami and me. As I looked around the room I saw a lot of surprised faces. I already knew that not all immortals were on the same level. Kitsune could have up to nine tails, for example. But even with one tail they were powerful. Mantus, the demon lord we had killed, was not one of the strongest. We had certainly grown since then. I was confident I could beat Lilith and she was supposed to be one of the older ones. Yet I had never considered a real hierarchy among archfey. Looking at Chione, she was clearly not in the same league as Izanami. Lady of the Forest. I had assumed it was just a title given to her by the elves. People liked fancy titles. But what if meant more? I had been called the Lady of Storms before. Was there more to that? Or was it just a title for any storm archfey? I nodded towards Izanami, who seemed to be waiting for something. ¡°The storm greets you, Lady of the Forest.¡± She smiled and her aura disappeared. ¡°Maybe we should all meet for a private conversation. Amaya, Lucy, Lilith and Chione, would you join me in my study?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I agreed, although I was still lost in thought. I did not fully understand my own powers. Should I ask Izanami for guidance? First I needed to ensure that we were on the same side. She was friendly, for now. But I had only just met her. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. We were led into a nice small room with two couches and three chairs. They were arranged around a small coffee table. As we entered, glasses floated from a cabinet towards the table. I sat down on a couch and Lucy joined me. Chione and Lilith took a chair, Izanami sat down on the other couch. A bottle floated to the table as well, then our host offered us drinks. ¡°Thank you.¡± I accepted and took a sip. It was a lovely red wine, a rather potent one. Even I could feel it. ¡°Now that we have all settled here, tell me about Beira. If you are hunting her you must consider her a major threat.¡± Izanami said. I pondered her question. ¡°I am not sure how much you know, but Beira has infiltrated the Inquisition and used it for her experiments. She is trying to manipulate souls and has succeeded with certain runes to enslave humans. She is still working on other races.¡± ¡°Beira has changed their souls? And yet you managed to free some?¡± Izanami asked. ¡°I cannot undo the changes to their soul. I can merely destroy the spell controlling them. The changes ensure the enslavement ritual is a part of their body. It could be empowered again, if they get caught. My people are working on a solution but we have not found one, yet.¡± I clarified. ¡°That does sound troubling.¡± Izanami agreed while glancing at Chione. Maybe she had heard a different story from the other archfey. I continued: ¡°That is not all. She stole the staff of dominion but I managed to destroy it. She is still looking for the crown. She has experimented with undead, she has mutated fey, humans, demons,... She is trying to ascend to something greater while building an army.¡± ¡°I can see why you pronounced your judgement. I will respect it.¡± Lady Izanami said. ¡°Lady Izanami, Lady Beira deserves a trial!¡± Lady Chione insisted. ¡°Do you dispute any of the accusations?¡± Izanami asked. ¡°I¡­ I do not.¡± Lady Chione admitted. ¡°The storm''s judgement stands. I shall not interfere.¡± Lady Izanami said. ¡°I am not sure where Beira is hiding. I believe she has fled to the fairy realm and has abandoned her mortal followers, for now. Do you have any idea where her stronghold might be?¡± I asked. Izanami shook her head. ¡°Sadly I do not. I shall instruct my people to start looking. If you are willing to stay here for a few days I might be able to offer some information.¡± ¡°I would be honoured to stay for a bit. Your wine is excellent, by the way.¡± I said. ¡°It is. Maybe we can buy some.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°For your own personal use or as part of a larger deal? I was informed you also had other business to discuss, besides Beira.¡± Izanami said. ¡°Ah, yes. That involves Lilith here as well. We are planning to turn Iron Rock into a centre of magic. We want to improve the relationship between the mortal and the magical races.¡± I explained. Izanami looked interested. ¡°Intriguing, tell me more.¡± Chapter 242: Ancient Powers I took a sip from the wine, then started to explain: ¡°Iron Rock has a great location in the centre of the continent. It is small and at least officially independent. With the collapse of the Empire it becomes less relevant to the dwarves as they reopen the old tunnels. So Iron Rock is looking for new opportunities and protections.¡± Izanami nodded, I continued: ¡°They already have an academy and due to their trade they are used to different races. It is a place where dwarves, elves, humans and beastkin interact frequently. That means they are already open to other cultures, and possibly other creatures. What we can do is boost the academy, offer them knowledge. It will attract gifted people from all over the continent. Powerful nobles will send their children, leading to more interaction between the nations. Most importantly, it will be a rather diverse place. So why would they not accept a few fey, or demons, if they behave?¡± ¡°You want to send teachers?¡± Izanami asked. ¡°Among other things. Lilith has succubi in place. We have to be careful, if they pretend to be human, or elven, and get exposed it will create backlash. But I do have a good reputation and Lilith works with me. With our deeds we are already changing people¡¯s views. I will personally offer my protection, to ease people¡¯s fears. Summoning demons is not unheard of. We just have to introduce them slowly. I can offer to send fey to keep the demons in line. At first we will make sure they look relatively humanoid.¡± I suggested. ¡°My people are preparing books.¡± Lilith added. ¡°I will hand Iron Rock some knowledge while starting a subtle campaign to change public sentiment. There are novels that show succubi in a favourable light, for example. I will also encourage newspapers to write about our war against the Empire and the Inquisition. We want to separate the demon horde that attacked Iron Rock from my succubi. And we will paint Amaya and Lucy as shining protectors who will keep the bad demons in line.¡± ¡°You do have the reputation of a master manipulator.¡± Izanami said. ¡°Thank you.¡± Lilith said with a smile. ¡°And we are introducing a new transport method, the train.¡± I added. ¡°It will be a machine that moves fast on a rail network and connects important parts of the world, with Iron Rock at its centre. It will be good for trade and make it easy for people to visit the academy.¡± Izanami contemplated that, while sipping her wine. ¡°I value my connection to the Dominion and my trade with them. Are you offering me a partnership in this endeavour?¡± ¡°The first train will run from Iron Rock to my county. But we can build a connection to your portal, or somewhere close by. You could send your own fey to Iron Rock as well.¡± I offered. She seemed concerned that we planned to compete with her. ¡°I will need to see this train but I think I could find a suitable spot for it. Aerin would certainly agree to such a proposal. I assume you would want access to my gate?¡± She asked. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°That would be helpful. Otherwise I would have to set up my own and worry about powering it.¡± I replied. Izanami nodded. ¡°If you don¡¯t have a natural connection it can be quite expensive to operate a gateway. Which brings us to hell. There are no stable connections. Do you intend to simply summon the succubi? If you want a deeper connection, and potentially trade, you would need a better method.¡± ¡°That part is tricky.¡± I admitted. ¡°I do have a gate, which Beira used to enter the fairy realm, and I am familiar with rune magic. I might be able to change it and connect it to hell. The problem would be powering it. Sacrificing people is not an option. Enough mages powering it, like once a month during a ritual, might be a solution but not an ideal one.¡± ¡°Oh? Beira had one of the old gates? Would you be willing to show it to me?¡± Izanami asked. ¡°Sure. Maybe not in here though, it would ruin your furniture.¡± I replied. Izanami nodded. ¡°We can do it later, outside. I have to say your plan sounds reasonable and I would be willing to enter an agreement. You will be allowed to use my gate and in return I expect your train connection and a few spots for my people in Iron Rock.¡± ¡°Lady Izanami, is that wise?¡± Chione asked. ¡°If you get involved it will get the attention of many old powers.¡± ¡°Amaya is already involved. The return of the Lady of Storms alone will get a lot of attention. Then there is Beira. That she is playing with souls is not something the ancient dragons will ignore. The question is only how long it will take them to find out. I have gotten complacent myself. Beira should have been stopped long ago. If anything this shows that I should get more involved again.¡± Izanami concluded. Izanami looked quite happy. I suppose immortality had one major weakness, boredom. A new project, or simply some exciting things happening, might be a welcome distraction for her. ¡°So, how many tails do you need to be an ancient power?¡± Lucy asked. That was an interesting question. Of course, Lucy was not a normal kitsune. Becoming my warlock turned her into one, or triggered the evolution. Both of our circumstances seemed rather unique. ¡°Seven.¡± Izanami answered. ¡°At that point they are usually at least 1000 years old. Of course, some kitsune stagnate and never grow more than a few. And some are rather talented and grow faster.¡± ¡°Why seven?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Because there is a noticeable shift in power. This would be equivalent to an archfey gaining their domain.¡± Izanami answered, while glancing at me. Was she wondering why I never told Lucy? Of course, the true answer was simple, I did not know either. But the word domain did make me think¡­ ¡°Domain?¡± Lucy asked. Then I had a revelation. Domain, it made sense! ¡°It¡¯s an upgrade to your aura. You remember how the forest felt alive when Izanami used hers? Or how I can summon an entire storm with mine? Your aura can always empower you, suppress others and manipulate your element, to a degree. But once it becomes a domain you gain true control of your element. It¡¯s not just about creating some clouds, rain and lightning bolts. Within my aura all of our lightning spells and abilities are stronger. It does not just enhance me, it enhances the element for all allies.¡± I reasoned. Izanami nodded, then looked at Lucy. ¡°What have you done with your aura so far, Lucy?¡± Lucy scratched her head. ¡°Mostly empowered myself. I can cover my fox form in lightning, enhance my spells¡­¡± Izanami smiled, she seemed to enjoy teaching. ¡°Exactly! That is the first stage of using your aura. While it can always be used to make other people feel your presence, and intimate them, that is not the most important function. Once you reach four tails your powers will shift. You will still be able to enhance yourself but it will affect your environment in a larger radius.¡± ¡°Huh. So what is the difference between that and a domain?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Covering a city in ice would be a second stage aura. Being able to really manipulate the ice would be a domain.¡± I reasoned. ¡°Exactly. While fighting in a field of ice, as an ice mage, would already be beneficial, the true control makes a big difference. You are not just enhancing your ice spells. The whole environment, the whole domain, will empower them.¡± Izanami added. I really needed to train more with my aura. I felt like I had not used it to its maximum potential so far. I also needed to train more with Lucy. Her aura was the key to more tails! Chapter 243: Aura Training Overall the discussion with Izanami was very productive. Afterwards she led us outside where I showed her the gate. While she was studying it I decided to explore our revelations about auras. ¡°Is there a private area where we can train?¡± I asked Izanami, who was examining the gate. ¡°Sure.¡± She waved at a servant. ¡°Follow him, he shall bring you to a secluded space.¡± I left the gate with Izanami and we followed the servant. He led us inside a ring of trees. The floor was covered in pristine grass. ¡°You can use this area. The trees are very sturdy and should keep your surroundings safe, up to a certain level. Please do not damage anything beyond the circle.¡± Then he bowed and left. Lucy examined the area. ¡°What are the odds that dryads are watching us through the trees?¡± I pondered the question. ¡°It¡¯s possible but I think Izanami values honor. I don¡¯t think she will actively try to spy on us. The magic in this area is meant to contain spells and regrow anything that gets destroyed.¡± I felt Lucy¡¯s breath as she hugged me from behind. Then she whispered in my ear. ¡°So you think we are alone here? What sort of training were you thinking about?¡± ¡°Um¡­¡± I was certainly thinking about a lot of different things now. ¡°We, eh, we should do that later. I was thinking more about aura training.¡± ¡°Oh? I do admit I am intrigued.¡± Lucy said, ending the hug. I was still slightly distracted. Lucy¡¯s smirk indicated that she was aware of this fact. Nevertheless, now was not the time to fool around. This was important. Tails. I meant, aura. Yes, aura. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°My knowledge about kitsune is limited. Izanami¡¯s insights were rather helpful though. I think if we train your aura you will grow in power. Our bond should help with that. We have already discovered that we can share power through it, to a degree. We are already using our aura to strengthen the bond. I want to try to empower you. Also, why don¡¯t we start with the spell to talk telepathically? I think it will allow me to better share my understanding of auras.¡± ¡°Sure. Shall I transform?¡± She asked. I pondered that. I did not know if it would help. ¡°Hm. Let¡¯s try it in your humanoid form. Actually, let¡¯s sit down here.¡± We sat in the grass, facing each other. ¡°We can talk now, without anyone overhearing us.¡± I spoke into her mind. ¡°Do you think me being your warlock changes things?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Maybe. You have a part of my soul. Has that simply awakened your kitsune part? Has it simply given you power that transformed you? Or is there a bit of archfey inside of you?¡± I wondered. ¡°Maybe the lightning part comes from you? Are kitsune normally attuned to an element?¡± She asked. ¡°No idea.¡± I answered. Then I focused on my aura. I tried to extend it just a bit. To simply cover the two of us. I did not want to unleash a big storm. ¡°I do feel your aura.¡± Lucy said. I nodded. ¡°Good. I will try to give you some power over the bond now. Maybe you can see how my aura feels. Maybe it can guide you to manipulate your own. Since you are aligned to electricity, maybe understanding the element better helps you with your aura.¡± Lucy closed her eyes and I did the same. We both focused inward. I pushed my aura along the bond towards Lucy. But I did more than that. We had a connection to the plane of air, one that Shani had opened when she had helped to create our elemental knight. My mind tried to connect to the plane. I tried to find some understanding there. While I contemplated the nature of the storm, I felt Lucy¡¯s mind. I felt her curiosity, her eagerness to learn. I could also feel her pride, her determination, her love. I welcomed her into my mind. I tried to show her our element. How the wind could be a gentle breeze or a raging tornado. How lightning played in the sky and brought judgement to our enemies. How the rain brought life to the world or drowned it with floods. Storms were rarely gentle. They were a destructive force of nature. But I felt compassion. I had empathy. My storm could nurture life as well as destroy it. A gentle breeze surrounded us. A tiny cloud over our heads started to rain. I enjoyed the smell. Lucy¡¯s own power stirred. Her aura expanded and touched mine. It felt like a hug and I snuggled into it. I felt content. I blinked my eyes open, somehow I must have fallen asleep. I was still inside the circle of trees. The grass around us was damp from the rain I had summoned earlier. Lucy was in my arms, sleeping. I gently stroked her cheek with my hand. That was when I saw it: She had three tails now. Chapter 244: Tails I grinned. Then I touched her tails and ran my finger through the soft fur. Lucy¡¯s eyes opened and she looked at me. ¡°Hmmm, that feels nice.¡± ¡°So soft¡­¡± I murmured. Lucy¡¯s head turned and she looked at her own tails. ¡°Huh.¡± ¡°The aura training worked.¡± I said. ¡°Cool. I wonder if something else has changed?¡± She mused. ¡°I guess your aura is more powerful. The fourth tail should be a real change, then you break into the next aura stage.¡± I replied. ¡°I just got the third tail and you are already dreaming about the fourth.¡± Lucy teased. ¡°Yes.¡± I admitted. ¡°I think they grow even fluffier as you become more powerful.¡± I theorized. Lucy left my arms and stood up. I reluctantly stopped petting her tails. Then I watched her stretch. ¡°I think we should get food.¡± She suggested. ¡°That is a good plan.¡± I agreed. I stood up and stretched. It was hard to tell the time, especially since I knew very little about the fairy realm. Maybe it was late afternoon? I shrugged, it was not that important. Looking around I did not see anyone nearby. Thankfully I remembered the path we took to get here so it was easy to return to the palace. While we did I spent some time to truly study the city. Everything looked pristine, especially the plants. But beneath the surface I could feel the magic. I could feel the power. Every plant here was part of the defences. Izanami¡¯s home was a fortress. Or a trap, I suppose. I don¡¯t think this place had any walls, just roots ready to devour you. We returned to the area where I had left the gate. Interestingly, Izanami was still there. Our other companions were nowhere in sight, neither was Chione. The Lady of the Forest was sitting on the floor while vines covered the gate. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Is this how you study the magic inside the gate?¡± I asked, as I stepped next to Izanami. ¡°Yes. This gate is old, perhaps even older than I am. But I can feel the stench of death on it. Unnatural death. I despise necromancy.¡± She replied. ¡°You prefer the dead to stay dead?¡± I asked. ¡°Death is the fate of every living being, even us immortals. It is part of the cycle of life, it¡¯s part of nature. Death is supposed to feed new life. I have always criticised any who studied necromancy. But Beria has taken it even further. Feeling this corruption¡­ it is sickening.¡± ¡°Hm. Do you think there would be any problems with using it?¡± I asked. Izanami turned her head and looked at me. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. There is no permanent damage. The lingering darkness will fade, in time.¡± ¡°What is Chione¡¯s role? Why is she defending Beira?¡± I asked. ¡°The Lady of Winter has been sleeping for a long time. Some ice fey think their influence is weakening as a result. I would not be surprised if Beira started her journey trying to seize the mantle. Lady Chione wants to protect a fellow ice fey. Maybe she thinks Beira can be redeemed. Maybe they are related, in some way. Further, Lady Chione cares little about the mortal world. Even among the fey, she only cares about those with power.¡± Izanami explained. ¡°What if she is involved? Maybe she helped Beira?¡± Lucy wondered. ¡°A disturbing thought. I do not think they are allied right now but it is possible that Lady Chione supported Beira early on. And they had a disagreement about their methods at some point. I have not paid enough attention to the world, I am afraid.¡± Izanami was now looking at Lucy. ¡°You have a third tail.¡± She stated. Lucy grinned. ¡°I do.¡± Her tails swished around happily. ¡°Congratulations. I was not aware that you were close to a breakthrough.¡± Izanami said. ¡°Me neither.¡± Lucy replied. ¡°I got my second tail during a battle, when I was really angry. This is the first time I got one through training.¡± Lucy seemed really proud as she showed off her tails. It was quite the accomplishment. A serious increase in fluffiness. Izanami stood up and the vines retreated from the gate. ¡°Come, let me offer you some food. Such a transformation takes a lot of energy.¡± ¡°Food sounds great.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Speaking of food, I do have a question.¡± I said. ¡°Yes?¡± Izanami responded. ¡°Do you use your personal power to grow special food? Have you studied rituals to change plants? Improve the taste of wine?¡± I wondered. Izanami laughed. ¡°What a delightful question. So many people are obsessed with using their magic in grand displays of power. They forget the simple pleasures of magic. The answer is yes, I have used my power for such things. I do enjoy gardening.¡± ¡°What is the purpose of power if you do not enjoy life?¡± I asked. Izanami nodded. ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°So, what is the best food you have created?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Hm. I think it is my crimson white. A special wine. The grapes are white with a hint of red. The taste varies based on what I feed the plants.¡± She replied. ¡°Feed the plants?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Their vines bury into creatures and drink their blood. That is why the grapes are slightly red.¡± She replied. That did sound intriguing. I wondered if poisonous blood made the wine spicy. Chapter 245: Dinner Conversation Izanami led us to a dining room. It was not as big or impressive as you would expect from a palace. No, it felt homey. The table had seating for ten and three servants were busy filling it with food and drink. She must have sent a mental command to have something prepared while we were walking. ¡°I have sent word to your companions. They can join us, if they wish.¡± She said. ¡°Who would not want free food?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Shani. She is probably trying to convince someone to go and slaughter something.¡± I replied. Izanami smiled. ¡°Storm elementals do have a rather unique personality. But I think she will find some kindred spirits among the hunters. And certainly a dryad or two who shares her love for blood.¡± We sat down and I inspected the food. We had a plate with barbecued meat. Some of it was still attached to the bone but I could not identify the creature it came from. There was also a large assortment of vegetables. Something that looked like corn, but it was purple. There were carrots with red veins. Potatoes with orange glowing parts. Rice that was black with red lines on it. I had no idea what any of it was, so I simply had to try everything. I grinned and started filling my plate. First I tried some meat. It was juicy and really flavourful. ¡°What is this?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s a blue stag. They can channel lightning with their horns.¡± Izanami replied. Lucy tried a bite as well. ¡°Oh, this is nice! There is something special to the taste as well¡­¡± Izanami nodded. ¡°If they are hunted and butchered properly they retain some of their mana. It gives them a unique flavour.¡± I was not aware that lightning had a taste. But I liked it. Maybe she was serving this because of our element? Did it taste better if you shared the affinity? It didn''t really matter, it was delicious. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. While we were eating Lilith arrived. ¡°Greetings¡­¡± She started, then stopped as she saw Lucy¡¯s tails. After a short moment of staring she said: ¡°Congratulations, Lucy. Your progress is remarkable.¡± ¡°Oh? Have you known each other for long?¡± Izanami asked. ¡°No. They summoned me not too long ago. It was in Mountainheart. Lucy grew her second tail during the battle right after my summoning, right?¡± Lilith asked. ¡°Yeah. I got really angry when they attacked the palace. My family was there.¡± Lucy confirmed. ¡°You went from one to three tails in less than half a year?¡± Izanami asked, looking surprised. ¡°I blame Amaya.¡± Lucy said, then she grabbed a piece of meat and bit into it. She was holding it by the bone. It looked like a tomahawk steak. Izanami looked at me, questioningly. I shrugged. ¡°I simply attract interesting people. Like Lucy, or Shani. Actually, speaking of interesting people: What is your connection to dryads? And to Sylphania? Do you worship any gods?¡± Izanami did not immediately answer. She seemed to consider her words first. ¡°Sylphania is worshiped among some of my followers. I do not worship any god or goddess myself. I do not need their power but I can see why some choose to serve them. As for dryads, they are creatures of the forest. My power resonates with them, it can empower them. Many of them come here to serve me.¡± I wondered how well dryads would work as spies. Hiding inside a tree would be great. You could plant them in parks, near important roads¡­ But they were stationary. Moving Thessia¡¯s tree had not been easy. If they were discovered they had no way to escape. How easy would it be to hide a dryad? ¡°Do dryad trees produce fruit?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Some of them do. There are different kinds of dryads.¡± Izanami answered. ¡°We should recruit some for our county.¡± Lucy suggested. ¡°That is not a bad idea.¡± I agreed. ¡°We will have to see what we have to work with. How the soil is, the weather... Actually, we are near the black forest. Maybe we can use dryads to ensure monsters don¡¯t enter our county. If we can get dryads with fruit trees the monster might even flavour the fruits.¡± I bit into one of the potatoes. The orange stuff tasted a bit like a spicy curry. They had potatoes with curry flavour. How nice. I wondered what sort of fruits you could grow. ¡°I can point you towards some unaligned dryads. If your offer is good enough they might follow you. But I have no idea if they produce any fruit.¡± Izanami offered. ¡°Thank you, that would be very helpful.¡± I replied. Of course, were they really unaligned? Or would she point us towards some spies? And what could I offer a bunch of dryads? They would not work for free. ¡°So are you truly considering settling down? Or is this county just a base to expand your power and influence?¡± Izanami asked. I pondered that. It was a good question. ¡°I am not sure. I want to build something but I also enjoy travelling.¡± Izanami nodded. ¡°It¡¯s the nature of the storm. I have often contemplated travelling but I do enjoy staying in one place.¡± Hm. Did my element influence my personality? I was not born that way. Once I was a human. How much had my personality changed? Did it actually change, or was the power just allowing me to be a different person? I suppose it did not really matter. I liked who I was. Chapter 246: Travel Plans and Dryads We spent a few more days at Izanami¡¯s palace while her agents gathered intel. Meanwhile I explored her city. It was a fascinating place. Fey came in different shapes and sizes. Pixies, sprites, dryads, satyrs¡­ When you walked down a street you saw wings, horns, wooden skin, hooves¡­ Lily spent a lot of time with Ivy, Izanami¡¯s knight. Lilith tried to expand her diplomatic connections. Lucy and myself were busy trying the local food. We definitely needed a train connection to import some of the local delicacies. I contemplated looking for recruits but I did not want to poach Izanami¡¯s people. Not that everyone here worked directly for her but they were her subjects. I was pleasantly surprised to see that fey with different elemental affinities lived here. If it was a common thing for them to mingle, at least to some extent, it would give me more options for recruitment, once I found a more neutral city. On the third day Izanami summoned all of us for an update. As Shani entered the room I blinked. The red from her bunny ears seemed to slowly bleed into her skin. ¡°What is happening to your skin, Shani?¡± I asked. ¡°Oh? I met some amazing dryads! They love blood too and we talked a lot about absorbing it. We killed some things and compared notes!¡± She told us excitedly. ¡°She went on a hunt with some of my dryads.¡± Izanami added. Well, if it was approved by her it was fine, I guess. Once everyone was here Izanami addressed us: ¡°My people were unable to identify Beira¡¯s location. However, there is an abandoned city in the north, in the frozen wastes. No one has officially lived there in the last 200 years. It¡¯s a hostile place, filled with monsters. It would be a great hiding place. There have been rumors of undead in the area, another indication that something is amiss.¡± ¡°How far away is it?¡± I asked. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°If you travel quickly you can be there in a week. But I can point you to a grove on the way. You might want to inquire about hiring some dryads there, for your own county. The detour would cost you another day of travel. But they are close to the frozen wastes and might have additional information for you.¡± ¡°One additional day does not sound too bad.¡± I mused. Lucy nodded. ¡°They might have good food there as well.¡± ¡°I like dryads, they have good taste in blood!¡± Shani added, then she tilted her head. ¡°Well, some of them. And for some reason they also like flesh, and bones.¡± ¡°Do you think some of them would be willing to work for a demon lord?¡± Lilith asked. ¡°Of course mistress! Everyone would be blessed to work for you! I shall teach¡­¡± Erin insisted, until Lilith interrupted her: ¡°Do not antagonise the locals.¡± Erin immediately bowed. ¡°Of course, my queen. My apologies.¡± ¡°Do you want to plant dryad trees in hell?¡± Izanami asked, ignoring Erin. ¡°If that is possible, yes. But I also want them for the mortal realm, to work alongside my succubi. I want to expand my ranks and include other races. The dryads I have met so far would be a good fit.¡± Lilith replied. ¡°Ohhhh, now I want to see a demonic tree succubus!¡± I said. It did sound like a cool thing. Actually, what kind of trees were there? And how could you change a dryad based on the tree? Could you feed them monsters, or potions, to change them? ¡°I do not think such a thing exists. As for recruiting them, you are welcome to try. Such a decision is up to them, not me.¡± Izanami replied. ¡°Can¡¯t dryads have special trees? Surely there are demonic trees, right? Actually, how are dryads born? Do they bond with a tree or are they born from a tree?¡± I asked. ¡°Both are possible. If a tree is exposed to a large amount of magic over a long period of time it can form a dryad. But dryads can reproduce as well. Two dryads can create a new tree which will also house a dryad.¡± Izanami explained. ¡°As for changing them, that is possible in some way. They can grow stronger depending on what they consume. But it usually does not change the nature of their tree. An apple tree will remain an apple tree, even if those apples might change in color, taste or develop magical properties.¡± ¡°What if you made one into a warlock?¡± Lucy asked. Everyone stared at her. ¡°Has no one done that before? It would grant a dryad demonic powers and definitely change her.¡± Lucy added. ¡°In theory, yes.¡± Izanami replied. ¡°But creating a warlock is not an easy process, nor can it be done very often. A dryad is mostly stationary. Moving their tree is difficult. If you create a warlock you likely want a more versatile agent.¡± ¡°So it could be done but no one decided it would be worth it?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°I know of at least one archfey who made a dryad a warlock.¡± Izanami added. ¡°I just don¡¯t know of any other creature who bothered.¡± Lilith did look thoughtful. Maybe I should try to convince her. I really wanted to see a demonic tree dryad.