Reborn: I’m a Dragon Girl With An OP System Book 9

"You can not get away with this! You will pay a high price if you harm me in any way!" The King suddenly shouted, causing me to tilt my head.

"Call out the people you have as backing. Can they even enter this kingdom? I am sorry to say that you are sealed off. I have made sure that you and your allies have been closed off from the world. From this moment on, you are at my mercy." Killing intent oozed out of my body. "Iena!"

"Yes, Master!" Iena appeared in front of me in a puff of smoke.

"Can you summon demons under your command to seek out every noble in this kingdom?" I asked.

"This is simple, Master," Iena replied as she waved her hand, thousands of summoning circles formed, and a legion of skeletons suddenly appeared. Iena looked at them and waved her hand: "Go! Seek out and find every noble for this kingdom and bring them before my Master!"

All the skeletons suddenly pounded their chest plates and disappeared in a puff of smoke. I pursed my lips when I realized just how useful this summoning thing is. "I should practice this magic more."

"Master, I can help you with your summoning magic so you can pick and choose what you wish to summon." Iena's eyes as she looked at me were filled with a bit of expectation. I guess I have ignored her a bit since things had happened. "Then I will be in your care when things are all settled."

"Yes, Master!" Iena smiled brightly. Her pointy tail was wagging back and forth. I know it is rude to say, but right now, she reminded me of a dog. "Master, what should I do with this man?"

"Oh right…. Iena, the Prime Minister, should be in the dungeon. I want you to bring him before me." I sent my detection magic back into the dungeon. "Hmmm… Wait, Iena…."

"Master?" Iena, who was about to leave, stopped and looked at me in confusion.

"It seems the Prime Minister's backer was here.." I bit my finger. The man I wanted to kill most escaped. He is no longer in the dungeon. I sent my detection magic out over the entire kingdom, but no matter where I checked, I could not find any trace of him. He was nowhere within the bounds of this kingdom or the three vassal states. It was like he had vanished from the face of the planet.

"Iena, go to the dungeon and check for any traces of magic that might be found. Someone helped that bastard escape and even eluded my detection!" I was not happy. I guess when things are going too smoothly, they will soon mess up. But who could be the Prime Minister's backer?

"Right away, Master!" Iena disappeared and went to the dungeon as I asked. I was not liking this. From what I can tell, way before the dungeons had appeared, the Prime Minister seemed to be planning something. But who was the one who was behind him that gave him the ability to pull this all off?

I looked at the Norian king, who was staring daggers at me, and leaned over and stared at him. "Speak! Who is the Prime Minister's backer?"

This just did not match up. Why would the Norian king be willing to team up with a Prime Minister? Why would he suddenly attack a kingdom he has no ability to attack? Why was the response during the first Norain invasion so slow, yet this time, even without my help, the forces would have been sent out quickly? So why? Why would the Prime Minister be able to pull all of this off?

My eyes fell onto the Norian king who was staring at me, not answering my question even though I just used dragon speak on him. "I see… Then let's do things another way." I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. Not a sound a person could hear normally. That was because I just gave the same order but used my soul to cast dragon speak.

The Norain king's eyes dulled as a white apparition appeared from his body, looking up at me: "I do not know who the man is…. I only know he was very strong. He had black hair and purple eyes. He was very powerful. Beyond anything, I have ever seen before. Maybe even more powerful than you."

"Did he have any markings on his skin?" I asked in dragon speak once more while using my soul.

"He had a burn mark over his right eye." The Norian king replied.

"Tell me, what do you know about him?" A burn mark over his right eye meant he was not Azengrade, which allowed me to feel a bit at ease.

"I do not know much except that he seems to have a grudge against the Gravos Kingdom. He and the Prime Minister of Gravos seemed quite close. They might have been family." The Norain king answered.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"No…." A simple word was all he answered.

I took a deep breath as I waved my hand, canceling dragon speak, and looked over at the bloody bag next to me. I picked it up and sent it flying towards the king. The bag crashed to the floor, and the heads rolled out towards the Norian king. "Do you recognize these men?"

The Norian King looked at the heads with a pale face. But he showed no real reaction, which told me nothing. "Tell me now do you know these men?" I once more use dragon speak with my soul.

"They were part of a special squad capable of infiltrating any kingdom. They had no name since they were all trained from a young age." I raised an eyebrow. It was true that these men easily infiltrated the Gravos Kingdom. Most of my questions for this king were now answered, so all that was left was to clean up and wait for Iena's investigation before moving to the next kingdom.

Chapter2 When Dreams Become Reality Part 3

"I see… since you know nothing, you are worthless to me." I waved my hand causing a wind blade to form and fly through the room severing the head from the Norain king's body. "It seems your powerful backer is nowhere to be found even after I took your head."

"Master!" Iena suddenly appeared next to me. "There were no traces of magic left behind. It is like they were not using magic at all. I did however find a trace of a strange energy I have never seen before. But sadly, before I could figure out how to collect any of it, it dissipated."

"A strange energy?" I frowned. This might be the same strange energy that was powering the weapons I found. This would explain where the weapons came from if this was the case.

"Alright. Let's just take care of things here then…." I let out a sigh. I let the big fish get away because I thought he was locked in the dungeon. I would never have thought that he would be taken out of this dungeon from right out under my nose. I tapped the little blue slime that was sitting on my shoulder. "Adel, how are things on your end?"

"Well, after you created the massive wall, the soldiers cut off from the main squad troops all surrendered. We have a massive POW camp set up now and are guarding it. But Faith, can you tell me what the hell happened!? Why was the entire army on the other side of the wall dead as if they had committed suicide? Why is there a giant wall and barrier surrounding the boarder!? What are you doing!?"

"The soldiers killed themselves because I told them to. As for the wall, I put it up to keep the Prime Minister from escaping, but I failed. Right now, I am sitting in the Norain Kingdom's throne room, on its throne, looking at the headless body of the Norian King. Iena is helping me round up all the nobles as I plan to purge all future threats to the Gravos kingdom and take the Norian Kingdom and its three vassal states under the Gravos Kingdom's banner." I answered. The other side went dead quiet. "Adel?"

"Faith…. Do you mean you have seized control of four different kingdoms at once?" Adel asked in an almost whisper.

"Mmm… Everyone must pay for their sins. Adel, I can not let these people live. The soldiers that invaded our homeland. The people behind the strike against my home village. The deaths of those who were close to me. How can they reincarnate if they are stuck with regrets? I will not allow it. I will find the Prime Minister, and I will use his blood as an offering to those who died so they can reincarnate into a new life without regret. So that they know that they have been avenged." I answered, but the cruel, sinister smile on my lips would not go away even though tears dripped from my eyes.

"Faith... Your ancient will…." Adel's voice of concern entered my ear, but I had no choice. I had to be cruel. I had to turn into evil this one time to rid the world of those who were worse than me. Just like when I cleaned up the nobles of the Gravos Kingdom, I will now do a new purge.

"It's fine… I am still in control. But I need to use a bit of its power. A bit of its ability to allow me to stay composed as I become evil for a short while. Adel…. Please don't hate me…." I closed the connection there as I wiped my eyes. The skeletons had brought in over fifty people. They ranged from all ages. And they all looked up at me with a face filled with fear. I smiled coldly as I leaned over and looked down at them. "From this moment on, I will ask questions. If you are not guilty of any crimes, you will live, but if you are….. You will end up like your king."

The questioning and answering had begun. Those who were innocent were let go but had to sign a blood seal contract with me to never rebel. Those who were not innocent were beheaded. The throne room of the Norian Kingdom was filled with a lake of blood. The soldiers who were outside never once dared to move in to capture me. I had noticed most of them had even fled once I entered the throne room. It seemed they did not wish to lose their lives but sadly….. If they were not innocent, they still lost their lives.

Those who were on the battlefield that were still trapped by my grand falls were all forced into a blood seal contract as well and were now forced to follow all my orders. They were not the ones who attacked my kingdom at the start, so I decided not to kill them. But they were now only able to protect the populace as a form of police.

Once the Norian Kingdom was cleansed, I moved on to the other kingdoms. And only when all was said and done did I open a path from the Gravos Kingdom to the Norian Kingdom. This way, we could send a delegation to each kingdom and annex it under the Gravos banner.

---

A month later, I was standing in the throne room in front of the king of Gravos. He was sitting there staring at me with narrowed eyes. After a long moment of silence, he finally spoke up. "Since you annexed it, you keep the land for yourself. I don't want it."

"That is not how it works, Your Majesty! I was nothing more than a commander in this war. So I was just doing what I was ordered to do. So from this moment on, the land belongs to the Gravos Kingdom. More importantly, now that things have settled down, I do wish to talk to you about something much more important." With the war now over and clean up underway not only in Gravos but the newly annexed kingdoms, The king has been so busy that I could not talk to him about the Prime Minister and about this so called man and why he would have such a grudge against our kingdom.

Chapter3 Issues At Home Part 1

"Humph! I still do not want it! It's yours. Do with it what you will!" The king was acting like a little kid. I turned and looked at the newly appointed advisor for help. He sighed and turned to the King.

"Your Majesty. She has no ability to take over four kingdoms. Only we have such an ability. And… She is right. The kingdom who annexed it would need to take over and reorganize things." The new advisor replied. I do not know his name but good job!

"Dan, you traitor!" The King yelled out. He had a sour look on his face as if all his plans had been destroyed right there.

"Anyway. I need to know who Pholin Segri really was and where he comes from." I asked. If his brother is as powerful as what I have been told, then I will need to make a few plans. It already bothered me that he was able to escape from my detection magic and barrier without even alarming me or leaving a trace behind. I had Iena check the dungeon a few times, but still, nothing was found.

"Pholin, from what I know, was from a town to the north. He made a name for himself in the academy as the smartest person to ever appear. He was not good at magic or swordsmanship, but his knowledge caught my eye, and I allowed him to work in the castle. I am one who values talented people, as you know. He worked hard for many years, and when the previous Prime Minister passed, I appointed him as my new one due to his abilities. Other than that, his past ends at the small village. I have many witnesses that said he grew up in a small family. I am not sure if they were his real parents or not, though." The king replied. But this only left me with more questions.

"I see. Did he, by chance, have any brothers?" I asked.

"Mmm… Yes, he did, but his brother was not the best of people. He was someone who caused a lot of trouble for Pholin when he was starting out to the point that he was banished from the kingdom after he started a fire in the city. He was even injured in the fire. I banished him so he would not cause problems for Pholin anymore." The king's explanation connected a few dots. It explained how he got the burn mark. And if he was a petty man who held a grudge, he would dislike the kingdom even more. But why would Pholin help his brother? Was it because he wanted to become king? Or was it because he could if his brother were to help him?

There were many things I did not know yet and many things I needed help with. "That's it for now. I will be going to the academy tomorrow to gather a team to work at my estate for a while. I need them to research the weapons I found, but I do not trust anyone at this time, so they will need to be under a blood seal contract."

"I will let the Dean know. But I have one question for you, Princess Cyrilia. What is going on between you and my daughter?" The king asked. I figured this would come up sooner or later since the two of us really did not hide it.

"Mmmm… Dating? I guess. We are currently a couple." I answered honestly.

"I see…. I see… I guess she got her wish then. I do hope you will take good care of her. But if she became queen, I guess that means you will be the king… Hoho…. I like this…. Yes! We will hold a formal engagement in two years' time!" The king suddenly yelled out, causing me to hold my head. This man always gets way ahead of himself.

"I think we are not even close to an engagement side of things, but I will let you know if we decide on it," I replied before turning around, ignoring his little outburst. I did not wish to deal with any more headaches. "I will be off. I have many things I need to explain to my parents and things to deal with."

"Yes, you should deal with your family matters.."

---

With my meeting with the king done. I wanted to go home and rest. I spent too much time away and left my entire family at home. I am sure they were worried about me. Sadly my thoughts and reality were not exactly matching up. "Oh! Faith, you are home. How was the war?" My mother asked in a cheery voice. I turned and looked at the others, and they all shook their heads.

My brother walked over to me and whispered into my ear: "Mother has been like this since she woke up. Father is fine, but Mother…."

"I see….. Brother, take Mother to see the flowers in the garden. I need to speak with Father." I said. I wanted to use rewind on my mother, but if it is due to trauma, I do not want to break her. Unless I rewind past that moment but she would still find out about what happened again.

"Huh? I just came in from looking at the flowers!" My mother pouted and stomped her feet. She seemed more childish as well.

"It's fine, Mother. We can talk while we stroll. I wanted to tell you a small secret." My brother said as he took my mother's hand and pulled her along. When my mother heard the word secret, her eyes lit up as she nodded and let my brother lead her away.

My father, who was sitting on the couch, let out a long sigh. "Faith…. I know what you are thinking but do not use that magic on her this time. She needs to overcome this and come to terms with things. While she has retreated to this state for the time being, she is sure to come around eventually. I just hope it will be sooner rather than later…."

Chapter4 Issues At Home Part 2

"I see… I did rewind time for you both but only to the point of reconstructing Mother's limbs…." I sighed as I sat next to my father. He put his arm around me and hugged me.

"To think my daughter has accomplished so much in a span of a few years. You have your own noble family and are even a princess with this fancy estate. You have really made me proud. My baby girl, who was worried about being discriminated against, is now the most powerful person in the kingdom. I know from this moment on, with the things I have heard about going on, that you will be put into harm's way more than once. I just want you to promise me, for both your mother's and my sanity, that you come back alive." My father's voice trembled. I guess he was truly scared of losing me. I hugged him tightly and rested my head on his chest.

"I will do my best to always return home…."

---

My father's expression was not good as I got up and walked away from him. I felt bad for not being able to give him a proper answer, like yes, I will come home safely every time, but sadly, I can not make such a promise, nor will I promise it just to make him feel better. I know he knows this as well.

For now, I can only do my best to stay alive and grow stronger. When I got back to my room, Sophie and Adel were waiting for me. I should have gone to see my mother, but right now, I do not think I can handle seeing her in such a state. I walked over to the two girls sitting on the couch talking to one another and knelt down in front of them, and hugged both their waists.

"Faith?" Sophie's soft voice entered my ear.

"Just let me stay like this for a little while." To be honest, while I knew they would be there for me even if we were not dating, I felt closer to them and more relaxed knowing we were a couple. Adel and Sophie both began to stroke my head taking turns as if it was some kind of game to them. I smiled as I took in their scents. Adel smelled like strawberries, while Sophie smelled like melon. It was very soothing….

"Where is my Faith!? I want to see my Faith!" My mother's voice echoed down the hall loud enough to be heard in my room. I raised my head to see my door burst open and my mother come running into the room with tears in her eyes. "Faith, you are okay! My darling girl!"

My mother didn't even give me time to get up before hugging me tightly and crying into my chest. "I am so glad you are safe!"

I was very confused as to what was going on. I looked up at my brother, who was slightly out of breath and had a red handprint on his face. "Faith, sorry she escaped me. She suddenly said that you were in trouble and ran off."

I nodded and patted my mother's back. "Mother, as you can see, I am fine. Can you tell me what you saw?"

"I saw…. I saw you fighting with a powerful man. And… And he used some kind of spell you were not able to block to shoot a whole right through your body….." My mother explained through choked sobs.

My eyes grew wide. Why did it sound like my mother suddenly had some kind of precognitive power? I bit my lip and looked at my mother, who was trembling. "Mother, you should sleep…."

"Yes, I should…." I'm sorry, mother…. I do not like having to use magic on you, but for now, you should rest. Your mind is being taxed. I gently lifted my mother up and put her on the couch, which Sophie and Adel got up from. I then turned to my brother: "Has Mother had these dreams before? Or these kinds of episodes in the past few years?"

"She…." My brother looked down at the ground, seemingly not wanting to look me in the eye. "She has been having issues with remembering things, but sometimes she will suddenly say something will happen, and it will come to pass. But her mind has been slipping since before Father entered the dungeon."

"Why did you not tell me about something so important!? You just literally told me this stared happening recently in the other room!" I yelled. I mean, what the hell? I may be in the capital, but they could still send me a message!

"Father and I did not want to bother you when you were already dealing with so much….. We know you are bus…."

"I am never too busy to care about my family! She is my mother too! Brother, do not ever hide anything from me again that has to deal with our family, or I will not have an older brother anymore." I yelled out, tears rolling down my cheeks. I did not mean what I said, and I said it out of anger, but I will not let him know. I looked at my mother for a second before biting my lip. "Diablo!"

"Master? Master, why are you crying!?" Diablo's voice became panicky as he saw me in my current state.

"It's nothing but can you…. Can you tell me if there is a spell that can let me check my mother's mind and see if there is anything wrong with it? Her mind is slipping, and she seems to have gained the ability of foresight." I explained while wiping my tears.

"Foresight…. Master, I'm sorry I would not know…. Seeing the future is so rare that it is almost impossible to meet anyone who has it in a single lifetime, so this…. This is not something I can help with…." Diablo lowered his head.

"It's fine. I just thought I would ask…." I looked at my mother, and my lower lip began to tremble once more. I did not wish to keep her like this.

Sophie came and tugged on my sleeve, causing me to turn and look at her: "Faith… the festival will be going on next month, and the fortune teller might appear again. It is a long shot, but she might be able to answer some of your questions."

Chapter5 World Laws Part 1

"The fortune teller…." I thought for a moment before nodding my head. Sophie's idea may just help since not even Diablo had a way to help my mother. "We will do that. For now, I will take Mother back to her room to sleep. The spell will wear off by tomorrow."

"I will have Rachel keep an eye on her. She is good at distracting Mother." My brother still had his head low as he spoke. I sighed as I walked over to him and gave him a hug. "Just do not hide things from me anymore."

"I promise." My brother replied while giving me a hug back.

A few minutes later, my mother was back in her room, sleeping soundly on the bed. She seemed so peaceful as she lay there sound asleep. I reached over and moved a lock of her hair away from her eyes. "Mother, I will find a way to help you."

---

The next day, I found myself standing in the Dean's office. It was not easy to leave the house as my Mother clung on to me for a long time. Rachel, though, seemed to have a knack for being able to keep my mother busy. When I visited the house last time, I never realized just how bad she was. I only found it funny at how much she was clinging to Diablo and the rest, and when I spoke to her alone, she seemed normal. I can only guess that maybe this incident really broke her. I want to rewind her mind to a state to where nothing was wrong, but she would forget everything over the course of those years. While it might work, she would lose a chunk of memory, and my father already said not to do it.

"Dean, sorry for the sudden visit, but I would like your help in gathering a team." I did not wish to waste too much time as I wanted to get the research started as soon as possible on those weapons I stole.

"Mmm… His Majesty did notify me. I have selected the best minds we have in magical research. They are not too happy about the blood seal contract, but they are willing to form one." The Dean replied.

"Alright. I will have a proper facility created in a week's time, along with proper lodging within the facility. It will be underground, though, with many restriction barriers placed on the lab. I do not want any unexpected accidents to happen. So this gives them all a week's time to change their minds about joining." I explained.

"I will be sure they are fully ready by that time." I have to hand it to the Dean. He was always quick about my requests and I kind of felt bad because I kept stealing his people.

"Then I will be back by then," I said with a smile and gave a small bow.

"Oh? You are leaving once more?" The Dean asked, a look of interest flashing across his eyes.

"I need to go to the spirit domain to find something out. But I will be back in a day or so, this I promise." I said my farewells without explaining why I was going to the spirit domain.

I had to go and find out why they were stopping me from using my fusion magic. Since it did not make sense. I asked Little Bell, but she did not give me an answer besides that it was bad. I could only ask the leader of the spirits.

I had to leave everyone at home for this, even though both Sophie and Adel begged to go. But I did not know if the spirit leader would tell me what I wanted to know if I had a group of people with me.

The flight to the spirit Domain only took a few hours at full speed. When I landed at the entrance, the guards did not even stop me and allowed me through without issue. Little Bell also came out of her space and was dancing about as the other spirits began to show themselves. I once again had to tread slowly because the little spirits liked to pop up out of nowhere to the point that I would almost step on them even when I was being careful.

The small glowing light balls that flew about in a teasing manner made me smile. I have always liked this place. It seemed so peaceful. I wished the whole world was like this, but sadly, people's greed, no matter the race, would want to try to make spirits do their bidding. Because although they were small, they also were a very important part of the world itself.

When I reached the top where the spirit leader resided, I once again stood looking at what was probably one of the most powerful beings in the world. Even Little Bell could be considered a god class hazard if she got mad. They were able to control nature itself and could destroy the lands in an instant.

"Child of dragons, you have come as I thought you would…." The spirit leader's voice filled my head.

"Yes…. I am sorry to bother you, but I had to ask why did you stop me? Why is fusion magic bad?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

"Child of dragons…. Fusion magic, as you call it, goes against the basis of this world. While I know you have used it once before, at that time, it was only on a very small scale. But large scale fusion magic can have dangerous effects on the world around it. Let's say you had cast that spell. It could have created a large crater upon explosion, or it could have created an area that would become unlivable, a place where two elements collided and were still fighting one another." The spirit leader lightly explained.

"So what you are saying is that it would break the world's elemental laws? Something like creating an area where nothing but those elemental laws could exist?"

Chapter6 World Laws Part 2

"Yes. The world has many elements, but they only consist of a single element each. There can be no two elements merged into one. While it is possible, as you know, it breaks the laws of the world. No one should have the mana to even sustain such a spell, but you are different. You have a vast amount of mana within your body that even surpasses myself.

"Because of this, you are able to create a fusion between elements and even use it as a spell. But…. if that spell grew out of your control it would create zones that no one would be able to tread. And those zones would grow bigger due to the elements in the air. The affected zone would suck in the two elements it is made of and slowly expand while using the mana in the air to feed the spell without relying on the caster. It would be a kind of elemental being that goes against the laws of nature. This is why elementals are only made of one element." The spirit leader explained.

"I see…." I tapped my finger off my chin. I was currently sitting on the ground with a bunch of spirits hanging off me as I pondered what I was just told. I never thought that fusion magic would have such adverse effects, and I can understand why the spirit leader would want to stop me from using such magic.

"So just to confirm, fusion magic can go out of control of the caster? Is there no way to counteract the magic once it is out of the caster's control?" I asked. If there is a problem, there should always be a solution, right?

"It may be possible, but then you would need to create a spell that could do such a thing. But to test it, you would need to create such a scenario. As such, you would have an out of control fusion magic spell that would slowly consume the planet itself." The spirit leader was right. To create a spell to counteract another spell, you would need to test it out. And even then, it may cause another issue altogether.

"This is really a problem…. I did wish to advance my fusion magic to be more practical. May I ask why you never stopped me during my trial phase or when I actually cast the spell before?" I wondered why they never stopped me from testing my theories out.

"Because you never actually allow it to do anything beyond the fusion process. Only when it leaves the casters hands does it have a chance of causing a disaster that no one could do anything about. While I am sure that you, child of dragons, may one day be able to figure out how to avoid such a thing, for now, while your testing is still in its infancy, I can not allow you to cast such a spell so early." The spirit leader answered.

"So it is not that I can not cast it but because the spell is unsafe in its current form?" I asked.

"Yes. It is against this world's laws to have two or more elements combined, which could potentially create zones that would become unlivable. But if you can find a way to keep the spell from breaking free of the caster's control, then that would be different. But the only way I see that happening is if you change the laws of the world itself." The spirit leader's words threw the little hope I had left right out the window.

"I understand…." So fusion magic is possible. I have used it myself, but it was also much more dangerous than I could have ever imagined. So my earlier tests with my father were actually very dangerous. I could have created a disaster that would have put my entire family and those around me at risk. I guess the only reason the spirit leader was stopping me now was because he knew me and did not wish for me to make such a mistake.

I let out a long sigh. To properly use fusion magic, I would need to be able to control the laws of this world. While it may sound strange, I guess I can only go along with what the spirit leader has said.

"Child of dragons…. Do not be hasty. Learn from what you have created and expand upon it. Maybe one day, you will be able to change this world's laws. And child…." The spirit leader turned to focus on Little Bell. "You must stay with this child of dragons and watch over her. If she ever needs your assistance, do not hesitate to help her."

"I will do what I can for Faith!" Little Bell happily said as she flew around me a few times before disappearing back into my body.

"I leave my little one in your care. I do hope she will never have to use her powers. Child of dragons, I hope the spirits of the world will be with you as you journey through this world. Now go." The spirit leader closed its eyes, and before I knew it, I was at the entrance of the spirit domain.

"Faith…. Do not mind the leader…. The leader is just tired…." Little Bell's voice came from within me.

"Little Bell…. Is the spirit leader…. Never mind…." I had a feeling something might be going on with the spirit leader, but I also feel that Little Bell was much more than just a small spirit. After all… she seemed to have some of the same powers as the spirit leader.

When I got home, it was already dark, so I planned to begin working on the underground testing area the next day. My mother clung on to me for a few hours before Rachel was able to convince her to go to bed. Sadly she would not listen to me, nor did I have the heart to push my mother away. When I finally climbed into bed, it was already very late. Sophie and Adel snuggled up next to me, allowing me to feel their warmth.

I am feeling stressed, very stressed. There is so much going on but so little time. I can only try to prepare for the things to come in the fastest time possible. Maybe just maybe, this time around, things will move slowly. And I can try to enjoy a bit more out of life than the current craziness that has been happening. To be honest, I just want a peaceful life and to spend my days with the people I love while traveling the world with out a care.

Chapter7 Research Lab

I woke up early the next morning, even before Grace walked in and slipped out of the clutches of the two girls before freshening up and getting dressed. I had a lot to do today so I wanted to have a quick breakfast and get to work. As I opened the door Grace was right there about to open it herself. I quickly raised my finger to my lips, which Grace nodded in response. "Let them sleep in today."

"Yes, Master," Grace replied with a polite bow. "Grace, did you want to take some time off and visit your parents?"

"I was actually going to ask if I could take a week off in two weeks' time.." Grace replied. I had to put things in work terms, or Grace wouldn't listen to me. She was very adamant about being my personal maid.

"That's fine. Anytime you want to take time off, just tell me." I said with a smile.

"If I took too much time off, you would sleep in and slack off. While mornings like this are not bad, you still have a bad habit of not getting up even when you need to go to the academy. You need to keep a set schedule to regulate your body otherwise, you might get sick." How did giving time off result in me being scolded?

"I will listen to the great and wonderful Miss. Grace! Please go easy on me, Miss. Grace!" I said teasingly, which caused me to get pinched. I laughed and ran down the hall. I turned around to stick my tongue out at her again to see her slowly walking down the hall with a small smile on her face. But when she realized I was looking, her face went back to being as serious as ever.

After a light breakfast, I went outside and began using earth magic to form the entry away to the underground research center. Luckily with earth magic, you can form a rocky layer over the dirt walls. Once the main entrance was done, I used detection to find a good location to begin making the first floor of the research center. To start, I only took out a space big enough for me to fit with ease and created a teleport magic inscription on the floor of the entrance that would activate with a bit of magic. After testing it a few times with some rocks, I was able to get the positioning and depth right. Only then did I teleport myself down.

After casting a light orb, I made the area I was in stone and then opened up the areas around me a bit more. "I am about a hundred feet underground, so…. I can go up about fifty feet, I guess."

I used earth magic to continue expanding the entire area. Then made a second teleport room that would lead to the living area. With a bit of magic to create ventilation, the base structure of the research lab was done. "Okay, time to take out my items here…."

I set up all the weapons I had in a line against a wall, spaced out evenly. I then built enclosures around them with multiple barriers in case anything happened while they were being worked on. "I am not sure if this will keep the strange power from destroying anything, but it will also give me time to investigate exactly what this power is so I can make new countermeasures."

I have to admit I was a little excited to tinker with my new toys. Well, calling them toys is a bit of an understatement. But I was very curious to see how this thing ticked. If I am able to create a spell to defend against this kind of magic, then I will not need to worry anymore about what we are attacked with. Which reminds me….

"Let's put both of those over here….." I forgot about the things from the dungeon. Even X7 still has yet to be taken out.

I took out the two large rooms with the massive energy source and set up a teleport to these two new places. Luckily everything seemed intact and was working properly even after transferring everything. I then took the ship I found along with all the other tech I found and set it all up within these rooms. "We will need more researchers…."

I had too many things and little staff. At most, I can get a few brains from the academy but this is not enough. "Should I speak to the dean about it? Or maybe have the King and the Dean come take a look to see what we can do…."

I tapped my finger off my chin for a moment and nodded: "Yes, I will get the king involved, then he can give me funding for research and hiring of staff…. Hehe… Old man, you better be ready!"

With everything set up, I returned to the house and let X7 out of my inventory. "This is…?"

"Annie, this is X7. You can get him a room with the servants' area for the time being." After saying this, I turned to X7, who was looking around curiously at everything, and said: "Annie here will help settle you in. What you do from here is up to you."

"What I want to do?" X7 asked while tilting his head. I guess he was still unsure of how to handle making decisions of his own yet. He had a will of his own but he was probably still listening to his base programming.

"For now just spend a few days and follow Annie around. She will be working but it will give you a bit of insight on what this world is like. Annie, I know it might be a bit of trouble but X7 is from the dungeon I went to. He is not human." I could see Annie looking at me with a questioning gaze so I decided to explain things.

Chapter8 Getting Funding

"So Boss, you are saying this is what is called a robot or a kind of golem?" Annie asked. I used golem instead of android since they are basically the same thing, except one is made from technology.

"Yes. But he does not work on magic. He has come to be sentient, the same as you or me but is currently lost on what to do with himself due to his basic programming. Although I am sure that makes no sense to you. But just think of it as the magic inscription inside of him is messed up at this time." I tried to explain, but with no knowledge of robots and the like in this world, it is kind of hard.

"I see. Then I will do as you say and take him with me." Annie said her goodbyes and led X7 away. If anything, I was hoping maybe X7 would be able to help Annie out a bit since he was an A.I. he would be able to learn the things she does quickly and, if anything, would become a good assistant for her.

With X7 taken care of, I headed back to the castle to speak with the King. For some reason, no matter when I come, this man always seems free. Because even now, when there was so much to do, he still made time to see me. "Your Majesty."

"Shouldn't you just be calling me father in law now?" The king asked with a smirk on his lips. I rolled my eyes as I said: "Not so soon yet. I actually came today to see if you had some time to spare. I would like to request funding for a few things from the kingdom as my backer and hope you can take a look at what I am requesting funding for beforehand."

"Oh? Then let's go now. I do have a few meetings later, so now is the best time." The king replied as he stood up. I could see that the current advisor, Dan, looked troubled, but sadly I also did not have time to wait either. These were all things for the kingdom anyway and would hopefully help out in the long run. Especially that ship…..

"Thank you for your time." After giving the proper etiquette that was needed, I left the castle with the king and headed to the new research facility. The first thing I showed was the weapons I took during the war.

"So these are the things that can bypass barriers?" The king asked.

"Yes and no. From what my brother said, they are slowed down by barriers but nothing more. And fire magic seems to counteract them. I did not get a chance to see if a barrier mixed with fire element is able to stop the attack or not. That is why the barriers here in each of these rooms are all elemental based. Each element on each barrier, with the fire element barrier being the final layer of protection. The smaller ones are not what attacked my home village though it was the big one at the end." I explained.

"I see… to think such weapons existed. The energy coming from these is strange as well." The king rubbed his chin and then looked at me. "My guess is that this is not the reason you want funding from the kingdom, right?"

"Right. This is already settled since I have the dean bringing some of the best minds to work on how this works and what this new energy is. The things I want your help in funding to gather the minds needed for them is down below." I said before bringing the King to the next teleporter. When we arrived, I watched as his eyes went wide when he saw the massive ship in the hangar.

"This… What is this!?" The king asked.

"It is an airship. It might even be capable of going outside the planet into space as well. I am not too sure. It is a form of technology that comes from another time and place, what I can only think of as a parallel world. Think of this world as a starting point, and then during each phase of the evolution of the world, it splits off into many copies that all differ by a fraction of the last. As these copies make copies, they also differ until you have an infinite number of copies that are all different. Some with magic, some with no magic but based on technology. We can be said to be in a magic based world, while the same world would be a highly advanced technological world in one of the parallel worlds.

"Of course, this is all my own assumptions, and I have no way of knowing for a fact yet if this is true, but this whole facility is a mix of magic and technology. The power source that is powering this place could power the entire planet, and more is called a Mana Capacitor. And just so you know, I have two of such power sources." I explained. But this only caused the king to turn and look at me with a strange gaze.

"Are you sure you do not want to become que,...."

"Stop! I am not looking to become some ruler. I just want to boost our kingdom's technology, so we are not left behind. You saw the weapons on the previous floor. They are all highly advanced and seem to be made with our own world's powers. They differ from what we have down here. But they could also be tech found in a dungeon too. I am not sure, but whatever it is, we must make ourselves a kingdom that is able to ward off all enemies that seek to harm it. We do not want to lose more lives due to senseless wars." I looked at the king and bowed my head: "Please allow me some funding so I can reach out to the best minds in the world to come and work here."

"I see…. If this is the case, then I will do what I can to help. But for such things like this, I would think we will need the dwarves' assistance. They are some of the best craftsmen and are known for making some metal golems."

Chapter9 The King's Decision

"I can talk to Thurul about speaking with the dwarves. He has some connection to the dwarven kingdom. I should probably talk with the elves as well. I can speak to Runa and see if she knows anyone good at magic technology." Now that I think about it, I have made quite a few connections over the past few years.

"Why is it that you have just about the same connections as I, the king do? I think this is just fate telling us that you must be destined to be the ruler of my Gravos Kingdom! Haha! It is only a matter of time." Hearing the king once more bring up my taking over his position made me roll my eyes. I decided not to even talk about it.

"Anyway, besides this, there is one more hanger." I had split the items up between the two hangers. Mainly because I wanted to keep the airship hanger as free of space as possible. It already held two airships, one to take apart and try to re-engineer and the other to keep as a guide on how to put it all back together.

"Another one!?" The king seemed surprised. He followed me to the teleportation point and transferred over to the second hanger. It was here where I stored all the cars and other technology that I found.

"As you can see, this one is filled with various types of technology, from land moving cars to flying cars. Ah, umm, cars are like carriages. But besides that, there are different kinds of devices and other quality of life things we can use to really better the lives of our people in the kingdom." I began to explain the various things, which some things the king felt intrigued about while others he was confused about. But this was probably just my bad explanation.

"I can see you really thought a lot about this kingdom. Not just about defense but for the betterment of society altogether. With the things, you have here, even if it was released slowly and heavily regulated, it would make a huge change in the peoples' day to day lives. Faith between everyone I know, even myself, you think more about the people and this kingdom than anyone else. It truly amazes me that you are so willing to always think about what can help the kingdom. What can better the lives of the people. Even the weapons. Instead of destroying them, which was what most people would have done in your situation, you thought to not destroy them but also to steal them for our own use." The king paused and placed his hand on my head.

"I have decided to make Adel my heir to the throne. While I know this is crafty and scheming by me. I will be upfront about it. Whether you end up being with her in the end or not, I do hope you will be at her side, helping her in the future to come.

"There is no telling what tomorrow will bring. We could come under attack at any time, and the kingdom could be utterly destroyed. I hope with your skill and know how that you will be willing to protect Adel no matter what and keep her safe to rise up and give birth to a new kingdom with the same or even better values as the one we have now. As king and as a father, I hope I can leave my daughter and the heir to the throne in your hands." The king bowed deeply to me. This time he was not joking around. These were his heartfelt words.

But even still, I felt kind of bad for Lance, who had been working hard all this time to become a good king. To be honest, I am not sure what to say about this. I guess the king also understood my feelings because his next words explained everything. "I am not making this decision suddenly. I have been watching the three of you all this time. I would be stupid not to see my daughter's true feelings for you. Even Lance knows that Adel has been in love with you from the start. And when you told me bluntly that you two were now dating, I had a meeting with Lance. And we both came to a decision. No one cares about power in my family. They only care about the people they rule over.

"This means once I told Lance about the two of you, Lance immediately let go of his right to the throne and told me to make Adel the first heir to the throne as well as making you the second heir. We both think that if Adel takes the throne with you by her side, the kingdom will prosper for many, many years to come. And if something happens to Adel that you could take up the reigns and bring the kingdom back from the brink of destruction.

"I may be putting all my eggs into one basket by doing this, but I see hope in your way of thinking. I see a future where the Gravos Kingdom flourishes and will stand tall against any and all adversaries. So please think about it. No matter how much you are against it. I hope you will decide at that time what you truly want. But if you decide to part with Adel, I still hope you can help her out in the future." The king's words were heavy. And that heaviness did not feel right. I felt like I was being pushed into a corner because he knew my personality way too much.

"I can only promise to think about it. Nothing is certain about the future." I said no more after that. I escorted the king back to the castle and went back home after. My drive for the day was sapped after speaking with the king. He didn't even say when he would announce that Adel would be the new heir to the throne.

I sat on my bed, lying there staring at the ceiling, lost in thought. I didn't even notice Jen until she jumped on the bed, scaring the hell out of me. "Jen, don't do that!"

"Why are you so gloomy?"

Chapter10 In Need Of People

"I just have a lot on my mind," I said as I rolled over and looked at her. "Jen, do you think I am trying to do too much?"

"Too much? What do you mean?" Jen asked as she got comfortable.

"Like… Do you think I am working too hard? As someone who is in the position to help those around me, I can't help but want to reach out to the people and try to help make their lives easier. It seems I am doing everything for everyone else, but I am forgetting about myself…." Sometimes I wonder if I am not stopping to take a look at myself instead of those around me.

"Mmmm…. I think it depends on the person. The Faith I knew before was someone who only cared about reading her books. The Faith I know now is no longer the Faith of the past. She is responsible and dependable, and will do anything she can for others. And…. I see you smile more often now than I have seen you do in the past. Faith you may not have realized it, but you draw people to you. You bring people together and are born to lead. You are caring and decisive. You know when to be tough and when to shed blood.

"I heard about what happened during the invasions. Both of them. You sacrifice yourself for the greater good, even if it means going in alone. People look up to you and even worship you. I have gone to the slums that you have slowly been reclaiming to see a bustling community with people smiling happily and working hard every day. Did you know that one of the people living there sculpted a statue in your honor? Faith, your actions help people in more ways than not, and you barely ask for anything in return.

"You have given people their lives back. You have given people a chance at a new life, and you have saved more lives than you can ever imagine. I think that you of now is worthy of people's respect. There is even a good number of people who wish you would become the next ruler of the kingdom. I know you have not had time to get out, but what you have accomplished in the few years you have arrived in the capital is more than anyone can ever hope to do in their entire lives. And while doing all of this, you are smiling. You show expressions I never thought you could make.

"In truth, Faith, I am very happy for you, the friend who was so selfless that she would push me out of the way of an oncoming truck just to save me. And not only that, I am thankful to the you who saved me yet again from the loneliness that I have lived in this world since arriving here. So if you get burdened by the load you have taken, then stop and take a breather. No one will fault you, and no one will leave you because of it." Jen took my hand and pressed it against her forehead. She was always my bestest friend, and she knew me better than anyone else. This is why hearing these words allowed me to feel a bit better about myself and the things I was doing.

"Maybe I will take a small break after I gather people…." I mumbled to myself.

"Oh? Faith is in bed with another woman?" Adel's voice entered my ears, causing both me and Jen to turn to look at her. She was standing there with her arms crossed across her chest and a teasing look on her face. She normally would be freaking out, but now that we are dating, she has mellowed out a lot.

"Mmmm…. We were having a lot of fun too. Do you want to join?" I asked, teasing her back. Adel smiled and jumped on top of me, kissing my lips.

"Should I leave?" Jen asked with a chuckle.

"No! I was just coming in to get changed. My father has sent me a message to go to the castle. He wants to speak with me alone." Adel said as she crawled back off the bed. "Faith, do you know what my father wants to talk to me about? You were with him earlier, right?"

"Yeah, but I think it's best that he tells you and not me. That old man can never sit still for a second." I replied as I slowly sat up. "Take Sophie and Sei with you just in case."

"Alright. I will." Adel replied as she began to get undressed.

I watched for a minute before laying back down. I was tired and wanted to rest, but this thought was short lived because I once again sat back up. "I guess I should head to the lower city. Jen, you want to come?"

"I guess. Not like I have much to do." Jen replied. With that, we all got ready to head out.

It was not just Jen who was coming with me this time but also Annie and X7 as well. We were all heading to Thurul's place, which was now located next to the factory. He moved his entire shop just to be closer to the company itself. I really owe him a lot because he is practically the face of my company alongside Annie.

"Haha! Long time no see!" Thurul let out a joyful laugh as he saw me walk through the door of his shop. "What brings you down here, Princess?"

"Can you not call me princess? I already have it hard enough." I said with a long, drawn out sigh as I flopped down onto his couch.

"Well, you can't really go against what you are now. Anyway, why are you down here? I wasn't expecting you for a month or so." Thurul asked as he poured some tea.

"I need your help," I said as I pulled out a crystal orb from my space and placed it on the table. I then put some mana into it, causing a bunch of pictures to appear in the air. "I need people. People who know how to combine magic and technology to reverse engineer everything you see here."

Chapter11 Preparing To Set Out

"This… what is all of this!?" Thurul stared at the images with wide eyes. He stood up and got closer to the images trying to take them all in. "This…. Where did you get all of this!?"

I chuckled to see how excited Thurul was. "I found it all in a dungeon I last entered. I was hoping we could form a team…."

"Let's go! Right now! We need to get started on this right away!" Thurul suddenly yelled out, causing everyone to be startled.

"Thurul, give at least two days to prepare. Getting to the Dwarven kingdom will take time." I said, trying to calm him down. I know he wanted to get things started right away, but first, we needed to prepare.

"Alright, two days. But you need to go with me. To make those old guys move, we need someone with enough power and influence in this kingdom. And that is you." Thurul replied.

"Alright. I will first tell the king and begin preparations. We will meet here at your shop by first bell two days from today." I had to make sure everyone was set before I left. This included telling the king and also telling the dean that I would be gone for a while. Luckily I was ahead in my studies. Not that the curriculum was hard, but I did wish to have some more time studying how to command armies better. While I did think I did okay this time around, I still ended up finishing everything myself. Which, in truth, was not ideal. I also had many things to take care of as well. Maybe I should set up a barrier around the entire kingdom….

"Alright, I am off. I will see you in two days." I said as I picked up the crystal orb. Thurul's expression sank as the images disappeared. I chuckled and said my goodbyes, and headed back to the house with Jen.

"So…. You are heading to the dwarven kingdom. To think the Faith I know who used to lock herself in her room unless dragged out would be willing to go to another kingdom at will." I looked at Jen and stuck my tongue out at her. Only she would tease me like this.

"It is all for the plans I have in mind," I said with a smile.

"But it seems to me that your plans pretty much put you in a position that will make you in a higher power than the king himself. Why not just take the king up on his offer and become queen?" Jen asked.

"A queen can not make trips as she pleases, nor can she accomplish everything she wants when stuck dealing with nobles and other political matters. Think about it. When did those in charge on Earth ever run around as they pleased while not taking care of their duties? I don't want to be locked down. Nor do I have the will to take full control of a country. My goal is to assist the kingdom that has been so good to my family and me." I explained. I do not have such lofty goals of being a ruler. While I have had a few dreams where such a thing has happened, but that did not mean it would come to pass. However, it does seem some things will move in that direction no matter how much I try to ignore it. It's just that…

"This time, I will need to go alone…." I needed the girls to do me a favor while I was gone because I could be gone for more than a month. I needed the girls to help watch over my mother. I will be setting up a temporary teleport from wherever I am to quickly make a trip back to the capital to take my mother to the fortune teller, but I will need to return quickly and continue my journey.

---

"So you will be heading out?" The king asked after I told him my plans.

"Yes, I will be heading to the dwarven kingdom to bring back people to help me with the things we talked about," I answered. I kept it vague as I did not want others to know about what I had hidden under my estate.

"I understand. A trip to the dwarven capital will take four years by airship. We do have a teleportation circle set up for the kingdom, but it can only be used for political means. So I can not allow you to use it. I am sorry. But I can allow you to take an airship. We do have a small airship that can make the trip in four years' time." The king's words made me remember just how vast this world is. While I could probably make it there in a shorter time if I was by myself, but sadly I needed to bring Thurul with me in order to have any chance of finding people. But this made me slightly confused….

"Wait, how did the sly cat from the beast kingdom and the elf princess of the elf kingdom get here so quickly?" I asked because it made no sense for them to arrive here in such a short time.

"They had special means to arrive in our kingdom. I can not say how they did it. But if you were to become…."

"Stop! Why does our conversation always turn out like this!? Anyway…. I will be speaking to the Dean as well since I need to set up a way to keep taking my military tactics courses. I don't want to fall behind since by the time I get back, I will be able to graduate." I really did not want to miss anything, so I figured with some runic inscriptions, I might be able to set up a few things to allow me to still attend class and also talk with my family and loved ones while I am gone. With an emergency teleport set up, I can also return almost instantly if need be.

Chapter12 Departure

So unexpectedly I secured an airship to fly to the dwarven kingdom in. After making a few special kinds of crystal orbs I was able to secure the ability to attend classes and even ask questions if need be. On top of that, I made a few for my family as well. They also acted as a point of teleport as well, which means the orbs that I have are able to act as a means of teleporting me to my house, Adel, Sophie, and all my family members.

After settling things and making sure I could come and go if needed, the morning to leave had finally arrived. I had to have Thurul stay at my estate the night prior since we would not be going by carriage. Last night both Adel and Sophie clung on to me the entire night. We did nothing but kiss but it was a very long kissing session.

"Faith, you better contact us every day!" Adel said stubbornly as she hugged me tightly. I smiled and hugged her back.

"I will. I will be back as soon as I get enough people. Luckily I can teleport back here in an instant when that happens. When I get back, I hope to see an amazing Crown Princess." I said with a smile.

"Humph! That stupid old man." Adel whined. She had been told she was going to be the first heir to the throne. She was not too happy about it but when she heard why she suddenly became fired up about it.

"Faith…." Sophie tugged on my sleeve. I turned and smiled at her pulling her into the hug as well. I then leaned down and kissed them both on the lips.

After I broke my hug with the girls, I looked at Iena and Diablo who also stood at the side. I scratched my head and walked over to the and hugged them both and gave them a kiss on the cheek. It was more a friendship kiss, but it was also to tell them that I had not forgotten about anything. "Diablo, you and Iena will be my sword and shield while I am gone. I leave the protection of the kingdom in your hands. Also…."

I pulled the two demons close and hugged them tightly. "Diablo, take care of Iena while I am gone, and Iena, take care of Diablo. You two are with me, but I still want you two to get along as well."

"Master…." Iena blushed. I know she still loved Diablo, so using the fact that they had formed a marriage pact with me is a way to get them closer.

"Master this…." Diablo's cheeks turned red. He knew what I meant, and seeing him acting shy was kind of cute.

"I rely on you both a lot. And I wish for everyone to be happy. As I said before, I am not someone who has really come to love anyone yet. Adel and Sophie are the ones I have come to be intimate with, but that does not mean I have forgotten about you two. Diablo, Iena, you are both bound to me. In more ways than one, so I will not abandon either of you in my lifetime. And to be honest, I may one day want to start a family as well. But before any of that happens, I must grow to know more about the two of you as well, just like how I have grown to know so much about Adel and Sophie, and yet we still are only at the stage of kissing. I want all four of you to be happy. This is my wish. But at the same time, I do not want to force anything, either. What happened between the three of us was a misunderstanding on both our parts, but I will also not run away from my responsibility.

"But we need time to grow together and nurture the feelings we have and then see where it takes us in the future. Just like how Sophie and Adel kiss, I do not mind if you two nurture feelings between yourselves as well. After all…. We are all tied together, right?" It may sound weird to some. But I have come to terms with the way things are between those around me. Adel and Sophie have grown close enough to kiss, and it doesn't bother me either. I do not feel jealousy because they both truly love me as well. It might be that I am broken in terms of relationships, but to me, seeing those I care for being close also makes me smile. Of course, it would be different if it was not someone in our strange circle that we have now.

"Master!" Iena hugged me tightly and leaned close to my ear before whispering: "Thank you."

Diablo scratched his head. His ears were burning red, causing me to smile. I waved him over. Seeing this, he slowly got closer and joined in on the hug.

I said my goodbyes to my family and friends before boarding the airship. It was of a smaller size, but it still had quite a few rooms and a lot of storage. There was a full bath and even a kitchen as well. This was once an airship owned by a noble, one of which had been exterminated during the purge.

"Lass, we will be in for a long journey. I hope you don't mind this old face of mine." Thurul said as she sat on the couch in the main sitting room of the ship.

"Thurul, I have seen your old face enough not to cry anymore," I said jokingly, causing him to snort at me.

"Yes, Master has seen your ugly face enough to be immune to even the ugliest of people in the world." A voice came from behind me. I turned to see Grace standing there as if her presence was as natural as natural can be.

"Grace!? Why are you here!?" I cried out.

"Master, you did not think that you would be able to leave this servant behind, did you? Whether you told me to stay or not I had full intention of following you because you are my master and if I allow you to slack off for even a second you would become lazy. After all there is no telling when you will take over the world and need to actually do things in a proper manner. It is my job to make sure you are ready for such a schedule."

Chapter13 Strange Energy 1

"So you snuck aboard?" I asked, feeling amazed by Grace's ability to just pop up out of nowhere. Now that I think about it, I did not see her when I set off.

"Master, the word snuck on is a bit demeaning. I walked right on without issue. I even sat near the rear of the airship out of sight while it took off and waited for this moment to appear." Grace proudly replied.

At this, I couldn't help but laugh out loud. "So, in other words, you snuck on." I shook my head and slouched down in my chair. "Not that it matters what is done is done. Did you at least tell someone else, or should I notify the house?"

"I left a note for Annie stating that I would be away for some time in order to serve Master properly," Grace answered with a firm nod.

Thurul was at the side, chuckling while I held my head. "Now that you are here, take one of the rooms. We are in for a long trip, after all."

"Then I will go about my daily routine and make sure the ship is kept clean. Master, you still have classes later, so, please make sure you do not miss them." Grace gave a bow before turning around and going about her tasks. She was strange. A noble lady turned servant. All because of a blood seal contract that put her in this role. I still feel bad and want to fix this issue, but sadly there is no way. Not unless I rewind her entire life back to before then, but she refused no matter what I said.

"Lass, the next few years will be long. I say we stop off in a few places along the way." Thurul took out a map and laid it on the table in front of us, then began pointing at a few places. "Here and here."

"This is?" I looked at the spots he was pointing at, and they were not major cities or anything but places far from any known town or city.

"They are sights of interest because they are known to have strange energy fluctuations. The dwarven kingdom has wanted to investigate this strange energy source for a while but they can't due to it being on other people's lands. And for some reason, the kingdoms involved will not allow it either. So I am suggesting that we take a peek ourselves. It may be related to the energy you talked about with those weapons." Thurul explained.

"I see… Then let's change course slightly and head to the first spot. It will make our trip about a half year longer but it will be worth it if we gain something from visiting these areas." I would not pass this chance up. If the areas in question actually had something to do with the strange energy, then it would be well worth the extra time it took to reach these places.

---

Two years later….

"Lass, we are almost there." A voice came over the com as I slowly rose from my slumber. It's been two years since I set off. Adel and Sophie have talked to me every night for hours on end until we all fell asleep.

Diablo and Iena have also been doing well together. Although Diablo said he would not have a child with Iena since he was married to me and that only I was allowed to bear his children if I so choose, but as I had asked, he had been treating Iena very well as a lover since then, which was good.

Iena talked nonstop about how happy she was and told me she did not forget her duty to me either. She said she was still saving herself for me when the time came, which made me blush. In other words, the two have never gone past kissing, from what I understand.

To be honest during this time I have to say that all four of the people in my relationship I guess you can call it, were still always thinking about me. I gave them permission to nurture their own feelings toward each other, but they still think of me before themselves. But I guess since they all seem to be happy, that is good. I do make a trip back to see them once a month, which turns into a huge fuss since it is only one day. On that day, the airship is docked someplace out of the way in order to not lose the teleport point.

But besides me trying to stay in contact with everyone, it has really been a long journey so far, and the first stop on our list before the dwarven kingdom was a place inside a kingdom called Golentod. It was a very small secluded kingdom within a mountain range between two other kingdoms. The Kingdom of Tross and the Kingdom of Yorn. All three are human kingdoms, and all three allow enslavement of demi humans so people like Thurul and me are number one to be attacked and enslaved.

"You ready, Lass?" Thurul asked. He was now in full metal armor with a huge hammer on his back. This was Thurul's battle gear.

"Yeah, let's head down. Grace, the ship is covered in a multi elemental barrier. If you get attacked, take the ship and leave. Contact me when you are safe, and Thurul and I will catch up. If they are able to land on the ship, escape through one of the many escape teleports, I set up after activating the core orb I gave you to cause the ship to self destruct. You will only have five seconds, so make sure you activate it only after you are about to teleport away." I had taken everything into account. Because of the area we were in, I did not wish to allow Grace, who was a support type mage, to get captured. While she was stronger than average, I still worried. So I was leaving her on the ship with many ways of escape.

Chapter14 Strange Energy 2

"Master, I will be sure to stay safe so please focus on your task at hand," Grace replied with a smile. I nodded and stepped forward to hug her before turning to Thurul.

"Alright, let's head down. Hold on tight." I said as I motioned for Thurul to hold on to me. I was going to be flying down and Thurul was not able to fly so he had to hold on to me.

"Take care, Master!" Grace yelled out as I jumped off the airship.

"Lass, if you drop me, this old man will haunt you!" Thurul cried out as we fell towards the ground at a high speed. Only when we broke through the cloud bank did I spread my wings to slow our descent.

"If that happens, I will welcome you to haunt me," I replied with a chuckle. I looked down at the mountain range we were headed to and pursed my lips when I saw a factory hidden deep in one of the valleys. "Thurul that?"

"Looks like a refinery. It seems the power source or whatever needs to be refined in order to be used. And it seems this small kingdom has a means of refining it. My guess is they probably sell it to the neighboring kingdoms as well, otherwise, they would have already been wiped out by the larger kingdoms. Although, I can understand why after all if you have such a power source it is best to use it to profit from it. " Thurul answered.

"Or they are not selling it and have such a strong military that uses this new energy that can ignore barriers that no one dares to attack." I was unsure which one of us was right, but I can say I do not plan to go and ask either.

"That is true as well. Anyway, let's take a look. But Lass, don't make any snap judgments. If they are enslaving demi humans it will not be pretty. But we need to keep ourselves from reacting too much." Thurul warned. I knew what he was saying, but if I see anything that goes beyond manual labor, I will not even think before acting.

"I will do my best. I mean, I could just wipe the whole kingdom out with a single phrase." My lips curled up into a sinister smile, causing Thurul's body to tremble.

"Well, anyway, let's land somewhere out of the way. We don't want to be noticed just yet." Thurul suggested. I nodded and flew over to a dense area filled with trees and landed in a small clearing on the back side of it.

"It's quiet…. A little too quiet…." I mumbled as I looked around. The wind was blowing, so all I could hear was the rustling of the trees, but that was it. I could not hear any birds or monsters at all. There wasn't even an insect in sight.

"It might have something to do with this new energy. If there is an abundance of it in the area, monsters and other animals which use mana as a means to sustain themselves might not want to get near it." Thurul suggested. But this suggestion did seem quite sound. But something came to mind.

"Thurul, if you knew of such energy before, why didn't you mention it until we got onto the airship?" I asked.

"It was not like I was trying to hide it, but I saw no need if you were just going to jump in without understanding what we were up against. Plus, would you spend two years flying out here just to investigate something that might not be sound? Yes, you might have been able to talk to His Majesty and ask him to send people, but what good is that if you do not have someone who is at least knowledgeable in magitech? I wouldn't have even suggested coming here if you were not here. This is the only safe way to inspect another kingdom's source of power. And that is to have a power stronger than the kingdom itself." I see, so Thurul was worried something would have happened, and then it would have caused a bigger issue.

"That does make sense, but you could have still told me," I replied as I let out a sigh. "Thurul, I am going to put a few barriers around your body. And tether you to my mana. "

"Oh? Why so cautious?" Thurul looked up at me with a questioning gaze.

"Because the area is too quiet. As you said, the other monsters and animals might have fled from this place, but why? Why would they flee when there is still mana in the air? I think this special kind of energy might be toxic. If that is the case, we need to be sure that we are keeping ourselves safe. From what I know from the energy in the weapons I found, they were contained in a blanket of mana and also mixed with mana itself, which caused the energy to be stable. But….. if the energy, if it is the same, is in its natural environment, then it could be very toxic to living beings." I explained. I did not want to cause either of us to get sick from an unknown energy.

"Ah! This is something I did not think of." Thurul scratched his head, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Well, I am usually one to be more cautious when it comes to the unknown." If I did not set myself up in the dungeon to be able to be pulled back from that house when the Wraith attacked me, then I might have been killed then and there without being able to defend myself. Which reminds me, I still need to ask my father what skill he learned to kill wraiths and ghosts with. "For now, let's move slowly. And watch our surroundings carefully just in case something else is here that we should worry about. Because it could be more than just the strange energy that has caused this place to be free of life except for the trees and plants."

Chapter15 Stealing A Kingdom Part 1

I did not know what it was about plants, but they seemed perfectly fine and flourishing even though the animals had all disappeared from the area. My guess was that since they do not take in anything but mana the other kind of energy would just bounce off their outer layer, unlike animals and people that need to breathe in the air around them, which will result in taking in both mana and the strange energy into the body. Hopefully, Thurul and I do not get sick from breathing in the air that we did. Just in case I did cast a healing spell on us.

We made our way through the forest, and I kept my detection magic, scanning the entire area. In order to not set off any kind of monitoring system, I made sure to keep the area I was detecting short range. While I know I did not really need to worry about who would show up, I still did not wish to alert anyone of my position since I was using illusion magic to hide the two of us as we made our way toward the refinery.

"Lass, there it is." Thurul pointed at the opening between the trees after a thirty minute walk, we had arrived at our destination.

The refinery was like nothing I had seen on this planet so far. It seemed more like some kind of steampunk style place because there were many smokestacks and metal piping everywhere, along with many huge cogs that interconnected, turning one another.

The building itself was made from brick and metal. And there were open air windows with nothing stopping the elements from passing through them. The loud sounds of machinery grinding inside could be heard, causing Thurul and me to look at one another before nodding and proceeding on.

We did not speak but used hand signals to tell each other which way to go next. We walked around the back of the refinery to see carts and carts of a blue glowing ore that emitted the strange power. I have never seen this kind of ore before, not even in books. I could only turn to my appraisal skill to see exactly what it was.

[Plasmite]

[High density mutated wind elemental filled ore used in the refinement of plasmatic material.]

[Good source of energy.]

I pulled on Thurul's sleeve, causing him to nod as we followed the ore carts inside. What we found was a massive refinery that was taking the ore and using super heated mana to melt it down into a liquid and mixing it with concentrated Mana.

[Mana Infused Plasma]

[A material that can only be made by melting down plasmatic material. ]

[Due to its properties and mana mixtures, it is able to ignore certain elements.]

[Highly combustible when exposed to air or fire. But also very flexible, allowing it to be stretched and pulled.]

Reading the information, I patted Thurul on the shoulder once more and motioned for us to leave. We quickly retreated back to the forest, where we found a downed tree and sat on it. "Lass, what did you find out?"

"Using my appraisal skill, I was able to figure out that the rock itself is called plasmite. It's an ore infused with a mutated variant of wind element. The reason that it takes on the form of a rock like that is because of its high density and mutation. The refined product is called plasmatic material, which is then used to create mana infused plasma. But because of its mutation, it differs from normal wind elements and is able to ignore most other elements. But it is also highly combustible, which is why when it makes contact with fire, it will explode. It is also able to stretch as well which is probably why it can be fired in a beam shape. This is all speculation, though. They might do something else to it as well." I was thinking that maybe it was shot out like a rubber band. It's pulled to its upper most limit, then left, sending it flying. When the back side of it finally retracts, it will slam into itself, causing an explosion or sorts, or when it finally hits something.

"Strange indeed, but does this explain anything about the Prime Minister and his brother?" Thurul asked.

"I am not sure. Maybe he has a way to harness the power or is using special tools created using this same power source. There is no way of telling until I find that bastard." I said through gritted teeth. I want the Prime Minister's entire body so I can soak the now barren land of my home village in his blood.

"Lass?" Thurul called out to me, causing me to come out of my small trance. It was hard controlling my anger every time I thought of that man.

"Sorry. Anyway, we need to take this kingdom for the Gravos Kingdom. But first, I will need to speak to the king to see what he thinks." Taking the kingdom is easy enough. I can just create a barrier around the entire kingdom itself and then threaten the ruler into submission. But before I did, I had to make sure it was something the king wanted me to do.

"Why is it so scary that I know that you are not lying? After all, you annexed four kingdoms in a single month." Thurul replied while shaking his head. I shrugged as I took out a crystal orb. It shot a rectangular beam of light six feet high and five feet wide into the air and also a beam of light that engulfed my entire body.

"Hmm? Faith?" The king asked as he looked at me in confusion.

"Thurul and I think we found the source of energy used in those things. I want your permission to take the whole kingdom that is able to refine it and turn it into weapons under the Gravos Kingdom's flag. What do you think?"

Chapter16 Stealing A Kingdom Part 2

"Wait…. Wait… Slow down…." The king held his head and stared at me. "Have you become addicted to annexing kingdoms!?"

"No. But it is the easiest way to get all the technology that they have, is it not? They allowed weapons of mass destruction to be used in a war against our kingdom which is basically an act of war against us right? So what is wrong with annexing them?" I asked. I am not sure how this works, but if they allowed their weapons to be used in another kingdom's war, then it should be considered as such.

"...." The king went silent as if contemplating what I said. Only after a few minutes did he finally speak. "It can be considered as such. But are you sure this is the kingdom in question?"

"Nope!" I replied honestly. "I mean, how am I supposed to know what is what? For all we know, they got rid of anything that dealt with the sale of these kinds of weapons. And I have not traveled the kingdom to find out if there is anything that mildly resembles the weapons I captured. That is why I will just take both kingdoms under the kingdom's flag. Set up barriers around them, and then have your people deal with the aftermath. We only need teleports to our kingdom, no? I think with so many kingdoms under one rule, we do not need much from other kingdoms, so closed borders are fine for the time being. Of course, we can stay open to allies and those who wish to formally form alliances and trade routes. But those can all be easily dealt with with a kind of pass in and out of the kingdom."

"This does make sense but by doing this. I am not against the idea, but you need to do it in the least violent way. After all, while we can do things forcefully thanks to you, we still do not want to turn the populace against us. And I am only willing to do this because of the lingering threat of Pholin and his brother." The king did make a good point. We did not want a revolt.

"Alright, I will try to do this delicately then. I will fly to the capital city as an envoy to start and try to speak with their king. Is there any chance you can give me a letter? Or have something I can use to identify myself as an envoy?" While I could just fly over the place and cast thousands of grand falls to cast a shadow over the kingdom to threaten them, it would be best if I could do things more delicately, as the king said. I mean, it would be much easier to just have the king suddenly abdicate the throne to me, right? Dragon speak will come in handy for this.

"This I can do. Teleport here when you can, and I will give you what you need." The king replied, causing me to smile. I took Thurul and hurried back to the ship.

As soon as I was on board, I teleported directly to the throne room, where a court session was taking place. None of the nobles seemed to be bothered by my presence, and some even greeted me with a nod of their head.

"You were quicker than I thought." The king said with pursed lips. Well, I am one to be prompt when it comes to dealing with issues at hand. The king waved his hand and had someone bring him over a few items, which he used to create a special kind of royal seal used by envoys who travel to other kingdoms.

"Thank you. I will head off now." I said as I turned around to teleport back but was stopped when the king called out to me. "Faith, make sure you do things in a manner that will not cause an issue for our kingdom. As I said, I do not wish to have the people revolt against us as we work to secure the kingdom and set up a government there."

"Don't worry. I will not do things forcefully. If anything, it might be handed over on a silver platter." I gave a smile as I turned around and began to teleport away. Just before I left, I could hear the king say: "Why do your words make me worry!?"

When I returned to the airship, I went right to work putting a barrier up around the entire mining and refinery operation. As soon as I did, Thurul gave me a strange look. "I thought you were not going to take things by force?"

"Hmmm? I have to make sure they can not move anything out of the kingdom first, right? You never know. Once I take over, they might try to do something they shouldn't. This is just a precaution to make sure I do not lose this energy source which is why I want this kingdom in the first place." I replied. I did not see anything wrong with my actions. I even made it so nothing can teleport in or out as well.

"I do not think that is the point! You were supposed to be an envoy. If they get word that the refinery is suddenly blocked off before you even show up, they will know it is you or think of it as too much of a coincidence." Thurul tried to argue, but I just pursed my lips. I was already going to force everyone to do a blood seal contract with my dragon speak as soon as I made the king abdicate his throne to me. So it's not like anything bad will happen. At least I hope anyway….

"Sir Thurul, I think you misunderstand my Master. While she is smart, some of the time, she doesn't think things through the other parts of the time, but either way, she will always get the job done." To be honest, I am not sure if I should be happy Grace is trying to stick up for me or cry due to her making fun of me.

Chapter17 Sometimes Not Everything Works Out

It was still going to take some time to arrive at the capital, so I retired to my room. I had only just sat down in a chair when one of my orbs suddenly lit up. It was the one for Sophie. "Faith!"

Seeing Sophie's face filled with tears caused me to be confused and a bit panicked. "Sophie, what's wrong!?"

"My parents…. They were found…." Sophie replied, but her tears kept flowing. I had a bad feeling rising up inside me when I saw the sadness in her eyes. "They…. They have passed…."

As soon as the words left her lips, I called down to Thurul to anchor the airship and teleported away. I appeared right next to Sophie, who dived into my chest and clung on to me with her trembling body.

Life is harsh. Sophie had been strong this entire time because her parents had left to go to a nearby village to sell some of the produce my father had harvested during the attack, so for the past few years, she had been holding on to hope and never really spoke about it. Both Adel and I also did not wish to bring it up in case it broke her mindset. But now….

"Where were they found?" I asked softly as I embraced the grief filled fox girl in my arms.

"Near the village, they were supposed to trade goods at. The cart they were pulling was found deep in the forest near there in a hidden cave, riddled with arrows. They were attacked by bandits…. My mother and father's clothing, along with some bones, were found not far away. If not for a hunter discovering it, they would never have been found." Sophie explained through her sobs.

"I see…" I took a deep breath. My own voice was trembling as I hugged Sophie tighter. I did not wish to leave her alone at this time. "Do, do you want to come with me for a few days?" I asked as I gently rubbed her back.

"No…. I still have things to do here. Adel is also going to help with the funeral operations that will be held when their remains are sent back. I know you have many things to do. But…. Can you come to my family's… Muph!!!" I stole her lips for a few seconds, cutting her off as I slowly parted from her. I reached out and gently wiped her tears away as I said: "No matter what I am doing, nothing will stop me from being there to support you during your time of sorrow. While I must push on due to the circumstances at hand. When the day comes, I will be there to hold your hand and say words of parting. Such a thing is not something you have to ask me to do but something I have to do."

My heart ached for Sophie. To lose one's parents suddenly while having hope that they were alive all this time was not easy. I wonder if this was how my parents felt when I died. Was this how Jen felt as well, as she watched me pass away before her eyes? I pulled Sophie back into a hug and stood there in silence for a while. I could feel my shoulder getting damp from her tears.

"Faith?" Adel's voice came from the side. I turned my head and raised my hand to my lips. At some point in the past thirty minutes, Sophie had fallen asleep in my embrace.

Adel nodded and walked over to me, and gently placed her hand on top of Sophie's head. I feel guilty about how I was of no help in this situation. I did not have any idea of what Sophie's parents looked like, so detection magic was not something that was of much help in this situation. I did send it out quite a few times to see if there were any signs of them in the villages, but I am not sure if my mind shut out the idea of them having died or what, but I never thought to search the forests for anything….

I spent the next few days at Sophie's side before returning to the ship. While I wished I could stay with her in her time of need, I still had responsibilities, and one of them was to ensure that Gravos would be protected so that the lives of the people would be safe from war. Only then will the knights be free enough to move across the kingdom and wipe out any and all bandits. To double ensure the safety of the hard working citizens of the kingdom who only wish to live out their lives peacefully and so that what happened to Sophie's parents will never happen to the parents of other sons and daughters of the kingdom.

But to do that, we needed the weapons and technology that I had gathered to be mass produced in a way that would protect the kingdom from all threats, no matter how big or small. I disliked the idea of amassing large amounts of powerful weapons that could be used for mass destruction, but in order to live in this new world threatened by powerful people like Azengrade and Pholin Segri, it seemed like the best option instead of standing still with the current power structure.

"Lass, what's wrong?" Thurul asked as he walked over to me. I was currently standing on the deck of the ship, looking out over the clouds below.

"I am just thinking if there is a way to keep people from doing things like committing murder, or other henious acts. Why must the world be in a situation where no matter what rules are made there is always someone who wishes to break them due to their own greed. Whether they were people of high standing or low standing there is always that one person who ruins it all. Why did Sophie's parents have to die? I did not get to even meet them yet and announce that I was dating their daughter. I mean…." I could feel the tears rolling down my cheeks. I never wanted to introduce myself as their daughter's girlfriend like this….

Chapter18 One Kingdom Falls While Another Becomes An Empire Part 1

"Master!" Grace came out of nowhere and hugged me, which only served to drive my sorrow more. Death was not something that I could handle well. I had been bottling it up inside me all this time, but now with the news of Sophie's parents, all the people I knew and grew up with were now popping up in my mind. Auntie Finna and everyone else all died because they were targeting me. If only….

I do not think I have cried like this in a long time. Grace did not part from my side either. Instead, she stayed with me, keeping me company while I released all my pent up stress. Staying strong is one thing but bottling it all up inside was also not a good thing. I have been busying myself trying to do this and that to keep my mind busy. But even then, I was still suffering on the inside.

A month passed, and we finally reached the skies over the capital city of the Kingdom of Golentod. Thurul put the airship to anchor while I was busy readying myself for my departure. Thurul was not coming with me, but grace would be. As an official envoy, I needed at least one servant to make things look good and official. However, I needed to make things quick if I wanted to make the funeral in two weeks' time.

"Lass, be careful down there. You know those bastards will be wanting to pick a fight with the fact that you two are demi humans." Thurul gave me a hard reminder that this place was not against slavery. Even at the factory, I did see many demi humans pushing carts. While it hurt to see, I did not make a fuss about it due to the fact that at that time, there was nothing I could do, and did not wish to make too much of a scene, but now things will be different.

"Don't worry. I will deal with it all. Everything needs to be set in motion before I have to head back to attend the funeral." I replied with a half hearted smile. Just thinking about it made me think of many things that I did not wish to think about at this time.

"Alright, I will watch over the ship. Good luck." With Thurul's words of encouragement, I jumped off the airship with Grace at my side. I then activated my teleport to the castle in Gravos to allow the knights that were waiting to be my guards to appear in front of me with scaled horses and a carriage. They each kneeled to the ground and bowed their heads to me. "Princess Cyrilia, it is our honor to be of assistance during your mission this time. I am Knight Captain Breckett."

"I thank you for your help and am sorry for the sudden notice. We will try to do things quickly. But please keep things as civil as possible. Also, please don't kneel to me. I hate these kinds of things." I said with a smile.

The nights all slammed their chests with their fists in salute as they all answered in unison: "By your word Princess!"

With this, we made our way to the gate in a grand procession. Ten knights and a royal carriage rolled down the path as we made our way to the gates. I peeked out the window after getting changed into a proper dress that was blue with white frills that went down to my ankles.

There was a long line of humans at the gate, most seemingly merchants, with many having demi human slaves carrying their gear. Their ragged clothing made me frown, but there was nothing I could do about it at this time. We skipped the line and rode right up to the gates with all the merchants staring at us. Some of the knights were actually demi humans catching the attention of the humans and the guards.

"Halt! Who are you!?" One of the guards yelled out while drawing his sword. He did not move to attack, nor did he say anything slanderous but only asked the simple question, which was the normal procedure, I guess.

"We are here to escort Princess Cyrilia as the envoy of the Gravos Kingdom to meet with your king. We have the envoy's seal right here." The Knight Captain, Sir Breckett, said as she stepped forward with the royal envoy seal and showed it to the guard. The guard frowned as he looked at it before waving his hand to have one of the other guards come over.

The other guard, who was most likely the captain, looked at the seal before handing it back to Sir Breckett. "Get my horse. I will lead them to the castle." The captain ordered before turning to Sir Breckett and saying: "I am Captain Willson of the Kingdom of Golentod's guards, Sir Knight. May I have your name?"

"I am Knight Captain Breckett of the Royal Knights of the Kingdom of Gravos. I am in charge of protecting Princess Cyrilia, our kingdom's envoy." Sir Breckett seemed very well suited for this kind of thing. He did not waver in the slightest, even with all the people staring at us with a bit of hostility.

"Sir Breckett, I must ask that the demi human knights please stay outside the capital. Our kingdom laws do not allow demi humans who are not of a royal decree from another kingdom to enter our capital. It is to keep not only your knights safe but our people as well." Captain Willson suddenly said, causing me to frown. Half the guards were demi human and they wanted us to leave them outside? Did they really look down on us that much?

Before Sir Breckett could answer him, I decided to speak up. "So you are saying that I, myself, and my servant are not allowed to enter? After all, I am only a titled princess, not a princess of royalty, yet I am also a demi human."

I slowly opened the door to the carriage. Grace jumped out and reached out to me to help me off. I took her hand and slowly stepped out into the open and looked at the guard captain. "I think you should understand what it means to anger another kingdom's envoy. It will cause an international incident. I think you should first think before you speak. My guards and I will all enter the city no matter what. As far as I am concerned, only a member of your royal family has a right to tell me how I should act, and only then would it be up to me whether or not I heed their advice."

Chapter19 One Kingdom Falls While Another Becomes An Empire Part 2

"Look, Princess Cyrilia, was it? I do not make the rules. If you want to enter, you need to leave behind all demi humans." The guard was basically saying that all demi humans had to leave including myself.

"Oh? So this is how you do things in this kingdom? You tell the envoy of another kingdom they can not enter? I see. Well, too bad you will be getting punished for not following the rules." I sneered as I turned back around and got into my carriage. I wanted to see if they would really stop us from entering or not.

"Master, are we really going to force our way in?" Grace asked. I guess she was concerned about causing some kind of international incident, but I came here to start one, so it was fine.!

"Grace, I came here to take over the kingdom. Why are you worried about international incidents?" I asked with a chuckle. Grace blushed. I guess she forgot.

"Sir Breckett, ignore him and just continue forward. I want to see who dares to stop me." I finally got to act like a tyrant! It was kind of fun.

"You! You dare force your way in!?" The guard captain yelled out. The guards from the gate all rushed out and encircled us. I smiled and waved my hand creating a barrier around us that began to spin and narrow out to a point so that it could push people aside easier.

"Let's go! To the castle!" I yelled out.

"Yes, Princess!" Sir Breckett's voice had a tinge of excitement in it. I guess he found this just as fun as I did.

"Master, you're smiling weirdly," Grace commented, causing me to purse my lips. How was I smiling weirdly? This was like a movie back on Earth where a tyrant princess does as she pleases! Of course, I am not sure if such a movie ever existed, but this was fun. As for doing things low key well… That went out the window after the guard told demi humans to wait outside, so this was my only choice. Well, maybe not, but still, can you blame me for wanting to have some fun? I do have a lot on my mind and doing things like this allows me to forget about it.

As expected, as we began moving, not a single guard could stop us. They fired magic at us, and it did nothing. They sent someone to hit the barrier with their sword, and that person went flying in some direction. I made sure that no citizen would not be harmed, so when I saw that they were getting too close to the barrier, I warped the barrier around them so that they could not be sent flying.

Like this, we made it all the way to the castle gates, where I casually got out of the carriage with Grace's help while a large group of guards surrounded us. The knights I had brought with me all encircled Grace and I as I removed the barrier around us so that it would only surround the carriage and our horses, as I did not wish for them to be harmed in any manner. After all, an envoy could not bring their carriage into the castle grounds as it would not be proper. And I was doing things very properly. Proper was my middle name!

"Princess Cyrilia! Please do not make us use force! Return from where whence you came!" Captain Wilson, who had chased us all this way, was sweating and completely out of breath as he stood there pointing his sword at my knights and me while his chest heaved up and down. I had to hand it to him. He had a lot of dedication, but then again, it would be his head for letting me through.

Now, if anyone heard of what I just did, they would probably ask me: "Why did you not just use your dragon speak to allow them to let you in." And my answer to this would be: "Where is the fun in that?"

"Huh? Why would I go back? Is this not your own fault for trying to refuse a royal envoy of another kingdom? I have an important matter to talk to you king about. If you keep this up, you may very well end up losing your head." I said with a bright smile as I continued forward, not stopping for anything. Everyone who was standing in my way had no idea what to do. Because if they attacked and something happened to me, they might very well cause an international incident. So with my nose in the air and my tail swaying back and forth, I walked confidently through the castle gates without them even trying to stop me. Even Captain Willson had no choice but to let me go.

It was ten minutes to the castle's main entrance, where I was greeted by two knights who both reluctantly bowed their heads to me. "We will lead you to where you can speak to His Majesty."

I chuckled, seeing the looks of hostility in their eyes. I knew that not only were the knights not happy, but I am sure the King was not happy one bit. But this is what he gets for showing no respect for another kingdom envoy.

The castle was well decorated. The halls that we walked down were not red carpeted but actually blue in color, so were most of the banners that lined the walls. The statues of previous kings and monsters decorated the sides as we passed by and were brought to a small receiving room which made me laugh even more. I guess an envoy who was a demi human was not allowed to be received in the main throne room.

"You may only take two guards with you. The rest must wait outside." One of the knights said. I nodded since this was normal. Those that entered also had to wait at the door, including Grace.

When I entered, there was only the king sitting on his small throne and a few aides at his side, as well as ten guards who stood by the walls. I guess he was quite wary that he was about to be assassinated. I walked to stand before the king of Golentod and did my normal courtesy as I said: "Your Majesty, I am Princess Cyrilia, and I am here on behalf of the Kingdom of Gravos."

Chapter20 One Kingdom Falls While Another Becomes An Empire Part 3

The King did not say anything, forcing me to keep my head lowered. Only after five minutes had passed did he finally speak: "Why has the envoy from another kingdom barged into my capital city and forced their way into my castle? Is this proper etiquette that should be followed by a Princess of another kingdom no less?"

"Hmmm? So telling my knights and myself that I need to wait outside even though I am the envoy is considered proper etiquette for your kingdom? I never knew this…." I said as I lifted my head without the king telling me to and tilted my head to the side, looking at him as if he was an idiot.

"Watch your tongue! You are in front of his majesty!" One of the aides stepped forward and yelled but what caught my eyes was not his ugly face or the large nose he had on his noggin but the gun shaped object at his side. Which highly intrigued me.

To his remark, I only smiled and said: "Watch my tongue? I only asked a simple question. Why are you getting all flustered when all I did was ask why I, an envoy of another kingdom, was told I couldn't even enter the capital because I am a demi human. You might as well have just yelled: I want war! I mean, is that not what it means to reject an envoy and treat them with discourtesy? I mean, even now, the rudeness of this kingdom knows no bounds when you are not even willing to receive me in the real throne room. You do realize that I have already set up teleport points in this kingdom on my way here that my kingdom can use to send a massive army in to deal with a small kingdom like this that is rude towards one of their princesses, right?"

I watched with a sly smile on my lips as the king in front of me lips twitched, and his brow furrowed. He then snorted and waved his hand. "Stand down." He narrowed his eyes and looked at me. He seemed to be finally taking me seriously. "What did you come to my kingdom for?"

"Nothing much. I just want you to…." My eyes lit up with magic circles as I finished: "Hand over your kingdom to me."

"You dare!? Guards seize her!" The aid yelled out, but before anyone could move, the king suddenly stood up, and to their disbelief, he took off his crown and walked over to me and placed it on my head before kneeling down in front of me and saying: "As you wish, My Queen."

"Your majesty!? What are you doing!? Witch! What did you do to His Majesty!?" No one dared to move. Even though the aide had just yelled out, they dared not move now that the king had suddenly done such a thing. They had no idea what was going on, but they knew this was not right. I could see the confusion and anger in their eyes, causing me to smile brightly.

"Thank you never thought you would hand it over so easily. Now then, as Queen, I guess I should seal off the kingdom." I waved my hand, and with that, the entire kingdom was encompassed in a spinning barrier that no one could leave or enter through.

"What have you done!?" The aide was now starting to get scared. I could see it through his eyes. It was then that something seemed to strike him as he suddenly pointed at me and began trembling. "The Little Demon! Faith Cyrilia!"

"How rude! How am I a demon!?" I yelled out. I am not a demon. I am a very nice young woman who likes to read and eat cakes while sipping tea.

"You! So you came here to annex us just like you did to the Norian Kingdom!" The aide began to back away in horror. Even the knights who had surrounded me all began to back up. I do wonder if I was that scary. I see no reason for them to be acting this way.

"Look, I will not lie. I did come here to annex your kingdom, but that is only because you are producing weapons of mass destruction and then selling them to others. Those same weapons were used to attack my homeland and kill my kingdom's people. Some of which were very close to me. Do you think after all of this, I was just going to let the kingdom who created these weapons go?" I asked as I waved my hand. The weapon on the side of the aide's hip flew into my hand. I looked it over and saw that it was indeed a mini version of the weapon I had seized during the war.

"You! What happens to the weapons after they are sold has nothing to do with us! We just produce them!" I guess the aide did not see a reason to hold back information but sadly, he was very wrong with his words.

"Heh…. Did you really think such a reason would fly? I am here today to tell you that this kingdom is now the property of the Kingdom of Gravos. From this moment on!" I waved my hand and created magic circles in front of every being in the entire kingdom before saying in dragon speak: "You will all now sign a blood seal contract making it so you can no longer enslave any demi humans. You can also no longer sell weapons to anyone but the Gravos Kingdom. And You will never try to start an uprising at any point and time and will not harm anything that deals with the Kingdom of Gravos's interests. Complete the blood seal by dripping a drop of blood onto the magic circles in front of you."

With this, no one will ever be able to cause any issues, and everyone will be able to live peacefully from this moment on. Through my detection magic, I could see the demi humans who were enslaved crying tears of joy while others were cursing me or, well, cursing my voice. But there was nothing they could do about it. This kingdom was not the same as Gravos and would be under the same laws where everyone was equal and free. With this, I draw a magic circle on the ground, which would be a teleport to the officials who would be coming over to organize this kingdom to be under Gravos's rule.

Chapter21 Committing

The organization of the new government took some time, but I have now returned to the capital. Sadly it is not a time of celebration but a time for mourning. I was currently at my estate, which has had a funeral set up in the front for those who wish to come to pay their respects. "Why is there a long list of names here?"

"Sophie wished to lay her parents to rest along with those who died in Cyrilia village." Adel, who was standing at my side, answered. I looked at the mourning plaque and saw hundreds of names on it. Even now, Sophie was thinking of me by doing such a thing.

"Where is she?" I asked while lowering my head. I was trying to hold back my tears.

"She is with Mother and Father, receiving guests," Adel answered as she held my hand and led me to where everyone was being handed an incense stick. In this world, when someone dies, they burn incense as a means of showing respect. It was the same for some Asian cultures as well back on Earth. Many people were showing up to pay respects, I never thought so many would come, but they did.

"Sophie." I saw Sophie pretending to be strong as she greeted people. When she heard me call out to her, her ears dropped, and her tail sagged. I guess my voice was enough to cause her wall to come crashing down. My body flashed, and I appeared in front of her and pulled her into my arms. Her tears once again soaked my shirt.

"Faith, take Sophie. I will handle this here." My father said while handing me an incense. I nodded and pulled Sophie away.

With Adel following behind us, I walked with Sophie over to a room that held an urn that was being used as Sophie's parents' casket. From what I understand, only a few bones were left, which was not enough to even fill a casket, and only this one urn was enough. I sat down in front of it and lit my incense, and placed it in the holder.

Sophie and Adel sat on my left and right while I reached out and gently touched the urn. "I never got to meet you…. But my name is Faith Cyrilia. I am your daughter's girlfriend. I never thought I would be meeting you in such a way. I had planned to meet you after the things in the capital were settled, but I guess things did not work out that way. Life's funny in a way. It can take the things you care about most away from you but at the same time give you something or someone you wish to protect more than your own life. While we had to meet in such a way. I promise you. Sophie will be safe. I will protect her from everything. I promise never to make her sad. And…. I promise that she will one day walk down an aisle wearing a wedding dress. It might not be any time soon, but I swear here, and now I will make her my wife one day."

I realized this while I was thinking about things the past few days. Love is not something you find. It is something you fall into unexpectedly. My care and concern for both Adel and Sophie are not just that of liking or that of a friend. I truly love both of these girls. And I will do what I can to make them happy. While now is not the time to be holding a wedding, I do wish to make both of them my legal wives.

"Faith!?" Sophie's eyes widened as she stared at me from the side. I turned and put my finger to her lips before turning back to the urn and leaning down, and pressing my head against the ground. "I, Faith Cyrilia, promise to love and care for Sophie for as long as I live. So while I know, you can not answer me at this time. I do hope you will give us your blessing."

I kept my head lowered like that for a few minutes while I said a few words of silent prayer in my head. If her parents were able to be reborn as I was, I hope they can find each other again and live a full and loving life together in a peaceful world.

As I raised my head, I turned and looked at Adel and smiled at her, then I looked at Sophie and pulled them both into my arms. "Will you both marry me in the future?"

""Yes!"" The girls both answered at the same time. We were alone right now, so it was only us in here. I know this was no place for a marriage proposal, but I wanted Sophie's parents to see that their daughter would be loved and cared for. And I wanted them to see with action that I truly meant it. The two girls hugged me while Sophie softly sobbed. I owe so much to both of these girls, and I want them to be happy.

Mourning time was one week. Only when the week was over did a plaque with all the names of the people who died in Cyrilia Village and the urn for Sophie's parents get buried in the royal cemetery. The king was kind enough to allow it.

A few days later....

"You both want to come with me?" I asked as I looked at the two girls standing in front of me with bags on their backs.

"We will go with you. While our engagement ceremony will not be held for a while, we do not wish to be apart from you anymore." Adel answered. Both Adel and Sophie had determined expressions on their faces. I sighed and nodded my head. I knew they would not take no for an answer.

"Fine, but I still have one kingdom to take over before reaching my final destination," I explained. They both nodded with smiles and began stuffing their bags into Sophie's space which made me chuckle.

At least now Sophie was smiling again. I know she still hurts, but even with the death of loved ones, time still has to move on. You must also move on. Life will always continue no matter how much death is in the world unless the world itself dies.

Chapter22 An Advanced Kingdom

A year and a half have passed, and I am now sixteen, almost seventeen. And well, curiosity finally took over, and us three girls have stepped over the bounds that were holding us back and have explored other options besides kissing. Legally in this world, I was already an adult at fifteen and could have been married and been with a baby before even the age of sixteen, but for something like that, I was going to wait. While I have been spending much of my time during this trip with Sophie and Adel, I did not forget about Iena and Diablo. Our relationship was slowly progressing. Now those two would spend a night with me. Iena one day and Diablo the next. Of course, we are not at the same stage as Adel and Sophie, so it is not as intimate.

But our feelings are slowly fostering. While my time with the girls was soft and fluffy. Sleeping in Diablo's strong arms was not so bad, either. If this was Earth, I would have been called all kinds of names by now, but my parents are all for it, and Sophie and Adel do not mind either. So I guess as long as everyone was happy, it would be fine.

I did feel bad, though, because I needed Diablo and Iena in the capital just in case anything happened while I was away that I could not spend as much time with them as I could with Adel and Sophie. But they told me that they were just happy they could spend at least one day with me each. I did make sure to talk with them every night for a few hours.

Both girls were also taking classes on the ship, so they were not missing any academy time. As for Adel's Crown Princess training, it was being done the same way as her classes. Teleports were quite handy when needing to send over completed assignments and other things.

Currently, though, I was looking out over the railing of the main deck at the city in front of me. It was much more than I had ever expected. It looked more advanced than any of the other cities I have ever been to. "This kingdom is?"

"It is the Droth Kingdom and is a human kingdom, but they are much different than the other kingdom we went to as they do not allow slavery. So you should have an easier time here." Thurul answered.

"This kingdom is also much bigger. But I do not think they are using that energy at all. I do not detect it within the kingdom except for the mountain range where it should be located. It is as if the kingdom does not know about the energy source." I had already sent out my detection magic, and it seemed only the magic technology of this kingdom was on a different scale. They even had a few things that I was planning on making, like flying carriages. However, this will now change for something much more advanced when I am done.

"Mmm…. I never thought such a kingdom would exist either, but they are closed off from the world. I only know its name. Unless you owned an airship, you would never be able to make it here." Thurul stroked his beard as he looked at the massive city.

"Looks like we got company. Thurul, stop the ship and get ready for anything." I said as I watched as a few flying carriages made their way to us. These ones were much different and had weapons of some kind attached to them, but I could tell these two were magic based weapons.

The carriages stopped in front of my airship. The lead carriage had a door open, and a seat slowly slid out with a man sitting in it with a long stick like weapon pointing at me. I guess it was some kind of magic gun or maybe something else. I am not sure I can only guess unless I could hold one in my hands.

"The airspace over the King of Droth is forbidden without a permit. You will need to land and travel by foot if you wish to travel in our lands if you do not have one." The knight, I guess you could call him, said. He did not ask who we were but only told us to land, which was a bit of a no no as we were still a few months away from the capital by foot.

I took out my envoy seal and said: "I am Princess Cyrilia. I am a special envoy of the Kingdom of Gravos. I am here to meet with you, king."

Seeing the seal in my hand made the knight wrinkle his brow. He then took something off his side and spoke into it. Another thing I had planned to create! But still, mine will be much better! Although I guess I already had something like that now. However, I did plan to make a cell phone with apps on it!

After speaking to whoever was on the other line for a moment, the knight waved his hand, and the flying carriages that had come with him surrounded the airship. "We will escort you to the capital. We will need you to dock your airship at our dock. From there, you will be escorted to the castle."

"Then I will be in your care," I said as I gave a slight curtsey. The knight nodded before sliding his chair back into his carriage. I had to say these people were at least more friendly. Of course, this did not mean I could lower my guard. It was always smart to be prepared for anything. If I could just get the kingdom to give me the mountain range, then I would take it without annexing this kingdom. I do not wish to cause harm to good people.

On the surface, this is a kingdom flourishing without any discrimination, so I hope it would be better to work together and make formal ties to this kingdom and gain some land for ourselves. "Thurul, what do you think? Can we do this peacefully?"

"I am not sure. With two princesses from our kingdom, it should be fine, no? But whether they will give up the land is another question. As soon as you ask them about it, they will probably investigate it." Thurul's answer made me frown a bit. I also thought of this, but what can I do? Well, if they say no, I can make them say yes, so it's no big deal, but I did not wish to be too forceful just yet.

Chapter23 Coup Part 1

While we were heading to the airship dock, I was busy getting changed with Sophie and Adel's help. "Faith, your chest has gotten bigger again."

"That's because two girls won't leave them alone!" I said with pursed lips. I do not know what had gotten into them, but they keep attacking me at night. Well, it's not like I dislike it, but they both team up on me, and it's not fair.

"Hehe!" Adel giggled as she helped me zip the back side of my dress up. I turned and narrowed my eyes at her but didn't say anything.

"Sophie, sorry you can't wear a dress this time…." I felt bad as we were not bringing knights with us this time. Sophie was going to be our guard while Grace was our attendant, but with this group, I do not think there is a single kingdom that could stop us from doing what we want.

"It's fine. I am more comfortable in this anyway. I feel more me than I do when I wear a dress." Sophie replied.

"Are you girls ready yet? We are just about to dock." Thurul's voice came over the intercom.

"Yeah, five minutes," I answered as we began to hurry to finish getting ready.

Ten minutes later, we were finally done and walked out of the room towards the deck of the airship to get off. When Thurul saw us, his eyes opened wide as he stroked his beard. "Sometimes I forget you girls are girls."

"Hey!' I shouted, causing Thurul to laugh. While we might not act very ladylike, we were indeed girls.

"Alright, you should get going. Those guards are looking impatient." Thurul said as he pointed to the guards who were standing on the dock. I nodded and made my way off the ship.

"Hello, I am Prime Minister Douglus. I will be your guide as we make our way to the castle." a young man in glasses and short black hair said as he bowed to Adel and me.

"My name is Princess Cyrilia of the Gravos Kingdom. Next to me is Crown Princess Adel of the Gravos Kingdom. We are sorry for the sudden abrupt visit, but there was something we must talk to your king about." Adel and I both curtsied. We had decided to reveal Adel's title as it might help with negotiations. After the king found out that this kingdom did not know about the power source, from what we could tell, he decided to try to do things diplomatically. And only when that failed would we annex that plot of land and seal it off with a barrier.

Hearing Adel's title made the Prime Minister raise an eyebrow. "It is a pleasure to meet you both. I hope you do not mind that the carriage is slightly crude as we did not have time to prepare a proper royal carriage."

"Anything is fine. We were the ones to come unannounced after all." I answered. I guess the Prime Minister was wondering why I was answering all the questions because he kept looking at Adel with a questioning gaze, but she only stood there and smiled.

"Then this way, please." The Prime Minister seemed to have gotten a hint as he led us out of the docking area and to a carriage that was waiting for us. We climbed aboard what was actually a spacious and comfortable carriage. The Prime Minister, as well as one guard who was a woman, climbed aboard as well.

"Princess Cyrilia, is there a reason why you did not bring any knights with you and only one guard?" The Prime Minister asked.

"Hmmm? Because there is not a single person in this kingdom who can defeat my guard." I replied with a bright smile. I guess my answer did not sit well with the Prime Minister because his brow twitched, and the guard next to him placed her hand on the hilt of her sword. "Don't get so worked up. I was only answering the Prime Minister's question. If you draw your sword on me, it will mean an international incident."

"Take your hand off your sword." The Prime Minister seemed to realize he was overreacting as he gave his guard an order. But I think he was surprised at my ability to see her movements so quickly and still stay calm. "I apologize, Princess Cyrilia, Crown Princess Adel."

"It's fine. It is only natural to be wary of the unknown. Now may I ask where we are going? Because if we go this way, we will not be heading to the castle anytime soon." I said with a smile as I titled my head in a questioning manner. I had been using detection magic this entire time, so I could tell what was going on outside and noticed we were not heading toward the castle at all.

"This? Are you sure!?" The Prime Minister seemed flustered as he quickly looked out the window. "Captain Billings, what is going on!? Why are we not going to the castle!?"

"Prime Minister, a smart man should never stick his head out the window." With those words, I heard a splash of blood as the Prime Minister's headless body fell to the floor. The guard that came with him quickly drew her sword and stood in front of us.

"Princesses, please do not move. I do not know what is going on, but we all may be dying today. I will try to make a chance for you to escape, so when I tell you to run, run!" The guard had a look of unwillingness, but it seemed she wished to keep to her duty. I guess she was not in on this plot or whatever it was.

"I guess we came at a bad time since it seems there is going to be a coup." I let out a lazy yawn as I leaned my head against Adel's shoulder. "Tell me when it is over. You girls kept me up late last night."

"MMm… Sleep. I can handle these people with ease." Sophie said as she leaned over and kissed my lips before standing up and drawing her sword. She then looked at the guard, who was confused as to what she was doing, and pushed the guard back in her seat. "No need to lose your life."

Chapter24 Coup Part 2

The guard watched with a stupefied expression as Sophie phased through the door. "You, who are you!?"

The sounds of yells and shouts were heard as Sophie did her thing outside. On the inside of the carriage, I was drawing a teleport to the airship because I was worried about Thurul. When I was done, I looked at the guard in front of me and asked in dragon speak: "Did you know about this?"

The guard's eyes went dull as she shook her head. "No, I am only loyal to His Majesty, the king. I was ordered to protect the Prime Minister…."

Nodding my head, I released the spell and said: "You can either stay here or come with us. It is your choice." Without waiting for her to answer, I yelled out: "Sophie, we are leaving."

"Here!" Sophie yelled out as she phased through the door.

I had Adel and Sophie go first before looking at the guard, who, in her confusion, got up and went through the teleport as well. I followed after knowing quite well that the carriage would explode due to the addition I added on to the runic equation. When I came through, I was met with a line of soldiers pointing swords at me. And one of them holding a black and blue Thurul. "You dared to harm my people?" My voice grew cold as I tilted my head to the side and looked at the soldiers in front of me with a crazed smile.

"Look, Princess Cyrilia, you can only curse your own luck to come to our kingdom at this time. As of this moment, all witnesses must be disposed of." A knight in black armor said. He seemed to be a commander or something because his armor was all spiky.

"Hehe…. Hahahaha! Do you really think you can get away with harming my people? I am sorry, but you will all die now. So kill yourselves." My words fell, and every knight there, even the ones holding Thurul, all froze for a second before reaching for their swords and slicing their own necks. Only the knight in black armor stood there motionless. All thirty of his men who had boarded my airship had died in an instant.

"You!? You're a drag…." The Knight could not finish his words as Sophie's sword cut him in half, leaving his armor untouched.

"Lass, I owe you my life. Those bastards seemed to have been waiting for you to leave. Luckily you kept a barrier around all the rooms, or they would have destroyed everything. They got angry and destroyed the common areas." Thurul adjusted his clothes and walked over to the body of the black armored knight, and kicked it. "Damn bastard! If you weren't dead already, I would have beaten you like you beat me."

Seeing how he was still active, I let out a sigh of relief. Grace was already over there healing him. "Ummm…. May I ask you all a favor?" The guard who came with us suddenly knelt down in front of me. "Can you please help my king? If the knight's order has revolted, then my king will not be able to survive without someone strong helping him."

"Sure." I mean, why not? This gave me a good reason to request the land without any way for him to reject. I do him a favor, and he does one for me.

"I know it is not your problem but…. Wait…. You said yes!?" The guard looked up at me in shock, which made me smile. The sliver of ancient will that had surfaced was pushed back down thanks to her expression.

"Mmm… I originally came to ask your king for a favor, so this helps. But flying there will be a problem so we will need to go on foot. Let Adel and I get changed, and we will head to your castle while taking care of any troops on the way." I answered.

"Thank you! Thank you!" The guard bowed her head multiple times. I chuckled and said: "It's fine. Sit tight for the time being."

"Thurul, the whole ship is now protected by a barrier, sorry I should have done that to begin with. Grace will stay here with you. Adel, Sophie, and I will take care of things." I wanted Sophie and Adel to come with me to get more experience with war. They both did well in the last one, but it was time for them to see what it was like with fewer numbers and having to fight on the front line. Since I was going to be there to watch over them, I did not need to worry about their safety.

"Thanks for coming so quickly, Lass. I really thought I was a goner." Thurul bowed his head to me, which made me shake mine.

"Thurul, you are one of my long time good friends. We are business partners who live or die together. So there is no reason for you to thank me. I owe you a lot, and saving your life a few million times is not enough." I replied as I gave him a hug. He really has been a huge help and has believed in me since the first day we met.

"Hehe, Thurul, if not for you, Faith wouldn't be as rich as she is. So just charge her a few extra gold for putting you through a scary experience." Adel said jokingly.

"I will take that gold coin from you to repay the bank," I said while poking her side. We all laughed, leaving a very confused guard.

"Why can you all joke like this?" The guard asked. They were in the middle of a coup. There would be bloodshed everywhere.

"Hmmm? Why not be like this? War is war. We've seen it enough to get used to it. Come, let's get changed. Fighting in dresses is not the best." Not that I couldn't, but still, it would be annoying. I did not wish to fight in a dress that could easily get caught on things. Adel and I quickly got changed, and in ten minutes, we were ready.

"Let's go! We got a king to save!"

Chapter25 Not Our Fight

--AN) Another chapter will be out later. Family things...--

We arrived on the dock and could hear the sounds of battle off in the distance. The female guard who was with us had a worried look on her face as she heard the fighting. "What's your name?" I asked. It would not be good to call the guard hey you or miss guard this entire time.

"Kim…." Kim replied, her voice shaking slightly.

"Then Kim, we will be working together from this moment on. We will need to push through the city and try to get to the castle at the fastest speed but without bringing too much attention to ourselves." I would put a barrier around the castle and try to protect it or even try to fly over there, but I am worried about the weapons here, and to be honest, I am in no rush. If the king falls, the king falls. It is not an issue for me to take care of the rebellion and take over the kingdom. I mean, while things look okay on the outside, there is no telling what is going on on the inside.

The king of this kingdom could be a tyrant for all I know. While this Kim seems genuine in her concern over her ruler, there is no telling if this is out of love or if it is out of fear, as if her family was being locked up or for some other reason. I am not saying these are all facts, but I do not know these people through a hole in the wall. Their rebellion is of no concern of mine. But that does not mean I do not care about the people of this kingdom either. If I see people committing war crimes as I pass by, I will stop them. But from what I can see, with my detection magic, they are not touching the people. And there is a huge force around the castle fighting against the rebellion.

This meant that there were two opposing sides fighting one another while not touching the citizens. In times like this, I am glad to see that each side has the basic ethics of not doing anything bad to the people. While I could easily end the entire thing with two words, it was not something I intended to do. First, Adel and Sophie could get real practice in a more calm situation. Second, this was not my fight, I am only tasked with trying to ensure the king's safety. I was not asked to save the kingdom. I was not asked to make sure the king stayed on the throne. I was only asked to save him. As such, I had no issues doing this.

As soon as we exited the station, five soldiers who were guarding it turned and drew their swords. "Stop right there!"

"No…. You Stop." Adel raised her finger, and the man who just spoke froze. She then softly said: "Fast forward….."

"What!? What did you do!? Kill them!" The other soldiers yelled out when they saw their comrade suddenly turn into a pile of dust.

Sophie snorted as she swung her sword, sending out an invisible blade of phase magic that had a bit of wind magic hidden inside that was so thin that it could slice through the strongest of metals. This was a new spell I created for her called phase slash. It cut on the microscopic level, meaning it could slice right through anything. The phase magic wrapped around a thin blade of wind magic allowed for her attack to pass through any barriers and easily kill her target.

It was a tricky spell that took me a while to create, but once it was done, it was well worth it. It allowed Sophie the ability to attack from a long range without any issues. And it was unstoppable. To the point that even I can not stop such an attack.

The four remaining guards all split in half and fell to the ground. Because everything was done at the microscopic level, there was not even any bleeding. It was as if the body had no idea that it had been cut in half. Even the guards who were now lying on the ground in two halves had no idea what had just happened. This was what was scary about this attack. If it was not done to a vital part of the body, they would still be alive.

"Mass fast forward." Adel swiped her finger through the air over her targets, and in seconds four piles of dust lay on the ground. This was Adel's newest attack. It was mass use of her current cosmic magic. It allowed her to pick and choose her targets. Right now, she still needed more practice with it to do things mentally, so for now, she was just using her finger to point at her targets.

I did hope in the future, she would be able to use detection magic to target all the people she wanted, but I needed to expand the spell more so she could place a marker on them with detection magic. Because, as of right now, she was nervous about using the spell in a mass setting unless there was no one else around. Luckily she can practice her magic with other things besides people she wants to kill.

"We should keep moving," I said as Adel and Sophie took the lead, and I followed behind. Kim, who was still standing there in a daze, only moved after a few seconds and hurried to catch up to us.

"Faith, are you sure you want to move this slowly?" Sophie asked in a low voice that only Adel and I could hear.

"Mmm… it's not our fight. What happens is not our problem unless we are getting something out of it. If we reach the king in time, we will make him give up the mountain range for our help. If not, we will just annex it anyway. So we will not lose anything in the long run, so there is no reason to hurry. Just take this time and practice your spells."

Chapter26 Adel’s Training

"Alright, then we will take this time to practice." Sophie and Adel looked at each other and nodded. I could tell they really wanted to get used to their new spells in a real world application.

As we moved through the streets, the people were all taking shelter indoors. It was like a ghost town. No one was out and about. When we ran into knights, they would attack us, and Sophie and Adel would get rid of them.

The entire time I was paying attention to the situation with the king. He was currently in his throne room with his officials, that were still on his side, from what I could tell, working on plans to quell the rebellion.

"Kim, your king is still alive and kicking and putting up a force fight. But just so you know, we will not stop the army from taking over the kingdom. I will only protect your king as I promised." I said as I turned to look at Kim.

"As long as he is fine. I lied before…." Kim said softly. "I am no guard. I am nothing more than a princess of this kingdom. One who has low standing in the castle but the king is still my father. I do not wish to see him die."

"Hmmm? You have an aura of someone who has been to battle though." I could tell Kim knew how to fight. But her answer did tell me why she was so concerned about the king.

"Our kingdom is no stranger to wars. We have fought against our neighboring kingdom at least every three years. I would not be surprised if they were the reason for this uprising. There are two factions in the castle. One who wishes to take down my father, who is pro peace while the other faction is for war. They think with our current technology, we should not be hiding behind tall walls. That we should be expanding our lands, but my father sees no reason for it. Why would we expand when we already have so much land that we are unable to fully protect all the time? My father thinks logically and realistically. At least this is how I see it." Kim answered as she let out a long sigh.

"I see for now, I will keep an eye on things with your father. Even from here, I can stick a barrier around him if he is attacked. But if he wants me to protect this kingdom, then he will need to pay a price." I decided since a princess was next to me, I might as well be upfront. Sadly I would not take her word for anything and will only talk directly to her father.

"I am sure my father will ask for help if he begins to lose," Kim replied. I guess even she was not sure if her father would be willing to make any promises.

Not that it mattered, but I guess we will see when the time comes. For now, we were only doing what we needed to make it to the castle. If they attacked us, then Sophie and Adel would get rid of them. If they ignored us, we ignored them.

The capital city was big. It was almost two hours on foot before we finally arrived at the front line. As soon as we arrived, we were stuck in a situation of how do we get through because the main gate was completely blocked off. While we could charge through, I decided it was best to plan out actions before doing so. If I was going to talk with the king, I wanted to first make sure I did not kill anyone on their side. It would look bad if I did.

"How should we do this? Is there a secret way into the castle?" I asked as I looked at Kim.

"There is, but I am not sure if the tunnel is actually accessible from the outside. It has not been used in my father's reign. I only know about it and never have actually been down it." Kim explained.

"Wait! Kim, you said father just now!?" Adel looked at Kim in surprise. I guess she did not hear the early conversation.

"Yes. My father is the king. I am the ninth princess." Kim replied.

"I see… No wonder…." Adel thought for a moment before continuing. "Faith, what if I use a mass time stop, and then we can just walk past both armies and through the castle gates?"

I thought for a moment before nodding. "We can do that, but Adel, how much mana will it take for you to cast it on thousands of soldiers?"

"Ah….. Well, I can't do it, but you can!" Adel said with pursed lips.

I chuckled and shook my head. "Nope. I want you to do this. But we will not do it on a grand scale, we will only stop those we need to. Adel, watch your mana and when you need more, let me know but go as far as you can. Even reduce the mana consumption of your magic circle. See how low you can go before the spell no longer works."

"Okay!" Adel nodded. She really wanted to try this out. Any time it came to changing the way her spells worked, she always got excited because her spells were limited. While she was working more on casting other elements, her main priority was her cosmic magic.

"Unmmmm… can you all please take this seriously!? Why does it seem like you are only here for fun?" Kim asked, her expression was filled with annoyance and worry. I can understand where she was coming from, but she should remember this kingdom has nothing to do with us. She asked us for a favor, and as of now, her father was in no danger. And since he was not in danger, we could use this chance to train.

"Don't worry. I already said I will protect your father." I replied before turning to Adel and said: "Anyway, Adel remember to keep a close eye on your mana consumption. I want to see if you can stop at least one thousand people!"

Chapter27 Ending A Rebellion For A Price Part 1

In the end, by the time we walked past the gate, Adel was able to stop six hundred people before I had to replenish her mana. But she did a good job of reducing the mana consumption, and she even got better at targeting those she wished to cast it on, which made for very good progress.

Kim slowly trailed behind us in disbelief. She looked like she wanted to say something, but she held it back and had somewhat of an aggrieved expression on her face. She probably wondered why we would not stop this war when we could easily deal with everything if we so wished. But I am sure she also knew the answer to that as well. It was because it was not our problem, to begin with.

One may ask if I had a heart. One may ask since I have the power, why am I not using it to do good? And the answer is simple. Not my problem. As long as these two sides are not harming the citizens, then I will not interfere unless I am getting paid. That is just how it works when you work as a mercenary.

Kim took the lead as she was the princess of the kingdom. The guards who were standing at the side did not stop us at all as we made our way to the throne room. Only when we reached the throne room doors that had many guards outside did we finally get stopped.

"Princess! Who are these people!?" From what I could tell by the different style of armor, the person who spoke was the knight captain.

"Captain Clasis, they are envoys from the Kingdom of Gavos, and they have helped me return here. Also…. The Prime Minister is dead…." Kim answered, causing the knight captain to lower his head.

"I see…. One second. Let me announce to his majesty that you are here." The knight captain turned around and walked into the throne room, only for us to hear the king yelling out to let us in.

We were quickly led into the throne room where the king, who looked very haggard, sat upon his throne. He looked so stressed that I kind of worried about his mental health. But that was only a little bit.

We walked to the middle of the room and stood in front of the king. "Kim, you are safe…."

"Father, sorry it took so long to return. We had to break through the front lines to get here." Kim replied as she walked up to the throne but was quickly stopped by the guards. "What are you doing? You are stopping me from getting close to my father?"

"Kim, please understand at times like this…." The king said with a complex expression. It did not seem like he wanted to do what he was doing but had to.

Kim glared at the guard before stepping back. "Where are my brothers and sisters?" Kim asked, seemingly not wanting to continue to press the issue anymore.

"Only your sixth brother has made it back, and he is on the front lines. As for the others, I do not know. I have not heard from them yet." The king replied. "The one who started the rebellion was General Hammon. He had been wanting us to expand the kingdom for some time now. He seems to wish to take reign and do as he pleases with the kingdom. Sadly he had more soldiers than us using the same magitech as us. If things keep going as it is, it is only a matter of time before they will break into the castle. Kim. Take the envoy and escape through the secret passage. You can leave the kingdom and make a new life for yourself."

"Ummm… Sorry, but we are not leaving." I spoke up since I did not wish to waste any more time.

"You! You can not stay here! You must leave!" The king yelled out.

"Nope. Because as of right now, you have two choices. Make a deal with me and win this war or….. Lose the war, and I annex it all for myself after you are gone. I will give you five minutes to decide." I said as I calmly walked towards the king. The guards there all began to point their swords at me, but Adel stopped time for them, making them freeze in place. This was to show a small display of power as I walked over to the king unhindered. "Time is ticking, so think carefully because if you do not want to make a deal with me, then I will just watch everything from the sidelines."

"This…." The king looked scared as I walked up and sat in the queen's seat, and placed my elbow on the armrest to support my head as I lazily looked at the king at my side. He stared back at me and shakingly asked: "What are the odds you can win?"

"One hundred percent," I said with a smile. "But…. I want the mountain range to your north. All of it. It will become the property of the Kingdom of Gravos and will be defended as such. What do you say?"

"Deal! If you can truly win this war, then I will give the mountain range to you." The king did not really see the value of the mountain range nor did he seem to think something was off. If he was not in such a situation I am sure he would have noticed something was off.

"Then we have a deal. From this moment on the mountain range to the north will be blocked off from anyone entering it from the outside." I said as I waved my hand. If one were to look they would see the mountain range was now covered in a massive spinning barrier. And I mean the entire thing. Even parts in other kingdoms. Was I going to ask for permission from them? Nope!

Chapter28 Ending A Rebellion For A Price Part 2

"Now that that is done, I guess I will start with what I promised." I cleared my throat as my eyes lit up. "All those who are against the crown, die." With a single sentence that echoed across the entire kingdom, tens of thousands of soldiers and others died on the spot. Even some of the knights here in this room and a few officials. I checked the entire kingdom with my detection magic, and all fighting had stopped.

"There, done. Negotiation complete. Please write up an official bill of sale to the Kingdom of Gravos over the territory transfer." I said as I stood up and stretched. "I will find an inn to stay in for the time being. Send a knight to follow after me so they can return and tell you where."

As I started to walk out of the throne room under the stupefied gazes of the people there, the door burst open, and a handsome young man with raven black hair and eyes ran through it. "Father! We won! I don't know what spell was cast, but it killed every soldier who was a part of the rebellion!"

"Fredrick, please mind your manners. Miss! I still do not know your name." The king called out to me. Now that I think about it, it is true that I did not introduce myself. I turned and said: "My name is Princess Cyrilia of the Kingdom of Gravos, and next to me is my fiancee Crown Princess Adel of the Kingdom of Gravos, and my other fiancee Sophie Cyrilia."

The king watched as I gave a knightly bow instead of a lady like one, but this was due to the fact that I was not wearing a dress. "Your Majesty, I will now retire, so please send an escort."

"AH…. yes…. I will have the bill of sale written up and stamped with the royal seal." The king must have been able to tell that I was not here to continue chatting, especially after I introduced two girls as my fiancees.

As we left, a guard walked behind us. Kim didn't even say anything as we left. Maybe she was afraid or something. I am not too sure, but I truly do not care. A rebellion they were so worried about was easily taken care of by me with just a few words. I bet she is angry and probably blaming me for not doing something sooner.

I did tell her I would not do anything unless I was getting something out of it. If she had not lied to me and actually told me she had a good relationship with the king, then maybe, just maybe, she could have said she would do it and given me the land then and there. Then none of this would have happened.

But now it was too late. I am not sure how many people actually died because of my word magic just now, but it would not be the first time I have killed many in just a few words. We left the castle and were escorted to the inn in a carriage which was slow going as they had to make a path through the dead bodies that now laid strewn across the ground.

I wonder if I am broken now that the sight of so many dead bodies no longer seems to bother me at all. I have seen so many dead bodies as of late that I am pretty numb to it. I have also taken many lives.

If this was Earth, I would probably be the most wanted person in the world with my current kill count, which ranges in the hundreds of millions. So many soldiers have died due to a few words from me. But because of my abilities, it has also saved many lives as well like the few billion that live in the Gravos Kingdom.

But luckily, with this, my excursion through the other kingdoms is done, and I can get back on track. Once I finish up here and make a teleport to the gravos kingdom to connect to the new land, I can continue on to the destination I had planned for from the start. The Dwarven kingdom!

While I do now have many magic engineers, I still have more than just the current weapons and strange energy to take care of, but much, much more than that.

When we reached the inn, I rented a room with an extra large bed and led the girls upstairs. The room was quite cozy. It was small, but plenty of room to rest for the day. It was very quiet. "That was tiring!" I said as I flopped down onto the bed.

"Faith, at least take your boots off," Sophie said as she walked over and began stripping my leather boots off me. I just lay there as the girls began peeling things off of me. They did not strip everything, just my outer armor.

Adel began giving me a massage which relaxed my muscles but to be honest, I do not know why they were all pampering me when they did most of the work. But I couldn't move at this moment because Adel was sitting on my back and Sophie was on my legs, massaging my calves. "Why are you two suddenly massaging me?"

"Because we want a reason to touch your body," Adel said bluntly, causing me to chuckle.

"Then massage away!" I would not say no! My two cute fiancees want to pamper me. Who am I to reject? It really did feel good.

"Hehe…. You have been much more open about our relationship as of late." Adel said as she leaned down and kissed my cheek.

"Well… I figured there was no reason to hide it. I love you both, and you love me. I don't want to hide the fact that we are together. I see no reason to. Plus, isn't your father getting his wish? Once you become queen, I will be made royalty just like he has been wanting this entire time."

Chapter29 Tying Up Loose Ends

"Now that I think about it, he has been smiling much more as of late. I think he is currently counting down the days." Adel sighed as she pressed hard on my shoulders.

"That's the spot…. Reminded me to take him down a notch when we officially return to the kingdom." I couldn't help but let out a relaxed sigh. It was really amazing. Massages always feel good when you have stress built up. As for the king, I just liked ruining his day. It was fun.

The next day a messenger came from the castle. So Sophie, Adel, and I made a trip back to the castle to surprisingly be met with a grand ceremony. All the knights who were loyal to the crown all stood in line with their swords held in front of their chests as we made our way to the throne room. This was truly not what I was expecting. When we reached the throne room. The king, two other young men, and Kim were standing next to him.

The king slowly stood up and bowed to us. "Princess Cyrilia, Princess Adel, Miss Sophie, I humbly thank you for your assistance. Because of you, the people of this kingdom can be safe and sound and not under a militaristic rule. Besides the land, we would like to openly have trade talks with your kingdom as well."

"We will need to establish an embassy here in this kingdom to establish such ties." I watched as the King lifted his head, not understanding what I meant.

"Princess Cyrilia, excuse me for not being knowledgeable enough, but what is an embassy?" The king asked.

"An embassy is a place for kingdoms who have some form of relationship to go to that can provide assistance to their own people if need be. Think of it as a plot of land owned by the other kingdom. It would be considered an attack on the kingdom if another kingdom attacked the embassy. It can also be a go between for other countries who wish to communicate certain things." I explained as best as I could while incorporating this world's way of doing things.

"I see…. Then we will do that. We would like to formally form an alliance with the Kingdom of Gravos. We will gather a few sites within the capital that can be used for this embassy thing and allow your kingdom to pick which site is good." I am not sure if it is just me, but this king really makes quick decisions. But one thing is for sure, and that is that this kingdom has the same values as the Gravos kingdom, which makes them a good partner to form an alliance with. With a teleport set up between the two kingdoms, we can do trader and passage between the two kingdoms for a toll cost on each side, allowing a bit more income for both kingdoms.

"I will relay your wishes to my King. But I will need to set up a teleport area for them to be able to come and go as needed. This should be set up in a safe location that can be guarded easily." Having a secure point will allow for a bit of breathing room to build up trust between the two kingdoms.

"Mmm… For now, we can set one up at a location within the city. If you can, give me one more day to make arrangements." With this, I received the bill of sale.

The next day I met with one of the officials. We went to a house and set up a teleport circle in the basement and had the house become a knights barracks that would be guarded day and knight.

After making arrangements on the Gravos side of things, I finally set off once more. The diplomacy portion can be done by the two kings. The airship was once more flying through the air. However, we did have one extra visitor. Today was Diablo's day to spend time with me. As always, his ears were bright red as he talked with me. You would think as a high and mighty demon king would be more straightforward and not so reserved, but it seemed this was the case for all demons.

"Mas…. Faith. Do you plan to dive into any dungeons in the near future?" Diablo asked.

"Mmm… Probably. During that time, I will be working on leveling up as much as I can. Probably will be after I finish up in the dwarven kingdom. Why do you ask?" Diablo never really cared about where I went, so I was curious as to why he would suddenly ask this.

"I…. I want to go with you. Not to get in the way of your training but to protect you…. As we are…. Ummm… in a relationship…. I do not wish to see you get hurt." Diablo's face slowly turned red, causing me to grin. At times like this, he was indeed cute. As we slowly got to know each other over the past few years, Diablo has really shown me how much he cares about me and not just as his master but as someone who was, in demon tradition, married to him. He never made a move on me this entire time, knowing I was not ready yet since we were not at that stage in our relationship, but he was very caring.

So in the future, once things settle down and things keep on course, maybe things between Diablo and I will get to that point to where my mother and father will finally see a grandchild from me. But this is still something I do not know.

But for now, before that ever happens, I will need to first get married to the two girls at my side. Iena and Diablo will probably come soon after. So, for now, at Diablo's words, I smiled and snuggled into his chest. "Then you can come. But make sure you tell Iena. Make sure she knows what you plan to do."

"I will… Iena is a good girl, and she understands that I can not have a family with her, but she also wants you and I to be happy as well…. She also talks about you all the time, which gives us a lot to talk about." Diablo replied.

"Mmm… Iena is very sweet. Adel and Sophie also like her a lot." I said as I leaned up and kissed Diablo's lips.

Chapter30 Teleport

I always thought that being in a relationship with multiple people would be hard, but Adel, Sophie, Iena, and Diablo are all good to me. And I am trying to do my best to be good to them. However, I do worry about Diablo and Iena a lot. But I guess that comes with the current situation I am in.

Time ticked by, and I am officially seventeen. I have now outlived my previous life me! Although, now that I think about it, I probably outlived my previous life a while back but if we are talking just going by age, then yes, I am one number older than my previous life me. But if you add it all up, I am much older than that, even though I do not act it all the time.

We are currently in the dwarven kingdom's airspace. "Thurul, I am seeing a lot of human communities down there."

"Mmm… You will see them. After all, we dwarves mainly live in mountainous regions. The outlying area where the farms are is mostly run by humans. They are all under the same kingdom, but the dwarves normally live in Dwrognar, the capital. But you will still see some living in the villages, towns, and cities around here. Some are even married to humans and demis and have given birth to hybrids." Thurul answered.

Another kingdom that did not discriminate. "Wait, but I thought that dwarves did not like humans very much."

"No, it is we do not like humans who enslave our kind. Those who live in our kingdom do not have such thoughts and live alongside us. Of course, we do have a few people who think they are still in a place to say such things, but those people never last long since the humans living here will normally be the ones to toss them out." Thurul replied. I guess everyone has their own outlook, and for those who disagree with the ways of some kingdoms, if possible, would move to a place that did not have such traditions.

It did always amaze me, though. Why was it humans that were able to dominate over the land when demi humans had so much more of an advantage? In terms of power and strength, there are many more races that are able to outpower humans. Even with knowledge alone, humans can't defeat some of the other races. It truly was a strange thing.

"Well, forget about that for now. We need to head to the city of Loncaster. It will have a teleport we can take to the capital." Thurul pointed to the northeast towards the tall mountain range.

This now set our new destination, which I was kind of excited about. By teleport, he meant a large teleport circle that floated in the air. It took two months, but as we arrived, you could see a large city with tall buildings made of metal and stone. In the middle hovering over the tallest building high in the sky, was a huge metal circular construct that had a glowing magic circle in the middle of it. "That is an amazing feat of engineering."

"Haha! It was the work of over ten thousand dwarves. It was constructed in three years' time, but it was well worth it. As it was the first of its kind at the start, the magic circle used to send people way off course, but after some time tweaks, it now joins up with the one in the capital inside the mountain range you see off in the distance." Thurul had a look of pride on his face as he looked at the teleport in the air.

"I would love to get a few of these made for Gravos." It would make things so much easier, and to be honest, I think as long as we had the circle and the correct inscriptions, I could easily make one of my own. Surprisingly I never really thought of using it in such a fashion.

"We will get one made. We first need to find dwarves willing to join us, but I think with the pictures of the things you have, many will jump at the chance. A dwarf can never resist the chance to work with new kinds of technology. We wouldn't be dwarves if we did. Haha!" Thurul let out a jolly laugh.

I really couldn't wait to see what Gravos will look like in the next five to ten years or so as the technologies begin to appear. As long as we can make things that will help the people and defend the kingdom, I will be happy.

The airship slowly made its way to a long line of airships from all over that were waiting in line to take the teleport. There were thousands of airships, so we still had a while to wait. The teleport, while big, only allowed one ship through at a time. This was because, from what Thurul told me that they do inspections on the ships. No one was allowed through if they had any kind of magic weapons on board. But Thurul also added that ships on the return from the capital were put under heavy inspection that was triple that of the ships going to the capital. This was to keep people from stealing secrets.

This may seem like some kind of invasion of privacy, but it was indeed a means of keeping their technology in the kingdom and safe. It seems the border crossing was also the same on foot. What surprised me was that there were no other magic vehicles besides the airships in the dwarven kingdom unless they were in the capital, but Thurul never mentioned it. But knowing him, he is probably keeping it some kind of surprise for a laugh.

"It will be a few hours, so you girls should take a rest. I will call ya when our turn is next." Thurul offered, but I shook my head. "I want to watch and learn. Everything I see imprints into my mind, so the more minute detail, the more I can understand how things work. So I will stay up here and study this massive teleport."

Chapter31 Arrival At The Dwarven Capital

It took almost seven days before it was finally our turn to use the gate, and in that time, I was able to pretty much get a decent understanding of the teleport system here. Of course, I learned it all in one day, but I still studied it over and over when I did not have my normal classes at the academy. I just wanted to make sure I did not miss anything this way, I may be able to make improvements on it when we go to create the real thing in Gravos.

Thurul was taking care of all the gate stuff. He told me to sit tight inside the cabin as this was just a formal inspection. But sadly for him, I could hear everything that was going on. "Prince Thurul! You are back!"

"Why the hell are you bowing to me? I gave up my rights to the throne a long time ago to follow my passion. Why do you think I left the kingdom so that idiot brother of mine could take my place?" Thurul yelled back.

"That does not change the fact that you are still a prince of this kingdom. I am sure His Majesty will be very happy to know that you are here when you see him." From what I could tell, the guard seemed very happy.

"Why the hell would I talk with that old man? I have nothing to speak to him about. I am only here in this kingdom on business. Don't even think of spreading the word that I am here or else I might just have to accidentally tell your wife about that time in Dingland City." Thurul's voice was quite threatening, but now I kind of wished I knew what happened in Dingland City.

"Ahhh! Look at that I got the wrong person! Sir, please go on through. You are already checked and ready to go!" The guard was really quick to give up, which made me want to know even more!

"Lass, we have passed the inspection area, so you can come out now," Thurul shouted.

I pursed my lips as I opened the door to the deck and walked out like I was not eavesdropping. I mean, if I am going to do it, I should do it right! Sophie and Adel would have been with me as well if they were not playing a game! "So…. What happened in Dingland City!?"

"That is what you ask me about!?" Thurul looked really surprised, but I mean, I kind of expected him to be some noble with how he has talked over the years.

"What do you mean that is what I ask about? That is the most important part of the conversation!" I said with a huff. I wanted to know! But really, when did I become a gossipy old woman? Well, I guess age changes a person. I mean, I did go from being someone against romance to being in a relationship with four people! And because of that, I will never say anything bad about those harem novels I used to read all the time.

Thurul furrowed his bushy brow before letting out a sigh and saying. "That guard captain is the leader of the inspection squad here. But he was once a royal guard but retired to do a simpler job. During his time as a knight, he was in DIngland City and met an elf girl there and the two were drunk and… Well, they went at it. It was just a one night stand. The guard also has a wife and two kids. Maybe more now, but it was one of those things he regretted, but I found out about it through my information network. This is why he was so quick to let us through."

"I see… So it was a drunken accident….." I really couldn't say anything because I was with four people, so I was no different, but it did amuse me that Thurul would use such a thing against a guard to cover his tracks.

"Lass, you are not going to ask more about me?" Thurul asked.

"Huh? Why? Your life is your life, not mine. Anyway, are we already there?" I asked.

Thurul chuckled and nodded his head. "We will be undergoing docking procedures here soon."

"Okay!" I smiled and turned around to get ready. I couldn't help but be excited. After all, this was a dwarven kingdom! I have only ever read about such places and scene depictions of it in movies and tv, so this is really exciting to be able to see it up close in real life.

I ran down to the bedroom where Adel and Sophie were busy playing a game similar to chess when I began stripping my pajamas off and digging out my armor. I did not plan to wear a dress, that was for sure.

"Faith?" Adel asked curiously as her eyes drilled holes into my back.

"Hmmm? Oh, get dressed in some armor. We are going to be docking any minute! We have finally arrived!" I explained as I slipped my arms through the sleeves of my shirt.

Both Adel and Sophie hopped up from their seats and quickly joined me. "Faith, you look excited."

"Of course! I have never seen the dwarven kingdom before, well, the actual place where most dwarves live. I have only read about them in books and stuff back on Earth." I explained.

"Ah! I see. I myself have not been out of the kingdom either, so this is my first time as well. But I have heard many stories from the officials who have tried to make diplomatic ties here. After all, the dwarven kingdom has many things all kingdoms would like to covet. But it is also how we were able to bring in some of the teachers at the academy as well." Adel explained.

"Then let's make the most of this visit and explore it all!" Sophie seemed to also be very excited. Her tail was wagging just as much as mine!

Chapter32 The Dwarf Crown Prince Part 1

After getting changed, Adel suggested I let Iena and Diablo come with us to sightsee as well. So basically, it would be one big date. Well, I guess date is a little off since both Thurul and Grace were here too. "Faith, are you sure this is okay? With us both here, the kingdom...." Iena was the first to speak up. She knew it was very important to keep an eye on the kingdom during these troubled times.

"Mmmm… Diablo has set up a network of shadows around the kingdom as well as having some mid tier demons guarding the castle. So don't worry, we thought of everything just so you two could be here with me today!" I said with a smile as I held Iena's hand. Iena blushed and nodded as I led her off the airship.

"Faith has really become someone who is smooth with the ladies." Adel's teasing voice came from behind me.

"Miss Adel, you forget, Faith has also captured my heart as well." Diablo cut in, causing me to blush. Why is it sounding like I am some kind of playboy!?

"Now that you mention it, that is true. I guess it's those who fall first who lose while the winner is the one who is the happiest." Adel's words made me turn around and stick my tongue out at her. She returned one in kind.

"But Diablo, since you do not get to spend as much time with Faith, you should get over there and take her other hand. I am sure she will be happy." Adel's voice was low, but I could still hear her. I couldn't help but smile as both Sophie and Adel are very supportive of anything I do.

And sure enough, Diablo did take my other hand as we walked towards the exit of the airship dock. "Thurul, are we already inside the mountain?"

"Yep, this is Dwrognar, the capital of the Drawven kingdom. It may seem gloomy with how dark it is, but it is actually quite nice here. We dwarves like the dampness and cool air that comes with living inside a mountain like this. The air is moist, clean, and cool, making it the perfect place to work hard, creating many things.

"There are special vents that have wind magic inscribed in them that sucks the air out and also brings air in. It is a nice cycle that allows for the city to always have clean air. But this was not always the case. At one point, the kingdom was filled with heavy clouds of smoke and soot from all the forges. That was until a law was passed to have these vents put into place.

"And since then, the entire city has become a more relaxing place to live and work. I would love to have a mountain for my shop in the capital gravos, but I can only do so much. Luckily the Kingdom of Gravos has good clean, cool air as well." Thurul explained.

"I really like the glowing rocks embedded into the cave's ceiling. It looks like stars but also gives off a gentle blue light. It's very soothing in a way." I really like this place. It was different from what I was used to. I have been stuck on an airship for a long time now. While looking down at the lands of the different kingdoms that we passed through was fun and entertaining, this was a whole different thing.

A different culture that was different from the norm that I was used to was something to really enjoy, and I couldn't wait to explore this place from top to bottom. Thurul seemed nervous as he wore a hat on his head that covered his face from people's eyes. It was interesting to see him trying to hide his Identity.

"Brother, I know that is you!" A voice came from in front of us, causing everyone to turn to look at a well dressed dwarf with many guards around him as he walked over. "Did you think we wouldn't know if you arrived in the kingdom? We have known since you passed through the barrier at the border! Why are you not announcing your arrival?"

Thurul's face turned sour as he ripped his hat off and pointed at the dwarf in front of him. "You think I want to talk to you and that old man? I just came here to help my business partner! We have something to do that many dwarves will be highly interested in!"

The well dressed dwarf face scrunched up. "Are you still mad at me for taking Lena? Just so you know, Lena was the one who wished to be with me. I tried to stop her, but father announced our engagement to make the elders happy. Things were out of my hands."

"Out of your hands? You sure know how to pop kids out of her belly every single year! Just to spite me!" Thurul roared. I suddenly feel like I have stumbled upon a part of Thurul's past that we were not supposed to know about.

I quickly let go of Iena and Diablo's hand and walked over to Thurul, and placed my hand on his shoulder. "Thurul, relax. This is not the place." I then turned to the well dressed dwarf and said: "I would appreciate it if you would stop egging my friend on. Whether you are his family or not does not give you the right to be washing your dirty linen in public like this. Are you trying to make people talk about him in a bad way? Point and laugh at him for having his lover taken? Is this how you treat someone who is supposed to be family?"

"Huh? Who are you? What right do you have to butt into my conversation with my brother?" The well dressed dwarf yelled out.

My cold gaze fell onto the well dressed dwarf who called thurul his brother. "Who am I? Let me introduce myself. My name is Princess Cyrilia. Princess of The Gravos Kingdom and long time friend of Thurul. And as his friend and as a princess, I can not sit here and watch you belittle him, a citizen of my kingdom. Or do you wish to find out what I do to people who harm my friends, whether it is physically or mentally?"

Chapter33 The Dwarf Crown Prince Part 2

"You!" I could see the anger in the well dressed dwarf's eyes. I sneered and stepped forward.

"So, are we going someplace to talk or not?" I asked in a more commanding tone.

"Follow me!" The well dressed dwarf spat out before turning around and walking off.

I patted Thurul on the shoulder to give him some reassurance before walking off, following behind the well dressed dwarf. He brought us to a lavishly decorated private room in a nearby restaurant with many paintings and expensive looking pottery inside a restaurant. "Is this better!?"

"I think you should watch your tone. From what I have heard and what has come out of your mouth. You really have no right to be looking down on anyone." I said as I narrowed my eyes at the well dressed dwarf. "You may think you're some kind of amazing person, but to plot with someone else to go against your own kin is disgusting if you ask me."

"What the hell do you know!? Are you saying I plotted against my own brother?" The well dressed dwarf yelled out.

"If you didn't, then why are you bringing up things that would harm your brother now? A malicious heart will always be a malicious heart. Your every word is like a knife trying to cut open your brother's wounds. Because you are scared that he came back to take away your spot as the crown prince. That all your schemes were going to be ruined just because of your brother's return. But let me tell you. Such schemes may work on many people, but in my eyes, you are just a clown dancing around looking for attention." I said mockingly. I mean, I have read so many novels with so many scheming people, how could I not see the scheme he had in place?

"Slander! I would never….." I let out a loud laugh interrupting the well dressed dwarf.

"Slander? Let me guess. This girl Lena was it? You planted her at your brother's side. Made her act as if she was in love with him, and then when your brother fell for her, you used that chance to call her back and married her. All for the sake of making your brother want to leave the kingdom due to his depression of having his only love stolen from him. You even birthed many children with her. If that girl ever had a shred of feelings for Thurul, she would never have been willing to let you produce so many kin.

"A woman in love with someone would never betray those she loves as long as they were not betrayed in kind. And from what you said, Thurul never betrayed her, but she betrayed him. So this means you set this all up. All the clues to this are so obvious it makes me want to puke." I could see the changes in the well dressed dwarf's expression, which means I was probably on point.

"Wait… So Lena…." Thurul's voice quivered. I felt bad. This must be hard to take in. Never mind breaking up with a lover or being betrayed by a love, I am only now learning what it means to fall in love. But Thurul has experienced it all.

"Humph! Your wild stories are just that wild stories. Brother, do not listen to her. Friend or not, that means nothing. She could have just been using you because she already knew you were a prince of this kingdom. Maybe she was using you to get closer to me. I am the crown prince of the dwarven kingdom, after all. She will probably find some excuse to jump in my be…."

*Slap!*

"You!? You dare hit me!?" I turned to see Adel's face red with anger and Sophie standing up with her hand on the hilt of her sword. Iena was no different, but the main culprit which surprised me the most was Diablo.

"Watch your tongue! No one is allowed to insult my wife!" Diablo angered roar echoed through the room. Technically we were not married officially by Gravos standards. Only demon standards, but I will not correct him in this situation.

"Who!? Who are you!?" The well dressed dwarf seemed to be suffering under some kind of pressure, causing his entire body to be completely covered in sweat.

"Diablo enough. And Thank you….." I said softly as I grabbed his hand and pulled him back.

I could see his brow wrinkle, but he still nodded and sat back down. Once I looked at the others, they also sat back down, but I could see the killing intent in their eyes. I turned and coldly looked at the well dressed dwarf. "I suggest you be careful with what you say, or even I will not be able to hold my family back. They are very overprotective of me. Just know if you were not a prince, I would have castrated you here and now."

"I see…. So this is the kind of person you were from the beginning. You have truly opened my eyes and for Father to go along with it all means that I was never in a position to be cared for by this family. I am glad I left….." Thurul words cut the tension in the air as I sat back down. Since he wanted front stage, I would give it to him. But to my surprise, he turned to me and said: "This gives me some peace of mind. So now I do not mind what I am about to do. From this moment on, I hereby request to join the Cyrilia family as part of House Cyrilia."

"You wish to be known as Thurul Cyrilia?" I asked in confusion.

"Yes. I wish to be under your flag and will swear my loyalty to you from this day forth." Thurul replied as he bent down on one knee and bowed his head in a knightly fashion. Looking at him, I sighed and stood up and drew my sword, and placed it on his left shoulder. "Then, from this moment on, you will be one of my retainers, Thurul Cyrilia."

Chapter34 The Dwarf Crown Prince Part 3

"You! Thurul, are you crazy!? You know by doing this, you are no longer part of the royal family!" I turned and gave the well dressed dwarf a strange look. It seemed there was more to things than what was being said.

"Humph! You can't ever open the vault without me. My blood has been inscribed into the magic circle since birth, and without me there, you can never sit on the throne. I never planned to help you retrieve what was inside. So your kingly status will never come to fruition. You are bound by the magic to never be able to open it to claim the throne. Even if Father dies, you will never officially become king even if you name yourself as such, as each king must go into the vault and retrieve the Dreadnaught Hammer." Thurul's tone was full of mockery, causing the well dressed dwarf's face to twist.

"You! You dare!? Do not think I can not do anything to you! Guards seize Prince Thurul for conspiring against the Crown!" The well dressed dwarf yelled out but sadly for him, the guards couldn't move, not when Adel had already cast pause magic on them. "What is going on!? Why are you not moving!?"

Horror filled the well dressed dwarf's eyes as he looked at his guards, who were all frozen in place. It was only the sound of my finger tapping the table was heard, did he turned to look at me. "Mr. Prince….. It seems you do not know your position. If you threaten those of my family, I will not hold back. From what I can tell, this kingdom is running perfectly fine, and I do not wish to bring it under Gravos's rule, but if you dare to make another move like you have now, I will annex this entire kingdom, and your dream of becoming king will never see the light. Your fate will be for Thurul to decide."

"This…. How can you just interfere with another kingdom's affairs!? I need Thurul to give up his right to the throne legally in order to take the crown!" The panicked well dressed dwarf looked at me with pleading eyes as if I was going to help him.

"Why would I not interfere with this? Thurul is my friend and is now officially part of my Cyrilia family. Who gave you the right to threaten him with your soldiers? My question for you is, are you trying to start an international incident by threatening a princess of another nation's family members?" I asked this question, but I couldn't help but feel a bit used as I eyed Thurul. He lowered his head as soon as he felt my gaze. But nonetheless, I still owe Thurul a lot for all he has done, so I will not blame him for his motives. But he should now know he is locked to my family.

"I…." The well dressed Dwarf seemed at a loss.

"I think I should be asking you the same question." A voice came from the other side of the door. Another much older looking dwarf pushed the door open, followed by a few knights.

"Father!" Thurul had a complicated look on his face as he saw the old dwarf.

"Thurul, what is the meaning of this? You bring outsiders to walk all over our ages long dwarven tradition!?" The dwarven king yelled out. He seemed very angry.

"Father, you expect me to sit by after being under my brother's grip for all these years? Why do you think I left the kingdom in the first place!?" Thurul shot back.

"What does your inability to deal with your brother have to do with anything? This is why you were not favored. You are lacking!" The king snorted before looking at me. "Princess Cyrilia, was it? You are overstepping your bounds in my kingdom."

"I wouldn't overstep if you raised your son correctly. Thurul is a good person and a hard worker. He sees friends as people he can trust with his life. But you allowed your good son here to trample all over him. Just admit you didn't like Thurul in the first place. Why else would you allow your good son here to use a woman to honey trap him and force him out of the kingdom?" I answered back coldly.

"Humph! It is his own weakness! He let a woman take advantage of him. This is his own fault and something he will need to live with!" The dwarven king answered. "But you, Princess Cyrilia, are nothing more than a titled princess and are butting in where you do not belong. I will give you a fair warning. Stay out of this, or the dwarven kingdom will not stand idly."

"Oh? Let me say this, then. I will stand back, but as of now, Thurul is part of my Cyrilia family. He is no longer a royal. So if you are trying to detain a member of my family and a citizen of the Gravos kingdom, then that would be an act of war." I replied with a bright smile causing the dwarven king's brow to furrow.

"Humph!" The king snorted before looking at his other son. "You did good! Real good! Let's return!"

I signaled for Adel to release her spell on the other knights as we watched as the king and the well dressed dwarf left with their entourage. "Faith… I am sorry… I had no choice…."

I shook my head upon hearing Thurul's apology. "It's fine, do not worry about it. If anything, you made the right choice since the King himself came. He can't do anything to you or to me at this time unless he wishes to start a war. So before he makes his next move, he will need to plan carefully. Until then, we are free to explore the city as we please. After all, he wouldn't dare kick me out."

I gave a bright smile as I leaned back in my chair. "So for now, let's order some food. I would hate to waste this chance to eat at a high scale restaurant now that we are here."

Chapter35 Free Meal!

We waited thirty minutes before a large amount of food was brought to the room. The whole bill was paid for by the dwarf kingdom or, should I say, the well dressed dwarf, since he was the one who booked the room. So I made sure to buy all the most expensive dishes.

"This is not bad…. The meat melts in my mouth." I said as I shoved another mouthful of meat into my mouth. It was really melting away inside my mouth with how well it was prepared and cooked.

"It really is. This mashed proato is also very good. The seasoning makes my mouth water for more!" Adel chimed in, her cheeks were just as puffed out as mine.

"How is the meal?" A waiter came in after knocking. He had a big smile on his face as he looked at us.

"Can we get another round of the same plates?" I asked. The waiter's smile broadened even more as he nodded his head and quickly ran off.

The only one not really enjoying his meal was Thurul. "Thurul, what's wrong? Don't like the food?"

"Lass, it's not that but the fact that I brought you into a conflict that has nothing to do with you. I have to apologize and also thank you at the same time." Thurul replied.

"Ah… don't worry about it. It's not like you meant to drag me into anything, and well, I kinda stuck myself into it when I noticed that flea trying to use words to stab you. As your friend, I can not stand by and allow such a thing to happen. So turn your frown upside down and enjoy the free meal the flea offered us. You can even order the best ale they have here." I said with a big grin as I rang the bell. The waiter once more came in with a big smile on his face and asked: "What can I get for you."

"We want the best ale you have. Bring us whatever you have." I answered. I wanted to taste a bit of this myself to see what dwarven ale tasted like.

"Right away!" The waiter happily ran out the door, and not more than ten minutes later, two huge jugs of ale were placed on the table with multiple mugs. Seeing the ale, I saw Thurul's nose twitch, and before he probably even knew it himself, he was already drinking. I poured myself a small cup. Sophie and Adel did so as well. Diablo, Grace, and Iena did not, they seemed to be on guard duty. I did tell them they could, but they refused.

Although my first sip of ale did not go very far, I stuck my tongue out and wrinkled my nose. I really did not like it. But Adel and Sophie seemed to like it a lot as they downed their mugs. "Hehe….. Faithy is here…." Adel suddenly latched on to me and kissed my cheek.

"Ahh, no fair! I want to kissy Faithy too!!" Sophie yelled out as she slipped under Adel's arms and joined in. I, who was suddenly latched on to by the two girls, felt helpless.

"Hahahaha! You are more manly than any man!" Thurul suddenly let out a loud laugh, his cheeks red. I think he had drunk one of the jugs himself. "I do not think the Cyrilia family will ever have a problem needing an heir."

I pursed my lips and looked at the two girls, who were now half hugging me and each other at the same time, passed out in my lap. I was quite surprised at the low tolerance. "They only drank a cup!"

"Lasss, this ale is made for dwarves who are born drinking ale instead of milk. Only a small bit is enough to knock them out. I am more surprised you didn't get drunk off a single sip." Thurul replied. He was obviously drunk, yet he could still think rationally.

"Well, I didn't drink that much, just a mouth full. So I do not think that is enough to get me drunk." I replied.

"No, No, you do not understand. Lass, this ale is enough to get a grown human male who has drunk ale for years drunk on a single sip. Never mind a small girl who is only a few years into adulthood." Thurul explained.

"I see…." I guess this is a benefit of being a dragon? Either way, I do not like drinking, so I won't be drinking anymore.

"I guess we will be stuck here until these two wake up. I could dispel their drunkenness, but I think a small headache will be a good lesson for them to not drink anymore." I could cure them of any hangover, but everyone needs to learn the hard way sometimes.

We waited for almost an hour with no signs of the two girls waking up, so in the end, I carried Adel and Iena carrying Sophie on our backs as we decided to leave. The waiter was very happy when I told him to take a thousand gold tip. After all, he worked hard for us. The wall dressed dwarf should feel good about helping a hard working man out with his large amount of wealth.

We found an inn where we took three rooms. Thurul and Diablo shared one room while Iena, Adel, Sophie, and I shared another, and Grace got her own room. The boys got a double which had two beds, while we girls shared a large bed that was just big enough for all of us. It wouldn't be the first time we would have slept in tight quarters. Well, at least not for me, who is normally sandwiched between fluff and puff.

Luckily night time was already settling in on the outside, so it was a perfect time for everyone to take a break and rest so we could do more exploring the next day. Iena sat on the edge of the bed in a long nightgown as I brushed her hair for her. "Iena, are you okay with all of this?"

Chapter36 A Morning With The Girls

"Hmm?" Iena turned to look up at me.

"I mean with how things are. I know it's a little late to be talking about this stuff, But you love Diablo, right? He has said he will not have a family with you…." I said softly.

Iena tilted her head to the side with a puzzled look as she answered: "Faith, I am married to you. Why would I care? While yes, I do like spending time with Diablo, we get along great, but it feels more like just friends now. I find myself happier spending alone time with you than with him, and I cherish every second of it. While how we got to be this way was a pure accident, I do not regret it in any way and am, in fact, very happy. My only complaint is being stuck in the capital all the time. I wish I could spend more time with you like Sister Adel and Sister Sophie. Plus, I can see you really like Diablo as well. I can see how you smile when he hugs you or kisses you."

Iena paused as she lowered her head and blushed as she continued: "Also, Adel and Sophie have been teaching me many things, so when we reach the stage where we can be intimate, I will be ready to be of service."

Seeing her bashful face made me smile as I leaned down and gave her a deep kiss. I had worried Iena would be troubled with the current arrangement. She seemed happy on the surface, so I had not asked anything until now but seeing her as this showed me that she seemed to be just fine. That night, Iena and I got much closer.

The next morning, two girls woke up with bad headaches. They only drank one mug, but that was enough to give them the worst experience of their lives. "I am never drinking again!" Adel yelled out as she held her head.

"I agree…. Faith, heal me…." Sophie whined as she looked up at me with big round watery eyes.

"Nope! You got what you deserve. Let this be a lesson to never drink again." I replied as I got up.

I, of course, didn't miss Sophie changing targets and looking at Grace, who had come in to do her normal routine. Sadly for Sophie, she only got a snort from Grace as Grace said: "Master is right, mistress or not, you should learn from your mistakes. But…. You can take this to ease the pain."

"Speaking of which, Master, I heard there was an incident at the Crown Prince's residence last night. Rumors in the city are saying that the Prince refused to pay his debt even though it was clearly placed on his account with his own signature." I have no idea what time Grace had to get up to go out and find such information. But she seemed to be very good at this.

I do have to say the information is funny. I could imagine the look on the well dressed dwarf's face as he was handed the bill. If he refuses to pay, there is nothing the restaurant could do about it, but that does not mean the well dressed dwarf's reputation would not plummet. Who would trust someone who can't even pay their bills? As such, the well dressed dwarf's reputation took a big hit.

Did I plan all this, one may ask? Not really… In fact, I only wanted to make him pay a lot of money for the food and drinks. I never actually thought this would become something even better than just making him pay a huge fee. But now that I think about it, he did seem the arrogant type who would run out on the bill. So I guess, all in all, it worked out well for me, but I do hope the waiter will not be harmed in any way.

At any rate, it was time for breakfast. Looking at my two fiancees, who were holding their heads, made me sigh as I reached out and cast healing on them. When they looked up with their big round eyes that were filled with gratefulness, I couldn't help but laugh. "Next time, don't drink so much."

"I will never drink again. That was horrible!" Adel said as she climbed out of the bed.

"Mmm…. I will only drink if Faith is drinking….." Sophie said as she too climbed out of bed.

"Master, may I ask what is wrong with Mistress Iena? She seems to be out like a light." Grace's question caused everyone's gaze to turn to the demon girl, who was covered in blankets with nothing but her bare shoulder and head sticking out. Her hair was a mess, and her cheeks were shiny and flushed.

I rubbed my nose and said: "We stepped up our relationship last night."

"What!? No fair! I missed out!" Adel cried out. Causing everyone to give her a strange look. She blushed and lowered her head as she felt everyone turn to look at her.

"I see… So it is only a matter of time before little masters begin running around. I am sure Sir Diablo will be very happy when…."

"Grace, stop!" I yelled out. I really wondered why Grace had to go above and beyond in everything, including when she was trying to tease me!

"Master, I was only going to say when you two finally stepped up your relationship." Grace gave me a sly smile as she began placing clothes on the edge of the bed. "Master, Mistresses, please wash up and then get changed. Sir Diablo and Thurul have been up for a while now."

"Alright, let's get up then," I said as I climbed out of bed as well. I turned to look at Iena, who was still sound asleep, and smiled. Seeing the small smile on her lips made me happy. To see those I care for and love be happy brings me happiness as well.

When we made our way downstairs, minus two since Grace stayed behind to wait on Iena, Thurul and Diablo were sitting at a table drinking a cup of tea. "Your girls are finally down. I have a place I want to take you today."

Chapter37 Surrounded!

"Oh, where are you taking us?" I asked as I sat down. Diablo poured me a cup of tea for me, Adel, and Sophie.

"To the secret trade district. Only those in the know, know about this place and it is where all the top craftsmen of the kingdom reside. If we can snatch a few of them, we can surely reengineer everything you have in those hangers, including that big guy." Thurul answered. He seemed highly excited about this. It looks like the prior day's events did not have too much of an effect on him, or he was just really good at hiding his emotions.

"I guess for high quality craftsmen, it will also cost quite a bit of money as well." I would be happy to get top notch craftsmen, but if they asked for extraordinary prices, it would not work out well. While quality over quantity was the normal way to go, I still needed to hire many people to build these things as well. All of which would cost a good deal of money.

"Lass, you are misunderstanding something about us dwarves. Those who love their trade will never be swayed by money. Only those things that truly interest them will they be moved enough to want to see things through to the end. These masters are the same way. And I know these things will light a spark of interest in them." Thurul explained.

His words helped extinguish some of my worries but not all. I mean, if I go in there and they all reject me, I will have to try other dwarves, but if word gets out that I was already rejected then what? How many would be willing to work for someone who was rejected by the masters? I can only hope things will go over smoothly.

*Bang!*

The inn door slammed open, and a bunch of dwarven knights filed in and surrounded my table. "Crown Prince Thordor would like you to visit the palace."

"Huh?" I narrowed my eyes and looked at the knights surrounding us. "Who the hell is this prince?"

"Lass, it's my brother from yesterday," Thurul replied. His eyes were also cold as he stared at the knights.

"Oh, the arrogant well dressed dwarf." I didn't know his name and calling him a prince did not sit well with me since I did not like him one bit.

"Impudent! You dare slander the Crown Prince!?" One of the knights yelled out. I only snorted as my eyes lit up and said: "Sit!"

*Bang!*

The knight who yelled out hit the floor right on his butt as he was forced to sit on the ground. Did they think we were easy to bully? Did they think we would just do as they said? I glared at all the knights as I said: "What right does the crown prince have to use force against not just one but two princesses of the Gravos Kingdom? Go back and tell your prince if he wishes to have us go to the palace, then he needs to come here and crawl on his hands and knees between Thurul legs. If he does that, we might grace the Palace with our presence."

"Cough! Cough!" Thurul choked on something, whether it was air or spit, as he looked at me with wide eyes. He then raised his hands and gave me a thumbs up.

I watched as the knights looked at each other, seemingly troubled as to what to do. But what can I say? They barged in here, acting all high and mighty. But now they were being told to go back and ask the prince to come back on his own and crawl between Thurul's legs. If they did that, they would surely lose their lives! So instead, they did the only thing they knew would not get them in trouble! All the knights looked at each other and drew their weapons.

"What are you doing to my wife!?" A yell came from behind us, causing me to turn around to see a red faced Iena standing there, giving off an immense pressure. That pressure slammed down onto the knights surrounding us, causing them all to fall face first onto the floor.

"You're so loved," Adel said teasingly as she leaned over and nudged me with her head. I poked her nose and raised my hand. "It's okay, Iena. Come sit and have tea."

I heard a snort before footsteps, and then Iena walked over, hugged me from behind, and kissed my cheek before taking her place next to Diablo. Only when Diablo handed her a cup of tea did she release the pressure she was giving off.

The knights that were on the floor were all pale faced as they began to scramble up. They didn't even look at me or anyone else before they all took off. Only one knight stayed, and that was because I had not canceled my magic on him yet. I wanted to ask him a few questions before I let him go. My eyes lit up as I asked: "So tell me, what did the prince want by forcing us to go to the palace?"

"He wanted to put you and Thurul on trial for ruining his reputation and force you to admit that it was you who had staged everything to do with the restaurant." The guard replied.

"So he is an idiot." I mumbled, and surprisingly the guard said: "Yes…. He is truly an idiot. Everyone knows this."

"Pfft! Hahahahah!" Adel burst out laughing. She was always one to find things amusing.

"It seems this crown prince is not very well liked by his own people. Wouldn't that mean a coup would be possible? I bet as soon as he takes the throne, many people would want him gone." I have to agree with what Diablo just said. If the Prince was not liked and was given the throne, the possibility of a coup was not out of the question.

Chapter38 Blocked!

"So, do you think he will come and crawl between Thurul's legs?" Sophie asked, causing all of us to laugh.

"If he does, I will make sure I shower first. Need to show him a tiny bit of respect." Thurul replied with a big grin. He seemed to find this whole thing amusing.

"Haha!" I couldn't help but laugh. The whole situation was kind of funny. I looked at the guard still sitting on the floor and gave him another order: "Go tell your prince to come walk through Thurul's legs."

After this order, the guard finally stood up and walked out of the inn while my group and I finished our breakfast and chatted merrily as we did. When we were done, we got our things out of our room. I told the girls tonight I would be with Diablo since I had spent the night with all of them already. I had to make it fair, after all. While they pouted, Diablo smiled. He was in a much better mood, it seemed.

The dwarven capital was really a unique place. As we walked through the city streets, I could see the way the locals lived. While dwarves were the biggest of the population, there were humans and other demi humans living here as well.

But while there were many people walking around buying things here and there from the various stands and shops, there were also many sitting on the side of the road with a can in front of them and a sign looking for a handout. "Thurul, is it like this everywhere?"

"I am not sure. During the time I was here, there weren't so many poor people. To be honest, I am even surprised at how many are here. Gravos also has its poor sections, but only the east side was like this, while the main hubs were quite clear. Now I am not saying that the poor should be hidden, but this is just a bit crazy if you ask me. But with your reforms in the east side slums, life there is hundreds of times better now. My father once did his best to keep people from suffering and even issued reforms himself but now…." Thurul let out a sigh. I could see that he was not happy with what he was seeing.

"Thurul, do you want to figure out what is going on in this kingdom?" I asked. I wanted to know what Thurul wanted. If he wished to figure out why this was all happening, I would help him out as best as I could. If he just wanted to finish the task at hand and return, we could do that as well. Everything was up to him.

Thurul paused his steps, causing us all to stop as he turned to me and said: "Can I have a day or two to think about it?"

I smiled and nodded: "Take your time. We will not be leaving right away anyway, so take your time and figure out what you want. If it comes down to it, I will use my full power to get to the bottom of things. Even if I must take over the kingdom to find out."

"Well, don't go taking the kingdom over because I do not want it," Thurul said flatly. I could see he had no interest in ruling anything.

"Well, if that's the case, I know a ruler who would be more than happy to have another kingdom thrown at him." I could hear the sneeze from here. That stupid king!

"Faith, my father would probably cry if you annexed another kingdom. He said in all of the kingdom's history has the kingdom suddenly expanded in such a short period of time. We are lacking ministers to even set up a stable government to keep the kingdoms in place." Adel said as she chuckled.

"Adel, I wouldn't laugh too much. He might just abdicate his throne to you, making us handle it instead." I said as I poked her side. I guess this realization only now just hit her as she frowned.

"If he dares, I will refuse!" Adel shouted righteously. "He has to stabilize everything before I take control, or else I will not let him off! But then again, the one annexing everything is my fiancee…."

I felt a sharp pinch in my side, making me slap the hand away that was doing such an evil thing. "I get it! I won't annex any more kingdoms… For now…."

"Adel, if we took over the entire continent, wouldn't it make things easier? Then we won't have to worry about foreign interference." Sophie suddenly asked.

"It's not that we can't do such a thing, but we will need to deal with the current matters at hand first. We need to be able to protect everything we have without worrying about some super being like Azengrade destroying everything we work hard to build up. Which is why I am here in the first place." I explained. While maybe having the continent under one rule would keep things quiet for the time being with so many unknowns in the mix right now we still have to worry about how we will defend ourselves against a being who is on par or stronger than Diablo and if there are more than just one of him. Then there is the man who can ignore even my own detection magic and barriers. Such things as of now make it hard for us to build up the kingdom any further.

"That is true…." Sophie sighed as if her plans for world domination were suddenly crushed. But for her of all people to suggest such a thing was quite amusing in itself as she was normally the passive one.

"We are almost there. Just a few streets mo…." Thurul stopped his steps once again when he saw a group of knights walking towards us. "Why are there more knights here!?"

"Thurul, relax, they are probably sent to keep us from talking with the masters. "

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Reborn: I’m a Dragon Girl With An OP System Book 9

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