Volume 1 Chapter 1 - The reign is fading

"Victoria de Luna, today you, as the heir to the throne and a knight, are given the position of queen. Starting today, you have become the 34th ruler of Demonia, a kingdom that inherited the power from the progenitor of our land.

Under the chants and sounds of rampant applause, the coronation of the new leader of the kingdom was over.

On behalf of Victoria:

"I've been training and studying for this moment all my life. Today, having become the queen of Demonia and laid my father to rest, I will lead my people forward to glory."

A month later

In the royal palace, walking through the spacious corridors, Queen Victoria de Luna was worried and disappointed.

"The foundations and laws of our kingdom are too harsh. We are known for our military strength, but after becoming queen, I learned all the problems of the kingdom. When I was a princess, information about these laws was securely classified by my father, I think he tried not to spoil my zeal for the throne.

Why does the population in our country almost entirely consist of paramilitary groups? Taxes are too high, old people cannot live at all, because the pension is so meager that there is practically no pension. Why do we need 4 million poorly trained and mana-deficient soldiers? 

For the past 20 years, the kingdom has only fought dragons, why do we need these 4 million inactive mouths? I'll fix it. I am the supreme authority. I inherited the throne. For a happy life without the poverty of civilians, I will carry out reforms and make life easier for the people."

Faced with the situation, the queen acted quickly.

Already 5 months later, reforms were carried out, which established a decent salary and pension in the opinion of the queen.

3 months later

, "During this time, I discussed for quite a long time the useless presence of a 4 million army, and to my surprise, all the officials insisted to the last on its safety. I can no longer tolerate such useless discussions.

The officials are old, unable to think straight, they believe in the danger from the Fiery Empire, which, to my great relief, I do not see.

The army will be reduced, this is my final decision.

1 year later

, "It was difficult. A week after the army was reduced to 800 thousand, the kingdom was attacked by the Fiery Empire.

I foresaw such a course of events and prepared the defense and the Order of the Demonic Blade, with the help of the latter, we were able to repel the attack with relative ease.

They did not use all their strength, which means they do not know the exact information about the reforms of the army. But why did they attack at all? There are traitors in the kingdom, my trust in officials has become critically low."

2 months have passed since the attack of the Fiery Empire.

The Queen of Demonia Victoria de Luna, angry at the Empire for underestimating the power of the Demonia so much, thought that in this way they were trying to tarnish the honor and glory of the kingdom, decided to go on a retaliatory campaign against the Fiery Empire.

A month later, the 150 thousandth army of the Demonia was defeated in a battle on a mountain range right on the borders of both states. Queen Victoria, who led the army, was wounded and evacuated to the capital.

Having earned the condemnation of the people and officials, the queen became more serious, childishness and inexperience disappeared, and hasty decisions became slow but correct.

3 years later

, "During these 3 years, I realized my mistakes and changed under the onslaught of the problems I created.

I admit that my shortcomings had a strong impact, and I discussed the decisions I made earlier with officials. 

During this time, military action was only taken against the Flame Empire and the Dragon nests. 

The queen of Luminaria, the kingdom of light, contacted me, she was interested in cooperation and said that she guarantees the independence of the Demonia in case of unforeseen danger.

I was over the moon with happiness, after 3 years of dark times, the moment of prosperity has come, what is it if not paradise?

Being ready for the future, I looked only ahead."

10 years later

, "This shouldn't have happened. The Shadow and Flame Empires conspired and invaded the kingdom. A huge number of troops from the two Empires were involved in this war. I was able to stop the Shadow Empire's advance, but the battle was so close to the capital that I couldn't call it a victory... It was the most disgusting feeling I've ever had. After fighting countless enemies and seeing the huge carnage around me for a year, I realized one of the most important things in this world - human resources. Human resources were extremely important, but at the same time, thinking like that, I was a creature made up entirely of hypocrisy. This war, these mountains of corpses, seeing all this with common sense, you gradually begin to understand that all these dimensions of destruction, reliefs completely created from a huge number of lifeless bodies, all this makes me understand that in fact human resources are expendable material that can be replenished over time... As a queen who cares about her people, I cannot accept this truth and say the opposite of reality."

A year after the war

, "We recaptured the territories occupied by the enemy and put an end to this war. Even with my work on past mistakes and the evolution of my personality as a ruler, I still made the mistake I was warned about. Those 4 million soldiers made sense, if I hadn't weakened the army, all this wouldn't have happened. There would be no senseless losses of the inhabitants of my country.

It was difficult to stop the grief in my heart, but over time, only a scar remained, reminding me of this oversight."

*5 years later,"

"I became queen 21 years ago. I need to find an heir, fortunately I finally met her - the ancestor of Ymir. She gave me an artifact that will find me a worthy heir, besides possessing an impressive talent in our people's power of mana - demonic energy."

2 years later

, "I was looking for an heir all over the kingdom and it was worth it. For the first time in a long time, I was able to get out of the palace and enjoy the culture of the kingdom. The artifact reacted by shining a black-red light when I passed near the shelter, there was a girl standing there, looking no more than 5 years old, she was special, something screamed in me to take her as my daughter."

A month later

, "Arriving at Luminaria for the Queen's audience, the ancestress artifact reacted strangely to a passing girl in the palace, noticing this, I asked the queen who that girl was. Strangely, when I asked about this, the queen seemed to think about it, and answered me that she was a simple orphan accepted to study maid work. This reaction of the queen was quite strange, but she helped me all these years, and I decided not to pay attention to it.

When I left, saying goodbye to the queen, who handed me this girl, the baby looked at the queen with a very tearful look, to which she only bit her lip a little, it did not go unnoticed by me, but from the child's point of view, it is very sad and difficult to leave your native place. Understanding this, I went to the ship leading to my native kingdom. "

An hour later

," The girl was sitting next to me and calmly looked out at the sea from the cabin window. I decided to check it with the artifact again, but this time the light coming from it was bright white, but at some point it changed to bright red. I think it was some kind of artifact error, probably her aura confused him."

1 year later

,"Sitting on an armchair and drinking tea in the garden, I watched my daughters playing with dolls on a mat. During this time, I gave them similar names so that only when they are named, people understand how close they are. The black-haired girl I found at the orphanage, I named Amelia. And the white-haired girl who came with me from Luminaria, I called Lamia. My heiresses Amelia de Luna and Lamia de Luna, I believe they will become the best version of me."

A month has passed

"Luminaria called on me to start a war with the Shadow Empire, I was not against it based on the factors I created. Over the years, I have increased the army to a huge number. Having reinforced the garrison with more than a million troops on the borders of the Fiery Empire, I began preparations for combat operations. 

And here it is, the sign I've been waiting for to start a war with a hated enemy. Finally, this moment has come, I will avenge the past, for their looting of civilians, for kidnapping children and for spoiling the beautiful nature of Demonia."

A week later, Victoria de Luna went on a hike to the land of shadows.