Dark Elves IV

Transportation was quick to the academy, with a warm welcome from Skuld. She showed them to some of the afternoon courses, with brand new professors found by Donovan and Bryn living meager lives in the villages connected to Paldos City. While the large municipality was for the most part wreckage, the villages still were mostly untouched beyond making sure the mayors acknowledged the Clockwork Empire as their new ruling government. Brynhildr had proven she was a capable General and decent diplomat where needed.

As the small group walked through the hallways, Hrist's sister explained that the numbers had now gone up to close to six hundred students, with twenty professors, Antoine included, educating them. That meant there were thirty students per class. Selene would have to figure out if there was a way to get any more teachers to come out of the woodwork in the coming week or two. The teenagers ran to doorways to watch the group walk around, seeing the effectiveness of their education, with some students standing in their late classes reading passages from books provided to them. A few of them noticed the group and a slight commotion would start, which was quickly settled by the professors commanding them to continue their studies.

"Reading and writing is standard now in… English… though they are to learn secondary languages as well, of their choice where we can manage it. Basic grammar and spelling are the norm, with basic arithmetic learned by all. We've had a few advanced course takers that have shown exceptional capability however" Skuld informed them as they headed to the courtyard.

"No issues with bullying, I hope. That is sometimes a problem in schools" Selene asked as they continued walking. There were a few students playing a small game with a ball, stopping immediately as they noticed the honor guard escort.

"We had one small group… quickly rectified."

"No corporal punishment, right?" Skuld visibly shivered at hearing that. Had she hit the students?

"Define corporal punishment…" Selene crossed her arms and stood there for a moment with everyone watching her. Skuld turned around and seemed to wince, bracing for the dev to be unhappy with her actions.

"Physical harm to the student by an educator." Skuld sighed in relief at hearing that.

"In that case, no. They take the job of janitorial staff without pay. That's… alright to do, isn't it?" The empress nodded and smirked. Raking leaves up and having to throw trash away in front of other students… horribly embarrassing. They'd drop in status in the eyes of everyone else. Popularity was always a thing for teenagers, having the right looks, clothes, trinkets or toys. Their image would be tarnished if they were caught bullying another student and placed at the bottom of the totem pole suddenly.

"It is, I'd assume they lose privileges as well?" the team continued walking.

"No leaving the academy for one month, no desserts of any kind after meals. They lose all tokens for time off and have to regain them. They also need to be in their dorms after classes." While that seemed a little harsh to others, it felt perfectly acceptable in Selene's mind as well as Hrist's. Being seen cleaning a latrine when an automaton can do it, not allowed to see a play in Gold Pine or be seen with a potential girlfriend or boyfriend at a symphony, no sweets and no chance to get away from school to shop can either change the student or make them meaner. If they fall further from grace, Skuld could easily expel them, which would be the ultimate shaming act for the family. Further modifications could be done to the system as needed.

They reached a small auditorium where a small class was explaining poetry. Each student would stand at the front and read out loud one poem they had created, regardless of language. Most of the children had slight issues, nothing to be concerned with, however a few stammered after seeing the empress standing there watching them. "Calm down class, they are just interested in hearing your incredible poems. Show what you have to say from the heart, from the mind. There is no wrong way to write these… as long as they aren't one sentence" the female professor said as she rearranged her glasses and patted the side of her small desk with a ruler to get their attention.

"What are the average grades for the students?" the dev asked as quietly as she could while they read out loud.

"Most are in the B range, a few are straight As. There are some outliers that are getting Cs. Very rare is it to find any that have gotten below that. We've been doing what we can to help those students attain a greater understanding with a few student tutors helping where they can."

"The tutors aren't girls heading to the boy's dormitory, are they?" Skuld shook her head.

"We're doing what we can to make sure they are same sex to stop any… events… from occurring here." Selene seemed to grin at that thought. Teenagers would be teenagers; hormones did take over a lot of their young lives. The empress returned her gaze to the students in front of her.

"Should probably have a sex education course added to the mix." Skuld flushed a little at that.

"We… have one… there is a professor that has detailed parchments with drawings of the anatomy. It was… illuminating…"

"For you?" Selene asked, surprised.

"No… look who you are talking to" Skuld said and smirked at her. Her sex life wasn't completely private to the empress, she knew what the male and female body looked like via experience. "I mean to say most of the students don't really know what causes pregnancy, don't know very much about even their own bodies, don't understand the issues with not controlling their urges… they just didn't know anything about biology." One of the students, a young girl, turned her head and looked at the empress, a glimmer in her eyes. A quick clearing of the professor's throat and she quickly turned back around, embarrassed that she got caught. Selene shook her head softly and smiled.

The group left the room and headed back to Skuld's office, which was interesting in that she had quite a few magical items in glass cases, a map table, chess table, among quite a few other things. It looked just like a professor's office back in college, with papers stacked on her desk neatly. Her windows overlooked the courtyard, allowing easy view of movement in almost all directions, though not enough to the whole academy. It was just too large.

"Are you running low on anything?"

"No, we've now got that sewing room available, thanks for that." The dev had a tailor automaton brought to the academy to help with any uniform requirements within the past four days. It made getting new students dressed a snap. The head mistress leaned back and closed her eyes for a few seconds.

"Are you okay? You seem a little tired." Skuld opened her eyes and smirked at her. Valkyrja didn't get physically tired like humans did, their stamina was nigh unlimited. They slept due to still needing to let their brains process the daily activities and memories, however.

"Mentally, yes, you already know the answer for physically."

"I'll get an administrative staff crafted up for you, sorry we didn't get that ready at the beginning." The brown-haired woman put up one hand palm open and just smiled.

"It's alright. I wasn't expecting all of this to grow so fast." They talked about different events that had happened here while Selene quickly set in motion the construction of an administrative automaton team to help Skuld with new student arrivals, keeping track of different requests to accept graduates from other smaller schools and in general keep paperwork under control. It wasn't a good idea to provide Skuld with a computer, as that would take quite a bit of training on her part. The battle maiden learned very quickly, but there was so much that would need to be addressed with saving files, copying and pasting, folders and just typing without breaking the keyboard. A computer could be the most efficient tool and at the same time her worst enemy with errors and restrictions. The last thing she needed to hear was her head mistress deleting her whole root directory and losing grade reports.

"Well, things seem to be going well. I'll let you relax. Thanks for all the hard work Skuld." A quick hug given to Hrist's sister and telling her not to be a stranger at the castle, then they left.

"Oh, one more thing, apparently one of my students relayed information from a shop keep in Glass Dale, something about a new item available there for Hrist?" Skuld said as they just barely exited the office door. The raven-haired woman's eyes widened a little as she realized the shop that was being referred to. A new plushie was made, hopefully better quality than the last one.

Selene looked up at Hrist, wondering what this was about. "Did you order something?" she asked.

"Yes… just… it looked interesting, nothing to be concerned with." The empress shrugged, thanked Skuld and continued down the hallway. The Valkyrja would need to pick that plushie up tomorrow morning, there was almost no time to waste. She'd slip out with Asterion and head for the store as early as possible.

24th, November

"How are you doing, princess?" Selene asked as she sat down at the table in her tea room, this time bringing the king and his guard to her castle.

"I… this place is…"

"Intriguing, isn't it?" Weren finished her sentence. Silara looked out the window at the well taken care of garden, her white hair falling down a little as she pushed it back behind her pointed brown ear. Paperwork was placed on the table for her father to read through, with cups in front of all of them, including the guards.

"There was… a… a…"

"Pegasus?"

"Yes. You have them?" Silara asked the empress.

"I technically only have one with another just brought in, given to my General sitting right here" she replied, turning to her left and gesturing to Hrist who was drinking her sweetened tea. "However, another of my Generals recently took a town that breeds horses. Since they are Valkyrja, they can change them into-"

"Your Generals are Valkyries?" Silara asked, astonished. Hrist's eyes bolted up and locked onto the princess, annoyed with that mispronunciation of what she was. Her gaze at that point could have carved the elf into pieces.

"Valkyrja. Just as you don't like being called Drow, they don't like having a bastardized version of their race used. She is in front of you after all, it's an insult to her face."

"My mistake… apologies." The princess was being far more cordial than a few days ago. It looked as if she was starting to realize this was a completely different human government that was trying to welcome them into the fold.

"And… done…" Weren said as he finished writing his name on the papers.

"Good. I'll have these sealed away in the vault. As for your people, I'm sorry to say, we might not be of much use in helping repair the city given how you build. We can, however, start working on getting the forest cleaned up of forgotten traps and remove all the stumps for new trees to be planted. While I can promise there will be no slavers, adventurers or any human enemies roaming around anymore, I can't be certain your people won't get attacked by wildlife."

"That has never been a problem for us, I can assure you" Weren replied.

"Also, I would suggest we plan group trips to nearby settlements that are within our borders as goodwill building events. Werelosil I believe is going to have a showing of their best breeds of horses, perhaps you might bring your… uh… what do you normally ride in the forest?" she asked.

"Black Panthers actually…" that made Selene's eyebrows raise. The forest they lived in didn't seem like the place for that kind of large cat to live in at all, but she wasn't exactly educated well enough to say that there was a restriction on where they could live and be bred. She just knew they normally lived in tropical rainforests near China and Africa. This world could have had a slightly different ecology for some areas, however. Maybe it was a darker, larger version of a Puma?

"Ok… um… they're well trained correct?"

"For the most part…" Silara interjected as she continued looking out the window. A hummingbird cleaner drone flew by and landed on a flower, testing the nectar inside. There were bees moving about as well, taking pollen from one point to another. There was a little silence for a moment and the dev worried about giant cats deciding the horses were their next meal during the equestrian dressage show.

"Ok… can you maybe make sure they don't try and attack the mounts of other riders that live there or nearby? It could provide a boost to your reputation that the panther riders are better at keeping their mounts under control."

"I cannot do so." Selene looked at Silara with a half-lidded gaze. "The riders would need to show command and they are indeed better than any knight of your race on horseback. That is what you call your armored soldiers, yes?" she asked.

"That's what I just said… Hmm… Glass Dale is having another shop opening event, that might be one to bring some of you to see some of the ware available… Eld Horn is having a hunting event… when do they not… Sweet Water is going to have a launch of two ships, if you wanted to get out on the open sea for a day." Silara looked at her father, never once being able to see the ocean.

"The ocean…" one guard tried to whisper to another. "I hope we are allowed to escort the king there…"

"I know… that would be incredible…"

"I take it your people hardly get a chance to go to large bodies of water?" the empress asked.

"We have a pond and an underground spring that we use for water. Beyond that… it is usually too far to travel given where we are" Weren replied.

"I see. Given the forest is situated near the middle of the continent, at least in retrospect to north and south, I can understand. Well, you'll be able to hopefully see dolphins and whales if at all possible." She couldn't believe she was working out tours for dark elves to mingle with humans. There would have to be alternate tours heading to Olva'lore Forest to see what their city was like for humans to realize they didn't mean any harm; they were just like them… they just lived a few hundred years longer.

"That sounds… interesting. Thank you for the offer. Hopefully this can help mend the bridges between our people" Weren said with a small grin on his face.

"I hope so too. I'm going to provide this marble to you, it is magically enchanted so that you should be able to contact me with large issues. Don't expect me to always answer it, I'm almost always moving about. I'll do what I can to… uh… return the call… however, with that said, there is a… glow, left over, if I attempt to get in contact with you that will let you know I need to speak with you and you didn't answer." She was literally telling him she made a magical cell phone with voicemail for him to use. The dev never expected to make one. Ever.

"I will keep it with me always." The king took the marble, about half the size of his palm, and placed it in a small ornate case he pushed into his jacket pocket.

"Why is your palace so large?" Silara asked. Selene thought for a moment on what she was expecting her to say. It could be she was just genuinely interested, or there was a chance the princess was looking for a way to say humans built too much and destroyed the land.

"Because I needed the space."

"You need so much open space to build what exactly?"

"Things I'd rather not explain honestly."

"Or you have no idea how to explain, as you just build and destroy."

"Silara!" Weren snapped out. "I apologize on her behalf, she doesn't-" The empress put her hand up for him to be silent for a moment.

And here I thought we were starting to get along…

"I don't want to explain because it could cause too many questions, scare the locals. There is more hidden underground that you are not seeing; I'd rather not have massive weapons of war in full view for everyone to be afraid of, or projects that would take far more knowledge in different subjects to understand. There are far too many things I simply cannot tell you about because you just wouldn't comprehend. Better to have most of it secret and keep questions from being asked than to have them in full view. Also, security of the area is top priority. I don't have to worry about anyone getting anywhere near this place without a serious fight on their hands."

"Overcompensating for your own fears?"

"Everyone is fearful of one thing or another. From what I've seen so far, it pays to be cautious." The princess seemed to be trying to figure out the empress, but so far hadn't gained the upper hand. "I am willing to admit I feel fear once in a while. To not feel it would mean there is something wrong with me. Might I ask what you fear the most? Is it your people bowing before a human empress? Or is it your worried we really are just going to enslave your people, that everything I've said so far is just a big façade to make you lower your guard. Ultimately, I really don't care what you think of me, it matters little. Your father is the ruler of your people, under me."

That last bit was actually false, given the spells available to her to alter how the elf thought. She just didn't want to use them. Changing the princess's mind about humans would take some time, hopefully only a short amount if possible. "I hope there isn't much discord happening in your city, King Weren. They aren't angry at you for joining, are they?"

"There is a bit of outcry, mostly disappointment. Change is a fickle thing; some don't want it even if it is for the better. I worry that it has dashed their spirits, making us less of who we should be, independent."

Once the meeting was finished, the empress gave a small tour of the palace grounds and the castle itself, keeping them away from the research labs and showing the farms. Silara seemed impressed with the forest grown below ground, wondering why it was even there. "Originally I needed wood to help expand and didn't want to destroy the forest around the lake nearby. This was the easiest solution. We have spells cast to keep the whole process going without need of damaging the ecosystem outside."

It seemed the humans were being ecofriendly, to a point at least. The empress couldn't answer how she manufactured all of her automatons, whether there were factories pushing out pollution. There was just no way to provide that information that her inventory had all of the crafting stations available to pump them out.

"Ma'am, can we have a chat with you?" Jorge asked over coms. Morlan and Elsei had just returned from Gold Pine and had some time to themselves. Donovan and Melsia both were sitting outside in the gazebo enjoying a light brunch.

"Hey there, would both of you be so kind as to entertain some guests of mine here for a few minutes? I have some other matters to attend to. I'll be back."

"Of course, your majesty. Please, all of you, join us. So glad to finally meet the king of the dark elves living in Olva'lore Forest." The dark elves sat down as Selene slipped away with Hrist, meeting up with Bronze Team in the war room.

"What's the problem?" she asked. Orlo brought up satellite visuals as well as ornithopters showing unrest in Silvinholm. "Ah. I could have sworn I wanted this to happen… not quite with the people going against Artinian soldiers but…but that looks like…"

"Galleys. They're trying to weed out sympathizers for the Rikter Family. Beheadings have happened as well. There are a few riots that were put down, nothing especially large yet." That wasn't what she wanted. There were good people dying in the city. Reports of more soldiers moving into towns and villages have popped up alongside the events in the trade city, clamping down on what was still available to the kingdom. Part of it was being defensive as they had lost contact with a good deal of their land to the west, so it was understandable they'd double down for whatever was coming their way.

"Hmmm…" she sounded out, bringing her hand up and scratching her chin. "We could… no… maybe… that won't work…"

"We could go in right now, clear the armies, take control and fix this" Ethan commented.

"Juliet and Romeo are already busy working on quite a few projects. I can get a few new construction crews up, but I'd rather get Juliet to give the city a once over before anything happens. We just brought in the dark elves, I'd rather not expand too quickly and not get everything under control. It could cause even more of a mess if we grab up everything but can't support it or hear everyone's issues. Besides… I'm hoping I can somehow still keep the promise I gave Antoine in some capacity before we resort to our last option of guns blazing."

The small group worked through different plans of action and outcomes, with Orlo and Turnie explaining issues with each one and even Deacon worried about one plan involving going after the noble houses. He, of the entire Bronze Team, didn't want to snipe at nobles if it caused more problems than it was worth to the people who worked for them, or kidnappings causing the people to buckle down and go the opposite direction, reinforcing their connection to Artinia.

Meanwhile

King Teiyan walked through the hallways of his palace towards his courtyard, a waiting messenger standing there with a small package. Just as he exited out to the small gardens, the messenger saluted him. "Your majesty, I have come with the artifact you requested. The men who procured it are not sure that-" the young ruler grabbed the package from his hands and continued on, not even listening to the man in uniform, confusing him. The king walked on as if there was no messenger, heading off towards the special dungeon set up just for Xaxara. He already had read what was provided as to the use of the item hidden inside.

As he entered the vault doors and walked forward, he could see the goddess strapped to the wall, her chains pulled tight. She seemed to just be looking at the ground, thinking. Teiyan ripped open the package and smiled at the artifact held in his hand. It looked like some hooded woman crying with wings on both sides, but no arms. The chest held a gem glowing black and purple. He finally got something that might get everything under control… if he could figure out how to use it.

Somehow, there was a successful raid made on a faraway kingdom, with a guild of thieves somehow managing to steal away the creation from a very angry succubus in white delivering it to some magic researcher. Of the one hundred men and women who stole the object, one survived… barely. He lasted long enough to sell the artifact before being found, having enough time to languish in luxury for all of a week at most. The item was sold multiple times to make sure that it couldn't be tracked down. Fortunately for the black market, the Sorcerer Kingdom didn't seem to care about the loss as much as anyone else would.

Now it was in the king's possession. Xaxara looked up at the man standing in front of him, a glint in his eyes that told her he had some sort of plan that involved her. "Again, with some new idea to try and use on your people, young king? I'm surprised you're back so soon." Teiyan looked at her chained to the wall, a curious look on her face. What would require the sacrifice of another one hundred slaves this time?

"I'm going to put down the riots in Silvinholm and find those traitors, then make sure everyone submits unconditionally in Tal Salunbal. You're going to help me do it." She chuckled a little and glanced around the stone room.

"And how do you expect me to do that? I don't see any offerings ready for this." The king grinned at her.

"This artifact was created to steal power from another and use it to create an army of… demons I believe, or was it undead… it doesn't matter, at least that was what the research scriptures said." He didn't even know the name of the artifact, just that it was a failed creation of some kingdom, the Sorcerer Kingdom to be exact. It didn't even work like another artifact that it was modeled off of, acting more like a capacitor and less like a battery for the spell cast. It also only did one thing, which was nowhere near the strength of another failed prototype. The magic it would use might not even summon demons; it was very peculiar. The notes on it weren't very detailed, just using another artifact as a base template.

"You've had to keep feeding me to get what you want… I guess it was inevitable for me to outlive my usefulness…" Xaxara said to him and just gazed as her curiosity changed to a frown, with an ever so slight hint of worry in her eyes.

"Now, I don't have to even do that." He aimed the artifact at her but couldn't fire it. He shook the thing and slammed it against the palm of his other hand, then looked at the gem, trying to figure out how to get it to activate. "Damn it! Why aren't you working!" he snapped through gritted teeth. An ever so slight sigh of relief came out of her mouth as she just hung there. It seemed even gods were scared of dying.

"It seems you can't get it up. Lucky me…"

As a side effect of that, he backhanded her jaw and stormed back upstairs. She was safe… for now. He reached the top of the stairwell and sealed the doors then walked out to a waiting wizard council. "Figure out how this thing is to be fired at that bitch! Once you know, come to me immediately!" The wizards acknowledged and left quickly. Things seemed as if they could get worse for the goddess, as well as the rest of the continent, if they could understand the design of the creation that came from far away.