11-15

After the outing with my little buddies that day, we went out several more times during the period of their stay here in our castle. I have to thank my mom for this, if she didn't invite those two here then I would have been a loner in this world as well.

Eventually, though, they had to go back to their territories, I said goodbye to them, and they promised me to come every time their parents came here for work, so I think I would be able to spend a lot of time with them.

Emy's manor is in East Ayr while Liana's is in the West, I wonder what they use to travel.

As I was thinking about that, I saw Dad touch his hands on Emy and her dad's shoulders, and then they just disappeared.

Oh. Teleportation.

Three seconds later, he came back and did the same to Liana and her mother.

When asked about it, Dad said that not even 10 people can teleport on this whole continent. I guess my dad is pretty insane. But he also said that even for him, teleporting across countries is not possible, and that consumed a lot of brain juice to process, fair enough.

Back to the present.

''Rather than that, I'm sure you have something to say to us, isn't that right?''

...So he noticed, huh. Can't get past 400 years old mom and dad when I'm just 21 combined I suppose.

That's right, I'm planning to tell them everything today, including the fact that I'm not exactly a 5-year-old kid.

''So, don't worry and just say what you want, baby.'' Says my mom, stroking my head.

We are now in the living room, just the three of us sitting on the couch, and I'm sandwiched by my parents.

Diving back a bit, the reason why I didn't tell them that I was a Saint right the instant I could talk is mainly because I wanted to observe the world's situation first.

The goddess told me that the demon king would resurrect in 35 years, now it's 30, I guess. But anyway, I thought I could lay down for a few years at least to train my mana first and try to find more information about this world at the same time. I could ask the goddess, in fact, that's what I did, but she said that she's very busy controlling the weather and whatnot, so she only paid attention to the general situation of the major war with demons, and that I should go find out for myself.

Another reason is that at least I want my grand reveal to be believable, albeit this one is just a minor reason. I don't want to seem like I'm just spouting nonsense, the goddess really didn't give me anything to prove that I'm a Saint. I have a feeling she's telling me to prove it myself.

After reading and asking around for a while, I realized that my decision was correct all along. The main problem is the Empire, it is now waging war with several other countries that share borders with it.

If I were to introduce, let's say, a significantly more advanced version of the muskets that they have right now, like a Kar98K1 or the Mosin Nagant2, I fear that everything would spiral down real quick, and we'll be dead by the time the demon king reappear again. 30 years is enough for the empire to wage war everywhere and trample on pretty much every country there is.

So I plan to conceal my identity until I can do something about the in-fighting first, and then hopefully put a leash on those idiots before becoming the ultimate 'Saint of Artilleries'. The goddess approved this plan already.

But now, it should be a good time to tell my parents about this, my plan that is, I'm sure they expected me to be a Saint of sorts, I didn't really bother to hide it either.

''I'm sure you guys have already realized it, but I'm a Saint.'' I say with a confident smile.

''As expected...'' That's my dad, Mom just smiles bitterly.

''Well, I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys about it, but to be honest, I just didn't really have a chance, nobody asked me, so...''

''Don't worry, you're still our daughter regardless...'' Dad lets out a sigh. ''So there's going to be another demon king, and my daughter is the saint... Haah.''

''I have a plan.'' I look up to them. ''Please hear me out for a second.''

I start to tell them my plan, from the start.

''...I see, that's doable, I think. What do you think, dear?'' Dad looks over to Mom.

''I think that's fine, too. We will help with putting the leash on those despicable humans, even if that means we have to intervene in the war.'' Mom replies.

''Mom, I used to be a human.''

''Eh?! Sorry, baby, I don't mean to-''

''Heheh.''

''...??''

''I'm just joking, Mom, I am aware of how ugly humans can be, they're not very clean back in our world either. And look.'' I point to my ears and twitch them a bit '' I'm an elf now.''

''Heh, you naughty little thing.'' Mom catches my ears and starts to play with them, I can hear Dad laugh lightly behind me too.

''Tell us more about past life, Sylvia, I'm very much curious about a Saint's past life, of course if you're comfortable with it.'' Dad says with a gentler tone than normal.

''Sure! And....''

''?''

''...Hanako.''

''My past life's name, you guys can call me that if you want to!''

''I'll call you Hanako sometimes then, I still like the name Sylvia as well, you know?''

''Me too.''

''Mhmm.'' 

After that, we spent a few hours talking about my past life, and as expected, they were very interested in what I said.

Dinner over, now I am back in my room, spending time alone.

Today, I'm happy because I saw more than ever, that my parents truly care about me, they accepted me as who I am and would continue to treat me as their family.

But...

Sometimes I can't help but get emotional, my current parents are great, I love them. But I also love my former family. Every time I remember them, I want to cry a bit. I wonder if they're doing well, my little brother should be a high schooler now, he's a nice kid, so I'm sure he would get a lovely girlfriend...

...

Enough of that, right, let's sing for a bit, I've always loved music, that should make me feel better.

♬ How I wish it were only a dream ♫

♫ Even now I still dream of you ♪3

Phew~, that was great, my 5 years old voice was not very suitable for this piece though.

Should I ask for a music teacher soon? I want to learn instruments, and vocals too. That's a great idea, and also the hot spring.

I still have to hone my Earth magic though, it's not quite enough for what I want to do yet...

*****

It has been 8 years since I told my parents that I'm a Saint. Nothing particularly important happened. But I am now 13 years old, my height has grown a lot, I'm like, 155cm now. And I'm starting to become more 'beautiful' rather than 'cute'.

My waist-length hair has gone from vanilla to now slightly platinum blonde, I guess my mom's gene really kicked in. My Lapis Lazuli eyes are still as charming as ever, straight little nose, graceful long eyebrows, and a pretty jawline as well, it's looking great.

But the most important thing is, my boobs grew, a lot. I have big booba now. They're already as big as my mom's already, D cup, at 13. I can sometimes see my mom looking at my chest enviously, so this is the taste of victory... Sorry, mom.

I got 3 pieces of high-quality Lapis Lazuli as a birthday present a few years ago, so I had two of them made into a pair of 4 pointed star-shaped earrings, and the bigger one I used to link it with a choker, also 4 pointed star-shaped. They all have gold outlines as well, I'm satisfied with these.

But enough of that, I am now using my Earth magic to make a piece of metal, that's right, I prioritized improving Earth magic for a few years just to make custom metal pieces. For guns.

It's still incredibly hard though, I've only been able to shape metal to a satisfactory level since 2 years ago. But even then it took a lot of tries just to get things into place.

So far I have been able to make three .357s1, I gave two of them to Emy and Liana. Training them to use guns was surprisingly easy, they're just very good fighters in general.

The bullets were the easy part, the world has gunpowder already, so I just had Dad buy it for me, and then I could mold the copper using telekinesis, my control had already exceeded that level a long time ago.

But those were just the basic ones that I made to train, this time I'm making my baby, my favorite handgun. This one will be much more difficult though, as it is a pistol, and the 357 is a revolver. Revolvers are easier to make.

As I'm thinking about that, I see something white appear to the right of my vision, I also feel weight and warmth on my shoulder, arms slipping through my armpits too.

''Oh, Emy, you're here.''

''Mhmm, making guns?''

''Yep, I'm almost done making my baby.'' I proudly puff out my big chest.

''I want to make it too... With you, someday.''

What an enthusiastic student, I welcome!

''Don't worry, I can teach you later, you'll have to focus on Earth magic for a while though.''

''Mhmm.''

sniff

''W-Wait! Don't suddenly sniff my neck like that!''

''But you smell good...''

''Are you a dog or what...''

For the past 8 years, I and my two friends have been getting along very well, I'd say. We trained, ate, and played together. It's been a lot of fun.

Emy now is also a full-fledged beauty, the cold and cool type. She still has bleach-white bobbed hair and exquisite facial and body features, her chest growth has been somewhat normal for an elf, but her height though... She's almost a head taller than me, that's like, 176cm, for a 14-year-old.

Also, she doesn't talk much, but she's super clingy with me now, it's like raising a big dog. She would do skin-ships with me whenever she could, I'm not hating it though.

And about Liana...

click

Talk about the devil.

''I bought some desserts here-''

We both look at her with Emy still back-hugging me.

''...Close as ever, huh. Take a break and eat some snacks, new cookie flavors, from the royal chef himself.'' Liana raises the paper bag up.

Emy and I simultaneously stand up. I walk over to the table, taking the paper bag with telekinesis while Emy still clinging to me like a panda.

''Get off me so we can eat.''

''You can sit on my lap.''

''...Fine.''

So I sit on Emy's lap and open the paper bag of cookies that Liana bought. In another corner of the room, Liana herself has already taken off her coat, now she throws it on the bed-

Hey! This is my room!

Liana is now 17 - the oldest of us, but apparently, that doesn't really matter for high elves who can live basically forever. Her height has grown insanely over the last 8 years, now she's taller than me, at 173cm. But I'm sure I can get past her, after all, I'm still just 13, I can pass her... Right?

Aside from that, she's still doing twin tails, although the tails have reached her waist. Sometimes I look at her swinging the scythe and spinning, with the tails she looks amazing, not to mention she's also gorgeous, the lady-like type.

Liana walks to the table and flops down next to us.

''You've been making that 'baby' for like, 3 months already, is it almost done?'' Says Liana, taking a cookie.

''That was the last piece I need, actually, I'm going to assemble the gun after this. It's a heavy caliber gun, so the power is going to be on another level.'' I reply. Emy is still on my shoulder, munching cookies.

''That's good, watching your boobs swaying with each shot should be fun.''

''Wha- said the-'' Said the cutting board, I wanted to say, but... The last time I made fun of her chest, she just slapped my boobs, she's terrifying.

''What?''

''...Nothing.'' 

This is the problem with Liana, she has negative filter now, sometimes she's just brutal with her words, and her actions as well. Who the hell hurt my friend?

But we begin to eat up the cookies anyway.

Wow, this fluffy one is insane, as expected of the royal chef. ''Mhmm~ The creamy one is so good, I-''

''I might have an orgasm?'' Liana says with a smirk.

''...Stop teasing me.'' Goddamnit, I accidentally said that out loud when we were eating puff creams the last time, and now she's teasing me with it.

''What if I won't? Maybe this is the secret to having these boobs, huh? Cumming while eating snacks?'' Her index finger sinks into the side of my chest, making my whole body shudder. Emy's hand holding the cookie over my shoulder shakes a bit because of that, and I feel crumbs of cookies fall near my neck.

pack

I slap away her hand. ''Stop it, just eat.'' I frown.

And sometimes she does sexual harassment as well, really, who the hell hurt me friend for her to become like this-

slurp

''!!''

Suddenly, I feel a warm and wet thing slid over my neck-

''Hii~! Not you too...!'' Why are you doing this too, Emy?!

''I don't want to waste food.''

''...''

After a while, we finished the cookies, which was pretty good. Now, onto the main show.

I put the trigger I just made on the table and take out all the other parts from my space inventory as well. That's right, I can use space magic to make an inventory now, I can only throw so many things into the inventory though.

I then start to assemble the gun following the tutorial on YouTube.

''Phew~ It's done!'' I exclaim, holding my absolutely gorgeous Desert Eagle2 up.

This is going to be fun.

I'm now outside the castle, at my personal shooting range. I just chose a random empty place near the forest surrounding the castle as 'my place', no one cares anyway.

I bring a table and some chairs out of the inventory space and set them down, then I pull out a sizable wooden box, inside are exactly 35 rounds of .50 AE bullets and the D.E. itself. I decided to test my D.E. using 5 mags first.

But first, I need targets to shoot at. I begin to make a few earth pillars around 1.2m tall, and just for today, I bought a whole cart of rotten melons here... And then set them up using telekinesis...Done. Then I take out 3 pairs of earplugs and give two to Emy and Liana. One for myself.

Now I have targets at 20, 35, 50, and 70 meters. For the last one, I conjured a circular metal target instead of the normal one. Everything looks good.

''I'll try to shoot now, and then I'll give it to you guys to try later.'' I announce to my two friends.

''Go ahead.'' Liana replies while Emy gives me a nod.

Loading exactly 7 bullets into the magazine, I then insert it into the D.E. The handle is not quite comfortable for me yet, probably because I'm still 13, my hands are small, looks like I can't dual-holding D.E.s anytime soon.

I need to brace myself for the recoil as well, I don't want to dislocate my shoulder or anything.

So I ramp up the already existing mana coat on my shoulders and two entire arms just in case, when you mana coat your body, it will get tougher, just like any material. People above Advance level like me that use mana usually coat their body 24/7, just to train their control and protect their body as well.

Holding the pistol, I carefully aim at the nearest target. Pull the trigger.

BANG

The slide pulls back to eject the empty case out then quickly returns to the initial position, loading in a new shot at the same time.

Wow~ that was loud, but the recoil I can handle with mana somehow. And the target? Obliterated, yep, the melon just straight-up explodes.

Liana seems to be surprised by that, even Emy has her eyebrows raised a bit.

''I was not expecting that much power.''

''Mhmm.''

''Told ya, but that's not all, just wait until I get to the enchanted bullets. But first, let me finish this mag and then I'll pass it to you guys.''

BANG

BANG

Two more melons exploded, this feels so damn good, now onto the metal target.

BANG BANG BANG BANG

clack

The slide fixes at the back of the gun, signaling me that I've emptied my mag. I think hit all 4 bullseyes on the last target.

''That was good.'' I smile.

So I walk back to the table and load in another mag, it's time for them to try.

The result was predictable, they both said it was fine, but they would prefer something more flexible and easier to use. It's not like I particularly made this for practical use or anything, I just love this gun a lot. Maybe I should make them each a Glock 181 instead, and maybe an assault rifle as well, or submachine guns should also work.

''Now, onto the special show. This is the first time I will be trying enchanted bullets, so brace yourself just in case. Also, block your ears with the earplugs I gave you earlier.''

''Alright''

''Mhm.''

They both begin to increase the mana coating on their bodies, and I too, are increasing mine some more, I don't want to get hurt.

Now, I've made two types of enchanted bullets, one of them is the A.P. (Armor Piercing) type, these ones have diamond tips for maximum durability, I've also had Dad pour in mana and made lasting mana coats on them as well, these coats last for about a year.

According to Dad, very few people in this world can do that, and I think that's true, even I can only do 5 months for now, all hail Archmages. And yes, his gem is Diamond, my mom's Amethyst.

But having a super duper hard tip is not enough for me, I want more power. So I decided to mix my mana with the gunpowder, now it's super durable.

And that would be quite taxing on the bullet cases and the gun itself, so now I have to coat all of them as well, how complicated.

Anyway, I pull out another sizable wooden box, inside is a big piece of foam and a glass bottle of mana-mixed gunpowder. I've dug small holes in the foam to hold my bullets, empty casing, and bullet tips as well, this is my working table for making special bullets, basically. 

I pull out a diamond tip bullet for my gun and mana coat the case, put it in the mag, load the mag into the gun, mana coat the entire gun, and aim at the 75mm target that I set up before.

BOOM

That was much louder than before, and the recoil was quite big. I can feel fallen leaves around me move due to the shockwave generated by the shot as well. Fortunately, the gun survived.

Now the target... Cleanly penetrated, very nice.

There's also the second type, but I won't be shooting those things right now, it's going to ruin the forest. It's basically just a grenade made into a bullet that travels 0.8km per sec.

And I got one more secret weapon that is still in production right now, that'll have to wait a few more years.

Emy and Liana are now examining the target together with me, very closely together. Nice smell, reminds me of dessert.

''Well, that was a good session, let's go back and have dinner, then.''

Right now, I'm having dinner with my parents, my two friends and their parents as well, what is this, a birthday party? Why is everybody here?

''Is this some kind of occasion? Why is everybody here?'' I tug my mom's sleeve and ask.

''Ah~ We were discussing about our treatment towards the Empire and its enemies before, so your dad gathered all of them here.'' 

''That's right, Your Highness, we needed to revise our policy a bit, now that the war situation between the empire and the allies has gone way over a minor territorial dispute. The Empire has just launched a full-scale invasion towards the Kaspia kingdom.'' This is Marquess Beryl Seymour, the other mom of Liana. She's a futanari and A fierce woman by appearance.

''Hmm~ So what was the new treatment then?'' Asks Liana.

''We were just about to tell you guys now anyway. At first, we wanted to have you all in the meeting but all of you were out, so now I'll brief it here.'' Says my dad.

''Basically, we will remain neutral to all countries, as we have trades going on with all of them, we don't want to hurt our economy by cutting trade ties, or worse, have our kingdom attacked. As you know, some malicious powerful individuals in or out of the empire have expressed their desire to 'own' our people before, we don't want to give them the reason to target us directly.''

''And we will refuse any request related to providing weapon or weapon materials from any of them.'' This time Duchess Campbell speaks up, she's Emy's mom, also a futanari. 

She said it right though, our kingdom's production team including blacksmiths, engineers, technicians, etc. Was never inferior to any country, to begin with. We're talking about several hundred-year-old dudes full of experience here. We were the ones who sold swords, spears, arrows and whatnot before. Alongside the dwarves.

Now we're even more insane. Eight years ago, I and my parents decided that we should develop our country's various technologies and weaponry first and keep them secret from the world for the time being.

So I just gave them a lot of the blueprints for them to research and collect materials. The hard part is the tooling though, those took up a lot of time to develop even with magic and experienced elves.

Now, the main concern is obviously blueprint leakage, so we made all of the researchers take an oath to the goddess through the church. If they leak, they die. So far I've given them several blueprints of rifles and revolvers as the main focuses first, and they actually produced quite a number of them recently, the royal guards and the elites of our army are being trained with those guns in secret. I think I'll give them the next models in a year or so when they're comfortable with guns.

Aside from weapons, I also handed them the blueprints of other things in life as well. I had nightmares trying to explain to them the concept of telephones though, it's hard finding them on the internet and then trying to describe how they're made. Some of the things can be replaced by magic so I didn't need to copy-paste everything.

Overall? It's going quite well, we're just going to stock up weapons and shit, then somehow leash the empire or whatever country trying to wage war in the future. And the neat part is that we can do that by overwhelming them with modern weapons in a decade or so, so that's one solution.

But it's best we try to solve this the peaceful way, or we're just the same as them.

''Well, we also need to hide the Saint as well, if the Saint's identity is revealed in this critical time, she'll be targeted by everyone.'' Abe says.

''That's true, the Saint really needs to hide herself or it'll be really dangerous. I feel pity for her.'' I really do.

''Said the Saint herself...''

''Well, let's move on to lighter topics, I just had the recorder delivered here, do you want to sing for us, Sylvia?''

Oh, I gave them the blueprint for magnetic tapes a while ago, it seems like Dad got it here. It's his idea to record me singing as well, as I often sung a lot in the past.

''Sure thing, let's finish the meal then I'll sing.''

I've learned how to sing and play various instruments over the years, so I'm quite confident in my singing ability. I can't compose though. I've also learned how to control mana to project sounds from my head, apparently, it was one music enthusiast from Earth who discovered this one, so now I can play the full instruments of modern pieces. Very nice.

Now sitting in the living room near the recorder, I'm thinking of which piece to sing, it's the first one to be recorded, so let's sing a beautiful one.

''Please listen, Yonezu Kenshi - Chikyuugi.''2

Hello there, I'm Sylvia, 13 years old. I'm going to have to save the world, in like, 22 more years.

Saving the world means that I'll probably have to go to war with demons someday. I am aware of that.

So I asked my dad, an Archmage to teach me combat when I turned 6. At first, it was just Dad teaching me magic, but then it evolved into me combating monsters that my dad made. Sometimes my friends join me too. Though Emy would usually train with her swordmaster dad and Liana would train with the Marquess.

I wonder what monster I'll face today...

Walking to the training field, I can see my dad standing there with my two friends.

''Hey Dad, you two as well. What are we doing today?''

''Ah, daughter, here you are.'' Dad and the gals turn to me ''Today I'll test the three of you together.''

''Sure, what monster are we fighting today?''

''Confident enough to face a dragon?'' Dad says, smiling.

''''...''''

For your information, a normal dragon is as strong as a 1 or 2-star Master, and he wants us to battle one.

''Honestly? I think we can do it.'' I reply.

''...I don't mind doing it.'' Emy speaks up after pondering for a bit.

''Well, I'm screwed.'' Liana smiles weakly. ''You guys are going to drag me in this anyway, right?''

Seeing this, my dad's smile grows wider. ''Don't worry, you won't die.''

That did not inspire confidence at all, Dad.

 We start to get into position, Emy unsheathes her long sword with obsidian gems sticking on the cross guard on the end of the handle, she then mana coats the blade with the mana from her sword and her two bracelets, making the whole sword and her bracelets glow in golden.

Liana bounces the scythe sitting on the floor behind her with her feet, spinning it a few times before holding it horizontally to her right. Her new scythe is still longer than her height, it's a pitch-black one with emeralds on the end poles of the handle. Just like Emy, the scythe and the gem on her necklace begin to glow in green as she uses the mana to coat the scythe.

And I pull out, well, nothing, I can't exactly use my super AP bullets here, the dragon's scales and its magic shield are quite literally impossible to break normally, but I think I can banish it to the shadow realm in one shot through the mouth or the eyes, and that'll be cheating. So I'll have to do with my magic here. 

In fact, that's what people do to defeat dragons, just target the eyes and mouth, and sometimes its belly. Gotta take advantage of the opponent's weak points.

Dad concentrates a bit, then focuses the mana onto the other side of the field. Slowly, I can see a red dragon a size of a 4 stories building emerging, it has giant legs with sharp claws, thick scales everywhere except its belly, a long tail that moves like a snake, golden eyes with vertical black slits, an open mouth full of sharp teeth, and above all, a giant pair of wings.

ROARRRR

I instinctively use telekinesis to fix us in place and hastily make a mana shield for protection. Shit, almost got blown away there.

''How are we supposed to kill this thing?!'' Liana shouts.

''Just go unga bunga! Ain't got no time for strategy! Just target the eyes and mouth!'' I shout back.

''You're not being very helpful!''

''I know right!!''

BOOM

A tail strikes the place I was just standing before, chipping the cobber floor.

Why always me?!

Not the time for that now, those two have already charged toward the dragon, and I can see it already began to charge for a fire breath. I immediately imagine a giant ice spear that is about 3 meters long and 20cm thick, aim it straight at the dragon's mouth, and then launch it.

The spear hit perfectly at the red, molten-like tongue of the creature, causing it to hiss in pain and shake its head a bit.

My two teammates jump in with their weapons but unfortunately, the dragon manages to get back in time. It then uses the tail from before to whip both of them back, rendering their attacks useless and pushing them away.

Not wavering, they immediately go in again. On my part, I cast 3 more ice spears as the dragon tries to use its tail again.

Not this time, idiot.

I concentrate my mana to use telekinesis to the maximum of my ability, forcing the tail in its place.

Simultaneously, I launch my spears at its eyes, to which it responds by ducking down to dodge. Fortunately, both Emy and Liana each get a stab in its eyes because of the dodge, causing it to let out a piercing roar again. My teammates immediately fall back and stand beside me.

It went berserk.

''What do we do now?!'' Shouts Liana.

''I don't know! Dodge until it ran out of energy? It shouldn't be able to see us now.'' 

''Then try flying above!'' This is Emy, it's weird hearing her voice this loud.

But she's right, we should fly above and wait.

So I use telekinesis to bring all three of us up into the sky, around 50m above the ground. It's not like they can't fly on their own, just that I'm more comfortable doing it, and I have no trouble moving all of us here.

The dragon starts to struggle in pain, shooting all kinds of magic everywhere. Dragons are just like some of those idiots who create a character in an RPG, put all the stats into power and magic and defense and whatnot, but put negative on the intelligence stat. So usually they're very dumb, only a selected few of higher bloodlines are smart.

So we wait above for a while, and I hatch a simple plan.

''Hey, can you guys poke its eyes one more time and make its mouth open? I'm going to freeze that bastard's brain.''

''Fine, but aim carefully.''

''Sure.''

I nod and start to conjure 5 more ice spears, then I use telekinesis to compress all of them together, tighter and tighter...

Eventually, what's beside me is a super hard compressed ice spear of 3.5 meters and only 10cm thick, ready to launch.

The dragon stops firing magic and seems to have run out of energy, my two teammates nod to me and I release them down.

While falling down, they use their own telekinesis to adjust the angle. Precisely, Emy's sword digs into its left eye once more, while Liana's scythe swings straight at its right eye.

The dragon yanks its head upward and points its open mouth at the sky due to the excruciating pain, leaving my mates hanging on their weapons. I fly to the angle at which I can see the palate of its mouth and launch the spear with maximum velocity towards my target.

The spear penetrates the relatively soft part of the mouth, going all the way through the brain, nearly freezing all of its content, I'd imagine.

The dragon pauses for a second and then drops down, vanishing into nothingness.

clap clap clap

''That was impressive, ladies.''

I fly to where my friends are, and I can see Dad coming out of the corner.

''Well, that one was annoying.'' I say.

''Your teamwork is still a little clumsy, but you'll get there.'' Dad replies, stroking his chin.

'''' Thank you, Your Majesty. '''' Emy and Liana bow lightly.

''You deserve it, now I only have magic to teach you guys.''

'''' ... ''''

''Hmm...'' Dad ponders. ''Do you guys have any interest in, say... Becoming diplomats?''

''For what?'' I ask.

''To negotiate something with the Empire.'' He smirks.

That smirk... There's something else to this, I'm sure.

*****

There are things in life that you'll never get.

I learned that the hard way. I tried every possible solution, I spared no effort to get what I wanted, and I kept doing my best until the end.

Yet, nothing changed. I'm still the old me.

At this point, I'll have to admit it. I'm not going to get any taller. Goddamnit. 

Remember the girl 4 years ago who said 'I'm going to get taller than Liana'? Yeah, that one is super dead right now, I'm 17, almost 18, and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to grow taller anymore. My height has stayed at 168cm for a while now. And that girl Liana reached 178cm already, unbelievable. Not to mention Emy, her legs are taller than me. 186 is not a number that I like right now.

But if think I about it like I traded my height for giant boobies, it'll be fine, it's just that this is the way god 3D printed me, I'm totally fine.

Anyway, the point is, it has been 4 years since I've made the D.E. Now I'm sitting here in my room... Making a gun. Again.

I've used my last 4 years making guns and training combat and assassination techs continuously. My dad and the royal guards have been teaching me, and it's not every day that I get a lesson from an Archmage and the best soldiers of our country, so I tried my best to follow them. I did improve a lot, Dad said that I might as well call myself an Archmage at this point, so I guess I did pretty well.

Even now, I still have the best control over Earth magic and telekinesis, followed by other elements that are roughly at the same level. I also know some other magic as well, but they're not as important.

Over the 4 years, I made my friends and family each a Glock and an MP71, Those were harder than I thought, but they gave me a lot of experience in making guns.

Right now, I'm making a sniper rifle. I've always wanted to make one. And it would serve my purpose in the future as well.

As for what purpose... We will have to go back to when we beat that illusion dragon.

***

''Do you guys have any interest in, say... Becoming diplomats?''

''For what?''

''To negotiate something with the Empire.''

''...That sounds exceptionally risky, Your Majesty.'' Emy says, Liana nods as well.

''Of course, it's just the pretense. We have real motives behind that.''

''I feel like I know what you're talking about.'' I speak up.

''Well, for starters, you guys are going there under the excuse of gaining magical knowledge to contribute to the major war with the demons, and as diplomats to negotiate small trades with the imperial family as well.

That's why you guys will be attending the Aragon Academy for a period of time.

But now's the real part. Do you remember your nanny, Sylvia?''

''Yeah? What about her?''

''I sent her and a few more people to investigate the situation in the Empire 10 years ago. Around that time, there were many missing cases of traveling elves, they vanished in the territory of the Empire. And I got a report from Isabella 2 years ago.''

''After a long time going undercover, the team found out that a number of nobles, including some powerful ones in the Empire kidnapped our people and used them as slaves.'' At this part, all of us frown.

The Empire legally does not allow slaves, but there are always some dumb motherfuckers that do it regardless, risking the relationship between countries.

''After that, we unanimously decided to rescue our people from those hells. To take revenge for our people, as well as to prevent further victims from appearing, we assassinated the worse ones as well.''

''So far, they've managed to dispose of several nobles and criminals alike, but we don't have enough manpower there to finish the powerful ones. That's where you guys come in.''

''In a few years, I can send you guys, alongside the squad in our Royal Guard that specialized in assassination to the capital, and you all will help with the rescuing and... Killing, as well.''

''But of course, this will be entirely your choice, I personally want you all to experience the human world beforehand so that when the time comes, you'll not be taken by surprise. If any of you don't want to go, that's fine as well.''

''''...''''

''I'll do it, why not.'' I say, breaking the silence. I can't stand slavery, this one is against my own people as well, I'll do it, even if it means I have to kill.

''I want to go as well.''

''Me too.''

It seems like those two are also thinking the same.

''I'm glad to hear that.'' Dad smiles.

''Ah, and also, as a side mission, try to learn more about the power struggle in the imperial family as well, we could use something to our advantage.''

*** 

Well, basically Dad wants us to become hitwomen, it's not the best job to have, but we decided to do it anyway.

So from that day, alongside normal training, I trained in stealth techniques and such as well.

I've also made several Dragunov SVDs2 for the squad, they were really happy with them, I myself also had fun with the gun, I love sniper rifles.

But I wanted a rifle that has more power, and what could have more power than a .50 caliber BMG3 sniper rifle, am I right?

I was torn between the Barrett4 and the PMG Hecate II5, but ultimately I decided to make the Hecate first because I love bolt action, I'll make the Barrett later.

And...

clack

There we go, I have assembled the gun, nice. I'm so excited to try this one out...!

Just look at this beautiful gun, giant muzzle brake, barrel longer than a baguette, and a perfectly shaped stock, combined with satisfying bolt action, wonderful design, really.

Now then, I'll have to test this and the special bullet later, afternoon, maybe. I'll go wake up my friends first.

So I walk to my bed and start waking my two friends up, we had a pajama party yesterday.

''Hey, stop sleeping, will ya? Yo-''

''!!!''

W-what are those?!

I can see two tall tents, covered by the blanket, emerging from their crotches. Are those the legendary morning woods?!

''Mhmm~ yawm...'' Emy sits up and stretches out lazily, her eyes still cloudy.

She then wraps her hands around me, diving straight into my mostly bare chest. I hadn't bothered to change the negligee out earlier. ''Sylvia...'' She keeps nuzzling my breasts.

''Right right, let's wake up and have breakfast together, huh?'' I tap her head a few times, this is too cute, damnit.

''Mhmm...'' She hesitantly lets go and walks to the bathroom.

I then move on to tap the next inhabitant. ''You too, wake up already, your sleeping posture is revolting, you know?''

Liana slowly opens her eyes, frowning.

''...Tch, hateful breasts.''

''Wha-'' She catches both of my breasts with her hands and starts to knead them roughly.

''Hey!! You idiot!''

pack

She slapped my boobs again!!

''Just go wash up already!''