Crouching Tiger, Hidden Empress II

Two Hours Later

The bodies were aligned carefully as with gold coins placed on their eyes in the event they could find out who their parents, husbands and families were. Of the fifty bodies, twenty were verified to be from either Eld Horn or Sweet Water, one of the bodies apparently being a young boy. That started to build a link between the two locations for Selene. That left thirty of them as unknowns, potentially slaves. At least that cut down on the cost to resurrect the twenty that were named. Though she felt guilty for the thirty others, that was going to take one third of her money if she attempted bringing them back to life quickly, which was going to be taken from the treasury. The Ferryman needed to be paid, otherwise the Lazarus System would be used, and there weren't many of them just yet.

It was possible to try and learn Yggdrasil tier magic to resurrect, but that removed experience and levels. There were items that could resurrect before being used up, but those were usually found or bought with real world money in Yggdrasil. NPCs were normally resurrected via money if created by a guild.

Crafting resurrection wands wasn't really a thing in Yggdrasil, they were either found or potentially bought with the gacha system. Selene luckily had a way to get around that, with having twelve Lazarus Systems built so far. She completely forgot to build more of them; it didn't occur to her that a massive amount of the specialized equipment would ever be needed with her military.

I really need to get about one hundred built… while that would still be slow, it could eventually bring back an entire city… until then, magic it is…

As family members grieved for their lost loved ones, with the two survivors being tended to by Turnie, the empress stepped forward and made sure each had two gold coins that were placed by sisters, brothers, lovers. Fathers held their sobbing wives as they looked at the coffins, but instead of being buried, the dev started to cast mass resurrection on the twenty named.

(Recommended Song: Epic Score – Subliminal Thoughts)

A mist coiled in and wrapped around the area, thicker than soup as the families cowered in fear, looking to their empress for guidance. An odd outline of a boat floated through the mist, still obscured with a large figure at the head, a long pole held in its hands.

No one could see what the figure was, but there were other humanoid forms that jumped off the boat and walked through the mist, a puff of air dispersing where the forms exited into the empty circle where they stood. The coins flew across the area from the eyes and landed in an outstretched hand from the Ferryman before the boat receded away into nothing, the mist slowly dissipating. The Ferryman was not evil, despite dealing in souls and undead; there were no doubts though that he was incredibly powerful, connected to death's existence itself. Gasps could be heard from all twenty women and girls as they woke up, startled and confused. Their families rushed forward to console them, to hug them close as Selene backed up a little and crossed her arms. Hrist walked up slowly next to her and glanced at her face before looking at the families, crying tears of joy now instead of sadness.

"We're going to find this killer. I want EW soldiers questioning everyone in Eld Horn and Sweet Water. Ornithopters are going to watch for anyone leaving these locations without documentation and a clear travel path." Hrist nodded to those orders. Though she was hiding it, the Valkyrja was seething in anger at whomever would do this. Torturing and killing these women and young boy wasn't honorable combat, this was shameful.

God damn it, I need to work out travel papers for people to go from one point to another…

She already knew there was a skill for Bureaucracy, but she never expected she'd need to put points into it. As she already knew, all skills were useful. The dev wasn't going to like it, but it was going to be taken sooner rather than later. "Ma'am, I checked on the tools used in the… dissections… while crude, they weren't rusted" Orlo told her as he floated up behind both ladies. The families looked and pointed at Selene, explaining to the ladies and young boy that she was their ruler now, that she was a kind and protecting goddess. The young boy just blinked as his eyes gazed at her, too young to really understand what was being told to him.

"Anything else?" she asked quietly as the empress glanced over her shoulder at him.

"Yes ma'am, the dissection was efficient, with no erratic incisions. This seemed to be more… research, rather than torture. They might have been attempting to learn about the body for medical knowledge."

Leonardo Di Vinci turned sociopathic…

"Freeze! Unmask yourself!" she heard from a Military model Medium nearby as it aimed its cannon at a traveler with a scarf and hood covering their head. The military team there were all aiming at them as they stood with their hands up.

"I came to see if my sister was among the dead" a man's voice was heard from under the scarf. He slowly removed it to show a half-burned face, some of his hair gone as he stood there. If it wasn't for the massive burn scar, he might have been considered handsome.

"What is your name?" Selene asked. He looked at her, his right eye showing somewhat red and semi covered in skin.

"My name is Altavis Mangerin, I am… was… the brother to Algeia Mangerin. We, or should I say my parents, are… were… nobles to the far South."

"Were nobles?" the empress asked.

"We… I'd rather not explain how we lost our future in front of so many… it is a point of embarrassment for my family… please, let me see if one of the dead is my long-lost sister." He took a deep breath and exhaled, looking at the other coffins still filled with bodies. The dev motioned for the automatons to stand down and let him survey the coffins to see if any of the remaining bodies were his sister. As he walked to each coffin, checking which one might have her decaying face, the color of her hair, a memento of some kind. He stopped and rushed to one. He looked the body over and peered carefully at the face, no eyes in the sockets and half mummified.

"This one… this one! I… can you… I saw what you just did, please." Selene sighed and took two gold coins from her inventory, hiding them in the palm of her closed hand, but didn't give them to him.

"Do you have payment for this? Two gold coins?" she asked. Bringing back to life his supposed sister was one thing she was willing to do, but she hoped it would be paid for by the family if they could afford it; otherwise, she would provide an act of charity. While it might have seemed mean, it was to uphold the notion that death was still to be feared, that a person may not always be able to come back without the proper payment. They couldn't always expect the empress to just resurrect loved ones no matter what. Some people were too stupid to bring back from the dead, either adventurers with an oversized ego or just really dumb villagers. Going against nature all the time was a great way of screwing up humanity… and keep crap floating in the gene pool.

"I… I do…" he said quietly as he pulled a small purse from his belt and opened it. There were a few gold coins, two platinum, a few gems and plenty of silver. It at least told her he wasn't exactly lying about being a noble… ex noble. Something seemed to itch at the back of her mind as she wondered why he was searching for his sister for so long…

He tried to hand her the two coins, but she put a hand up to stop him. "Place the coins on her eyes." He did so carefully and backed away, wondering if his coin was "dirty" in the eyes of the empress. That wasn't the case, she just didn't want him to give the payment to her, as that would technically make it her money and the Ferryman would take a much larger sum. She cast resurrection again as the mist encircled the area once more, the boat appearing and floating to the edge with one figure jumping from the side. Again, it popped from the mist in a puff of a humanoid outline, before the boat receded and the mist disappeared. The mummified corpse regenerated and gasped as she bolted upright, frantic and scared.

"Calm yourself Algeia, it is me, your brother." The brunette looked at him with wide eyes before looking around the area and noticing she was naked. The woman did her best to cover herself up as she seemed to cower in front of him. "We finally found you after all this time."

"Altavis, what… where… oh god… I was… I was…" she started to cry as she looked away from him.

"You have been brought back by a wizard Algeia from a gruesome death. Now, do you see what could happen if you run away?" he asked her as he leaned against the coffin to help pull her from the wooden box. She pushed away from him and tried to jump out, falling to the side as she tried to cover herself on the other side. "Stop this Algeia, you should be happy your alive now."

"If I hadn't been caught, I would have been able to finally escape our family! I would have finally been able to have a life of my own!" she snapped as she backed away and stumbled, Ethan catching her and draping a blanket around her shoulders.

"Ma'am calm down please and take a deep breath. Friendlies are here" he commented as she stared wide eyed at him. He steadied her as she pulled away, looking around at everyone.

"Your life would have been pampered! Luxuries everywhere if you just simply went through with it!" Altavis replied to the as yet unknown accusations.

"What's going on here?" Selene asked as Altavis started walking towards his sister, but Ethan got in the way. Algeia noticed he was defending her from her brother. Ethan definitely looked as if he could turn the burned man into a fine paste.

"This doesn't concern you any longer wizard, please acquiesce and stay out of this" the brother said as he put his hand up aimed at her.

"Excuse me? I take it you have no idea who the hell you are speaking to. WHAT. IS. GOING. ON." Her voice seemed to boom with the last few words as if thunder was being heard. She used the spells [Amplify Voice] and [Truth from Lies] to provide a massive volume increase. The first spell was mainly used to speak without a megaphone or mic attached to speakers but could also be used to get people's attention. At that moment, she really did sound like a goddess about to mete out justice.

"I can tell you! The Mangerin family was going to marry me off to another noble house like some trophy! It would connect our two houses and dig them out of the grave they made for themselves with extravagant spending of the family fortune!" Algeia shouted out as she held the blanket around herself.

"You would have been taken care of and we would have been saved! Do you not care about your family?!" he shouted back.

"That man is a monster! He was the one who found me!" she screamed with tears pouring from her eyes, sobbing as she fell to her knees. Ethan kept standing in front of her, acting as her shield. Altavis looked away and bit his lip. Selene walked up and kneeled down to her, slowly and gently putting her hands on her shoulders and slowly hugging her.

"Easy, don't worry, no one's going to hurt you. Everything is going to be fine…" she cooed as the brunette just cried against her shoulder.

"It won't be fine, not if I am going to be brought back to that house… please…"

"No one is going to be taking you back to that noble household. I swear it."

"That's not for you to-" a crackle of lightning popped from Selene's armor as she softly pushed Algeia away and stood up to turn and look at him.

"Algeia, I'm going to offer you an interesting proposition. I can provide you amnesty in my empire if you are willing, but you will not start off with a life of nobility." Altavis gawked at her in anger.

"What… what do you mean?" she asked as her sobbing slowly stopped, her hands trying to wipe the tears away.

"You don't know who you're talking to, do you ma'am? This here is Empress Selene of the Clockwork Empire, ruler of all that is West of Eld Horn. She's offering you a chance to become one of her subjects" Ethan commented. Algeia gasped as her eyes widened. Another lightning arc curved from the dev's left shoulder to left thigh. It was mostly a visual effect to intimidate Altavis.

"You can't do this!" he snapped at her as he pointed his finger at the auburn-haired woman.

"I can do whatever the fuck I want. I'm the queen bitch of this place last time I checked, so you better realize where you are and that you are absolutely nothing to me little man. If I was you, I would show some more respect before I actually get annoyed." The burned man glared at her and at his sister, who stayed behind the empress.

"Yes, yes I would like to become one of your subjects. Please… if it gets me away from my family or that man…" she choked out as Selene turned a little to pat her gently on the shoulder.

"I cannot promise a luxurious life, but I can provide you a starting stipend to make a new one for yourself, one where you will be able to marry whomever you choose."

"You can't do this! She's the only chance to bring back our livelihood!" Altavis screamed at her but was quickly cut off with a [Mute] spell. [Mute] was not as low a dimensional spell as [Silence]; the higher dimensional magic was so powerful that it didn't remove the sound a person makes, it removed the capability of the creature to speak in the first place. [Silence] could be used to block sound more as a defensive cast, to keep anything from hearing any noise that a person or creature caused. Removing their capability to even communicate did something to their very mind as well as their vocal chords.

"I'm done talking to you. At least we can sort of thank you for letting me know this was your sister, but frankly I have a good idea as to why she was here in the first place. Head home and leave her alone. If my armies see you again, it better be on far better terms, because if you have any ill intent, I will rain brimstone down on you so hard it will make every god on this pathetic planet jealous!"

Altavis stood there for a moment before storming away, heading towards the small stables in Eld Horn Town. Algeia hugged Selene again from behind but stopped quickly as she realized she was touching royalty. "I'm sorry you had to do this… your majesty… I… I'm so very grateful… I promise I won't be a burden to your empire… I swear it…" she told the armored woman.

"Easy, calm down, you're going to have a good life from now on. Now, if you are grateful, you can repay me by helping everyone, helping me, put a stop to this. This man you were betrothed to, what did he look like? You said he was the one who caught you." The brunette stood and wiped away at the drying tears and sniffed.

"I… he was short… um… hunched… had a bit of a cackle for his laugh… my god, how long has it been since I was… since I was…"

From my history classes, mummification takes about seventy days… however it could have been far longer with her corpse lying underground in that chamber… but this man… he sounds really familiar… holy shit… no way… I knew he was creepy!

Selene immediately ordered two fireteams of military units to head to the mayor's house. The citizens of Sweet Water were frightened as two teams of automatons turned their heads at the same time, their optics changing from green to bright red temporarily and bolted for the home on the other side of the city, leaping over houses and bolting through streets. Juliet was working with her construction team as two military model Lights launched over her head on a mission.

As they reached the door and ripped it off its hinges, they moved in quickly, checking for traps and dropping flares in dark areas.

"Area clear ma'am, he isn't here" a military Medium reported.

"God damn it!" Selene snapped out loud as Algeia seemed a little frightened she was angry at her. "Sorry. Don't worry." The dev immediately tasked multiple ornithopters on scouting operations to see if he was on land or somehow in the water. While the ships in the harbor were destroyed, there were a few that were being repaired and were held up by ropes and cabling. A few were house boats as well. One was missing after a quick search. "Find that boat now" she ordered via coms to the small war fleet she had available. Three Frigates, five Corvettes and multiple PT boats turned around and headed out of the harbor in search for it.

"Is there a picture of the mayor in the household?" she asked via coms to the soldiers in the mansion of Sweet Water.

"Yes ma'am, on the wall." The Light looking at the painting beamed the picture back to her Hud. She quickly brought her hand upturned in front of Algeia.

"Is this the man that you were supposed to marry?" she asked as a small picture of what the Light was showing her appeared hovering over the small jewel embedded in the palm of her gauntlet. Algeia looked visibly frightened and nodded to her.

"All ships finding him, if you can verify the boat is under his control, there is no need to board it" she ordered. That was a kill on sight order she just gave. As she helped Algeia to an auto doc who started to perform a checkup on her with the other medical drones helping the newly resurrected women, Liyana walked up to her with her hands clasped at her waist.

"Thank you, your majesty. I'm… I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up. You just gave all of these families hope to see their loved ones again. I've never seen one single wizard capable of resurrecting that many people at the same time… I haven't even heard of anyone doing that… at least… not without turning them into undead…" she said as she rubbed her right arm and looked away.

"It's alright, this was a situation that you wouldn't normally be prepared for… I wasn't even prepared for this…" she replied as her eyes grazed over the ladies who were alive with their families. She sighed and readied to place the Lazarus Systems for the twenty-nine other bodies that were as yet unnamed. If no one could claim them as someone they knew, the equipment would be turned on late today. It would take roughly three hours to finish resurrecting the poor souls still lying in coffins, but that just gave them time to get them up to speed in groups and administer medical checkups, get them situated in the inn or tavern in Eld Horn. Five of the bodies had pointed ears, but she couldn't be sure with the decay and rot.

"Jorge, can you take Bronze Team for a hearts and minds trip to Sweet Water to assure the people we will find a better mayor for them?" Selene asked the Special Forces Medium. He turned around as he watched Altavis leave on horseback.

"Can do your majesty. By the way, this might be a good time to… let you know that we attached… well, limpet mines to the houseboats in Sweet Water…" he told her as he scratched at his metal chin plate. She looked at him in surprise.

"But those weren't in the water."

"We were preparing in the event they tried to escape with those, make it easy for the fleet." Selene at first thought that was a little overkill, as well as it could have killed innocents, but it was a good idea. Jorge might have been a little bashful at that moment, but it was a plan he put into motion in the event things didn't go as well as expected.

"Ok… can you disconnect the limpet mines from the remaining houseboats… as well as let me know what the range is for activating the ones on the mayor's ship." Barely in the distance Altavis was riding away, with Selene getting a chance to cast [Memory Loss] on him to wipe any knowledge of what he found here beyond his sister. He'd be able to tell his family his sister was ok, but beyond that and a notion to not do anything stupid with a massive sense of dread, he'd be unable to tell them who he met or anything about the military surrounding him.

Meanwhile

Mayor Evelgoy moved the houseboat as far as the mana engine would take him, getting ready to hoist the sails and continue on to Artinian harbors. With luck, he would be able to start anew, easily being able to get his hands on some slaves and learning the inner workings of their bodies. He especially liked to see how the ones that had husbands looked as they died, he wondered how much any sort of emotion had as an effect on the body as it slowly failed with his incisions or removal of organs. There were two in the past that were extreme masochists, he liked those very much as they seemed to enjoy what he did to them.

It was all for the sake of learning, so that one day he might be able to teach it to future generations. It didn't matter to him that the lives were being snuffed out by his experimentation and live dissection. The pain he caused mattered little to him if it meant he was that much closer to understanding how each muscle worked, each organ, how the women bore children or young boys grew up. Cadavers didn't help much as there was no movement, no reaction to what he was doing to the body if it was lifeless. Even undead were useless to him if he could trap one.

As the engine slowly sputtered and died, its fuel dying out and started to fall apart and dissolve, he swore and giggled as he ran to the sails and brought them up. The problem with such a simple part to the boat was that once the mana had run dry it needed to have the entire system replaced with a fresh one, the engine simply not holding together. There was no refueling it; they were also quite rare if near impossible to buy. Most of the mana crafters had long since died out, and what few there were had either been elves or dwarves, with only one ever known to be a minotaur.

As the final sail went up, he could see in the distance a very small few dots coming towards him. He pulled a spyglass and giggled again as he looked through it. There was an Artinian fleet of five ships heading in his direction, probably to figure out why he was heading toward the next harbor of Alsam. As they reached his boat, men threw grapple lines to hook onto the sides and jumped on board. Evelgoy put his hands up in surrender and kneeled on the ground. "Please! Have mercy! I am but a simple man coming from Sweet Water! The city… it has been overrun by a new empire!" he begged as he had learned as much as he could in the past day after the pirates were defeated. He was going to sell his information to the king about empress Selene, what she had and where she was in hopes that he could get a sizeable reward and help Artinia fight against her.

What he hadn't realized was as he spoke to them about the automatons, the ships and the ruler of the robots, was an ornithopter cresting the very edge of the Kaldanas Mountains to the far East of Sweet Water, completely blocking off a large chunk of the continent with not one single beach or shore to be found for at least two hundred miles. It spotted his houseboat and tracked the remaining Artinian ships surrounding it.

Once the Admiral of the small fleet agreed to take him in due to the information he had available, he looked up and saw an odd shimmer in the sky. It flickered for a moment which was odd; might it have been a play of the water reflecting the dropping sun?

As if a terror beyond anything he had seen erupted from the shimmer, a massive air fleet erupted from it. His eyes widened as he evacuated both his bowels and bladder at the same time. Empress Selene had found him. That was when he knew… there was no escaping. "Xaxara… protect m-" he barely was able to pray as a loud BEEP was heard from the limpet mines going off right in the middle of the small nautical fleet. The houseboat detonated in a clean explosion with a synchronized blast across the entirety of the vessel. The damage radiated outwards and enveloped the closest frigates, with all but two receiving critical damage and sinking. Wood and a little metal exploded in all directions, splintering and melting from the awe-inspiring power of the mines.

The last two were taken out by an airship Frigate via two railguns and a volley of rockets. Evelgoy was verified to be killed in the explosion as multiple pieces of his houseboat blew straight into his body, ripping him to pieces and incinerating the remains. Not only would he never be able to finish his studies on the human body, but he wouldn't be able to tell anyone about the empire or its empress. Red Tails ran strafing runs to clean up any survivors in the water. It was gruesome and, in a way, cruel to the unarmed sailors who could be taken in as POWs, but the empress couldn't afford for them to know what had just transpired right now. Casting [Memory Loss] on each of them would take time, which wouldn't help if they were held in a prison camp and saw automaton guards daily.

The remainder of Bronze Team had gone to Sweet Water as ordered and helped calm the populace, explaining there would be an election for the next mayor headed by none other than their empress. That would make sure they didn't have a sociopath at the helm, one that would actually stand up to the atrocities that could be committed by an evil kingdom.

Selene sat in her royal chair on the bridge of the Majesty's Grace, not as impressive as her throne, but made intentionally smaller to not take up much room. She sat back with her legs crossed, watching through the holographic screen at the explosions. Not one sailor survived, all killed to the last man. Just around the corner of the mountain range was the small Frigate fleet from Sweet Water, following up behind in the event the air fleet couldn't teleport in time. Luckily, the ornithopters were expanded beyond the listening posts inside the empire, so their surveillance range was now much higher. Her military was already scouting out the next towns and cities to take over to the South beyond Werelosil, such as Paldos City. From initial reconnaissance, it looked to be a massive slave market.

If there was a Geneva Convention here, they'd try me for crimes against humanity for doing this. Not one single prisoner detained… I really do need to get a prison camp and a minmax built so we can take POWs and random criminals once Artinia really does know who they are dealing with.

"Take us to the castle. What's done is done." The entire fleet prepped for another jump back home, with the outside of the ships warping and distorting to teleport right over the airfield nearby. The empress stood up and walked off the bridge, Hrist at her side.

"It was still honorable Selene, you did what needed to be done so they couldn't report back" she explained quietly as both women headed for the helibot waiting for her. While a little slow now these days, the helibot was a tried and true workhorse for any aerial transportation or hovering gunship, at least the Medium or Heavy versions anyways. The Lights were Orlo's size, larger than a Light Ornithopter due to it being slower and designed slightly different for heavier firepower and armor. The new design for the spinning blade hover fans was to replace them with a toroid bladeless system with air compressors installed, increasing their power by fifteen and providing a much smoother flight with very little turbulence. No one would really notice the change of her air support except her in the empire.

Jet engines were going to be a backup system installed into the air fleet as well, with the turboprops folding up with a temporary drop in altitude to engage the jet systems hidden inside, with miniaturization allowing both engines to work on the same housing. There was still a use for all of the different engine systems, she just wanted the options for long distance as well as short distance, dogfighting as well as zoom and boom.

"I know, it doesn't mean I have to like it however."

"That's just your conscience still working, warning you that you know where you stand. It lets you know not to continue down that path all the time." Both women boarded the helibot and had the doors closed, with the outer panel of the airship opening to allow the helibot to leave.

"I'll be glum for about an hour as my brain mulls it over, then I'll be ok."

"Do you… would you… be willing to teach me some more martial arts moves?" Hrist asked. Selene chuckled and nodded.

"Why not? It'll get my mind focused on other things. I should probably teach Brynhildr the same moves if she's coming with me to Silvinholm." Hrist averted her gaze as the helibot lowered to the ground inside the castle walls.

"Um… about that… I talked with Bryn…"

"Oh? Wait… don't tell me…" The empress's jaw dropped as she tilted her head sideways at the raven-haired woman.

"She can handle the armies taking Werelosil and the orchard! She's a General as much as I am Selene."

"That's not the point! She has more experience interacting in those kinds of environments! We'll be in the middle of a trade city Hrist! Do you have that kind of experience?" Selene snapped as she rolled her eyes and glanced at the roof of the helibot before the doors opened. As the dev climbed out, Hrist grabbed her hand quickly though softly.

"I'm not going to get that experience unless I come with you. You know I've never been defeated, who better than to accompany you into that unknown? Besides… Bryn has always had a better eye than Skuld or I in picking out mounts…" the Valkyrja told her as she looked away and blushed. Selene sighed as she looked out the door to see Brynhildr sitting in the gazebo in front of the courtyard drinking some sort of alcoholic drink. The golden blonde waved at them. Neither Bryn or Skuld went with the two women, having decided to stay behind to keep an eye out for Antoine as well as check on the students in the academy. There were still things to be done within the valley, jobs to be completed.

"And she agreed to this?" The empress asked finally after a long pause. Hrist nodded. There was no reason to believe she was lying, it didn't seem to be one of her traits. The battle maiden let go of her hand as they both climbed out, the guards right behind the General. "Grrr… alright, fine… yes, you're right… you won't get experience unless you can be in the thick of the city… just… be careful alright? I know you have a good head on your shoulders, but make sure you don't say anything that could let people know who we are ok?"

"I swear it… and… thank you… for the… compliment…" Hrist replied as she scratched the side of her cheek and blushed profusely. She seemed exceptionally bashful at that moment. Selene thought very highly of her, she just didn't really know how to speak in groups. While her speech patterns were entirely formal, she did act a little awkward when not near the empress or her sisters. Put her in a battlefield and she'd destroy everything, put her in a book club and she would be lost.

"I guess I'm going to be making a new set of armor for you too. We'll walk in like regular low-grade adventurers to look around, get some intel on the place and collect things on a grocery list."

"Grocery list?"

"Yeah, seeds, books, magic knowledge, maps of the area, get a feel for the prices and the economy, that sort of thing. The main goal is to find the nobility and have a talk with them, this might take a few days for us. Hmm, might be a good idea to have Bronze Team stealth around and finish what I promised Antoine too, I dunno if we're going to have time to do that while mingling with the rich and famous" the dev replied as they walked to the gazebo. Bryn poured a glass for each of them of some brandy. "I guess it is happy hour somewhere…" she chuckled out as the empress sat down next to the shield maiden.

Having her little team see what Silvinholm was all about was the best option, with Bronze Team doing real surveillance on the mansions and large estates. They didn't really need to be seen either, just figure out which one had Princess Nia, verify her healthy status, then disappear back to the castle and wait for Selene to come home. Antoine would get his blood pressure dropped with information that the princess was fine, and the empress could focus on getting Silvinholm to join her empire without a fight.

"Of course! You've got to warm your insides somehow! Now, I heard about what happened. I know what might cheer you up" Bryn laughed out as she bounced a fist off the top of the table lightly. Hrist sat down and took a small sip of the brandy. It was one of the stronger drinks that Selene had crafted at the still, but the flavor was great.

"Don't tell me a drinking contest." Bryn looked at her quizzically and shook her head.

"Of course not! Besides… I kind of always thought you were a light weight…" the shield maiden took a light jab at her ego with a catty grin curling onto her mouth.

"Oh really? I'll have you know I'm a decent heavy weight, but still, no thanks. Any other ideas?" the dev said coyly as she turned her face halfway and looked at the Valkyrja with a squint and a smirk. Bryn had a way of making fun of a person without being mean, just trying to get them to open up. She had a great deal of experience with mortals, not necessarily just with rolling around in the hay like some of her other sisters. In Selene's eyes, she was "hip" or "cool." In just the past few days she had gotten a lot of street smarts about Gold Pine and Glass Dale.

"Theatre. There is a play in Gold Pine happening tonight, I doubt they would turn away their empress or Generals." The blonde bounced her fist against the table a second time and pointed at her.

"That's… actually not a bad idea. Ok, lemme get changed and we can go." She finished her glass in front of the two Valkyrja and smiled, proving she could handle her liquor. Afterwards, the team got up and went to get dressed for the occasion. As Hrist walked out of her bedroom, she wore a Nuoqi Victorian Gown colored sapphire blue, made of what looked to be flannel with a velvet outside. She had on a silver rope belt with buckle and two necklaces, one hanging lower than the other. Her shoes were short heeled and looked similar to the formal shoes Selene had worn with her dress suit when she had traveled to the shipyard. Her hair lay draped down her back with minimal makeup on her face.

Brynhildr came out of her room wearing what looked like a swashbuckler's outfit, complete with a sword at her hip. She was comfortable and happy with how she looked, along with being able to contain her ample bosom which already popped one button. Bryn was taller than Hrist and Skuld, with the brunette sister being roughly six foot two inches and the blonde being a large seven feet. Despite the size different between the sisters, Bryn still wasn't all muscle, although a little more toned than Hrist due to the massive tower shield she tended to carry around. It was almost on par with Jorge's portable wall he carried. She was one of the few Valkyrja that could be called a Shield Maiden instead of just a Battle Maiden.

Hrist seemed to be annoyed that her sister wasn't wearing a dress like she was, but there was nothing forbidding them from dressing in a masculine way, or, as Bryn had seen, as a pirate queen. The empress had finally opened her door and made the raven-haired woman's jaw drop.

Walking towards them, Selene was wearing an olive-green swallow tail gothic Victorian lace up jacket with hood attached, along with a short olive green Victorian dress underneath to not hide the pants. There was gold and silver along the edges and folds that curved, almost looking like elven vines wrapping around the buttons. She wore black soft velvet pants along with black leather boots to accentuate the look. To help with the color scheme, grey gloves were worn on her hands and a gold chain belt was worn underneath the dress, with part of the chain hanging a little like a pocket watch. A short olive-green shoulder cloak was attached with a gold chain clasped around her neck. To stop her hair from getting caught in the chain, it was braided up and draped into the hood. The small area just below her chin had a fluffed white scarf tied and tucked into the dress.

"You look… nice… what is that?" Hrist asked, her face flushed red. The dev explained the look and spun on her heel to show the whole thing. She was very elegant looking. It would definitely turn heads, and yet still looked steampunk in fashion.

"Want one? It's very comfortable and I think it looks great. By the way, blue might be your color Hrist, that looks nice on you." The battle maiden didn't think she could blush anymore than she already was. "Is Skuld coming?" she asked Bryn as the blonde chuckled.

"Yes, with a little bit of an entourage. Seems the students would like to come to the play as well, sort of a welcome to the academy thing." Selene cocked her head a little at that, seeming to wonder if this was planned. Some of those students were either crushing on her even without meeting the empress or wanted to raise their status by attempting to get on her good side. She was going to make sure they weren't near her little royal stand so that she could get some peace and enjoy the play.

"Alright, well, as long as they mind their manners. Hrist, you're going to need a coat, that doesn't look like it's going to keep you warm." She walked back to her bedroom and pulled out a long trench coat to work with the dress that battle maiden was wearing, then helped her put it on. Hrist could smell the light perfume she was wearing. Her nose lightly twitched as she inhaled. "There." Brynhildr declined a jacket, as she seemed to run hot normally.

The three women walked down the hallway and to the elevator. "I take it we're going to snack at the play?" Selene asked over her shoulder at Bryn.

"From what I heard, they're going to have a buffet." That surprised the empress, as she was providing spare food supplies for the winter. None of that better go to waste, though it was more the principle of the thing and not losing the food. There were ample stocks of food in her first inventory, plenty to feed everyone without an issue, but the problem was instilling a sense that she was the meal ticket, that they could just take what they had for granted. That would create an empire of people that just slacked off, didn't work and could cause it to collapse without even getting off the ground as they expected her to feed them.

"Hmmm, well, I hope part of that is a potluck instead of the supplies I sent." It almost sounded as if she was being stingy, but she really didn't want the views of the people to change to 'the empress will take care of it.' From what she was hearing from Gold Pine, the citizens were now a diverse lot, no longer farmers as a majority, but also having a few hunters, shop keeps, there were now two blacksmiths with Giles being the best regardless of any competition, a post office with postmen, the hospital had a few apprentices to learn about how medicine worked, and there were artists and sculptors that now lived in the town. It hadn't really reached one thousand residents, but it was getting there, with word secretly and slowly making its way to Artinian municipalities.

They reached the main entrance to the palace, but Selene broke off for a few minutes. "Hold on, let me check something really quick." The dev headed to the royal treasury, the turrets ignoring their creator as the doors opened up and allowed her passage. She almost felt that there might be needed some excavation to further expand the space needed for the money she had. The coin that was available seemed to mean very little now, as the main thing she figured would be a good choice to store was magical items of different stats and effects. With the new Epic quality of equipment, lower tiers were good for disenchanting into essence, but it could be useful as bargaining chips if she ever needed to trade.

Giving a Common quality sword or plate armor to an adventurer or aspiring knight might be a good idea if they are starting out. Sheesh, I'd be their sponsor it seems. As they improve and do better for the people and themselves, maybe give Uncommon or higher, like a carrot on a stick. Hmmm… that could backfire at some point, might need to put a restriction on how high a quality tier I'll give as rewards…

She reached the orb and used it quickly, gaining five levels and enough actions to raise her tech tier to Exo-Atmospheric Era. Despite being similar to the Space Age, it was expected of humanity to be a multi planet civilization. Space Age allowed access to low and high Earth orbit, with satellites launched and potential research bases placed on the moon or maybe Mars. Exo-Atmospheric meant there was constant travel between inner planets of a solar system, though not quite to the effect of Early Intersolar Era that would be right after. The two reasons she chose to tech up was first, she always needed access to new technology and staying stagnant with Information Age tech seemed a little pointless when she could reach even more.

The second was the fact that the aerospike engines were decent for the rockets to launch into space, but she wanted access to better satellites instead of reaching a new tech tier and having to send shuttles up to decommission older ones. Having aerospace vehicles to transition easily to pick up space debris from older equipment was going to be nice once she launched her satellites up, which was going to be very soon, before she headed on her trip to Silvinholm. The first three launches would be for GPS navigation, then a few more for spy satellites to help watch the continent and combine with the ornithopters. There would be a few OKKS launched too, Orbital Kinetic Kill Systems, or "Rods from God." To compliment them, a few orbital laser systems would be used for bunker busting in the future. The lasers would have to charge up, which meant they weren't the best at moving targets, but could obliterate a building or military base.

All of this was going to be done in secret, with reusable rocket systems, airship launches for smaller satellites, the nautical fleets controlling water landings if needed, and the launch pads retrieving mining packages. If there was an asteroid belt somewhere in the inner ring of planets of this solar system, she'd have a never-ending supply of minerals and metals for anything she'd want. The problem was first finding out about that. A telescope wasn't yet crafted by her, but that would be a simple task. Getting an ELT, or Extremely Large Telescope observatory built would require some land cleared and construction done. Then getting some astronomical observatory satellites could help give her a decent idea of where she was, what she was dealing with and if there was anyone else out there that might be friendly… or otherwise. At least it was going to be an early warning system.