Relaxation IV

"Do you need help, your majesty?" Dahlia asked.

"No, no, I've got this. That was a lot of sugar she ingested, caused burnout. Eh, it was her big day, she can pig out on cake once in a while." The dev had made sure there were plenty of presents for her to open, one of which was a music box shaped like a small palace. Depending on which nob was wound, a different song would play along with the movement from small figures inside.

"Should she have a bath before bed?"

"Mmm, a little later, don't want to wake her up." Eve just had her head pushed into the crook of her mother's arm as Selene sat down on a couch, the six-year-old receiving a gentle kiss on her forehead as newly recorded guitar music was played at low volume in the background. That was barely enough to softly wake her up.

"Mommy?"

"Hey, sorry that woke you. You were tuckered out. Did you enjoy your party?"

"Uhuh."

"Still feel like sleeping?" The child nodded and yawned. "Ok, you just go back to sleep."

"Okay." Selene brushed some hair from the girl's face and gave her another kiss on her forehead as she expected to settle in for another couple of hours. "Mommy? I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart." The lights were softly dimmed down, a fireplace crackling away in the far wall. They had tried to have her sleep in her own bed the last two days, and each time she had the same nightmare involving darkness and being alone, wet the bed, and had to stay with her mother to calm down. Luna padded in and flopped in front of them, her fur covering the empress's feet; in response, she got some scritches with the dev's toes through her socks.

Gala slipped in and noticed the princess closing her eyes once again. "She only seems to sleep soundly when you are nearby. Hopefully, what Juliet added in will help," the mechanical woman said gently, receiving a nod in response as a holographic datapad was pulled out to show off the dress designs being offered up for the empress to wear to the ball. Gala looked almost Indian in her design, with darker metal skin and long black wiry hair in a large braid hanging over her shoulder. Her form was an intricate rune-covered green lehenga dress with a lighter green choli over her shoulders; her midriff was showing, with flourished runic etching running down her metal abdomen. A red light sat in the middle of her forehead, glowing along with her green optics.

"Yeah, it makes getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom a struggle, but still… an absolute angel right now. She had enough food to make dinner pointless too. I might have to dial down her sugar intake for the next few days, just like Gazi does for Tariq."

The secretary of state quietly sat down next to her creator and just watched the child for a moment on the other side, breathing softly."Alright, so this is the dress that was made by Jeeves, it's the generic form right here," she told the dev. The design was somewhat extravagant, with gold and silver covering most of her body. There was very little that could be seen of her skin wearing that, bar the hands and head. Jeeve's would continue to create most of the clothing along with the auto maids, while Gala would, once in a while, craft something for special occasions when she wasn't dealing with other nations. "The next one is a piece I wasn't expecting you to wear in front of those people. It's set up like a cocktail dress for a night out on the town."

With a swipe of her fingers, the holoprojection pad flipped to a two-piece showing midriff, and her shoulders, all held up simply by her bust in a 3D model with a thin cloth, almost painted on in look. There would definitely be some tape involved to keep things from ever falling out or off. The movement of the cloth was supposed to be like liquid metal flowing and ebbing on her skin. While it still left enough for the imagination, Selene frowned. "Uh… no thanks. I'm not interested in showing a lot of my body."

"Afraid they wouldn't like it?"

"I'm afraid it might give the wrong impression, actually."

"That's what I thought. Now, the third design is a bit more simple, more business, and less show." Gala swiped to a figure that had features that screamed steampunk, with thin gears rotating inside the fabric running in a line down the sleeves, completely visible to anyone. The color had changed from gold and silver to marbled bronze and green. A matching shoulder cloak was added that clasped on her chest, with a pocket watch attached with a chain on her left hip. The skirt was replaced with dress pants and black heels. While not flashy, the whole thing was created with comfort in mind… as well as authority. "It's not going to win any awards, but then again, I didn't make it for that."

"It works, it gets the point across that I'm there to watch the party. Honestly, I'm fine with business suits and blouses in front of the ex nobles. Ugh, I need to stop calling them that… the… t-the rich and well to do… eh, aristocracy fits."

"Alright. This will be what you wear, but don't expect it to draw eyes from the men or women."

"Not interested in them anyway." With a few minor adjustments, particularly in the cloak so that the clasp was easier to open with two locks instead of five, Selene was run through the alterations to the initial design, with how her hair would be done up, whether to wear gloves or not and if she would put her tiara on. There was the potential for a monocle, but it was considered a bit too intimidating as if she would be scrutinizing everyone. A knock on the door was heard, receiving an acknowledgment to enter.

Will opened the door, a concerned look on his face. "Ma'am, we have some news for you."

"What happened?" she asked.

"First off, the tournament in Aureos has ended."

"Who won?"

"In the solo trials, many up and coming adventurers; in the team combat, a select few groups… because we are sure the whole thing was rigged."

"Hmm, did the Orc Destroyers sign up for the team trials?"

"At the last minute, yes. However, they didn't even place in third."

The dev seemed confused a little. "Did they not figure they would be paired against a higher rank party?" she questioned.

"There was information reported by Morlan before he left for his trip to Kaer Danel that he was partially training the team. Ranger Dina, in particular, had doubts as to her reasons behind signing up for the tournament."

"Ok, so, she found out firsthand that there are better fighters out there. It happens."

"The adventurer's guild, receptionist Tilly specifically, provided the rules of combat for the tournament. The Orc Destroyers were gold ranked, which meant they were not allowed to fight any teams beyond platinum. Oddly enough, they held their own, but were ignored for third place due to a minor altercation with the brother of an Adamantite ranked adventurer, even if they were best in rank."

The empress exhaled loudly and looked up at the ceiling, then immediately down to her daughter, still asleep. "Let me guess, unprofessional actions?"

"Possibly. No police were involved, though it seemed clear the aristocracy were looking for fresh meat, and they were not viable."

"That must be a blow to the ego. Well, at least they weren't hurt. I guess now they can finally settle down and get back to quests, raise up the ranks?"

"No ma'am, that's not the case. Morlan submitted a report about his interaction with the group. One, named Pops, is going to retire somehow. He's been saving up for some time, hoping to eventually have enough for a small cottage."

Selene noted the retirement fund set aside for those who fought alongside the soldiers in Silvinholm, answering the call of duty to defend the people. "Well, I wouldn't say it would be a small cottage given the amount provided by us. He'll be able to live a comfortable life. Huh, that will hamper the team, given he was the tank."

Will raised an eyebrow. "Except it won't. They appear to have a paladin by the name of Piper now joining the party."

Selene didn't answer, mulling over the response in her head. "Huh, I was hoping to somehow coerce Dina into leaving that life and go enter the academy. Eh, the option is still there, she'll get that out of her system eventually. A paladin, huh? Interesting."

"They'll have to perform some tricky quests to speed up the process of raising Piper up to a comfortable rank, given she is a copper plate at the moment."

Selene scoffed. "That will slow them down. Eh, if she's already proved herself, why not… then again, I don't know why anyone wants to become an adventurer anymore."

"You believe the adventurer job should be removed?"

"Not right now. The thing is, they are still a useful, very mobile, force that can quickly move around and bolster police forces right now without having my government intervene. They can also act outside the empire without us accepting the blame, or even acknowledging it ever happened. I just see far too many options available now for everyone to go."

"That would give us more leeway in acting towards other nations without actually doing anything."

The dev nodded at him. "I expect the position of adventurer to be phased out within the next decade or turned into something new, like gladiators in nonlethal combat for sports events; the same goes for the mercenaries. It'd go alongside regular sports, at least if we can somehow manage to introduce some of them into society like football or baseball. Can't do it just yet and cause twenty percent of the population to become unemployed with no other skills, which also includes the ex Artinian soldiers. They'd have to be on government aid until they could learn a new trade; meanwhile, police would be strained without backup that we'd have to suddenly provide more of, breaking my policy of keeping auto soldiers out of view most of the time."

"We do have the funds to do so."

"Oh, I know that; technically, the entire bill to have everyone in the empire just go straight to class and not even work is minuscule. The problem is coverage for every occupation that involves keeping them fed and taken care of, which would ultimately fall on us. That's more intervention than I'd like at the moment, what with us footing the bill for everything. I'm hoping the adults can keep working while going through classes; elementary school educations would get them corporate positions with the infrastructure they had before, and we're already offering college-level degrees free of charge. There's no reason for anyone to not have a job right now and still have some time to learn when there are so many avenues to alter their lifestyle. Dina could easily become something else better suited than proficient with a bow; the only reason I haven't outright stopped her is… is…"

"Not a friend, huh?" Will remarked, a slight smirk rising on his metal lips.

The empress rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine, I do have some affinity for her, but it's something to do with feeling sorry for the kid, not actually being buddy-buddy."

"A surrogate mother, perhaps?"

Selene eyed Will with an annoyed look. "I have a daughter already, thank you. I don't need a second, older, rebellious one."

"Then, an older sister instead."

"Enough with the psyche questions, you aren't very good at being a shrink; leave that to Orlo or Gala. My point is, given that crime is kept to an all-time low, there shouldn't be a reason for them to get the chance to read a book in the background while on break, eventually putting the sword or bow away for good. Even while escorting caravans and checking in with patrolling security drones, they have the option to sit in a wagon and read, getting ready to pass certification exams. That'd at least get them in the door for a better job, allowing more time to sit back and submit coursework from a long-distance via the postage. Anyways, any other situations I need to be aware of?"

"Yes, ma'am. With the expansion of the satellite network, we've been able to watch over roughly 50% of the world now. Three reconnaissance fleets were detected on a course for the southern shores of the continent."

"Not merchants?"

"Take a look." He handed her a holo pad to watch the footage provided while Gala finished her alterations on the suit. Something about having the equipment in hand instead of fed to her Hud made it a little easier to talk with someone right next to her. Three fleets coming from different directions were heading towards the continent, along with what looked like a bump of ships slowly starting to uncoil and building up from South America. "I take it your next question will be ETA?"

"You know me too well."

"A little after the ball, two days to be exact. If our calculations are correct, and they always are, that pod of vessels to the southwest could eventually expand out in a supply chain in a month."

"At least they won't ruin the festivities," Gala quipped.

"And you're sure they're aiming for the southern border of the republic?" the dev replied.

"At different trajectories, yes. None of them seem to be aligned, at least on initial analysis. This is of interest, however," Will zoomed in on the middle fleet, comprised of three corvette type ships, two frigates, and one battleship. The design looked like it was made by the undead, the aesthetics seemed as if pulled from someone's idea for a lich lord crossing the ocean, royalty. Impressively, they were the fastest of the three fleets, with mana engines being used to reach about on par with a steamliner. The second fleet, coming from Europe, seemed a bit more menacing, with red and black coloring and heavy armor plating. It was quite a bit slower than the other two fleets, the ETA registered was a week after the others arrived. The problem was… it looked far more capable of causing war and attempting to conquer.

"What about the third one? It looks like a mishmash of designs," Selene questioned, zooming in via satellite view.

"Ah, that's the oddity here, surprisingly. Human, elven, dwarven, and what looks to be… perhaps an aquatic race's aesthetics; that could mean they have sub-surface escorts. It's a coalition of some sort that is heading out, though it would arrive a few days after the undead."

The mortally challenged seem to have some upgrades in maritime tech, colonial maybe? No, Renaissance more likely. Whoever is in charge has been trying to improve beyond what others have, probably advancing his or her kingdom. Wait, why am I being impressed by the undead? They're probably the quickest to be hostile here…

"Suddenly, our corner of the world became quite popular… do we know where they came from? Origin ports?" the empress questioned, glancing for a moment up at her chief of staff with her eyebrows raised a little.

The small screen expanded out in a holographic display before them, hovering in the air like a three-dimensional painting, predicting the starting locations in neon marks and lines. One was the Middle East for the undead, the second from what appeared to be Germany, just behind Denmark at Kiel. The coalition fleet seemed to have collected at one port before heading out just at the northeastern tip of the African continent, their origin kingdoms were unknown just yet. "It doesn't seem to be a coincidence that they are all coming at the same time," Will advised.

"Any merchant fleets nearby that they're trying to shadow, maybe escaped from that direction? Any warnings from Grey about exotic magical artifacts showing up on the market?"

"That would be zero. All trade vessels are in dock, waiting out the winter. The cold is not friendly on open Atlantic waters in a season that is quite punishing, especially if they can't always afford wizards to cast constant spells to keep everything warm and restrict icebergs. This may also be the same for the fleets coming towards us, though given the build-up, that seems doubtful. There are no artifacts on the market that the wizard academy hasn't collected or in the ARC, at least powerful enough to warrant this response."

That means they're going to spot our naval ships immediately if they get close. Magic that removes bad weather may be in their bag of tricks. Anything we have is going to be considered combat capable just by getting eyes on… which they technically are…

"Dominic should have all patrol ships stay clear or in stealth as much as possible with long-range surveillance, potentially with subs or planes. We don't know why they're coming here, but they aren't heading directly towards my empire. Could be attempting communication with the Seong Neow Republic… that nation is starting to look quite interesting to investigate now…"

"Thinking of renewing your trip there to speak with the leaders?"

"Yep, all six of them. I was going to schedule it in the spring, but now… hmm, we'll see."

"I'll have an ambassador get them ready ahead of time for a more in-depth meeting," Gala interjected, finishing up with the suit and prepping a diplomatic team. "If they do their job well, that should at least open some doors and not step on any toes. If not, then at least we'll know where outsiders stand in their eyes, allowing us to focus on other nations to talk to and not waste time."

Will nodded in agreement, cupping his bearded chin with his left hand. "It must make it interesting with five shoguns controlling different parts of the republic. There is an emperor of sorts, though he carries a ceremonial role, and –"

The empress cut him off quietly with one hand to stop him. "I've already read those reports, that is why I said six. I never did fully understand the old Japanese government all that well, which I'm sure this is based on somehow, though I did read up about some of their emperors and the shogunates; then, of course, U.S. history had some weird politics too. Pretty much all civilizations have had governments that confuse everyone else that didn't live there. When you stay in one place with such and such resources, with a religion dictating how to act or holding some of the power over the land, leadership tends to be… complicated… or unusual… to those looking in. Hmmm…"

"Ma'am?"

Selene sat there in deep thought as magnification showed two figures on the deck of the undead battleship. Her Hud scanner didn't get names, but it did show two things that piqued her interest. Those were the ID nameplates of NPCs for a guild… and the guild placard, unnamed as well. While the names didn't mean much at all to her as Yggdrasil was just a contract and another pip on her resume, the fact that her scanner gave the placeholders meant plenty already.

How the hell did NPCs transport here? I thought only players could be thrown onto this dirtball… wow, if they really are walking around or traveling, do they have personalities? Lives? The bigger question I should be asking myself is: are they even friendly? Sitting on undead ships, one of them has a karma level of -100, arachnoid… the other is a Dullahan with a karma level of +150 from the orbital scans. There's a bit of a balancing act going on there; someone thought that through, maybe for keeping the other restricted?

"Do you want those two collected at some point?" Will questioned.

The empress blew air out of her mouth, mulling the answer over. "No. Don't communicate, don't get near them. I'd like it if they never found out about the empire actually. Get a report to me by tomorrow morning on if the Hidden Empire Project is ready to become a reality. We've already got the space elevator cloaked so far, with no one able to see military bases unless we want them to. Granted, most of them are built underground, but still…"

"We should have a quiet diversion plan in place in the event they get near our borders then."

"I agree, decoys and false points of interest should be ready to place if they get too nosy, nudge them in a different direction. I want intel before anything further happens, and I want to see the owner of those NPCs before any interaction. They might be negotiating trade with the animal folk, but… something tells me otherwise. They're blocked from long-range communication via magic?"

"Yes, ECM systems were designed for both technological communication and magical from the start. It might be a good idea to allow some messages to go through until we're sure they've seen us. Grey should be able to come up with quite a few wild goose chases to keep them occupied if they decide to 'see the sights across the lands' as it were, get them to stay in the south; he at one point told me of a 'white rabbit' protocol to enact to discourage the curious. I'll check with sci div and have the report ready by tomorrow on advancements, should give you something to read with your coffee while you take care of the princess. You know, they might be traveling by sea due to no teleportation capability here. Might have dodged a bullet with our tech."

"Or caught it in the mouth by restricting travel via magic, forcing them to use physical transports; for all we know, they're wondering why they can't get here via other means. We'll just have to wait and see. Alright… the others, on the other hand… are those level 100s on the European fleet?" she asked as the dev checked on the armored warships again. There was a difference in how they were moving compared to the other two, with a synchronized parade line instead of real naval vessels surrounding their flagship. That required a large amount of coordination with little gain other than looking good, especially when they were still heading towards their destination. The high tier soldiers she was referring to were also in peculiar positions, arrayed in a line, shoulder to shoulder on the deck… almost like furniture or chess pieces rather than people. There was no sign of an officer they would normally be escorting in such a formation.

"There are three on the alliance fleet as well, at least high level interspersed; one elf, one human, one very old dwarf. All three are below 60. Analysis suggests they may be descendants of an Earth transfer rather than players themselves."

Selene raised an eyebrow at that. "I didn't see a player notice pop up, just an unknown; that tells me, given we haven't met yet, that they are natives. Could be ambassadors, though I'm pretty sure that thought process can be shot down immediately given what we're seeing, or just explorers like Christopher Columbus."

"You do realize that he was traveling for riches and spices, not to meet a new civilization, right?"

The dev rolled her eyes. "Yes, I remember at least some of my world history, thank you. He treated natives as objects, not living beings. The same goes for the Spanish conquistadors. That… does bring up some concerning facts if two of those fleets look like they have humans on board… then again, the overlord fleet are… well… I'm not getting my hopes up that they wouldn't be against the living."

"Thinking of interfering if they show hostility towards the Seong Neow Republic?" Will questioned, raising a metal eyebrow in curiosity.

"Their government is fairly isolation focused nationalists, while common folk are all too eager to expand and mingle with others. The merchants are proof of that. This means us intervening is all too dependent on them playing nice, or us just cleaning up the mess after and laying claim to the land. Did you hear that they, the merchants I mean, are asking for softer coins to meltdown so that they can recast the metal without the clockwork symbol? Too afraid to have it circulate in their nation supposedly, a penalty of death or something."

"I have read that report. The request went to the mayor of Aureos, which then brought it up to Duncan. He obviously had no answer, even acted insulted on behalf of you." The dev facepalmed. She was about to say something in annoyance about the semi advisor, with a question offered up on whether to fire him or not, only for Will to continue. "He did mean well with his response and has been studying diligently the laws. He's also been keeping the aristocracy at bay from trying to speak with you. Damaging a symbol of the empire is illegal; it can give counterfeiters a chance to launder money in other countries, removing funds from the people's hands that we have to replace. That's why most coins in our nation are now alloys instead of pure gold or silver, soon to become paper currency, and eventually… digital credits."

"And also why we would like everyone to use banks and start using paper currency in the future. At least we control the financial institutions with an iron fist, compared to Earth. Hedge funds are completely impossible here." The dev remembered just how not just twice, but three times since living in the U.S. that a fund collapsed a much-loved company that was doing well. She considered them evil.

"Given that we started the banks in the first place, that seems doubtful anything like that would appear. Now, where was I… ah yes, moving forward, we have sent an invite to Sultan Gazi and his son Tariq for the winter ball. Even Aldemir is offered a chance to come."

The empress smirked. She already knew Aldemir would ask how she created what he now used, what he followed. There were going to be so many questions on why she decided to not use woad mastery herself."Good, they can be guests of honor. They'll get the chance to see the empire not as a neighbor, but hopefully, a friend outside their borders. Are they already sending that dust?"

"Yes, and we are sending the requested runestones for their hot air balloons. We have also sent invites to the mayors of each town and city. This will have an enormous impact when the aristocracy sees that they have power only over their companies, not over the government. Next on the report is something minor, quite so actually. Wrox has been verified as planning a break away from the Kohar Confederacy assault on Caerel City in the next month."

The empress looked up at the ceiling and smirked. "He's going to attack our borders, isn't he? Great, that's going to scare the other chieftains."

"We've done what we can to settle things with those tribes. What he does is entirely on his head now, there's no negotiating anymore," Gala told her as she closed the app for the dress.

"What happens… happens," Selene remarked. "Next?"

Will crossed his legs and put a hand on his mechanical knee. "An interesting note circulating around right now beyond that bonehead ready to start a war is that the Church of the Clockwork Empress is spreading a false story of how you came to be."

The auburn-haired woman leaned back a little and slightly adjusted her arm. Her daughter didn't notice. "Great… I need to figure out a counter to what they're saying."

The chief of staff cocked his head a little. "Like your origin?"

Selene dropped her head, chin pressed against her chest with her hands on her hips as she exhaled. "Yeah…"

"Ma'am… it may be a good idea to either have a cover story written for you to follow… or…" Will hesitated, remembering the response from last time, "we've already had this discussion, so I'll just end it by saying you should start getting good at lying or accepting some things as truth when anyone asks about your life… if you decide to share any information about it, that is. They're trying to fill in gaps in their faith. That's difficult to do when their head priest is making things up as he goes."

Selene looked at him for a long second before averting her gaze, nodding finally in agreement and stifling a laugh. That was what they were doing from the beginning anyway, why should it change now? There would have to be an explanation as to where she came from, her past, and what she does now, which was intentionally designed to be vague. "Was there anything else?"

"Sadly, yes. Our laws did not quite account for the loop found in attempting to create a monopoly in a sector of the economy."

"Fuck… er… I mean…" the woman looked down at her daughter, her little eyes not opening once.

"She's still asleep," Gala reported softly.

The dev sighed in relief and nodded, swapping to a com channel to speak. "Who is doing it?"

"The very same aristocrats you are meeting with during the ball. While we made it illegal to attempt hostile takeovers and luring another corporation into selling out for a lopsided merger or acquisition, they've found a way to somehow continue by buying up any unrelated companies that sell key resources for research or advancement of their product, locking anyone else out of the respective market. This causes their competitor to go through only them involuntarily, eventually finding that they can no longer support themselves without raw materials or with those overpriced contracts and get bought up when at their weakest. The other rich and wealthy are not going this route, intending to try and follow your laws; this has allowed them to build up comfortably at a slow pace, without having to worry about backhanded actions being taken."

"What? How the heck do they have those kinds of funds… oh, the liquidations! Probably their little bunkers had a pile of gold hidden away as well. Oh, damn it… you'd think they've had this kind of stuff happen before…" Selene's view of the top .01% was quite low right now. Most of the movers and shakers were fine, adapting to her rule and making a profit right now. The select few causing disturbances were the ones she hadn't had executed after the demon war.

"Indeed." The chief of staff watched his creator facepalm with her right hand, shaking her head slowly. They had done what they could to set laws, regulations, and policies to keep things like this from happening, but nothing was perfect. There were always going to be people who would think outside the box to get ahead without working like everyone else. This was what the constant recommendations from the citizens sent to the governors were for, to update the laws regularly to protect against these things, to protect against those who would step on others to get ahead quickly.

The empress rolled her eyes. "I'll work with Donovan on getting a new law in place to put an end to that once I review any information from our governors, monopolies tend to stifle advancement and hold back the future. If it works, maybe we can use incentives to push them towards never attempting such a thing again. I swear, I didn't let them get lynched with their antics after the war, and this has emboldened them…"

"… … Do you want to –" Will shut up over the channel as she looked up at him with one wide eye popping out of her fingers, surprised he'd offer that option up; he visibly jumped for a split second as he put his hands up in surrender. That should be a last resort, one where she knew there was just no working with them. They were greedy, yes, and willing to do whatever it took to earn a little more precious coin that they couldn't take to their graves. That didn't always necessarily mean they needed to die just because of their drive to become even wealthier; the silver lining right now was that they had shown a fault in her laws, which they would now address. That at least told her that her government was doing its job and catching whatever could negatively impact the economy. In essence, these corrupt aristocrats were unknowing guinea pigs banging their heads against a wall while they were being observed. There was going to be more stress for them trying to weasel around the laws than Donovan gleefully helping his empress patch the holes in less than a day.

"Alright, send the report tomorrow, and I'll review it. I'll… figure out something with Morlan's father, Eve can stick with Dahlia in the library for the day and go on a reading spree. Um, get something prepared for the Orc Destroyers as a participation reward. Although we didn't sponsor the tournament and the whole thing was rigged, at least they can get something for their effort. Common quality tier could be an upgrade for a few pieces of gear that have been falling apart." Her inventory was opened with a flick of her eye, a few full suits of common quality equipment crafted within a few seconds. Uncommon was crafted right after, along with professional. She had not given much thought to their gear after the abbey crisis.

"Very well. Have a good rest of the night, ma'am. Oh, one last thing, there should be a census report recently taken. You should take a look at the races now living. A vampire apparently has decided to somehow immigrate and is working as a receptionist in Silvinholm." Selene gawked at him, opening the census report immediately. Will stood up and gave her a slight nod, his optics swapping over to the sleeping princess for a moment. How a vampire decided to live amongst humans and elves, with some half-orcs, was anyone's guess. There were quite a few other races that were definite minorities slowly sifting in as well, some considered evil by stereotype and just trying to survive like everyone else. Snow slowly started to fall outside the windows as he left, with Gala following behind to finish the work on the dress.

That was when Morlan, Elsei, and the Valkyrja finally came home, walking through the hallways and reaching the living room. "Hey, guys. How was your trip?" All of them had their eyes on the little girl holding onto Selene. None of them knew how to respond as Eve woke up, curious as to what was causing noise and looking back at them with her blue eyes. The resemblance was there. The group just wondered what the explanation was going to be.

Meanwhile

"Put out the fire! Quickly!" a guard shouted to others at the royal palace, two figures slipping away during the chaos towards the north. The distraction had worked, with no one noticing the hoods or movement.

"Was this really necessary?" the second figure asked in a feminine voice as they jumped just over a pipe and continued onward, following her charge and her three tails.

"It was the only way to run away, and those assassins gave the perfect opportunity! What, did you expect us to go through the front door? They'd never let me pass without a full escort!" the smaller figure replied back, zipping to a corner and staying pressed against the wall as more guards ran to help. Once they were gone, the two partners dove under a small breach in the wall that was protecting the city from outside monsters. They were finally free.

"Your highness, why? There's no reason to –"

The smaller figure stopped for a moment and looked up at the clear night sky, removing her hood for a moment and breathed deep, her hime haircut of platinum blonde with white highlights shifting with the removal of her cover, two fox ears popping up and wiggling slightly. The guardian to her back removed her hood to reveal blood-red hair pulled tightly back in a small bun held together with chopsticks, a single black lock hanging over her forehead and pointing towards an eyepatch. Her left wolf ear was missing a section gouged out from the back, two gold earrings dangling below it. They were closer to humans in form than an animal, what the Artinians called catgirls as if all of them were related to felines. Their kind were considered 'high birth' in their language, being anthropomorphic as compared to zoomorphic like many others living as commoners in the nation. The cast system was something else that the princess wanted to get away from. There were too many friends she had made that she could no longer be near anymore due to her father and the shogunate.

The princess looked around carefully, sensing movement around the corner of the walls. "We have to continue, I'm not sticking around in this damned country to be married off. Every one of those bastards thinks they can just have me sit pretty on a pillow due to my ancestry, a trophy wife. I'm not here to be a prize for them to grant their wishes. My mother would have never stood for them pressuring my father if she was still alive…"

"Your highness, where are we to go? We have limited funds that will not last forever!" Her escort responded.

"I've heard rumors of some merchants returning from the north; supposedly, the empire there has vanquished the kingdom of Artinia. It's just a rumor, but even then, we can still head towards the forest at the edge of our lands and slip away. Thankfully, the guards have not punished those caravans."

"Princess Miyuki, that is a good three day's travel. You aren't up for that kind of adventure."

"I'll manage. I have to. The alternative… if I stay here, I might as well slit my own throat. Help me get there, Luko. Please. We can catch a ride from one of the convoys, slip past the patrols." The young teenager's golden-green eyes locked onto the royal protector's, pleading for her to stick with her for this. The only thing the warrior could do was sigh and nod, then immediately start growling, pull her katana, and charge straight towards the princess. It startled Miyuki, believing her bodyguard and friend was going to betray her; that was quickly found out to be false as she cut down two assassins still skulking in the weeds, noticing them before they could pounce.

"We need to leave now!" Luko shouted as three others jumped from the nearby tree to the ground, heading towards them. The wolf woman's bag of tricks was filled for this endeavor, with a flash bomb used to blind them for the assault she unleashed. Once they were dealt with by Luko involving swift strikes that seemed as fast as lightning, the princess's bodyguard grabbed her hand and ran. Their destination was away from their home, straight into a land far from familiar to the north… right into the middle of the Clockwork Empire. Luckily, the city guard was all too busy searching for more assassins inside the walls than outside to notice the flash of light in the distance.

Luko stopped running with her charge and let her rest, looking over both of their bodies as the princess sat. "We're going to need new clothes and ways to somehow change your hair color; There's got to be a way to somehow hide your tails as well, we'll need to find one who is knowledgeable in the ways of magic for that. Come on." While their reasoning to leave seemed odd, their choice was now made. What they didn't understand was the trouble they were about to create for those they would eventually meet.