Chapter 47 - Establish

A hectic week passed and the reply from Langaryo kingdom finally arrived, delivered by a white bird. Lancelot was present as well as Urusla and they gathered in the throne room while he read the contents out loud.

~Old friend, I truly appreciate you informing me of the matter. I apologize for taking so long to reply, the meeting with my advisors was more lengthy than I had anticipated.

Although one may think that the presence of these two girls in your kingdom may bring the demise of the setup that has been going on for generations, I feel no threat of war with their presence. More so, I believe this setting of one element in each province might make each kingdom more susceptible to attack.

In conclusion, I wholeheartedly support them staying in your kingdom, it makes no sense in moving them all the way across Endolis just because of our politics.~

This letter was music to their ears as it dispelled all the tension they felt over the week. With no hesitation, Lancelot quickly wrote two letters to the parents of Aiko and Ichika, bringing the good news to them.

***

Speaking of Ichika, She was at the Luna's hut, adamant for her to keep the promise she made.

"Do you have an image of what you want to be?" Luna asked while Ichika was fidgeting with excitement.

"Yes, hurry and teach me already!" Ichika responded.

Seeing that Ichika was on the verge of bursting from thrill, she decided to begin imparting the knowledge. In a method simple enough for a ten year old to understand, Luna explained the principle behind shape-shifting; along with a few examples.

***

"Now you try." Luna encouraged after a whole hour and a half of explaining, along with going over the parts Ichika didn't understand.

Nodding with a determined expression, Ichika activated the only scale she possessed at the moment; [Ice Dragon | First Scale: Frost's Awakening]. This, as any other awakening scale, would provide the Dragon Host with the ability to manipulate the said element almost as easily as taking one's first steps; becoming easier the more one trained.

"Huuuu…" releasing a puff of air, Ichika's body became faintly enveloped in a chilly mist.

Luna watched in anticipation as Ichika's figure became more difficult to see, nearing a minute later, a creature looking like a mini-feline-kobold hopped up; Ichika had done the transformation on first try.

"Nyaaa!!!" She screamed jokingly as she mimicked a cat.

"So cute!" Luna thought as she noticed kitten Ichika bounce around the room.

*Poof~*

The mist appeared again but this time only like an explosion of powder and Ichika was back to human form once more, she was in midair and such an abrupt loss of a cat's agility shifted her off-balance; only being saved from falling by Luna's catch.

"What?!" Ichika asked, dumbfounded as she just realized what occurred.

"Don't be sad," Luna said as she refused to let go of Ichika, "you can't keep the transformation up for long, you can't hold enough dragon force to do that. But, Granny Luna is proud of you!"

With a rounded mouth, Ichika understood and escaped Luna's embrace.

"You're not my granny!" she stated with a cute pout after sticking the landing.

Luna was a bit shocked by such a harsh answer and it showed boldly through her widened eyes, she began to stutter when Ichika spoke again-

"You're my best friend!" she continued with an even cuter grin.

The attack of cuteness on Luna left her unable to resist as she swooped in for another hug, Ichika kicking to get away but it proved futile since her struggling was even more cute.

***

On the castle road leading to Tenshu Castle's main entrance, Gyotan could be seen walking with a satisfied smile on his face. Bobbing and weaving through the hoards of playing children and rushing carriages, he barged in; heading straight for the throne room.

"Lancelot!" Gyotan cried in an excited manner as he pushed the doors to the throne room open.

Lancelot was alone and bore an expression of confusion when he noticed his advisor's hyper state.

"Why are you so excited? You only act like this when you've had a breakthrough in building something." Lancelot asked jokingly as he rose from his seat to put forward a greeting.

Gyotan chucked as he accepted the greeting in the form of a firm handshake before answering, "That is exactly what I have done, not once, but twice. Behold!"

Reaching into a bag he was carrying, he pulled out a red, rather peculiar-looking rectangular object. It held a hole in the centre which resembled a slot where one would insert a finger.

Lancelot's confused expression grew more pronounced as he questioned what the odd object was.

"This, my old friend," Gyotan stared after clearing his throat, "I call it a 'Conduit'. It is made from drakonite and it, once attached to any structure, can be used to manipulate it when dragon force is inserted."

With a gaping mouth, Lancelot was in awe; he heartily commended Gyotan before proceeding to ask about the second breakthrough.

"Ah yes. But for that we will need to take a short journey. Where is your wife?" Gyotan said with a smug expression.

"She's reading with Aegis at the moment, shall I go get her?" Lancelot responded.

Gyotan frantically shook his head in denial before literally dragging Lancelot out of the castle.

***

A few minutes and a couple bumps later, the two found themselves in the Hallow Forest. Due to Lancelot being pulled the whole distance, his face was turned towards the trees, where nothing out of the ordinary could be seen.

"Gyotan… all I see is forest…" Lancelot said in confusion.

"*Sigh~* Turn around."

A single drop of sweat ran down the side of Lancelot's face when he realized how stupid he sounded just now, he slowly turned around while chuckling in embarrassment before all the sound was stopped at his throat when he saw what stood before him.

Many high rising stone buildings oriented in a circle with an even larger building situated in the centre. Giving off a calm vibe, anyone would feel the sense of being in a village despite the size.

"…" Lancelot was speechless.

Gyotan roared in laughter as he explained the settlement, "As you know, I have been absent for quite some time now; and the reason for that is that I have been visiting all the other kingdoms. On my visits I noticed that each of them had a backup settlement in case of emergency which would push them to leave the main kingdoms; so I decided we should have one as well.

Today, I call the establishment of Tenshu Safe Village!"

Gyotan's face had sparkles around them as he did a cheesy pose to show off his creation.

***

While Gyotan and Lancelot were busy admiring the village, Urusla was in her dungeon testing out a theory.

"*Mmmfh!*~" a gagged woman who didn't wield dragon force was bound in chains seemingly made from jade tried to scream.

"Shhhh," Urusla shushed, "Don't try to scream, you are apart of history, you should be happy."

The woman's eyes were filled with tears as her face contorted with fear and despair. Urusla reached for the cloth gag and removed it from her mouth.

"Qu-Queen Uru-Urusla… *sniff~*… Wh-why are you doing this?" the woman asked, not daring to scream.

Urusla giggled slightly before kindly answering, "You see, my subject, I am not human. I am called a demon, and my race has been greatly depleted over the eons; therefore, you will be the first of many to become one of us and aid in the conquering of this land!"

The woman could find no words to say as this information reaching her was absolutely outrageous! Not just because she had never heard of a demon before, but the queen who stood before her now was nothing like what the townspeople had come to know and love.

"Enough of that now," Urusla said as she allowed herself to show the demeanor of a demon, frightening the woman even more.

"Weaponise!" She muttered as her body began to leak a dim light.

A few seconds later, a blade of jade came from her wrist. She then proceeded to put a deep gash in her arm, causing a pool of blood to flow out. She then turned to the woman, who had lost her voice in fear and grabbed her by the neck with the bleeding arm; which she had halted it's healing.

Raising the bladed hand upwards and bringing it down, Urusla gave a vertical slash to the woman's chest, exposing the organs inside as blood rushed out.

"Argh!" The woman screamed in pain but before her voice could rise higher, her screaming produced a gargle as Urusla's blood invaded her gullet.

Immediately after swallowing, the woman's body spasmed; her eyes widened and the bleeding in her chest stopped. Then, the bleeding resumed but this time more violently.

"AGHHHH!" The woman screamed as blood ran from her eyes, nose and mouth.

She clutched her head as she rolled on the ground, her mind breaking from the excruciating pain; her bones crackled loudly and her eyes began changing their likeness to match Urusla's.

A few minutes of this passed and a new person, clothes drenched in blood stood in the pool of blood beneath her, two straight horns grew from her forehead while her eyes were black with a yellow iris.

"Ahahah! Yes! Welcome, you are the first of many demons! Bow before your new Empress!" Urusla was ecstatic that her experiment proved a success.

The new demon obediently got down on one knee, bowing in reverence to Urusla-

"I am reverent to you, Empress Urusla…"