Free? No way.

After settling the monkey business, Astur wrote down what Zrathno had wanted and made her way to her workshop. In the end, he didn't really want too much. Only asking for Astur to increase the durability of his mechs, specifically to reinforce them so they can survive space combat and to increase the fuel capacity of his mechs. Although Zrathno could have asked for more, such as increased firepower, higher thruster output, and other such auxiliary things, he didn't want to owe Astur too large of a favour.

With Astur gone and Kretea following her, Elizabeth felt a headache coming knowing that she was left to deal with the mess that is Zrathno's arrival.

Initially, Ystur was curious about the new visitor who seemed to know her mother and wanted to look around his ship, but she felt a foreboding feeling and tried to sneak away. Unfortunately, she was standing close to Elizabeth who quickly stopped her from leaving.

"You're going to help me with this mess. Don't even think about escaping work this time," Elizabeth says, her red eyes glowing slightly.

"Hahaha… of course, I wouldn't leave you alone to sort this out. Just who do you think I am," Ystur says, refusing to make eye contact with Elizabeth who immediately frowned upon hearing her.

"Hey, are these two always like this, they're pretty fun to watch," Zrathno asks the nearby players.

Several of the players nod in affirmation to Zrathno as Elizabeth says, "You do know that the reason we have more work now is because of you, no?"

"Not my problem," Zrathno shamelessly says.

Elizabeth's face contorts with obvious annoyance, "Your attitude kind of reminds me of Astur."

Zrathno crosses his arms, "Maybe because we're relatives. Although, she's much closer in terms of generations to the Ancestor. And as a word of advice, you should avoid saying or thinking her name directly."

"Huh, why's that?" Elizabeth asks, worried that he might cause trouble after knowing Zrathno's relation to Astur.

"If anyone says or thinks her name, she will be able to observe your conversation and your thoughts. As far as I know, this ability of hers doesn't have a limit. I mean, it probably does, but I don't know it. It does make her a top tier peeping tom, since you said it, she's probably watching our conversation as we speak."

"That preposterous… wait, if that's really the case, so many things make sense now…"

At first, Elizabeth was going to refute such an outlandish claim, but once she thought about it, many of the events that happened to her previously begin to make sense. Astur would often know ahead of time is Taurion and the others were coming. And whenever Elizabeth would grumble in her mind about Astur, she would usually find herself on the other end of her friend's mischief.

"Damn! Does that mean she saw me when I was in the bath complaining about her!" Elizabeth shouts.

"... I suddenly feel incredibly jealous of the Princess's ability," Zrathno says, causing many of the male players to agree, both out loud and silently. Although this drew both of them the ire of the woman around, players and non-players alike."

While Elizabeth is giving Zrathno a look of disgust, Ystur sends a text message to her mother, "Did you really do that?"

As Zrathno had guessed, Astur had been listening to the conversation from her workshop while going over what ingredients she's going to need for Zrathno's request. No more than 10 seconds later she responded, "I admit to doing so at least once," which Ystur read out loud for the others to hear.

"Astuuuuurrrr!" Elizabeth yells as she runs off in the direction of Astur's house in a fit of rage.

With Elizabeth gone, the level of danger Ystur felt dropped and turned her attention to Zrathno and his machinery.

"So how are you related to my mom?" Ystur asks.

"You should be the daughter I've heard. The Princess seems to hold you in high regard, or so I'm told," Zrathno says.

Thanks to her previous life, Ystur is somewhat familiar with Zrathno but doesn't know much more than his face since he didn't appear much in the promotional material or streams for Eternal Universe Online. Likewise, Zrathno is also somewhat familiar with Ystur, but most of it is second-hand information from Glacia.

But before they can continue, a player comes and interrupts. A level 17 Mage and well-known shit-stirrer, the same player who attempted to debunk the theory that Zrathno was coming to see Astur.

The Mage, Living up to his claims, walks over to Zrathno, "Sir Zrathno, I would like to challenge you to a du--"

*Boom*

Before he can finish, Zrathno throws out his particle destroying grenade from his wristwatch. Instantly killing the player.

"Anyone else?" Zrathno's asks.

As expected no one stood up to challenge Zrathno again. Just because they can't permanently die doesn't mean the players will throw their lives away for no reason, most of them anyway. Dying comes with penalties like a loss in EXP and they can only die so many times a day. But the Mage did live up to his previous claims, giving the players a better opinion of him in their minds.

It doesn't take more than a couple of seconds before the Mage who was killed reappears nearby and explains that he died in the first instance of damage and that the grenade dealt true damage to him. Likely the way concepts such as molecular disintegration work through the game, he claims.

"Why don't we continue this discussion on my ship, you seemed interested in it after all," Zrathno says before turning his gaze towards the crowd, "This invitation extends to anyone else who's interested in seeing my ship."

Ystur, as well as a group of players and even some of the Warband and Oulvgar, follow after Zrathno on board his ship. And the first thing they discover is that it's larger on the inside than it is on the outside. Taking a seat in a lounge area, this is the first question this asked.

Zrathno sighs, "I don't know. Monkey shenanigans. I swear I will one day learn what's in that monkey's head."

Ystur and some of the players can't help but chuckle a bit after listening to him. Out of context, the idea of trying to learn complex mechanical work from a monkey is absurd, which makes for a silly image in their heads.

"So why do you call Mom a Princess?" Ystur asks.

Many of the players aren't really interested in the story here and are more interested in looking around the ship, which Zrathno had agreed to, having already locked down sensitive areas. But the content creators have their recording software running and streamers like Blaze have had their streams on for a while now.

"She's a Princess through and through, both in a literal and figurative meaning. From what I know, she's had everything handed to her on a silver spoon and always gets what she wants. On top of being a candidate to an actual throne. By extension, you should also be considered a Princess to the Imperial Throne."

"So I can become a Queen if I tried?" Ystur asks curiously, despite not really having much intention to do so.

"You'd be an Empress, not just a Queen, but yes, If you wanted you could. There isn't really much competition despite their being a good handful of candidates, so winning shouldn't be difficult. The Ancestor abdicated as Emperor because he didn't want to keep working and ran off, forcing the position on his younger sister. Basically, he got bored and was lazy, and this trait has manifested in many of his immediate descendants. Your mother is a prime example of this."

"I admit that I also think such a job would be a pain in the arse. But I'm curious, where is this Empire? Is it a spacefaring Empire with a great many stars under its domain?" Ystur asks.

"I can see why you would think that, but no. It's officially known as the Great Demon Empire of the Artikkuus Alliance, but it's mostly known as just the Great Demon Empire or the Empire of Artikkuus. It's located in the Spirit World on the northern continent of Artikkuus. Unfortunately, I've never had the privilege of visiting the ancestral home, so I wouldn't be able to tell you much more. But enough of this, it's about time we get started," Zrathno says.

"Started with what?" Ystur asks as a similar sense of danger fills her head.

Zrathno's helmet hides his sneaky smirk, "You didn't think I was going to invite you lot here to see my ship and share some details about the Princess for free, did you? You lot are gonna help me transfer my materials over to the Princess for me. No way is she gonna come out here to finish my request and I ain't moving them over to her."