Chapter 29

Now that she knew she wasn't the most powerful being around, Ultima began to lean into her other trait, cuteness, a lot more. For what it was worth, her mistress Shalltear seemingly liked having cute decorations around her almost all the time. Nonetheless, lesser duties took precedence, and the first order of business was to summon the purple demon line and bind them to the ever-present skill, Nazarick.

It was a surprise how absolute Momonga's control was over his subordinates, even to an ancient being such as her. Ultima could barely imagine that subordinates could be controlled on such a level, as even her thoughts weren't safe from being read and scrutinized.

Luckily, her main goal was entertainment, as cruel as possible. Her vampiric mistress was as sadistic as her if not more so, meaning their goals should rarely conflict. Shalltear may have been pleasant and easygoing on the surface, but all she needed was a half-decent reason to punish someone for her monstrous side to appear.

The summoning and naming were done in less than an hour and treated as a minor annoyance instead of what it truly was: the summoning of an army capable of taking over most of the world, save the most powerful superpowers. Aside from her two closest attendants, Zonda and Veyron, who stayed as personal caretakers, the rest were given to a group of high-ranking kobolds as apprentices to further the goals of the UTC, which operated under Shalltear's father, one of the high lords, Lord Peroroncino.

Her main task would be assisting Shalltear with daily activities: keeping notes whenever needed, performing a handmaiden's duties like combing her mistress's hair, and picking out dresses for every occasion. In the grand scheme of things, she lucked out as her new status would open doors for all sorts of entertainment, placing her as one of the most important servants of Shalltear.

Once the last demons departed, their new mistress sent Zonda and Veyron to one of the UTC board of directors members, a kobold named Koby, for training.

With the summoning and assignments complete, Shalltear tossed her schedule to Ultima. "See that no point is left out," she announced before turning around.

"Sure thing," Ultima responded before reading the schedule. She took a moment to commit it to memory before opening her mouth again. The next item on your agenda is a talk with Frey about some special project. There is a note added to 'take your pet with you.'" Ultima looked up from the schedule, unsure of what she had read out loud.

"Right, I almost forgot about her. Let's go." Shalltear nodded and opened a gate to the royal floor, stepping through.

Ultima followed, and they arrived in a small room with a sole inhabitant: a vampire in a short maid's dress with a decorative collar around her neck. She needed to do a double take as she stared at Shalltear's pet, pausing as she stepped out.

"Is that…?" She uttered in sheer disbelief. Luminous, her old rival of centuries, was on all fours and crawling towards Shalltear, her eyes betraying indescribable fear and terror as she did.

"You have a problem with her?" Shalltear snapped.

"No. But please forgive me for what I am about to do." Ultima's lip quivered as she struggled to maintain composure.

"Do what?" Shalltear demanded with a snarl.

Ultima didn't say anything. She simply couldn't at that point. She could only point at the fallen vampire and howl with laughter and joy.

Shaltear's anger turned to confusion and amusement as her surprise at her new handmaiden's unexpected reaction dissipated.

"Pet! You turned Luminous into a pet. I can't!" Ultima was crying with laughter, "She… she…" the demon wheezed. "She has a tail plugged up her ass!"

"If you think that is funny, watch this." Shalltear took out a dog biscuit and put it on Luminous' nose. The vampire didn't hesitate to flip the treat in the air and catch it with her mouth, glancing at her master in fear of punishment.

Ultima lost it completely. She slapped her leg and clutched her face, out of breath from howling with laughter. It took her five minutes to calm down and another two to fix her appearance while Shalltear just waited, a smirk on her face.

"I'm sorry. It was too much." Ultima let out an involuntary giggle and bit her lip, regaining her previous posture.

"Now I see why I felt you were the right choice from the get-go. We'll get along just fine. But enough fooling around, we have work to do." Shalltear announced as she slapped a leash onto Luminous's collar and yanked her to her feet.

"Of course. Then everything is ready. Just a portal to Fulbrosia and a request for money transfer to Nazarick." Ultima used the opportunity to show off her ability to learn magic spells by observing them and sent detailed info directly to Manas: Nazarick for a covert, untraceable money transfer.

She could see additional notes about Frey being tasked with purchasing large amounts of metal for private projects, making it look like she is just using her privileges as Lord to expand her underground vaults when, in truth, the resources would be diverted to military industry.

Shalltear raised a brow but didn't say anything. Her newfound servant was more competent than she had initially given her credit for. She walked through the gate with her pet on a leash. Ultima followed ahead of the kerai escort, which kept their distance and arrived in Frey's office.

"Ah, Lady Shalltear. I already sent out messages. Oh, and a new member of Nazarick, I believe we haven't met," Frey got up from her chair and bowed. The spacious room was painted sky blue with a glass wall behind her, offering a splendid view of the nation's vast mountain range.

"Ultima, formerly known as the Purple primordial." She introduced herself.

"P-Primordial? I see." Frey shuddered but quickly regained her composure.

"My beloved claimed the remaining primordials. Delightful creatures, except for one. But enough of that. How many tons of raw steel can you deliver to the area?" Shalltear inquired.

"At least twenty thousand tons within six months. But we cannot move the rest through the roads." Frey pulled out a map from her inventory and made it unroll in the air with a flick of her wrist.

"Veldora and Pandora want two hundred thousand tons in the next three years. Did you at least remove everyone from the needed areas?" Shalltear inquired.

"Yes. Everything is ready for the construction of the sites. I have marked the areas as my private resorts and off limits to everyone but me and my inner circle," Frey dutifully reported.

"Good. Make sure no money is wasted and do a good job," Shalltear stated with a professional smile, then turned to Ultima. "What's next?"

"Meeting with Miss Rosso. Misdirection." Ultima read the next entry. For now, she was reading what was in the planner. In the future, she would be the one to plan her mistress' time. Considering the paper she had received, she only had two days before her learning period ended.

The Device Pandora carried was a half-meter diameter sphere. The magi-spatial re-adjustor had exceeded all predictions. Only ultimate skill users could see past it, and even they would need to know where to look, thus making the area around the sphere near-perfectly hidden.

The first shipyard was about to be constructed in the southern part of Fulbrosia and needed to be hidden from prying eyes, after all.

Veldora, beside him, was staring at the general plan and enthusiastically ordering the nearby high orcs around, who would guide the army of skeletons to start the construction.

Pandora approached the sphere's destination and didn't hesitate. He placed it on a three-meter-tall pedestal and immediately activated it. A moment later, Pandora, Veldora, and all their workers disappeared from the surrounding forest. After a couple of checks to ensure the sphere was working, Pandora gave a signal, and the high orcs gave their commands to the skeletons. The first patch of trees was felled mere minutes later.

The high orcs and their skeleton laborers would build a port and 27 heavy battleships over the next three years. It had to be hidden from both magic and technology to prevent interference. Thankfully, all an outsider could see was a dense forest bordering an untouched ocean.

"Looks like the re-adjustor works as intended," Veldora commented, breaking Pandora out of his momentary musings.

"We should do a stress test, Herr Veldora," Pandora suggested.

"On it!" Veldora let out a laugh and unleashed his aura while Pandora shielded the monsters who were already present.

The device hummed and started to suck up the excess magicules in the air, diverting them through the pedestal and into a massive magicule battery hidden under the surface. It could be exchanged for an empty one by any high lord or high executor when they came by to recharge the device. Unfortunately, they couldn't make the sphere work when connected to an outside power source.

With magicules being a plentiful energy source, there was no need for widespread solar or nuclear technology, aside from a small, strategic reserve prepared for if an enemy managed to strengthen current anti-magic spells and technology drastically. Things like coal and oil weren't even present in large quantities due to the reality existing for less than a hundred thousand years. This meant it was nigh impossible to create the pollution his father despised.

His thoughts having reached their conclusion, Pandora checked the pedestal. The battery resting within was nearly filled in less than a minute of Veldora's unrestricted presence.

"The battery is near full, and magi-spatial re-adjustor is holding," Pandora said, indicating for the true dragon to end the release of his magicules.

"Great. Let's swap it out and move on then. I want to start everything today so we have something to show off in the next meeting." Veldora responded.

"As you wish, Herr Veldora." Pandora nodded. It would take at least a few hours, but they could start all the shipyards today if they didn't get distracted with an urgent project. And that was a target even he was excited for.

This was only one of fifteen total future naval bases. Four were planned for Falmuth to cover the northern part of the ocean, and eight were planned for Fulbrosia. Submarine-compatible ports were planned in Eurazania, the Dragon Province, and Jistav.

The plan was grandiose, to say the least, but Nazarick needed a massive fleet to conquer the seas and not only clear them of monsters but also to control all naval movements. Pandora's father had entrusted him and Veldora with creating a massive fleet capable of accomplishing such a feat.

The ten-year plan was to build a fleet with a total tonnage just short of two million, with each of the hundreds of ships and submarines capable of not only coastal bombardment but also sea monster extermination.

Only when the seas were safe could the commercial fleet be built under the employ of UTC to establish new trade routes across the continent under the Hegemony's command. Before other nations could realize the sea was safe to traverse, Nazrick's fleet would control all strategic points and ultimately dominate the world's oceans. With more ports slated to be constructed in Jistav and Dwargon, once the first 15 naval bases proved themselves successful, maritime supremacy was all but assured.

There were plans to build five aircraft carriers to top off the naval capabilities, each capable of carrying and fielding dozens of planes. The plane construction within Nazarick had already started, and the first pilots would begin training soon.

Although Nazrick had a few flyers that were more powerful than any plane, they couldn't be everywhere at once, hence the need for a dedicated magitech aerial force. The aircraft could not only move at supersonic speeds and cross entire continents in hours but also used magicules as fuel, meaning they were eco-friendly, much to Pero's amusement. One or two individuals would pilot them, primarily the insectars that dominated the initial tests.

Of course, these weren't the only military fields to experience rapid advancement. The motorized division had a head start with the tank and transport factories already built, producing over a hundred tanks and five hundred vehicles a month. Their production capacity was rising as Pero funded more and more factories.

Separate factories produced guns in the tens of thousands. Warehouses stockpiled explosives by the thousands. Hundreds of rockets entered the last stages of testing. In about four to five years, Tempest's military would be ahead of the Eastern Empire by about half a century and the rest of the world by at least two.

Editing by aidan_lo and Nich L.

Proofreading by mfkz_rocker, Alassandro, fvvck, clagan, Sluethen, Omnax, aidan_lo, and IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO

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