Chapter 251

A month and a half after the departure of the Allfather, Calca lay in her royal bed rubbing the slight bulge beginning on her belly, beside her in the bed, Kelart began to rub it with her, but it was an absent gesture. Both were reading different documents.

"So the last Southern Holy Kingdom holdouts have given up… promising to limit their sentences to two years in the mines if they abandoned the nobles, versus fifteen years if they didn't, certainly did the trick." Kelart remarked offhandedly.

"Yes it did, Gustav finished the last of them with ease, and it looks like he found my brother alive, none the worse for wear either, just bored out of his mind and hungry for news. I doubt he'll want to visit the South any time soon, but other than that?" Calca shrugged, "I'm just glad he's alright."

She picked up another document, "Have you checked to see the latest runecraft orders? My husband is giving us a discount… but it's still costly…"

"I did, I offered to trade in materials, it'll cut back a little bit at first on what we sell to Queen Baraja, but with the extra labor that won't be long, we might even be able to sell her more before long, if anything, even with the runecraft purchase, we're going to be exceptionally rich." Kelart pointed out.

"Speaking of, what about the repatriations of our prisoners?" Calca asked.

"Most of them are coming back, but there's now a lot of empty land. Frankly speaking, since the demihumans during their invasion actually 'killed' a lot of the monsters in the forests, we should be able to expand with ease for at least the next five or ten years. Don't tell anyone I said this, but we should have had them invade years ago!" Kelart laughed at her own joke, but Calca did not.

"Many died." The Queen replied, and Kelart lowered her eyes.

"Dark humor for dark times." She apologized to her Queen.

"Times aren't dark anymore, they're getting brighter every day." Calca replied, and Kelart nodded.

"Alright, but still, I'm just saying that it cleared up a lot of problems that our old system didn't… we've got room for new nobles, new merchants… and the guild has a dozen petitions for contracts, and we have some heroes to raise up from the adventurers guild and from the military." Kelart pointed out.

"Well and good, but we should turn an eye toward the leadership in the Principle Movement." Calca pointed out, "At first I admit I thought of them as busybodies, but they've genuinely done some good acting as the public conscience. The founding priest even had words with Gustav about the venture south."

"Oh?" Kelart's ears pricked up, "About what, do you know?"

"The priest went to Gustav with concerns about how the peasants and innocent people of the South would be treated, and Gustav said a woman he met on his darkest day told him, 'If the side you should be on doesn't exist, make it' and that he wanted to be on the side that could sleep at night. They're fast friends now and as a result, the Principle Movement sent volunteers with the army to help with relief efforts. Principle… it's a fine thing when carried out, most of the time." Calca looked out the window for a moment, mustered up her courage, and then asked...

"Are you… okay with what happened to your sister?" Calca asked, and squeezed the fingers of her lover.

Kelart looked out the window where the sun was barely peeking over the distant horizon, "Remedios made her own fate… if she tortures herself until she learns something… that is her choice. Even I couldn't save her from that, there's no worse suffering than self loathing. Maybe eventually… she'll come back to us better, and if she doesn't? She did worse to many more."

"That's all that can be…" Calca whispered, "The same goes for the Slane Theocracy."

"I won't forget their role in all this." Kelart growled and set aside the paper she was reading.

"Nor I." Calca hissed. "But for now…" She winked at her advisor.

"Of course… before anyone else is awake…" Kelart suggested with a little teasing smile on her face.

"Did you forget the ones who work on this floor now?" Calca asked archly. "My husband's 'security', his guards and maids, are right outside."

"Keeping everyone else away from us. Thank you His Majesty. Those loyal summons will keep all rumors at bay, after all, who would believe that the King would tolerate a private consort for his Queen under his own Royal Guards?" She let out a playful giggle and went to wrap her arms around her beloved Queen again. She savored the sound of the gasps of pleasure that followed, and there was no need for any of it to be silent thereafter.

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Astraka knelt with his siblings and parents before the throne of the Queen of Frost. "Welcome, my allies… welcome." Neia stood and held up her arms, her tail lashed, catlike and content at her back, she was still getting used to it, but there was no more itching, and so she assumed her transformation was complete. But it clearly threw Astraka for a bit of a loop as he kept staring at it.

"Yes, yes I have this now… that should be the end of things though… I'm still getting used to it myself." Neia said as she descended from her seat, her voice echoed off the finished walls of her towering palace, between the human labor and Nasrene's diligence, everything had come together flawlessly.

Astraka cleared his throat as if to apologize, but Neia didn't give him a chance. She put a hand on his shoulder and said, "In the South, you were minor nobles, far from the throne. But you supported me when other humans did not. And as luck would have it, I need human nobles specifically right now."

All of the family's heads snapped up, Astraka's, his father's, mother's, and two other young men who appeared to be Astraka's age.

"You see," Neia explained, "while most of our human prisoners are going to be going home, about ten thousand or so have chosen to remain. It would be best for now at least, if human subjects had human lords, and there is a fair sized swath of land I can divide up amongst all three sons. Of course I know you will need wives, but with that in mind I have reached out to the Kingdom of Nazarick, asking that they send brides worthy of great lords on par with the old ones of Re-Estize. Assuming of course… you don't object?"

"No!" All five shouted at once, and their reticent looks were all but gone.

"I thought not." Neia said with a chuckle of satisfaction.

"Neia," She turned when she heard her father's voice, "you aren't scaring anyone again are you?"

She rolled her eyes, "No, father, they're just excited. Have you heard back from the elves yet, has mother gotten them settled?"

"Yes, she has, they're in the forests in the north east and will deal with her for all their needs while you help them get started. And I've just about finished dealing with the Dark Dwarves, they're ready to move on to the next area now that your capital is well enough established. Have you chosen a name for it?"

"Tovijar. After two of our heroes." Neia answered immediately.

"That's a good start, Neia, and I'm proud of you." He said, and Neia didn't even try to hide the beaming on her face when she turned back to theAstraka's family.

"Now, let's get you settled, trade needs to get laid out, and I'm giving you all the bricks from the old wall between nations, you can use that to make all the roads you need, until you run out of course… but that'll do for a start. Wouldn't you agree, Astraka?" Neia asked, and it was clearly a rhetorical question, giving the rare broad, fangy smile on her face and her happily lashing tail.

"Of course, Your Majesty." He answered anyway, without a doubt in his heart.

"Just one more thing before we get going to get you settled too, wait here." She said, and walked outside to find Olasird'arc waiting at the base of the palace steps.

She waved to the dragon with a sincere smile still held on her face, and she used her wings to gently flutter down above the stairs until she was eye to eye with him. "So, are you sure about this?" She asked.

"Yes, my whole clan survived, and the Allfather has set aside a mountain preserve expressly for our use, I do have an obligation to them." The frost dragon replied. "Thank you, though, for saving my life." He said.

"And thank you for the same," she said, and put her talons to his snout. "I never imagined this life, but I can't imagine trading it for anything, even as much as it hurts… It's a good one. Demalbion will thrive, and I hope you and your family come often to visit." Neia said, and the dragon inclined his head toward her.

"We will. But what is next while I'm gone?" He asked.

"More trade programs with the dark elves, dark dwarves, and humans, including the more distant Kingdom of Nazarick, you know… I think if I'd lived a different life, I could have loved him like a father… but a Royal Brother is a good fit too." Neia said, "I like him, a lot more than I thought, and the way his power grows, after we're established, perhaps I'll offer to become his vassal, it certainly beats fighting him. That one wasn't meant to be beaten." Neia shook her head with absolute confidence in her words.

"Then I wish you well, and when next you call for Kings and Queens to gather, the Lord of the Mountain Top, will come and call you little sister with pride." Olasird'arc promised.

"Then best of luck to you." Neia said, "I won't say goodbye, I hate goodbyes… let's just call it… 'Till Next Time'."

"Till next time, Neia." Olasird'arc replied, he then turned, batted his wings, and took off to the east.

Neia watched him until he was fully out of sight, even to her eyes, and a voice down below called out to her.

"My Queen!"

Neia looked down to see Nasrene holding a wooden board with papers affixed to it, and she slowly descended to the ground again.

"Yes, Nasrene?" Neia gave the chief a genuinely warm, if fangful smile, 'She really did a marvelous job out here… keeping her as my personal attendant was a damn good idea, I needed a secretary, even if she is a little more ruthless than most.'

"I just wanted to say…" she cleared her throat, "Remember also, the Slane Theocracy."

Neia turned her gaze to the Southeast. "Yes, I do." She said, and looked up at Nasrene and added, "Just like that, and say it to me every morning, and every evening before we finish for the day, until we've taught them that humans are not as supreme as they think they are."

"As you command, Your Majesty." Nasrene replied with a little half bow, and fell into step just behind her Queen.

Neia looked over her shoulder as she climbed the steps on foot, behind her, buildings of wood and stone lined orderly streets, trade was taking place in orderly fashion with standardized coins, strong guards were keeping order, and judges selected by the clans themselves were solving disputes without decreasing her population. The shining sun shone down on the whole country, and beyond the great city, beyond even the distant green farms that her eyes, and not many others could see, there lay a vast open land waiting on her vision of the future.

She turned back toward the palace, "Now come along, we've got a lot of work to do.

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Ainz woke up in the morning with Albedo still entwined in his arms, still joined at the waist, and their warmth mingling like the hot embers of a fire that was just waiting to blaze to life again.

She felt him stir, and rolled over to face him.

"Will my love be going anywhere today?" She asked.

"No." He said with a broad cheshire smile, "I'm staying."

-End Story?-