381-390

381 The Elven King

I was currently in a large room with two couches and a few guards lined against the wall. Next to me was Runa and on my shoulder was Little Bell. And hanging off me all over were many other spirits. Across from me was a male elf who looked around seventeen years of age but, in fact, was many hundreds of years old and was actually the king of the elves, Zanil, Runa's father. And next to him was a woman who looked Runa's age at fifteen who sat next to him who also was a lot older than she looked by a few hundred years and was, in fact, Runa's mother, Nal, the queen of the elves.

"To think, after all this time we finally get to meet the one person who my daughter always goes on about. Your achievements can be said to have spread far and wide." The king of the elves gave me a meaningful look. I mean, yes, I have done a lot, but does he need to look at me as if I am some kind of piece of meat?

"I only have done things in order to protect my kingdom and family. I am just a humble girl who never wanted too much fame." I replied, only to have Runa burst out laughing.

"You have never kept a low profile!" Runa was holding her stomach as she laughed while leaning against me, causing me to purse my lips.

"It's not like I meant to! Do you know how many times that old man kept trying to trick me into taking his throne!? If not for the fact that I wanted to marry Adel, I would not have been given the throne in the first place! I just wanted to play with magic and live a life of a commander while exploring the world in my free time. But now look!" I whined, but this only caused Runa to laugh even more.i𝒏𝘯𝙧𝐞𝒂𝗱. c𝚘𝓂

"Ahem… Runa, you shouldn't laugh at other's misfortune." The elven king said while trying to reprimand Runa. But looking at his lips twitching, I couldn't help but say: "It does not sound very convincing when you are holding back your own laughter!"

"Hehe…. Runa has found a good friend." The elven queen smiled as she covered her mouth. I let out a long sigh as I watched this family of three pick on me.

"At any rate. I do not wish for any of this, but now that I will be having my coronation soon, I will not slack either. And this is why I am here. King of Elves, I request your assistance. I come today with the full authority of the crown princess to form an alliance between the current Gravos Kingdom, soon to be renamed the Cyrilia Empire, and your World Tree Kingdom. I wish for our two nations to form a pack of loyalty and trust that allows for free and open trade as well as full defensive capabilities between the two nations." I got into my serious mode as I began to speak.

"Hmmm… what do you mean by full defensive capabilities?" The elven king asked. He also entered his kingly mode.

"I mean, if your nation is attacked, we will come to defend you and vice versa. But this also means you will need to understand my reasoning and plans for the future. As of now, there are not many people on this continent who can surpass me in power. If I wish to take the land, I can. But this is not my goal or vision for the future.

"Right now, we are in a state of the unknown. I have discovered two different forces that can be a threat to our world. One is a man who is able to bypass my barriers without leaving any traces whatsoever, and then there is Azengrade and his people, who seem to be up to something. I am sure you have heard of what happened in the dwarven kingdom. They are a race of extremely powerful beings who seem to have some kind of influence over the dungeons. Even my husband can not fight Azengrade and come out unscathed. He even admitted to not knowing if he could beat him. This is just how powerful they are.

"Because of these unknown factors, I want to unite the continent. And do away with slavery against us demi human races and human races. The best kingdom has started enslaving humans, as you may know already. I do not wish for us to fight and would prefer not to use force to achieve my goals, but…." I paused, and before I could finish what I was going to say, the king of elves finished it for me. "Not everyone will see eye to eye with your cause…."

"I understand this much, which means that we may be called out to fight at any time. Is this correct?" The elven king asked.

"If we can, I would prefer to go with the new golems that the dwarves are creating. This can be done manually or auto. I do not wish for bloodshed and want the people around me to feel like they are not being sent to battle to be cannon fodder. I do not want anyone to die if possible. But I think with the threats we have now against us, I can only move on with my current plans and hope for the best whether I can get people to join a continent wide alliance or if I have to use force to make them understand that some battles should not be fought to begin with." I mean, if the people who first reject and try to go to battle, then I will send troops out, but if they suddenly change their minds, we can only stop tension and talk about how we will do things. This way, bloodshed can be avoided as much as possible.

"I see. And to do this you need the assistance of elven runic inscription masters to help the dwarves with their golem creations?" The elven king seemed to be trying to get all the facts before making a decision. "Can I see this creation you speak of?"

382 Forming An Alliance

"I can not show you unless you are willing to form an alliance with me. Our alliance will differ from other kingdoms as we will have a full free trade alliance that will allow us to freely move back and forth between the nations. With certain restrictions on people who have been arrested in either nation. If you are willing to form the alliance, then I can show you everything I have planned and in the works to ensure both our nation's safeties." I would not give out or show what I had on hand for nothing. After all, only when an alliance was formed would we both have the means to truly trust each other. I am not saying that the elves are untrustworthy, but I can not risk the lives of my soon to be citizens.

"Hmmm…." The elven king looked at me before nodding his head. "You are young but smart. I figured I would ask this question because you were Runa's friend. I wanted to see if you would give out the knowledge freely before even forming an alliance with me. I know Runa has seen the things but is unable to speak about them, no matter how many times I tried to fish for information. But do not look down at me. I am a king, after all, and anything that may benefit my kingdom and my people is something I have to look into. But you know that this alliance that you speak of will force all of our citizens of both nations into a pact that will not allow any of us to harm one another. This alliance you speak of will be one that we can never go back on from the moment it is sealed. So if you ever wanted to take over my elven kingdom, you would never be able to."

I chuckled as I answered: "I may seem like a warmonger, but that is not the case. I would prefer to form an alliance between all nations. Which will support one another and not fight for measly gains because that only ruins the lives of the soldiers who die, their families, and our citizens. Everyone will be affected by it. So a peaceful pact between nations is something we should be able to give rise to. Our best minds between nations working together for one purpose is better than everyone being wary of the other, is it not?"

"Hahaha! You are right! We elves always prefer peace. This is why we rarely mingle with other kingdoms, but this time as you have said, times are not very good. There are too many unknowns, and if my people are alone in this matter, it will result in us being targeted by many. As such, I would prefer to be in a relationship with your empire that is about to bloom and follow your lead in hopes of making a continent that is truly at peace." The elven king replied with a smile. He looked very satisfied with my answers thus far. Inwardly I was breathing a sigh of relief because Runa was my friend. I did not wish to become enemies over any of this. We would still be two separate nations just working towards the same goal.

Whether any of this is good for the world or not, I do not know. I am following the path that many on earth have tried to tread many times before. World wars were started in this way. But that does not mean I will sit idly and allow ourselves to be consumed by greater powers and threaten the safety of my people. The dwarven kingdom is an example of this. If I had not gone there when I did and discovered the issue, we would not have known that there was someone pulling the strings from behind the scenes. There was no telling what would have happened. The kingdom might have fallen, the king would have been ousted, and the stupid prince would have been made a puppet ruler who would only suck the kingdom dry, even more, making the lives of billions of people worse to the point that a civil war would have probably broken out and only when the Azengrade's people appeared to stop it would things really come to show.

But this is all speculation on my part, as I have no idea what they had planned. They may be planning something else for all I know. But from everything that I have heard so far, this seems like the best assumption for this whole mess.

Why such powerful beings are hiding in the dark, I do not know, unless there are many unknowns in this world that are blocking them as well. Whatever it is, I do wish I could see it for myself. After all, it would at least shine some light on the mystery of this race of beings who appeared out of nowhere.

"Then we should work out what will go into the contract." The elven king waved his hand, and a servant came over with a pen and paper. I noticed he was using one of my pens which made me smile.

For the next few hours, we worked out our alliance pact, which covered everything from military to trade, as well as rules and laws that would need to be followed in case someone somehow broke the contract on them and committed a crime. Everything was pretty simple. For military, if one was attacked, the other nation would send aid no matter what. If I moved to annex a territory, the elven people would gain control of any forest and the spirits domain. This did not stop people from entering the forest to hunt and whatnot, but it would allow the elves to regulate certain species that were considered necessary for the forest's growth. As for them gaining the sprite's domain, it would only be on an in name basis only since no one owned that but the spirits themselves, but they would be in charge of protection as the elves are the protectors of the spirits.

For trade, the elves would build a small town where many things could be traded at the edge of the forest. This will be where the teleport would be set up, and it would allow trade with my citizens and also allow for regulation on certain items, as some things were not allowed in elven cities or territories. The same would be done on my side of things as well.

We wanted free trade, but this still had to have some limits due to the different cultures. As for the other things, I would disclose them all to the elven king once the contract has been set between our two nations to never disclose any information about our military capabilities. Then I would bring him directly to the hangars to get a first hand look for himself.

383 The Ancient Part 1

After several hours of working out the ins and outs of our agreement, the elven king and myself stood in front of one another and dripped a drop of blood on the magic circle under our feet. We then had to press the palms of our hands together and began saying the special incantation. "We the leaders of our nations hereby commit to the terms of the national contract that will bind our two nations together for all eternity. From this day forth, we will be allies without restraint."

A bright light formed around us and shot up into the air. This light spread out into billions upon billions of smaller lights and rained down over our two nations, hitting every person no matter what they were doing. They could have been going to the bathroom or bathing. They were still hit with this light, and a magic contract was formed in their body. Words of the contract sprung up in their heads, telling them that they were now bound never to harm either nation. At least, this is what Runa told me once the contract was over.

"That was not something I wish to do ever again! having voices appear in your head suddenly creeps me out." Runa cried out. But sadly for her, it will happen many more times soon. While this restrained us from hurting each other, it didn't go as far as to stop a normal fight. If people argue, they argue there is nothing that can be done about that. We mainly narrowed it down to acts such as kidnapping, slavery, murder, or over harming someone. Racism was not allowed, but you could curse one another as long as there was no racist intention. The result would be immediate punishment by shocking a person on the first offense, a stronger shock on the second offense that will paralyze the person for a few days, and the third offense will cause permanent paralysis and teleportation to a prison where they would stay until the person has been dealt in court.

You also could not harm the security of either nation. Any actions that would harm either nation would result in the person being teleported to prison without a second thought. We originally had the idea to just kill the person, but we did not want to do that in case the magic misinterpreted something that was not actually harming either nation. When cultures collide, people will make mistakes, this much we knew, so we had to handle this delicately.

All in all, I was very happy we were able to come to an understanding so quickly. It only took a day and a half for everything. "Faith, can we go to see the ancient now?"

Little Bell seemed to be becoming impatient. It was now early morning, and while I would like to at least get a nap in, I decided to just take Little Bell to the ancient as I promised. "Alright, let's go. Runa, can we go see the ancient?"

"You can, but are you sure you do not want to sleep?" Runa asked. I shook my head and smiled as I poked the silly spirit on my shoulder. When Runa saw me do this, she smiled and said: "Okay, then let's head there now. Just so you know, we will need to pass through three checkpoints to get there."

"Alright." I had figured the ancient was heavily guarded, but when we came to the hall in the palace, the only entrance to where the ancient lived, I was really surprised at how heavily guarded the ancient was. It was more guarded than the elven king. This just went to show you how important the ancient was to the elven people. Its safety came first, even before its king.

"Halt! No outsiders are allowed through!" A large burly elf, something I never thought I would ever see, stood in front of us with his spear pointing directly at us. I was surprised because he was pointing it right at Runa. "Princess, you know that you need proper clearance before coming down this hall. Royalty or not, you will be killed if you try to press forward. "

"You can not stop us due to the spirit on Princess Cyrilia's shoulder." Runa pointed at Little Bell. Little Bell looked at them, and the guards looked back at her, but they still did not budge.𝚒n𝚗r𝗲𝒂𝗱. c𝑜𝓶

"Spirit or not. We still can not let you pass." The guard was still firm in his stance, but at that moment, a great gust of wind came from the hall, and an old ancient voice echoed through it.

"Let them through. I must speak with the little one and the child of dragons…." The voice was calm and seemed filled with wisdom. As soon as it spoke, the guards all stood at attention and moved to the side and bowed.

"I apologize. You may go through." The guard who was once holding a spear to our necks bowed and apologized. I did not blame him for his actions. This was just how much these people revered the ancient.

We walked down the hall, where more and more guards began to appear and stand at attention. By the time we got to the last check one, though, there was only one old elf standing there. I secretly used appraisal on him.

[Rolash]

[Level: 3402]

Seeing his level, I almost had my eyes drop out of my head. Level 3402 was not something I was expecting! The old man looked up at me with a small frown as he said: "Little lady, you should not pry into one's personal space…."

"Ah… sorry." I quickly apologized. I never thought I would be caught!

"It's fine, but just remember, not everyone is as humble as I am. The ancient wishes to see you and the little one on your shoulder but no one else. So, princess, I am sorry, but you must wait here." Rolash had no hostility in his voice, but the way he spoke showed he was not going to argue about anything. Runa, who stood at my side with pursed lips, could only nod her head.

I had originally thought this was going to be easy, but it seems not everything is as it seems in this world. Runa did make it sound simple to go see the ancient, but I guess she was betting on Little Bell to allow her to move through. So when my gaze fell on her, she quickly turned to look away with red cheeks.

384 The Ancient Part 2

"Runa…." I called out her name, which made her ears turn red. Finally, she turned to me and bowed her head. "I am sorry I have never met the ancient myself. Even my father needs to have a good reason to disturb the ancient."

I smiled and patted her head. "It's fine. But next time, tell me before we are faced with guards. I do not wish to start an international incident after forming an alliance with your kingdom."

"Princess, you have made a good friend. Now, please do not keep the ancient waiting." Rolash broke up our little moment. I smiled and walked forward, and bowed my head slightly to Rolash before pushing open the gates made of thorns and walked into the open space in front of me.

The ground was covered in lush grass with only a small dirt path that led to the trunk of the huge tree in front of me. Little Bell stayed perched on my shoulder as she hugged my neck. It seemed she was also very nervous at this time. But as we reached the trunk in the very front was a table made of roots with a few seats that were also made of roots sitting in front of it. Sitting in one of the seats was a young woman with barely anything on. She had green skin and long grass like hair with leaves covering her privates. To be honest, she was a beauty, but I knew she was not really human. She poured what looked like tea from a wooden kettle into wooden a cup and placed it by the other seat.

When she was done, she looked up at me, and without opening her mouth, she smiled and said: "Child of dragons. Please sit."

I nodded and walked over, and sat down. As I did, a smaller seat and table appeared on top of the table with a small cup. The woman then waved her hand, causing a bit of the tea from the kettle to fly out and land in the smaller cup. "You too, little one."

Little Bell smiled and flew off my shoulder, and sat down in her seat. I also sat down and took the wooden cup. I brought the cup to my mouth and took a sip.

[Sap of the world tree]

[All stats permanently raised by 10,000]

I almost stood up in shock. But I was able to keep my composure. Instead, I smiled and said: "This is very tasty. Slightly sweet but not too much, with a mellow aftertaste. I really like it."

"I am glad to hear that. I only prepare this tea every one million years. It has been a long time since I have gotten to have this tea. So please sit and enjoy it with me." The woman said with a smile. She seemed very noble from how she talked but what surprised me was that tea could only be drunk every one million years! This was a bit shocking!

Seeing my shock, the woman giggled as she said: "I hardly have anyone here to keep me company. And when I felt your presence, I did hope you would come to see me. My name is Nalia. I am the world tree's spirit. Or should I say that I am the world tree itself."

Hearing Nalia's words confirmed my suspicions, but it was really different from what I was expecting. "My name is Faith Cyrilia. It is a pleasure to meet you. Next to me is Little Bell, my companion."

"Your companion is very cute and is still young. She will grow up to be someone who can truly help you in the future. But for now, she still needs to take in the world's energy. Once she has taken in enough, she will evolve into a new form that will be able to wield greater power. At that time, you two will be able to form a merger contract allowing you to wield your companion's powers as your own. But child of dragons… No, I am sorry I should call you Faith. Faith. I hope you can promise me that the power that you will gain from spirit merger will not be abused. Such power can easily end this world if used wrongly.i𝑛n𝓻ℯ𝘢𝒅. Coｍ

"I can tell the two of you have one hundred percent trust in one another. I can see this as clear as day, but I still must ask you to never abuse this child's power." Nalia lowered her head to me as she said this, which made me grow flustered.

"Please raise your head. I swear on my life that I will never abuse such power. In fact, I do not think I will ever need it as I am now." I really did not think I would ever need to use Little Bell's power. I just did not see the need to at this time.

"No…. There will come a day when you will need it. But please do be careful." Nalia did not explain when or why I would need to. She only said I would need to one day. Seeing as she did not explain, I also did not ask as I also kind of did not want to know. So far, knowledge of the future to me is a scary thing. While it can help in trying to avoid disaster, it can also become a burden and add more stress on me when I do not need more than I already have.

"I promise I will be careful to never abuse such power," I replied firmly. She smiled and waved her hand. An apple fell into it from above and then suddenly split open into many slices and was placed on the table. "This is quite sweet this time of year. Please try some."

I smiled and reached over, and took a slice. I bit into the apple slice and felt a rush of flavor enter my mouth. I almost let out some embarrassing noises as the fruit melted in my mouth and slipped down my throat without me even needing to swallow it. "This…."

"It is a fruit of the world tree. It has the effect of refreshing one's body and expunging the impurities within them. I wanted to allow you to feel as if you were reborn, and it seems to be taking quite the effect. I will prepare a bath for you and a new set of clothes." Nalia smiled as she looked at me. When I looked down, I saw black sticky stuff all over my body!

[Fruit of the World Tree]

[Attack Power permanently raised by100000]

385 Sworn Sisters

I stared blankly at the message that popped up, only to hear a giggle at my side. "There is not much I can give you, but these two things should help you in the future. You should wash up and change your clothes."

After a hot bath, I walked out in a fresh set of clothes that were made from the leaves of the world tree. However, there were no special stats on them. It was just a long green dress. When Nalia saw me, she smiled as she said: "Faith…. You are more….. Never mind. Time will say it all…."

Hearing Nalia's words confused me. Why did she start saying something but then stop? I guess she saw my frown because she giggled as she covered her mouth. "Do not dwell on my words. Just think of it as me misspeaking. "

I could only sigh as she began talking about other things. We spoke about trends in the cities for clothing and snacks and many other things. Nalia was a very chatty person, but I guess with so few people to talk to, this was a given. Not many were allowed to come and talk with her. So after many hours of talking, Nalia's expression looked very lonely as she looked up at the darkening sky. "It is getting dark. You should head back."

I stood up but did not turn to leave, instead, I walked over, and under the shocked gaze of Nalia, I gave her a hug. And then handed her a crystal orb. "If you ever wish to talk or want me to come see you use this. By injecting a bit of mana into it, you will be able to speak to me." I would have suggested for her to speak to Runa, but I was unsure if that was okay as Runa was an elf. I did not wish to make decisions for her.

Nalia looked at the orb in her hand and then back at me, and a smile bloomed on her face as she held the orb close to her. "In all my years…. You are the only one to truly understand me. The elves mean well, and they treat me as some kind of deity, but still, even deities get lonely from time to time…. Faith, the child of dragons…. I thank you."

"We are now friends. Thanking me sounds too stiff. I will call you Sister Nalia from now on. We can now be sworn, sisters." I was unsure if this was right, but I felt a close connection to Nalia as we spoke. We really got along well. I did not wish for this to be our last meeting.

"Sworn sisters…" Nalia lowered her head. She then nodded and reached out and touched my forehead. "From this moment on, we will truly be sisters." I felt a small pinch on my forehead as Nalia pressed her finger on it. Soon I felt something enter my mind. I closed my eyes and saw a tiny green light within my mind.

"With this, you will be seen by all spirits as my sister. They will acknowledge you as one of their own." Nalia explained as she gave me a hug. "Sister, go and sleep. I will contact you in the future."

I smiled and nodded my head. Nalia was really a kind soul. "Then I will talk with you tomorrow. From now on, I will try to make contact at least once a day this way…. You will never be lonely again. And…." I leaned down and whispered: "If you can keep it a secret, I can come visit you every now and then as well without the elves knowing."

Nalia smiled and nodded her head. "I would like that very much."

"Then I will visit again. Oh right…. Sister, would it be okay if I put up a stronger barrier? I do worry for your safety." I asked. I knew this was a bit out of left field, but I worried that with the way the world was now that someone might target here.

"It's fine. The barrier that is up now is just an elven barrier, but if I were to cast one, not even Azengrade could break through it. You should go. Your friend has waited a long time." Nalia's words once more surprised me! She knew Azengrade! Knowing Nalia, she could definitely not answer any more questions now that she was shooing me away, so I could only sigh as I waved goodbye to her and walked back down the small path toward the exit. But before I left, I paused my steps and yelled out. "Little Bell!"

"Hehe!" I heard her giggle as she flew over and landed on my shoulder. I poked her stomach, causing her to giggle and me to shake my head. This little one has a lot of trouble sometimes. I would be afraid of not being able to get Little Bell back if I left her there.

As I walked out, Runa was talking with Rolash over a cup of tea. When they heard me coming, they both looked at me, and the tea cups in their hands slipped and clattered onto the table, spilling the contents. They were both mouths open, staring at me. "What is wrong with you two?"

"Faith you!?" Runa suddenly got up and knelt on the ground, and so did Rolash.

"What are you two doing, please get up!? Are you playing a joke on me!?" I was a bit confused at this sudden reaction since Runa would never bow to me. Even if I was empress she would still act the same as she always has. This was what made Runa, Runa.

"But you have the mark of the priestess…." Rolash was the one to answer me.

But his words made me purse my lips. But when I thought about it, I reached up and rubbed my forehead before creating a reflective piece of ice in front of me. And sure enough, I had a small green leaf imprint in the middle of my forehead. I knew I felt something, but I never expected this. "This is just something Sister Nalia put on me on a whim. Do not think too much about it."𝚒𝐧𝙣𝘳𝒆𝐚𝘥.＆nbsp;com

"Sister?" Runa looked at me in surprise.

"Mmmm… Nalia and I decided to become sworn sisters." I did not see anything wrong with this. I mean, we were basically just making a verbal agreement, but now that I have this mark, maybe it wasn't just verbal. Anyway, Nalia is a kind person, and I will not let her suffer from her lonely life.

386 A Means

"Faith, do you realize that the mark on your head means you are now the priestess of the world tree? You are someone who is as holy as the ancient herself…." Runa exclaimed with a hint of envy in her voice. But what can I say? I just said what was on my mind. I never asked to be some priestess and Nalia probably never thought of it that way either.

"Either way, Runa, it doesn't change who I am. This is no priestess mark but a mark of sisterhood between Nalia and I. Do not think too much about it." I explained but the two in front of me still gave me strange looks. Well, they can just think what they want. "Anyway, Runa, let's chat tonight since I need to return tomorrow. If you are coming with the envoys and your father tomorrow you need to rest up and it is already late so we can only chat for a short time."

"Ah right!" Runa nodded, and we finally left the long hall. Rolash seemed to want to ask me some questions, but I didn't really want to stay too much longer.

Although it was kind of annoying that everywhere I went, I heard gasps and then people kneeling. When I become, empress, I might ban kneeling unless it is an official event. It is kind of tiresome. I can understand why some people would want to have people bow for them, but to me, it is unnecessary. I do not feel superior just because a person bowed to me. I feel uncomfortable. I mean, why bow? Just makes things more tedious.

We ended up chatting in the early morning hours. Unlike me, who was of a higher level than Runa, Runa was dead on her feet, so I had to help her to the throne room where the elven king was waiting. When he saw me, he wanted to bow, but I quickly stopped him. "Your highness, please do not do this. I hate this formal stuffiness."

"Ahem…. Forgive me…." The king seemed to not know what to do so I could only hold my head and wish the headache would disappear. "When everyone is gathered we will all need to hold hands in order to make the transfer to the hangar."

Why was I going straight to the hangar, some may ask? Well, that is mainly because if for any reason, someone tries to assassinate the elven king, I will have a better chance of protecting him in the hangar as its security is tighter than the castle itself.

It did not take long to have over a thousand elves bowing to me out of nowhere, making me want to cry. I quickly made them all stand up before having them all hold hands as I used my dimensional transfer skill to bring us to the hangar with the metal golem. When we arrived, the elves all looked around in awe, and Thurul quickly ran up to me. "You are back, and you brought so many elves!"

"Mmm…. I think this many should be able to help you build at least this one mech before my coronation." I answered with a bright smile. I still couldn't wait to walk out with this thing while riding on its hand.

"Haha! We will do what we can!" Thurul smiled. He had been working with the elder dwarf on this and seemed very excited. More excited than when I showed him my idea for the pen.

"I will be counting on you." I smiled before I gave directions to the elves to follow Thurul's orders before taking the elven king for a tour. I showed him everything, including the ship, and he was quite surprised by the things he saw.i𝒏𝑛r𝑒𝘢𝙙.＆nbsp;com

"I see why you wanted so many elves. In fact, I will be sending you moreover to help with the other projects. Your ideas are sound, and if brought to fruition, then we can save many lives on the battlefields to come." The elven king looked around in amazement which allowed me to feel a bit more at ease.

"Are you okay with all of this, though? I know your people are a peaceful race." I still felt bad for dragging the elves into my ambitions as they were kind people.

"It's fine. We were once a warning nation ourselves in ancient times. And we still have quite the military force that still trains in the old ways. I am sure their skills will help reduce many deaths on the battlefield whether it is an enemy or not." The elven king replied.

"Then I will be counting on you." I smiled. We walked around a bit more and I explained more of my plans to him before he had to go back.

Runa stayed as she was now glued to the mech and would not leave it. But with her expertise in runic inscriptions I was a bit more at ease that things would go smoothly. With my job done I could finally relax as I returned to the house only for Freidinia to stop me. "Master, please come here."

"What's up?" I asked as I followed her into the lab. She quickly closed the door and put up a sound proofing barrier. Only then did she hold out a vial to me. I looked at the vial with a questioning gaze as I asked: This is?

"A means for you to get your wives pregnant. I did not tell them about this because I know they will play tricks as soon as possible since they seem to be dead set on giving birth to your child but this will allow you to mix your own…. Well you know, down there, into their spot and there will be a one hundred percent chance for them to get pregnant." Freidinia was blushing.

I was blushing as well but what she said made sense. I nodded my head and quickly stuck it into my inventory before saying: "Do not let them know about this. I will only tell them when the time is right and things have settled down more. Thank you."

387 Coronation Part 1

A few months passed quickly and I was currently being dressed up once more. Today was the day of my coronation, and I would officially become the first empress of the Cyrilia Empire. Thanks to the hard work and many sleepless nights of Runa and her team of elves, as well as the dwarves who have been working tirelessly as well, the mecha golem, mechazilla had been born.

It is fully made of metal and is able to move quickly if needed. It can even fly! And this was the main thing I needed since I can not exactly walk down the street riding this thing. It is way too big and would not look as cool either. But if it flies down into the center of the city with me standing on its hand, it would definitely make an impression on all the watchful eyes.

Now normally an abdication of the throne and the coronation of a new king or queen or in this case empress, would be done inside a safe place like the throne room and then streamed through water screens to the rest of the nation. But I do not need any protection so I wanted to make it so everyone could enjoy a fun celebration together. Plus, this helps out the small business as well as the big business, since they can set up stalls and sell their wares and other goods.

As such there seemed to be quite the festival going on outside. And I was currently in my estate being dressed to the nines in black robes with a reddish orange dragon on it. At first, they wanted to put a phoenix on my robes, but I quickly stopped them since I was not a phoenix but a dragon!

It seems that, unlike the current king, a queen or empress is supposed to wear a bunch of different things to show off her status for special events like this, which I did not mind as long as it was only for the one day. But this required me to be poked and prodded all over by my wives as they cleaned every inch of my body and readied me to be presentable for the people below.

Why did they have to clean every inch of my body, one may ask… I don't even know, but I will say they were being very handsy! And so handsy that I was forced to slap Adel who now had a red handprint on her face. I mean, what was she trying to do before my coronation!?

Anyway, I was now feeling a bit nervous as I knew I would need a nationwide speech as empress. I would like to just hand it over to someone else, but this was all part of the job, unfortunately.

"All done!" Grace, who was in charge of dressing me up, said in a very satisfied tone. "Master looks as beautiful as ever."

"Oh? Grace, should I marry you too?" I asked teasingly.

"Master, I am a servant, not an object of affection. I am here to serve you in anything you need and make sure you get up on time, or else you will become lazy and never get anything done. I even have to…."

"Okay, stop!" I yelled out before she started rambling about embarrassing things. Grace has a tendency to not stop once she starts ranting about how I am not as perfect as she would like me to be. But if I was perfect, she would not have a job! So I think it is perfectly fine to be imperfect.𝙞𝒏𝒏𝑟e𝗮𝘥. c𝒐m

"Master, you should get ready to go out. I am sure your wives and husband are already waiting." Grace quickly went back into work mode, which made me feel a lot better.

I took a deep breath and pumped my fists into the air as I got up and walked out of the room, followed by Grace. When I walked out, Adel and the others were indeed waiting for me, each wearing robes befitting their status as well as crowns on their heads. As for me, I would get a crown from the king as he transfers his position over to me.

"Faith, you look beautiful!" Adel was the first to comment this was followed up by everyone else. "Your girls and Diablo look beautiful and handsome. I am glad you all will be by my side because I am quite nervous."

"Mmm… count on us to give you all the support we can!" Sophie replied as she also pumped her fists.

I nodded and began walking out. From my house, I was going to teleport everyone into the air to where the mecha golem was already waiting for me high above the clouds. We really need to think of a name for this thing because I still do not know what to call it. But it's cool looking, and that is all that matters.

With everyone holding hands, we arrived at the large hand that was set up for me to stand on and smiled as I saw the king standing there waiting patiently. "I could have teleported you, you know…."

"It's fine. These old bones needed some exercise." I could tell this old man was basically jumping for joy because he was handing over his position to me, but sadly he would only have a short round of peace because I would need him to take over as soon as I finished doing my policy changes and begin dungeon diving. I planned to do an on off. Do a dungeon and then work as an empress for a few months, then do a dungeon and then work for a few months.

I really needed to level up after seeing so many high levels. I felt so weak. While yes, I was actually quite strong now, especially with my extra boast, that did not mean I was strong enough to fight Azengrade or anyone else atm. I had to become stronger and stronger so I could protect my family….

388 Coronation Part 2

"You are finally here." The king, or should I now say Adel's father, said with a big bright smile.

"That I am. Is everything ready below?" I asked. We had to make sure everyone was ready to go. We did not want anyone to be caught off guard, as we still had to ensure everyone's safety.

"Yes, everything is a go. All the troops are in proper positions and will make sure no one gets hurt. So we can descend at any time." Adel's father replied.

"Then let's get this show on the road. Lower us down!" I yelled out.

On my word, the entire metal golem shook as it came alive. It slowly began to fall down toward the ground using wind magic as a means to slow its descent. What surprised me was that they even took into account the wind from flying around and added a barrier around the metal golem to keep us from being affected by it.

As the metal golem reached the ground, I was met with wide eyes from the citizens as we came to a stop hovering over the middle of the lower city. At this point and time, it was not my turn but the current king's turn. "Citizens of the Gravos Kingdom! I, William Gravos, will be handing over my crown to a new generation. In the past years of my reign, I have done what I can to try to better the lives of the citizens of Gravos. But now there is someone much more suited than I to fill this role and bring you to new heights…."

"Shut up and let the new Empress speak to us!" A voice suddenly broke out from the crowd below.

"Yeah! Where is Empress Cyrilia? We want to see Empress Cyrilia!" Another voice rang out. I could see Adel's father's expression slowly turning gloomy. I sighed and stepped forward, and shouted: "Do not interrupt! This is no way to show respect to a man who has worked hard for this kingdom, doing what he can to help you all."

Everyone went dead silent. I snorted and turned to Adel's father, or I guess he is now my father as well since I did marry his daughter, and nodded. He gave me a grateful look before taking center stage again. "I will make this short since you all do not like me…. But I want to say that the path ahead will be different from the past years. Faith…. Or more I should say Empress Cyrilia will now be taking the reins I have left and expanding upon them to bring this kingdom, no this empire, to a new future we would never have thought possible. We will soon enter a new era, and I hope you can give your new empress your full support. As of this moment, I, King Gravos, Abdicate my throne to Faith Cyrilia."

Cheers filled the crows as Adel walked forward with a new crown that was specially made for me on a purple pillow with tassels on it. I knelt down in front of Adel's father and waited for him to place the crown on my head. Only when he did and stepped back could I officially give my speech.

"I leave this kingdom in your hands." Adel's father spoke softly as he placed the crown on my head.

"I will make sure the Cyrilia Empire flourishes and is brought into a new age, and I will protect the people of this land with everything I have." This was my oath.

I stood up and turned to the crowd to hear the cheers and sounds of music going off below. Some people even let white birds go signaling a dawn of a new era. I took a deep breath as I raised my hand and looked at all the people below. "As your new Empress, I would like to announce that the Kingdom of Gravos will now be named the Cyrilia Empire. We are now a land that is too big to be considered a small kingdom anymore. We are a nation of multiple territories, and this will probably soon grow.i𝓷𝚗𝓻𝒆𝓪𝒅. co𝘮

"As your Empress, I only have one goal in mind. Better the lives of my people and bring them into a new age. But sometimes, things are not so simple. There are powers out there who wish to ruin our peace, and these foes are extremely strong. What you see before you is the first prototype of a new mech golem. It is carefully designed by our brightest minds and will be expanded on much further in the coming months. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. There will be much more to come, not only for national defense but also for personal use by our citizens. We are painstakingly working on new ways to make your lives easier, from the ability to have horseless carriages to how you communicate with your parents who live in the next house over.

"There is a lot to be done and a lot that will take time, but these things will slowly progress and be released as they do to the general public once we know how to manufacture them properly. This means new jobs for those who are willing to learn and new places to learn new skills to better your lives on the job front. No one should ever say I never had a fair chance in life because what I plan to offer is open to everyone. Free schooling, free trade skill skills that you can use in everyday life to make money on your own or with a company, whichever suits you best.

"I will keep doing my best to help you, the citizens, grow and become smarter and bring you bright minds to use for the empire, like this metal golem who was thought up by a single man. He came up with the idea and worked hard to make a working prototype like this.

"Do your ideas and innovations need to be as grand as this? No! They can be simple things that will help even the most common of folk. I plan to open up a call for talents to see if I can bring in even greater minds under my wing and expand even more on the front of a new future…."

389 Sudden Request

--AN) I changed the release time for this to 7pm EST. It makes things easier for me, and I do not need to rush chapters as much.--𝓲n𝑛𝓻ℯ𝗮d.＆nbsp;𝚌o𝒎

"While I do hope for a future where things are different from how they are now, I also hope for a peaceful future as well. While I plan to do as much as I can diplomatically as your Empress and try to form peaceful ties through alliances, I know this will not always be the case. I do not wish for war. I do not wish to take anyone's land, but if the continent we are living on is not united, how will we face the greater threats that may come in the future? Just a short while ago, I formed an alliance with the elves. We did this peacefully, and now our people are able to trade freely between our nations.

"This is a peaceful way of uniting and becoming one but….. There is still slavery in this world. There are people who despise our way of life and think either demi humans or humans should be enslaved. I know there is unrest, and some races can not forgive the other, but it is a proven fact that by me standing here now that humans and demi humans can get along. We do not need to despise each other. We do not need to hate each other. We can coexist without issue and even learn to love one another." I turned and pulled Adel forward along with Sophie. Iena and Diablo also stepped forward as well. This was all planned ahead of time, so this was no surprise to them.

"As you can see. I not only have a human wife. But also a foxkin wife. A demon wife and even a demon husband. I love all four of them dearly and will give my life for them. I will not sit still and allow what is easily attainable to disrupt the harmony of our empire. And I can not sit by when greater threats loom overhead, and we are all still at odds over petty things." Back on earth, I never understood war. What was the point? Send your soldiers out for them to get killed and rile up the people of your homeland. Why interfere in other people's way of living? Why do things that make no sense? Why fight when it will only bring more suffering?

All these questions always went through my mind any time I watched the news with my father and mother during that time. But now…. As I say all of this. I understand the meaning of war. While lives may be lost but if the cause of the war has meaning, then maybe the war is truly for a good cause. Whether my cause is right or not is another story.

I do not want people to die, nor do I wish for people to suffer the loss of their loved ones. This is why, if we go to war, I will stand on the front lines with my own people. I will help them survive as I try my best to bring peace to this continent so we can focus on those who wish to cause trouble from behind the scenes.

I let out a long sigh as I continued: "I do not want war. I want to settle things peacefully, and if it comes to war, I will stand with those who are sent to the battlefield. I will stand at your side and watch over you and protect you with everything I have.

"As your new empress, I will work hard to protect this empire and its people." With this, I bowed my head. The crowd below me was dead silent. I probably should have kept a lot of what I said a secret, but this is what I needed to do. I could not lie to my people. And…. It was a warning to the kingdoms of this continent. I will be looking to form alliances even if I must use force.

It was only after a few minutes did clap and cheering begin to fill the streets. The silence was overtaken by the sounds of them chanting my name. I let out a sigh of relief that I did not scare the citizens too much. But I had to be as honest as possible. I did not wish to lie to them.

With the coronation now reaching its end. I decided to mingle with the people a bit. So I did not hesitate to jump off the golem and landed down in the crowd. As I did, the citizens went crazy and began cheering once more. It was not normal for the leader of a nation to suddenly appear in the crowd like this.

I looked at those around me and smiled as I walked the street. Many people came up to say hello, while others stood to the side and watched from afar. It was not until I sat down that a young man wearing ragged clothing walked up to me. He seemed hesitant at first, but he had a look of determination on his face. "Your hiiiighness!" Oh! His voice squeaked.

"Yes?" I asked as I looked at the young man.

"Do…. Do you have to go to war?" The young man asked.

"When the time comes, yes, but….. I will not force anyone who does not wish to fight. I will not force my people to do something they do not want to do. Although I will be opening the military up to allow new recruits from all walks of life to join, I will not force anyone to become a soldier." This I was firm about. I never planned to institute a draft unless it was absolutely needed. Bright minds would be lost if too many went onto the battlefield. I wanted my people to make the choice for themselves on how they wished to live their lives. Some would be willing, while others would not. It is not my place to tell them how to live.

"I-I see…. Your Highness…. May I know when you will be allowing for new recruitment? And will there be a way to get an advance in payment?" The young man clenched his fist. I guess this is what he was getting at.

390 Strange Sickness

"In a few days' time, the recruitment will start. Are you in need of money now?" Looking at his clothes and his state of urgency I can tell something was up.

"I….. I need money for my sister. She is sick and needs medicine." The young man had tears in his eyes. He looked up at me and wiped his eyes as he asked: "If you wish to bring change to the lives of your citizens then please I beg of you to help my sister!"

The young man suddenly knelt down and pressed his head against the ground. I couldn't help but sigh as I reached down and helped him up. "Hurry and stand up or people will think I am bullying you. What is wrong with your sister?"

"I do not know. She had been sick for a few days and had begun withering away. It's not just her either, many of the people on my side of the slums have been getting sicker and sicker." The young man replied. I couldn't help but furrow my brow. This did not sound as simple as it seemed.

"Grace!" I yelled out. And almost instantly, Grace appeared at my side. "Yes, Master?"

"Follow me. We are going to the slums to check on his sister. I want you to try healing her." I had no idea what was going on, but it seemed whatever it was needed to be taken care of quickly.

To me, from what the boy said, it sounded more like some kind of epidemic. One that was new. I have yet to run into anything like this since I was reborn on this world, but it does not mean it is not possible. This world has been undergoing many changes since the arrival of the dungeons, so some kind of virus might have also come from it as well.

Whether this was true or not was another story, but when I think about the seven sins that the others got during the first dungeon and then hearing that his sister was withering away, I wondered if it was some kind of curse that was spread from person to person.

"You are really going to help my sister?" The young man asked his eyes lighting up with hope.

"I do not know if I can help her, but I will take a look and see what I can do. What is your name?" I asked.

"It's Tryu, Your Highness," Tryu answered.

"Then Tryu, lead me to your sister, and let's be quick about it." I wanted to hurry and try to deal with this as quickly as possible since he already said many were sick with this same illness.𝙞n𝐧𝚛e𝚊𝑑. 𝗰o𝐦

It took an hour to get to the east side slums that were still waiting to be reclaimed. Luckily I had my skill, or it would have taken much longer. When we arrived, Tryu led us to a small hut that was in decent condition. In fact, most of the slum houses have been upgraded to be in better shape than before due to Annie's efforts in helping those she would while they waited for things to be rebuilt.

When we entered, it was a one room hut with two beds. And behind a curtain was a young woman who should have been in her late teens, early twenties lying on the bed, shriveled up, looking as if she had no meat on her bones whatsoever. I used appraisal on her and found nothing wrong. No status effects or anything of the sort. "Grace any idea?"

Grace had been studying up on medical stuff as of late which was why I brought her along. She looked at the girl and took her pulse but still shook her head. "Her pulse is weak, but I am not sure what is wrong with her…. Let me try to use heal on her and see if that works."

"I will try to dispel after if heal does not work and if needed, I will call Iena and Diablo here to see if they know." I frowned. I did not think dispel would work as there was nothing showing in her status, but it was still worth a try. If it was a curse of some kind, it should have at least shown up at least I would think anyway.

If it is some kind of disease though, then heal should work. If heal doesn't, then it is something that magic can not take care of, which will put me at a loss. My only other options would be to talk to Diablo and the rest. I did not wish to bother Freidinia if I did not need to as she is usually doing some kind of experiment, and if I called her, it could cause an explosion of some kind.

Grace stood at the young woman's bedside. The young woman did not speak. She only looked over at us. It was as if she could not move at all. Her sunken cheeks and hollow eyes seemed like a mummy coming alive when her eyes moved.

"Greater heal!" Grace cast healing magic on the young woman, but even as the minute slowly went by, no changes accord. "Dispel!" It was my turn next but even dispel did nothing. I couldn't help but wrinkle my brow.

"Tryu, you have been in contact with your sister this entire time, and nothing has happened to you?" I asked. I should have asked these questions beforehand, but I did not think too much about some kind of illness.

"Mm…. I have not felt anything wrong with me. It seems only certain people are coming down with this strange sickness." Tryu replied. I nodded and called Diablo.

"Faith?" Diablo looked at me in confusion.

"Before I ask you to go get Freidinia, have you ever seen this kind of illness?" I asked as I pointed at the young woman on the bed.

"This…." Diablo looked at the girl, and like me, he wrinkled his brow and shook his head. "No, I do not know what is wrong with her. Freidinia would be your best bet. I will go get her." And before I could say anything, he disappeared.