Dungeon Robotics 9 - 4

Good morning! How's life? I'm doing good. Much better than the last few weeks. I feel like its going much better for all my stories.

Louella

“How are talks with the Lelune Theocracy going?”

“Not good as you can imagine. They are refusing to retract their claims that we are heretics. I imagine if the state of Lecazar was different, they would be marching their army up here this moment.”

“I wouldn’t put it past them even given the state of Lecazar.” I rubbed my forehead then turned back to the hologram of Major James from the expeditionary forces. He had taken his airship south to continue helping settlements and towns, but the church was causing more problems than the undead. “With the portals down, we can’t help if things go sideways. Please use extreme caution.”

“I know, my lady. Something stemmed the tide of undead in the scar for a few days, and we were able to evacuate many people during that time, but the tide as returned. The church has mustered every able-bodied man to marshal an army.” He paused as his face grew hard. “I feel they are planning something other than the defense of their cities.”

“I know you fear for us up here, but if something happens to you and your men, I doubt your wife will forgive me. Once you are done your last attempt at diplomacy, please return home.”

“As you wish, my lady.” His image bowed before it disconnected.

I couldn’t understand what was going through the Grand Vicar’s head. Sure, it might have helped save lives by forming the Theocracy, but immediately declaring war on Vaihdetta and claiming we were heretics. What did they hope to gain out of this move?

Tapping my finger on the map, I didn’t like the current situation. According to our scouts, we defeated less than ten percent of the Thonacan army. That simply didn’t make any sense. They had basically been slaughtered during their attack on the border. Glorious didn’t help things when he incinerated the West Ebony Forest. Something just didn’t add up.

“What do you think?” I asked my aid.

“Excuse me?” she asked nervously.

“About our situation.”

“It is precarious. If we’re not careful, we could find ourselves on a three-front war.”

“You’re not wrong there.”

“As long as the Machine Father is with you, my lady. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

I gave her a smile and nodded. Regan did give us an advantage. That was as long as certain higher powers didn’t start intervening. History had been manipulated by Lelune in the past. There was just no way to know what sort of influence she could actually have on the material plane. Not to mention, the church was hiding more than a few secrets. That much was made clear when they moved the Thonacan army so quickly.

I leaned forward leaning my head on my hands as I stared at the map in front of me. “Regan can handle the stars. I would deal with the mortals,” I whispered into my folded hands.

A knock at the door drew my attention. I called for them to enter and as soon as the door opened the temperature rose by several degrees signaling Ezal’s arrival. I discreetly opened a window while I motioned for the aid to leave for the moment. She soon walked in with Azar in her arms.

“My lady.”

“Ezal. Should you be up and about?”

“I was going crazy just sitting in my room when I know we need ever hand on deck. That said, I know no one is going to even let me near work for a while, so I decided to take a walk.”

“That’s all well and good, but isn’t some of this heat from you as well?” I asked fanning my face.

“Yes. I had gotten so used to little Azar here sucking some of my mana that I forget to manage the excess at times. Its going to take a few days to get used to the change.”

“I see. So? How’s the new mother?”

“I am well. Azar is incredible, but dangerous. Valamar and I have had to completely redo our quarters. Azar has a tendency to burn things in his sleep.”

“A troublemaker just like his father,” I said gently poking the sleeping baby’s cheek.

Ezal laughed but nodded. “I… may have said the same thing last night to Val.”

“And what about the father?” I asked. “How is Valamar doing?”

“He is having the time of his life. I think,” Ezal said with a chuckle. “You know men. They want their children to be strong. Azar is going to be the strongest.”

“Sounds like its going to be your job to keep that from going to his head.”

“I know. I’ve already had more than one discussion with Val about properly raising him to respect others.”

“As long as you think of the child then you shouldn’t have too many problems. We’ve both had our fill of worthless parents.”

My father was nothing more than a piece of trash that wore a human’s skin. I hadn’t seen him since well before I got trapped in the Beneath. Only reports of his health would periodically appear on my tablet. I felt I was fulfilling my requirement as his child but not ordering his execution.

Ezal’s parents were almost as bad. If I had stepped in when we were four and technically bought her from her parents, she would likely be a slave right now. It was one of the reason I hated the slave system so much. People that fell on hard times often sold their children for a few silver or gold coins. If I hadn’t known her at the time, I couldn’t imagine what sort of life might have waited for her. Nothing pleasant I was sure.

“You can say that again.” She ran her hand through Azar’s hair. It was like hers and burning slightly. “I found them a few years later. They had fallen into debt again and wound up as slaves themselves. Ironic isn’t it.”

“Really. Why didn’t you ever tell me?” I asked. I thought she had never seen them again as she’d never mentioned them. Even to say she missed them.

“Wasn’t worth it. My father refused to look me in the eyes and my mother… well, she didn’t have anything nice to say. I was already a member of your personal guard back when I found them. They didn’t look too happy that I had been allowed to grow up. They likely assumed you wanted me as a toy or something similar. You know how noble children can be,” she said waving her hand in the air.

I nodded in understanding. “All in the past now,” I said patting her hand.

“Ah! I’ve made the mood turn somber.” She stood up with a small smile. “Not to mention, I am interrupting your work! Thank you for letting me visit for some time.”

I sighed and moved around the desk grabbing her shoulders. I made sure to be careful of Azar of course. “Ezal. You are like a sister to me, as I’ve said before. You better trust me when I say you are always welcome to visit me, annoy me, or whatever else you feel like doing down the road. As far as I’m concerned, Azar is my nephew. Understand?”

“Yes. My la…” I gave her a glare and she snickered. “Yes. Louella.” Azar started to stir and a flame suddenly burst between us as he began to cry. “Looks like its lunch time.” She glanced at the door then down at her boy.

“Stay and use the couch. I can’t have him setting fire to all the banners as you make your way to your room.”

Ezal sighed as she flushed with embarrassment. “Thanks.”

~~~

Moving through the desks, I checked up on everyone, answering questions or inquires here and there. The government had grown considerably since Valamar started to help with administration. He was currently leading my military, but he pitched in whenever I had questions. A country was much different from a town or city in the end and required a different set of rules.

That said, not much changed overall. Regan and I had already established our laws a long time ago when he created the obelisks for me. The biggest addition was that I finally outlawed slavery, which I took as a personal win. He was able to add in the spell script that freed slaves to the structures. If any slave got near them then they would be freed instantly.

The slaves from Lecazar had already been freed. It bolstered the population of the city past the million-body mark. Efforts to expand the city were as strong as ever keeping people in the castle busy nearly around the clock. I had to thank Regan all over again. Ignea had added several more large-scale buildings for us over the last few days while our own people were rapidly learning skills needed to build structures that could hold thousands of people comfortably.

Once I finished checking with everyone, I moved back to my office. Ezal and Valamar made me move it from the end of the large space and into a large separate room. For my safety. Regan admitted that there were threats around the corner that he couldn’t be sure that the security of the castle could handle. Quin, for example, had once penetrated deep into the castle in the past.

Personally, I would prefer to be with everyone else. Lead by example was my ideal. But I also knew that the people tasked with protecting me, even if it was unneeded, would have a harder time in such a situation. For the greater good, I supposed.

No sooner had I sat down then I heard a knock at the door. “Come in!” Oparens was shown in by one of the guards. He looked a bit more fatigued than usual. I promptly motioned for him to take a seat. “Sir Rens. What brings you here?”

“Lady Louella. I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your hospitality during my stay in your city. This place is truly… truly amazing. Even Fallen Rose pales in comparison.”

“Fallen Rose is the name of the city that the High Elves and Humans live yes?”

“Correct. The Beneath is in part an echo of the surface politics. The humans and elves get along well enough, the dwarves keep to themselves. The Kobolds and Trolls aren’t well known on this continent but originate from the monster hordes.”

“And the dark elves?” I asked noticing he left them out.

He gave me a shrug. “A mystery. Our history claims they were already there when we migrated to the Beneath.”

“They were already there?” I asked surprised by that. “Is that possible? Maybe they came from one of the other continents like the Kobolds and Trolls.”

“Certainly, it is possible. Of the three, we really only have information of this one, it being directly above us, and the Fuizol continent where hordes of monsters rule the land. No path has ever been discovered to the third. Only that it is rumored to be a place of death.”

I leaned back in my chair rubbing the bridge of my nose. “Somehow that doesn’t have quite the scare factor as it would have had a few months ago,” I said. “Lord Regan likes to take things that are supposed to be scary and quite literally throw them against the wall.”

“Yes.” Rens rubbed his neck momentarily. “I have experienced him finding the answers to a question.”

“The history lesson aside, I assume you came here today for a reason?” I asked, tapping the desk.

“Correct. I would like to head back to the Beneath. My goal was to discover the source of the Terra Wave that struck our city. I believe current events are more important to inform the masters about.”

I looked the elderly man over as an idea came to mind. Regan wanted all the conflict on Murgin to come to a stand until after the threat he fears was coming came to pass. He understood that no matter how much he did, it would be impossible to stop all conflict permanently, he just wanted everyone to put aside their hate for a few months.

With the Lords I met in the Beneath, we had a good chance of brokering a peace with Fallen Rose and Huilzo, the dark elf city. Regan told me that the City the kobolds and Trolls were part of might be open to talks once he sent back their expeditionary members. With Rens helping with Fallen Rose, it might push the others to agree to a ceasefire.

“Rens. How much sway do you have back home?”

“I am a master of the Elemental Academy. People would at least be willing to listen to me.” Rens narrowed his eyes at me. “Why?”

I sighed and stood up, walking over to a map of the world as we knew it. Regan had made it for my office, though I thought it was more of an afterthought. That tended to happen around the castle. Things sort of just appeared randomly once they became relevant to the job at hand. Due to my city becoming a country, Regan likely assumed I needed to know the world and not just the surrounding territories.

Placing my hand on the map, I gave it a few pats before turning to look at Rens. “Lord Regan believe a great danger is coming that threatens not only the surface, but the entire world. He wants to get everyone on the same page before it is too late.”

“Any idea what this danger might be?”

“He can’t be entirely sure until it comes, but… he, we believe it is the Demon world. The evidence suggests as much. The necromancers were a force created by one of the stranded demons of the time and have been working to transform this world. The one they followed, Cassin, admitted as much.”

Rens rubbed his chin in thought. “Yes. That would explain the pretakrin. They use the breaches between realms to reach this world. If something is launching an attack from another dimension they would not sit back. I would wager they are dealing with the pretakrin themselves. They are rather indiscriminate.”

I smiled and shrugged. “We can only hope. Do you think you can help us?”

“There is nothing for me to lose. I can put in a few words.” He stood up and tapped his staff on the ground. “Just have to get back home first.”

“About that. Lord Regan has some forces already working in the Beneath. I’m sure I can send word to have them escort you.”

“That would be a great help.” I nodded and moved back over to my desk to use the communication part of the tablet. I just hoped they were in range or we’d have to wait until they returned for a report.

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