(Recommended Songs List: Loving Caliber – I'm On My Way Now, Sam Tinnesz – Man or a Monster (feat. Zayde Wølf)

7th, January

They had made it. After what seemed like an eternity of being on the water, both Yuri Alpha and Entoma Vasilissa Zeta had arrived. The continent didn't look like much, and there wasn't anything peculiar compared to every other landmass they had been on. Granted, neither of them had seen any of the inhabitants here, whatever they may have been.

Yuri stepped off the dingy to find her shoes on multiple planks set as a makeshift walkway, the wet sand squishing down as she headed towards more solid ground. The dirt nearby was going to be the first thing tested by the liches on board, already setting up stations with death knights standing guard. While all of that was taking place, Yuri and Entoma would explore in separate directions, then reconvene at a later time. Since Entoma was the only one that needed to sleep, and only for a short time, they could travel far and wide until they found something that would pique their interest then relay the information back to the camp.

There was a cache of magical scrolls brought with them, an assortment of spells used to hide their presence. Unfortunately, most of the incantations were 9th tier or below, such as [Perfect Unknowable] or [Anti-Information Wall], to keep all but the strongest from poking their noses where they didn't belong. This meant that unless a surveillance team from another country sent their very best to scout out the encampment, they would see and hear nothing.

After a few hours, both of the maids were starting to get bored and did not wish to stay any longer than required to find what the Supreme One requested. Yuri did not have the standard work to perform, getting fidgety as there was only so much cleaning she could do in camp while the liches did their job. Demiurge had relayed a theory that it may not be an item or material, but an actual person causing the disturbance. This was starting to rule out the grass and soil that they were walking on, but it couldn't be discounted entirely. Unfortunately, he did not provide any information on what the disturbance was or what might have caused their great leader to send them on a boat trip. Yuri had to figure out on her own that teleportation did not function anywhere, though communication back to the tomb was unaffected.

"Big sis, I believe we are being watched," Entoma advised as she pointed with her 'arm' at some nearby hills, a few heads popping down out of sight.

"We have been ordered to keep our distance from any of the inhabitants here until we have performed our work. It has barely been a day; we should dispatch some scouts to cover more ground and oversee what the liches have so far found out," the Pleiades Dullahan replied, pushing up her glasses on her nose.

"Hmm, maybe those aren't locals." Entoma seemed keenly interested in those hills, not taking her 'eyes' off of them. Yuri was about to tell her they did need to see what was uncovered so far when she realized the arachnoid maid was right. The people hiding and watching were not, in fact, from these shores, but across the ocean just like they were.

It seems we were not the only ones to decide to come here," the vice-captain of the Pleiades commented as her constant small grin turned into a frown. Death knight cannoneers were getting ready to shell that area from a distance, but it was already too late. Whoever was watching them was long gone, still capable of speeding across the land back to their own encampment. "We need to make haste in our exploration of this area, then move on with some sort of report to send back."

"Would those count towards me eating? I'm getting tired of the food variety I have at the moment," Yuri's sister maid questioned.

"I… do not believe they would count. It would also keep what we are doing hidden. Just please do not perform the act near me."

"Ok!" Entoma did a little hop in excitement, getting ready to catch one of the enemy reconnaissance members in the future. With any luck, it would be one of the larger ones with more meat on the arms, and some valuable intel to torture out of. A lich poured a highly corrosive acid over various materials in jars, jotting down hundreds of notes to be piled into large boxes ready to be shipped back. Once a ship was filled entirely with the documents, it would reach a safe distance to use teleportation magic and send everything back to Ainz. They just didn't know how far out it would take before teleportation would work again. Until they figured out the range, or what was causing it, they would continue moving through these lands and, hopefully, find the material or being responsible.

One advantage both maids had found was the nearby bamboo forest was almost entirely devoid of any threats that could interfere with their reconnaissance. While they doubted there was anything inside that could harm them, it appeared everything tended to become very quiet whenever they entered. Entoma seemed unsure about what that meant, as it could only be explained by the wildlife becoming afraid of their presence… or something else was hiding inside. As Yuri pushed through one small bunch of shoots, doing her best not to damage the environment, she noticed a temple in the middle of a grotto with a small shrine in front of it. The architecture of the building seemed very similar to that of another land now long lost, a place that Ainz seemed to show what little sadness he could at seeing its destruction during this war. Emotional suppression kept most of what any undead felt hidden deep down, unable to express anything other than a small outburst. The remainder of the time, it was just a calm mask of indifference.

"Entoma, I've found a temple." Messaging between any of Nazarick's followers was easy to perform at any time, and this seemed to be no exception. At least they now knew that nothing was blocking that form of communication… at least they hoped.

"Is there anyone there?" the other Pleiades maid asked.

"I'm unsure. The Supreme One advised not making direct contact with the locals just yet, but…"

"Perhaps we should ask for further instruction? We still do not know if the restriction in teleportation spells is because of something here, or if it is someone," her sister responded.

"I shall ask." It took a mere few seconds to send another connection request to speak with their king, their ruler, the one that should control the whole world.

"What is it, Yuri?" Ainz questioned on the other side.

"My apologies for interrupting anything right now, Ainz-sama."

"There is no interruption right now. Have you landed on the continent?" The overlord seemed to have a pause between his responses, making both maids wonder if there was a delay in communication from where they were. There was never a problem from other continents they had been on, so why would there be an issue cropping up now?

"We have, with a small camp already constructed. We've messaged you to request further instruction about…" the leader of the Pleiades hesitated for a moment, wondering what next to say, "…there is a temple Supreme One. We understand that we are not supposed to make contact with those who live here, at least not yet. However, perhaps it might be possible to glean some knowledge of the surroundings if we ask questions peacefully?"

Another pause heard, this time longer. "What sort of temple?" She described the aesthetics, the small forest nearby, the rocking bamboo fountain dropping water into a pond with koi fish. They had a small magical artifact that would act as a camera to prove what they said was true, though there seemed to be a delay in transmitting. That was starting to cause some concern, as whatever could block magical transportation was also slowing down their relay of footage. Minutes passed by as Ainz said nothing, with both maids waiting patiently and not wanting to impose on his thoughts while he performed other far more critical tasks. "Speak with the Miko or Kannushi there. Do not harm them."

"It will be as you say."Yuri felt the message end, the being that controlled them all ending the conversation and moving onto more important matters. She could see a lone figure inside the building, kneeling in front of a small pedestal with a paintbrush in hand drawing on a sheet of paper. Entoma was not near her, which was good, given that this conversation needed to go through without anyone getting an arm ripped off and eaten. The maid knew her sister was getting tired of chewing on the green biscuits.

Yuri walked up the steps and opened the Shoji door to find an old priestess sitting on her knees in front of an altar. The woman looked up at her with one eye seeming to have cataracts, a small smile creeping on her mouth. "Ah, you have arrived, just as my vision told me. I knew this day would come."

"You… knew?" Yuri questioned, wondering if it meant the rabbit-eared old woman was prepared for the maid's arrival or if she understood someone from the camp would show up. The Dullahan walked in, stopped a few steps in, and removed her shoes. She remembered the etiquette expected from them during another visit to a very similar location in the past. The priestess smiled at seeing that. An apprentice could be seen in the next building, cooking something. The girl was watching her from the corner of her eye, yet she yelled nothing.

"Yes, I have received many visions throughout my lifetime, though it is soon coming to an end."

"I mean you no harm, priest. I am simply here for information."

"Aren't we all?" the woman replied, still sitting in front of her altar. "To learn, to gain knowledge of the world, isn't this what we strive for?"

Yuri sat down on her knees facing the old lady, her hands placed on her lap, and watched the priestess for a minute as the old woman closed her eyes in prayer. "My name is –"

"I know who you are, Yuri Alpha of the Tomb of Nazarick. I have seen it, where you come from, who you serve. He will come soon enough, though great darkness will come with him… and great light."

Meanwhile, Nearby

[[A:32DS/9R-VL6: Encampment confirmed. Secondary targets verified. They are interrogating the religious figure found in bamboo grove 2E. We aren't the only ones tracking them.]]

[[SECCOM=FOBC/4G-M9 "Unity": Keep your distance, your position has not been compromised. Send feed up the chain.]]

[[A:32DS/17R-SUB=3: Third fleet still heading towards shore. Landfall estimated: 72 hours 36 minutes 12 seconds 42 milliseconds.]]

[[D:14OR/8R "Dragonfly 1": Confirm tracking, no deviation in trajectory, no split of secondary escorts.]]

[[SECCOM=FOBC/4G-M9 "Unity": Feed confirmed. Relaying report 14-23/E.]]

The forward operating base authorized by admin Dominic was staying quiet and hidden in plain sight within the borders of the Seong Neow Republic. Hundreds of automatons swiftly performed their duties and tracked any movement nearby, sending recon teams beyond the wire when required. Thousands of reports were created every hour, let alone every day, as they had two primary purposes. Those were to watch the three fleets that were coming for unknown reasons, now showing that they were testing the land for an as yet unknown plan, and to run combat simulations. Those simulations were not involving them, as they already knew the outcome of any engagement with their troops; this was to determine what the Seong Neow Republic could do to defend itself should they be attacked. High command was already theory-crafting what the newcomers were up to, but one thing was clear: each was hostile to the other.

Automaton Six of squad Niner Recon, one of the members of the 32nd stealth division, felt great pride in receiving an advanced core to lead his team. He would not disappoint his commanders in performing his clandestine duties. He would most certainly accept deconstruction if he made the administrators or the grand creator unhappy. His actions for the past few minutes was to gather as much detailed information involving what the two maids wore, estimated combat capability, weight and sound of all beings on the shore for predictive analysis in their movement, track patrol routes and in general gather all intel to be sent back to FOB Unity. His sister fireteam was performing the same tasks on the second encampment, relaying footage of the humans and dwarves wandering around and picking plants, testing the waters, and in general, were annoying the wildlife. The elves seemed to consistently pester the humans for doing so, with dwarves trying to dig deeper than necessary for ore they could sense were underground.

A small lizard crawled onto Six's hand while prone, with him unmoving to get rid of the creature. The animals didn't see his team as a threat, with a deer drinking some water nearby, oblivious to what they were doing. The recon trooper simply watched and waited, allowing the small green reptile an attempt to sun itself for another hour then scurry off to look for food. That was when he got up and moved to another position, one of many chained together to get a complete 3D image of the surroundings. The satellites and drone capture above were only so perfect at their angle, with infantry on the ground providing a rendering that could be put into virtual reality briefings for the higher-ups. Every disturbed piece of grass, every puddle of water, the viscosity of mud, or grain of wood had to be recorded, including the types of metal used in the cannons of the death knights far in the distance.

His second in command, Four, walked drag behind them, not that it really mattered. Cloaking systems were on at all times, with advanced ghillie suits that had active camouflage netting wrapped through it. Nanite clouds could be dispersed at any point to further stop any visual cues and prop up bent grass blades where they stepped. Each member was careful never to break branches, and if they did, to spray the damaged limb with an ointment that would cause it to quickly regrow. They were phantoms even during the day, which was what they were built for. That wasn't to say they could engage as fully capable combatants in a warzone, they just weren't designed with that purpose in mind.

[[A:32D/9R-M7: Movement on the ridge. Is 7R still tracking them?]]

[[A:32D/9R-VL6: Confirmed ping. 2nd fleet scouts returning to their base, one light-skinned blonde elf female, two human males, one dwarf male. Nonexistent threats.]]

[[A:32D/9R-M7: They're going to pass right in front of us.]]

[[A:32D/9R-VL6: They are. Building motion model, predicting path.]]

[[A:32D/9R-L4: One just tripped. Poor flesh bag. Inadequate motor function and muscle control in the left ankle. Not seeing that rock didn't help either.]]

The scouting party ran down their hill within five feet of the automaton team, utterly oblivious to their location. If they had deviated even a foot, there was a possibility, a 2.4694% chance, that Six would have had to back up for a moment. These were the times that he felt he could be annoyed that his path was temporarily obstructed by anyone other than the grand creator herself or her administrators. Anything that wasn't of her craft was naturally considered a lower lifeform, excluding her warm presence. This was not to say that he acted as though they were inferior to their face, it was just the way things are. They couldn't help being what they were. He just didn't want them in his way. It was a common consensus in the network that they were considered inefficient by all standards.

Even those that the grand creator had under her employ could be easily replaced with a far better construct that would produce a thousand times more work with a greater capability if she decided their lives did not mean anything anymore. One of the network's theories was that she kept them around as playthings, toys to understand what would happen if she placed them in certain positions. They were like disposable chess pieces in a 26-dimensional game to better understand what could affect her vast design. Her cognition of the entire situation must have been very impressive to bring them into the castle and allow them control of variable aspects of the empire, at least what they thought was control.

The only other organic creatures they could consider on par with them, or infinitely higher despite how fragile one of them was, had to be the princess and the Valkyrja. The child immediately had her genetic makeup stored in the network's memory, their connection to her almost as natural as the grand creator's. She just couldn't control them like her mother, at least not yet. The battle maidens, on the other hand, seemed to exist on a similar strength tier, maybe a little lower, to the grand creator. That made all of the automatons give grudging respect to them. Six knew, were there ever a need of him or his team to defend the young girl, he would do so in an instant without a single Planck time interval of hesitation. The empire would be safe and secure for the creator and her offspring as long as his brothers and sisters were on guard. Wherever the empire expanded to, land, sea, air, or space, his kind would defend it.

If these new trespassers called for it, even if they were in a neighboring territory, they'd soon find out just how terrifying the Clockwork Empire Marines could be.

Ten Minutes Later

Ainz stood on a battlefield watching as hell was being rained down from multiple directions, all of it just to stop one force. His armies weren't alone in this endeavor, as two other kingdoms owned by what he was all but certain were other players. The elven ruler he had dealt with before, the one that seemed to despise him so much, tracked the movements of undead as well as her own troops from a camp near a river three miles away. He could see her from his perch, watching as the woman eyed him suspiciously in the event he decided to give a signal for his military to pull out. Queen Lyzriel ruled her lands to the east of the Sorcerer Kingdom, and regardless of undead controlling a nation near her borders, was at least willing to join forces with him temporarily to stop the onslaught from the north.

These were the only two that were willing to assist against the latest push from the nigh-unstoppable troops marching in to take what belonged to them. All other kingdoms nearby felt they could fight on their own or created similar makeshift temporary alliances. The heteromorph had just ended his message to the two maids far to the west, focusing on the task at hand. There was a delay in communications, but not all of it involved something interfering with the conversation. His attention was being pulled consistently back to an attempt to break his lines, a spearhead rush to penetrate the first defensive barricades they had set up. His cannoneer death knights were doing good work against the armies charging forward, with many of his old guarders barely able to hold on versus the well-trained swordsmen from his enemy. The same blank look was noticed in every pair of eyes on the opposite side, a stone mask observed for every face as if they too had emotional suppression.

Momonga, renamed Ainz, seemed to recognize some of the maneuvers the enemy was pulling. He dreaded ever meeting the man that was sending this powerful military towards them. It would be the second time that their paths would cross, and he didn't have the full strength of his guild with him at this moment. Until that happened, though, he would show just how effective he still was, even if his build wasn't min-maxed. This overlord would let this army before him know just how bad it could be if you didn't go for the ones who could heal or cast AOE spells. As he started to unleash devastating attacks only the strongest could have known about, waves of enemy soldiers were wiped off the map. His main concern was his lowering mana, being chipped away every few seconds. He wouldn't be able to keep this up.

Once the battle was over, he walked through the field, looking for something that might have been left behind, anything that could give them an edge against the northern troops. The other leaders seemed to be doing the same, finding nothing other than their own soldiers dead or destroyed on the land they had just fought upon. While the enemy might not be losing warriors, Ainz and the others were slowly but surely dwindling down. Even with necromancy, there were only so many bodies he could get ready for combat. Lyzriel had her treants, continually working with her druids to regrow forests around her kingdom as forest spirits and animals, along with elven archers and swordsmen, stayed on the defensive like he was. The paladin further away, a huge man that seemed to look Samoan in ethnicity, closed the eyes of a footman on the ground, incapable of resurrecting him due to his soul being drained during the battle. Ainz wouldn't be allowed to take the corpses; otherwise, he'd be fighting a much larger war than he wished for at the moment. A massive resurrection blessing was cast by the paladin, causing Ainz to back off for a moment as a swath of troops that hadn't been stripped of their essence slowly came back to life. The remainder were going to be buried, with teams he'd send at a late time digging them back up.

Find what is restricting teleportation on the new land, Pleiades. We have need of it immediately. As for the corpses, If we can just get our hands on even one body, I could determine what equipment they have available. This is an absolute must right now. We're running out of options.

Within a half-hour, it was clear there was nothing to scavenge, no hint as to how to slow down the advances, only push back and reclaim lost land with even more losses. Lyzriel and the paladin Torvan shared looks with him, grimacing as they shook their heads in understanding. There was nothing of value here. "Ainz-sama. My apologies for interrupting anything," Yuri returned another message.

"That was quick to find some information, or do you have an issue on the new land that you are reconnoitering?" he asked.

"We have met with the priestess here. She… foresaw us arriving, all of us. The society here is similar to the one you wished to incorporate before."

That made the overlord pause midstep and stand there amongst crumpled metal and bones shattered on the ground, destroyed equipment that told of a war that wasn't over yet. The silence in the air as he stood there, staring off into the distance. He had fought once before to protect a minor kingdom that reminded him so much of Japan, the cherry blossoms and architecture, the people and the music. The culture that had taken countless decades, centuries to grow… gone. They were destroyed, despite his efforts. Not even refugees survived, standing their ground in defense of their civilization, akin to bushido. The Sorcerer kingdom was just too late to get involved, and what could have been a friendly nation was wiped out. He should have felt nothing, yet there was something hidden deep within him that wanted to scream as if a piece of his past was torn away for good, and he'd never reclaim it again. Now, there was another country that could be made from the same silk.

Something ever so slight stirred in him, what he might have thought were the faint embers of his humanity and nostalgia for pieces of the past to cling to. He hadn't given in to being an emotionless undead the entire time he'd been on this world. Still, it was slowly getting more difficult to express himself. His inner monologue was the only way to keep himself sane in some cases. There was no one who understood him beyond other players, and he wasn't sure if the rulers from nearby kingdoms were one of them. It wasn't as if he could really talk to any of the kings or queens anyways, with the emotional inhibitor and their dislike of heteromorphs. The mask helped, but only so much.

"I'll arrive in one week to speak with their rulers. I'd like to see this for myself."

"Supreme One, the priestess is in poor health. Perhaps we would be allowed to offer some assistance? Your magnanimity through us would improve relations, possibly getting us more information than we expected."

Keep the old lady alive, get more stuff. Huh. Sure.

"That is acceptable. Do not provide too much, Yuri."

"Of course, Ainz-sama, we do not want to let them know too much about us."The message ended as Ainz thought for a moment. He didn't want to give too much assistance not because of showing what they could do, but because he was afraid it would be for nothing. He didn't bother with his standard 'what' at the end when someone came up with a brand new idea that he hadn't conceived. Playing smart was now pointless when Nazarick's forces automatically acted as if his plans were well beyond their comprehension already. The overlord just needed to go with the flow now.

I once used magical items to allow myself to feel again, and I was suddenly panicking at the terrifying visage of my own face, standing in front of my guardians, and suddenly with no confidence. Now… I'm tempted to create more just for a few hours, maybe a day… maybe more. Tempted is the big word here. Until I can figure out how to not scream when I see Neuronist, I think I'll hold off.

One Day Later, 8th, January

(Recommended Song: Loving Caliber – I'm On My Way Now)

Dina rode a steam bus out of Glass Dale heading north along with multiple other candidates, all seeming to talk to each other and in a new world, a new future. She just sat back and leaned against the window, watching the scenery go by as things felt as if they were changing for the better. She now had a chance to become something incredible, an Einherjar. They'd be heroes of the empire, dealing with challenging tasks that were just below the need for the Clockwork government to directly intervene. While she never expected to be as powerful as one of the mechanical soldiers that the empress had to do her bidding, she wasn't going to be some little adventurer anymore.

Supposedly they'd be heading off to a specialized camp, all five hundred possible recruits. Though the ruler of the land had called her both a candidate and a cadet, those words were supposed to mean two different things that played in the back of her head. The teenager at first tried to push it from her mind, focusing on what the next few weeks would entail, but it kept worming forward. "I swear, the first thing I'm going to do is shove the emblem of my status in my mother's face!" she heard from further ahead, another seat two rows past hers.

"I know, right? She's such a… a…"

"She hates the empress, can't get her head out of the sand and accept change."

"Isn't your mother like… I mean…"

"They never proved it, but I think it's because the mansion burned down and we escaped to the villa in the woods. As long as she doesn't start anything, she'll be fine. Me? I'm willing to show I'm in no way connected to my parents and willing to fight for this nation." The bus was heated, which was nice to not travel in the wintertime, watching a few snowy landscapes pass by as the wheels kept turning. Due to them being specially classified, they were the first to get a chance to use such a vehicle, with the rest of the populace having to still use carriages or the incredible trains. A few hours passed by, eventually seeing a broad set of structures encased in a massive wall ahead. As the bus came to a halt at the front gates, it stopped with a hiss of brakes and hydraulics setting down to allow the recruits to step off without breaking an ankle from the height it usually traveled. A carriage would have its roof reach just at the top of one of the giant wheels, making the transport capable of offroad movement if need be, ignoring potholes and mud pools with ease. The girl had no idea that the empire tended to consider vehicles like that to be… small.

The ranger stepped out of the steam bus onto the road leading to the gigantic base built exclusively for them to test in, looking around at the concrete walls that seemed foreboding and powerful. This wasn't some fort that Artinia had, but a fully functional combat station designed to assess their strengths and determine if they could pass the whispered about exams. She watched as the other cadets milled about outside the huge door that was still slammed shut in front of them, with a few minutes going by before it unlocked and receded into the walls and floor. Morlan was on the other side, along with Elsei, clad in his godly looking suit of armor as the steam bus convoy prepared to leave once all luggage was offloaded. His arms were crossed over his chest as he surveyed what was in front of him, the 500 men and women that would hopefully earn the honor of officially joining the Einherjar agency.

None of the candidates had their own equipment, taken away from them, and replaced with some basic cadet uniforms until training officially started. There was to be no physical advantage that another could gain, only relying on raw skills, training, and talent to show what they could do. The clothing was simple yet comfortable, allowing easy movement and entirely tagless. Personally, the ranger liked it, as did many others, with the uniforms showing they were an elite few… at least for the moment. Many had theirs customized depending on their class, with the upfront warriors seeming to have extra padding already patched onto their elbows and knees. The more agile of the 500 seemed to have a uniform that somewhat matched what they wore before. Most women wore long skirts, with nothing allowed to be provocative. If they became full-fledged Einherjar, they could wear just about anything they wished, even nothing at all if it helped with their missions. That thought made her shiver in concern, believing she might work with someone who would just walk around in the nude or a loincloth at some point.

Her eyes wandered over the slew of faces, ranging well beyond what she expected. There weren't just humans, but elves of all types, half-orcs, an oni even managing to get in somehow. Warriors, archers, wizards, rogues, all manner of classes were standing around her, and she was rather small compared to three much larger men surrounding her and watching the two in charge and ready to speak. There was even one heteromorph, a naga as it seemed, that was allowed in. The snake woman looked as if she was sitting on a chair, but it was just her body coiled up as she watched, curious about everything. This proved that the empire didn't care what you were, just that you could show loyalty to the crown and dedication to your home with the capability to defend it.

Morlanion cleared his throat, and everyone was suddenly at attention. "Alright, listen up! You probably already know who I am, but I'm going to say it regardless. My name is Morlanion Rikter, I am the Director of the Einherjar Agency under our great ruler Grand Empress Selene of the Clockwork Empire. This is my partner, Vice Director Elsei Blossomleaf. You have been offered a chance to join a very exclusive group, one that shows the very pinnacle of who we are as a people in this great nation." He met eyes with each cadet looking at him, watching their expressions. "Many of you believe you are already agents under my command, so let me address that for you right now. You are all candidates, a 'tier one cadet' if you want to use the official title. That should tell you that you are not even close to holding the title of Einherjar until you have met two criteria: prove you have what it takes, and finish the advanced training laid out once you become a tier two cadet."

A young man nearby leaned over to a friend and tried to whisper to him. "Does this mean we're actually allowed in the Clockwork Military? By the gods, this is so amazing!"

"I heard that." Both young men shut up immediately and stood rail straight with their hands behind their backs, gulping as Morlan stared at them. "You are not, in any way, part of the military. I've seen what her majesty's troops can do firsthand, and you couldn't even hold a candle to one of her maids, let alone a marine. Battle is not the only focus for training, but it is not to be shied away from when required. The qualification exams before you actually get to stay are to determine whether you hold up to my requirements in personnel. The empress has entrusted me with authority to decide who makes it and who doesn't bar a rejection from her majesty, of course. Still, I'm not supposed to give preferential treatment. If you succeed, you succeed. If you fail, you fail. I'm hoping all of you succeed, by the way."

There were whispers from many of them, some full groups hidden in the crowd, as they understood that things were just starting here. They hadn't yet made it into the agency, this was only the entrance with much hardship expected. Failure made a few of them worry about what would happen to them, while others seemed overconfident. A hand raised in the front of the gaggle of cadets, the face unable to be seen by Dina. "When do we start the qualification exams, and how long do they take?" a woman who couldn't be seen in the throng asked.

"Good question. Testing starts at exactly 8 am tomorrow morning and continues for 48 hours to determine your capabilities. During that time, sleep is not allowed; breaks are limited and controlled when you can take them, though meals will be provided. All equipment will be given per test. Barracks will house you until the tests are completed, both physical and mental. Exams are held once a week to see what you can put into effect from those tests and basic instruction. Once you pass all of them, you'll be moved to personal quarters… or kicked out if you fail. Also, there is a time bubble around the base that will start in a few hours, lasting until one month has passed inside. It will start slow at first, with one week passing for each day outside. You will have three days' time-off to relax and recuperate between weeks, having spent almost two months inside by your perception. Do not leave before it turns off at scheduled times to allow that time off, whether in the barracks or in the nearby town of Glass Dale, if you wish to shop or sightsee. Curfews are in effect; you do not want to be outside the walls once the bubble goes back up, or you will miss quite a few exercises we will not repeat." More whispers from the candidates. "Enough! Does anyone have any other questions before I leave?"

"Are… are you not training us or overseeing the… the exams?" Dina questioned with her hand up. She looked around, feeling a little embarrassed at speaking in front of everyone. The ranger wasn't the only one with that question, however.

"I am not here for training, but I will be watching the exams, at least for this first batch of candidates. I have other duties to attend to." That at least answered that question, given Morlan wasn't finished with his final exams himself, scheduled for genetic enhancement within the next week. "Many of you were given the pamphlet of what you are allowed to bring with you here, one bag of personal items to keep occupied in hours outside training if you complete the tests. You were also allowed to bring personal trainers with you to help focus your skills and talents during the courses, all staying in separate quarters here. Her majesty's instructors here will provide the necessary assistance where required, but personal instruction is allowed outside of the standard times. This isn't a school for children; we expect you to excel beyond what you think you have done already, push yourselves to the breaking point, and still somehow find a way to continue. All of you were chosen for a reason, offered this chance. Don't botch it up."

The teenager pulled out the pamphlet from her back pocket immediately, forgetting what luggage and freedoms were allowed or given. Quite a few leniencies were admitted on what could be brought in, what could be paid for. The town of Glass Dale was close by, just at the mouth to the grand entrance to the Golden Valley beyond, with Gold Pine at the end… and the Clockwork Castle supposedly nestled away in the crook of the Boramar Mountains. She had forgotten that there were personal trainers allowed. Still, she didn't really have much money for long term education, excluding going to a government-controlled educational institution. That was in the opposite direction of what she wanted to become, some regular civilian that didn't get much excitement in her life.

She looked up from the papers and noticed an entire second crowd of people standing apart further down the road from the cadets, watching everything and not allowed to speak. These were the hired advisors in their respective fields, there to help the new recruits get some sort of edge that would help them pull through the training in off-hours, to teach Martial Arts skills to those willing to pay. Many of them looked grizzled and hardened; a few wore revealing clothing. They were not held to the same standards as the cadets, expected to leave once their jobs were done. They were optional, not required to pass the finals. That gave a few of them hope, using raw talent and skill instead of special abilities or high-powered tier magic to push through if need be.

With nothing else said, the warrior that they looked up to along with his partner motioned for all of them to enter, their eyes zipping from one place to the next as they did so. They couldn't believe what they were seeing: a vehicle bay in the corner with multiple LRV transports set aside to drop off groups at the town during time off; a library in the corner; a few small shops that were authorized to work inside the base amongst many other surprising finds. A train station was noticed in the corner, the bulkhead doors sealed on both sides of the odd tunnel running into the base due to no engine with cars currently docked. What made the ranger gulp was seeing the massive cannons on the walls, ready to deter any attempt at attack against them. The fact that even one of these places for training was built to withstand a direct assault from whatever the empire thought was a threat was… chilling. Another shiver shot up her back as she couldn't even fathom what could need a round from one of the barrels she was looking at, easily capable of fitting her whole body in one. A turret swiveled as she looked at it, rotating quickly on a high powered ring mount.

What none of them had noticed just yet was the gigantic canopy above them, what amounted to the "sky" of the base. It was capable of hiding the sun when the magical time dilation field was in effect, simulating days going by inside and allowing everyone to get some rest.

Twin aircraft flew overhead that weren't visible, though the cadets could hear them outside. The nation, at least the higher government, had mastered flight beyond magic, using pure science to get the job done. An automaton instructor stood with its hands behind its back ahead of them, a giant compared to most standing before him, even if he was just a Lighter variant of the much larger death dealers that their ruler had at her beck and call. "Barracks are to the left and right, please leave your belongings at each bed. No one is to touch another cadet's bag, or they are automatically disqualified. Theft is not allowed here, borrowing without written acknowledgment is not allowed here. A small stipend is provided per week to each cadet, one silver per day's wage while testing." There seemed to be a sigh of relief from more than a few of the recruits, including Dina. That meant she didn't have to make every single coin she had count all the time and could even splurge when needed to buy something she felt had to be hers. One silver a day, 5 a week wasn't bad, but someone would need to save up, or be rich if they wanted anything special they saw.

As the men and women filed through the doors to the gender-separated bunks, with 500 candidates split evenly into Company Alpha and Company Bravo, Dina turned her head to see Morlan and Elsei leaving, their speech finished. It was apparent they didn't need to be there, only talking to the first official class for the agency. She could count herself lucky that it wasn't the second or third year of cadets coming here, but there was still the significant hurdle that she needed to address… to pass the exams in the first place. The ranger sat down on a bunk and dropped her rather small satchel on the ground along with the cage her hawk was sitting in, as pets were allowed depending on the class for each cadet. Necromancers were not accepted, though there was a summoner of some kind amongst their numbers in the men's bunks for Company Alpha. The girl just looked around, watching others start up conversations as they built their small cliques already, the hired instructors only allowed to speak to their patrons tomorrow.

Dina suddenly felt alone in that room as she slapped the Company Bravo patch onto her shoulder, no one else a friend that she could tell. The minutes went by, followed by an hour as they filtered around the bunks and outside to check out the shops and cafeteria, while she just sat and wondered what to do. The Orc Destroyers were officially disbanded, and none of them followed her here. What she figured out already was getting a good night's sleep had to be a priority, as there would be no rest after tomorrow morning; it was to determine how well they could keep up with an almost endless mission or if they would just slump over. She knew that her maximum was three days keeping her eyes open, but after that, she started to hallucinate. It was also with the help of some special snacks that she and Marv tended to cook up and keep in bags at their hips. The teenager didn't know if those were allowed during all of this.

Her stomach growled, informing her that it was time to get something to eat, or she'd have nothing for energy tomorrow. As she stood up, a group of women in the corner pointed at her and giggled, a whisper heard about her age compared to the rest of them. Very few were under the age of 20, with the exceptions clearly showing they were well to do and had either magical prowess or weren't human. As she walked by the group, one whispered about her. "I swear, they let kids like her in here? She's not going to last through the exams. I wonder why they pick some of these?"

"They probably have to fill a quota or something. I mean, she doesn't even have much of a chest; how is she going to talk to those who need to be coerced? Seduced? I thought we needed to adapt to different situations, which was part of the recruitment requirement. Whatever; c'mon, let's go get something to eat." The women walked away as Dina stopped in her tracks, not looking at them as she tried to remain silent. Attempting to stand up for herself wouldn't help, even hinder her chances of getting in. Infighting was not allowed, and how she carried herself from here on out could determine getting to become a tier-two cadet. The ranger tried to let it slide, deciding to get some food at the cafeteria. There were no guarantees that her funds right now would be able to keep up with overspending, even with the wages paid per week, so what she had saved up would need to last. Granted, it was more than many would consider a healthy sum, a total of 2 platinum with another sixty gold, 40 silver, and some odd coppers in the mix. She hadn't seen the prices in the shops nearby, and that could determine how and when to spend the coin.

Luckily, the cafeteria was free of charge, with most of the wide assortment of food healthy and filling. As she sat down, a hand came down on her shoulder gently, which made her spin her head thinking it was the same women mocking her. What she wasn't expecting was Jadzia from Tyran's adventurer party to sit down next to her. "Uh, Jadzia? What…"

Tyran sat down across from her and smiled, twiddling his mustache. "We were scouted as well. It seems you don't have a team anymore, that is unfortunate. Company Bravo? We are as well."

"Perhaps she should be with us this time around," Nirgorn gruffly said as the half-orc sat with a thump, not caring if he caused any shift in food on the tables. Interestingly, nothing moved, proving that the construction of the furniture here was high quality and capable of distributing all but the most significant vibrations through the frames without anyone noticing.

"But… I… I'm a gold rank… you guys are… mithril…" she mumbled out.

"We're not adventurers anymore, remember?" Jadzia playfully said as she poked the teenager. "Can she get the same training during the exams, I wonder?" the dark elf questioned next to the ranger, smirking at the teenager as she looked at her leader. He shook his head. "Why not? We're paying for them to help us move forward. The protocols don't restrict –"

"It's not that, Jadzia; the rules don't restrict them from teaching an extra charge. The problem is she hasn't paid them for the training. We could fork over some extra but… at the moment…" Tyran replied, trailing off as he averted his gaze.

"We're a little strapped for coin at this time, not yet getting paid for two other quests we've done, and focusing what we could into better armor before all of this. We don't even get to use any of it here," Nirgorn grumbled out as he propped his left arm on the table with his elbow, a fork in hand as he pointed at Tyran with the prongs. "I know what you are going to say, and I already agree. It is not your fault, we needed that equipment to continue. We did not know this would happen."

"I know. I just wish we had just a little foresight before all of this; that, and I wish we got paid by the guild before leaving," the paladin sighed out. The man shrugged, a calming aura from him flowing around the table, not really an ability of his. There was a reason he was the leader of the group, not merely because of his class. "They'll send it via mail later, I'm sure. I've heard we receive it weekly."

"Oh, right, we get mail after we pass the first exam," the wizard, Samuel, commented as he ate a salad. "I hope I don't get bombarded with letters from the academy and my fans."

"You know those are from your mother," the priest, Porin, chuckled out as he rubbed his bald head before picking up his own utensils. Samuel opened his mouth and tried to respond, thinking up some way to counter what he said. "Tell her to send cookies again, those were great last time. She always sends them for her pretty little boy."

"I… she… that… they… I don't know… what…" the wizard stammered out, pushing some of his long blonde hair over his ear. It was true that he was handsome, catching the eye of quite a few of the female candidates nearby already. His problem was he had no idea how to speak to them in the slightest, making weird squeaking noises if one even attempted to flirt, then promptly running.

The group laughed at that, catching him off guard. "Just eat your food, Samuel," Tyran told him as he patted the caster on the shoulder. The young man was flustered, blushing profusely in embarrassment as he focused on consuming his meal. "We can figure something out for you, Dina. You just have to work through the performance tests tomorrow, then we can see what else can be done."

"Uh… thank you. I… appreciate that. I have some funds I can use, though," the ranger replied, realizing she wasn't as alone here after all.

"Then hopefully we can find another instructor for off-hours. You can learn a few trick shots that will scare the hells out of the others" Nirgorn piped up, chewing on a piece of meat and pointing his fork at her with a toothy grin. "We're gonna need those if we have to practice against any other teams."

"STANDBY FOR AN ANNOUNCEMENT" They heard over an intercom system for the base. Everyone looked up, wondering where the voice came from. "TIME DILATION FIELD GOING INTO EFFECT IN ONE HOUR. COLLECT ALL PERSONAL EFFECTS OUTSIDE OF THE WALLS AND BRING THEM INTO THE CAMP BEFORE IT IS ACTIVE."

"We'd better make sure there's nothing left outside quick," Tyran told them all as they got up from their half-eaten plates and headed out, watching as others checked as well, just in case. An elven girl slipped effortlessly by Dina and Tyran like wind blowing between the cracks of two boulders, continuing without even acknowledging the teenager. The brunette seemed surprised at that, expecting some request for them to move, then realized she was lagging behind and followed her new team. There were a few small containers that were picked up, then everyone was back inside trying to relax and finish their meals, joking once in a while.

"Alright, it's getting late, and we have a big day tomorrow, should probably retire quietly for the night," Tyran told them as he looked at Dina. She nodded at him in response.

"We can meet at the flag pole in the middle before breakfast," Jadzia commented, popping a grape in her mouth and pointing a dark-skinned thumb over her shoulder.

"Sounds like a plan," Nirgorn responded as the half-orc got up and helped the dark elf stand. The blade dancer thanked him as she sauntered away to the women's barracks for Company Bravo. Her movement seemed similar to the other elf, agile beyond belief and exotic in beauty. The ranger now understood why a much smaller number of warriors in Eil'Ta Forest could hold back Artinia for so long. Jadzia gave her new team a definite edge.

"Do you think…" Dina started to say as everyone looked at her. "Do you think we have to test for all weapons and skills?" she asked, her eyes rotating to meet everyone else. They all shared in the same action, the question rolling through their heads.

"I doubt they'd expect an archer to swing a sword effectively, though a ranger… hmm," Porin said.

"They certainly won't expect a wizard to suddenly fire a bow," Samuel added in.

"I'm pretty sure I can throw an arrow better than you can shoot one," Nirgorn chuckled out as he slapped Samuel on the back, the caster wincing from the impact.

"We'll see tomorrow. Get a good night's rest, everyone," Tyran commanded as he got up and headed for his bunk.

Next Morning

A somewhat quiet alarm was going off in the women's barracks, a chime that was slowly waking everyone up. "Attention, attention. It is now 6 am. Testing will start promptly in two hours, all cadets are to be on the yellow dots in the center of the base at 8 am. I repeat, it is now 6 am. Testing will start promptly in two hours, all cadets are to be on the yellow dots in the center of the base at 8 am" was heard by everyone, possibly one of the mechanical women working in the base. Dina got up and softly put her feet down on the floor, the others starting to get ready for the day. Her first job was to feed her hawk and clean the bottom of his cage, then get washed and head out to the flag pole. While there were enough shower stalls to never need to wait, the same women from the day before giggled about something said involving her. She could already figure it out, that her body wasn't as voluptuous as theirs were, that she was plainer than many of them.

The ranger never thought she was ugly, and everyone else never complained either. While she hadn't expected to ever look like one of the wealthy nobles that were ferried around in carriages, she also wasn't some disfigured beggar covered in dirt with missing teeth. Of course, she had never tried to dress up for much beyond the royal ball, and that dress was given to her for that occasion. It was packed away in her personal bag, belonging to her officially. The teenager cherished in greatly, as she felt as if she really was part of the upper echelon at least for a night. That would be three gifts the empress gave her now.

I wonder if I should somehow get some of that new makeup that is being sold now, at least if I can pass the entrance exams and get into training. I mean, should Einherjar look good while they do their jobs? Or is that not something we are supposed to worry about? If we have to speak to officials somewhere, shouldn't we look our best? I don't know anything about how to act regarding this…

Once clean, Dina quickly got dressed and headed to the pole, with Jadzia tapping her on the shoulder and dipping to the other side to make her head turn in the wrong direction. "Should expect something like that in a battle," the dark elf advised while smiling. She was playful with the teenager, trying to perk her up now that they were chosen.

"I… I-I'll remember that." The others came out as well, grouping up and heading to the cafeteria to eat. Once finished, all of them were expected to line up in the middle of the base.

"Where do we actually train?" Samuel questioned, the wizard looking around as they stood shoulder to shoulder in the second row.

"I don't see a range anywhere, no arena to test our mettle," Tyran replied as they all looked around, wondering where the instructors were. The base seemed quiet as the candidates stood on dots, nothing happening just yet. At first, all of them worried that the station had become abandoned overnight, with not a single metal soldier walking around. Suddenly, the floor detached below them, slowly sinking into the ground, a giant elevator hidden under their feet without even realizing it. The platform dropped deep into the earth before stopping, auto drill sergeants waiting for them at the bottom.

"Listen up! We will be starting testing immediately! We need everyone single file for each course here, so step up and show us what you can do! Company Alpha will be in one line, Company Bravo in another!" the lead soldier, a giant hulking trooper that sounded male, yelled out to all of them. The first course was the firing range nearby, bows, and crossbows already prepared for them to fire. "You will be sending three arrows and three bolts downrange at the targets in front of you! Step up one at a time!"

Dina somehow managed to be in the twelfth position, watching as others stepped up and tried to show what they could do. Some were quite good, hitting near the mark without much issue, others proved that they weren't a ranged class by missing the target entirely, hearing the plink of a bolt bounce off something hard. The automatons nearby simply watched and tracked the progress, instructing them to put down the weapons before leaving for the next course. "What do they expect from those who can't shoot a bow? Paladins don't fight from afar," Samuel whispered behind her.

"Wizards aren't at their best when they have to rely on a physical weapon, but we warriors of faith have a few things up our sleeves. Obviously, that wouldn't be a crossbow," Tyran replied.

"Exactly! What does this prove?"

"Probably to determine if someone is in the wrong field or if there is room for improvement," Nirgorn commented further back. "Maybe they're seeing who can do what? Where they need to help us learn? I don't need to be taught how to swing an axe; I've had enough training in the pits, thank you."

"Quiet, all of you! Discussions can be had after the courses have been completed!" an instructor shouted at them. Silence filled the air beyond the sound of arrows being let loose. Finally, it was Dina's turn. She stepped up, picked up the bow, and checked on the string. There was nothing special about the weapon, though it was well built. Everything felt sturdy and well maintained, something she expected to find in the hands of the empire. As she picked up an arrow and notched it, her eyes tracking the target in the back, she wondered if what got her here in the first place could be summoned up from within once more, to use to show off right now.

As she aimed the bow carefully, she tried to will whatever force had allowed her to kill so many assassins, and also destroyed her old bow in the process. Unfortunately, the first arrow loosed without any special effects altering it, though it did hit the yellow center zone. It wasn't perfect but definitely made a few of the other cadets whistle or look surprised. The second followed the first as she tried to keep target panic down, controlling her breathing as she aimed and fired. All three arrows hit the second circle, not quite striking perfectly center. She then swapped to the crossbow and followed a similar close grouping. The entire time, she tried to bring up whatever had allowed her to decimate a large swath of republic murderers down at the border. Nothing seemed to happen.

"Recorded. Return the weapon to the stand." The ranger couldn't figure it out, why she couldn't use whatever it was that supposedly produced such a display of force before. It was a disjointed ability that didn't want to come back after one use. Granted, this wasn't the time to be showing off, at least with something she didn't understand yet. She returned the crossbow to the stand and stepped back, waiting to be brought over to the next course while watching others step up. The elf that had flowed around her shoulder before took her place eventually at the range slot in Company Alpha, picked up the bow and fired without much time for drawing. Her arrow hit perfectly in the center, then another split it down the middle, then the third. Everyone seemed to gawk at the skill she had, watching as she picked up the crossbow and fired the same way, except the bolts hit in a triangle just on the outer line of the target to prove she could disable an enemy instead of killing them.

As she put the weapons back on the stand and adjusted both her skirt and her golden blonde braid draped over her shoulder, she gave a small curtsey and waited in the next line to move on. As she passed by Dina, the teenager piped up. "Nice shooting," she said with a smile, trying to make friends. After all, they were in this together now, all wanting to pass the tests. They needed to rely on each other in the future.

The elf ignored her words and seemed to whisper something as she walked by. "Poor form. Sloppy marksmanship. Laughable." The archer then walked away without another word, with the ranger gawking at her. The teenager couldn't figure if it was aimed at her or if the woman was just talking out loud.

I have no idea what or who that was aimed at. Did she mean me?

"Next course! Sword usage!" an instructor barked out. There wasn't enough time to sit on that thought. There were two days of challenges to go through without sleep, and they had just started.

Two Days Later, 10th, January/Two weeks in Camp Equinox

"Tell them no, they go through normal channels. I'm not dealing with them, that's what the council for each town and city is for, then it goes to the mayor, then provincial council. If it even makes it to my governors at all, it'll be a hell of a lot bigger than this little problem he's whining about. I don't see anyone unless they're royalty or have a damned good reason." Selene sat back in a chair, propping her chin on a fist while talking through a communication stone. They had started to become commonplace throughout the empire, allowing all government officials easy advice from each other. Not one was allowed to be connected to her network, excluding the kings and queens under her control. Even then, they still had to go through the proper channels.

"But, your majesty, he said he wouldn't see anyone else but you about his business," the mayor on the other side replied.

"Then he sees no one. I'm not changing one of my laws just because he can't play fair with the competition. Local laws can be semi added by you to assist in the development of the infrastructure in your area, not alter the economy for the benefit of one man. Otherwise, it gives too much of an edge. He gets no tax breaks."

"Your excellency, just this once? If he opens another shop here –" the man begged.

"What did I just say?" She interrupted icily.

"I'll… let him know immediately." The call ended as she growled in frustration. "Will, the call's over." Her chief of staff walked in and sat down next to her at the desk as she marked off things in her to-do list.

"That's one of the last for the day. It's getting pretty easy to turn down those beneath you, isn't it ma'am?" he asked.

"I swear, after the ball, some of the aristocracy think they can just buddy up with me as if they can slowly fall back into the old ways, and I'll just somehow go easy on them. Competition is healthy in an economy, it keeps it from stagnating. If they can't adapt to another company producing better quality tools, keep up with their taxes like everyone else or hire people with the proper pay, they need to cut their losses and either retire or get into another business. We're not going to prop up the fat slugs who think money will be thrown at them to keep their employees or work with corrupt policies; those people will just go find new jobs without much issue right now. God, that tax cut would have paid for the maintenance of that town's roads for a year!"

Will leaned back and clasped his fingers together on his abdomen. "Some believe special privilege will still prevail no matter what government comes into power." Selene rubbed the bridge of her nose due to a small migraine, a hand offering some tea to her by a maid as she tried to work through it. "Still getting those after that little project of Orlo's?"

"Ugh… I'm going to be a pill for the rest of the week if this keeps up. This was all to help unlock other tiers surrounding Steampunk." The member of Bronze Team had set up a psychological development appointment to help the woman try and add extra tech layers to expand the secondary branch she had developed so long ago. Before, she had access to Early, Late, Advanced, Super, and Space Steampunk Eras. Now, the empress had access to Clockpunk, Dieselpunk, Decopunk, Steelpunk, Atompunk, and Cyberpunk, with a few others added in. The goal of the project was to shift the empire officially into a punkesque future from here on out to go along with the program that Nikola and Grey had devised. The amalgamation of cherry-picked tech would officially allow the people to be Clockworkians, not just in name but in a real society built upon the quasi-magical science. It would streamline the whole process, creating a wholly unique culture that no one would ever see outside their borders.

The outcome was exactly what Selene needed, building a new list that she could use, with unlocking the subgenres not yet performed as the migraines could be compounded with the mass of knowledge from each tier flowing into her brain. When she first gained access to steampunk all those months ago, it didn't cause any pain. This was a forced add on, and her body made sure she knew it. The ruler had joked with Orlo that it felt as if she was unlocking DLC without paying for it and had to go through the headache of editing the code to work.

Beyond the ache in her head, Turnie gave her a clean bill of health. It was lasting for the past few days, making the dev very grouchy and trying to hide it, staying away from most "organic" subjects under her rule. The migraines were slowly going away, becoming easier to deal with and expected to dissipate completely by the end of the week. The only ones allowed near her for a few more days were Eve and the wolves, with Donovan and Melsia along with his son mostly restricted. All communications happened from a stone or not at all. The lights were kept dim to keep her eyes from hurting, and all automatons spoke to her with a binaural beat in the back of their voice that was calming. She was even wearing noise-canceling headphones when not talking to others. There was a unified command given to all automatons that restricted any order given by her to deconstruct themselves if they somehow pissed her off due to the circumstances.

"Can we check to see if the governor –" Selene started to groan out with a hand on her forehead, propping herself up on the desk as she fought through a pulse in her sinuses.

"He's working as intended. The communication stones aren't tracked like our network is, ma'am; there's bound to be some lapse in catching minor issues like this. I would say that equipment is a little buggy, even if they are magical in nature," Will told her. The signal from the mayor shouldn't have bypassed the provincial government and reached her ears. That proved even the makeshift telephone could be a little faulty at times. "Don't blame him, ma'am, they'll see about getting a filter in place for next time."

"Ugh… fine."

[[Selene: *Calling Morlanion Rikter* *Connected*]]

"Uh, yes, your majesty?"

[[Selene: Two things before I go back to not speaking to anyone. First, you are telling the recruits they can pass or fail the inspections? Why?]]

"Because… don't they need to pass them to become actual cadets? They have a chance for training and –"

[[Selene: They wouldn't have been picked for this opportunity. The inspections are there to determine what needs to be worked on, customizing future training for each cadet based on their class. What you called 'exams' are, in fact, exercises to see who can't work through any emotional baggage or personality issues, who can prove they can work as a team, letting us weed out the crap from the ones who can benefit the agency. There ARE psychologists prepared to assist them in breaking through any mental issues at the camp, Morlan. This leads to my next question: Why are you allowing personal trainers outside regular hours?]]

"Is… that a problem?" The older Rikter son questioned quietly.

"I… had wished to ask that as well, Morlanion," Elsei chimed in.

"Not you too, El…" he replied, a defeated tone in the background. "Your excellency, I… I thought it would help with teaching them some Martial Arts skills. I… I noticed that the training I've been receiving doesn't involve any of that."

The dev paused for a moment, the migraine causing her to delay a response along with the lightbulb going off in her mind. There was no training for Martial Arts abilities. None. Everything was for pure skill and drilling into someone the muscle memory to deal with a combat situation, the education and understanding to smooth out a diplomatic situation, or communicating with locals and using investigation techniques on whatever mission they were on. Tier magic could be taught by wizards at the academy, a warrior's special abilities couldn't without finding an instructor or creating them yourself. Morlan hadn't created every skill he used in a battle, some of it was taught by others before the empire took over. Archers would need to have explained to them how to fire multiple arrows at the same time and hit their targets, change them into elemental shots or cause disabling effects to an enemy. Swordsmen would need to understand how to hit various targets with a single strike, how to deflect multiple attacks with a shield, or even footsweep correctly without knocking themselves on the ground. The list kept going on, proving that the Rikter had done something she hadn't thought of yet.

[[Selene: Alright. I'll accept the second reason; however, you need to edit that speech. The only ones that get kicked out at that stage are the ones that actively act like assholes. You're going to scare half of the cadets into believing they're done for just because they don't know how to write in English or fight in a particular stance at the beginning. They have a chance to be something extraordinary, so don't make them panic and fail right before they start.]]

"I… my apologies, your majesty. I'll work on it. I… I'll admit the word used on the instructions you gave me I thought translated to 'exam,' not 'exercise.'"

[[Selene: Then you better talk to me if you're confused about something before you start mouthing to the people who will be under your command. That one word is going to cause them to piss their pants every time they screw up. *Call End*]]

Morlan seemed like a child being scolded suddenly as the line went dead, worried he had aggravated her. Part of what he heard coming from the other side of her communication channel was, in fact, anger and annoyance, but he wasn't the culprit. He was just the outlet for her aggression, which was why she wanted to isolate herself for a while and let the migraines go entirely away. He sighed in relief as he didn't need to be reprimanded anymore.

"I believe the term you would use to describe this is… 'having your balls placed on an anvil and beaten by a hammer?'" Elsei asked, confusing the words in a phrase used by humans.

"Actually, it's just 'she busted my balls' because of a misunderstanding," he replied. He looked as if he was slumping in surrender.

The empress on the other side of the cut line looked over at Will and rolled her eyes. "Now, isolation."

"You were rather harsh on him."

"If half of them accept defeat before they even get through basic, it'll mean he was the wrong choice for controlling the agency. It wasn't just Dina that had that gene section, there are others in that list that are descendants of players. How far gone they are we won't know until they can show their strengths and how far they can go. Scaring them into fumbling a weapon before they can focus on showing what they can do won't get him new agents."

The chief of staff picked up a pair of capsules, handing it to her as she thanked him for the medication. Pain relievers helped, as did suppression spells and psionics, but only so much. This seemed to be an internal issue that couldn't be escaped with a ton of medication, just time. Reliance on external inhibitors didn't seem like it would work, being more a mental problem that she had to get through. It was like her mind was contracted and needed to unwind, like a muscle spasm. "I got a chance to check the list for the courses. You altered Morlan's plan of training as well."

She sighed out while responding. "He wanted to use what we've given him, which he's still going through by the way, and add some random boring tournaments. I helped him with some old ideas."

"You added in a battle royale, deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, tower defense, a point capture mode, and I believe a MOBA like team clash system. This looks like an e-sports event."

Selene gulped the pills and looked at him with one eye. "It was a hell of a lot better than what he came up with. You also forgot incursion, warzone, heist, and horde mode, among others."

"I take it he isn't that great at coming up with interesting aspects for educational purposes?" Will queried, raising an eyebrow and smirking at her.

"He can lead, he can fight; he's eager to do what he needs to do, but coming up with a way to get others on his level is… it's not his forte. I never expected him to be an instructor, that's not the position I put him in. Believe it or not, those games are useful for getting them to understand new tactics and strategies they can take into the real training. This smooths the transition. I just hope no one yells out rush B…" She rubbed one of her temples and just tried to not focus on the pulsing ache until the medication activated.

I swear, if the mics in those arenas pick up Cyka Blyat without universal translation, I'm going to laugh my ass off.

"All the cadets have personal trainers paid for… all except Ranger Dina."

"I already planned for that, she got thrown in the deep end without a real chance to get everything together. Hopefully, she can show what she can do in an environment that should help her excel. I called in a favor from a friend at Skuld's academy. He just can't show up for another few days, had to get his course schedules altered to allow this." Both of their attention diverted to a holographic view of the space elevator, completing a shuttle drop off at the top. "Nice, the first shipment of shuttles is good to go."

"With that, Space Station Zero Zero One is ready to assist in the construction of sister sites above," Will commented quietly.

"That, and with their fabrication packages, they can speed up phase 3. Space Station Zero Zero One… not a great name for it, huh?" Selene replied, swapping to camera footage at the top of the elevator, markers popping up of the launches, and the starbases in the far distance. Rockets were still being launched for probes to reach other planets, fire and forget devices now exclusively for exploration and getting as much intel on the solar system. They'd place satellites, drop caches for future installations, then take off with a secondary engine and return. The mass drivers were now relegated to satellite coverage for their planet, able to do it efficiently without any issues. Communications sats were in orbit, not for her use, but to assist the new Einherjar converse when needed. Using the dev's {Communication is Key} channels every time in the future wasn't a viable option, it gave too many chances for them to attempt to dial her up just for the opportunity to talk. While she didn't need to answer, it would still be annoying, hence the new system going up.

The first station that they had now built was already getting the skeleton of the phase 3 structure expanded, with little other than the frame up and ready for additional modules to be connected to. The main design was a diamond split into eight pieces, connected by a latticework of transport beams and small shipyards. "You'll come up with a name eventually; there is still plenty of time before the gravity plate is installed," her second in command told her calmly. He was only partially right in that regard, trying to ease such a minor issue out the door even with phase 3 expected to be finished within three months due to the size. For anyone else attempting such a feat, ten years would be considered extremely fast. Any other nation, whether Earth or this world, would have gone through massive hurdles just to attempt something of its caliber, especially with political parties interfering and companies jockeying for contracts and failing to deliver. The Clockwork Empire had no such need for such antiquated blocks to advancing towards the future, no costs other than the resources used in the creation. They planned something out, they put it in motion.

"Yeah, I'll get to it eventually. It'll be finished before I know it, that's the problem. Now, what's next… the, the fleets that arrived in the south… have they made contact with the Seong Neow Republic?" she said, massaging her temples.

"They have, minor events that don't appear to be much of a concern, though it looks as if more ships are now arriving from overseas. They're building up their camps, starting to construct small forts instead."

"Well, that's not good. They're getting the idea to stay, at least longer than expected."

"Did you read the reports from the recon teams?"

"I have, not much of a defensive line against a concerted assault from any of their opponents, but easy to protect against a republic army," the empress replied, poking at a much smaller holographic projection on the desk. The undead force seemed to be the strongest at the moment, at least until the third fleet finally arrived tomorrow. Then… the skeletons would have some difficulty holding off such a strong 'scouting party' sent to figure out what was going on in her neck of the woods. If any of the new factions decided to just invade the Seong Neow Republic, there didn't seem like much they could do to fight back. Surveillance teams had tracked multiple relatively high-level troops in each camp, with the level 100s arriving on the 3rd fleet from the European shores. Their adversaries would need to up their game in order to somehow combat such a strong force… or request aid from their rulers. "We have recorded messages now, right?"

"Grey and his intelligence division have been tapping into the messages sent back and forth between all factions. The NPCs previously noticed are a part of a group from a 'Tomb of Nazarick,' controlling a place called the Sorcerer Kingdom. An Ainz Ooal Gown controls it; it is unknown what race he is, but given the undead presence, he may be mortally challenged and at least partially a necromancer as well."

Selene pulled up the report file on the desk, flipping the image up and floating in front of her. "They met a priestess, looked like a Miko or Kannushi. No harm to her?"

"Does it matter?"

"It does if we can discern how aggressive they are to the locals. If they don't care about who they murder, then we can consider them hostile if directly met. If not, then… I dunno."

Will adjusted his seating posture and leaned against the side of the leather chair he was in. "I thought you would be mentioning resurrection for those killed by them."

"Not about to waste resources on a country that technically doesn't like us right now, doesn't like anyone actually. There's also no guarantee they wouldn't raise her as undead. Any word on a second ambassador being sent?"

"Gala hasn't sent one, studying the etiquette closely and the reason the first failed. It seems part of the reason the shoguns were insulted is when our envoy decided to not give up the sidearm she had, per our tenants of never giving high-end weaponry to an inferior being outside of the empire."

"Aren't our weapons smart guns anyways?" The dev queried.

"They are, we put quite a bit of effort into making sure that all military supplies can't be used by anyone outside our government. They can't open our containers, use weapons, get in bunkers, deactivate mines, they can't even force their way into unmanned depots… the list goes on."

"Huh. I guess we're just being careful they can't somehow refuse to return the weapons back to the ambassador once she tried to leave."

The chief of staff reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose, a very human gesture he picked up when he got annoyed with some events that transpired. "That is the problem we are worried about. If it's super shiny, they want to keep it because it's more than likely worth more than anything they have, or it's some magical artifact they don't normally have access to and believe it will make them stronger. It gets old." The idea of even one pistol being considered a game-changer worth more than a king's ransom to another nation confused the automatons. Gold and platinum to them were resources for construction, not trade. They understood why a treasury was needed but didn't like the idea of using some random circular object to buy goods. Will had recently made his stance clear on believing an eventual removal of a physical currency economy would be useful for the empire. Paying citizens with precious metals just to get them to work seemed like an antiquated system, where greed could still take hold. Just looking at the Church of the Golden Faith added evidence to his case. The main issue was trying to work up something that didn't need to be physical, but was fair and could be slowly integrated.

He also had a personal belief that all weapons needed to be removed from the civilian's hands. Rapiers had become the new norm with the well to do, just to show they had the wealth to carry one. Old long swords or broad swords were being smelted down, the jewels and gold reused for other items to display their lavish lifestyle. Akuchi, the Secretary of Commerce, believed if they eventually introduced a form of Clockpunk now that Selene could unlock it, they'd replace the rapiers with wind up watches on their wrists, top hats with a built-in light, high heels for women that had smart pressure panels inside to make it easy to walk around. If it became chic, then just about anything could nudge out whatever the people wanted to carry around. Nikola had expressed disdain for how fashion changed so quickly, believing they were easily swayed like sheep. While the empress wanted to snap at him for that, she somewhat understood what he was saying. Even she couldn't keep up with the fashions that were cropping up.

However, the butler Cameron kept a close watch on who was wearing what throughout the empire, sending data to Jeeves for new dresses. Whenever the dev needed to go out, crowds would be there to see what she'd be wearing. "The shogun that threw the ambassador out, it wasn't a monkey, was it?" the empress questioned.

"One of them was. The others were a tiger, wolf, lizard, and rabbit. All were type 1 on the morphic scale." That meant they were mainly human with some animal characteristics, possibly had a tail even. The Clockwork government had to start tagging anthropomorphs with their scale designation due to not having it in reports would cause confusion when explaining who someone was or what to expect when meeting them. Type 1 was near-human, Type 5 was a talking animal. Everything in between was a varied blob of fur or skin. They were theorizing that Type 1s were considered the higher caste. In comparison, the Type 5s were considered the poor talking animals that seemed to like the idea of sneaking off to the empire and becoming new citizens. Even Gazi had admitted a few were now appearing in his kingdom, though they were still quite rare.

Selene popped her eyebrows up for just a moment in response, swapping to other data on the desk. "Ok, well, if we can, we can, if we can't, we can't. Gala can watch for an opening in the future. Now, where was I with all of this…" she asked with a slight sigh heard in her voice. The woman stretched her right arm at the shoulder, hanging it out as if it was being carried, then tapped through the next set of reports, checking on the rest of her schedule. Juliet wanted to meet with her to have an in-depth discussion on how to build the future cities, on the ground, air, and water. Grey was already dropping propaganda for the citizens, riling them up with the hype that they'd get to see something unveiled that would be massive eye-openers. If they knew that they could get the chance to live in one of them, have a new home with modern amenities if they just treated their fellow citizen with understanding and gained a higher education, most would swarm the schools or beg for the 'enlightenment vacation' that wasn't ready yet.

Just then, Eve opened the door and slowly walked in, looking around and finally locking her little eyes on her mother. Dahlia was right behind her as the girl ran to the side of the desk and tugged on the empress's sleeve. "What's up, munchkin, finished with school today?" her mother cooed as she closed her desk system down and glanced at the child.

"Uh-huh."

"What'd you learn today?" The dev turned and clasped her hands together, trying to engage with her daughter and hide the discomfort the migraine gave her.

"I learned… multiplication?" Eve said, looking at Dahlia for confirmation that was what she had been taught. Selene blinked long and hard at hearing that, realizing she was further along than most six-year-olds would be. "And… I learned how to make a times table. Uh… I got to try… division, too?" her tutor nodded at her and smiled, the chopsticks in her dark blue bun seen as she did so. "And… I learned some new big words. Trans… tran… transformation? And… prof… profession. There were others, but… those were easy to remember."

"Multiplication! Wow! You think you understand it well enough?" her mother questioned.

"I think so. Do I?" Eve looked back at her tutor again.

"She has a good grasp of it; we just need to expand on it tomorrow," the battle maid responded. That told the empress her little girl was possibly about to surpass most citizens in the empire within the next few days, at least with mathematics. There were no grades given, Dahlia would continue with the same course until Eve had a firm understanding of what needed to be taught. Obviously, there were no other students to worry about, so they could spend as much time on a given subject as required.

Her mother gave the six-year-old a gentle pat on the head lovingly. "Did you have lunch already?" Selene asked as the girl's long white hair was ruffled a little. The princess shook her head and giggled. Her tutoring only lasted the early hours, having a much more efficient education plan with interactive courses to keep the child interested in learning. The 'classroom' had holographic walls and floors, letting her instructor build full-sized dioramas they could walk around in to see everything. A separate automaton band was recording background music to emphasize each scene, depending on what was shown. The remainder of the day was used for other activities. The main focus was math, English, different languages, science and alchemy, and an hour of Q&A where Eve could just ask questions about anything. History was on a need to know basis, for the time being, not wanting to scare the child with the idea demons nearly flooded the world only a few months ago. "Ok, why don't you head down to eat, and… I'll catch up?"

"Can we play today?" Eve asked, hoping her mother could find time in her day to do something with her. The entire week was packed with meetings, including the official signing of Tal Salunbal secretly integrating into the Clockwork Empire. Gazi was going to come with Emira, who was furious he hadn't talked to her before making the joke. He was begging for Selene to talk some sense into his wife and not have him sleep on a couch.

"Oh, I… tomorrow, honey, I guarantee tomorrow."

"Okay…" the child seemed dejected at hearing that, looking down at the floor for a moment.

The empress winced at seeing her like that, but the chance of the little girl squealing during playtime might cause worse migraines. "Why don't you… try out your new bicycle?"

Her daughter looked up suddenly, excited to get a chance to learn how to ride. It still had training wheels, and she didn't exactly have the balance just yet or grasp how to steer effectively, but it was still fun. "Can I?"

"The gym has enough space for you inside. I promise I'll spend a bunch of time with you tomorrow, ok?"

"You promise?"

"Pinky swear." The empress put out her pinky, letting her the girl wrap her own around it.

"Jungle gym?" Eve put out, hoping Selene would accept that as an activity.

Her mother smiled at her and sighed. "Sure. You want to do pirates and navy again?"

"Yeah!" the kid nodded quickly. Usage of the hologram pods on a wooden mockup of a frigate for a naval ship battle was the kid's favorite right now, akin to a virtual reality game. Even being so young, her daughter was a bit adventurous, enjoying fighting with a toy sword or small gun. It wasn't that she was becoming a tomboy, however, as the ship itself had to be pink, the fake cannons had to be lime green which fired confetti, and Eve tended to have small tea parties before the battle while wearing a pirate hat. The princess had standards. Those standards also went for her mother, having to wear a pirate hat when drinking fake tea as well.

"Gotcha. Now, go get something to eat, I'll trail behind in a little bit." Selene gave Eve a kiss on her forehead then watched the girl follow the maid out of the office. "The rest of the agenda isn't immediately pressing, is it?"

"We'll clear your schedule for today. Giles is coming to meet with you involving updating the blacksmith guild to new eras sometime this week, bringing it into the future. That won't happen until the experience project is completed, but the basic layout can be finished. You have a request for that interview from Delfie again, which you keep putting off. At the end of today, you have time set aside for using the orb to get closer to level 500. There are also minor offers on the table for you to check," Will told her. She wanted to test if there was a restriction at that level, keeping her from going further. The highest level she knew of in Divine Apocalypse was a player at 2,946, almost six times what the dev was trying to reach. That would be proof that there was a barrier quest she needed to complete.

"Offers?"

"Three invitations for dinner at respective wealthy family estates, one offer of courtship… some requests for the opening ceremonies of certain statues, some artists wish to paint your portrait."

"Uh… for the first three that's a no thank you, for the fourth not a chance in hell, for the ceremonies it depends on if it involves memorials or not, and finally, I'm not sitting for eight hours in one spot for someone to build a reputation as the court artisan. That's just asking for a slew of torture I don't need in my life. If they want, a holographic decoy can be placed on a chair, and they can paint that, but that's as far as it goes."

"For the first three, worried they won't cook things well enough?" her chief of staff asked jokingly.

"I doubt they'd be able to hold a conversation that didn't involve me having more knowledge about the subject matter right now. That's not ego talking either; the tech tiers I have, the reports and information I get from all of you… I outgun even the rich and famous right now in what is known in the empire."

"Do you have all the juicy gossip about a particular person's hair or wardrobe, their scandalous outings in the middle of the night? Who is starring the lead role in a play, or who they are dating?" he quipped back.

"I'd be bored out of my mind and leave on the spot if they resorted to any of that. Besides, I'm probably going to take the injection ARC is whipping up for elementary level education."

Will raised his eyebrows. "Ma'am, don't you already have a degree?"

"Two, I double majored. Still, some things aren't exactly covered in all schools, depending on where you lived. Not to mention some things you forget. I'd rather not say this in public, but there are a few areas of expertise that I'm not as fluent in compared to a fifth-grader, same as other adults. Most of the injection might be useless if it's custom-designed for each tier of education, but it'll fill in the gaps for me."

"Well, beyond those small notes of insignificance, another town is acting rather prejudicial towards other races. They aren't trying to get slaves per se, but instead raising costs for anyone that isn't human, almost forcing them into debt. Then, the mayor is allowing indentured servitude."

"Fuck. That. Noise. Donovan put clauses in the anti-slavery laws that forbid just that. Paid servants are allowed, provided the contract allows the person or contractor to cancel employment at will. Raising costs due to someone's skin color is also forbidden, the Double Standards Act we put in place expressly makes that illegal, preferential treatment is only offered from companies with memberships that provide discounts that are clear and concise. Are these people stupid or just don't read what they are allowed to do?"

"I think they're looking for loopholes in what we have in place. The revisions we send out are more than likely being ignored, with those ignorant thinking it's the same thing as what was read to them beforehand." Will looked up at the ceiling, ready to speak again. "The governor already sent in security to deal with the situation, locked the place down, and got everything under control. Looks like they'll need a new mayor voted in, assuming the rest of the people don't keep acting as if they can stomp all over someone else just because they are different. It's going to be an ongoing problem until these generations die off."

Selene pushed her bangs back with one hand and blew air out of her mouth. "Oy… census report had a detailed analysis of who may have that outlook in the empire. Something like 51% is perfectly fine with new races joining, 24% hate it, the remaining 25% don't really care."

The automaton looked down at her and chuckled. "Did you read the other data thrown in there? They were very in-depth on what was asked, along with body behavior and tonal inflection tracking."

The empress groaned. "Sort of, I kind of skipped some of it as the report was like 2800 some odd pages in length. I was flying to the White Palace when I was focused on it, then forgot to finish. Can I get the cliff notes?"

"Yeah. 74% are happy you're in charge, 19% don't care unless you cause them to lose their way to support their families or some other thing, 7% hate your guts. If we put that into perspective, out of 13 million people, that's less than a million who wish for you to up and die."

"Well, that less than a million can go eat a big old bowl of dicks. I'm here for the long haul. If they start anything, let the governors know they have the authorization to neutralize those who cause a ruckus. Give them a chance to wise up with some FYI pamphlets, or they get the big bat."

"So, if that less than a million cause problems, you're allowing it to be wiped out from the rest of the population?" Will asked with a smirk. Grey had advised in a recent response that extermination of some dissenters just acting like trolls would be healthy for the empire, like pruning dead limbs that were sapping resources from those that required them. The old ways of thinking, acting towards others, it needed to stop. While the aristocracy was almost entirely now on the empress's side, the upper echelon wasn't most of the citizenry. Even the rest of the populace had many frown upon those who decided to act entitled. The idea that a 'Karen' was allowed to treat another in such a disrespectful way intentionally was being weaned out from her subjects, slowly but surely.

"Damn straight. I'm not going to be playing nice with those who need a whip cracked on them for treating others poorly. You want to be a giant douche, do it quietly. If my government has to get involved, even the lower tiers of it, someone is getting their ass kicked. Now, I'm going to go eat lunch with my daughter, and none of the idiots in the empire are going to cause problems we aren't going to address quickly."

Selene stood up as Will did the same, following her out as he observed how she dressed now. The militaristic dress suit she wore during the ball had worked its way into her standard wardrobe, with a few other intimidating garbs alongside it. The monocle was now an extra piece of jewelry she tended to have with her whenever she needed to meet anyone outside the castle. There were very few fluid dresses, or other fashionable, feminine clothes meant for what everyone thought an empress should look like. There was to be respect given, not pure adoration, or thinking she was supposed to be prim and pretty on a throne. That same view needed to be shared by leaders outside their borders. Piss the Clockwork Empire off and get smacked down in response. For the time being, inside the castle, it was hoodies and t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers.

Erilyn came out of her guest quarters and posed for her ruler, a new admiral's uniform customized for her. While the dev didn't have much of a problem with her style, in public, she was required to wear something not as revealing as the blouse that looked as if it would burst open at any point due to her bust. There was, unfortunately, a boob window added in, though the empress didn't seem to care. The pink-haired woman would be, technically, the only organic person on whichever flagship she had. If the admiral wanted to walk around naked, it wasn't as if it would directly interfere with duties onboard.

"Hi, empress! Oh, right… uh…" Erilyn seemed to be doing a beckoning handwave to Selene, thought better of it, then stood up straight and tried to salute with a smile and a wink. "Thank you for allowing me to serve in the Clockwork Navy!"

"Uhuh. You uh… you've started your training, right?" The dev questioned with a raised eyebrow. She didn't know this woman as well as Mayor Mia did, though she did come recommended highly by the girl.

"I have! I was just going down to check on the shipyard right now. I'm… I'm getting taught how to use a… a…"

"A patrol boat, yes."

Erilyn seemed a little confused. "But… I thought I'd get a chance to –"

"Get on an aircraft carrier? You have to learn to walk before you can run, and I'd rather not have a ship of that class get run aground during training. The patrol boat will teach you the basics, then you can move forward."

"But… y-your majesty, I already know how to –"

"You know how to sail, and command a crew of 300, you don't know how to work an advanced ship that can reach 100+ knots, act as a command platform that launches fighters or bombers, or runs amphibious assault operations and helo drops." The admiral hesitated then surrendered, bowing to the empress as she realized… that was extremely fast compared to what she was usually on, and she had no idea what any of that stuff was. A carrier hauling towards a destination on a mission with the rest of its escorts was a sight to behold. A sailing ship, even an Artinian battleship, was no match against that at a measly 6 – 9 knots. Supposedly, the patrol boats could exceed that. "I'm not giving you control of something until I can get verification you can handle it. When I hear from the instructors you can move up to a larger ship, grasp everything that can be slung at you then control multiple ships at the same time, that's a heads up that they believe you can do it with the data we receive."

"Um… y-yes ma'am! Sir! Your majesty! Uh…" Erilyn seemed to stutter out the words in acknowledgment. Selene facepalmed, realizing this 'admiral' had the title because of her father, with no actual professional military training. The pink-haired woman had a knack for the water, had a knack for getting crews to do their jobs, had a knack for strategy and tactics on the open seas. It seemed weird at first, but the idea of giving a title to someone in Artinia because they were socially adept was almost standard; whether they could actually do the job, that was a different subject. As the dev continued down the hallway, the trainee behind piped up one last time.

"Uh, ma'am! I'll work hard! I promise!"

"Your majesty should suffice," the empress responded over her shoulder with a nonchalant wave with her right hand. The admiral seemed to slump, almost pouting at the fact the empire's leader didn't seem to think much of her. She had to prove her experience on the open seas was worth bringing her to the castle, not just because she was friends with the ex-princess of Artinia. Erilyn flexed her arm and grabbed her bicep, ready to double down and learn as much as she could. She'd get that fleet, one that showed everyone she knew precisely how to defend the empire in any ocean. It wouldn't take long, especially with the secret project bearing fruit by Nikola.

Meanwhile

Ainz teleported to the lead ship with Albedo at his side, Cocytus following quickly after. CZ2128 Delta was brought along for support reconnaissance and sniping duty in the event more scouts from other nations showed up. They were also bringing an army of lizardmen with them, though they were not as strong as the undead soldiers he could have marched through the magical gates. It was because Yuri had provided information that the nation she was in, the Seong Neow Republic, was filled with animal folk of varying shapes and species. Having troops escort him into a meeting with those of similar ilk might make it easier to deal with those in power.

"Ainz-sama, perhaps it would be wise if you allowed me to join you in this endeavor. If you intend to speak with –" Demiurge started to speak as he bowed, staring at the deck of the ship they had landed on. There was one hour for the archdevil to leave before teleportation would not work anymore, restricted by the as yet unknown force on this new land.

"If these people follow in the same footsteps as those we tried to assist before, I wish to not lead them astray with lies and deception. It will make it that much easier to gain their trust and receive a close ally for my efforts."

"Eventually culminating in an extension of the Sorcerer Kingdom in this continent… I see… I see…" The red-suited man pushed at the bridge of his glasses, smirking. The plan that was constructing itself in his mind seemed brilliant in many ways; the problem was that most of it would have made absolutely no sense to Ainz. Many of the guardians still believed he wished to rule the world, biding his time with other leaders to stop the northern enemy coming for all of them, defeat it, then pick off everyone else until he alone reigned supreme. His own plans in his head weren't anywhere near as convoluted.

This is as close as I get to exploring a new land these days, meeting the people that live there, seeing unique locations, and fighting new enemies. It's almost the equivalent of an expansion or large patch. For this one time, I would think saving one of the Total Maniacitems would be useful. Of course… screaming my head off because of crazy things happening might not be the best choice of action in front of the guardians. Perhaps I should have Pandora's Actor… never mind, the chances of it backfiring are far too high.

The overlord walked towards the small captain's cabin as Demiurge teleported away, the lizardmen finding hammocks inside the crew quarters below deck and unrolling bedding. Some of them had Powered Suits brought with them, mecha designs for those who were considered low level. It would be useless against one of the champions from the north if they showed up, but he already knew that it would require either Albedo or Cocytus to fight one of those. Amanomahitotsu was smart to have left a few of them in the treasury, even if they weren't that powerful. Having an adventurer or even Zaryusu Shasha wear one helped in key battles back in the kingdom. Those minor leaders were left behind, holding key fortresses against that which they couldn't seem to stop.

Ainz had wished the weapons on them weren't magical in nature, with more potent ammunition that could bypass defenses and were variable in capability. Sadly, they weren't designed like a real mecha's, only looking like one; the firing mechanisms were more akin to a rapid-fire crossbow than a real rifle. The mecha were added in to bring players to Yggdrasil, as the popularity of those games were huge at the time. The Heavy Machine Gun didn't really harm anything beyond a level 80, which was difficult to discern who was equal to that tier, excluding one of the dead-eyed champions. The rounds also drained mana from the user. The alchemists and rune crafters in the Sorcerer Kingdom had a chance to look over the equipment, unable to replicate or improve on the designs at all. Not having a dedicated R&D division for hard science was tough going, especially when most of the people who showed promise were completely clueless outside of alchemy. The laws of physics were unknown when magic had the power to override it usually. When magic was interfered with…

Still, the effect of even a team of suit wearers on clearing critical ranks of soldiers fighting to take over his kingdom was well worth any maintenance needed. This told him that the average swordsmen, archer, or catapult team were under level 80 usually, minus the captains.

"Ainz-sama, are you ready to depart?" Albedo questioned as he looked out towards the endless sea. He looked towards her, and it suddenly struck him; this was going to be a long trip with her in an enclosed space. He hoped she could somehow keep herself under control and himself busy enough to be left alone. The leader in charge of Nazarick when he was away was all too happy to stand with him for the trip overseas, practically hopping on the balls of her feet and knowing she was going to be in the captain's cabin with him.

*Groan* Someone save me. I have no idea how to keep her hands off me in there.

"Take us forward." The ruler of the Sorcerer Kingdom walked into the open doors of the captain's cabin and sat behind the desk near the rear of the ship, staring out as he watched the ocean waves outside.

12th, January/ Four weeks in Camp Equinox

"EXERCISE COURSE END." A blaring alarm went off to inform everyone that the knockout effects for the combat arena had disabled with a cleansing pulse, anyone who was incapacitated slowly able to move once again. Dina cursed herself as she lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling of the massive room and wondered what she did wrong. Her new team had kept things mostly under control, it was the others that seemed to have difficulties meshing well and not going off on their own, being led out like sheep to a slaughter. This was their first large scale battle, a 'team deathmatch' as it was called.

The ranger slowly sat up and groaned from the impact she made on the ground, shifting as her quiver was bent from the hit she took. Any wounds sustained were supposed to be from the environment, with quite a bit of it padded or soft to keep them from getting hurt. All weapons used had an interesting magical effect that they had never thought could exist, not even the wizards who were part of either side in these massive training battles. It was called [Phantasmic], which altered how the lethal elements of the weapons interacted with a person. The physical aspect was effectively removed, with daggers looking as if they had stabbed into someone's chest and only causing a disabling effect. Dina herself was disabled by an arrow fired from… somewhere. She somehow knew who it was, almost as if she had her targeted from the beginning.

Jadzia walked by as the dark elf rotated her wrist around, lasting until the end. "We'll get them next time. It was the first test with other teams." Dina slammed her fist against the floor in annoyance and slowly got up with a helping hand from Tyran.

"She really has it out for you, doesn't she?" Samuel commented as he checked to make sure none of the pages in his magical tome were bent. The elven archer walked quickly to return her bow to the weapons locker and left without a word to her team, keeping silent as much as possible.

Another cadet on their side walked by and glared at Dina. "How the hell do you just stand there and get hit? What the hell? Good job, losers." Jadzia balled her hand into a fist as he stormed away, pissed that he was taking out the entire 'faction's' loss on them. Her leader just sighed and put his hand on her shoulder, shaking his head.

"Don't be so surprised; it's natural to target anyone else ranged during these large team battles. Remember the basic instructions? Healers first, caster second, ranged next, then paladins or specialized melee. The rest… well…" Tyran replied. "She should consider herself special if Dina was one of the first to be shot at. Porin was an arrow magnet at the beginning. This is why we were told there was a holy trinity of the tank, healer, and damage to keep each other safe." It didn't make the ranger any happier hearing that, but there was at least some small comfort in the fact she was considered dangerous enough for the first few shots. "Hey, can I… talk to you?" the paladin asked her as he poked her shoulder. The arrow that should have been sticking out of her chest had fallen away, no physical tip to actually find a point to stay wedged in.

"Uh… yeah." The teenager followed the older man away from the team as they got off the elevator for the bunks, still not receiving the personal quarters that they were promised for becoming official Einherjar. That meant they were still being tested even after all of this time being here. As they went around a corner, Tyran turned around and leaned in, making Dina let out a small yelp of surprise.

Is he…

"I need to talk about your Martial Arts… or… lack of them," he tried to say quietly as he leaned against the wall above her head. She settled down in relief, always believing he acted like a big brother. Then it hit like a wagon full of logs. "I know you aren't able to use your hawk in there for all the previous exercises, or specialty ammunition, but…"

The design of the exercises was to restrict certain aspects for those who were unfamiliar with them. Each test they went through restricted flight from being used, reserved for official agent training. Each exercise they took during the past few weeks was incredible, with one called "capture the flag" that they had done recently with six versus six, then twelve versus twelve. Unfortunately, more often than not, any side Dina and her new friends were on tended have difficulty without special arrow tips in use. In two weeks, there would be the first exam for "Capture Points," more than likely checking to see how well they functioned spread out and having to protect critical locations with limited resources. Every cadet still thought they were being watched for their inability to fight in certain situations. They were only partially right.

"I… don't know any…" she meekly whispered out to him. His eyebrows raised in surprise at hearing that. The paladin just blinked at her, wondering if she was lying. She wasn't. Everything she did in the past was either enchanted arrow tips, magical, or enhanced items… and careful marksmanship. It didn't make sense to him for a ranger. That class should be proficient in ranged, melee, pets, and self-sufficiency. Then again, he didn't know all the details of every class out there. Most people's view of a ranger in Artinia was a unique archer that tended to have some creature to help out.

"Wait, you… you don't know any? None at all? What about your hawk? You said you look through its eyes."

"I had a bracer that let me do that."

"Swapping to multiple types of arrows?"

"Bottom of the quiver has a storage bauble that I'd dip the arrow shaft into, with a smaller one attached to the same bracer."

Tyran's mouth dropped a little, realizing she knew nothing beyond her own skills. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be enough against what they kept fighting against. The tests were against each other almost every time, with even a teamless "battle royale" competition at the beginning. The problem right now was she didn't have any special abilities to use against anyone else. He now wondered if she was targeted because she was just weaker than the rest, getting the teenager out of the way quickly before she could become a nuisance. "We need to get you a personal instructor. We'll see what we can do to pool our funds." Just as he turned around to leave, she grabbed his arm.

"It's not that I don't know how to use some… I just can't."

"Wait, what? I don't under –"

"It's always been like this since I left my village so long ago, during a bandit raid. I just… I can't seem to use Martial Arts. Something about me just won't allow it. I've tried. Elsei even attempted to show me one… couldn't get it to work."

The leader of their team was confounded on what to say. "Maybe… maybe you just had bad instructors before… they didn't make it easier to learn the intricacies or… maybe you weren't ready yet. I mean… you are still young."

"I'm sixteen. There are candidates here who are fourteen and have a broad list to use."

Tyran sighed and looked away, a complete loss for words. "We'll figure something out. Just…" he looked back at her to see she was staring at the ground. "Don't give up."

"I'm a drag on the team. It wasn't like this before I got here."

"Hey, don't think like that. We just… need to try something different."

Dina looked up at him and took a deep breath, nodding at him. He saw some resolve rising, but there was definitely turmoil seen in her eyes. She didn't want to be kicked out, but it was looking more and more apparent now that he knew what was happening. Both of them walked towards the cafeteria towards the rest of the party. "Did you… did you know any martial skills before… before your village was… was…"

"I think I knew one, at least I thought I did. My mother was a pretty good archer, though she tended to hide it."

"So you learned a lot from her. My father was a respected warrior, taught me quite a bit about using a mace or cudgel. Never much liked a sledgehammer, though a war hammer felt right in my hands. So… you left your village after that, I see…" They reached the doors to an open-faced bunker, surveying the large room with a hundred tables. A line had formed at the main buffet, with each candidate picking through a wide assortment of foods.

"Didn't have many choices. The place was burned down, my mother and father had my sister take me on a carriage with other refugees towards Silvinholm. I never saw them again, got lost, and never found my sister again."

"Were the bandits attacking at that point?"

Dina furrowed her eyebrows. "I… don't remember. I was really young then, some details are fuzzy."

Both of them got in line with trays, slowly working their way down to the main courses. "I'm… sorry for your loss."

"It's alright, I made my peace."

"Do you… have anything to remember them by?" he asked as he picked up a muffin, an automaton chef on the other side placing new ones down to push forward. There was never anyone starving in the camp, they all got their fill to better fight later. Once the exercises were completed for the day, mental drilling in the classrooms was held. Some of the cadets were falling asleep during explanations that seemed crucial to their survival. One question prepared for them looked to be an inkblot test with a simple question of 'what does this look like to you?'

"Just an amulet I can't wear into the arenas. I have to either stash it in my bunk or put it in my pocket. I keep it close at hand, let's me remember being a kid before all of this." The ranger pulled the jewelry out, a small pendant with a surprisingly large teardrop sapphire in the middle. It was slightly glowing with small green veins of what they both could only figure was pure magic.

"That… doesn't look like anything you can get in a shop… who was your mother?" Tyran questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"I, I dunno. I just… I don't have an answer for that. We lived in a small village, and I don't believe her name was well known far and wide." Dina had a dumb grin pop up on her mouth as she remembered everything taught to her. "She used to tell me stories about heroes and events involving epic battles. Funny, now that I think about it, I don't really know if any of the lands she mentioned were nearby… and I don't know who the names of the heroes were that she told me of." Her brow furrowed now that she thought about what her mother whispered to her before bed.

"None of them from Artinia?"

"None."

"She must have moved here and settled down with your father at some point, didn't like how another kingdom acted. That's a… scary thought actually…" Tyran told her. "Another nation worse than Artinia…"

"I couldn't tell you honestly. She didn't talk much about her own past, seemed to hide it for the most part."

Porin pointed at both of them, ready to chime in on the conversation. "Half the villages that started up only lasted so long. Most are burnt to cinders now. May the gods give them peace after everything that has happened."

"Of course. May the families that are left behind find solace in the fact that they are not suffering," Tyran told him quietly.

Jadzia looked at all of them as she ate. "Not all of them stayed dead. I've heard the empire has these… these things that they emplace in towns. They resurrect those who have lost their lives without priests nearby. I… think they have to get there quickly before the demons did something to the corpses, or were turned into undead."

Dina picked up her cup and decided to comment on that. "I've seen that firsthand at Silvinholm. It isn't magic."

"You think they could do the same to the long lost in locations the demons didn't reach?" Tyran asked her.

"I'm not the one to ask that question to, I don't have a clue how most of that works."

Samuel looked at Jadzia and waggled his eyebrows. "You think her majesty could use those things for some of the mass graves that the mad king made –"

The paladin lightly smacked his shoulder. "Don't start with that. There was no evidence that states he did any of it."

"He's dead, Tyran! He caused the demon war, and he's dead! He caused a lot of things; may he seep through every layer of hell and have his bollocks nailed to his forehead!" the caster scooped up another forkful of food and shoved it in his mouth, staring at his leader with annoyance in his eyes.

"He could have stopped many bandit raids on towns and hamlets in the past, yet he didn't," Porin muttered out. The group fell silent and kept eating as the same elven archer walked by with her own tray to sit at another table… alone. Dina noticed her and wondered where the party she usually was in had sat. The priest tracked where the ranger was looking and shook his head. "Don't let her get to you, revenge is not worth the effort."

"What? Uh, no, I wasn't thinking that. I just… never mind."

Once they finished eating, the team headed towards the classrooms to be given basic instruction in reading comprehension and map topography. Some of it was complicated, though that was because they didn't have a standard education just yet. After class, Tyran led the team out towards the library, but Dina didn't follow. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"You guys go on ahead, I… I wanted to get some practice at the range."

The paladin sighed and looked at the others. She was trying hard to keep up with them, even without Martial Arts. All he could do was nod and watch her head down to fire arrows at a target for the next few hours. There had to be something he could do to help out, he just didn't know what just yet.

As Dina descended downward and reached her locker, a figure could be seen at the other doorway. She jumped as her eyes landed on the man. "You scared me."

"My apologies, young lady, I didn't mean to do that one bit." As the figure walked forward into the light, her heart skipped a beat.

"You're… you're… General Falksworthy…" she stammered out.

"Professor now. I don't hold a rank."

The ranger glanced over her shoulder for a moment, checking to see if he was here to see someone. "Are… are you here to see how everything is going?"

"Actually, you and I have something to talk about." Antoine stepped forward, his cane clinking on the floor as he sat down on a bench. He looked up at her and smiled. "I've been asked to become your instructor until after stage one exercises have finished." Dina's jaw dropped. The man was a legend, even taught Morlanion to become the hero he is now. There wasn't a battle he didn't win, not once could an enemy break his defenses. "I noticed you don't seem to use Martial Arts during exercises. Let's see if we can rectify that."

Tyran! You told others! What the… wait, how? That's… wha? How the hell did that information travel so fast? Oh! He observed the battle! I didn't expect there to be anybody besides… well, they did say we'd be watched, I just thought it was those metal soldiers doing it…

"I… I can't afford you. There's no way. You probably cost a hundred platinum for a week!" the teenager yelped out.

Falksworthy chuckled at that. "I don't believe I'm worth that much. The academy pays a platinum per year for me, but then again, I never need to buy basic necessities. Food, clothing, supplies, all of it handled by the headmistress. Besides lass, I'm free for this, requested by a special someone you don't ignore. You might know her as the empress of this nation."

Meanwhile

(Recommended Song: Sam Tinnesz – Man or a Monster (feat. Zayde Wølf))

Ainz stood on the deck of the vast flagship watching the stars in the dark of night, seeing the twinkle and flash of the tiny specks glimmering with the occasional glance towards the moon. It was quiet on board, with some incredible luck of having Albedo stay in the cabin on his bed. She seemed intent on somehow making the trip a small cruise vacation, complete with a wide assortment of lingerie brought with her to entice him. He, on the other hand, seemed distant, as if something was bothering him but couldn't show it.

He remembered times like this long ago, back when Ainz Ooal Gown wasn't a guild, it's predecessor still in its infancy. In their hay day, his friends would explore everywhere with him, ignoring what other heteromorphs did which was cowering in the far reaches of worlds the humanoids didn't reach, trying to find those perfect artifacts or learning about new areas, new monsters to fight. Knowledge was power in Yggdrasil, and knowing something before others did was an advantage. Now, he just wanted to ride once more with them at his side, sailing before he had access to large scale teleportation magic. Touch Me was with him, keeping him company as they sought to find Atlas, their first World-Class Item. They weren't really heading in the right direction, but they did find clues as to where to go during the voyage.

"If the road is harsh, it is only natural to take your sword and help."

Ainz looked around after hearing that phrase in his head, feeling as if his friend was still standing next to him. His mind appeared to be playing tricks on him… or his conscience, what he thought was the last of it screaming for him to change.

He would have scolded me for what I'm doing right now, conquering nations and enacting devious plans to topple governments. Yamako would too.

His memory was slightly foggy about what had happened before, but it was slowly coming back to him as he reminisced over the trips he had back when the guild was Nine's Own Goal. The fight that Touch Me and he had when they found the location of that World Class Item was incredible, being ambushed by another team searching for it. His friend never gave up on him when he was low on mana, still finding the best fit for his spells and skill set. The paladin was a beast on the battlefield, always coming to defend another of the small guild they had, pitching in where possible. The only restriction was the schedule he had to work.

During that time, Ainz remembered Flatfoot and Ancient One also setting out for another land in hopes of finding the same thing, eventually meeting up at the last second when Touch Me looked as if he couldn't take another hit. The entire adventure took a couple of days, with his friends having small vacations set aside for just this endeavor. It meant a lot for all of them to gel together and show they were a close, if tiny, guild. The overlord wanted to chuckle as he remembered scraping enough coin up for the expedition, supplies, and scheduling everyone's time off just for this one chance. Even the event of Flatfoot not knowing how to stop the ship they had commandeered and ramming it into the enemy's made him want to laugh, but it was canceled as quickly as he started when the inhibitor activated.

"Good news, my friends! The enemy will not live to see the next day! Also bad news! I cannot stop the ship!"

Flatfoot nearly was PKed towards the end, but they finally laid claim to the location of Atlas, even if they hadn't yet gained ownership of the artifact or knew what it was. They had a small camp that night congratulating themselves over the achievement, controlling the territory, and having free reign to search wherever they pleased, feeling as if they finally could fight back against the races who treated them so poorly just because they were different. They didn't know it yet, but other heteromorphs decided to jump in, which brought about the first raid for the incredible WCI. What happened afterward dulled the effect of that memory, the theft of the artifact, but he still had that thought still sitting there in his skull.

It opened up new adventures, now realizing they weren't as weak as they thought, that they could be feared just as much as the human players were to them before. From the other side, they were monsters, which they gladly took up as a mantle just to force the opposing factions to keep their distance and let them play. Karma plummeted, all for the sake of getting a chance to enjoy the game and let others do the same.

Times like that… how did that memory fade into the background of my mind? To slowly slip away until this moment? I should never forget the fun we once had, or I might just finally succumb to the emotional inhibitors.

His mind jumped from moment to moment in his past as his eyes did the same to each star. Nishikenrae, Wish III, Warrior Takemikazuchi, Amanomahitotsu. The future members like Yamaiko, Peroroncino, Suratan, each name flashing before his eyes as he headed off to this Seong Neow Republic, an ember of the society he no longer was connected to. Sadly, most stopped logging on, with Touch Me being one of the first to disappear. Though his friend had vanished, his quotes lasted through time for Ainz. He still, to this day, had not found any of them in this world, no matter how hard he checked.

"Supreme One." The overlord finally turned around at hearing Cocytus behind him, kneeling with a halberd in hand.

"Yes, Cocytus?"

"This land we are heading towards, it is supposedly colonized by animal demi-humans?"

"It is."

"Perhaps we can recruit some who believe their kingdom does not have their best interest at heart. I would like to attempt such a feat if you would allow it."

Ainz hesitated in answering. He didn't want to scare the populace with a horde of old guarders and death knights; his choice for troops was to show them he had many races living equally in his kingdom, that they could feel a comradery with them. If his soldiers told stories of how they were treated, even if the administrative liches weren't the best at taking criticism for some small blunders, it could help them gain an easy victory here. If it came down to it, their words could sway the people to ignore their own government if it was deemed their leaders were too stuck in their ways. He was all too familiar with Japanese history, even if his own education barely touched on it. The corporations that dulled his elementary schooling cut out everything but the basics, dumbing it down for cheap labor to keep the economy going. He at least would read random news articles and history books while waiting for the rest of his guild to join in for a dungeon run in the past, or eat his nutrient paste.

"They have their uses in my plan. Be ready for the landing. Order them to not harm the locals, I wish to speak with many of them first to get a clear understanding of who they are, where they come from."

"Will they honor the same command to not fight us?" Cocytus queried.

"Provided we follow proper etiquette and keep what we have hidden. They will not fear what is the same as them, which is why I have commanded the lizardmen here. Before doing anything on this new land, ask ahead of time. There is a place for everything."

"I understand, Ainz-sama." The massive bug waited for the hand gesture to end the conversation, getting up and walking away towards the helm while leaving his lord to his own thoughts.

Feudal Japan… The social classes were merchants at the bottom for they buy and sell that which is made by others, followed by artisans who crafted from those who produced. Then it was peasants who fished and farmed to feed the many, with samurai to protect the lands. Ronin were samurai that did not have a sponsorship from a daimyo, which was the lord of a fiefdom. They were loyal to the shogun, which have the real power here, not the emperor despite him being at the top. Hmm… find a samurai perhaps, or a ronin? Work with them, get an audience with the local daimyo. Kneel before the daimyo, keep the staff at a distance from myself to prove I am not a threat… use the mask to make sure they don't see an undead. Try and get an audience with the shogunate, possibly the emperor, but that doesn't matter as much.

He was ticking off everything he needed to address so he could appease the emperor. They'd have to move quickly because he knew that others were honing in on the same territory he was heading towards. Yuri had already informed him of scouts attempting to reconnoiter their camp. However, he sent plenty of concealment scrolls with them. Whatever was restricting teleportation was a game-changer he had to have, without always using magic. [Delay Teleportation] had only so much use, for only a few seconds, a minute at most, of preparation with [Widen Magic] used.

As he built the plan himself, he worried that the others, the kingdoms belonging to both neutral parties and the enemy, would get in the way too much. If he didn't act carefully, this new land could be set aflame… and he may not be able to save it, to make use of the resources and people. If he could do nothing but be impeded by the government, he'd destroy it and protect the remainder of the populace, for their sake and his own. Helping with a rebellion might be in order.

"Yuri Alpha."He had sent a message to the maid out in the field, waiting for her to respond.

"Yes, Ainz-sama. What are your orders?"

"Be prepared with a carriage when I arrive. We must make haste in this endeavor."

"At once, supreme one. May I add something to this?"

"Speak."

"Entoma has been able to investigate a nearby town without any issue. She has met a group that headed in this direction with the intent of scavenging loot from the shrine, humans. They appeared to be adventurers. My sister has decided to… dispatch them in her own way. The shrine is much further out than normal, requiring those who are faithful to make a pilgrimage. Perhaps… we should start there?"

Ainz cupped his chin as he heard what the arachnid had done. There was no harm in removing robbers from the scene, showing that they had come in good faith… even if that was not the original reason for being there. The issue now was that humans could be found on this continent, either from another kingdom somewhere close, or travel by ship from another port. The Seong Neow Republic wouldn't have allowed them in, so that meant another coastal city to the west or east. He didn't have time to look into that just yet, but it was something to figure out after all of this. "Hmm, good information. I'll decide whether to act on this. Have Entoma look for those who can be swayed from afar."

"As you wish, Ainz-sama." The message ended as the overlord looked up towards the stars once again, a light cloud cover trying to block the view. A quick cast of [Control Cloud] and they were out of the way. He stayed there for some time that night, in the middle of all of that calm as the ship headed towards the new continent.

Touch Me, perhaps I should listen to your advice.

Two Day Later, 14th, January/6th Week in Camp Equinox

As the ship set down anchor, the ruler of the Sorcerer Kingdom strode across the water easily as if it was a solid surface, not even requiring a dingy as he set his eyes on the new fort that was built. It had plenty of space for his own quarters, the question was whether he'd actually use them. "Yuri Alpha."

Both maids were kneeling on the ground with an array of guards lined up on both sides of the entrance to the fort. "I am at your beck and call, supreme one," Yuri replied as she kept her eyes closed.

"Where is this priestess you have spoken to?" he asked. "I have need to speak with her in person." The Dullahan nodded in response, leading him to the carriage waiting for his arrival. They headed to the bamboo forest, took a short walk through, and found the shrine once again. This time, the priest was sitting outside enjoying the sunshine, her apprentice in the back of the shrine sweeping.

"I see you have brought him here, as foretold," the old woman said quietly, not once raising her gaze from a cup of tea she had sitting before her lap. Ainz stepped forward, not seeing her as a threat, with the priestess motioning towards the spare cushion. "My apologies for not having many seats here; we do not get many visitors this far out. Our religion is dying off, making way for others. The circle continues, at least for now."

"I have been told you have visions. Would you tell me of them?" the skeleton asked, observing her.

She took a sip from the cup and slowly put it down, coughing a little after. He could already tell the herbs used in the tea were given by his expedition, withholding further magical assistance until he could gauge who, or what, she was. "Have you not been told already by a member of your guild?" He was immediately shocked, as was Albedo when she mentioned that word. "That is what you call it, is it not?"

"Who… are you?"

"A simple priestess who has been allowed to see many things, not all of them come to pass or become truth. Many can be deviated from with a drive for action and refusing to accept what time has written for them, from those who wish to avoid the consequences, though fate sometimes is unavoidable… at least to most."

"You see the future. A farseer."

"That is not my title."

"What is?"

"Many would tell you differently, but a common one would be 'crazy old lady.' I very well might be, and yet you still wish to hear what I have to say. So my words do hold some weight, even outside our lands."

Albedo stepped up a little. "Speak plainly to our lord. He asked you a question you have not answered." Ainz put up his hand for her to calm down. The old woman was causing no harm, just seeming to speak in riddles.

"I thought I had? Oh, my mistake. Well, then, you have come, and now you want to know why you are here. What you seek may come at the end of this road, but at a cost. What will happen is my kingdom will fall, my people will be scattered to other nations if you continue. This is fated, no matter what. The question that is so plain… will you stop it and leave, or will you continue to grasp at dust?"

"Do not threaten him, he is more than cap–" the succubus to the overlord's left started up again.

"Calm, Albedo. There is no need for concern." The black-haired woman was shocked, falling silent, and immediately feeling she had done something horrendous. At least she didn't try to execute herself for the slight just now. "If I continue? I have come to find what is causing such a restriction to teleportation here. If your people are the cause or something in your nation, then there is no need to be concerned. I can provide protection as long as the item, person, or magic that is allowing it can be brought to me."

The priestess coughed again, this time with some blood spraying into her hand. Her apprentice came rushing as she heard the fit, trying to help control the fits from the old lady.

I can't get everything if she dies right here…

He cast a heal spell on her… which didn't work. He seemed confused as she wheezed, coming out of the fit with a dribble of red from the side of her mouth, eventually coming out of it as he tried a much more potent spell. Nothing. "What you use cannot save me, it is destined for my life to end soon. It is tied to my god, who I have never lost faith in, but most of my people have long forgotten." She gently put her hand on his gloved fingers, trying to hide what he was when he traveled. It was pointless to her, as he somehow knew she understood exactly where he came from and was unafraid. Albedo visibly shivered in anger that she would dare touch her lord, but did not stop it.

"I will decide to move forward. Visions do not always come to pass, as you have said. You do not yet know of my power to stop the inevitable. It has happened many times before, and each time I have denied those who believed they could defeat me."

"Sasuga Ainz-sama will bring about a new age for your people, just you wait," Albedo added in.

She reminds me of… of… my mother… her health failing…

"Then, if you go forward, you may have your existence ended to save nothing. At least I tried…" The apprentice helped move her back into the room behind the paper doors, a padded bed ready for such a situation. She needed to rest, but before the younger generation could finish getting her in, the priestess looked at Ainz and ended with staring at Albedo. "What you try and reach here will not go as planned. That power is already taken by another far greater than you. I have not the sight to explain what they are, but I can say that they should not be here. They were never meant to be here. You, young lady… you cannot refuse what they say if it is ever met. Their word is law inscribed into you, and you will obey." The younger apprentice seemed far stronger than her form should allow, finally bringing the old priestess in and laying her gently on the bed. She then closed the doors while staring at Ainz, as if she could see through his mask. If he could feel a chill go through him, it could have told the overlord not to mess with that girl. She was not as she appeared, just as he was trying to hide what he was.

Something that Albedo had to obey… is it… it couldn't be… is there another member of the guild here?!

Meanwhile

"We have confirmation that this overlord, this Ainz, is heading towards a nearby village after speaking to this priestess?" Selene questioned. Her migraines had all but gone away, giving her so much relief.

"We do ma'am; current convoy consists of –"

"I don't need to know their troop composition, that's mostly irrelevant right now; I need to know what he's bringing with him in terms of toys and what was told to him by this priest. I want a full recording of the conversation."

Grey went silent for a moment as he brought up a detailed list of supplies available in the carriages, one of which was an extravagant katana. It was magical in nature, charged with lightning as the primary ability. The remainder were small gifts, along with some special tools that she already knew the reasons behind. He was looking to make nice with a daimyo through some means just to reach the shoguns. He was going to use the hierarchy, and some previous knowledge, to his advantage. One thing she noticed from the conversation recorded… it was one-sided. Ainz and the woman named Albedo were speaking, but from Selene's point of view, the priestess never responded. That confused her greatly. Scans of both the priestess and the apprentice showed no thermals either.

Curious… telepathy?

The entire time, the apprentice behind kept sweeping, ever so once in a while looking over her shoulder. When she picked up the old woman and brought her back inside, she tried to make it look as if she was struggling, but a careful study showed it was effortless.

Why does she… she's not afraid of the lizardmen outside… or the mask covering this Ainz's face… huh… I would think she'd be worried about the priestess's life… kind of suspicious. That girl isn't what she seems. Hell, the old woman isn't what she seems.

"Track him carefully, see how well he performs. Watch that shrine as well."

"You… want him to succeed in reaching the emperor and shogunate?" Grey questioned.

"Yup. The way I see it, a supposed outsider comes in and shows respect for their culture, understands what to do and where to do it. Obviously, since he played Yggdrasil, he was Japanese or at least has Asian descent;. At the same time, there might be outliers that were bilingual in Japanese, but somehow I don't believe he was one of them. He makes it to a meeting with the higher ranks, gets them to open up. He basically paves the way for us to show up and talk without any problems if they think they can get a better deal, quietly, of course."

"And if it doesn't work that way?"

"We don't really lose anything, and his competitors, which seem to be interested in his actions, start to interfere. We either get looked at in a better light, or they slam the doors shut on everyone, and it turns into a ballroom blitz. However, I would rather it go a better direction. They simply realize making friends is far better for them, given they have three other nations trying to push them around, possibly more. If they thought ahead, using these three to shop around from nearby neighbors would be in their best interest instead of being coerced by those overseas. I saw that notice you gave me about the 4th fleet sneaking around, but they weren't heading towards the shores. This leads me to believe it's there to cause a fuss."

"It seems likely. There are more hands in play than we expected, though we have plenty of time to alter our plans to fit them in." Grey brought up basic visuals of what could only be surmised as a super pirate fleet, well equipped and capable of destroying anything but a combined armada. Its origin port was somewhere in the far south, possibly Antarctica. Weather magic wasn't as common as most liked to believe, but it also wasn't rare either. There was a high chance that there was a nation on that frigid hunk of ice at the south pole. The alternative… was North America. All satellite footage placed the continent where Australia should be, without Mexico extending from it. Continents didn't just float from one side of the world to the other without an incredible amount of time to do so, and the others would have smashed into each other. There had to be wild magic that caused it.

Selene leaned on a hand as she sat back in a leather chair, tracking Princess Miyuki moving around in the music room of the palace as footage of the undead seated in the carriage was viewed in front of her. A list of his equipment scrolled to the side, much of it usually considered impressive by Yggdrasil means. Two NPCs sat with him, a horned woman and a blue bug-like creature. Their ID information scrolled on her Hud, giving details about their capabilities. Audio records indicated they were named Albedo and Cocytus. What had initially interested her before this meeting had been the arrival of an automaton in Ainz's camp, a CZ2128. That surprised the empress. While the maid looked more advanced from the outside, she was anything but to the dev's creations, with an optional plan drawn up by Dominic to have her hacked.

Vilisyrteria. I remember when that was just on the drawing board. I wonder if they added that in as an expansion? The factory that produced basic autos wasn't fleshed out well enough to put into the game when I was around.

"I do. The evidence is all there with the records of their communications back to their rulers. Only one seems to be interested in trying to assist, which appears to be the one I wasn't expecting," she responded.

"Ainz."

"Yup. I have no idea who he is as I don't track the player base or who is popular in streaming, but last time I heard, heteromorphs tended to be treated poorly in Yggdrasil."

"Because they're, ahem, 'DiFfErEnT.' The not my tribe mentality gets old."

"Sadly, racism, xenophobia, and classicism haven't gone away on Earth, not by a long shot. I chastised Suchi, involving how they were handling how players treated each other in Yggdrasil. The quests for special class ranks sometimes involved killing a heteromorphic player out in the field, with no ill effects. It encouraged hostility towards those who simply wanted to be something else other than a human. Suchi apologized, but his hands were supposedly tied. I was not allowed to complain as I wasn't under contract anymore, and still had a long-lasting NDA if I talked about it outside. Apparently, there was a PR move saying they would do something about it, alter the quest lines, that was… I dunno, a few years ago? Never happened, it seems."

"Wouldn't that cause a drop in the player base? Go to another game?"

"Three problems with that. One, other games had done the same in the past; when you have such a well developed MMO put out, with close to a thousand people working on it, and players with addictions to the gameplay, all others seem like they lack something important. Hell, I remember in my development courses having to read up on the 'World of Warcraft Killers" that were touted a century ago that were only that in title; they barely kept up. Journalists calling a game a 'something killer' was effectively sealing the IP's fate before it could even get off the ground as a unique universe.

Two, the heteromorphs were a minority compared to the massive throng of humanoids and demis. Loss of them wouldn't be such a big deal, a drop lost from the sea that is the player base. Of course, that would cause the quests to change with no one to hunt, but there were NPCs people could go after, they were just hidden inside difficult dungeons."

"And three?"

"Three is the fact communities don't like changes even if for the better. There will always be those who want those old questlines to stay in-game, even at the detriment to other's enjoyment. Too conservative to move forward and accept others are not having the same fun that they are, toxic to almost an extreme in some cases. Those people are usually quite vocal when something is tweaked, even willing to leave the game for such a minor alteration."

Grey thought about that for a moment. "Interesting. Well, back to the issue at hand; if he helps one such daimyo with a push for power, he'll make it past Kabocha." Selene raised an eyebrow at that. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm not about to say I'm an expert in Japanese, but doesn't that mean winter squash? Or am I getting that wrong? They named their village after a vegetable? Also, how is that not translated?"

"It may be that the name isn't altered as its meaning is pointless when used as a label for a location or person. Perhaps we should not throw stones in glass houses when it comes to this?"

The empress pointed at him. "Hey, I wasn't the one who named that northern coast city Sweet Water." She suddenly rolled her eyes. "And I'm almost glad that the town of Dick Lick was burnt to the ground in the demon war."

Grey opened his mouth to speak, then closed it with a finger in the air. She got him. "Pretty sure that was some founder's joke in the past."

"You're telling me. Luckily those people ran when they had the chance… I could have forced a name change for it afterward… anyways, where were we… ah, yes. Did any of the other fleets bring a big cheese with them?"

Grey brought up a holographic dossier on the only other leader that had arrived. None were seen for the European fleet, excluding the level 100s classified as 'champions.' Those select few almost looked like they were related, with cold, dead eyes that seemed to show no emotion. The woman gazed at the info as he told her crucial information for each. "One elf, male, named Myrnael. Supposed lord of the Black Forest, I've sent a survey team to find this land. No other leaders on-site, though the 2nd fleet appears to be called the Mithril Coalition."

"So there are others back in their kingdoms waiting for relays to be sent. So what else is new… Would one of them happen to be this… what is her name… Lyzriel?"

"A communique was intercepted with her name in it, yes ma'am. No info yet on the agent sending traffic to her, whether she is a part of the coalition or if she snuck in someone with the rest."

"Seems they don't exactly trust each other to work with the undead... or the rest of the group. A double agent would be in the cards, obviously." The dev flipped through a holographic report list to find the one involving this leader that hadn't made her own appearance. There was no data yet on the elven queen overseas, not even a picture. That would quickly be rectified with recon teams sent out throughout the world. Survey expeditions were tasked the day before to head out and gather as much intel on the planet from ground level, bring back seeds and animal specimens, and in general, track what was happening. The empire wasn't going to be caught with its eyes closed this time. "Or, they may be providing backup in some form, even in a way to simply not be backstabbed, so they can get their hands on whatever the overlord is here for, and share in the reward."

"I'm more concerned we'll have to get involved, ma'am. The European fleet seems to be amassing more forces, building a supply line this way."

The empress touched a button on the armrest of the chair and brought up a controller list for light music in the background, playing some orchestra recently recorded. "Oh, I've seen that report you sent. Trust me, I agree with you on that. They don't seem to be aligned with anyone; their intent is to force the Seong Neow Republic into whatever empire they've built, and the alternative is destruction. It's written plain as day with how many troops they sent on the first wave, attempting to scare those anthros into agreeing to whatever terms they set. The problem is the republic will choose death instead of subservience, I'm almost certain on that. I'm more worried they're setting up shop a little close to Tal Salunbal."

Grey chuckled. "You're thinking of giving the others a bit of an edge in chatting with the republic by harassing that northern fleet's fort."

"Picking off a few of their guards wouldn't be that bad, but not exactly what I had in mind. Gabriel wants to test some spells from afar that act like poltergeists and gremlins. In other words, things will disappear, equipment will break, and they'll have an annoying time here. The fact they all carry Divine class items won't help them, it'll just take longer to warp the metal and break down parts."

"Wouldn't they have maintenance enchantments on their gear?"

"Those are overridden by rust spells easily," she said coyly.

"I never thought I'd see the day you decided rust was something to have. Sounds interesting, almost like a supervillain testing their newest weapon."

Selene laughed at that. "I would like to say I've proven I'm not a villain, but if I have to be to protect my empire, I'll damn well do it. I'd have to have a moniker though and work on my maniacal laughter, I was never a voice actor after all. Can't sing to save my life either." Footage popped up of Miyuki playing one of the instruments in the music room of the White Palace, the song not able to be heard due to the mute button activated on her desk. The empress turned off the playback in the office and listened in, watching the kitsune effortlessly work the piano keys as if she had been born playing.

"Hmm, interesting; she's been moving from instrument to instrument, able to play each one without issue for the past two days. I doubt she's learned each one at such a young age. I should get going." Grey stood up and adjusted his leather vest. "Uh, by the way, ma'am, we uh… we found someone's secret stash away from a home in Silvinholm; we… collected some rather interesting paintings and drawings made of you that appeared to be ready for sale."

The dev's eyelids dropped halfway as she groaned, a frown appearing on her face. "Oh god… don't tell me… seriously? They're making lewds of me? Ugh…"

"We confiscated it as we had no idea who it belonged to just yet, but we've been able to find the source since then. It doesn't look to be pornographic in essence. Do you… want him punished?"

She facepalmed hard, then checked to see if there was a picture of it thrown into a report. The painting seemed to show her tastefully sitting on the clockwork throne naked with a sash draped over her shoulders, down her body, and hanging to her feet. Nothing could be seen from the waist down with her legs closed, though there was some hazy view of her chest covered by the sash. She seemed to be handing something glowing in her hand down to much smaller people, her subjects as it were, closer to her feet that were averting their gaze away from her visage. The glowing blob had the same color as the experience liquid that Nikola was trying to work on. "Uh… this isn't a lewd… it's… well, I mean… *sigh* he has my sizes wrong… don't punish him, this seems more like a… I just, I don't know the proper words as I never studied art, just don't punish him." The whole thing looked more religious in design, with even one eye glowing. "Tell him to put a robe around me or something. Less… I dunno, less revealing."

Pretty sure I'm a little bigger in the chest department than what he put as well… and my hair isn't a giant waterfall… and my feet aren't the size of clown shoes…

They stopped watching aerial footage of Ainz as Grey headed out, with the empress just sitting there watching the princess.

Might have to use you at some point. I'm wondering if you might save your people and your father if things start getting hairy.

Just as the director was at the door, he placed a hand on the doorframe and glanced over his shoulder. "One last thing. You know the Black Hands Tribe is trying to coerce Morzon'Tol to join forces and attack us, correct?"

"Oy… I heard. That's going to be an interesting fight for all of twelve seconds."

"Wrox is heading out with his army to join the combined force taking Caerel Castle. We have reason to believe he'll split off mid-battle and meet up with the worse for wear golem company the dwarves have gathered together. Once the mana steel golem is completed, we believe in a few days, they'll strike." While the dwarven capital didn't have a large army, their standard golem heavy support units were still functional, if heavily reduced by the faith eater attack.

"Can't they just let bygones be bygones? it's going to be an interesting few weeks then. I thought the prince there had control of the entire project?"

Grey smirked and looked at his creator. "Guess who split off and took control of that section of the city?"

"Stoneblood?! She got it?! Oh, for fuck's sake… well, that woman is about to find out what happens when you poke a titan. All of that because I refused to help in a civil war… I'd tell you to garner some support for the prince and mix things up a little, but again, I don't want us entering that hairball and trying to unravel everything. See what the views of all the refugees are in our nation; that'll give us an idea of who we'll need to look at putting in power once they pick a fight with us." Grey patted the doorframe in acknowledgment and left, with the empress sitting back and listening to the fox princess trying to sing with each instrument she played with.