Chapter 56 - The Talk

Chapter 56

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.

Dungeon Factory, Communication Room.

"Ah, core Alexandra, you're finally here."

If Alexandra had any doubts about what was going on, they were safely led to rest at Etheria's tone. Even she felt the chill and the urge to snap at attention, and she'd confronted her fair share of powerful individuals, including in one memorable occasion Ciel, the AI who had overtaken the UIS and effectively become it's dictator after the Alpha Centauri Campaign.

The Earth-Born gave the room a good look, noting that Emilia was sitting on one of the stone stools, and hadn't even moved to greet her, and seemed like a deer caught in a truck's headlights. CQ was being distracted at the back of the room by Ella, who seemingly was teaching her the basics of how to throw daggers. That....wasn't good. Even she couldn't keep the vampire girl silent like that, and if Etheria had one of the maids distracting CQ it meant there was stuff she didn't want to be listening to, but she still wanted her on hand.

"My apologies for the lateness. However close the workshop is, there are still a lot of unstable prototypes we cannot afford to lose there. Safety procedures are here for a reason after all."

Whatever Emilia's mother had expected her to say, that wasn't it, and she hesitated. Not for long, but enough for Alexandra to notice. Which was good, because the human mind could block itself into very nasty self reinforcing loops of anger and hatred, and if nothing broke them, things could get....nasty.

"And I'm very glad you took the time to make sure everything was safe." Said Etheria. "Please, take a seat."

Alexandra sat down. Somehow, she doubted not taking a seat was very wise...even if the vampire couldn't see her through the crystal.

"So...What seems to be the issue?" Said the Earth-born after a few tense seconds of silence.

"The issue is very simple. I've just been made aware that you and my daughter have children of your own. Strangely enough, I was not made aware of that fact during the last communication. Nor that my daughter was any kind of relationships past the one normal core-advisor relationship."

Her voice was so icy Alexandra was fairly sure the temperature dropped, no matter what her interface was telling her.

"We...are not engaged in any other relationship. At least not that I am aware of."

"Oh really? Then, what if I was to recall my daughter immediately to my side, to the Western Marches."

Alexandra shrugged with calculated casualness. It wasn't meant for the vampire lady however -not that she could see her anyway-, but for the maids. If she was correct, those two were guardians for her daughter, and that meant that Etheria quite literally trusted them with her life and beyond. They were the one she needed to impress almost as much as Etheria herself.

"If she wishes to as well, then of course. I would never hold her against her will." She looked to the side, and locked gazes with Sarah, then Ella. "But if she is pressured, or taken against her will...then it will be over my dead body. And if it isn't, then I will come for her, even if I have to go to the edge of the universe to do so."

Silence reigned in the room for a few seconds, and Alexandra kept her gaze locked on Ella's...and recognition sparked in the vampire maid's eyes. Recognition for the same drive, the same fire that lived in her. No matter what happened, Alexandra would do it. If Emilia's family kidnapped her, she would go against them, even if it meant her own death to get her advisor out.

Mentally, she armed her dungeon's final defense protocols. Protocols she had been very careful not to tell Emilia about. Just because she had said that didn't mean she intended to go down without a fight if they decided to take her here and now. In the hallway, the praetorian guards suddenly stood straighter, and the ones guarding the various rooms immediately left their posts, and coalesced near the communication room, as golems in storage began arming themselves. Ever so discreetly, CQ stepped back from Ella, and casually rested her hand near her sword's handle. Alexandra would have rather kept the boss out of this, but the protocols called everything she could use into standby, and she didn't have the time to edit them.

And deep in the mesa, seismic charges armed, and awaited their detonation orders.

"She is not bluffing milady." Simply said Ella, still keeping her eyes locked with Alexandra's. "She'll do it....She will hate herself forever for it, but she will do it, even if it means your death...Or hers."

Alexandra blinked. She'd expected the maid to be perceptive, but not that perceptive. Her estimation of the maids' competence rose by another notch. Those were some really dangerous women Etheria had entrusted her daughter with.

There was a short pause, then a sigh.

"Alright. I'm going to take your word for it Alexandra. But I still have questions. Why is CQ calling you mom, and my daughter mommy?"

"Because, as far as she is aware, we are." Alexandra sighed. "It was...unexpected for Emilia and me, but we did create her after all. I suppose that under Federation law, that makes us the creator of a fully sapient AI, and under that same law that means we are her parents." She chuckled. "I just...wasn't expecting it, I suppose. And neither was Emilia."

"So I've gathered." Said Etheria sardonically. "Still, that is going to be...complicated. Not as complicated as I'd feared, but still, complicated."

"How so?" Alexandra frowned. "I can understand how it will be on our end, but we can take care of it."

Etheria laughed.

"You really don't have much experience with this world, do you? Or, wait...Emilia never told you?"

Alexandra frowned, and glanced at Emilia, who positively squirmed.

"Tell me what?"

"My full title is her duchess Etheria Von Oswald, wife of Carlstein Von Oswald, duke of the Western Marches."

Alexandra stared at the crystal as her brain stopped working.

"My daughter is the 3rd in the line of succession, right after her sister. By ancient law and customs, that makes you and CQ members of house Oswald, and by extension, in the same line of succession."

Alexandra stared at the crystal, before her memory brought up the name of Emilia's father. The vampire girl had told her she was the daughter of the duke, but...not on the line of succession! And even then, she'd dismissed the information because, quite frankly, she'd been so disoriented at that point to remember much. Being sacrificed then told that you were now an immortal piece of crystal tasked with murdering people and terraforming a planet had that effect.

The problem was much, much bigger than the titles implied as well. A duchy was usually a fair sized affair, especially on Alcheryos, but the Western Marches weren't a duchy, they were a country. 'Duke' or 'Duchess' were the titles for the rulers, sure, but it was effectively a full nation, with it's own military, diplomacy, everything. Funny how Emilia had glossed over quite how she knew so much about her homeland's affairs and mechanisms during her explanation, it wasn't a matter of scholarly knowledge, she'd been born in the center of it all!

Effectively, if the Western Marches weren't so hell bent on tradition, Emilia should have been called 'her highness Emilia, princess of the realm'.

FUCK.

The Earth born opened her mouth, before closing it with a snap, and opening it again.

"I...had gotten some of that information. Some of it had slipped my mind however. Still, I had not...fully processed the implications."

"Well, now you will have to." She could almost feel the duchess' shrug. "Not that it should matter. My eldest daughter is quite healthy, and hates the burden of being the heiress enough to not want to foist it upon her baby sister."

That made Emilia stirr in sibling indignation, but she stopped as Alexandra made a slight gesture towards her.

"I prefer not to rely on ifs, lady Etheria. I've seen too many people killed doing that to take anything for granted. So, what happens now?"

"A lot of things. First things first, we need to add you and CQ to the dynastic tree. I'm fairly sure I can do that discreetly. But...There are still going to be a lot of people asking a lot of questions at the end of the day."

Alexandra nodded, although the vampire lady couldn't see her. She expected as much. The various monarchies in Europe had all died with the Terran Hegemony wars, alongside the European Union and half of the countries that had been it's members, but she had been a student of history, and the mess that lines of succession could be, as well as the associated wars when it got murky, were very clearly laid out in the texts she had read. She knew she would -and as a matter of fact, had- ask questions if someone was added on the EuroFed's continuity of government list. The kind that had been written in case Brussels took a nuke. Again.

"And then, well....I want to meet my granddaughter. And I expect most of the family to want to meet her as well. And then you will have some explaining to do to them as well."

"That...is very much a given."

"Good! Let's get started then."

*****

"Milady?"

Allya lifted her head up from her paperwork, and blinked, before turning her head to the actual door. She had gotten so used to her office in the administration tent that she had a hard time readjusting. But the fact that she was in a hard, somewhat enchanted stone structure, the kind that could take a cannonball and not even blink, plus the fact that Pyn had simply made a very spacious bedroom for the both of them, easily -and discreetly- accessible from either of their offices had made very convincing arguments for her to move, habits or no habits.

"Yes captain?" She said as Anders closed the door behind him.

"We have received a message. It is from the capital, and bears the Royal Seal."

Allya shook her head.

"What....did a courier ship arrive?"

"No milady. Someone onboard the ship...discreetly made contact with me when they couldn't with you, and passed on the message. I was told to not attempt to open it, as it would respond to your mana signature, and yours alone, and the consequences for anyone else attempting to open it would be...catastrophic."

Allya could well believe that. The Eris Empire's Imperial Seal wasn't just some smashed wax, it was also a very powerful enchantment that would be guaranteed to vaporize the message under the right conditions...and everything within a dozen meters or so. Given the cutthroat internal politics of the Asarian Kingdom she hardly expected their messages to be any less well secured, at least in terms of making sure it didn't fall into the wrong hands.

"I see...Well, you might as well give it to me then."

She extended her hand, and Anders fetched a large envelope from his pocket, handing it her. She took it. It was...surprisingly light, all things considered. Then she waved at the guard captain, who formally bowed, before leaving the room and making sure to close the door behind himself.

Allya waited for the sound proofing enchantment to click back into place -her office and those of her councilors had been immediately enchanted by Eismi as soon as they had been built-, before carefully looking the envelope over.

It was indeed bearing the Royal Seal of Asaria, a rearing unicorn upon a shooting star, and Allya reached for one of her daggers, before stopping.

The letter was probably safe...but they had been probably safe when those Elkisian bastards had shot Myskaros in the head as well. Her hand diverted to her pouch, and she pulled out a small array of vials, and begun a few tests.

A minute later, she relaxed. As far as she could tell, the letter wasn't poisoned, drugged, or laced with explosives. Of course it was enchanted, but as long as the Royal Seal was valid, no one could have put another enchantment on the letter without it detonating. If the seal was a trap...

Well, fuck it, if their enemies had good enough penetration to duplicate the magical signatures that authenticated the seal, she was already royally fucked anyway. Ah, royally.

Allya shook her head, and took one of her daggers, before slitting the envelope open.

She waited for a second...but nothing happened. She flipped the envelope upside down, and emptied it's contents on her desk. There were....only three sheets of paper all told.

She picked up the first one. It was written in an elegant, flowing script, and the signature at the end left no doubt to it's writer. It looked like the King had wanted to send her something.

The baroness read it attentively, before setting it down. She was good a diplomatic bullshitting, but this....this was on another level. It was, in short, a message of greeting from her monarch to his newest border principality's ruler, and a short summary of her obligations as well as reminders that the realm had many other worries beside her.

Buried in there were subtle warnings that the Asarian Kingdom wasn't moving on a war footing...but was expecting a war soon anyway. And that their majesties were moving to cover her back, but that she'd have to do a lot of the heavy lifting herself.

The second letter...Was made out of blocky, typewriter letters. It was clean, efficient, and to the point. Given what she knew of the kingdom's rulers, Allya wasn't surprised to find the queen's signature at the end of it. That woman was a freaking legend in military circles. One didn't keep their boots firmly on the neck of the kind of snakes that made up most of the Kingdom's aristocracy without becoming one to some level, true, but queen Elais had been particularly effective, and quite bloodless at that. Not to say she hadn't executed entire dynasties when needed but...far less than her predecessors would have had to. That was a testament to her and her husband's skills, if nothing else.

In short, it told her a strategic overview of the borders. Specifically, it told her which units said borders had in reserve. It wasn't an especially subtle way of telling her which reinforcements she could count on, and from where, but it was useful nonetheless. Interestingly, only a few noble-lead units were part of it, most of the rest being direct royal commissioned forces or mercenary companies. The monarchs really didn't trust most of their nobles.

The last sheet was very different. It was in the same blocky letters...but it was a clear sheet of organization and equipment. Equipment from her 'royally provided forces for the protection of the realm's new frontier', or in short as much reinforcements they could afford to send her without raising eyebrows.

It was...quite a bit. Here she'd thought Willard's uncle had been generous. Their majesties were sending her an entire company of knights, with a full mage detachment, and...

What was she supposed to do with catapults?!?

Allya finished the section, and shook her head. This...changed things a lot. She needed to call in on the council. And Pyn. Especially Pyn.

The catapults weren't important. Okay, they might turn out to be pretty damned life saving later, but they could wait.

The entire contingent of mage siege engineers, both constructor and destroyers of fortifications, that their majesties were sending her under the cover of taking care of the catapults could not. These people could have constructed her fortified administration building in 24 hours, flat. Granted, Pyn's mages and builders had a lot of things on their plates, but still. And while her people were good enough to make somewhat reinforced stones, these guys could make walls withstand sustained artillery barrages. Well, if they had enough time to do it properly anyway.

She got up, and opened the door to her office, looking to the side at Rogard.

The old elf looked back at her calmly, before going back to scanning the hallway for threats. Most nobles would have ripped him a new one for daring to look away from her, but she wasn't most nobles. Besides, enough people and monsters had tried to kill her lately that she was all for exchanging some decorum for some additional security.

"Yes milady?"

"I need you to send a message to Pyn. I need to see her immediately."

"Yes milady, at once!"