Chapter 107: The Captured Queen

Chapter 107: The Captured Queen

Daniel sits slumped and exhausted on his lounge sofa in the hangar, while Hekate sits on his chest, cuddling with him and sleeping on top of him. It has been about a week since he retrieved the scarf that Ryukana left behind, and he has learned a few things about the elementals that are spawned by it. They retain their memories when they switch out, but can’t be taught to speak, and they will happily eat treats, but don’t need sustenance. They also have a tendency to become envious and protective in regards to Daniel.

For now, the dark elemental, Luceniel is sleeping on Hekate’s head, nestled conveniently in the feldrok empress’s crown between her triangular ears. Occasionally, Luceniel shifts, which causes a disturbance on Hekate’s ear, and her ear flicks, even with her fast asleep.

Daniel has been held hostage for the entire week by his various companions, and they haven’t left him much private time -and certainly not without someone spying on him-.

Reignleif finally laid her second egg, while Geirahoel’s and Ryuogriar’s next ones are already starting to show. Treia and Gwenesphia, as well as Aoloan and Kera’tai, have spent the week ‘trying to catch up’, and Doephluev sneaks in every chance she gets.

And, on top of that, Aramellianna is attempting to conduct business as if her own territory isn’t being invaded by Daniel’s and Hekate’s forces at present. She discovered the stash of anime Daniel has on his phone, and though she was off-put by the content of the specific one Thymeria stumbled across, she became almost obsessed. She grilled Daniel for hours on the various applications of both the animations and the indecent aspects, asking how and why Earth had such things to understand.

Her goal; to determine if she can make money off of either of them. Daniel knows that forms of entertainment in this world are comparatively limited to those of Earth. There are some plays, though only a few, and in most cases, most of the nobility have probably seen an enactment of the few that exist already. There are orchestras, but again, the variety is limited. And, it also requires the players or musicians to have travelled to a place nearby. There are court jesters, and magic performers. Daniel even watched a troubadour telling their story, which actually helped him learn the language by giving him catchy songs to sing to himself. Surprisingly, rumors from the castle had already turned into troubadour songs within the few weeks Daniel was learning the language and doing manual labor.

Brothels are also a thing in the human cities, at least, but they are a part of the dark underbelly of society, and not something that nobles would acknowledge. Daniel described the difference between artistic nudity and the more secular nudity shown in all forms, from drawings to pictures and videos.

And, for the videos, he had to show her the different types, such as documentary videos, animated videos, livestreams, and fictional movies and shows. He has quite a collection on his phone thanks to its one terabyte storage capacity,

Naturally, Daniel doesn’t have the know-how to make the necessary components of computers. He might be able to make a film camera if he had someone to make the film itself, which he doesn’t know enough about the composition of film.

But, magic opens doors Daniel might be able to work with. Using Wenlianna, Reignleif, and even Doephluev and Vaergraes, they may be able to make recordings on a magic device, similar to how the magic photo devices work. Daniel knows, having worked on Treia’s and participated in Hekate’s recording, that the devices can hold images and sound presumably indefinitely, so long as power is available. And, with what he knows, the ‘memory’ of those devices is little more than a simple river stone with some sort of magic glyphs. If Daniel could make a ‘catalog’ of memory stones, he might be able to make ‘frames’. But, space constraints would make it tricky, and he would have to make some means of sequencing the individual frames.

And, Daniel doesn’t know if the volume of the memory stone has an effect, or if the size of the glyphs makes a difference. If the glyphs can be shrunken by carefully writing them smaller, then it’s possible that he could make a much more condensed memory system. Though, even then, it won’t compare to solid state circuits, like modern Earth technology uses.

But, it’s one more thing to work on. Daniel knows that Wenlianna is already working on something, and Reignleif is recovering from laying her second egg. The Grand Duchess is always keeping her eyes open for gold mines and golden geese, so when she realized that Daniel saw entertainment value in the videos on his phone, she wanted to make them happen for Zenkon...

... And be the matron benefactor to such a development.

Daniel doesn’t mind. She knows how to turn a profit and run a business, which very few of his inner circle are capable of. Shek and Skloe are managing internal affairs simply because anything greater than nothing is better than what demon kin -especially goblins- are used to. They’re dedicated and diligent to organizing farming, road ways, construction projects, and immigration and integration.

Xyreko appears nearby, walking in view of Daniel. Daniel smirks when he sees her. “What is it now, Xyreko? I’ve had too much rest?”

She replies without missing a beat, “Yes. Are you doing well, Daniel?”

He smiles at Hekate, brushing a lock of her hair out of her face. “I’m getting drooled on by an Empress. Couldn’t be better.” And, he sincerely means it. It’s certainly not dignified, but it is more charming to him than anything.

“There has been a... complication with the invasion.”

“What’s the problem?” asks Daniel, trying to speak softly so as to not wake Hekate.

“The first-contact forces made an arrest.”

“Someone we know?” asks Daniel a little facetiously.

“I believe so. She’s on her way here. One Queen Heralesse kos Mornistae, of the kingdom of Mornistae.”

Daniel stares at her in disbelief. He asks after he has a moment to ponder options, “Was she on the front lines for some god-awful reason?”

“I suppose you could say that... According to the commanders, she arrived at the gulf-side estate of the Grand Duchy’s expanded territory. She apparently wanted to consult with Grand Duchess Aramellianna.”

“And... she just arrived on a shuttle, huh?”

“That’s correct.”

Daniel looks at Hekate and Luceniel. Luceniel is virtually weightless, so he’s less worried about her even if she were to ‘fall’ off of Hekate’s head. Hekate is sleeping peacefully after giving Daniel an earful about neglecting her for his mistresses.

And, Hekate’s chosen way to spend time with him is to cuddle on his chest and sleep.

Daniel sighs softly. “Let’s do this.” Daniel carefully stands up from his seated position, earning only a grumble from Hekate as she adjusts herself to continue sleeping in his arms. He carries her without complaint, following Xyreko to the teleportation pads. Hekate jolts awake only on their arrival at the control room, where the shuttle brought the young teenage Queen of Mornistae has landed at the flyway.

Hekate looks around with glassy eyes, trying to make sense of her new surroundings.She looks at Daniel, and he smiles. “Hey, Sweetpea. Sleep well?”

“Mmrrnn... Daniel?”

“Yep.”

She lays her head back down against his head. She grumbles, “Get the squeaky toy off my head,... Dan... iel...”

He chuckles softly, carrying the sleepy little empress without obeying her imperial decree. He knows Luceniel isn’t causing much trouble, so he leaves her be.

He does ask Xyreko, “If it’s really Heralesse, please summon everyone who wants to meet with her informally, but specifically Eri. Both of them will want to know the other isn’t being mistreated.”

Xyreko nods. “They will be here soon.”

Daniel wakes Hekate up as Heralesse and one of her knights is being walked into the control room. “Hekate, wake up. You have to meet with a captured Queen.”

Hekate flops her tail, indicating that she’s mostly conscious, but she doesn’t lift her head. Daniel jostles her, and she groans in frustration.

The image is already ruined, since Heralesse notices them, but it won’t really matter much. Daniel sets Hekate down, and she rubs her eyes as she yawns. “Daniel... Can’t we do this some other time?”

“You want Erimaya’s sister to be our prisoner for even longer without telling her?”

Hekate twitches. She turns to face the group approaching them, consisting of golem guards and the two prisoners.

She straightens her posture and fixes her dress and mantle, as well as quickly having Daniel check her hair ribbons. Her gloves are also on, and she puts on her best empress face and assumes her most elegant posture, having drilled with Erimaya for weeks now.

She leads Daniel to meet with Heralesse, and she states confidently, “Queen Heralesse kos Mornistae, is it? It seems you stumbled across our plans.”

“What’s going on!?” snaps the weary young queen. “Who...” She looks at Daniel. “So, it’s true...”

Daniel nods, bowing. “Queen Heralesse. I’m glad to see you in good health.”

“Where is my sister!?” snaps the teen.

“Princess Erimaya is safe, your majesty. But, you need to calm down.”

“No! You hold my sister hostage, and you launch an invasion on Mornistae!? Your actions are tantamount to war!”

Hekate and Daniel share a glance for a moment. Hekate replies bluntly, “It’s not tantamount to war. It is war. In retaliation for several invasion attempts, the Fievegal conquered and captured Fort Twilight. This would have been enough for us, but then, the kingdom of Mornistae eradicated Fort Twilight with a new weapon.”

Heralesse goes silent, and she loses some of the color in her face.

“Elder Sister!?” cries out Erimaya’s voice as she enters the control room area. Heralesse snaps out of her trance, and she looks to the young princess. “Eri!” She runs to the princess, and Daniel gestures for the golems to hold, while the Knight tries to warn her, “Your majesty! Wait-!”

Heralesse hugs Erimaya, who is stunned to see her elder sister more than anything. “Wh-What are you doing here, Elder Sister?”

“I...” Heralesse sighs, and she sinks to a kneel in front of Erimaya. “I... don’t know what’s going on anymore...” She cups her sister’s cheeks, asking urgently, “Have they hurt you? Have they mistreated you? Are you enslaved?”

“Wha-!? No! None of those! I came here of my own free will, Heralesse. Hekate is my very good friend, and Daniel promised to marry me if no one else does.”

Erimaya nods quietly. She murmurs, “Thank you, Daniel.”

He kneels in front of her, saying as he makes eye contact with the younger sister. “I promise we won’t hurt your family, but this is how it has to be.”

She nods again. “I know...”

Daniel and the others watch them depart, and once it’s safe, Aramellianna states, “Your compassion is admirable, but naive, Your Grace Daniel.”

“Trust me, I know, your Grace. I never saw battle in my world, though.”

“I remember. You were some sort of... artificer sailor, yes?”

“That’s correct. And, the ship I served on never had to fight while I was there. Or, no... We launched fighter jets. Airplanes like the shuttles we have here. Those would go far out and fight enemies where they were, so ideally, not even enemy ships would get close to us. And, there weren’t any conflicts major enough where ships would be fighting to get close to us.”

Aoloan asks with surprise, the fastest to voice the question, “You had a ship that carried a shuttle?”

Daniel chuckles. “Yes, creatively enough, we called it an ‘aircraft carrier’. It could launch and service something like fifty or sixty fighter jets, a couple of electronic warfare jets, and a couple of multipurpose craft.”

Everyone is silent at him. They look at the shuttle that brought Heralesse and Clauxsten to the Citadel, trying to imagine sixty of them and a vessel large enough to carry them.

Daniel chuckles, “The fighter jets were a little smaller than the shuttle. Anyways, your Grace, to answer your question, I want to believe that we can get through this without unnecessary bloodshed. When I fought at Fort Peony, I was able to convince myself well enough that it was like a video game. I-I’ll explain that later. Anyways, imagine it as a sort of... illusion simulation for battle. I partook in a lot of these simulations, so... it gave me enough courage through denial to succeed. And, the beings that were my enemies were similar to... monsters... in the simulation. Please forgive the comparison.” The last sentence is directed at the dragons, goblins, and two demon kin, the latter four of whom were present at the battle of Fort Peony.

Kera’tai playfully teases, “I’ll make you make it up to me, Daniel. Don’t worry.” The others chuckle, and Ryuogriar says proudly, “I am quite monstrous, so I don’t mind. Though, if we are monsters, then you are an abyssal abomination, Mukori.”

He chuckles. “I don’t WANT to kill anyone sentient, but I had to do what I did to survive getting this far. Now that I have so much dangerous power at my fingertips, I have to be careful with how I use it.”

Aramellianna smiles. “I admire your dedication to such noble and non-discriminatory principles, so please allow me to offer you advice, your Grace.”

“Please do.”

“Impotence is just as much an abuse of power as tyranny. The consequences are simply recognized differently. If you bind your own hands for fear of your enemies smearing your reputation, your enemies will smear you as a coward.”

Yanidere, understanding the point her mother is getting at, adds when Daniel doesn’t respond, “Your enemies are not always on the other side of a battlefield, your Grace.”

Daniel gives a gentle smile. “I understand. I just would rather fail on the side of coward than tyrant. I’ve always compared myself to a rattlesnake on Earth... a, uh, type of serpent that does its best to warn if you’re getting too close to it, and then a poisonous bite.”

“Serpent?” asks Hekate.

He chuckles. “Legless lizards that eat insects, rodents, and whatever else they can fit down their throats. Rattlesnakes use venom to kill their prey or enemies with a single fast strike.”

The dragons chuckle together, having witnessed the effect firsthand on the self-proclaimed mightiest race of Zenkon. Reignleif states with a facetiousness to her soft tone, “That does seem most fitting for Mukori.”

Others nod in agreement as well, including Kera’tai and Aoloan, who were defeated faster than they could process in their brief skirmish with Daniel.

Hekate asks, “Then, what if we do just that? A fast, hard strike on Rikuto? Or at least the castle?”

Daniel chuckles. “Usually, rattlesnakes retreat if they can buy themselves an opening. But...” Daniel’s expression darkens a little as he thinks of Choul. “I very much dislike this feeling of sitting around doing nothing after my friend was... put in that state.”

Xyreko speaks up this time. “Daniel, may I remind you that we have a greater interest in the artifact than in the kingdom of Mornistae. If nothing else, we can capture the current king and forcibly install Grand Duchess Aramellianna as the Queen Regent and let her deal with the aftermath. Apologies for the trouble, Grand Duchess.”

“That is indeed an option,” replies the Grand Duchess with amusement in her voice. “But, it sounds like you wish to shortcut the troubles of conquering a kingdom.”

Xyreko nods. “Of course. Daniel is my master, and my master’s wishes are for the Fievegal to be left alone. As I understand it, you have not only the experience, but also the respect and loyalty of a portion of the kingdom, which will afford you an easier time of rule than anyone from the Fievegal.”

Aramellianna cups her cheek as she feigns concern. “My my... That’s such a big responsibility you wish to thrust upon me, and I was so hoping to retire soon.” She looks at Wenlianna with a devious look, and the magic artisan flinches. “M-Mother?”

“Fret not, dear. I know, you are to be an emperor’s wife. Which leaves...” She looks at Yanidere. The second eldest of the Stalvaltan daughters turns pale. “M-Me? Qu-Queen?”

“Queen regent, at the least; a temporary position until the affairs of the kingdom can be sorted out.” Aramellianna looks at Hekate, Daniel, and Xyreko again. “Your Greatness, is that the plan you wish to undertake?”

Hekate nods. “Yes. A fast and hard strike will consume less of our resources and endanger fewer people. Once we’ve seized the castle, we’ll arrest Rikuto and turn over rule to the Stalvaltan family. You may govern the kingdom as you see fit from there.”

Aramellianna nods, and Treia cuts in. “Pardon me for asking, but... How do you plan to get past the city walls? To my knowledge, the Royal Capital of Mornistae is a walled city for defense, is it not?”

Aramellianna nods. “It is indeed. But,...” She looks at the shuttle, and then the three dragon women. “I don’t think the royal capital has the defenses to withstand the Fievegal.”

Daniel looks to a distant part of the crowd, “Doephluev.”

“Y-Yes!?” He caught her off guard, since she usually keeps a low profile around the others.

“Where are we at on the alchemy projects?”

“Oh! There are several doses complete, Master. Though, there was more waste than we hoped... My sincere apologies.”

“Will we be able to make more?”

“In time, yes. Though, we are now out of starfall powder.”

“Starfall powder?” asks Daniel.

She nods. “Yes. The purity of what was stocked was low, and so, the greater waste.”

“Is... the source what I suspect?” asks Daniel. He looks at Reignleif, who has a heavy amount of book knowledge.

Reignleif nods. “Yes, Mukori. Starfall powder comes from the impact site of fallen stars, or meteors.”

He nods, thinking. “Diamonds harder than diamonds, is it?”

This catches everyone’s interest, but none more so than Aramellianna. “Continue, Daniel.”

He chuckles at the momentary lapse of decorum from the most strict of anyone he knows. He doesn’t mind of course. He’d prefer to speak on relaxed terms. “If I remember right, it’s called ‘lonsdaleite’. It was named after a crystallographer of Earth, and the pressure comes from the impact of the meteorite when it lands. Though, they can also be made synthetically... I think.”

Aramellianna grins. “How very interesting...”

“Mother, I must remind you, they need these starfall diamonds for an important project.”

“Yes, and whatever that project, I am sure a price tag can be put on it, yes? After Emperor Daniel’s work is done, of course.”

Daniel chuckles. “If I can get it to work, then you have a deal, your Grace.”

She gestures her hand up and down at Daniel, and he cocks his head. He kneels, which makes her smile, and she hugs him to her chest, surprising everyone. “Please, Daniel. Feel free to call me ‘Mother’. I can’t replace the one that was left behind on Earth, but I would be honored if you would allow me to continue to support you here on Zenkon.”

“M-Mother!” complains Wenlianna, but she and everyone else stops.

Daniel seems to notice it himself, and his own expression becomes one of surprise. He wipes his cheek, finding a small drop of liquid.

He doesn’t break down in sobs, but the unmistakable flow of tears has started down his cheek.

***