NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1463: The Queen's "Shadow Guard"
-----
The Vampires had finally and formally introduced themselves; they were members of Queen Camilla's "Shadow Guard" or whatever their name was, the knights couldn't quite recall it well and had been protecting the Kingdom in the shadows.
Thanks to them, things hadn't escalated as badly before as they constantly defeated dangerous cultists and other criminals for her, although the sheer quantity of them was so big that even then, it was becoming a huge problem.
"Where were you guys yesterday though? I don't even remember seeing any of you at all…" Patricia asked while crossing her arms and looking at them suspiciously.
"We were fighting the hordes of demonic beasts in the distance keeping them away from you."
Continue your adventure with My Virtual Library Empire
"If we hadn't done anything you would have died."
"You should be grateful."
"Eeh?! How can I know you're even saying the truth if we couldn't see you!" Patricia just wanted to pick up a fight with them for no reason.
"Patricia, would you cut it out? They're our saviors and they saved us from dying and even are serving the queen directly, be more respectful, they're technically our seniors…" Joustin facepalmed.
"Aaah…" She groaned, looking elsewhere.
"Hahah… Well, that's how she is," Heshmerie laughed a bit.
The group was walking through the overrun-by-nature city, going through streets covered by grass and trees, and walking past the plaza, which had become a beautiful flower-covered plain.
"The place is sure beautiful when you stop to think about the ruins… Right sister?" Emerette wondered.
"Yes… I want to sit down somewhere and enjoy nature…" Juliette sighed. "But we can't right?"
"Hmm, we must rebuild as quickly as possible," Emerette nodded.
"Let's go met our master, it seems she wanted to greet you and congratulate you in person for your efforts and feats."
"Yes, she wants to see you personally.
"Her son will be there, and also David."
"General David?!" Patricia's eyes pupils suddenly became heart-shaped in an instant, as Joustin and the rest glared at Patricia with weird faces. "Is he awake now? Is he fine?! Wait, was he looking for me in specific?!"
"No, not at all."
"He brought over the prince from the forest though."
"He had gone there using a portal from Planta, only those she chose can use it though."
"So that's how the prince returned…" Patricia nodded. "I suppose the rest of the people are too many to bring along, even less in a ruined city, right?"
"Yeah, the queen's planning to keep them in the forest of beginnings for a bit longer until we can at least rebuild a third of the city."
"It is quite unrealistic though… the amount of compassion she has over her subjects is too much sometimes."
"She should simply ask them to reconstruct it instead, right?"
The vampires were talking among themselves too, thinking their master was too compassionate. And they weren't wrong, if Camilla asked the whole working population to get together and work, things would go smoothly and quicker.
However, she couldn't bring herself to do that right now, her entire people had lost most of their houses and belongings, she has nothing to pay them to aside from the treasury she is protecting, and food might also be scarce.
Although nature had become very abundant everywhere and there were now many fruit trees and so on, these things weren't near enough to feed their entire population.
The farms in the outskirts seemed most intact though, and so houses and small villages where the people lived there too, but due to the lack of soldiers and knights, it would be very unguarded for people to live there, and they would be risking getting attacked by wild beasts if they aren't inside the walls.
Before, soldiers patrolled the villages every time, and there were also many guards, btu right now, with a third of the army gone after the war, they couldn't afford such a luxury…
Of course, if Planta and her friends were here, many things could be solved so very easily…
But the Queen couldn't simply try to rely on others for everything, that would simply create too much dependence on other outside factors, and she had to do things on her own.
Planta and everyone else already did so much, asking them more would be simply selfish, and that they hadn't showed up or logged in yet probably meant they were too exhausted and wanted to rest for a while, and it was completely fair.
"Ah, the castle is mostly intact, huh?" Patricia smiled, looking around.
They had slept inside an inn whose a part of the roof had been blown away, but it was nicely covered by plants and vines, so they were able to sleep just fine.
Though the beds and other things were all covered by dirt, Joustin and the twins magic were able to wash and clean things quickly, helping them sleep well.
That's why Patricia was surprised, as she hadn't been in the castle last night, unlike most of the other soldiers, who were using the castle as a refuge.
"It's nice!" Joustin sighed in relief. "As long as the castle remains, a Kingdom cannot fall!"
"Indeed…" Heshmerie nodded with a relieved smile. "I'm glad…"
"The halls are clean as well," Emerette pointed out.
"It seems that the castle servants have returned too? I saw a few Butlers and Maids…" Juliette said.
"Yeah, we are slowly bringing back people from the Forest of Beginnings."
"Mostly workers that are needed."
"But things are still too intense, and David could only bring a few dozen people…"
"What's the situation in the forest?" Joustin asked. "I-is everything alright? We have an alliance with the Forest of Beginnings, right? I'm fairly sure the Fairy Queen Titania is in good terms with our Queen…"
"Yes, she is, and she's trying very hard to convince the humans to not run back here."
"It is quite complicated; most people are panicking after waking up."
"You see, Planta brought them there through special sleeping methods, and now that the people woke up, they panicked a lot. They didn't know where they were, where were their homes, and so on."
"Once things were explained to them by some soldiers they panicked even more… And well, it is difficult to control such a large mob of people."
The vampires explained how things were, and they weren't easy at all…
But at least it wasn't the worst-case scenario.
"Welcome, my little heroes. Thank you for helping us out by taking care of that threat."
And once they entered the castle's hall, they greeted the Queen, who was sitting there next to a pile of documents.
She had eyebags below her eyes, and she clearly looked exhausted, she had probably not even slept the entire time.
-----