NOVEL NEXT 65. A help too late.
Through a forest, a small animal was running. No, based on its appearance, it was more of a wild beast. The type of beast that normally is being run from and yet, And yet here it was running as if its life depended on it.
Running into the cover of a bush, the beast sniffed the air as it stood motionless. Is it safe now? It wondered. Straining its hearing to the limit, trying to guess whether or not its adversary is nearby. After a few seconds of nothing happening, It began sneaking out of the cover to go to its offspring. But as it left the safety of a bush, an immense amount of blood painted the ground red.
"Bestätigung; Ziel zerstört. Magic core; kein."
A young-looking woman wiped the blood off her hand and stepped over the beast’s corpse, her voice cold and mechanical. In so far; fünfundfünfzig beasts. A number of magic cores found; vier.
"Tsk."
The woman clicked her tongue as she fiddled with a small, dark purple-blue orb in her fingers. And they are of low quality too. Heaving a sigh, she glanced at a light blue bar that was closing on a red line. While a crimson word: Achtung. Kept flashing on it.
Putting the orb into a bag she had procured in a dwarven city, the woman, Eina, used one of her abilities, "scan." To create a 3D image of the surrounding area. Originally, this ability could be used for up to 2.5 km, but due to the tight mana limit, she only used a 50-meter "scan".
"Auf hier?"
If it had been in the past, a 50-meter scan radius would have been laughable. Luckily, she was not searching for soldiers or tribal warriors. But just simple beasts as well as a path back to her master’s side.
In quick succession, she moved from bush to bush, adding an additional 12 kills to her name. Carefully observing her handiwork, Eina dug a purple orb from one of the beast’s carcasses. Examining it closely.
"Nur ein…. At this rate…"
Eina clenched her fist, squeezing the magic core tightly. Damn dwarves and their lab, Can’t they have a magic core to power their machinery instead of steam!? She only came back to her senses once the core cracked and a fine powder was in her hand.
"Tsk. These better be at least useful."
She said this as she brought the powder to her mouth and swallowed it. Almost instantly, the blue bar rose a little.
"Vier percent… better than nothing."
Eina sighed again as she set out to collect the useful parts of the beast to sell in the next city so that she could get a map more fitting for modern times. Thanks to the changes in topography as well as population, the map she had saved in her memory was outdated. Way too outdated. For example, right now, she should be standing in the middle of a lake. But all around her were trees and hills.
"…bzzz. Zwe...bzzz …befehler bzzzzzz… zehn. Aus"
Hm? Eina stopped as she caught a message that had clearly come from her sisters. Come to think of it, there used to be a summer residency of Master close by.
Comparing the direction from which the signal came with her map. She confirmed her suspicions. So you are still guarding that place. Huh?
"Eina zu allen. Alony aut nihil, Pro patria et imperatrix. Ende."
She was sending the message merely to signal that she was still around even after two millennia had passed. Though she doubted whether they could even hear it, there was no point in making it complicated; it just had to be something only Walküre would use. And a message combining Deutsch and Latina, the two languages only her master knew, would definitely be in that category.
"Und jetz, it should be this way."
Walking for a few dozen meters, she located a path that seemed to lead in the direction from which the signal came. As she followed the path, she also kept an eye out for any beasts that she could harvest. But unlike the old days, beasts were now hardly anywhere near the path. Which annoyed her immensely.
…
"For a last time. Vampires having a civil war is none of our problems."
An old elven woman seated at a decorated table in what looked like an office said so. On the opposite side stood a much younger elven woman, who was not happy with what she heard.
"It is our problem! We have to honor our deals, right? Mother"
The younger woman, Olia Retorted back while her mother sighed and massaged her temples. Picking up a quill, she refocused on the documents in front of her.
"We don’t have any deals with vampires, other than the peace deal we signed with them that is."
Olia clenched her fist out of frustration. Her mother ignored that and glanced at her.
"I don’t know what happened when you went to that girl’s birthday party. But whatever it was, there is no reason to drag our country into it."
"No… it’s just…"
Olia went silent; she didn’t know how to tell her mother that her fiancé was actually a vampire princess, so it was their duty to help them. but she knew how crazy that sounded.
"It’s just what?"
Her mother was clearly getting impatient with her daughter. Olia took a deep breath and looked resolutely at her mother.
"Julian is still alive, so we have to support him, right?"
Olia’s mother looked at her, surprised. After staring at her daughter blankly for a few seconds. She opened her mouth again.
"And Mister Beleng being alive correlates to assisting vampires in what way?"
"He… is Loriam’s child… daughter, to be precise."
Olia looked away, embarrassed. She had just admitted to her mother that she liked another girl. But more importantly, she had revived her lover’s true identity. Realizing that she felt even more embarrassed. She must think I am crazy.
"Honey… Are you feeling well? Maybe I should call a physician for you?"
As expected, her mother was looking at her pitifully. Olia herself didn’t believe it when she heard about it. So, she can’t really blame her mother for thinking that she lost her mind.
"No, it’s true. She really is the one you engaged me with."
Olia knew she couldn’t prove what she said. The only evidence was the letter that Julia had- Olia remembered what had convinced her back in Kaenem.
"If you don’t trust me, then just ask Lord Beleng. It’s his daughter after all."
Before Olia’s mother could respond, someone knocked at the door urgently. Giving the person permission, Olia’s mother placed the quill back down as a man entered the room. Only handling a document for his queen before leaving.
"Well, if it’s as you said, then I am afraid it’s rather late."
Olia’s mother waved the document slightly with a sigh.
"A few of the vampire and succubi nobles, as well as some beast-men chieftains, just declared an empire. Apparently, the Kaenem is now in the Empire's hands."