The Bastogne Castle, Two Hours after Frozen Bracelet went airborne
Rokari, the Supreme Commander of the Adventurers Expeditionary Fleet, was taken into the castle by the Bastogne Knights for an audience. She got word from her intercom that Frozen Bracelet was successfully repaired and went airborne again. With the flagship is now secure, Rokari and the adventurers can focus on their task of salvaging the Astral Ships and making contact with the Kingdom of Bastogne.
When she's headed to the palace, Rokari saw the Bastogne's people, surprised at their races. It seems there is plenty of mixed breeding between humans, elves, and dwarves. This information can be handy since Alicia wants to study mixed breed further. She wants to study their genes and how long they have been stranded on this land.
Judging by the city walls, it looks like the Kingdom of Bastogne was always in a difficult situation. Initial reports from the recon already support this finding, considering the Pandemonium Continent was based on survival of the fittest in a more brutal way. If it was at the Celestina Empire, probably the Main Council will always stay at the front line, extending it year by year to ensure the citizens are well-fed and always ready for war against the demons.
Arriving at the audience room, she saw the nobles and ministers. It would seem that the audience was still ongoing, and she was the next one. Some of them are anxious since they saw Rokari as a child due to her appearance.
Arriving in front of the current king, Rokari bows down before him. She was wearing her signature adventurers uniform, not too fancy, but it can be considered an insolent to his majesty in the nobles' eyes.
"Supreme Commander of the Celestina Adventurers Expeditionary Fleet, Rokari Migurdia greets Your Majesty."
"Stand up."
Rokari stood up, looking at the man in around 30s. It seems that he ascends to the throne less than five years ago, judging by the experience.
"I have heard the case from the messenger. What is the purpose of your visit?"
"I'm here to conduct an expedition to explore the Pandemonium Continent. The Main Council assigns me and at least a thousand adventurers from the Celestina Empire and a hundred of the Topa Kingdom to explore this land. After five months of preparation, we set out to explore with the objective is to make contact with any settlement we find during our expedition. Unfortunately, our flagship got hit by a magnetic storm and grounded near one of your settlements. For that, I offer a sincere apology."
Rokari stood up, and this time she bows deeply to the King. The King and the nobles were astonished to look at how Rokari behave. He nodded in acknowledgment, and he grants her a pardon.
"I accept your apology, Miss Rokari. I'm also rude to you from the start. I'm Lazare Bastogne, the current King of the Bastogne Kingdom. I'm grateful to have you here. I would like to know the country you are coming from. Perhaps we can talk about this matter in private."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Inside the private room, Lazare Bastogne, with several officials and Rokari, held some talk.
"Lady Rokari. If I may, what's happening outside the Kingdom of Bastogne?"
"Multiple Kingdoms emerged and..." Rokari thinks before she continues, "I just came from the Kingdom of Topa, which serves as the Guardian of the Doors to the World before departure."
"The Kingdom of Topa? Doors to the World? You mean, there's a lot of settlements there?"
"Yes."
The news brought relief to them, this means the civilization was recovered from the subjugation thousand of years ago while they were isolated in the Pandemonium Continent. They were hoping that they can make contact with the Kingdom of Topa soon enough.
"But, with the current situation we face right now, we won't be able to spare some men. We've been constantly attacked ever since we make a settlement here. Because of this harsh land, we've barely managed to survive with limited resources."
"I understand. Please allow us to finish this expedition, or at least allows us to help break this stalemate."
"I will allow you to help us if it means we can reestablish the contact with other settlements."
While they were talking, a knight knocks and enters the room. Since this is an urgent message, he was allowed to get in.
"What is it?"
"Our knights has just repelled the demon attack, and the giant bird is airborne again!"
"So the Frozen Bracelet has been repaired? Good to hear it."
"Frozen Bracelet?"
"Yes. It's the name of the Starship and as the flagship of this expedition. Our adventurers are tracking the perpetrators behind this and make contact with other settlements to investigate."
"Oooh!! That's good to hear! Very well, then. Miss Rokari, I will leave four hundred of my knights to you."
"Yes, sir."
The talk went smoother than what Rokari could expect. Rokari needs to establish battle lines to connect the Headquarters and the Kingdom of Bastogne to establish the supply lines with limited personnel.
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The Kingdom of Selarong, Training Field
At the training field, there was a new face that will become the mentor. Both are Armada and Tiamat, and they come to assist Luciana and Eleonora in training the Selarong Knights.
Both Armada and Tiamat are doing full Nelson against Kumsius and Luciana, as both struggle to release from their grasp.
"H-hnn..!!"
"O-ouucchh!!"
"Bear with it!"
Armada's height was around 2.7 meters, high enough for him to bend down when doing full Nelson on Kumsius, while Tiamat was about 2.4 meters. Their height was already given both Kumsius and Luciana a hard time since they need another way to break this stalemate.
Luciana struggles when Tiamat is swaying left and right, and it makes her quite challenging to break free from her. The Nelson grip was quite tight, although Luciana was only wearing a training cloth. On the other hand, Armada makes some movements and keeps it tight, and somehow he was bullying Kumsius. Eleonora only looks at both while the other Selarong Knights are watching.
"This is full Nelson hold, where both arms are locked upside, and on one occasion, you can feel the weight on your back! Be careful as if you go overboard, you may crack their bones! You do this only in a fistfight, allowing your allies to finish your opponent, or you got a hard time to deal with bigger opponents!"
Luciana still struggles, but eventually, she gathered enough momentum to sway her body enough to flip herself upside down with Tiamat on the ground.
"Ouch!"
"Ah... that was close one... Sorry."
Both Shina and Sofya are just watching the training session. There are two unexpected things to be here today. First is Armada and Tiamat's arrival, which enough to cause a fuss among the Main Council and the Main Advisor. Second, this is their unscheduled visit to the Kingdom of Selarong.
Shina and Sofya must keep an eye on both Armada and Tiamat so they won't go overboard when training. Looking at the clock, it soon reaches two minutes mark. Luciana already breaks free from Tiamat, and she stretches while Kumsius still struggle.
PIP PIP!
The alarm rang when two minutes mark has passed, but Armada has shown no sign of ending.
"Lord Armada, that's enough."
Kumsius still struggle while Sofya can hear some bones might break soon.
"Lord Armada, that's enough!"
Still not listening, Shina went to Armada, and she pinches his ears.
"Ouch ouch ouch ouch!"
"I said, that's enough...!!"
The pinching prompts Armada to release the grip from Kumsius as his upper body fell to the ground, wheezing.
"Oooh... thank goodness."
"Are you alright?"
Sofya casts some healing on him, and he sighs with relief.
"Thank you so much."
After stretching, Luciana looks at them.
"All right! Everyone pair up and doing full Nelson! Try to break free in two minutes, or I will send you to the running course for five laps!"
The Selarong Soldiers quickly pair up with each other while Luciana's personnel also pair them. Since the league between Selarong soldiers and the 3rd Combat Division are very different, Luciana does not allow them to pair each other when it comes to pinning section like this full Nelson.
Once all of them pair up, Luciana starts the countdown.
"Begin!"
Armada grumbles when Shina stops him from teasing Kumsius further.
"I want to play with him more."
"Please, give me a break, Lord Armada. Your appearance here already causes a fuss on the Main Council and Advisors. Why you didn't tell Sachi or me that you will be coming here with your sister?"
"You have a problem with that?"
Irritated, Shina runs to Sofya, and she just pampers Shina gently.
"Uuu Sofya... He's mean to me."
"Hey!"
"Fu fu fu. It's alright."
It's quite a sight worth remembering considering Sofya is the "Mother of the Empire," and right now, she pampers Shina by petting her head and calming her down like a child that needs to be pampered by their mom.
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On the other hand, the Main Council and Main Advisors did not expect their sudden visit. Their power was enough to obliterate the whole galaxy if they wanted to. Shina heard about him from several records outside the Celestina Empire, but she didn't expect Armada and his sister, Tiamat, to be here.
Alicia hasn't met both of them in person since each has its own adventure. Although they know the information from Shina, none of them, except Sachi, has met both Armada and Tiamat in person.
Armada and Tiamat saw Sofya pampers Shina, yet they haven't experienced it in their lifetime. Their existence was made without parents, making them think of what it feels like to be pampered by a parent.
"Do you want to be pampered as well?"
Luciana lightly teases Tiamat.
"N-no! I don't need it!"
Luciana only makes a small giggle hearing that.
The training course continues. While Luciana's unit manages to pull it off, Selarong Soldiers, on the other hand, fails miserably.
"Those who are failed in breaking free from full Nelson for two minutes, run five laps right now! I don't want to hear any complaints!"
The hellish training continues as Shina, and the others continue to supervise the training.
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Pandemonium Continent, Celestina Adventurers Headquarters
Once the battle lines are secured temporarily, the adventurers are taking a break. Although the base of operations set up has not been completed due to the demon army's sudden attack, they manage to keep the demon army at bay.
"It's good to have this base secure."
"Just be grateful that monster isn't coming here, anyway."
"Uh! Could you not remind me of him? He's a beast when it comes to training! He even pick on the guys who are good-looking and skinny."
"Ssshh, shut it! He can hear you even he's not in our sight!"
"Err... What's the point, anyway?"
"Shush! You haven't experienced full Nelson from him, do you?"
"No?"
"Oh, you better face it. Even Hughmand Carlyle also got suppressed a lot by him, almost got his bones cracked for good."
"He's a devil!"
"That guy... what was his name again? Ah, Armada. He made Carlyle submit under five minutes of full Nelson when he was entering S Rank League! Even the War Maidens Squadron selection must withstand full Nelson at least five minutes!"
"For real? That's going to be a hellish one!"
"You better train your upper body from the start anyway, or you might get some broken bones should Armada is the one that will do a full Nelson. Your looks and your body can make him see you as prey."
"Urgh...! I should buy restraining equipment once I get back from this expedition, then."
The Coalition-class Astral Ship, Rogdor of Kirah that serves as the secondary flagship, is holding position above the Headquarters. Personnel keeps going up and down, unloading supplies and materials to construct the base. The security consists of sixteen parties of six adventurers, split into four parties to protect four entrance points and maintaining a defense perimeter.
The adventurers are working to establish their base of operation by making a small city to accommodate their needs. Inns, Adventurer's Guild, Blacksmith, Pubs, Groceries, and Headquarters are established to maintain the Adventurers' morale during their expedition.
"Get those Astral Cannons set up over there. I want those cannons able to cover two sides of the entrance."
"Deploy shields at some key locations. We need to keep each section protected. Have the cannons installed inside the base as well, and we need to keep each section watch their backs."
The small city that the Celestina Empire make with the original intention only to establish as the base for the adventurers will later transform into a hub city that connects the Bastogne Kingdom and the Rakasha Kingdom.
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Celestina Zealot Strike Force, Cecilia and Lyrallei's Team, Entrance of the Rakasha Kingdom
The girls from the Zealot Strike Force arrive at their destination. Being sent in advance for three days before Rokari sets out for the expedition, their job is to search for a settlement, make contact with it, and gain the local's trust.
"There's the Kingdom."
"It looks different than we thought."
The Zealot Strike Force from Cecilia and Lyrallei's team are infiltrating the Kingdom of Rakasha. Their primary objective was to seek out any information they can find about this demon. From what they can understand, several top officers have gems on their foreheads. It would seem they are under the mind-control of the Annonrial Empire agent, Miglione.
The more they went inside, the more they find that the Demon tribe live in the Kingdom of Rakasha is not a hostile one. They will investigate Annonrial's involvements in a more detailed way. Based on the information gathered by Lieutenant Faira Desirae, they got a rough identification by enhancing the sight down to the street level. Thanks to Maya's team that went on snooping around where Miglione is, they were able to make a better identification of the small light-winged people.
"Okay, we need to make sure we can identify more of the Annonrial agents. We also learn about their existence from the Eleven County Leadership Conference."
"Glad our adventurers can take a look at them. Have they plant the tracker?"
"Yes, but we need more to track their ship down. It looks like the Annonrials are ditching it somewhere and then using another ship based on the distance they travel. Perhaps they have something that we don't know yet."
"I guess the intel from the Undines is also correct, then. They say that the Annonrial possess a Sea Dragon as defenses, so..."
"Most likely, the Annonrial won't be involved on that matter; rather, they are making it as an accident."
"I heard Mu try to explore the south, and they always met with a tragedy, isn't it?"
"Yeah. We need to open a hole so we can establish a base there."
"I heard 'You know him' is also coming along with 'You know her.' The adventures are talking about them."
"Eh? You mean it? They can take this world in just one day if they want it to."
"Good thing the Annonrials didn't know about it."
"Let's go in and find more information about them."
The Zealots are wearing their hoods as they advance into the Kingdom of Rakasha. The demon's appearance is somehow similar to the Oni race. There are some other demons, such as three-horned demons, a horned demon, and many more. They may expect that those creatures that live outside the Kingdom of Rakasha are fighting for survival.
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Night Time, Imperial Palace of Childre, Sofya's Bedroom
At night, Sofya wears her sleep dress as she stares at the light of the moonlight that shines in the sky. Her bed was an Alaskan King Bed, so she had to crawl all the way to the middle when she wants to sleep. The moon shines brightly while her room is designed in such a way so no outside people can utilize any technology or magic to take a peek at her room.
Today's training is quite a rough one as she needs to scold Armada and Tiamat several times when they went overboard in the training session. Still, she finds there are no other problems than that. The Selarong Soldiers are exhausted because of Eleonora's Spartan-style training. But, because of Sofya's motherly nature, they can recover their mental fatigue faster than she can anticipate.
"I hope tomorrow the session is not going into trouble again."
Knock Knock
"Come in!"
Unexpected for her, both Armada and Tiamat enter her room. She didn't expect to see them enter her room, let alone wearing their sleep dress.
"Uhh... What brings you here?"
"C-can you pamper us?"
Tiamat asks in hesitation, and this makes Sofya gets awkward since they are Primordial. But, because of that, she understands their situation, and she smiles at them. Folding her legs and lean herself to the end of the head side of the bed, she offers Tiamat to use her lap as a pillow.
"Come here and place your head on my lap."
Obeying her words, Tiamat slowly moves into her, and she places her head on Sofya's lap. Once Tiamat is on her lap, she starts stroking her head as she was spoiling her.
"So this is what it feels like to being pampered..."
"Hm?"
"N-no. Nothing."
Sofya only giggles while she's petting Tiamat's head. Tiamat found this awkward, yet she feels comfortable. It feels like she has a parent that she can spoil on. While she was spoiled, somehow she fell asleep, and she sleeps comfortably. Once Tiamat fell asleep, she gently moves her into a fluffy pillow and raises her finger to her lips, giving Armada a signal to stay quiet.
"You're next."
Armada also feels awkward when he does the same, but when he leaned his head on her lap, he felt uncomfortable at first, but once Sofya start to pet his head, he can feel her warmth and enjoy himself being pampered by her.
"It feels... comfortable..."
"Now, now, just relax."
"Can I ask you a favor Sofya?"
"What is it?"
"C-can you be, uh... our foster mother...? If possible, I want to be pampered along with my sister when we wanted it."
Armada was somehow nervous for saying that since this is the first time Sofya is pampering both Armada and Tiamat. Sofya only makes a small giggle as she accepts it.
"I will. Just come by to my room before I went to sleep, okay?"
"T-thank you."
Armada feels comfortable when Sofya pampers him. Slowly he also went into slumber, much to her amusement.
"Even a Primordial like you needs a parent to pamper you when you want it."
With both of them asleep, Sofya gently placed him on another fluffy pillow, and she also went to sleep.
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The Kingdom of Bastogne, Frozen Bracelet
"Amazing! So this is what the Starship looks like!"
The King of Bastogne, Lazare, is visiting Adventurers Expeditionary Fleet's flagship, Frozen Bracelet. He saw several docks used to refit and repair for the Astral ships while it has a well-prepared accommodations for the adventurer wished to rest here.
"What kind of country does Celestina have? Is your country was made from this world?"
"Unfortunately, no. We're being transported from another world around a year ago."
"I see..."
Once given a tour around the Frozen Bracelet, King Lazare returns to the castle. Once he returns to the castle, he tells his story further.
"We once tried to assist the four heroes in an attempt to subjugate the Demon Lord thousands of years ago, when the unknown army manages to push them back to the Pandemonium Continent. However, we got trapped here, and we can't return, so we decide to make a settlement here, which leads to the founding of the Kingdom of Bastogne."
"Can I take a look at the history book at the library? If possible, I need access to the restricted one as well since we plan to secure this region and establish a diplomatic relationship with any country we can find on the Pandemonium Continent. We might be able to link several events between here and the Kingdom of Topa from thousands of years ago to recent."
"I will grant you access for that."
"Thank you. I will inform the command to send the librarian and historian as soon as possible."
With that, Rokari established contact with the Celestina Empire to send more reinforcements along with librarians and historians. Because many adventurers are lining up to participate in the expedition, the Celestina Empire plans to dispatch them wave by wave, depending on how far the battle lines will stretch.
Returning to the Frozen Bracelet, they went to the front line once the Topa Knights send reinforcements of a battalion of knights along with ten Astral Ship. King Lazare also assigns at least two Knights Companies, numbered two hundred, to assist the Celestina Adventurers Expeditionary Fleet.
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Adventurers Headquarters, two days later
"The Frozen Bracelet is here!"
Frozen Bracelet has finally arrived after four days of staying at the Kingdom of Bastogne. Once they arrived at the landing zone, they saw some unfamiliar faces. They are the Bastogne Knights consists of humans and demi-humans. Setzer comes to meet them in person while the defense perimeter remains tight.
"Welcome, Madam Rokari. How's the day in the Kingdom of Bastogne?"
"Not quite a pleasant one. It can't be helped, considering we crashed on their border because of the magnetic storm. Still, I'm grateful that Frozen Bracelet is fine from the crash, but not for the Astral ships."
"We're sorry to hear that. For the recent report, we manage to establish the base of operations. The construction of the headquarters is still ongoing. For the settlements, we—"
The reports continue as Rokari continues to coordinate with the leaders of each subdivision for the expedition. Since she expects there will be more resistance to face from now on, she places her bet on the Zealot Strike Force and Pandemonium Headquarters to keep the operation running smoothly. To monitor the progress, she wants the adventurers to advance with the Zealot Strike Force's current intel. She gives this instruction to avoid unnecessary battles and find resources suitable for the Celestina Empire that can be useful for production and trading.
"This size alone already makes us realize that we need more adventurers. We need at least an Army size for this one. We probably also need the Zealots to increase the capacity for up to the size of a Battalion. Can we inform Grand Duchess Maya or Master Shiki about this matter?"
"I will try. Since we are exploring a vast continent, we may need more than this."
"Make sure we also need adventurers at least B rank to participate."
"Yes, Ma'am."
The size of the United States, excluding Alaska, is already giving Rokari a headache. It seems the intel provided by the CIISA is off the mark, so she needs to request more reinforcements. The risk is that she needs to choose between making a town or establishing a portal linked from the Celestina Empire. Creating a town is a safe choice, but the logistical fees can be quite concerning while establishing a portal linked to the Adventurer's Tower can cut the cost, but there will be a risk of having someone slip through into the portal. But, Rokari can trust the Celestina Empire's defense since Maya's citizens can immediately catch the stench of trespassers.
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Near the Dormant Volcano area
Miglione was frustrated. He got the news that the Demon Army assaulting the Kingdom of Bastogne was repelled by an unknown anomaly while he's not aware that the Celestina Empire repels it. At first, he thought that the Ravernal Empire had returned, but it seems he was wrong.
"Damn it, those bastards got reinforcements, do they?"
"W-what do we do, my lord? W-we also got a report that the newcomers have set up their bases around 200km south-east from here."
"Grrr... If this continues like this, we need a massive army. How long until we can assemble a large one!?"
"S-sir! T-three months, earliest!"
"Then make it happen!"
"Y-yes, my lord!"
Diobolos quickly left to reorganize the demon army. The presence of the Celestina Empire already frustrates him. He wants the beacon secured as soon as possible.
"I will make sure those newcomers fell to teach those Kingdom a lesson."
Miglione now needs to rally his agents to get more updates. He's unaware that the Celestina Zealot Strike Force has already infiltrated his ranks. While both sides lack intel about each other, Celestina moves fast. In order to gain more information about the Annonrial Empire, the Zealot Strike need to separate themselves into several branches of operations.
With the current situation are on a stalemate due to unexpected circumstances and lack of intel, both sides decide to gather more information in their own way. In the meantime, Rokari, Hughmand, Setzer, and the adventurers are focusing their attention on the south battle lines. In order to gain access to the Topa Kingdom that was unable to advance, Hughmand will lead a Company-size legion of adventurers to open the path to the Doors to the World.