The morning came after a full night of research and planning. It was time to go back to the Royal mansion to get some answers but also to read the books that have been waiting for me. I was pretty sure that I was going to make a mess of things if I wasn’t careful but knew I could defend my new people. I grew more comfortable in leading the people after doing extensive research into kingdom building. “The Royal Path by J.R.Pottser” was extremely helpful because it served as more of a guide than a book of royalty.

Tara came up to me as her father and I were about to exit the library.

“Astrid, I made someting for you!” she said, trying to pronounce her words properly while excited. She had a piece of paper rolled up in her hands.

Her father looked puzzled, but I spoke up first. “What is it?” I questioned, holding out my hand.

She smiled and unraveled it, holding it up to me in an excited presentation manner. It was a crudely drawn image of me and her family with stick figures. I was in front of them with the name “Big Sis Astrid”. My heart melted when looking at it. She considered me family and my heart could barely handle the wholesomeness.

“Aww thank you, it is beautiful. May I keep it?” I asked, wanting to put it up in my room.

She turned red and nodded, handing it off to me. She immediately ran away to tell her mother.

I looked at it some more, then put it into my dimensional storage. I HAVE A LITTLE SISTER NOW! “How do you feel about my putting some protection enchantments on your daughter?” I asked Highthorn when I turned around.

“That would be wonderful! A father always worries about his kids’ safety.”

We left straight back to the refuge and out to the car. A small crowd waved us goodbye. I was really excited to read Fienna’s book when I got back. Hopefully, she had the first draft done.

During the car ride, I thought it best to brush up on my attack magic, so I grabbed my favorite book on the subject. It was a thick tome titled, “Milligan’s Military Might & Magical Malevolence”; though it was dark in nature, it was great tactical magic in case someone decided to formally attack my new town.

The car ride back was very smooth, and we passed through the front entrance with no issues. I definitely had to get one of these cars for myself, it would be perfect for reading during travel. I knew teleportation magic, but this would definitely be a good excuse to read. If I had the chance to, I would tinker with it to see if I could make it faster.

As we pulled through the front entrance of the dome, it allowed me again to see what the lower class lived like. There were definitely some improvements that could be made, but I would need to focus on my town first. These weren’t my people, but I could make some suggestions to the king at a later date.

Soon after, we made it inside of the gates of the Royal mansion. I had already known I couldn’t be direct about the issue at the refuge, but I also wanted answers. Nothing bad had come out of it other than the traitor being incapacitated, so I didn’t feel it was right to pry into Don and Donna’s memories. I wasn’t even sure if what he said was true. Until I had more evidence, it felt like it was wrong to breach boundaries for an investigation. “Machi’s The Princess” says to act swift and decisive, but I didn’t think I had it in me to do that.

We got out of the car, and an attendant took it around back. As we approached the front doors, they swung open for us, presenting a smiling King Don.

“Welcome back, Lady Astrid. I’m glad to see you have returned. How was your trip? Are there any questions that you had?” King Don questioned me as he stood aside for me to pass.

That was rather suspicious of him. It’s almost like he knew something had happened. I felt like I was being too judgmental. It was possible he could have just been referring to the state of the refuge. He was still royalty and couldn’t just be accused of crime so easily. I wasn’t even sure if people would consider it a crime to assault the refugees.

“The trip was great! I’ll tell you more about it later. I would really like to get back to reading those books in your study,” I said, returning his smile. It wasn’t lying, just skipping the negative. I was really excited to meet Feinna!

“That’s good to hear. Feel free to go read, but I think you have some visitors on the way.”

I squinted my eyes slightly, feeling annoyed that I was being pulled away from reading once again. “Who wishes to see me?”

“The professors from the academy wanted to come talk to you over lunch, then take you for a tour of the campus, like you had asked.”

A tiny bit of glee creeped up on me, even though I was supposed to be focused on the fire in the refuge. Though reading was also very important to me, I had to remain focused. I was really sure that they had to have a really enormous library in a school. Especially when royals and nobles attended that school. “That’s good. I will definitely have to speak to them.”

“That’s good to hear. Lunch should be ready shortly so if you want to meet in the dining hall you can or I can have an attendant come get you from your room.”

“How did you know I was coming back? I made no announcement nor did I send a message,” I asked, feeling leary that he already had so much prepared for me.

“I was notified as soon as your car was spotted making its way to the dome.”

Oh, well, that makes sense.

I knew I should not go try to read because I would only face disappointment if someone knocked before I even got the first chapter done. “I will wait in the dining hall,” I said, heading off to the dining hall. The King went a different direction, leaving my guard alone with me inside of his mansion.

Once we got into the dining hall, the table was empty. Like magic, as soon as I sat down, attendants appeared from behind the service doors, bringing out the same fizzy drink I had the other day. I was very excited to have the drink again, but I was anxious about what I was being served after the previous day’s incident, so I ran a spell over the fizzy drink and it came back not poisonous. I planned to do this for any more meals I had. While I could withstand most poisons, I knew it wasn’t worth the risk.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Shortly after I finished my first drink, the main doors opened, several men and women trailed in most that I recognized from the first day I got back to this plane. They were followed by Don and Donna. I was so excited to see her, but it seemed her demeanor had changed. Before she was scared of me, she now just slightly glared at me, which was very off putting. She was still suspect, but I really hoped it wasn’t her.

“Lady Astrid, my name is Elder Mezzis. I have been nominated to show you around the Academy. Would you be interested in a tour?” questioned an older looking lady whose skin was showing the burns of time.

“Yes, I would like that very much. I would also like to see your library, if at all possible.”

“Absolutely! The head administrator of the greatest library ever visiting our library would be fantastic. The school’s book club might even have a meeting today. You could check it out if you wanted.”

A book club! The book club of students were probably my age, well physically. I couldn’t wait to talk with them and discuss books. I could bring new books that they hadn’t read or they could show me new ones and we could read them together. Oh, all the things we could do together. I couldn’t wait to join them. The day really started looking up. “I’m very interested in that book club,” i said, keeping my excitement under control.

They placed several plates of food in front of us, the heat of the warm soup filling my nose with fragrances of cooked bird and veggies. I couldn’t wait to dig in. I hurried my poison check, excited to dig in and soup.

The soup glowed red in my eyes, alerting me to a possibly deadly poison that lay inside. I was so shocked I almost let out a yip. Luckily I was able to control myself as before causing a scene. I had to act normal and gather my thoughts. Though my mind was screaming, FREEZE! DIVE INTO THEIR MEMORIES! SEE WHO WAS IN ON IT!! My hand balled into a fist on my side, trying to hold back my anger. I was anxious and angry, but at least I wasn’t scared.

Now I could use this knowledge to my advantage, if I got a sample. This kind of poison would require more studying to determine how they were trying to harm me. It could have been a range of poisons; truth, deadly, weakening, humility, mana sapping, mana raging, emotional damage. Luckily, nothing else at the table was poisoned, so I could eat while talking to the professors.

“So Elder Mezzis, I think you are here for me to do more than just a tour. I thought you would want me to attend class?” I asked, trying to get things back on track.

“Well, yes, that would be great to have you attend class. The only problem is that if the students pick up on who you are, they will likely call you a goddess. Even if we warn them not to.”

“That is fine. I acknowledge how people view me, even if I don’t agree. Whether or not it is true can be sorted out later. I will have to read up on divinity rules and perform some experiments, none of which I have the time for right now. Unfortunately, no one can help me perform them without high level casting capabilities.”

Her eyes sparkled before she spoke up. “We could help you if you need observers. There are some lens technologies that allow us to view mana flow. We wish we could cast like our godd— I mean Lady but we have done well with the gem magic. Our technology hasn’t been able to replicate most spells that were left behind, but we are sort of taking a fresh path. With the knowledge left over by the lady.”

What she had just said was kind of weird. I mean, they were attributing literally everything to me. I know they view me as the source of all knowledge, but typically the creator is still cited as having gained the knowledge from the source when praising a deity. “That is very interesting. I can’t wait to see in what ways magic has changed. If you can show me the lens you are talking about, maybe I could allow an observer. ”

“I would be glad to show you everything we have to offer.”

“So, how was your trip to the refuge? I hope they didn’t offend you in any way. That would be a good reason to deal with them if you wanted,” Don said, adding himself back into the conversation. Donna seemed to be even more focused on her food rather than the question.

“It went great; they were very welcoming. I was meaning to tell you, but Astraville refuge is now under my control. I am it’s leader, so I made some improvements to the place and took care of some issues.”

The table looked shocked. No one said anything. Even Donna had stopped focusing on her food and look up at me with a look of shock. They looked like they were lost in thought, so I took the time to eat. I had finally gotten my eating habits under control and was able to not gobble the food down all at once. I was instead able to take my time like a civilized person. It was good I was learning to fit in with royals since I was now the leader of the Astraville.

“What improvements did you make?” Mezzis said, looking like a child who saw a new toy.

“Well, I increased its defense capabilities on surviving attacks from the calamity beasts. As well as other intruders. I also improved the sanitation conditions by adding a sewer and water system. Oh, I also made a custom crop and, most importantly, a library.”

“Wha-? a library? Did you bring books out of the Biblio Eternium?!?” she replied frantically.

“No, no. Nothing like that. I merely provided my people with supplies to write books for me. They seemed very enthusiastic about it,” I said, hoping she would take the hint that giving me books would make me happy.

“Could I visit? I want to see what improvements you made. We only hear about how things are bad out there.”

“It is not a recognized nation. You can go there if you want. It isn’t even supposed to exist. It is for exiles only. They aren't supposed to have a home,” Donna cut in, sounding annoyed. Don looked shocked at his daughter’s outburst.

I felt anger well up inside of me. How could she just abandon the innocent like that? She was coming off as the villainess in this debacle, which was unfortunate because I wanted her as a friend. “Well, I recognized it, and there will be problems for anyone that mistreats it again. Since now that it is under my direct protection, I would serve as its military force as well.”

Donna went pale, realizing she had stepped out of line. I also felt bad because I wasn’t being as formal as I would like to have been. I decided to move the conversation back to safer territory. “Well, it is very similar to the places here. I added toilets, showers, and sinks. These are necessities; even if people think the adults don’t deserve it, the children do.”

Don and the professor nodded in agreement.

“It is true I have always felt bad about the children but our laws and agreements with the corporations state whole families must be exiled once certain incidents occur,” Don replied to me.

That was a very interesting piece of information. It was like he had a loss of control over his kingdom. Well, I should have figured he didn’t live in a castle and had said he had to give up a lot to deal with the corporations. “Yes, well, I am there now, so things should get better for my citizens. I always wanted to control a nation. I have read so much about them.”

“I am sure they will be very pleased to have you as their leader.”

It seems that I would need to lay things out with Don as the leader of a neighboring nation. I also needed to probe the poisoned food, though I already suspected Donna. If it was Donna I would feel guilty because I had scared her. I would need to send a message to her one way or another to stop her actions. Hopefully reminding her I was in their military might do it.

Luckily, I would make it just be the three of us, so my anxiety shouldn’t creep up too much. This being a leader thing was a lot of work.

“Speaking of, there is something we need to talk about. Nation leader to leader.” I looked at Mezzis. “I will meet you outside shortly.”

Mezzis took the hint and headed outside with the professors. I finished eating everything but the soup. I wanted to give the culprit one more chance.