“So, what exactly do we know already?” Max asked.

For once, he wasn’t standing behind Regina and playing bodyguard. Instead, he had taken a seat at the table beside her, along with other senior members of the hive and Regina’s closest allies. She had chosen a round table with simple chairs to signal this was going to be an informal meeting. She wanted their opinions, there was no time for needless formalities or political plays.

“There has been a military coup in the Gnomish Confederation, it seems,” Regina started.

The others exchanged looks and she caught some muttering in the psychic link. They should have all heard this much already, but confirmation was something else, she supposed.

“Who started it?” Kiara asked.

“A general named Aliekin, he seems to be in charge. According to our information, he was put in charge of their war effort after some of his strategies proved effective and his predecessors all failed.” Regina leaned back in her chair and sighed. “I should have expected something like this,” she admitted. “Regimes of this kind are rarely stable and in a situation like this, a coup was probably almost inevitable.”

“Don’t dwell on that,” Galatea shrugged. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty, but you couldn’t have known what would happen or how. I didn’t consider the possibility sufficiently, either.”

“Even if you had, there isn’t much we can do,” Max commented.

Kiara frowned a bit as she looked at them. “You are all talking like you should have seen this coming,” she noted, “but honestly, I don’t understand why. I wouldn’t have expected some military commander to just depose his rulers and get away with it. Wouldn’t he lack any legitimacy?”

Regina sighed. “That’s because you’re not used to another kind of political system, I think,” she said. “From everything I’ve heard, the Gnomish Confederation is closer to a country we might have seen in my time, or in our history. A dictator falling to an internal coup isn’t that surprising. I mean, it’s not like they had much legitimacy to spare. Sure, they were formally voted in and everything, but a lot of people would have known what’s going on. It’s more of a matter of propaganda, and this general can use that just as well. And the people’s support is kinda crucial.”

“Maybe more to the point,” Galatea said drily, “the rebellious commanders seem to control most if not all the country’s military force, and the Historicals or any remaining loyalists don’t have the means to fight back, at the moment.”

Kiara frowned, but didn’t say anything else.

“True,” Regina said. “General Aliekin is claiming to want to restore the country to its proper, lawful state, but how genuine his claims are is anyone’s guess. He pretty much has to say that. However, things seem to be moving in a generally positive direction, so far. He has made overtures to the oppositional factions and those discontent with the regime’s rule.”

“They’ve told you that?” June asked.

“A few of them. Most haven’t sent any word.” Regina ran a hand through her hair. “We should probably expect to lose some of our contacts. With this change in the Gnomish Confederation, they’ll be less inclined to work with us, if they see they have other opportunities.”

Via nodded. “And what about the war? Is anything going to change?”

Regina exchanged a look with the military commanders sitting around the table. Janis wasn’t here, yet — she’d wanted to come, but with this shake-up she also felt compelled to remain at the front to be ready. Ben was present, though.

“For now, nothing has changed for our war effort,” he said calmly. “I would advise not to waste time waiting. We have only just regained our momentum, and pausing in hopes that the new regime wants to end the war would be giving away the initiative needlessly. If they do want to talk, then putting a bit more pressure on them by continuing our advance won’t hurt.”

“Shouldn’t we try to consolidate our gains first, though?” Tia asked. “We can’t just take control of a city and then leave the next minute, right?”

Ben smiled a bit. “Don’t worry, we’d be leaving garrisons either way. I believe our army is big enough now we can leave sufficient detachments behind, as well as some people to help in the civilian administration and integration, while not weakening our front unduly. We also have some experience from Ins-On-A-Rock that will help.”

Regina glanced at the others to see how they were taking it, then nodded. “I trust you, Ben. If that’s what you think is best, we’ll continue our advance.”

“Is this going to affect the war in the long term, though?” June asked.

Ben grimaced slightly. “It might actually make it harder for us,” he admitted. “I hope it will be easier in terms of reaching a peace agreement, though that’s not my area of expertise —“ he glanced at Regina, who nodded. “But having their best strategist in charge of the country is probably not going to make fighting them easier. They’ll no longer be dragged down by having a group of politicians who might not agree with each other or their commanders at the top. The general will probably be more likely to follow a course of action that would be politically inconvenient but makes sense militarily.”

“We can hope he’ll be too occupied keeping the country together to focus on strategy,” Tia commented. It got a few smiles, but Regina could tell most people weren’t totally optimistic about the prospect.

The conversation turned to more details and discussion of how to handle and integrate the newly captured cities, but while Regina paid attention to it, she didn’t say much. Instead, she was still a little distracted by thoughts of the developments in the Gnomish Confederation and what they meant.

Considering this was a smaller meeting with fewer people, it finished relatively quickly without getting bogged down in too many tangents or arguments. Regina saw most of them off, escorting them to the door. Max left for once, too, off to catch up on some sleep.

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Kiara stayed for a minute, clearing up some details regarding her upcoming trip and the organization of the palace and court, before she left as well. June lingered a bit, and Regina had the distinct impression that she was considering asking for another lesson in psychic magic, before she seemed to decide now was not the time and followed her sister. Regina could faintly sense them starting a conversation but turned her attention away.

That left two people behind. Robin Daine had lingered after a look from her, to further discuss their intelligence on the war and the gnomes’ politics. She first turned to Owin, however, who looked a bit nervous. He glanced at the Cernlian lord, then at Regina, a question in his eyes.

“Thank you for attending,” she told them. “Lord Daine, I will call on you later.”

He recognized the dismissal and bowed. “Your Imperial Majesty.” Then he saw himself out, too professional to linger or glance back at the Delver.

“Is something the matter, Sir Owin?” Regina asked.

He hesitated a bit, sitting down in the chair she pointed to. “Not precisely, My Empress. But we have received some new information that I would like to bring to your attention.”

Regina nodded. She’d sat down as well and crossed her legs. “From other chapters?”

“Yes. Most of them are not particularly happy with our war against the Gnomish Confederation of the East, to be perfectly frank. Especially with the role we Delvers have played. There have been accusations … that we have become ‘tame lapdogs’, that we are forgetting our roots, or our duty. Things in that vein.”

Regina grimaced. “I’m sorry to hear that.” She paused for a moment. “If you think it necessary, we can scale back your order’s participation in the war. Take your fighters off the front line.” It would hurt their front, but she couldn’t keep them there against their will, and she wouldn’t ignore what might be a serious problem.

Owin shook his head. “Thank you for the offer, Your Majesty, but I’m not sure that would be of much help. We have already decided to throw our lot in with you, so to speak, and whether we fight on the front line of this war or not is not going to change much. Especially in the long term.”

“I understand.” Regina tugged on her mandible, then made herself stop and folded her hands in her lap. “I assume many of those accusations come from countries, or factions, that don’t believe I am who I claim to be, anyway?”

Owin didn’t seem happy, although his expression remained controlled. “Indeed, My Empress. We have done our best to spread the word, but some are … skeptical. And some chapters seem to have decided to reject our claims outright.”

Regina sighed. It didn’t seem like there was much she could do. She wasn’t entirely certain how the Delver order worked, still, but she did know that the individual chapters had a lot of autonomy.

If she wasn’t careful, this might lead to a serious break in their organization. Assuming it wasn’t already.

“The new technology we have introduced hasn’t persuaded them?” she asked anyway.

“Perhaps it will in time, Your Majesty. But it is still quite mysterious, especially for other nations. Few actual details have made it out of the Empire, let alone working examples of machinery.”

She supposed that was true. And she hadn’t exactly put effort into spreading it beyond the Empire, since it was an important advantage, so far. “Still, I assume there is a reason you are bringing this up now, Sir Owin?”

Owin looked a bit uncomfortable. Regina was pretty sure the other Delvers had sent him to talk to her because they thought he was the one she got along with best, or something like that.

“This war against the gnomes has inflamed tempers on both sides,” he admitted. “Some are also paying attention because the dark elves sent a delegation, I think. But the end of the war and how we choose to deal with the gnomes is going to determine how they see us in a lot of ways. We simply wanted to express some concerns. Beyond that, there have been a few requests from other chapters in nearby countries, who want to know more about the situation. And about you.”

Regina frowned. He wants me to deal with the gnomes in a certain way, she realized. After thinking about it for a moment longer, it was obvious. “Instead of dealing with them as a conventional victor in a conventional war of these contemporary times — you want me to keep insisting on democratic government for them, to … have a more modern and progressive approach?”

Owin nodded, looking a bit embarrassed. “Some of the hardliners are going to be upset at anything less than subjugating the gnomes,” he said. “But even for some of them, well, the Ancients are known to be more civilized than us, to value liberty, to have more complex political structures and a comprehensive underlying philosophy. It was our golden age, after all.”

Regina hummed, tapping her fingers on the armrest. “So if we can show them that I uphold these values and extend them beyond humans …”

Owin smiled slightly. “That would be my hope. You are as astute as always, Your Majesty.”

Regina let that statement pass without comment. Instead, she wondered if Owin was just speaking for a smaller group of Delvers more in line with his beliefs. Probably; the question was how many of them would think the same way and how many were opposed. In the end, she supposed she’d just have to accept it — although the Delvers were obviously important, she couldn’t make her decisions only based on what would go over well with them.

“I will keep this in mind,” she told him. “We’ll see what we can do, but a lot will depend on the gnomes and what they are willing to accept, as well as the further course of the war. Regardless, please feel free to talk about me and our goals to your fellow Delvers. I trust you can handle communications with the other chapters without my personal oversight? Although I’ll of course be available if you need me for anything.”

Owin inclined his head. “We will, Your Imperial Majesty. Thank you. I will let you know if there are further developments or if other questions come up.”

“Please do. And thank you again for bringing this up.”

Owin bowed again, saying his goodbyes, and left. Regina looked after him for a moment. Then she sighed and turned her attention back to her apartment. There was little she could do, personally, at this point. They’d have to wait and she’d let her commanders do what they thought best for continuing to prosecute the war. For now, she’d decided to take the evening off. It had been a while since she got the chance to just relax.

Regina had an early dinner, then went to the training yard at the back of this wing of the palace and let loose with a bit of magic, before sparring with some of the drones who were there. They would have trounced her, of course, but they held back enough that she could actually learn something. She tried not to let it bother her and instead enjoyed the adrenaline rush and exertion. Afterwards, she returned to her rooms and ran herself a bath.

She was relaxing in the warm water, considering how best to split the new clutch she would have to add to the hive’s numbers later, when she was interrupted by a new System notification.

You have leveled up

Regina started, sputtering as she briefly sprayed water in her face. She shook her head, then clutched the edge of the tub as she stared at the notification. Level 63, she noted.

Congratulations, you have unlocked a new Template: Drone Crafter

Regina smiled to herself, getting out of the water and toweling off. Still, she felt a bit of uncertainty looking at it, as she wasn’t quite sure what to think about this new Template she’d unlocked now. Another type of sapient drones. Well, the plans she’d just been thinking about were now useless, she was going to make some of these drones to see what they were like.

She wondered when she was going to get new Swarm Drone Templates. Increasingly, it was starting to seem like the Form Drones were supposed to be all of it and she wasn’t getting new Swarm templates unless she made them herself.