The day after working on the dam, Daniel watches as the shuttles deploy, carrying the soldiers of the Fievegal eastward and south towards the gulf. The invasion is commencing. Daniel and the ladies of the Fievegal send the soldiers off, escorted by hundreds of golems. The living soldiers will be leading the conquest, but the golems will carry the heavy load of numbers.

Of course, that’s not the only thing the deployed forces will accomplish. Daniel buys himself some privacy when the soldiers are on their way and Hekate goes with Ryuogriar to strategize with Aramellianna. Everyone else is doing their normal tasks, not realizing it’s all according to plan.

Daniel takes his pre-prepared void bag and equipment, checking the firearms that he prepared; a shotgun, an automatic rifle, a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver, and two derringer-style micro pistols. He also has an assortment of bombs, hand tools, and non-lethal crowd control grenades; teargas, flashbang, and smoke.

Kaeralegeir, the goddess bound to Nemaisol, speaks telepathically to him. “Daniel, you have me. I already agreed to help you.”

“Can you copy yourself to dual wield? If I find allies in the field, can you provide them with a weapon?”

“Okay, okay. I get it. I guess it’ll also be easier to hide who and what I am if you minimize my transformations.”

Daniel agrees, “Definitely. And, you never reveal your strongest cards at the outset.” He checks around him, making sure the coast is clear. He boards the remaining shuttle that he has squirreled away for just this moment, taking the pilot’s seat as he begins doing his pre-flight checks. He’s not a trained aviator, but he knows enough to at least check all of the extremely important parts, like the crystals, the moveable surfaces, and backups. His shuttles don’t have complex electronics in them the way modern aircraft do, since he doesn’t have the knowledge to make integrated circuits. The shuttle is operated by mechanical connections. It’s enough to give them aircraft, but he won’t be winning dogfights against any fifth-gen fighters.

Thankfully, the only airborne threats so far are dragons and wyverns, as well as the much slower airships if anyone is able to copy Wenlianna’s designs and does so in secret from Aramellianna.

For now, Daniel focuses on carefully taking off and flying out of the hangar to begin his own journey eastward. He pilots the shuttle, relaxing as much as he can as he guides the shuttle through the sky.

He has a pretty good idea of how Xyreko’s influence over various magical devices that can be defined as ‘golems’, including his armor, which is magically imbued. Her attention can be diverted, such as if Daniel specifically asks her to escort Shek, Skloe, and the children while they are out in the castle town. And, as long as he excludes the glyphs and spell-bound materials Xyreko makes, he is able to avoid her detection.

He feels a little bad, but he has a score to settle. To do that, he needs to be prepared. He has the location of a ‘gift’ Ryukana placed on Zenkon to help Rikuto once he finds it. It’s a powerful artifact, though she insisted Daniel would have to find it to understand how it works.

After a few hours of flying, Daniel spots the ruins the goddess mentioned. It’s quite close to Mornistae, but even from what Daniel saw, Rikuto is not a particularly adventurous person, so he simply remained in Mornistae and worked on the economics and logistics.

Ryukana admitted to Daniel that she expected Rikuto, a fan of light novels and anime as well, to go full-on adventurer mode and try to find the closest monsters to fight and ‘level up’.

Because they’re ruins, Daniel has to be careful of squatters, either people or monsters.

But, that’s the reason for his equipment.

He heads out of the cockpit to the troop bay of the shuttle, and he flinches when he finds a figure standing there already.

“Damn it!... Ugh…” He massages his temples. “Doephluev… How in the heck are you here right now?”

She feigns cuteness, saying sweetly, “Why, I rode here in the shuttle, Master.”

“I mean…” He looks directly at her, asking seriously, “How did you know I was leaving?”

She sighs and approaches Daniel, adjusting his current armor, which is not his usual armor -the armor that can be tracked by Xyreko-. “Master, it is my duty to serve you. What kind of servant would I be if I didn’t keep track of your whereabouts at all times? You might need a drink, a massage, a release.” She grins deviously up at him.

“I’m on a mission. You can’t be here.”

“I am here, Master. I will serve you however I can with or without my magic.”

The human mechanic sighs, walking past her to start lowering the ramp. He has some ground to cover and limited time before the hunt begins. He has mana now, so Ryukana can locate him, and he told her to cooperate if and when Hekate realizes that he’s gone.

Daniel wanted to avoid any risk of danger for the others, and if they are publicly seen at the Citadel, it’ll be less likely Daniel will be noticed and attacked with the weapon.

He can see the capital city of Mornistae from where he is, and the castle rising into the sky. It’s not very far away, but he should be safe enough from detection, since the shuttle doesn’t stand out from a distance and the sun is setting.

Doephluev follows Daniel, and he comes to a stop. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Following my master, Master.”

“I’m not taking your harness off with you outside of the Citadel.”

“Then don’t. I’m happy to serve you as we are now.” She teases as she stands professionally with her hands folded in front of her, “Though, I might point out that you removed my harness for my glyph to work.” She touches her abdomen with a devious smirk.

“I’m not protecting you when we get back.”

“No? But, Master, I can’t help what your mistresses think when they discover both of us are gone. Myyyy… How scandalous…” She giggles, now leading the way off of the shuttle, even though she’s completely unarmed, and the magic-suppressing harness she’s wearing prevents her from using any magic, including defensive or recovery spells.

Daniel groans, “Doephluev, come back.”

She pivots crisply, walking back to him with an amused smile. Daniel states calmly, “Doephluev, show me the contract mark.”

She complies, unbuttoning her blouse and revealing the top of her sternum where the tattoo-like magic glyph marks her skin from the contract bearing Daniel’s name. It glows when she’s being compelled by an order, and he worries that her mysterious rune magic is able to override the contract and nullify the compulsion.

“Doephluev, I order you to speak truthfully and answer me to the best of your true knowledge for the next five minutes.”

The glyph begins to glow, and she replies warmly, “Ask me anything, Master. I will answer truthfully.”

“Alright, do you still harbor resentment for me?”

“None at all. My mission was just a mission. And, as you know, the nightmares stopped.”

“And, do you have any desires or intentions to betray me?”

“None, Master. Life is easy serving you. Much easier than working with Brosjak. I sleep well at night, I eat luxurious meals every day, and I have a family on the way. Things I had given up on.”

“If I free you from the harness, will you cooperate without trying to undermine or hypnotize me?”

“I will cooperate for the rest of my life so long as you treat me as well or better than you have so far, Master.”

“Better?”

“I haven’t been shy, Master. I aim to be your empress. Make me your empress now, and I’ll have everything I need or want. And, you’ll have me. Mind, heart, and soul, forever more.”

“You really do want us to be killed when we get back.”

She giggles playfully, and Daniel finds his key to her harness, activating it as Xyreko instructed. He unlocks the magic suppressing harness at her back and helps her out of it. She stretches with a content yawn. “Ahhh, Master, you have no idea how much lighter and more free I feel.”

She fixes her blouse and straightens her dress and apron. Suddenly a gust of wind swoops under her dress, flipping her dress up and revealing her underwear. She gasps, obviously the one to have done it, “Oh no! Master! You’ve seen! I suppose…”

“Stop goofing around. Let’s get this thing and get out.” Daniel starts walking, and she hops into step with him.

“Be mindful of your orders, Master. I don’t know if I know what ‘goofing around’ actually means.”

“I’ve actually wondered that. What happens if I order you to take me to this world’s moon?”

“The moon?” asks Doephluev. The archoneldwyn looks up at the sky, where the moon is now visible. “Is… that a place that a person can go? I’ve… never heard of such a thing.”

“And, what would happen if I gave you that order?”

“I would be forced to try to make it happen until I die. Since I can’t even fathom what the moon looks like as a location, I can’t imagine how to make it happen. I assume, if you really wanted to go, you could use the shuttle, right?”

“Nope. But, you’d be welcome to try. When you would fail in this hypothetical, I would tell you how and why.”

She thinks as she walks with him, looking at the moon. Air travel with the shuttles is new to Zenkon, though wyverns and dragons have flown since the dawn of time. That said, she has never heard of dragons attempting to fly to the moon.

“Tell me how it’s done.”

“You’re giving me orders now?” asks Daniel playfully.

“Please tell me how it’s done, Master. You have made me curious.”

“There’s nothing between the top of the sky and the moon. Nothing at all. You need something better than the shuttles to make it there without dying.”

“Nothing? Then, it should be even easier to travel, right?”

“You might think so, but no. Among other things, lack of air to breathe, no air for wings to fly against, and probably, no mana. Gravity is what keeps the sky in place, just like it pulls us back down to the ground. You have to get past that.”

“Could you travel to the moon?” asks Doephluev curiously.

“I… understand the basic idea of the technology we used. But, I don’t know that I could do it. Maybe given enough years and a full team of researchers.”

“Mmm… If I was the empress, I would do everything to arrange it for you.”

“Tell you what, when they’re old enough to pay attention and ask questions, I’ll teach any of the kids all I know about rocket theory, what little it is. I’m fairly confident they’ll have plenty of classmates.”

“Great!” cheers Doephluev. “Then, I’ll give you a full class myself.” She trots ahead of him to walk in a very provocative manner, doing her best to entice him.

It doesn’t work, but Daniel doesn’t deter her from trying.

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They near the ruin itself, Daniel having parked the shuttle a fair ways away in case anyone with enough intelligence to recognize the shuttle as a vehicle tries to steal or destroy it.

The ruin appears to be an old fortress from a long time ago. Judging by the location on a rather unobscured hill, it was either an old territorial fortress, or an old capital that was later moved to a better location.

As far as Daniel can tell, it’s uninhabited by people, but there are signs of animals or other more dangerous creatures.

The human mechanic gently stops Doephluev with his arm across her chest, and she teases shamelessly, “Oohhhh. Here? I do like this aesthetic. Beautiful scenery…”

“No,” interrupts Daniel curtly. “Here.” He withdraws his revolver from his bag, offering it to the archoneldwyn.

“F-For me? I’ve… I haven’t used one yet.”

Daniel gives her a skeptical look. “You defended against it. You know what it is. You have some idea how it works.”

“Master… I’m teaching you my magic. Can’t you teach me yours?”

Daniel sighs. “It’s not magic. Here.”

He gently puts the gun in her hand, showing her how to hold it. He then moves behind her, teaching her the basics of how to hold, aim, and fire. He also shows her how to reload it, and she leans back against him to show affection.

Daniel pulls away from her, and she turns to face him. “You say this is just a… mechanical device?”

“That’s right. No magic required. But, it’s for emergencies. You have six shots before you have to reload. And, it’s going to kick back, so do your best to make your shots hit.”

She nods. “Yes, Master!” She holds the gun to her chest, and Daniel quickly uses his hand to push the barrel away from the underside of her chin. “Careful, please. Mind where the barrel is pointed. Always.” Daniel withdraws his automatic rifle, checking it before leading into the ruins.

Their time is limited before their absence is discovered and Xyreko figures out how to find them. After that, they’ll be forcibly retrieved, and he’ll get a hearty scolding once more.

It would have been possible to simply tell them and bring them, but he’s worried about being attacked. His own presence is much more difficult to detect, and Doephluev can hide her own mana presence from even those with high attunement to magic.

Daniel cautiously walks past the crumbled entrance of what used to be a defensive wall, by the looks of it.

“Not that I'm complaining, Master, because I don't plan to return without a reward, but why didn't you want to bring anyone else? I thought you'd want to revive the fallen dragon as soon as possible.”

“Since when are you getting a reward? You stalked me.”

She stares at him with shock on her face, and Daniel rolls his eyes before answering her. “Choul is safe for now, and he would also stalk me on this mission. I want the Empresses making a show of being at the Citadel, especially because there are many races that seem to have very little trouble being detected by magic.”

“Ahhh… And, if they came here, we would be detected quickly.”

“Exactly. Which,...”

“Don’t worry, Master. I’m suppressing my mana.”

“Can it be taught?”

“Most likely. What's it worth to you?”

“I'll let you name the children.”

She stares at him in disbelief, blushing a little. “R-Really?”

“Yeah, but only as long as you agree to teach everyone all the magic you can.”

She pouts a little, and he adds, “Did you think I'd let you extort me with every individual spell?” He stops to face her. “I trust too easily. That I'm sure of. But, you’re not behaving like I thought you were going to. I won’t tell you how or what, but I’m sure the day will eventually come when I remove the contract.”

“And… Empress?” asks the former assassin cutely.

“Don’t push your luck,” replies Daniel with a smirk as he points at her nose. She forces a pout, but he adds as he returns to searching the ruins, “Buuut… I won’t say it’s impossible. You’re not replacing anyone, though. So don’t try.”

She wraps her arms around his, exclaiming giddily, “I agree, Master! I’ll be your loving wife and Empress in no time!”

“Hey! Don’t cling to me in a potential combat zone. You’re going to get me killed if not both of us.”

She giggles. “Don’t be silly, Master. I can detect all of the lifeforms in this ruin. I’ll let you know when they get close.”

“Sounds like famous last words. We couldn’t detect you.”

“Master, if you die, how will I become Empress? Have a little faith in your beloved Empress.”

Daniel sighs, still holding his rifle with both hands, but not yet shoving Doephluev off. If she moves, that means something is close. He is relieved to have a powerful magic user with him, and though he’d like to say she’s expendable to him, he has become attached to his somewhat overbearing and overly ambitious servant. He expected her to continue to be cocky and hostile, but she’s mostly just energetic. Maybe he underestimated the lingering resentment and hatred she had for her archoneldwyn comrades, who treated her like a tool on a good day, and a piece of meat on the rest.

Daniel approaches the true entrance to the old structure; the main gate to the castle itself, assuming that’s what the structure was in the past. He asks as he comes to a stop, “Anything immediately inside?”

“Not right away, but a little further in.”

“And, what about the artifact we’re here to retrieve? Any idea where it is?”

Doephluev points down towards the ground, saying, “Sure! There’s a massive amount of magic tied to something that isn’t alive, though there is life around it. It’s hard to describe. Maybe it’s inside of a mimic or something.”

“Great…” grumbles Daniel.

“Do… you know what a mimic is? They’re actually pretty rare.”

“I had to read about them in the ‘Referendum of Extreme Predators of Civilization’, a book in the Citadel library about monsters of this world. They disguise themselves as innocuous looking items, right? Trunks, barrels, doorways…”

She nods. “Virtually any object that can provide a cavity for the body and which sentient races might investigate too closely. They also have extremely minimal mana, which can hide them from most mages capable of sensing mana.” She smirks, looking up coyly, “It’s possible we taught ourselves the mana concealment spell by observing and studying a mimic.”

“I see. Can you defeat one?”

She holds up Daniel’s revolver, saying brightly, “I have a dragon slaying weapon. A mimic is no match.”

“Technically, I don’t think that would work against the dragons. I haven’t tested the smaller firearms on them, and I have no reason to, now.”

She pouts. “Well… We’ll find out then. Either way, unless it’s shelled in mythril or sharmellkolle, it’s not much more resilient than a typical monster like a balinkon.”

Daniel nods. He asks, “Not cold iron?”

“Cold iron is poisonous to mimics. I don’t know why.”

Daniel smiles. “I see. Then, let me borrow that.”

She hands over the revolver, and Daniel reloads it with mini shotgun rounds with cold-iron pellets. Cold iron can penetrate barriers, though it tends to deflect at various angles. The shotgun blasts can increase the chances of a hit, which can disrupt a mage’s concentration. The cold iron is also much less costly than the other fantasy metals, as Daniel refers to them in his own mind, with enough hardness to act as armor-piercing rounds in rifle bullets. If it’s poisonous to mimics, it’ll make it easy to defeat one even if it’s wearing harder armor as long as the pellets find a gap. Or, at least, that’s the thinking.

Daniel explains to Doephluev, and she grins. “Perfect! I won’t let you down. But, what about the monsters on the way?”

Daniel hands over several speedloader clips of the special rounds. “I've got plenty. Just try not to be wasteful.”

“Your wish is my command, Master!” She proudly carries the revolver as they walk together, entering the fortress. She then points out, “There! Malefidesmodes.”

“Come again?” asks Daniel as he follows her point. He can’t see anything thanks to the darkness consuming the further parts of the ruins.

“On the ceiling. They’re large flying mammals that will try to snatch us up and drink our blood while hanging from the ceiling.”

“Greeeaaat…” replies Daniel. He digs in his magic back, keeping an eye out for movement. He finds a star flare, a bright-burning flare he made to illuminate a large area. Daniel hands it to Doephluev. “Hit the white end of this hard against the wall and then use wind magic to launch it underneath them, please.” He then takes a pair of earmuffs and puts them on Doephluev, before putting some on himself.

She nods and follows his instructions. She doesn’t question the earmuffs, since she has witnessed how loud the firearms are. She strikes the butt of the flare and then casts it using a wind spell, giving it enough range to land precisely underneath the monsters.

And, monsters they are. They’re roughly the same size as the balinkons, one of which almost made a meal of Daniel before he found the Citadel. The malefidesmodes are roughly the size of full grown lions, but with the ability to fly and two tails. They’re immediately startled into flight by the flare, shrieking and flapping their wings as they swirl around, trying to find the source of the disturbance.

Meanwhile, Daniel takes a kneel. “I prefer you use magic before the revolver, if you can. Let me know if anything else is approaching.”

She calls out, not used to wearing sound dampening earmuffs. “Yes, Master!” She uses her left hand to cast magic as her right keeps the revolver handy, and she fires off what appear to be rapid-fire magic missiles; pockets of light magic that do moderate damage and are easy to aim.

Meanwhile, Daniel begins firing in bursts with the rifle. The gigantic bat-like creatures shriek as some fall, wounded or killed outright. The survivors fly in erratic patterns, closing the distance.

Doephluev switches to ice magic as they get closer, firing off shotgun-like blasts of ice shards in fast succession, chanting continuously in a language Daniel couldn’t even begin to understand.

Daniel reloads, swiftly resuming firing.

The monstrous bats drop in numbers from around thirty to five before they even reach ten yards away, and Doephluev switches to fire magic, projecting a pillar of fire towards the giant bats, wiping out the last of them.

She takes a relieving breath, and she states chipperly, “That felt good. It has been a while since I got to use even this much magic.”

“You still good?”

“Of course, Master! This much was just a warmup.”

Alright, then let’s keep going.” Daniel collects his spent magazines and deposits them in his magic bag to be reloaded later. He and Doephluev continue further into the ruin.

The next being to confront them reminds Daniel of a bear, which he can see thanks to Doephluev casting a fairly passive spell that simply illuminates its outline more. Though he sees it as bear-like, it has the distinct body-shape and movements of a feline. An extremely bulky feline.

Daniel studies it quietly as they crouch in cover out of sight of the bear, which the outline makes visible enough like a sci-fi heads up display in a video game. “What can you tell me about it?” asks Daniel.

Doephluev replies softly, using it as an excuse to lean on his shoulder and keep her lips close to his cheek and ear. “It's a hakkadel. Many tribes of dattakoriens revere them as forest spirits. Unkillable. They're also one of the less common types of monsters that can use magic.”

“Magic?” asks Daniel with surprise. “Magic-magic, or something like a drake's fire breath?”

“Actual magic.” She notices Daniel’s grip tighten on his rifle, and she adds to reassure him, “Don’t worry, Master. It won’t be teleporting around, using barrier spells and casting enchantments. A little lightning magic.”

“Lightning magic?”

“Mm-hmm. See there, how its hair stands on end. It naturally builds up sparks, but it evolved the ability to cast it at targets at will.”

Daniel wonders if it’s more like an electric eel, in how the discharge stuns everything in range, but he can’t be sure without seeing it in action. In this case, it wouldn’t truly be magic, but might appear so if the arc is visible at the time of discharge. The world of Zenkon has cultures that have an understanding of how dangerous lightning is, but very minimal understanding of how electricity works.

That said, the hakkadel is roughly the size of an especially big bear. Maybe closer to a moose in terms of height and weight. Daniel doesn’t want to find out how intelligent it is or if it uses magic or not to project lightning bolts.

“Why do dattakoriens believe they’re unkillable?”

“They can intercept arrows and spears with their magic, and they can disrupt many common combat spells, the kind of spells that are typically the best dattakoriens learn.” She holds up the revolver with a grin. “They’ve never been pitted against the Harbinger of Calamity.”

“You know, I don’t tell many people this, but I’m not proud of that name.”

“How did you get it then, Master?”

Daniel stares at her for a moment, unable to answer. He sighs. “I called myself the Harbinger of Despair, technically. And the… Calamity…”

She grins at him as she listens, enjoying the moment.

Daniel adds, “I was trying to intimidate the Red Brother’s forces by sounding pompous and ridiculous, alright? That’s all it was supposed to be.” He lowers his assault rifle to search through his magic bag, He extracts his rail gun, grumbling, “Before I knew it, the damn Queen of Demons was asking for the Harbinger of Calamity by name.”

Doephluev snickers playfully, leaning on his shoulder.

Daniel arms the rail gun, and it whines briefly. The hakkadel snorts, looking up, listening. The human mechanic whispers, “Let me have my shoulder back.”

She leans off of him, and he takes aim.

Just as the hakkadel looks in their direction, Daniel pulls the trigger.

The railgun hums, and a supersonic crack booms quickly, not like a regular gun, but similar in volume and suddenness.

The supersonic rifle round is invisible to virtually anyone, other than condensation rings and a thin contrail behind it, moisture having condensed in the wake of the bullet moving several-times faster than the speed of sound.

From the moment Daniel pulls the trigger, as with the test firing with his companions, a lot of things happen. Monsters further down the tunnel shriek and bellow as a supersonic crack passes them by, while a cloud of red and pink mist replaces what used to be most of the torso of the hakkadel.

Daniel lowers the rail gun while rubble crumbles down the hall from the shockwave of the supersonic bullet racing down the hall. The hakkadel doesn’t even process that it has been all but vaporized, and the hallway where it was standing is now stained in an oblong egg-rounded shape on all surfaces of the hallway; wall, ceiling, and floor.

Doephluev leans on his shoulder again, teasing playfully, “Remind me to marry you immediately, Master…”

“Remind me to use this on you next time if you become an enemy again.”

She gasps, pouting on his shoulder. “Master! I am going to be the mother of your children! You wouldn’t dare!”

“I would if you threaten those same children.”

She pouts a little, but he stands up, reloading the rail gun. “Let’s keep moving.”

She bounds into step with him as they walk the hallway, passing the hakkadel where its remains linger. “I know I’m a mere servant, Master, but I came all this way for you. I hope you’ll eventually allow yourself to see me as your ally.”

“Yeah, yeah. Pretty mouthy for a servant.”

She glares at him a little, but she doesn’t say anything further for the moment.

Daniel uses his assault rifle against a balinkon and another hakkadel as they journey further, and dozens of smaller monsters of various kinds fall before their combined equipment and magic.

After a while, Daniel and Doephluev opt to take a lunch break by finding a secluded corner and booby-trapping a landmine made by Daniel rigged to a trip wire, and a spell for detecting enemies approaching cast by the archoneldwyn. She has many versatile mission spells, making it easy for them to operate with just the two of them.

And, during the break, Doephluev continues to press the boundaries of what she can get away with as Daniel’s ‘servant’.

***