Maria spent a little more time with her newly born daughter inside of the Ancient Blood Hall and got to know her more. As a newborn, Cali was a blank slate though she did retain a little bit of Maria’s mannerism, as could be seen from how ‘cheeky’ she was when she asked her mother if she could eat Zantetsu-R. She thought that she had to be careful when raising her or else she might grow up in a bad way. Unlike a normal child, Cali seemed to be quite intelligent, so this meant she picked up on things more easily.
If she exposed her to some bad habits or people, she might learn some odd things which wasn’t something Maria wanted. Thankfully, all of the people around her were very ‘normal’. Normal in the sense that they had their logic and thoughts rather skewed in her favor.
Maria commanded the absolute obedience of all her subjects and anyone that was stupid enough to be deemed as an enemy by her was destroyed without mercy or disciplined until they too became obedient and fell in line. She didn’t know this, but the worst person that her daughter could be influenced by was herself.
“You’re going to grow up to be strong just like me, Cali!”
“Okay, Mama!”
Maria hugged her child closely and began to nuzzle her face against her, which caused Cali to start giggling uncontrollably. Maria had quickly fallen in love with her cute little daughter and, despite this being only inside of the game, she viewed Cali as her literal child.
When Maria exited the Ancient Blood Hall while carrying Cali around in her arms, her subjects that were patrolling the castle greeted her as they normally did, but when she passed them, they all quickly gave their Empress another look and stared at the child she held in her hands. They all held the same thoughts when they saw Cali, who was the spitting image of their Empress, ‘Is that our little princess?’
Maria didn’t meet with any of her important subjects, like Ash, Carmilla, or Elizabeth, which seemed a bit odd to her, but she somewhat expected this since they would be really busy right now. Her country wasn’t going to run on just her military might and individual prowess. There were a lot of complicated things that needed to be done for her country, the Dire, to function and develop properly.
Thankfully, during the time that she had been gone, Ash and the others were doing their job well, so everything was proceeding really smoothly. The entire continent had fallen under her complete control and there was little to no more dissent among the populace. Maria had promised everyone in her nation that they’d be able to live a life of peace and prosperity under her reign.
Her subordinates acted on this promise by giving the people better homes to live in, more opportunities to earn money, and a safer environment to develop and reproduce. All effort and work in her nation was rewarded and, despite the people’s skepticism at first, this promise was still being kept up until now without any form of deceit.
When Maria came back and read those reports and saw that her nation’s main attributes had risen, particularly the Economy Quotient, Satisfaction Rating, and Security, she knew that Ash and the others were doing a great job. Even in her absence, they were able to run her country very well, so Maria now felt a bit at ease, since in the future, she’d be able to leave her nation behind in the good hands of her subordinates.
Since she didn’t want to disturb Ash and the others who were likely doing their work, so Maria decided to take Cali on a trip around their city. Her daughter needed to know what kind of place her mother was ruling, so after Transylvania, she would take Cali on a trip around the continent. She needed to do something about her lack of quests at the moment, so a trip around her nation would be good. Seeing things in person was the best way to learn more about what her nation really was like.
There was nothing she could learn about her country if she just stayed inside of her palace in Transylvania and never actually saw what it was like elsewhere. Her subordinates’ reports could only do so much to describe what it was like in the other newly established cities, towns, and villages.
While Maria had set up a good plan for herself and Cali, many people that she passed by inside of the castle were surprised to see their little princess that they had never got to see before for the very first time. Thanks to that, a rumor about the country’s Princess began to circulate inside the palace mere minutes after Maria left the place with Cali in her arms.
Hours later, after the Dire’s High Council members finished their meeting, Ash and the others finally heard about the rumors that were circulating around the palace. He immediately ordered those who knew about the rumors to come forward and explain themselves, but to his and everyone’s surprise, nearly all of the personnel in the castle knew about it, especially those that tended to Maria personally like her maids and butlers.
“What did you say? You all actually saw that Her Highness was carrying around a child that looked exactly like her?” Elizabeth asked.
“Our Empress had a child? How…How come I never knew about this?” Ash exclaimed in shock. He had been with Maria the longest and until now, he never knew anything about her having a child. This was all too sudden for him. On the side, Carmilla was holding her chin and thoughtfully contemplating something.
“These are only rumors, but we could confirm it by going to see Her Highness directly, right?” She suggested.
“Yes, that’s correct. Let’s go find her!" Ash frantically said before pointing at one of the vampire knights that was on patrol near Maria's chambers and demanded, "You! Where did you say you last saw the Empress?”
The vampire knight who was being pointed out quickly stepped forward, saluted towards Ash as he was still the General of the nation’s army, and reported, “Reporting, sir! A few others and I last saw Her Highness, the Empress, leave the castle and head into the city! Her Highness was saying something to the Princess about showing her around Transylvania! That concludes my report, sir!”
“She went towards the city with the Princess? How long ago was this?”
“A few hours at best, sir!”
“Let’s go. We have to find Her Highness!” Ash quickly said as he rushed out of the castle. He was followed by Carmilla and Elizabeth.
***********************************************************
It had been a few hours so Maria had long since finished touring around District Dracul with her daughter, and right now, had just finished walking through District Baobhan. There wasn’t much to see in the area of District Victoria but just as she was about to head out of the city, her subordinates finally caught up to her.
“Y-Your Majesty, please wait!”
“Hm?”
Maria looked back and saw that Ash and practically everyone from her nation’s high council were rushing over towards her. Seeing the frantic looks on their faces, Maria’s face grew serious because she thought something bad must have happened. Perhaps the first players had arrived or a high-ranked monster that not even her trusted subordinates could fight against had appeared on the continent and was making a mess of things, or worse, there was some kind of rebellion taking place.
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Her thoughts couldn’t be any more wrong because the moment Ash and the others arrived, they had their eyes fixed on the little girl resting in Maria’s arms that looked almost exactly like her.
“Your Majesty, so it is true! You do have a daughter!” Ash cried in shock after looking at Cali.
Earlier, when they were passing through the city, they had all heard the same rumor from everyone that stated how Maria was roaming around the city with a child in her arms who was addressing her as ‘Mama’. Since the rumor had spread from the castle to the city, with eye-witnesses clearly stating that their Empress was accompanied by a child that looked extremely like her, Ash and the others could no longer deny that the rumors were likely true and she did have a child, but they still needed to see it in person just to be absolutely sure.
Once they saw the evidence in front of them, most of Maria’s subordinates misunderstood that their Empress had purposefully left them all in the dark about her daughter, their Empire's Princess, and kept her existence a secret until her conquest of the continent was over because she still wasn’t able to completely trust them yet with her safety. It was only after securing the continent and establishing a firm rule over it did they believe that Maria supposedly decided to reveal her daughter, but this was only her subordinates’ misunderstanding.
Ash had been together with Maria the longest and yet not even he knew about the existence of his Empress’s child. He thought that maybe, as her subordinate, he still hadn’t gained Maria’s complete trust yet, which was why he was acting a bit frantic.
Cali tilted her head while looking at Ash before she turned away and started hugging her mother tightly. Maria misunderstood this as Cali being frightened by Ash’s sudden outburst, so she stomped towards him and smacked his head down.
“Hey, idiot! Don’t scare my daughter like that! You want me to kill you?”
Ash’s already pale face turned even paler as he began to profusely apologize, “M-My apologies, Your Majesty! I didn’t mean to frighten Her Highness!”
“Mama, I’m hungry.”
Maria was glowering at Ash when she heard Cali’s words and quickly looked at the time before realizing that it had been a few hours since they last had a meal. They couldn't possibly go on their trip on an empty stomach.
“Ah, we really should get some food before heading out,” Maria decided.
Elizabeth came over and eyed Cali for a moment before bowing to Maria, “Your Majesty, I’m sure the palace chefs can whip up something good for both you and Her Highness. Shall we return to the palace first?”
“Yeah, let’s go. Judging by how you all rushed over here, you have a few things you want to say, right?”
“...That’s only natural, Your Majesty. We never knew that Her Highness–I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I still do not know Her Highness's name,” Elizabeth said apologetically.
Maria wasn’t going to blame her or anyone if they didn’t know Cali’s name because she had only been born some hours ago despite looking like she was a 3-5 year-old child. Even though everyone seemed convinced that Maria had been keeping her baby’s existence a secret, they misunderstood this and Maria could see it as well, though she wasn’t going to do anything to clarify the matter.
It was better if they just misunderstood Cali’s background as Maria’s secret child because it would be more of a hassle for Maria to explain that not only was she her daughter but she was also her weapon, which was the fusion of Calamity and Syn. Since they didn’t know her name, Maria briefly introduced her and said, “Her name is Cali. Do well to remember that.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Prior to this, we all didn’t even know that Her Highness Cali even existed…but this is all good news to us, however, because we no longer have to worry about the right of succession!”
Her subordinates were thinking way too far into the future. The topic of succession and everything was something that Maria never even considered because there wasn’t a need for her to have a successor. If she were to name one, then in all likelihood she’d nominate Ash as her successor if she really had to.
“It’s fine. Her existence was kept a secret until now, but with everything stable and the continent fully within my grasp, I no longer need to worry about her being exposed to any danger because there won’t be anymore danger…right?” Maria said as she rode on her subordinates’ misunderstanding.
"Yes, of course, Your Majesty!"
Maria and her subordinates all returned to the palace without her having to explain anything more about Cali. Other than Ash who was in a panic and was flustered, Lilah, who arrived a while later in a hurry, was similarly panicky like Ash. She immediately began yelling into Maria’s ears, asking why she never knew about Cali’s existence until now, after she revealed her to everyone.
Lilah had received word of the rumor circulating around the palace, even from Heltania City where she was currently serving as the City Lord, however, Maria planned to have her replaced once she found a more suitable person because the Fallen Fairy was still her familiar and she needed her more on the battlefield than as an acting city lord.
It had been so long, in fact, since Maria and Lilah went adventuring together that she began missing those days. Maria had left her familiar with the task of managing a city, but her proper place should be by her side in the field of battle, not in some boring office.
Maria felt bad for leaving Lilah like that for a while now, so she promised her to quickly find a replacement to take her place as city lord while also promising that she would properly explain Cali’s existence to her. She had been with Maria even longer than Ash and never once did Lilah ever see or hear any mention of Cali’s existence, so it struck her as odd, so she demanded Maria give her an answer.
Lilah, and also Alexa, were probably the only two individuals in Maria’s faction that she allowed to address her so casually like that. Normally, the others would have to be careful with their words when they talked to her, but Lilah and Alexa were an exception.
While Alexa was something like a little sister to Maria, Lilah was Maria’s first in-game companion, so she held a special place in her heart. She had always been there to advise Maria on their travels and Maria treated her as a friend. She wasn’t going to let Lilah misunderstand anything, but first, Maria wanted to have a meal before explaining anything since her daughter was hungry.
Speaking of Alexa, she had returned from her hunting session with Raijuu the moment she received word about Maria’s daughter. She arrived at the palace during the meal and instead of saying anything, she just sat down nearby and ate alongside her big sister and niece.
Alexa didn’t question anything as her thought process was quite simple. She saw that there was an additional person whom she could now call family, so everything was good. One was her doting older sister, Maria, the other was her nagging mother-like figure, Lilah, and the newest one was her recently discovered cute little niece, Cali.
Her only thought at the moment was figuring out how to get on Cali’s good side so she could dote on her like any other good auntie would. Her intentions were practically written all over her face and this didn’t go unnoticed by Maria, who was holding in her laughter because of how simple her little vampire sister was at times.
During their meal, all of Maria’s subordinates were paying close attention to Cali. They needed to know what kind of tendencies she had so they could better appease her and whether or not her meal was to her liking. So far, it appeared that everything was looking good, since Cali was happily eating everything her mother fed her.
Their intentions were seen through by Maria, but only Alexa and Lilah were the ones breaking ground because Maria didn’t hesitate to let them talk with Cali, though it was a bit awkward at the start, since they didn’t know what to say.
As for the others, Maria could see that they were being respectful and didn’t want to talk out of turn, though she couldn’t understand why Ash was being so reserved. He was one of the people who had been with her the longest–even more so than Alexa–and despite all of the horrible things she did to him, Maria viewed Ash as a reliable brother-like figure, which was why she even did those things to him in the first place.
If she wasn't comfortable enough to treat him like that, then she would've just kept him at arms length and treated him like she did any other subordinate of hers. She wouldn’t be acting so casual with him and doing all of those antics that could be seen from an outsider’s perspective as her disliking towards him.
This somewhat saddened Maria, but it wasn’t her fault since Ash was the one who was trying to draw a clear line between them. Since he wanted to be like that, Maria didn’t say anything and decided to let him do as he pleased. She continued to entertain Alexa and Lilah, who were starting to get to know Cali better and better.
Alexa was happy to know that her big sister had such a cute and lovable child, while Lilah was hoping that, unlike her mother, Cali would be more apt than her in things such as knowing her directions. She didn’t want to see the cute child pick up her mother’s bad tendencies after all. Despite being the smallest out of everyone due to her race being a fairy, Lilah had more or less become the big sister or mother-like figure of Maria’s cozy little family inside of the game.
Once they were all done eating, Cali grew tired and needed to rest. Unlike when she was a Soul Weapon who had yet to evolve, Cali had become much more human-like now, so she felt all of the needs that a normal person would. Hunger, exhaustion, human emotions, and every other thing that sentient beings had, she now possessed as well.
Since she needed to sleep, Maria allowed Alexa to carry her to bed while Lilah accompanied her, since Maria needed to address her subordinates who had been waiting and were dying to know more about Cali.
“Alright, let’s head towards the great hall.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Maria noticed that everyone’s way of addressing her had changed ever since she came back. They referred to her as ‘Majesty’ while Cali became ‘Highness’. She didn’t know much about the feudal etiquette and mannerisms which the vampire's hierarchy seemed to be modeled after, but she wasn’t going to ask them now and make herself look stupid.
'I'll ask Ash about it later.'
Once they arrived at the great hall, Maria sat down on her throne and said, “Let’s get this over with. What do you all want to know?”
Immediately, Maria’s highest ranking subordinates spoke up together, “How was Her Highness Cali’s meal?!”