Ash quickly got his act together and began asking Maria the questions he should have been asking instead of something so trivial like how Cali’s meal was. Since Cali wasn’t there, Maria did her introduction without her. She introduced her to everyone as the Dire Empire’s one and only Princess.
As for her background, Maria didn’t explain it and left it to their previous interpretation. Once that was out of the way, she began explaining to them where she was taking Cali earlier just before they managed to catch up to them. It was quite shocking to them to hear that their Empress would be touring the continent to see the nation's current situation. What she was doing was indeed admirable, so many present supported her decision, but only Ash knew that Maria was only going out to go on vacation.
He had been with her long enough to know what her true intentions were. She had just got back from what Ash believed to be another highly stressful mission from her patron God, Death, so now she wanted some down time and not have to deal with the Dire's paperwork and everything.
It was fine though, because he had been in charge of running the nation while Maria had been gone. He was already used to filling in for her, so there wasn't going to be any issues if she took another leave of absence from her responsibilities as the nation's Empress.
“If you're going to be traveling the continent, Your Majesty, will you need an escort?” Elizabeth asked.
“No, I don't need one. I'll be going incognito to see how the people you've placed to govern the cities and towns are going about with their work. I'll be judging them and if I'm pleased with their work, I'll reward them. However, if I find that they're slacking or working in a direction that I find...disagreeable, then there will be consequences–to both them and the person or people who appointed them to that position."
Everyone present in the hall put on a serious face after hearing her words. None of them were worried, but they did turn solemn because from what they captured from her words just now was that their Empress was going to be evaluating their work based on the work of the subordinates that they appointed in important places around the nation.
Ever since Maria took power, she had only been appointing and keeping competent people around her and those people similarly did the same. They all had faith in their subordinates, but since Maria was going to be evaluating the work they did in her absence, their competitive spirits were ignited and they all thought that this was the time to prove themselves to their Empress since there were going to be rewards if she was pleased with what she saw.
No one knew where Maria was going to be heading towards first since she said she'll be going without an escort party. Tracking her down would be nigh impossible for any of them since they all knew how fast their Empress could fly. No one would be able to keep up with her so putting a tail on her would be pointless. The only thing they could do was inform their subordinates about the secret inspection and make sure they didn't make a blunder during this period of time.
"Anyway, this isn't the first inspection I've done. However, I'll give you all a guarantee that I won't be killing anyone that has upset me with their work. Instead, I'll send a letter and by the time I return, those people that I'm not pleased with better be changed to someone better!"
"""Yes, Your Majesty""""
Maria had already done something like this before, but this time around, she promised she wasn't going to be killing anyone anymore. This made Ash and Carmilla silently release a breath of relief. Unlike before, the people under her were all her loyal subordinates. No one was planning to rebel against her, so if she decided to kill some people, it might affect their loyalty towards her.
Ash spoke up and asked, “Your Majesty, although you won't be needing an escort, but surely you won't be going alone with just Her Highness, yes? Who will be accompany you this time?”
She thought for a moment before replying, “Mhm. You, Lilah, and Alexa will be accompanying me and Cali. We don’t need anyone else, so quickly find someone to replace Lilah as the city lord of Heltania City. We'll only head out after you've done so, but don't make me wait too long!”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I'll get it done within the day!”
“Great. Anyway, while you're gone–" Maria turned to Elizabeth and Carmilla before saying, "–Elizabeth, Carmilla, I’ll leave the nation in your capable hands until Ash and I return. You both understand what you need to do, right?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. As you command. We will not fail you!”
“As you will, Your Majesty. Please leave the nation to us!”
Elizabeth wanted to question Maria’s decision because she believed that she wasn't yet ready for such a huge responsibility nor has she done anything to warrant her Empress putting so much trust into her, but since Maria had already spoken and given her their new directives, Elizabeth could only shelve her thoughts and accept her new orders. If anything, this was the perfect opportunity to prove her ability and loyalty to Maria.
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'Yes, I'll use this opportunity to prove myself to Her Majesty!'
Maria told them a few other things before quickly dismissing everyone from the meeting while only telling Ash, Carmilla, and Elizabeth to stay behind. She also called over Alexa and Lilah, who had already brought Cali to the Ancient Blood Hall and put her to bed.
Once they were gathered, Maria started explaining about Cali’s true origins because she wanted to clear up any misunderstandings. After they learned about her true origins, Ash and Lilah seemed to be relieved while Elizabeth and Carmilla had thoughtful looks on their faces. The only one who didn’t seem perturbed by the information was Alexa.
“You’re not shocked, Alexa?” Maria asked.
“No, Big Sis. Why would I be? She’s still my cute little niece, regardless of her origins.”
“I see. That’s good.”
“Mhm. So, can I go now, Big Sis? I think I should watch over Cali just in case she suddenly wakes up and doesn’t find you anywhere.”
“Sure, but it’s fine if you don’t.”
“Hehe, I want to, Big Sis~ I always wanted a little sister or a little brother, but to have a niece is even better.”
Lilah went along with her after saying a few words to Maria and left behind only the 3 Vampire Dukes in the great hall.
“Your Majesty…about the Princess’s Father…does she not have one?” Carmilla asked.
Just as Maria feared, her subordinates were overthinking things and wanted to find Cali’s father. Elizabeth also spoke up and asked, “I wanted to ask the same question as Carmilla, Your Majesty. Since she’s the union of your Soul Weapon and Calamity, this means she doesn’t have one, right?”
Maria nodded and replied, “Mhm. She’s a child that’s not of a natural birth but she is my daughter nonetheless, so treat her as you would if she was my natural born offspring. With that out of the way, you guys don’t need to find her father because she truly doesn’t have one.”
“We understand, Your Majesty. We thought that maybe we would have to find her father or at least prepare for his arrival or something,” Carmilla said.
“Good. Well, the only thing you guys should prepare for is the arrival of my other family members. When do you think players will start appearing on the planet?”
Elizabeth sighed and said with a troubled look on her face, “We cannot know for certain, Your Majesty. If we did have that knowledge, we would be able to make more adequate preparations for it, but for now, we can only do what we can.”
Maria understood this. The only person who could obtain any substantial information regarding the players’ arrival would be her, but it wasn’t like she could keep monitoring the forums for information or anything. Since she couldn’t do anything for now, she just told Elizabeth and Carmilla to continue with the preparations as is.
“Mhm. Then continue doing what we’ve been doing before. Just make sure we have enough soldiers, armaments, supplies, and everything to prepare for what’s to come. I can only tell you that there’s nothing good about players arriving on our planet.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“We have to face this with the intent of preparing for war because that’s what the players will bring to us, war, conflict, and most importantly, change.”
"""..."""
Seeing that all 3 of her Vampire Dukes had turned silent, Maria believed that her message got through to them. She then continued solemnly, "Whether the change they bring to us will be good or bad, depends entirely on how we approach them. Keep that in mind when we deal with the players."
"""Yes, Your Majesty!"""
Maria sighed and slumped a little bit on her throne. She and her faction, the Dire, had just completed a major conquest of their continent, so they were currently in a major phase of development, but now that had to start preparing for another war because of the players that would soon arrive on their planet and this was not the most ideal thing they wanted to do right now. Their country was pretty war-torn already from the previous war, so Maria had to focus her efforts on war reparations and then the development of her lands to increase the living standards of her people.
These plans were already being put into action. Most of the places that had been devastated by her war of conquest had been repaired while the areas that needed development were being developed. Although she was away for most of the time, the people she entrusted her country with had done a great job in its management and managed to increase her citizens’ living standards which in turn increased their nationalism to some degree.
At the very least, they would be unwelcoming towards the people that were trying to bring war once again to their home. One war was enough. They didn’t want to suffer another time. Maria, Ash, and the other two vampires continued discussing a few things for a while until finally, all that needed to be said was said. Since there was nothing else, Maria finished up their private meeting and dismissed the 3 vampires.
“Elizabeth and Carmilla, you two can go back to doing what you’ve been doing before. Ash, start making preparations for our trip around the continent.”
"""Yes, Your Majesty."""
All three of them answered in unison before getting up to leave the Great Hall. Maria walked out of the hall and headed towards her room and found her familiar and her little sister playing with her daughter. Maria didn’t think that such a long time had passed and her daughter was awake now from her nap. When Cali saw her mother arrive at the Ancient Blood Hall, she immediately floated over to her while calling out, “Mama~”
Maria quickly caught her daughter and asked, “Did you have a good nap, Cali?”
“Un!”
Maria turned to Lilah and Alexa, who came over to her and said, “We’ll leave on our trip after Ash finishes the preparations for it. So stay here in the palace and don't leave.”
“Okay, Big Sis~”
“I’ll go check on him then! Knowing Ash, he’ll probably do things over the top!” Lilah said as she rushed out of the hall.
A few hours later, after much debate between Ash and Lilah, all of the preparations were finished and Maria was ready to set off. Just like Ash said he would, he really did get things done within the day, though he did get some help from Lilah which really sped things up. Maria was truly glad that she had such a capable people on her side. Since everything was ready, Maria and her party secretly left the palace without anyone knowing and began their journey across the Blood Continent.