Inside a large conference room that had been transformed into a military headquarters, with monitoring equipment tucked in one corner of it, maps pinned up against the wall, and a large holo-projection device set up in the center of the table, Patton heaved a sigh after dragging a large recliner into the room and setting it at the head of the table.

  It was an order from Lady Ochros, who had insisted that Her Highness’s proper seat in the place of honor be suitably comfortable—and suitably tall for her small stature (though she ensured that the Princess wasn’t present while explaining this).

  The Princess was currently getting cleaned up and changing her clothes, after a mishap at the petting zoo where several bolles escaped and swarmed her. Normally, a girl her age would be absolutely horrified by the prospect of a massive swarm of arachnids charging her down… but Her Highness was decidedly not normal.

  And not just because she was the first natural-born successor any Exaltare had produced.

  Patton had no idea what to make of her. She behaved just like any ignorant noble child her age, but she lacked the same cutting arrogance that was far too common among her class. And it felt like—perhaps he was simply imagining things—there was something more to her. The Princess had to have been the one to light a fire under the army and rushed their plans to mobilize in response, rather than Her Majesty. After seeing how she behaved in public, the consideration she showed others—if even just for posterity—cemented Patton’s certainty. He just didn’t understand why.

  Which was exactly why he knew there had to be something deeper to her, a scheme he wasn’t privy to. Or maybe it was part of some test from Her Majesty Lilianna, perhaps… Patton could think himself around in circles, for all the good that’d do him.

  Regardless, she would probably get her wakeup call about how the world worked and how the adults were already handling the situation. It’d be hard to imagine anything else considering the woman in charge of cleanup. It spoke to how desperate Her Majesty was to smooth this over as swiftly as possible that she sent her own Left Hand to oversee the reclamation of Kranes. Or perhaps there was something nobody else knew, that only the Exaltare and Lesath were privy to…

  “Well, if it’s relevant for me to know, they’ll tell me. Until then…”

  He looked at the throne and frowned. He didn’t dare give voice to the thought, but his job certainly felt like it’d become babysitter, rather than Commander of the City Guard.

  Just as he turned around to exit the room, the door opened. Staring straight at him, half a meter away from his face, was Lesath Unglaria. She had the exact same impassive stare from every picture he’d seen of her, her steel gray eyes slowly focusing on the man in front of her.

  This was the first time he’d ever personally encountered her, but Patton still reflexively shivered and stepped to the side. Nothing good could come from being in her presence for longer than necessary.

  “My apologies, I take it you’re here to prepare for the war council. I’ll get out of your way.”

  “Wait.”

  Tragically, before he could flee the room, the woman barked out a command. Whether he wanted to or not, his legs locked in place, though she had used no form of magic to petrify him.

  “Y… Yes? What is it?”

  “What is that… eyesore?” She pointed at the chair he’d just brought in.

  He wrinkled his brow, forcing himself to look away. “That’s… for Her Highness to sit in.”

  For just the briefest moment, he felt his heart stop as she looked back from the chair to him, as though her gaze alone had dug into his chest and tore the organ from his body.

  She didn’t say anything, but he could tell that she was not pleased with that answer.

  Why on Earth does it have to be her!? And this is someone who personally bows to Her Majesty… just how terrifying is she?

  It only made Lycoris’ innocence that much more baffling. Or maybe that was the point, that she was free from Her Majesty’s watchful gaze and could open up a little… or, maybe that was a trap schemed up by the both of them. She did seem to take after her mother in a frightful number of other aspects.

  …Did Lilianna have a secret innocent side, too?

  “No that’d be ridiculo—I mean, um. Is there… do you have a problem, with that?”

  “…No. So long as Her Highness wishes so, it shall be.”

  She turned her ire from him back toward the chair, gazing disdainfully at it. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think that chair had killed her family.

  “Then, if that’s all…”

  He didn’t wait for a response before rushing out of the room, eager to not be alone with the irate Executioner.

  ＊　＊　＊

  Of course, that didn’t mean he was to be free of her presence forever.

  He was attending the war council too, as the man in charge of Condore’s guard. If anything, his role made his presence all the more important, worn down as he was after escorting Her Highness all day.

  Individually and in small groups, commanding officers from disparate but nearby regions gathered around the table. There were no assigned seats, save for the one reserved for Her Highness, but most tended to sit nearer to the still-vacant luxury chair. Naturally, the reason was because Executioner Unglaria was standing at the exact opposite end.

  She’d made the room into her own den during the half hour or so before the meeting, gathering piles of crude documents and rolls of antique maps of the Empire. Lesath was known to harbor a near-religious distaste for technology, outside of mandatory societal necessities like transportation, so it came as no surprise she’d be one of the few people in such a high ranking position to have ledgers in front of her.

  How Her Majesty put up with such a woman was anyone’s guess, but it was clear she gave the Executioner quite a bit of favorable treatment.

  As the room filled, more and more chatter and side-conversations picked up as military commanders who hadn’t met in years caught up with each other, sharing stories about their families and other meaningless, light smalltalk.

  Not that there was anything wrong with it, but it seemed less like a gathering of hardened soldiers preparing to address a crisis, and more like a school reunion. There was a distinct lack of urgency.

  Once the majority of the room was filled, a single voice drowned out the rest and silenced the crowd.

  “*ahem* If everyone present has finished reminiscing, I would like to start and finish this meeting as quickly as possible,” Lesath sharply declared.

  “But… wait, where is Her Highness? Was she not the one who wished to hold this meeting in the first place?”

  “There isn’t much point in even having it if she isn’t going to show up…”

  “If Her Highness genuinely has something of value to add to the discussion, I’m certain that it will not matter when she arrives to deliver it, as no doubt she perfectly understands how these proceedings go.”

  Lesath cut down their concerns with casual indifference, punctuating her statement with an almost uncharacteristic display of emotion as she rolled her eyes. It didn’t take anything more than that to convince the generals around the table. Most present didn’t seem particularly keen to be here in the first place, fully aware that this was just an event for Her Highness to put on airs and improve her image. When Lesath brought it up, they understood that she likely wouldn’t even show up, and that the publicity of gathering them all here would be enough.

  But Patton wasn’t so sure about that.

  “…Right, then if there are no other objections, I’ll start. At present, Kranes is without power, the town is completely isolated, and the sheer volume of Whispers present has guaranteed that communication is borderline impossible. Our current estimates put their numbers at roughly thirty thousand.”

  “Thirty—”

  “That’s almost double the town’s population!”

  “Indeed,” Lesath flatly replied. “They were first reported by Count Kranes early yesterday morning, after invading the town the night prior on High Moonsend, right at the turn of the year. Estimated casualties so far sit at…”

  The Executioner droned on with information that her own direct troops had reported. Though she treated all of this as rote proceedings, the fastidious woman had wasted no time in ordering them to gather information.

  After several minutes of this, Patton looked to the door, wondering just where Her Highness and her maid were.

  “Just what is taking them so long…?” he muttered under his breath.

  “Hm, something wrong Olaeus?”

  His neighbor turned his bored look from the papers in his hands toward him. The man, whom Patton didn’t recognize, didn’t seem to enjoy the novelty of having to sift through his copy of the handwritten reports.

  Patton held his tongue, however; the Executioner’s impassive gaze swept across him as she finished her sentence, like an instructor who knew what their students were already thinking.

  “As you can see, there is little tactical advantage to conducting a siege. Given their sheer numbers, and their penchant toward dismantling machines to bolster their ranks, by the time we have enough soldiers to properly retake the town, it will be too late already. As overseer of this operation, I believe the best course of action is to continue observation with smaller squads and ensure the horde doesn’t intend to migrate further inward, while moving to garrison the surrounding hamlets and holding fast for what Her Majesty determines to be the best approach for one single town. Whether or not it is worth taking such a protracted approach, or if it would be better to wipe the slate clean is for her to decide. Any questions or objections?”

  “Who says hamlet these days…?”

  “Do you have something to add, Sir Velose?”

  Her eyes immediately locked on to the person who whispered, as they shrunk inward and cleared their throat.

  “N-No, Ma’am.”

  “Then, in that case there’s no reason to—”

  “Waaaaaiiiittt!!”

  A familiar, yet rather inelegant, shout came from the hallway outside. And there was only one person Patton knew with hearing that good.

  The door slammed open, and in the doorframe stood a petite little girl in an outfit that looked like a wealthy person’s idea of “casual” clothing. She wore an off-shoulder milk-white blouse, with a dark crimson bow fastened over the heart, lace running down the front over her abdomen, which tapered off around the waist with a modest amount of frills. If it was stretched longer, it could’ve worked as a one-piece dress. She wore silvery-white shorts beneath and had matching socks that stretched up to her thighs from the surprisingly well-worn dark blue Mary Janes on her feet.

  Despite the wealth exuded by her choice of clothing, Her Highness had little in the way of jewelry or ornamentation—the only piece of metal she wore was a mythril locket wrapped around her neck and tucked under her blouse.

  Princess Lycoris looked frazzled as she rushed up to the table, slapped her sleeve-covered wrists onto the top, and hastily swept her gaze over the somewhat startled commanders all staring her way. When her eyes met Patton’s, she briefly blinked in surprise, before giving him a knowing smile and turning her attention back to the center of the table.

  “My… sincerest apologies for my uncouth tardiness. I was unfortunately accosted by a gaggle of beasts just before our appointed meeting time. As the one who called you all together on such short notice, it is quite an embarrassing situation to have put myself in. My apologies.”

  She chose her words carefully, forcing herself to speak slowly and clearly as she ever-so-slightly hung her head in shame, her twin bundles of hair sliding around her shoulders. Murmurs spread about the table, some mirroring Patton’s sentiment that there was no need to go so far in apologizing. Others shrugged and grumbled about why such a meeting was called in the first place. And one, at least, glared across the table, a near-palpable aura of malevolence exuding from the lead commander of the operation.

  “If you came just to apologize, you could have spared all present the waste of breath and let us leave earlier, instead. Perhaps you can take a seat in that little throne of yours while we finish wrapping things up instead.”

  Sharp breathless gasps flinched across the table, but the Princess shook her head, undaunted.

  “I’m afraid I cannot simply sit idle. How could I, in this situation? I came here to speak on the matter of Kranes’ relief and the rescue of its citizens, and I see that pushing for this meeting was the correct decision.” She glanced around the table once more, fixing her eyes on a few individuals in particular. “…The general attitude you—the… generals—seem to be treating such a crisis with is, bluntly, repulsive.”

  “What!?”

  Several of those at the table sat up, clearly incensed.

  And yet some continued to pay her no mind, simply looking down at their phones.

  Those were the ones Lycoris kept her reproachful gaze on, ignoring the unpleasant glares from Lesath and the other generals. Given that most of them were from well-to-do noble families, it was rare that anyone ever talked down to them.

  “Every hour— every minute that we waste twiddling our thumbs, is who knows how many more lives lost in that town. The fact that thought alone doesn’t impel you into action is proof of your languorous ineptitude. You!”

  She pointed a finger at a particularly broad-shouldered man, who barely fit within his tan military jacket and was leaning against his seat with his cheek resting on his fist. He sat up properly upon being addressed, and crossed his arms as he cocked his head.

  “Name and rank, soldier.”

  “Astarth Wyvles, the Margrave of Wyvles, Ma’am. …wait—”

  “And who is your second in command?”

  “Colonel Felglan.”

  “Before I started speaking, you were looking at your phone on the table. Were you in contact with them?”

  “No, I was—”

  “Then why were you paying attention to your phone, and not the meeting?”

  Her Highness’s sharp claws dug into the table, leaving small grooves in the polished wood as she hissed in barely-suppressed fury at the Margrave. Those nearest to her, Patton included, shrank back. He’d known from the recording of her Moonsend debut that she could have a temper just like her mother’s, but after seeing the sweet little girl all but frolic around town, playing with the animals, that broadcast had felt like a bizarre fever dream.

  It was like watching a feral animal trying to lecture rowdy students, to continue his earlier metaphor.

  “Perhaps you’d like to summon Colonel Felglan to take your place, since you seem so unenthused to be tasked with the job of saving our citizens?”

  “Your Highness,” Lesath spoke up, braving the storm brewing across from her unflinchingly, “would you care to explain why you called this meeting in the first place, instead of finding random fault with the officers your mother chose for this operation? Nobody present is enthused because none of us see any point to this. If anything, this is wasting far more of that ‘precious’ time.”

  As expected of someone who dealt with Her Majesty on a regular basis—and likely Her Highness as well—she was completely unfazed by the girl’s anger. If anything, she seemed a little irate herself, like a put-upon adult talking down to a child throwing a tantrum.

  “Point…? What do you mean ‘point?’ There’s people actively in danger! We need to bring our heads together and come up with a solut—”

  “Like the standard military doctrine we are already following for invasions, Your Highness? I understand you are young, and sheltered, but regardless of whether or not you raise a finger in aid, the situation would remain the same. No doubt Her Majesty feels the same way, but chose to let you learn that on your own regardless.”

  “I… no, she… Mama wouldn’t…” Lycoris’s voice faltered under the relentless onslaught of wearily-spoken logic. “I… I know my mother. She wouldn’t have made the request of me that she had if she didn’t expect me to make good on my word.”

  “And what request is that, Your Highness?”

  “I… can’t say. It’s a family secret.”

  Lesath snorted. “Secret? There are no secrets between Her Majesty and me.”

  “…What about me?” Lycoris raised her head, her scarlet eyes sparkling as they met the Executioner’s steely gaze.

  “… … …”

  For perhaps the first time in history, ever since she was first appointed as Lilianna’s military commander and personal confidant, Lesath looked genuinely taken aback.

  She grit her teeth in barely-restrained fury, gnashing her fangs as she growled contemptuously, “You… are… an ill-omened little—”

  Stolen story; please report.

  “So, what is ‘standard military procedure?’ I can’t make any suggestions without knowing what you’re already doing, after all.”

  “Your Highness, what exactly is it you’re hoping to accomplish here?” One of the others at the table spoke up, filling for Lesath as she fumed.

  After digging under her skin, Lycoris deftly swapped back to a calmer, more collected demeanor in contrast to the Executioner.

  She made the abrupt change in register and tone seem almost natural, the same casual innocence she displayed all day prior in Patton’s company returning as easily as it had left. He shivered, wondering just how much of her attitude in public and this meeting had been an act, what the true face of Her Highness really looked like.

  “To rescue the villagers trapped in Kranes, and ideally root out the horde of Whispers. Is that not obvious?”

  “That’s absurd! You talk of reclaiming Kranes as though it were the same as plucking flowers.”

  “Are you saying we cannot?”

  Another spoke out, emboldened by the other general, “No, Your Highness, we are saying it simply isn’t worth it. There are only seventeen thousand people—or probably less, at this point—living in the town of Kranes. Sure, it’s the capital of the County, but there’s no sense in risking unnecessary losses to our ranks. It would be far easier to move the office of the territorial governor to Condore.”

  “‘Only seventeen thousand’ you say? Only seventeen thousand!? Do you even know a hundredth of that number by name?” She turned on the spot, pivoting to snap her finger at the newcomer.

  “I… Perhaps, if I thought about it, but—”

  “Is not every life, is not every citizen in our Empire of equal import? Do not tell me a single invading force of Whispers is too scary to handle! They’re monsters that border on mindlessness compared to… compared to Humans! What would you do if a Human army marched in on the Empire? Just roll over and let them raise their flags in the Goddess’s name, claiming the town for themselves!? …Honestly, they might show more compassion for the civilians than you lot seem to be doing, at present.”

  Her Highness raised a good point, at least about the Whispers, but her awareness of the situation seemed rather naive.

  “Unfortunately, things are a touch more complex than you might be assuming, Princess.” Patton finally raised his own voice, standing up and placing his hand over his chest.

  “Enlighten me, then.”

  The corner of his lip quirked at her choice of words. “As you wish. As you are well aware, the town is surrounded on all sides by walls one hundred meters high. These are currently without any form of power, meaning the gates installed in them cannot be opened. We would have to either scale them, use whatever opening the Whispers created, or demolish a portion of the walls with explosives in order to get our troops in. We wouldn’t be able to get any heavy vehicles over the walls, obviously; and forming a large enough breach would take both manpower and time. Dawn walls were designed to serve as protection from invasion, in addition to blocking out the sun. Currently, Her Sinistrous,” he gestured toward Lesath, “has already dispatched several of Condore’s and a few neighboring regions’ Fangchaser soldiers out to perform daytime reconnaissance on the area surrounding the walls, and to ensure there aren’t any signs of movement from the Whispers. If they attempted to move on another city, it would be disastrous for us to be unprepared to intercept.”

  “But they’re gathering in Kranes, correct? And in large numbers?”

  Lycoris tilted her head and furrowed her brow.

  Patton nodded, glancing away toward the rest of the table as he wordlessly sought an answer for why she’d be asking such a thing. Nobody else seemed to have any clue either, though he noticed the entire table had all sat up and were paying close attention.

  Even Lesath—who hadn’t even bothered to sit down—was glaring right at him.

  Great. No pressure, Patton.

  “That is correct. There are estimated to be thirty thousand Whispers inside of Kranes currently. We don’t have an exact number, but it is likely only going to rise as they dismantle and consume the machines inside the town.”

  “Hmm,” Lycoris hummed.

  She fell silent, looking deep in thought, but Patton wasn’t sure he’d said anything worth such deep consideration. At the same time, he felt a jitter of excitement in his gut, as though he expected the child of the greatest modern mind to produce just as miraculous an answer as Her Majesty would.

  And his expectations were not betrayed, in a sense.

  “…Oh! Of course, that has to be what she did,” the girl suddenly blurted out.

  “Could Her Highness deign offer us her insights?” Lesath grumbled.

  “Well, I’m sure you all know that Whispers are attracted to potent sources of mana, yes?”

  Her Highness asked as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, but everyone at the table looked around at each other in confusion—Lesath included.

  “They’re attracted to machines, to reproduce and increase their wretched numbers,” someone corrected.

  Lycoris shook her head and wagged a finger. “I don’t know about all that, but I’ve heard they’re used against humans too, who lack anything even resembling an automotive vehicle. If they only went after machines, they’d be useless as a measure against Human settlements. Really they’re like any other monster in that sense. Or, well, some monsters.”

  She grumbled the last few words to herself, plucking a silken thread dangling from her silvery bangs.

  Murmurs of doubt and confusion spread around the table.

  Patton stared at the girl. He had never personally heard of Whispers being used against humans before, much less of this theory about their habits. The mechanical monstrosities were usually culled long before they massed into such a sizeable threat, or were disposed of by rather heavy ordinance, though such an option would reduce the town to a crater. At that point it’d be a matter of building anew, rather than recovering anything.

  “And what does every Vampire settlement have? No doubt with an incredibly complicated, juicy and appetizing magical array, that probably consumes an unreasonably large amount of mana?” The girl asked in a leading tone, looking ever so slightly smug about it.

  “…The cloud generator,” Lesath quavered.

  Lycoris inclined her head. “Exactly. I have no doubt that stupid, awful Witch snuck into wherever it’s being kept and fuddled with it somehow.”

  “Fuddled?” someone at the table muttered.

  “Witch?”

  Lesath’s eyes immediately narrowed once more. Then, briefly widened in surprise, and narrowed again, accompanied by clenched fists, raised hairs, and a scrunched up nose as she looked as though she were about to vault across the table and tear Lycoris’s head off.

  Patton was clueless as to what realization she just had, but before he could even reflexively alert Her Highness, a sonorous female voice cut through the excited mumbling around the table.

  “What Witch would this be, Your Highness? And pardon for the two-for-one, but you’ve suggested a lot with no actual backing theory, how are you so certain that you’re right? I believe that nobody at this table has ever personally set foot in a Human settlement. To say nothing of the fact that these are merely machines… Constructs. They lack any sort of individual intellect, merely following the logic programmed into them. They’re nothing like whatever monsters you might think lurk beneath your bed at night.”

  “…I’m forty-six, not four.” Lycoris sulkily stared, sour-faced.

  The woman was Lucretia Dominus Idra, wife to Margrave Percivald Idra, brother of the current Speaker. She had apparently come in his place, as he was engaged in some other business that was apparently more important than responding to Her Majesty’s summons. Idra… really.

  Still, this was a bad position for Her Highness, she was already on unfavorable footing with them… the Idra woman gave her a piercing stare, flicking her wavy lavender hair back dismissively before Lycoris continued.

  “Actually, I know I called them mindless, but they do seem to grow more coordinated in larger groups. Sometimes even acting like actual deployed soldiers. Presumably, they linked together to go after this objective, but—”

  “Hmph, more unsubstantiated drivel. My question remains, Princess.”

  “—That aside, the Witch I speak of is one that my mother, Her Majesty Lilianna, has deemed exceedingly dangerous. She is— was, a member of the Hero’s party.”

  “Hero, you say?”

  Margrave Wyvles, the wide-shouldered man Lycoris had called out earlier scowled severely, clenched his hands on the table. Patton noticed the report scrunched up between his fingers, briefly lamenting the waste of plant life.

  Lycoris turned to nod at him, looking more like a trained orator than a prepubescent girl as she put a hand to her chest and continued.

  “My mother and I have reason to believe that she is connected to this incident, as it follows in the wake of the subterranean quake in Den-Ghel; a targeted attack meant to destabilize relations between us and the Geolle. I can only assume she worked her magic on the cloud generator and turned it into a big juicy lure for the Whispers, and that’s why they’re still sitting in the town. Tell me, do they not usually disperse after… doing whatever it is you suggested?”

  “There have been remarkably few reports of Whispers wandering outside of the town,” one of the commanders mumbled. “Even in the subway lines, they were almost entirely centralized beneath Kranes…”

  “But what of their hives!?” another general shouted.

  “Well, there’s no shortage of scrap in the deadlands,” one of the scant few Fangchasers at the table mumbled, “But if anything, this mana theory explains why they sometimes leave even when there’s still plenty of metal left there…”

  “Then there you have it. The fact the village is without power is all the proof I need to assume that was her plot. My guess is all the energy in town is being routed there, and repurposed to something other than making sinister clouds. If you find my wisdom dubious, you can always try luring them into a trap with some Chrysanthrite or Mythril. Or use me, I’m apparently pretty mana-rich myself.”

  “Your Highness, you can’t possibly be suggesting we actually use you as bait to test your own theory,” Lucretia sardonically replied.

  “Well… no. Mother would be quite irate if I actually were to do such a thing. But I could at least volunteer my maidservant, if you sincerely wish to take me up on the offer… I would rather not, though. Raw ore would serve just as well.”

  “You want us to…”

  “...Lure them out…”

  “…By placing a pile of raw ore as bait like a CARCASS!?” Lesath finished.

  “Technically, igniting it to cause magical burn-off would make it more enticing to them, I think. That is my suggestion though, yes. If we can place some near the breach they made to get into the city, it might be possible to sneak a small team in to begin evacuating civilians, and to attempt to dismantle whatever Taty— That Witch did to the cloud generator. If we can remove that as an attractor to the Whispers, it should be much easier to lure them away. Either way, our priority should be ensuring the safety of the civilians and the restoration of the cloud generator as soon as possible. Regardless of their intellect or… logic programming, they’re no match for a genuine, coordinated military formation. Trapping them in a killbox should be trivial for our armies.”

  Lycoris glanced around the table once more, smiling cheerfully as she held her hands together in front of herself.

  It sounded completely obvious, coming from her mouth. Well, it was an obvious solution, given the intel she provided. But the fact that none of them had thought to even try something like that—even with other machinery, as they had all known the aberrant mechanical monsters would still be enticed by that—was… shameful. The army existed to safeguard the assets of the Empire, to claim what their Exaltare wished to obtain, and to aid the people when they were endangered.

  For a little child to lay the truth on the table before them, and to have found a potential solution they could put into action, even with the small number of squads they had on hand… no doubt everyone else sitting at the table felt just as shamed as Patton presently did.

  Especially Lesath, who was still glowering at the Princess like she wanted to rip her head off with her teeth. It was downright miraculous how unflinching Her Highness was. If Patton wasn’t questioning whether or not this was all exactly according to her plan, he’d think that she didn’t even realize just how angry the Executioner was. She must have been used to seeing that expression. Or, perhaps she truly felt herself to be above such things, being the Heir-Significate… or Crown Princess, as it were.

  “Shall I assume your silence to be affirmation? I… am uncertain how to proceed with making arrangements, do we hold a vote to see who agrees with pushing forward with this idea? Or, does it fall to the highest authority within the room?”

  Surprisingly, Lycoris glanced toward Lesath, acknowledging her position with a nod. Patton had assumed Lycoris would have defaulted to thinking of herself as the highest authority. Technically, being Her Majesty’s daughter, she was.

  Lesath seemed equally caught off guard, but snorted derisively as she waved the matter aside.

  “Very well, let us call a vote, as Her Highness seems keen on making this a show of Court, rather than military doctrine.”

  “No, I was genuinely asking…” the girl mumbled beneath the din of votes being cast.

  Of course, the result was near-unanimous consent, with only the die-hard skeptics like Lucretia abstaining from voting. Ironic, given she was closer to courtier than commander.

  Whether it was solely because she belonged to the Idra and was making this into a matter of politics, or because she genuinely couldn’t trust the forty-six year old girl, Patton wasn’t sure.

  But after guiding the Princess around for just a single day, seeing her mannerisms, seemingly honest naivete, and noble core, he felt certain that she had told nothing but the truth. Even if she had been putting on an act, some level of four-dimensional chess, she was putting her faith in the military, almost like an ironclad soldier would.

  “Then,” Lesath sighed, though she likely knew this would be the outcome, “we shall begin making arrangements. Olaeus, contact the factories in Condore and see what we can scrounge up. Velose, I want you to forward this to the scouts we have in the field. Wyvles, contact the squads en route, see if they can bring any extra materiel with them that we can make use of for this… ‘plan.’”

  All three saluted, and after giving Her Highness a final nod, Patton grabbed his phone and paperwork, and bowed out of the conference room.

  ＊　＊　＊

  Lycoris stretched her arms out, careful to keep the papers from slipping out of the file she had been given. It was a nice surprise to find out that the Executioner didn’t use technology for everything, and opted for paper documentation like this. It was far more familiar territory for Lycoris, and while the technical specifications on some of it went over her head, she was quite at home reading over military paperwork and deployment records.

  She could also commiserate with the woman’s intense distaste for how lackadaisical the commanders assigned to her were. Lesath may have seemed standoffish because of her foul mood, but Lycoris felt a kindred spirit in the no-frills woman.

  …Even though Lycoris was presently covered in frills herself.

  Ideally, with a proper course of action in play, Lesath’s mood would improve, and the morale of those under her as well. Happy soldiers made for functional soldiers, after all… though Lycoris wasn’t quite sure how she felt about the idea of improving morale for Vampires. It was probably fine, they were—sort of—her vampires now, after all. In a roundabout way.

  Plus, they were just taking back what was rightfully theirs, and not even from Humans.

  Ugh, why did I even bring that up as an example… I guess it’s not odd that I would know what a human is but…

  What was done was done, no sense worrying over such a thing now.

  What she should have been worrying over is whether or not she got the ratios right for the amount of ore to use, or whether the generals would question why she would know such specific details to begin with. It was odd that Lesath never brought it up, or even suggest that she might be wrong. She simply trusted that Lycoris knew what she was talking about. Perhaps that’s how she got along with her mother, and was just passing the respect down.

  …Wouldn’t it be nice if that really were the case.

  Lycoris had a feeling it wouldn’t be so simple. Even if she proved herself knowledgeable in military matters and earned some amount of respect, a single day and crisis wouldn’t be enough to win over someone, even if they were doggedly loyal to Lilianna.

  “Is something the matter, Your Highness? You’re looking a little troubled. Did… your meeting not go well?”

  Athena stood near the entrance, looking as though she were trying to impersonate the potted plant sitting on the opposite side of the double-doors from herself. It seemed she still felt guilty over almost causing Lycoris to miss the meeting entirely… though she hadn’t known they were cutting it that close.

  There was no sense in lambasting her over it, especially when Lycoris had already briefly given her an earful before rushing off.

  “No, it went fine. Better than expected, actually. It seems we might be able to start getting people out of Kranes as early as the day after tomorrow, if everything goes as anticipated.”

  “Really? That’s wonderful news!”

  “Where’s Sera?”

  Taking the lead, Lycoris walked out of the door and toward the parked car waiting just outside the building. She looked around the car, but didn’t see Seraphine nearby, or inside the door that swung open as she approached.

  “She’s filling in for Patton, apparently, and handling the city guard’s shift. The woman is remarkably talented! If I’m not careful, she might even replace my job!”

  “I highly doubt that. Is she going to be gone for the rest of the evening?”

  “She’ll be rejoining us for dinner, which means we’ll have enough time to return and take care of your needs first. Unless of course you’d like to—”

  “Yes! No, I mean, I’m fine. That works out well enough. I admit, I’m pretty hungry after running around all day. Plus, I skipped lunch, technically… Hopefully Mama won’t be too upset with me.”

  “I’m sure she’ll be understanding, Your Highness.”

  The two of them took their seats in the back of the car, and sped off toward the hotel, as Athena put her hand timidly on Lycoris’s head. Like she was nervous to show the Princess affection, but wanted to show she cared anyways.

  Feeling worn out, Lycoris wordlessly leaned against her, looking forward to getting back and unwinding. Dealing with so many high-ranking generals and nobles had taken quite a lot out of her, even though she technically outranked them all now.

  At least, if the Empire was anything like Dauwen.

  Not that she never had to speak out as second in command before, but aside from maybe Patton, every single Vampire in that room outranked her previous military position. Overcoming such an emotional hurdle was borderline overwhelming.

  Hopefully, she hadn’t left them all with too terrible of an impression…

  First up, we have three all drawn by the lovely , of our sapphic damsel in distress and her beloved, of Lycoris having... complicated thoughts, and one of an unexpected but undoubtedly villainous duo.

  Sporktown, of Her Majesty's most loyal follower and metaphorical left hand, the Executioner herself.