Chapter 27: 26 – Foundations

POV - Navi

"Please stop! This is a misunderstanding!"

"Bzzzt! Wrong answer!" I say to the man laying on the forest floor.

Gently placing an icicle through his thigh to match the others, I continue to have a chat with the knight that snuck out of the walls.

I gotta say, sometimes Vampy can be right on the money. Having her memories, I know how much she mistrusts some people. That's why she asked me to watch our new friends! Any good anime or manga protagonist would win over all these people by clumsily bumbling through meeting them and making them laugh and smile endearingly.

Not Lia!

This nice person in front of me is one of the reasons that mistrust is founded in reality! It's also why she left the portcullis up to potentially lure someone like this.

"So, Mr! Want to tell me why you were sneaking out, in the middle of the night, then immediately making a break for the southeast? After you were told you were welcome to leave and would be given provisions?"

"I…"

Another icicle appears.

"Yes! Alright! I was sent by the church to watch the village! Please, just let me go. I won't tell them anything about you all here! I'll say monsters killed everyone! Plea—Agh!"

Icicle through his boot.

This is why nice people get taken advantage of. If you were going to attack a village, you would want someone on the inside. To leave a gate open. To trick a difficult target. To take care of problems before they happen. What would they do if they blended in and then found what amounts to a secret base? Run and tell their superiors! 

I was really kinda hoping Vamps was just being paranoid. Guess not! It took a while to even get that confession, so let's give him a hook before reeling in. 

"Okay then, Mr. Spy! If you swear to your god that you won't tell anyone about us, you'll be free to go. I'll even heal all your wounds! But! I need you to tell me a bit about who in the church you were reporting to, who else they work with, and where they're based. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes! Yes! We do! We have a deal. The one—"

After getting the information he had, I stored his dead body. With the names of multiple priests and even a couple platoons and companies that are involved in this, we can begin to make a hit list. This could've really ended a lot worse if he made it back to the church.

Time to fly and scout for the search party! I really need to let my sweet Lala know about how nasty people that don't play by rules are. But she's just so precious! And she's gonna  have a baby sister in a couple months!

Don't worry my little babies. Mommy will take care of the bad people for you. From my memories of when not-yet-Lia met the gods, they chose them because they weren't afraid of killing when needed and were distrustful of people enough to survive. I totally get it! But maybe I get it because I have their memories and am like a sister? Oh, well.

Flying around the area, I don't see anything yet. Being a small, unknown, flying race is such a cheat! I love being a fairy. Thanksies Goddess of Chaos!

At some point on my patrol, my soul sista' reaches out. (Evening, Navi. You alright out there?)

(Hey, Lia! Yup! There was a runner from the church. Got names and locations for you too.)

(Thanks, Navi. Sorry for making you do that. I know it probably wasn't pleasant.) 

This woman. Stop worrying about us and worry about yourself! As much of a tough girl act as she puts on, I know using people isn't super easy for her. Even so, she'll do it without question to protect her wifey. Sometimes I think she forgets I know her better than anyone else here.

(Nah, I'm good. Just flying around waiting for that party now. How was your play? Was my Lala as adorable as always?)

(All's good here,) she said. (Like we talked about, Elden is a marquis. Even with it being just in name, him and the others seem to be making it a big deal. Hell, I could've called him Emperor of Fun Time Forest for all I care. Wouldn't change anything. I still feel bad for using Ailine's past like that, though.)

Oh, Vampy. (She has grown a lot in these past seven plus years. You know that if she thought it could help you, she'd do anything for you.)

(That's what scares me. I don't mind using all those people to give us a better chance at a safer life. But Ailine? I don't want her to ever feel like I'm just using her.)

(Come on you blind bat! Just thinking like that will keep her from ever thinking that. You married her finally for crying out loud!)

(And that still doesn't feel complete! How could I have a two minute wedding?!) she shouts.

(Exactly like that, dummy!) I say right back. (There's no way to have a traditional Earth wedding. Don't forget how happy she was! Go over to my garden and smell the roses!)

(Still… I want to do something more for her.)

(Then do that! Now go spend time with your new wife. And give my Lala a big hug from Mommy!)

(Fine, fine, you damn overprotective mom. Tell me what you find out, and be careful if there's someone strong.)

(Okay I love you buh bye!)

What a worry wart! Well, if she needs someone to reassure her, I'll be here. 

With a new fairy coming, and new people we can't fully trust yet, we probably won't be beating dungeon floors for a few months at least. Flying around, I spent two days killing some monsters in the area. Then the action finally came! Riding from the direction that the first group came from, was a squad of eleven people on horseback. One commander looking old guy, one priest, and nine generic knights.

They were following the trail that the other churchies left. Looks like they'll have to make camp a bit before they reach our previous scene. Well then! Let's have some fun tonight!

Once night fell, I watched them from up in the trees. Nobody ever looks up if they don't know they have to. Waiting for their guards to begin patrolling, looks like they'll have three people on a shift. One at a fire and two walking the forest around their area. Great!

I feel like I need a Mission Impossible soundtrack in the background for this. Oh well! I'll just hum in my head.

Using dark magic to cover myself and being the best fairy ninja I can, I fly above the first patrolling target. They all have armor on, but no helmets. Who wants to wear a smelly helmet on a nice night when you had to all day?

Darting down with my sword out, I stab it into the top of his skull. Insta-kill! Storing his body before it even hits the ground, I move to my next victims. Repeating this, all three awake guards are stored away. The three tents remaining, one has the door open and the other two closed.

The plan Lia told me means there has to be no sign of foul play here, so no dropping rocks. Boo. That's such a simple and OP way to do this, but oh well.

Like a ghost, I fly silently into the open tent where three knights are sleeping peacefully. With a stab through their closed eyes and into their brains, they're stored away along with the tent and their possessions. 

For the remaining two tents, I start with the final three knights. Going to a seam in the tent, I quietly cut open the stitching, making a hole for me to fly in and stabby stab them, just like the others. Stored away, it's down to just the priest and commander dude. Priest is weak sauce, but the commander was level 46, so he has some experience.

Just as I start to cut open the seam, I see movement and a sword flies right through it, nearly stabbing me. If I was any bigger, that would've hit! Covering myself in darkness, I fly up in the air to assess the situation.

"Oh, I missed you? Pretty good reflexes you got there. Now whoever the fuck you are, come out!"

"Liam, aren't you just being paranoid? I never saw or heard a thing. Just you waking me up and stabbing our tent."

"Really? Well listen. Not a single sound outside. None of my men are moving around, nobody snoring, nothing. Even now, nobody comes over to us after yelling. I can't even sense the presence of my men anymore. I doubt any of them are still alive."

"You… may have a point. What now?"

"Monsters would make noise, so we have assassins."

Oh, this guy isn't an idiot! Well, I still have surprises for them. Would just be simple to drop a rock. Boo.

After floating about twenty feet above the tent for a couple minutes, I hear some low whispering. Then they both burst out of the tent and get to the fire, back to back, looking around with staff and sword at the ready.

"Come on out! You want a fight, right? Or are you too big of a pussy to fight face to face!"

Nice! Obvious provocation, check! Taking a look at them, the dude must've slept in his armor. Obviously an experienced ojisan. If I fought with a sword, he'd probably be pretty skilled. Sucks to be him!

Still essentially invisible to them, floating above as they scan the area, two spikes of darkness materialize under the priest and stab him in the gut. Immediately after, I fire a blinding light with light magic right at the knight from above.

As they shout in surprise, I land on the commander's head and stab my sword through his visor. Storing his body, there's now just a priest, bleeding out on the ground. Before he even regains his vision, I finish him off, ending this fun evening. 

What did they expect? An assassin walking out of the forest, introducing himself and saying 'muahaha! Because you're going to die, listen to my plan!' Frick no! I'm with Lia on this. Don't set our own flags. Don't give an enemy a chance, and make sure they're dead.

Storing everything, besides a bit of blood from the priest, it's like nothing ever happened. My storage is also essentially full. I was a bit surprised I fit them all. Flying over to the horses that are now awake after the ruckus, I take a look at what we got.

(Lia! Lia! Good news!) I called out.

(What's up, Navi? Everything alright?)

(We got balls!)

(...Uh...What?) 

(The horses! One big ole boy still has balls!)

(Oh, well that's good. I assume you finished off the party?) she asked.

(Yup! Perfect score! Well, almost. The commander guy realized he didn't feel the presence and couldn't hear his men, so he woke up and tried to fight back. If I played fair, he could've put up a decent fight. Too bad!)

(Well, so long as you're alright. So we actually got a stallion then?)

(Yup! It's the one whoever that guy was, was riding. Looks like a big, muscular charger, too. Probably his pride and joy or something. But whatever, It's got balls! That means more horses for us! Looks a bit older, but I doubt he shoots blanks yet.)

(What are the others?)

(Six mares and four geldings.) I say after checking the others.

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(Not bad. Good work, Navi. You taking them southwest after the cart tracks of the citizens end?)

(Yup! Whoever comes next will be on a wild goose chase. Or a fairy chase?)

(Good. Be safe and we'll see you in a few days then. If shit hits the fan at all, say fuck it to the horses and get out of there.)

I giggle at the overprotective vampire. (Don't worry about me, you needle tooth! Just take care of my dear sweet Lala! Tell her Mommy loves her!)

(Don't you tell her that damn near every couple hours with telepathy already?)

(I sure do! But once more doesn't hurt!)

(Whatever, you moth. See you when you get back.)

Getting back to work, I took out some carrots I brought just for this.

"Hello, Mr. Horsey! What a nice schlong you have! Here's some food! Let's be friends and lead bad people around by the nose!"

This'll be fun!

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POV - Dalia

"It's a good thing that fairy is one of a kind."

I just mutter to myself as I get back to work. Over the past couple days, Elden and Realyn have been working with all the people to get a layout for what will be the beginning of a town. That couple seems to really do well together.

Lala says everyone has been coming to them all day with questions, suggestions, and so on. Really fucking glad it's not me having to field those.

Now, I'm digging a couple wells for the people. Eventually, it would be really fucking cool for me and the fairies to build a water tower to simply pressurize some piping, but in the meantime, wells are fine. Worst case, if we have to dig too deep, I can just build a stone reservoir underground and we can magic a bunch of water for them. 

Lala has been playing with some of the human kids during the day. They all seem to enjoy it, and the adults are really starting to open up to the delightful little fairy. 

James and a couple others lead groups of soldiers-turned-hunters along with some of the other civilian hunters to go outside the walls for food. It seems they realize and have accepted that even with animals inside of the walls, the more they hunt outside, the more the inside numbers can grow and will be there if they ever can't go outside. 

I've shown up a couple times with Ailine to either drop off items or heal some minor injuries. People seem to be accepting their new situation, and nobody complained about saying 'fuck you' to the church.

The evening after we first dropped everything off, Elden and James asked to meet with me at the castle. They informed me that one of their soldiers went missing. That it was the newest member, and other soldiers said he was fidgety on the way here and after arriving. Elden said he didn't want to jump to conclusions, but that nobody had seen him during the day and that his behavior may have been suspicious.

I, of course, knew that the church spy was already dead, but just told them I would look into it and search the area. I also thanked them for letting me know. Bringing information like this is a great step for our relationship. It's a step forward for me trusting their observations and judgement on what to bring to me.

They've also started referring to the future town as 'Midnight' and the castle as 'Midnight Castle.' Seems pretty unimaginative, and self-centered if I came up with it. Even so, once a name sticks, there's no changing. Honestly, I really don't give a fuck what they call it. If they want this to be the Midnight Queendom, then whatever. At least it sounds kind of cool.

Talking with Elden, I confirmed that, same as most medieval fantasy worlds, literacy in the general public is stupidly low. Thus, like any fucking kingdom building trope, we planned to build a school building and have a couple of the people teach everyone basic reading, writing, and math.

Why follow a stupid trope? Well, it actually makes fucking sense. A decent amount of the books in the library could be helpful to them. Of course I'll keep dangerous material like fucking light magic combat books away.

Currently, everything is running off of a pseudo-barter, pseudo-communist style system. If we hope to be looked to as equals in the future, that needs to change. What better time than when things are just starting out? 

To move forward, we'll soon open up the treasury big-bag and start buying shit. Introducing money into the system, and putting a standard price on the cost of a goblin or a tree we would buy. We had so many fucking coins, it was ridiculous. 

Going with the standard system of this world and how the money was already minted, ten iron to a big iron, ten big iron to a copper, ten copper to a big copper, ten big copper to a silver, ten silver to a big silver, ten big silver to a gold, ten gold to a big gold. The coins were the size of nickels for normals and half-dollars for bigs.

Yeah, a fucking metric lover's wet dream. At least it was simple. We'll screw with minting them with current faces later. For now, this works. By buying things at standard prices like goblins, trees, etc. and eventually paying teachers or other people hired by the Queendom, we're setting the price so there isn't rapid inflation.

A lot of the shit we'll be buying is useless to us as vampires, but hey, we have to keep the machine turning. When we build a shorter wall outside the fifty-foot wall for fields to be moved out there and trees cleared, we'll really start pumping money into the economy.

Talking to Ailine, we also came to a decision on something. Calling James to the castle just after sunrise, we got down to business.

"Thank you for coming so early, James. Is everyone starting to get settled in?" I asked.

"That they are, Your Majesty. Thank you for all of your assistance," he said with a bow.

"Now, why I called for you is to show you something that could help the general citizens as a whole. Please follow me."

Walking out of the room with James behind, I walked to the rear castle door and continued talking.

"From what I have seen, the majority of the population is below level 3, with the hunters being still under 10. How was it that the Empire trained its soldiers to be over 20 and a knight like yourself to be over 40?"

"That… Would be the Capital Dungeon. Anyone wanting to become a soldier in the empire would go to the capital to train for three to five years for the commons, and seven to ten for someone wanting to be an officer. fifteen to twenty for royal guards. Even if someone just wanted to be a soldier of their local lord, they would still go to the Capital Dungeon. There are two smaller ones that the Dukes utilize as starters, but as the largest, the Capital is where training is done.

"I see. By leveling them with the dungeon, that is the reason that they all seem to have consistent strength. Outside monster fights notwithstanding."

"That is correct, Your Majesty."

"What if all of our citizens could be around level 14 or 15?"

He thought for a moment. "That would help their work tremendously. Regardless if it is strength and stamina for fields, dexterity for sewing, or any other job. Higher levels would make their work easier and more efficient."

We arrive at the dungeon cave, and I give him a torch to see as we walk downstairs.

"What I ask of you is to begin arranging small groups to bring and cycle people into here."

Arriving at the dungeon door, I push it open to show him an infinite slime spawn, but lowered in numbers. 

"This…" he looks surprised by us having a dungeon.

"This is my Tutorial Dungeon," I said with arms wide. "It will only train people up to level 15 or 16 at max. However, I have designed to make leveling simple and safe. Yes, some of the stronger monsters can be deadly. However, this wasn't designed with soldiers in mind. Simply common people with no combat experience. 

"Getting to level 8 or 9 with only stabbing with a spear is completely doable. I would like to see one soldier with two to three civilians in groups. That way, if an emergency happens and they need help, the soldier can step in. To start off, I would like you and a group of the soldiers you think would make good escorts for the citizens, to simply go through the first two to three floors to know what monsters will appear and if you think I should adjust anything. Can you do it?"

"Of course, Your Majesty. It will take time to get everyone to that level, but can definitely be done."

"Good. Like I said, we aren't training soldiers. Only levels for stats and some basic self defense. Time doesn't matter and they can go as often or as little as their jobs allow. Now, let us return."

When we got back to the castle, Elden was there waiting.

He bowed before saying, "You called, Your Majesty?"

"Yes. Thank you for coming, Marquis. James, I leave the dungeon organization in your care."

"It shall be done." With a salute, he walks off.

"Dungeon?" Elden questioned.

"Yes, there is a low level dungeon of mine behind this castle. It is designed so that the non-combatant citizens can safely raise some levels to have the stats to help their daily lives." 

"That...would make a big difference."

"My thoughts exactly. But that wasn't why I called you today. You remember our discussion about a school, correct?"

"Yes, a foundation is already being cleared," he informed me.

"Good. There is something I ultimately want added to the curriculum."

As I was saying this, we walked up the staircase to the doors he had never been through. Opening the large doors to the library, he was a bit shocked. I really enjoy doing that to him for some reason.

"Th—This is…"

"A large library? Yes. There is a lot of knowledge that is just laying here. Monster, plant, and animal compendiums, combat manuals, history books from a millennia ago, and so on. Most applicable to this discussion are these books."

I take a book off of a prominent shelf.

"There are introductory books on the different types of magic. Now, we are not training combat mages, but there is no denying that a basic understanding of magic could help tremendously in the lives of the citizens.

"Once the school is built and people can read consistently, I would like you to find teachers that can read through these introductory books prior to finding interested students. It should come as no surprise to you, that the Empire and their church have spread false information, or a lack of information, on magic and training magic as a whole.

"For example. There is no such thing as getting hurt from using all of your MP. In fact, like a muscle, using it is the best way to increase your amount of MP and your magic recovery. This is a long term project, but should ultimately help the citizens in their daily lives. Then, Marquis Whitewater, can you do it?"

He still just stared at all of the bookshelves for a moment. "It shall be done, Your Majesty."

"Good. If you have a need for the resources in this library, then use them. Just keep all of the books here. It also wouldn't be bad to have someone be a dedicated librarian to assist you and others with finding information. Now, I know you are busy, so I will take my leave."

Someday, people from the outside will visit my home. When they do, I need them to see us as worthy of associating with. A bunch of uneducated citizens trading chickens for cows is not the impression I want. No, my citizens will all be literate and educated in the basics of magic and combat. That will be the minimum standard.

To one day build a strong country, I need a strong foundation.

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