Chapter 31: 30 – Welcome

The next evening I went to check on our two new vampires with Navi. Both had settled in pretty well last night. I found them in one of the sitting rooms. Steph had a compendium on the animals around here, and Sara a combat manual of various styles.

"Good evening you two," I said while walking into the room.

""Good evening, Your Majesties!"" They both simultaneously stand and bow.

"I hope you were able to get settled a little bit. The castle is large but besides us and Talon, it's empty of people. Having you two live here will be good for everyone. At some point you may have heard that we have a small dungeon behind the castle. However, that's not all of it. Come with us."

Not leaving room for discussion, Navi and I lead the two over to the dungeon entrance. I know this will be taking a bit of a chance with showing them these things tonight, but it's not something we're taking lightly. As vampires, they have nowhere else to go right now. From both of them, I just get the gut feeling that they won't betray us. Is it good to base things solely on gut feelings? Fuck no. That's why I'll have a fairy secretly observe them for a while, just to make sure. For what I'm imagining in the future, I need people I can trust. This seems like a decent place to start. 

"Now, as you know, you can only ingest blood. You also can't store the blood of monsters from the dungeon. Navi will store away monsters that she kills while on patrol for us to drain into the blood bags. Should we ever be indisposed and you need blood, we want to show you the dungeon so you can get it within the walls."

I took them to a floor that starts with a dagger wielding lesser troll. 

"Sara, as a former holy knight you should be aware of how dungeons function a bit. For Steph, I'll briefly explain. Each monster isn't real. They are condensed mana made to take this form. Why we can drink from them, is we are drinking their super condensed mana, and once a part of us, it's ours."

Reaching out I use a small rock bullet to shoot through the charging lesser troll's forehead.

"Go have a taste directly, you two"

They both go over and bite it's neck.

"It's good!" Steph says.

Sara nods. "Yeah. Better than the blood bags."

"Yes," I conceded. "Unfortunately, goblins are by far the most common monster outside the walls. They don't taste the best. Feel free to come here anytime you want something a little better."

"Um, Your Majesty? Sara might be able to, but I'm not a fighter. I'm not sure if I could beat that lesser troll." Steph looks down, a bit embarrassed at her lack of fighting skills.

"Yes, and that's why we're going to show both of you a secret. This is to be disclosed to nobody."

Saying that, we walk back to the iron door and I open it to the core room.

Arms wide, I said, "This is the core room of the dungeon. Go stand on the platform over there."

Doing as I say, but confused, they get on the platform with Navi and I. I then teleport us to the entrance to the Abyssal Dungeon.

After waiting a few seconds for their shock to dissipate, I explain, "Only myself or someone I give my ring to are able to use the teleportation platform to get here. This dungeon is called the Abyssal Dungeon. It is fifty floors deep."

Steph didn't know what this meant, but Sara looked at me with eyes wide. We spent a couple minutes stepping through doors to only the important floors while I explained what was on them. Such as the veggie floor, the cotton cloth floor, the iron floor, or the paper floor.

Letting them access it once, they should be able to again if we are ever gone. As long as they have my ring. Then I opened it to the last floor I wanted to bring them to.

"This is the 46th floor. It's why we're here with Navi," I said.

Navi flies off of my shoulder and spins in front of us. "Yup! We're going to give you two a bit of a boost!"

"Now follow us. It is a bit of a walk."

Walking along so as not to lose Steph, and answering most of their questions along the way, we arrive within sight of the fortress. 

I stop us on the edge of the clearing, still out of sight of the monsters. "This is where we will be staying. The fortress there is where the dungeon monsters are. It is full of level 58 dragonids."

"58!?" Sara's eyes seem like they might pop out.

"Yes. Navi, do your thing."

"Ok! See you soon!" The fairy says and take her bag and ascends.

While Navi flew off, I explained a bit more.

"We are close to finishing this dungeon. And when we do, we will attack the church. This floor was created to be extremely hard, but it didn't take into account fairies with an insanely large dimensional bag."

As I said that, Navi began her assault. We could only watch as dozens of rocks began to appear and fall from high in the air. Steph and Sara stood frozen as the entire fortress, and enemies that they couldn't hope to ever challenge, were all crushed.

"Now then." I clap my hands together. "Even with me here splitting the EXP you got, you should have both leveled up substantially. Levels aren't everything. Steph, with no combat experience, may still lose to a well trained soldier. However, what levels will do is make your training of magic or combat that much easier. 

"Now, instead of training for a couple hours and being fully exhausted, if you increase your STM some, you can train that long like it's nothing. Your base MP has also increased substantially. Meaning, even though you're just starting out, you can cast small spells over and over, gaining proficiency at a rate others couldn't imagine starting out.

"The benefits you get starting with a high level and the stats along with it are not small. Even so, like I said. The Abyssal Dungeon is an absolute secret. Eventually, we will declassify this dungeon and make an attempt to dig a tunnel to the surface so that it is accessible.

"Let's go back to the castle. There's something else we need to show you and explain. It's the reason we don't want all of the soldiers to be extremely powerful just yet."

Not wanting to fight the boss with these two here just yet, we walk back to the door and make our way to the entrance of the Tutorial Dungeon.

Walking back to the castle, Navi explains the next part.

"Now! Everyone knows how awesome we fairies are. Just like you vampires have a major weakness to light, we also have a major weakness."

Walking through the castle, we go to Talon's room.

"Pii?"

"Hi, Talon. Go back to sleep. We're just showing these two the garden!" Navi said.

"Pii."

Laying her head back down, she goes back to sleep. A while ago we adjusted the doors and door frame so that she can open them with her beak or claws. They're also big enough for her to easily get through now. Her bed is a massive, stuffed cushion of sewn together horned rabbit fur. Spoiled hippogryph.

Walking through, the two newcomers were able to see the fairy garden for the first time. It had really changed since we originally built it. Now, it truly looks like a fairy garden.

The pond was beautifully landscaped and a couple small willow trees were growing by it, including some fish swimming around the water. There was a small waterfall that was powered by an enchantment powered by a tub of slime cores. Flowers almost everywhere you can see, and a few fruit trees around, all well maintained. It damn well looked like a miniature Eden.

Navi puffs out her chest with pride at the looks of amazement. "We've explained this walled off section on the south of the castle as 'Talon's yard and what she sees as her territory.' Unless someone wants an angry hippogryph hunting them down, to stay away. While our sweet Talon would hunt down and rip apart anyone that tried to enter without our permission, that's not the whole of it. Inside this garden are flowers directly tied to the life of me and my precious little girls. If those flowers are killed, we die. It's that simple."

The two girls looked stunned at this new information.

"One of my babies is never far away and always guarding our home. They got their levels like you just did. Now, if a bunch of people somehow were mad and tried to storm in here, my babies could probably stop them. Even so, we want to avoid that. Until we're done with the church and can be here consistently, we don't want to risk anything at all happening. Besides you, the Marquis and his wife, along with Captain Remmington are the only others that know of this garden."

I then speak up. "Steph, since you will be helping in the castle, protecting this garden will be your primary duty while we are gone. With the door into here being through Talon's room, just saying, 'don't go in there. Hippogryphs are territorial,' should be enough to keep anyone poking around. Now. Do the two of you understand how vital it is that we keep the information about the dungeon and this garden secure?"

""Yes, Your Majesties."" They reply.

"Good. Even just telling you this is a risk, but if you are going to be living inside the castle and potentially fighting alongside us, you need to know. We are trusting you with these secrets. But should that trust be betrayed...you will NOT be forgiven."

I said this last part staring at them as intensely and sternly as possible. I actually saw both shudder and Steph's hand trembled a bit. I felt a bit bad doing this, but they needed to know just how important this was to us.

Only able to give nods, I turned away and heard them both release a breath.

I unslung the bag I was carrying. "Good. Now, I'm going to give you both a set of armor and weapons. Sara, for the next week or two, please help Steph with the basics of wielding a spear, sword, and daggers. I assume you learned the basics of them as a knight?"

She snaps to attention. "Yes. I was always best with a spear, but can show her the basics with a sword and dagger."

I nod. "Good. Feel free to go train with the lesser trolls or any other part of the tutorial dungeon. As long as she knows the basics and is able to defend herself, that will be enough."

"Yes!"

Steph then curtsies to us. "Thank you, Your Majesties, and Sara for taking so much time and effort for me. I'll do my best!"

Navi flies over and ruffles her hair. "That's all we want, girlie! You new vampires are going to have so much fun!"

After that, we all broke apart and I went back to Ailine and the girl.

"How is she?" I asked, walking into the bedroom.

"Nothing new. Still unconscious from the change," Ailine said.

"I wonder how long she'll be out."

"Hopefully not too much longer."

"Yeah."

It was the middle of the night two days later that I got a message from Ailine.

(Lia! Navi! She's stirring in her sleep!)

(On our way!) 

We were both in the library trying to look up information on dragons, so we weren't far. When we got there, the little girl was moving a bit in her sleep.

That's good!

Looking over at Ailine, she was just staring at the nightstand that had a letter sitting on it.

"Ailine?"

"Lia. Just after she stirred, there was a light, and then that letter appeared."

I can only think of two 'people' that could do something like that.

You are reading story Rise of the Vampire Queen at novel35.com

Going over and picking up the letter, my suspicions were correct. I read it out loud to the others.

Buenas noches, Dalia! It's your fav goddess! 

Now, let's get down to business. The whole turning the little girl into a vampire worked! You were right that it would rebuild the brain, and hers was pretty mulched, hence how long it took. Fixing a broken brain isn't like fixing an arm.

Just so you know, since vampires are made into their 'ideal states,' her cognitive ability and base stats are that of her potential ideal adult self. Like all new vampires, that's their base stat increase they get as their bodies change to match that potential. She won't be stuck eternity with a child's cognitive ability. I know you were worried about that.

Anyway! It worked! However, like Navi thought, rebuilding the parts that needed it caused a lot of the 'data' as she put it, to be lost. Meaning memories and the like. With the repair, her speech is fine, along with holding capacity for any new memories she gets going forward. It was pretty much a wipe of her hard drive, while her OS is still good. 

Here's the skinny. Brains are by far one of the most complex things to create for mortals. Probably only behind souls in regards to what each mortal has. Definitely not including creating worlds, galaxies, or universes. Those are so tough to make! 

Anywhoozle, brains are tricky. Like programming software that has built in self-repair functions, data caches, hidden compressed folders, and redundancies. Even with her change to a vampire and wiping memories, it's hard to say that those hidden folders will be closed for life. Especially since she is functionally immortal. For the sake of explaining, let's just equate the brain to a computer, although the two don't even come close in reality.

Therefore! Order and I decide to give you and your darling wife, (Hi Ailine! Thanks for taking care of our little Dalia, sweetheart!) a wedding gift from us! When someone is born, there's a random chance they can get a unique skill. When someone turns into a vampire, it's sort of like they're being born again. The channels are open at the very least for vampire related racials, hence how someone gets the vampire related unique skills. So while she turned, we created and nudged a unique skill in her direction.

[Memory Block] (Vampire)

Just like it sounds, it makes sure that those redundancies and hidden zip files will never trigger or open. All except the speech file, which I made sure was working properly. Speech and memories have some overlap, but again, brains are weird. Like on Earth when someone can wake up from a coma and speak another language before going back to normal. Or diseases that make someone forget specific body functions, words, or meanings, but can sometimes come back for a time. Even things like phantom limbs. Weird stuff, and wouldn't be worth explaining right now. Her TLDR is speech? Yes. Memories? No.

Now, those files may never have opened in the first place, but this is just a little insurance. Essentially hiding all of those files and triggers behind a skill that perpetually acts as a 'run as administrator' popup that will always select 'no.' Thereby, never letting the brain access those. 

    We also cleared her name from the [system,] so she's essentially a blank slate now. Teach and treat her well! She'll be your daughter now, right?

Oh! And because I know you would worry about it, let me tell you this. I won't give you details, but this girl doesn't have parents, family, or anyone looking for her. No need to worry about that.

And there you have it! She'll always be in the body of a child, but remember she has the mental processing of an adult. She'll mostly act like a child and learn like one since she's still just starting out in life. As her knowledge and experiences grow, expect those rebellious teenage years. Or she could be like you and go a bit Chuuni! 

Welp! That's all from us! Tata for now! 

And Navi! Your babies are so~ cute! 

Bye bye!

These gods… 

"Thank you, Chaos and Order." I said. 

The fact that the change erased her memories is great. I doubt anyone would want to relive what she must have gone through. Also, if she doesn't have anyone, this is a chance for this young girl to start fresh in life. Maybe that's just me justifying her never remembering her birth parents, but there isn't anything that can be done about all of that at this point. Whoever her parents were, she's Ailine and my daughter now, and I'm not going to try to dig up her past. It wouldn't accomplish anything for her.

I sent a silent prayer to whoever her parents were. Know that she will be well cared for and loved.

Navi flies circles around me. "Chaos thinks my babies are cute! Well, it's only natural. They're mine, afterall."

How to get on a fairies good side? Compliment her children.

I reach an arm out and pull Ailine close to my side as we both look at the sleeping girl.

Ailine finally breaks the silence and asks, "What should we name her, Lia?"

"Hmm… How about Anastasia?" I said.

"Anastasia Midnight? I think it sounds nice."

"And I'm gonna be an auntie!" Navi shouts. "I'm so excited! I'll teach her all about how to mess with you two! Muahahaha!"

My heart drops. "Please don't corrupt our daughter, Navi."

"Fine, fine. Pranks in moderation," she concedes.

I guess that's about all we can hope for with the fairy. 

We sat on the side of the bed for a couple hours, and then she finally started stirring more and eventually opened her red eyes.

Blinking while yawning a few times, I offer her a blood bag first.

I squat down beside the bed. "Hello there. You must be thirsty. Drink some of this first, then we'll talk about what's going on."

A bit confused, but still listening, she takes a long drink from the bag.

I smile as gently as I can. "Now then, little one. There were some things that happened, and you don't have any of your memories. So let's start with names. The two of us are both your moms. I'm Lia, and this is Ailine. This flying girl is called a fairy. She's your aunt, and her name is Navi. And your name is Anastasia."

"I'm Anastasia?" she says in an adorable voice.

"Yes! You are Anastasia Midnight. The Vampire Princess."

After a few seconds of thinking, she speaks up again. "Mommy Lia, Mommy Ailine, and Auntie Navi?"

"That's right!" I reach out and lightly grab her hand. "And we all love you very much."

Navi then lands on the bed and strikes a pose. "You know it girlie! You have a couple cousins as well. You're gonna love them so much and they'll play with you all the time! They're cute little fairies like me!"

"They'll play with me?" she asks with a head tilt.

"Yup! They'll play as much as you want!"

"Welcome to our family, Anastasia. Whenever you're ready, we can walk all around the castle and you can ask as many questions as you want, okay?"

"Alright, Mommy Lia."

=====

POV - Gods

"I would say you interfered too much, but you seemed to barely get by with that," Order said.

"Right?" Chaos's smile widens. "With how we made that skill, we just barely got by without breaking a rule and calling End! Plus, how could I not do something like give that skill to my new little granddaughter!"

"... You're already attached, aren't you?"

"Of course! I made the bodies for little Dalia and Navi, so they're definitely my children. How can I not love my grandkids as well? Her soul already has the experience recorded. There's no reason for her to have to remember it now."

"I understand. We both had our own family eons ago when we were still mortal. At least this was a simple resolution. Good job on creating its prerequisites by the way," Order says as he walks over to another screen showing elves and dwarves. 

"Thanks! I thought it was a great idea, and didn't cost us anything! Just create a skill in the [system] and make it so specific that only little Anastasia would get it, and avoid getting in trouble since it technically can be achieved by others! We can't let them rely too much on us though."

"Quite the cheater, yourself, aren't you? No wonder your fairy just drops rocks on everything."

Chaos floats in the air on her back while laughing. "Hahahaha! That was so awesome! That level was supposed to be super hard! But now they just treat it like a joke to level everyone! Hahahaha!"

"Maybe so, but the last four levels won't be nearly as simple."

"I know. But their solutions are so creative! So many on this world always try to make things bigger to be stronger. Larger explosions, larger rocks, and so on. So boring. With my girls' knowledge from Earth, they're trying to make everything smaller and more compressed! Water jets, air cushions for jumps, their whole 'hammer and javelin' thing. It's like watching the old days again!"

Order walks back to Chaos and her screen. "It is good seeing them come up with solutions."

Chaos grabs Orders' arms and begins dancing. "And the best part is they aren't going mecha or advanced weaponry! They're still coming up with magical solutions within the direction we wanted for the world. Even without us telling them not to!"

"Do you think the reason is all the media she consumed on Earth?"

"I would think so. Bringing giant robots and missiles, or even guns, into a fantasy type world seldom ends well. As much as piloting a giant robot would be fun, Dalia knows relying on that alone would do little to make herself better."

"True. And once the idea is out there, it would just become a secret arms race eventually. It's a relief, really."

"And she's getting some good subordinates! Even if she's picking up a habit with surprising people!" Chaos giggles at that as they break their dance apart.

"It was sooner than expected," Order said. "However I am very happy with how she handled them."

"Of course you would! Setting things up like she did is right up your alley as 'Order.' She cemented her rule over them without issue and made a hierarchy without any opposition. That's my girl!"

"Her soul is still mostly stable as well. We were fortunate to find one like hers."

"Yup! She's a bit confused at some of the hypocrisy she sees in some of her actions and reactions. But with a soul as close to it as hers, it's no wonder. With all the criteria she meets, being a bit of a jumbled mess like that is about par for the course."

After a few seconds of silence, Order breaks it and says, "Do you think she'll do it?"

Chaos sits on an invisible chair and thinks with her chin resting on the back of her hand, and her elbow on her thigh. "Honestly? I hope she does, but chances are low. She called her manipulation of the minds of the humans 'Machiavellian,' but compared to some of the things we've had to do, she's just playing around."

"Nobody can tell half-truths like gods can, that's for certain."

"Have you gained enough for your first oracles yet?"

"I have." Order nods, hands clasped behind his back. "Just waiting for them to make their move."

"Great!" Chaos shouts while spinning. "With how she's dealing with the humans and preparing for a racially equal future, I have an idea what she'll try to do, but these kids never cease to surprise."

"That's the truth. Their unpredictable nature and potential for growth are what make nurturing mortal souls so interesting."

"Yup! So let's watch over these kids together, Order!"

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