The first thing I did after getting off my carriage was marvel at the massive Angolian royal palace. Large marble arches, each portraying a different battle and decorated with sculptures of fire, were guarded by Angolian knights plated with expensive heavy armor. Skylord knights flew over the palace in organized formations, and men on horseback flanked the palace entrance.

Escorted by her vampiric maidens covered in decorated black-and-gold armor, Queen Ellysa was escorted into the palace entrance from her carriage. Trumpets horned, announcing the arrival of the queen. The palace itself was surrounded by commoners of every background and race, trying to get a glimpse of the elusive dwarven queen.

Some dwarves even tried to get past the barriers set up by the Angolian soldiers in order to grovel in front of their queen.

Seeing the chaos, Ellysa harrumphed with disdain at the crowd as she entered the palace. She didn’t even bother to bat an eye towards the commoners, after all, she was not only the queen of all dwarves, but also a vampire lady, an extremely high ranking undead.

I didn’t feel out of place either. As Cahalotians were renowned sorcerers, people pointed and threw discreet peeks at me. I held my chest high, feeling proud of being a Cahalotian, despite being a spirit myself.

“Mama, why doesn’t that sorcerer have big muscles?”

I clenched my fist when I heard that among the crowd. I would refute it hard had it not been for the queen. As her guest, if I embarrass myself, I would also embarrass Ellysa, which wasn’t a good thing given that she was a vampire with unspeakable powers.

We made out way straight to the throne room led by the Angolian duke that escorted us to the capital. One of the dwarven maids went ahead of the group to announce the arrival of Ellysa, as per etiquette.

Entering the throne room, I was puzzled why King Argo wasn’t present. Instead, on his throne sat a little redheaded girl. Resting atop her scarlet hair was a golden tiara with the Angolian royal symbol encrusted onto the center of the tiara.

If it was anyone else, they would’ve felt offended as the other party only sent a princess to meet with them. Instead, Ellysa smiled at the girl.

“Well, well, well. Princess Asha, it’s been a long time,” Ellysa greeted.

Asha nodded her head, then calmly said, “Yo.”

‘Yo’?! What on earth? Is that how you address a queen or how you talk as a princess?!

Ellysa turned to the person standing next to Asha, a knight fully plated in armor. His winged helmet exuded a presence of fear, while his full black armor only eminanted a sensation of mystery. But I wasn’t interested in how he looked.

More importantly, he has a similar scent as the tracks!

Is he an undead? Why is he in the capital of Angolia?

…Eh?

Asha waved her hand, and all the royal knights left the room, leaving us alone. “So, why’re you here, Queen Ellysa?”

Ellysa shook her head, then ignored Asha’s question. “Sarjay. Did you somehow stray far from your master? Your overlord might be worried.”

“Nonsense, you little midget. I don’t want to babysit Boss while I still have a brat to take care of. Add on top of that, a kingdom to take care of,” the knight standing next to Asha replied.

“E..eh-...grandpapa, can you not call me a brat?” Asha muttered.

M-midget?! Do you know who you are talking to? She is a vampire! A vampire lady at that!

“Amusing. Did you know, I was there when your snotty kids killed themselves trying to kill the demons? I was slightly amused, but wasn’t interested enough to meddle with the human affairs. But now it seemed that your blood has finally retaken the throne.” Ellysa laughed while shrugging.

“Hmpf. That’s hundreds of years ago. Get to the point, why are you here with… that person?” The knight named Sarjay pointed at me.

“As you know, my husband-to-be ran off. He was obviously embarrassed at the idea that I, a beautiful and powerful vampire lady, wished to make him into my consort. Thus, I have no choice but to find him and teach him not to run away from me ever again,” Ellysa replied with full confidence.

Okay, first of all, was it really fine to tell them that you’re a vampire? B-but then the knight is an undead, then…eh?

Secondly, husband-to-be?! What or who exactly am I tracking here?!

“Heh heh heh… that sounds very, very good to me. If you wish to know where Boss went, he went to the elves,” Sarjay explained.

“The desert ones or the degenerates?” Ellysa asked.

“The snowy place.”

Sayitsi? That’s very far! It could take months to get there! Will we lose track? Perhaps we could get this knight to guide us?

“What about you? How about you come and guide us, old man?” Ellysa suggested.

“Unfortunately, Queen Ellysa, unless Boss calls for all of us, I don’t know where he exactly is. I only have a very rough idea. I could, however, show you a teleporter,” Sarjay replied.

A teleporter?! Previously used in Yoke of Endlers, also known as the War of Forbidden Origins, the last of the remaining teleporters were only operable by a technique only known to demons. There had never been a recorded case of a demon teaching anyone else the technique!

“Can you even use it?” Ellysa asked skeptically.

“Yeah, one of my idiot colleagues was taught how to use it by his damnable succubi girlfriend.”

Girlfriend?!

“How far is it?” Ellysa inquired.

“A few days’ ride away. It’s close to my home estate, actually,” Sarjay answered. “But the problem is, how are you supposed to track Boss down?”

Ellysa pushed me forward, then said, “With this.”

“A spirit?” Sarjay nonchalantly pointed out.

I felt as if the world around me crumbled. I kept my identity a secret, even using multiple layers of passive and active defensive spells to ensure that not even the highest level of identification spells could break through! I thought it was fine if a vampire lady could break through it, but… this knight?!

“For some reason, she can sniff out my husband-to-be’s trail. She’s a very loyal dog of mine.”

Dog?! Me?! I want to cry!

“If that’s true, then we’ll head to Follis now. Asha, go and get your smithing kit,” Sarjay instructed.

“Finally! I want to go back home! I need to check out my mithril trees!” Asha cheered with joy.

Trees?! Mithrils grew from trees?!

I turned to ask Ellysa only to find her bowing low at the black knight. “I give thanks and pay respects to Lord Sarjay.”

“As you should.” Sarjay nodded.

“Tsk. Just because you’re higher rank than me in the hierarchy... Once I marry him, you’ll be the one grovelling to me instead! Let’s go!” Ellysa left the throne room, beckoning me to come with her.

H-higher rank?

I turned to look at the black knight petting the Angolian princess one last time, before mechanically moving out of the throne room.

My head’s about to explode...