Ascension Rebirth - The princess' intermission

CHAPTER XXIV

PART ONE

-SOUMEE'S SIDE-

When I first became [Praetorian Knight] for the Ariadyne Tetrarchy I did so with the intensions of fulfilling my duty to gather powerful allies for the upcoming battle. After all [Ragnarok] happens roughly every 500 years, and it has been due time.

Of course from what I'm told, it is not always exactly 500 years, it really depends on the political landscape and whether or not Nodens has made a move on any potential empires.

However, this cycle is a little different, a blessing in disguise even. It is a known tactic that Nodens creates the most powerful empire and seizes control of it, however in this cycle the strongest empire is the [Ariadyne Tetrarchy].

It has no singular ruler. Due to this it becomes nearly impossible for Nodens to try creating a large empire, if one part of the Tetrarch tries to expand the other three will be there to hinder it.

For this reason, I suspect that Nodens' plans have been greatly delayed in this cycle.

Though it could be my imagination, but those 'crystalline monsters' that have appeared lately, the way they function seem eerily similar to Partholon's [monolith shard]. I do hope this is just my imagination.

For now I have decided to take it a little easier. Working as a Praetorian guard was my way of doing this.

I met Lady Liliana when she was only two years old, and I would be lying to say that I did not see a part of Elly from within her. Their physical features are quite similar, enough to disturb me.

Of course their personalities differ greatly. Elly was much more energetic and playful, whereas the Lady Liliana I met for the first time resembled a person who has lost all hope. Those eyes that I behold for the first time were eyes I've seen multiple times on the battlefield in my centuries of existence.

For a child to have then, I became extremely worried. This too was most likely because I kept comparing her to Elly, I wanted to think to myself that maybe Elly had been reborn, but I would be fooling only myself.

Still, I wasn't able to distance myself from her, so I decided to be as near her as possible.

Lady Liliana is not Elly, I realize that now, but she is the one I have sworn to protect, that alone will be true.

…

…

Lately Lady Liliana has become a little recluse. She hardly comes out of her room, sorry I meant to say she doesn't come out of her 'workshop' or so she has dubbed it.

Even food gets left sitting in front of the door, uneaten.

Feeling worried, Echo and I decide to peek through the door to see what she was up to in there.

A sight beyond my own comprehension was put up in front of me.

Lady Liliana dressed in an odd white robe, similar to the one our doctor, Nicholai wears. She also has some thick circular glasses, I don't think it has any real lens in there, so it's probably just for show. She even has her hair tied up in a little braid.

In front of her is a messy desk filled with paper, beakers and test tubes.

The worst part is that she often speaks in a incoherent language while grinning maliciously.

"Ufufufu~ Koredesu wa! Subarashi! Watashi wa kazen ni kore o tsukuru ga dekita nante, shinjiraremasen wa!"

After spouting those incoherent lines, she holds up a bottle of red and blue liquid and shakes it up a bit. When there is even a slight reaction her eyes glow with anticipation.

I lightly knock on the door.

"Hmm?! Nanda- I mean, who is it?"

"Lady Liliana, it's me, Soumee, may I come in?"

"Ah, yes, just a moment!"

I hear loud thuds from behind the door, most likely she's trying to clean up before I enter the room.

Frantically she opens the door. When I peer in, everything seemed to be back in order.

"Hello Soumee and Echo. What did you need?"

She gives me a smile, that almost makes me doubt what I saw before.

"It's just, you haven't taken a bite of your lunch yet, so I was getting a little worried."

"Ah, is that so? Sorry, I didn't even notice. Did you guys have your lunch yet? If not want to eat together?"

"Of course, then we shall bring our lunch then. Please wait a moment."

PART TWO

-LILIANA CROW XIX ARIADYNE'S SIDE-

Hello! Liliana here! Has everyone been a good child?

If you're naughty, Santa won't come to bring you presents! Wait, does Santa even exist in this world? No, wait that makes it sound like I think Santa existed in my previous world. Uhh…

Well anyway, it's been about a year since this whole incident has started. Our little 'countermeasure' group has expanded quite a bit; we have several mages in our employ who can deal with the crystalline monsters effectively. Those mages aren't plentiful but we have located them all across West Ariadyne for immediate retaliation whenever trouble occurs.

Though admittedly we still lack any real power to fight back effectively. I do feel sorry for sending those magicians out in the country where there's nothing. It's kind of like relocating salary men out into the sticks as a demotion, which is totally not the case here!

I did have an idea that I pitched to grandfather, by the way, grandfather is still in charge since father is still away at the northern capital. So anyway, I pitched an idea to grandfather, but I'm not sure how seriously he'll take the suggestion from a 5 year old.

Speaking of which, my sister turned 10 this year, meaning she has to go to school! Yay~

What? You're asking why she's going to school during such an important crisis? No, no, no, did you really think that the top brass of this country would really put a 10 and 5 year old in charge of maintaining security? That would be incredibly dim.

The biggest role that Lyssa and I have are simply to give ideas. That's as far as our influence goes. Which is why I've been leisurely pretending to be a mad scientist in my room these past few days.

My [Alchemy] has improved quite a bit, if I do say so myself. I'll save you the details for a later date.

As Soumee, Echo and I were happily munching away at our lunch there was a knock on my door. When I open to see who it is, it's Isaac. Ugh, instantly my face sours. He does take notice but only gives a small chuckle to see me in such a panic. I hope he does realize I'm a princess, I mean granted I'm only the third princess, but still!

"C, can I help you? Mr. Isaac?"

"The Acting Tetrarch wishes to see you."

"Grandfather does? Hmm, I guess it's not a request I can ignore."

PART THREE

Again in that stuffy old study, Isaac, Soumee and myself stand before the man with the highest power in this part of the country.

Ever so intense with his stature.

Incidentally, the school that sister attends is located at the [Grand Capital] which is a neutral zone at the center of this country.

In any case it means she can't make it here.

"You have summoned us, Grandfather?"

He gives me a sharp glare, ugh.

"Sorry! I mean Milord!"

"Yes, well I've gone over the thing you requested the other day. After thinking about it for a while, I've come to the conclusion that this was a brilliant idea."

"Really?!"

I ask, half in shock.

To think my idea was going to actually come to fruition.

"Yes, the thing should be arriving in the afternoon, when it does I will call for you again, so for now you are dismissed."

We give a hearty bow to grandfather and leave the study.

Eh? What did I ask grandfather for? Well, that will have to be a secret~ For a few hours anyway.

PART FOUR

Hmm, I feel like you guys didn't actually wait a few hours. That's cheating…

Well whatever, the thing had finally arrived!

What am I talking about? It's this!

It's official name was the [Ariadyne Battlecruiser].

It's an airship! A ship that floats in midair using magic! FANTASY TO THE MAX! I'm told they run on a substance called [mana crystals] which is kind of like this world's equivalent to fuel, but is rather infinite.

It was a brown airship over 150 meters in length and 80 meters in height. It even had sails on it, which seemed rather useless if you ask me, it works with magic so what's the point of the mast?

Whatever, I'll just write it off as decorative purposes.

This ship will serve as the mobile base of our little 'special forces' group. It's actually fairly fast so it would make responding to attacks much more efficient. Sadly, I'm not the one in charge of this ship, another person by the name of [Captain Stone] was.

This ship is equipped with various magic enhanced cannons which I've been told is actually effective against those crystalline creatures, as it simply blows them up.

I'd like to see someone who isn't weak against cannon fire.

Muahahaha! Watch out you crystalline scum, Admiral Liliana will come to destroy you all!

(This is just a short chapter to wrap up the [Hero's Journey] arc)