As I walk up to the gathered leadership of Midnight with Anastasia in my arms, I call out to the elves.

"Welcome to Midnight, everyone! Before we go in, let me make some introductions. This is my wife, Queen Ailine Midnight, and here is my daughter, Princess Anastasia Midnight. Flying here is the Queen of the Fairies, Navi Nikita, and the Princesses Lala, Tsuki, and Carmen Nikita. Over here we have Marquis Elden Whitewater and his wife Marquise Realyn Whitewater. This is Head Priestess Alienor, and this is Captain James Remmington and Captain Dorian Dridok.

"On this side, let me introduce Princess Zahra Zarate, and Priestess Dharma. The Whitewaters will show you around and to your housing. Princess Zahra, we will have a reception tonight for you and your leaders at the castle, but have also created a feast for the others who can enjoy themselves in the courtyard. Welcome once again to Midnight!"

With a small cheer and some sheepherding from Elden and James, they all went off. Quite a few of the elves seemed unnerved when they walked past Mitena. Realyn went up to Zahra and walked with her, while Alienor excitedly ran over to Dharma with a crazed look in her eyes.

Watching everyone walk off, Navi flies up to me. "Hello, beautiful, smart, amazing, wonderful, excellent, and most generous, Queen Dalia Midnight."

I laugh at her kiss-ass greeting. "Nice to see you too, you brown-nosing moth. Here's the letter from Chaos. Go knock yourself out."

Handing the letter to her, she starts excitedly dancing in the air.

"Yes, yes, yes! Ah, if you weren't married I'd kiss you, you dang warthog! Come on, girls! Let's go figure all of this out!"

The fairies all excitedly fly off to who knows where. Hopefully Navi won't blow too many things up. Fuck! I forgot about hooking Talon up to the communication system. Damn. Well, there'll be time. Finally walking over to Ailine, I set Anastasia down, switch my armor for casual clothes and a shadow cloak, and wrap her in a hug.

I whispered in her ear, "I'm back, Ailine."

"I missed you, Lia," she says, holding me tight.

"And I missed you. Now let's head to the castle. I'll have to leave in a couple days to go visit the other elves. Navi has been working on something that should help scare their pants off. Maybe even make them shit themselves."

She tittered at that. "You and your surprises."

Anastasia tugged at my cloak. "Mommy Lia! Come see all the books I made!"

I patted her head. "I definitely will! I'll be right behind you. I just need to borrow Talon and Mitena for a second. Go ahead and start walking back and I'll catch up in just a second."

"Okay!"

Watching them both walk off hand-in-hand, I turn towards the two monsters.

"Mitena, did you learn to fly, or do you think you can?"

"Groewell."

She nods her head.

"Does Anastasia know yet?"

"Groewell."

She shakes her head. As I thought. Anastasia would've talked about it non-stop during our evening chats if she did.

"Then I want both of you to help me out. I'll give you each ten gnolls for it. Anastasia has mentioned Talon 'teaching' you how to fly before. I want both of you to put on an act together and make it seem like you're learning from her. Anastasia loves both of you, and this would help to make her really happy. What do you say? Just make it look convincing."

Both look at each other for a second then turn back and nod. 

"Pii!"

"Groewell!"

"Alright. Thanks, you two. Mitena, if you can do it in the next day or two, I could really use your help flying me and being with me during my plan for the other group of elves. I know how much you like intimidating people, and this will be more intimidating than anything you've done before. Now, let's catch up with them and head home."

We jog a bit to catch up, and then walk to the castle together. We spent the next couple hours together as a family until it was time for the reception to start. 

Being much smaller inside of the castle than what we did before, it was a much more laid back affair. Steph helped Zahra find a nice dress from the legacy items for it. The funniest thing that happened was when the ikeman hunter elf came up and tried to wax poetic with Anastasia. Mitena rose up behind her and stared him in the eyes, baring her fangs. Anastasia was oblivious as the bastard visibly paled, made a half-assed excuse, and all but ran out of the castle! Navi and I were cracking up, and I'm pretty sure that was the last time he would approach Anastasia carelessly.

Soon enough, the reception was over. We offered rooms to Zahra and Dharma out of politeness, but they both refused. I had hoped Zahra would realize that, at least for right now, her place was with her people getting them settled. It hasn't been long, but she has certainly grown. There was still plenty of construction needing to be done, and many of the elves are going to be put to work building housing. There's enough built for them to use, but I doubt they'll be fully completed by the time the other elves arrive. 

Once everyone left, Ailine, Anastasia, and I all went up to the bedroom, took a bath, and fell asleep together for the first time in two months.

The next time I woke up, I went over to the lab to check on Navi. I wanted to see the finished product she made for my next act.

"Hey, Navi," I greeted.

"Lia! This is amazing! Hooking into a dungeon core is so complex, but so simple at the same time! I'm kicking myself for not putting the pieces together, but it's a completely different way of thinking! This enchantment-adjacent way of looking at it is how Tavelstein was able to make the belt pouches and big-bags! This is some magical, quantum mechanics type bullpoop! We can make our own pouches and bags now, Lia! Ah! I'm so excited! And Chaos called my babies cute in the letter!"

"That would be awesome. Can they be different sizes as well?" I asked, thinking of the implications making our own bags could have.

"Yup! Size will still determine maximum capacity. You could have something the size of a shirt pocket be used as a large coin pouch. Anyway! We need to really think about this. Like, fo'realz, Lia. I even had to send my babies away. The info from this letter need to be kept under wraps, hidden, burned, or something else. I don't think anyone in the past ever connected the dots because they never knew about the concept, but this is some extremely dangerous stuff. 

"Like, super, super, serious. I'm talking poop like magical nukes, magic black holes, and quantum singularities! This stuff is scary! Even for me, Lia! The letter goes a step beyond what Tavelstein did. Do you know how close he was to potentially blowing up this entire place? With enough power, we can turn the world into ash and brimstone with this, Lia! I'm talking a full wipe of all life with enough power!

"The scariest part, is that it has a critical mass. There isn't an option to blow up part of a city. It's erasing the city and a huge area around it with the chance of it chaining near uncontrollably until it runs out of enough magical fuel. We can't mess with this stuff, Lia. We just can't. Using the dungeon cores as a local power source and for teleportation platforms are about the max I'll frack with, so don't ask me to make you a nuke or I'll have Mitena poop in your pillow."

I'm a little taken aback by all of that. "Well, let's definitely not release the information. Even if they don't know about those concepts, it would be scary if someone stumbled upon it."

"Heck yeah, it freaking would!" Navi shouts. "But hey, you'll get your tunnel lights. With a power source that could kill us all, you'll get your dang lights. Although, I think I could even make public teleportation platforms with this."

"That… I think that would be a bit too much," I said. "Maybe someday we could introduce that to the public. For now, let's keep things in manual transportation mode. If we push too far too fast we may end up with some unforeseen consequences."

"I thought you would think that." A grin splits her small face. "But guess what! It won't stop us from using it! Hehehehe!"

"I'm sure we can come up with some good stuff. I'll let you give me the details later. For now, I wanted to check on the props you made."

"Those! You're gonna have so much fun with them!" She flies over to a couple sacks sitting on a table.

I glanced inside of one of the sacks. It's full of monster cores from dragonids that have enchantments on them. "So just set these up beforehand and they'll all chain from one activation?"

"Yup! Try to think of it like keeping them in their sphere of influence and complete the circuit. They'll all cut off at the same time as well. They won't last extremely long, but should be enough for you to make one heck of an impression!"

I place the sacks in my storage. "Nice. Thanks, Navi."

"You go have your fun scaring the pants off of some elves, you big bully!"

"It's for everyone's best interest that they know not to cause a fuss," I said. "They outnumber us, have already turned on their own people, and are overall not people I want to readily trust too deeply. They seem to follow or flee from power. Thus, I'll fucking scare them into knowing whose boss."

"Yup! Being a big ol' bully." An evil smile made its way to her face. "Well, they certainly know not to mess with you after this!"

"They better. I'll take all of these with me. Keep up the good work, Navi."

She waves as I leave. "You too, Demon Lord Dalia!"

… I really can't say anything back to that. If this goes as planned, that may as well be my name. Hmm… Demon Lord Dalia, Queen of Darkness… I guess if all of my future machinations are made public, that may catch on. I have no intention of that ever happening, though. 

Walking out of the lab, I'm a bit surprised by what is waiting for me. That same boy that was following Steph and Sara around was standing there with his arms crossed. What was his name? Degare, or something?

"You!" When he sees me, he points his finger and yells at me. Are you accusing me of something, you brat? "I demand you make me into a vampire!"

"..."

The fuck is this little shit trying to pull? I walk up to him and flick him on the forehead before walking by.

"Ow ow ow ow ow!" He shouts while holding his head. "Why do all of you flick me on the forehead! That hurts, you know!"

I kept walking. "Maybe you shouldn't be spouting nonsense. No run off back to wherever. Shoo, shoo."

He jogged up to follow beside me even when I motion him away. Annoying kid.

"No! Make me into a vampire!" he yelled.

"And why the fuck would a kid want to be a vampire?" I asked.

"I'll make a great vampire! I'll show you! Just hurry up and bite me or whatever!"

Fucking fly. I know what you want. You want my Anastasia. Stopping, I grab him by the back of his shirt and lift him up to eye level, his face near mine. This reminds me of picking up a cat by the scruff.

He seemed a little frightened now. "I didn't fucking ask if you would make a good goddamn vampire. I fucking asked you why you wanted to be a vampire. Now, fucking answer me."

I could see the panic in his eyes, but after a couple seconds he catches his breath and actually manages to calm himself a bit.

"I want to be a vampire so I can be better friends with Anastasia. I want to be stronger to protect her and to be of use to Miss Sara and Miss Steph. I want to be a vampire so I'm not the only person living in the castle that isn't a vampire or a guest, alright!? I'm tired of always being weak, of being alone or feeling like the odd one out. So just make me a vampire already!"

One thing is for sure. Fucking brat has some balls to yell at me right in my face as I'm holding him by his shirt. Dumb kid. Also, he's living here? Since when? I let go and he drops, barely managing to land on his feet.

"Ah!"

"Where are you staying in the castle?" I asked.

"You didn't have to drop me!" He scowled at me. "And I'm staying with Miss Sara and Miss Steph."

That explains it slightly. Didn't Sara find him on a mission? "They've been looking out for you?"

"I look out for myself!" He crosses his arms indignantly. "They give me jobs to do and I've earned my keep."

Stupid kid. They wouldn't have kept you around if they didn't already have some sort of feelings for you, you dumbass. Fuck. This boy wasn't supposed to be my problem.

"Then go do your fucking job. Stop loitering around." I start walking again.

"No!" he yelled again. "Not until you turn me into a vampire!"

I turn back to him. "Listen, boy. I'm not turning another kid into a vampire. No matter how much you bitch and moan. You want to be a vampire? Then convince Sara, Steph, and Anastasia to ask me to make you one. Then, maybe, I'll think about it. Unless you can convince all of them, get out of my hair."

"That… I'll be back! I'll get all of them to beg you to make me into a vampire! You wait and see!"

After saying something that sounded very cartoon villain-like and retreating at a run, I could finally get back to making my way to the art room, but I didn't find Anastasia there.

(Anastasia, where are you?) I ask telepathically.

(Mommy Lia! Come to the fairy garden! Hurry!)

I take off as fast as my increased stats can go. She sounded more happy than scared or injured, but I'll be damned if I don't rush when she says to hurry. Within a handful of seconds, I reach Talon's room, then the garden. What I see almost makes me burst out laughing.

"Mommy Lia! Do you see! Do you see! Talon is helping to teach Mitena to fly!" Anastasia says with a smile from ear to ear.

Certainly, that's what it looks like. Talon is using her claws to help open up Mitena's wing, flap it, then point to different areas of the wing, the ground, and the air, before unfurling hers and doing the same thing. Mitena is nodding along like something profound was explained then tries badly and fails, making Talon go into another example. Tsuki and Carmen are both flying around and cheering for them. I'm honestly not sure if they think this is real or not, or they are just enjoying the show. I could see both Tsuki and Carmen getting in on the gig, but they're also innocent enough to believe this farce is real.

The entire ridiculous scene is overlaid with a constant stream of 'Pii, pii' and 'groewell, groewell' noises. If they weren't doing this by my request, I would've died laughing. Looking at the excited gleam in Anastasia's eyes, I just can't do it and force the laughter down with everything I have. Ailine seems to be in a similar state as me.

She glances at me while restraining her laughter. (Lia, did you somehow set this up?)

(I did,) I admitted. (I bribed both of them with gnolls to put on an act for Anastasia.)

(I… I'm not sure how much more I can handle before I burst!) she said.

(Keep it together, Ailine. I'll move it along before one of us breaks.)

I look back at the monstrous pair and yell, "You're doing so good, Mitena! I'm sure that your next try will do it and you'll be flying like a pro! You can definitely do it this next time!" Get the hint, dragon, before my insides rupture.

Mitena glances over and nods slightly. A few more 'instructions' from Talon, and she spreads her wings wide, flaps powerfully, and with a push off the ground, raises into the air. She starts to move and circles the garden and castle while Talon follows, and the fairies cheer, chasing after them. Anastasia is also cheering for her, clapping, yelling, jumping around, and laughing. Seeing her reaction made this all worth it.

After a couple laps, they land back in the garden and Anastasia rushes up to Mitena and grabs her around the neck. Mitena is so big now, she has to lower her body for it. She can barely squeeze through our extra tall and wide doors anymore. Yup. Probably time for a roost for her. Or maybe even her own building. I'm not sure if the castle roof will hold her when fully grown. She's already larger than Talon.

"You did it, Mitena! I'm so proud of you! That was so cool!" Anastasia gushes while hugging her hard enough to break the bones of a human from Earth.

"Groewell!"

Then Anastasia runs up to Talon and jump-hugs her around the neck before she can lower it. "And you did such a good job teaching her, Talon! You both are amazing, and I love you so much! This is so exciting!"

"Pii!"

Why are you looking smug, you lazy hippogryph? Oh well. They kept up their end of the bargain. Best twenty gnolls I've ever spent. Only ones I've ever spent, but whatever.

"Good job, you two," I said. "And congrats on flying, Mitena. Come on in and I can make a seat for your back. Since you can fly now, I could use your help this time."

"Groewell."

We all head back inside and I take Mitena to a room she can sit in while I work. She's too wide for a normal saddle, so what I ended up making is a sort of low-back chair. Almost like stadium seats with a seatbelt. Sitting, I can either have my legs out front or sit cross legged. Multiple straps hook around here like a harness to keep the seat in place. It took the rest of the day, but I finally got it done.

"What do you think about a new building for you attached to the garden?" I asked the dragon. "It could be built almost like a large barn with walled off space in front for you to take off and land as you get bigger."

"...Groewell."

"I know you don't want to leave us, but you're getting too large to easily fit through doors."

"...Groewell."

"I feel like you just tried to blame the doors for you not fitting. It isn't their fault you're a damn dragon."

"Groewell."

"Well, I won't start building anything yet. There should still be a vampire dungeon around. Maybe if you help clear one, Chaos might take pity on your scaly ass with some sort of transformation skill or something. She did give Talon a speech skill. Fuck! That reminds me, I'll go get Navi, Ailine, and Anastasia and we can all go get her set."

I reached out mentally. (Navi, Ailine, Anastasia, let's all meet up in Talon's room and activate her skill.)

(Oh! Thanks, Vamps! I almost forgot!) Navi replied.

(We'll be right there, Lia.) Ailine said.

Anastasia asked, (What skill, Mommy Lia?)

(Just wait and see. It'll be a surprise!) I messaged back.

Once we gathered, I went over to Navi. "Go ahead and add her on."

"You got it!" She flies over to Talon. "… Done! Alright, Talon! Let 'er rip!"

(...Talon, hear?)

"Ah! Talon! You can talk!" Anastasia ran off and grabbed her. 

I think she has been around Navi too much with all the spontaneous hug tackles. Good thing we're all fucking OP or strong monsters. I guess healing magic is a thing here if we ever need it if she hugs a normie.

(Yes! Talon talk! Talon talk!)

Her voice sounded almost like a parrot, but more… I don't know how to put it. Regal? Refined? Hard to say. With this, Talon is able to communicate much easier. She and Anastasia are happily chatting away while we watch. I think back to my conversation with Degare.

"Ailine, do you think Anastasia needs a friend her age?" I asked.

"Hmm?" She tilts her head, then realization strikes. "Oh, did Degare talk to you?"

I was a bit surprised. "How'd you know?"

"Because," Ailine said, "while you were gone, he asked me to turn him. I refused and told him he would need to ask you."

"I don't even know why I'm considering it. He's just a pest buzzing around Anastasia, and I don't like the idea of changing a kid for a non-lethal reason."

"It's because, just like now, you're thinking about Anastasia," Ailine said. "You wouldn't change Degare for him. You wouldn't even consider it. But you would if you thought it would be good for Anastasia. 

"And to answer your question, I think it could be good for her. Even the few times she has played with the children in town, I've noticed it. They don't do it consciously, I don't think, but they know Anastasia is different. In her race, social standing, and in power. She isn't human anymore.

"She will also be forever in the body of a child." Ailine has a melancholic smile. "After you first turned me, and talked about it, I've given it a lot of thought. Being immortal is a harder thing than I think people realize. All of the vampires and fairies will stay unchanging as all those we meet will grow old and die. 

"Those kids Anastasia is playing with will become adults in a decade, while she will one day look the same age as their future children. Then, one day, those children's children. 

"Yes, she has us, but we have the bodies of adults. She will always be the only one appearing as a child. That's why I don't think it would be bad to change Degare. He would forever be in a child's body along with her. She wouldn't be the only one. She wouldn't be alone."

I remained quiet for almost a minute. "You've really given this some thought."

"Of course I have." She chuckled. "When he asked me, my instincts said to tell him to ask you, but I wanted to say yes. It took me time to gather my thoughts to find the reason I felt like that."

I sighed. "Well, he certainly is persistent. Do you know he pointed at me and demanded I turn him? Then yelled at me right to my face?"

"Ha!" Ailine stifled laughter with a snort. "And that's why he could make a great friend for Anastasia. He was a street rat. He doesn't care if someone is a pauper or a prince. He'll always treat Anastasia as Anastasia."

"Yeah… but he's a boy and has a crush on her. I should know. I was a man once, and I knew some really shitty guys before."

"But were you one of them?" she asked.

"Of course not." I immediately replied.

"Then don't just write him off as one of those types of men. Not everyone is alike. That's what makes being alive so interesting."

I shook my head. "You always seem to know what to say to ease the storm in my mind."

Ailine smirked. "I'm your wife. That's what we do for each other."

I reach out and grab her hand. "And I'm lucky to have you. I love you, Ailine."

"I love you too, Lia."

After a short kiss we continued to watch Anastasia talk and talk and talk with Talon. Maybe giving her a friend wouldn't be so bad. And the kid has guts, I'll give him that. I still hate the idea of changing a child, though. It's like putting an eternal curse on them. It's really no wonder the old vampires spent all their time amongst themselves. Befriending someone and knowing you will watch them grow old and die while you remain the same is difficult.

The next day, I went around to check on the progress of the different projects. I feel like I have so many fucking irons in the fire, but they're all being tended by everyone else.

I found a couple maids and other workers working away in a large room of the castle printing books. Looking at the multiple presses, they did a good job. Same with the type. It all seems to be even and looks crisp in the completed books. Embarrassingly, I still don't know the names of the maids, but I feel weird asking them at this point.

I head outside to check on the Tunnel. Lala and the tunnel team are making steady progress. They have the tunnel outside of the wall now, and the ramps of the switchback all have grooves cut for traction. The lights and vents are all powered by cores right now, but that may change soon with Navi's work.

I walked past the church. The building is complete and looks pretty good. I see Alienor and Dharma happily chatting away. There seems to be more people in priest and priestess robes, so I guess she found some good people for the job. 

I was originally hesitant on giving belt pouches to the people who would start churches in the human lands, but since Navi can make them of varying sizes, we can adjust what we give to them to match what they need. I'll have to up the level of the guards I send for them. Last thing I want is some punk ass fucking gang trying to kill and steal the bags from them.

I'm just so ready to be done with this planning and just want to go and kill all the people I need to. Although, I know it isn't time. When I strike, I need to have everything ready. Just calm the fuck down and be patient, Lia.

Walking over to the new elven area, I see some humans and plenty of elves building the longhouses. Looks like they were able to get the design to have a wooden roof. I can see the inside of one and poke my head through. Pretty much a wide open floor plan, with a room for the toilet and tub. Futons are rolled and shelved with blankets and pillows so that there is space to move and eat during the day. The large tables and chairs even fold up to store on the walls so they can roll out their futons and sleep. Looks like they went with stone floors. Not bad, overall. 

I see Zahra giving instructions to some elves and watching over the construction. Other elves are sitting by a pile of fabric, sewing and filling more futons, pillows, and blankets. All seems to be going as planned. 

I'll rest today, spend time with Anastasia tomorrow, then tomorrow night, head out with Mitena to begin the next performance. I'll see where the elves are and watch them from afar for a day or so. Then, if it looks like they are going to entrench themselves or begin to scout farther out, I'll make my move. What ever happened to the 'noble and proud' elves I once imagined? These are just a bunch of lemmings coming to me for protection. Ironic that they're running away from me, asking me to protect them from myself. Not that they'll ever know the truth.

These elves may outnumber my people, but they'll damn sure not dare to try anything after I'm through with them.