While Amelia was busy fulfilling her plan to start a guild, Ophelia was currently on her way via carriage to the city of Vandohr, located in the large Smiris Mountain Range. The city of Vandohr was the largest dwarven clan city in the empire, and was the main production facility for the empire, earning the title of 'Forge of Halkare' by Ophelia personally. The city was half built under the mountain via large underground caverns and chambers and half built into the mountainside and a plateau next to the mountain.  

A while back when Ophelia had taken the throne, she was told by the dwarf clan leader Rummok and King Olertin that there was a large more united set of dwarven clans residing in the mountains west of Olertin City. According to Olertin, the dwarven clans were united under the banner of the head dwarf known as the "Forge Master" and it was them who led the clans in whatever they were to do. As the carriage rumbled along, a smile flashed on Ophelia's face when she remembered how she brought them into line via landing in the center of Vandohr with Spithe and then basically offering them the chance to join them or be annihilated by Spithe, although she was fully expecting them to refuse and fight her, she was surprised when the Forge Master immediately surrendered himself and asked to negotiate in return for being under her banner. It was a very tense moment for them as Ophelia laid down her conditions that basically placed them under the banner of the Halkare Empire, something the dwarves quickly accepted with the only condition on their end being that they be granted the advanced ancient knowledge of building and that they had lost due to time.

Apparently, the older dwarven clans were gifted knowledge by Spithe on the craft when the Divine Beast had come down. They had relied on the Divine Beast for generations before Spithe disappeared one day and the knowledge they had kept was only a fraction of what they were given. Ever since then, they revered Spithe and when Forge Master Mckall saw the double-headed dragon with his own eyes and saw it now had a master, he knew then and there that the dwarven clans had someone to serve. 

"Your Majesty. We have arrived at the city" A Black Guard's voice cut into her reminiscing, tapping on the glass window of the carriage 

"Ah, thank you Johannes, proceed" Ophelia replied as she tapped the wooden wall in reply 

"Understood Your Majesty" 

The carriage and escort then passed the front gate of the city and entered the portion of the city located on the plateau, and as they entered, Ophelia saw that the roads of the city were filled with people of all kinds instead of the usual only dwarves sight she remembers the last time she was here. A smile formed on her face as she looked at her subjects, happy that they were getting along and showing that everything was fine. She also saw that her subjects recognized the carriage and the Black Guard, with many of them waving and hollering at her as she passed them by, fueling that small smile into a slightly larger one. 

The carriage stopped in front of the largest building in the center of the town, the Forge Master's Office, one of the many buildings that led directly to the underground areas of the city. Although being a clan leader for a dozen dwarven clans in these mountains, Forge Master Mckall had asked that he be granted the rank of Governor rather than a fully-fledged clan leader as he saw Ophelia already had one in the form of Rummok who he gladly wished to call his superior besides the empress herself. 

Stepping out of the carriage to an eruption of cheers and greetings, Ophelia smiled, waved and nodded at the crowd before and behind her as she walked into the Forge Master's Office. Entering the large oak and iron building, she was instantly hit by the scent of mead, ale, and freshly roasted meat with a hint of iron being forged as well. Her eyes scanned the lobby before her, seeing the mess hall of the office to the far right, with a large elevator going down in the center at the opposite wall in the center of the office, the receptionist's desk right in front of her and then a flight of stairs directly to her left. 

Many of the people inside the office stopped in their tracks and bowed their heads as she entered, with them nodding and politely waving them off to get them to do what they were doing previously. She then made her way towards the receptionist's desk, seeing a pair of dwarven ladies with ginger hair tied into small locks, with cute green eyes and wearing a blacksmith's outfit mixed with a suit which had a name tag on the left breast of the outfit. 

"Hello there Your Majesty, what brings you here today?" The dwarven receptionist named Rudy asked with a small smile 

"Ah, I am here for Forge Master Mckall, where is he?" 

"Ah! The Forge Master is currently in a meeting upstairs with the Forge Retainers, although the meeting was to end an hour ago, they requested meat, ale and mead and have been up there drinking and enjoying themselves" The other dwarven receptionist named Mara quickly answered 

"I see, well. I will just be waiting here then, if they are having refreshments, then so shall I, would you be a dear and notify them of my arrival?" Ophelia asked with a small nod 

"Of course Your Majesty, please, make yourself comfortable in the mess hall, I will inform them right now" Rudy replied as she bowed her head and then ran upstairs 

Ophelia then made her way into the mess hall, seeing it filled with workers who came up from the elevator, all of them of different races but each of them wearing blacksmithing attire. All of them bowed their heads when one of them quickly did it first after he locked eyes with her, vacating her a table in the center of the hall and quickly sending a waiter to take her order the moment she sat down. 

"What shall it be Your Majesty?" The waitress asked her as she took out a pencil and a notepad 

"Ahh, what do you have to offer?" Ophelia asked as she turned to her 

"We have grilled ogre steak that has been recently prepared, we have some grilled pork chops served with rice and soup of your choice between normal pork broth, beef or ogre broth and finally for drinks, we have water, tea, ale and mead" The waitress answered her 

"I will take an ogre steak with some rice, a serving of pork soup and some cold water with ice" 

"Alright, one fresh kill with rice, a serving of pork soup, and some refreshing water for dine-in. It's on the house Your Majesty and the food will be arriving in fifteen to twenty minutes" The waitress stated with a nod as she wrote it all down on her notepad and then walked off to the kitchen window, while another server placed a glass of water with ice on the table 

After her order was taken, Ophelia let out a small sigh as she relaxed into her seat, taking a sip of the cool and refreshing water before her and then simply closing her eyes and taking a breather. She was tired, despite all of the magic that could enhance her and cure her, Ophelia just wanted to rest for a moment. Being the Duchess was tiresome enough but being an Empress was a different can of worms, although she was up to the task regardless, Ophelia's former life's work ethic and habits of trying to do as much as possible in a short amount of time had long since plagued her in this life as well. 

But even as she closed her eyes, Ophelia still kept a watchful eye on her surroundings via magic and visualizing that magic in her brain, seeing that the people around her were still glancing at her while they ate and drank but chose not to interrupt her rest, something that made her happy. 

After fifteen minutes, the waitress returned with her order, the sound of the steak sizzling on the hot plate filling the air and the aroma of a steak granting a small and expectant smile on the empress' lips. 

"Here you got Your Majesty, one ogre steak with rice serving, a serving of pork soup, and a pitcher of cold water with ice" The waitress said as she placed the food in front of her 

Before Ophelia was a large sizzling hot plate that had a large and thick piece of medium-rare ogre steak covered in what she assumed was gravy, next to the hot plate was a large white plate that had a cup of rice on it, along with a spoon and a fork, and off to her right but still in front of her was a medium-sized brown pot with a ladle that contained the pork stew, with a small bowl next to the pot for her to use and finally next to her glass was a large clear pitcher of cold water with ice. 

After giving her thanks, Ophelia dug into the meal before her, she was pleasantly surprised by the savory taste of the ogre steak, relishing the amazing flavor and the juiciness of the meat as it paired well with the rice. She also enjoyed drinking the pork soup and the meat slices that came with it, she also enjoyed the potatoes and vegetables that came with the soup, enjoying each drop of the warm liquid that entered her mouth and delighted her taste buds, before finishing it off with a cold glass of water. 

When Ophelia had finished her meal, Rudy walked over to her and informed the monarch that Forge Master Mckall and the rest of the Forge Retainers were awaiting her in the office, with them also thanking her for giving them time to tidy up the place. Ophelia nodded at the information, thanked the people of the mess hall for everything, gave her compliments to the staff, and then proceeded on her way upstairs to the Forge Master's office. 

The office was located directly left of the stairs when she got to the second floor, with the office spanning the entire floor itself with the entrance to the massive office being a set of double doors that was a small hallway down the left from the stairs. when she entered the office proper, Ophelia was greeted by the sight of a large viking-style table with over twenty seats filled with dwarves of different hair colors and with them being both men and women. The left side of the office had shelves housing books and recently closed bottles of alcohol and jars of mead, with other rows housing freshly cleaned plates and containers that contained left-over meat, meanwhile on the right side of the office was a large assortment of hammers and tool belts hanging on rings. At the opposite end of the table with a window behind him was a dwarf with a luscious and well-groomed set of black hair atop his head along with his facial hair, he was wearing a blue suit with a black overcoat that had a fur coat and a set of chainmail underneath his suit, his blue eyes were locked onto her and she gave him a nod. But before she could sit on the opposite end of the table, one of the dwarves quickly got up and pulled out her seat and bowed his head, and when she sat down on it, the same dwarf pushed the chair and her near the table before sitting back down.  

"Apologies for the long wait, Your Majesty, we lot got...carried away of sorts" Forge Master Mckall started with a wry smile as he looked at her 

"No worries, I found the time useful by indulging myself in some food before the meeting" Ophelia replied as she flashed a small smile

"I see, I hope the food was up to your liking" 

"Oh it was, I would like to enjoy them again another time but for now, let's get down to business" 

"Of course, on to business" Mckall agreed with a nod as he walked over to the shelf behind him and brought out a stack of documents

Placing the pile of documents on the table, he pulled a lever under his side of the table that revealed a conveyor belt built into the table, said conveyor belt transported the pile of documents over to Ophelia who quickly halved the pile and placed them on either side of her, thanking the Forge Master with a nod before she quickly looked over the papers. 

"How are the forges these days?" The raven-haired empress asked as she glossed over the forge reports 

"Well, all of the forges are still working at maximum capacity, the workers of the forges have been hard at work ever since the first orders came in, although some are exhausted, they are quickly replaced by some of the newer apprentices who wish to do their part" Mckall answered him

"Anything else?"

"Not much. really Your Majesty, we have a seemingly endless tide of resources allocated to the forges that allow us to pump out whatever is needed by the empire. Currently, we are filling out the quotas you have asked of us regarding the making of more armor and weapons for the military. Some of the smaller forges have been delegated to producing the metalworks needed by the construction orders we get here and there. But overall, the forges of Vandohr are operating without trouble" 

"I see" 

"Indeed. Actually, to add to that, the forging and smithing techniques we have learned from the Divine Beast and the methods of production such as creating conveyor belts that interlock with other forges have been a boon to our production output, we are able to segment the work for different forges and have helped develop the skills of our newer seedlings currently trying to learn the craft" Mckall added with a satisfied grin 

"I am glad you have all been enjoying the progress you have all been making. However, it has come to my attention that certain shipments of new agricultural equipment have failed to be delivered to the appropriate districts that have requested them, I have come here to inquire about that...mind telling me what it is that has been keeping those pieces of equipment from being shipped out like many times before?" Ophelia asked as she placed her arms on the table and looked directly at Mckall, the atmosphere of the room noticeably getting colder 

"Ahh, that...uhh" Mckall began as he and the rest of the Forge Retainers got nervous 

"I believe Rummok and the rest of the dwarven clan elders have informed you on what I do to certain people with....unseemly behavior...I am giving you all a chance to explain yourselves right here and right now" Ophelia stated with an unmoving face 

"He has Your Majesty" Mckall said with a nod 

"So, explain"

"Well...the agricultural equipment production forges are located on floor 13B and ever since last week, we have had five parties sent down to get the production going but they never come back up. Something is down there because we can hear what seems to be a loud and unpleasant rabble from all the way up on floor 4B and all the way back downward. It has to be something but we have not been able to figure it out, we have been constructing another set of forges to quickly try and start production but the sound coming from 13B is unnerving Your Majesty" Mckall began 

"Hmmm...I see. But why hasn't this been brought up to the local Black Guard garrison?" Ophelia asked with a raised eyebrow 

"For we wanted to handle it ourselves Your Majesty. Our dwarven pride was at stake, the people of these mountains have a motto "The mountain shall become our tomb" I understand if it is unreasonable to you but to us mountaineers, it is everything" 

Ophelia lets out a small smile as she leans back in her chair, she can see the expressions of everyone else, they too thought the same and agreed that the actions they took were the best-case scenario. Although she was internally annoyed by it, she had to give it to them for trying to solve a problem before it got worse and then try to find workarounds when said problem became a bit too costly to solve, if anything, it showed the resourcefulness of the people working here and for that, she was slightly appeased. 

"Although I do not agree with withholding the problem from the proper authorities, I applaud your initiative to try and solve the problem before it got out of hand. Right. Considering that I am here, why don't we check whatever the fuck is down there screaming its head off" Ophelia said as she stood up, with all of the people in the room doing the same

"Understood Your Majesty, please follow us" Mckall stated as she walked over to the right wall and got his tool belt and his dual hammers, with everyone else quickly doing the same

A few minutes later, all of them were inside the elevator shaft leading down, with Ophelia standing behind all of them who insisted they be in front of their empress to protect her, a sentiment that made her chuckle inside but was impressed by the devotion to their decision. The elevator itself was made of steel and wood and when it began its descent, the sound of creaking wheels and chains filled the air as they continued downward. When they passed the 4th Floor, Ophelia heard what they were talking about, a series of cries that sounded like something was in pain, it sounded like a high-pitched cry of someone in immense pain and being strangled or something more akin to a baby's cry twisted in an audio mixer to sound louder, more horrendous and more painful to the ears. Thankfully, she placed a barrier around her and the rest of the dwarves with her, lowering the screaming to a more reasonable level and keeping everyone calm and as they continued to descend, Ophelia sensed that there was something down there, something large and disgusting. 

When the elevator reached the final floor of 13B, the doors opened sideways into a pitch-black chamber. Mckall was the first to step out and when he did, he saw the lifeless bodies of over seventeen dwarves, elves, and lizardmen scattered around the floor, their bodies bloody and covered in ash, their weapons scattered around. Ophelia then stepped into the large chamber and used a spell she called [Light] which basically summoned forth a ball of light from her hand that she threw up until it hit the ceiling and then fully illuminated the room in a bright warm light. 

{!} 

To everyone's shock, on the far end of the chamber, with a bunch of scattered and destroyed forge equipment around it, with over ten heads attached to long necks that led to a singular body was a giant Hydraesq creature, that continued to scream with all ten heads. The heads themselves had glossed-over eyes and no ears but had sharp and jagged teeth in human-like jaws. It's body had what looked to be disfigured and undeveloped feet while its originally singular tail split into two. 

"By the Goddess! What is that?!" Mckall cried out as he looked upon the dreadful thing

But before he could get an answer, nine of the ten heads lunged at them, but before they could even get closer, they smashed into an invisible barrier that Ophelia had set up, keeping them at bay as they continuously bashed their heads on the impenetrable thing. 

"This has changed the situation" Ophelia stated as she walked past all of the dwarves and stood before the mess of heads banging on the barrier, with each unsuccessful attempt earning a hiss and a roar from a head before it fired off magical fire or ice breath that still did nothing to the barrier 

"What do you mean Your Majesty?" One of the Forge Retainers by the name of Austin asked with a terrified look 

"What you see before you is what is known as a False Hydra...a type of eldritch species I thought was extinct" Ophelia answered without looking back 

Using her [Appraisal] Skill, Ophelia saw its stats 

Name: Nevu

Power Class: S-Class Monster. [False Hydra]

STR: 7900

DEF: 1990 

MP: 6440 

DEX: 6790 

SPD: 8370 

Skills: 

Harden [Hardens the body of the user for a limited time. Can only be broken by a high-power attack]

Battlecry [Let's out a roar that stuns nearby opponents of weaker levels, does nothing to higher levels] 

Song Of The False Hydra [When it sings its perfect melody, any and all creatures at or below its power forget its existence]

Second Head [Has the ability to shed off damaged heads that can attack independently for a limited time before dying] 

Fire Magic Mastery X [Is able to access all fire magic from tiers 1 - 3]

Ice Magic Master X [Is able to access all ice magic from tiers 1 - 3]

Magic: 

Fire Magic X [Able to cast spells from tier 1 - 3] 

Ice Magic X [Able to cast spells from tier 1 - 3]

A scowl was on Ophelia's face when she finished reading the stats and her anger was slowly rising. She looked past the heads attacking the barrier and saw the last head still screaming its heart out, she also looked at the body and saw a metal rod barely pocking out of the left side of the thing, right at the base of its heads. 

"How many people work in a forge?" Ophelia asked as she turned back to her dwarves 

"About twenty people in total Your Majesty" Mckall answered her 

"And how many were in each party you sent down here?" 

"About five people in each party to get the forge going" 

Ophelia nodded as she began to think, she looked around at the dead bodies covered in ash and the ten heads of the False Hydra, the words "To get the forge going" struck her as odd but as she continued to analyze things, all the pieces were slowly coming into place before it finally clicked. 

"You told me that there are twenty people assigned to each forge, but you told me that the parties you sent down here were to get production going despite the written reports I read earlier of shipments already delivered but never signed, meaning there was a team already producing down here...tell me, can you recall any of the twenty personnel here a month prior?" Ophelia asked as she looked at Mckall 

The dwarven governor tried to think but his eyes widened as he could not remember any names, his eyes darting shifting from right to left as he tried his best to think and think and think but to no avail. The sight of him struggling to remember made Ophelia sigh as her assumption was true,

"If you cannot recall Mckall, I do not blame you. The False Hydra has a gimmick that I find troubling and annoying. You see, when it eats a person, the person is erased from the world entirely in name and in memory, meaning the twenty people who were operating the forge prior to last week had all been consumed by this damn thing before us" 

Ophelia's words caused the Forge Master and Forge Retainers to have shocked and horrified expressions, as things clicked for them, their eyes then turned to the corpses on the ground, and remembered they counted only seventeen, they tried to think of the names of the twenty people who were sent down but could not remember three of them.  

Mckall fell to his knees as he felt immense rage against the damned abomination before them trying multiple times to bash and slam away the barrier that was still holding, rage boiled in his eyes as he felt the desire to just run past the barrier and charge the monster but knew it would lead to his death as he could not even read the stats of the thing with his own [Appraisal] skill. 

"If the monster erases the memory of people by eating it, why hasn't it eaten the corpses around us? Surely it would have done so already to keep itself hidden" One of the Forge Retainers named Gavel asked as she pointed out a good question 

"The False Hydra has no eyes as you can see and no ears, it relies entirely on the sense of smell and feel. The corpses around us are covered in ash which may be a result of the fighting but I think otherwise, I think that the parties sent down here also realized the False Hydra could not see or hear them but could smell them, the faintest stench of mead and meat clinging to their beard hairs or even their breathes were enough for it to sense them, by covering themselves in ash, the surviving party members were able to effectively hide from it. So how did they die you ask? Well, the False Hydra is of S-Class in power, meaning that despite the C and D-Rank held by the workers, they could not kill it and fought a losing battle they hoped to win...a shame really, as their lives could have been spared if they thought of calling in for help" Ophelia answered with a small frown 

"But what about it's screaming?" Another Forge Retainer by the name of Drakull asked as he pointed at the screaming head 

"Ah that. The False Hydra has another gimmick that pairs neatly with its eating gimmick, when it sings a perfect tune, the people at its power level or lower to forget its existence, allowing it to continue its spree of killing and feeding itself to grow stronger, but why is it screaming now you ask? Well, it seems that one of the workers sent down here got lucky and lodged a spear into the body of the hydra, it is deep enough to shatter its special singing organs while also protecting it from being pulled out of the hydra out of fear of biting off a giant chunk of its own flesh to get to it. The Hydra can only regenerate if it eats another corpse and since it believes there are no more corpses around, it would not risk the chance of damaging itself. As to why it keeps singing regardless of the damage to the organ? The Hydra is deaf, meaning it cannot tell if it is singing its perfect tune, it can only feel the organ making sound but can't hear it" Ophelia asked as she turned back to the Hydra 

"So what now Your Majesty?" Mckall asked as he rose to his feet 

"Now? Well, I am going to kill it, then we bury the dead and tour the forges" Ophelia said with a determined expression that hid her deep anger at the situation and the beast before her

"So just stay back and watch, as the Empress of this empire gets rid of a problem" 

A/N: And here we go! The second mini-arc before we get to go to the Kingdom of Amma! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much fun as I had writing it. If you got questions or reactions, leave em below for me to see and answer and I am happy to report that school is smoothly sailing, my projects and assignments are being done ahead of time and I have also finished some of them way before the deadline! So it hopefully allows me to write more. As always, Stay Safe and Enjoy Your Day!