They spent the next hour silently recovering from their food coma, the woman nervously staring from the counter. Adeline raised her hand, and the woman came running and nervously bowed.

  “What’s your name?”

  “My name is Lea, your Highness.”

  “Lea, do you have any more family apart from your daughter?”

  “No, your Highness. My husband, her uh, left us behind long ago. With nowhere to go, we decided to stay.”

  “You made a wise decision. From today, you will be our private chef. I am sure there is room for you in the castle,” Adeline spoke as she turned to Lea, who was still bowing. She slightly raised her head, instantly met Adeline’s sharp gaze, then quickly returned to bowing.

  “Is something the matter?” Adeline inquired.

  “No, thank you very much for your invitation,” Lea answered as she scampered away. Adeline stared at her, then at the group, confused.

  “Did I do something wrong?” Adeline asked.

  “You scared the poor soul away. Adeline, you forget that you’re a bloodthirsty demon,” Bihse answered with a small ugh.

  “Says the one-horned troll,” Adeline shot back. The two growled at each other while their partners watched on.

  “What brings you here?” Melora’s question stopped the scuffle.

  “We were just walking around, talking, doing human couple things, then we saw you. I also wanted to know you better,” Bihse answered directly with a bright smile.

  “What did you want to know?”

  “You must be the first human to receive the world tree. You look very different from Tymon. Especially those fangs and ears of yours.”

  “She is a vampire,” Adeline answered.

  “What’s that?” Melora turned to her.

  “I really don’t know this stuff, but what I do know is they like to suck blood and live very long lives. They also tend to burn under the sun, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with you,” Adeline expined.

  “Is that why I, uhh, did that?” Melora lowered her voice. Adeline nodded as her face turned bright red and avoided their gazes.

  “You also don’t seem to be hungry for blood every time, so I really don’t know what type of vampire you are,” Adeline concluded.

  “What about me?” Tymon asked.

  “I have no clue what you are supposed to be. Things in this world are always slightly different, or I am just stupid,” Adeline answered. It was then the door opened once more as Fey bolted inside and jumped on Bihse.

  “Mommy!” Fey screamed as she clung to her.

  “How’s my little warrior doing?” Bihse spoke as she started to throw her in the air.

  “I finished training; I beat up everyone! Then I listened in on the new rumors circuting,” Fey answered as she finally settled in Bihse’s arms.

  “Oh, what did you find?” Bihse asked, now intrigued.

  “Bishop Deon from the Holy Kingdom and his white knights have visited the emperor,” Fey revealed as Melora slightly frowned.

  “Good job, here have some bread and go py with your friends,” Bihse handed her a loaf of bread. Fey kissed her cheek and waved at the rest, then ran away.

  “Deon and his knights are a serious threat,” Melora spoke.

  “Why is that the case? Are they very strong?” Bihse asked as she suddenly turned to Tymon, who too had a frown.

  “They are not particurly strong; it is because they specialize in holy magic. One of our biggest weaknesses, and he is the strongest of them all,” Tymon expined as Adeline nodded.

  “That woman I fought with back then made things especially difficult. She could heal and buff her allies and actively nerf my abilities. They also had a nasty poison which nearly killed me but should no longer work on me,” Adeline expined with great disdain.

  “Azazel briefed me on that poison; they actively used it to subdue him, but he is working on a serum for it,” Tymon spoke.

  “We should just destroy that kingdom and leave nothing behind. God, I hate them,” Adeline spat out as Melora held her hand, calming her.

  “We take Joma first, then slowly isote them,” Melora reassured. They continued talking about different strategies, such as the use of warships and the elite group Bihse was working on. Adeline and Melora were the first to leave; the two remained to make sure Lea was properly sorted and help with moving.

  They continued to walk around the empty town as they made their way to the wall they were building. They saw Risin shirtless on top of the wall, pcing down rge stone blocks as the shamans reinforced it with a spell. He had learned a great deal after witnessing Bihse destroy the wall in one attack and with the help of Azazel, who developed a specific spell to bind the blocks together. He saw Adeline next to another woman who seemed familiar but was unable to recall who it was. She also had a pair of long but thinner purple horns, pale and very beautiful. Her skin almost seemed to shine under the sun as if she was wearing diamonds. Risin jumped down and bowed.

  “I greet your Highness, Queen Adeline,” Risin greeted.

  “I am not alone, you know. Greet Melora also,” Adeline scolded him as he raised his head and stared at Melora. After a short time, it finally made sense; the familiar woman was Melora, but she had drastically changed.

  “I greet her Highness, Grand Duchess Melora,” Risin greeted.

  “It’s Queen now, do it properly,” Adeline continued to scold him, but Melora finally stopped her.

  “It is fine, Adeline. Thank you for your greetings; you must be Risin,” Melora greeted him warmly.

  “Yes, your Highness.” Risin remained bowed just to avoid the strong gaze of Adeline. Risin had grown to fear her; he understood fully that his life depended on her. He saw her for what she was: a cunning but impulsive Queen whose mood could change on a dime.

  “I hope you are adjusting well. I understand things have been very rough for everyone,” Melora spoke in a gentle voice, which contrasted Adeline’s.

  “I am doing well, thanks to the benevolence of your Highnesses,” Risin answered. He had heard many tales about Melora; she was a prodigy that rarely appeared. Her skill as a knight was known far and wide and was compared to his and Jack’s. That was far from the truth; he could sense immense strength that surpassed his by more than double. Both Adeline and Melora exuded the same monstrous energy. Risin’s strength felt insignificant compared to the likes of them. Even the one troll who was in charge of security was to be feared. A troll approached them.

  “Your Highness, the reinforcements have arrived,” the troll spoke as he bowed.

  “Excellent! Let’s go, Melora.” Adeline turned and started to walk away with Melora close by. Risin let out a sigh of relief as he stood up. Adeline turned and gave him a stern look as his very soul shook once more.

  Melora and Adeline walked through the wreckage of the st battle, which the trolls were still busy clearing, with some of the houses being rebuilt by the humans. They slowly climbed the wall to the very top as they finally saw their army. A long row of elves wearing white armor, carrying their bows and a short sword on her belt, they all looked elegant. Behind them was a sea of rge green orcs wearing pieces of dark armor; they had rge swords and axes on their backs with menacing lower fangs. Some had distinctive purple-red strips running down their bodies, which they dispyed proudly. Behind them was a fleet of carriages being driven by orcs, Balowicks, and horses led by dwarves. A rge orc slowly made his way to the forefront and pnted his rge sword into the ground and stared up at Adeline and Melora.

  “Master, as promised, I have delivered a worthy army, a strong army. We now await your command.” Adeline stared at the orc and realized it was Fang; he had greatly changed as he had become way rger and menacing. She wondered if that old man had handed him a piece of the world tree.

  “Fang, it is good to see you. You have become stronger,” Adeline spoke with a wild smile as Fang fell to one knee and stared at the ground.

  “Your praise fills my heart with overwhelming happiness. Thank you, Master,” Fang spoke.

  “We welcome all of you great warriors. I look forward to fighting next to you,” Melora spoke as the army started to cheer. Fang got up and started to lead the army into Arbegon. Bihse was there to greet them as she held her twin axes with a wild smile. As soon as Fang saw her, he was instantly attacked as some of the trolls joined in. Bihse had already started her training session as she yelled out various orders. This was the first time Melora saw her fighting and instantly drew simirities with Adeline. Fang tried to hold his own but was eventually overpowered as they started another spar soon after. The dwarves were let go as they had to deliver the various weapons and armor they would use, while the elves were whisked away by Arel of all people. The two oversaw this ‘training’ by Bihse, which boiled down to being beaten senseless over and over again.

  The two decided to make their way back to the castle as it was getting te. They had dinner, which was masterfully made by Lea, their new chef. After dinner, the old butler escorted them to their new quarters, which were prepared by Valerie and Stefan. This slightly worried Melora as they made their way up the flight of stairs until they reached the top.

  Two rge doors, which were beautifully curved, stood in front of them. The butler opened the doors, revealing a corridor with several doors. The butler took them to the first room, which was their private bathroom and shower. They moved to the room which was directly opposite. It was their private study, which doubled as their office. They walked down the corridor and were met with another set of double doors. He opened it, revealing their massive bedroom. It had everything they could ask for, including rge windows so they could see the spectacur view. Their bed was massive and was decorated with bck and red sheets matching the theme, with a wire running down from the ceiling. Soft carpet lined the room. It also had another door. She opened the door and was immediately ambushed by a rge bck wolf. Melora stared at the wolf, which was twice the size of a horse, as it licked Adeline’s face. It then raised its head and stared at Melora. It then jumped on her too, licking her face as Adeline finally controlled the wolf.

  “Sir Stefan has also applied a sound barrier spell to make sure you have the utmost privacy,” the old butler bowed as he turned towards the exit.

  “Have you prepared what I requested?” Adeline asked as the old butler turned.

  “Yes, I personally collected what you asked for,” the old butler answered as he left, closing the doors behind him. Adeline stared at the rge wolf, then instructed it to stand guard by the door, which it accepted gdly, leaving just the two of them. Adeline turned towards Melora with a mischievous smile.