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For a long moment, I simply stood there with the rest gaping at me, until Shindzha exclaimed, “Mistress!”
I let slight dimples show up on my illusory cheeks. The [Blood Presence] projection provides enough feedback to allow me to control my facial expression and speech, even though I can’t feel the weight on my feet and most other body sensations. The face is vital for communication, you see.
“Greetings, Your Grace,” Feraen stated with a bow, and several others followed with similar statements. I spent a short while acknowledging them in turn, before returning to my reason for appearing.
“You should address me as ‘Your Grace’, Shindzha,” I reminded her gently, then granted Diur a slightly bent head, the most deferential action my position allows me, here on my own soil where I am sovereign.
“Sir Diurhimath, I am distressed about what I perceive is happening here.”
Before he could answer, Ryuu popped up with, “What are you doing here, Tiana?! It’s dangerous for you to leave the castle in your condition!”
Several others gasped or glared at him, but those who had known him the longest just sighed or rolled their eyes.
“Ryuu…” Arken warned him quietly.
I gave the especially mortified shrine maiden a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Miss Laylin. Mr. Kowa and I have known each other for some time. I’ve grown accustomed to his lack of manners.”
“She shouldn’t be here, right?” he just demanded of everyone in return. “She’s pregnant and the demons are after her!”
“You’re absolutely right, Mr. Kowa,” Amana replied, her tone clear and sharp. “But my sister is not, in fact, present. This is a projection, a form of illusory magic. I imagine she is still safely inside her castle.”
“I am in a safe place, Your Highness,” I assured her and the rest.
Of course, I made no mention of the maid curled up with me, or our state of undress, although I’m sure my sister would be delighted to hear it. Nor did I elucidate that my real body was somewhere else entirely. Nor did I reveal that both [Blood Effigy] and real body happened to be naked at that moment. Despite my lack of clothing, my projection wore a kimono that Fan Li included in my effigy image. Conveniently, I can use my effigy wardrobe with [Blood Presence].
“Your Grace,” Lady Serera replied. “You mentioned a concern distressing you, but have not yet elaborated.”
I granted her the same slight inclination of the head. “It concerns Diur… and our mysterious townspeople.”
With that said, I turned my gaze back toward him. His expression was dark, but he gave my words a grave nod.
“So, your proper address is ‘Your Grace’, now, Commander?”
I smiled and gave another nod.
“It would confuse the others considerably less than calling me ‘Commander’, Observer,” I replied, reverting to his Elder rank.
I doubt the others recognized it as a rank. Although, just as we did in the Elder Legions, The Other Ranks in Orestanian armies (those below commissioned officers but above NCOs) are given vocational titles like Armorer, Quartermaster or Sail Master, so perhaps they did.
It looked like Diur wasn’t going to go first, so I began with a question.
“You set up the field that is guiding demons away from this town, didn’t you? Have you come here in response to the hellspawn who penetrated it?”
After a brief grimace, he admitted, “I did.”
“And the mysterious charm-proof nature of the townspeople,” I continued, “Is it perhaps your blood bond? Are these people all your Servants?”
His expression grew darker, which I took as an affirmative.
“What are you saying?” Ryuu demanded. “Are you saying they’re all blood slaves?”
Diur just turned his head away. So I replied, “Elder Servants, as I said before, are the only mortals who can absolutely resist Fairy Charm. I didn’t want to believe Diur could be responsible, so I theorized that a powerful demon was somehow replicating Elder Servanthood. But of course, Diur’s blood bond is a much simpler explanation.”
It was certainly a relief. I didn’t know what we were going to do if the demonic replication of the Elder blood bond that I theorized was real.
I pursed my lips, then noted. “I can’t imagine a legitimate circumstance in which you could go from zero Servants to hundreds in such a short time.”
Yes, that was a little hypocritical, I suppose, considering my own hundreds, but mine had a legitimate source. I rescued Father’s abandoned Servants from the torment they suffered. Before I arrived, no small number of them committed suicide after Father’s death, before Mother took steps to enhance the magic in their bracelets to prevent them from hurrying to his side. Even so, her magic wasn’t fully sufficient, so receiving my blood bond replaced the pressure of loyalty to him rather than simply blocking it.
I had a good reason. What was his?
With a stiff voice, he answered, “I desperately needed their support, and they needed me as well, Your Grace.”
I frowned. “Aren’t these ordinary villagers? What support could they possibly give you?”
He turned his head away, his scowl still dark.
“I need an abundant supply of blood,” he stated, at last, returning his glower to me. “Far beyond what I could harvest at houses of prostitution.”
I’m certain the perplexed look I grew at this point was a thing of wonder.
“Is that strange, Your Grace?” he wondered, his eyebrow rising.
“Well, obviously!” I snapped. “I mean, you have the skills and power to go into the wilds and harvest all sorts of valuable materials, at a time when the war economy has high demand for them! And courtesans are not exactly rare! How much blood could you possibly need?”
He simply glowered at me without replying. Bizarrely, his expression seemed to accuse me of being to blame for the situation.
“Answer me, Diur!”
“I require a blood core, Your Grace. One large enough for great effect, as quickly as possible.”
“Why? Your spiritual skills are out of this world, and you can utilize the spells of a sage like Pasrue!”
“I need every tool I can get!”
“For what need do you justify bonding this many civilians?” I demanded. “And my citizens, to boot!”
“Actually, they’re mostly Lower Pendorians, Your Grace,” Serera interjected here.
I glared at her, but she just shrugged. “While they speak the same language in the County of Lower Pendor as in your lands, they use a slightly different vocabulary and manner from the Duchy. I presume my ears have not lied to me, Mr Diurhimath?”
He nodded, while still looking disgruntled.
It really was a peculiar mix of attitudes I was seeing in him. He seemed to resent my disapproving tone, while he also felt a certain degree of guilt?
“Regardless of their origin, they’re residents of my duchy now,” I insisted. “I still demand an explanation. Why are you in such a hurry to build a blood core that you feel justified in scooping up innocents and putting your blood bond on them?”
“If you would just stop putting yourself in danger and properly go into seclusion, I wouldn’t need to justify anything!”
For several seconds, I just pulled a blank. And he didn’t offer any further clarification. He just held my baffled eyes with his dark stare, while his jaw was set and clenched.
Huh? It’s my fault?
“Mr. Diurhimath, please explain that remark,” Lady Serera requested, when I failed to do so.
“The Commander… Her Grace is the sole remaining member of our species capable of perpetuating it, yet she insists on continuing to throw herself into danger. Furthermore, the demons know about her and probably know about her pregnancy, and they are seeking to kill her!”
He turned back to me, accusing stare and all, “If she thinks that this fight requires the strength of an Elder to go into battle, then I need to build my strength so I can be that Elder in her place! She needs to take herself and her babies and head to a safe refuge!”
<Oh, flog me, what’s this half-wit thinkin’,> Sirth muttered, as my mind caught up.
Wait. Does he not realize…
<That would seem to be the case,> Fan Li answered, and I sensed she was stifling outright laughter. I could even see her in my mind’s eye, lowering her head and raising her sleeves to cover her mouth.
Around me, I could see everyone else coming to the same realization.
I put my hand to my forehead, told myself he would have a point if it weren’t for things he didn’t know, then sighed.
“Mr. Diurhimath, please rest at ease, I am already doing exactly as you wish,” I stated. “I suppose you have not seen the Tiana who is holding court in Narses personally, or you would know she is a manifestation of my Blood Magic. When you met my Incarnation called ‘Miss Hiléa’, she used the same type of manifestation.”
He frowned, then noted, “I didn’t make my presence known at the time, but when I checked on you after that demonkin attacked you, you were no proxy.”
I scratched my cheek. “I um… Well, I didn’t move into seclusion until after the most recent attack in Narses.”
Or perhaps during would be a more appropriate preposition.
“And I began this project long before that,” he stated. “After you sustained wounds in Atianus, in fact. So my reason stands. Furthermore, I don’t know when circumstances will drive you to decide that your proxy is insufficient and come out of seclusion to join battle in your physical form. I’ll be frank, Your Grace, even if you are the reincarnation of the Last Commander, you behave as impulsively as any juvenile Elder, so I can’t trust you to restrict yourself to proxies.”
Ryuu heaved a sigh. “I kinda get what he’s saying, Tiana.”
“That’s a little rude,” I told him. Actually, I wasn’t just responding to him, but to all the eyes of people who had known me for a while. I suspected they were unable to disagree with Diurhimath. Actually, hadn’t I just seen a few nods?
“Um…” Miss Laylin the shrine maiden said while slightly raising a timid hand.
“You have a question?” I asked her, hoping to change subjects and escape the annoyance I was just feeling.
“You’re the only Elder, but this man called you a member of his species?”
Diur grew a wry smile, then manifested his wings, so much like my own, to give her a formal bow.
“I am Diurhimath, young lady,” he told her. “During the Elder Age, I was an Observer in the Orbital Survey Squadron of the Twenty Fourth Legion. I am technically an Elder Scion, rather than a true Elder. True Elders are always women. It seems that those who remember us in this age call Her Grace a Strega and myself a Stregione.”
“Oh…” she nodded her understanding. “So then, I guess she’s carrying your child?”
I grew red, and all three fairies burst into laughter. And Diur thundered, “I wouldn’t presume to touch the Commander!”
“Everyone, be silent,” I commanded, more than a little annoyed now, but not at Laylin, who made a perfectly innocent and understandable mistake. The poor girl thought she understood the reason he might take drastic action, imagining he was a man protecting the pregnant mother of his offspring. I now needed to set things straight, before several others started wondering if she’d touched on the truth. I could see the curiosity forming in other eyes.
Resting my hand on my babies and fighting back my embarrassment, I told her, “I assure you, these two are my husband’s daughters, Miss Laylin. Elders are the exact opposite of Fairies and Vampires in this respect. We can only bear our own kind with a human sire. With any other father, including an Elder Scion, we can only conceive an Elderborn baby. Which is something like a Fairborn Dhampir.”
I glanced at Diur, then added, “Similarly, with a mortal mother, Mr. Diurhimath can only sire an Elderling, a being that you would know as a Fairling. He is incapable of perpetuating his own kind. He is showing his concern for the continuation of our species, not for his own posterity.”
I cast a fierce look around to make sure everyone understood I was not doing any babymaking with anyone other than my husband! Then I returned my attention to Diur.
“Fine. So your justification is your claim of my reckless behavior. I had reasons for my actions, but I’ll leave that aside. Even so, I find it difficult to believe you found this many volunteers in such a short time. Or did you think your reason was sufficient justification to rip innocent people out of their old daily lives and transplant them here?”
