Chapter 60: Still Lily, After All

  “We greet the Princess.”

  Lily looked down at the figures kneeling before her, the Infernal Vanguard Cohort arranged in disciplined rows across the rooftop terrace. She had chosen their template because it had been the most logical option, it fit the environment and the image, she was already projecting whether she liked it or not. Still, hearing those words directed at her made something stir uncomfortably in the back of her mind. It felt familiar.

  Not in the way the game had ever felt familiar, even though she had often mass summoned NPCs in Xantia. The process here felt similar at first glance, but it was different, because it nudged at something deep inside her memory that she didn't even know she had. It was more like a fragment drifting up from somewhere far beneath the surface. A half-remembered scene, a posture she had stood in before, with her eyes looking down on kneeling figures who waited for her judgment. Not Lily Carter from Earth, not even Lily the player, but someone else entirely.

  There it is again, she thought, her jaw tightening slightly. That stupid sense of déjà vu.

  Her mind tried to reconcile it, to anchor her firmly in the present, to remind her that she was Lily Carter, that she had lived a life on Earth, that she had died in a convenience store and woken up here. And yet, beneath all of that, another current moved quietly, settling into place piece by piece, like remembering how to breathe in a rhythm she had once known.

  At least now I know why this keeps happening, she thought grimly. Thanks to that wanker of a mannequin, I finally have an explanation, or at least something I can live with, and that should make it easier to assess the situation…

  She forced the thought aside before it could spiral and focused on the scene in front of her. For a brief moment, something stirred in her again, an instinct she didn't recognize but that felt disturbingly natural, an urge to sneer and remind the kneeling figures of their place beneath her boots. They were Ashlings, after all, and part of her whispered that they were little more than worms who should be grateful to serve her.

  It felt different than it had in the days before, because now she understood what was influencing her. It was not corruption or madness. Or maybe it is a little bit of madness, Lily added in her thoughts, but it was still herself, or rather the echo of who she had once been long ago. Even if that former life had taken place thousands of years earlier, or even far longer, the question remained how much her ancient self really differed from her current one.

  Lily had no answer for that. But if the fucked-up reincarnation cycle the mannequin described was even partly true, then she would still carry a core self, right?

  Because no matter the life, I would always be me, just shaped by different circumstances… that should make sense…

  Especially since she had the uncomfortable feeling that her life on Earth had been nudging her in the same general direction the life of Lilithia had taken. She could not prove it, but…

  Ah damn it, did that stupid mannequin do this on purpose just to confuse me…? It’s fine Lily, you are just a normal edgy nerdy girl like millions of others who just wanted to carve her own place in the fucking world… ah man… they are already looking… okay, breathe… be yourself, be the demon princess you always roleplayed, not some eldritch horror shitshow… you can do this. Yes. Yes, you can.

  And with that, Lily crushed the impulse before it could take shape. Instead of indulging it, she lifted her hand in a slow, controlled motion, forcing her focus back onto the reality in front of her.

  “Rise.”

  The cohort responded instantly, armor shifting as they stood in unison with their eyes fixed on her. And there it was again, that unfamiliar yet familiar feeling of standing in front of… something she should remember.

  No, stop it, I am just mixing the game with the real world again…

  Lily let her gaze move over them once more before settling on the commander who stood a few steps ahead of the others.

  And I really don’t have time for this shit today.

  “I’ve made a claim,” she said. “Not only over these lands, but over everything you can see as far as your eyes can reach. Because of that, we need to prepare this stronghold for those who will challenge my authority here.”

  She paused briefly, then lifted her hand and pointed upward.

  “Especially since this claim is recognized by the gods themselves.”

  Above them, the luminous flag of the Xares Empire hovered in the air, its presence unmistakable, a beacon visible far beyond the forest. Several of the soldiers glanced up at it before catching themselves, and Lily noticed the expressions that flickered across their faces. Pride.

  Huh… where does that come from. Aren’t they just… made into existence?

  She couldn’t help the brief spike of confusion. Do these guys also have a backstory? Did I just snatch them out of somewhere? I mean… it would make some sense…

  When their attention returned to her, the commander stepped forward with his fist pressed to his chest.

  “My Princess, no one who dares to challenge your infernal claim will see the next morning. I will set the stronghold to full defensive readiness at once. Do you grant permission to activate the anti-siege enchantments. Once engaged, the base will enter full lockdown.”

  Looking into the determined eyes of the commander, Lily didn’t hesitate anymore, and she nodded.

  “I give you full control over all defensive measures, Commander,” she said. “I have other matters to attend to, and I will not micromanage what you are clearly capable of handling. You may begin immediately.”

  The commander inclined his head deeply, then snapped a sharp salute.

  “As you command.”

  He turned without another word, issuing short, efficient orders as he moved. The Infernal Vanguard Cohort fell into motion around him, breaking formation and filing toward the access doors that led deeper into the keep. Lily watched as they disappeared inside, already dispersing to their assigned stations.

  Oh well, she thought quietly. I hope I made the right call with this. After all, a fortress class building on new land is basically a war declaration for everyone around…

  And with that, she didn't bother to follow her new garrison into the keep. Instead, she turned, stepped up onto the terrace ledge, and jumped. Cold air rushed past her face as she spread her wings, slowing her fall into a controlled glide that carried her toward the courtyard below.

  She landed lightly on the stone, right in front of Igrath, who was already standing at the gates of the keep.

  The huge demon rested his massive hammer over his shoulder, and his expression was something between rigid discipline and a very poorly hidden attempt to mask surprise. Lily caught it in his eyes immediately. Igrath was genuinely stunned by what had happened here. He didn't comment on it, but he didn't need to. And before he could even open his mouth, Lily started speaking.

  “Ahh, good to see you here, Igrath. As you can see, I decided to fortify my new domain,” she said casually, as if she had not just reshaped a huge chunk of the forest.

  And before he could respond, she continued, talking straight over whatever he had been about to say.

  “I know you are some kind of legendary smith and all that, but right now you are also the most fitting person for this, since you are the only greater demon present. Also, you already took responsibility in my absence quite well, and since you are the first one who came here again, I see you are diligent.”

  She pointed at him as if awarding a prize she had found in her pocket.

  “So, I am promoting you as my official representative here, and hereby declare that you, Lord Igrath Mawforge, are from now on the Citadel Lord of this place. As by imperial decree of the Xares Empire, your rank shall be the one of Marquis Imperial. Rejoice!”

  Igrath blinked. Very slowly.

  “Your new subjugates are in this keep,” Lily continued, already turning away. “I trust you will take care of this, since I have a few more pressing matters to attend.”

  And with that, without waiting for a single word from him, Lily crouched and jumped again, wings snapping open as she lifted herself back into the air.

  Behind her, Igrath stood as stone still as one of his anvils, hammer over his shoulder, processing the fact that she had just tossed the entire stronghold into his hands.

  ???

  Igrath remained where he stood long after the Princess had taken to the sky again. He needed the moment, because even for someone as old as he was, the last few hours had been unusual. The large hammer rested on his shoulder, and the new formed courtyard was quiet now, with only the distant rustle of trees breaking the silence.

  He exhaled slowly. Earlier he had finally been back in his forge again, and the familiar heat of the Maw of Creation had helped settle his mood. Meddling with mortals on behalf of the Princess had been an interesting distraction, and even when the second interruption had come that day, knocking on his door again, the matter had been intriguing enough to keep him from grinding his teeth. It had turned out that one of the mortals was possessed.

  He had assessed the mortal carefully. When he inspected the man’s soul, he had felt something that should not have been there. There had been more metaphysical mass than a mortal should ever carry on his own. The foreign presence clung to him like a second shape, subtle enough that most beings would never notice it, but not him. Igrath had not spent his entire existence as a legendary smith, and his capabilities reached far beyond the forge, far beyond even what the title of Thirteen Hammers implied. Even though he sometimes wished he could remain nothing more than the craftsman he had chosen to become, because there was no higher purpose he desired, the truth remained that his senses had been sharpened on battlefields long before he ever chose the anvil over the throne.

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  And ever since the Princess, the strange high blood from a lineage he could not place, had appeared and claimed his smithy, everything had shifted again. Even though he himself was already called ancient, he could tell that her bloodline was far older. Her presence carried weight in the air like an old crown being lowered onto forgotten earth.

  It should have been simple. She had proven herself worthy. He had sworn his loyalty. He should now be crafting relics and shaping wonders until the end of days. That was how it always went. Yet instead of receiving a single task to smith, he found himself being pulled back toward the very thing he had abandoned ages ago. Politics.

  He felt irritation stir in his chest like a low ember. He had hammered his way out of that world, and now it crawled after him again. But on the other hand, the Princess had only claimed the smithy for a short time, so perhaps his concerns were useless. She would task him soon enough to forge something worthy of her station, and then he could return to the work that mattered, leaving politics behind where they belonged.

  Even so, the entire situation in the mortal realm, unusual as it was, still intrigued him in its own way. A true high blood walking openly under mortal skies was not something the worlds ignored, and her presence alone had already stirred other factions into motion. The possessed mortal was proof of that. And the moment Igrath recognized what was coiling inside that man, he had remembered exactly why he had abandoned politics in the first place. He didn’t want to be dragged into a spider’s web of schemes and counter-schemes again, where every move led to ten more, and no one ever said what they truly wanted. But Igrath knew exactly what he wanted: he wanted his forge, he wanted creation, and he wanted definitely not intrigue.

  Because after interrogating the others, he had been certain. This was some kind of soul contract, a binding running deep beneath conscious thought. And that could only mean that someone from another plane was already trying to influence the Princess’s path here in the mortal realm. It was concerning enough that he had brought the matter to the Princess, because he highly suspected that this couldn’t be a coincidence at all. Something like that, so close to her, was not the kind of thing he ignored.

  Surprisingly, the matter was settled far faster than he had expected, because after bringing it to her attention, she had done something he had never seen before.

  From his perspective she had produced a high-tier potion out of her inventory, and with it she had created a soul connection and stepped directly into a temporary metaphysical overlap. Igrath had recognized the change in the air the moment she crossed the threshold between body and soul.

  He could only guess what she had encountered in there, and who exactly she had faced, but she had forced the entity out with a decisiveness that belonged to royalty born in the deepest circles, the kind of authority he had only ever seen in the Malveris Dominion. There had been no struggle that he could sense, only a clean severing of the contract. The possession ended in a heartbeat. And he would have been grateful if this had been the strangest event of the day. Then he could have returned to his forge and reflected on it in peace, because after witnessing that, Igrath found himself more and more intrigued by who this Lilithia Nocturne truly was.

  But when he had returned to his forge after everything, the ground had begun to shake.

  The moment the vibration reached his feet, he had stomped out of the forge once more. And when he stepped outside, he saw purple light rising into the sky and runes burning like small suns over the treetops.

  He tilted his head slightly as he watched the transformation unfold. The forest moved like water, entire stretches bending aside as if pushed by an unseen hand. Stone surged upward in great slabs, forming walls and towers where moments before there had been only earth and roots. And in the center of it all, flying above the lake, was the Princess herself. The world bending to her will.

  For a long moment he simply watched the stronghold rise from the earth, the walls forming, the wards snapping into place. Then he grunted once, more out of resignation than surprise, and rested his hammer more firmly on his shoulder.

  “Another distraction,” he muttered. “Of course.”

  He began walking toward the new keep, since the Princess had landed there after her creation.

  And that was when he realized he had made a mistake. Because by the time he reached the newly formed keep, the Princess was already jumping down from it, landing directly in front of him. He barely had time to take in the sight of her. She was still wearing her casual clothing from earlier, and not even proper shoes. The fact that she had summoned a legendary tier structure while wearing slippers almost amused him—almost.

  That amusement vanished the moment she opened her mouth.

  The first thing she announced was that she was promoting him to Citadel Lord. Then she dumped the entire responsibility of the stronghold onto him. And before he could voice a single objection, she simply took off into the sky again and vanished from sight.

  While watching her fly toward her mansion, he slowly lowered his hammer and set it beside him. He remained in silence, giving himself a few breaths to process everything. Only then did he notice something else stirring at the edge of his awareness. It took him a moment to recognize it, because it was something he had not felt in a very long time. There was a faint nudge in the back of his mind, a pull that only ever came with receiving a message from the gods. Instinctively, he opened his status.

  [New Title Acquired: Marquis Imperial]

  By decree of Her Highness, Imperial Princess Lilithia Nocturne,

  and under the ancient law of Xares,

  you are recognized as Marquis Imperial—

  bearer of border authority, wielder of sanctioned war,

  and sworn instrument of the Empire’s will beyond its heartlands.

  This title grants you […]

  Igrath stared at the glowing script for a long, quiet moment.

  Marquis Imperial. He exhaled slowly, the sound low and rumbling.

  “So,” he said to himself, “she has decided to drag me into politics after all.”

  He closed the status window with a thought.

  And then he began walking toward the keep again, because whether he liked it or not, he was now responsible for a fortress, and he needed to see which subjugates the Princess had spoken of. But he swore to himself that this was only short term, nothing more than an intermission. Once everything settled down, he would finally go back to his smithy.

  ???

  Lily flew back toward the mansion in a steady glide, wings beating just enough to keep her from dropping out of the air. The adrenaline of shaping an entire stronghold was fading, and the exhaustion of having been awake the whole night began tugging at her limbs. She ignored it. There was too much left to do. Sleep could wait. Or maybe die. It was not getting any attention from her today.

  She landed lightly in front of her mansion and went straight towards her bedroom. The room was still dim, early dawn coloring the curtains in pale gold. She shut the door with a flick of mana, then rolled her shoulders once.

  “Alright. Next round,” she muttered.

  She stripped quickly, letting her kimono and baggy pants fall in an unceremonious heap on the floor. Future me will be mad about that again, she thought, but future me can fight me later. Maybe I should hire something like a maid…

  Then she took a breath and activated [Transform].

  Her body shifted in a ripple of mana. Muscles tightened in new patterns, bones lengthened and softened at once, and her hair drained from inky black to pale blonde. Her horns vanished without a trace. Her eyes shifted from glowing crimson to a deep emerald green. Even her posture changed, straightening with that effortless elven elegance she could never quite manage as herself. And then Lysaria Greenwood stood where Lilithia Nocturne had been.

  “Right. Elf mode. Let’s pretend we know what we’re doing,” she murmured.

  Clothes next. She didn't feel like squeezing herself into a noble gown at this hour, not when she needed mobility. From her inventory she pulled out a long cream-colored blouse made of soft, enchanted fabric that draped lightly over her shoulders. It cinched at the waist with a jade-green sash embroidered with silver leaves. The trousers she chose were fitted dark-green riding leathers reinforced at the knees, practical for walking through a city or running away if things got stupid. Over it she added a short forest-green coat with gold embroidery on the collar and sleeves, something elegant enough for a high-class merchant but comfortable enough for her sanity. Soft leather boots completed the look.

  She tied her hair back into a loose braid and checked her reflection. The illusion was perfect. Lysaria Greenwood looked awake, composed, and very much like someone who hadn’t spiritually met a mannequin godling two hours ago.

  Lily left her room and stepped into the long corridor that stretched across the entire first floor. Her room was near the front of the mansion, while Tessa’s temporary quarters were all the way at the opposite end, past several decorative alcoves and tall windows overlooking the lake. She followed the corridor, boots quiet against the polished stone, until she reached the last door.

  If she remembered right, Tessa had all but collapsed into this room last night after everything that had happened. Lily paused outside the door and listened. No sound. Either the girl was asleep or lying awake staring at the ceiling and trying to process her entire life. Both were equally possible.

  Lily knocked gently.

  “Tessa? You awake?”

  There was a pause, then the faint rustle of blankets. A groggy voice answered, “Uh… yes? I think… maybe?”

  Lily pushed open the door. Tessa was sitting halfway upright, her white hair a tousled mess, tired ruby red eyes blinking toward Lily. The blanket had slipped off her shoulders, and she looked exactly like someone who had been turned into a magical being of probably cataclysmic level, less than twenty-four hours ago. Which was fair.

  “Tessa, sorry to wake you early,” Lily said. “I have to go to Tiara. And you’re coming with me.”

  Tessa blinked. “Wha… now?”

  “Yes. Now. Things are moving faster than I planned. I need to check how Gideon and the nobles are handling the city transfer, and I also need to deliver the promised named items as Lady Greenwood.”

  Tessa rubbed her eyes. “Is that… important?”

  “If I don’t show up, people will start to plot, and I also got new information. Tiara is probably in danger earlier than I thought,” Lily said flatly. “So yes. Very important.”

  Tessa stared for a moment, then nodded slowly.

  “Okay. Just… give me a minute.”

  Lily allowed herself a small smile. “Take two. Then meet me downstairs.”

  She stepped back into the hall.

  Tiara next, she reminded herself. Then the other ten thousand problems. Urgh. Shouldn’t an isekai story be carefree fun? Ah whatever…

  She headed toward the stairs, adjusting her coat as she went, and waited for Tessa so they could head together to the teleportation chamber. Absentmindedly, her thoughts drifted to the cultists. Maybe she needed to give them a task or two so they would not start doing something stupid again, but that was not her problem right now. Igrath would handle it, and they were probably busy enough dealing with Sevrin’s aftermath. Maybe that idiot will finally stop with his embarrassing honorifics…

  Footsteps approached, and Lily glanced up, seeing her apprentice making her way down the corridor. Lily had given Tessa some clothes from her inventory, since the girl’s original outfit had been torn apart during her hunt with Vessikar inside the woods. And surprisingly, they suited her far better than Lily had expected.

  Tessa wore a fitted black dress with subtle red embroidery tracing the seams, the fabric soft but sturdy enough for travel. A pair of thigh-high stockings covered most of her legs, their dark weave patterned faintly with runic stitching that made them look almost enchanted. Over everything she wore a short, dark coat with silver clasps shaped like tiny leaves, the high collar framing her neck without hiding it. Her white hair fell loosely over her shoulders, smoother and silkier than yesterday, catching the morning light in a way that made her look far more composed than she probably felt.

  Her entire appearance was noticeably more human today. The monstrous edges from her transformation had receded. Her long nails had shortened back to something close to normal length, and when she greeted Lily with a tired, “Sorry for the wait,” her fangs were only slightly longer than a human’s, barely visible unless she spoke.

  Interesting, Lily thought, eyes narrowing slightly. Her form is stabilizing faster than I expected. And also, annoyingly, she is… kind of cute now...

  She shoved that thought aside.

  “When you’re ready,” Lily said, gesturing toward the far door that led to the teleportation chamber, “we should go.”

  Tessa nodded, still rubbing sleep from her eyes but clearly trying to appear collected. “I’m ready. Just… kind of overwhelmed.”

  “Welcome to my life,” Lily murmured. “Come on. Tiara won’t fix itself.”

  Together, the two of them headed down the stairs as the morning light poured into the corridors of the newly claimed citadel.