“So, you’re inclined to visiting the capital, I see,” Shardrock talked to me as he blew smoke out of his mouth, with his hands on a wooden smoking pipe. Shardrock and his partner were giving me their farewells, since they had no reason to go to the capital. The chief of guards was elected after a few days as the new governor and he was happy that we assisted with the city’s rail and corruption problem so they let us use the first-class side of the train.

As the dwarves loaded Alph into a large empty freight car, I gave Shardrock a nod, “Of course. There’s still some important business I had to attend to.” I shook my head once towards my companions who were talking to each other, they were probably planning on what to do once they got to the capital.

Shardrock gave me some pointers where to visit when I arrive at the capital. I thanked him and joined my other companions. Sarjay approached me, “Hm. Boss, it seemed that you were busy while you were gone. What exactly did you do to receive such treatments?”

“Well, even if I told you about it, you’d probably be missing a large chunk of the story,” I explained to Sarjay that the dwarves turn ‘feral’ when they come into contact with alcohol. Sarjay was doubtful at first, until I explained to him that ‘feral’ means to become a true dwarf. Moreover, I also explained to him that the royal family could be linked to the dwarves turning into...these.

“And? How exactly are you going to go talk to the royal family? Are we just going to walk in like we did in Aon?” Sarjay asked me. I couldn’t think of a plan so I decided to put off making a plan to interrogate the royal family until later.

We got on the trains and sat comfortably inside the first-class compartments, the trains appeared to be able to accommodate taller, larger races . The train was something new to us, so it was pretty exciting. We were told that the details of the train was strictly confidential, many nations had tried to steal the plans but they had always failed for almost two centuries. So it wasn’t really odd that we told the dwarves it was our first time riding a train.

The train was rather interesting, so my companions and I took pictures of it. Once the train started moving, our group went ‘Whoooa!’ and ‘What kind of sorcery is this?!’. Asha was sitting next to me and she doesn’t seemed to fazed about it.

“This isn’t your first time riding a train, right?” I asked her.

“No. Why would it be my first time? The fact that the dwarves know me well means I’ve been in the United Fortresses multiple times,” She replied.

I looked out the window and saw the rock walls passing by with nothing but lamps to light the tunnels. Occasionally, I saw huge cave spiders crawling around the walls. I hope that they won’t jump onto the train since Sarjay was arachnophobic. Now that I thought about it, that’s pretty weird - A skeletal knight clad in black armor who burns up when he’s pissed was afraid of spiders.

“You guys are pretty weird, you know?” Asha chuckled as she watched me look out the window like a little kid, “Even your names are weird. Show me how to write them in your language.”

I took out a parchment and then wrote some of our names onto it. Asha keenly observed and studied the alphabets we wrote. She ran her slim fingers through the ink, trying to imitate how I wrote them.

“These alphabets looked strangely the same as Ancient Commons,” She muttered. Oh shit. I haven’t thought about that. What do I tell her?

“Er..perhaps we kept our commons as is? That’s maybe why we can somewhat talk to each other but can’t read each other’s words,” I chattered as I scratched my head.

“Oh, so that’s why you kept saying it’s Commons. I suppose so. Wow, now that I looked at it closely, these words looks so....bold and strong. You should teach me Commons, maybe it’ll help me with magical enchantments.” She was looking at the parchment like how a kid would look at his present that he received on his birthday. Magical enchantment uses words to create enchantments, so the better the word combination, the stronger the magic would be.

She pointed at a word, “What does this say? Whose name is this?”

“Oh, that’s Sarjay for Commons. Well, my Commons. You see this? These stroke up here means ‘Burning heart’.” I pointed at the aforementioned stroke at the alphabet.

“Wow, it...wait...why does it look similar to my….” Asha squinted her eyes at Sarjay’s name. Sarjay, who was sitting opposite of us, leaned it closer, “Is there anything wrong with my name?”

“Nothing. Can I keep this? I’d like to study this with more detail later,” Asha said as she looked at me seriously. Whoa, she seemed so pumped up. I nodded since I don’t have a reason to keep a parchment of our names.

“Maybe when I’m done crafting the greatsword, I need to get back to my home to find more information from my family’s library,” Asha talked to herself as she tucked the paper into her bag.

“Your home? Also, you have your own library?” I asked her.

“Ah, yeah. The human kingdom of Angolia. If you remember, I introduced myself as Asha of Follis. I’m technically a noble,” She replied nonchalantly.

“Haaaa?! You’re a noble?!” I shook her aggressively. What on earth?! I was travelling with a noble girl this entire time?! And not only that, she seemed to be a noble of a large human nation!

“Wait! Wait! Yes, I’m a noble, but my house is just a minor house,” She explained once I stopped shaking her, “My family used to be one of the topshots, but now we’re just a history page family. My parents were pretty liberal, they allowed me to do whatever I wanted instead of marrying me off to another minor family. In the end, I’m sure they were happy that they made the right decision.”

That’s rather nice. Her parents aren’t the typical snobs who chained their daughters. I’d like to meet them and give them a congratulations for being a sign of progress. Speaking of talking to her parents, I’d like to visit Angolia once we’re done with the dwarves.

I once again offered to join Asha to Angolia and since she won’t lose anything from it, she agreed. I hummed happily but then remembered one crucial thing. I grabbed Asha again and started to shake her again.

“Asha, tell me, are the humans are still humans?! Are they still corrupt to the core and think of other races as boorish people?! Do they still have a large military force and for some reason, have a rather large racial diversity?! Don’t tell me they all became into dirt-eating pacifists!” I cried.

“Wait, what the hell are you on about?! Humans are still humans! I don’t know what you mean by corrupt to the core. Angolia is one of the strongest nations in the continent, you know? We do have a large racial diversity, we aren’t racist. Honestly, I don’t know what you’re on about. First the dwarves, then the halflings and now humans?” She sighed as she shook her head in disapproval. Well, Asha’s a human and she’s as human as one could be.

My companions were also racially diverse. Maven was an elf, Sarjay’s a human, Daggerless was an idiot and so on. But no matter where we came from, we’re all nothing but corpses. Speaking of which, I used to be human.

The rest of the train journey was pretty uneventful. Asha became quiet, too. She silently pondered about something then fell asleep during the ride. Youngsters like her shouldn’t think too much or they’ll fry their brains out..

.

.

.

The train slowed down as it neared its destination. It soon entered a massive junction, connecting to other dwarven cities or other parts of the capital. I was just amazed by the number of trains there were. As I looked out, I could see large buildings with different shapes and sizes, and yet, none of them reached the ceiling.

They said that the dwarven capital was built inside the tallest mountain in the world. After seeing the capital, I didn’t doubt that. We got our luggage and left the train, then started to head towards the station offices.

The dwarven station was filled with...well...dwarves. I couldn’t see too much foreigners. There was the occasional lycan, human and a single fairy but other than that, it was filled with dwarves. I could expect the rest of the capital to be the same.

As we were about to exit the station, some dwarven officers came up to us. They wore bright red uniforms with leather jerkin on top, trimmed with gold colored silk. Much like in Azkator, the dwarves did not have a beard, though one of the officers had well-trimmed sideburns. One of the dwarven officers took out a paper, looked at it, then at us.

“G’day, sirs. I require you lots to follow me in a neat and tidy fashion, what say you?” The sideburns officer told us. We didn’t exactly have a reason to refuse so we agreed. We were lead out of the office and into a few carriages. The dwarves assured them that our demon tortoise would be kept safely.

I was sat onto the front of the carriages, and in it was a well-dressed dwarf. He was wearing a blue noble’s jacket, with golden embroidery. On his head was a powdered white wig, with a monocle on his eyes like the first governor in Azkator.

Sarjay and Asha joined my carriage, and the caravan of carriages started to move. The nobleman studied me from head to toe silently. It was like he was checking the quality of a high class armor for any scratches. He did the same for Sarjay.

“Er...may I know why we’re here?” I asked.

He raised his chin slightly higher, then placed his hand on his chin. “For reasons even I am not sure, Her Majesty, the Queen Ellysa VI, wishes to meet you. You should be honored. Not many dwarves get to see her, much less outsiders,” He spoke in a very posh manner, then proceeded to introduce himself. Apparently, he was one of the dukes in the dwarven kingdom. So I supposed that he’s important.

He took out a teapot seemingly out of nowhere then proceeded to offer us tea. I wondered if being able to magically create teapots was a requirement to get a higher noble rank. I refuse the tea because it was mushroom tea. There’s too much mushroom tea in this damned nation and not enough mushroom beer.

The Duke wasn’t really interested in chatting with us. He exchanged a few words with Asha then silently drank tea to himself. Why’s this guy here anyway? I looked out of the window and observed the streets. There were people hustling and bustling, all of them wearing fancy suits or dresses. You would see the occasional guard with their fancy red uniform patrolling. The streets were clean and the people were busy being productive.

I wish they were productive in some other ways. Like, you know...getting drunk then proceeding to chew on steaming hot mithril as substitute to tobacco. The streets were remarkably clean. Compared to Aon, the dwarven streets beat them by a large margin. The current dwarven society was so different to how I remembered it.

Eventually we reached a large gate. The duke got out to talk to the guards, then the carriages proceeded without him. Seriously, what was his purpose of being on the carriage? We passed through a large courtyard, with the guards slowly changing color from royal red to black. The equipment of the guards also increased in quality.

We left the carriages when we reached the palace entrance and the door was as impressive as the cathedral doors in Aon. The door was also very sturdy, probably to defend against sieges. The guards, surprisingly, were all females when we reached the palace. They wore black plate armor over black uniform, but they did not wear helmets.

Unlike the typical somewhat stocky dwarven women, these dwarves were slim. Their shoulders were narrow and their face was flat and pale. You’d mistake them for shorter elves. They silently lead us further down into the palace. I admired the artwork lined along the halls but I sensed something.

No, in fact, I’ve had this itch since entering the capital. I ignored it because I know for a fact that skeletons can’t itch, but I realized this wasn’t just an itch. I was sensing something...or someone...with a familiar essence. As I walked further down the hall, the essence was getting stronger.

My companions could also feel it, but since I wasn’t saying anything, Sarjay came up to me and asked, “Boss, do you feel that?”

“Yes and I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” I muttered. We kept walking, and my companions weren’t even interested in looking around. They mostly had their hands on their weapons, ready to take it out at any moment. Asha noticed how tense we were but kept quiet. She was getting a bit nervous.

The dwarves eventually lead us to a guest hall, but only to stop Asha. They told her to wait here while we meet with the Queen. I wasn’t comfortable with the whole place so I had Maven guard her while we meet with the head and brains of the dwarven nation.

We continued and by now, we’ve confirmed the essence was coming straight from the throne room that we were approaching. This essence...the essence of death. It was everywhere. From the guards, to the walls, to the doors. Everywhere. The essence of death wasn’t strong in Aon, probably because of the holy nature of the city. But this was the palace of the dwarven queen, there were no holy men or light from the Goddess to dull the essence. It was just practically leaking everywhere.

We stood in front of the throne room. We took a deep breath, then opened the doors ourselves. It felt like opening a bag of rotten cheese. I instinctively tried to close my nose, even though there was no smell, nor do I have a nose. We walked until we were a few steps from the throne.

The figure on the seat was lazily sitting. With her head resting on her hand and another hand on an arm of the throne, she looked very, very bored. Much like the dwarven guards in the palace, she was slim, as well. Her face was much more beautiful than the other guards, but she was much paler. Her eyeline was well-defined and her eyelids had black makeup. Or I hoped it was black makeup.

She was wearing a large dress with a color combination of red and black, giving her a sinister look, with a small cape draped over it. On her hands were black fingerless silk gloves, her black hair was long and flowing. She had a few red or black ribbons randomly placed all over her dress. You could bet that her favorite colors are red and black. Resting on her head was a gold crown adorned with a single gem.

The dwarven guards brought seats and placed them behind us. The dwarven queen signalled them to leave with just one wave of her hand and they obeyed. Once the dwarves had left, we stood alone in the throneroom with the queen

Since I was at the very front of my group, the queen and I had a staring showdown. It went on for a few minutes before I glanced at my seat. She sighed then gave a nod. We took a seat, then the queen straightened herself.

“Normally, when people come to me, they grovel onto the floor. I was so used to it, I was simply waiting for you to start licking the floor in my presence. Alas, it just seemed that you are awkward,” She said with a soft, calm voice that would make any man or woman swoon over her.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t vote for you,” I answered back.

“Well, you don’t vote for monarchs. Disregarding that, why not enjoy your tea?” She asked me.

“Tea? What nonsense are you talking about….WHAT THE?!” I stood up frantically and threw the cup of tea that was on my hand onto the floor. What the hell? Where did that come from? I calmed down a bit and took my seat again. My companions drank the tea anyways. This was some kind of high level posh magic! I knew it! The higher your rank was, the better you were at taking tea out of nowhere!

“You’re a peculiar one. Let’s cut the pleasantries. I am Ellysa VI. You can call me Ellysa, though I prefer ‘Your Majesty, the One and Only, ruler of the halls within the mountain’. I think you know why I called you here.” She smiled at me in a mocking way.

“No, I’m not exactly sure why. But what I know is that I’m not going to like the reason,” I replied.

“Oh? Well, too bad. We know that we’re both undead. At least, you know that I’m undead, right?” She tilted her head slightly. I tiredly nodded then stared at the ceiling.

“For what reason do you have to come here. Surely you would’ve known that this is my domain,” She asked.

“I’m just here...to tour,” I replied, giving a minute for the pause. She looked at me with skepticism.

“Well, for now, I’ll accept that reason. Before I let you go ‘tour’, we should know a bit more about each other.” She went back to sitting lazily on her throne.

“Ahahaha. A date? No, no, no. I’m not sure I’m ready for a relationship.” I laughed as I scratched my head. She puffed her cheeks, then switched her hands to lie on.

“I don’t mean by that, you dolt. I am curious about what you are. What sort of undead are you?” She inquired.

“What do you mean?”

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, thinking about how to explain, then replied, “A living person has both the essence of life and death. Albeit, the essence of life is obviously higher. On the other hand, the undead has more essence of death than life.”

She tapped her finger on the arms of the throne, then cleared her throat, “The problem with you is that you….have too much life essence AND death essence. They’re practically equal, and much larger than an average person. So, now, what are you?”

“Well, before I answer, what are you, first?” I asked her back.

“Sigh, to make a Queen of one of the largest nations in the continent answer first before one does. Do you really have no manners? Nevertheless, I shall entertain you, for now.” She straightened herself again, then got off the throne. She stood straight, then gave a noble bow. As she bent her body, her red dress started to ‘melt’. Red liquid started to ooze from the dress before sliding down, giving an impression of a red waterfall.

As the liquid hit the floor, it became into disgusting goo that reminded me of Maven’s histories, but colored pink. The goo started to form into shadowy, thin arms sprouting from the ground. The ribbons started to turn into faces in pain, with their screams muffled.

Her dress slowly turned into flesh and tongues, the muscles clearly seen, the tongues trying to lick into the flowing blood. Teeth started to spear over the edges of the dress, the silk gloves now gloves made out of skin. Eyes were spread all over the dress, staring at me like creeps.

Despite her disgusting dress that looked like it was made by a butcher, her appearance still looked the same. Pale face, black eyes, slim body. The contrast of the beauty and the beastly dress was like heaven and earth.

She gave a dashing psychopathic smile, then spoke with the same beautiful soothing voice, “I am Ellysa, Queen of the Dark, Lady of Flesh and Gore, Lady of the Vampires of the Western Continent.”