“Finally!” shouted the foreman as the inspector signed off on the documents in hand, thus allowing the company to announce that it had finished its duty and was therefore able to be contracted to the next project.

“Don’t get ahead of yourselves just yet,” the spectral inspector quipped. “this may be a very poorly hidden public secret, but we are expecting a war to start again relatively soon. There is a decent chance that you will be called back here to repair the road and other infrastructure several times over before, during and after the war, should it come.”

“Gotta keep the ball rolling on the War Economy, eh?”

“Not exactly. What I get from high up says that the consolidation of things is going decently and that there is going to be more of a focus on growing the civilian sector rather than the military. Hopefully, our new neighbors don’t decide to make us scrap that plan.”

The foreman nodded sagely before handing the stack of papers he had over to the legal team.

“So, what’s next?”

“For now? Well, there is a contract open for renovating and landscaping a new part of Necrograd. Not really what your company is known for, but maybe you could try your hand at submitting a design idea for the several public parks that are being planned?”

The foreman thought for a moment before offering to run the suggestion by his superiors.

…

Meanwhile, in Necrograd itself, a certain pair of children were busy at school.

“Ah, so this goes here and that needs to do this for that result to be achieved.”

“Yes, Elizabeth, that is correct. But I must ask, what exactly are you working on? I can’t quite grasp the spell you’ve created.” the ‘Magic Studies’ teacher replied.

Raziel, the male of the twins, sighed as he sketched out a few highly complex magic circles.

“She is trying to create a spell that summons a temporary hive of agitated stinging bees and drops it on the target.”

The teacher blinked several times before asking the critical question.

“Why?”

Elizabeth looked up and smiled innocently.

“Because I can’t carry around hives of agitated bees in my personal inventory and trying to throw them will result in me myself being stung as well.”

She then turned back to her work.

“Besides. I can’t be bothered to lug around a few angry swarms of bees like I’m some kind of mobile weaponized apiary.”

“But why drop bees on someone?”

Elizabeth paused and looked skyward.

“Because it would be funny, I guess.”

The teacher sighed and wondered if the royal twins would ever do anything ‘normal’ or if they would continue to be as anomalous as their parents. He didn’t need to ask; the answer was painfully obvious. Eventually there would come a day when the spell that the heiress of the Darksol throne would be hailed as a weapon of comedy and tragedy, a tool both for harassing foes and giving allies a much-needed laugh. But that is a story for another day.

…

It had been three days since the paperwork had been finished and all the red tape had been dealt with. Now it was time for the standard stuff that a ruler had to deal with, and Alexis was not exactly happy to be out here on the edge of the greater empire simply to cut a ribbon and put on a nice show for the cameras. She was glad that the paparazzi had learned their place and had seriously toned down their antics; as it turned out, having those you did ‘journalism’ on being able to ruin your career if you were either too invasive or reported falsehoods and half-truths was a good way to keep the news from being riddled with lies and deception.

Of course, those in power had to be willing to avoid using that sword too much and for the wrong reasons, but Kain’s word was law, even for Alexis and her kin. Kain may have been comatose, but if things were not going well when he woke up… Well, that would be a nightmare that nobody wanted to deal with.

“It brings me great pleasure to announce the completion of this highway. With it now finished, a much larger area is now more easily traveled without the use of the Dungeon Network. It is my hope that these new, above-ground paths be used frequently, as they are a testament to the things we are capable of if we work together for a single goal. Let these paths not only allow commerce to grow, but also allow people to behold the beauty of our domain as they travel from place to place.”

Alexis held the oversized scissors and snipped the red ribbon in two, all to the applause of people who she was sure that, like her, wanted to be elsewhere. She waved a bit for the crowd, smiling just enough to look welcoming and kind without accidentally slipping into her usual visibly malicious grin. She was ‘escorted’ over to a nearby group of large open-air tents where food and drink was served, but Alexis had her attention stolen from the people around her by a slight alarm that was triggered. No one else noticed the change in the air, but to an apex predator like Alexis the addition of foreign entities to her ‘hunting grounds’ was something she immediately noticed.

She ordered a few Fel Bats to scout the area and act as her eyes and ears. She would have sent the much more powerful Hell Bats, but she did not think they would be needed. No, something that was both highly disposable and incredibly numerous was a better choice for use as a cheap scout and potential meat shield. The oversized flying (and generally nocturnal) mammals began to spread out and soon enough their eyes and ears located the intrusion. It was not an army, like she had been expecting, which was both a comfort and a concern to her. If the previous 1500+ years had taught her anything, it was that neighbors were, more often than not, hostile to her and her people. She could tell that these were not soldiers, but neither were they civilians.

She then realized what they were. Spies! She ordered the Fel Bats to continue following and observing the illegal entrants into the greater Darksol Empire, but made sure to keep them out of sight and earshot. She would have to deal with these potentially hostile agents, as no one would be allowed to ruin what she and her husband had built up.