Rebirth in Another World as the Undead Queen
Chapter 260 : Lilith's Bold PlanLilith's Bold Plan
"It's that dream again..."
Staring at the sky interwoven with inky darkness, Serea gazed into the distance at the backs of three young girls.
If it happened only occasionally, she could accept it, but her dreams felt like watching the next episode of an ongoing drama. Who else's dreams occur continuously like this?
Having noticed this oddity, Serea became convinced something was amiss.
And just as she was about to approach the three girls to see what was going on, a sensation of plummeting overcame her. Looking down, panic seized her—it was an endless abyss beneath her feet. As she struggled desperately, a massive black shadow flew toward her from afar.
This time, she got a clear look at the shadow—it was a...
Dragon!
Riding the dragon's back, the three girls opened their mouths and seemed to silently recite four characters. But before the sound reached her, the image shattered abruptly.
Her body jolted awake— the feeling of falling into the abyss had been so real. Only after taking several quick breaths did Serea calm down.
"Queen...eh hehe..."
Hearing a sound, Serea turned her head and saw Lola lying on the bed, clutching her arm.
"I remember now, I was too tired before and just rested. By my guess, it's already the dawn of the next day."
With this reckoning, a piece of elven cloth was suddenly laid over Lola. The one who came in was...
"Celia, you've returned."
"Just arrived."
Gently freeing herself from Lola's embrace, Serea rolled off the bed while Celia deftly handed her clothes and helped her wash up.
"Looking at you, you must have hurried back overnight?"
"Yes, the church imposed martial law in Sedis City, and a large number of clerics have taken up residence at the Trading Post. To avoid attracting attention, I hurried back overnight."
"What! The church?"
"That's right, but you don't need to worry. They're not here for you. Avril helped us probe the situation using her connections. Apparently, the undead in the eastern and core regions of the jungle suddenly began migrating en masse. This could seriously affect the border towns of the Otto Kingdom, so Otto mobilized its troops, and together with the church's army from the Holy Empire, stationed them in Sedis City."
"....."
While explaining, Celia styled Serea's hair. Serea, however, wore a grave expression.
The undead had started a mass migration, grave enough for the Otto Kingdom to admit the church's military into its city. Things were getting out of control, and as for the root of it all...
Serea suspected it was absolutely connected to the previous eruption of magic in the southern jungle. As for the exact location, thanks to the fleeing Morzada, it had already been pinpointed to the Maregof branch on the edge of Lake Nos.
But now that the church had stationed itself here, what about her plans...?
"Oh, by the way, Princess Lilith asked me to give you this."
Celia handed over a piece of parchment, sealed with the church's insignia.
"This is..."
"A temporary permit. With this, you're essentially a church-certified 'undead mage.'"
"I see."
So Lilith had already anticipated this. With the permit, she was now a 'legitimate' undead mage, even if only temporarily, sparing her some unnecessary trouble.
Of course, she wasn't going to intentionally stir up the church.
After putting away the permit carefully, Serea asked about another matter.
"Have you found the instruments?"
"No, but I did bring this back."
She produced a cage holding a small bird with pure white feathers.
"???"
"Master, this is a 'thousand-toned' bird, a Tier 3 monster. It can mimic all sounds in the world."
"Imitating sounds... I see! That's clever—who would have thought of this?"
Looking at the Level 23 thousand-toned bird in the cage, Serea understood Dogsius's idea.
*Ching!*
A sharp electric guitar sound rang out. Clearly, Dogsius had already trained it beforehand.
"Well done... Hm? What is that?"
Noticing a parcel on the table, Serea picked it up.
"Snacks."
"For me?"
"If you... if you like them, they're yours."
"Thank you."
She opened the box to find pieces of black candy. She put one in her mouth...
Hmm, it was definitely chocolate.
Letting Lola continue her rest, Serea led Celia out of the treehouse.
Looking out over the camp, she saw the second circle of outer walls had already started construction, and inside, the wooden and brick houses were neatly arranged. In the future, this would be a core area for building various functional facilities, and on the left side of the treehouse, a huge stone platform was already finished.
"It only took two days to finish? Leklis really works fast."
Excitedly descending from the treehouse, she saw that the one overseeing the works today was Leklis's apprentice, Park.
"Queen Serea, good morning!"
"Good morning. Where's Leklis?"
"My teacher's resting. I'm covering for him."
As they talked, Serea walked over to the "Engineering Platform."
Everything in the camp had been built by Leklis, Park, and Flosa, working around the clock with the Skeletons. Now Flosa was off constructing the outpost, leaving only Leklis and Park here.
With twelve-hour shifts of intensive labor each day, Serea scarcely saw either of them.
"If you're tired, go get some rest."
"No way! I'm full of energy right now!"
Park, sporting dark circles under his eyes, insisted. Serea decided she must thank these loyal "partners" later—helping upgrade their Skeleton Warriors might be a good way.
"Unlock, vampire Engineering Platform!"
System: Unlocking, please wait...
One hundred blood crystals were consumed as magic runes settled over the platform. Unlock complete!
Building: Vampire Engineering Platform (Purple)
Level: 25
Structure: C
Durability: C
Mana: B
Description: Level 2 Blood Altar building, can construct all sorts of engineering equipment and produce giant beast units. Engineers within the area gain the "Mental Focus" effect. Unlocks construction of Tier 3 building "Vampire Magitech Institute."
Mental Focus: Increases the quality of engineering devices and giant beast units by twenty percent.
"Master, vidos at your service."
A silver magic tome flew out. Serea caught it and checked which units she could currently construct.
Available: Wagons, watchtowers, catapults, simple posts, battering rams...
She had all the basic engineering implements and, furthermore...
Gargoyle (Purple): Construction uses stone, blood Stone x3, and requires the Blood Spring for power.
"Another one that eats Blood Spring—looks like we'll hit the population cap soon."
After griping a little, Serea called someone over.
"Queen Serea, did you need me?"
The newcomer was Vina.
"I heard you studied engineering?"
"Just a little."
"That's enough. Those dwarves and trolls we took in before—you can command them to help build four of these big ones for me."
Handing Vidos to Vina, Serea watched her scan the blueprints. Vina promptly assured her:
"No problem."
"Good. Vidos, help Vina and guide her in her engineering studies."
"At your command, my master."
"No time to waste, let's start at once."
With the addition of giant beast units, Serea was slightly relieved, but it wasn't enough. Before starting a war, she'd have to rapidly strengthen her forces, at least enough to resist Maregof's 400-strong ogre unit, 300 goblins, and hundreds more goblins, dwarves, and the like.
However, with the Dragonbone Catacomb and Necromancy Tower nearing completion, the situation would soon turn around.
While Serea focused on low-key development and waited for the Jungle Council's assembly, on the other side, lilith was conspiring a thunderous plan.
...
After handing over the intelligence Serea helped her appraise to the church, lilith regained her temporary freedom. Taking advantage of the time, she returned to the Otto royal palace.
"Mother."
Upon hearing the call, catherine, gazing absentmindedly out the window, instantly brightened. Looking to the door, she saw Lilith standing there, clad in light armor.
"Lilith! My dear daughter!"
They embraced. Separating, lilith glanced around the room.
"Where's Ina?"
At the question, catherine lowered her head a bit. Seeing that look, lilith knew—the final deadline had come.
After a long silence, catherine finally spoke first.
"Lilith, let me confirm with you one last time: have you truly made up your mind?"
"Yes. I'm determined. Besides, you saw what happened to my second sister. Ina would not survive this journey—if war is inevitable, why sacrifice Ina for nothing?"
When Lilith finished, catherine closed her eyes in contemplation. When she reopened them, decisiveness shone on her face.
"All right. Take this. If they see it, they'll help you."
"Thank you, mother."
Lilith took a silver token—none other than the command medallion of the Otto Kingdom's "Silver Shuttle," the kingdom's elite assassin force, answering directly to the king.
After the previous king died, fearing another "Cloudy's Betrayal," the noble council had moved to dissolve Silver Shuttle, and the weakened royal house had been compelled to agree.
But superficially dissolved or not, the medallion had passed into Queen Catherine's hands, and Silver Shuttle's remnants still existed, ever loyal to the royal family.
Now, with the token once more in Lilith's hands, what was she plotting?
"Remember: don't take action outside Otto."
"I understand."
"I've prepared everything for you. There's no time to lose—go contact them at once."
"Yes. Take care, mother."
Taking her leave of Catherine, lilith blended into the night, making her way into Okkento's slums. She located a ramshackle tavern and stepped inside.
"We're closed for the day. Come back tomorrow."
"I'm not here for food or drink. I want to talk business with you."
"Upstairs, second floor, turn left."
Climbing the creaky stairs, lilith went straight to the second floor and entered a dilapidated room, where a man was already waiting.
"Who needs killing?"
As a member of an assassin organization, the man thought she was there "for business," but—
*Clack!*
Lilith tossed the silver token onto the table.
Seeing it, the black-robed man sized her up.
"What's your surname?"
"Bloodstorm."
"Close the shop, everyone."
The man yelled downstairs, and after the sound of the door shutting echoed, he dropped to his knees before Lilith.
"Master, your orders?"
"How many of you are there?"
"Fifty."
"Weapons?"
"We're sufficiently equipped."
"Gather here in one day."
Leaving behind an address, lilith turned and left.
The black-robed man put away the note, gathered his men, and slipped out of the tavern, dropping a chess pawn in front of a few slum dwellings. Then, taking a dozen or so men, he packed up and left town overnight.
Minutes later, the chess piece was quietly picked up by someone else.
Returning to the palace, lilith shared a silent dinner with her parents and brother. One was missing from the table, but the four present all tacitly avoided mentioning it. It had been the same the night Serea first left. As dinner ended, everyone went their separate ways.
...
Time passed swiftly. By noon the next day, lilith had already arrived at the agreed meeting point—a farmhouse, where peasants bustled about. Lilith strode in confidently.
"We're ready to act."
At her signal, several black-robed, silver-masked assassins poured out of the farmhouse—thirty in all. Twenty other peasants led out wagons, into which the assassins climbed. The leader knelt before Lilith.
"Master, everything is ready."
"Excellent. Let's move."
...
At the same time, a convoy was traveling from the Otto Kingdom to Ailera. A young girl opened the carriage curtain and looked out.
"So these are the roads Serea traveled..."
Murmuring to herself, ina's heart ached, but the prospect of following her sister's path also filled her with fear.
Looking at the unfamiliar guards outside the carriage, she realized they were all strangers. After Princess Serea was married off and attacked by bandits, then sending off a third princess so quickly afterward—such things were hardly flattering for the Otto Kingdom's reputation. So Ina's transfer had been done in secret, and the wedding would be held in Ailera, that foreign land.
And as for her escort—no royal guards, just ordinary soldiers and the returning Otto envoys.
"Miss Ina, we've entered the Ailera Empire's borders. Would you like to bid farewell to your homeland?"
The convoy stopped, and the envoy Okum entered the carriage, saying this rather ambiguous line.
"No. Just keep moving."
"Understood, I will inform them."
As he spoke, a magical look flashed across Okum's eyes. Sensing the danger, ina tried to resist, but her eyelids fell shut against her will.
"Rest easy, little one. When you wake up, that faction of 'peace advocates' in the Empire will finally be silenced for good."
With that, he slipped a ring onto Ina's finger.
Okum could already picture the furious face of the empire's third prince, after being "assassinated" by the Otto princess. Everything was proceeding according to plan—now he just had to wait for...
"Report. The reception party has arrived."
A soldier came to report outside the carriage.
"That fast?"
A little surprised, okum set the unconscious Ina in place and followed the soldier to the front of the convoy.
(To be continued...)
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