Einherjar Becomes Valkyrie

Once inside the palace, Elena detailed to her father how she had built all this and how she was preparing for the impending backstab of the kingdom of Varest.

Discovering that Elena's soldiers were puppets left Armand speechless, but hearing that she could create mytril left even Maya breathless. There were only three ways to get mytril, from rare mines, from inside some magical dungeons, and through alchemy with the valuable dragon blood as an ingredient. However, Elena could convert iron to mytril by using sorcery.

「Elena, how did you learn all this?」

Armand asked Elena some that even Maya had in mind.

「I... that day on the battlefield, I died」

Armand's heart stopped for a few seconds.

Elena finally related part of what happened. When she fell to the ground after being mortally wounded, time stood still and all the knowledge that she possessed now at that moment arose in her mind. There was no way Elena to reveal the whole truth about Kaname, she feared that if she did, her father might come to think she was not Elena, but Kaname.

「Elena-sama became a true Valkyrie!」

Erin exclaimed this with enthusiasm and although it might sound absurd, neither Maya nor Armand could deny that possibility.

According to legends; the Valkyries were Sacred Maidens sent by the gods to bring justice to the world. From Elena's narrative, anyone could conclude that the Gods had chosen her to make her a Valkyrie.

「How many of these puppets can you create?」

Whatever the truth, Armand had one thing clear, Elena was his daughter and nothing and no one would change that. For this reason, he took the conversation to Izana's preparations.

「About a thousand of them」

Elena's response stole Maya, Armand, and Harlan's breath.

Elena did not think it was necessary to go into detail, but her response was rather lax.

If it were puppets created from low-quality magic cores, Elena could only create about a hundred puppets. The reason for this is that puppets created with lower quality core were directly linked to Elena's mind, they would not even move without Elena's thoughts involved.

Puppets created with S-cores like the Izana Knights do not even put a bit of mental strain on Elena, but her blood.

The reason Elena can create puppets is inside her blood. In Elena's blood, there are tiny crystals that act as a kind of receptor and emitter of a magic sling similar to radio waves, these crystals are called Uttara Crystals. Of course, the Uttara crystals in Elena's blood are just one more consequence of the modification her body received upon receiving Kaname's legacy.

When Elena creates a puppet, her blood assigns that puppet a Uttara crystal, although this may vary.

A puppet created from nucleus A is assigned three Uttara crystals, while a puppet created from nucleus S is assigned six Uttara crystals.

Elena has three thousand Uttara crystals inside her blood. In theory, she could create three thousand puppets using low-quality core, but this would devastate her mind.

With the puppets created from high-quality core not putting a mental strain on her, the number of these puppets that Elena can create is limited by the three thousand Uttara crystals inside her blood.

「What about these Izana Knights?」

「With all the process involved in creating the mytril, I can create two of them per day as long as I have the magic cores and full-body armor」

Armand stopped being surprised and focused on the information. He was probably imagining the possibilities of an army of a thousand Izana Knights, something that was impossible. If Elena created only Izana Knights, she could only create five hundred of them.

「Miss Elena, what about Necro-dono?」

Harlan was the one who asked that question.

「Although Necro can create unlimited undead, the more of them he creates the less control he will have over them, so Necro's limit should be around a thousand」

Undead out of control would end up attacking even allies.

「If you were looking to create an army of undead then you would have created more Lichs, what do you plan to do with them?」

Elena smiled in response to her father's agile mind.

「I will turn the three old mines into magic dungeons, and one of them will focus on undead」

Even if Armand had decided not to be surprised anymore, Elena had no intention of allowing it.

「Elena-sama, can you create a magic dungeon?」

Maya was the first to react.

「Although many magic dungeons appear naturally, it is also possible to create them artificially, only one 'SS +' core is needed」

Everyone gasped upon hearing that, 'SS +' was the maximum range of danger in monster rankings, creatures stronger than True Dragons, something like Ancient Dragons.

「Even if the cost is so exorbitant, creating a single magic dungeon would revive the territory of Izana」

Harlan stated that.

Cores could be continuously mined from magic dungeons, treasures and valuable ingredients were also created inside, and sometimes even mytril. If a magic dungeon suddenly appeared in the Izana territory, hundreds of people would come to live in the city in search of wealth.

「For now we should focus on preparing the city for a battle」

Armand's words confused the rest.

「Elena-sama, who could come to attack us?」

「Sadora, or even Varest ...」

Erin blinked several times upon hearing Elena's response.

To clarify matters, Armand explained the situation from the beginning, from the formation of an army that would be defeated for the sake of provoking a large-scale war.

Once Erin heard that the royal court had planned to use Elena to provoke war, she clenched her fists tightly as tears flowed from her eyes.

「Why does the king want to take everything I love from me?」

As Armand and the others were confused by Erin's words, something clicked in Elena's mind.

「Erin, what was your father's name?」

Erin wiped away her tears and then looked Elena in the eye.

「Antony Redin」

Armand blinked several times with surprise.

「The Count Redin?」

「Yes…」

After letting out a long sigh, Armand spoke of what he had learned about Count Antony Redin.

Unlike the rest of the nobles who remained silent about the mediocre army sent to the border to confront the Sadorian army, Antony Redin openly protested.

Count Redin was a man who valued life, therefore, that so many men and women were sent to die filled him with indignation.

Count Redin's protests eventually irritated the court faction that was determined to seek total war against Sadora. Count Redin was accused of conspiring with the enemy and with no support, he was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Erin and Teo, who finally knew the reason for their tragedy, cried in Elena's arms until they fell deeply asleep.

Maya and Bryn took the pair of siblings and retired.

Elena, Harlan, and Armand finished detailing an action plan, and Elena retired to go meet with Necro.

「Sorry for making you wait」

With the steel soldiers having finished bringing what was needed from Lutrel Palace, Elena closed the warp and then took power from various magic cores to open a new warp.

Under a dimly clouded night sky, a door of light appeared amid what was a bloody battlefield several weeks ago. Some of those killed in battle had been buried right here, and these were the most fortunate as an overwhelming majority of them had been devoured by monsters and carrion birds.

「In this place, I can feel a good number of bodies」

After arriving at the place, Necro declared with some satisfaction.

「Create as many skeleton soldiers as you can」

「As you order, Master」

If Necro were to create zombies, he could create a huge number of them, but this is not the plan.

Elena didn't want grotesque zombies wandering around Izana, so it would take Necro some time to create each skeleton soldier.

As Necro began his task, Elena looked at the lonely plain. This was the place where she had been reborn.

By the time the first rays of sunlight crossed the sky, Elena and Necro returned to Izana with fifty skeleton soldiers accompanying them.

「Welcome back, Elena-sama」

「I'm back, Nia」

Elena showed a somewhat lonely smile. With the presence of her father and Nia's mother, she could not enjoy sleeping accompanied by Nia.

「How are Erin and Teo?」

「They both continue sleeping」

「I see, what about my father?」

「He waits for you, Elena-sama」

As Nia had said, Armand waited in the large dining room in the palace. Of course, the place still lacked the real estate, and only a simple table and a few chairs were present.

「Good morning, father, Harlan」

Armand and Harlan returned Elena's greeting, and she took a seat next to her father. The two maids soon appeared to bring breakfast.

「Elena, this place will require a lot of staff」

Armand smiled after saying that.

With the final size that the palace would have, three maids, counting Nia, in no way three people could occupy themselves to maintain this place.

「Could I assign some puppets to help?..」

「Even if they are efficient, don't rely solely on puppets, human interaction is very necessary to maintain sanity」

Elena nodded in response to her father's advice, he was right, if she surrounded herself and the others with puppets, she and the others could develop psychological problems, some books from the world of Kaname dealt with topics like this.

「Elena, is it possible to create one of those light doors and keep it permanently active?」

「Yes, but it needs an SS+ core」

Armand let out a bitter sigh upon hearing Elena's response.

「Father, what did you have in mind?」

「To tell you the truth, I can't help worrying about your siblings…」

Elena smiled when she saw the discomfort that her father showed when talking to her about that topic.

「If the ingredients are gathered, it is possible to create a warp that can be activated at the cost of a core A」

Armand's face lit up at that.

Although she could hardly forget everything that had happened in the past, Elena could not be hostile towards her father's family, they were her father's family and she would not force him to choose between them and her.

Elena could tolerate Darrel and Marla, but Richell was a separate topic...

「What do you need?」

「For a start, an SS core」

「Well, it is easier than getting an SS+ core」

Armand smiled bitterly. The problem of SS and SS+ cores was not so much their exorbitant price, but their poor presence in the market.

After lunch, Elena opened a warp toward Lendolf, which Nia and Harlan used to go pick up the products of the deal with merchant Frank. Elena sent the twenty steel soldiers and two Izana Knights with them as a measure of protection and to help them transport things.

At Armand's suggestion, Elena order Necro and the skeleton soldiers to resume construction of the palace. Armand had shown a faint smile by showing Elena that the skeleton soldiers could hide under the earth of the old cemetery so the necropolis was not indispensable at the moment. Nia, Bryn, and Erin were fascinated to see Elena's flushed face for the first time.

Harlan had pointed out another topic. The great room that the golems built was also not essential, the golems could lie on the ground and pretend to be a pile of rocks. Therefore, a flushed Elena ordered the golems to resume construction of the fort.

Armand took charge of training Teo, Erin, and Bryn in sword handling.

Maya joined the two maids to help them organize everything brought in from the Lutrel Palace.

Although its inhabitants were few and most of its infrastructure was only ruins, Izana could already be considered a growing city.