Victory needed an entire day and the active help of Amber to take control of the Balantican city. Only then did they discover the location of the treasure room, which held tons of old documents and data crystals which were now safely stored onboard Victory. The city itself indifferently accepted Amber as its master and the new Emperor of the Balantican Empire. Not the Empress but the Emperor. For her part, Amber couldn't care less what the ancient city wanted to title her as long as it followed her orders. The city was sealed and prepared to be studied in the future by scholars and historians. For now, Victory made it clear that hastily installed golem cores in the ships of the Royal Navy would be more troublesome than helpful. With the Workshop set to replenish the self-defence army of golems and forging replacement high-quality, empty golem cores in small amounts, they decided to leave a small garrison in the city. Additionally, despite Amber's reluctance, a few Artificers volunteered to stay and began to study golemcraft. With the help of the remaining golems, they properly fortified the city centre and built far more usable quarters. It was decided that the city would remain a research and military outpost indefinitely. On the evening of the sixth day since leaving Avalon, the Empresses were ready to return home.

Dauntless' battle group received new orders and the Empresses moved from the dreadnought to Victory. Inside, the ship of the line was unrecognisable. The cramped and utilitarian interior was replaced with spacious rooms and magnificent decorations. It was brightly lit and air-conditioned, resembling much more a luxury mansion than a sail warship. Victory was very proud of her design and the Empresses had to agree with her choices. It turned out that the previous pristine white paint job was only a base for a far more intricate colour scheme based on the Avalon's heraldry. The stunning sapphire blue was enhanced by gold framing and surrounded with black and white. Each detail of the ship was made with the incredible skill and dedication of the best of Arcadian craftsmen. The third of the ship was dedicated to the comfortable accommodation of the Royal Family of Arcadia. The sleeping cabin, the living room, and the bathroom were instantly approved by the Empresses. The space at their disposal was at least three times bigger than the cabin on Dauntless. The redesigned interior was also equipped with spatial extensions that could be used as offices and conference rooms. There was also a guest cabin and barracks for the Mortal Royal Guards.

But HMS Victory was, first and foremost, a warship. The rows of cannons that were once manned by hundreds of soldiers were directly linked with Victory's core, saving precious space. Some of the cannons were already replaced by retractable CIWS Phalanx guns, four of them were moved from the top deck while four more were added as approved modifications. The remaining cannons themselves were also to be upgraded but, that wasn't enough for the golem core, obsessed with providing maximum protection for her charges. Seamlessly fitted on both sides of the hull and pretending to be a section of gun covers, were two hidden twelve-cell horizontal missile launchers. That gave Victory twenty-four ready-to-fire UMS-2 or four times that amount of the smaller UMS-1 missiles. Amber wasn't especially shocked that Theon approved the modifications. If those weren't enough, the ship of the line carried two mana reactors and placeholder shields intended for a Hunter class frigate. Back in Avalon, Ragnar and Ian were working on custom shields for Victory and, if she heard the over-enthusiastic golem correctly, they were going to be as powerful as shields on a dreadnought. All those modifications gave HMS Victory a terrifying firepower.

"Previously, HMS Victory needed nearly nine hundred sailors and soldiers to operate." The enthusiastic Victory explained as her tiny body was giving a tour to the Empresses. "I believe that it's a remarkable achievement for a ship that size to operate without the golem support. Now, I'm proud to announce that we need just twenty officers and eighty sailors to operate smoothly."

"You need only one hundred people?" Amber looked at the doll in shock.

"Yes!" Victory widely smiled. "We will still have room for a full security company wearing Living Armours. Additionally, we will have Noble Slimes mixed in with the sailors and we still have room for as many Praetorians as needed."

"Do you have a jump drive as well?" Aoi asked.

"Not yet..." Victory grimaced. "That thing requires me to visit a proper shipyard. I thought that installing the mana reactors was complicated but little did I know..."

The doll golem puffed her cheeks and exhaled comically which roused a round of laughter among the Empresses. However, Victory cheered up as they moved forward.

"The ship is already seventy percent operational and, as soon as we receive a crew, I will be at your beck and call, Your Majesties!"

"I'm glad that your personality changed so much." Amber nodded with a smile. "If only finding you were the only benefit of this expedition, it would have been splendid enough."

"I'm sure that the Balantican knowledge would be more beneficial to Arcadia..." Victory said meekly.

"Maybe, we might have found one or two things but Amber is absolutely right." Aoi shook her head in disagreement. "As it was, HMS Victory would be, very soon, decommissioned and preserved as a museum ship. With you on board, it will be, practically, forever in our service. I love this ship..." The Dragonkin affectionately patted the exposed pillar. "Don't get me wrong, the new ships of the Navy are deadly and powerful, with their dangerous beauty of sharp lines and metal hulls. But nothing can beat the image of Victory standing in her harbour or travelling the endless sky under her majestic sails."

"I know what you are talking about..." Hestia nodded with a warm smile. "This ship of the line is a testament to our people's ingenuity and resolve. After all, Bjorn, Ian, Ragnar, Verni, Vernon and their most talented helpers put a lot of effort into building her in secret. They used just a few images, descriptions, and nothing more than rough measurements of the ship from Theon's world to recreate it in Nilmerthis. This ship is simply magnificent."

"I feel strange, my Ladies, hearing this from you." The golem smiled awkwardly. "A part of me, which wasn't there until recently, is very proud while the rest of me feels awkward. This emotion thing is very confusing..."

"Don't worry, Victory. Sooner or later you will get used to it." Mia smiled.

The doll looked at Mia miserably but Tia just patted her head. "You are now part of Arcadia, Victory. In a sense, you have always been."

Victory smiled as they entered the space that certainly wasn't part of the original Victory. The golem proudly smiled upon seeing the surprised faces of her Empresses.

"It took me almost an hour to figure out where I should place the bridge." Victory said as they left the fairly spacious staircase from the Royal Suite portion of the ship and they entered the functional but narrow lobby. The reinforced doors were open and they could see bustling activity inside. "At first, I wanted to leave the original controls of the ship as they were but, mindful of the bridge layout of HMS Dauntless, I decided to fit something similar."

"It's a highly secured place..." Tia mused quietly.

"Yes. The staircase is the only open connection between the private part of the vessel and the rest of the ship. There are other emergency exits from the Royal Suite, but they are sealed and can only be opened from inside. I designed the lobby to be one of the most secure parts of the ship. With Praetorians guarding the staircase, Marines protecting the bridge, and my sentry guns sweeping the lobby, nothing can sneak past." Victory replied with a vicious smile. "The bridge is where the original steering wheel was mounted. Even the original wheel was kept but that's where the similarities end. Once we return to Avalon, I will receive a new propulsion system which will allow me to keep the pace of the newest ships. My bridge was designed to mimic the layout of the dreadnoughts' bridges. I find it the most functional, my Empresses."

They refrained from entering the bridge so as to not disturb the construction team. Instead, they entered the captain's quarters.

"I see you made it smaller." Aoi looked around, a little bit disappointed.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Not exactly." The golem shook her head in disagreement. "The spatial manipulation magitech of Arcadia allows us to create entire rooms. However, it could be disturbed and certainly could be disabled. The fact we don't know how to ourselves doesn't mean our enemies don't have that knowledge. However, the fact remains that we can create entire workspaces without wasting the limited space on board. The space can be safely created as needed and then collapsed without any issues. In other words, critical facilities like the infirmary, living quarters, and kitchen are normal, while all others are created as needed."

"Interesting." Hestia nodded. "You figured that out on your own?"

"Not exactly. The idea was already in circulation though it originally came from Lord Ian Southcross."

"Of course..." Amber shook her head. "Victory, everything is very interesting but I wish to return home. When will we be preparing for the jump?"

"We have already returned to Avalon, my Lady. We are currently heading to the wharf." Victory smiled happily but her smile fell seeing the flat stares of the Empresses. "Have I done something wrong?"

"Teleportation is dangerous, Victory! We shouldn't be carelessly wandering the ship during transit!" Irene shouted, supported by the nervous nods.

"I have to disagree with you, my Lady." Victory firmly shook her head. "Teleportation is fairly simple once you are able to gather the ridiculous amount of mana needed to cast the spell in the first place. The process itself, however, is far too fast for a Mortal to do anything that, potentially, could disrupt the spell."

"Victory..." Amber rubbed her eyelids. "The distance we travelled-"

"It's equal to zero." Victory interrupted.

"No... We have travelled a few hundred kilometres!" Tia protested.

"I think that your beliefs are wrong on the subject." Victory carefully disagreed. "Imagine space as a sheet of paper. If you draw a point on each end of the paper, what teleportation does is to fold that sheet of paper in half and, for a brief moment, punch a hole and connect the dots. The time needed for that is unmeasurably short and the distance covered by the teleported object is negligible. In other words, there is no possibility of losing anyone along the way."

There was an awkward silence as the six women openly stared at the small golem. Victory, on the other hand, was more confused under their gazes.

"The Balantican Empire understood that spell so well?" Amber finally asked with a neutral voice after she cleared her throat.

"Not at all. The Balantican Empire wasn't even in possession of that spell."

"Then how could you understand that?! You lied to us?!" Aoi pointed her finger accusingly at the golem.

"Never!" Victory straightened, offended by the accusation. "Advanced physics of Lord Theon's world described a similar phenomenon that naturally occurs and is a universe-wide constant. Quantum physics describes quantum tunnelling which has-"

A choir of the exasperated voices interrupted the golem. Victory had no idea why the Empresses reacted that way but they were relieved and angry at the same time.

"You should have warned us, Victory. I don't care how safe you think it is, we want to know, in the future, when you use Teleportation. That's an order." Amber crossed her arms in front of her.

"As you wish, Your Highness!" Victory smiled with relief. Orders were easier to follow than some discussions.

"My Empresses! Our next stop is the debriefing and, most probably, we will spend some time in dry dock." Blackbeard's voice sounded out of nowhere which was met with sceptical stares of Empresses boring holes in the golem with their gazes.

"The speakers are hidden in the decorations!" Victory quickly explained, making the Empresses sigh and shake their heads.

"Thank you for your assistance, Admiral, Major." Amber slightly raised her voice.

"At your service, Your Highness!" Rhys answered.

•••

Vanush was sitting on an uncomfortable wooden chair in a dungeon cell. His right arm and leg were missing and his body was continuously burning with pain. A dim light barely lit the cell but he doubted he could escape even if the doors were open. A single soldier, wearing black and gold armour, was standing by the only exit. Vanush could feel his contempt which, in turn, angered him.

"How dare you even look at me, you filthy mutt?" The ancient Elf hissed with all the dignity he could muster. "How dare a savage like you raise their hand against one of the mighty Balanticans?!"

"The world has forgotten about the time you ruled supreme. No one is afraid of you anymore, especially, no one in Arcadia." Vanush trembled upon hearing the voice of the monster who crushed him.

"Who are you?" The Elf weakly asked.

"Nothing has changed since the last time." The towering Human laughed. "But my name is Theon Avalon if you must know."

"I knew that you weren't a Dungeon..." Vanush smirked and carefully started gathering his mana.

"I don't really care what you believe or not, Elf." Theon laughed. "You are going to tell me everything."

"Forget about it, peasant." Vanush scoffed. "Your interrogators can't break me. I won't tell you anything."

"Oh, you will." His unconcerned tone was alarming. He sat on a chair that appeared from thin air and looked straight into Vanush's eyes. "I just wanted to talk to you in person before we finish."

"Finish? You haven't started anything yet." Vanush briefly laughed.

"If you think so..." Theon shrugged as he looked at Vanush. "But we sidetracked a bit. I'm going to tell you how you will die."

Vanush looked at the man suddenly horrified. He wasn't bargaining for the knowledge of the Balantican Empire as he should. There was something about that man that, straight-up, resembled old Til Na'laar. However, Vanush quickly realised that he wasn't bluffing. Theon wanted him dead.

"I... I will speak." Vanush licked his suddenly dry lips.

"Please... I don't have time for an insignificant speck of dirt like you. You think that I will forgive you? You wanted to hurt my Amber, you little piece of shit." Theon exhaled and slowly shook his head while Vanush slowly paled. Suddenly, the man slowly smiled. "Have you ever wondered why the Living Armours are called that?"

"What?" Vanush blinked in disbelief. "They are walking, empty armour..."

"You see, not quite." Theon's smile widened as the door opened and another armoured soldier came in. "The people of this world called them monsters and, mostly, hold the same belief as you. But this is a tricky part..."

Vanush screamed in horror as the armour in front of him opened. There was nothing inside but every fibre in his body screamed in fear. All his instincts urged him to run for his life.

"The thing is... they really are alive, Vanush." Theon laughed. "As every living being, they have to eat. They are not picky eaters but they do sooo love devouring bones and metal. While some of the Living Armours hunt by pretending to be a piece of usable armour, tempting people to put them on and then devour them, some choose to take a more direct approach. They hunt for their prey."

Vanush was screaming and thrashing on his chair, too afraid to even try to limp away as the Living Armour got closer. Theon patiently waited for the last Balantican to stop screaming.

"Can you stop? For hundreds, if not thousands of years, you butchered countless people in your sick experiments and, now, you are scared by a Living Armour? Shame on you." Theon nearly chuckled. His cold, blue eyes were watching Vanush. "Anyway... My people are using them without harm as the magical equivalent of power armour. I had to admit that this was actually cool as fuck."

He detached his arm and Vanush audibly swallowed. There was no mercy in Theon's cold eyes.

"The entire setup has so many additional cool factors that I'm not sure how most of my soldiers are not spending most of their free time doing stupid shit. But you see, they are friends and my denizens would literally die for them. You seemed shocked that Vishnu survived your attack. It also was fused with the Living Armour... Which brings us here." The tone of his voice dropped. "You will die, Vanush. You will be devoured by a Living Armour but don't worry. Your death is going to be quick and relatively painless. Your body will be dissolved without a trace while your mind will be assimilated and analysed by Sentinel. We will learn everything you know. I don't need you."

Theon stood up and turned away. The Living Armour reached towards him, making Vanush try to jump back in an attempt to save himself.

"No! You can't! NOOO-"

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