[Chapter Size: 2600 Words.]
Third Person POV
Cintra.
...
...
Visitors from all across the continent began arriving in Cintra after the recent changes. At the same time, a large caravan filled with Nilfgaardians began to be organized to head toward the Empire farther south.
Madara had already spoken with the people who might potentially lead the Empire, having made it clear on the night of the Emperor's execution that they would redraw the map.
Cintra would take a portion of Nilfgaard's territory as nothing less than interest after years of occupation and colonization. Especially after everything they had done to harm Cintra.
Everyone living in those regions that would be taken could simply leave, or the Nilfgaardians who were being expelled from Cintra could settle there.
Cintra should not keep Nilfgaardians within its former territory either, the lands of the original kingdom itself, and they should be removed immediately. There was too much anger and resentment between the North and the Empire, especially among the Cintrian people themselves, and with good reason.
Moreover, Madara and Ciri would do in these new regions practically the same thing Nilfgaard had intended to do in Cintra. The children of those who decided to remain would be educated to follow Cintra rather than the Empire, while the language of the North would gradually be introduced into the region. The new territory would extend to a certain point near Toussaint and reach the coast.
So, all of this resulted in one thing: the Empire gained absolutely nothing in the end from this military campaign of conquest. If someone could go back ten years into the past, they would certainly be screaming at the Emperor never to act against the North or try to kill the variables that would ultimately destroy everything they had planned.
And, in a way, the Empire could even see an opportunity in the territory Cintra intended to claim. Those lands lay to the south, beyond the mountains, making it extremely difficult to move reinforcements from one side to the other. There were only a few passages through the mountain ranges that allowed movement between the North and the South, so moving troops would be an enormous problem if Nilfgaard decided to attack those lands again and try to reclaim them. That was precisely why those regions had always remained under Nilfgaardian control.
However, Madara was a variable capable of completely ignoring that problem. Ciri also possessed enormous possibilities with her powers. Both of them could destroy armies on their own or simply teleport an enormous military force against the enemy, even placing thousands of soldiers directly behind an army to massacre it.
For that reason, Madara was not worried. He also knew that his bloodline would carry both the Elder Blood and chakra through his children. Only a future internal struggle for power among his descendants could cause problems for Cintra, but aside from that, hardly anyone on the continent would be able to threaten them.
Of course, matters related to the bloodline would have to be handled with much greater care in the future to prevent a civil war involving the new blood and powers of their descendants. For now, they were merely organizing the kingdom and beginning to prepare to execute all the Nilfgaardians who had committed crimes during the occupation.
While they finished gathering information, people from villages, towns, and fiefs around the capital also began arriving, giving their own accounts of everything they had witnessed during those years.
Madara and Ciri personally received them before the throne, since those accounts were important. Madara could easily see through any lie. Ciri also had the ability of Legilimency, capable of reading those people's minds if necessary.
Thus, besides listening to their accounts, it was easy to discover when someone was lying and even directly observe the memories related to some of the accusations.
Certainly, some stability came later, but in the beginning, there was only chaos. People being kidnapped, homes being looted, women being taken away and never returning, soldiers abusing the population and taking their money.
Meanwhile, problems with monsters also began appearing around the villages, with Nilfgaard being unable to deal with some of those threats. They would even intervene in certain regions when the situation became critical, but they always ended up losing many men just to deal with a single monster. After all, necrophages were appearing all over Cintra because of the enormous number of dead. Monsters such as wraiths were not dealt with by the soldiers.
There were fathers still searching for their daughters and husbands looking for wives who had disappeared years ago.
Ciri could not help but lower her head in the end and let a tear escape, filled with anger at everything she had seen and heard. "How did Cintra become this..." she murmured, hating everything she had seen and heard.
"We can't change the past, but we can certainly bring some justice to these people. We'll try to find those who disappeared. There were many people kept by the Nilfgaardians over the years, and certainly some of these husbands will still have the opportunity to find their daughters and former wives, even if they are now carrying the children of Nilfgaardians," Madara said with equal disgust.
It was a tragic situation.
Even he felt empathy for the devastation of those men, powerless in the face of such a situation. They were not powerful, they were not warriors, and they possessed no magical powers. All they could do was watch their loved ones being carried away without being able to stop it, feeling powerless and weak.
Some of those women certainly would not even wish to return to their former husbands, while some deluded men still continued searching for them despite the years. But those were the minority. Most of the men whose wives had been taken had moved on, and some had even remarried.
On the other hand, some women would still try to reclaim the lives they had with their former partners. After all, the Nilfgaardians had not exactly been the best people to them. Most of them had served merely as objects of pleasure and machines for producing children as resources for the Empire, being treated coldly and having their value reduced solely to that.
Obviously, when the time came for those reunions, not everyone would get what they wanted. Women would reject their former husbands, while some men would look coldly at their former companions carrying the children of Nilfgaardian soldiers after so many years.
The situation was far from pleasant and was filled with complications. Well, Madara and Ciri knew that reclaiming the kingdom would not be easy, and dealing with the population's pain was now part of their duties, even if they themselves could not solve everything.
In any case, the audiences continued over the following days until it was the turn of someone with long ears.
Madara and Ciri were not the only ones dealing with the newly reclaimed kingdom. They had the help of the Akatsuki members who had come with them, being the only ones who could take positions of power with no one else more qualified. Tissaia, Triss, Ida, and Yennefer, along with Geralt, were also helping to control the castle and gather information about the kingdom's situation. They were also assisting in the formation of a new force for Cintra and advising Madara and Ciri during the audiences and private conversations about how to rebuild the kingdom.
In the meantime, messages and letters were also arriving constantly. One of them came directly from Lyria and Rivia, with Meve congratulating them on reclaiming the kingdom and requesting an audience.
Another message came directly from the King of Sodden, informing them that King Thorne intended to come to the capital with his family, along with congratulations sent by the King of Verden, who also wished to meet with the new King and Queen of Cintra and congratulated them on the end of the war against Nilfgaard.
There was also a message from the King of Kaedwen, filled with flattery, requesting a meeting between the kings and queens of the continent in light of the new balance of power, as well as a discussion about the future of the North. The King of Temeria was much the same...
The Emperor had been killed in the North by this point, Cintra had been reclaimed, and now a much greater power had emerged in the North. The deaths of the kings of Redania and Kovir would also have to be discussed, although no one truly wanted to oppose Madara or turn him into an enemy now that they knew the power he possessed, not even the families of Redania or Kovir...
It was not yet time for a royal meeting with the kings, which was why Madara was reluctant to attend, but he said he would think about it.
The audience continued and the next person was called, but this time, the person who appeared before them was not one of the people of Cintra. It was that blonde-haired elf of extraordinary beauty, none other than Francesca Findabair, who approached after the master of ceremonies announced her name.
"My lady," Ida said from one of the positions at the side.
Tissaia, Triss, and Yennefer also stared at her. Madara and Ciri remained on their respective thrones. There was now a second throne beside Ciri's, built by Madara himself through his Mokuton.
"Your Majesties," Francesca said, kneeling before them.
"Francesca. Our meeting didn't end up happening as we had planned. We still need to take care of Cintra, but give us one more day," Madara said.
She nodded. "That's not why I'm here, Madara. I came to ask permission to remain in the city for some time while our meeting has yet to take place, if that isn't asking too much," she requested.
"As long as you obey our laws and don't do anything foolish, you have permission to remain in the castle," he replied.
Madara had already spoken with Ciri about that. He knew that soon the Lodge of Sorceresses would grow impatient and begin sending people after them.
"I will follow your rules, King and Queen," Francesca said.
Ciri nodded and was about to say something, but she could not help but look upward as her eyes began to glow, a sign that did not go unnoticed by anyone.
"Something wrong?" Madara asked, knowing that she was looking into the future.
"Someone is coming," Ciri replied in a serious tone.
Even Madara managed to sense it a few seconds later. Something was approaching at high speed through the sky.
Madara disappeared while Ciri also stood up. "Something is coming, flying through the sky. Stay alert," Madara told everyone before disappearing. She did not see the reactions of the others or even Francesca.
Whatever was happening had caught the two of them by surprise. After all, they had not expected someone powerful to simply appear like that. Certainly, a person capable of flying through the sky at that speed could not be someone ordinary.
Madara landed on the castle roof and Ciri appeared beside him. The two looked toward the sky, already knowing what would happen about ten seconds beforehand. The sound of the wind being torn apart quickly echoed out, accompanied by small explosions in the sky, before a figure plummeted directly toward the middle of the square.
However, she stopped shortly before crashing into the ground, as though she had simply reduced all her speed at the very last instant before landing. Even so, a blast of air spread across the square, frightening all the people who were there, although there were not many.
Madara and Ciri looked at each other. It was clearly a woman, who landed lightly in place and immediately looked toward the castle. Neither of them recognized her. And her eyes fixed directly on the spot where the two of them were standing.
Ciri grabbed Madara and, in the next instant, they both appeared before the woman with red hair and equally red eyes.
She raised an eyebrow before beginning to display a sweet smile.
"Who are you?" Ciri asked.
Ciri looked shocked. Was there really someone this powerful on the continent without her or Madara knowing about it? Madara had never spoken about a woman like that and certainly would have mentioned her if he had ever encountered someone like her before.
She was powerful. Far more powerful than Tissaia, Geralt, or anyone else they had recently encountered in that world. Until then, beings at that level were something they had only encountered in the other worlds they had visited.
That woman posed some degree of danger.
As for the other party, she did not answer immediately. She maintained her smile before fixing her eyes on Madara.
Madara narrowed his eyes. "You..."
"You know her?" Ciri asked, shocked.
Madara nodded slightly. Although he had never seen her in a human form, that presence gave him the same feeling as someone he had encountered only once.
"I've been looking for you for the past six months. I thought I'd be waiting for years," the woman said, without even bothering to answer Ciri's question.
Madara raised an eyebrow. "Waiting for what?"
"Back then, we were still dealing with all the chaos you had caused, but I certainly asked that fellow to tell you that I wanted to meet with you," she replied.
"Madara," Ciri called, clearly demanding an explanation as to who that woman was.
"She's the Queen of Dragons," Madara said.
He remembered very well the enormous red dragon that had appeared at the end of the battle against Gaunter O'Dimm. That had been the first time he encountered the Queen of Dragons. Even though he had appeared in the Valley of Dragons before, Madara had never ventured into the regions where the more special dragons lived, such as the Golden Dragons, the Elders, and other creatures far more powerful than an ordinary dragon, like the woman standing before them.
He encountered her later, when she appeared surprisingly fascinated by his powers. Ignavros had also spoken about her the last time Madara summoned him, when he went after Coral after she had kidnapped Isabella to try to extract information about him.
On that occasion, Ignavros informed him that the Queen of Dragons wanted to meet him, but that very same night, Madara disappeared from that world, so there was not much that could be done.
"Good to see you remember me, human warrior. I saw the chaos you caused north of here... It was certainly incredible. You exceeded even my expectations."
"What are you doing here? Flying into the middle of our city isn't exactly friendly. I didn't know dragons were roaming around the human kingdoms now..." Madara scoffed.
She nodded and shrugged. "I'm alone, and I apologize for my manners, but I came here because I want to challenge you to a fight," she said before looking at Ciri.
"I see you have an equally powerful female by your side. I had no idea humans had become so strong, even though I can tell you still remain very weak. But I can sense danger even coming from you, human female."
Ciri grimaced. "I'm Ciri, Queen of Cintra. Don't refer to me as 'human female,' and don't call my husband 'male' either. What? Are you going to say you want to breed with him too?" Ciri scoffed indignantly.
"If he defeats me in a fight, I wish to take him as my mate and produce offspring," she said without showing any embarrassment.
Madara could not help but slap a hand against his own forehead upon hearing that, while Ciri immediately became furious.
What kind of dragon simply appeared in her city and said she wanted to have a child with her husband right in front of her?
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