My Servant System

Rapping my knuckles on the door, I spoke loud enough that the Lioness inside would hear me clearly.

"Adelina, it's Jahi Asmodia; may I come in?"

Waiting for a few moments, I heard some shuffling inside the room before a woman coughed, responding in a tired voice.

"Come in..."

Nodding, I opened the door and stepped inside, approaching the golden haired woman laying down on the bed, her long flowing hair falling down towards her chest.

The Commander's cheeks were slightly hollow, and her eyes were filled with regret and pain as she glanced towards us, only to look towards the window beside her moments later.

Grabbing one of the chairs in the room, I sat down beside Adelina and waited, staring at the usually confident Commander of a Legion.

She didn't turn back, nor speak under my gaze, and I sighed as I shook my head.

"Adelina Leonisa, will you continue to command the Ashen Legion for the duration of the Crusade, or do I need to search for another talented commander elsewhere? Will you remain inside the Capital wallowing in self pity for the actions of others, or will you get off your ass and do something?"

The Lioness turned towards me sharply, her pearly white teeth bared as she snarled "Did you come here to berate me, Lady Asmodia?!"

Smirking, I stared at the angry woman as she laid in the hospital bed, chuckling as I gestured towards her.

"Did I? I mean, you're making it very easy to do so, Adelina. From what I've heard, you've been medically cleared for a few days now, and yet here you lay, unmoving, doing nothing but thinking. Is this the extent of the fabled Leonisa House? One set back, one severe injury, and you're done with war? Done doing your duty that you solemnly swore to carry out for this Empire?

Because if it is, then I must admit that the Commander I saw not even a week ago and this husk of a woman before me are two different people. One managed to rally an entire Legion to withstand the siege of the Western Kingdom's finest, and the other is sitting her going through what ifs and thinking everything over. You've receded into your mind so much so that the woman  I saw a week ago mind as well be dead and buried. Is that what you want? To let the Sariel's do as they please and leave them unpunished?"

Ignoring the snort from Mom behind me, I remained focused on Adelina, the Lioness gritting her teeth as she turned back towards the window, her eyes hard yet wet.

Silence descended into the room again, and I watched as Adelina continued to avoid my gaze.

"Hah... if that's the case then so be it. I do hope you recover well, Adelina. After all, as soon as your stripped of your Commander title, there will be no work for you inside any of the Empire's Legions. Early retirement doesn't sound that bad; I heard that the Leonisa's own land down south, so maybe you can go enjoy the warmer weather as you continue to squander your Family's name."

Getting up, I ignored the others as I exited the room, tired of trying to coddle a broken woman.

I was already doing that so often with myself, so why should I bother trying to heal someone else?

Someone I have not a care in the world for?

Nirinia was still leaning against the wall beside the door outside, and the pain inside her jade eyes was obvious as she glanced at me, pursing her lips as she let out a dejected sigh.

"If you want, I would suggest riling her up and getting her to move; maybe she'll start to come back out of her shell if she can focus on something else."

The Djinn let out a hollow chuckle as she shook her head, saying "No, for the moment... you're right. Adelina Leonisa is dead. All that remains is some... stranger wearing her skin. The woman I knew wouldn't act like this, and yet..."

Pushing off the wall, Nirinia took a deep breath as she briefly glanced into the room, where Lady Yusa and Mom were looking down at the Lioness.

"Here she is. I can never claim to understand what you felt, Jahi, but I would say this is damn close to it. Especially after those first few days... things I thought were best left forgotten were rekindled, and now... now I don't know what to do. And I fucking hate it."

Looking away from the room, Nirinia gave me a weak smile as she began to walk away, muttering "Let's hope there's something interesting and strong hiding amongst the Kingdoms. Otherwise..."

Nodding, I watched the Djinn walk away, her shoulders slumped as she made her way through the black and gold halls of the Palace.

Anput and Leone exited the room as well, their lips pursed as they gave Adelina and Nirinia one last look before focusing on me.

Lady Yusa smiled sadly as she sat down besides the Lioness, waving Mom out of the room.

"Alright... well, seems like I'll need to take over the Legion as well... Hah... You really are a walking bundle of trouble, brat."

Laying her hand on my head, Mom shook my head a few times as she glared at me, making me raise a brow as I withstood her 'annoyance' for a few moments.

"Well, let's get going towards the throne room; hopefully that'll go smoother than it did here..."

Removing her hand, she led us through the halls quietly, none of us discussing Adelina for the time being.

Personally, I didn't want to deal with someone who was acting like how I used to act; losing myself to my thoughts and spiraling out of control, locking myself into a cage of my own making and never leaving.

I had done it before, and I never planned on doing it again.

Right now, I was going to focus my energy on being productive in the best ways I could think of, and that was getting this Crusade underway and finishing it quickly.

When the Crusade was over and we had occupied the Western Kingdoms, I could take the manpower of the Ashen Legion and use some of them for my own benefit, casting a wide net over the Empire and gathering information of any kinds, so that I might find a minuscule clue on Kat's whereabouts.

With no actual idea on where she was, I needed to hope and pray that I could find any trace of her to narrow down the search.

Information about Ice Magicians, Dogkin, killers, beautiful women...

Anything that would have the smallest amount of correlation with what Kat was like needed to be investigated, and I could only hope that the net I cast would find her.

I needed to find her.

That was a problem I needed to solve alongside Anput and Leone, and we all ached from the void left behind by our Dogkin lover.

Each of us felt hollow, like a piece of us was missing.

So I didn't have time to deal with someone else's self pity; someone else's problems...

Especially if they can't deal with a modicum of their own problems by themselves; I had a war to win and a Legion to run, and my mind was already working towards those problems alongside my own.

If she couldn't figure herself out, then so be it; I would get this Legion up and running without her.

So, for now, Adelina was cast from my mind, the disappointing Commander forgotten as we approached an elaborate door.

Leone's crimson eyes sparked in recognition, and Mom pursed her lips as she stared at them.

Looking between the two, I watched as Leone stepped forwards and pushed open the door, revealing a large, warm room filled with various thrones.

Each one was different, made exclusively for the women who were meant to sit there.

Most were currently empty, and only four were filled.

Seated in the middle, the Empress lounged on the marble throne that matched her clean white robes and ashen hair, the gleaming marble contrasting the black room.

The two thrones beside her were occupied as well; one was made from roots and vines, where a unique looking woman sat.

Her skin was almost barklike; it was a deep brown laden with the whorls and knots that are present on tree bark.

Lush green hair fell onto her thin shoulders, and she gazed at us with a soft green gaze, the age evident in the wisdom laden eyes she had, while her long, sharp ears gave away her Elven heritage.

On the other side was a volcanic throne with red lines cracking the black rock surface, and a bored red scaled woman sat on the throne as she played with small spheres of fire, trying to distract herself.

A large, elaborate nest of horns rested on her head, the black horns tipped with a vibrant crimson that matched her scales, while her eyes remained closed, two deep scars running down from her brow to her cheeks.

Lastly, off to the side was a woman we were familiar with, her red metal throne contrasting her pale skin and gray feather dress.

A parasol rested on her shoulder, blocking the suns rays from landing on her alabaster white skin, and the piercing red eyes were eerily similar to Leone's.

Mom coughed gently as she grabbed my head, forcing me to look at the floor as we bowed.

"Empress. Lady Theresa. Lady Igna. Lady Presa."

The respect that laced my Mom's tone wasn't surprising as my brain finally caught up to my situation, and I repeated her words, much to the wooden Elf's amusement.

Chuckling softly, she spoke in little more than a whisper as she said "Chordeva, why, your daughter looks just like you~! Though, I can certainly see little Ria with the way her eyes are shaped..."

The Draconic Lady Igna snorted, the heat radiating from her body flaring for a moment as she said "Aye, you and your whelp look similar. Let's just hope she's nowhere near as troublesome as you were; otherwise, I fear Fen will need to... sort you both out."

My Mom shivered at that, and I could tell she didn't like the sound of that, even though it wasn't stated as a threat?

"I... I would like to believe that she isn't... too much like me?"

Lorelei Presa chuckled as well, murmuring "Hmm, no... I would say that she is exactly like you, Chordeva..."

"Alright... Rise, Chordeva; I hate repeating myself... I respect you too much to see you going through stiff formalities, you know that."

Releasing my head, Mom sighed as she stood back up, looking towards the Empress with a wry smile.

"Respectfully Empress, I do need to teach by example. Can't have Jahi running around acting like she owns the place..."

Standing up beside her, I frowned as I glared over at my Mom, before I bowed slightly again to the four seated women.

"Jahi Asmodia; it's a pleasure to meet each of you."

Returning my gaze upwards, I glanced at each of the seated women, the power radiating from each of them almost suffocating.

Sitting before me were the undisputed rulers of the Empire, women who had the ability to snap their fingers and level a majority of the land inside our borders should they wish.

Between them, centuries upon millennia of knowledge was shared, and each were capable of creating their own Hegemony if they so wished, but...

Here they all sat, around one, singular woman.

The Empress of Ash, founder of our Empire, and the strongest woman on the continent.