...
Two months later, far away from Lunareth and the desolate village. A vast, towering city built on stone and pride stood tall. It rose from the land like a silver crown, with high walls, golden spires, and wide roads paved in smooth white marble. From a distance, its grand towers shine in the sun like flames.
This was Valenthar, the heart and capital city of the Veilborne empire. At the centre of the city stood the Imperial Palace, a massive fortress of glass and gold, where the royal family rules.
Around it, the city spreads in rings, magic towers and noble estates near the palace, merchant quarters further out and the commoners' living area at the edge. In this city, there was no place for the slums to exist given its glamor.
Soldiers in red and silver armor patrolled the streets. Churches rang their bells at dawn, calling people to prayer. Flags bearing the empire's symbol waved from every rooftop.
But beneath its beauty, Valenthar hides shadows, whispers of rebellion, silent watchers in the alleys and secret rooms behind closed doors. It was a city of power, glory... and corruption.
Inside the Imperial study. A tall and lean middle-aged man with broad shoulders looked out into the city as he stood by a window, his long golden blonde hair fluttering about. He had skin as pale as marble, golden eyes, and sharp features.
He was emperor Caedros Veilborne, a cold, disciplined, and feared man. Known for his cold temperament and beauty. Many often referred to him as the "Ice King."
He looked out towards the city's glamor, people moving about and chattering away. Children's laughter filled the streets while carriages moved about, street vendors called out to customers, and priests roamed the streets.
This was far in the distance, in the commoner's area. Close by, in the nobles' estate area, it was silent as usual. Except for the occasional cries of slaves and servants as they were being punished by their masters and mistresses.
This was the usual day-to-day grind for slaves and servants working for high-ranking nobles. Any mistake could lead to severe punishment from their lords.
Caedros fell into deep thought, even as the emperor, he had to admit that this empire was truly rotten to the core. No matter how hard he tried, it was too late to change it.
The previous emperors before him had already ruined this empire with their tyranny and greed. By the time he became emperor, he was already being handed a sinking ship. But this fact didn't stop him from doing his best to save the empire.
He waged and won war-after-war to the neighbouring countries in order to obtain resources for the empire. Thanks to his ironclad rule and ruthless reputation, the empire was brought back from the brink of destruction. But even so, he couldn't wipe out the deeply rooted corruption within the empire.
This became a thorn in his heart. Trapped within his thoughts, a knock suddenly came from the door behind him.
"Come in." He said in a low-cold voice.
The door clicked open, and a graceful young woman walked in, she was noble and ageless. Her eyes were a calming violet that seemed to read one's soul. She was dressed in elegant white and silver gowns, with a crown that sat atop her head. Her hair was a common shade of brown, but this did nothing to hide her beauty.
"I see you're lost in thought today as well." She spoke as she walked towards Caedros, her voice soft and soothing.
"Mhm... I'm just thinking." He replied as his expression and cold demeanor softened after hearing her voice.
He turned around and looked at her with a soft smile," What brings you here? My empress."
The woman standing before him was his only wife and empress of the empire. Empress Lysandra Veilborne, a calm, elegant, and incredibly intelligent woman. She was known as "The Rose of the Empire," and the only person who could soften Caedros.
Despite looking young, she was actually 2 years older than Caedros, because of her ageless beauty, she was the envy of many ladies in the empire.
"Oh my. Didn't we agree to drop the formalities when it's just the 2 of us, husband?" She asked Caedros with an ominous smile.
"Ehem! What brings you here? My wife." Caedros corrected himself with an awkward smile.
Lysandra chuckled before she spoke, "I came to discuss our third son's illness. It seems to be getting worse and the High Priests in the temple can't do much about it."
"Hmm... what about the Saintess?"
"Unfortunately, she's leading the expedition to purify the Forest of Dread near the south border."
"Then we can just invite another Saintess from a nearby major city." Caedros replied as he held his chin in thought.
"Yes, but the High Priests strongly advised us to send our son to the Moon's favorite. Saintess Elaria from the city of Lunareth, they said her divine power is the strongest among all the Saints in the empire."
"Hmm... that's true. But Lunareth is quite far from here. Prepare to send him there in 3 days and assign an elite squad of knights and 2 heroes to accompany him."
Lysandra frowned when Caedros mentioned the heroes, but didn't say anything more. She didn't like the heroes because of their greedy, selfish, and self-indulgent nature. But since their power was far above that of most elite knights, they were a vital fighting force for the empire.
After that, she and Caedros discussed some matters regarding the empire before she left to make preparations for the 3rd prince's departure in 3 days.
...
...
...
Three days later... back in the village.
Two months had gone by since the slaves arrived and were assigned to the dorms in the west-end of the village. Everything went off without a hitch.
Most of the villagers were elders or middle aged so it was easy for them to accept a bunch of mistreated and unfortunate children since they felt sorry for them even though they were of different races. As for the few young villagers, they were happy to have more children around their age to play with.
The Academy had also been opened and training classes for everyone had already began. Those with an aptitude for magic were placed in the magic class and those with swordsmanship talent also had a class of their own.
The Academy also had other types of career classes like craftsmanship, blacksmith, economics and business, and administration classes among many others that taught life skills. Nolan had recruited some of the older villagers and ex-mercenary guards who specialised in these fields to teach at the academy.
Many of the children, once traumatized and abused as slaves began to heal and open up. As the only person capable of training these children in magic and swordsmanship, Nolan had used her "Clone" special ability to its fullest during this period.
She had created 5 clones so far named, Una, Binar, Tria, Tetral, and Penthia. All these clones were named after numbers 1 to 5. Each clone had half of her true power but could only use either magic or swordsmanship alone not both like her original body.
Among them, 3 were second circle magicians and the remaining 2 were third level Adept Swordmasters. She had used her morphing magic on them as well and created different aliases for them so no one would know they were her clones.
Una, Penthia, and Binar were the magicians while Tria and Tetral were the swordmasters.
Nolan had set their aliases, Una and Tria as young women, Penthia as a middle-aged woman and Binar as a middle-aged man. Tetral was a young man with green hair and looked identical to Tria since they were set as twins.
Each clone had its own personality and were like different people. Even Nolan had to admit that this special ability was truly an exaggerated cheat in a sense.
The clones made by this ability were fully autonomous, capable of carrying tasks and growing in strength and power as the main body becomes more powerful. Different personalities could also be assigned to them. They were like living beings of their own but fully loyal to the main body. Their memories and everything they saw could also be shared with the main body.
Unless they were killed, the clones could last forever since their bodies could draw in natural mana or aura to preserve themselves unless Nolan undid the special ability.
But it had its limits. So far, it had a restriction of up to 7 uses every 10 years. Which meant Nolan could only use it two more times before she had to wait 10 years to use it again.
The clones all worked at the Academy as instructors, teaching magic and swordsmanship to the children. A few with exceptional talent among the children had already become first circle magicians and level 1 Sword Apprentices. The rest were not far away from advancing as well.
With the Academy taken care of by the clones, and the children now settled. Nolan had more time to focus on the village. In just 2 months, the village had progressed further. More houses, buildings, and shops were built. Civic buildings like hospitals and guard posts stood tall throughout the village.
This place was no longer just a desolate village; it was now comparable to a small city in the empire. The 20 half-devil children had also been behaving well to her surprise.
They had been living in the mansion with her as planned so they grew attached Nolan. The only issue she had with them was that they only listened to her and no one else in the village.
...
At dawn, just outside the village atop a mountain, Nolan wore a black robe and stood silently, looking at the village below.
'Looks like this is as far as I can go on my own. The children will need time to grow before they can be my fighting power, and the village itself cannot grow any further for the moment.' Nolan pondered as she fell into deeper thought.
'I guess it's time for me to travel and gather allies in the empire, or maybe even in the nearby empires. I also need to grow stronger myself." Nolan silently made up her mind.
There was only so much she could do on her own. This little village could never bare the wrath of the whole world; she needed to go out and find powerful allies who would be willing help her realize her goals.
Thinking of this, she suddenly turned around and raised both her hands to cast her "Clone" special ability.
A sharp pulse of energy burst outward-silent, but heavy. From her shadow, a dark mist began to rise. It shifted unnaturally, pulling light into itself and broke into two. The 2 mists slowly condensed into human shapes, both an exact copy of her.
Upon opening their eyes, the clones went down on their knees and greeted Nolan.
""Master!!""
Looking at the clones, Nolan's face suddenly turned red as she blushed. Although this ability was overpowered, it had one annoying disadvantage. The clones would come out naked, so she basically had to look at her naked body every time she used it.
"Ehem! G-Get up." Nolan spoke as she took 2 cloaks out of her storage box and threw them over to the clones to cover up.
She then stepped forward and walked towards the first clone, stopping in front of it. She raised her left hand and placed 2 fingers to its forehead. A glow of white light appeared and her memories since arriving in the village were shared with the clone, revealing everything up to date.
A moment later, Nolan withdrew her hand and spoke. "From now on you will take over my position and act as me in the village. Since you're the sixth clone, I'll name you Seyra. I'm known around the village for using magic, so don't worry about not being able to use swordsmanship, the other clones will help you out. Take care of the village while I'm away and inform me if something happens."
Since each clone could only use half of either Nolan's magic or swordsmanship, Nolan assigned her magic to Seyra and swordsmanship to the seventh clone.
"Yes Master!" Seyra replied.
"Hmm. Now go back to the village and pay close attention to those half-devil children, they'll listen to since you look like me."
"Yes!" Seyra turned around and followed the stone path down the mountain. The seventh clone stayed behind with Nolan.
She looked at Nolan intently, almost as if waiting to be given a mission of her own. Nolan raised her hand and cast the Morphing spell. A few minutes later, the dust settled as the magic dispersed. The clone who looked exactly like Nolan was now a tall and lean man with blue eyes and blonde hair. He had a cold expression and a face that resembled Nolan's
Nolan took out a long sword and a set of clothes and handed it over to him.
"Wear this and follow me. You'll act as my older brother and travel with me from now on. Your name will be Hepta, since you're the seventh clone."
"Yes master. Should I take on a different personality?" Hepta asked.
"No." Nolan gave a short reply.
After that, Hepta changed into the clothes provided by Nolan. When he was done, he helped Nolan dye her hair blonde.
After her last encounter with Selia, Nolan had learned that using magic to dye her hair would not deceive high level magicians. So, she had to use hair dye this time just to be safe but still used magic to change the color of her eyes to match Hepta's blue eyes.
"Where to first?" Hepta suddenly asked.
"Lunareth, we need to get new identity tokens and register as adventurers. It'll make travelling through the empire easier. Plus, we can take on missions to increase our strength and make connections while we're at it." Nolan spoke as her gaze shifted to the sky above her.
"I promised to give her a good show, so it's time to deliver on that promise."
Hepta silently stood by and said nothing. A while later, the two of them left. Nolan had fully recovered now so she could use her mana freely.
Carrying Hepta, she used flight magic and headed in the direction of Lunareth.