"What is this immense pain?"
"It's-- It's our Lord!!"
"This is his pain!!"
"What is going on?? What could cause Lord Ashborne such pain?!"
The whole Legion was affected by the pain of their Lord, sharing it to relieve his burden.
While this happened, the Lord in question was in an entirely different dilemma.
----------
"What is a person supposed to do in this situation?...."
It certainly was a bizarre situation.
In my hands, was an unconscious little girl.
That's right, a small child.
She was the beautiful gift left to me by Shizue.
Her legacy.
The girl looked to be around the age of 7 physically.
She was also an exact copy of Shizue, or rather her younger self.
Great Sage told me that she was the result of Shizue using [Degenerate] to fuse the broken pieces of her soul into a new one, using my magicules to morph her body into her pre-reincarnation self and implant the newly formed soul into it.
She did all this during her last few breaths, as I held her in my arms.
...
*SLAP*
I've accepted it now, there's no use getting all gloomy all over again.
I have one more purpose to live for now.
"Your name will be..... SHINSHA PENDRAGON!!"
{A/N: Visible cringing}
I felt a connection forming between our souls. But it wasn't a relationship of Master-Subordinate, but more similar to the one between me and Veldora.
'That's what I intended'
"Magna"
*WHOOSH*
"I'm here my Lord"
"You want to atone for your sins against Shizue right? Well, this is your chance.... Protect her legacy."
"Of course my Lord! I would be immeasurably grateful for such an opportunity!"
"That's what I like to hear..... [Degenerate]"
With that, I sealed Magna into Shinsha's body.
Of course, this wouldn't hurt Shinsha at all as Magna has no intention of hurting her.
'He did that by himself? Impressive!'
Suddenly, Magna emerged beside me again, this time with a physical body.
He was still housed within Shinsha's body, but he could exist separately using his new skill.
"Now I can perfectly protect the princess, my Lord! I swear upon the name bestowed on me, No harm shall ever come to Princess Shinsha!!"
"I'm proud of your development Magna"
"I'm undeserving of your praise, my Lord"
'Wait hold on, didn't Magna gain any skills on his evolution?'
I see, I already have better versions of all of these huh?
No matter, they're still extremely useful to Magna, and powerful as well.
Now then, it's time to return to Jura. I have to make preparations for Shinsha.
Many of my plans will also have to be reworked.
I will have to do it quickly though, since the Dwarf mine incident with the 3 brothers will probably happen soon.
Thankfully, I do not have to prepare anything special for that.
Holding Shinsha tightly in my arms, I used [Spatial Manipulation] to teleport us to the village in Jura.
As soon as I appeared, a loud thunderclap boomed in the sky.
'Shit that's Coatl'
I quickly erected a barrier covering Shinsha, specifically to negate shock and sound waves.
'Slow down before you land Coatl'
'!!! YES My Lord'
The sound immediately disappeared as Coatl softly landed a few meters away from me.
"You're back my Lord. I'm glad to see you again."
"You have grown stronger Coatl, I'm proud of you"
And he indeed had grown stronger.
He was way closer to Magna in power than I thought he would be.
He certainly outclasses Magna in Travel Speed.
Magna would win in a head-on fight though.
"Thank you for your praise, my Lord!!"
As Coatl said that, Garmr, Ranga, and Rigurdo appeared from the shadows beside Coatl.
All 3 of them were already in a bowing position.
"Welcome back, my Lord"
All 3 of them shouted simultaneously.
This synchronization is too professional for creatures who were barely classified as intelligent a month ago.
"Glad to be back guys"
"May I ask a question, my Lord?" Rigurdo asked.
"I already know what you're gonna ask about."
It was pretty obvious.
"This is SHINSHA!! MY DAUGHTER, and the Princess of this Legion!!"
"Marvelous!! Our Lord has a daughter!"
"I'll introduce her to the Legion later, she needs the rest"
I then shifted to the Soul Realm to let her sleep.
Finally, the place that the Legion built for me is gonna get some use.
Whew.
Being a parent is pretty stressful huh...
I'm glad though.
I love her.
And I will absolutely not lose her.
Not after my promise.
--------
The ogres stationed in Dwargon were now on full alert.
Before leaving, Ashborne had warned them of the incoming incident, leading to their increased vigilance.
However, their other activities like production and income were still going smoothly, since money was quite important.
Goblol was filled with renewed vigor due to the praise and expectations put on him by his Lord.
But.... There was something even greater.
Every Legionary was now aware of the Princess.
The daughter of their beloved Lord. The Legacy of their Lord's beloved.
And now their beloved princess.
Her appearance had brought joy to the Legionaries.
And she would soon grow up to become a beautiful lady, leading the Legion of the Sovereign of Death, as the Night Princess.
--------
A day has passed, and Shinsha still hasn't shown any signs of waking up.
Despite the [Great Sage]'s assurances that it was just her soul slowly stabilizing before waking up, I was still very worried.
Seeing my restless condition, Ranga had taken it upon himself to take care of the 'Princess pup'
He remained by her side throughout the day.
I was now thinking of assigning him that role officially. Shinsha would benefit from a companion too.
Ranga also looks pretty happy to be around her.
And most importantly, Ranga is strong enough to be a good guardian too. And even if things get out of his league, which is unlikely, Magna is still there.
The duo of Magna and Ranga are strong enough to fend off most of the enemies since they'll continue to get stronger with me.
Of course, the protection is mainly for Shinsha's childhood. I intend for her to become powerful enough to compete with the powerhouses of this world too.
But for now, I will protect her the best I can.
Now you may be thinking, why I haven't I added her to my Legion for the extra safety?
That's because she is already connected to the Soul Circuit. And I don't want her to be connected to me as a subordinate.
As I finished that thought--
"My Lord, I'm here to report."
Goblol appeared right beside me and spoke.
"Continue"
"The 3 dwarf brothers have entered the mine. We expect the incident to happen in a few hours."
"Hehehee.... That's amazing. Finally some progress. Time to go add a few geniuses to the Legion."
-----------
A soldier rushed in.
"S-sir! An Armorsaurus just showed up in the mines! It's already injured several miners at their posts!"
"What?! Well, did you defeat it?"
"We're good there! A suppression force is on its way. But some of the miners are fairly roughed up. I don't know if there's a war under way or something, but the city shops are out of medicine, and the castle won't let us access their stockpile…"
"What about our healers?"
"That's the thing, sir… The injured were deep inside, mining magic ore. The healers at the guardhouse are all out handling other calls, so all we have
left is a single novice!"
The 'Sir' mentioned here is Kaidou, the captain of the Dwargon Internal Security Force.
And the reason for his excessive panic, was that the mining team included 3 guys whom he considered his brothers.
Dold, Mildo and Garum.
"Perhaps I may be of some help here..."
"Who are you?!!"
"Lower your weapons guys, I'm here to help..."
"Goddammit! What do you mean?"
The desperation on Kaidou's face was clearly visible.
"I'm saying that I can save the miners, if you let me."
"I won't forgive you if you're joking about this...but fine! I'll give you a chance. Guards!! Take this man to the mines..."
Following his orders, two of the guards escorted me to the entrance of the cave-mine.
There, I could see the 3 brothers laying on stretchers, surrounded by the other miners, who weren't injured as much.
Taking a closer look at the brothers' conditions, it was pretty bad.
"I will need some space people, get outta here."
"Are you kidding!! Like we'll trust a stranger like you!!"
"Think this over... Their lives are at stake, do you really want to do this right now.... Looking at their condition, they don't have much time."
I provided the perfect amount of persuasion for them to get out.
As soon as all of them cleared out, I walked towards the dwarves, and--
"[Soul Seize]"
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