I became a vampire princess and then a dragon girl?

This thing doesn't look like something that should exist in a magical world.

"The great invention of the Imperial Sages has given us an unbreakable mobile fortress! Nothing can stop its progress!"

"And you! Those who are qualified! You are the heroes who will pilot these fortresses alongside the Imperial soldiers! You! Will work alongside the Imperial soldiers to expand the Empire's borders!"

"""oh--!!!"""

The atmosphere around them reached a new climax again, but Eve was thinking about something else at this time - if the Imperial Sages could really come up with something like this, she would just write her name backwards.

However, she did know where the metals that flowed into the empire went. If nothing unexpected happened, they were all used to make these steel behemoths.

§77 Incident

"Next! Here you will learn how to operate these war machines! And through the grace of the empire, you will become a true transcendent!"

"Now! Place your dog tags into the slots in the machine in front of you!"

Upon hearing the general's order, everyone immediately put their dog tags in, and then with a slight sound, the dog tags popped out again.

"Now your dog tags have been authorized. They are needed to enter your residence and take any action here, but!"

As he spoke, the general glanced at the excited crowd in front of him again and nodded with satisfaction.

"I believe you all must be eager to witness the power of these war machines with your own eyes! Therefore, before the training begins, you will be eligible to accompany me aboard this steel behemoth that represents the pinnacle of human wisdom—!!!"

"Now! Everyone stand up! Follow me!"

"""oh--!!!"""

As the general finished speaking, the lights in the lecture hall lit up again, and a metal door opened silently. The sound of metal colliding could be faintly heard in the distance.

Eve also mixed in with the crowd and walked along the passage.

After all, pictures are just pictures. It is better to see with your own eyes this war weapon that gave the empire such great confidence.

Although the army stationed in the Fallen Plains is not the most elite among the vampires, they can still rely on the fortress to defend the city and block the human attack. After all, the vampires are clearly ahead of the human race in terms of individual soldier strength.

But it is interesting that the Empire still finds these weapons useful under this premise, and it is worth looking at the specific circumstances.

Dang——dang——

The further they went along the passage, the more obvious the sound of metal clashing became, and a manufacturing plant with a large number of people busy working appeared before their eyes.

Here, the war behemoths just shown in the images, as well as many more unknown steel behemoths that did not appear in the images, stood quietly in front of people. The smallest one was as tall as two people, and its firm lines interpreted the aesthetics of machinery.

Tank-like machines, huge war fortresses filled with gun barrels, and various unknown weapons are displayed here, declaring the source of the empire's confidence in going to war.

"Look, with these empires, the iron hoofs of the empire will crush the vampires! End the history of the human race being trapped in a corner!!!"

Even without the amplification of a loudspeaker, the general's powerful voice still overwhelmed the noise of the factory and reached people's ears clearly.

"Now, follow me to receive the next gift of the Empire! In the future, you will also have the opportunity to ascend these behemoths!"

"""oh--!!!"""

A small cart arrived at the right time, still loaded with the previous medicines. Since Eve was standing closer to the end of the line, she had enough time to observe other people's reactions.

"Gulu-Gulu-Ha."

As everyone drank the medicine one after another, their spirits became obviously high again, and even their eyes were a little bloodshot. It can be said that their emotions were extremely excited and there was no sign of them falling.

Seeing this, Eve almost confirmed her previous speculation. In addition to the functions mentioned by the general, these medicines can indeed be used to control people's emotions. After all, this high fighting spirit can play a very good role on the battlefield.

An army that refuses to give up no matter how high the casualty ratio is is definitely a formidable opponent on the battlefield.

"Hmm? That's..."

Suddenly, Eve caught sight of a group of people out of the corner of her eye. They were a group of short people, and the whole group was only about half a person's height.

These short men were quite conspicuous among the workers, but they clearly took the initiative. Facing their reprimands, the workers did not dare to resist at all. They just listened to the reprimands in a meek manner and then adjusted the things at hand according to what they said.

This obvious feature reminded Eve of a race that Melxia had mentioned not long ago - the dwarves.

They look similar to humans, but are shorter, only half the height of a human. They are extremely skilled in forging and have created many exquisite creations that do not require magic to operate.

Each item perfectly corresponds to this mysterious base located under the imperial capital.

The only problem is, wasn't this race already extinct a long time ago?

So where did these dwarves come from?

A small amount of lost blood? Or is it a throwback?

No, it shouldn't be a regression. After all, creating these things requires sufficient knowledge as a foundation.

Does that mean there are secluded settlements that have been taken in and protected by the empire?

At this moment, Ilvia suddenly brought a piece of news that surprised Eve.

"Eve, those people over there are not feeling well."

…Okay, all the previous speculations have been overturned. It seems that the dwarves have directly surrendered to the demon god.

In other words, the war planned by the Empire this time is based on the Empire's human and financial resources as well as the technical support of the Dwarves, and perhaps also the instigation of the Demon God's believers?

But this alone wasn't enough. They needed something else to help them, like a chance when the Blood Clan's defenses were weak? And when the Blood Clan Queen couldn't come to support them?

Or rather, the moment of the uprising on the Far Western Front.

Having roughly guessed the Empire's purpose and unexpectedly learned about the Empire's trump card, Eve was ready to create chaos to take the opportunity to leave here and tell Elizabeth about the situation here, but Elizabeth and Istina's communications arrived at the same time before her.

"Little Eve, bring Little Tina and the others back. The trip is about to end for now."

"Master Brave, come out quickly, there's a problem up there!"

The communications from both sides reached Eve's ears almost at the same time. Elizabeth's tone in the communication was unusually serious, while for some reason, Istina's voice was filled with surprise and a bit of anger.

"Okay, I'll be right back."

After replying to Elizabeth first, Eve turned to Istina and she also agreed.

After doing all this, Eve drew a magic circle and summoned several black fireballs in the sky above the factory.

"Varied--!"

Before the imperial general could react to the sudden change, the black scorching flames mercilessly engulfed everything here, and Eve's figure appeared in front of the team of dwarves as if teleporting under the cover of the fireball explosion. The purple-black destructive magic wrapped around her fingertips completely wiped out their existence in an instant.

After doing all this, Eve took one last look at the factory that had fallen into chaos, and the abnormally qualified people below who were almost not panicking but still in an excited state. Then she forcibly tore apart the magic that was blocking the transmission, disappeared silently, and returned to the imperial capital above following the connection with Istina.

§78 Prelude to the War

"What happened?"

Since they were about to leave the imperial capital, Eve directly chose the end point of the transmission next to Istina. At this time, everyone had already gotten off the carriage and stood aside, looking at the projection not far away with different expressions. As for the ordinary people in the imperial capital, most of them had an expression of surprise mixed with joy, and few people even noticed Eve's sudden appearance.

"Eh?! Is it okay to teleport directly?"

Seeing that Eve actually chose to return to them by tearing the anti-teleportation magic set up in the imperial capital, Istina was a little surprised. She originally thought that Eve would use a more conservative method to rush over for investigation, but then she realized that this was not the time to talk about this, and stretched out her hand to point to the huge projection on the side.

"Eve, look over there! It's about to start."

Looking in the direction that Istina pointed, the projection that had just finished broadcasting started running again.

First, a handsome, imposing middle-aged man appeared in the projection. He was none other than Charles the Great, the current emperor of the Imprum Empire. He was also the one who had just issued the order for the mandatory screening of qualified candidates, causing Eve to be accidentally involved.

"To all residents of the empire, because the Prum Empire has declared war on the vampires, the Fallen Plain will become part of the empire's territory!"

The next moment, the projection changed again, and a black-haired young man in bright silver armor appeared in it, replacing the emperor of the empire. In his right hand was a silver-white long sword emitting dazzling light, which looked exactly like a holy sword.

"In the name of the brave, I will slay the bloodthirsty demon king with the holy sword!"

Then the young man's figure disappeared again, and what emerged were countless war monsters that Eve had just seen underground. The projection perspective also slowly rose, and finally ended, returning to the state it was when Eve had just been teleported back.

After watching the projection, although Eve had a lot of things to complain about, such as where did this Holy Sword User come from when there were two Holy Swords beside her, Eve first shifted her gaze to Firiel, the real Holy Sword User.

"Let me make it clear in advance that I will not allow you to join the Imperial camp."

"...Yes, I know. The Demon God is behind this war, isn't he?"

Filier was not particularly surprised by Eve's words. She just nodded calmly, but still looked a little disappointed.

"Well, that's about right. I'll tell you the details later."

Then Eve looked at Istina, who seemed quite angry, and moved closer, standing on tiptoe and touching her forehead to hers.

"Well, if the Empire wants to go to war, the banner of the brave will be indispensable. I have already made preparations."

"But!"

"Tina knows that I don't care much about these things. As long as you are by my side, that's enough."

"Um…"

After giving Isitina some advice, Eve glanced obscurely at the plainclothes soldiers who were surrounding them, and coughed lightly to remind everyone.

"Okay, let's get out of here first. Mother has something that requires us to return immediately. If nothing unexpected happens, it has something to do with the war with the Empire. And the people I just brought here are here too."

"Okay, let's leave first."

After Eve's reminder, the others also noticed the large net that was surrounding them with the help of the crowd, and nodded in agreement.

It didn't take too long from the time Eve forcibly tore the anti-teleportation magic and set off the alarm to the time the soldiers arrived. The soldiers in the imperial capital had a pretty good reaction speed.

"Get ready."

As Eve spoke, she shook her head with some regret in her heart. The empire's declaration of war came too suddenly. For many things, she had just found a little clue and she had no chance to continue digging deeper.

The dwarves who should have been exterminated, the potion that can turn some people into extraordinary beings, the so-called heroes who possessed fake holy swords, and the soldiers who seemed to have been tampered with and could only express one emotion, none of these had time to be investigated further, and I hope they won't cause any problems.

And her plan to let Filial come forward to stop the war has basically failed. Firstly, the real holy sword elf Ilvi has not awakened yet, and secondly, with a fake holy sword user, the empire's room for manipulation has become much larger. At worst, they can just deny it. After all, how many people would believe that the first generation of holy weapon holders from a thousand years ago could survive to this day?

brush--

Along with the light of teleportation magic, Eve once again tore a big hole in the imperial capital's anti-teleportation magic. In order to repay the empire for disgusting her, Eve deliberately made a bigger noise this time, almost completely destroying the imperial capital's anti-teleportation magic. Then she used anti-reconnaissance magic to erase her destination, filling a small hole in the empire.

The plainclothes soldiers hiding in the crowd could only watch their targets disappear before their eyes amid the shrill alarms.

When everyone stepped onto the ground again, they had returned to the teleportation point outside the Vampire Royal City, and Eve began to arrange their next itinerary.

"I'm going to see Mother alone first. Tina, take everyone to the inner castle and wait for me. I'll come find you later and tell you what I saw in the basement."

"Well, leave it to me, brave man."

Then Eve turned into a stream of red light and rushed towards the direction of the palace, while Istina and the others got on the carriage and slowly drove towards the imperial city.

"Mother, I have returned to the Imperial City. Should I go to the study or the palace?"

While on the road, Eve asked Elizabeth about her destination first.

"Come to the study first, and then go to the palace."

"it is good."

Eve, who flew almost close to the ground through the imperial city, naturally caused some disturbances, but they were quickly calmed down by the guards and did not develop into a large-scale problem.

When Eve arrived at the study in the inner castle, Elizabeth had already changed into a gorgeous formal dress and had been waiting for a long time.

"Mother."

"Well, welcome back little Eve. You can guess what happened, right?"

Elizabeth smiled slightly and got straight to the point.

"Are there problems on both the Empire and the Far Western Front?"

"Yes."

After hearing Eve's guess, Elizabeth nodded and continued.

"The Far Western Front has requested assistance. Mother needs to lead the army to support them. Most of the troops stationed on the Far Western Front need to be transferred. The Empire has also taken the opportunity to launch an attack. They have already set up positions in the Fallen Plains and are slowly advancing. There are many things that do not belong to them, including a fake Holy Sword Master."

At the end of her speech, Elizabeth looked at Eve in front of her strangely, as if she wanted to see her reaction, but unfortunately, Eve remained very calm.

"Well, I happened to see these things when I was in the Empire. I also heard the Emperor's declaration of war. I happened to be involved in some things at the time."

Nodding, Eve gave a brief summary of what she knew.