If anyone were to find out about this, they would definitely call her insane.
Wasting so much Honkai energy just for something like breast size—truly, her brain must have a hole in it.
"Lord Guardian God, humans from the Theocracy have arrived."
A female elf, dressed in a maid outfit, approached respectfully from behind Kiana Kaslana.
"I know."
Without turning her head, Kiana Kaslana gazed at the pink fruit growing from the Tree of Life and spoke calmly.
The capital of the Elven Kingdom.
The new palace of the elves.
Inside the grand hall.
Certain Death stood silently with the nuns and shrine maidens from the Theocracy, waiting.
The Theocracy's current situation was quite awkward.
First of all, both the Empire and the Kingdom had been swiftly destroyed by the Honkai. Almost all of their upper echelons were killed, and the common people no longer cared who ruled them. They had no strength to resist the Honkai squads.
The hostile Elven Kingdom's Elf King had been captured alive by a godly being from beyond the world—his five limbs severed—and was sent to the Theocracy in exchange for all female elves.
Certain Death's gaze swept across the hall filled with female elves radiating hostility toward them. In the entire elven capital, not a single male elf could be seen. From civilians and merchants to attendants and guards—all were female elves.
Most male elves had been dispatched to the borders.
Officially, it was said to be to prevent the Theocracy's invasion. In truth, however, one of the godly beings disliked male elves and had arranged for all of them to be stationed there.
Those male elves assigned to the border could be killed by the Theocracy at any moment.
But the Theocracy dared not act.
Across the entire continent, the nations of humans, demi-humans, and monsters alike were nearly all in ruins.
Behind every surviving nation stood a godly being from beyond the world.
The godly beings' feelings toward humanity were... subtle. They didn't usually kill indiscriminately—only those they personally deemed evil.
And everyone's definition of "evil" differed.
If the Theocracy killed the border elves, those beings would act immediately.
For example, the godly being controlling the Elven Kingdom—known as Kiki—would frequently storm into the Theocracy's cities under the pretext of "searching for a missing elf."
And the Theocracy couldn't stop her.
Its upper council wanted to surrender and join their ranks, but the godly beings rejected the Theocracy outright. The Theocracy's citizens, deeply ingrained with human supremacist ideology, despised other races and likewise rejected the godly beings.
Mutual rejection on both sides.
Though the Theocracy still existed, its destruction was only a matter of time.
From intelligence gathered through beauty traps and other means, they learned that these godly beings crossed between worlds by divine mandate to undergo trials.
Anyone chosen by their god could become one of them—a Herrscher.
Just like using an item that transforms one's race, a Herrscher's original form could be of any species—or not even a living being. As long as the god favored them, they could be granted divine power and become a Herrscher.
From the information collected so far, the godly beings appeared to be beautiful young women from various worlds and races, all granted divine power to become Herrschers—or at least Stigmata Users qualified to become one.
To escape their predicament—surrounded by enemies and on the verge of annihilation—the Theocracy's best bet was to attract the attention of a godly being's god, so that someone within the Theocracy could become a Herrscher.
But the chance of that happening was too low.
So, during a high council meeting, they conceived another plan—something akin to a political marriage.
With a population exceeding fifteen million, the Theocracy had no shortage of beautiful women. By casting their net wide, surely they could gain something.
"You've come to see me—what for?"
Kiana Kaslana used teleportation magic and appeared in the hall in an instant.
"I want to have a child with you."
Certain Death met Kiana Kaslana's gaze, eyes filled with yearning and expectation.
"..."
The entire hall fell silent. The moment they heard her words, everyone's faces froze in shock.
One of the shrine maidens who had come with them could only think, exasperated—
Why is Lady Certain Death so blunt?!
She had long heard the rumors: that her lady admired only those stronger than herself, desiring children only with the strong—and that she had rejected every arranged marriage from the upper council for that very reason.
To say it right to Kiana's face...
She had thought that was just an excuse to reject arranged marriages—
But to her surprise, it turned out to be genuine.
"You want to have a child with me?"
"Mm."
Certain Death truly felt affection for the white-haired girl before her. Without her, she might never have been able to defeat the Forest Elf King and personally torture that worthless father to death.
After learning of the high council's plan, she had volunteered to come meet Kiana Kaslana herself.
"We can hang out or fight together, that's fine—but having a child? Let's not."
"If you don't want to give birth, I can."
Certain Death placed her right hand over her stomach, the corner of her lips curling into the twisted smile of a madwoman. "I can raise the child myself. You don't have to trouble yourself."
"..."
The surrounding female elves exchanged puzzled looks.
To better keep the Guardian God close, a few of them shared meaningful glances and silently decided to begin training more exceptional female elves—to serve their Guardian God.
Many of the elves in the capital had been rescued from the Theocracy by Kiana Kaslana herself. To them, serving the Guardian God was the highest honor.
"It doesn't matter who gives birth—it's just that I don't want to get married. Not in this life."
"I see."
Certain Death looked a bit disappointed.
Kiana Kaslana turned to her elven maid and said, "Alright, since you're here, stay and rest for a while. Prepare rooms for them."
"Yes, Lord Guardian God."
The elven maid bowed respectfully.
...
Meanwhile—
Aisha, Saeko Busujima, and Shizuka Marikawa were flying over one of the Theocracy's cities when they noticed a large crowd gathered in the central plaza.
Curious, they descended and approached a random passerby. Shizuka Marikawa asked politely, "Excuse me, what's everyone doing here?"
"They're drawing lots! You should give it a try—ten copper coins per draw. You might win the grand prize of ten thousand gold coins!"
The passerby turned and explained enthusiastically.
A lottery?
Aisha frowned. In her experience, such lotteries were nothing but scams.
She glanced at the nearby lottery stands. There were three options—ten copper coins per draw, ten silver coins per draw, and ten gold coins per draw.
A long line stretched before the copper coin stand, while the silver and gold ones had no customers at all.
"Do you want to give it a try? I've got money."
Shizuka Marikawa pulled out a small pouch of this world's currency from her personal storage space—money she'd gathered while she and Saeko Busujima were hunting demi-humans and other nonhuman races.