Commander Sillicia Frontenachii stood in the ornate halls of the building its inhabitants mentally tagged as the [Warsaw Presidential Palace], watching with barely contained irritation as her Prad Scrutimancers tore through filing cabinets and computer terminals. The wolf packs detected nothing except the psychic residue of human bureaucracy, a particularly unpleasant smell, according to them.

  Sillicia knew that time was running out. The longer it would take to locate the dead Princess, the more memories she would lose once they brought her back to life via the Incarnator.

  At least the Princess was lucky enough to be born on homeworld in lavish Omnithornia, unlike Sillicia who grew up in a time bubble raised by brutal instructors disconnected from the rest of reality.

  She endured a multitude of victorious dominion expansion campaigns across many worlds building up her personal Scrut pack of kobolds and this was the first time that a world managed to surprise her. There were far too many humans on this world and the information their minds offered made no sense.

  "Anything?" Sillicia asked Scrutimancer-Alpha Linari, a brown-furred wolf currently sniffing the Polish Minister of Defense.

  "Nothing useful, Commander," Linari growled. "My Scrutiosmia isn’t working correctly. This one's thoughts are full of something called 'NATO protocols', anxiety about his children and memories of magic events which might or might not have occurred. He knows nothing of the Princess.”

  “What’s wrong with your sniffing?” Sillicia demanded.

  “The local Astral is incredibly dim and thick. It’s barely saving imprints, there is no worldwide System whatsoever here keeping track of stats, which makes it incredibly hard to distinguish truth from fiction. We’re making a lot of guesses here, operating half-blind,” Linari whined.

  Sillicia growled and mentally pinged Corpse Seeker 881-Beta attached to her division.

  Outside, the Corpse Seeker was coiled around the sculpture of a human male on a four legged beast the locals mentally tagged as the [Monument of Józef Poniatowski]. The tank continuously cast scanning beams across the building and surrounding area.

  Sillicia's tail lashed in frustration. It had been several hours since they made planetfall, and they were no closer to finding the Princess. The Admiral would not be pleased.

  A Prad Beta Scrut burst through the doorway. "Commander! The humans I sniffed in the halls have no knowledge of the Princess, but a few were thinking of something called 'Avengers.' These Avengers have a variety of powers, including flight, super strength and opening dimensional gates. Should we pursue this lead?"

  "Avengers?" Sillicia's ears perked forward. "That sounds like a warrior clan. Yes, see if you can find information on these Avengers immediately. They may have—"

  An odd humming sound interrupted her. Through the tall windows, she heard something approaching the palace square—a small flying device, no bigger than a dinner plate, with four spinning rotors keeping it aloft. A glowing, rectangular device was attached to its underside with some sort of a primitive adhesive tape.

  The Corpse Seeker immediately oriented on the small flying machine, a thousand eyes focusing. Scanning beams converged, searching for weapons, poisons, explosives or biological agents. Finding nothing bad, it sent a pulse of data to Sillicia's neural symbiote.

  [HARMLESS FLIGHT AND COMMUNICATION DEVICES DETECTED. BASIC ELECTROMAGNETIC AUDIO-VISUAL TRANSMISSION CAPABILITY ONLY. TAGGED AS: [TABLET XD-12] & [Flycatt 09 Quadcopter].]

  The drone hovered just outside the palace entrance. The rectangular device's surface showed a masked figure of a human, the background blurred.

  "I know where Princess Aquillianne Quantivia Frontenachii is," the masked figure suddenly declared, his voice warped and unnaturally deep, likely put through some kind of sound-altering device. The human wore reflective goggles over his eyes. Some kind of a black mask-like apparatus with round side attachments concealed his mouth.

  Sillicia burst through the palace doors, rushing to the center of the plaza at full speed. The drone descended down to her and she snatched it from the air, her claws carefully gripping the tablet.

  "Who are you?" she snarled. "If this is some pathetic attempt at deception—"

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  "I am the Emperor of Earth," the masked man declared. "Sovereign of all terrestrial domains, defender of the seven continents, protector of the innocent, Lord of the Moon and..." he paused, "Kobold-Administrator to Princess Aquillianne Quantivia Frontenachii."

  Sillicia's mind raced. [Seeker, verify—is there an Emperor of Earth?]

  The Corpse Seeker's crystalline minds contemplated the request as it accessed its compiled data from thousands of human memories it and its sisters processed from thoughts snippets gathered by Pradavarian Scrutimancers and Frontenachii Commanders positioned across the world.

  [ANALYZING... EMPEROR OF EARTH CONFIRMED. MULTIPLE REFERENCES FOUND IN HUMAN COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS. TIED TO "WAR-GUNNER 50K" LEGEND AND BOARD GAME. IMMORTAL GOD-EMPEROR WHO PROTECTS HUMANITY. EXTENSIVE CULT FOLLOWING DETECTED. SUBJECTS REFER TO HIM AS "THE EMPEROR PROTECTS" AND "MASTER OF MANKIND." WARNING: CONFLICTING DATA SUGGESTS VAST GLOBAL FICTIONAL AND RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE.]

  Sillicia's ears flattened. A cult leader? Or something more?

  "I speak for all humanity," the 'Emperor' continued. “And also I speak for Princess Aquillianne, my noble dragon. State your name and designation.”

  “I am Commander Sillicia Frontenachii of Division 881 of the Third Celestial Starfall Fleet,” Sillicia stated. “What proof do you have that you speak for the Princess?”

  The masked man tapped something on his screen. The image switched cameras to show a gray leather couch and a wall with faded wallpaper, the background unblurring. There, inexplicably alive and well, sat Princess Aquillianne herself, eating a local frozen dairy product of some sort with a spoon directly from a white container.

  "BEEP! This is a circle!" the Princess announced, pointing at her ice cream with obvious delight.

  Sillicia's breath caught. The Princess's features were unmistakable despite her... unusual words. The silver eyes, the distinctive antler pattern, the stellar freckles across her muzzle.

  [Confirm visual of Princess Aquillianne?] She thought at her tank.

  [LIVE VIEW OF PRINCESS CONFIRMED!] The dragonheart living weapon boomed in her head. [100% match.]

  The screen switched back to the masked Emperor, who quickly relocated to another room, the background blurry once again. "As you can see, Princess Aquillianne is alive and well.”

  “Explain,” Sillicia growled. “Why have you kidnapped our Princess from Cradlefall?!”

  “Kidnapped?” The Emperor of Earth laughed. “Whyever would I need to kidnap my liege?! She came to my planet a few days ago herself.”

  “How?!”

  “I wasn’t told.”

  “Why?”

  “Thirteen years ago, the Princess claimed me as her kobold and the Earth as her domain through the Omnid Vow of Blood and Soul. As her designated Kobold Administrator, I speak imbued with her authority."

  [UNABLE TO VERIFY MAGICAL BINDING WITHOUT ASTRAL SIGNATURE.] The Corpse Seeker commented in Sillicia’s mind.

  "Prove your claim!" Sillicia demanded.

  "You need proof?" the Emperor continued. "Very well. The one making the threats on television to drop a moon cube on my subjects, Admiral Evelithria, is my Princess's aunt. Please inform her that her niece Starshade is safe and well and does not wish to speak to her."

  How could this human male from another world know about the Admiral's relationship to the Princess or that nickname unless…

  “Wait,” Sillicia choked. “Why doesn’t the Princess wish to speak to us? Why is she…”

  "I wasn’t told. I believe that the Princess is upset with her aunt but I do not know why and it is not my place to inquire about such things. Here are the Princess's demands," the Emperor said with an authoritative tone. "First, cease all hostile actions against Earth's inhabitants immediately. Second, withdraw your forces from populated areas, as your me… uhg, women are frightening the civilians and disrupting essential services. Third, no more removing chunks of the moon and dropping them on Arctic islands. The penguins live there, and the Princess is very fond of penguins and finds them cute."

  "The Admiral will never accept this," Sillicia said. "She wants the Princess—"

  "The Princess has chosen to remain on Earth. She will return to your society when and if she chooses to do so. Until then, as her appointed local Administrator, I speak on her behalf." The Emperor leaned forward. "I'm sure your laws have provisions for property rights and Administrator authority. Unless you're telling me your civilization doesn't respect its own legal framework?"

  The Corpse Seeker pulsed.

  [CRITICAL LEGAL UNCERTAINTY DETECTED. UNABLE TO VERIFY CLAIM WITHOUT INTACT ASTRAL SIGNATURE. IF CLAIM IS VALID, HOSTILE ACTIONS MAY CONSTITUTE VIOLATION OF FRONTENACHII PROPERTY RIGHTS.]

  Sillicia's tail went still as she frowned. The masked human was right about one thing, if the Princess had truly claimed the local Emperor and appointed him as her local Administrator, the legal implications weren’t looking in their favour.

  "I need to consult with Admiral Evelithria," she said carefully.

  "Of course. Do inform the Admiral that any further attacks on Earth will be considered attacks on Princess Aquillianne's sovereign territory. I'm certain she wouldn't want to be remembered as the Admiral who declared war on her own niece's holdings."

  Sillicia opened and closed her mouth, not sure what to do or say.

  "You have one hour to respond," the Emperor said. "After that, I'll be forced to invoke whatever protocols exist in your legal system for protection of claimed territories. I'm sure there must be some… curious precedents."