Mina, seeing her Lady's scorched wing, let out a distressed squeak and was at her side in a fraction of a second. Without asking, she burrowed into Lilith's side, wrapping her small arms around her.
"Lilith! Are you okay?! It's horrible, your beautiful wing!" she chirped, craning her head back to stare at the Monarch with those wide green eyes, which were once again shimmering with tears.
Lilith flinched, not expecting such a sudden surge of affection, but seeing the genuine worry on the girl's face, she smiled gently and patted her head. "I'm fine, Mina. That heap of bones just caught me off guard."
Kala stepped up beside them, resting a hand on her hip as she looked at the mangled remains of the mage with newfound respect.
"We felt the sudden spike in energy, a massive blast..." the red-haired warrior muttered. "The moment we felt that roar of power, we dropped everything and flew here as fast as we could."
Lysandra remained silent, studiously observing the dust that was all that remained of the Elite. She stepped closer, but her gaze immediately caught Mina's hands - supposedly "comforting" Lilith - starting to wander dangerously high toward the Monarch's upper thigh.
Without even turning her head, the White Succubus snatched Mina by the collar and, in one fluid motion, yanked her away from Lilith, literally tossing the small demoness toward Kala.
"Hey!" Mina yelped, flailing her arms and shooting Lysandra a reproachful look. "I was just checking her pulse! Lilith could have had a concussion!"
Mina wanted to add more, but her words became a muffled babble as Kala, without a word, caught her mid-air and, with a powerful squeeze, shoved her head straight between her massive breasts.
"Stay there for a minute and cool off, you little leech," Kala grunted, holding Mina's head so firmly that the petite girl could only kick her legs helplessly and drum her fists against Kala's rock-hard muscles.
Lysandra and Lilith ignored the comical struggle for air. The White Succubus gestured with her chin toward the open chest. "What did you receive from the System for this conquest?" she asked with genuine curiosity.
Lilith sighed heavily, kicking the rusted lid. "Nothing interesting..." she muttered with disappointment. "Just two hundred gold coins and some blueprint for a 'Bone House.' It's a shame we aren't necromancers or undead. This building is useless to us."
To her surprise, Lysandra slowly shook her head in disagreement, a shadow of a cunning smile appearing on her face.
"You're mistaken, Lilith. The System does not give rewards that cannot be used," she began to explain. "Just because we are Succubi doesn't mean we have to meet the racial requirements of the undead to erect their structures. As the Monarch, you have the right to build anything you obtain blueprints for."
She took a step toward Lilith, her voice becoming more professional.
"A Bone House on our territory wouldn't just strengthen the undead if we ever conquered them, but more importantly... it generates lower-tier skeleton units that could serve as free laborers. In this world, it doesn't matter who you are, but what you can adapt into your kingdom."
Lilith raised her eyebrows, looking at the blueprint with newfound interest. "So... I can have an army of skeletal porters to mine stone for me?"
Lysandra smiled with satisfaction, seeing Lilith starting to think like a true ruler.
"Exactly. The undead know neither fatigue nor fear. As laborers, they are ideal because you don't have to feed them; you only need to fuel them with the necromantic energy the building itself generates," she explained.
At that moment, Mina - who had somehow managed to wiggle out of the grasp of Kala's powerful breasts - emerged with her hair a mess and gasping for breath.
"Noooo!" she screamed, waving her tiny hands. "I don't want those disgusting, stinking creatures on our territory! They're stiff and dry, and you can't squeeze a drop of pleasure out of them at all! It'll ruin the aesthetic of our base!"
Kala only snorted with pity. "Shut up, brat, the grown-up demons are talking strategy," the warrior muttered, and with one swift motion, grabbed Mina by the scruff of her neck and stuffed her head back into her cleavage. "Stay in there and enjoy the essence while I'm letting you."
Mina started kicking her legs again, the muffled sounds of her protests becoming mere background noise to the conversation. Lilith, watching this, realized she didn't even blink anymore. She was slowly getting used to their specific interactions, which she would have previously considered insane.
"Lysandra, I'm looking at the construction costs," Lilith began, furrowing her brow over the parchment. "Wood, stone, gold... we have those or can get them. But where do we get an Undead Gem?"
Lysandra turned serious, running her fingers through her silvery hair.
"The wood and stone will be easy. We just need to fell a few of those black trees and bring back large rocks, and the System will recognize them as resources within our territory. We already have the gold. The real problem is that gem... We'd have to hope another player found one and listed it for trade, but the price would likely be lethal."
Lilith didn't answer immediately. She thought back to the Analysis message that had appeared the moment they crossed the threshold of the ruins. She read it again, word for word, until her eyes flashed crimson.
"Wait..." she said in a low, confident voice. "These Ruins of Darkness have 'hidden treasure' in the description. The mage who ruled here couldn't have taken everything to the grave. If this land is his legacy, then maybe the gem is hidden right here?"
Lysandra nodded, conceding Lilith's point. The theory was logical. Even if the treasure wasn't there, they had nothing to lose by searching the area thoroughly - at worst, they'd waste a few hours; at best, they'd save a fortune in trade.
Mina, who had once again miraculously escaped Kala's grip, didn't wait for an official order and unfurled her green wings.
"Since we're looking for shiny things, I'll take the south! I saw some weird basements over there!" she shouted and flew off at lightning speed, wanting to be as far as possible from Kala's hands.
Lilith, Lysandra, and Kala looked at each other with crooked smiles, shaking their heads at the energy of the youngest among them. Without a word, they split up, each heading her own way to scour the dark corners of the fallen village.
After a long and arduous search, as dust settled on her purple wings, Lilith stumbled upon a loose floorboard in the mage's former laboratory. Beneath it lay a narrow passage leading to a deep, stifling cellar.
The interior was filled with shelves holding hundreds of vials and bottles. Unfortunately, time had been merciless - the potions and herbs had long since rotted into useless sediment. However, rows of books sat beside them.
Though they held little market value, their content was priceless; they contained knowledge of this world, its history, and its laws - a treasury of information essential for Lilith, a former human, to plan future battles.
But it wasn't the books that made the Monarch's heart race. In the darkest corner of the cellar, hidden behind a pile of decayed scrolls, sat a chest.
[LORD'S TREASURE CHEST]
Type: Hidden Territorial Treasure.
Description: Contains the personal wealth and most valuable acquisitions of the Village Lord, gathered before the fall.
"Found it!" Lilith shouted, her voice echoing off the low ceiling. "This is exactly what I was looking for!"