Althea looked at the invitation carefully. The date was for a month later. A month and a half before the harvest. Just enough time to get started on training the three talented people in her county, and make some plans for the college students.

The Empress had given her ideas, Verest was one, the other was in the air though. But she had given it some thought. Keron, Nathan's father, was a combat space mage just like Vanessa. Perhaps he could help a bit. More than a bit if she was lucky.

"How pressing is this?" she asked.

"The Aér will only move when they say they do. I doubt there is anything we can do before the meeting time. Just...be careful Countess. The Aér are not like any noble you have met yet. Even the Diery family at its peak maintained good relations with them." the Steward warned.

"Well then, I will deal with it when the time comes. There doesn't seem much point in thinking about it now." she said, the invitation already fading into the back of her mind.

There were too many things for her to focus on, the Aér would come when they did, and at most she would make an unfavorable deal. A good one would be nice, but that sounded unlikely to happen. Having good relations with a mysterious race of creatures that could spy on the world sounded like a good idea.

Now, there was a problem with her plan for Vanessa. The problem being the relationship between father and son. Keron had promised to get close to Nathan, and he had dropped in a few times, but the attempts had been largely unsuccessful.

Althea would probably have to interfere. How exactly was it that she was the most emotionally mature among these people?

As for the college students, hmm, that was a hard one. The first part was getting professors and trainers. The fortress retirees and the Garron family were obvious sources. An employment call was an option, but there was doubt about the quality of trainers.

And the Duke was certainly not above sending spies and saboteurs as trainers. That was another thing to worry about. The Duke had the largest force of Master stage spies, assassins and sabouters in the world. A direct competition to the Shadow Squad led by the Empress.

The latter beat the former any day, but it did give the Duke a huge boost on information collection on her. Perhaps the Aér could solve that, but they sounded like they cost too much. The only other option was setting up her own method.

The Garron family had one, one that they had promised to let her borrow, but it was barely useful. The family was more than a bit bankrupt, and it showed in their methods. The information agency that they operated was a mess, one she would have to fix. The Garron family would be happy to cooperate, she was sure, but that still left the question of how.

The Diery county wasn't exactly brimming with spies. And there was the big question of passing information along. The royal family had already shown that they could listen in on the orbs, it was possible that others could too.

That meant that she had to figure out a new way to communicate. Pulsie would be good for that. Perhaps he could figure out how their own telepathic familiar connection worked, and replicate it.

There were questions to be answered and plans to be made. So many. Perhaps she should forgo sleep today.

sc

Verest

Verest stood on the shore as the latest batch of his kind arrived at their new home. Three ships. A small amount by normal measures, but this group was special. This group was what had been decided would be their new government. Just about every half-Elf Adept and Master had arrived now. A total of seven at the Adept stage and nineteen at the Master stage.

And that meant that it was time to finalize the future of their species. The passengers jumped down, appearing in front of him together. A clear show of power.

"Princess." Verest tilted his head, greeting the only half-Elf royal to ever live to adulthood. The despised daughter of the Elven King that had led to their migration. The final proof that they would never be fully accepted on the Elven continent. The Princess returned his gesture as he turned to the next person.

"Elder Bel." The oldest of their kind, marked by his powerful staff of earth, a rather large girth, and a huge beard. Verest tilted his head toward him, not expecting the gesture returned as he turned to the next person.

"Twins of Belur." he smiled as his two best friends practically ran towards him. But their happy greeting was interrupted by Elder Bel.

"Yes, yes, we know that you are friends. The stories of you three are quite famous. But we have more important things to talk about." the Elder said.

"I hear that you have decided that this will be our home?" the Elder asked, looking at Verest pointedly.

"Yes, Elder." Verest replied, nervously.

The Elder looked around, looking at the place suspiciously. "There is indeed a strange magic in the air, but I can find nothing else special about this place. Why exactly did you make your choice, Swordsman?"

There it was. The choice of location had been left to him, but the others would question it. After all, it was vital to their future.

The archipelago has been given to us as an autonomous territory by the Countess Guarding Diery, the new Druid of Soleria." Verest said. The Elder frowned at the mention of Druids, while the Princess did the same. The Twins were just bored. The two of them were not big fans of planning and discussing, just having fun was more their style.

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But both the Elder and the Princess were likely familiar with the Druids.

"The Druids decayed a long time ago after a bloody war. The Law of Soleria was suppressing them when I was on the continent. Has that changed?" the Elder asked.

"The Empress of Soleria is now of the Druid line, and she favors her niece, the Druid I speak of. So does the current Emperor. The Rebels are who they have conflict with." he replied.

The Elder scoffed. "The three of them are up to their tricks again I see. The day the Rebels and the Law unite with the Druids again is the day humans will rise. A dream even with the treaty they signed.

But continue, what exactly has come to pass? The ships should have arrived at the Elara kingdom, not the Solerian Empire. The plan, as I remember it, was establishing a new nation in the tundra."

Verest took a deep breath. "Queen Elara was, as expected, not pleased to see our ships arrive. But instead of transporting us to the tundra as we expected, she brought us to the Diery county instead. The Solerian Empire is the most friendly of the nations on the continent to half-Elves like us. The Zun Empire soon followed her lead and led ships to the Solerian Empire."

"The old pass it on till someone doesn’t tactic. At least human nature hasn't changed in the last five hundred years." Elder Bel stated, rolling his eyes. The gesture did not suit the old man, looking out of place against his serious demeanor.

"Please, continue."

"The royal council held an emergency session, and well, the Countess was told to buy an island and settle us there." Verest said.

"I thought we had an archipelago." the Princess interrupted, her voice sounding misleadingly delicate. "Just this island will not be sufficient."

Verest smiled. "The archipelago was the Countess' gift, along with about fifty ships that are being equipped with the latest weapons invented by the Garron family."

Elder Bel hmmed at that but did not interrupt.

"There is also the herb business she sponsored that is producing enough profit to sustain us and provide us with trade." Verest said.

"Are humans willing to trade with us?" Elder Bel asked.

"The Diery family owns a significant amount of companies, and they have been handling the trade for us. The Countess is moving her ports here from the Reh duchy, which will provide employment for the incoming waves of Elves and more. The ports will be trading throughout the continent, and she plans to make us a major naval force."

Elder Bel frowned.

"I am unsure about how you think that is a good thing. There is little good being a pawn in the game played by human nobles, they have little care for who they hurt in the process." the Elder warned.

"The navy will be ours, Elder, commanded, run by half-Elves and other hybrids. The Countess will command it only as long as she has our loyalty." Verest answered, trying ot persuade him.

"That means we will have a major voice in the court of Druids. And give us legitimacy as a major force too. If we established our own kingdom, any human kingdom would be hostile to us, but not this way. The archipelago can be our kingdom, our home without getting on the other nations nerves. And I doubt I need to remind you of the Druids’ power."

"I fear that the Druids' glory days were before even my time," Elder Bel said. "But this Countess seems to trust us quite a bit, giving us a navy like this. And you seem to trust her."

"Verest did save her city." Jerus quipped his opinion in. Verest had been wondering when he would be telling his piece.

Elder Bel looked at him questioningly.

"The Rebel Duke set off a beast tide, I merely stopped a part of it. The half-stage Grandmaster was stopped by the Empress and the lost Princess of the Fae." Verest said.

Elder Bel's head shot up. "The lost princess has returned? And she can fight a half-Grandmaster?"

"The Countess told me that she was one." Verest said. "And she has a son."

Elder Bel looked at him suspiciously. "A son? Do we know where this Fae Prince is? That line has produced formidable individuals one after another."

Verest smirked. "The son is currently in the Diery palace, probably spending time with his father, the Solerian Emperor's elder brother."

The Twins began cackling, the Princes began chortling as the Elder's face looked constipated.

"A child with a Prince of Law? How...expected. The Fae royals are masters of finding special bloodlines to mate with. I have little doubt the child will turn out to be special. What does that mean for his status? The human treaty forbids hybrid nobles, and a Solerian Prince is a noble by birthright. The rest of the Solerian nobility have to inherit their titles, yes?"

"Yes, the royal family does look like they accept his existence. But they are keeping him a secret for now." Verest said.

Elder Bel smiled for the first time. "So the status of hybrids in the Empire may change soon.If the war continues for much longer, then the human treaty may soon dissolve by itself. And if your bet on the Countess pans out, she may make us nobility. Perhaps this move was smarter than I thought."

The Elder began walking towards the city, as Verest heaved a sigh of relief. Why the Elder had such confidence in the Solerian royal family not changing their rules he wasn't sure, but he would take it.

sc

Jon looked at his grandson judgmentally, trying to project his best disappointed face.

"Tell me, how is it that you fail to even form a decent shield?" he asked. "A spacial redirect? Did you lose your mind?"

The boy at least looked guilty, he wasn't sure he could take it if he wasn't. The boy had been a fake heir to begin with, something to placate his father. There was only one heir in his mind. But that one didn't want the position. The why of it escaped him.

"I- I apologize, grandfather." the boy said.

"Just go." Jon waved his hand. "And don't come back before you are worthy of the Zerolian name."

The boy walked out in shame, soon replaced by his eldest son.

"Did you call?" his robotic voice said, getting on Jon's nerves with just one sentence.

"Yes, I wanted to talk to you about some recent developments." Jon replied.

"Talk to Jen." his third son said, walking out.

"I- This is important!" Jon practically screamed, exasperated by his eldest son's insolence. What had he done to deserve being treated like this.

"Say another word and I will volunteer my services and your secrets to the Countess." his third son replied, not caring about his feelings.

"Why are you so obstinate?" he asked, trying to keep his anger in check.

"Perhaps you shouldn't have killed my mother." was the reply, mana swirling around his third son as he began to teleport.

Jon shut it down. "I did not kill your mother."

"Well, you might as well have." was the only reply he got as he felt his defenses break. The bastard had gotten stronger again!