We made it to Tuobella’s burrow after another awkward twenty minutes. He kept insisting I was an idiot and I kept insisting that I was amazing. Some people just refuse to acknowledge the truth.

As we arrived the furious bruiser stormed towards the burrow and yelled. “War Queen Aya has arrived!” He then spun on his heels and stormed away. What a silly little fella. I hopped into Bella’s burrow and was pleasantly surprised to find it was extremely roomy.

I walked through a tunnel for almost a minute before it opened up into a ginormous cavern. The cavern’s walls were stone and carved into the stone walls were thousands of drawings. However the most eye-catching thing in the room was the enormous pile of cylindrical objects that reminded me of coins.

Bella herself was sitting on a large circular chair and smiling proudly. I was a bit confused but hopped into the circle and scooched in next to her. Our faces were less than a foot away from each other and my tail happily lashed through the air as she stared at me in confusion and horror.

After almost ten seconds of just staring she yelled. “Queen Aya! This is incredibly disrespectful! Please get off the throne.” I grumbled but hopped down, I didn’t fit very well anyway.

She huffed and puffed for a few seconds before composing herself and saying. “I’ve called you here to give you a rundown on what your duties will entail. As General of our army your first duty will be to establish an army of at least one hundred bruisers by the end of the month.”

I nodded as that had already been checked off. I would have an army ten times that size in under ten hours. I just need to feed them and make sure they’re up to snuff. She smiled even wider before saying the next one. “Your second duty will be to train and appoint competent officers in your army. You also must train the regular soldiers.”

I nodded and asked. “Will you supply food for my army?” She nodded and said. “The hardworking unclaimed in the outskirts of our nation work hard to ensure a surplus. We usually sell it to our neighbor, Itzal but that brings me to the third requirement. You will take this army you have formed and defend us against the forces from Itzal. Relations have soured recently and we fear they may believe they are our equals.”

I shook my head and said. “Acceptable. All of these requirements will be met as long as you supply food. Could you please deliver a map of the nearby region to my burrow so I may plan the training and the future campaign?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Bella nodded and slapped her tail on her throne a few times. “Perfect! So any objections? They’ll be taken into account.” I was pretty sure anything I said would be rejected but it didn’t hurt to ask.

“I would like to receive a budget and personal pay. I can’t form an army based on only food.” I actually could but I could use a budget. I just don’t know what I would actually buy. I have everything I need for my army. A large number of willing and impulsive young people.”

I snickered at my own satirical joke as Bella stared at me. I maintained eye contact as she just shrugged and said. “Sure, I’ll give you an initial budget of five thousand clinks and you a weekly pay of ten clinks.”

I had no idea what a clink was but I’ll take it. Sounds like money to me. I nodded and said. “Alright, you’ll have your army. And I’ll have my district up and running soon enough.” Bella laughed and said. “Very well War Queen, show us what we’ve been missing.”

I walked away and thought back to the conversation. Everything had gone well, really well. I had gotten food, funding and a pretty low bar to uphold. She had even seemed supportive the entire time.

Would it really be that bad to just sit back, manage a district, lead the army and just exist in this nation? I could serve for years, protecting my kids and my people. I wouldn’t have to fight to exist every day. I could just sit around and sit. Not having to worry about if the next life threatening hunt I went on to feed my kids would kill or injure me to the point that I can’t go on another hunt.

Nah, that's a poor person mindset. I want more! I can’t ever have enough power! I want the ability to give my kids entire kingdoms if that's what they want! I want to be able to give my kids the whole world! To do that I need to control the whole world.

I high fived myself, causing me to faceplant as I am unable to stand on only one leg. After wiping the dirt and mud off my face I kept walking back to my new home. It was nice to chill every once and a while but lethargy is not to be admired. I need more money. And I need to find out how much the money I do have is actually worth. Once I do that I might be set, or not. I shrugged and smiled as I realized I had made it back to my district. The second I entered a weird looking bruiser walked up to me and said. “My Queen, the council has been assembled. I’m Tetel, I’ve been selected as your butler.”

I nodded and asked. “What are you?” He looked a bit confused before answering. “I’m a windclaw, my Queen. We’re the postal system for this nation so most of us weren’t in the city when you claimed us. However, around a hundred have agreed to join your army. In fact your army is assembled right outside the city awaiting your orders.”

I frowned and said. “I thought I ordered them to help rebuild the district?” Tetel nodded and said. “We have enough burrows for everyone, and honestly it's better to have some skinks who actually know how to build than a bunch of bungling idiots.”

Hmm, can’t argue with that. Although hearing my army get described as bungling idiots isn’t a good sign. As I walked past my burrow my kids burst out and swarmed towards me. “My Queen! Where have you been? You weren’t with us when we woke up. Why’d you leave us?”

I stared at them and wondered how to explain that I was in fact not going to be able to spend time with them for a long time. I was a general, queen and administrator. How could I fit being a father there?