Duke rose from the throne and was about to get to his business when Baslin burst into the room again. Duke instinctively slammed his fist shut tightly around the core to hide it. He trusted Baslin, but his protective instincts had taken over.

Baslin rushed up to Duke, frantic mania in his eyes. “Duke, Duke, Duke! I need you to do something for me!”

Duke stepped down to meet him, a bit perplexed. “What is it Baslin? What’s so desperate urgent that you need done?”

Baslin skidded to a stop in front of Duke, breathless. He wheezed his way through his next statement. “Duke, Strip Negron of his Duchy and everything.”

A flash of understanding ran through Duke’s mind, and he didn’t hesitate to act. He once again raised his arms out for a grand pronouncement, the core held fast in his left hand. “I, King Duke do hereby declare that Duke Negron is a traitor to the kingdom, its people, and the crown! He is stripped of all titles, all holdings, privileges, and other status or possessions afforded to him by said titles are forfeited and revert to the crown. Furthermore, as a traitor, he is declared anathema and shall receive no assistance from anyone of or within the kingdom!”

Again, a flare of energy rushed outwards from Duke, spreading over the land. He could feel the power coming from all around him and it was an otherworldly sensation. He capped the declaration off by taking an item out of his INVENTORY and putting it on. It had been sitting in there for quite some time, but Duke had just realized that it was something that he could actually use now.

Baslin finally caught his breath before gasping at the item Duke now wore. “Of course. Yes, of course. The crown!”

Duke smiled proudly at finally remembering to use an item he had been holding onto like a packrat. Just to remind himself, he IDENTIFIED the crown.

*** You have found the Crown of the Mage King. This artifact is the final remnant of the Mage King’s rule. When worn by a ruler, it provides a prosperity bonus to all productivity within the demesnes of the ruler. The bonus is based upon the wearer’s Psyche. ***

Duke quickly referred to his sheet to check on his Psyche. With his Title modification, it currently sat at 743 which he guessed would take an average person at least to tier five or six to reach. He chuckled inwardly as he realized that an average person would never even hit tier two. Whatever the case, he was satisfied that his bonus to the kingdom’s prosperity would be immense, especially after all the experience he expected to receive when he next slept.

“Thank you, Duke. If I cannot find and end the miserable necromancer, at least we can cut off his power base until we can find him.” Baslin groused.

“Do you really think that cut off his power base? Duke asked.

“No, not really.” Baslin admitted. “But it will make things harder for him in the short run. I need to track him down and I think I have a method to do so. I need to set up a laboratory. May I use the court wizard’s quarters and laboratory here in the castle to do so?”

Duke looked puzzled. “A few things. One, you are my official Court Wizard so of course you would have permission to use your own quarters and laboratory. But two, and this might be the most important, weren’t those quarters and laboratory part of the castle that I tore down?”

“Who taught you the Repair Spell that became your RESTORE Ability?”

Duke hesitantly answered, “You did.”

“Right. Do you think maybe, just maybe, I could have used my own spell to repair the castle? Or did you think the throne room had a ceiling when you left it?”

Duke sighed, realizing his self-important arrogance. “You rebuilt the whole castle, didn’t you?”

“It wouldn’t do for the new King to not have a place that was a solid symbol of his power, would it?” Baslin beamed.

“Thank you, Baslin. That is quite appreciated. But how did you know that I wan going to want to rebuild this place?”

Baslin smiled. “That was easy to figure out. It’s just like you told Duke Madrigal, you are all about setting things right to the way they are supposed to be. Your magic is most often used for restoration and renewal. Of course you would be restoring the capital.”

“I guess I am that easy to read. OK. Give me an hour to take care of something and have everyone who is going to the Inn gather in the throne room. I’ll swing by and pick you all up and we can have a victory feast!”

“As you wish…Your Majesty.” Baslin responded, smirking at Duke’s sour face in response to the honorific. He then headed out of the throne room grinning as Duke TELEPORTED to his destination.

Duke was surprised when he arrived in front of the door to the vault to see the two floating guardians still in place. His reaction was immediate and mostly instinctual. He blasted them with LIGHTNING. It took little more than a few seconds to burn them down with his Practiced level Ability. The guardians had barely moved to attack before Duke had reacted. All-in-all, Duke was quite satisfied with the result as the bodies crumbled to dust. They were moving to attack me, right? Sure. Of course they were. Oh well, whatever the case, they’re done.

Stolen story; please report.

He moved to the vault door itself and realized that he had no idea how to open it. After a moment of contemplation, he decided that he didn’t need to go in just yet and if he wanted to get in personally, he could just TELEPORT back in. Instead, he spent the next twenty minutes exploring the level until he found what he was looking for – a storage room.

Duke pulled all the items in the storage room into his INVENTORY just to get them out of the way and took a good look at the structural integrity of the room. Ten minutes later, he decided that he had no engineering skills whatsoever and the room looked sound to him.

Shrugging, he placed the new dungeon core on the floor of the room. At this point, Duke had gently poured over 50,000 Mana into the core and it was growing solidly. He stepped back and realized he had no idea how to actually plant the core. Are there words I’m supposed to say? Some sort of ritual? Do I need to dig a hole for it?

The core shuddered and an expanding sphere of red energy swept outwards, rapidly filling the room, and physically pushing Duke back out the door into the hallway. He stepped back further and watched the process. Once the energy field had filled the room’s volume, it started to solidify, becoming more and more opaque until it looked like he was staring at a blank wall. Even the doorway itself had been subsumed into the new construct.

Duke stood there, waiting for a good five minutes but nothing changed. He began to wonder if he had done something wrong when words appeared on the wall for the briefest of moments. If not for Duke staring at the wall, he probably would have missed it, but there clearly was a message in glowing red letters. “Go away. Come back later.”

Duke chuckled. “Definitely one of Sam’s offspring. OK, I’ll come back later.” He TELEPORTED back to the throne room. He quickly noted that Baslin, Grat, and Aurelia were waiting for him. He habitually looked at his watch, or more to the point, where his watch had once been on his arm.

“Am I late?” Duke asked hoping he hadn’t gotten lost in watching the new dungeon form.

“A King is never late in his own kingdom.” Baslin responded deadpan.

Duke continued, smiling. “He arrives precisely when he means to.”

“Um, yes, that is what I was saying.” Baslin responded, ruining Duke’s moment of nostalgia. The frown on Duke’s face prompted Baslin to continue. “Is something wrong, Duke?”

“No, nothing wrong, just more idioms that none of you ever seem to get. Probably the only thing that makes me homesick for my home world. Anyway, let’s get going. We have a victory to celebrate, and I am sure that we all could use a good night’s sleep.” He didn’t give anyone a chance to respond before TELEPORTING the group outside the Inn.

Without hesitation, they filtered into the Inn. After so many times being TELEPORTED, the group had largely become immune to the disorienting effects of such a rapid change in perspective. Inside the Inn, things had been completely redecorated for a celebration. There was a distinct “bear” theme making it obvious that Elaine had been the one directing the decoration. Even the support columns had been sculpted to resemble bears.

She rushed forward to wrap Grat up in a hug, lifting him from his feet and swinging him around. Duke and Aurelia exchanged a confused glance as they had both noticed that Elaine was much further along in her pregnancy than expected. She asked Duke, “You see what I’m seeing?”

“Kinda hard to miss, wouldn’t you say?” Duke responded.

Baslin looked over at the two of them. “What are you talking about? The decorations? They are quite festive and it is clear that Elaine had a strong hand in their design.”

Aurelia nodded her head in Elaine’s direction. Grat was once again back on his feet, even if he looked a bit dizzy after his whirlwind embrace. “Look how far along Elaine has gotten. She shouldn’t be showing but the barest of baby bumps, yet she looks at least eight months, maybe even nine along.”

“Oh?” Baslin said. Elaine turned around to greet the rest of them. “Oh!” Baslin exclaimed in surprise.

Elaine dragged Grat over to the rest of the crew, beaming a wide smile. “Congratulations on such a resounding victory! And you, Duke. A King! How wonderful! I hope you didn’t mind that I prepared a victory feast for you all.”

Aurelia pointedly looked down at Elaine’s bulge with a clear “You had better start explaining” look.

“Oh, right. Yes, things have moved along rather quickly from your perspective, haven’t they. I have maybe few more weeks left, perhaps less, at least in your timeframe.”

“In my timeframe?” Duke asked. Then he suddenly realized what Elaine was saying. “Sam! What did you do?”

Sam manifested next to Duke, well, just out of arms-reach, but close enough and replied, “Only what I was asked to do.” It was clear from Duke’s look that further explanation was demanded. Sam continued, “When it became known that time moved faster inside the city than outside, Elaine asked me to set aside an area for the pregnant women that was even more sped-up. I, of course, did so.”

Elaine gave Duke a deathly stare. “Don’t you say a word against this at all. Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to be pregnant? No, of course you don’t.”

“I could make a spell to make someone feel like they were.” Baslin volunteered. The glare from Elaine was enough to make Baslin take a step back.

“Learn to read the room.” Duke whispered to the Archmage. Elaine’s glare returned to Duke as Baslin whispered back, “It’s been more than a century since I had to.”

Aurelia stepped in to save them. Taking Elaine by the arm, she walked her to the table, “Tell me more about this…mother’s area? How does it work?” The pair became involved in an animated discussion.

Duke glared at Sam for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, knowing that there was little that could be done without causing more trouble for everyone involved. He joined the women at the table with a confused-looking Grat and an amused-looking Aurelia.

The celebratory dinner was immense and delicious. All responsibilities were put aside for the evening as they reveled in the feeling of accomplishment. They all knew there was much more work waiting for them in the morning but were happy to just blow off some steam that evening. The group rapidly separated afterwards for some much-needed rest.