In the middle of the afternoon, Caeldaemos teleported to the Ever-Night Forest to check in with Geon. But something was different this time.

“Holy shit.” He laughed as he looked out the window.

The Ever-Night Forest was no longer shrouded in the darkness of miasma but now a well-lit regular forest.

He laughed once more as he shook his head and entered the throne room where a Hard-Mana form of Geon awaited him.

“You’re back!” She went up and hugged him.

“Looks like you finished.” He commented.

Geon’s Hard-Mana form was perfected to the point that it would be near impossible to outwardly tell she was not a natural body.

“Yup. I have so much power stored away that the plan should go quite well.” Geon smiled.

Caaeldaemos furrowed his brow. “Am I ever going to find out what the ‘Plan’ is?”

“Hmm. I am ready for my part. It just depends on if the others were successful.” Geon replied.

“Fine.” Caeldaemos went to pick up her core, but she picked herself up.

“Can you do that?” He asked.

“Yup! Feels weird, though.” She joined him by his side.

“Alright. Now, I haven’t told them about your new form. I am sure Lily will be the most excited.” He chuckled.

“I look forward to it! Ever since I learned how nice it feels to hug people, I just want to hug everyone!” Geon smiled brightly.

Pulling her close to him, he teleported them back to Hallibrush.

“We’re back!” He called out as he opened the door.

“Welcome back!” Lily greeted them. “Huh?” She saw Geon enter the room.

“Hey, Lily! I have a huggable body now!” Geon announced.

Lily Flash Stepped forward and hugged Geon, almost causing the core to drop herself.

“GEON!”

“LILY!”

Caeldaemos took the core into his hands so the two girls could continue their hug battle.

“Is that Geon?” Sophia asked as she entered the room, carrying a basket of clothes.

“Yeah. She created the program for the Hard-Mana forms and made one for herself. She’s still in here too.” He held up the core for Sophia to see the waving Geon.

“I can’t believe how real you feel,” Lily said, lifting Geon’s skirt.

“Lily!” Caeldaemos scolded her.

She raised her hands in the air. “Sorry!”

“I know a way you can check!” Geon replied.

“How?”

“I’ve always wanted to feel what it was like to take a bath!” Geon excitedly stated.

“Let’s go!” Lily dragged the Core-Body away. “Dad! Come join us!”

“Will we be adding a daughter or lover?” Sophia teased.

“DAUGHTER!” Caeldaemos shouted, causing the priestess to giggle at his expense.

“Cael? Is that you?” Listamati called from downstairs.

“Yeah! I’ll be down in a bit!” He answered and stomped off away from the priestess to the bathroom.

Caeldaemos, Lily, and Geon entered their meeting room, an old storage room they had converted. “Welcome back, Cael….” Liara stared at Geon.

Before she could tease him, he stated it was Geon and how she made a Hard-Mana form for her to use. Around Geon’s neck was her actual body, her core in necklace form.

Other than the three who just entered. Liara, Listamati, Rana, Mari, Orelia, Sophia, and Mayor Toto were present.

Lily and Geon sat next to each other, sticking to each other like loving sisters.

Caeldaemos sat in his oversized chair, and Liara began their meeting.

“Now, Cael, as you know, we have been working on a big project for nearly three months.”

“Am I going to finally know what it is?” He asked.

Liara smiled at him. “Yes. Let me start by asking, did you happen to know who the Lord of Hallibrush was?”

“Uh, no,” Caeldaemos replied, genuinely wondering who it was.

“It was Viscount Pauli,” Mari answered.

“That guy I… Okay, him. So, what about it?”

“Thanks to Mari, Listamati’s, and Orelia’s testimonies, the Galgalake royal family launched an investigation into the family.” Liara continued. “It turned out that Pauli was lining his pockets by relaxing local security in the area.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Wait, are you saying that asshole was a part of the baron’s slave trade? Wait, don’t answer that. The prick had used slave collars, and I feel stupid for asking that question.” He palmed his face in self-disappointment.

“You are correct, though. But it was found that he was just being paid off to limit patrols and cut funds to local security forces. Which led to the attack of Hallibrush.” Rana explained.

“Okay. But Pauli is dead.” Caeldaemos didn’t understand where they were going with the story.

“Pauli’s family was well aware of what was going on, and the Viscount’s domain has been seized and the family arrested. Mayor Toto has been petitioning the royal family with a request of the town’s consensus.” Liara explained.

“Petition?”

“For whom they desire to be in charge of their domain.” Liara victoriously smirked.

“Huh? Wait. But… No. Did you seriously?” Caeldaemos slowly understood what they were now saying.

“Congratulations, Baron Caeldaemos.” The three wives proudly announced.

His head lowered and banged against the table. “I don’t know the first thing about being a noble….”

Caeldaemos continued to bang his head against the table.

“I think he likes it.” Liara joked.

“This will be a large step toward our survival and change the world’s view of you,” Rana commented.

“Not to worry, Cael, I still remember all of my etiquette training. I will be able to help you.” Listamati comforted.

He leaned back in his chair, hanging his head over the back, and stared at the ceiling. “I’m guessing I have to do something?”

“Correct. You will have to go to the palace and speak with the queen. There will likely be a function where nobles will gather. We already have an estate in Galgalake, so that can be our home in the capital.” Liara answered, laying out a map for him.

She pointed to where Hallibrush was. “Your land will bump up against Venture’s, go as far down as the fork between the two towns, and go about this far out to the west and here to the north.”

The domain was narrow but ran a decent distance to the north.

“So, is this the Viscount’s original domain?” He asked.

“Only a section of it. I petitioned for our town to fall under the jurisdiction of someone we all know and trust. Yourself, my lord.” Mayor Toto answered.

“Wait, is that why you switched to calling that?” Caeldaemos realized.

Mayor Toto chuckled. “Yes. It was the day that you placed your faith in the people of Hallibrush to know your secret that I decided to have you become the one in charge of us. With all you have achieved up until now, I do not regret my choice in the least bit.”

Caeldaemos smiled reluctantly. “Thanks, Toto. I truly hope that I can live up to your expectations.”

“Now all you need is a home here in Hallibrush. I am sure the temple is comfortable for you all, but it would not be right for our lord to live like a priest.” Mayor Toto chuckled.

Geon stood up, raising her hand. “That’s where I come in!” She cried out.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“With all the miasma I absorbed, I have enough power to create something! If you establish me as the controlling core, I can create anything you want and keep it repaired.” Geon proclaimed.

“By Io, you all really did plan it completely through.” He shook his head.

“Yes. Our itinerary is to see the queen in four days for a commissioning ceremony. The next day will be a banquet at the palace, celebrating your commission as the Baron of Hallibrush and the new Viscountess. After that, we plan a short vacation in the coastal town of Barnoo west of Galgalake.” Rana went over their schedule.

“I feel like I should have a lot to do, though… Can we really take a vacation?” Caeldaemos asked.

Mayor Toto chuckled. “Things need not change overnight, my lord. I had to run this town without Viscount Pali’s support for years. A few days without you will not affect us. But I certainly look forward to the prospects of working with you.”

“Thanks, Toto. I hope I can help to alleviate some of the burdens instead of adding.” Caeldaemos patted the old dog on the shoulder.

“Now then…” Liara’s and the other lady’s expressions changed, causing Caeldaemos to tense.

“It has been a while, has it not, sisters?” Sophia stated.

“It indeed has. We made our dearest feel lonely.” Listamati commented.

“Girls.” Mayor Toto spoke to Lily and Geon. “Why don’t the two of you stay at my home for the next couple of days. My wife has been asking about you, Lily, and I am sure she would love to meet Geon.”

“Huh? What’s going on? I feel like I should know what’s happening but can’t quite place it.” Geon pondered, and Lily dragged her along.

“Stuff we don’t have to worry about, Geon. Actually, can you eat food?” Lily asked.

“I can! I just convert it into mana in my body. Oh! I really want to try the pie!” Geon excitedly said as the two girls followed Mayor Toto out of the temple. Mari was already gone after using One with Darkness.

“Um.” Caeldaemos watched as the five ladies approached him with lustful smiles. “Guess this is going to be a raid battle?”

“To battle my sisters,” Liara stated.

For the next two days, the temple was closed for service and surrounded by an impassable barrier that was thoroughly soundproofed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The heroes sat down in their seats in the meeting room. They were in the palace of Vualdulin. Of all the heroes, only Gabriel still looked to be in rough shape. He now had an artificial Magic Eye to replace his lost one. It allowed him to see generally like a natural eye.

“Are you still sulking that we cannot restore your eye?” Lindsey asked.

“At least you have your libido back.” Greggory chided the man.

“Shut the hell up.” Gabriel retorted.

“Enough.” Grand Duke Lorenze ordered.

“Has there been any news on the Demon-Lord?” Hana asked.

“None. He’s been quiet since that fight.” The duke replied.

“What about the questions about his motives?” Haley asked, eyeing Gabriel, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

The grand duke eyed Gabriel coldly. “There are no records of this Evil Eye of Entrapment, and the ‘victim’ has been rather quiet about it.”

“Hmph. What does it matter? It’s gone.” Gabriel hated the way they judged him.

“It does matter, Gabriel. Can we really trust you?” Hana coldly asked.

“Fuck off,” Gabriel replied.

They have done this exchange countless times. Gabriel had refused to speak of what the ability was, and they could not force him. They still needed him in case the Demon-Lord turned out to be evil.

“Hero Gabriel.” The grand duke began. “Out of all the others, you are by far the least ‘Heroic.’ Really, even the Demon-Lord is seen as a better hero than you.”

Gabriel shot up from his chair. “Fuck all of you!” He turned to leave.

“Sit down.” The grand duke stared into Gabriel’s eyes with fury, aggressively ordering the pathetic man.

It was apparent Gabriel was weighing his options but decided to sit back down.

“I would like us to move on from what had happened in the past until we truly know the intentions of the Demon-Lord.” Princess Alicia advised.

“Very well, your grace.” The duke bowed his head to her.

Gabriel relaxed a bit in his seat at the princess’ request.

“The next item on the schedule is a meeting with the representative from OWP in thirty minutes. Does anyone have any questions?” The grand duke asked.

“I do. Has there been any news on them?” Hana asked.

“Ah, yes. I have not been able to find anything new on the mercenary group. All I have right now is that it is a group of seven, one large man and six women. The only thing I got from Lady Temerilla was the man’s name was Michael.” The duke answered.

Gabriel lifted his hands. “Really? You have no problem with that, but I can’t have a single girl?” He complained.

“Maybe he is more of a man than you are?” Greggory wiggled his pinky finger.

Haley stifled and laughed while Lindsey punched the big man in the arm.

“Enough.” The duke intervened. “Onto the demon Caeldaemos, I learned some interesting news about him.”

“What about him?” Hana asked.

“We likely won’t be able to commission him to help us as he will be appointed a noble of Galgalake and given a barony.” The grand duke replied.

“Why is that a reason?” Haley wondered.

“Being newly appointed as a noble and given a domain is not easy. You have a responsibility to your people to meet their needs. He may be available to assist us if he has capable retainers.” The princess answered for him.

“I will keep that in mind, your grace.” The grand duke agreed.

“Is he really that impressive?” Gabriel scoffed.

The grand duke smirked. “Why not go find out?”