When the rainy season ended, the original contract with Ash and the others from Red Wood City also drew to a close. Having him join the family left things in a rather awkward state when it came to fulfilling his own side of things. Ash had originally been the one responsible for not only paying the workers during their time in Blue Springs City, but for also helping to ensure their transition afterward went smoothly.
The first issue, of course, came from the fact that Ash's crystals were no longer his own. A male would always give all of the crystals he owned to his mate when they became part of the family. However, even if that weren't the case, there was still the matter of Ash not getting paid anything for any of his future work due to it being expected of him now. If there were no crystals to pay the workers with, that would only be problematic.
Thankfully, Iris was very understanding of this issue and had no problem not only allowing Ash to keep his money, but also continuing to provide the funds necessary to ensure the workers from Red Wood City got paid. She even threw in extra funds, allowing them to receive a raise, as she was used to paying people at the rate her citizens were paid rather than at the one crystal per day the temporary workers had initially been promised.
No one else in the family had any complaints about it either, much to Ash's surprise. Caspian just noted that the males had been of great help in protecting their tribe while Hazel pointed out they had also been working quite hard the entire time they were here. The others were just happy with whatever decision Iris made. Even Basil who always had something to say, when prompted, was quite satisfied with the arrangement since it wasn't much different from paying their own citizens anyway.
In the rainy season, arrangements were made for the males to learn the specialty skills, as Iris had promised. Rather than hiring males from their own tribe for the festival, they used it as an opportunity to teach those from Red Wood City how to cook. Fern and Basil were both much too busy to teach them any of their skills, so Iris had to go out with Birk or Ember to ensure they still had plenty of time to relax. Still, it wasn't like Iris couldn't teach them things like how to make soap, sew pretty dresses with embroidery, etc. She was the one who had taught them how to do so in the first place!
It almost felt like a shame when the rainy season ended and the males were scheduled to return back home. However, they had all been promised the opportunity to learn skills that they could use to better their lives. That meant the other half of Ash's promise would entail him returning home and working to get them employed in new lines of work where they would help improve Red Wood City for the better. They would build better homes, roads, and even create things like soap and delicious food for the people of Red Wood City. This would no doubt end up leading to many of the males being accepted by the females of the city, which was what they had wanted in the first place.
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However, this was where the biggest problem of all came in for Ash. He no longer had any substantial ties to Red Wood City and he had to hide the fact that he was the one who had killed his brother from his family. There was no doubt his mother would still be mourning Ares's death and would end up interrogating him about it. Well, she likely wasn't thinking about the matter most days and was simply thinking about her own needs instead, but his return would no doubt end up reminding her of his brother's death.
The return trip back home was quite comfortable this time. Thanks to the newly built roads and the multitude of buildings meant for stopping and resting each night, they were able to travel in what amounted to luxury for the beastworld. Still, Ash didn't exactly miss the complaining the males around him were doing. Apparently, they had grown accustomed to living in much nicer housing with warm hearths and comfortable beds. The abundance of food in Blue Springs City also meant that the amount of hunting and food scarcity on their trip back home was more than a little noticeable.
This did give Ash the confidence to try playing this trip to his own benefit, though. Iris might not have had nearly as much hunger for power as most city leaders, but even she wouldn't be able to deny the fact that having so many five-star, or higher, ranked beastmen around was great for the city's defenses. They were hard workers and all they really wanted was the chance to find mates for themselves while living comfortable lives. While that could be done in Red Wood City, it would be far easier to do so if they were to agree to follow him back to Blue Springs City to become official citizens instead.
Of course, this was bound to upset his parents, but it wasn't like anyone could reasonably do anything about it. The males were free to make their own decisions about who they wanted to be loyal to and where they wanted to live. It wasn't exactly uncommon for there to be some smaller factions within the city where the citizens would be loyal to the other princes who were runners-up for the throne anyhow. It just happened that Ash had been a rare success story in being accepted as part of the leading family of a nearby city instead of being forced to forever play politics with his stronger older brother who would eventually take the throne. That tended to lead to the weaker brothers being killed off or dying mateless at thirty due to females being uncomfortable with taking risks with their own lives.
Still, Ash had quite a bit of a headache to get through with his own family before he could even consider anything else. He groaned in annoyance just thinking about it. He already couldn't wait until the hot season was over and he could once more return to Iris's side.