The three materials I am looking for are fairly common and it turns out that the merchants have a lot of them. The first few merchants we visit have several tons of each of them, which I buy. However, I don't stop there, we visit and clean out every merchant in the capital.

In the end, I get about thirty tons of each of the three metals that I need. I still have plenty of gold, but getting more materials would take time I don't want to spend. First I will head back, turn these into the alloy, and then see where I stand.

If I end up needing more, I can head to demon hunter city to see if I can buy more. For now, I head back to the palace to say goodbye to Amn and then head for the elves. When I get there I find Empress Atesh there with Brightfire, so I land and shapeshift.

Empress Atesh says "Hello, Ash. It is good to see you again."

"You as well, I was wondering why I didn't see you in the palace."

Empress Atesh says "My husband can't leave the palace very often, so it falls to me to make sure things in the rest of the empire are as reported."

"Ah, surprise inspections?"

Empress Atesh says "Exactly. I hate doing it, but I find things that weren't reported every single time. It is enough to drive me insane."

"Have there been any problems with the elves?"

Empress Atesh says "Not the elves themselves, but some people tried to steal some of their supplies."

"Well, thank you for taking care of them personally."

Empress Atesh says "No problem. Will you be taking them today?"

"Brightfire, are they ready to travel?"

Brightfire says "Yes, they are. They are in a lot better shape than most that you have rescued. We can leave anytime."

"Great! In that case, yes we will be leaving today."

Empress Atesh says "Alright. Then I wish you safe travels and I hope you and Lin can visit us again soon."

"We probably will. I will want to run away from the politics just as soon as I get home."

Empress Atesh says "I can completely understand that! Good luck!"

"Thanks, I will probably need it. Alright, Brightfire, let's get this started."

Brightfire says "Okay, first let me introduce you to everyone. Do you have enough mana now, or do we need to wait a while?"

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"Not yet. I should have enough in about an hour."

Brightfire says "That should be enough time for you to meet everyone."

"Alright, what form do you want to introduce me in? Should we start with human so I don't scare them? Or beastman first?"

Brightfire says "Go with your normal form. I have already told everyone what you are and since you are wearing the crown, your form won't matter much."

"You think the crown will keep them from being scared of me?"

Brightfire says "If they just met you randomly, probably not. Since they know ahead of time, I think they will be okay."

"Alright, I will trust you. Let's do this."

After looking around to make sure Atesh is out of sight, I drop shapeshift and follow Brightfire. Surprisingly, she was right, the elves she takes me to do not freak out at all. In fact, the elves she introduces me to all look extremely happy to meet me.

I make an effort to memorize their names and what skills they have as they are introduced to me. To my surprise, one young woman introduces herself as a mage. I am sure there must be quite a story behind an elven slave becoming a mage.

Maybe if I have some time later, I will ask her what that story is, but for now I just make a mental note to introduce her to Lin. Lin is far more capable than me when it comes to the magic system of this world. She will be able to see what skill level the elf is at and might even take her as an apprentice.

Once the introductions are done, all of the elves take a knee and swear to me as their king. Thanks to the crown, I now know that there are exactly one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six new elves. This will be a huge boost to the elves' population and I am glad we don't have to try and squeeze them onto the ship.

After the fealty ceremony, it only takes a few minutes for the elves to gather up their few belongings. At this point, all that is left is for me to open the gate and keep it open long enough for them to all go through. I have enough mana to open the gate, but I am not sure I can hold it long enough.

To buy myself a little time, I contact Stillwater and have him move the platform from my cabin. I tell him to put it in an open area and prepare for almost two thousand elves to come through. It takes about fifteen minutes before he contacts me again to say that everything is prepared.

By that point, all the elves on my side have lined up and are ready to rush through the gate as soon as it opens. Once I am sure that everything is ready, I open the gate and order the elves to go. To reassure everyone that it is safe, Brightfire leads the way through the gate.

However, it doesn't seem to be necessary as the elves don't hesitate at all. As soon as I give the order, they start rushing through the gate without waiting to see what happens to Brightfire. This will help a lot since it will keep the time I need to hold the gate open to a minimum.

Luckily, my mana holds out long enough to get everyone through, just barely. I go through last and when I get to the other side I see an amazing sight. All the elves have come out to welcome the newcomers so I am surrounded by thousands of elves.

There are a lot of tearful reunions as family members that thought they were alone find each other. Even those that don't find family are happy just to see more elves being freed. Of course, it soon turns into a huge party to welcome the new elves.

Unfortunately, now that I am acting as the king, I can't escape like I normally would. After a bit, I realize that I don't see Lin or Bella anywhere among the crowd. They might still be doing tattoos, but I don't think any of the elves are missing.

The kids are here, but when I ask them they say they haven't seen them. I guess the two of them must still be talking, so I don't go looking for them. After opening the gate, I am completely out of mana, so I wouldn't be able to do any work anyway.

With that being the case, I try to relax and enjoy the party, but it isn't easy. Socializing is definitely not my strong suit, I would much rather be reading manga. However, the elves seem to be enjoying having me here, so I stick around.