Pol says "That will be more difficult. Just about every beastman that is willing to fight has already joined Leonarr's army. Well, I guess it is your army, so maybe we can get some after all."

"Yes, we can, but we don't have to limit it to beastmen. Recruiting from the humans and beasts is also fine, just make sure they are loyal."

Pol says "In that case, it will be easy for me to get a full crew and combat personnel."

"Good. Do you have people who can run things here? Because if you are going to try to leave Annya behind, I want to watch you tell her!"

Pol says "Not a chance! I am not stupid! But yes, I have trained a good number of subordinates that I trust to handle things here while I am gone."

"That's good then. Oh, speaking of here, I vaguely remember that I made a promise to someone to improve the herbs market in Illium. Specifically to make healing items cheaper."

Pol says "True, herbs are a decent product. The main problem is transporting them fast enough that they don't wither. That is the only thing keeping us from making them a major export."

"That's easy enough to fix. I can make a huge batch of holding items for you to use. They will keep everything fresh."

Pol says "That would be perfect, but do you have the time to be making items for us?"

"Well, I'm not going to be able to make hundreds of them, but enough to get the herb trade going shouldn't be a problem. The ship already has chests of holding built in, so you won't need to worry about that. I can also ask Yui for help, I seem to remember that she still had more wagons like the ones the military is using. Come to think of it, they could probably use a couple more as well."

Pol says "Well, if you can get us the items, I will get the outcasts to start picking more herbs and even see about growing them."

"Sounds good. Also, they should sell pretty well on the main continent. Especially the rarer herbs."

Pol says "Can you tell me about the markets on the main continent?"

"I will tell you what I can, but I am no expert."

Pol says "I just need a general idea of what kind of things to take to sell to them."

So, I spend a couple of hours telling Pol about the things I saw in the markets during my travel. I also tell him about Zachariah and the merchant group since I dealt with them a lot. Having a friendly group to deal with should make his job quite a bit easier.

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I know that he could easily sell weapons, but I just don't have the time to make them for him. He will need to figure out what to buy and sell on his own, but I'm sure that he can handle it. After all, he has done a great job here with little to no input from me.

Once I run out of things to tell him, I leave him to his work and head back to the palace. I find all of the chiefs waiting for me, but Leonarr still hasn't arrived yet. So, while waiting for him to arrive I spend some time chatting with the chiefs.

Aside from Muyaun, the chiefs that chose to follow me are Grud of the badgers, Knarra of the oxen, Amat of the rats, and Barcar of the lizards. That gives me a total of five tribes out of the eighteen that are recognized among the beastmen. There are smaller tribes in addition to those, but they are ignored for the most part.

Most of the big tribes basically just lump the smaller tribes in with the outcasts. Since the outcasts are already on my side, a lot of those small tribes are as well. Thanks to that, even though I only have five tribes our military is stronger than the remaining tribes. If I really wanted to, I could easily force the remaining tribes to submit through force.

However, considering how things stand with the empire right now, that would be a mistake. Fighting on two fronts never works out well and I don't plan to make that mistake. Depending on how things go with my next plan, it might be an option later.

I still would prefer to bring the rest of the tribes over peacefully, but I might have missed that chance. I had built up some decent momentum before I went through the gate, but it is gone now. For now, I am just going to play it by ear and see how things go.

"First, let me apologize for being gone for so long. It wasn't intended. Now, I would like to hear how your tribes are doing and if there is anything you need."

Grud says "My people are doing great! They all have jobs that they enjoy and their work is contributing to the kingdom. Joining you has turned out to be the best decision I have ever made. We couldn't be happier!"

"Good, I'm glad to hear that."

Knarra says "My tribe is the same as Grud's. Everyone found something that they wanted to do and that allowed them to contribute."

"Any issues that I can help with?"

Knarra says "Nope. Even the idiots that needed some beating have been dealt with by your military training. To be honest, everything is going so well that I have been bored."

"Well, I will see about finding something to cure your boredom. Amat?"

Amat says "Not only have the attacks on my people completely stopped, but they are spoiled for choice of what to do. Be it farming, the military, trading, or spying, there is room for my people everywhere. If I had known it would be like this, I would have joined with the outcasts ages ago."

"That's good. So, no issues?"

Amat says "None."

"Good. Barcar?"

Barcar says "I wish that I could say the same as the others, but I do have an issue. At first, everything was great, but it didn't last. Life here is too easy compared to the desert. Most of my people are just plain bored."

"I guess I can see that, they are used to fighting just to survive. There is no challenge anymore."

Barcar says "Exactly. It's not that they don't appreciate being able to leave the desert, they just need more stimulation."

"Hm, that is a tall order. For the farmers, Pol is going to be starting a project to grow special herbs, that might be more challenging. Some others might find joining the ship's crew to be more interesting. Now that I am back, there should be other, similar things that they can join in on. Unfortunately, that's about all that I have available at the moment."

Barcar says "That should be enough. Once some people find more challenging options, the other complaints should lessen. It will buy time for things to develop and that should take care of the other people who are bored. The main problem is the lack of patience among my people."