Pol says "Boss, calm down and think it through. Marriage alliances are fairly common."

Annya says "It is fairly common among the clans for warriors to have multiple wives. As a king no one would question how many wives you took."

"Do you want to watch me be torn apart by the girls?"

Annya says "So? Marry them too! Myria may be an outcast but she would still bring you the bunny tribe."

"Stop! Just stop! Don't you dare breathe a word of this to the girls!"

Annya says "I won't. I know this caught you off guard, but will you at least think about it? It is probably the only way to get clans to follow you without bloodshed."

"Alright, I will think about it, just not right now."

Pol says "I don't know about this idea, that would be showing a lot of favoritism to the cat clans."

"If either of you even suggests me marrying a member of every clan I will throw you out the window!"

They both try to laugh it off as a joke, but Annya looks at the window nervously. Grud has been silently listening the entire time but whatever he thinks of it he keeps to himself. The idea of marrying that many women is terrifying, not to mention how Ruby and Myria would react.

"Pol, how are the men still with Mercy doing?"

Pol says "They are doing good, although we have had a few casualties. There are around eight thousand left helping the rebels and they are all fully trained."

"Okay, good. Here soon I will be heading up there to see how things are. I still have several promises to keep."

Pol says "When you do, if you need anything talk to Leonarr. He is the lionman that I put in charge of the men up there."

"Alright, I will remember his name. That won't be for a few days yet, I still have some things to do."

Looking out the window I see the sun is starting to set, so I say my goodbyes. My goodbyes might have been a little short, maybe even a little rude, but my mind is still reeling. I am sure that the two of them will understand and forgive me.

I quickly make my way back to the inn and check in with Sarah to make sure everything is set. Of course, everything is and she chides me for not trusting her and worrying too much. So after getting teased I leave the inn and head to Vacker's school.

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When I enter the school the first floor is empty so I head upstairs looking for Vacker. I find him talking to Roddick and Belliza, it seems they got here early. There are tables set up to one side of the room for dinner while the rest of the room is empty.

Vacker says "Hey, Ash, nice of you to join us."

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting any guests to be this early."

Belliza says "He wouldn't sit still, it was either come early or go through the teleporter."

"You already got it activated?"

Roddick says "Yeah, it wasn't hard for the two of us."

"Well, Isabella isn't having an easy time. If either of you have mana left I'd appreciate some help with my teleporter."

Belliza says "I will, Roddick is a bit old to completely drain himself."

Roddick says "Hey! Watch it!"

Belliza says "Just speaking the truth. I will go help now, since we have time before dinner."

"Thank you. Oh, ask the girls if they are coming to dinner for me."

Belliza says "Sure, be back soon."

Roddick says "She is a great mage and an awesome assistant, but sometimes she takes liberties."

"That's a good thing, it helps keep you honest."

Roddick says "Maybe, but it's annoying."

"More annoying than the paperwork she takes care of for you?"

Roddick says "No, absolutely not!"

"Then why are you complaining?"

Roddick says "Because I am old and because I can!"

Ambrose says "What is Roddick complaining about now??"

"Oh, hello, Ambrose! He is complaining about Belliza teasing him about being old."

Jezzel says "Well, that is certainly nothing new. As the oldest person in the city you should be used to it!"

Roddick says "Don't you start!"

"Is that true? Are you the oldest person in the city?"

Roddick says "Yes, unless Zamart visits. He is a couple of years older than I am. Mages live longer than anyone else, the stronger your magic the longer you live."

Ambrose says "Where is Belliza?"

"She ran over to the inn to help me with something. She should be back in a moment."

Ambrose says "Then we are just waiting on Borrik?"

"Pretty much."

Belliza says "I'm back! The girls said they won't be joining us and that other thing should be finished tomorrow."

"Thank you for your help! You look drained, please have a seat."

With Belliza back the friendly bickering increases and goes on for the next ten minutes. It would have probably continued all night but Borrik arriving puts an end to it, for now. As Borrik is greeting the others, Vacker and I start loosening up in preparation for our match.

Normally, I wouldn't bother, but I know Vacker is going to push me as hard as he can. Once we have stretched I join him at the rack of practice weapons. These are not wooden weapons, they are blunted metal weapons that can still do some damage.

Vacker goes with his favorite long and short combo, while I choose a pair of short swords. He seems surprised by my selection, he was probably expecting me to choose something like Blitz. What he doesn't know is I have been fighting large numbers of monsters and have improved my sword dance a lot.

As we move to the center of the room everyone goes quiet, they quickly sit down and focus on us. They obviously don't want to miss a single second of the action. Vacker and I take our positions opposite each other and get into a ready stance.

Vacker says "You ready?"

"Ready!"

As soon as the word leaves my mouth Vacker is charging towards me. However, I easily deflect his charge and let him go right past me. By the time he turns around I have already started to dance and launch a series of attacks against him.