Mercy says "Can you at least promise me you won't drag my kingdom into a war with the empire?"

"I can promise you I will try not to. I will also promise you that if I do, that I will make sure you win."

Zamart says "Ash, even you cannot fight the empire alone!"

"Who said I would be alone? My plans already include fighting the empire if need be."

Mercy says "What do you mean?"

"The original plan was to unify the tribes and become the beast king. Then I would go to the empire and demand the release of all beastmen slaves. If they refused then I would have led the beastmen to invade."

Mercy says "That's insane!"

Zamart says "No, not really. In fact it would probably work."

Mercy says "What do you mean?"

Zamart says "Think about the beastmen that have fought with us all this time. Now imagine tens of thousands more. How would you stop such a force?"

Mercy says "I couldn't. I would be lucky if the kingdom lasted a few days against such a force."

Zamart says "Now add to that Ash, do you think the empire could stop them?"

Mercy says "No, probably not."

Zamart says "Now you see my point."

Mercy says "But if Ash destroys the empire then he will lose a possible ally against the demons."

"True, but I would be able to use the battles against the empire to forge the beastmen into a true army and get them experience. That would make up for the loss of some human forces in my opinion."

Zamart says "I happen to agree with you, Ash. From what we have seen your beastmen are already worth five times their number of human soldiers."

Mercy says "You aren't the beast king yet, so that won't work right now. You should stay out of this and keep to your original plan."

"I don't plan to use the same methods if this ends up as a war. Instead I will just fly around the empire assasinating every single noble who has beastmen slaves and freeing them. The empire will either sue for peace, or end up in a civil war."

Zamart says "That could actually work!"

Mercy says "You think so?"

Zamart says "Yes, I can't think of any noble who would have good enough defenses to stop Ash. The balance in the empire is very fragile, even a few of the major nobles dieing would cause huge problems for them."

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"Not only that, all the lesser nobles would start fighting each other to try and fill the power vacuum. The empire would lose its ability to wage war outside its borders."

Mercy says "The kingdom can't afford a war, even if we were to win it. The civil war has caused us too much damage. I need time to repair the country, not just the capital. So I would very much prefer that we not end up fighting the empire, Ash."

"Fair enough, I don't plan to start a war. I'm just telling you what I will do if things end up going south."

Mercy says "So what will you do if you come with me?"

"If Sevaris starts a fight, I will help you win it. If he uses beastmen, I will free them and turn them against him. That is all I plan to do."

Mercy says "Alright, I can live with that."

"Okay, I will return after I am finished in the underground."

Mercy says "Just be careful!"

"I will try."

With that the dinner ends, so I pick up the baby, who doesn't even wake up, and head into the tent. Lizzy follows me into the tent and curls up on the nest of pillows, leaving room for me. So I curl up in the space she left me with the baby in my arms and fall asleep instantly.

When I wake up it is still dark outside, but since my sacred power isn't full I switch to meditating for a while. Only once my sacred power is full do I actually get up, since the baby is still asleep I leave him there. With Lizzy curled around him he is perfectly safe, so it is safe to let him sleep a bit longer.

When I step out of the tent I find two guards standing on either side of the opening. The sun is just barely starting to come up, but I feel like I slept longer than a few hours. When I ask the guards I find out that I completely slept through an entire day.

This is now the second morning since I returned from the shadow plane. I hadn't realized how tired I was, then again except for a short nap I don't remember the last time I slept. I am pretty sure it was before I returned to Illium, so probably in the tower.

Lizzy 'Do you want me to get up?'

'No, just keep an eye on the little one. By the way, what do you think of the name Drakoy?'

Lizzy 'No! That is just a slight change from drake!'

'Alright, I will keep thinking about it. I will go arrange for some breakfast.'

Walking away from the tent I follow my nose to find the cooks area, when I do it is crowded with beastmen. As soon as one spots me all the noise stops as they all turn to salute me. I return the salute and take my place at the end of the line, but the beastmen don't like that.

They keep trying to make me move up in the line or skip it completely, but I stay put. As soon as they realize how stubborn I am, the beastmen let the matter drop. All except one who walks over to me, he is a lion and from how the others react I realize who he is.

"You must be Leonarr, nice to meet you."

Leonarr says "My Lord! How did you know who I was?"

"Pol described you to me, and from how your men act I can tell you are their leader."

Leonarr says "You honor me, Lord!"

"It is you and your men who honor me. Mercy has nothing but good things to say about you and your performance."

Of course, everyone around is listening, and when I say that I can see their pride increase. Leonarr looks extremely happy at the compliment and he has every right to be. Before we can continue talking another person joins us, a familiar face I haven't seen in a while.

"Hello, Leyla. How have you been?"

Leyla says "I am good, Lord, thank you for asking."

"I hear you have been working with the beastmen and acting as their healer. Thank you."

Leonarr says "She certainly has! She is the best healer I have ever seen, she has saved a good number of my men's lives!"

Leyla says "I was just doing my job, I'm nothing special."

"If that was true then Seronia wouldn't have spoken to you directly. I know for a fact that she has plans for you."

Leyla says "Really?!"

"Yes, really! For now are you content with continuing as the healer for my men?"

Leyla says "Of course! I like them and they always treat me with respect!"

Leonarr says "If anyone doesn't treat you with respect you make sure to tell me. Whether it is a beastman or a human."

Leyla says "Okay, I will."