Isabella says "Pine gathered an army of toughs and mercenaries and tried to confront Pol directly. Unfortunately for him, he did it on the day Leonarr and his troops returned."

Ruby says "His troops, who expected a hundred or so beastmen, all surrendered as soon as they saw the army."

"So, no fighting in the streets?"

Myria says "Nope, to Ambrose's disappointment."

"What happened to Pine?"

Ruby says "He managed to get away with some of his wealth."

Myria says "From what we have heard he fled to the empire."

Isabella says "But his financial empire is now under Pol's control. The merchants guild has yet to select a new guildmaster."

Ruby says "A lot of the nobles who were Pine's supporters have also fled the city."

"How have things been since then?"

Myria says "Great! Everyone is happy and the amount of trade going through Illium has almost doubled."

"What about the beastmen?"

Myria says "Well, there is good news and bad news. The outcasts are doing well, your soldiers have fought off several slave raids. At this point all the outcast villages now fly your flag."

"That's good. So, what's the bad news?"

Isabella says "It concerns Myria's mother, but please don't get mad at Myria."

"I won't. She already warned me her mother was going to be trouble. So what has she done?"

Myria says "She has declared herself the Bunny Queen and that she will marry you and make you the Beast King."

"In that case, Myria, I am probably going to have to kill her. Are you going to be alright with that?"

Myria says "Yes, if I were stronger I would kill her myself!"

"How are the tribes responding to her claims?"

Myria says "I don't know, you will have to ask Pol about that."

"Alright, anything else going on I need to know about?"

Isabella says "Pine had a lot of enemies, so public opinion of you is sky high. So, don't be surprised if the guildmasters want to give you a promotion or additional titles. There have even been rumors that the merchant guild has been waiting for you to return to offer you Pine's position."

"If that is true, they should be offering it to Pol, not me. I have no plan to become a guildmaster, I am going to have enough to deal with being the Beast King."

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Isabella says "They are mostly nobles, to them anything your people do is to your credit. They would never offer a position to someone who works for you."

Ruby says "Does that mean you are going to become the Beast King now?"

"I am going to work on it, we will see how things go."

Myria says "You already have the badger clan, the outcasts, and your army. Already, no single clan could stand against you! It won't take much to be recognized as the king."

"We will see how it goes. I plan to take things slow and avoid bloodshed as much as possible."

Myria says "Except for my mother!"

"Yes, except for your mother. She most likely will have to die."

Ekard says "Mama, I'm bored!"

"Myria, do me a favor. Get some guards to escort Windy and the kids, I promised they could explore."

Myria says "Sure! I will take them and show them around!"

"Alright, be careful of Ekard, he is likely to run off."

While Ekard protests his innocence, Myria leads him, Haku, and Windy downstairs. Leaving me alone with Isabella and Ruby, probably according to their plan. A few minutes pass in silence as they wait to make sure no one is coming back.

Ruby says "First, let me apologize for some of my behavior, but I will also say it is all your fault!"

"It most likely is entirely my fault, so no need to apologize. I'm guessing you formed a contract with Isabella?"

Ruby says "Yes, and getting mana from her helped a lot!"

Isabella says "Did you know that you not providing any mana was part of the problem?"

"I suspected. After all, things were fine before I lost my mana. They have been getting steadily worse since then."

Ruby says "I feel like my old self again. I never realized anything was wrong until I formed the contract with Isabella."

"That's no surprise. This situation has probably never happened before. Anyone else who lost their mana would also lose the contract. It is my fault for forcing the contract to stay in effect after I lost my mana."

That starts a long, honest conversation, which is long overdue and involves a lot of apologizing. Mostly on my part, since I am the one who made most of the mistakes. Ruby may have had a bad attitude towards me but it was mostly because I did things that pissed her off.

For the most part Isabella stays out of it and just lets me and Ruby hash things out. We have a lot of things to work through and it helps that Ruby is staying calm. Throughout the whole conversation I do my best to make my feelings clear.

Ruby says "If you don't love me, is there anyone you do love? Myria?"

"I am fond of Myria, but no. There is no one I would say I love."

Ruby says "Myria would be very disappointed to hear that."

Isabella says "What about the goddesses?"

"They are a different matter, but I still wouldn't say I love them."

Isabella says "Wouldn't they be upset to hear you say that?"

"No, I have told them I don't plan to become a god."

Ruby says "Then you still plan to choose reincarnation?"

"Yes, I would like a life in this world that doesn't have a time limit."

Isabella says "What would you do once you are reborn?"

"I would like to visit and explore the main continent."

Ruby says "That sounds interesting. Couldn't you do that before the demons invade?"

"Maybe, but time is an issue. There is still a lot that needs to be done before the invasion. Including something that I will need your help with."

Ruby says "My help? What do you need my help for?"

"The temple of fire. I will need you to absorb the fire of the temple."

Ruby says "I can do that, but first we need to sort out the contract situation."

"What do you mean? Didn't you already transfer the contract to Isabella?"

Ruby says "I made a new contract with Isabella."

Isabella says "We couldn't transfer your contract without you here."

"Oh, so we need to cancel my contract with Ruby?"

Ruby says "Yes, exactly."

"Let me guess, it is going to hurt?"

Ruby says "Yes, more than when we formed the contract."

"That's fine, just do it."

Ruby stands up and walks around the table to my side, as she does her body is covered in blue flames. Despite her standing right next to me I don't feel any heat from the flames. Then without warning me what she is going to do, Ruby leans over and kisses me.