As soon as I accept the elders' expressions light up with a mixture of relief and happiness. I am guessing they were expecting me to refuse the crown or make things difficult. In the past I would have, but now I have already made up my mind to be the Beast King.

In the future I plan to merge the beasts and the beastmen into one nation. For now though I will do what I can to help them fight against the spiders. Until I can figure out a way to deal with the controller, keeping them contained and weak is our best bet.

The elders are well prepared, they already have everything ready for the coronation ceremony. Within thirty minutes of me accepting the ceremony is ready to begin. They even have a crown for me, but it doesn't look like something they made.

In fact the more I look at it the more I am sure this isn't something they made. It has a delicate yet masculine look to it, the points of the crown are shaped into swords. It isn't gold, but it is shiney, it has a dull silver color almost like iron, but it is something else.

Considering the origin of the beasts the only source I can think of would be the elves. How the crown of the elven king ended up with them is a question I will ask later. The ceremony is held in the main square with thousands of beasts in attendance.

Luckily, the ceremony is held in the beast's language so all I have to do is sit there. Since I don't speak the language the elders don't even make me attempt a speech, which is a good thing. When they place the crown on my head the beasts break out in wild cheers.

The beasts look happier than I was expecting, the elders must have given a good speech. While my plan included becoming king I wasn't planning on it happening this soon. The crown feels heavier than it looks, but that could just be in my head.

Once the cheering dies down Myria starts filling the tables around the square with food. For this I loaned her the food pouch, just this once I want the beasts to experience real food. Hopefully, this will encourage the beast cooks to start working harder and learning how to make real food.

Either way, it should make sure no one forgets the coronation ceremony. That and for the beasts to put out a feast would seriously strain their food supplies. This way it will actually help their food situation, at least a little.

The beasts go crazy for the food and Myria spends a lot of time refilling the tables. The beasts eat like they have been starving for days and are now making up for it. When the feast finally ends the elders, Myria, Kechara, Asuna, and I meet in the council chamber.

Alger says "Your Majesty, do you plan to leave immediately?"

"King Ash is fine, and yes. There are a lot of things I need to do."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Lerab says "Do you have any orders for us, King Ash?"

"First I have a question, do the caverns and tunnels you currently control end or do they continue on?"

Vyken says "They continue on, but because of the spiders we have not focused on exploration."

"The spiders have been weakened, so I would like you to start putting some effort into exploring and mapping. Especially towards the north."

Trynt says "Why the north? If I may ask."

"Because I found an underground world near Illium and would like to know if it connects to this one."

Lerab says "Don't worry, King Ash, we will see that it is done."

"Good, but it is not important enough to weaken the defenses too much. Just a few teams for now is adequate. Oh, that reminds me, I would like to borrow an earth mage. One that is advanced but not one of the ones I helped evolve."

Alger says "That is no problem. Will you be taking them to the surface with you?"

"Yes. When I return he will be able to tell your people what it is like. I also plan to have him teach me your language."

Alger says "I will go find you a volunteer right now!"

"Alright, once he arrives we will be heading up to the elven city to talk to Core before leaving. Alger has already met her, so I want one of you to accompany me."

Ekeerr says "It would be my honor to meet the last creator!"

Alger returns with an old looking wolf beast beside him, despite his age he moves well. His fur is completely gray but is still healthy looking and I can feel the mana around him. Just from that I can tell he is a decently powerful mage, he should be quite useful.

Alger says "This is Zheka, he has volunteered to join you."

"Hello, Zheka, nice to meet you."

Zheka says "It is my honor, Your Majesty! I have long dreamed of seeing the surface!"

"Since we will be traveling together, please call me Ash. Now, my first task for you is to close up all the spider tunnels in the elven city. Kechara and Asuna will accompany you and protect you."

Zheka says "It will be my pleasure, King Ash!"

Since there is a chance of combat Kechara and Asuna don't complain and leave with Zheka. Then I leave, taking Ekeerr and Myria with me and head up to the elven city. To avoid the defenses we have to go in through the destroyed area and then head to Core's pillar.

Core says "Oh, hello, Ash! Sorry for the wait, I was chatting with Yui."

"No problem Core, I'd like to introduce you to Ekeerr, elder of the bear tribe."

Ekeerr says "It is my greatest honor to meet the last creator!"

Core says "Welcome, Ekeerr. Ash, why are you wearing the elven crown?!"

"Um, the beast clans decided to name me their king and they gave it to me."

Ekeerr says "That crown has been in our care since the creators fell."

Core says "In that case it is fine. Congratulations, King Ash."

"Thank you, Core. I wanted to ask a couple of things if it's alright with you?"

Core says "Sure, what's on your mind?"

"First, how would you feel about some of the beasts moving into this city?"

Core says "I think it would be nice to have people living in the city again."

"Alright, is there a way to change the defenses to recognize them? Or even shut the defenses down?"

Core says "I can't control the defenses, but you can. Now that you have the crown you can control everything about the city."

"I can?! Wait, what do you mean everything?"

Core says "The defenses, the city's enchantments, everything!"

"Okay, how do I do that?"

Core says "You will need to go down into the palace and sit on the throne."

"That seems a little disrespectful."

Core says "Not really, the beasts are going to be living here and they chose you as their king. I would say you have every right to sit on the throne."

"Alright, it's your city, so if you are okay with it, I guess I will do it."