I flew back to Pekothas. Nenandil was dreadfully silent. When I asked what was wrong or if she remembered how we ended up there, she replied noncomittally.

"I do, but I can't tell you. It is for our own good. You noticed you're missing some memories, right?" I nodded. "Well, we struck a bargain to appease the Gods for destroying the city... even if it was unwittingly. You forgot everything, but they didn't add me to the original deal. So they offered me another deal, but I negotiated to keep my memories intact. We profited from the trade twice over, as far as I am concerned, but I can't tell you. We fairies cannot back down on our agreements, you know that very well."

I knew she mixed some lies in there, but those were the kind of white lies you mix when you want to protect someone from the harsh truth.

"I promise to not push the issue further. What's done is done, right?"

She gave me a wry smile, "Yes. You were very upset that you'd destroyed the city. But you amended the worst things you did," she corrected herself in a hurry. "Just you weren't thinking straight the last few days before you woke up in that deserted complex. I think it is for the best if we let sleeping dragons lie."

"Right. And it is for the best if we {Assassinate} said sleeping dragons. So let's not talk of it anymore."

She laid down on my feathers and hummed in approval.

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Pekothas was devastated. A lake occupied the spot of the former royal palace and I suspected it was a crater lake because it was perfectly circular. Destroyed buildings and upturned earth as far as the eye could see. Only a fortress I was sure wasn't there before. Oh, right. I put it there. It was all coming back to me. After we woke up in the crater, Enantinos and I went there, with some... babies I'd rescued? Yes, let's go with that. I rescued some silk-folk babies and brought them to the outskirts where the people of the slums, the only ones that survived the blast, were scavenging the remains of the city.

I landed on the roof of the keep and saw some silk centaurs patrolling around. Uh. I did that too, didn't I? Assuming my normal form, I greeted them.

"[Grand Duchess], welcome back!" They greeted back.

I found it weird and checked my titles. Truly enough, I now had [Grand Duchess] but lost [Queen]. That happened... because I conquered Pekothas and handed over the kingdom to Enantinos. Yes. I went down and found him dispatching with some merchants in an improvised throne room.

The sound of my - unshoed, very important distinction - hooves on the stone drew attention. One advantage of the silk golem centaurs was that their hooves were padded but not slippery. They made almost no sound as they moved.

"Ah," Enantinos sighed in relief, "[Grand Duchess], you are back. I had just finished a meeting with some trade companies."

The merchants, however, were far from done pushing their demands on the [Barbarian King]. They grumbled and I had zero fucks to give. I triggered every single social perk and ability I had on them, including a low-powered {Royal Aura} to lower their resistance. I didn't want them completely annihilated, just softened.

"Gentlemen. I'll say it once, so listen carefully. Today is not a day to profit. The vulture that eats its own heart will surely die. Today is a day to invest. To secure a position in the most prosperous kingdom of southwestern Pekothas." Having the city, the country, AND the continent with the same name was awful, so I decided to change a few things. "And I mean the continent. Pekothas, the human Kingdom and its capital are no more. Now, this is..." After saying what I said next, I felt so deeply sorry. But I couldn't help myself. The words came out of my tongue as if I was possessed.

"THIS IS SPARTA!"

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

At least I didn't kick any of the merchants into a hole. Yet, mark my words. On the corner of my eye, I saw Enantinos with a vacant gaze, probably fiddling with some menus. Nobody said anything and I was too embarrassed to let it drop now.

"The mighty city we'll erect here will be called Sparta. This Kingdom from now on will be named Laconia," I said. "Gentlemen, today is the time to make a decision. Helping this country grow by investing in it will net your trading houses preferential treatment and even temporary exclusivity on some trade routes. I believe you can even be granted a peerage."

"Your Grace!" Some of the more weak-willed ones already succumbed to my honeyed words and knelt. I gave the others a disapproving glance and continued.

"Not only that. [King] Enantinos was my chieftain back in the plains. I am leaving to go back to the vast plains and found a centaur kingdom there. You know what that means, right? Laconia and my kingdom will be part of an alliance. We shall bridge east and west together."

I brought my fists together slowly, symbolizing the strength these two nations together could hold.

One merchant scoffed, "This kingdom is all but ruins. Look outside this keep! The capital was torn asunder and transformed into rubble in a single day!"

I came closer to him and used {Eldritch Presence} with a meter of range, at full power. "And who do you think was responsible for destroying that city? It was none other than me. I hold more wealth in my storage ring than entire Kingdoms pooled together. I could kill you by burying you in gold and kingmetal coins. Dare to see if that's true?"

He snickered. I huffed in his face and lifted the [Merchant] by the vest. With a glance, a hole opened in the floor. Deep enough to be pitch-black down there.

"Feather fall, fairy fire." I cast spells on him, inspired by the RPG classics. Then I dropped him in the hole. He fell-floated down until he touched the bottom, more than thirty meters down.

Then I started to pour money on him. Platinum coins rained down on the screaming merchant. His screams vanished under the sound of metal hitting metal. Then I switched to a mix of gold coins and polished gems. The last ten meters were covered in silver and copper coins. About thirty million coins.

"Now we wait," I said. A few minutes later, I got the kill notification along with the money pile shifting downward because the body was collected as loot. Then I waved a hand and sent the money to my item box before closing the hole.

As my last act before getting all the merchants on board, I dumped the crushed body on the floor. "One last tidbit of information. You are surely worrying if the elves will retaliate and invade. I'm going there right now to settle this issue. Now, esteemed merchants. Show [King] Enantinos how much you want to be part of the mighty alliance we will form. I will come back and review the offers you made. Do. Not. Displease. Me."

At least half of them had wet themselves at my demonstration. If they'd urinated out of fear or expelled other kinds of body fluids, I never bothered to find out. I was already out of there.

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Fulgen, the Throne room

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Sariandi sat on her throne, feeling the weight of the toy crown her adoptive mother made for her. She felt terrible. All the elves felt as the very planet shuddered and cried in pain as a calamity descended upon the human capital. Their griffin observers were kilometers away, their enhanced sight the product of Elven and Eagle vision enhancements combined with magic. Their reports were of utter dread.

Worse yet, the Gods and the Elder Fairies were completely silent. Not a word, not an oracle about the event.

Some radical groups were pressing for an invasion. To do unto the humans the same damage they did to the forest. To make them bleed ten, a hundredfold for each elf that died in this prolonged war. But she knew who was fighting the humans there and dreaded that she was the one responsible for the calamity. There was no other explanation as to how that happened and why the entities that ruled over the world were so silent.

She was droning through the court session, as the factions squabbled among themselves. At least they were four and the lower three would never let one gain dominance. Each of her four daughters led one and aside from drawing blood or damaging the Forest, very little was sacred.

That's when everyone hair stood on end and a rift in reality opened. She'd seen it once, two centuries ago. A majestic creature came through. Shiny white fur that seemed to have a glow of its own. A perfectly sculpted horse's lower body ending with a tail so fluffy and silky it caused envy even in the fair elven ladies present. A perfect human torso sat where the horse neck should be. It was bare except for an exquisite band of silk covering her breasts. Muscles rippled underneath the skin, showing it was a powerful build but still very attractive and feminine. Not a single spot or blemish on the tanned skin as if it had been sculpted out of polished and glazed ceramic. Her luscious, glossy, and perfectly groomed long white hair descended all the way along her back and draped over the side of her lower body.

But all that was forgotten when one focused on her forehead. A majestic spiral horn made of gleaming ivory and emanating so much magical power that she forgot to breathe.

The centauress extended her arms and beamed a relaxed smile, her kind eyes locked on Sariandi's. "Daughter! It is so good to see you again!"