I didn't stay at the bottom of the crater until the whole area was purified. It would take too long. I cleansed it with the {Manastorm} to a degree and had Pandora scoop up all the little soul fragments that were starting to drift this way. Whatever hideous calamity befell on this place, this would turn into a Dungeon dozens of times faster than the Dragon's death site in Windemere. A few years, at most. I should probably scoop the whole section of contaminated ground. But I think it was troublesome and time-consuming either way so I decided to not make a bigger lake and just go with what already proved to work.

Out of the lake and out of the Ethereal, I made my way to Enantions' keep. In the last few days, people have been busy. They scavenged materials from the destroyed constructions at the outskirts of the blast and started to make some habitations. Most of them were lean-tos with leather hides but the desperate and dispossessed decided to stay there. I could see some merchant wagons too, and a few huge cauldrons cooking food.

I decided to take a stroll to see the constructions and use my new horn aura. All diseases and poison from these people would come to me, who was immune to them anyway. People stopped to bow and sometimes grovel at my passage. Some knelt. I felt weird but I tried to take it in stride. I would make my own Kingdom soon and this time I had no patsy... successor to hand the throne over. And if I wanted to make it last, I needed to make sure it wouldn't suffer from the same maladies that ruined so many nations.

I had an idea to avoid that, but it is a tale for later.

I reached the open-air soup kitchen. A middle-aged woman approached. "Your grace. We weren't expecting your visit!" she quickly and clumsily curtsied while the others gasped at the mention of my title.

I smiled softly, "Don't worry about that. How are your meat stocks?" She grimaced a bit. I could tell there was very little meat in the soup. "I have some monsters here with me that are edible. You need someone good at dismantling, though."

She grinned and boasted, "Worked for the Adventurer's Guild for ten years, Your Grace. The girls and I, we can do it!"

I left some vegetables and monster bodies with them and went back to the keep. After asking around, I found Enantinos on the roof.

"Your Majesty," I greeted.

He recognized my voice and turned his torso around. "Snowdrop. Welcome back. How were the negotiations with the elves?"

I spoke casually, "We did very little negotiating and a lot of imposing. They offended me in my past life, so I squeezed them. Oh, you're marrying, by the way."

He twisted on his hooves, almost tripping on himself. "YOU DID WHAT?"

"Imposed my will on the elves. Trust me, they know I can do another one of these," I pointed at the ruined city to our side, "whenever I want."

He buffed, "No. The marriage part."

"Ah, that. You're marrying one of my granddaughters. Lovely high elf, she is. The Queen of Spring."

Whose name was also "Spring". Sariandi was that stupid.

Enantinos choked. I slapped his back, dealing a few hundred HP damage each time. Once he finished wheezing, he stared into my eyes, "Is this a joke?"

"Am I laughing? You are marrying one of the most coveted women in the whole world. Cheer up."

He raised an eyebrow, "I'm a centaur."

I shrugged, "So? Be gentle with her during your wedding night. Women are more resilient than you give them credit."

"That's not what I'm talking about!"

"Look, it is a political marriage, one that will cement the bonds between Laconia and Fulgen. And she's bringing her sister and a couple hundred elves. Capable planners, rangers, druids, all you need to regrow this country from the ashes."

"Guess whose fault was that..." he grumbled.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

I ignored him. Scanning around, I saw a few carriages cresting a hill down the road. Shapeshifting my eyes into an eagle's, I could see them as if they were a few dozen meters from me. They had banners with Galbarar's symbols. After all his theater at the arena, I bet Galbarar was disappointed with me.

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My fears were proven true. Not only Galbarar was mad at me but he also instructed his clergy to seek compensation from me. I would tell them I had no fault their [Paladin King] either betrayed me or was mind-controlled (more probable) but I held my cards close to the chest and folded.

After a lot of back-and-forth negotiations, I told them I would offer a mighty temple to Galbarar in retribution. What I really wanted was to squeeze the priests' haughty little necks for daring to attempt to pull me through the nose. But I wasn't a mindless berserker, not the mindless part.

With my current Status, I could stay in {Berserker Rage} for twenty-one hours each day. After the next rank-up, it would last more than a full day. I was like Dr. Banner at the end of the Avengers movie. "I'm always angry."

The priests started to ramble about what kind of temple they wanted and how much it would cost to get it erected when I pushed down with a low-powered {Royal Aura} and forced them out of the keep. I took the high priest and pointed around.

"Choose where you want the temple. Just remember that this keep is temporary. King Enantinos will have a mighty palace next to the lake over there, once the elves and I finish cleaning everything."

He didn't like being man... centauress-handled. "We will wait until the King makes his palace, then we will build the temple on the main square with funds from the crown."

I shook my head. "No. You're getting your temple today. Go, point where do you want it."

Not believing me, he pointed somewhere a hundred meters from the keep. "There, then."

I drew a magic circle for a Light illusion and placed a rectangle where he pointed. "This?"

"Bigger. We need room for stables, guardhouses, and housing for the priests."

I made it as big as I would let them have and adjusted it to be parallel with the keep. "There you go. Wall of Stone!"

I raised walls of solid stone around the perimeter and carved room for the front gate and smaller gates for wagons and people on all sides. An Earth mage could finish it later. We walked there and the priests showed me where they wanted the temple.

From my item box, I checked the dozens of temples to Bundeus I had stored. Some were dedicated to aspects of him, like War or the Sun. I found one, the biggest Sun temple I had, and adjusted the ground to receive the building. Then I raised an opaque Force box surrounding the area and placed the building. After it was set, I went inside and removed the artifacts that were exclusive to Bundeus, leaving only the ones with the Sun aspect. One last check for enchantments (I found none) and portable valuables that linked it to Bundeus (a few) before I dispelled the box.

"There. A temple to the Sun. White marble, lots of gold. Have fun."

I left before they could make any more demands from me.

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I walked around for some hours, letting the {Manastorm} rage but set to affect no creatures. Why not do some cleansing while I searched for a suitable spot for a grove. I found one a kilometer away from the keep and the shantytown that was growing next to it.

I poured a big bag of bonemeal on the ground, then crouched and stuck my fingers in the dirt. Using sorcery, I focused my intent. Rocks and slabs of bedrock were pushed up while the soil was moved around and mixed with the bonemeal. I brought Pandora in her blood aspect and sliced some cuts in my fingers, mixing my blood with the soil as well. Once it was thoroughly fertilized, I tossed tree seeds around, making sure they had room between them.

Like I did back in the fairy island, I used my {Elven Royalty} Perk along with others to nurture and grow these seeds into saplings and then into young trees. Once they were at this stage, I seeded grass and some herbs as well.

After the environment was "natural" enough, I could make the special mushrooms grow and form the fairy ring. I needed it rather large but not huge. Passing that many elves through a tiny ring would be a bother. Once it was done, I opened a gate to Fulgen and brought the elves back with me.

Spring and Summer brought five hundred elves and a dozen griffin riders. The majestic beasts stole hungry glances at my lower body, getting even to the point of chirping gormandizing groans. I just had to flare my Eldritch aura once to tell them who was the top dog and they quickly started to ignore me. If I wanted to have a griffin before this, that wish was totally dashed now. The proud creatures wouldn't allow themselves to bond with what they considered food. Although the elves refrained from letting their tame and bonded griffins do that, wild griffins do hunt centaurs.

The elves quickly took control of the grove and the druids started to spread the vegetation to expand and grow it. About one hundred elves stayed behind to secure the grove and its fairy ring, while the others formed a procession to take the blushing bride to meet his fiance. I did impose the marriage on her but by the vibes she was giving off she was looking forward to the experience. High Elves and Star Elves (a subtype of the former) were biologically immortal. Some of the elder elves predated the Gods. To Spring, the years spent married to Enantinos would feel like a wild weekend getaway.

I made the introductions and eased the relationship between the two parties, but I was an outsider. I had to put another keep on the ground for the elves to stay until the grove was big enough for them, but that was the extent of my interference with Laconia. I would come back to cleanse the destroyed city more, but that could wait.

I had my own Kingdom to build now.