“It’s been a month,” Gemini muttered as he stared down on a military map. A pillow was strapped to the front of his body, and in front of that very pillow, a little baby was giggling in his embrace. The baby in question was trying to reach out to the military map, where all sorts of small figurines had been placed on it.

Unfortunately for the baby’s parents, the little fellow wasn’t interested in military affairs. What she was more interested in was the prospect of chewing on those figurines, which was why Gemini wasn’t letting her get close to those little choking hazards.

“A month?” Lila, who was trying to distract tiny Aria from the apparently delectable soldiers, asked. “What’s been a month?”

“Since I arrived here and took command,” Gemini replied.

“So it is.” Lila paused and tilted her head. “Are…are we going to celebrate it?”

“Hmm? If you want to, I guess? But if we celebrate mensiversaries, we’ll grow fat in record time,” Gemini replied.

“Judging from the context of the conversation, I can only assume ‘mensiversaries’ are anniversaries celebrated every month.” Lila looked at Gemini evenly. “Is there a thesaurus in your head or something?”

“The word just came to me, so…” Gemini cleared his throat. “Well, this newbie to military affairs has actually managed to hold off the invasion of the Wildlands, so I suppose that’s a cause for celebration.”

“Alright, then. Let me go whip up a feast!” Pecking him and Aria on the cheek, Lila scurried away before Gemini could explain that he was just feeling nostalgic. Still, the sound of eating Lila’s cooking sounded great…especially since he had the sneaking suspicion that his attempts to help her cook probably detracted from the overall tastiness of the meal.

“Gaga?” Aria turned to look at Gemini, a quizzical expression on her little face.

“Bubu,” Demon Sovereign Asteria replied with all due seriousness, poking her puffed-up cheeks at the same time. “Mama’s gone to prepare lunch. Well…I mean, it’s not really relevant to you, since you just want milk.”

“Gon?”

“Yes, indeed. Mama will be back soon, so don’t worry.” Gemini went to a sofa and sat down. Right now, although they were still in his Divine Kingdom, Gemini, Lila and Aria were in another place altogether. Instead of their comfy cottage, they were in a tower, one that Gemini created based off his memories of what a military headquarters to be.

It didn’t make sense to have strategic meetings in a cottage full of baby goods and whatnot, after all. More importantly, his subordinates clearly liked being in something as grandiose as this, to the point that there was a marked increase in work efficiency.

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“Lord.” A voice spoke from behind him, and Gemini paused.

“Hmm? Oh, Pai-Relix, Quinn. What’s up?”

“My apologies, but are we interrupting something?” Quinn asked. The Champion Support Entity, who was now permanently occupying Gemini’s clone, glanced at the baby, who glanced back at him in confusion.

“Papa?” Aria asked, making a small gurgle at the end.

Quinn shuddered visibly as he glanced at Gemini’s face. “We’ve been through this, my dear ancestor. I’m not your papa. Your papa is there, okay? Giving you huggies. I’ll get in trouble if you keep calling me that!”

“Not papa?”

Gemini wanted to chuckle, but doing so at this juncture would just make Quinn more desperate, so he instead made do by rubbing Aria’s cheeks gently. “Papa’s here, Aria.”

“Ouh.” Aria gave Quinn one more quizzical glance, and then turned her attention back to the military map on the table. “Bada.”

“What does that last part mean?” Quinn asked, letting out a sigh of relief at the same time.

“You’re asking another adult that?” Gemini rolled his eyes, before straightening his face out. “Anyway, you guys are a bit early. Is there something important you want to tell me?”

“Regarding the deserters, Lord,” Pai-Relix replied. “The Deserter Village is full. As per your orders, we are building another one, but at the rate in which the infantry is collapsing, we won’t be able to build another Deserter Village in time.”

“Enlist the help of the deserters and get them to build their own lodgings,” Gemini replied, looking at the military map on the table. Not too far from his Divine Kingdom were a set of brown squares; these represented the areas he had marked out for the deserters so far. The invading infantry troops had begun to collapse internally, ever since that peculiar Demigod had saved a bunch of mutineers three weeks ago.

Up to this day, Gemini had no idea why that Demigod — or whatever he was; Gemini couldn’t actually tell — had saved these mutineers. From how he and his partner had acted, the Demon Sovereign knew that he intended on prolonging the war. Abetting a mutiny, however, was not at all conducive to maintaining a unified front.

It just didn’t make sense, but he could see the contradiction in that Demigod’s actions. He ferried supplies and did his best to minimise conflict between the nations, throwing a wrench into Gemini’s plan, but at the same time, he protected the mutineers and deserters from the hidden Knights inserted in the invasion forces.

It didn’t make sense. What exactly was that Demigod’s plan in all this? Furthermore, that Demigod wasn’t an ordinary one either — the last time Gemini had ordered his own Demigods to intercept him, that fellow had severely injured all of them, forcing them to recuperate for a good few weeks. It was good that none of them died, but as a result, the Exemplars under him had to pick up the slack.

“Get them to build their own lodgings?” Pai-Relix asked. “Lord, are you…”

“Giving them the right to live freely?” Gemini asked. “What of it? By now, I believe their forward scouts should have spotted Deserter Village and its sister construction. It’ll be helpful to us, so continue to extend our hospitality.”

“Yes, Lord.”

Gemini turned away. “After all, most of them were forced here too.”

“Lord?”

The Demon Sovereign waved his hands lightly. “Nothing. Where are the others?”

“They’ll be here shortly,” Quinn replied. “Gemini, should you tell Lila to cook more? I’m worried that they’ll complain if they don’t get a share…”

“Gah! Good point!”