"Report." I've returned to my stoic and stiff speech thanks to being in front of my followers again.
Their ability to tell the micro-expressions on my face is annoying.
Ever since I returned to the Fortress, i've been bombarded with questions about my journey and if my party members took every precaution to ensure my safety.
Luckily the journey back was quiet, so I had time to formulate the best answers.
I was also lucky enough to have a nice conversation with the green faerie about the nature of magic in this world.
When I told the green faerie that I knew the spells and intonations but not the origin of magic, she had a ghastly look on her face like I just called her favorite food garbage.
Forgive me for not wanting to be a stereotypical otherworlder, I remember thinking.
According to the green faerie, the nature of magic is widely considered to be the blessing of the various gods and goddesses of the world. Vestilon is one of the higher tier goddesses of this particular world.
So long as you pray to your god, they will compensate you with mana to create special phenomena in the world. Each god has their special spells that can do some pretty amazing things.
Vestilon already told me she is the goddess of truth, knowledge, and the afterlife thanks to the information system I was endowed with.
There are two other primary goddesses in this world. The first is the goddess of hunting, famine and war: Archaos. The other is the goddess of light, balance and love: Vision.
The other gods and goddesses specialize in particular fields that provide more practical benefits to believers. While Archaos is the goddess of war, there is Humas who is the minor god of dueling. You can worship the god of war or the god of dueling, but the special abilities you get are different.
At least that is how it was explained to me by the faerie.
She is a wonderful source of knowledge for me, since in her own words 'she has lived for many hundreds of years and has caused mischief all around this world'.
Since she already knows I plan to visit the faerie village, we don't need to linger around while asking questions.
So that's how I ended up back here.
I'm now sitting in front of my twenty followers in the Fortress while being draped in regal clothes.
I can only put on a half-baked smile since we returned home. All the information has been gathered and the verdict of whether we can continue to live in this forest or not is about to be revealed.
"We can survive here without any problems." Esmerya says.
Wait. That is too anti-climatic. At least do a dramatic reveal or something first! Maybe even a diorama or something for visual aid.
While I am thinking to myself that it was too quickly revealed, Esmerya has already begun an impassioned speech about the viability of the forest.
"There are three friendly races and two hostile races in the so called 'Great Forest of Demise'. They fight amongst themselves for control of certain areas but they are fledglings brawling over scraps." Esmerya seems disappointed. "None of them offered any real challenge after attacking us first."
From what I can see, it's just that we are incredibly high level compared to the locals.
"They may have some higher leveled people in a more populated area. So far we have only dealt with the locals, but we must maintain vigilance." I look over my followers.
They nod their heads in agreement. Even though Esmerya is a bit too cocky in her assessment, it is only a matter of time before she learns to be a good commander. Part of being a good commander is knowing not to underestimate potential threats, which typically goes hand in hand with losing.
"Aglas and Lilimera, was your mission successful?" I look toward my trap-maker and my illusionist.
"For a day of work, not bad." Lilimera stretches while responding.
"I have upped our primary ranged attack and implemented a rotating mine structure around the perimeter of the Fortress. Tomorrow we plan to break down the unusable training grounds and make use of the land with something more practical." Aglas answers.
"Ahem... Right." I fake cough into my hand in order to look away.
He's looking at me so over-zealously.
"Of course, you have my permission to remake the training grounds." I reply.
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His smile is too bright.
Aglas looks like a puppy who just got told he was a good boy, if he had a tail it would be wagging right now.
The five man party has returned from their first mission as well.
I didn't give them a specific objective or mission, so they can come and go as they please. In that regards, the mission only ends when I say it ends.
"How fares your task." I nod toward Oath and Redmane.
"Most of the plants I have found show a similar composition to the ones from our previous world. I believe I can use them in the same way as before and produce similar results." Redmane shifts her body in her seat as she speaks.
Oath looks like he's ready to speak, but he patiently waits for Redmane to finish.
"Master, I have surveyed the lands and found them most habitable for our kind. A balance has been carefully constructed in this ecosystem that allows the weak to band together and kill the strong." Oath bows his head cordially.
Oath is quite a talkative fellow.
I figured thanks to his dragon-like facial features he would be a more strong and stoic type that wouldn't talk much.
"Vilumi, Desi-Duris, how has your mission come along?" I gently raise my arm and point to the last two people who were given a mission by me this morning.
After interrupting Vilumi earlier today, I feel like i'll let her keep talking as long as she wants to make up for it.
"Master, the papers made but they be some weird lookin' and feelin'. Vilumi responds to my call.
"Okay, i'll take a look at them tomorrow." I answer.
Looks like she doesn't want to talk. Maybe she's feeling down because of what I did before. I should apologize properly when I get the chance.
"Mastah! I played with the elf villagers after I was done making big trees!" Desi-Duris races toward the throne and hands me an acorn.
Apparently while I was gone, we had elven villagers who had felt a disturbance in the forest and checked it out for themselves. Since elves are largely a nomadic existence, they thought they had stumbled across some ancients ruins with long lost technology.
Needless to say, we are now friendly with some of the elves and have begun trading with them. They were not here when our party returned, so I guess they must have gone back home.
At least my followers have the common sense not to attack people who genuinely want to be friendly. However the off-handed remark about their strength is weighing in the back of my head.
What is this itching feeling?
I feel like if I leave that haughty disregard for other races in her, she will not turn into the commander I expect her to become. She cannot become a good leader if she does not respect the strength of an unknown opponent. I don't want to see her fail, but without failure she will not learn.
"Starting tomorrow morning, we will begin training every day at dawn in order to strengthen our individual techniques. For tonight however, we feast." I raise from my throne and go sit at the head of the table with my followers at my side.
"After training, I will return to the human village at the edge of this forest with my party. Esmerya will join our group and we will begin scouting more 'civilized' lands." I gesture to my team and take a sip of wine from my goblet.
It's only been a day and I already need a vacation.
All of my stress is from leading twenty people seemingly out of nowhere. I did my best while I was working in the other world but the most amount of people I was in charge of was five or so. Even then the risk of mismanaging my talented workers at that time was awfully high.
"Yes Master!" A chorus of voices rings out as Blacktongue and Shifter bring out our food. Blacktongue is the resident cook, and is in charge of anything to do with the kitchen. Shifter is the farmer, and has already begun planting crops and domesticating nearby animals not far from the Fortress.
The food that is brought out is fresh meat from the kills of the party of five, and the other half is rations that the Fortress had before being 'summoned' to this world.
It's something that I had not thought about but I guess I could ask now.
"Blacktongue, how long will our rations last?" I ask as he approaches my side.
"Roughly three months if we do nothing, six if we supplement it with fresh meat and fish from hunting." Blacktongue responds.
Blacktongue is a chimeric Elder Beast, meaning he has a lion's body, snake's tail and goat's head. His tongue is also long and black like a snake which is how he got his name in the game. His origin is being an experiment from a deranged sorcerer who was hellbent on creating the perfect monster to kill the man who scorned her.
Never mind that the man who scorned her had already died from pox months before she finalized her creation.
In the story at least.
So I nod my head at Blacktongue.
I look at the large cooked thigh meat in front of me and hesitate for a moment. Normally I wouldn't even eat this good in my original world, but this food in front of me also includes mashed potatoes, cranberries, vegetables and a beef broth.
Everyone waits for me to begin eating, while licking their lips in anticipation. Even Desi-Duris is waiting for me to take the first bite, but he's shaking so much it looks like he's going to explode.
I cut a piece from the thigh meat and place it into my mouth. The mix of spices from our pantry that simmered with the meat caused it to be tender and succulent.
"Very well done." I give my thanks to Blacktongue, while everyone else begins to eat messily.
Esmerya has not left my side, from when I was on the throne to when I began sitting at the dining table. I've motioned for her to sit down several times but she refuses, as does Blacktongue and Shifter.
Apparently they have appointed themselves as servants. This simply will not do.
I will have to begin moving to have servants placed at the Fortress, so that we can have people waiting on us instead of my followers.
I also want to see the limits of hard work and training in this world, compared to natural talent.
After finishing the meal, I stepped outside to stretch and gather my wits.
There are still always at least three people guarding the walls of the Fortress, making their rounds in a sequential order.
The sounds of birds flapping their wings, the rush of water, and the chattering of insects was all captured by my superb hearing. It was not overwhelming, but instead enhanced the picturesque view of the forest as the sun had already gone down.
"Until tomorrow." I whisper into the wind and finish my first night in this new world.
When I return to my bed, I begin inquiring to the voice of the goddess, asking it questions about my own capabilities. I had not even bothered to check my own status, and just assumed I was a high level.
I guess now would be a good time to check.
As I cast the Identify spell on myself, a small stat box appears in front of me.
[
Name: Ehko
Title: Conqueror of the Golden Sands
Race: ¿ƒ÷µ‰‡§¶¿
Level: 95
Class: Patriarch
Sub-Class: Adventurer
Strength: 85
Dexterity: 85
Vitality: 85
Mind: 50
Special Abilities: Class Change, True Vision, Unit Arrange, Blessings of the Gods, Favor of the Gods.
]