With the commoner meeting concluded, the next day brought the gathering of the elites. This meeting didn't have much to discuss; most of the plans from the previous day were precisely what was needed at the moment. This facilitated reaching agreements more quickly. In reality, this meeting served for Alex to act as an intermediary between the commercial relations that the various groups wanted to establish, occasionally using his authority to provide some security or offer additional resources so that negotiations could proceed smoothly and successfully.

At the end of the meeting, Torel finally received some of the news he had been waiting for.

"It took us a bit, and we had to sacrifice certain prisoners, but we managed to cleanse at least 10 prisoners of the curse. They have returned to being normal elves, so if you wish, you can interrogate them," Atarra communicated to both Alex and Torel.

Torel, still weakened by the expedition, finally found a respite from his melancholy. Until this moment, he had felt like he had accomplished nothing and had little confidence in the matriarchs. The level of corruption present in the prisoners was such that he thought it would be extremely difficult to cleanse them even in the elven imperial capital. However, the matriarchs had managed to cleanse 10 prisoners. In some way, he might have been underestimating the matriarchs or overestimating the capabilities of his former empire.

"Go, if you need additional help, I think the price we paid should still offer you some other assistance to get them to talk," Alex told him.

A single look was enough for the matriarchs to understand that they should continue helping the elf. Even though they didn't particularly like this elf for being a free agent, they had gained a lot from Alex in this session, so they couldn't refuse to continue helping him.

"Thank you, lad," the elf managed to say before being interrupted.

"King Alex," Kragash corrected him.

The elf shot a hostile look at the small Gnoll, but he didn't back down, stepping forward defiantly. There wasn't much the small Gnoll could do against the veteran elf on his own, but he didn't seem to mind.

"I am the king in this room, and in front of my council, you will treat me as such," Alex resolved the dispute this way.

"Thank you, King Alex," Torel finally said to hurry out of the room.

For the young human, royal etiquette was too ostentatious. He didn't really care if they called him by his name, lad, or king. However, he was aware that how he was treated could also affect how his subjects were treated in the future, all those who sought his protection, so he found it crucial to maintain some degree of etiquette towards him.

"The rest of us know what we must do. We will move on to the next stage of our military campaign, advancing on three fronts. Both matriarchs will continue on their own as they have been doing. I will march with the Resh, intending to establish communications with the swamp sage and see what she has to tell me. Any questions?" Alex addressed the rest.

The room fell silent, and everyone nodded under Alex's gaze. There were no more questions; everyone knew what they had to do.

When everyone had left, Alex finally could relax.

"Whew."

"That was very difficult, sir," Kragash asked.

"It felt like an avalanche fell on me," Alex replied.

"What's an avalanche?" Kragash asked.

"It's when all the snow from a mountain slides down," Alex summarized.

"That sounds terrifying."

"It is."

"Why was it so terrifying for you, sir? It's basically what you've been doing so far."

"One thing is to go with the flow and do things by inertia. In that situation, there's no complication if something goes wrong; you can always say oops, I didn't mean to do that. However, now that I put myself in this position, I forced everyone else to put themselves in their position; now, everyone must play within their roles and be more responsible for their actions."

"But it's not like none of the present didn't know that."

"And yet, the fact that it's not all defined gives you that little mental space that, even if false, allows you to deceive yourself into thinking that you can get away with it."

"And why was it necessary to take away that little mental space, sir?"

"You must know, Kragash, that not long ago I was just a child in a human village where there were no conflicts, or better said, there were no conflicts near where I lived; they happened very far away."

"Is there such a thing?"

"They used to exist. I never experienced war firsthand; before coming to this world, I had never taken a life."

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"But since you arrived, you have been fighting non-stop, sir, what's different now?"

Alex clenched his fists and lowered his head, closing his eyes tightly.

"In the depths of the temple, there was another being besides the void entity, remember?"

"Yes, if I remember correctly, it was a... a human."

"And do you remember his name?"

"He seemed to know you, sir. I remember he said his name was Solis. Could it be that the sir..."

"That's right, there was a Solis who studied with me, we didn't live so far apart."

"Were you friends?"

"No, he never treated me as an equal."

"And then why does it matter to you, sir? He got what he deserved for praising the forces of the void."

"There's something he said that disturbs me, it makes me feel like this is a dream, or rather a nightmare."

"Something he said, what could it be?"

The small Gnoll fell into reflection while Alex remained in his position without opening his eyes or lifting his head.

Finally, after a moment of reflection, the Gnoll came to the correct conclusion.

"Fifty years have passed."

"Fifty years ago."

Both said at the same time.

"What does that mean, sir? How have fifty years passed if you just said not long ago you were a boy in your native world?"

"I haven't lied, Kragash. Not long ago, before coming here, I was a normal boy; I'm still barely an adult by the standards of my society. However, that being looked aged, and he had no reason to lie."

"Do you really believe that others have been here for 50 years?"

"Yes, I have the feeling that somehow I arrived here 50 years late."

Kragash could see how affected Alex looked.

"Even if it's true, it's not your fault, sir."

"And yet, even if it's not my fault, it's still true that my loved ones waited for me for 50 years. Fifty years in which they felt the disappointment of a son or a fellow soldier who didn't arrive, fifty years are enough to give me up for dead, or for them to have died," Alex replied.

The statement was made thinking of his mother and father, whom he missed greatly, as well as a couple of brothers he met during the Earth trial. Both had faithfully fought alongside him, and unlike the rest of the people from his institute, they were able to set aside social differences to face a greater problem.

Kragash wasn't sure what to say, so he remained silent for a moment before responding.

"What's it like, sir?"

"What's what like?"

"A world without war, being free."

"It's strange, don't get me wrong, it's much better than what's happening here. However, it's not like you don't have problems; mainly, your problems are different."

Alex felt extremely guilty and privileged by the response he had just given and sought ways to remedy it.

"I understand, even among the slaves, they fight among themselves and discriminate against each other, and now the matriarchs fight among themselves to see who is the best and most powerful, constantly competing instead of helping the most Gnolls," Kragash replied.

"It's the nature of beings, living in peace has always been difficult, even among brothers," a sudden Athena appeared, responding.

"Why is that? One would think that after suffering horrors, people would be more willing to cooperate and not return to them; I certainly am," Kragash replied.

"On the contrary, little one, when people go through horrors, they are much more likely to do whatever is necessary to ensure they don't have to go through them again, including inflicting those same horrors on someone else," Alex responded.

The young Gnoll opened his mouth to reply, but he immediately closed it and fell into deep thought.

Both Alex and Athena looked at him for a moment and decided not to interrupt the small one's introspection.

"Alex, your actions have caused a great stir among the high ranks of the forest; practically the vast majority doubted that you would really achieve what you reported," Athena said suddenly.

"You reported the whole process, including your participation and Torel's," Alex asked.

"Yes, it includes everything."

"And why is it so hard to believe?" Alex had a bad premonition. "Could it be that the contentious part is the Codex?"

Alex looked at Athena with a fierce and accusing look, causing the owl to shrink back.

"All the alphas showed interest in what was related to the Codex and expressed support for your claims to the Lady of the Forest if you could enter the temple."

"Forget it, I won't betray the Codex. You heard for yourself what it said; it's not in a position to lose anything else," Alex replied firmly.

"Relax, Alex, I won't force you to do anything; I'm just informing you of what happened during my report. Regarding the Lady, you don't need to be so aggressive; besides, she couldn't even hear most of the things the Codex was telling you clearly," Athena responded defensively.

The last part reminded Alex of a question he had to ask, but thinking about how his encounter with the Codex had generated so much attention, he decided it was best not to reveal anything. He didn't know if Athena was totally on his side or how much she had actually said; at least he could be certain that they wouldn't be able to find the Codex unless it wanted to be found.

"What's this about supporting my claims to the Lady of the Forest?" Alex suddenly asked, trying to change the subject.

"The Lady of the Forest is a complex living entity; she's not a being per se, rather a kind of rare will. She generally rewards those who protect the forest but has special rules. In each event, she only rewards one of the participants or participating clans, so a council has always been convened to see who receives her blessing. You need the approval of the majority of the council to receive it," Athena replied.

"And yet, only our faction was there fighting; why do I need the approval of the others?" Alex asked.

"In this specific case, you don't need it. However, it's advisable that you have it, as that has been the way of operating in the forest for a long time. If you try to bypass this tacit agreement, there could be consequences," Athena warned him.

"I'll see what I can do, but I'm not willing to concede anything related to the Codex. Does this mean it's true that I can see the Lady of the Forest?" Alex replied.

"That's right, you have already done more than enough in your short time in the forest. The Lady informed me that she is willing to receive you as soon as you are ready to visit her. She is aware of your current problems, so she hasn't pressed for a specific date," Athena assured him.

"Good, because I can't afford to neglect my people for now; there's still much to be done." Finally, Alex stood up and touched Kragash's shoulder to pull him out of his introspection. Together, they left the meeting room.

After the meetings were over, Alex began a phase of review. The villages and settlements that had been liberated were full of Gnolls; the number of these rescued was impressive, and streets flooded with them could be seen in many parts, still not knowing very well what they should do.

Slowly, in the following days, the news of the creation of the Kingdom of Iretar began to spread, and the atmosphere was with a strange mix of optimism.

There was also a strange interaction that had begun to emerge. Alex, in his constitution, had accepted both the Gnolls, Resh, and Dwarves as constituent nations. These before didn't speak much to each other and tried to avoid each other as much as possible, however now the Gnolls weren't as reluctant to interact with the other two parties, which in turn made them also begin to interact more with each other.