I teleported the last two wagons from Fort Crissna to Everlight, where the immortals were already waiting and doing their thing. On a side note; I wanted to create an entire system of runic gates that will connect every place under my control. Wouldn't that be cool?! Something like the Stargates. That would be absolutely awesome. A man can dream, right? Anyway... I left the second legion, Legio Ferrata, until I created another garrison legion to man the fortress, and decided that I needed way more spawners. That was why I had to spare Bob, and as controversial as it was, he was actually changing. I would have to find out why exactly, but he was much more sane than when I subdued him.
Of course, he could be bluffing, but for now, I would give him the benefit of the doubt.
That would leave me with two problems at hand. One was quite obvious- I had to house all these people. How? I had no idea, well... Not exactly. I had one, and I was a little unsure of it, but I didn't have any other choice. Ok fine, I had two ideas. One was to expand Wolf Manor Town and change it into a city. The second one was to buy more land around Avalon and expand Everlight to a monstrous size. If I did that, it would easily house four hundred thousand people. That would, however, create some awkwardness in the layout of Avalon, with the dungeon part being surrounded by the two separate cities. Which, admittedly, would suck. That being the case, I probably should relocate my dungeon parts outside, shrink the former Everlight into a small buffer zone, where newly arriving people would be welcomed...
Who am I kidding now?
Right now I am no longer a dungeon, or just some random dungeon. I am more like a city-state that's already started conquering nearby areas and was forcing its own internal and foreign policy. That being said, no one would ever arrive at Avalon without at least hearing rumours about what it was. Said accidental arrival would be so rare that creating an entire illusion of what Avalon was, well.. It was kind of pointless. So technically, the outer city was meant to serve as the centre for petty administrative tasks as well as education, so showing it for what it was wouldn't be such a bad idea. The people that would arrive at Avalon would require education and training in long-forgotten arts and crafts, so I expected a boom in the creation of various guilds and schools. That's why creating the outer city was not an entirely bad idea.
On the other hand, it was a terrible idea from a military standpoint. Avalon will, sooner or later, be under siege. Creating a residential area right in the middle of the first line of defence, when it was absolutely avoidable, would only ask... No! It would invite trouble! Switching the secondary city with the dungeon part was not only reasonable, but logical. My denizens that dwelt in the dungeon sections, in case of a wall breach, could be used to stall the enemy without any consequences for them dying. Thanks to their questionably brave sacrifices, because they were going to respawn anyway, my legions would have time to reinforce the breached section. So this option would be the best, but still- a bit stupid.
Why? Because right now in the Middle Castle lived about two thousand people, while its capacity was at least one hundred thousand. Building additional residential areas was, to put it mildly, stupid. I looked out of the window and sighed. Right now, Nathaniel Drake was talking with the people of Girsion, and they were going to decide what they wanted to do. The same was happening with Fornal Ban and his soldiers. I promised to meet with them and some representatives appointed by both groups. I made some initial plans in case rebuilding Avalon would be necessary.
That left me with a second problem. Well, technically, it wasn't my problem... Yeah... Right. The knocking on my office doors sounded exactly at the time that Amber, Irene and Luna were already waiting near the small table where they sipped their tea lazily, allowing me to think about my recent problems. After a few moments, doors were opened by the slime butler who waited for my permission and inside entered Galahad, Annika, Marie and Mr Fluffles, and a bit surprisingly, Fornal Ban and Hestia. The little girl and her big pup were looking miserable, and I could only guess how much yelling Marie listened to in the past day. Everyone sat down with Marie, taking a seat in the smaller chair, with Mr Fluffles sitting down near her and lowering his head. He was now no larger than a full-grown German Shepherd, which was at least two times smaller than his usual size and almost three less than his actual size.
"Marie, do you know why you are here?" I asked calmly.
"Yes, my King. I violated the order to not interfere..." She started, but stopped quickly after hearing my disappointed sigh.
"No, Marie. You are here because you endangered yourself. A battlefield is not a place for a child, Marie." I said, looking at her while she nervously crimped her dress. "No matter how powerful you are or how high level you are. You are not ready to witness the cruelty of battlefields. Do you understand now why you are here?"
"Yes, my King," she whispered, shaking a little.
"My King, if I may." Galahad went to Marie and delicately put his large hand on her small shoulder. I nodded, allowing him to speak. "Her presence lessened the stress that some of the Cridian soldiers felt after a lost battle. It was she who convinced Colonel Ban that we have no desire to kill everyone."
I looked formally at Ban, who nervously nodded. I started suspecting that his entire presence here was now fulfilled, but I can at least praise his care of Marie. Surprisingly, the next one who stood in defence of our little Phantom Ranger was Hestia.
"King Theon, before you end this meeting, I wish you to know that I sensed the impulse that pushed Marie to do what she did. Before she was able to leave Avalon, I cast a very powerful Illusion spell to protect her mind from whatever she could find on the battlefield." Hestia sighed and shook her head. "That being said, you shouldn't go there, little Marie."
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"But there was nothing scary there! Not even a single stain of blood on the snow!" Marie protested, receiving a very scornful gaze from Galahad and Fornal Ban in return.
"As I said, little Marie, the illusion that I used protected your mind..." Hestia replied, a little disappointed.
"Marie, we, the Queens of Avalon, do not want to hear ever again that you did something so reckless," Amber said softly but also with disappointed tones in her voice.
"Your mom informed you, or she is going to inform you soon, Marie, about your punishment," I said, looking at Hestia while nodding towards her with gratitude. "On my part, I can only say that I am going to appoint you and your party as the guides and instructors for kids that are new residents of Avalon. You will be very busy for the next few months. Hopefully, you will think about what you can and what you mustn't do. You also will be way too busy to think about other stupid things. As for you, Mr Fluffles, Thor is going to have a disciplinary talk with you in the near future."
"Yes, my Lord!" He covered his head with his paws again.
"Annika?" I looked at Marie's mother.
"Thank you, my Lord. I think Marie will now be able to understand the trouble she made for everyone. I am grateful, Goddess Hestia, that you protected my child." She bowed towards Hestia and me, before she turned to bow towards Amber. "Thank you, my Queens. Marie, you are grounded for the entire month. You will be only attending your official duties as assigned by King Theon. Do you understand?"
"Yes, mom..." She wept and ran towards her mother, who immediately took her in her arms.
She once again was a small, terrified child that Galahad freed from a slaver's cage. She once again was just a child and not a genius prodigy. "I'm so sorry, mom!" she cried when she finally understood how lucky she was. Annika cried as well, but she was relieved to hear that Hestia protected Marie and spared her from the memories of the bloody battlefield. They left soon after; Marie was a little wiser about why we scolded her, and Annika was glad her daughter finally seemed to understand that being powerful was not the same as being an adult. Mr Fluffles followed his master, but his personal scolding and punishment were waiting for him very soon. Amber and Irene teleported away, returning to their duties. I was looking at Galahad and Ban, who appeared a little less nervous now. Hestia changed her chair and sat near Luna.
"King Theon, I finished talking with my soldiers," the former colonel started. "From my twenty-four thousand six hundred eighty-nine soldiers, only twenty-six officers refused to switch sides."
"Switch sides?" I looked at him, surprised.
"Yes, King Theon. We are not stupid. After fighting your legions, after learning how you captured Girsion and after we met..." He paused and fearfully looked at Hestia, who just took a sip from a fresh cup of tea poured by the maid. "...Gods... We decided that only you can be called the King. We would like to swear our loyalty to you."
I took a deep breath and leaned back in my armchair. That was, perhaps, a fortunate turn of events. If I made them pledge their fealty to me and they became my residents, I could allow them to live in Middle Castle. My residents couldn’t turn against me, which was reinforced by the World System, which forced a powerful geas on anyone to keep them true to their pledges. I looked at Hestia, who smiled brightly and winked at me. Surprisingly, I noticed a hint of anger on Luna's face. Unsure of what that meant, I looked at Galahad who nodded and, through my link, I sensed how glad he was of this turn of events.
"This is most fortunate, my King," Galahad said out loud. “The colonel is a very talented commander and I believe his service will be very useful for your Highness."
"I see..." I looked at Ban and smiled. "What about these twenty-six officers?"
"They are from various Cridian Noble families and they still believe themselves to be significant even after they ended up in the harshest outpost in the kingdom. We will keep them under guard, Sir!"
"They still can be useful..." I nodded my head slowly and decided that I would use this opportunity to take these soldiers under my command. "Fornal Ban, will you serve me loyally with full conviction and to the best of your abilities?"
•••
Colonel Fornal Ban swore his fealty to me and went out to announce to his soldiers that they would be accepted into my service. Galahad left with him, probably already preparing an entire list of orders to prepare the mortal soldiers for their new service. Right behind them was Hestia, who smiled brightly, bowed to Luna, and winked at me once more before disappearing.
"This little...! Ugh!" Luna was looking at the space previously occupied by Hestia. "She's giving you the sweet eye!"
"Luna... This is probably the last thing I would like to hear right now, when in a few minutes I must go and ask several thousand soldiers if they want to be my residents with all duties and privileges that brings. Closing all the World System windows will probably take me a few hours." I rested my forehead on the edge of my desk, while the slime maid poured me a refreshing orange juice. "Thank you. As I said, my Darling, hearing that someone, who is considered to be one of the major goddesses of this world, has a crush on me is… Silly.”
"Theon... I sometimes wonder how oblivious, ignorant or uncaring you are to look over such things..." She sighed heavily, but she giggled when she saw my face. "Seriously, you haven't noticed?"
"Give me a break and tell her I will not break my word given to Eriar, no matter how many sweet eyes she is going to make."
•••
"Luna told me about Hestia." Amber giggled right into my ear.
"*sigh*..." I rubbed my eyes and leaned back on my throne. "For God's sake, Amber..."
"But she is right. Hestia wants something from you, and we don't know what it is. She may be our ally, but she has her own agenda."
"Oh, that I am aware of..." I took a deep breath.
The gates to the throne room opened, and Captain Drake went inside, leading ten people who represented the people of former Girsion.
"My Lord! Most of the people of Girsion decided to ask for permission to stay in majestic Avalon!"
•••
Yeah... I was closing fucking pop-up windows the entire night.