Just trying to moor was an endeavor to say the least. Cira thought extending docks out from the hilltop would make things simpler, but it turned into a whole spectacle. No one on either ship could contain themselves and she had pirates jumping off the side to be first. She had to catch them and desperately widen the docks to keep them from plummeting to their deaths.

Excitement was in the air, oh yes. Even Jule and her father had twinkles in their eyes as they gazed upon the golden landscape from Breeze Haven’s garden, completely oblivious to the chaos below. Perhaps Cira got so caught up in her new project and forgot that most would get riled up to see something like this. It was their first time here, after all.

Many spied the golden river from their ship and slid down the hill at frightening speeds while others spread out on the hill and started scraping at the ground with knives, shoving pebbles in their pockets. One man tried carving a piece off one of the pillars she so passionately crafted, and Cira knew she had to do something.

“ENOUGH.” Her voice echoed. The looters froze in place while any who tried rolling down the hillside were lifted back up, some of them shining with holy light and stained with blood. “Will you idiots relax before you kill yourselves? You have indeed reached Paradise, but this island belongs to me. No need to rush.”

Breeze Haven’s staircase extended and Cira led the mayors to meet the Council. The sorcerer took her posse toward the center of the structure as the crowd naturally parted. Primarily because they found the booze.

“What… what the hell is this place?” The hilltop she shaped had a built-in harbor like a jutting cliffside where both ships were moored along with Breeze Haven, and they approached a central table comprised of multiple conventionally accepted tons of gold had easily twenty empty seats while the entire Council sat around it. Additional guests also included Kuja, Mac, and Shores at this time. Still, it was built as an amphitheater, so everyone seated could hear each other while the hundreds others crowded around the opulent pillars were muffled from here. Tawny herself was flabbergasted, “This wasn’t here the other day.”

“Of course it wasn’t,” Cira ended up constructing a ring to span all twelve golden pillars to make up her rain catchment system. Each pillar had a trough at its base where the masses could imbibe for public meetings. There were even little cubbies which formed a new crystal drinking mug each time one was pulled away, but many ignored them to use their bare hands for some reason.

In hindsight, maybe infinite beer was not the best idea for the first designated area of civilization in Paradise, but she was really just saving them a walk down the hill. Those who wanted to drink would, and those who didn’t, wouldn’t.

Who knew how often public meetings would even happen. Cira would be busy climbing the Boreal, and she enjoyed this project. No losers here.

“I built it on the way in,” She continued, “Welcome to Agora Aurielle.”

“The hell is that?” Jimbo demanded.

“This beautiful place of diplomacy I have carved for you out of the land.” Cira gestured to the sparkling shroud of airborne ale and the sunlit horizon, “I have dubbed it Agora Aurielle. The name is both poignant and sounds cool. What’s your problem?”

“I’ll tell you my problem.” James crossed his arms from across the table. Cira could hear him perfectly while the masses of pirates in the background who paid no attention, fighting each other for space around a pillar or even scraping the ground for gold again, were quite easy to ignore. “This is Paradise, isn’t it? Even I want to drink as far away from this table as possible. It’s weirdly quiet and loud at the same time. Why are we gathered here?”

James’ conniptions were due to Cira’s diligent work to construct the amphitheater. There were guys standing near the outer pillars and listening in, while those at the table weren’t overly bothered by everyone fighting for the ale troughs. His complaints described the entire point.

“Because I need to lay out the itinerary before turning everyone loose.” Cira’s masterful feat of architectural prowess still wasn’t enough to get everyone’s attention, so she had sorcery help out again.

“Attention all.” Cira’s voice echoed and all the mugs she crafted them from mana crystal froze in place wherever they may be. A few lucky ducks couldn’t stop drinking, but others found the liquid resisted their hands. “Welcome to Paradise. The Eternal Empire’s newest territory—”

Cira had to pause as the absolute mass of exuberant pirates suddenly overpowered her acoustic engineering, and their cheers deafened the seated council. She let them have their fun, and the roar of the crowd died as they seemed to collectively realize their glasses still wouldn’t move. Of course, there were those who dunked their entire face into the troughs—each of which fit fifteen or so faces at a time. Cira could not defend against that or those who already had their faces dunked would be trapped, and it wasn’t worth the effort to work around that.

Watching all the submerged faces was enough to make a girl consider swapping out the ale-catchment system she was also proud of for just a few more geysers. Honestly, the council’s table was downstream of the pillars, so this was a huge design flaw. It was like Jimbo’s flask all over again, but exclusively for the leaders of this new nation.

The council doesn’t seem to realize yet, so maybe it’s okay—huh? What is this? Why is there no spit in the council’s ale? Where has it gone? What about the countless flecks of dirt and other such small debris from the dirty pirates’ heads?

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Cira was at least a small fraction undine, at least she told herself that. Regardless, she had senses characteristic of one. This meant she could feel the troughs of ale getting polluted with each bobbing head, yet the contaminants simply faded away.

Inexplicable… What marvelous creation. She had to hand it to the old man on this one. His ale spring was no joke.

She continued speaking when enough of the crowd looked like they were waiting for direction, “There is much to do, however. Those who wish to learn sorcery will join me at dawn whenever I wake up tomorrow. Meet outside Breeze Haven,” As she spoke, a perfectly shaped indent formed in the gold down the hill in full view of her orchard, and her island fell into it like a key. “Those who do not wish to learn sorcery or would rather focus on their craft may stay around this area. You will work with the Exalted Legs McClensky and select other mages to develop this island. These development efforts will be overseen by the Mortal Council, of course.”

“Hey, just what are you roping me—” Mac tried, but Cira held up a finger to silence him, for she was not done.

“Naturally, you are free to start and stop working whenever you please but know that you will not often revisit Paradise if you have no business here. It is still perfectly acceptable to find a spot by the river and drown yourself in ale for a week. No one will judge you.

“I digress. Council members who are not my students, you are in charge of city planning and development. If you have any ideas, do that too.” Cira held her glass high to the sun then threw it back, letting them wait until her thirst was sufficiently quenched, “The rest of today is a free day, and it ends in… fifteen hours or so, sleep included. Think about what you want to do and do whatever you want until then.”

More crystal mugs materialized as many had been abandoned and shattered on the floor, disappearing into motes of light. The massive crowd around the agora’s center was in an uproar, swiping glasses out of the air and filling them up. Cira added complimentary rivers for those who just couldn’t reach a pillar, and it seemed everyone beyond the Council’s table had completely moved on. Just as well, because the announcement was over.

Meanwhile, the Council stared at her incredulously.

“What?” She asked, without letting her voice carry on the wind.

“Are you serious?” James shook his head and started drinking. “Did you not say something about assaulting the Blackwood brothers? That wouldn’t happen to be the same Blackwood that’s a member of the Gandeux… would it?”

To Cira it seemed obvious. That didn’t seem like a common name. “Pretty darn sure.” Cira brought the frigate to the forefront from behind Breeze Haven and spread the sails out to display an insignia of black roots consuming a ball of stone. “This Blackwood?”

Multiple palms hit their faces while more glasses found their recipient. Most of the Council seemed to hold this in great significance, though the mayors of Plackelo were already aware. Still, old man Plackelo urged her to clink glasses from the next seat over.

“Yes, that one! What the hell are you doing stealing their ship?!” Well, most were in shock. James led the charge with his horrific expression while Captain Shores and Yotan seemed to be sharing a moment of joy.

Jimbo’s jaw was on the floor, but he eventually bellowed a hearty laugh, “Now we’re talkin’.”

“Not the time.” James cut him off, staring at Cira expectantly.

“I didn’t really want to bring this guy to Breeze Haven.” Someone’s screams rapidly approached, and a disheveled man in nice clothes landed on the table between everyone. They fell silent while the man looked around like he was in a nightmare. As no one spoke, she took the opportunity to recount everything that happened the night prior, starting from the suspicious mana fluctuations she saw from the sky. “Even if my bluff falls through, they will likely not act rash with this man as my, er, political prisoner? That was the idea, anyway.”

‘Political prisoner’ was just a term I picked up from a section about territorial disputes between tier four goblin civilizations, but it can’t be too far off from customs of the Boreal. The average human island is equivalent to tier three, after all.

For some reason, the only member this time who didn’t imbibe in solidarity was Larry, “Just go on and get outta here for a while. The Council’s busy.”

“Very well…” Cira looked at Yotan who just looked happy to be here, then the rest who still drank, then Mac as he receded into his floating cave silently. “But you should probably talk elsewhere. Sound tends to carry. Actually, no…” Glyphs burned into the table, “Just place your hand upon the runes if you wish to speak privately—”

“Pst, psst!” Larry shooed her away like some mangey beast, his hands moved like they were sweeping away muck, “Enough of that shit. Go on, now. Get!”

Cira turned around to leave as requested, trying to be understanding of their feelings, and met eyes with the crimson woman from her harem.

“Darling, look who it is!” There were nine other women to make ten total and only one of them was Pita’s big sister. He was here too, but woefully overshadowed by a pit in Cira’s stomach.

“Oh, Pita!” Cira latched onto the easiest thread, “I’ve been meaning to find you. I’d love to look over your artifacts. I trust you have them with you?”

“They’re on the ship,” He gave a bright smile, but grew a little quieter, “Are you… are you sure you have time?”

“Of course I do.” She smiled back, “Let’s go right now.”

Cira held out her hand and it was promptly slapped away by his sister Ulyssa.

“I’m onto you, Saint.” She said with great disapproval, “What do you think you’re doing allowing these women around such a young boy? He’s not going anywhere with you unless I’m around.”

Hmm? Does she know them personally? I don’t understand why she may dislike them so strongly. Most of them seem really nice. “I don’t quite understand your concerns, but the imperial harem is a valued facet of my empire. The entire Mortal Council appears to trust them, so I don’t think you should worry. If anything, having all nine of them look after the boy is better than just one—”

“Wha—are you serious?!”

“Oh yes,” She nodded seriously, “And you will certainly join us. You gathered those reports I wanted, right?”

“Uh, y-yes… they’re on the ship.” She awkwardly nodded, seemingly at a loss.

“Excellent. Then let us make haste.” Faint crackles of incipient void lightning sprinkled the ground when Cira felt a hand grab her sleeve.

“Please wait,” It was the striking woman with red hair, “May I join you? At least one of us should be there for you in case a need arises.”

“Hm.” Cira thought about it for a moment while looking over the strangely desperate women, then a shorter blonde girl jumped in front of her.

“No, you should take me! I’m much better at—”

“Oh please, everyone knows I’m the one she needs.” A haughty girl with plain hair and soft eyes spoke over her colleague.

“Girls, please…” Cira’s flustered frown surfaced, “For you to quarrel among yourselves only troubles me.”

Her, Pita, and Uly disappeared—replaced with sparks of lightning darker than shadow.