The cacophony of soldiers training filled the yard. I glanced around fruitlessly for a while, but when I failed to find who I was looking for, I honed in on Ben, who was watching over a training exercise.

“Ben,” I said as I approached.

“Your Majesty.”

“Where are Regan and Gorban?”

Ben lifted his chin and pointed east. “Not enough space in the yard to train with tarands for full skirmishes. They’ve been running drills beyond the wall.”

“Oh, huh.” I guess I’ve been busy with Siral, but I would have liked to be informed. Wait, maybe I was? That actually sounds a little familiar. They might have mentioned it when I was sleep deprived. “Right, well. I’d like to check in on them, so I suppose I need a guard detail.”

Ben snapped a knifehand to his chest in salute and started singling out soldiers to put together a unit, and I went to get Horsey from the royal stables. I could just walk, but there was an image to portray, and the guards did not like it when I tried to walk with them, insisting I ride in a litter. Since I was not going to have my soldiers carry me like luggage, I eventually got them to accept that riding my mythic tarand was an acceptable compromise.

This is why I usually just sneak out, I thought with a chuckle as I saddled Horsey, stroking his neck and murmuring a greeting to my beast companion. Sadly, I could not just show up as Bil, a local stone mage, and interrupt my soldiers’ official training. I needed to show up as the king.

My alcewing, who I had formally named Pegamus even though no one in my current life got the joke, gave me a snort, so I spent a bit of time greeting him as well. We did not get as many opportunities to fly as I would have liked, but I did get a custom saddle built for him and it was, finally, a proper option. Apparently public perception was that Horsey was a bit more regal to ride through the capital than the winged moose.

“Maybe when you evolve,” I muttered, patting him on the side before returning to Horsey so I could mount up and go through the rigamarole of a royal procession to the east gate.

It was the same general path I would take to get to the Guilds, but this time we moved slow and steady through the main thoroughfare rather than my usual ducking and weaving through side streets and alleys. My procession gained a bit of attention, as it always did, and I grinned down at some young Velgein and mixed children who cheered when they saw me.

The neighborhood around the Adventurers Guild had ended up attracting a lot of the Velgein families who stayed in the capital, and more still when we started to see a trickle of immigration. The relative poverty of the district had been one reason we selected it for the Guilds, thinking it would gentrify with an injection of wealth thanks to adventurers, who might want to settle down nearby.

Some members of the Guilds did settle nearby, as expected, but Leiren had also inquired about subsidized housing for the freed slaves, and it made no sense to create such a thing in a wealthier district where they would be surrounded by the types of people who had formerly enslaved them. While I was hopeful full integration would happen over the course of a generation or two, there were still some bad feelings on both parties’ sides.

Another work in progress was setting up a more robust orphanage program. Some of the freed slaves had wanted to give up the children they had been forced to have, which was heartbreaking, and there had not been much in the way of support for young children without parents in the Kingdom, particularly for northerners or southerners. I had known this was the case thanks to Atlessoa in Roko, so it had been something I wanted to do anyway, but the abandoned Velgein and mixed race children had added a new challenge to that angle. Fortunately, there were still plenty of good people in the Kingdom, and between the crown, the Church, people working with Leiren at the embassy, and the Guilds, the kids were in good hands.

Thanks to my involvement in both Guilds, it was made very clear that intolerance had no place in them. With the Guilds also providing some education and training to the youth who were also starting to fill out the Stone Rank membership, it was a pretty good fit.

As I passed by the Velgein embassy, I saw the ambassador step outside the front door, having overheard the clamor on the street. Leiren raised her hand to wave and gave me her usual cheeky grin, and I smiled and nodded back.

Being so close to the Tamers Guild, I also saw more people out with pets in this neighborhood than in other parts of the capital. I frowned slightly when I saw some kids playing with a lubarg puppy. Sera had said there was enough fur in the bedroom from Rika already and that she was enough for Siral for now, so we had passed on a puppy of our own. Of course, she did not understand the magic and beauty of a child growing up alongside a dog—or a beast that was pretty close, in this world—like I did, given my first life on Earth, but I did not want to turn it into a fight. At least he would grow up around Rika.

She had also conceded that he could have a puppy, or more likely a Wood or Stone rank beast, when he learned to tame on his own. She understood how important it was to me that my son learned how to tame, and that it required practice and experience like anything else. As soon as he hit Level 2, we would start looking at pets, assuming I could get him to acquire the skill. Maybe I’ll source him a vorbil to evolve. Rena loved hers when she was a kid.

Once we made it past the walls and the farms, instead of following the road north towards the farm and the mountain pass, we continued off the road east to the field where the tarands and soldiers were doing drills. Regan’s mounted swordsmen were currently facing off Gorban’s polearm users, both sides using blunted and wrapped weapons.

I watched as the two sides clashed, impressed at the level of skill on display. Both commanders had done a tremendous job of training up their charges. As I appraised some soldiers, I even noticed a new skill on display that I had never seen before, called “Mounted.” That meant that experience was being earned and skill points were going directly into mounted activities like combat.

Had that always existed? I doubted it. Did it come into existence in the world as a result of my actions, even though I had not directly created the skill? I did not have the skill, myself, which chafed a bit. I would have to make sure I picked it up once I got some skillfruit or another level, and at least get it to an advanced level, if not expert. What would a master level Mounted skill help with? Better tarandback combat and stability, no doubt, but maybe easier riding of more difficult-to-ride beasts, or riding without a saddle, or reduce the fatigue from long-distance riding. Some of the soldiers were not tamers, themselves, so perhaps the Mounted skill also helped with riding untamed beasts.

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It was fascinating, though a bit frustrating that whenever I felt I was getting a handle on things in this world, new mysteries appeared. So much to do with skills, magic, experience, and levels was effectively impossible to test the cause and effect of, unless I wanted to spread more of my secrets about how to measure it.

Eventually, there was a lull in training, and I approached Regan and Gorban.

“Your Majesty,” they said in unison. I rolled my eyes.

“Fellas,” I said in response. “Looking good out here.”

“Aye,” Regan said, nodding to some of his soldiers. “I’d say some of the men are at least as good on tarandback as me… even if they’re not as good with the sword, feet on the ground.”

I nodded. That tracked, since at this point, it could be the Mounted skill driving their progress more than One-Armed, though that no doubt also had an effect.

More importantly, that meant the mounted regiment would be able to progress without Regan. I could probably elevate some of the soldiers to higher positions within the army and free up the skilled swordsman for other purposes.

“Regan, walk with me,” I said, leading him away from Gorban, who raised an eyebrow before turning back to his men and getting them to do some forms. “You’ve done really well for me, exactly what I asked of you when we started out.”

“...Why does it sound like there’s a ‘but’ coming?” Regan said with an awkward laugh.

“No buts,” I said, stopping and turning back towards the man once we had put some distance between us and the others. “I just wanted to talk to you about your own goals.”

“My goals?”

“When we started this, you said you wanted fame and fortune. You’re a man who needs accolades. I can give you fortune—and have, to some degree—but right now all your accolades are trickling up through the army to me.”

Regan grunted, studying my face. “Not all.”

“Well, no. Your men surely admire you, and those who know what’s happening with the army all know your name. But outside of that limited pool, your fame is restricted, right? Without going to war, you aren’t likely to become a hero, a household name.”

“That’s… true.”

“And, of course, I have no intention of going to war, as you know. You deserve better than just suppressing bandits.”

“What are you getting at?”

“I want you to consider leaving the army and joining the Adventurers Guild.”

“The… Adventurers Guild?” he said with a snort. “To what, hunt beasts for meat and guard convoys?”

“For now. It’s in its infancy, sure, but it’s going to become an institution across this Kingdom. Even now, they’re expanding south into Roko.”

“So?”

“So,” I said, leaning in conspiratorially. “A new branch will need a new leader. The Guild Leader of the Roko Adventurers Guild would be a pretty big deal, especially as it starts to enhance the lives of the citizens by improving trade stability and increasing the flow of meat. As adventurers develop and grow into higher ranks, the Guild Leader will command the respect of some of the most powerful people in the city.”

Regan frowned. “And you want me there to, what, be your man on the inside?”

“Ah, no. I can see how that looks,” I said, rubbing my chin. “No. You’d answer to Horg, the Guild Master, not me, and even then only in the context of the general practices of the Guild and Kingdom-wide operation. You’d be your own man and lead Roko’s Guild as you saw fit. I’ve simply seen how the Adventurers Guild has improved life in the capital and want to see that expand southward, and I think you’d be a good man for the job. I think it could be a good fit for you and your goals, unless you want to spend the rest of your days training novice soldiers.”

“Hmm. Well. I do like the pay.”

“It’s up to you. You’ve got a position here for as long as you want it, so long as you keep producing soldiers of this caliber, but if you want to try something new, then I can promise you a nice end of contract payout to tide you over so you can test things out with the Guild. If it doesn’t work out for you, let me know,” I said with a shrug. “I can put you back in a command position whenever.”

I clapped Regan on the shoulder and walked back with him as he thought it over, then departed from the training area for the city walls. Though Regan and I had butted heads in the tournament years ago, he had become a truly valuable commander in the army and was one of only a few local powerhouses who I felt could successfully help the Guild expand into Roko, while it continued to grow and create adventurers from within who could match that capability.

Frankly, I might have been overinvesting in the Guild. It definitely was improving things, but the effects it had were limited, and it might not need the best and brightest to make its operations work. It would take years, possibly decades, to really see if it was worth it or not.

Maybe I was overconfident given how helpful the Tamers Guild seemed to be, and that was what was driving me to want the Adventurers Guild to also be a success. It certainly felt like investing in it was the right thing to do. I hoped I was not just sending away some of my best for little return.

In the end, Regan decided to go for it. I offered him a sizable severance package, and having a powerful swordsman with a personal tarand made him very popular in the Guild, very quickly. It was not long before he had invested in a sled for his tarand, and was helping hunters haul back meat with ease. The extra experience for his tarand and the proximity to the Tamers Guild meant that soon enough, he was riding around on a mystic tarand of his own, making him even more popular with the adventurers and local kids.

What surprised me the most was how quickly he took to the young ones. Regan ended up spending a lot of his free time helping to train the Wood and Stone rank children and apprentices, even though it was not earning him anything. Perhaps he had changed in his time as an army commander and simply could not help himself, but reports were that he had become surprisingly fatherly. Despite some initial conflict with Leiren, as he was spending so much time in the same district and dealing with the same people, his determination to help the children ended up allowing for there to develop a bit of peace between them.

That peace really solidified when he met the mother of one of the children he trained, a freed Velgein woman named Chevei. Regan, as it turned out, had a type. Not that I could blame him, as I had been weak to similar influences myself.

“Well, there’s no doubt he’s the man for the job,” Horg said towards the end of the summer once we heard from Morgun that construction was nearing completion. “But I’m not sure he’ll want to relocate, now.”

Once the offer was made, though, Chevei insisted he take it. It was too big of an opportunity, and it was more or less the reason he had joined the Guild in the first place. It was a big move to relocate to Roko, but she and her son were willing to make it. Things in the capital were good, after the change in rulership, but she still had bad memories about it. While she wanted to stay in the Kingdom for her son, they were not committed to living their lives there.

In fact, there might even be more possibilities in Roko. At the moment, it barely had any Velgein population, but it had a large Al’Tiolese population compared to the capital.

By the end of the summer, they were off to the south, the seeds of further change in the Kingdom. Regan would have the strength and the position, as a Guild Leader, to keep them safe, and start to offer more children opportunities in the big city. Once they were settled, perhaps more Velgein people would follow, finding a proper home in the Kingdom and bringing about new things through cultural amalgamation.

I could not wait to see it.