Mercy says “I agree. If the empire can’t stop you, then they won’t have a chance. They are smart enough to see that and they are likely to surrender after getting the best terms they can.”

  “You have dealt with them a lot. Do you think you could negotiate that with them?”

  Mercy says “Yeah, I should be able to. As long as they don’t ask for anything outrageous. When should I start the negotiations?”

  “It can wait until after things in your kingdom are settled. Let them sweat a little bit, it should make things easier.”

  Mercy says “Yeah, it should. It is a little evil, but a tactic that merchants use all the time so I doubt they will complain. What kind of benefits can I offer them?”

  “Hm, that could be a problem. I don’t really have any benefits to offer them. Whether they join willingly or by force, they will be treated the same as everyone else.”

  Lin says “That is the common people. The leaders are only going to care about their own hides. They are mostly merchants, or backed by merchants, so just promise that their assets won’t be seized.”

  Myria says “You can also tell them that they will have the same access to the gate to the southern empire that our merchants do. They don’t need to know that they would have gotten it anyway.”

  “Those are some good ideas. I didn’t think of that.”

  Mercy says “Alright. I’m pretty sure that I can work with that.”

  “Sounds like a good plan. Alright, are we ready to head back and see the kids?”

  Lin says “I guess we are. Are you leaving straight away to go visit the dragon?”

  “No, I will spend a day or two with the kids first. Speaking of the kids, Mercy, I plan to ask one of them to accompany you. They will place obelisks along the way so that you can stay in touch. I will also give you some items to give to your people to get them connected to the network.”

  Mercy says “Great! That will make things a lot easier!”

  “I also want all of you to keep an eye out for talented individuals. By now, the network should have started building profiles on people. You will be able to access those and if you find someone decent, recruit them. We are going to need a lot of people for positions in the government.”

  Lin says “We will keep our eyes out. If we find someone, do we notify you or do we recruit them directly?”

  “You can recruit them yourselves or pass on the information to Stillwater and let him handle it. I probably won’t have the time to do it myself, if I am even around at the time.”

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  Myria says “That’s true. We will be lucky to see you!”

  “It shouldn’t be that bad. Once I get back from visiting the dragon I will be around as often as I can. I won’t be able to be around for weeks at a time, but I also shouldn’t be gone for weeks at a time.”

  Lin says “I hope that proves to be true, but even if it does, we will also be separated. All of us being together will be somewhat rare.”

  “That’s true and there isn’t much I can do about it. Hopefully, as the government grows, we will have more free time. In the meantime, there is always meeting up in the soulscape. Oh, Sero, Kreno, did your creators tell you about the soulscape? Can you join it? Will there be issues if both you and your creators are there together?”

  Sero says “Yes, we are aware and yes we can enter. It won’t create any issues, but we might find it a little uncomfortable. We are them, but also not at the same time.”

  “True. Being around them might affect the development of your personalities. Alright, we will avoid having you and them in the soulscape at the same time.”

  Kreno says “Thank you. On their behalf, I would ask that you invite them over us. We get to be with you in the real world, it is only fair that they get the soulscape.”

  “Fair enough. I will do that.”

  Myria says “You should do it soon, I want to play with the goddesses!”

  Lin says “I agree. You can’t just give them a taste and then neglect them.”

  “I will. I’ve been a little distracted.”

  That gets smiles from all of them, they obviously are happy to be the reason I was distracted. We talk for a few more minutes about our plans for the immediate future before getting ready to leave. Luckily, thanks to storage items, packing up only takes a few minutes and then I open a gate.

  The gate leads to the castle and as soon as we are through the kids swarm all of us. They are in their miniature forms so that their cuteness is at the max and they can get lots of attention. Sero and Kreno have absolutely no defense against that level of cuteness and it shows.

  With the avatars, there are enough of us that all of the kids can get individual attention. I now have almost as many wives as I do kids, that is a frightening thought. There are way too many people between the two groups and they all want affection from me.

  It quickly brings back my fears that I am not going to be able to keep all of them happy. The kids are accepting the attention from the others, but they obviously want attention from me specifically. I do my best to give all of them attention, but I feel like I am not doing enough.

  The kids are getting a lot of attention and they look perfectly happy, but that doesn’t stop me from worrying. Bella looks happy and relieved to see us, she has probably had a hard time with the kids. Watching all of the kids on her own for a week can’t have been easy, so it isn’t a surprise.

  She also looks excited when she meets the avatars, but I can’t really blame her for that. We were all just as excited when they first showed up, so why would she be any different? She is acting all shy when she first meets them, but it doesn’t take long before she is flirting with them.

  Sero doesn’t seem to catch on, but Kreno certainly does and she is flirting right back. I had a feeling that those two would get along, but them getting along does worry me somewhat. Kreno on her own is bad enough, if Bella starts helping her it could get really bad.

  Of course, it could go the other way and they could keep each other busy and leave the rest of us alone. Well, probably not Lin, but I am sure that she would enjoy that kind of attention. Some of the others might as well, but probably not all of them, at least not currently.

  Eventually, I am sure that things will change, being around each other constantly will change them. People rub off on each other, they pick up each other’s habits and quirks. Some of them are still a little innocent, but I don’t expect that to last for long in this group.