“Oh, I made some devices to automatically make the obelisks and took them to the quarry. Once she wakes up, I plan to talk to Lin about finding some people to enchant them so that I don’t have to.”

  Brightfire says “If she can teach them how, I’m sure some of the elven mages would be willing to help. If you plan to cover the entire peninsula, we are going to need a lot of them.”

  “Eventually, yes. For now I just want to cover all the areas under our control. That way we can get any data we might need through the network.”

  Brightfire says “That would make our jobs easier. When are you leaving?”

  “I plan to leave after having breakfast with everyone.”

  Brightfire says “Oh. We were hoping to eat with you.”

  “We can do that. I can eat multiple times and not be full.”

  Brightfire smiles as I sit down next to her and Albion moves to my other side. I put an arm around each of them, pull them close, and we cuddle for a few minutes. Then we eat breakfast while talking about plans and ideas for the island and the capital.

  After we are done eating Brightfire tries for more cuddle time, but Albion isn’t having it. After giving Brightfire several long goodbye kisses, I gate the two of them to the capital. Once they are gone, I sit back and relax as I read some manga until the others wake up.

  The kids are the first to wake up and I spend time with them until the girls join us. Once we are all gathered, we eat breakfast together and talk about random things. I wait until Lin is done eating and then tell her about the boxes that I made to create obelisks.

  Lin says “That should make things easier on you.”

  “Yes, it should. You know how I enchant them right?”

  Lin says “Yes, I do. Are you wanting me to enchant those that are made while you are gone?”

  “Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of you finding a couple of the elven mages and teaching them how to enchant them. Then, we can ship the obelisks to the capital, have the mages enchant them, and then have the army place them.”

  Lin says “You want to set it up so that everything is done without you?”

  “Well, I doubt that will happen. The production of the obelisks will be much slower than what I can do. However, it should make it so that I have to create obelisks less often.”

  Lin says “I can enchant them, but I’m not sure others are going to be able to. It is a complex set of enchantments for one person to learn.”

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  “You could always break it down. Take three people and teach each a section of the enchantments to place.”

  Lin says “That could work. It would also make it harder for anyone to steal the process.”

  “That doesn’t matter. The obelisks just spread the network, they don’t contain the network’s enchantments. The most anyone could learn is how to make a simple communication network.”

  Lin says “Couldn’t they use the knowledge to damage our network?”

  “Not a chance. The network is linked. To destroy even one obelisk they would have to do enough damage to destroy them all. There are already hundreds of obelisks placed, even I couldn’t destroy them easily.”

  Myria says “If they added their own obelisk to our network, couldn’t that cause problems?”

  “Nope. The network itself is encrypted. What that means is that it can only be read by specific items, like your crowns. If someone else placed their own obelisk within our network, our network would take it over instantly. We would also be alerted through the network if something like that happened. It is as secure as I can possibly make it.”

  Lin says “Alright, then I won’t worry about security. I will enchant them myself until I can find and train some mages.”

  Kechara says “Dad, does this mean you don’t want us to help place the obelisks anymore?”

  “No. Any of you who want to help are more than welcome to. It just means that if you don’t want to, you don’t need to. Your mothers are going to be taking groups of you with them as they take care of various things. You will get to see new places and meet new people. You will still have free time to do what you want.”

  Asuna says “What’s the point to all of that?”

  “I want you all to experience as much as possible and to be able to find paths that you want to follow. Technically, you are all going to be princes and princesses of the empire, but you don’t have to worry about that. You will be able to choose what you want to do in the future.”

  Nala says “If I am a princess, does that mean I have to wear those poofy dresses when I am in human form?!”

  “Haha, no it doesn’t. Although, if you want to go to any balls or feasts, then you would need to dress nicely.”

  Haku says “Does this mean that I can join the military if I want?”

  “Yes, it does. You would have to go through the same training that everyone else does and you would start as a basic soldier. There will be no head starts or favoritism. Although, with your stats and abilities, it shouldn’t take you long to move up the ranks.”

  Haku says “That’s fine. I prefer to earn my own place anyway.”

  “Then if that is what you want to do, you can do it, but I would prefer it if you waited a bit.”

  Haku says “How come?”

  “I want you to know a bit more about what the world is like before you make a decision. There might be something that you would enjoy more than joining the army.”

  Haku says “Alright, I will do as you say, father.”

  Some of the other kids ask questions as well, mostly about what they will be doing. I have already discussed that with the girls, so I let them answer the questions. Once the kids run out of questions, I start saying goodbye to each of them and giving them attention.

  After the kids I start saying goodbye to my wives, but I notice Bella looking a bit sour. So, after kissing all of my wives, I shapeshift just long enough to give Bella a kiss goodbye. Then I return to my normal form and open a gate to the mine in the north of Mercy’s kingdom.

  I could gate straight to the dragon’s cavern, but I don’t think startling a dragon is a good idea. Instead, I end up startling a lot more people, it seems that the mine is active again. Although, it is no longer slaves working it and from what I can see the conditions are good.

  The miners standing around staring at me in shock and fear look to be healthy and well fed. Some guards come running over, but I ignore them as I head towards the boarded up mine shaft. Either the guards are too scared to, or smart enough not to, but they don’t attack me.