Or if he wasn’t special before, he is going to be now after absorbing the energy. Luckily, my curiosity will eventually be satisfied as I watch him grow up and see what he becomes. Of course, that is assuming that he matures quickly, if not then I might not be around long enough.

  That reminds me, I really need to get back to doing my experiments with life essence. I still need to collect more essence to experiment on, but as usual I got distracted. Now that I can’t level up anymore, I can focus on other things that I need to do.

  It has been almost an hour since I opened the portals when Gremshow finally returns. Unfortunately, that also means that it is time to open the portal to the peninsula. However, there is no point trying to put it off now, so with Lin’s help I open the portal.

  There are people ready to receive the new people on the other side, so Mercy doesn’t rush to leave. Instead she gives both me and Lin a very affectionate goodbye before she goes through. Once she is through, we close the gate and we can finally start recovering our mana.

  The entire process took less than two hours, but the rulers don’t seem to be preparing to leave. When I ask, I get told that it is at Vex’s request and we won’t be leaving until tomorrow. I also get told that Amn wants me to join the others for a meeting, probably about the desert.

  I take the puppy from Asuna and suggest that she take Victoria with her and go exploring. Lin of course is coming with me to the meeting, she needs to keep me out of trouble. Not that there should be much chance for me to cause trouble in a meeting of the rulers.

  Well, that’s not true, I could easily get into trouble, but I won’t because I like Amn. Besides, being a part of his alliance is going to be beneficial for my new empire. It will help us be seen as legitimate and my backing will also benefit the alliance.

  With another empire as part of the alliance, the balance with the northern empire will be broken. The alliance will actually be stronger at that point, but Amn won’t start a war. The peace will be maintained through strength, the only thing the northern empire will respect.

  Then again, the emperor of the northern empire might just be friendly to me since I saved him. However, the memories of rulers tend to be short about things like that so I won’t count on it. Then again, if he hasn’t sorted out his family situation, he may need a few more years.

  That kind of thing can definitely be bartered to the advantage of the alliance if it comes to that. That is not my area of expertise, if that situation comes up I will let Mercy do the negotiations. For now, we head to the meeting room that is being provided for the use of the rulers.

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  King Vex will not be joining us, he has far too many other things that he needs to take care of. Then again, his kingdom is nowhere near the living desert, so it doesn’t really affect him anyway. The same can be said for King Cecil and Queen Estel, but they are attending anyway.

  The meeting starts off with Mavel repeating everything that she told me earlier. Then Gremshow chimes in with the fact that his people reported the same kinds of movement. He uses a lot more words than necessary and it just makes me like the idea of killing him even more.

  Emperor Amn says “My people have reported the same. All the beasts are now traveling in groups. They haven’t gotten any stronger though. My people were still able to kill one of the groups, it just took more of them.”

  King Gremshow says “I don’t have enough elites to do that! We could barely handle a single beast inside the desert!”

  Queen Mavel says “I don’t think I have enough elites either.”

  “Have the beasts become more aggressive?”

  Emperor Amn says “No, they haven’t. In fact, there hasn’t been a single report of the beasts leaving the desert since they changed tactics.”

  “Then I suggest that the two of you send your elites to join with Amn’s elites. They can then work together to destroy the groups of beasts.”

  King Gremshow says “What if the beasts suddenly attack?! Our forces would be overwhelmed without our elites!”

  “The beasts are easier to kill once they leave the desert. Your normal troops should be able to deal with them using siege weapons.”

  Queen Mavel says “That’s a good point. Count me in.”

  King Gremshow says “Fine, we will try it.”

  King Cecil says “I know we don’t have a stake in this, but I would like to send some elites over to help. They could use the experience.”

  Emperor Amn says “Sure, we will take all the help we can get.”

  “I’d offer to send troops to help, but I currently have a war to deal with. Depending on how things go at the Magic Kingdom, I will try to go take a look at the desert if I have the time.”

  Emperor Amn says “It’s fine, Ash. If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t even know how to kill the beasts and force the desert back.”

  “I know, but I will still help if I can find the time. I am curious about what is controlling the desert, or at least controlling the beasts.”

  Lin says “Of course you are. You are curious about everything!”

  “Yeah, pretty much. I can’t help it.”

  Emperor Amn says “I, for one, am glad of Ash’s curiosity! Without it, I would be in a much worse position. Now, I will hope for you to have the time to help, but we will go ahead with this plan in the meantime.”

  Queen Mavel says “Sounds good. I will send orders to my people immediately. Oh, Ash, could I trouble you for another gate? It will only need to be open long enough for me to send one of my guards through.”

  Emperor Amn says “Unfortunately, Ash, can I ask for the same for all of us?”

  “I’m just about out of mana, I can manage one gate, but that’s it. Lin, how is your mana? Can you help with the other gates?”

  Lin says “Sure I can. I have barely used any.”

  “Even now, I am still jealous of your mana pool.”

  Lin says “Considering you aren’t even a proper mage and can still do so much magic, I don’t want to hear it.”

  The rulers take our bickering as a signal that the meeting is over and go to write out orders. Lin and I continue to argue affectionately as we head back to the courtyard we used earlier. We are only waiting there for about fifteen minutes before the rulers arrive with a guard each.