Lenora says "Actually, that’s kind of my fault. Leonarr was kind enough to act as my escort to visit the cat tribes and the old chieftain was rather rude.”

  “And you challenged him? I am surprised that he accepted.”

  Leonarr says “He didn’t at first, but his warriors couldn’t stand me calling him a coward.”

  Lenora says “After he flattened the tribe's best five warriors, the chieftain couldn’t refuse anymore. It only took him a single move to kill the old chief.”

  “Only a single death? That’s good. How did the other four tribes take it?”

  Leonarr says “Not well. Their alliance is already starting to crack under the pressure. You could probably walk in, challenge their leaders, and take charge of all four easily. None of them could even wound you.”

  “I don’t have the time right now. I will have to take care of it after I find out what’s going on in the Magic Kingdom.”

  Lenora says “We could handle it for you, Grimgar could handle them just as easily as Leonarr did.”

  Grimgar says “Why are you volunteering me for this? This isn’t our territory.”

  Lenora says “Not yet, but it will be and I want you to be useful to Ash. Leonarr has already agreed to give leadership of the lions to us. He has enough to deal with being the military commander.”

  “It sounds like she has already made up her mind.”

  Grimgar says “We haven’t even talked to the other clans yet. What are we going to do if they don’t want to relocate?”

  Lenora says “Don’t ask them, tell them. Things are different now. We used to be equal to the other clans, but we are much stronger now. They will listen to you if you take charge.”

  Grimgar says “If that’s what you want me to do, then I will do it. You realize that this is going to mean more work for you?”

  Lenora says “At least I won’t be bored. Besides, Ash’s wives are all great and will support me. This will be what allows our people to do more than just survive.”

  Grimgar doesn’t answer her, instead he moves to where Leonarr is and takes a knee. He offers his fealty and that of those under him, which I of course accept, but Lenora is the one with the biggest smile. If I had to guess, I would say that she is looking forward to the challenge and increased authority.

  “Well, that was unexpected, but I would say it is a good outcome.”

  Grimgar says “Yes, it was. Alright, I guess I will stay here for a few days and settle these cat tribes. You head home and start preparing our people. Also, summon the other clan leaders.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Lenora says “I will take care of it.”

  “How confident are you that the other clans will follow your lead?”

  Lenora says “If my husband will actually be authoritative with them, most if not all will follow us. Just no longer being stuck between the humans and the beasts will be enough for most of them.”

  “Are you confident enough that I can go ahead and warn the rulers who are with us? They could use the warning to start increasing their northern defenses. Also, Vex will need to know that the plan probably won’t happen.”

  Grimgar says “Yes, you can warn them. It will take us time to be ready to move, so there is still a chance of the plan working.”

  Lenora says “We don’t necessarily need to wait. It’s not like we ever made peace with the human kingdom. They just ran away and we didn’t chase them. I know that quite a few of our warriors would like nothing better than to attack them for once.”

  Grimgar says “For now, we will keep our preparations in place. If they don’t attack us before we are ready to leave we can discuss it with Vex.”

  “Alright, I will pass that along. Now, are there any other issues we need to handle?”

  Mercy says “No, that was the only thing we had planned.”

  Grud says “My Emperor, if I may? Are you going to be putting us under the command of these beast clans as well?”

  “No, this was not planned and is a special circumstance. Although, if any of you want to hand off your position to someone else and do something different that would be allowed.”

  That starts multiple conversations among the clan chiefs, but they are calm discussions. All the extra people start leaving the throne room now that things are ending. I pull up the network map to check on the progress, but looking at the map reminds me of something.

  “Leonarr, I just remembered something. When Lizzy was placing obelisks on the land bridge she found a cave full of hibernating demonic beasts. I am not sure if the network will detect them in that state, so we need to do a full survey and make sure we don’t have any enemies hiding behind our lines.”

  Leonarr says “Understood.”

  Bearaka says “I volunteer my people, we are familiar with the land bridge and hunting demonic beasts is fun!”

  Muyaun says “My scouts are already on the land bridge. I will order them to start looking for such caves.”

  “Good. Let me know if you encounter any problems.”

  Mercy says “Speaking of things you forgot, what happened to finding some shipwrights to relocate here?”

  “Oh, right! I will see to that in the next day or two.”

  Mercy says “Good. I’ve already done some research and the best plan seems to be to place shipyards on the island of Agardia.”

  “Sounds good. Go ahead and start the preparations.”

  Mercy nods and then gives some sort of signal that has the clan chiefs bowing and filing out of the room. Soon the only ones in the room are my family and Grimgar and Lenora. Then a side door opens and Bella comes walking in, with a stunning beauty on each arm.

  It is easy to recognize them as Leafa and Damona, but seeing them in the flesh is still something of a shock. Leafa isn’t too bad, but she does have an ethereal quality to her beauty. Damona is another story, she has an aura that makes it nearly impossible not to think of sex.

  Even I have trouble resisting her aura, but then I have a flashback to being tortured by Lady Xinun. That helps clear my mind, but I still can’t help but appreciate how sexy Damona is. Her outfit isn’t covering much, but my eyes are drawn to the tattoos, it looks like Bella has been having fun.

  Leafa says “Ash, good to see you. The tree wanted me to pass along the message that it is disappointed that you still haven’t eaten the fruit it gave you.”

  “That’s because I am saving it. I am still getting stronger, even though I can no longer gain experience. I will use it once I reach a plateau, it will have the most effect that way.”

  Myria says “Just what you need, more stats. You're a broken cheater!”

  “I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t be bitter?”