Myria says "Just don't overwork yourself."

Pol says "Yes, ask us for anything you need."

"Oh, that reminds me. Pol you have other beastmen here with you right?"

Pol says "Yes, my lord."

"Are they available as messengers?"

Pol says "Of course!"

"Alright, first send one to the beastmen still with Mercy. I want around a hundred of the most level headed to come here. You will need guards for the merchant side of things and I would like a little muscle available just in case."

Pol says "Consider it done!"

Sarah says "I will find out about those streets for you. Do you need anything else tonight?"

"No, that's all for now. Thank you, Sarah."

Sarah says "Alright, goodnight."

Pol says "I will take my leave as well, my lord. I will set things in motion first thing in the morning."

"Don't rush things, slow and accurate is better, we have time to do things right."

Pol says "Of course, my lord!"

"Oh, Myria, I forgot to ask Sarah if she had a room set up for Vacker."

Myria says "I already took care of it, he has a room on the floor just below us."

"Great! Thank you."

Vacker says "I'll take that as my que and say goodnight as well."

Once Vacker leaves it is just me, Myria, and Isabella, but for some reason I suddenly feel nervous. Deciding it is just my imagination I ignore the feeling and head to bed. I don't realize how tired I am until my head hits the pillow and I am out like a light.

Myria shakes me awake in the morning, telling me Mericel is back and breakfast is on its way up. For some reason she seems grumpy with me although I can't think why she would be. I will figure it out later, for now I get dressed and head out to get some breakfast.

"Morning, Vacker, Isabella, Mericel!"

Vacker says "Good morning."

Myria and Isabella have apparently already eaten because they head downstairs without a word. Mericel relays greetings from everyone with Mercy and then goes on to describe the march on the capital. The only odd thing she reports is that every village they have checked all the able bodied men were taken by the retreating king's forces.

"After the losses they have suffered it isn't too surprising that they would resort to conscription."

Mericel says "According to the women left behind, the men were taken before Durendall fell."

"That doesn't bode well. Vacker, do you know anything about shadow demons?"

Vacker says "No, sorry. I had never heard of them until now."

"Drog, anything else you haven't told me?"

Drog says "No."

Since Mericel is done with her report she excuses herself and also heads downstairs, and Drog follows her. Since it is just me and Vacker I don't bother with my manners and dig into the food laid out on the table. It is excellent as usual and I realize I need to get Vacker active or he will become fat.

"Vacker, have you been up long?"

Vacker says "I was awake a couple of hours before you."

"Any idea what might have upset the ladies?"

Vacker says "Um, well, we were talking about the conditions in the prison and about Lady Xinun."

"Oh, no! Tell me you didn't mention the kiss!"

Vacker says "It may have come up, but I didn't mean for it to!"

"No wonder they are all pissed at me!"

Vacker says "I'm sorry, I was just trying to be polite."

"It's fine, I will figure out how to deal with it."

Vacker says "I'm surprised they would react so much to a single kiss."

"Just be glad Ruby isn't here, the inn would be burning down."

Vacker says "Sounds interesting, when do I get to meet her?"

"As soon as I can figure out how to summon her back."

At Vacker's confused look I tell him about it while I finish eating breakfast. As I tell him all about Ruby I realize the mages have had her medallion for quite a while and I need to check up on that as well. I am starting to think I should really write down all the things I need to do so I don't forget anything.

Or maybe I should hire a secretary to keep track of things for me, Pol might need someone to keep the books as well. It is something to consider, I will talk to him about it later. Before I can do anything else a boy comes up to inform me that a mage from the guild is waiting for me downstairs.

Guess everything else will have to wait, I quickly clean up and head downstairs to meet my escort. He is not anyone I recognize and he doesn't introduce himself, he simply turns and leads me to the mages guild. Once at the guild a different mage, this time a woman, leads me up into the higher part of the building and into an office.

Roddick says "Ash, welcome!"

"Hello, Roddick."

Roddick says "Ambrose will join us shortly but first I thought there might be some things we needed to discuss."

"Actually, I did want to ask about the medallion I left with you."

Roddick says "Ah, yes. After the meeting I will take you to the twins and they can tell you about it."

"Thanks, is there something you wanted to ask?"

Roddick says "You may not know, but Zamart and I were apprentices together. We are good friends and I am curious about his sudden increase in power."

So at Roddick's invitation I sit down and tell him about finding the archmage's grave deep beneath the castle. He is extremely interested when I tell him about the trapped demon and the things I found. He acts almost like a kid listening to a story, I can see the excitement in his eyes.

Roddick says "Fascinating! If only I had known there was such treasure to be found I would have led a team down there myself."

Ambrose says "Did I hear something about an adventure?"

Roddick says "Ah, Ash may I introduce Guildmaster Ambrose of the adventurers guild and the current head of the guildmaster council."

Ambrose says "Which means they stick me with all the boring city stuff when I should be out adventuring!"

"Pleased to meet you. So, basically you run this city?"

Ambrose says "Yes, it is a position that is supposed to change every year but the other guildmasters keep electing me."

Roddick says "You are the best at the job out of all of us, and you don't let the power go to your head."

Ambrose says "Maybe, but it's so boring! I want action!"

"So you were disappointed when the kingdom didn't invade?"

Ambrose says "Actually, yes. We had some fairly fun surprises in store for them. Not that we aren't grateful you managed to prevent the attack on us."

Roddick says "We are very grateful, which brings us to one of the purposes of this meeting."

Ambrose says "Right, congratulations, Count Ash!"

"Wait, what?!"