The crowd was silent as they watched the newly sprouted [Child of the World Tree] finish its quick burst of growth.

“Everyone!” shouted Akira, drawing their attention away from the tree after some time. “Let the harvest festival begin!”

Another loud cheer swept through the entire outer city. With the start of the harvest festival, it officially marked the end of the warm months and the start of the long winter.

Everyone wanted to enjoy the last few warm days as the weather was already slowly changing into colder mornings and nights.

Almost as if they had been waiting for Akira's official announcement, the fragrant smells of cheap but tasty street food and sweets floated through the air coming from every part of the newly rebuilt city. With such an enticing smell the large crowds that had not eaten breakfast yet were lured to the many stalls causing large lines to form as the few people behind the stalls tried to hurriedly cook the food as fast as they could.

Besides the major new year's winter celebration, this was the last time they would be able to eat as much as they wanted without worry. After the festival, everyone would have to be careful with their money and their stored food so that they had enough to last through the long winter.

For those that had not joined the long lines for food, there were many platforms throughout the city that had many different storytellers, jugglers, and puppeteers for children. For adults, there were several groups of actors both large and small performing the newest plays that they had created as well as a few old ones.

Along with food and entertainment, there was a large influx of seasonal merchants that had arrived to trade and barter away goods that the citizens needed. They also bought newly crafted items and resources that were rather rare in the north but abundant in the south so that they could make a large profit when they arrived in the northern villages and towns.

It was a wondrous sight to see such lively activity as well as the smiles and laughter from the children of the outer city. It was not too long ago that everyone was set with grim determination as they were under siege and then close to starving from the dangerously short food supply.

Although Kodria's population had exploded, that also meant that there were more people to help farm and gather food while also being able to provide muscle to the build projects of the dukedom. With its expansion, Kodria's army and navy had grown into a formidable force even when you did not include the future powerhouse that the [Full moon] guild would grow into after they gained more levels and fighting experience.

Akira could not stay and enjoy the festival as he was needed elsewhere, so the guards helped clear a path through the raucous crowd of people celebrating with their friends and family.

When Akira exited the outer city, he saw the outer walls which had been bare only a short time ago, were now covered in thick green vines that had popped up from the ground. This was probably the extra protection and strengthening that was mentioned in the notification.

Akira and his royal guards hopped onto the waiting transport ship and headed back to the inner city. He was not free to go see Mileena just yet as he had an important meeting with the grand elders to take care of first.

***

Akira sat at the large table in the main meeting room of the Grand-elders and silently listened to them.

“... and it was a close call but we managed to fully restock the food storage warehouses and the grain silos that had nearly run empty,” said Grand elder Seoc who finished reading off the important data about Kodria's current status.

Akira looked over the documents that had been passed to him and asked, “How are our finances?”

“With the amount of gold coins and rare materials that you and the adventurers bring in, we are not lacking any gold. But...”

“Is there a problem?”

“Recently we have been noticing that some of the gold coins that have been taken from the demigods, disappear as soon as they are spent... this has caused a few slight problems on numerous occasions...”

“Ha! You call that mess just a short time ago a slight problem?” asked an aggressive Àaron. “We nearly had a riot on our hands.”

“Are they using fake gold coins?” asked Akira sitting up straight and his expression growing firm.

The grand-elders shook their heads.

“We had several dwarf mineral experts examine the gold coins but there were no differences. They even melted them down to see if there were any runes or other contraptions built into them but found nothing wrong, it is truly just regular gold. Even so, some of the newly minted coins that had been melted down, still disappeared when spent.”

“This does seem troublesome. Are there really no ways of telling which gold coins are real?”

“Unfortunately no. It seems to be random, as some of the coins used by the members of the [Full moon] do not disappear when used. We have also had many issues with the gold you have gathered from the defeated demigods as well. It is quite a troublesome issue so we are in an odd state right now with both the real gold coins and ghost coins in circulation.”

“We have talked to Sister Teresa about this and she has described some hard-to-understand concepts about special tasks and hunts that they can do. The problem is most likely from the odd way they receive rewards from these tasks.”

“What's the point of being rewarded these ghost coins if they disappear when spent?”

“We were also told that there are many shops that only demigods can use that accept their gold. It is exactly the same as any other gold coin so it is impossible to tell the difference.”

“Have the treasury go through each coin and create a simple system to 'Spend' it on something to sort out the ghost coins,” said Akira after silently listening to the details.

“Already tried that. Fake spending the coins does nothing. You need to actually use it to buy goods, services, or wage payments for any effect.”

Akira rubbed his face. This was quite the problem if they needed the gold coins for something importation in the future but it disappeared after paying for it... Kodria was most likely not the only one dealing with such a problem with the demigods wandering everywhere. The various towns and cities treasuries could be holding large amounts of ghost coins and not know it.

“I'll think of something later. Let's talk about security. With the planting of the [Child of the World tree], there needs to be a strong barrier built around it for protection while also not restricting its growth. It also will need a constant guard attachment as well,” said Akira.

“We can easily arrange for that to happen,” said Grand elder Seoc.

“How is our stock of weapons, armor, and other munitions looking?”

“Not as good as we would like. We are still lacking in almost every area. This is mostly because the smithies have all been focused on producing the farming and building tools needed to complete the projects before the warm months ended. They were also in charge of completing repairs around the city for various things. But it should be no problem now that the harvest and outer city rebuild have finished,” said Grand elder Hegir.

“The reports from allied cities and towns all report similar things. It appears everyone is now ramping up their production of armor and weapons for the long winter ahead.”

This was a fact that everyone who lived long enough knew well and true. During times of strife, trouble always brewed after the calm warm months ended and the last of the food was stored.

“With that in mind we should go ahead with secret plan number 2,” said Akira.

“Are you sure? We will not be able to hide the activity from any demigod spies that may be around.”

“All we need to do if anyone asks is say it is a new storage for the outer city. When will the hired dwarves arrive?” said Akira.

“Sometime this week. The only requirements they had besides their wages and a place to stay was for us to import several barrels of their preferred ale from the mountain dwarf clans.”

“It's worth the cost to make sure that this project is done right and is built to the highest standards. Doing it this way there will be no mishaps down the road.”

The grand-elders all nodded at this.

“That's all we needed to discuss with you. You can go and enjoy the festival while we take care of everything else!” said grand elder Seoc.

***

Akira joined Mileena who was waiting for him near the entrance of the castle.

“The babies?” asked Akira.

“Maya and Azura are taking care of them so that we can have some free time,” said Mileena.

“I'll have to thank them later,” said Akira. “AH! I almost forgot.”

He reached into his bag and pulled out two shiny circular blades that he had picked up from one of the odd demigods not long ago.

“Here. A present for you. Although they are different from your normal daggers, they are far stronger and have more uses other than stabbing,” said Akira as he handed them over to Mileena.

“You can't bribe with only this little bit,” said Mileena as she happily inspected the new blades. “You'll have to work a lot harder for me to forgive you for traveling so much.”

Akira let out a sigh as he wondered what he was going to have to do to calm her unhappiness.