In the case where we are outnumbered by the demons, having an elite army is our best hope of victory. If we end up with even numbers, our odds of winning will be even better. That is the main reason that I don’t want to use force to subdue the other tribes, I want their numbers.

  I also don’t want to lose troops just to force the other tribes to submit, it would be a waste. Especially when I can get the tribes to submit through other means, they just take more work. In fact, with all the stories that have spread about me, it shouldn’t be all that hard.

  The hardest part is probably going to be getting them to submit without gaining another wife. I already feel like I don’t spend enough time with Myria and Lin to keep them happy. Adding more wives would only make it worse, not to mention the possibility of conflicts among them.

  Some men may dream of having women fight over them, but I am not one of them. I want anyone that I care about to be happy, which gets complicated the more there are. It is bad enough that I have already adopted so many kids, I don’t want to do the same with wives.

  However, I can’t completely rule out the possibility, it may end up becoming necessary. I plan to fight that possibility to the end, but my luck with such things isn’t all that great. If I say I absolutely won’t take anymore wives, it basically guarantees that I will have to.

  That is just how my luck has been since I was summoned to this world and I don’t think it will change. So, by keeping at least a little open to the possibility I am hoping to avoid it altogether. Whether or not it will work remains to be seen, but I am slightly hopeful.

  By now most of the soldiers have gone through the gate and less than half remain. Just about every soldier that has passed me has either had a smile on their face or was laughing. Morale is obviously really high right now and not a single soldier failed to salute me.

  I was a little worried that I would lose some respect for having to sit out the battle. It doesn’t look like that is the case, or at least if it is the soldiers are hiding it well. I would have preferred to be in the front of the battle, that is a lot of experience that I missed out on.

  Humans might not be worth much experience individually, but killing a lot of them adds up quickly. However, keeping the gate open was more important, so I had to miss out on the fun. It looks like the troops understand that, either that or they didn’t expect me to fight from the beginning.

  That might be possible, I’m not entirely sure how the beastmen think a king is supposed to act. Then again, since they have never had a king, they probably don’t know what to think. We are all just going off of what we have heard and I at least am just making things up.

  My entire view of how a king is supposed to act comes from movies and anime. Considering how many of the kings in those end up being the villain, it is probably not the best source. Then again, it’s not like I really have any other options, my world didn’t have many kings.

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  Those it did have were normally the inspirations for the movie villains, so still not useful. So, I really am just making things up as I go and I am probably doing a crappy job of it. Luckily, the beastmen are in the same boat so they don’t expect all that much from me.

  However, I am pretty sure that if I was trying to run a human kingdom I would be failing miserably. That is one of the reasons I am not sure if I want to try and unify the peninsula. Unifying it wouldn’t be that hard, ruling it afterwards would be an utter nightmare.

  At least if I was on my own, I am betting that Lin will be much better at it than me. Mainly because she is far more intelligent than me and far more knowledgeable. Although, getting her out of the library to deal with ruling might be a real challenge.

  However, that will only be a concern if I decide to unify the peninsula, the beastmen I can rule. Or at least I believe that I can rule them as they currently are, mainly because they respect strength. In fact, strength is the most important thing to them and I have plenty of strength.

  That will allow me to remain unchallenged as their king, but it doesn’t mean I will be a good king. Although, it would make me a pretty good tyrant, which would be a lot easier. It would also probably be a lot more fun, so maybe I should stop worrying about being a good king.

  Instead, I am just going to do what I want to do and what I think is best for the beastmen. I will still seek the opinions of others, especially Lin and Myria, but I need to stop second-guessing myself. I spend far too much time worrying about the things that I want to accomplish.

  Or more specifically, I worry too much about how I am going to accomplish things. Honestly, I spend far too much time worrying about everything, but it is a hard habit to break. Even now, I am worrying about worrying too much while the soldiers are marching past me.

  Eventually, the last of the soldiers pass through the gate and only Leonarr is left. I give him a nod and then he walks through the gate ahead of me. All that is left now is the human corpses, we took our dead with us. I walk through the gate and am finally able to let it close.

  By that point, my mana pool is almost completely empty and the crystal is completely empty. I probably could have only kept the gate open for another thirty minutes or so. I am going to need to recover my mana for a while before I am able to do anything.

  Despite the huge influx of people, the area of the fort is far less chaotic than I was expecting. Everything is well organized and the freed slaves are getting all the help they need. To handle the influx of so many people this well, the support crew is doing an outstanding job.

  As I walk around to check on things, I make sure to compliment the support staff. In the end, I finish my tour at the medical tents that have been set up for the slaves and soldiers. This way, my aura can compliment the healing they are receiving and help them recover a bit faster.

  I make sure to have a few words with each of the wounded soldiers to boost their morale. I don’t know if the army has implemented medals or anything like that, but a visit from their king should work. Thanks to the tattoo, this isn’t wasting time since my mana is recovering on its own.