Muyaun says “Not bad. She still doesn’t like me much, but she did let me teach her what I wanted to. If nothing goes wrong, she should become the youngest nine tailed fox ever,”

  “That’s great! Is there anything that I can do to help her?”

  Muyaun says “Well, she has all the knowledge that she needs. What she needs now is to spend some time somewhere cold to help her understand her element.”

  “Actually, that’s already taken care of. She has a room in the castle that has a direct connection to the plane of ice. She can spend as much time as she wants in there and even go to the plane of ice if the room isn’t enough.”

  Muyaun says “That’s perfect! In fact, I feel a little jealous of her. I had endless problems finding environments that suited me. A room like that would have saved me tons of time!”

  “I could grant you access to the castle and its training rooms if you want.”

  Muyaun says “While I appreciate the offer, I am past the point where I need that kind of thing.”

  “Is there anything that you do need?”

  Muyaun says “No, there isn’t. I am already nine tailed and I don’t have the potential to go beyond that. I am already at my peak power, unfortunately.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, but if you think of something that will help you, let me know. I won’t guarantee anything, but I will try to help you.”

  Muyaun says “I will and thank you.”

  “You have earned it. Just keep doing what you have been doing.”

  Muyaun says “I will, master.”

  “Leonarr, do you need anything before I leave?”

  Leonarr says “No, My King. Everything is going surprisingly well right now.”

  “Alright. In that case I will be back in a day or two.”

  I leave the two of them to their work and gate myself to the palace in the new city. It is now more of a government building, but that is still how I think of it in my head. After all, that is what they built it for before anyone knew that I would be making the elven city my capital.

  Still, it makes it a pretty good city to become the trade city and a good place for the portal. As soon as I arrive I ask about Sarah’s location and then I head to her new inn. When I enter the inn I find that it looks almost exactly like her old one, just with less customers.

  Sarah says “Welcome, Ash! It is good to see you.”

  “Hello, Sarah. How have you been?”

  Sarah says “I am doing fine. The inn is a little slow, but I have other things to keep me busy. So, what brings you here?”

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  “I am going to be setting up a gate between this city and the southern empire. So, you can expect the city to get a lot busier.”

  Sarah says “That sounds like exactly what this city needs. The beastmen are not used to cities so they only come into the city when they need to. Merchants from Illium visit, but not as much as you would expect. Foreign trade should be just what we need to attract people and make the city more popular.”

  “I’m glad that you are okay with it. Leonarr will be sending some people from the army to act as security for the gate and response plans will be in place should anything go wrong.”

  Sarah says “I think the gate is a good idea. The peninsula is too isolated and isolated people don’t do well. Connecting to the main continent should be a good thing for the peninsula. Not to mention that the city will make a ton of money with the increased trade.”

  “If you need more funding, that can easily be arranged.”

  Sarah says “It is not as fun if you just give it to me. I want to get the city to the point that it is making the money for me to spend.”

  “Alright, if that is what you want. Pol is going to have one of his people here to manage the gate and collect tariffs. Once I set the gate up here I will be heading to the empire to set up the other end. The trade should begin within a day or two, so you can start getting ready.”

  Sarah says “Alright, I will be ready.”

  “Great. Any issues that I need to know about?”

  Sarah says “Quite a few of the summoned want to return home if the spell actually works.”

  “Alright. I will let Lin know. You need to find one of them that is willing to be the guinea pig. They will be sent back and then summoned again. That way we will know if it is safe and if those that go back keep their powers and abilities.”

  Sarah says “I actually anticipated that and already found one. Melissa is willing to be the one to test it out.”

  “Melissa wants to go back? That is too bad, I was hoping she would stay and continue to train the army.”

  Sarah says “According to her, the training courses are built and the first batch is trained so she isn’t needed anymore.”

  “Well, I suppose the hard part is building the courses. Running new people through them isn’t very hard. If that is what she wants, then so be it. I won’t try to talk her out of it.”

  Sarah says “I doubt you would have any luck even if you did try. She is set on returning home.”

  “Alright. I will let Lin know, but she will probably go with me to the southern empire. So it may be a day or two.”

  Sarah says “That’s fine. After waiting for so long, a day or two won’t be a big deal.”

  “Um, are you going?”

  Sarah says “No. My husband and I will be staying.”

  “Good. Does that mean you will be accepting the position of governor?”

  Sarah says “Yes, I will. However, that is the limit of what I will do. Don’t ask me to take on any further responsibilities.”

  “Fair enough. I appreciate you being willing to do this much. Trust me, I know how annoying responsibilities can be. If you find you don’t like it, all I ask is that you find and train a replacement before you quit.”

  Sarah says “Sure, I can do that. I wouldn’t just quit and leave you in the lurch.”

  “I appreciate that. So, besides you and your husband, who else is staying?”

  Sarah says “Out of the crafters, only Walter and Mason are staying. Mason may leave later, but only once you run out of things for him to build. Or at least, that is what he said. Surprisingly, Justin and his whole party have decided to stay, but that is it. Everyone else wants to go home.”

  “Wait, does that include Isabella?!”

  Sarah says “Yes, I’m afraid it does. However, she plans to wait until the method is tested. She only plans to return if she won’t lose her powers.”

  “Does that mean she wants to take Ruby with her to Earth?!”

  Sarah laughs and says “Yes, she does.”