I head back to the suite and settle down to read in the living room, but first I check the map. It looks like Jarvis has already started scouting because there is a lot more information on the map. Jarvis has even gone through and marked locations for obelisks to be placed.

  That means that before I leave I should have the kids who want to start placing them. Come to think of it, I should head to Illium and place an obelisk there and make Ambrose the governor. That is assuming that he wants the job, I am not planning to force anyone to work for me.

  If he doesn’t want it, then either his assistant Jezzel or Roddick would be my next choices. I don’t know if Roddick would be interested since he has a guild to run, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask. I am also going to need to make more obelisks now that we will be adding the kingdom to our territory.

  However, I think that can wait until I get back from my hunting trip since Mercy can’t access the system anyway. It is something that I will need to take care of once I give her her crown. Illium is only important because that is where we are holding the wedding, or at least it was.

  I didn’t think to ask if the plan had changed or not, I am leaving all of that up to Lin. After checking the map, I send a message to Muyaun asking her to mark the last known locations of the tribes who haven’t joined us. I plan to visit any that are on my way to the land bridge and try to convince them to join us.

  Whether I have time to visit more after I am done hunting or not will depend on how the hunt goes. If needs be, I will hunt right until just before the wedding, but I hope it goes faster than that. If I can finish the hunting and evolve before that, then I should have the time to contact more tribes.

  I still want to recruit all of the tribes aside from the cat tribes and make them submit that way. Even if I am now taking more wives, I don’t like the way the cat tribes tried to force me. For that, they can now be the last ones to join me, but I still will treat them the same as the other tribes.

  I can’t play favorites at all, that is a recipe for disaster and I am going to avoid it if at all possible. Even with Myria being the chief of the bunny tribe now, I don’t plan to treat them any different. I am also hoping that Myria won’t take advantage of being my wife to give them preferential treatment.

  I am also hoping that Mercy and Brightfire won’t take advantage of their position. Lin I am not as worried about, she is far more interested in spending her time reading. Not that I can say much, I would be just as bad as her if I didn’t have so many other things to do.

  Speaking of reading, I settle back in a comfy chair and start reading the next manga in the series. I happily read for the rest of the night and only stop when I hear movement from the bedroom. I only hear the sounds as I put down the book I just finished, so I am not sure how long it has been going on.

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  Still, I put away the books and head upstairs to join the girls for breakfast, among other things. After all, how could it be a proper goodbye without a good amount of affection. Since I will be leaving as well, I do my best to give equal affection to all three of them.

  “Mercy, do you need to visit the trade city? I need to make a quick trip to Illium and can take you there if you want.”

  Mercy says “No, I sent my people back the first day we met. You taking me to Illium would save me some time. Thank you.”

  “No problem. Actually, I could gate you straight to your capital if you prefer.”

  Mercy says “No thanks. The trip back will give me time to plan things out and issue orders.”

  “Alright. Are you ready to go now?”

  Mercy says “Yeah. I’m all set.”

  I kiss both Lin and Brightfire goodbye and promise to keep in touch before opening a gate. Mercy walks through first and I follow her before closing the gate behind me. When we arrive, we are in Sarah’s old inn because it is the place that I am most familiar with.

  I escort Mercy through the city to her kingdom’s embassy and then give her a long kiss goodbye. After saying goodbye to Mercy, I head to the adventurer’s guild and ask for a meeting with Ambrose. Unfortunately, the people working in the guild don’t recognize me so I end up waiting for a while.

  Luckily, Jezzel happens to check the waiting room and she recognizes me. She immediately escorts me to Ambrose’s office, interrupting a meeting he is in and chasing everyone else out. Ambrose seems confused until he sees me and then he just looks surprised.

  Ambrose says “Ash! This is unexpected! What can I do for you?”

  “Well, to put it bluntly, I am going to unify the peninsula and become the emperor. I am here to see if you are serious about surrendering Illium to me and to offer you the post of governor.”

  Jezzel says “Yes, Illium is yours and yes he will take the post.”

  Ambrose says “Now wait just a minute! He was asking me, not you!”

  Jezzel just gives Ambrose a look.

  Ambrose says “Um, yeah, what she said.”

  “Alright. This necklace is the symbol of the governor’s position and also grants access to the system I am building for the empire. Should I give it to you or to her?”

  Ambrose says “You may as well give it to her.”

  Jezzel sighs and says “What is this system you are talking about?”

  After handing the necklace to Jezzel I explain the system and all the current functions it has. I also explain that I will be putting an obelisk in the square in front of the guild to add Illium to the network. Jezzel is excited about the system and encourages me to go build the obelisk right away.

  Since I don’t want to spend too much time here, I do as she asks and head outside. A lot of people are in the square and they all turn to stare when I raise an obelisk from the ground. There isn’t much to see as I am enchanting it, but a lot of them can feel the mana moving.

  In fact, a number of mages come to see what is going on, but no one tries to interfere. However, as I finish the obelisk I realize that the range of it isn’t quite enough to reach the network. I need to add one of the smaller obelisks between here and the trade city to get it to connect.

  Since the network won’t do anything if it isn’t connected, I quickly leave the city. Using the map, I find the perfect place and head there to place one of the small obelisks. Once it is in place, the map updates with the new coverage which includes Illium.