"What about the dwarves?" I asked turning serious as I started to assume they were being ill-received.
"Well Tuglorn, he has worked the smiths into the ground but they have come a long way in a short time, Felgorn has already converted twenty-five percent of the walls into stone and marked the area for the castle."
"It sounded like there was a problem for a moment."
"There is. Passing guests have noticed and seen them, tried talking with them like second-class citizens and met hell-fire and brimstone from everyone in earshot. Their homelands are worried that we will retaliate for their slight, but the dwarves themselves have said that "having tall-folk come to our defence makes the ones giving grief more like entertainment". Still, I heat they're relatives through origin to our future-royal family, so how should we respond."
"I want guards of every gate to make it clear, all races are equals inside our walls, they are indeed kin of mine, make it know to every nation an attack on any dwarf is an act of war on Adam and Eve of Eden. One which will be answered personally and without delay. Any in servitude or chains must be released to my care and the mountain and I will decide the punishment is warranted.
Also make it known, no consequences will be made against any who release my kin immediately, but there will be no negotiation, no terms. It is their mother's duty to punish her naughty children, or their uncle's. I am happy to go to them and pass judgement if they do not wish the dwarf free before it is passed."
"Wow Adam, you're starting to sound like a king already." Leeson laughed.
"I expected a brother of chaos dragon to be a bit more fire and brimstone himself." Gyaran joined in.
"My husband doesn't do fire and brimstone, he does dumb, dementia and desolation." Eve countered with a chuckle while I asked about the dementia bit.
"On the note of your kingship..." Jekyll interrupted the joking. "...The guild is neutral, as all masters must be. I am here to discuss Byurik's position. He cannot remain on such casual terms with a monarch, otherwise he cannot retain his position. Do you want him in poli-"
"You aren't asking if I want him in my employment, he has been as a brother to me and is one of my closest friends. You are the one asking him to choose between the position he earned and those he holds dear, do not vilify me Jekyll." My divine aura began to pulse until Bell yelped and made me notice.
"Do you know why the guild remains neutral?"
"So dumb kings and queens don't conscript adventurers in the area in the run up to a war."
"Exactly, it also means we can keep supply chains open and citizens fed and tended in war-torn areas. Yet I just heard this nations stance on war myself, "I'll go personally" moreover, I heard about what happened the two times Kanelsia sent troops to your door. The first lot you took on single-handed and killed the commanders until the one in command ordered surrender. The second you confiscated siege-weaponry from then escorted the force home."
"Get to the point Jekyll, I have no patience when loved ones are at stake."
"I would like the guild to fall under the banner of Eden." His words caused utter shock and disbelief. The guild was for all intents and purposes the strongest army on the continent, he was offering Eden a blade to the throat of every nation.
"Jekyll, with all due respect, am I going to have to kill you? If you are hoping to use Eden as a scapegoat to seize the continent, I'll kill you now and explain to the children why it's wrong later."
"Calm down, I'm not that stupid or power hungry. I have enough to do as is and Byurik was telling me how much work you gave Halsan just by taking Kanelsia under your wing. What I want is your ability as an adventurer."
"I see, I killed several beast that would have ended many lives, the crystal mutants even nations. You want to have an easy way to send requests to me without people getting suspicious, even if the only good way is to risk the guild as a whole."
"Almost, he also wants to offer you the intelligence network, the banking system, he is paying you for every job you'll ever do in advance." Eve glared, sensing a secondary motive.
"Byurik you didn't tell me they're so paranoid." He muttered.
"Recent development, it seems the last couple of weeks have taken a toll on them both."
"Well, I assure you that I have no ideas of placing you in our debt. No ulterior motives, take every memory, truth glyph anything."
"Unfortunately an acquaintance just revealed I can't use those methods without doubt anymore. I will have to go a bit more dramatic I'm afraid." I passed Bell to Eve with a wink, then took a step toward Jekyll and gathered my divinity into a black orb which I had been thinking about for other purposes.
I then pushed it into his chest. "The Black will decide your character, judge the truth of your words. Should they prove false you shall neither die nor suffer but cease to exist. Now, do you have any intent to harm or betray this country, its people, its buildings, the people gathered here or any they hold dear?"
He twitched nervously at the vagueness of my question. "To my knowledge I hold no intent to harm any mentioned."
"Do you seriously and without ill-intent or ulterior motives, intend to submit to my rule and command in exchange for nothing but bearing my kingdom's banner?"
He sighed at having an easier question to answer. "Yes, if you will accept, the guild is yours for neither fee nor favour. In this the masters have all agreed and we will begin evacuating all adventures from all territories to Eden in advance of the public announcement."
"Do not bring them here for orgin's sake. Some can come, send others to Abelegia, with who our marriage is a treaty as long as her father is in power. send the non humans to the ruins in line with Bellerver, they can start up the new kingdoms."
"New kingdoms?"
"Oh right, yeah, I forgot to mention it earlier... Oh! That reminds me, how goes the anti-monarclaw plan."
"Apologies Jekyll, it seems Adam is no longer present. I would refer you to our prime minister,."
"Eve, of course I'm happy to do these things, but what is wrong with Adam?"
"He compartmentalised his brain to think about several things at once, unfortunately when a compartment is stretched thin it enters a rest state and he has been thinking about the pregnancy so much and some novelties with our particular predicament that his compartments seem to switch more often. I'll warn him when he is rested."
"Of course, can only imagine the stress of being the first of your kind, let alone the first pregnancy of that new breed." Halsan sighed.
"Love, why not make a memory orb of our chat about the plan for him? Actually you better make it about every matter we discussed, I'm not entirely certain what we may have forgotten either." Eve sighed.
"You two should go and rest, your both at your limit and we should have plenty of time to all review the orb before he goes to sleep and it disappears. I feel bad for letting him drink earlier."
"No, he needed it. He is too focused on us right now, if the half-wit council and their current lord were to go for a hunt tomorrow, I think it would help. I'll invite Tyrland over as well, he has a way of getting through to him as a married man with children."
"In that case, we ladies can go have a girl's day and all the men can have their barbecue in the woods." Karla added, making Eve squirm a little.
"Sure, but I may have to disappear occasionally, I have to take some special medication for the babies. They need an influx of Adam's divine energy and he hasn't had time to make much of it, so he may have to come back and make some for me."
"Hasn't had time to make divine energy that his body makes naturally?" She replied suspiciously.
"He has had to use up all his divine energy to learn to counter Sil's mental attacks, he spent most of the last week draining his aura and we only figured it out this morning after I had an episode."
"Oh no, are you okay?" Bell asked suddenly worried.
"Fine now, we just need to stay on top of it. Now come on Adam, let's get you to sleep, Bell, as our new daughter you can spend the night with your mum and dad or where you normally do, your choice."
"If you really don't mind that sounds nice."
Bell was struggling to stay restrained, ever incapable of truly expressing herself, but also trying to be more open.
With that, Eve nudged me to take me home, I had heard everything but she was absolutely right and I simply couldn't concentrate properly. "Hey Bell, I'm too wired to go to sleep right away. Why don't we watch a gardening documentary from another era first?"
"I don't know what that is, but it sounds interesting."