A few days had flown by, and the kingdom of Eclanor was finally regaining its roots. Instead of a monarch, however, lenai had suggested a council to rule the city–the selection of whose seats was the current topic of discussion everywhere. All who were capable were invited to try their hands at the selection once the selection procedures were made known. However, a few seats had already been filled, with lenai as the main council and Frazer and Muena being given a seat as well.
Little rejection was posed against the already selected council mbers. For one had already served the king and queen while Frazer was still considered the hero who’d saved their kingdom. However, much like the claim, his seat at the council was nothing more than a mirage. A white lie to appease the public when in reality it was Maria, Alia, and Ophelia who’d been offered the true seats of power.
Raven was offered the sa but promptly rejected the offer, for every so often, he also had to appear at the Aranuvian council, as he was considered a king to the people of the island. The rest of the party rejected the offer as well, especially since there was no way any of them could manage fighting horrors and dealing with the politics of a broken city.
Erika especially wasn’t interested in the matter; for as long as the temple to her goddess was complete and unkempt by the chosen council, she had no interest in who ruled the land. Thus, with most of the party mbers doing their own thing for a little while. So were simply resting their aching muscles, others were trying to decide what to do with the captured monster girls, while others attended the Athenian court for the decision over what happens to the demon servants–all of them had sothing to do. But one thing was for certain in their minds.
’We’re never doing this again, not while hauling an entire army on our backs!’ Maria shared the sentint. Bringing the army into unfriendly territory only complicated things further. By themselves the party would’ve been more effective, and in case they truly needed help, they could then teleport the soldiers to them.
In the anti, practicing against regions infested with lesser horrors was probably the best for most soldiers. The holy order too had its duty, and most of it–at least for now–was performing miracles by healing the sight of Eclanorian citizens so they could convert them to the faith of their goddess instead.
The soldiers back ho, and everyone else being busy with their own thing, Maria and the council had arranged a eting. Staying inside lenai’s room and sitting around a long table that had been hastily arranged, the ex-queen looked around at everyone before sliding the monster-holding bracelet on the table.
"As Raven had told , the demon servants are in Athenia under Markus’s watch. Helga’s already back ho looking after Shamisha and that pregnant girl’s group. So now, the only thing–or rather, people whose fate we need to decide–remains to be these monster girls."
"Who’s Markus?" A bit concerned about whether or not this stranger could handle the demon servants, lenai couldn’t help but ask. And to that question, Maria was reminded of the last and only ti soone had seen Markus’ power being on display. Taking a deep breath, she held that image in her head and presented to lenai a branching graph.
"See that low point there?" Pointing at the lowest point in the graph, Maria urged the bard to pay close attention. Getting a nod back from her, the ex-queen added further. "That would be your average soldier. Now the highest point here would be a lesser god like Aran–"
Noticing her squinting as if she had no clue what she was talking about, Maria dropped her shoulders and let go of the illusion.
"Whatever, he’s stronger than one or two lesser gods in my opinion. So yes, he’ll be fine."
Leaning back in her chair with furrowed eyebrows, lenai wondered how much truth there was in what Maria was claiming. However, after seeing the group’s power first hand along with the devastation of the desert, she’d co to realize that there were greater powers in this world than her mind could comprehend.
"I see," lowering her gaze to the bracelet on the table, lenai grabbed it and brought it closer. Tapping the red jewel a few tis, she admired it fully before offering a proposal to the incomplete council. "Josare seed reasonable; everyone else, however, might need to stay locked in this thing for a while since we can’t really hold Muena in a regular prison."
"Is turning them into slaves not enough assurance? Besides, we don’t even know that much about the other two, to be honest." Alia spoke up, her eyes digging at the bracelet in the bard’s hand.
"We thought we had enough assurance with Felix and Astra too, didn’t we?" Maria retorted.
"Maybe we should try and talk to them first?" Ophelia suggested, hoping the girls would see so sense and finally begin talking.
"What?!" Not too thrilled by the idea, Maria stood up from her seat. "Are you serious? They tried to poison all of us!"
"Well," lifting her head, Ophelia looked right into the queen’s eyes and added. "I used to be an enemy, or have you forgotten about that? The sa goes for Mino, Maine, Arche, heck, even Alia here was the sa."
"By that logic, why don’t we just free up everyone then, huh? Even that dryad!"
"I agree, we shouldn’t take any chances, not after what happened with Felix and Astra." Standing in support with Maria, Hayley looked around at everyone and tried judging their faces. "I an, co on, we can’t take that risk. She can brainwash people; just look at Frazer here, he’s not all there, even after recovering, and we can all see it!"
As heads turned to Frazer, who’d been sitting quietly throughout all of this, the young hero slowly lifted his head. Looking around with his hands folded, he took a deep breath and let one thing be known.
"I’m fine. I just need ti to process everything that happened, that’s it." But whether they could believe him or not, none of the girls knew for certain.
A gamble unlike any they had taken before, at least until Linkle was finished with the slave branding preparations. But even then, no bind is too strong that it couldn’t be shattered, and that’s exactly why Maria wanted these monster girls to be sealed away, forever.
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