Chapter 97: Exhausting Day and Plans

[Day 35]

Today I woke up earlier than any of my citizens so I can finish assigning the rest of the werewolves and dryads to jobs. I also saw Kumo's and Homura's new evolutions which made me smile in excitement as I inspected them.

『Status』

[Name: Kumo]

[Race: Sealing Arachne of the Moon]

[Status: Servant]

[Level: 1/100]

[HP: 700/700 MP: 700/700 SP: 300/300]

[Strength: 120 (+25)]

[Defense: 120]

[Magic: 250 (+25)]

[Speed: 180 (+25)]

[Luck: 1]

[Charisma: 50]

[Skills: [Acid Secretion] [Shadow Magic] [Slash] [Poison Immunity] [Grand Moonlight Magic] [Grand Thread Manipulation] [Enhanced Moon Regeneration] [Enhanced Arachne Senses] [Spider Leg Spikes] [Forbidden Magic: Gleipnir] [Chain Creation] [Chain Manipulation] [Moon Resonation] [Domain of the Night] [Grand Moon Barrier]

[Equipment: [Purple Ring of Twilight]

[Body Modification: [Moon Tattoo]

[Titles: [Servant] [Revenger] [Blessed by the Emperor Spirit of Sealing]

…

『Status』

[Name: Homura]

[Race: 6 Tailed Wisp Fox]

[Status: Servant]

[Level: 1/100]

[HP: 600/600 MP: 800/800 SP: 250/250]

[Strength: 120 (+25)]

[Defense: 120]

[Magic: 300 (+25)]

[Speed: 120 (+25)]

[Luck: 1]

[Charisma: 50]

[Skills: [Spectral Wisp Magic] [Greater Body Enhancement] [Feral Claws] [Fire Immunity] [Concentration] [Enhanced Feral Regeneration] [Enhanced Feral Senses] [Summon: Fire Minion] [Summon: 1 Tailed Wisp Fox]

[Equipment: [Blue Ring of Twilight]

[Body Modification: [Ring of Wisps: 3]

[Titles: [Servant] [Chiefs Daughter]

…

They both grew taller as their previous form was about 5'7-5'8, but now Kumo was 5'9, while Homura seemed to just sneak into the 5'10 range.

Kumo's skin had become much softer and smoother with her white hair having more light pink streaks than before. The 6 spider legs on her back had become slightly larger and were now a bright pink that contrasted well with her white color pallet.

Homura's skin was still as soft and smooth as usual with her light blue hair darkening into a regular shade of blue. 2 more white circles had appeared on her back which I assumed were the [Ring of Wisps: 3].

Closing both statuses, I then took a quick bath by myself as I changed into a dress before leaving the castle. There was nobody on the streets so it was a peaceful walk that I had as I made my way to a large number of tents near the edge of my kingdom.

Most dryads and the rest of the werewolves were up due to the uncomfortable ground they were sleeping on. They might've had a tent to shield them from any uncomfortable weather, but there are no mattresses so they technically just slept on the hard ground.

"Alright! Werewolves first!" I shout as I sit down on the wooden chair.

…

"Soldier, alright, here's your gold coin," I say, plopping the gold coin in the last werewolf's hand.

"Thank you very much," the werewolf says, bowing and then running off.

The sun still hasn't risen yet as the first dryad steps forward. She looks through the job options and slightly frowns.

"What's wrong?" I say, seeing her disappointed face.

"Do you not have any farming jobs?" The dryad asks.

"... We don't… ah shit. I just realized we've been just taking any edible plants from the forest as adventurers go out to hunt… hmm…" I lean back in my chair, rubbing my chin.

"You want to start it?"

"C-can I?!" The dryad stutters in excitement.

"Sure… Make a farm towards the east of my kingdom. If any other dryads want to be farmers then I'll send them over there,"

"Thank you very much," the dryad says, bowing before leaving.

Many other dryads requested to be farmers and some chose other jobs. The sun had just finished rising as I got another new job request.

"Do you not have prostitutes?" asked a dryad.

"Uhhhh… no. Why?"

"Some of us dryads like to draw our food from direct contact rather than through the air. It tastes so much better and gives way more energy than eating it through the air," the dryad says with a completely serious face.

tsk

This completely goes against my actions of killing those whores that were sucking up to those bandits. If they needed money go work for it rather than just giving up your body. What a waste…

"Fine… I'll give you two more gold coins so you start the 'business' but if I catch you using it on other things I'll kill you immediately. Maybe even public humiliation… should I start doing that for criminals? Maybe even put a permanent mark on them that shows to my kingdom that they fucked up..."

I kept talking to myself but quickly snapped out of it not long after and handed the dryad 3 gold coins.

"Thank you very much," the dryad said before walking away.

…

I currently had about 200 more dryads left and it was the middle of the afternoon. I just decided to take a break since I was getting mentally exhausted.

I can see how Mia collapsed from doing this, even right after going through war…

As I was eating a vegetable sandwich that a dryad made, I sensed Yin enter the shadow beneath the tree I was resting under.

『Status』

[Name: Yin]

[Race: Berserk Crawler Queen]

[Status: Pet]

[Subordinates: 5]

[Level: 96/100]

[HP: 250/250 MP: 150/150 SP: 14/15]

[Strength: 10 (+5)]

[Defense: 10 (+5)]

[Magic: 30 (+40)]

[Speed: 10 (+10) (+40)]

[Luck: 1]

[Charisma: 5]

[Skills: [Body Enhancement] [Shadow Magic] [Demonic Berserker] [Thread Manipulation] [Contortion] [Boost] [Slash] [Poison Immunity] [Enhanced Regeneration] [Nocturnal] [Lie Detection]

[Body Modification: [Mark of a Berserker]

[Mastered Weapons: [Dagger (Partial)]

[Equipment: [Magic Collar] [Oni Mask]

[Titles: [Queen of Berserk Crawlers] [Pet] [Savage Assassin]

…

She's close to evolving…

"Master, the main adventurer guild building hasn't had anybody working on it because of the school. Mister Akio gave out the order to do it later since he wanted it to be perfect," Yin says, moving her oni mask to the side of her head.

"Why'd they stop? Shouldn't they have finished the main guild building first?" I ask.

"Mister Akio thought you wanted to prioritize the school since you brought it up during the war council," Yin explains.

"What the hell are they doing… don't just assume things without checking in with me… Tell Akio to immediately finish the main guild building after they finish the school. Also, send a message to all my subordinates including Mia, tell them, 'you will always consult with me before trying to change anything," I order.

"As you wish," Yin says, sinking back into the shadows.

…

"Finally…"

I sunk into my wooden chair as the last dryad walked away with her gold coin.

It was currently late at night and the tents had just been unraveled by Aimi. She saw that I needed some time to myself so she immediately left, giving me some space to rewind.

"This might be harder than any guardian I've fought… I didn't even have to work this hard in my past life," I mutter while getting out of my chair and walking towards my castle.

I took no detours and walked straight into my castle. The maids noticed my exhausted mood and some asked if I needed anything but I just responded with a cold,

"No,"

As I entered the throne room where dinner was already prepared, I saw my newly evolved wives and Aika finishing up their food.

"What took you so long?" Kumo asks, practically stuffing food down her throat.

"Did you even see our new evolutions?" Homura asks.

"Of course I did… were you able to assess your new skills? I even saw that Kumo has forbidden magic,"

"Not yet and this evolution was the only good option. I had two more but I would revert into a crawler. I would just be much more powerful stat-wise. It also specialized in [Great Moon Magic] and that's it," Kumo said, shrugging her shoulders.

"This current evolution was my only choice," Homura said, looking slightly sad.

"... It's fine, if you continue to work hard, you should be able to have more options. And if you continue to get one option, then maybe your final evolution will be insanely strong," I say, trying to cheer up Homura.

"Maybe…"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You suck at trying to cheer people up," Aika says, with a smug face.

『Status』

[Name: Aika]

[Race: Elf]

[Status: Direct Subordinate]

[Level: 45/50]

[HP: 80/80 MP: 100/100 SP: 40/40]

[Strength: 10 (+25)]

[Defense: 10]

[Magic: 30 (+25)]

[Speed: 25 (+25)]

[Luck: 1]

[Charisma: 10]

[Skills: [Body Enhancement] [Wind Magic] [Concentration] [Slash] [Wind Blade] [Earth Shattering Swing] [Sword Enhancement]

[Mastered Weapons: [Longsword (Partial)]

[Equipment: [Green Ring of Twilight]

[Titles: [Direct Subordinate] [Hard Worker] [Persistent] [Surpassed Limits]

...

I didn't even try to retort Aika's statement as I knew she was right.

"You're going to kill the dragon tomorrow right?" Kumo asks.

"Yeah,"

"Well, I heard a story about the dragon,"

"Continue…" I say, intrigued by another one of her stories.

"I heard he's pretty nice. He treats his underlings well and gives them gifts from time to time. I think it would be a waste to kill him and just have his corpse rot in the treasure room… if you can kill him of course.

Also, He might have information that I haven't heard about since he is technically the king of the [Mountain of Twilight]. I feel like information is key to survival, not just influence and power. Information can let you turn the tables on even the most powerful of opponents," Kumo lectures.

"That's true… trying to torture a being as powerful such as a dragon for information would be troublesome… So you want me to ally with him?"

"Yeah, if possible," Kumo replies.

"I'll try but… the stories that you've listened to weren't always the most accurate, so I'll stay cautious when I approach him," I say.

The rest of the night continued as we took a bath and crawled into bed. We haven't been doing our nightly routines since I don't want to make them even more exhausted on top of their pregnancy, so we just fell asleep, hugging each other.