Chapter 204 Here And There



"I will always be beside you, your sword and shield. Your tool."

The words echoed in my mind. Thousands of thoughts racing by as I stared at the outstretched hand.

Eventually I just smiled and took her hand in mine.

She pulled me up and into her face, a kiss placed on my forehead before she separated us.

"Then what's the plan, my Lord~" she sang the last part out in a teasing voice.

However I just ignored that part and focused on my options.

There was a reason I had come back instead of staying. It was not only because I thought I was ill equipped for a war but also that I did not know how to wage one.

What resources would I need, how many people, how would I rally them. So many questions that I just could not answer at the time.

However, back here , with everyone I could pass ideas and pull out the important bits.

Even if it took a while I had ownership of the realm meaning I could go back there with as many people as I wanted.

However right now I needed to bounce my ideas off of Tama.

"Excessive force, what about overwhelming them with force then taking them under my banner."

Tama turns her head to the side, amusement radiating off of her.

"That could work… however it would lead to dissent. I would suggest rallying under a religion or some divine right that others could see worth in."

Religion, it could work but it wasn't my thing. To pretend to be subservient to some random god, it filled me with distaste.

It must have shown on my face because Tama continued on before letting me talk.

"It doesn't have to be religion, you could rule them so well and efficiently that they wouldn't want anyone other than you to rule over them."

"That could work but how, even now I rely on you and Melia to administer this small territory?"

"Practice and devotion. That is my only answer. You may be able to study under us, to understand what we have done and why but ultimately it comes down to how devoted you are to your city, how practiced you are in resolving issues."

I nod at that, idly pacing towards the tree. I place my hand on it and find myself inside staring at the face of Astraea.

She looked like I had caught her red handed doing something she wasn't supposed to do.

However when I looked at what she was doing it was just a pile of documents.

She was speed reading through them, her eyes flickering about as they traced a path through the words.

Though that didn't last as almost immediately after I had entered she hid the documents behind her. A nervous smile on her face.

"Lord, your back?"

"Yeah" I narrowed my eyes at her back, "What were you doing?"

"I- I was looking through Melia's reports to see the current status of the territory." 

I bob my head at that, my hand reaching out to her and in understanding Astraea gave the documents back.

Idly I look through them before throwing them gently onto the table. "Other than speed, what else are you good for."

I didn't mean for it to come out so condescending but it had, yet it was no less true.

She had done nothing, contributed nothing to our cause despite her power.

I had left her be but now that she was in front of me I couldn't just let her be.

She needed to be at the very least a combatant. However I hoped that she had some more expertise rather than just another brawler that I could create with little effort.

"Ah… ah… I can clean and cook?"

I just facepalmed, of course she could do that. I mean cleaning was simple but cooking wasn't. If she was a good cook then it wouldn't really matter what else she did.

"Cool me a meal then, if it's good I won't force you to do anything else. You won't even have to clean."

Her eyes brightened at that, skipping over to the kitchen before absently looking in the fridge for anything that she could cook.

I watched as the food was prepared and cooked before soon after a meal was placed in front of me.

I took a bite and my eyes widened in surprise. It was good, better than what Tama made. However the presentation…

I looked down to the food and recoiled a bit. It was really good food but the way she presented it was just not appetizing.

"What were you doing with those documents?" I ask while picking another piece, avoiding eye contact with it.

"Ah- I was just cataloging it, making sure that everything that it said was right."

I nodded at that before I realized what she said.

"You did," my eyes opened in excitement at that little tidbit.

With her speed in reading she could do almost all of my paperwork in a moment. It would be a godsend for her to do that. All I would need to do was either sign off or modify them a bit.

She must have seen the excitement in my eyes as she backed away a bit however I didn't let her go far as I ordered the house to bring her closer to me. 

A flash of light and she was next to me. I took her hands in my own, noting the blush in her face.

"You did, could you do that more for me. Please."

Her head turned away, her hands tightening their grip on mine. 

"I can…" Astraea said, her voice tiny.

"That's great, thank you so much." 

It was a worry off my back. Now I just needed to decide on my course of action towards my realm. What would I do.

Idly I commanded the tree to bring me a piece of paper and pencil because apparently it could do that.

On the blank paper I make a map of known territories and cities.

I circled the town near the volcano, designating it as the main operating base.

It was nearly in the center of the map with the information we had which would make it a gray place to set up.

We had no need for worry that it would fall. If we were to just station some soldiers there we could secure it.

However to secure it I needed to take control from the mayor but how to do that.

I bit on the eraser of the pencil as I thought it out.

We could gradually introduce technology and make them reliant on us but that would take too long, too much time.

Time that I didn't want to waste. I could, but I wanted to keep ahead. From what I knew there were so many civilizations that were above us that for us to advance we would need to work hard and fast. 

Enough to surprise them. This would be our surprise. These two realms would be the corner point of the strategy.

However that was for later right now I needed to focus on the now.

Astraea poked her head into the map, watching with curiosity what I was doing.

"That mayor, you could use him as a proxy ruler and assert yourself later."

I was jolted out of my thoughts by Astraea's own words. It was a solution that I hadn't thought of yet.

I picked her hands up that I had dropped and gave her a smile before pulling her into a hug.

I separated a moment later before jumping from my seat, idly sending an order to the house to clean the kitchen.

I noted that behind me Astraea followed but I didn't bother confronting her, instead I closed my eyes and activated my soul sight.

A touch to the wall and I was in the forest again. I turned my head like a swivel before I found Melia.

She was lazing about near her tree, an imperious feeling to her emotions.

…

I dodged the lunge at me, the body of Melia falling to the ground soon after.

"I need your men." I simply stated.

"Ah~" she pouted, "I thought you wanted to see me."

She was on the ground, her knees touching as she looked up to me.

I just sighed and gave her my hand, pulling her up tk my height before guiding her to the house she lived in.

I sat down at the table and watched as she sat opposite to me.

She clearly wanted to sit next to me yet she restrained herself to my delight. It wasn't that I didn't like her just that I didn't want to have to deal with her constant touches.

However before she fully sat down she seemed to remember something as she got up and went into the other room. 

It took a couple minutes but I could smell something cooking in there. I had half a mind to tell her off and inform her that I had already eaten but by the time that I worked up the energy to, she was already back.

A steaming cup of liquid was in her hand, well actually a teapot and some cups but semantics. She placed them on the table before sitting down herself. Finally satisfied with herself.

I watched as she poured me a cup before herself.

"Why, pray tell, do you need our men?"