We spent the following 2 days helping Fumiko and the others get some paperwork done and organise her nd; there were many things to be done, from giving nd to the farmers to work on to how much taxes Fumiko would impose on the people in her lordship and as well on the surrounding vilges. It went well; she lowered the taxes and focused on earning money from other sources, such as putting taxes on the suppliers that they pay directly. I don’t know how it works, but we must wait and see.

  Today, I want just to ze around and do nothing; completing everything yesterday was so hard. Akira had it easier using his skills and receiving help from Sia. Now, Sia shares a mind with all of us; sincerely, I don’t know how she keeps track of all of us at all times; it must be exhausting for her.

  “Well, I supposed the 4 of you should rest for today unless someone else has other pns.”- Fumiko pointed towards Hana and me, then at Hanako and Masamune.

  “I guess this is our day off. Hikaru, how do you think we should spend it?”- Hana began talking with me over the telepathic network. Well, it seems like she wants to do something else, something more secretive if she contacts me like that.

  “Well, we will see. We just have to wait and see.”- Hana and I went downstairs to the guest room. We found Ayame and Alma there; they seemed to be discussing something.

  “Hikaru, Hana, come here, there is something important that I want to tell the 2 of you. Fumiko should come down as well, she will be involved too. I think you two know what that is about. I already filled Akira and Oka in on it.” – I have a feeling that it’s about the nation of monsters Ayame wanted to build, most likely.

  “Hikaru, it most likely is about that?” - Fumiko’s voice came over the telepathic network. Wait, did I forget something again? Is my previous life dementia getting to me in this one?

  !No, you just forgot that you had Fumiko added to the telepathic network less than a month ago!

  “Sorry”

  “Fumiko, come down, Ayame is asking for you.”- After sending the message to Fumiko, I sat down on the opposite side of Ayame, near Alma. Hana sat between Alma and me; she turned to look at me with an expression that said, “Let’s hear this already.”

  “So, there is something important that we need to discuss. Remember the monster country that I said I was building? Well, there is a problem and we need more people there. The knights of Wieka are already advancing to the nation, and we need someone to hold them off or drive them back. Think you 2 can handle it? It seems like Ifrit is making her move sooner than we thought, it might not be an all-out attack, maybe they are just scouting, you two need to go there and see what that is actually happening, I can’t leave Fumiko on her own, Akira and Oka will remain here as defenders of the mansion, got it?”- A mission in the new monster nation? Well, this may be something we can do more than once every few months while we are there. I am sure there are plenty of monsters; maybe some are even more powerful than Akira or Oka, but I doubt it.

  Fumiko walked down the stairs to where we were sitting.

  Ayame was just finishing her sentence when she looked to her right to see Fumiko.

  “Ohhh, Nanano, you are here. Well. I will get straight to the point then.”

  “Well, you better get straight to it. I don’t have that much time. I did get a bit from what you said, but I am too tired to do anything; I just want to rest for a while.”- Fumiko sat down near Ayame, and the 2 of them looked at each other briefly before getting closer.

  “Well, how should I say it? It’s about the nation of monsters that I want to build. Look, I need Hikaru and Hana to go there, the king’s army is going there as we speak to check the progress of the nation, there are 2 outcomes out of this. Either they leave or they destroy everything that they can find in their way and kill everyone there. We need to send them there, all of this effort would have been for nothing. That’s the worst-case scenario.”- Ayame lowered her head at Fumiko.

  “Well, I can take care of myself, and you can leave Akira and Oka here to protect me in case anything bad were to happen. Or if you want to stay, I wouldn’t mind it one bit.”- Fumiko pced her right hand on Ayame’s chin.

  “Well, I agree with that,”- Oka spoke from behind Fumiko

  “Well, we can stay here with Miss Fumiko. It wouldn’t bother us, you two go on your way and scout ahead.” - Akira rushed downstairs and then spoke

  Hana and I started packing everything in my spatial storage; there was dried meat, water pouches, and other stuff we could eat and drink on the road, as well as cooking ingredients.

  It was on short notice, but we didn’t lose time; Fumiko approved of us moving there, and we would be looking for any guards from the royal pace. At least we should help the monsters there defend themselves in any way possible. Ifrit’s puppets seem to be moving faster than we thought.

  , I have been thinking of something that is always on my mind off the trip. If we manage to get this nation of monsters up and running, what would we get out of it? Would we have peace at st? I guess peace with Ifrit is a foreign concept for her; I don’t want to kill anyone else, but who am I lying to? To achieve our goal of becoming demon lords, we must sacrifice souls from other humans to evolve, so what?

  If worse is to happen, I will take steps to become a demon lord with Hana; if not, I will gdly live in peace as much as possible.

  “Hikaru, I think we are getting closer to the forest Ayame mentioned.”- Before leaving, Ayame mentioned a forest where we will meet Demin-Humans or Beast-Folk as they refer themselves.

  “We should be safer in our monster forms now.”- I deactivated Lucifer and continued in the forest. Ayame told us if we look like monsters, they are less likely to attack us.

  “Well, Hikaru. Can you see the mist?”- I didn’t notice it until now; a mist is engulfing us, getting thicker and thicker.

  “Sia?”

  !Answer: The mist is the product of a skill named Vaporization. You can blow it away with wind magic. Use wind magic to blow it away?!

  “Yes”

  I extended my left hand forward and used wind magic. Well, used is an overstatement; it is more like I left it to Sia to automate it.

  “Thanks, Sia.”

  “You 2, stop right there”- I hear 3 voices coming 6 meters away.

  After more fog cleared up, we can see 3 Beast-Folk standing 5 to 6 meters ahead of us. They all have weapons and are ready to fight.

  We raised our hands, and the Beast-Folk looked at each other, apprehension visible.

  “If you come with us, we won’t tie you.”- One of the people who spoke had rabbit ears.

  “We don’t want trouble. Please, leave.”- A woman with fox ears spoke next.

  “Neither do we. We were just passing through. We are headed towards a pce called The Nation of Monsters.”- All of them dropped their weapons and got closer to us.

  “You know Ayame?”- The kitsune spoke slowly.

  “Yes. But I don’t think it’s safe here. I will tell you, guys, more somewhere safer than this. Ok?”

  “Ok, bring them to the vilge. We will see how much they know.”