1A shaman carrying a magical crystal ball, with Alfred escorting her, pced it at the middle of the table and made sure it was secured properly. She pced both hands on the ball, and it started to glow until a picture could be seen. She was greeted by the familiar face of Gena and several elves behind her, with a dwarf. Her face instantly contorted as guilt pierced her heart. Gena saw that, but her smile remained.

  “No need to apologize about Joseph; he loved the forest, and he believed in you. We are very saddened by his sacrifice but also proud of him.”

  “How did you know?”

  “A new branch grew on the world tree; that means someone connected to the tree passed away. This specific branch belonged to him.”

  “I am sorry; he shouldn’t have been forced to make such a decision. It is because I am still cking in many ways.”

  “I would also like to apologize to everyone here. I was too hung up on convincing Risin. If I had steeled my will, maybe all of this could have been avoided.” Tymon spoke with a heavy voice as he lowered his head in apology.

  “As the mother of the forest and elves, I am very touched by this. I am happy Joseph had met such caring people. We will honor his bravery, and through his actions, he can inspire others.”

  “I certainly hope the same. I do have a question.”

  “What is the question?”

  “Did you know that the world tree was the body of the first Angelos?”

  Gena remained quiet as her gaze shifted to Azazel; they shared a quiet gnce. “I was just about to ask who the new demon is. I am sorry, let me correct myself. The new Angelos is.”

  “My name is Azazel.”

  “I see. I am Gena; nice to meet you.”

  “I see your bloodline is still going strong.”

  “It is only thanks to the goddess. I have heard of your name before gd to see you well.”

  “The humans thought they could use me to get to my secrets. Luckily, Adeline and her companions freed me.”

  “That is good to hear. As for your question, Adeline, Father told me it was the only way for Tymon and Melora to accept the gift. It was something they will need in the future. As for the effects, we didn’t know what would happen. I do apologize for that, but it was the only way.”

  Adeline quietly nodded as she turned to Tymon, who reluctantly accepted the answer. What she said was true, but he did not appreciate the deceit. Tymon raised his hand as Adeline nodded.

  “Why would I need this in the future?”

  “That I do not know yet, but if we get any new information, we only exercise its will.”

  “No need; I am sure there was a valid reason.”

  With that out of the way, Adeline moved to the next order of business. “We have taken the first city, and with that, I have officially created the first kingdom run by the creatures of the forest. I have named it Arbegon.”

  “I am pleased to hear that, your Highness, Queen Adeline.” She bowed, with the rest following suit. It was truly a momentous day for all of them. This was accomplished mostly by luck and grossly underestimating Adeline, but the real difficulty was about to start.

  “With that, we now need to defend this pce with all our might. I trust the dwarves and orcs have been busy with preparations.”

  “Yes, we are done with the first set! We will promptly send them your way. We also got in contact with the orc you spoke of; together, we have amassed a rge army.” Fisan answered with great excitement, with the rest of the elves nodding with great pride. Bihse let out a hearty ugh, drawing all the attention.

  “I think it is time I introduced myself. My name is Bihse, and I am the former chieftain of the Trolls.”

  Adeline was instantly confused by the introduction, as was Tymon, who nudged her. “What do you mean, former?”

  “My brother has killed a strong foe and therefore has earned the right to be the chieftain. I was only holding this position temporarily until he was ready.”

  “That expins a lot,” Tymon answered as Adeline broke into ughter. Bihse punched Tymon aggressively as he let out a small groan.

  “Anyways, all he needs is a name.”

  “What if you called him a silly name like Sejin?” It was then his body was covered in a dark red hue with red stripes covering his body, and a singur horn emerged. He still looked weaker compared to Bihse, but he was definitely stronger than before. Bihse had a wide smile as she turned towards Adeline, who was confused.

  “You just named him by accident. Well, thank you for taking one for the team.”

  “Don’t thank me yet; you have hundreds of trolls and some of the orcs that are coming.”

  “We have to name everyone? Won’t that be tiring, and what is the point?”

  “I actually want to be able to tell a difference, and they also become stronger, so it is worth it. Don’t worry, we have plenty of cores; it might take time, but it is worth it.”

  Bihse silently grumbled under her breath, “I wanted to save that for my future babies.”

  “Future what?” Adeline teased as the two continued back and forth.

  “I am joking; I will handle that as the Queen, but you will be my general, so you will have to train them.”

  “That I can accept, but I will need the help of Tymon.”

  “He will be busy with administrative duties.”

  Sejin didn’t even have the opportunity to thank Adeline; the others also simply watched, but Azazel cleared his throat. “What will you do about the barbarians?”

  It was then an older butler knocked and let himself in. “I am sorry for the disturbance, your Highness, but a group of barbarians have been caught and insisted that they meet you.”

  Adeline stared at Azazel, who simply shrugged. “Let them in.”

  A group of hulking men entered, with their chests exposed revealing scars, and they looked very rough. What was interesting was that they came in pairs of men and women, and each stood next to their partner. Adeline wondered if they were partners or if there was a deeper meaning.

  “We were sent by the elder; we heard about what happened. The elder has expressed interest in forming an alliance.”

  “An alliance of what kind exactly?”

  “We have a mutual enemy, and we both pray to the same goddess, so he was willing for us to fight together.”

  “I see…”

  Before Adeline could finish, Azazel raised his hand. Adeline was confused but decided to let it py out. Azazel’s eyes glowed as he inspected the group before letting out a wild ugh. Adeline stared at Azazel with great concern; she thought maybe when his wife came, they could talk about his mental health.

  “Did you really think you could fool my eyes?”