Eventually, Typhon went off to summon all the captains to inform them I was leaving.

But as soon as he left, Sensei spoke up.

«Why would you refuse to find this cave? You should use this as a learning opportunity to show them just where they would be without you.»

"I know I saved them." I replied. "I have no need to lord it over them too."

«That's where you're wrong. You may understand a bit of their language, but you aren't in every room to hear what they say about you.»

I agreed that this was valid. "I can't be everywhere at the same time to see what needs to be seen, which is why I chose an overseer to do that for me."

Arsinoe already brought up some good points that I would never have noticed, and in exchange I had given her power. In this way we both benefited.

But Sensei had something surprising to say about my new captain.

«You only solved the immediate problem. Your new captain isn't exactly fond of you.»

And there it was…the cause of my bad feeling.

However for once I was ahead of the problem.

"That's why I chose her." I admitted. "Not liking me won't stop her from doing her job. Actually, her not liking me makes it even better. Typhon told me how ambitious the little snake is."

"If she wants to keep her power, she wouldn't hesitate to tell me everything – because that's the only leverage she has. She wouldn't want to return to the way things were before."

«I hope you're right.» Sensei replied. «But there's better ways around the problem. You have the skills to dominate them thoroughly, I don't understand why you won't do it that way.»

Did he mean [Coercion]?

Even if I wasn't in my penalty, that would only be used as a last resort.

"Don't say evil things like that so casually."

«You won't have to deal with any insurrection on your hands if you stomp out all resistance early. [Coercion] is especially effective against those that identify in your [Pit]. It won't take anything away from them.»

Except taking away their freewill to make them mindless drones, or did he forget that?

Hearing him suggest it, already made me heated.

He wanted me to brainwash them all into following me like the wasp queen did with her drones.

Did he really think I was shameless enough to do something so…inhuman?

"My nestlings don't need that to follow me willingly." I coldly replied.

«Currently, you have more traits of a Hesperia than a Cerastes. This is likely why you can't fully understand them. You can't coddle them and expect them to fear you.»

"No." I said simply. He wasn't going to convince me, and my objective wasn't to make them fear me - I wasn't him.

But then the dark fae buzzed over to me. [Why are you unhappy? What's wrong?]

[Nothing. Just an annoying bug.]

Sensei scoffed. «Very mature.»

I burst into laughter, making the dark fae stare at me oddly. [Are you sure you are okay?]

Unable to stop smiling, I could only nod.

We soon left the underground cave to come out above, where all the nestlings were gathered.

I spotted Arsinoe among them, and all my captains as well as Typhon and Ophelia.

Seeing all the silent snakes in orderly rows, made me wonder just how many pit members I had now. I started with [31], but if I was to count how many creatures the cave contained, I was sure to exceed a hundred. Especially when those eggs hatched.

Thinking about it made me sigh, the cave was truly spiralling out of control.

But with all of them summoned, it was time to discuss our safeguards with my captains.

The scorpions may be busy right now, but an attack was imminent, and so I instructed them on what to do.

Typhon was to go ahead and create the tunnels and make use of the bottom feeders, while Ophelia and Morgana were to take over their training, and properly this time.

Every nestling was to focus on getting their skills up to par and aside from Apollo, they were to put their interests on the backburner. This created an uproar of hisses as many complaints rang out, but it was for their own good.

Bringing Sylrin back would help the cave in general, but it didn't protect them from attacks. They each had to be able to hold their own individually and not just while in groups.

My captains did not complain, to them this was common sense, and soon all the noises died down.

Then I informed them that I would be gone for a while, and that I was taking the dark fae with me. And unfortunately, this announcement made the sounds of protest pick up again.

Ophelia didn't like it, and insisted on coming, but I refused.

Considering the Nymph's found my scales attractive, it was scary to think what they would think about her, or Typhon for that matter - the Nymph's charm was a scary thing.

Besides, I needed Ophelia here to watch over every egg safely and also to track the battle raging between the scorpions and the apes from the air. If at any point their fighting stops, then an attack on their cave was likely coming.

And finally, if it happened while I was not there and they couldn't defend it, I showed them the two points they could use to escape.

Typhon already knew of the one leading to the Middle Stratum and the other was through the cave of bat creatures that came out in the Nymph's forest. I also showed them how to bypass the creatures with food.

But due to both options being dangerous, they were only to be used as a last result, in the event of them being boxed in from all sides.

Compared to the Middle Stratum, I preferred it if they fled towards the Nymph's forest. With them, at least they had the option to retreat, if they didn't damage anything.

And so I told them about the spirits and what notorious tricky monsters they were.

Typhon and Ophelia absorbed this knowledge like sponges.

And with all my safeguards in place, I made sure to let everyone know they were both in charge.

Finally I left the cave with the dark fae, to go find my long lost lizard friend.