Despite the shock, nobody questioned their king for pulling such a prank. The sea of fire returned to the peaceful forest they knew and loved. The demolished lands remained untouched, and the skies were clear once again, with the sun taking its toll on the sluggish undead.

Rino gathered everyone in the cave once more to give his farewell speech for a while.

Goblin Lord Gnut organised the meeting and silenced everyone so that Rino could give the speech he came to give. While the monarch waited, he thought back to the coordinated attacks.

Don't mention a tri-elemental wyvern. Rino doubted an actual dragon would be able to escape their fierce defence unscathed. Rino might be able to take a dragon down alone, but he did not think his minions were capable of bringing it down to its knees with such a relentless combination of attacks like a storm. Many factors contributed to their defence's success, and Rino prided how much his subordinates had improved.

These enchanted tools were the right decision. Rino often wondered if creating them would come to bite him in the back one day, but for now, Rino knew that equipping his subordinates with tools to help and save themselves was the right decision.

It was a true pity a certain black cat had to leave last night. Rino would have loved to pat Noir one last time before he left for good. He already emptied out the potato storage and bought ten days worth of day-offs from the offering reward shop.

Ten days was more than enough for Rino to find a new spot for his new town and rebuild whatever he needed with the existing resources. Mutt bounced eagerly in his shadows to set off on an adventure, but Rino had to let his loyal subordinates know his plan first.

"Silence."

The cave fell eerily silent in a moment after Rino made his thoughts known. Despite the vast cavern, it started to feel a little cramped with the increasing number of faes he contracted from Cypress County. Their numbers only grew by the day, but Rino wasn't complaining about having a few extra pairs of hands in his growing kingdom.

All eyes landed on the lich, and Rino felt nervous. He gave speeches before in his previous life as well as lectures as a guest lecturer and researcher. However, he never thought that he would be giving speeches that involved political concerns and flowery words to inspire his followers, like what the king and ministers did from time to time at important festivals to hype the public. Rino often dubbed their speeches as brainwashing propaganda to win the favours of dumb civilians, but now, he found himself doing the same.

Oh, to heck with it! He was too lazy to think of nice words, so he would cut to the chase. Telling lies was simply too tiring and totally not Rino's style, so he rattled off what he needed them to know.

"My kingdom is only beginning. You've all worked hard despite the grievances at the beginning and come a long way as a village."

Acknowledging efforts and giving credit when it was due was something Rino strongly believed in. He wouldn't take the credit from someone else's research, and the list of names was lengthy as he thanked the individuals who helped him the most to create Noir Province.

Then, Rino moved on to explain his actions earlier. They passed the test for teamwork to see if they could work together to defend his most treasured village with flying colours, and Rino told the Baron how he was now reassured that his first founded village and Noir Province would also be the last territory Rino knew would hold even if the rest of his kingdom fell apart.

No matter what, this was a precious new beginning for Rino. He wanted this place to become home to his soul even if he might not be here very often once the new daily quests started to pour in.

There was a honey feeling to this village that he founded, and nothing could compare to the farmhouse he built brick by brick. It was the place he first met Noir and everything that happened here, Rino was involved in. Should he perish one day, he would like this to be his resting ground, but he did not say that aloud. It was too early for such things. His new legacy was only beginning.

The speech was long as Rino ended up disclosing to his subordinates the dreams he had for this land and the world. Nobody complained about how long his speech was. Instead, everyone had thoughtful looks. The ideas that Rino spoke about seemed rather far-fetched, but Rino's belief inspired them. 

The legends went around in this small world whispering to them about a king who could make the dead rise. At first, nobody was sure if Rino was the king from the prophecy told for generations. However, there was no room for doubt now that Rino gave his grand speech.

Their king had new lands to conquer and was leaving this established territory in their hands. There was no room for failure, and Baron Gnut felt the most responsibility as Rino wrapped his speech up.

The lich did not know how long he would be gone from Noir Province, but he did remember to tell his minions to treat a certain black cat as they would treat him if the magical cat decided to visit the village in his absence.

At the same time, Rino reminded Erika and Fronzo to keep him updated about the granary arrangements. After several miscellaneous announcements and duty delegations to his small council, Rino said his goodbyes quickly and summoned Mutt.

The shorter a goodbye was, the lesser tears there would be. However, he forbade any tears even if some undead were now capable of them. In his absence, he ordered a large feast to be thrown to commemorate how amazing they were as a village to push a tri-elemental wyvern to a corner.

"Let's go," he told Mutt as the sabre tooth wolf howled and took to the winds.