Before I knew it, the week had come and gone and the army that was marching towards us arrived at our borders. I knew they were here before they even entered any of the sections of forest that I own. I had lookouts everywhere, and at that point, I knew then that it was time to set my plan in motion.

I also knew my citizens weren't very happy with what had been decided. I heard quite a few people voicing their opinions as they put their trust in the government of Varona and their guardian deity, the Dungeon Core. Not that I gave them a choice. Just in case the King still had more Dragons at his disposal, I wanted my people someplace safe away from their wrath and destruction. Some dragged their feet while others moved with more urgency, but every non-combatant classed Tironian that lived in Varona made their way into my dungeon.

Everything had been arranged beforehand as storing the humans was one of the better suggestions I had heard during our meetings. I'd even added ten, extra-large floors to accommodate them. The sheer amount of numbers that would be filling me up was no joking matter.

As my citizens fled the usually safe streets of Varona from those that sought to claim their lives, they willingly leapt into the embrace of my dungeon. A new friend, maybe. A strange power, definitely. A desperate hope, absolutely.

The guards and adventurers who were made up of refugees from Gorn stayed to fight as they felt as though they had a score to settle. A few of the more recent initiates, since word of Varona was still spreading throughout Ishda, also stayed behind to help man the city perimeter with the friends and colleagues they'd got to know since arriving.

We had no walls to protect our beautiful city. Another lack of foresight in part due to the fact that we are constantly expanding. This was brought up to me more than once at almost every meeting I attended, but I just couldn't afford it. Well I could, but it would have left me broke.

The only type of defensive cover the humans have are homes that had been added around my city in a semicircle formation. From one side of the mountain to the other, the men and women of Tironia are standing ready to defend their new home -my home, too- where we will fight together as a united front.

Not that they will see much action if everything goes to plan.

I really hope the fighting won't reach Varona if I'm being honest. Mainly because I don't want the DP factory to lose out on any of its resources, but it would also be a tragic loss of life if that were to occur. Also, I'm still trying to help these guys ascend, or whatever, and I don't like people interrupting my work.

That said, there's one more reason I kept all of the actual people inside the city limits. As familiar as they are with a human-turned-goblin walking down the street and peaceful Dragons kicking around the sky, the rest of what lies in my dungeon would be a completely different story. Hell, some of them even scared me at one point or the other. Webster and Sam spring into mind, for example.

However, due to the sheer amount of numbers the Demon King brought with him, I had to respond with numbers of my own. Some of whom have never seen actual combat before -unless The Coliseum counts- but are more than strong enough to fight.

I had to bring out everyone.

Other than the Goblins and the Trolls, that is. I don't need the headache of following them around. And I couldn't just leave my Core unguarded. That would have been extremely foolish, so I left one person behind. The one whose job it is to actually guard me. The Boss of my dungeon. The one who spends more time in Varona, in the Pleasure Palace, then she does her own damn room.

Even after she asked for those ridiculous trinkets and I obliged.

Yes. Other than the humans, the Goblins and the Trolls, the one person I left in charge of them all, was Veris.

When Veris is usually involved, I try not to put much thought into the matter because it never seems to end well. It was the same with this situation. I mean, she is the person who guards my Core. It only makes sense that I make her do her job at the one time she's supposed to. I know she usually pushes the task off to one of the Sweets as well, seeing as how it's a pretty boring task being my boss and all, but today there's no compromise.

She was the first Vagabond. The strongest at the time and she's only got stronger since then. Even though she's a bit loopy and sadistic, she's proven herself among the others and is a very respectable level 96. Which equates to being strong as fuck.

Good luck getting past her.

Kat, Anon and Simon, my three Categorisers, were among the other humans and the non-combat classes. They were also joined by a pregnant Sophie, much to her displeasure and not without a considerable amount arguing. Technically, they are all combat classes, just not in any way that helps me, and sadly their skills would only be a detriment to my own in this fight.

Everyone else was in the forest, and when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Hidden away at specific locations, my family members waited in ambush for what would hopefully be our first successful war.

Most of the major players in Varona were with Me and the Triplets at one of my fancy, new towers. Everyone other than Light, Noir, Dum and Dee, that is. I had decided to use their unique skills for a special mission.

It dawned on me, during our wait for the King to arrive, that my city had even less defences outside the non-existent walls than we had wall itself, apart from the regular patrols we managed. OK, while I was trying to work out the best way to spend points, Me argued that I was lacking in the defence department. He also stated it was Hana and Mira who ran our patrols, not me. But I was in charge, though, and everyone knows credit falls uphill in a pyramid.

Silly Me.

Anyway, that led to the construction of the watchtowers, which Sis was mega jealous of, by the way. Practically begged me to make her one, she did. The tower's presence in the forest is quite commanding, and to be fair, I'd want one as well if they weren't my own.

They stand dozens of feet above even the tallest of trees and are made entirely of Mythril. Each floor has spaces for archers or mages to send out spells and arrows while enjoying the safety the walls provide. Better yet each tower supports twenty floors and are magically reinforced to repel 80% of the damage they take back to the one who dealt the attack.

Best of all, I don't just have one of these towers, but I have three.

With the mountain at our back and the watchtowers placed at strategic locations around the outside Varona, or the Sentry Towers, as Me likes to correct me every time I say it wrong, we were now able to spot attacks that might come at us from any direction before they even got close to my domain.

It was pretty sweet.

I didn't complain until after I saw the cost of the bill. My Gods damn Sentry Towers cost almost 100,000DP each! I mean, they are made out of mythril and magically reinforced to reflect damage, but damn. That was a blow to my purse and a very significant one at that. Looking at the figure in my status, I let out a sigh as I would have had a million DP had I not agreed to Me's Tower suggestion.

He's not usually wrong when he offers advice, though, and even Sis backed him up, calling me more than a little foolish for lacking in the defence department. She said it was like I was baiting people to attack me, and maybe she wasn't wrong.

It had worked so far after all.

Most of enemies that arrived in Varona have underestimated us sorely, based only on our appearance alone, and none of them actually ever got the chance to reevaluate their mistake as they died faster than it would take a person to realise they've stood in boar shit. And boar shit is quite big, so you don't usually miss something that size.

That said, did Sis bait me into purchasing the towers because she thought she might have gotten one? She is a very complicated person. Or as complicated as a person can be when they're not actually a person, but a dungeon creation and reward system instead.

Still, I can't fault the Towers. As pricey as they were, they should definitely keep the fighting away from my city. Not that I couldn't rebuild it afterwards if the fight was taken there. I just don't like to add more jobs to the ever growing list that Sacha hasn't even started on yet.

"Sacha," the Deputy Mayor stops talking with Carrie as I decide now is a good enough time as any to ask for her help. I begin explaining why I need her to write me a list of all the important jobs and tasks I may or may not forget. Mayor Kana used to brief me on the day-to-day activities and what needed to be done on my end, but recently she's been a little too inundated with work to meet me.

Frankly, she should delegate more tasks to Sacha to help relieve herself. I know I am delegating to her, and Sacha's not even my deputy. Technically they're all my family, but that's beside the point.

Sacha agreed as though it wasn't a problem at all and she informed me that she already had a list of sorts but would alter it to fit my needs. How fucking cool is she.

A slight tug on the bottom of my dress draws my attention away from my conversation with Sacha. Amber looks up at me as though she's about to cry and I already know what's coming. Fortunately, most of my family have acquired an inventory after learning from Marie at the Academy. The old Space-Mage-turned-Syndicate-member tries to shirk off as many classes as she can in favor of going out on missions with the others, but when she shows up to teach, her classes are always packed. So packed that Mystique even lets her teach in the main hall. The one they use for ceremonies and events, and even then, the hall is still rammed with people who can't find a seat and have to stand instead.

Thanks to these classes and the sticky-fingered old lady's teachings, Amber didn't burst into tears after having gone a few hours without food. Blondie was bouncing around person-to-person being everyone's best friend and agreeing with everyone. Even if two people disagreed she would agree with both of them. Violet was... Huh? Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Violet in a while.

I wonder where she went?