Looking around carefully, a very distinct figure walked outside in the Opal’s garden. Formed fully of crystal with small bits of armor and a strange crystal like hair was visible coming from his head. This was Crystal, the Gem Knight and familiar of Jasmine.

He looked around and saw no one and no fairies and sighed, “Good, now let’s get this done quick.” he thought and touched the ground before looking at the center of the herb patch.

Opal’s herbs were divided in four fields and there was a circular area in the center and small paths with a small fence separating the fields.

He ran to the central open space and touched the ground and nodded. He sensed mana after using his own mana to try and find a place with high concentration. Being a spirit makes him more sensitive and it was this same reason that the herb garden was in this location.

He was thankful the ground was only dirt and no paving, he quickly began to dig at the center of the node of mana before kneeling and cupping his hand. Slowly his body began to glow and glitters of mana could be seen in his body gathering to his hand and after a minute, he opened his hand and there was a small round gem in it.

He dropped it down into the hole and buried it and thought how he would hide the dug space and quickly went to the well and took a few buckets and dropped water around it causing the dirt to flatten and he sighed.

“Good, this minion will grow well, probably better than the others.” he thought before quickly washing his hands and ran inside before going to the library where Xero, Opal, Jasmine and Nero, were sitting with books and looking towards a large glowing stone.

Standing on the stone was a sort of hologram or imagine of one of the teachers from Everlight academy and at this moment he was giving a lecture on magic. Floating around him were magical runes projected by him and he slowly constructed and expanded it.

This long distance class was generally one way unless a student touched the stone and injected mana before speaking.

This allows the students' family to learn, the fact that they gave this stone was already giving permission to allow the family members to join the classes.

“Crystal, where were you?” Jasmine asked.

“Just taking care of something, Miss.” He replied.

The locations he prefered to keep a secret because of the danger of them being dug up before the time. With a female master, jewelry is an attractive item though Jasmine isn’t interested in that kind of thing though but that is mostly his misunderstanding.

The lessons were quite fast paced. Opal and Nero required quite a bit of help which Jasmine took upon herself to allow Xero to learn the most he could even though it was summer break.

As for Nadir, she had her own studies and her master had given her many fourth year books which matched up to Xero at this time. She didn’t have a long distance communication stone though but she had more than enough material to learn from which caused her to walk around with a frown.

“Master~!” Ashley said walking in and behind her were three female Minions who walked in with fresh pastries.

The smell enticed them all, “Please have some and rest.” She said.

Xero nodded but his quill didn’t stop as he kept copying every word his teacher spoke. He quickly grabbed a cookie and began to eat while his hands didn’t stop.

“So diligent.” Jasmine said.

“Indeed.” Crystal nodded.

They enjoyed the pastries and listened to the lecture.

Outside though, the sun was slowly setting and in the center of the herb garden, a small crystal began to pulse like a heart and mana began to draw towards it. Very slowly the mana in the ground began to gather.

At this time, a nearby tree sprout suddenly shook, it began to shake and slowly the two side branches began to bend and reshape until it formed small leafy arms. It seemed to look around before putting its ‘hands’ on the ground and carefully pulling it’s roots. Split in two roots, that formed something like feet, the small sprout began to dig itself out.

This was in fact a magical monster. Because of the presence of the harvest goddess’s blessing on the land and the fairies caring for all the plants through magic, it had bred this sapling. A plant type monster that is relatively peaceful and normally just hides themselves while living off the mana in the ground while always looking for better locations with their roots.

It had easily noticed the rise in mana coming from the herb garden near the center which had been too weak to entice it but now that mana was gathering. It was too simple minded with no reasoning or sentience, it wished to obtain the new fountain of mana and so, quietly uprooted itself and carefully snaked its way to the spot in the middle of the garden without leaving trace of its movement, also closing the hole it had been in.

When it reached the spot, it’s roots began to bury into the ground until reaching the ‘waist’ leaving it like natural sapling that was grown there and it even smoothed out the ground better than Crystal could have.

It felt happy as it’s roots soaked up the mana but suddenly it felt a heavy stab in it’s young infant mind. Then something seemed to stab right into its mind, intruding.

It began to struggle but this was a recently born plant creature while the culprit was none other than the small crystal seed of the Gem Spirit Minion who was a spirit and could directly attack the mind.

The little Sapling felt pain from these dangerous stabs, it didn’t know the source and soon it great weaker until that invader seemed to open up a great mouth and swallowed up the mind and soul that had recently formed in the sapling into it causing the little spirit to suddenly experience a large growth in size.

It felt bloated and it went to rest.

This had happened at dusk and half of the night was what it took for the little spirit to digest the sapling. When it awakened, it found it was still inside the body of the sapling that had been reduced to nothing more than a tree. It had yet to start drying since it was night and was slowly growing weaker.

As the spirit tried to exit, for some reason, the opposite occurred and the small gem body was pulled and ‘melted’ into the sapling.

It began to pulse as the two began to merge and a blue mist of mana started to come from the tree. Slowly it began to gather on the body of the sapling and for the rest of the night, mana gathered and the tree, from the leaves to the roots and the very core of the sapling was crystallized making it stand out incredibly in the middle of the herb garden as the first rays of sunlight hit it and it began to mysteriously perform photosynthesis in it’s green crystal leaves.

When the family woke up, the servants informed them about the mysterious event and soon they looked to Crystal who looked downcast as he explained that mana gathered well there and he planted a minion there but couldn’t explain how it became a tree.

When Nadir saw it she was mystified and wanted to know what this was.

“Hey hey! What is this!? Why is a tree made of crystal here? Did big sis make this with Crystal?” Nadir asked.

“I am not sure? Do you know what it is, Crystal?” Jasmine asked.

He tilted his head and closed his eyes trying to somehow figure it out from any memory of his old world. It was then that he examined the minion spawning spell and information about all his minions began to stream into his mind.

“Gem Sapling Minion. It’s a gem spirit in the form of a sapling. Has the magic ability of a gem spirit and Tree Sapling.” Crystal asked.

“So it’s still a minion so maybe it’s just one of many variants that can happen by chance.” Jasmine said not angry but more excited.

She walked over and felt the leaves and was amazed by the natural feeling it had while also having the hardness of the gem. It was brittle though showing it was just like the old gem spirit.

“It’s very brittle, can it be moved?” She asked.

“Saplings can move and it is how they relocate to better places.” Xero explained.

“Alright, then uproot yourself and we can make you a bit stronger.” She said.

“Wait.” Xero said. “Saplings only move when they have too, if it’s something similar then it probably has similar biology. It is best to raise it until it can’t grow like how Crystal was before giving it a forging in one go before replanting it.” Xero said.

“I see, that is fine.” Jasmine said.

“For now, just stay here little one.” she said.

It shook slightly and the others went back to the house.

***

Nil, Zip and Void, as well as the little Sword Devil sent to transport them, were in awe when they finally arrived in the capital of the Lorian empire, Mjolnir, which is the name of the holy weapon of the Dwarven God.

Racial gods are much less represented among the church and orders of the Holy alliance and mostly the elemental churches are more powerful due to their widespread domain.

The city of the capital was built very impressively on top of a large mountain. The mountain was split into four sections, which also included the interior that was dug out and had large expansive cavern systems where countless flying beasts could still fly around inside.

The four blocks were properly broken down into, Outer layer, commercial layer, Noble layer and the Royal Castle.

The outer layer houses most of the commoners, being the largest and occupying nearly 35% of the mountain on the lower half of the mountain followed by the commercial layer where countless merchants and merchant firms set up their shops that range from animal trade to magic weapon shops.

The noble layer in the capital is where all the nobles who choose to live in the capital stay or when there is the annual meeting which usually brings many nobles all at once. To live in the capital one must be of the Viscount rank or higher and they must retain a certain margin of stability of their territory even if they want to live far away or adventure.

Finally, the Royal Layer is where the royal family and the Duke families stay, should the dukes wish to remain in the capital. This is the location of the Castle of the Royal family which was made impressively with the incomparable ability of dwarfs in masonry.

At the moment, the sword devil, in the form of a sword, was sheathed in Void’s sword sheath while the others were being lead by one of the maids of the royal family through the grounds of the Royal palace.

They were very careful as they headed to an underground war room that was almost like a stadium.

They arrived and after talking with some maids who had a long list, they were led to one of the seats.

Although the lower ranked nobles didn’t particularly know, each noble lived in a particular Dukedom of the empire and within each one there were factions and micro-factions.

The null family was part of the faction that Earl Fracess Horin Kree was part of for living within his territory of management. That said, this was simply a territory faction, such a faction was as tight as ripped cloth.

The Null family never focused on making large connections, mainly because it would take at least 2 or 3 years for the village to reach the status of town, which is a significant turning point, because once it becomes a ‘town’, which is when the population reaches over a few thousand, guilds such as merchants guild, adventurers guild, Mercenary and many other would be allowed to set up and this would further increase the flow of people allowing stronger people to flow through.

Previously when Nil had put up requests like dealing with the mountain lions, Goblin and troll tribes, he needed to go to the nearest town to access an adventurer's guild to put the request down.

Nil sat down with Zip, who was given the Lower Knight status for being above level 31, while Void had to remain standing behind Nil and Zip. Nil made sure to warn him to not say a word and if needed, only whisper to him.

Similar to him, there were quite a number of young men who were the children of the nobles who came.

From a small magic bag, Nil began to talk out scrolls and handed a few to Zip, Void bent over to see and it was actually all related to the Mines of the city.

“The production this year was quite high.” Zip said.

“For a newly formed mine, it was. If we are lucky, we will get a patron this year. Last year we lacked too much but with the base mine, we should be able to get a mining company to come and form a mutual benefits contract with us. Look…” Nil pointed to the VIP boxes above the nobles stadium where many people were watching and listening.

Nil sighed as he sat back, “Ah, just remembering last year gives me a headache.” Nil said and suddenly his familiar seal shined and Silver appeared sitting on the table as a small puppy.

“Master shouldn’t worry.” She said.

“Yes, I know, there was a drastic improvement this year since we had a complete year to work with.” He said and sighed and began to flip through. “Well the Spring harvest was quite good, hope that we can attract more farmers to expand.” He thought.

“Mistress is already known because of the incident. Maybe not this year but next year for sure there will be impressive growth.” Silver said.

Nil chuckled and pet the puppy that was his familiar making her tail wag and stretch.

Slowly the place filled up until a large trumpet announced the arrival of the Royal family.

All the nobles instantly stood up and faced the entrance and bowed.

“Greetings to his highness!” Everyone said in sync.

Finally, walking in, Morgan walked in with one of his arms bandaged up and his leg having a limp from the injury he received and had yet recovered completely from. Behind him, a tall brown skinned male walked while looking at everyone, scrutinizing the nobles carefully, one by one.

Behind him was a cocky but very tall Hybrid Dwarf which was the third prince, which is the third boy born and the fourth child overall, at an early age had been the cause of the Seven Cat bandits forming when their leader found the herb he wanted and used it for his breakthrough.

Known for his incredible cockiness most of the honorable nobles didn’t favor him for the role of next king.

Behind him was a short wild cat which was the form his familiar took when not in combat.

Behind them was Hilda, the second princess who is the second daughter born and the fifth child of the king, who was followed by a small sized tortoise which was her Familiar that was her Terra Tortoise. She was well dressed unlike before when she was in a knight armor and casual wear. She looked around and spotted Void before looking forward, a small grin appeared on her face as she followed her father and sat down with him.

The prince and Hilda were not from the same mother and were half siblings. Hilda was from the first wife and the prince from the second but he was born first. There were other siblings but they were in different positions such as army commander or general and other positions and these two were the younger ones.

Dwarfs have a lifespan of 200 years compared to human’s 100 years.

“Sit!” Morgan shouted and the nobles sat themselves.

In the crowd of nobles, the top three races, Humans, Dwarf and Cyclops, were all present. These three races were the predominant races of the nation.

“Alright, let’s get this started. We are going to cut this shorter than normal because of more important things. I want regional reports through Earl reports only.” Morgan announced.

The nobles were confused but they had everything up the line long before arriving, though very briefly so an earls report was usually called a regional report for development while lower ranked report was a more detailed one. This meant that the king used the alias of the annual meeting as a cover for a war meeting.

Like that, the Earls all began to give a general growth report of their territory and even this took a bit more than an hour.

“Alright, the growth is quite good this year.” Morgan nodded and looked at Hilda, “What do you think the policy for investment should be?” He asked.

“Hmm, considering the situation, 50% military, 25% agriculture and the other 25% should be left to the lords distribution. In the coming years, it will be more important to have more food. Maybe we should also think about opening the coffers and having a space magus create an artificial dungeon where we can use to provide food for the nation.” Hilda said.

A good number of nobles who had not gone to the dungeon, either for lack of the ability or whatever, looked shocked when they heard that and began to talk amongst themselves.

“Father, is this really necessary, we are so far from the front?” The prince asked with a sneer.

“We do, they aren’t limited to just fighting those at the front, they can sneak into the entire nation before we know.” Morgan said before turning, “To those who aren’t aware, this is news coming directly from my own eyes. The Holy city has fallen and a second demon invasion has begun.” Morgan said.

At once, an explosion of exclamations began all over but a sudden stomp from the familiar behind Morgan, the enter place trembled making them fearfully be quiet.

“My current injuries are because of this as well. Now, this meeting is both to represent the Annual meeting this year as well as act as a war meeting so that we can develop countermeasures early on as well as develop our army.” Morgan said.

“Father, what is the use of an army of grunts when we should focus on a group of elites!? We need to raise a hero or we will fall behind the other nations and Church!” The prince said.

“SILENCE!” Morgan roared and slammed his fist down. “That is your bloody opinion but mine, as emperor, is that we shall focus on our army and minions of the familiars! Just like Lord Archmagus Valmor had suggested! What would happen to the army while the so-called ‘heroes’ are fighting the countless demon lords attacking us now!? If we are weak then we will be whipped out and our elites will be cornered! Now shut up!” Morgan roared at his son.

Hilda did not pity him, she had warned him before, what is more, Morgan was a graduate student from Everlight, there is no way he would not take into consideration the wise words of the founder of his own academy.

“Now, as I was saying, the following years policy shall be as followed, 30% of the revenue of each village and town shall be for military development, 20% for military establishment construction, 20% agricultural development, and the final 30% are free for distribution depending on each town’s specialty.” Morgan announced.

“Father, about ‘that’...” Hilda mentioned.

“Ah yes.” Morgan perked up and coughed, “Would Greater Knight Nil Null stand and announce your position!” Morgan said.

Nil’s heart skipped a beat but he quickly stood up, “What does his highness wish of me?” Nil said in a very respectful tone different from the casual manner he had when the king visited him in the Snake den.

Morgan focused on the voice and looked at Nil before looking beside him and grinned, “Lower Knight Zip Null, also stand.” He said and Zip did as well.

“What are His highness’s order?” He asked.

“Now, this is the one of the newer knights with one a very high development recently. Now, the reason I had these two stand is because of Sir Zip’s familiar, that the higher ranked nobles should already know of, and should know about the agreement.” Morgan said.

Hilda clapped her hand and maids began to move out and hand each noble a sheet of paper and upon it was a contract. “This is a special contract made by myself and him, Sir Zip’s familiar is known as a Plated Devil, a special kind of demon race with the special ability to aid familiar and master through a breakthrough. Because of his own level, he can only perform the breakthrough of the 30th level but he can also help train soldiers. This contract is to be signed by everyone and upon it, once signed, you shall see all prices, which are quite low mind you, for the services he can produce. Just a warning, no one is allowed to force or threaten him for this or he has the permission to kill or call upon the royal knights to do the job.” Morgan said.

All the nobles began to exclaim once more when they heard a newly advanced lower knight actually had permission to summon the Royal knight.

Suddenly a Marquese stood up, he was a fat dwarf with a long beard, “Your highness. Is it wise to let a fledgling command the Royal Knights?” He asked.

“He isn’t in command, this is the royal family providing protection for him. In time, his ability to aid our army training will grow as he produces more of his own minions. But as I said, there is a price for it. Don’t even dare think of using a higher ranking status to suppress him. Even the dukes all know better.” he said looking at the dukes who solemnly nodded.

He gestured to Nil and Zip to sit before continuing, “Now, another pressing matter we have to discuss.” He said and looked at his son.

The prince stood up and shouted “Bring it in!”. A pair of Royal knights opened the entrance and behind them, a large cage was dragged in on a cart and inside were men in rags with bloody glowing tribal tattoos.

“YOU WILL ALL DIE TO THE GREAT SOVEREIGNS! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIEEEE!” The maniacal roar from the man filled everyone with a repulse.

“Your highness… what is this?” one of the Earl asked.

“Recently, there was an unnatural and drastic decrease in criminal activity without the register of any bounty being claimed so we began to investigate. We discovered an organization that was absorbing countless bandit groups by coercion or through other methods. It was a week ago that we captured… this and discovered that it is a heretic Demon cult. After calling upon all the churches and orders in the nation, their best identifier examined him and found that the familiars of the bandits were drawn out by force before being injected with demon mana and demon corruption particles. The familiar evolved into a demon and contaminated his body while he was brainwashed through severe methods resulting in this kind of… thing.” Morgan said and spat at the creature.

Everyone felt a cold in their belly when they heard a demon cult was near them.

“Can everyone understand now why I wish to increase the power of our base? On this topic, by my command, higher ranked nobles will aid weaker nobles to raise their strength and security of their towns. The focus now is to improve the Lower Knight ranks and their villages' safety. Nobles with stable towns and villages are to aid weaker newer knights who have recently become nobles. Be it clearing the surroundings or improving the village conditions or training the noble themselves. Within the next year, I wish to see a drastic improvement of both the quality of power of the army as well as the lower knight's.” Morgan said.

Suddenly a Duke rose up, “Your highness, if this happens, would this not simply increase the number of Lower knights the nation has? Raising an army is fine but with each guard or knight rising in rank will just inflate the number of nobles.” The duke asked.

“All guards and Knights must be under the Service contract before being given a familiar, even if they do become Lower Knights, it will be, in the lowest estimate, ten years from now. By then, with proper development, our borders should definitely have expanded and there will be plenty of development ground along the border zones. What is more, we need to replenish the lost Viscount and Earl we lost during the Battle of the Holy City.” Morgan said.

The duke nodded and sat down.

Morgan waved to the Knights to remove the demon cultist, and to go kill him.

“Alright, this should be enough for the meeting today, the following week we shall go into more specific details. The Lower and Greater knights can remain with our guest company men and speak business involving development and resources that could be exploited. The rest, have a good rest, I shall hold a banquet as a nobles gathering.” Morgan said and got up.

Hilda and the prince stood up and behind the king, they left and soon after the others began to leave by rank until the new Lower and Great Knights, the bulk of the nobles, were left. The men in the VIP boxes soon came down and with them speaking their company name, the nobles each took their own detailed reports and split into groups around different men and began to discuss business.

Zip accompanied his father but Void was bored during the meeting and returned to the room that they were given only to meet a maid who bowed, “Are you Young master Void Null?” She asked.

“I am, do you need me for something?” He asked.

She looked at him and Void recognized her as one of the maids that were with Morgan in the Snake Pit. She bent in close, “Princess Hilda requests your presence in her bedchamber.” she whispered and she chuckled before turning around and looking at him with a grin.

Void solemnly followed to the royal palace in a roundabout path avoiding the big nobles and was led there to spend the night.