Our only remaining unit had a single point of movement left. I could have taken them out of the region so that they would be safe for the rest of the day, but then it would take all three points of their movement to reach the settlement the next day. Alternatively, I could move them one tile closer, and then they would only be one tile away from being adjacent the next day. It would only take one more point of movement and they would still have two out of three points remaining, meaning that they would be able to retreat from battle if the unit in the region tried attacking them.

The problem with that was, if their unit still had movement points left, they would be able to attack us after moving and we wouldn’t be able to get away.

It was a tough choice to make and risky either way. But considering that we needed to do something or else we were never going to gain more population, it needed to be done.

I used up their remaining movement point for the day on moving closer to the settlement. That was the last thing I did for the day as far as the system was concerned. As for the rest of the day, after talking to Sara a bit more, I spent my free time exercising. I couldn’t let up on that just because of my situation. It took a lot of hard work to get into the shape I was in, and I planned on keeping that.

It was also a good way to pass the time and make sure that I’d be able to fall asleep early. And it distracted me from worrying too much about the unit.

Fortunately, seeing as how I was able to spend the rest of the day without any emergency interruptions and then woke up without anybody telling me about a sudden battle, that meant our unit was safe.

Now, before even getting out of bed, I opened the world map up to check on the situation.

And to claim the next lava lake tile while I was at it.

Needless to say, I wasn’t a big fan of what I saw. Their unit was directly south of our own. That didn’t necessarily mean they were aggressive, but it was still concerning.

Regardless, they needed moved. I sent them to the northeast tile adjacent to them and hoped for their safety.

I ordered the move, claimed a new lava lake tile, and double-checked everything. The hunter unit and new technology was still a day out, so there was nothing else for me to really do.

That meant I could go check on Enna.

“I’m coming in,” I said, standing at the entrance to Enna’s tent.

I heard some sort of grumbling, so I figured that meant it was alright for me to enter.

Inside… I saw a sight that caused complicated feelings in me. I didn’t like seeing her curled up on her bed with her hands over her abdomen in pain, but—well, she was out of her usual clothes. All she had on was a thin top that didn’t cover her arms and left most of her chest practically spilling out through the low cut at the top of it, and it looked like she probably wasn’t wearing any pants. Though, she did have her blankets pulled up enough to cover her legs. The point being, even though she clearly looked unwell… I got my first look at the serious weapons that were usually held back by her suit. They were massive. It was a shame that I couldn’t enjoy the sight more due to her being sick. A few, quick glances were all that I took.

“How you feeling today?” I asked her.

“Eughhhh,” Enna replied. “Ehhh….”

“That bad still?”

She nodded.

“Then I’ll hang out with you in here today. Don’t want to leave you suffering all alone. Might go look for Sara to see if she can use more magic on you.”

“She… what?”

“I caught her in the act yesterday. Looked like she was using magic to relieve you of pain.”

“Then… that explains why I woke up feeling fine in the middle of the night. I don’t know… if I like that. It gave me false hope that my period was over, which made it even worse once the pain came back…”

“Understandable. But now that you’re awake and know not to get your hopes up, want me to go find her?”

“I don’t want to be a bother. And… is it even alright?”

“Sara is fine now. We can relate to each other, and I know what kind of person she really is now. Unless she’s incredibly good at acting and deceiving me, but I don’t mind placing some trust in her until she proves that I shouldn’t. I’ll go find her, alright?”

Enna still seemed hesitant about accepting help from her, but she nodded and gave in.

Sara didn’t hang out with us after I brought her to Enna’s tent to help with the pain. Instead, she went over to the beach. She liked to relax there, apparently. I couldn’t blame her for it. Lazing about at the beach all day sounded nice even to somebody like me. But only on occasion.

What I really wanted to know was how her skin was still so pale despite spending so much time at the beach.

That aside, me and Enna talked more about our lives before the game. She told me more about what it was like to basically only live to work while barely being able to afford rent, and I told her about my past. I felt closer to Enna than Sara, so it only felt right to let her know about what I went through as a child since Sara got to know about it.

It basically turned into a venting session for both of us, and it was only interrupted when I received a notification that the unit completed their move order.

We were being followed, but not engaged. That was good.

Then, when I click minor faction settlement, I was informed that I had to go out to the council pavilion if I wanted to interact with it.

“I’m guessing because we can’t be watched right now,” I said to Enna.

“Right,” Enna said with a nod. “Political discourse always has to happen where it can be viewed. Before, the Summoning Stone served as the meeting area. Now that you built the Council Pavilion, meetings and other things like that have to take place there.”

“Got it. Feeling well enough to join me out there?”

“I—I am, but… can you leave first so I can get changed?”

“You mean you’re not going to let me check you out all day? Shame.”

I couldn’t resist, and it was absolutely worth seeing Enna light up with a bright red face when she heard that.

“I’ll catch you outside,” I said before she could even recover enough to reply.

Now, at the Council Pavilion with Enna, Thad, and a few other demons who were around and had nothing better to be doing and wanted to watch, I clicked on the minor faction settlement again and was given two options.

One, I could make contact with them.

Two, I could attack them.

Seeing as how I wanted to assimilate them into our empire and not kill them, I chose to make contact with them.

The window then grew in size until it looked around the same size as a standard, flat-screen television and displayed a message that read, “Waiting for receiver.” It took a couple of minutes, but that message eventually disappeared as a live image took its place. I saw tents in the background that looked just like ours, and it looked like there was another, active, summoning stone right in the back. The ground around the place looked flat and covered in ash, but that was to be expected considering that they also formed their settlement in ash fields.

More importantly, I felt like I was looking at another member of Hell when I looked at the barely clothed woman in the center of the screen looking straight at me.

Her skin looked unnaturally dark. Not black, but more like the color of charcoal. Though, the color of her skin was the least surprising thing about her. Her forearms were covered in black and red fur that extended out into massive paw-like hands tipped with crimson claws. The same fur could be seen around her neck, but the rest of her body from the waist up looked perfectly human. Then there was a pair of wolf-like ears that stuck up out of her long, thick hair that matched the rest of her body in color albeit with some burgundy thrown in. Then there were her eyes. The white of a normal human’s eyes was replaced with black and her pupils almost looked like they were glowing with the color of a burning fire.

As for clothes, all she wore a spiked, metal collar around her neck sitting on the fur there, and what looked like black, metal… I wasn’t even sure how to describe them. They were more like metal ornaments sitting on her breasts that covered up her nipples while leaving everything else exposed than actual clothes. They weren't quite pasties as they did extend toward her sides a bit, but I had no idea how they were staying in place.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to say to her, but I had to say something. So, I introduced myself. “I’m Clay. I’m not sure what else to say, so I’ll get to the point. I want you to join us.”

The woman on the other side of the screen smiled. Now I just had to hope that was a good thing.