“Thank you all for gathering here. This will be our very first council meeting for Mayheir City. I know the past 2 weeks of elections has been taxing on all of you but at least we are now making progress. Each one of you have been nominated to represent your respective sectors because you have the most experience, the best skills, and the most trust in your profession. So I believe the choices you make in the future would benefit the city greatly,” Mempheus announced clearly as he stood at the end of a large conference table, speaking to 10 different individuals.

The important characters seated around the table were as such –

Kina the Blood Maiden in charge of the specialised combat unit and Magus training unit

Drimmore the Giant dwarf hybrid in charge of weapons and armour

Finnel the first general of the city guards

Jorrel the head of agricultural sector

Heinne the leader of the hunters association

Emillia the head of the merchants’ association

Mersa the leader chosen by carpenters and construction workers

Allistor the official Mayheir treasury’s treasurer and manager of the only bank in Mayheir city

Mallistor her brother, the head of the largest mining organisation in Mayheir

Gunther, the man in charge of the docks and the majority of the shipyards in Mayheir City.

These 11 people at the table represented the pinnacles of power in their respective fields and were gathered together after 2 weeks of elaborate and arduous voting by the citizens. Since the speech given by Mempheus that night on the wall, everybody had moving in high gear as they prepared for the upcoming war. This was the first meeting to discuss changes and concerns from each sector as well as a chance to collaborate with the leaders of other sectors for mutual benefit. 4 women and 7 men held the fate of Mayheir city in their hands.

“So let’s start the meeting today. Do any of you have any concerns you want to bring up right away?” Mempheus asked. Immediately, a few hands rose up immediately. Mempheus looked at Finnel and nodded, signalling for him to speak.

“I understand from our last private meet-up that you want to integrate the adventurers association with the city guards, forming a combined army. I still think this is going to be very difficult since these adventurers lack the discipline to follow orders and are prideful in their own way. Personally, a few of my captains and I feel that it will be easier to work separately.”

“Finnel, I’ve said this before. Easier doesn’t mean better. For now, create a separate division under the army to help ease the adventurers into the regimental system. Kina, you hold some sway with these adventurers since they look up to power. Help convince them to obey the directions of the army superiors. We need to stay coordinated and united to win this war.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Then that also leads to another issue, we are going to need an unprecedented amount of armours and weapons for the new recruits, as well as larger training space and more accommodation facilities. Our budget is tight as is, and we will need to provide for the new recruits’ living expenses and salaries too.”

“The smithies and forges are already working at full capacity Finnel. We are already depleting our storage of metals and ores rapidly. At this rate we can only support the production for another few weeks at most. It doesn’t help that your payments for our products are often late. We are unable to purchase more materials because of that. If we are to take out money from our own pockets to purchase ores, I doubt our people will be willing.”

“Mallistor, how’s the mining going on your side? Is there any chance that you can pick up the pace and improve the production rate?”

“Everything is fine on my side Mempheus. My associates have just prospected 7 new mining locations. If I am to increase the production, my only issue would be manpower. We need not only more miners but also tools and waggons and guards. We are barely making any money as of now.”

“Don’t give us that crap Mallistor. We all know just how much you charge for the ores. You have a monopoly on the mining industry and charge five times what the ores are worth. You even bribe my merchants to not import ores from the mainland just so that you can keep the prices high!”

“Well that’s going to be a problem Mallistor. For now, you are going to work with all of us. At least until the war is over. You are to reduce your profit margins to 50% from the current 400%. It should be enough for you to continue living your current disgustingly luxurious lifestyle. Finnel, assign more guards to escort the transport of ores. Emillia, I want you to begin recruiting people from the mainland. We are severely short on manpower. Do not charge them fees for coming to Mayheir. Instead, Allistor will cover your costs for transporting the people over. Drimmore, I hope this solves your issue on lack of materials, so urge your associates to work just a bit longer, at least until our current expansion phase is over.”

“Umm... There might be an issue on our side too if things are done your way.”

“Food shortage you mean?”

“Not right now, but I foresee drastic food shortages in a year at the rate we are expanding.”

“Fine. We will need more farms then. I trust Mersa should be able to handle the infrastructure involved? We will use the wide expanse of land outside the wall. Heinne will need to increase the size of his hunter's association to keep the population of wild animals down while providing to the food supply. Heinne and Emillia and Gunther, you three are going to need to work together to create a separate division that specialises in fishing. Emillia, I will pass you a list of food products to prioritise importing to our city. It is important that we diversify the nutritional intake of our soldiers and citizens. Kina, I trust that you and your special combat unit will be able to keep demons at bay. During this phase, we will be unable to lend you any soldiers as they will be undergoing intensive training. Any other questions?”

“This increased movement of merchants will surely not go unnoticed by pirates. Security is going to be a problem in the seas as well.”

“No, it won’t. You can tell your merchants to just travel with peace of mind. I will handle it.”

“Girl, I acknowledge your abilities, but even with someone of your capabilities, don’t you think you are shouldering too much responsibility? We cannot afford to let up on defence and you are saying you will handle not only our borders but also the trade routes? Why not just let my men handle the borders so you can concentrate on protecting the merchants?”

“Like I said, it won’t be a problem. I won’t be handling the trade routes by myself, but I’ve got other methods.”

“Finnel, just leave it to her. She’s got more tricks up her sleeve than you can ever anticipate. Just make sure to push your soldier hard. My Alchemist’s association will provide you with as many potions as we can concoct. Naturally, I’m going to need the hunter’s help in gathering the relevant herbs and plants. Will that be alright Heinne?”

“Not a problem.”

“OK then, everybody knows what they need to do. If there is nothing else, let’s end the meeting here. It was short but I think we made considerable progress. Finnel, I will need you to arrange a separate meeting with the various divisions within your army on a later date. I will like to look over the training programmes for the blade division, blunt weapons division, spear division, archers, scouts and mages,” Mempheus concluded.

With a firm nod, Mempheus ended the meeting before standing up from his seat. The other 11 representatives did the same motion, leaving the conference room before Mempheus. A short while later, Kina returned into the room, as if checking for the presence of other prying eyes.

“Ok. The coast is clear, mum,” she spoke out quietly. The moment she did, Mempheus quickly transformed back into a humanoid slime. The moment he did, the morphling quickly attempted to escape, as if running from a predator. However, try as he might, unbeknownst to him, his feet had already been wrapped in silvery mana threads. It let out a muffled scream before it disappeared into thin air.

“Phew. That was a long meeting. How are you doing Sana?” Kiefer asked, appearing from thin air together with Isana, having been cloaked in the room the entire time. Isana seemed visibly weak, her forehead sweating profusely and her originally rosy red lips paled a shade.

“I’ll be fine after a short rest. It’s more difficult than I imagined, controlling this morphling. Just making it maintain its transformation takes quite a bit of concentration. I don’t think I can control the puppet for longer than an hour each time. At least you were there to help me through the city planning. Lucky you had prior experience remodelling a city,” Isana replied in a tired voice, smiling at Kiefer.

“How long do you think it will take before the city is ready?” Kina asked curiously.

“I’m not too sure really. I would say 10 to 20 years if slow, 5 years if we are lucky. But the city is not important. What really matters will just be your Special Combat unit. Your unit along with your mother and I will be the main force attacking the demon’s headquarters. Speaking of which,” Kiefer paused and took out a tablet. After fiddling with the screen for a while, he brought up a map with thin red lines scribbled all over the place.

“This is the top view of the surrounding area as mapped out by the harrier jets. These lines show the locations that the tracker has been to since it has been activated. The movement and dates of the tracker can be seen here. I think it has been discovered or fell off Galbot’s armour since the tracker has been moving steadily down the river for the past 3 days,” Kiefer explained, pointing to the map.

“It looks like Galbot, or at least his armour has been to these three places the most,” Kina added, circling 3 spots on the map where the red lines connected frequently.

“Yes, but I think those three locations are not important,” Kiefer argued, bringing up a table of values. This table showed the coordinates of the tracker at every 10 minutes for the past few weeks. Just as he said that, a new value popped up on the table as the thin red line extended itself down along a river. “What’s intriguing is this place,” he continued, pointing to a spot on the map according to the coordinates on the table. “This is the only location where the tracker stopped transmitting a signal. And he’s gone there only twice. Once right after our battle, and another time 5 days ago.”

“So you think he entered some kind of protective field of something? I mean you said that this tracker can even transmit data from within a Faraday’s cage,” Isana asked.

“Yes, that’s exactly right. And if we zoom in a little,” Kiefer said, double tapping the map to zoom in on the picture, “We can see a cave here. I suspect this cave is where he meets is so called demon god.”

“Ok good. So what’s the plan now? What do you want me to do?” Kina asked, seemingly eager to go smash the cave in.

“For now, you train. I will ask Rose to increase the difficulty of his training for you. I will be training you in magic as well. The same goes for your squad. However, I have to move the super-carrier first. I’ll anchor down in the middle of the trade route and then set the harriers on patrol. I’ll think of a way for each harrier to guard a few merchant ships,” Kiefer replied, much to Kina’s dismay. She knew that her recent performance had been less than satisfactory, which is why her father was making the training harsher.

“It’s going to be alright baby,” Isana consoled, hugging her daughter. “Soon, we will be able to go home. Once your father and I collect enough Soul Flowers, What happens to this world is of no concern to us. Just persevere for a little longer. We will be going home soon.”