King Oakenheart and I spoke at some length, almost exclusively about his love for his family, especially his daughter. He recalled her childhood in fondness, and his pride in the woman she’d grown into. He knew before her mother that Junipher was an independent thinker, blessed with the best traits of he and his wife. And many of the worst, he admitted with a throaty dry chuckle.

When he’d finished reminiscing, he called everyone back in and we conducted the ceremony that would commit our children to the soil of the Sacred Grove where they would continue growing for the next decade or two. This came to me as quite a shock. Junipher assured me they would eventually walk the world on two legs, but starting out life planted in the ground seemed odd to me.

Her older sisters came out of the tree line and assisted with gently separating the nutty looking seeds from her body, laying them in carefully prepared holes as if they were planting a flower garden. When I mentioned this to her later, she explained that is exactly what was happening, our children wouldn’t take form for many years, living as giant flowers until then.

It wasn’t until she said that that I remembered all the other massive flowers blooming at the edge of the grove as we marched in earlier. They looked like giant tulips, lily’s, or variations on any other flower one would see in a well stocked nursery.

She slept during the separation, gently humming to herself in her sleep. This was what she had been eager for. For her it was the natural order of things. Like most plants, she provided the initial nutrients to grow the seed. And the seeds needed to be spread into the world and allowed to grow.

After the last seed, our last child, had been placed in the ground, she woke from her gentle slumber and smiled at me. “It’s done. I’m still sleepy, come rest with me, Karl.” The retinue left us alone in a secluded section of the Grove where our children were settling into the dirt around us.

Junipher curled into my chest as we lay in the soft loam of moss and vibrant grass. She fell asleep humming to herself once again, a single hand pressed against my chest, with another shoved into the dirt. Reaching for the connection with her, our, babies.

Some time later she woke me with a gentle kiss. “I’m ready.”

“Mmmm, this place is… tranquil. Are you sure you are ready to go?”

“The planting is emotionally draining, not physical. I am ready, love.”

“Then let’s go.”

We left the Grove and our children behind, in the care of King Oakenheart, Queen Lira, and the dryads who tended all things in the forest. To her credit, Lira didn’t attempt to stop us or nag her daughter further. She even gave us both a hug and wished us good luck in our coming conquest of Phoenix.

I noticed that a very robust logging industry had sprung up all around the city of Payson, aided by the Dryads and smaller Treants that had come along with Junipher’s people. I also noticed critically a number of the former inmates from the Coronado unit that I had set free when I was less inclined to go full murderhobo on my fellow humans.

After some subtle inquiry I found that a couple dozen of the men had chosen to settle in Payson, as initially, the route to Phoenix was incredibly cluttered with high level monsters and dungeons. Since then, they’d carved a path that followed Hwy 87, across Bush highway, and into Mesa. Monsters were still a serious concern, though adventurers and dungeon divers provided security for the trade caravans that delivered lumber from Payson in exchange for fresh vegetables from Mesa. Additionally, an open Bazaar was set up in Mesa where various goods created in New Phoenix were also available for trade.

When we reached the city of Payson we were greeted by a delegation from the Council that brought us to the newly rebuilt town hall. Several men and women met us there and took us into the Council Chamber where we met with the City leader, an older blonde woman with a pleasant, but stern look on her face named Donna.

We quickly entered into a trade agreement, as well as a mutual defense alliance. Gregor commented that the quality of lumber they grew had some very physics-defying practical applications his people could apply to provide us with the settlement encompassing fortifications that we really wanted, but couldn’t afford.

With the agreements in place, and everyone seemingly happy with the arrangements, it was time for a party. Which allowed Gregor to present to me a pair of axes he had made to show his people’s appreciation for my patronage.

The workmanship left me speechless. I recognized the material the head of the axes were made of as being the same Dark Iron that Shubin’s people were mining for me. However the blades gave off a familiar blue sheen. A spiraling spike counterbalanced the blades, which were attached to a tough looking hardwood handle wrapped in supple leather. Just before the edge of the blade were what one could only describe as viking runes.

A quick analysis revealed their names and attributes;

Warlord, the Left Hand (M) Legendary

The Reaper and the Warlord Set (2/2)

Engraved: Strength +25

Engraved: Agility +25

Mod Slots: 3/3 Available

Damage Potential (DP) S+A/2

[+200%] Damage when used as a set

Special: Grace of the Plains Gazelle; Once every four hours boost your Agility by 100 for a single battle

Warlord, the Left Hand is a bearded axe specifically made for the Warlord of Winslow. When used with Reaper, the Right Hand, the already significant Damage Potential is doubled in each weapon.

Reaper, the Right Hand (M) Legendary

The Reaper and the Warlord Set (2/2)

Engraved: Perception +25

Engraved: Wisdom +25

Mod Slots: 3/3 Available

DP: S+A/2

[+200%] Damage when used as a set

Special: Dark Iron Grip; when set bonus is activated, neither weapon can be forcefully disarmed.

Reaper, the Right Hand is a bearded axe specifically made for the Merciless Reaper of the Foolish. When used with Warlord, the Left Hand, the already significant Damage Potential is doubled in each weapon.

I smiled like a kid at a candy store, spun them in my hands feeling their nearly perfectly balanced weight. He asked about that too, and took them back to a temporary forge where he added some weight to Warlord, and filed some away from Reaper. When he handed them back, they truly felt like they were made for me. I spent an hour working through some alien axe fighting forms the system had downloaded into my brain. When I was done, I returned to the man and showed him the Horns of Furcas.

“Now this my boy, I wish I had this before I made ye those. However. Yes. You should continue leveling them up. I suspect they will cap out at some point. When they do, bring them back to me. We will make something truly special of them.”

“Thanks again, Gregor. You really didn’t have to do this.”

He looked at my old pair of axes with disgust written across his face, “Oh, yes I did. Ye’ve put these inferior lumps o’ metal through ‘ell!”

Already the chipped and cracked axes were being broken down and returned to their base components. Likely to be used as repair material for other equipment. They had served me well. But, he was right, it was time to retire them. I thanked him again and then it was time to march south.

“I see Gregor finally found the right time to present you with his gift, you didn’t try to give it back, did you?” Junipher smiled as I climbed atop Kaia where she’d been waiting.

I smiled back, she really did know me, “I tried. Then I looked at my old ones and accepted the gift with as much grace as I could muster.”

She laughed lyrically and reached back for a kiss which I greedily obliged.

“Are you good to go? Do you want to stay with the children longer?”

“I am ready, my gentle man. It is time for you to seize your destiny I think. Our children are in good hands. Despite my mothers antics.”

“Yeah, I like your dad. Your mom, well, not so much.”

She laughed again, pressing against my chest, “Oh, she loves me, and wants what’s best. And to be fair, I am a charmer.”

It was my turn to laugh. Freya and Eli came up from the back of the quickly forming column of soldiers. Donna decided to insert a supply convoy into the middle of our formation since we were going the same direction anyway. I will say I liked the way the woman thought. She was all about efficiency, and rather than hire out adventurers to protect the supply convoy, she would happily task the massive army on the march with the protection of her people.

As I saw the logic in it, I didn’t object. The other advantage would be good word of mouth and solidifying our alliance. For once I didn’t have to trash a town and kill half its people to secure their cooperation. I was assured Mesa was purely defensive in their posturing and would gladly join any alliance that provided protection from the world as it was now. They had an uneasy agreement with the former Governor of Arizona and New Phoenix that allowed trade between the two peoples while staying out of the others' business.

According to Sam, Pleasant Lake was willing to align with us if we could remove the Litchfield Park problem. Which left New Phoenix and Chandler-Gilbert to contend with. New Phoenix had yet to reach out. Probably hoping they could put a halt to Litchfield’s encroachment on their own and not wanting to give up their autonomy. That asshole probably still thinks there is a way he can gain control of it all himself. No Senor, that ship has sailed.

Chandler-Gilbert was the complete unknown. Noone knew who was actually in charge. And they had pretty much gone full murderhobo on everyone that wasn’t them after the first couple of slave raids from Litchfield. On top of that they had nowhere to retreat to, as everything between Tucson and Phoenix was labeled a high level hunting ground. While the mountains to the east weren’t particularly overrun with monsters, they were quite steep and jagged. And of course, it was all hot desert. It wasn't very accommodating terrain to travel through, and you could still die from dehydration.

“Yes, sir. That would sum up the situation I’d say. Though I get the feeling the people of Pleasant Lake just wanted to be left alone before the System, and even more so now.”

“Ah, probably. Have we heard from Nandy?”

Eli looked at me blankly for a moment, the telltale blue glow in his eyes told me he was accessing information provided by his VPA.

“Mmmm, after the mana oversaturation event, she was trapped on the West side of Hualapai Peak, now a massive volcano. She and her party have been fighting across a high level hunting ground and are almost to Bullhead CIty. She said she’ll make contact, assess, then head down the 95 to Lake Havasu City. From there she’ll work her way to the 10 and come in from the west side of Phoenix. By then, sir, I suspect we will either have the situation with Litchfield wrapped up, or still be in the thick of it.”

“Sounds about right.”

With that said, we traveled in companionable silence. Or at least as much silence was possible with an army of four thousand troops following behind us. When we had made it halfway between Payson and Mesa, one of the supply caravan masters noted that they usually had to fend off packs of mutant animals at this point. This time nothing dared disturb our travel. The monsters were smart enough to know when they were seriously outclassed, or outnumbered.

This leg of the trip from Payson to Phoenix generally took an hour and a half by car. For us, it took a little over four hours. We arrived at Bush Highway sometime around noon and followed it as it hugged the raging banks of the formerly calm Salt River. Large fish leapt occasionally out of the river, snapping at oversized flying insects. Unusually oversized alligators, of which didn’t live in Arizona before the System, lazed in the muddy banks beneath tall palms that were mixed in with saguaro’s and mesquite bushes.

We turned our column down Usery Mountain Range Road, breaking away from the river to head toward the suburb of Mesa. When we reached the point where the upscale housing developments would begin we found miles and miles of fields. The occasional watchtower, manned by sharpshooters, dotted the landscape as people worked the fields around them.

One of the sentries spotted us and a horn sounded out, echoing off the mountain pass behind us. The farmers in their fields looked up instantly, a few didn’t bother to look and just ran. The ones that did look, paused at the sight of us and our banners streaming in the wind. With my massively enhanced perception I saw the settlement fortification some distant miles away come to life with activity as several dozen people poured out of the slowly closing gates. Defenders sallying forth to challenge our encroachment of their territory.

“Pardon me, uh, Mister… Warlord.. Uh… ummm… yeah. I should head out to greet them. Let them know you’re not some rampaging monster horde and such. Or, you know… slavers from Litchfield.” A young man with sandy blonde hair stepped up next to myself and my leadership group.

“It’s just Karl. I’m not big on titles, even though everyone keeps giving me more. Who are you, exactly?”

“Oh, uh, I’m the Caravan leader. From Payson? Jensen Grady, sir.”

He smiled awkwardly and waited for my assent.

“Will David Gonzalez be with that group?”

“Uh, yeah, should be.”

I motioned to my command team to follow me, then nudged the young nervous man forward. As we broke from the shadow of the mountain, Freya said what we’d all been thinking.

“It’s hot down here. How do your people tolerate it?”

Shubin laughed from the back of the group, “I find it quite pleasant. Cool even. I’m very interested in visiting the Hualapai Volcano. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a proper lava bath.”

“I agree with Lady Freya, tis a wee bit too hot for my liking.”, Gregor commented from next to Shubin.

“It’s the reason I moved up to Winslow in the first place. Can’t stand the oppressive heat.” Eli muttered while eyeing the fields around us as we walked to meet our greeting party, “It’s odd, not seeing all the upscale housing developments and box stores.”

We walked casually for another mile, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. When we finally neared the three dozen adventurers that had come out to meet us we stopped in the middle of the road and waited.

A short mexican man, all dark skin and thick goatee wearing a long-sleeved shirt rolled up to the elbows, blue jeans, tan ball cap, and a heavy .45 caliber pistol on his hip stepped up nervously. When he saw Jensen in our group he relaxed a bit. I decided to let the young man make the introductions for us.

“Uh, David!” Grady stepped forward and shook the man’s hand, “So, if you hadn’t guessed, this is the so-called Warlord of Winslow. He prefers Karl. And uh, Karl, this would be David Gonzalez, the leader of the Mesa settlement.”

I slid off Kaia and walked over to greet the man, “It’s good to meet you, David. Sorry if we startled your people.”

He looked up at me a bit dumbstruck, “Uh, yeah. I mean, yes, good to meet you too. Damn you’re big.”

I beamed at him and responded in as friendly a manner as I could muster, “Well, I decided to take the advanced genetic correction option at the kiosk. It allowed some… adjustments.”

He looked at me blankly for a minute before a knowing smile spread across his face, “Oh. Well, I’ll have to look into that later. Come, uh, we weren’t expecting such a large force. We have some empty fields to our West, between our border and New Phoenix’s. Your army can camp there if you’d like.”

“Thank you, Eli. Make it happen.”

“Already on it, Sir.”

“I’ll pull the caravan into the usual place and leave you to your business, David. Thanks to Karl’s people we were able to bring more than the usual shipment.”

“Oh, good, good. Let’s get out of the heat.”

“Yes, please!” Freya blurted out, sweat rolling from her brow. Everyone laughed a bit at her discomfort and we continued our march towards the city while the army circled around the fields to the position David had indicated.