"Very well, to those returning to the Bastion of Hope, and those coming to my Sanctum, you shall stay here. Everyone else, you are free to take residence with the soldiers while we determine the population size and available buildings." Willem had already began thinking about how he was going to reconstruct Paradiso Rosso to suit his needs.

As the soldiers and humans left, Willem began laying down the teleportation array. The room for this particular array was more condensed and also had to be drawn with beast blood, to match the flow of blood and magic in the Stinging Blood Tortoise.

"Ashkatar, I am creating a teleportation array within you that connects directly to my Sanctum. You of course are welcome to create a small corporeal body and use it at any time you wish." Willem connected his mind to the Stinging Blood Tortoise while also drawing the array.

"So you have come out victorious in your battle and seek to make some changes. Very well, I will take you up on that offer, little one. My Tortoise body is still too weak to move right now, but to be able to travel in a smaller body is indeed within my capabilities. You come up with such funny ideas, so you are at least a little more interesting than the previous - ... What did you call them? Magical Beings?" Ashkatar responded.

"How long will it take you to make the body?" Willem asked, slight taken aback.

The corporeal body magic was just Willem throwing out an idea, but he was not sure if it was true. It was mentioned in one of the fables tucked away deep in the Library's 'Fables and Other Tellings' section.

"No more than a day." Ashkatar severed the mental connection and began to focus his own magical power.

If anyone currently standing with Willem in the spire had heard the conversation between him and Ashkatar, they would have nothing but questions or a look of awe.

The teleportation array was beginning to take shape, and the connection with the array in the Sanctum was becoming more stable.

"Focus..." Willem muttered.

Establishing the connection from here to the Sanctum proved to be alot more difficult than when he was just putting them on a few stones. The strength and stability of the current array had to be maintained without any fluctuation while it took form.

After an hour, the array had finally taken form. Compared to the significantly less amount of time needed for the first array, this was developmentally on a whole different level. The complexity of the structure gave credibility to it's potential usage.

"First I will test the array, and then I will return and guide you all." Willem walked into the newly created array, still smelling of fresh beast blood.

The array began to glow as the magic coalesced and brought forth a brilliant shine. Willem disappeared from Paradiso Rosso and re-appeared in his own Sanctum.

The men and women standing around the array all recognized him immediately and began kneeling with joy.

"Young Master, to see you in such good health. Truly a miracle." An old man raised his head and spoke praises to Willem.

Willem accompanied the speech of the old man with a smile.

Everyone excitedly began chattering back and forth, seeing Willem alive and well after the announcement that they were going to fight in a war with the Dark Elves.

Though... The smell of beast blood was a bit overpowering to the ones closest to him.

"I have suppressed the Dark Elves and have taken control of the living space they once occupied. Those who opposed me are dead, those who bowed to me are alive. Call for our best workers, builders, and craftsmen. Have them ready to move in two days with necessary materials for reconstruction, further information will follow. Also, clear the array for thirty seconds while I bring back those who were kidnapped by the Dark Elves." As fast as Willem had appeared, he quickly disappeared.

Some of the humans could only stare blankly at Willem. Taken control of the Dark Elves home? In a matter of hours? Was such a thing even possible?

Yet it was undeniable that Willem was now standing in front of them, with no physical injuries, looking every bit triumphant and regal.

Many people began to run away from the array to carry out the Grand Mage's orders.

Willem went back to Paradiso Rosso and gathered the rest of the humans into the teleportation array.

"I thought we would be travelling back by foot. To think, there was even magic for going between great distances." An older man spoke aloud.

"How much magical energy is necessary to power such a big array?" A teenage boy asked quizzically.

Ignoring the questions posed by the confused humans, Willem focused.

"Here we go..." Willem began to operate the array and teleported everyone into the Sanctum.

What greeted Willem on the other side of the Sanctum was a round of applause and cheering from the current denizens of the Sanctum.

"That's our Young Master!"

"Bring the good food."

"Smells like beast blood, hahaha."

Many people were talking excitedly.

"Daddy, who is that man?"

"He's the guy who saved us."

"Oh. I want to grow up to be like him."

A father and son talked back and forth while smiling happily.

Seeing the atmosphere and camaraderie between the young and old, some of the rescued humans changed their minds about returning to the Bastion of Hope and instead opted to remain in the Sanctum.

"Young Master, here is the most delicious apple I could find." The old lady who usually greeted new arrivals presented Willem with a beautiful red apple.

"Thank you." Willem accepted the apple and took a bite.

The apple juices dripped down the side of his mouth as he slowly chewed, savoring the taste. With magical power flowing through his body, all senses were enhanced, including taste.

"Delicious." Willem smiled as he spoke.

Everyone erupted into praise and happiness, genuine smiles on an otherwise normal day within the Sanctum.

"Young Master, the reports for the generic materials." A young woman in tight clothes and wavy blonde hair passed a piece of parchment to Willem.

"This should be sufficient to start, well done." Willem glanced over the material list and confirmed the amount.

In mere hours, thousands of pounds of clay, cut blocks of compressed earth, wood and various other materials were at the array, ready to go at a moments notice.

Willem focused on the array and brought the rest of the humans to his old home, in the Bastion of Hope. Understanding that the Bastion of Hope was already destined to die, Willem gave each of the humans who returned three gold coins to spend as they wished.

Receiving the three gold, the humans bowed gratefully and left towards the homes and possible family that they had left behind when abducted.

Willem watched them go, before returning to Paradiso Rosso and overseeing the events.

Two days pass.

The first two days pass without incident.

Paradiso Rosso's first day had a funeral for their fallen soldiers, those who protected their families and friends from an unknown threat. Then they had a celebration that lasted another day, where they drank and fucked and fought until they were exhausted. The burden on the hearts of the people eased as they realized that their new leader was quite magnanimous, and also true to his word. He promised to do his best to accommodate the people and he came through quite brilliantly. Handing out food, accepting burial rites, and solving any problem with an efficient chain of command and proper management of available resources.

On the third day, the real trial of rebuilding the city in his image began. After some open deliberation, Jura the Architect became the chosen representative of the Dark Elves. He quickly established a chain of command that allowed anyone with special circumstances or concerns to be heard. There were also daily and weekly planned meetings that would allow anyone to express their concerns or for events to be brought up.

Willem had confirmed the materials with his own two eyes to ensure there was no faults, and craftsmen were working at full capacity to ensure that the buildings could actually be restored to their former glory. In the case of shoddily crafted buildings, they would be torn down and rebuilt anew.

There was a brief re-adjustment period where the interactions between the humans (whom had never had interactions with Magical Beings) and Dark Elves (whom had previously treated humans as slaves) awkwardly communicated and the pace of a few projects slowed down.

The Stinging Blood Tortoise had created a homunculus in order to communicate with the denizens inside as well as try out the teleportation array that Willem created. When the body was created, Willem prepared some clothes and introduced him to the people inside him.

The body that the Stinging Blood Tortoise created was of a middle aged man, and if Willem was to guess the age he would most likely have said forty or forty-five. The body had a long white beard, with a few twinges of black hair strewn around for flavor. His eyes were dark red, the same deep color as the blood pulsing in his body. His build was tall but scrawny, as if he had only ever needed to do the bare minimum to survive. All in all the best word to describe how he now looked could be summed up as 'Sagely'.

Only a few Dark Elf Royalty had actually been able to speak with the Stinging Blood Tortoise before the war, so having him in front of them now was a great shock to the citizens. Willem did his best to ensure public order was maintained, but many of the Dark Elves would constantly bring gifts and try to carry favor with the Tortoise's homunculus.

A chamber was designated for the homunculus to reside in, and he became an unofficial 'adviser' to Willem, so that he could oversee some of the interesting projects that were being created. Most of the projects that held his interest were clay-fired creations of creatures that he would describe and artists would do their best to depict. The closest one to create the creature he described would get the honor or presenting their pottery creation, and the others would still get to take home their bowls or cups.

Willem quickly learned that the Dark Elves had a certain affinity for handicrafts involving wood, capable of creating beautiful works of art simply with few tools.

The wood and clay that Willem had brought was rough and not well processed, so most of the time in the beginning was spent treating the wood and de-airing the clay.

Luckily Jura was able to make up for the slight downtime by planning out the overall architecture of the various building and getting approval from Willem about where and what to build.

The teleportation array allowed for the Dark Elves whom had some free time to also visit the Private Sanctum of Willem and interact with it's inhabitants, which Willem was more than happy to allow. The first step toward making Paradiso Rosso a neutral zone was to make sure there was no animosity between humans and Magical Beings. Dark Elves would go to the Private Sanctum in the morning, exchange their handiwork with the people inside, and then eat until they were full and leave. The people of the Sanctum would then take the teleportation array to the Bastion of Hope and sell the handiwork to other buyers for a little bit more money, making sure to make a profit. All the money that was made was put in the treasury managed by the Curo family, formerly the bank of the crown. Any money that was taken out was documented, signed and tracked to ensure that the expenses did not get out of hand.

The female head of the Curo family personally reported the total expenditures as well as any gains or losses to Willem in a private room, which made others begin to speculate if they only had a 'working arrangement' or if there was something more. The colorful rumor was that beneath the cold exterior of the Curo family head was a woman bursting with passion. The rumor was never confirmed to be true or false, and the question seemed to die just as quickly as it had spawned.

Willem would constantly travel between Paradiso Rosso and the Private Sanctum, speaking to and leading his people. To anyone that approached him, be it a small child or a frail old man, a pregnant woman or his closest friends, Willem would always spare a few words.