“The four bastions of Kitharn?” Saana commented before sipping her drink, she continued to explain the situation bluntly, “From meeting Ordak and Kriil I would hope you’d have guessed. However, in the simplest terms. They are the four strongest warriors in Kitharn excluding myself, Maple, and Kendrick here.”

“The four strongest… so they are like Royal Guards?” Alister asked.

“Hah, we are, but in name only. After all, what's the point of being a guard to someone twice your level, like that monster among monsters stuffing his face?” Kriil hooted, blatantly insulting Kendrick, who did not care at all as he just laughed.

“You need a level above 100 and a rank of dukedom to be titled a bastion. Maple told me that's the prerequisites I should make. So, we have Kriil and Ordak, and then you got Ixi and Vespenia,” Kendrick explained, only drawing more questions.

“If I remember right… Duchess Ixiolath is an Arachne… and Vespenia is a Vespid Queen,” Alliana stated as she finished her cup of tea, setting it down. Only to see it had been refilled before she noticed. Looking around she narrowed her eyes and Olana also looked around, mimicking her.

“Ah, don't mind that. It’s just my maid, she’s quite shy so she prefers not to be seen. She has, how does Melissa put it… ‘min-maxed’ her chosen form of stealth,” Saana explained. Alliana gave a slight nod, still concerned about a presence she couldn't fully sense within the room.

“What’s an Arachne? Are those the people with the lower body of a spider?” Wisteria asked, before taking a bite of the food on the table.

Alister turned to her, “Mmmm no, those are Driders. I’ve also never heard of Arachne…” Driders were rare unless you knew where they usually lived, secluded in large cave systems only leaving to hunt in forests. They were a rather seclusionary race whose silk made some of the finest products. Entire tribes had been hunted and enslaved to try and make it profitable. Something Alister had doubted changed even today.

“Hmm well, as Ixi puts it, arachne are a subspecies of driders, although if you ask some heavily religious drider and arachne they’d say it’s the next true form of all worshippers of their goddess,” Saana explained in between bites.

“Their goddess?” Wisteria asked, her attention now clearly gained. “What does their goddess have to do with a subspecies being created?”

“Beats me! All scholars know is they started popping up after the OS appeared, and religious driders started babbling about their god ‘Ascending’. Whatever that means," Kendrick said before stuffing his face again.

Kriil sighed, “In case you don't know… Gods of races like… ours… can have a much more direct effect on us. Theologists say something about having a smaller highly specialized group of worshippers but who cares. All you need to know is that Arachne look just like humans but they got eyes like colored glass, two normal ones and six small ones. And four big ass spider legs growing out their back. Also fangs. Other than that. Pretty normal.” She took a sip from a flask. How she managed to drink with the mask on without making a mess was beyond Alister.

“A goddess caused a whole new subspecies to be born…” Wisteria mumbled amazed, ignoring the fact her teacup was once again full without knowing when it had been filled.

“Enough about them, trust me they’ll tell you all you want when ya meet them. Tell them ‘bout the holier than thou bugs so we can get this over with,” Krill complained.

Ordak gave a slight sigh, “Kriil, that's rude to Miss Vespenia. I know the Vespids can be a bit…. fanatic, but they are still allies.”

“The idea a Vespid queen at all willingly let herself be titled as a lesser title than queen, is simply amazing, " Alister mentioned drawing on his memories. Vespids were of race that looked like a mix of bees and wasps given humanoid form. If he had to describe them in as few words as possible, prideful fanatics would be the best. They were naturally gifted with essence, and they all worshipped their goddess the golden monarch with a religious fervor rivaling even the crusades of Iker. They were fairly well known as their "hives" could be considered cities, and they even participated in minor diplomacy with humans.

"I may not look it, or act it, or give any idea of it at all. But I am amazing at diplomacy," Kendrick said with a proud smile.

Saana unable to stifle a laugh, in the middle of sipping her tea, "Only if you account bestial races I'll agree…" With a mild chuckle, she wiped her face clean.

"Uhmmm this is all very interesting…. But, as Duchess what will I be doing?" Wisteria finally asked.

"Right! Your job, that's simple…….. Saana, what's her job? Are we just gonna have her do what Kriil, Ordak, and Ixi do?" He asked.

Saana looked at the small child. "Well if you do desire it you can perform the same actions we have the others do. Which is currently a military role as well as managing a large city and territory around it. Ixi helps with commerce but she's an outlier." She explained.

"You…. Only have your ducal roles manage a city?" Wisteria asked, amazed. "How does… your country function?"

Kendrick and Saana looked at each other before turning back to Wisteria. "My personal knight is very competent and very overworked. You might know him or not, his name is Wern Ohte. He is currently the head of commerce, diplomacy, logistics, reconstruction, finance, undead handling, as well the head of the military when I'm not leading it." She said calmly. Alister and Wisteria were silent, staring in confusion. They turned to Alliana who only gave a nod.

"I've met him before because of Dad. He's like a corpse walking…." Olana added.

"You have…. A single person managing all of that? How?" Was all Wisteria could ask.

Saana shrugging "He acquired the sleep nullification skill. As long as he eats and drinks, sleep is optional for him. I remember Maple saying something about how sad it was that a 19 yr old had already managed to acquire a skill that most should never need."

Wisteria could only stare before slowly turning to Ordak and Kriil.

"Don't look at me. I have enough trouble keeping my city barely functional. I was a huntress. Not exactly trained in doing this bullshit." Kriil hooted.

"Similarly, I am a warrior, while I led my tribe, there is a difference between 500 and 5,000. I am much more content helping where I am needed, such as culling undead and training soldiers," Ordack explained.

"Still…. Don't you have other nobles that were raised learning this stuff?" Wisteria asked, she had heard the civil war and following purge enacted by Saana were incredibly bloody but surely there was enough to help with those roles.

"Oh we do, they are all busy helping Wern. I don't know if the exact numbers are widely known. But only roughly 1/8th of the nobles were left alive after the purge. I do admit I may have made a few misjudgments…. I should have burnt all their corpses to ash instead of burying them. The undead is proving to be quite a hassle," she stated bluntly. Alister was amazed. How was this country even functioning? What type of queen killed almost the entire nobility of their own country?

“Anyway, we've trailed on enough. I have some chats with your king and queen due. And Kendrick needs to give our daughter the daily scry. She was so angry she couldn't visit with us, at least she is satiated with ‘video chats’ as she calls them… I do hope you come to visit Kitharn soon, I think she'd have fun meeting you two. It wouldn't surprise me if the poor maids and knights have had to struggle daily just to keep her in the castle. Ah, but do let us know when you plan to visit, we'll need to prepare the armored caravan, hire some priests, and prepare the knight escort. The undead are awful this time of year,” Saana said as she looked at a pocketwatch she kept.

"You've mentioned that a few times…. How bad is your undead problem for you to need that much?" Alister asked, concerned.

Kendrick shrugged, “Uhhh, well you can find them pretty commonly throughout the whole country right now. Of course, they are the most prevalent in the plains where the majority of the war took place, and with the fact most major churches aren't in Kitharn anymore after the purge and Vespenia says the golden monarch's blessing isn't designed against undead… We just kill ‘em and they eventually rise up again. We have high stone walls in place around as many villages, towns, and cities as we could." He took a long drink from his glass.

Wisteria looked at the two, then at Alliana. "I'm… skilled with essence, I don't know how effective it will be… but when I visit, I could try rituals to bless the plains to see if it helps," she suggested to Saana who closed her eyes in thought.

"Very well, that would be wonderful. When you do, ask my dear other half for your reward, be it money or artifacts he keeps a useless amount of both," Saana mused.

Kendrick turned to her, "It’s not my fault dungeons drop so much loot……"

Saana merely pet his head before standing, "We will be off now. Kriil, don't cause trouble. Ordak… don't just stand by and let her cause trouble. It has been pleasurable. Enjoy the food. Laven my maid will clean up when you're finished, and, as my daughter says ‘Au Revoir.’”

And like that, they quickly left. Leaving the room down to only five people. No, considering the seemingly invisible maid somewhere in the room, it would be six, to finish the small feast on the table.