The trip back to Xiwang took a couple of weeks. There were a few other beasts that I had to contend with, but nothing as powerful as the tier two feline. Most of that time was spent breaking a trail among the brush.

The Earth aligned cultivator proved her worth and why having her abilities as part of the people that would build the Dojo and expanded the town was going to be so important. She had begun creating a road that would make it easier for anyone heading towards the Sect to use.

She had to wait until once we crossed over into my territory. I hadn't thought to ask for permission to build a road on the territory controlled by the Sect. Actually, a road was giving it more importance than what she created was. It was more a trail, wide enough for four good sized mounts to ride beside each other. She compacted the ground enough that it could withstand the forest's attempt to reclaim what she had created, at least for a few years.

This world used roads made of paving stone and bricks, but only in towns and cities. There were reasons for not wasting resources connecting cities together. The world energy was so dense that cement or bricks broke down too quickly to make the effort or expense cost effective. The world was too large, and the cities to spread apart was another consideration.

There were no billowing clouds of smoke streaming from the town when we finally exited the forest and entered the area surrounding the town. That area that had been cleared of trees still needed to be addressed, but the indiscriminate burning of forest and trees had stopped.

As we approached the town, I decided I would have to find a different way to make the trip between Sect and town. There had to be an easier way to ferry people from the Sect. This trek of weeks each time someone without the ability to fly needed to travel was a waste of time.

The solution was simple enough. I needed to prioritize a landing field for large flying beasts. A terminal where they could be fed, watered, and passengers could embark and disembark.

I could negotiate a schedule with the Sect, or individual Beast Tamers interested in making extra money. It might be too expensive to have a flight scheduled daily, but even once a week would result in a major savings of time.

I took flight once the last of the new members of House Myche had left the forest to get a good look at the town, but everything seemed as peaceful as it had when I left. We were arriving in the late afternoon, and I could see people going about their business without the worry or stress that they had labored under when Chon ruled.

It seemed like everything was under control and as that thought materialized; I realized that this was the first time I was arriving at the town without some emergency to deal with. Nothing was burning, no one was attacking, and the citizens weren't being exploited.

"I've sent a missive to Gwen, the woman I have organizing and running things in my absence to let her know we are arriving," I told the gathered cultivators that I had recruited after I landed. Now that I was assured that things were under control in town, I felt the tension that I hadn't realized I was carrying ease.

A guard detail met us at the gate. One much changed from the first time I'd arrived. They were wearing pristine uniforms and stationed to stop everyone from entering. And they were doing their job.

The sloppy disregard and apathy that had taken root under Chon was gone, and the men and women that Guard Commander Belize had stationed here were focused on their duty not betting their hard-earned salaries on games of chance in the guard station while ignoring their responsibilities.

"Baroness," one of the guards said, as he moved forward to greet me. I wasn't sure how he knew who I was. I hadn't really had much to do with the guards yet. Perhaps he had been one of those on the docks when I fought off the cultivator.

He wasn't the only guard to approach. A few others moved to speak with the people with me, asking for names that were recorded in jade tokens along with an image of the person. This was a new development, one I approved of. I wasn't sure who had come up with the notion, but I liked it. It would make creating a database of who lived in the city, who was visiting, and what skills and talents they had much easier.

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"Commander Belize has assigned a squad here to wait for your arrival. He has been informed that you are traveling with new cultivators and positioned these people here in case you feel the need for an escort," the guard informed me, pointing out a small detail of people that were waiting in formation on the other side of the gate.

I suppose that a guard detail was something that I should expect when dealing with my governmental responsibilities, but that could wait until the future. Although the guard company did have a few Body Refinement cultivators, most of them were non-cultivators, simply trained in basic weapons techniques, and would be of little help if they attacked me or the cultivators with me.

"Thank you, that won't be necessary," I informed him. They would be more of a hindrance than a help, for now. "Please inform the Commander that I won't be requiring a guard detail, at least for the foreseeable future."

His bow, one of retainer to sovereign, was the only signal he gave that he heard and would obey. The action made me uncomfortable, because it highlighted just how much power I had over these people. At least he wasn't genuflecting.

I noticed that the guards gathering information had finished, so motioned to the cultivators with me to follow as I set off toward the Keep.

Gwen would most doubt be working, and I needed to find out where she planned on housing my new House members until they built the Dojo and House Myche. The town was much changed from the last time I had walked the streets. The obvious signs of rebuilding a sign of a city undergoing revitalization.

There was a restrained chaos, a bustle and liveliness everywhere we passed, a frenzy of activity as people worked that only increased as we finally reached the Keep. People moving with purpose, more people than I had expected.

I was pleased to note signs of repair and new construction as we'd walked. They had put the building arrays I had purchased to good use, replacing abandoned or decaying buildings with new. It was that obvious progress that lulled me into thinking things were busy, but a normal, everyday type of busy.

"Gwen?" I asked as I waded through the people swarming in and out of the town's keep. I'd had the cultivators wait in the courtyard, deciding there was no reason for them to face the crowded conditions, only to leave when I found where they were going to be housed.

"What's going on?"

"Most of this is just normal daily business," Gwen informed me, confirming my earlier thought. "Now that you have contacted each town in your Fief, we have had to start working to centralize information. Because of that, information from each town arrives daily and needs to be assessed and condensed into documents to be saved and progress reports for your attention.

"Some of this is in preparedness for the cultivators you mentioned, a mix of people that have been tasked with helping them as they familiarize themselves with the town. They have volunteered to serve as guides and liaisons, helping the new people become familiar with the town and serving as temporary staff.

"In addition, a ship put into port yesterday with trade representatives on board. One of the larger cities outside of our territory hoping to establish trade relations now that a Baron has claimed us.

"They are probably the first of many cities that will send out tentative feelers to meet with you. Other cities are going to send people to try to determine what kind of ruler you are going to be, and if your government will be stable enough, and fair enough, concerning taxes to trade with.

"A bit of this is in response to a lost group of hunters. Their signal device has stopped working. That only happens if a hunter destroys the device by accident or they are killed. The devices are a method we use to monitor and keep updated on their safety.

"That the entire group's signals have vanished suggests they met something in the forest they couldn't handle or escape and have died. We are trying to gather a group of people to search for the lost hunters and determine if they still live.

"And the final bit of confusion has to do with a cave system that was discovered on the cliffs along the coast to the north. A team of prospectors arrived claiming Compsognathus had attacked them, beasts that shouldn't be making their home in a cave system. Compsognathus hunt near bodies of water, their diet primarily consists of fish. There is no reason an entire herd of that type of dinosaur should be living within those caves.

"What is even stranger is that the beasts are working with and supported by the Desmodus draculae. The flying bats should have been attacking the Compsognathus, not protecting them."

It seemed my schedule was going to be tightly packed for the foreseeable future. I would have to prioritize what to do and when the issues Gwen outlined needed to be addressed. And somehow, I would need to make sure to introduce the new cultivators I had recruited to the newly awakened cultivators I had initiated into House Myche.

Each group would need to be given directions and resources.

The first thing I would need to do was hunt down the missing hunters. I would talk with Gwen about this signaling device once I had determined their safety. It seemed like something that could be used more effectively. If the device was able to stay linked, then perhaps a way could be created to use them for a more robust method of communication.

I really wanted a create a device to allow for voice communication across distances. Something to replace the missives that Clan Velize had tampered with.