A lot of things had changed over the five days that Cain was holed up in the beach house and not checking messages. First and foremost was the fact that the Giants had made landfall on the Northern Continent and had captured over a hundred gnomes in the first city, confirming their suspicions that the Humans were hiding the species within their borders.

That had solidified their intentions to push inward, and the majority of the army was now somewhere inland, hunting for the remains of the species.

The second was that the Wave Riders had taken over the majority of the trading to the North, with only a few large trading groups still challenging their monopoly on the North Sea.

The Elves had sent dozens of ships out to make contact with the cities that hadn't attended the summit in Assah to see if they were interested in making themselves a stop along the newly forming trade routes and they were getting a very solid response.magic

The war in Landis and the Great Desert had a huge impact on merchant's vessels, with many being sunk, so every region of the planet was short on them at the moment, leaving the Wave Riders a perfect opening to muscle into the market with global trade routes.

The rapid power increases caused by the towers should have been the third, but they had been completely overshadowed by the news that the Prophetess Cyrene was going to have Guild Master Cain's children.

The followers of the Outreach Work Doctrine were insanely protective of her as their leader, and the abduction of Misha had deeply rattled them since there was no way at all to prevent it or recover her. Many of them assumed the children of Misha to be lost to this world entirely, unlikely to ever be able to return, and they simply couldn't accept that such a thing would happen to their Prophetess, who guided their expansion with such grace and benevolence.

After all, with the power to level a continent at her disposal, what other leader would have used her visions to lead them to the least violent way to expand their influence? Surely it was the will of the Guild Master that they had reached such heights with so little conflict.

By the evening of the fifth day, Cyrene was mobile again, having rested enough to be functional, while the opposite was true of Nila. The Wave Riders had been using her as their go-between, since all the other Captains were in a rush to get to new customers, while dozens of city leaders were still in Assah, working out the finer details of alliances and trade agreements between each other, for the Elves to deliver for a fee.

The method was similar to the old method, only the buyer and seller were directly negotiating instead of going through the trade group who struck the deals.

What they found was that many of them had been getting ripped off, with the merchant groups doubling the price of goods between pickup and delivery, since the destination market had a higher demand.The Wave Riders didn't care, they did it on a flat fee, payable in advance, and the risk of loss was on the seller. Under the old system, the merchant bought the goods from the seller and would collect payment from the buyer, with neither having direct contact, which led to this situation where many goods were at vastly different prices between continents.

Everyone had been taking advantage of the state of things for years, even Cain and the Darklight Host had done the same thing, marking up goods from Long Fang Valley when they got to Port Neffheim, which had a food shortage in the region.

The buyers would likely still mark it up to local prices, and the average person wouldn't see any difference, with only the middlemen missing out.

Cyrene was a bit lethargic, even after her extended nap and a hearty meal, but she was ready to take her position as Cain's belt again, so he started making plans to head out. The only place with an ongoing crisis that involved him was the Southern Continent, so he would be heading back right away while allowing Nila and Mythryll to return to the sea.

"Is there anything you need in the South?" Nila asked as she made up a list of stops for her next journey.

"Nothing that the Guild doesn't make I think. Most of what they are short on are armor and weaponry to deal with the Awakened beasts. Some regions are short on food as well, but the farm is importing a lot and making some more, as well as what the hunting teams sell. I will have some Juice based potions for you to sell soon though. The supply is growing beyond what our current buyers need, though with new cities being added in the South it will take a while before there is more than a small daily supply left over." Cain answered, trying to think if he was missing anything.

"The Echoes have a nest ready for Cyrene already, though it should be nearly two weeks before she's ready to lay eggs, depending on what day they took," Nila informed him since she had actually been paying attention to the hyper summons.

There was a very lengthy and heated argument about which of the watchers would get to be in charge of the eggs, with the Echoes winning in the end, since the mana density was higher in their location than anywhere else that the Watchers were stationed, which would lead to more rapid growth and a better end result. At least, in theory, it would.

"I'm off then. Let me know if you need anything. We will stop off at Long Fang Valley since everyone there wants to congratulate our favorite snake on finally getting laid." Cain joked, making Cyrene blush.

Now that the heat was over, she was having a hard time accepting the things she had said and done to the object of her obsession. It was like a naughty dream coming to life, and her brain was having a hard time accepting it as reality. But she could feel the eggs forming, so there was no doubt that it had actually happened, and that Cain was finally willing to bring her along with him again.

Her hard work to be worthy of his attention had paid off in the most unexpected way.As soon as the three elves headed out, Cain transferred himself and Cyrene to Long Fang Valley, where a grand party had been planned to welcome them back.

"You're trying to break me aren't you? I'm certain that you're doing this on purpose. The last lot are already running roughshod through the castle." King Aggramor complained the moment that Cain appeared through the circle in Long Fang Manor.

"You're not enjoying the Blood Dancers? I thought you were eager to get them back?" Cain asked, checking the King's thoughts to see the chaos that ten adolescent demons were causing.

It was really quite impressive. They were smarter than Cain had expected, and their pranks and mischief had risen to a truly commendable level. They had come with him today, not wanting to miss a party. Aggramor knew it would be nearly impossible to keep them in the Castle with his grandfather helping them out, so he had reluctantly agreed to let them come with him.

They had vanished the moment that they arrived, but he had a proper tracking spell on them all now, so they wouldn't escape for long if he needed to find them. The spell showed them exploring the shopping district right now, in a group. That was the best outcome he could have hoped for. They had a limited amount of spending money, so they would argue and shop for hours without causing any trouble.

He had thought Neffie caused a lot of mischiefs, but these ten seemed to live for it, defying their categorization as wrath demons. Unless he was being punished for something and he simply misunderstood their wrath? No, he was pretty sure they just enjoyed the chaos.

,m The girls sensed Cain arriving and came running back towards the courtyard in a large pack, bumping into people with loud apologies, but not slowing down.

"En, we need to get over the wall." Cain heard a young voice call only a moment before the Blood Dancers came hurtling through the air one after another.

They couldn't fly well at this stage in their development, but with the huge bear throwing them over the wall, their wings were enough to slow their fall and land them in the general vicinity of Cain, with only a few people hit.

"As good as it is to see you all again, you need to work on your aim if you're going to have someone assist your flights. You can't just go landing on people, at least aim for an open area of grass." Cain admonished and the girls gave him a group salute.

"You got it, Dad. Uncle Aggie said the same thing, but he always gets mad when Carnage helps us fly back into the Castle." One of the girls giggled, winking at Cain.

"Don't let them fool you. They had him throw them into an empty tower three hours after curfew, so they could pretend they had returned and were exploring the Castle." King Aggramor whispered to Cain.

The girls looked shocked that he knew, even though they had been caught red handed and the Demon King smiled and patted the heads closest to him. "When you plan an outing, don't forget that I can identify every single demon in my Castle in an instant. Even if I can't find you right away, I know whether you are home or not."

"I'm headed back to the South tonight, but you're all welcome to stay a while if you like. I bet the Guild would be happy to show you the joy of a full spa day." Cain suggested.

"Spa Day! I bet they have all the good nail polish. Carnage only has red and black and Uncle Aggie doesn't have any at all. The Castle needs a woman's touch I tell you." The girls complained, making the other demons in the area laugh. The castle was decorated by the Demon Queen, but her tastes ran more towards black gothic architecture and dramatic sculptures than the brightly colored and warm tones that the girls preferred.

Carnage telling them bedtime stories of slaughtering Princes in castles had given them a taste for the fashion of human Princesses, and King Aggramor feared that it might be incurable. If nothing else, it had changed an entire wing of his castle into something unrecognizable, with bright silk curtains and pastel dresses on the servants, who were all too happy to submit to the whims of the Royal Family's newest charges.