The Castle in the middle of nowhere.

"Good morning, my Sunshine." I smiled softly towards Luna, who woke up first.

My gorgeous Kitsune wife was lazily lying under the duvet at first, but then she abruptly sat on the bed. Her eyes widened, and she looked at me in anticipation. "How is the battle? Did we manage to send the army to a good place?"

"Yes, the battle is over, Luna. We were victorious." I smiled at her and grabbed her trembling hands. "You all were asleep for the entire ten days."

"Ten days?!" Her ears lay back on her head in shock, and she slowly dropped onto her bed.

"Yes." I patted her hand while she slowly looked around. I followed her gaze and gave her a reassuring smile. "They are still asleep. But I believe that they are going to awake soon."

"So we ended up using all of our mana?" Luna flicked her ears in a slight amusement. "What about Lanka, Cahrona, and Gloria?"

"They were also spent, but they woke up the next day due to their far lower mana reserves." I helped her stand up from the bed.

She stretched with a yawn and fixed her long, silver hair. "There are many things to catch up on, I guess?"

"Not really..." I shrugged, but then I realised something, and I smiled apologetically. "The war in Berna is over. So there is some post-war mess to clean up, but it's nothing that Dahlia couldn't manage. She took care of most of the work, so you will not be instantly buried under piles of paper waiting to be seen."

"I always liked that girl." Luna smiled widely, much more relaxed than she usually was.

We chatted about the events she missed and one by one, my Queens woke up. Before evening arrived, all of them were much more lively than usual. The long rest had worked wonders for them. The last thing I remember from that evening was a wonderful kiss that Luna gave me. A kiss that unavoidably sent me to the realm of dreams...

•••

The very next day greeted us with a drizzle that looked like it would change into a storm. Like a harbinger of autumn, the cold wind robbed us of a summer day. Lavender was concerned because it looked like the winter might come early this year. The lower temperatures at night might jeopardise the harvests outside the Dungeon Cities. That might have severe consequences for the food variety, but it shouldn't be fatal or disastrous in the long run. The majority of Arcadia's crops were still growing within the walls of Dungeons, so the harsh weather wasn't a challenge. However, if winter came early, it would still be a problem. The Winter Beasts might be more ferocious than ever before, considering the fall of Korkas and his lackeys. There always was a possibility that the Chaos Spawns would completely ignore Arcadia and try to find their luck elsewhere. That would be another thing for my spies to watch…

My country was in post-war chaos, and proper rebuilding hadn't started yet. Arcadia needed defence fortifications and a transportation system. These two issues had to be addressed as fast as possible. Fortunately, the magi-trains network was long past its trials, and Ian's teams had worked out any construction issues. The two cargo ships, RMS Hercules and RMS Achilles, were refitted to serve as rail construction vessels, and each one of them could build, on average, a one-kilometre-long rail section each day. The two teams were currently building the rails in different directions. One was going north to the new capital of the former Berna, Everlight. On their way, they would connect Bob, all the smaller towns, and the main northern Cities of Fravia and Falmir with Avalon. The railroad to the Goblin Dungeon was almost complete, and the construction crew was working out the last details of where the train station would be. Team Achilles was halfway on their way to Westwood. The empty plains stretched west, and the absolute lack of any significant town or city between Avalon and Quaia made it arguably harder to plan the railroad. After long debates a few weeks back, we decided to connect the region's capital with the country's capital in almost a straight line. It would curve slightly near Quaia, but that would be the only exciting part of the otherwise straight railroad. Poplar City, the most westward stronghold of Arcadia, was also going to be connected with Westwood before Team Achilles built the railroad to Glimmervale.

Thanks to Blair, Poplar was a fortress that would easily crush similar forces that clashed with the Ninth Legion. The border he was fortifying was less than forty percent ready, but it was already impressive. All the major fortresses had their walls already made of stone, and while their buildings were mainly temporary structures, they were fully functional bastions. According to Blair's reports, the construction of smaller fortlets and watchtowers had just begun and would be the most time-consuming part of this project. While the Westwood province defences were at least functional, I couldn't say that about the north. Elisabeth was doing everything that was in her power to at least know what was happening at the borders, but it was just mere observations. She needed to subjugate a few more Dungeons in the area to get reliable resource sources. There was an entire list of things that had to be done and addressed.

"Theon?" Amber raised her head from the report she was reading. "According to Elisabeth, Viscount Terion's family were famous shipbuilders. He also seemed like a fairly reasonable man, so I think we could use his expertise and still-functioning infrastructure to build new ships for our Navy."

"Hmmm... How much could we trust those new lands not to use our own ships to stage the rebellion?"

"Good point." She bit her lip but then smiled sweetly. "He can build auxiliary ships and construction ships."

"That's a very good idea." I smiled. "Elisabeth will need at least four construction ships to connect the Province of Everlight with Arcadia proper."

"That's just the beginning..."

"Terion can also build civilian use airships." I scratched the back of my head. "Of course we need... No. We have to make proper regulations for the airship market as well as develop proper air control."

"I hear you speaking the words but have little sense of this order. However, I have learnt to trust you in such situations." She smiled.

"Well... Air control is responsible for monitoring the air traffic. We must also regulate the market because we don't want idiots flying boats everywhere."

"This makes so much more sense now..." Amber let out a sigh.

I simply shrugged and lowered my head. I was calculating the costs of raising another Legion, and it looked like I could afford it. Ian had reported that the two newest Sabre Class destroyers were ready for service. Then I looked at the map and sighed. It was just a single drop in the sea of needs.

"I think you were right... We would need to entrust building at least some ships to Terion and his shipyards..."

"You know, I never visited Berna before." Amber giggled. "We could visit Elisabeth in the Dungeon City of Everlight."

"A trip then?"

"A trip." She stood up and slowly went towards the doors. "I'll inform the others."

•••

"Lady Elisabeth..." a dry voice, like a whisper, startled her as usual.

"For Eriar, Shadow!" She flinched in her chair and threw the pile of papers she was reading in the air. "One day, you will give me a heart attack!"

"Oh? I don't think so..." The shape of a smile formed in the thick, purple smoke that had formed in the doorway. "Lord Xariinta asked me to tell you that the Royal Family of Arcadia will visit us by the end of the week. The King wants to see Count Nova, Countess Del'mira, and Viscount Terion."

"Oh, Gods..." She paused and turned her head towards the door to the private training room. "Raph!"

"Yes?!" The faint voice of her husband was followed by the sounds of his footsteps. A moment later, he leaned on the doorframe and wiped his face with a towel hanging around his neck.

"The King is going to visit us in five days!"

"Oh, Gods..." He looked around the room in panic. "I have to prepare everything!"

He ran out of the room, right through the Shadow Demon Scion, and disappeared around the corner.

"I hate when he does that..." Shadow complained.

"Promise me never to spook me again, and I will talk with my Raph about not running straight through you," Elisabeth offered, sensing the opportunity.

"Deal..."