"Mom, I already explained to dad that I had to kill them all."
Joseph stood at the meeting room door, looking in at everyone who was waiting for the meeting to start, watching him discuss with his mom why he had to do what he had done.
"Joseph, I just don't understand. You are so powerful with your magic, you can change everyone in the whole kingdom, yet you didn't even try to change those people out there, who I am sure, most of them were being forced to fight!"
His mother stood with her arms crossed, looking furious. Joseph played with the idea of trying to use his magic on her, then shook his head. It wouldn't work.
"I didn't kill them all mom, I gave them the option to surrender. The ones who dropped their weapons and took off their armor, were spared. I tried to give them an option to live."
"Yet, you make them into slaves? Why not allow them an opportunity to join the kingdom like the last people who came from the north?"
"There's a difference," he said, trying to explain patiently. It was a lot easier to be patient, with the rage gone from his head. At least she wasn't asking about that.
"The people who came, asked to join, to be saved. The people in the army did not. They were here to kill and plunder. I already talked to dad about this. I will not abuse them, just because they are slaves, and while I have every right to just kill them, I am choosing not to."
"Why are you letting people go out and desecrate the dead?" she asked, pointing towards a window that looked out towards the battle field. Even from here, they could see the swarms of people going over the battle field, cleaning and collecting.
"They are not desecrating the dead, they are collecting food for their young, and themselves. Not all of the people in my kingdom used to be human before they became Wizar. Most of them were beast-kin, who have no qualms about eating dead humans. It would be very much like a human being okay with eating a pig."
His mother still looked unconvinced, but his father stepped in, and escorted her away, promising to answer any more of her questions, so that Joseph could get on with the meeting that was needed.
"Mom," Joseph called, after a moment of thought, before she could turn at the end of the hall.
She turned to look at him, with a raised eyebrow.
"I'll try to run my plans by you, before I do them, so you can have a say in them. That way if I try to do something you think is wrong, you can understand before it happens, and get a chance to change my mind."
She nodded, much more calm, and allowed his father to take her away.
"Do you seriously plan to run everything by her?" asked Stella, incredulously.
"Absolutely not, but this way, if I do run some little things by her, she'll not know about the other, and won't pry as much when I tell her it was an emergency, and I didn't have time to talk to her."
Stella gave him a look.
"What? There's no law against lying. And I'm not causing her any harm at all."
Shaking her head, she followed him into the meeting room, where people were busy prepping the last of their notes.
Holding up his hands, Joseph said, "I'm afraid you will have to turn your notes into my father, William, at the end of the day. I'm sorry for making you scramble and think I wanted them for this meeting."
They all calmed down, and set their notes down, to listen.
"I have dealt with another attack on our kingdom from this evil god NURKONG, and the army he sent to cause us harm, not to mention the hero's he summoned from some other realm. In order to end him, I must obtain the META rune, but the path to that is still long. I wanted all of you here, to know that I am trying my hardest to end this, and will be leaving immediately after this meeting, to continue on the path to obtain the rune."
He was relieved to see no one was upset by his words, and many seemed to be in agreement that he needed to leave as soon as possible. If only NURKONG would leave them alone long enough, he might be able to get this done.
Answering a few questions some of them had, in regards to the free meat he was providing to the kingdom, Joseph took Stella's hand in preparation to teleport.
(INCOMING MESSAGE FROM DUKE BRAGO. HE WAS THE ONE WHO WARNED YOU ABOUT THE HEROES.)
Joseph sighed.
TELEPORT.
They were in his personal office, instead of near the gnome villages.
"What's up?" asked Stella, curiously.
"I have one last thing to deal with," he said, sitting in his chair behind his desk.
<King Joseph, I would like to humbly request permission to join your kingdom, and maintain my status as duke. I would like to also request shelter for my people, that rely on me for safety. In payment, I am willing to give you all the craftsmen and technology that I have been able to obtain during my time with the system. My goal was to merely rule over a certain size of land, not necessarily become a king.>
<Duke Brago, I will gladly accept your payment, and allow you and your people to join my kingdom, as long as they are willing to become Wizar and follow my rule. As to you maintaining your status as duke, I am afraid I have not yet allowed such statuses to form in my kingdom, as yet, and will instead allow you to rule over your people as a council member, on my personal council.>
<Your conditions are acceptable to me. I will proceed with preparations for our move to your kingdom. Do you think you might be able to help our move with a few teleports? The lands between our home and your kingdom are rather great in distance, and very dangerous.>
<Excellent! I will contact you as soon as we are ready.>
Joseph turned to Stella, stood and took her hand again.
TELEPORT.