38 Working Hard

As the players are enjoying themselves with the celebration, Astur sneaks back to her house with Elizabeth following right behind her. Opening a bottle of whisky, Astur slouches on the sofa.

"Making myself look important to them is as easy as taking candy from a baby. I knew they would make great labourers, give them a small reward while acting important and they do almost anything I ask," Astur says.

"For what it's worth, as for as the Oulvgar are concerned, you are important. And even if only in name, you are the leader here," Elizabeth says.

"And what's that supposed to mean," Astur asks, tossing aside her now empty bottle.

"Exactly what I said. You don't do any work that's expected from a leader. Almost all administrative tasks get shoved onto me. Most security tasks are handled by the Guardians. And you just laze around all day, occasionally making something in that workshop of yours," Elizabeth says, shaking her head.

"It's not like I don't do anything. A few days ago a went and dealt with those investigation teams from the towns and the Church. I even guided the newcomers here."

"And what of the day before that happened, or even yesterday and the day before yesterday? If I remember correctly, you spent twenty-two out of twenty-four hours sleeping yesterday and the day before. While you only spent twelve hours sleeping the day before Blaze and the other newcomers arrived, you spent the rest of your time in your workshop making all sorts of strange things."

"In my defence, I had a reason for that last one," Astur says, not going into further detail since Elizabeth wouldn't understand that she was grinding EXP.

"Well, at least being in the workshop is more productive than you sleeping all day. But I have to ask, is it really a good idea to begin attracting attention here?" Elizabeth asks.

"In my opinion, there really isn't much of a choice. While I can probably keep the people from Dawn and Hadrow away for a while, the Church is a different problem. Dawn and Hadrow are small municipalities and if it was really necessary, I could probably coerce-- I mean, persuade Taurion or Lester to help with restricting access to the forest. But such a method only works with the residents there. The Church, being an international entity, wouldn't be bound by something like that. Moreover, the influence the Church has is strong, is it not? The Church, if they really felt like it, could mobilise their own military might as well as drag others into the conflict in the name of a crusade against us," Astur explains.

"That's the reason why I'm worried. I know full well the strength the Church can muster. They did wipe out the hidden town I used to live in and chased me all the way here," Elizabeth says.

"I wasn't finished. Because of the clash with the Church a few days ago, they should be well aware of our existence. I did finish nearly the entire force that came, but it was just a small group and their leader, supposedly an Archbishop made it out. I wouldn't be surprised if a stronger team was being assembled right now to deal with us."

What Astur neglects to say is that she also thinks that some of the players are also involved with spreading information about the Holy Oulvgar State. While the Church as a faction to join is somewhat unpopular, mostly due to their way of thinking and racist views towards the Mystic races, or Demon races, there are also some players who enjoy going against the trend. In Astur's mind, these players have undoubtedly been leaking information about them to the Church.

"I mentioned it during my little show earlier, but the reason behind going public with our presence is to find potential allies. Our main opponent is the Church and they don't have a good relationship with the Demon races, so I think we can probably attract quite a few of them. And while the Oulvgar is few in number compared to other races, this is made up for in higher individual strength and I am capable of turning more monsters into Oulvgar to bolster our numbers.

"But what about the Kingdom of Virpal? The Sea of Trees is their territory and I don't think the Kingdom would be willing to simply let us have it. The areas around us like the Towns of Dawn and Hadrow are one thing, but the Kingdom will likely stand on the side of the Church since we are claiming their territory, a territory with vast and rich resources too," Elizabeth says.

"If push comes to shove, I don't believe I can't shove off the combined forces of the Church of Light and the nearby nations. Although I won't be able to do it more than once for the foreseeable future afterwards. I should be able to deter any overly aggressive movement with a strong enough display of power, at least for a short while. But this is a last resort that I'm not willing to use easily. Help the Blaze and the others search for people who can be of use, focus on finding skilled members of the Demon race. Doesn't matter if they're a warrior or only know farming techniques, as long as they can be of use and there isn't an apparent problem with their loyalties, convince them to come to Aeternum."

Squinting her eyes, Elizabeth looks towards Astur as she asks, "And what will you be doing while we are all working?"

"Huh? Isn't it obvious? Of course, I'll be working hard too," Astur says as she moves towards the stairs.

"Is that so? I'm glad to hear you've finally decided to help," Elizabeth nods in satisfaction.

"Working hard at sleeping and making new items to troll people with," Astur says before going up the stairs.

"... Apologise to all the hard working people of the world!"