Chapter 14 - Updates

The existence of a town in the middle of the forest was already hot news in the capital, even the commoners were spreading the rumors of a place where people and monsters were living together.

But this was unbelievable, for the common people monsters behaved much like animals, following their instincts, and their instinct when interacting with humans was to kill them.

This brought about the rumor that the people living in that town weren't actually humans but s new species of monsters that could take on a human appearance, or worse, judging that they were living in a town, maybe they could take their bodies, including memories. Although the last hypothesis wasn't that believed, not because it didn't make much sense but because they did not want to believe in that.

It's a common strategy of the human brain to deny things you cannot comprehend.

The news first reached the guild through the ones that were sent to investigate the forest, and they tried to keep it a secret until they were sure of what it was. But the news quickly leaked through a few nobles that had high positions in the guild, from there it was quick for the rumors to spread all over the capital.

…

Something like this was what Diana was expecting when she let those people reach the empire.

So, she was everything but worried about that in this moment. It was almost noon and she was still laying in bed, almost completely covered by the sheaths since the climate in the forest was still quite cool. At her side was Evienne, also sleeping hugging her, the previous night was much more peaceful than the last ones since they only cuddled.

They finally had a house for themselves in the town, it was the biggest by far and was located in a part of the town that didn't have much movement so as to not bother Evienne, and also because of the various types of monsters that would come and go from the terrain of the house.

The development of the town was going very well, much of the town already relied solely on naturally produced mana and the economy was booming since they started to export mana stones in high quantities to nearby cities.

The citizens also weren't afraid of the monsters anymore, most of them anyway, and since Evienne made a brief public appearance, they almost started worshipping her as a goddess.

Her unreal beauty and composure, coupled with her control over strong monsters and animals led a lot of people to believe that she was actually a living goddess and a 'cult' was swiftly formed. They even made a church where they had a statue of Evienne, which boosted the growth of their, for now, small religion.

Anyway, the life on their town was good. Deaths hunting for food were nonexistent since there were no monsters that posed any threat and most people had the day free since there still weren't any jobs for most of the people. Most of the things were imported from other places and they were just starting to develop their industry so they could stop importing. Once they developed it everyone could have a job.

"Most of our crops are growing without any problem so we can cross out any importing of those, the ones we have now should do till we can harvest them."

"We now have the facilities necessary for processing raw iron so we can stop importing it too."

"The nest has found gold and higher quality mana stones too."

"Great. With this the economy will start growing even more. We can try to bring in more people."

Diana was talking with the people appointed to supervise the diverse areas that were needed for the growth of their town. Everyone was present here, some were in charge of their plantations, others worked together with the nest in mining and others were in charge of making any necessary projects that were needed to start producing everything inside instead of buying from outside.

In a way, the town was already very advanced, if we talk about solely the technological level it was already at the level of some smaller countries that were part of the empire.

That is if we don't consider the renewable energy.

Suddenly, Diana and Evienne stood up and left the meeting for another day. Through the hive mind they were informed that people from the empire were here and were looking to meet someone with authority in the town.

Now, in a room in Mark's house 2 man were patiently waiting, sat in the sofa. One of them was a high-ranking member in the guild, the other was a one of the guild's sponsors, a noble.

After days of being careful about the town they finally decided to try and approach one of the groups that went out hunting. One thing led to another and they were now here, waiting to meet with who they called 'Mother'.

After a few minutes waiting two people entered the room, the first was a beautiful woman with blond hair and blue eyes. Although the guild member found her beautiful the noble was the one that was the most surprised. After all, in front of him was the assistant of the previous emperor that was declared missing when he died. But most people knew the new tyrant had most likely killer her in fear of her influence.

The other one was even more breathtaking, a woman so beautiful they couldn't even believe their eyes. Long black hair and deep black eyes, she wore a long black skirt and a white shirt. Her stature was quite tall, and her body was very curvy. As she looked at them, they could feel their fifth member get a bit stiff but her cold expression immediately brought any hopes they might have had down the drain.

As they sat on the sofa in front of them they hurriedly introduced themselves, followed by the two women.

They didn't say much, only their names but they knew that Evienne was the one in charge of the town simply from their body language.

Evienne's cold eyes were making them shiver a bit but when Diana started talking calmly, they also calmed down a bit and were able to hold a 'normal' conversation.

"I believe you came here in search of answers am I right?"

Diana went straight to the point.

…

A/N: I hope you had a Merry Christmas! Or happy holidays for the more sensitive people!

Anyway we have reached 15k words, YAY! What does this mean? Nothing, except that I should have written more.

Thanks for reading!