Departing

I stood in front of a large, immaculately designed building made of various stones that came together to look almost like a palace. The Entrance was large and decorated with the founding Demon races, each etched into the twelve pillars that sat in front of the House or representatives. Each pillar looked like a normal member of the species just about to take another step toward entering the building. It looked majestic and awe-inspiring to me. It was a show of all the main species in the Demon lands being equal.

I stood in front of and in the middle of the staircase leading up to those pillars leading into the building with a podium and a large crowd of all the various races. Men of the Demon lands races were mixed into the crowd, and I stood with the delegation of representatives. Kathy, Geoffery, and Francis, who had mostly recovered from his loss in the arena, were the ones nearest to me now, and every other representative stood back watching.

No one would comment on the bruises on his face, and the bandages were under Francis's immaculate suit. Francis wasn't the only one supporting bruises as Geoffery had miscolored scales on his face too. The fact that no one even commented on it and the crowd cheered for both as they showed up told me that those bruises, even in a loss, were a mark of honor.

I stood with them at the podium with the paper of the Free Trade Agreement before me. The signatures of all of their representatives were on the paper, and I smiled as I reached the podium. Each representative spoke about how this will increase the number of jobs and their income significantly in the future, and some just signed the paper. It seemed that this was a way to strengthen the feeling that the power movers cared about the citizens living in the Demon lands.

I stopped with the quill in hand to sign the Agreement. I had looked through it, and nothing was out of place. A sense of pride started to grow in me as I stood in front of the crowd. As I finished reaching the podium, the crowd started to go quiet, and I felt the need to speak.

"Today, I stand before you as Ambassador Chelsea Loveknot of the Silvermoon Tower. I am not a citizen of this nation but an Ambassador of the Beast-kin Nation just to the northwest of your sprawling land." I said as I held the pen in hand. "As I have lived here the last couple of months, I have learned a lot. Your culture and technology is wholly unique to an amazing nation that has much to show as a juggernaut on the continent. I cannot accurately declare how happy I am standing before you today with the honor of signing this Agreement in a Ceremony for my nation that I can make a mark on history by bringing the Beast-kin nation and the Demon lands closer Economically. I sign this here today," I said as I dipped the quill in the ink provided, "In order to show my promise and do my best so that the Demon lands and the Beast-kin Nation can thrive and become closer together in the future. So that we can excel and grow together now and in the future!" My mana helped my voice carry to the people under me, and I signed my name.

Cheers erupted as I signed, and I heard some screams of my name as I finished signing it. But I wasn't done as I finished signing, and I looked up as I finished. The cheers were loud, and I focused more mana in my voice to help project it out to the people cheering today. "I will take this back, and I will make this agreement thrive between our nations, making it a long-lasting law that will forever change the lives of our people FOREVER FOR THE BETTER!" I exclaimed.

Silence reigned as I finished for a moment before even louder cheering erupted.

Leaving the House of Representatives took a while as the citizens seemed thrilled to have heard my words. I arrived at the port after a quick stop at the embassy, taking everyone that would be joining me. Carriages and wagons full of things were put on the boat quickly, with Bunny-kin workers working swiftly to get us out before tide. With the number of workers, the work went quickly, and soon we were pulling out of the harbor just in time.

I left before everything I needed to complete was done and I was leaving women behind that I would rather not have. Promises with Mira still stood and I was less worried about it than I should have been. Still, Thomas would have trouble filling the holes I would be leaving behind and he would have a lagecy of treason from Ambassador Ralph that I had still been cleaning up to take care of.

I stood now watching the Demon lands depart, and I felt a presence behind me, making me turn. "That speech was unneeded," Queen Mira told me as I looked at her. This time her breasts were B cups, but it perfectly suited the blue dress she appeared to be wearing.

"It wasn't," I replied as the boat carried us farther and farther from land. "But I wanted to," I said with a soft smile, finally turning my back to the landmass that was the Demon Lands. The ship was heading out of port under the row of many bunny-kin in the ship. Sails would soon help them, and I leaned back, sighing at the pitiful sight of the Beast-kin nations shipbuilding technology.

I leaned back as all my women were getting ready in my room. Everyone was coming back with me, including Mira. Florine was coming back and had decided to join me in my room with a smile. Mira looked sexy as she smiled at me, "You do many things as you want, Chelsea," Mira replied, "Still, this wasn't a bad decision. You made it known that you would try your best to make this agreement law. Did you happen to have approval on your side when you did?" Mira asked.

"I had the Silvermoon tower elder council's backing. We are not weak; it will just be getting it past the gathering, which I think shouldn't be any issue," I told her, "With the war incoming, I doubt that they will disagree with bringing in more gold and troops." I continued, "In fact, with your tower and the Devils joining in, I do not think Thomas wouldn't be able to rope in another group to fight for us. Peace is the worst for the military long term. Peace is the womb of which bureaucracy is born." I said to her before chuckling, "Peace is good, and I want it more than war, but I understand the reasons for this war."

Mira nodded. She understood the Beast-kin Nations needed to go to war. The Empire's slavers would not leave our nation alone. Enslaving our people and treating them as trash and sex slaves. Even our nation had slavery like the Empire, which I didn't agree with, but the Empire was coming into smaller tribes, killing the village, and taking captive as many people as possible. This was doing more and more damage, and it was only getting worse. It was time to end it and show the Empire that the Beast-kin Nation was not to be trifled with.

I sighed at the sacrifices that were about to be produced in the coming war, but I wouldn't flinch either. This would be the womb of accomplishments that I could use to propel myself into a place to create real change in the Beast-kin Nation. I was falling in love with this world and wanted to make a space for my children. I wanted and needed to make a place where they could grow up safely and ready them for the world around them.

I thrived in Silvermoon tower, but that wasn't my place and this nation was one that would never weather a severe war. I could see the cracks just thinking of planning a war. It would be challenging to mobilize in the Beast-kin Nation's form of government. It was a combination of tribes and partial slavery for protection. The power in the nation was all over the place, and it gave me a headache just thinking of it.

The more I thought about it, the more I knew that we wouldn't survive a long-term war with the Empire without the help of allies. Without the Demon Lands fully declaring war and mobilizing against the Empire, we wouldn't be unable to win. I knew in my heart and mind it would come down to a simple yet serious problem.

The Beast-kin nation was not united into one single whole.

It was my biggest concern and the biggest thing I must ignore. There was no way to fix this issue before the war started. "What are you thinking about?" Mira asked as I watched Emily walk up.

"Problems," I told her honestly, "Serious problems," I continued, "There are more than I will ever be able to deal with, and on this boat trip, I cannot do anything other than relaxing," saying with a wry smile. "I guess this is my vacation," I told her, making her chuckle as Emily closed the distance.

Emily smiled, and I reached out, pressing my hand on her belly. I instantly felt a kick against my hand, and something in me softened. I couldn't help it, and I smiled, no longer having the dark feelings in my heart. "You know what?" I said to both Mira and Emily. "I am so glad I have a couple of weeks to spend with family."

Emily and Mira's smiles matched, and I moved toward the cabin to enjoy the evening with my women.