A meeting was called in the central hall following Elhelm's request. The elders streamed in one by one. But this time around, the leaders of each group of spirit borns took part.

The bear, Sarnoth, who'd been previously full of red flames, looked like a normal bear now. A normal bear with grey fur, with runes of white running through him. He'd also grown in height, reaching almost seven feet. And from what he'd seen, his actual height was much larger. He could basically pump his body up by running flame mana through himself.

The bear still looked normal in its changes, especially when compared to the monkey. The monkey could now walk straight on two legs without any crouching or anything. In fact, the way he walked and his physique while doing so appeared almost exactly like a human, with the addition of copious amounts of bright brown furs that almost seemed golden, and a monkey face.

Though, the bird on the tree top outside dwarfed both in terms of drastic changes. It had turned from a flying chicken that Rovan could swat away with a punch to a monstrosity of four wings and six eyes. And its feathers had turned completely black, with a sharp sheen that made even the feathers of it appear like blades.

He tried to not think of that one out of all the changes that the spirit borns had gone through. His alone appeared the most terrifying. He wouldn't wish that bird on his worst enemies.

Or maybe he would; he'd happily release that thing over Raynair.

Yeah, the criminal was still alive. Unfortunately for him, or fortunately for the summoner, it was because of him being in sleep for seven days.

And it was also the first topic of this meeting. Slynera initiated the conversation.

"So, I believe the lord wouldn't mind if we do his execution by tomorrow. Of course, if my lord wishes for a different date, we'd happily oblige."

Xuan didn't even have to think deeply on this matter.

"Nah, I have no issue. You can do it tomorrow."

The whole room heaved a sigh, like they'd expected him to say otherwise. Why would he? He was just as eager to see that scum go as them.

"Well, it is decided then, onto the next matter." Her eyes shifted from addressing the whole room to looking at the spirit borns which sat closer to Xuan. "My lord, I believe it is time you establish and organize the roles of the many powerful individuals of this village."

He took a second to absorb the information and stood up while gesturing for the others to stay seated.

In the tiny pockets of free time he'd gotten through everything, he'd been able to think long and hard about this. A village with so many sentient and absurdly strong individuals, all clustered together like this. It was a miracle nothing had gone sideways so far.

And from what he'd seen while arriving at the central building, he had been able to observe the various structures that had been built in his absence. The villagers had all acclimated to their homes, with various kinds of artistry of both adults and kids lining the walls of their houses. Many of the people now spoke openly with the turtlemens and lamias, showing little hesitation or fear in their conduct around these partially monstrous individuals.

Especially with the lamia kind, the elves' interaction with them seemed almost natural. Yes, it had been very natural in the past for true elves to mix with spirit borns. But back then, the true elves were equal in strength to the spirit born.

This data was based on Phaeron's current physique; the boy's aura was stabilizing into a more balanced state. And according to Luna, he's probably a few days to a month away from full transition into a true elf. And yet, even this pseudo elf of a boy had enough strength to match the level one hundred spirit borns easily.

And even if he excluded their levels, the base mana and spirit particle concentration of an elf was at the same level, or even slightly higher than a normal spirit born.

It all boiled down to one thing: strength. Because unless their strength was equal, a child of Lamia race could very much cause harm while playing with the child of a lesser elf.

Until they could find some way to equalize their strength, it was essential to establish a formal order which would make sure no fight broke out between the two races.

For that, Xuan would also have to keep in mind not to be biased. The spirit born leaders were extremely competent and strong compared to the elves. It was apparent because while he'd been gone, they had finished their evolution. And the newly evolved followers of Akupara, Luna, Sarnoth, and Sun had changed the whole situation of the village.

The monkeys had crafted tree houses using their affinity of wood, making their own living quarters and quarters for the birds. The birds in turn had brought over many varieties of live chickens, ores of gold and silver the size of rocks, and many other resources, enriching the village materially.

The bears and wolves, on the other hand, had teamed up to pull a tributary from the nearby lake and had connected it to the opposite end of the village.

The village itself now had a river tributary running beside it that would allow for better crops to be produced even in times of drought.

The lamias had taken up the work of handicrafts, sewing clothes from fine wool of the sheep and goats brought in by the birds. They'd even gotten scarily good in the process with their sewing skills.

Now, all that was genuinely amazing and kinda boggled his mind on how much the spirit borns could accomplish in so little time. But that had all but made the elders of Elaneth uneasy and frankly, insecure.

It was this underlying issue that was driving up the demand for reorganization of the village's order. Because in the way things were moving, it wouldn't take long for the elves to be unemployed and the spirit born to take over all the essential work, which could push the elves further into the depths of insecurity.

Or maybe he was simply thinking things too far ahead. He tended to overthink things when given free time. And with his wisdom stats in the thousands, even a second of free time was a lot.

Either way, it wasn't like he could go ahead and ask the elders or even Elhem personally and get clarification on the true underlying issue. He'd have to interpret matters by himself and make decisions based on what he could see.

On certain matters, he supposed, superiors can't consult with their subordinates.

He wondered if Jian used to face situations of this kind.

He took a deep breath, like he tended to when the nerves got to him.

"For now, until further notice, let's make a pair and distribute the duties of the village among the people of both elves and spirit borns." He turned to Sylnera. She was the chief; it was better that he had the full conversation on deciding the hierarchy of the village. But Slynera represented the elves. And it wouldn't be exactly fair if he represented the spirit borns. So he needed a leader of the spirit borns who'd exclusively represent them and join him and Slynera regarding the reorganization talks.

"Slynera would represent the elven people as their chief. But I'm going to remain neutral in this. I wish for the group leaders of spirit borns to decide on a single leader who'd represent them. Then we shall have the reorganization talks in private."

The whispers began among the rest of the elven elders. He at first had planned to include them in these talks, but had later decided not to. Not exactly because they weren't trustworthy, but because of their numbers. The elders, excluding Slynera and Elhem, came in eight. And the spirit borns came in five. That was overrepresentation from the elven side. More voices that would speak for them.

And he himself was biased towards the elves already. So on top of that, if these guys pushed him, being a pushover that he was, he was likely to make bad judgments. He was no master of statecraft or had any such experience in his past life. So naturally, it was best to expose himself to as few variables as he could until he did gain some experience on the matter.

The five leaders of spirit borns nodded at each other, even Luna. He hadn't expected her to understand and react in such a mature manner. In fact, he hadn't expected any of them to remain silent and maintain civil conduct after that announcement.

"So, what have you guys decided?" He asked them. He did want to give them a day or two to decide on their representative. But since they looked like they'd already decided on it, it was best to not dilly-dally.

It was Sarnoth who stood up. "My lord, I'd like for elder Akupara to be our representative."

Next, Medusa stood up, her timidness replaced by a shaky but confident gait. "I'd vote for the elderly too."

Elderly?

Also, where'd she learned the word ‘vote’ from? Seriously, first she'd learned to cook like some three Michelin star chef after just seven days of obtaining a partially human body. And now this. From what he'd heard, she was also learning to sew stuff at terrifying speed too.

Next was the jumpy one, Luna. Except she didn't jump up to give her opinion this time.

"I'd like for myself to be made the representative." She said with the proud posture of a wolf.

Yeah, why had she again nodded with the rest when she didn't even agree to vote for Akupara? Was that just for the vibes?

"I'd also like to vote for elder Akupara, my lord." Sun said.

Xuan clapped his hand and gestured for them to sit down.

Luna, though, looked quite disappointed at the rest of the votes. Her gaze towards Akupara grew particularly hot.

"So, with that, it's decided. Akupara would represent the spirit borns."

"But..." began Luna and ended with a growl at Akupara instead. Akupara in turn didn't forget to anger her further with a particularly dramatic head shake.

Slynera ended the meeting and told the elders that she'd relay the decisions made in private to them after it's been done. A few of the elders showed discontent. But Naevhara and most of the others seemed okay with it as they exited the room while chatting with the spirit borns.

Now, only he, Luna, and Akupara were left in the room.

Yes, she hadn't exited.

"Luna." He called.

"But, my lord!"

"No buts. Comply like the rest. I'd give you a treat later if you do."

"Like letting me lick your face for an hour?"

Okay, what kind of treat was that, huh? Did his face taste like dog food or something? He'd have to wash himself thoroughly and check in with the [Demon] on whether he was letting out some dog attracting pheromones or not.

"Okay." he sacrificed himself and agreed.

She perked up, and after giving Akupara a look, she strode out the door.

"My lord—"

"Absolutely not!"

He was not gonna let a humanoid ass turtle who looked like a buffed dude lick his face!

Slynera on the hand just smiled at this whole circus of theirs.

"Ahem," he coughed and straightened himself. "Let's proceed with the meeting."

Akupara sat back down with a sad face and took the middle chair. While Slynera and him sat at the two heads of the table.

"I have five positions in mind. Do let me know of your opinion on the matter."

Reorganization was a necessity. After selecting leaders from both sides, they could also divide the work between the two races, for the time being at least.