“Where’s Lydia?” I asked.

I had called everyone in for an emergency meeting. Every girl was there, as was the Mayor and the Guild Master. The only ones that were absent were Lydia and Elaya. Lydia hadn’t been answering her Slave Communication, but I could tell she was close, so I just assumed she was busy. It still irked me. What could be more important than the imminent war?

“She’ll be here,” Miki reassured us.

“I just don’t understand. Why would Lord Reign announce he’s coming?” Terra shook her head.

“Is it that shocking?” I asked. “He thinks I’m dead. He’s looking to intimidate us. If he just marched in, they’d think it’s an invasion. If he announces it, then there is a chance he can take the city without a shot fired. It’s not important to understand why he did it. What matters most is that we’re prepared to deal with it. Mayor?”

“We’re recalling all the troops now.” The Mayor nodded. “Since you’ve dealt with the Bandits, a lot of pressure has been taken off of us to maintain the road to the Capital.”

“Good.”

Actually, I didn’t even know we had been doing that. Being a leader didn’t mean you managed every single task. It looked like there were a lot of things done without my knowledge. It seemed that we were maintaining the merchant routes to the Capital. As we grew, more people migrated here looking for opportunities for wealth on the frontier. Settlers poured in daily, and merchants were now making round trips to this city exclusively.

The city had once been too large to support the population from the small Old Chalm, but now all the buildings had been filled, and they were looking at expanding. Terra was planning to create an outer wall. The current Chalm would become the inner city, and the outer city would contain a second wall. Even the Capital didn’t have such an elaborate system, but they also hadn’t been under threat from all sides, whether it be bandits, the wilderness, or Lord Reign. Even Old Chalm is growing into a farming community to support the main cities growing need for food.

The reason they were able to grow so quickly mostly had to do with the amount of money I’d personally injected into the city. I’d already provided half of Aberis’s treasury worth of treasure, so it was natural Chalm grew at a ridiculous pace. However, was that the reason that Lord Reign suddenly had an interest in Chalm?

“If Lord Reign thinks Master is dead, then why does he suddenly want Chalm?” Miki voiced the question that had been sitting in all of our minds.

“There… might be a reason,” Astria said, somewhat slowly.

“Astria?”

“It’s possible that Lord Reign learned about the existence of our Fairy Fountain.”

I raised my eyebrows. Although we had kept it a secret, it wasn’t like we had made a big attempt to hide it. My fairy girls had been seen all over Chalm. The original Chalm even had been known for selling the water from a fountain. Anyone who connected the dots might be able to reason that we had one. Is a Fairy Fountain really worth such an attack?

Just as I was about to say something, I felt like I had suddenly been kicked in the gut. My eyes shot open in horror as a bond connecting me to one of my women suddenly was cut. There were only two ways this could happen. The first way is if someone stole my slave from me. Even then, I would have had a chance to struggle, and it wouldn’t have been so easy. Furthermore, with my blessing, it’d be impossible! The only other option was that that they were dead!

“Master, what’s wrong?” Shao noticed my sudden reaction first.

“Lydia… she… she’s dead!”