It took some wrangling, but with Edina and Esta's help, Kanae managed to keep Arenade from beating the crap out of Lord Charron. They decided to take this inside the manor so as to avoid causing a scene out in the open. Unlike the last time Kanae visited the demon lord, the place was now posted with heavily-armed soldiers from Artaggon. Their equipment looked of evil make, a color palette of deep crimson and black, pauldrons with roiling flames, and they wielded large halberds meant to cut down giants rather than human-sized enemies.

Someone Kanae was hoping to see was unfortunately not around.

"Is Minestra around, too? N-Not that I care about her obsession with me. I feel like I owe her after how much she helped me during the war," Kanae said.

"Lord Charron ordered Minestra back to Suvius to deal with dwarven sex automatons breaking out of Ha'Vavish. Shouldn't take long before she's back," Lady explained.

Passing through the greenhouse, Charron seemed to have been hard at work. Exotic flora grew in abundance. A giant, monstrous pitcher plant growing from a blue and purple tree with swaying bulbs instead of leaves burped as they passed by it.

"You sure had a lot of time on your hands…" Kanae remarked about the new vegetation that wasn't here before.

"Highgreen's forces were surprisingly potent!" Lord Charron exclaimed as if recalling a fond childhood memory. "You had to have been there to see it. Imperial magisters threatened to shatter the shield around the city, then ho! Out came Moonlit Avenue's own. Their students and faculty weaved spells that brought the empire's forces trembling to the ground."

"Wait, you're telling me Highgreen repelled Ortesia's siege using sex magic?!" she exclaimed in shock.

"Yes. I hated it," Lady interjected with disappointment dripping from her fangs.

"Come now, Lady. It was brilliant!" he said of the university's new school of spellcasting.

Headmaster Hayson was onto something after all. Employing sex magic against the Empire of Ortesia, who was so prudish, turned out to be a genius move. No wonder Highgreen suffered so little damage during the war. Maybe opening a college for that sort of magic in Ehmvier was in order, because who better to teach than succubi?

When they entered the manor, Kanae had to tie Arenade to a chair with her whip. The sister hadn't stopped trying to burn a hole into her brother's back the whole way through, and she was still.

"That will be all, Lady. I'm sure Queen Kanae is capable enough to keep the Queen-regent under control." Charron dismissed the apprehensive hellhound, but she ultimately relented.

"Edina, Esta. You two wait outside with her," Kanae said.

"Geh… That mutt makes my hair stand on end, but fine…" Edina hid behind Esta on their way out.

Now, it was just Kanae herself, Charron, and Arenade in one room just like when they had all first met.

"So, a wedding? That's wonderful, my dear sister! I will certainly be there for the momentous occasion. I think you have me to thank for playing the matchmaker. Haha!" Charron erupted into boisterous laughter, but someone wasn't having any of it.

"We'll see who's laughing after I'm through with you!" Arenade broke free from the restraints and lunged for the demon lord, wrapping her hands around his neck to strangle him.

"Queen K-Ka… nae… help!" he pleaded while turning blue.

"Arenade, can we be civil for five minutes? Don't make me use this!" Kanae cast Magic Hand and stuck a finger up her concubine's ass.

Arenade let go, jumping several feet into the air. Upon landing, she whipped around on Kanae with the fury of a thousand suns.

"Fine! Five minutes. Charron, get me something nice to drink." Arenade plopped down on the sofa.

"I'm the demon lord of Artaggon and you're ordering me around? Please, sister. We aren't rugrats running around the Ehmvier ancestral castle anymore. I've become more powerful than you can ever imagine!" Charron contested.

"You seem very fond of your green thumb. If I don't have a glass of wine in the next minute, I'll be ripping all your plants out root and stem!" she threatened seriously.

"Y-You're always holding my hard work hostage! Very well. I'll get you your drink." The brother, fists and jaw clenched, marched off and came back a minute later with a bottle of wine.

Arenade graciously accepted the bottle and glass. She savored every second of being able to boss Charron around, and even the flavor of the wine seemed to enhance from his suffering. However, Kanae noticed his sly and uncontainable smirk which Arenade didn't see while sipping on the wine. She decided to stay quiet for now.

"By the way, Kanae. I couldn't help but notice the mounts you arrived with. Are they what I think they are?" Charron asked, taking a seat as far from Arenade as possible.

"Oh, yeah! Those are real dreadmourns, and I wanted to gift two of them to you," Kanae said.

"You shouldn't have! I'm not sure how you managed to bring them back from extinction, but I won't say no to mythical dire steeds on par with a pegasus! With time and patience, we might be able to breed enough to see them soar across Artaggon like in the tales of old."

"I can help with that!" she added.

"You have experience rearing dreadmourns?" he asked.

"Erm… Well—"

"Isn't there a more important matter to discuss?" Arenade asked impatiently.

Right. A meeting with the Grand Eye about forming an alliance. However… judging by the look on Arenade's face, it was less about politics and more that she couldn't stand being in her brother's presence.

"Charron, I want to extend an alliance to Radevic. I know the both of you have been fighting for years, but the war's shown us that the Empire of Ortesia is the real enemy," Kanae explained.

"Sure, I don't see why not." Charron shrugged.

"Eh? Really? Y-You're going to agree just like that?" She blinked incredulously.

"I've been alive for a long time. I've formed alliances and made enemies like the ebb and flow of the sea. Hells, Zariah and I are allies again despite my role in her kind's genocide only three centuries ago. Of course, we have you to thank for, but still!" he reminded her.

Fair… point…

"Just like you to stick your dick in crazy, Char. You never could keep it in your pants. Just like with the eldest daughter of House Mortaub." Arenade flashed a teasing grin.

"That was over a millenia ago. Get off me about her already! Besides, you're one to talk! You're getting married to a succubus!" Charron shot back.

"You're a succubus-fucker, too! At least my relationship doesn't involve sharp daggers and ice picks!" she exclaimed.

Kanae stayed out of their sibling bickering and watched on. When they weren't trying to kill each other, it was kind of cute.

"Shall we address the elephant in the room?" Charron asked with his arms outstretched. "Don't you wish to defeat me? The Supreme One tasked you to end my reign, didn't he? Your divinity is within reach, sister!"

"Your ass-kicking can wait. I'm taking an extended vacation." Arenade refilled her empty glass with more wine.

"Somehow, that pisses me off…" he grumbled.

Kanae was surprised Charron even knew about that. She had forgotten all about what the Supreme One wanted her and Arenade to do. So much had happened that the whole goal of defeating the demon lord slipped from her mind.

On that note, the Supreme One was kind of a fickle god. There was no telling if he would hold up his end of the bargain in letting Arenade become a demigod again. At present, they also had no reason to fight Charron either.

"Alright, well getting you to agree to an alliance with Radevic was easier than I thought. There's one more thing I wanted to ask you about. Do you know anything about the Cult of Lust and Depravity? Apparently, your ex is running it. They worship the devil of lust, Satine," Kanae explained.

"Ah… That. I thought the cult had all but perished. Her worshiping a devil is a big reason why I left her. That and, you know, wanting to enslave all of mankind as cattle. If the cult is up and running again, I doubt it is much of a threat now with their numbers so… reduced. At its peak, however, the cult was very much a danger." Charron's demeanor wrinkled.

"And how are you any different, Demon Lord?" Arenade asked.

"I only want to see the destruction of the Empire of Ortesia to sate my vengeance. Once that happens, I'll gladly surrender my Deification and rest at last," he said.

"I still can't believe you went and tainted your blood out of revenge…" she muttered under her breath.

Charron pretended not to hear. Or at least pretended that the comment didn't affect him. Although his and Arenade's reunion was a little violent at the start, it fortunately didn't end the same way. He promised to come to the wedding and asked them to deliver a letter to the Grand Eye, agreeing to an alliance. The officiating of said alliance would occur in Aidenhall before Kanae and Arenade's wedding.

They rejoined the others who were waiting outside the manor.

"How'd it go?" Edina asked.

"Charron hasn't changed a bit— urk!" Arenade doubled over and clutched her stomach as it growled like a dying monster. "Y-You guys go on ahead! I need to find a toilet"

The three of them watched Arenade bolt off in a hurry, presumably to relieve herself before it was too late. In the meantime, they headed over to Highgreen's adventurer hall. Kanae hitched Titan up in the stables and followed her companions inside. There were a lot more of the lamia than Kanae last remembered. She recognized Lady Farhan of the Rattling Tribe, pulling a quest notice from the board.

"Farhan!" Kanae called out to the lamia woman.

"Queen Kanae, greetingssss." Farhan bowed.

"I'm surprised Highgreen allowed your tribes to freely roam the city given what happened before," Esta said.

"Bygones. The margrave hasss recognized our tribes' strength. We even aided in repelling the Ortesssian forces," she explained.

They didn't want to keep the Rattling Tribe chief from her quests. Farhan offered another reverent bow before going on her way. When Kanae took a look at the quest board, there were so many notices tacked on that new ones were stacked over the older ones.

"What happened? Are people just not doing quests anymore?" Kanae asked aloud.

A dark elven woman came up to the board with a small stack of notices in her arms. She was dressed in a buttoned-up vest and wore thick spectacles over her eyes. Light brown hair had been balled up to a bun, and only a few stray strands draped down her rosy cheeks.

"The thing is, many people traveled south after the war's end. Adventurers included. As you can imagine, they had been stuck up here for months and some were away from home for a long time. It's been a big problem because civil services have grinded to a halt and monster encounters are on the rise," the hall receptionist explained.

"Maybe we can take care of some and lighten the load?" Kanae suggested, and the other two nodded in agreement.

"In that case, we should take on some of the most pressing and dangerous quests. Are there any that Highgreen is in dire need of addressing?" Esta asked the elven woman.

She handed them three notices. One was to deal with a band of ogres attacking merchant caravans coming to and from Talahurah. Another was a growing tribe of hobgoblins raiding villages in the south. The last one involved investigating strange hallucinations in Hollow Glades that's making people go crazy.

"All of these sound like something we can handle, right?" Kanae asked.

"Ogres, hobs, and hallucinations? We've faced worse. Can we kill the ogres though? Be nice to use their parts for Corspsestitch," Edina said while on her toes to peer at the notices in Kanae's hands.

"Let's at least see if they're violent and deserve it first…" she cautioned.

Wait. This might be a chance of a lifetime to get that ogre harem. If they were anything like Thume, those guys would be beefcakes. It would be great to add them to the Commonwealth's forces, too.

"Whew!" Arenade cruised into the hall with one hand on her stomach. "My stomach was killing me! Must've been something I ate. Are we ready to head back?"

"Not so fast, Arenade. Highgreen needs our help. We got some quests to take care of," Kanae said, waving the notices in hand.

"What? How about you guys do them, and I'll go home first—" She pulled out the teleportation pellet, but Kanae was faster in snatching it.

Edina had to summon a death knight to drag Arenade, who was clawing on the floorboards, out of the adventurer hall.

"Being alive means you have duties and obligations again. After the wedding, we'll go on a honeymoon, and you can slack off all you like," Kanae promised.

"Nooooo! I don't want to work! I want to slack off now! I deserve to laze around as much as Charron does!" Arenade cried.

They had to throw Arenade on top of Titan because she refused to fly, but at least she wasn't resisting anymore. Just… being very disagreeable about it. As much of a baby the fallen demigoddess could be, Kanae didn't want to have her any other way.

"Alright." Kanae slapped Arenade's ass, causing her to jolt upright. "First on the list are the hobgoblins since they're the closest ones. You guys ready to take on some quests again?"

"No…" Arenade groaned from the dreadmourn.

"Fuck yeah! More things to raise!" Edina cheered.

"Leave it to me. I'll ensure we all come back safe and sound," Esta assured them.