Liz opened the doorway for me, and immediately, everyone put down what they were doing and smiled when they saw me. Though I had called the meeting my war council, that was anything but what I really wanted, I just wanted these smiles to remain. That only piled on the guilt more because I had abandoned them for selfish reasons. While they had been working diligently, I was wrapped up in blankets and books like a dragon lying in their horde.

“We are glad to see you, Lady Astrid. We thought we may have scared you off. If you had not sided with us, then you would not have been attacked. The gods abandon us long ago in our greatest time of need. Some think we chased them off for creating the calamity beasts. We are just glad you have decided to stay with us. Even if not here in Astraville, you haven’t abandoned our world. Please don’t let us weigh you down, causing you to retreat back to your domain.” Firth said in a jumbled mess of words, eyes pleading to me. 

It made sense to me that they thought they were at fault for this, and in some ways, I guess they were right. If I had sided with Donna’s faction, I wouldn’t have been attacked, but I had agreed to help, so I would see this through. It also felt like I was on the right side of things where I was. Firth could tell I was stressed, and as I looked around the room, they all seemed worried about me.

Sure, I had people worried about me inside the library, but most of that was for my safety. I got a few stern lectures when I returned from a dungeon dive looking less than perfect. Cuts and bruises were regular before I was forced to learn healing and defensive magic when I had only focused on offensive magic. Well, one of the times was pretty bad when I had forgotten to pack rations and had gotten lost. I was soon starving and came back out, dragging my emaciated body to the lobby with mana manipulation. Once I was spotted, I was grounded. For some reason, even the bears hadn’t let me leave. No one would let me enter the dungeon until I fully recovered and learned enough spells that I wouldn’t die to basics. 

I wasn’t sure how to calm them down, words were just words, not proof. I mean, I can just say I will stick around, but they have all been through so much and have had no real security in centuries. So the only way to assuage their fears and give them solace was to give them a real reason I would want to stay.

“Why would I go? How else am I going to find new books and have others provide me with new content? I have to start somewhere. Why not here?” I blurted out without thinking of just how much of a bookwyrm I sounded like. The heat in my cheeks rose and rose when I realized how ridiculous I sounded.

They unanimously chuckled before they tilted their heads, seemingly perplexed about something. I knew I had done something weird and had made them laugh, but what was so confusing? Is there something on my face? Atleast they are in a better mood.

“Are you okay, Lady Astrid? You sound different, like more rhythmic,” Guye asked, touching his chin.

“That is Lady Astrid’s real voice. She has been using a spell the whole time she has been here to communicate with us in a way we understand.” Liz explained what I had forgotten to say while I was focusing on my embarrassing attempt to reassure people that everything was fine.

“It does sound so rhythmic and numinous. I haven’t heard of someone speaking like that. Even the royalty and highest level corporation members cant extol such a feeling.” Firth said, causing people to agree.

“We should push it as the Goddess’s accent. We could all speak that way here,” Lian added.

“We can’t even dare to think we can touch the divine like that, but we can at least get the rhythm down and spread it around. The power in her voice is just unrepeatable. You need raw power to do such a thing.” Kobric said, scribbling notes down.

I swayed from side to side, looking around for a way out. They were going on and on about how divine I was, even if I didn’t feel that way. It was less triggering now, but my anxiety would still build up if I thought about it too long. I considered just turning on the translation spell again or using a different voice manipulation spell, but it seemed like everyone liked it, and I should at least give them this much after I had abandoned them.

“We can talk about this later. While it may help us with our decisions and the message we want to push out, it doesn’t solve what message needs to be sent. We do have more pressing matters that need to be dealt with even before we put out a message,” Peri said, refocusing everyone from the side track I had caused.

“Thank you, Peri. We do have a lot to accomplish. The sooner we can get things planned out, the better. Kobric, I would love to read your thoughts on the matter. What should we discuss first?” I asked, wanting to get things moving so I could go hold up in my book fort again. All this attention was strenuous.

“We need to discuss what to do with the people that attacked you. If we want to keep them longer and punish them, we must prepare and set up better protection. There is a lot of well-deserved malice towards them here.” Highthorn said before Kobric could speak up. I liked how he was taking a bit more control of the situation.

“Well, their direct punishment is already dealt with. They are still under a mental affliction spell I used when saving your family. Also, I am sure my believers and my church won’t be too kind to them. As well as their people for whatever they have to pay for their return.”

“For the corporations attacking you, I think you should require a profit share from any gems being mined. They split that amongst the vice leaders that are there. You could ask for technology from each company’s vice leader you have.” Mais said focusing on money making ventures. Well, he is head of trade, so that makes sense.

From what I gather, the ore mining used for gem magic is going away fast. So that won’t be a valuable trade, but if I say anything, it may cause a panic. So I will have to look up how to fix that situation as well. That will definitely be grand magic to change or bind ley lines. I don’t want to attract that kind off attention again from calamity beasts till I do more research on them. Their ability to absorb mana and thus magic is concerning, especially if they were large and there were more at once.

“That sounds good, but try to focus more on the technologies. Do you think I can get one of those cars? We also need some of those communicators.”

“I will draft up a list of things you would want.”

“Focus on the things that we need. Otherwise, we will only have books and not any supplies. Even though books do feed the mind and soul.”

He started writing down notes taking my words seriously. In contrast, Liz chuckled at my joke. I am glad somebody got my joke.

“Do you want anything for them attacking your family?” I asked, looking at Liz and Highthorn.

“My wife and I don’t want for much, being so close to you. We want our old house complex to be our building and let others live tax-free. Their rent can just go to maintaining and upgrading the building. They were always kind to us, and it would be nice to pay them back, especially after the chaos that was caused when we visited.”

That didn’t seem like too much, but I loved their charitable attitude. They had mentioned how they were treated well because of how close we were. It made me wonder how much they had to deal with. All that expectation is horrible to deal with. “Is that all?”

“Yes, it is. We are already overwhelmed as it is. We don’t need to add being wealthy.” Lizlin said, bringing their compensation to a close. Did they see how much stress I was under and decided not to get more responsibilities? I could give them more. I had plenty to go around for everyone. 

“For you, I came up with getting a copy of every book in the kingdom. I know it will take some time, but—”

“YES!” I shouted, eyes sparkling at the idea. Guye knew me so well. Anything to do with books would always excite me. Gahh, so embarrassing!

“You have mentioned that your home was around here originally. We think you should ask for a replica. In its location.” Minnete said, covering my embarrassment. I was glad I had a capable council looking out for me.

My heart tensed up at the mention of that. I had made a copy of it in my mind to preserve the memory of the place, but it was also where my father had been with me before he died serving in someone else’s war. It was also where my mother had died from a very curable disease, but stingy royals wouldn’t share their healers. I didn’t want to drudge up those memories, so I politely declined. “No, thank you, that is a personal matter, but I am grateful for your suggestion. Besides, it is where the King lives and I haven’t made up my mind about him yet.”

She nodded and started taking notes. I wondered if that was going to cause an issue. I was hoping it would become some sort of ascension landmark. While I had good memories, dealing with the loss was something I really disliked.

“You have reservations about the King? Wasn’t it his daughter who attacked you?!” Lian asked, questioning me. Her disgust towards royalty was palpable in her tone.

“Yes, I have met, dealt with, and read about far crueler rulers. There may be more about the princess than we know. We will find out when we interrogate her in the truth circle.”

“We should interrogate her first, but the King is still bad, and his injustices need to be known.” So she said, her anger building in her voice. She needed to get that under control if she wanted to stay in her position. At the moment, I can’t have her as a department head. While I like her spirit, she is still a risk. I knew she was still traumatized by her husband and parents, but there was more at stake than just her.

“I have my own opinions, and he could have just run through you all out but chose not to do so. Based on what I have read, he is an ignored son who was abandoned here with many responsibilities thrown on him, so I sympathize. There is more than what’s on the surface of his actions. We shall be interrogating the attackers later. After we finish up here.” I said, causing everyone to sit down in contemplation.

After a period of silence, I decided to ask the questions weighing on my mind. “What if they don’t agree to our terms? What should we do with the prisoners? How do we take care of our people? What supplies are we lacking?”

Firth was the first to respond. “We’ve considered those questions, and we believe that there are several things we can do. We’re mostly self-sufficient, especially if you can provide us with a way to grow cotton. We may also need better healing supplies, but your mushroom farm covers most of what we need.”

I was relieved to hear that they weren’t assuming everything would go smoothly with me around. There was probably a way to infuse the regrowth properties of the mushrooms into cotton plants, and I made a mental note to look into it that night.

“We can take care of that. What are our plans then?”

“Well, we could wait here and grow in size, but that’s too slow. We could also attack part of the kingdom and the corporations, but that’s too broad. The plan everyone agreed on is to target and destroy buildings and locations owned by the corporations and the royalty. We’ll give advance notice so people can evacuate. However, the success of the plan depends on you carrying out the attacks, as we are too small to do it ourselves.”

During my study time, the idea of attacking them did cross my mind, but I quickly dismissed it. I wasn’t interested in resorting to violence or mass manipulation so easily. Moreover, I feared that things would escalate and that my lack of experience would cause the leadership to flee, leaving the responsibility of managing the people solely on my shoulders. The thought of that made me uncomfortable and I decided it wasn’t a viable option.

I think it would be cute if Fienna were to be made a princess under Firth’s leadership. The title of ‘The Bibliophile Princess’ has a nice ring to it. However, I don’t think it’s worth upending everyone’s lives at this moment. While the idea of using this as an excuse to attack the kingdom and cause major reform is appealing, it would cause far too much panic and unease in the short term. If possible, we need to work our way in slowly. Otherwise, I fear that many innocent people may get hurt.

The council paused to consider my words, taking a moment to ponder the actual consequences of their actions. It seemed they expected me to easily solve all their problems, but the truth was that it wouldn’t be easy. While I possessed the ability to manipulate people’s memories and alter their behaviors, I knew that relying solely on these tactics would have negative long-term consequences.

I could also rule with brute force, but that, too would lead to undesirable outcomes. Ultimately, it was clear that the council needed a more nuanced solution to their problems.

Plus, when would I ever get a chance to read if I ruled like that? Then again, I could simply make reading mandatory for every citizen. That would be a great idea for Astraville, and I could implement it right away.

“Firth, how difficult do you think it would be to implement mandatory reading time for every citizen of Astraville?” I asked, turning to him to see if it was a viable option. I thought it would be a good idea to change the topic from what we were previously discussing.

He scratched his beard before speaking. “Well, now that you’re having everyone copy books and we would actually have a selection, we should have the ability. Not everyone loves reading, though. Maybe just call it learning time and advise reading.”

It pained me that not everyone loved to read, but I knew it wasn’t for everyone. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be all this chaos around it in the first place.

“Yes, that is a good fix. Let’s move forward with that.”

“That will give people more time to read Fiennes’ new story.”

“I thought I lost the only copy!”

“It was the first copy, not the original. She wanted you to put that one in the library.”

I felt my palm hit my face as I shook my head. Silly me, of course! Copying... If I had realized that at the time, I may have been calmer. Well, other than the Valwrecks being taken.

“Could I possibly get a copy?”

“Yes, of course. I could go get one right now, but she wanted to present it to you herself.”

He scratched his beard before speaking. “Yes, let’s hurry up and do that on our break before we interrogate the prisoners. Was there anything else that needed clearing up?”

Everyone shook their heads, which made me excited because I was getting a new book, well an old one, but a new copy of it.

“Well, in the worst-case scenario, everyone would come and attack us, but after the state you left everyone in the corporate dome in, I don’t think anyone will want to fight you after all you have done to cripple their workforce.”

I felt a pang of guilt wash over me. I would definitely have to set up shop and have everyone form a line for me to edit their memories. There was also that thing in their memories that they feared. I wasn’t sure if it was all of them or just the few people I saw. It was probably a clue to a bigger issue.

“Well, about the could, could you look into putting into the peace deal that I heal all of them? I don’t want them to suffer.”

“I will see that it is done,” said Firth.

“Alright, book time — I mean break time. Then I will grab the prisoners, and we shall meet inside the Truth Zone room.”

We took a break and headed our separate ways. I went with Firth to see Fienna, who had my new book.

“Hey Firth, is it okay if Fienna and I become friends?” I asked, seeking his permission as her guardian.

He nodded his head, and looked stunned. “Yes, it would be my honor. Is there anything I can do to help?”

I was confused by his response. “Help? What do you mean? I just want someone to talk to who is around my age.”

It felt weird saying it like that, but I had a lot on my mind, and sometimes I struggled to express it all. I knew I could have already fixed everything for the otherkin if I had.

“Oh, if that’s the case, then I’ll make sure she comes and sees you more often,” Firth said.

He sounded like he was going to force her to do so, and I didn’t want that to happen. It was rude, and I also wanted her to have time to write.

“No, no, don’t do that,” I said. “She also needs to write. I’ll just tell her my intentions and ask her to hang out with me.”

Firth nodded in understanding. Soon we arrived at his place and he knocked on the door. “Fienna, I'm here. Lady Astrid came with me to get her a new copy of the book.”

I heard the scrape of a chair against the ground and a muffled thud, followed by the creak of a door opening. Fienna stood in the doorway, clutching her book to her chest. “I hope it meets your expectations,” she said, her voice tinged with uncertainty. “I’m sorry the last one didn’t make it.”

I took the book from her hands, careful not to damage it, and slipped it into a dimensional storage pocket. Fienna’s cheeks flushed with excitement as she beamed up at me. She was cute, with rosy cheeks and a bright smile, but not as cute as Tara.

“I won’t lose it again,” I said, trying to reassure her. “And if we put the original in the library, then I’ll always have access to it. Speaking of which, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me.”

Fienna’s eyes widened, and she stumbled over her words. “M-m-me going to the mythical library with the guardian?” Her voice cracked with excitement, and then she fainted, falling limply to the ground.

I rushed forward to catch her, and as I did, I looked up at Firth, who had been standing in the corner. “What do we do?” I asked, my voice filled with panic.

“I would have done the same thing at her age,” Firth said with a chuckle, taking Fienna from my arms and gently laying her out on the couch.

We waited there, watching Fienna sleep, until she finally stirred and opened her eyes, her cheeks pink with embarrassment.