[Beast continent]
Stepping onto platforms of hardened air that she created as she walked, Serania passed over the crowd beneath her feet with a content smile. Mingling about completely unaware of her presence thanks to the invisibility spell covering her, they held yet another open discussion on how to proceed after she had officially ended her rule over the tribe a few days after the attack on the camp where Inrad had been.
At first, her decision had left the tribe in complete disarray, with fears of what the future may now look like gripping their hearts. And with her often being busy helping stabilize Bator's rule during the weeks between her announcement and the day of her resignation, she could do little to improve the chaotic nature of this time.
And though months have passed since then, the situation was only slowly returning to normal. Even now they had still not decided on who should represent them in the larger structure of the Crimson scale clan, nor are all of the responsibilities she had taken upon herself apart from ruling being taken care of again.
But the things that they have managed to accomplish made Serania confident in a bright future for them as it proved her greatest worries wrong. Instead of returning to the oppressive traditions that had persisted until she took over, her kin chose nearly unanimously to continue with her philosophy, turning to the six among them she had trusted as advisers to do so.
Proving her trust in them correct once again, they chose not to rule the tribe by leveraging their status as the only third ranks despite knowing that the Crimson Scale clan leadership cared little about how the representatives from the tribes making up its structure were chosen.
Instead, they guided the tribe during the process and swore to act as guardians for whoever would be chosen to lead them. This way they would minimize the impact an individual's strength would have in this choice as the tribe didn't need to depend on the chief for protection, nor could a more powerful individual overthrow him.
In the end, Serania hoped that this system would slowly separate the tribe's politics and the influence mana users exerted through this identity. As individuals, they could still participate in it but as a group, they were going to be beholden to the tribe as a whole.
Naturally, there were still a lot of hurdles to be cleared before such a future could come to pass as it continued to prove difficult to ensure that mana users couldn't use their advantages as leverage to gain greater influence, or at least create a large enough disincentive to doing it, but as she listened to the different propositions, Serania was reassured in the belief that they could achieve it.
Hovering in place and watching for over an hour of speeches before the final vote, the result of which finally managed to progress a topic, she didn't stay for the closure of the gathering and instead rose from the rooftop she had sat down upon.
Hovering down until she descended down to the altitude of the second floor while remaining invisible, she reached out toward the wall. The moment her fingers touched it a silvery hue formed around this spot, with her fingers phasing through the solid wood.
Dashing through the wall fast enough that nobody noticed the glowing silver outline she left as she passed through it, Serania appeared in her old workplace.
Taking a look around the massive room that made up nearly the entire second story of the house that was given to their tribe for use by the chief, she could only sigh as she saw the masses of paperwork stacked on the tables.
“That was one thing I hadn't missed from before we joined the Crimson Scale Clan, next to no paper meant no paperwork.” Serania muttered to herself.
Casually striding over to the main desk, she pulled the wood and fur chair back from it and sat down. Leaning back, she waited until her former advisers would inevitably walk into the office.
Lazily reading through some of the documents to pass the time, she abruptly looked back up when she heard the sound of footsteps on the other side of the door. Placing the papers back onto the desk, she silently watched as one after another all six of her advisers walked into the room before directly turning toward the next best seats.
Just as the first of them sat down at the large table for group meetings, sighing in exhaustion and letting her head lean back as she did so, Serania dispelled her invisibility.
“This job is draining, isn't it?” She asked with a sympathetic smile.
Jumping up in shock at the sudden intrusion, all six acted on instinct and gathered their mana and lifted their arms into Serania's direction before abruptly freezing up when they realized that it was her.
Chuckling as she looked at the mix of confusion and relief in their faces, she didn't leave them in their confusion for long and continued.
“What, you didn't think I would immediately leave you alone completely. I've been watching occasionally and thought that today would be a good day to directly ask how you all are doing.” She said.
“Chieftess!” One of the six shouted, finally managing to bring her surprise into words.
“I'm also happy to see you Idrine, but that burdensome position isn't mine anymore.” Serania answered her.
“For me, you'll always be my boss.” Idrine replied immediately.
Smiling in appreciation, Serania nonetheless continued insisting on it.
“And I know to value not just your continued support but that of all six of you, but I find it important to make a distinction between me and the tribe.”
Her words were followed by a short pause, with Idrine and the other five needing a moment before they nodded in agreement.
“Then I'll just call you boss.” One of the two men among the six said.
“Fine by me.”
Nodding at her answer one after another, Idrine was the first to react further by grabbing a chair and sitting down at the same desk Serania was sitting next to.
“To your initial question, I'm doing fine. But what I'm interested in is how is life in the clouds?” She asked, her voice filled with curiosity.
“I would almost go as far as to say it's the closest there is to paradise on this world, so quite well. If you want an idea of it, imagine ten times the quality of life improvement we experienced when joining the Crimson scale clan added onto our current situation, that should give you an idea of it.
Every basic necessity you could imagine is available whether someone fulfills Bator's standards of power or not. But if one fulfills them, nearly no luxury is out of reach. Though I'll admit, I have an undeniably privileged position as I don't need to work for these things, so I may be a bit biased.” Serania said.
Captivated by her words, only one of the six noticed the differentiation she made at the start.
“Then why just almost, with your privileges it sounds perfect?” Keira asked.
Smiling at her attentiveness, Serania took a deep breath before looking at them with a melancholic expression.
“It has to do with the main reason why I'm here. I won't be staying on the beast continent for much longer and I wanted to say my goodbyes to you before I go.”
Needing a moment to process her words, Idrine was the first of the six to react when she jumped up from her chair with a shocked look on her face.
“Then let me come with you.” She said.
Raising her hand to stop them before the others could ask her the same thing, Serania started explaining.
“For two major reasons, no. Firstly, I want you to finish what I started and help our people get the tools necessary for them to thrive. I trust you so I can't think of anybody better for the job, so I have to insist that you do it no matter how much you complain.
And secondly, I'll be going to the central continent and I'm not going to put your lives at unnecessary risk by taking you with me. You're all talented but right now you're only third ranks, our tribe will need your power more.”
Leaving a short pause once more to let her words settle, Serania ended on a positive note.
“But this doesn't mean that we won't see each other ever again. Once everything there is settled I'll visit once more. Besides, Bator rules by Darganth's mandate, and part of that is that he'll send some talented individuals over to work directly under him. And I don't doubt that you'll be part of that, if not in the first group then just one or two later.” She said.
Sinking back onto their chairs as they calmed down, they fell into thoughts and only exchanged occasional glances.
Leaving them to it, Serania patiently waited until Idrine spoke up a some seconds later.
“If it's like this we'll have to work even more diligently, we don't want to fall below the boss's expectations, don't we?” She said to the others with a humorous smile.
At her words, smiles started to bloom on the lips of the other beastmen. Nodding in agreement, they started to bubble with excitement.
“Then we are of one opinion. Boss, we'll be back by your side as fast as we can.” Idrine told Serania.
“I'll look forward to the day.” Serania answered them with a bright smile.
