From the hill that the Manor sits on Cain could see that there was an enormous tent city in the empty fields on the far side of the manor, in what used to be an empty valley. That would explain a lot of the people. The Guild must have taken in even more refugees here than he did at the farm. If things are that bad in Skyview, Cain would have expected King James to contact him, but even the Puppet that Cain left as a defense minister in his place didn't mention anything out of the ordinary after the initial cleanup of the dungeons.
Sensing her location, Cain found that she was still 'alive' and well inside the castle, as was Lieutenant Gwen's clone, still disguised as a cute pet fox.
She gives off a sense of mischief, and Cain senses that she has been discretely assassinating a lot of threats to the young King without him noticing anything. These days it can be written off to an escaped monster fairly easily, and things are chaotic enough that very few would ask any questions. That also puts the King at risk, but with Gwen and the other summoned Lieutenants sharing Cain's level, he's got a pretty reliable guardian.
Cain is deep in his mental conversation with Gwen when a fleshy object slams into him and then wraps tight around his torso.
"You're back! It's been so long that I almost thought you forgot about us." Cyrene complained with tears in her eyes.
"I was just trying to get things settled in the Southern Continent. We have a guild house there now, and the Awakened area barriers are gone, so there's a chance that the Mythic creatures will start spreading out sooner or later." Cain explains, petting her head to calm the white-scaled Lamia down.
"You will be proud, we have used up over half the Guild roster spots, but we now have locations set up all over the continent. A lot of the former city-states collapsed though. They had multiple dungeons around them, and the residents that were ejected were all insane and outclassed the population in both numbers and levels. Skyview is good, though many of the Dutchies are in bad shape still and there are monsters in every wilderness area. Nyanko is good as well, as we have a strong presence there, and your change to the Guild Skill let us deal with anything that came out.
Mythic Forest Dragons have become our signature summon somehow since they can both wither enemies and heal allies really well. Plus they're big and friendly enough to carry the Guild Members around. Pretty much everyone uses them now, even though it annoys Su to no end. She was the first and views the others as copies, which makes the fact that they are mythic while she's not extra annoying to her."
When Cyrene stops to take a breath Cain sticks a Mythic Peach in her mouth, gaining a moment of peace and at the same time informing her of the latest development on the farm that he wanted to talk to her about.
"Gah, so sour, but that effect is amazing. Do you just eat a whole one every time, or can you ration them by slices?" Cyrene asked after swallowing the fruit whole, due to her lack of teeth and hinged jaw hidden by the human appearance of her face.
"We've got a lot to talk about. But inside, not out here in the open." Cain informed her, heading back to the house with his favorite belt firmly attached.
Back in the conference rooms inside the Eastern Wing of the Manor, Cain laid out his plan to build an enormous tower of trials in town, acknowledging that he would have to change the location since there was a refugee camp on the site he originally planned to use.
"So let me get this straight, you can build us a tower, that will train everyone who enters it, all the way up to your current power level? And it will work over and over, just off the ambient mana in the air?" Cyrene asked, rubbing up against Cain's hand when the patting slowed down.
"Pretty much, though we will likely have to top off the mana for now, since the level here isn't as high as it is likely to need once people start getting more powerful. I will build in some extra mana totem inscriptions to gather as much as I can though." Cain confirms with a smile.
"That is genius. We were starting to get too far behind now that there are no more dungeons to go to and level up. Ironically, the better of a job we do of clearing out the monsters, the further behind we have been getting, especially on the east side of the continent, where they have had to ask the Lesser Watchers to send summons with them to deal with Epic monsters.
They do it, but they're really condescending about it like they're humoring children." Cyrene is full-on pouting at the memory now, and Cain does his best not to laugh.
The Companions aren't quick enough to catch themselves though, and Cyrene notices right away.
"What? They're really mean about it. They don't even pat my head right, they do it like I'm a toddler." She grumbles.
"Oh, you didn't know. The Lesser Watchers are basically pet sitters. The Ancients who made the spell viewed all the lesser species as children and pets, so that's how the Lesser Watchers behave. I'll bet they even bring people food and water if they look parched or hungry don't they ?" Vala laughed, not holding back to spare Cyrene's feelings at all.
"It's not like that, they just like cooking and... dammit, you're right. They treat us all like pets. They even ring a bell to call us in for dinner when it's ready." Her revelation doesn't seem to have made the Lamia any happier about the situation though.
"They're nice to the Dragons though." Su laughed, coming into the room.
"Boss Kone said that Cyrene was in here, but she didn't mention that you were back Guild Master. It's good to see you again." The summoned companion of the Beast Lord Kone welcomed Cain home.
"What did you need? I was just explaining my plan for a training tower if you wanted to join in." Cain asked with a smile for the tiny green dryad form that the dragon preferred.
"Dinner is ready in five minutes. If you're not there on time the Watcher will come looking for you again. He says you work too much and don't eat regularly enough. According to him, it's bad for your health." Su smirks.
"I'm a Lamia, we only need to eat one big meal a month. He's going to make me fat, feeding me three times a day." Cyrene complained but looked resigned to going to dinner anyhow.
"By the way, what have you been doing since the change boss? You're almost level 400 now." Cyrene asked as Cain and the companions stood up to go to the dining hall.
The Lesser Watcher obviously knows that he is here, so there is no worry about not having a place a the table. The question is what the Lesser Watcher made, since Cain doesn't have great cooking skills without merging with something that can actually cook.
